Tag Archives: postaday2011

[10 things] There’s no way for Symbian OS to be successful

  By Halfey Halphstein | May 18, 2011 - 3:06 pm | , , ,
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Nokia E7_3

Image by NokiaConnectZA via Flickr

Symbian OS have at least 10 notable weaknesses that would hold it back from becoming a successful mobile OS.

  1. There are just too many hardware-specific versions of Symbian OS yet most of the time those hardware have very little difference between them. Apps developed for one device may not work on others, even if they’re almost identical.
  2. Symbian OS upgrade is not as flexible as Android or iOS because it inherits traces of the “never-meant-to-be-upgraded” genes from its predecessors. The on-the-air upgrade only introduced with Symbian^3. I don’t understand why this kind of upgrade never been thought by Nokia engineers. They should have known that smartphones are gradually going the way of the desktops so it’s just makes sense to have this feature.
  3. Nokia never really had future visions for Symbian, until iPhone OS and Android becomes the talk of the year. By the time they start paying serious attention on it, Android and iOS already become the mobile OS of choice. Android and iOS are successful because of their desktop heritages (Linux and Mac OS X). Nokia could have targeted the desktops in order to compensate the unavailability of desktop predecessors but they didn’t. When they open-sourced Symbian, things are already too late for being open-source to make any significant change.
  4. Symbian had an extremely humble start and contented with that, making them lagging far behind in terms of supporting newer technologies. This is one of the most common mistakes in business, to be easily satisfied with their current state. Symbian OS was once the king of the hill but Nokia never really tried to push it far beyond that, leaving the system almost stagnant for many years.
  5. Symbian failed to keep up the reputation of “powering business machines” (or lack thereof) as RIM‘s Blackberry OS does, thus they failed to become a strong player in that field. Sure they made business phones like the Communicator and E series and did enjoy some great success but they never really bring much improvement to the phones, thus business players turned to iOS and Android instead.
  6. Maemo (and later turned Meego) developed at the wrong time, almost effectively killed Symbian. I’m not saying that the development of this new mobile OS is bad (in fact I welcomed it for it’s a true Linux distro for mobile platform). However it only gives the impression among developers that Nokia itself has lost hope for Symbian even before the emergence of iOS. It also gives the impression that Symbian started to show incapability to support newer technologies thus it’s not worthy for further development.
  7. Too many variants that are greatly differ from each other, sometimes to the point of as if those are completely different platform, making it quite troublesome for 3rd party app developers to and support all variants (also harder to do versioning maintenance) because cross-platform development among different Symbian variants virtually non-existent. There is Series 60, Series 90, UIQ and MOAP but none of them can ‘talk’ to each other. Apps developed for one interface may not work on others.With only one version of OS that can run on many different kind of hardware setups, it would be easier for developers to focus and concentrate it. Only with Qt, it is now possible and easier to develop not only a cross-platform among Symbian variants, but also with non-Symbian mobile OS too. However, just like open-sourcing Symbian, Qt might be just too late to be of any help.
  8. Confusing licensing plan. Symbian was once closed source. Then Nokia open-sourced it and it enjoyed the open source status for a short while until Nokia reverted it back to being proprietary again. Even the once used Eclipse Public License by Nokia is nothing like GPL or BSD, making it’s harder for crowdsourced contribution. I understand that it might be hard for Nokia to GPLed it (if they did try though) since they’re still pretty much bound to patents but that does not justify that they can do the job of developing it halfheartedly.
  9. Confusing UI (menus and icons). Nokia is still resorting to multi-level navigation in the browsing UI, treating it as if it’s a desktop (ironically desktop has never been Nokia’s target all this time). Most other mobile OS already adopting a much simpler navigation by simply dividing the browsing experience into 2, settings menu and apps icons. Besides the user interface is still mainly emulating softkey buttons. That’s like Nokia’s touchscreen phone shares similar deal with the non-touchscreen phones. It doesn’t mean button is bad but let touchscreen be touchscreen and buttons be buttons.
  10. There’s no other OS made completely based on the Qt framework. Symbian is completely alone in the game when most other players are either Linux-based (Android and WebOS) or based on BSD/UNIX (iOS and Blackberry OS). It’s not really a bad thing but let’s face it, it’s hard to innovate our gameplay or gaming strategy if our opponent does not play the same ball with us.

But despite all that Symbian OS still have its own strengths too that I think even the rivaling platforms should envy it.

  1. It has been around for a very long time, probably the oldest continuously developed mobile OS still exists known today. That makes it stable and sturdy enough for future hardware.
  2. It is not resource hungry and even able to bring the power to 600MHz mobile CPU that they able to perform almost as fast as 800Mhz CPU.
  3. Good power management. Ask any Nokia users I bet most of them don’t have much problem with Nokia’s battery life. With the same power-rating batteries, Nokia devices run longer than most Androphones.
  4. Great memory management. Unlike most other mobile OS, Symbian as well as its apps are not that demanding for memory. Besides it gives up memory almost instantly after an application is closed, making the memory immediately available for other applications. That’s why many Nokia phones come with significantly lower RAM compared to the rivals but rarely the user run into a “out of memory error” moment.
  5. Long support for multitasking. Symbian OS has supported multitasking longer than some of us could remember. While it’s not a good argument for anybody to say “but I don’t need multitasking on a phone”, most smartphone now should allow this considering the device is supposed to be app-rich, meaning that there’s no point in not supporting it you can only run one service at a time in a app-rich environment.
  6. It’s a complete OS. In fact it has been like that since almost a decade ago. When iPhone OS (the older iOS) was released back then it has no copy-paste, and so does Windows Phone 7. Of course being the older mobile OS gives Symbian OS an advantage in that department but back then Symbian didn’t have such issue.
  7. Non-restrictive app store. Ever since Symbian became the dominant mobile OS, Nokia had never setup a proper app store until they opened the Ovi Store in recent years. On the negative side this would lead to an unmonitored app development, making the platform prone to security breach but on the positive side this means freedom for software developer as they’re not bound by restrictive app store policies.
  8. It doesn’t have the “clone” reputation but always comes with its own originality. Nokia has always working so hard to keep Symbian as original as possible. Even with its attempts to cope with the adoption of capacitive touchscreen technology, it never really imitated the iOS, unlike many other mobile OS. Even Android, regardless of how great it is, it still appears like a rebadged iOS in many terms.
  9. It’s reputable for coming in “clean install”. Symbian in the past rarely packaged with junk apps, or even if it did, those junk apps can be removed easily since they’re not being made into the core of the system. It’s totally the opposite of Android that always pre-installed with many nonremovable apps from the phone makers.
  10. It’s the “true” mobile OS with no relationship at all with desktop and server. iOS and Android have Linux and BSD heritage in their “bloodline”; traceable back to desktops and servers. Everybody knows Linux and BSD are descendants of UNIX, and they are the system of which iOS and Android are based on. Even Blackberry OS have bits of QNX which is a UNIX OS itself. Symbian on the other hand developed for mobile phone since day 1 and does not share any history with know desktop/server OS today.

[Analysis] Denpa Onna

  By Halfey Halphstein | May 18, 2011 - 2:43 pm | , , ,
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Derpa…

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

Image by Capy_87 via Flickr

 

Title: Denpa Onna

Full Title: Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko

Genre: Seinen

Sub-genre: Slice of life

Flavor: Sci-fi (I don’t think this series is a sci-fi but it contains the sci-fi ‘flavor’)

Studio: SHAFT

Episodes: 12 (as announced/scheduled)

OP: “Osu Uchuujin” by Erio o Kamatte-chan (yet another song I don’t like due to the made-up voice. Sorry but it doesn’t sound cute at all to me. The music was fine though, gives me the feeling that I’m watching alien-related show, even if I don’t understand the Japanese lyrics)

ED: “Ruru” by Etsuko Yakushimaru (again, yet another song I hate because of the same reason above. Seriously why making such voice? Can’t they sing naturally with their natural voice? I’m OK with the music though)

Airing status: Currently airing

Aired by: TBS

Watchability factor: Medium high (might keep watching till the end)

Rewatchability factor: Medium (the only reason why I’d rewatch is probably the uncensored bluray)

Hateability factor: Medium (I hate the annoying UFO “buythebluray” censorship dammit!!!)

Recommendability factor: Medium (I like Erio’s “scientific” dialog)

Characters I’d like to beat to a pulp using a spiky baseball bat: ….. (I have mixed feelings on Meme-san and I’ll tell you more about it later but I really want to beat Makoto Niwa when he acts unmanly or when he’s not firm/strict enough to squeeze information from his aunt)

Alien may or may not exist, but I’m more to the not exist side. I mostly think that people came up with the idea because nobody likes to feel alone, but I prefer for everybody to accept the fact that we are alone in the universe, get over it, get a life and it’s no big deal.

People abducted by alien, cattle mutilation, those are usually the stories from the western world. Now we get to see it in anime in the form of Denpa Onna. Erio Touwa is a girl who lives with her mother, Meme. She once lost for half a year at sea (I wonder how did she survive during that period but there are real stories about people surviving life at sea for longer than that). By the time she was found, she had nothing to remember except her name (and probably her mother too). Then she started to convince herself that she was an alien who was abducted and then returned to Earth. She began to developing a belief that she’s an alien, probably to fill the fear of being unable to remember anything from her past. She even went as far as trying to prove that she could fly, only to get badly injured in the end. After that she began to isolate herself from the society as well as her mother by wrapping up herself in futon. She mostly remained that way to the point that her mother totally ignored her, until Niwa came and determined to change everything. Now allow me to introduce other characters in this anime. Keep reading.

Niwa is Erio’s cousin who has to live with them after his parent left to work overseas (yet another overused setting in anime and eroge if you ask me). Upon understanding what Ero has suffered, he determined to help her not only to get her memories back but also to bring Erio back to the society. One thing I don’t like about him though, he always failed (submissive) when he tried to dig information from his aunt who keep giving vague, non serious answers or completely deflecting it. I don’t really blame him though since he is given the shelter by his aunt, so there’s no helping it, I guess.

So what kind of mother is Meme-san? Meme-san is hot but seeing how she plays around with Niwa, it’s no wonder if she might have acted that naughty too back then, resulting her got pregnant and gave birth to Erio. Yes, she is sharing the same possibility with Ohana from Hanasaku Iroha of being an illegitimate child. I hate it when she keeps giving excuses when being asked about who is Erio’s father. I also hate it when she seems to completely ignore Erio’s existence but she told Niwa that it’s not like she wanted to ignore her but she respect her wish to be alone (though I think it’s more like she’s given up and don’t know what to do anymore). She said she kept silent about Erio from the relatives in order to protect her but the truth is she’s the one at fault for being naughty! Yeah, I never like those kind of woman even if they’re hot and could easily enter my MILF list (like Rin Kokonoe‘s mother from Kodomo no Jikan). BTW there are several other parts I like about Meme-san though, like her open-mindedness and like I mentioned before, she’s hot and a MILF type (>_<)

A story about hi-schooler is incomplete without school friends. Although it’s a bit weird that Niwa only got himself female friends so far, I don’t mind since we have Ryuuko (a.k.a Ryuushi) whom Niwa is being friend with. She’s overly- super-friendly, but a tad too childish for her age (seems like childish high school girl is also overused element in anime these days). She’s quite vulnerable too at times, like how she may screw up when being around Niwa.

And here’s this one Maekawa-san (I’m not sure whether that is her given or surname but that’s her only name I know). She a weird girl who loves to cosplay in weird costumes as if she’s Shin-chan from Crayon Shin-chan. To make it weirder, she doesn’t feel a thing about cosplaying  anytime, anywhere. What I liek about her is she tends to give misleading-sound lines that may cause misunderstanding, like how she told Ryuuko that she and Niwa have “spent a night together” although the fact is they only bumped into each other at one night.

The story so far, Erio has given up thinking of herself as an alien, though she still wrap herself in the futon sometimes. At one point I feel a bit pity for Erio. After she accepted the fact that she lost her memories, she decided to return back to the society but it’s not easy. Lucky she has Niwa to support her all the way. She also wish she could go back to school again but too bad for her she has been dropped out for being absent for too long from school. I feel even more sympathy for her when I saw she still hang her seifuku in her room.

Also there’s no alien so far, in fact I doubt if alien will really show up later in the series, and I’m not interested to see any alien at all in my slice of life series. The only development I’d like to see in this series to know how the hell did Erio lost at sea, to see her to be accepted into the society again, and I want to know who is Erio’s father. Anyways, another Erio for you, vector version. Savor it while you still can:

 

And last but not least, some math for the day:

Cute girls… +1
MILF aunt… +1
Possibility of aunt might be a slut in her past… -1
Annoying UFO censorship… -1
Maekawa the cosplay girl… +1
Niwa’s determination to help Erio… +1
Niwa may be unmanly or not strict/firm to ‘overpower’ his aunt… -1
Horrible voice for OP & ED… -1
Blue follicle… +1
It’s SHAFT… -1
GRAND TOTAL… 0

Everything is balancing to zero in the end…

*I wrote the article above in such a way as if Erio is the focal point of the story instead of Niwa ;P

[Analysis] Nichijou

  By Halfey Halphstein | May 17, 2011 - 11:57 am | , , ,
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nichijou_op

Title: Nichijou

Genre: Comedy

Sub-genre: Slice of life

Flavor: High school, moe, random

Studio: Kyoto Animation

Episodes: 26 (as announced/scheduled)

OP: “Hyadain no Kakakata Kataomoi – C” by Hyadain a.k.a. Kenichi Maeyamada (normally I don’t like male pop songs but this one is an exception and the lyrics is good. After all I’m a fan of Hyadain for his previous remix works)

ED: “zzz…” by Sayaka Sasaki(this is one of my favorites in this season, kinda reminds me of the calm-sounded ED of Alice Gakuen)

Airing status: Currently airing

Aired by: Chiba TV

Watchability factor: High (less likely to be dropped)

Rewatchability factor: Medium high (I might watch it again just to laugh)

Hateability factor: None

Recommendability factor: Medium high (it’s better than your favorite overhyped yet average slice of life anime)

Characters I’d like to beat to a pulp using a spiky baseball bat: None

This anime is about everyday life (hence the title Nichijou which means “Regular/Ordinary/Everyday Life”) surrounding the main characters. I call them the main characters not because they’re the only characters, but because they’re the main focus of the ‘story’ (if there was any story to begin with though). Keep reading if you wan to know more about those main characters.

First we have Mio who is cute and all but don’t let her cute appearance fools you. She may not look like it but she’s into yaoi/BL! She even draw her own BL manga as her hobby and I hate to admit it since she’s into yaoi but her drawing is really good.

Then we have this lazy (and stupid) Yuko who is not serious with studying, always neglecting her homework and always playing around. She’s always ended up becoming a victim of her own stupid actions though.

And we also have Mai the meganekko (glasses girl) who is always look serious in whatever stuff she’s doing, even when pulling pranks. She’s not only smart but multi-talented in almost everything.

It doesn’t end there as the story is not just random but also unrealistic with unusual characters like Nano the robot, ‘Hakase’ the loli professor (‘hakase’ itself is literally ‘professor’ in Japanese) and Sakamoto the talking cat. It appears that it was Hakase who made Nano as well as the scarf that enables Sakamoto to talk, despite her child-like appearance/manner.

The story so far… I’m not going to write any summary since there’s no story to summarize in the first place. Madoka Magica had unpredictable plot but it’s still prone to speculations and theories. However there is no way to predict/speculate/theorize the next outcome in Nichijou. That’s how random it is.

Randomness in this anime beats the one I saw in Lucky Star, although both are made by KyoAni. And there’s nothing more that have contributed to its randomness other than how most of the characters are completely unrelated to each other than living in the same town.

Not the best comedy I’ve ever seen but the random jokes is good for some laughter. I can say not bad and no harm in watching it.

Why does retaining the “Other OS” feature in PS3 does matter to me, even if I never use it? [Part 2]

  By Halfey Halphstein | May 16, 2011 - 2:46 pm | , , , , ,
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(Continuing from where I left in Part 1)

Since the lawsuit taken by SONY against the hacker GeoHot has been settled, SONY has been showing the world it can now “legally” bullying PS3 owners whenever they think it fits and convenient. While most owners don’t feel a thing about the “Other OS” removal (most of those owners are just underage kids who got their PS3 from their parents/guardians though and don’t give a shit about the removal). However some other owners purchased the system as a geek, which is why they feel victimized.

PS3′s TOC is probably the most ridiculous legal document ever written in human history. Seriously what kind of logic that made SONY think they have the right to meddle with the software parts they have licensed to PS3 owners? Applying SONY’s logic on IP (Intellectual Property) licensing, it’s like manga licensor may have the right to remove pages/panels from the manga you’ve purchased. Don’t tell me you’re totally OK with that. You still think it’s not ridiculous? Came back to talk to me after you read the TOC properly here (pay attention especially to Section 7).

It seems like the “Other OS” removal was done with the slightest care about the owners’ interest in SONY’s mind. Alright, maybe they DID care about the owners thus they keep giving excuses like “to protect both owners and developers from piracy and security breach” but they forgot that people know protection for such threats can be implemented by simply patching the system. That said, for that purpose, the “Other OS” removal is really uncalled for.

My final call is, forget about the TOC because it can be manipulated singlehandedly to favor the licensor only. The important point right now is what GeoHot was doing is simply a “restoration” or “recovery” work for what has been taken away from all legal PS3 owners. Yes, the owners purchased the system legally so they should have the right to restore what they’ve lost. There should be an act to protect the owners’ interest from being bullied by SONY.

[Analysis] Hanasaku Iroha

  By Halfey Halphstein | May 15, 2011 - 4:33 pm | , , ,
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Title: Hanasaku Iroha

Abbreviated title: HanaIro

Genre: Seinen

Sub-genre: Slice of life, Drama

Flavor: Coming of age

Studio: P.A. Works

Episodes: 26 (as announced/scheduled)

OP: “Hana no Iro” by nano.RIPE (I hate this song because the singer’s voice sounds like Judy & Mary, another artist that I hate because of the voice. She thought it’s cute to make her voice like that? Gimme a break!)

ED: “Hazy” by Sphere (this is one of my favorites in this season. Too bad the OP wasn’t as good to match it)

Airing status: Currently airing

Aired by: Tokyo MX

Watchability factor: High (low chance to be dropped)

Rewatchability factor: Medium low (I might be unable to stand some stupidities of the characters)

Hateability factor: Medium high (not because of the story but some stupid characters)

Recommendability factor: Medium

Characters I’d like to beat to a pulp using a spiky baseball bat: Too many of them. Ohana’s mother, Ohana’s grandmother, Minko & Tooru. Wanna know why? Read on!

Hanasaku Iroha is a about the life of 16-year-old girl Ohana Matsumae who has to “seek refuge” at her grandmother’s hotspring inn (Kissuiso) after her irresponsible mother left with her boyfriend who is running away with huge debt. You might think that is the reason I wanna beat Ohana’s mother using a spiky baseball bat but I got another reason, which is giving birth to Ohana. Why is that a bad thing? Well her mother looks like a slut and Ohana was probably born from her naughty past. In other words, Ohana might be an illegitimate child! I hope that is not true but the only info I have are pointing that way. Don’t blame me.

Ohana is small, cute and I even dreamed of doing ecchi things with her a few times. I pity her that not only she’s forced to leave the place she has spent her life so far, she is also forced to leave the love of her life, Kou-chan. Well it’s maybe too early to call that ‘love’ but that is what I’m hoping for. Yes, this anime needs some romance to balance the hateability factor that I will reveal more in the upcoming paragraphs. Keep reading for more.

Having to seek refuge from her grandmother whom she never met before is already a burden to Ohana (not to mention she had to do house chores ever since she was still in kindergarten). Right after she arrived at Kissuiso, a staff there, Minko already made her an enemy. Yes, this is another character that I’d like to beat to a pulp using a spiky baseball bat for being completely irrational and unreasonable. I have no idea why this whore hates Ohana so much on first encounter because even from the first impression there’s nothing hateable about Ohana. Seriously what kind of attitude to tell a stranger to go die? She’d better get raped 2 or 3 times by some orangutans than telling people to die. Don’t tell me it’s because Ohana mistook the wild garlic she planted as weed. I won’t buy it as that ‘s not enough to justify her right to tell Ohana to die. Truly beautiful face does not always mean the person is beautiful on the inside as well. I don’t care about tsundere or whatever dere you have out there because it’s Minko who should go die in this case, not Ohana. Why can’t she talk properly about it? Geez! Orangutans! Rape that girl right now! (The only thing I like about Minko is she’s voiced by Chiaki Omigawa, one of my favorite seiyuu who also voiced one of my favorite character, Mutsumi Mitsuba from Seitokai Yakuindomo).

The unfortunate events did not end there for Ohana. Just when she was expecting family love from her grandmother and get special privilege as a granddaughter, she was forced to work at the inn as a cleaner. That old hag is not only unprofessional in dealing with people (Ohana is her granddaughter but she treated her like stranger just because she hates Ohana’s mother whom she cast away from the family) but she is also unreasonably treats her underlings like slaves, and won’t hesitate to hit them physically. She even gone as far as forcing her son and Ohana to call her landlady instead of mother/grandmother, regardless there are customers around or not. She thought that was professional? That’s stupid. Everybody would agree if I’m going to beat her to a to a pulp using a spiky baseball bat right?

Ohana's evil grandma

Let’s beat this old hag to a pulp using spiky baseball bats or even hockey sticks.

Not done with that, Ohana even met another hateable character, a young chef named Tooru who’s also working at the inn, a superior-cum-mentor to Minko. Yes, before any of you feminazi accuse me of gender discrimination, lemme tell you a hateable character doesn’t have to be female. Tooru, with his sharp tongue and being inconsiderate is enough to make me feel like beating him to a pulp using a spiky baseball bat too. I know as a superior he has the right to scold his underlings if they make a mistake but it’s pretty unnecessary or even going too far if he scolds them like no tomorrow.Well, I’m not sure why Renji, the head chef cum Tooru’s superior did nothing to stop him. I almost hated that yakuza-looking guy because of his “not a care in the world” other than getting his job done but then since he did just that (DID NOTHING) so I guess I can forgive him.

I’m quite moved by Ohana’s optimism and determination to get along with everybody. However Minko is just a hateable person whose unthankful no matter how many times Ohana want to make up with her, helping her in many kind of stuff, defending her when she got scolded by Tooru and the old hag, even apologize to her countless time even if she did nothing wrong. So far that’s the story about, I mean like I said, Ohana is trying to make friends with everybody. Lucky her there are 2 kind staffs who accepted her, the overly shy, big oppai girl named Nako (whom later becomes Ohana’s mentor in waitress job) and the super friendly happy-go-lucky senior waitress, Tomoe-san.

Anyways, to end this analysis, I’m giving away some “suggestive” snapshots taken across several aired episodes so far. Enjoy them while they’re still hot! ;P (Take note that this is no ecchi anime but some parts of it are unmistakeably fanservice)

Tied-up Ohana, triggered my bondage fetish, effectively gave me a hard-on.

Nako-san want to ‘teach’ Ohana-chan not just about work but also “everything” she needs to know, despite her shyness all this time. What a kind person she is :) By the way take a look at her nice jugs (>_<)

Even Minchi also want to take part in teaching Ohana.

Nako-san tells Ohana not to worry as she knows exactly how to make her “shine”.

Minchi is also willing to help Ohana to “shine”.

Nako-san the “water girl”. She’s a super good swimmer (and has nice racks too). By the way I wonder does she wear a bra (and panties) underneath those clothes? This is just too much and almost unbearable to me (>_<)

Not enough? You still want more? Wait until another few episodes aired and I’ll be sure to post them here ;P

[Analysis] C – The Money of Soul and Possibility Control

  By Halfey Halphstein | May 15, 2011 - 1:18 am | , ,
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C

Title: C

Full title: C – The Money of Soul and Possibility Control

Genre: Action, mystery

Sub-genre: Drama, thriller

Flavor: Fighting, economy

Studio: Tatsunoko Production

Episodes: 11 (as announced/scheduled)

OP: “Matoryoshika” (Matryoshka?) by NICO Touches The Walls

ED: “RPG” by School Food Punishment

Airing status: Currently airing

Aired by: Fuji TV

Watchability factor: High (low probability to be dropped)

Rewatchability factor: Medium

Hateability factor: None

Recommendability factor: Medium

Characters I’d like to beat to a pulp using a spiky baseball bat: None so far but Masakaki has a high possibility to become my target, and Yoga at first almost become my target when I saw how he has a very low will of survival (referring to his first Deal)

For those who think this is yet another TCG anime, I’m gladly say that you’re wrong. This is no Yu-Gi-Oh whatsoever. Keep reading (and resume watching from where you left) if you don’t believe me.

C is the story about the chosen people (‘Entre’) trading their soul and possibilities (future) for the money from the underworld. Entre is a person whose offered a chance to make money in the underworld called “The Financial District” by engaging in a battle called ‘Deal’. The money gained from the Deal which is called Midas Money is tradeable in the real world and nobody would realize its existence except those “Entres” (to normal, non-Entre people, the money is unnoticeable as they appear the same with normal money to their senses). An Entre is given a special credit card as a ticket to the Financial District where all the Deals take place. Each Entre is also given a familiar called ‘Asset’, where the credit card also doubles as a ‘home’ for the Assets. The card also enables an Entre to communicate with his/her Asset. To maintain their income, Entres need to go to the Financial District from time to time (about once a week or so). To go there an Entre needs to summon a special taxi by inserting the credit card in any ATM and just do the necessary actions in the ATM menu display.

The story focuses on a college student named Yoga Kimimaro. Despite studying economics, he does not seek for wealthiness. For him to have “just enough” money is sufficient/adequate as long as he can live a stable life. However he do realize that he need money to get some things, and perhaps to win the love of his life.

One day Yoga was offered a chance by a super tricky ‘clown’ who introduced himself as Masakaki, to get more money from a method that he’s completely oblivious about. No matter how Masakaki persuade him Yoga managed to keep his cool although in the end he accepted it reluctantly. He may have accepted the offer but it’s more like he’s forced to since he was dragged into the game of special ‘Dealings’ and he didn’t have much choice to reject it.

Being dragged into the world of “Financial District” Yoga has been chosen as an “Entre” (probably the shorter form of ‘Entrepreneur’) who will have to engage in a Deal in order to gain the Midas Money. Yes, in this anime ‘Deals’ for the money are represented by a battle between 2 ‘Entres’, and each Deal will last for 666 seconds. Each Entre may have their Asset to fight alongside them in the Deal. Assets are very useful in a Deal as they have special powers that will activate upon the order of their master. Each special attack by the Asset costs money though, so the strength of an attack depends on how much money you spend for the special attack. You could also using your own special attack called “Direct” (probably named after “direct attack”) but it is usually useful when Entre’s are on one on one battle against each other. It may seem not as powerful as Asset’s special attack but most loses in Deals are done this way, where the loss of money are represented as blood-loss in the Deal. So far there’s no background on where the ‘Assets’ are originated from, although there are hints that they might be from their own world and they may know each other as well. Anyways it’s interesting to know that an Entre won’t die from an attack in a Deal. It’s as if everything happened in a virtual world ala The Matrix rather than in another dimension. Be alert that a hit still hurts though.

In the Financial District (I’m not sure yet whether it’s lucky or not) Yoga was offered a help by Souichiro Mikuni, in both ‘tutoring’ and money too. After sometime their relationship has somehow grown into mentor-mentee, though Yoga still have some reluctance about it. He even told Mikuni once “I don’t want to be like you”, implying that he feels Mikuni is some sort of villain. By the way, there’s one thing special about Yoga though. Although the Entres usually chosen randomly among people who are lusting over money, Yoga is also chosen despite he’s not the type who seek wealthiness. Perhaps this is another reason Mikuni is interested in him, other than they are sharing similar personal background/past.

Being somewhat a guide to Yoga, Mikuni invited him into joining a Guild of Entres led by him. Members of the Guild are to practice the fighting strategy of “making the amount gained/lost in a deal being as minimum as possible”. That kind of fighting strategy is adopted as an attempt to limit the flow of the Midas Money into the real world, fearing the impact of its usage on the real world economy, because according to Mikuni the amount of what you lose in real world depends on the amount of money you lost in the district (at least this one is confirmed to be true). Named as Starling Guild, although it appears that the Guild tries to minimize the negative impact from the usage of Midas Money, they also seem to be more like Mikuni’s attempt to control the Financial district. They may really have good intention but they still have this evil aura with them.

Winning or losing a Deal may be a different matter for different people. It is especially depends more on how much you lost than what you gained, because by winning the Deal you only gained money but if you lose, the loser may lost not only their money, but maybe some important parts in their life, given that the Midas Money represents their soul/possibilities/future (hence the “The Money of Soul and Possibility Control” in the title) . That means the loses doesn’t have to be in the form of money but may also the people dearest to you or anything else. So the scary part of losing the Deal is what you’ll lose is unknown. In a sense the Deal is like some sort of gambling. You know you’ll get more money if you win but you’ll never know the outcome of the deal, and you’ll never know what you’ll lose.

I’m pretty curious about Mikuni though. Despite his ‘good’ intention of starting the Starling Guild, a membership actually does cost quite a substantial amount of money. Not only that he seems to have more than 1 asset and I’m not sure how is that possible (I have yet to confirm if having more than 1 asset is possible though). There’s also a hint that the Financial district is slowly crumbling, based on one conversation he had at one time.

So what is the ‘C’ has to do with this anime? I have no idea either as so far I found no connection between the “C” and the story but it’s just a normal thing, even in Hollywood flicks where the title sometimes started to make sense only after the first half of the show. Not a big issue here but I have to admit that C only reminds of programming. The closest connection between C and this anime (based on real life element) would be Citibank, but that totally irrelevant.

The character design is so-so, not the best I’ve seen but certainly not bad. By the way I think if I’m offered the access to the Financial District, I might try opening a Deal too, though it’s a bit scary to think about the things I’d lost should I lost the deal. I might apply the Guild’s principle of not to allow too much gains/loses but I’d prefer winning little than losing big. Based on the story so far, the Financial District has been around since the beginning of trades in human history. Now I’m waiting for a few more episodes before I can write more about it.

[Interpost] Nichijou – “Selamat Pagi” explained

  By Halfey Halphstein | May 10, 2011 - 1:56 pm | , ,
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Ever since the first episode of Nichijou aired, the greeting phrase “Selamat pagi” has been popular among anime fans and otaku all around the world. There were mixed reactions about it though. For normal fans it’s acceptable and welcomed but for some racist people who think they’re the cool-type anime fans, they don’t like (hate) it and saying it’s stupid or so. That said, we who believe anime is for world peace should not recognize the latter group as anime fans.

So what language is this “Selamat pagi” in? It is the Malay Language (Bahasa Malayu) which includes both Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia. “Selamat pagi” is equivalent to “Good morning” in English. The word “pagi” means morning while the word “selamat” is a loan word from the Arab language “salaamat” which is derived from the word “salaam” which means “peace” or “safe”, thus “Selamat pagi” literally means “Have a safe morning” or “Have a peaceful morning”.

The same is also true for the “Selamat malam” greeting. “Malam” is night in Malay language thus “Selamat malam” carries the meaning “Good night”. However the “Selamat malam” in South East Asia (the Malay-speaking region) is used differently than the analogous “Good night” in English language. That is because “Selamat malam” is used as soon as the day is getting dark. The Malay-speaking people would only use “Selamat petang” (Good evening) until dusk and start using “Selamat malam” after that, while in English-speaking culture, “Good night” is only used when people are about to call it a day.

I’m glad that Nichijou helped in popularizing my language albeit to a certain extent. At least now people especially those who share the same interest with me in anime know what my language sounds like and even know how to use it too. And to my surprise, Nichijou even went as far as featuring the traditional sport of South East Asia, sepak takraw!

Sepak takraw a.k.a. kick volleyball (although the it’s globally recognized as sepak takraw for official use) has been steadily gaining popularity and reputation on the world stage. Although the sport is mainly dominated by Malaysia and Thailand (the two powerhouse of the sport) as well many other South East Asia countries, it doesn’t stop other countries like South Korea, Japan, Russia and even USA to become a tough rival. Click here for more info about sepak takraw. [wikipedia article]

 

[Final Impression] Moshidora

  By Halfey Halphstein | May 8, 2011 - 12:28 pm | , ,
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Title: Moshidora

Full title: Moshi Kōkō Yakyū no Joshi Manājā ga Dorakkā no “Manajimento” o Yondara, (もし高校野球の女子マネージャーがドラッカーの『マネジメント』を読んだら, lit. What If a Female Student Manager of a High School Baseball Team Read Drucker’s “Management”?)

Genre: Seinen

Sub-genre: Slice-of-life, drama, sport

Flavor: Educational, and some (very little) yuri

Studio: Production I.G.

Episodes: 10

OP: “Yume Notto” (Dream Note?) by AzusA

ED: “Daisuki da yo” by MoMo

Airing status: Recently finished airing

Aired by: NHK

Watchability factor: Very high

Rewatchability factor: Medium

Hateability factor: None

Recommendability factor: Medium

Characters I’d like to beat to a pulp using a spiky baseball bat: None

Finally after about 2 weeks airing this anime finally came to an end. It was quite fast, if I’m not mistaken, 4 episodes per week (well there’s a reason for that but I forgot what it is). The ending is kinda bittersweet, making it the 3rd anime this year with that kind of ending.

I’d like to reminisce the whole story again. Minami Kawashima, being the current manager for Hodokubo High baseball team, was actually a stand-in for the bedridden Yuki Miyata who was the actual manager for the team. Those two were good friends and has been together ever since they were babies (I wonder how is that possible?). Too bad in the end Yuki didn’t managed to see the team won the final and go to the nationals, despite it was her dream to bring the team to achieve that. Honestly for me that was an unexpected development that I wasn’t ready to face. It’s because halfway through the series it appeared to be a heartwarming one. Things however started to show the sign of upcoming tragedy since episode 6, where there was still no indication that Yuki’s health is improving. The demise of Yuki was a big shock to Minami at first and she gave up her management job, until she realized that she should not stop halfway of what is actually started by Yuki. But that is not after she was slapped by Jiro though >_<

There’s a little presence of Yuri in this show though and luckily it wasn’t given too much attention or else it would have been too distracting and this anime might lost its educational value then. Somehow I think this anime needs some real romance instead of that yuri, and I think Minami should have been paired with Jiro considering that how close the two are as childhood friends :)

The OP & ED of this anime  also sounded “happy” and does not help in giving initial impression that it will have a tragic moment. If we were to rely on the OP& ED alone I bet nobody would have thought that this anime has quite a tragic plot. Speaking of OP & ED, I like both of them, and they’re listed in my favorites already.

I have neither grudge nor hatred against sports anime. With the right settings, as long as there are good character design and good story then I’m all set. The last time I liked baseball in anime was the baseball episode in Ika Musume though (refer to the 10th episode of that anime). Earlier than that would be another baseball anime, Ookiku Furikabute though I don’t like the little presence of yaoi there (lucky their coach is “well-endowed” *cough*). Anyways it’s because of this anime that I learned more about Peter Drucker’s “Management”. I think aspiring businessmen should watch this anime too. I’d recommend this to businessmen as it could be a good reference for them, and I know why this anime is good for that because I’m also a businessman.

[Interpost] How much Mac users have contributed to the geek ‘ecosystem’?

  By Halfey Halphstein | May 8, 2011 - 10:41 am | , ,
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I think Mac users have very little contribution to the geek world. I’m sorry if you Mac users out there are offended by this but I have to say that it’s because your favorite system is static. You can’t experience the same enjoyment of building a system up from scratch.

Sorry Mac users but your system now is nothing more than a “Windows PC’ but it comes with its own OS that can’t be legally installed in different-branded system. Sorry Apple but it’s not our fault if we never use your OS because the only way to use OS X is to get a Mac. However your systems are premium. I know it may be cliché to say ‘premium’ considering that even in Windows world, there are premium brands too like SONY, Lenovo and Toshiba, but that is not a problem in Windows world. If a user just want a Windows system s/he can always get a cheaper hardware. Mac users can never enjoy that.

As far as I know Mac OS X is cheaper than Windows when sold separately. Not only that Mac users don’t face the same confusion as Windows users since there are only 2 versions available, the desktop and server. Not to mention the server and desktop version will be merged in the upcoming ‘Lion’ release. In Windows there are probably at least 7 (pun intended) different versions to choose from, and the Ultimate version is really pricey. That’s one good thing I know about Mac OS X.

However one good thing does not mean it’s already OK. Not allowing OS X to be installed in non-Mac system is like not allowing cars other than Ferrari to use Shell gas. For me vendor-locking is the stupidest business model. It’s a relic from the past. I’m not saying that Apple should give up on vendor-locking anytime soon or even go completely open source but isn’t it about time to reconsider for a fresh business model in order not to look evil? So my final words for now, allow Mac clones or at least allow Mac OS to be installed on non-Macs and we’ll talk.

It’s because the Windows users are able to build their system from scratch that makes them contributed more to the geek world. They share with everybody how they do stuff and they have access to resources (IT stores) and get to experiment with different hardware setup to achieve the best with their own hands. In Mac things can only be done in a pre-setup environment by Apple. Of course there are some upgradeability in Macs but most of them are only recently (since the transition to Intel CPUs) whereas in Windows world this has been around at least a decade before Mac users could enjoy the almost similar (but inferior) experience.

The most that could be done with a Mac is to upgrade the hard drive and RAM but CPU is usually a no-no, unless you’re adventurous enough to try it, provided it’s not hardwired to your system, or your system does not using the custom-designed CPU like most Macs do. In Mac world the users would have to wait for Apple to use newer CPU, but that is by getting an entirely new hardware instead of upgrading the old one. The system is already on the premium side so getting a new one means another money to spent. Sorry but that’s not something I’d want to do. Rather than paying money for a complete system that’s deemed “the best your money can buy” I’d use the same amount of money to get awesome hardware and setup a superior system instead.

That said I have to say this again, sorry dear Mac users. Your system is cool but the moment I learned of how restrictive it is I stopped loving it. Don’t blame me if I say you have very little contribution to the geek ecosystem, and I don’t buy it if you’re going to say cliché rationalizing argument like “Macs don’t need to be meddled with that often”. Sorry but that is also a relic of the past. People should enjoy building their system because their can, thus it’s not enjoyable to be not allowed to do something that is actually possible.