Two years ago, Shibuya was ravaged by a biological terrorist attack using the deadly Ua virus. Maria Osawa was saved when her father inoculated her against the virus, but is left with partial amnesia from the shock. She works as a cameraman when she reunites with a girl named Canaan in Shanghai, China. A gifted assassin with synesthesia, she is under orders from an unknown organization for a yet unspecified mission.

Holy Damn! I just finished CANAAN. Anyone who hasn’t watch it… DO IT! NNOOOWWW! :p

The anime wouldn’t be the same if any of the characters were missing. Superbly done characters with perfectly matched roles. Well, maybe Liang Qi was a little distubring. But no complaints otherwise. Everything is so good, I actually don’t have anything thing to rant on. This blows… Pfft.. Xp

No wait, thought of something.
The opening and ending theme… Pfft… It’s probably the only thing holding CANAAN back. The INSERT song in the final episode was another story, it was good. Can’t seem to find it online though.

I hate endings which doesn’t provide a clear conclusion to how everything ends. HATE!
But still, CANAAN left me more satisfied than I would have expected. It’s just that great.

I don’t believe it but I’ve actually found an anime on the same level of greatness as Black Lagoon I /II, and yes, it’s CANAAN. Duh!

Just out of curiosity, would you guys classify CANAAN as a mind-fark? Been trying to get a better understanding of the term lately.
I would, considering Liang Qi and Hakko’s story. But CANAAN by itself doesn’t have too much of a twisted story plot to begin with. Not like Ergo Proxy.

Just a little hint on what to expect. Xp

Yes, Liang Qi likes her Wii. Lol!
And wants YOU to get some too!

CANAAN
Rating: 5-Stars
More info: AnimeNewsNetwork.com

In case you didn’t notice, Yes… I am trying out a new post format YET AGAIN. I have yet to come up with a satisfying post format.
I rock this way don’t I? Lol…

Deux journalistes, Mino-san et sa partenaire sont envoyés pour couvrir un évènement culturel dans la ville de Shanghai. En raison de certaines circonstances cette dernière se retrouve seule au milieu de cette manifestation festive. Elle sera alors brutalement mêlée à une situation critique au mauvais endroit, au mauvais moment mais c’est alors que surgit Canaan, une jeune mercenaire victime de guerre.

Canaan a des airs d’anime de la saison mais s’avère ne pas tenir ses promesses sur long terme. Explications.

En effet, alors que l’histoire promet beaucoup de choses intéressantes, la fin laisse un arrière gout amer car on a le sentiment que le scénario n’est pas poussé au maximum. Beaucoup de questions sont en suspend, voir même éludées. Pourquoi? A cause d’une mauvaise gestion des épisodes. Si les derniers terminent tambour battant, avec une pointe légère de suspens, les premiers sont à l’exact opposé: mous, pas très intéressants et ennuyeux. Et c’est bien là qu’est le problème car il faut attendre le 7ème pour rentrer vraiment dans l’ambiance de l’anime. Sur une série qui ne compte que 13 épisode, c’est un gros handicap de commencer de cette manière.

Même si la fin est dans l’ensemble plutôt bon, quelques éléments restent obscurs pour moi comme le choix de Canann et Maria. Je commence à en avoir assez de ces réflexions philosophiques, à prendre au 90ème degré ou à décoder. Les multiples allusions dont font preuves les deux héroïnes n’aident pas à comprendre. Pourquoi toujours parler par métaphore plutôt que d’expliquer clairement le pourquoi de leur choix? Enfin, l’idée générale est compréhensible mais on ne peut pas s’empêcher de trouver ce genre d’arguments étranges, voir énervant dans certains cas.

Heureusement, les personnages sont bons, mis à part quelques persos secondaires mais qui ne gâchent rien de ce coté. Canaan apparait comme une combattante forte mais fragile intérieurement, dans un monde qui lui est propre et qui essaie de devenir “normal”. Sa relation avec Maria la pousse vers le haut car Maria cherche exactement l’inverse, ce qui les conduits à jouer au chat et à la souris, afin de trouver un terrain où les deux amies seront sur un pied d’égalité. La seule chose que l’on pourrait reprocher est que ce point n’est pas assez abordé, ou tout au moins de façon désordonnée. Alphard est une bonne méchante car elle reste suffisamment froide et distante pour que ses véritables intentions ne soient pas immédiatement détectables. Liang Qi est un portrait différent d’Alphard, bien plus fou et dérangé, mais permet là aussi de pousser Alphard vers la haut. Le reporter accompagnant Maria et la travailleuse multi-baito apportent la touche comiques et c’est pas plus mal. J’aime beaucoup aussi Hakko, même si son histoire arrive un peu tard et n’a pas le temps d’exploser, ce qui doublement dommage car le rapport avec la trame d’origine est fort.

Le design est bizarre, et sans être mauvais, on ne peut pas le qualifier de bon. Le personnage semblent désarticulés ou très rigides. On finit par se dire que ca permet au style de l’anime de s’affirmer mais chacun y verra ce qu’il veut voir. Les couleurs vives et les décors sont un point positif.
La musique est très secondaire mais heureusement, l’opening est assez bon, détonnant et agréable visuellement mais on finit par regretter que l’anime n’est pas la même pêche.

Une série qui s’avère décevante car pleine de potentiel mal géré. Une série qu’on oubliera assez vite alors que l’histoire et les réflexions pouvaient donner un résultat plus que satisfaisant. Peut-être qu’un autre format aurait pu se révéler payant mais je crois que les 13 épisodes ont été mal équilibrés. L’ensemble ne prend pas. Vraiment dommage.

Je vous mets l’opening en bonus car je trouve qu’il balance pas mal.

By Paul Chong Friday, 13 November 2009

Moses Parting the Red Sea

Once in a while we witness & marvel at great happenings of nature & wonder. But when miracles happen frequently on a daily basis all awe & significance are seemingly lost or are taken for granted. This is in reference to undoubtedly the greatest of logistic miracles ever to occur with the lives of the Israelites when wandering through the deserts for 40 long years before reaching the Promised Land.

We often familiarly hear of miracle cure with some deadly or terminal diseases. What seem to be humanly & medically impossible unexpectedly turn out to be possible is what miracle is all about. We would say that his recovery was a blessed miracle – a wonder, marvel, sensation, phenomenon, or a supernatural mystery . . . something unexplainable. A miracle cure goes against all logic of medicine & science.

After the great Exodus from Egypt, Moses led his people through desert land, living it out in hostile environment & wandering for a long 40 years before setting their eyes upon the Promised Land – the Land as promised by God to them “flowing with milk & honey.” Those long years of wandering were destined by God to rid off a generation of idolaters, & people who showed a lack of faith complaining constantly against God.

Originally, it was intended for the Israelites to proceed directly from Egypt to Canaan. In the Book of Numbers 1:46, we learnt that from the 70 that went into Egypt (Genesis 47:27), the total number involved in the Exodus was 603,550 of men 20 years & older. The turning point happened in Numbers 14 when all the people grumbled against the Lord. As a consequence the Lord said that all the people counted in the census would die in the desert except for Caleb & Joshua who would eventually lead the people into Canaan.

Even the rebelliousness of the people rubbed off on Moses & Aaron who were not allowed into the Promised Land, when they failed to give due credit to God for the miracle of producing water from the rock. Thus Moses came to live a 40 year-life in the palace of Pharaoh, 40 years as a refugee in Midian, and 40 years as a leader of the Israelites in the wilderness.

Life in the wilderness must have been hard. By the second census taken in Numbers 26, the total number was 601,730 with Caleb & Joshua surviving from the first census. Can you imagine what kind of logistics & planning is required to feed & care for that multitude of people in the hot wilderness? What was he to do with them?

In the modern scenario, taking from the experience of The Desert Storm of the American Forces in the Middle East, according to the Quartermaster General in the Army, say on the basis of feeding 2 to 3 million soldiers, Moses would require:

• 1500 tons of food daily
• 4000 tons of wood to cook the food each day
• 11,000,000 gallons of water each day for drinking & washing

It would have required Moses to have two freight trains, each as mile long to transport in the food. Similarly, it was necessary to freight in the firewood for the daily requirement. For the water, another freight train with tank carts, 1800 miles long would be necessary. There were no freight trains in the Biblical days!

What about accommodation & camping at the end of the day’s wandering? It’s estimated that a campground two-thirds the size of the State of Rhode Island was required, or a total of 750 square miles long!

Do you think that Moses figured all these logistics & mathematical problems out before departing from Egypt? What about the question of storage of food in a hot, stifling warehouse – so that food might be fit for consumption? The whole affair would require a logistics support team of science, engineering & packaging personnel.

These are just the basic & fundamental requirements & needs of the people, who lived & wandered in the wilderness not for a year or two but for 40 long years. Did we mention the need to clothe them against cold at night & clothing suitable for day’s heat?

Moses couldn’t have conceived all these problems before setting out of Egypt. Moses believed in God. God took care of these things for him. Everything that sustained the lives of the Israelites for 40 years in the wilderness was well provided for by God. There was no logistics support team . . . just one miracle after another.

Lest we forget, getting across the Red Sea was a great miracle. Logistically, if they went on a narrow path, double file, the line would be 800 miles long and would require 35 days & nights to get through. So, there had to be space in the Red Sea, 3 miles wide so that they would walk 5000 abreast to get over in one night.

Now would you ever doubt that God would forsake you?

]]> http://gamesmind.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/i-finally-finished-canaan/ Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:46:40 +0000 Game8910 http://gamesmind.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/i-finally-finished-canaan/ http://faesworld.wordpress.com/2009/11/08/canaan-review/ Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:47:06 +0000 fae http://faesworld.wordpress.com/2009/11/08/canaan-review/

The anime opens at a festival in Shanghai. A photographer named Maria is in awe as she takes numerous pictures and joins in the festivities. Soon after mysterious deaths occur and Maria bumps into her long lost friend Canaan. Canaan was a very authentic anime in many different ways. Even though it had the ‘girls with guns’ element like Gunslinger Girl and many other animes, I found originality in many other elements. One of these were the  Synesthesia abilities Canaan possessed. Before this anime I had never heard of ‘hearing with colour’. Now I think it’s absolutely facisnating. Those with Synesthesia have a completely different perception of the world. Anyways, back to the anime. The plot was always full of action. It seemed like everytime i thought they were safe, someone ended up dying within the next 30 seconds. Was this a bad thing? A good thing? uhh.. I don’t really know. At the end of the anime there was major losses in important characters, and some characters remained alive even though i believed they were dead. Sometimes it was easy to predict what would happen but I could only guess 5 minutes ahead of the storyline. The backstory for some characters were hard to figure out (i.e. Maria’s relationship with her father). This was probably because those details were covered in the game and left vague in the anime. But after reading up on it I understood the chacaters more. Definitely worth a try if you’re looking for a change of pace. It’s only 13 episodes and it might even cause you to research synesthesia, like me!

Old news anime…

Click to enarlge. (Illust: 関口可奈味)

Title: CANAAN
Studio: P.A. Works
Original Scenario: 奈須きのこ (NASU Kinoko)
Character Designs: 武内崇（TAKEUCHI Takashi)
Episodes: 13
Genre: Seinen (Action)
Status: Completed, not licensed.
My Rating: 7.8/10

OOSAWA Maria is an aspiring camerawoman who travels to Shanghai with her co-worker, reporter MINORIKAWA Minoru, in hopes of getting a big scoop. While they’re on the job, they get caught up in terrorist-related activities which have to do with a lethal virus called the Ua virus and its victims. The anime is based on a bonus scenario written by NASU Kinoko for the game 428.

To be honest, I’ve never really read/seen any of Nasu’s works before (5 paragraphs of Tsukihime doesn’t count!), so I’m not sure if CANAAN is the regular, awesome Nasu affair, but CANAAN’s story was pretty great, in my opinion. I wanted to watch this for four reasons:

1. 428 got 40/40 from Famitsu.
2. Alphard reminded me of Revy from Black Lagoon, who is awesome, and is voiced by Sakamoto Maaya
3. The OP sequence’s ranking as interpreted by Baka-Raptor.
4. The ED theme was sung by Annabel, one of my favourite doujin artists.

There was a lot of progression each episode, and the sequence for how they revealed everything (from the initial individual encounters to the reasons behind the whole grand plan), was done really coherently, and the best thing was that after everything was revealed, they went back to the characters and developed them a little more so that at the end they didn’t seem shallow at all. There weren’t a lot of plotholes that I noticed either, and even the silly mascot helmets were explained. Unfortunately, I thought the actual concept itself was pretty over-the-top. A superstrong virus, world government leaders, fighter planes, synethesia to this extent…It’s good to try and incorporate some real world stuff into elaborate stories like these, but here it just seemed a little out of place, especially when the whole thing is centered around relatively unserious large-eyed characters.

I should also note that the animation was seriously impeccable. After seeing a certain slideshow anime, I forgot that anime was supposed to immerse the audience with animation, but CANAAN reminded me with every second I watched. GJ P.A. Works!

The characters were in general awesome, but with a large, important exception: Maria. Maria is absolutely useless. She cannot take pictures, she cannot fight, and her most outstanding skill seems to be getting kidnapped so people can get a certain character to fight with them. I really felt that she was just there to act as a plot device to develop other characters and trigger events, and other than that, she didn’t seem at all like a character. Her voice is also not sugoi. Other than Maria, though, the rest were almost more than awesome, and I could say that the entire main cast (except Maria) was above average in terms of likeability. Here’s my ranking:

1. Hakko - Mute, beautiful, slightly deadly woman who stole every scene she was in despite not talking. So awesome.
2. Alphard - More like 1.02, because she’s equivalent to Hakko in coolness, but she really didn’t have enough scenes in the series, and if she appeared more often, she’d be my absolute favourite. At first she reminded me of Revy from Black Lagoon (Tattoo, ponytail, shorts, nonexistent fashion sense), but she is more composed and slick. She’s also voiced by Sakamoto Maaya, whom we all love.
3. Canaan - So unemotional and strong she is awesome. Although it seems like she likes Maria in a really yuri way to most people, it seemed to me that she just loved Maria since Canaan doesn’t really have anybody else to love. Crazy fighting style and pretty eyes, too, but just how old is she anyways?
4. Liang Qi - Psycho, sadistic villian who would’ve been my top favourite if she fit in with the rest of the too-chill cast. She is very entertaining to watch, and her dialogue is so incredibly interesting, but is far too exaggerated and insane. I couldn’t believe she was voiced by Tanaka Rie. Must’ve been a mistake in the credits…or not.

Overall, CANAAN was a really satisfying series to watch, especially because the fights were so well choreographed and animated. Great characters and a coherent plot that doesn’t make you think TOO much makes this series above average, but the existence of Maria pulls it down a bit, and the themes are not life-changingly deep. (Actually, it is slightly shallow.) Recommended if you want a quick, beautiful action fix with an awesome cast.

Canaan Dog
The Canaan Dog is a herding and flock guardian dog native to the Middle East. … The Canaan Dog, the natural breed of Israel, dates back to Biblical times, …

Canaan Dog
The Canaan Dog Club of America is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of the purebred Canaan Dog. … Canaani-L, the Canaan Dog mail list, a …

What is a Canaan Dog?
The Israelis have since used the Canaan Dog for guard duties, as mine detectors … The Canaan Dog is recognized by the American Kennel Club (Herding Group), the …

Kennel Club: Canaan Dog
The essential characteristics of the Canaan Dog are those which have enabled … The Canaan Dog gives the impression of elegance but is sufficiently substantial …

I decided to start a new anime called CANAAN. It’s based on a visual novel for Wii created by Type-Moon called 428: Fūsasareta Shibuya de. It’s really common to have visual novels turn into an anime. This 13 episode series is full of action with some politics. It centres around of course, a girl named Canaan. She was the sole survivor of a war-torn village in the middle east. Canaan has a special ability called Synesthesia. Which she often uses in her conquest for revenge. I’m currently watching episode 10 and it’s getting quite interesting. I’ll write a review when I finish tonight.        

CANAAN.

I’m still going to kill WordPress’ visual editor~

I’m really impressed with the CANAAN Inspired album. I honestly only downloaded it for moar Annabel to add to my collection, but I really did enjoy every song.  Maybe I’ll do more later ;o;

The only not retarded picture of Siam I found on the Internets in three minutes. By kito of pixiv.

English (Hopeful Sky ~Siam’s Theme~)

In this rotting world, eyes are filled with hope
That powerful force always shows the way

I want to protect somebody and sprout – Those feelings
Turn relief into light. Don’t hesitate, just keep going

The people wounded by sadness occasionally sing about love
To accept all of that foolish kindness is to live

The unrecoverable fate can no longer be recovered
Painful hopes have been bound up
Don’t avert your eyes – Take a look at the way things really are
Now, grasp the opposing courages in your own hands

In the yet unseen and unknown future, two skies spread out
Eventually, won’t the day when hearts that carry on can forgive each other come?

The people are hated even though they struggle. Nothing more can be given birth to
The solitude locked up in the pain of despair cannot be cured

Can’t you hear this voice of truth?
Just release yourself – That’s enough
Like the falling rain moistens the earth,
If your heart has melted then, yes, a hopeful morning will come

The people find ways to help each other. Before long, they’ll notice love
More than anyone else, more than anyone else, they’ve been starving for that love

The unrecoverable fate can no longer be recovered
Don’t be bound, just keep pushing forward
Like the falling rain moistens the earth,
Now, if your heart has melted then, it’ll go to a new future

Romaji

kuchiteku sekai no naka   kibou ni michita hitomi
itsudemo sono kyoudai na chikara ga micibiiteku

dare ka wo mamoritai to mebaeta sono omoi ga
sukui he no hikari ni naru   mayowanaide susumeba ii

hito wa kanashimi kizutsuite   toki ni ai wo utau
oroka samo yasashi samo   sono subete ukeirete ikiteku

mou modorenai   modorenai unmei ni
shibareta   kanashii kibou
me wo surasazu ni   ari no mama wo mitsumete
mukiaeru yuuki wo   saa   tsukamitore sono te de

mada minu michi no saki de hirogaru futatsu no sora
itsuka mata kokoro kayoi yurushi aeru hi ga kuru darou

hito wo nikushimi mogaitemo   nani mo umidasanai
zetsubou no itami de wa   tojikometa kodoku wo iyasenai

kikoeru darou   shinjitsu no kono koe ga
tokihanate   sore dake de ii
furidasu ame ga daichi wo uruosu you ni
kokoro ga toketa nara   sou   kibou no asa ga kuru

hito wa motomete sasaeai   yagate ai ni kidzuku
dare yori mo dare yori mo   sono ai ni ueteita no darou

mou modorenai   modorenai unmei ni
shibararezu   tsukisusumeba ii
furidasu ame ga daichi wo uruosu you ni
kokoro ga toketa nara   saa   atarashii mirai he

Ah, I’m on fire here as I received my new jacket from DeviantART. A Nice jacket one (I bought the Eckto Hoodie, one). Since my mood is on the high, I decided to make another Rainmeter skin, this time it’s Canaan from one of my favourite anime series, well… Canaan. Enjoy.

Skin Name: Canaan Calendar Rainmeter

File Size: 126 KB

Color Theme: Orange

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/file/yuqnlynndoy/CanaanCalendar.rar

Note: A Rainmeter application can be downloaded in my previous post. Don’t forget to extract and move the folder to your Rainmeter skin directory. Happy downloading!

I just read a rather amusing article today concerning a History Channel account of Joshua’s battles. The contention of the author was that the History Channel omitted any reference to God as the director of these battles and the subsequent conquest of Canaan. To me, it is more troublesome that we would want to give God the credit.

Here is a very abbreviated account of what happened. Moses had turned over leadership of the Israelites to Joshua, just prior to his death because he was unable to cross into the land of Canaan. Upon entering the promised land (after forty years of waiting due to disobedience) Joshua’s armies proceeded to wipe out all inhabitants of any city that he encountered. He did, however, offer cities that gave in to him, the chance to be ruled by Israel rather than face destruction. It is also important to mention that Joshua not only destroyed the cities he encountered, he murdered every man, woman and child within the city walls. He did this over and over until Canaan was his.

OK, now without the cute songs and folklore that we grew up with, does this sound a little out of character for our God? Only a few short years before entering the promised land, God gave His people the ten commandments. Among these commandments were “thou shall not steal, thou shall not murder and thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s house” Does it not seem contrdictory that after such a brief time God now embraces murder (let’s face it, Joshua was using the army of Israel to kill children, women and the elderly, as well as able-bodied men), taking the land , by force, from the rightful owners and the coveting of other’s property. I am only a layman but does God change so easily. Is it not more believable that Joshua misinterpreted God’s plan, struck out on his own and layed waste to the cities in Canaan?

Granted, the people he encountered believed much differently than the Israelites but was that alone justification to kill them and steal their land? I tend to think Joshua erred and that we are seeing the results of that blunder today. What part of the ten commandments did Joshua not understand? Why do we accept his military campaign as just? What would your or anyone’s response be to a similar attack on your family and country? Would you lay down and submit? Would the middle east be peaceful today if Joshua had adopted Christ’s beattitudes in his negotiations with his new-found neighbors, rather than military force and murder? Why was there no attempt to work together?

I am simply throwing out the notion that Joshua did not follow a path that he knew to be consistent with God’s character and direction (ten commandments) but through fear, greed or who can possibly know what, decided to run a campaign of murder and destruction instead.

I am in no way saying that the current state of Israel should give up any of what they now possess but maybe that it would work towards a more peaceful world if Israel would acknowledge a possible wrong done by past generations and a desire to work together, basing their work on Christ’s principles. Maybe not but it is no way a mystery to me why the middle east is in a state of constant turmoil.

This is probably the 2nd most popular screencap in the collection I have built up over the last year. You honestly don't want to know #1

The 5th edition of this series takes us to the recent past, where some series are currently airing. Fortunately, nothing I did not drop is currently airing, so I won’t have to make any changes to the format here. The best way I can think of this summer is that is wasn’t a terrible summer, nor was it absolutely fantastic.

On the OVA front there was the matter of the Minami-ke OVA which had a Valentine’s Day theme if I remember right. Maybe the animation not being horrible makes it a little less memorable. I’m masochistic in that way. There was also the part where Hosaka did his Hosaka thing, but convinced Chiaki to eat carrots. I don’t see how anyone can hate carrots to be honest, but I digress.

There was also the Akane-iro Somaru Saka OVA which can pretty much be summarized by the screencap I placed at the top of this post.

Taishou Yakyuu Musume did pretty much what any piece of sports fiction does these days, except without a training montage in the middle. A bunch of girls who are terrible at baseball eventually become good enough to take on a rival school at their own game. Plus, the series opens with a musical introduction to Taishou-era Tokyo.

CANAAN took the concept of combining different groups of people in Shanghai who come together and become part of a multi-national conspiracy. The parts where people had mysterious powers were probably underused, and the main characters were either horribly annoying or lacked personality in the slightest. At least the villains were interesting.

Princess Lover! had me wondering why something was made where the motivation for the villain is so ridiculous I was laughing when I got to it. I also have to say despite Arima’s difficult life before the series begins, he has it far, far too easy throughout the series.

Sora no Manimani serves as a somewhat educational series, at least when it comes to constellations and winter survival strategies of all things. Overall, it was a pretty fun series to watch though some of the relationships remain unresolved. Also, there’s the small matter of Roma’s inexplicable hook up in the end.

Then there’s the second season of Spice & Wolf. I can say at times the second season did a good job of beautifully shooting me to tears at points, it pretty much put in a shift as setup for a third season. I still can’t make sense of the fact they attempted to put in a credit spread. Will the 3rd season, when they do make it throw in collateralized debt obligations for good measure.

Highlights from Shows Unseen or Unfinished

Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is just sitting there waiting for me to finish the last two episodes. Maybe if I stopped writing these posts I would have time. Personally I would put this just a bit off the first season in quality so 3rd best overall of the 4 incarnations. Bakemonogatari is still running technically, but it has spawned some brilliant analysis of fandom. Element Hunters has the worst concept I have seen from anything that doesn’t show up on the channel that shall not be named. While Kanamemo makes yuri antics seem like a normal part of the workplace.

Canaan – Vol.1

Fuente: R2J DVD5 Retail
Formato DVD: NTSC
Tamaño DVD: DVD5
Formato Pantalla: 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen
Audio Language: Japones
Formato Audio: DD 2.0
Subtitulos: Español Neutro – Ingles (Custom: Inshuheki / Frostii)

Menu: [x] Untouched, intact.
Video: [x] Untouched, intact.
DVD Extras: [x] Untouched, intact.

Contenido DVD 1

#001: Shanghai teñida de rojo
#002: Un juego cruel

Release Original Blinx01

Torrent Link DaniVmeD: Canaan Vol.1 – Fansubbed PCS

Torrent Link AsianDVDClub: Canaan Vol.1 – Fansubbed PCS

OPENINGS

→ Canaan – Single OP1 – mind as Judgment

Name: mind as Judgment
Artist: Faylan
CD Release: 2009/07/22
Tracks:

01. mind as Judgment
02. Utakata no Kotori Tachi
03. mind as Judgment (off vocal)
04. Utakata no Kotori Tachi (off vocal)
Download: Click Here (55.42 MB)

ENDINGS

→ Canaan – Single ED1 – My heaven

Name: My heaven
Artist: Annabel
CD Release: 2009/08/26
Tracks:

01. My heaven
02. filum
03. My heaven (off vocal)
04. filum (off vocal)
Download: Click Here (55.35 MB)

ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK

→ Canaan – Original Soundtrack

Name: Original Soundtrack
CD Release: 2009/11/25
Tracks:

2009/11/25
Download: Click Here ( MB)

ALBUM / INSERT SONG

→ Canaan – Inspired album

Name: CANAAN – Inspired album
Artist: Annabel & Faylan
CD Release: 2009/11/11
Tracks:

01. mind as Judgement ~ballad~
02. Kibou no Chi
03. MY REAL
04. synesthesia
05. Hishou no Koku
06. Yawarakana Hikari no Naka
07. Day of the fate
08. Ai no Kotoba
09. Kibou no Sora
10. Shanghai Hiyori
Download: Click Here (117.63 MB)

→ Canaan – Insert Song Single – China Kibun de High Tension!

Name: Insert Song Single – China Kibun de High Tension!
Artist: Takagaki Ayahi
CD Release: 2009/10/07
Tracks:

01. China Kibun de High Tension!
02. Inochi Nandayo
03. LIFE
04. China Kibun de High Tension! (off vocal)
05. Inochi Nandayo (off vocal)
06. LIFE (off vocal)
Download: Click Here (84.42 MB)

Ya está lista la versión 3 del Blog espero les agrade, las razones de xq el cambio estan allá, Luego de 3 meses y medio y una buena aceptación de este Blog he decidido mudarme a http://mangoteca.xtreemhost.com/ Es un Blog más personal, con más ventajas y que definitivamente era necesario hacerla antes de que llegué la Fase Final de Gantz , este Blog inicialmente estaba dedicado a Gantz pero debido a la gracia de Hiroya tuvé que alimentar la espera con buenos animes y mangas en fin para no hacerlo largo si les gustó este Blog el nuevo será igual o superior.

Saludos y gracias por todas sus visitas.. Al ser mi primera vez en BLogs (xD) me ha hechó mucha ilusión llegar a más de 29.000 visitas. Disfruten el nuevo Blog

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Tiger in:
Aoi Bungaku – Kokoro
Hetalia Axis Powers – Ep. 44
Kimi ni Todoke – Ep. 8
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Purezza – Ep. 8
Nyan Koi – Ep. 8
Trapeze – Ep. 6
Umineko no Naku Koro Ni – Ep. 4-4

Falls es jemanden interessiert: Universum Anime hat CANAAN für den deutschen Markt lizensiert, Realease soll wohl Mitte 2010 sein. Ich hätte mich mehr über Kara no Kyoukai gefreut…

Aoi Bungaku – Im Wald unter der erblühten Kirsche 2: Finale des Wahnsinns. War mir insgesamt zu abgedreht. Die Kopfnummer war ziemlich übel, die Auflösung dann zu plötzlich. Kokoro wird wohl eher nach meinem Geschmack sein, hoffe ich.
Fairy Tail 7: Virgo hat sich… verändert, im positiven Sinn. Dazu ein paar Standbildfights, erzwungene Erinnerungen und Lärm. Das Übliche halt.
Kobato 7: krudes gg-Timing, relativ öde Episode, wenn auch zum Ende hin besser; Domoto ist ganz interessant. Naja.
Seitokai no Ichizon 8: die erste Hälfte hat bei mir nen Lachkrampf ausgelösot, die 2. war auch nicht schlecht. Eindeutig eine der besten Episoden bisher.

Aoi Bungaku – Kokoro
Sommer | Winter



Eine interessante Idee, die Geschichte aus 2 verschiedenen Perspektiven neu zu erzählen (die sogar am Ende der beiden Episoden nochmal umgekehrt werden) und dies durch den Farbstil widerzuspiegeln. Obatas Charakterdesign bewegt sich dieses Mal irgendwo zwischen Ai Yazawa und Toshihiro Kawamoto; Regie führte Shegeyuki Miya selbst, neben der eigenen Arbeit am Charakterdesign und sorgt beim Zuschauer dafür, sich nie wirklich auf eine Seite zu schlagen. Ich jedenfalls habe die 2 Episoden nicht als eine Handlung, sondern eher als Alternativen erachtet, denn hier wie da sind die Unterschiede teils doch etwas auffallend und einschneidend. 4,5 / 5

Hetalia Axis Powers
Episode 44

Liechtenstein kriegt von Schweiz einen Anfängerkurs in Selbstverteidigung (Sprich nicht mit Fremden!). Das Problem: Schweiz malt das Zeug viel zu süß, weshalb Liechtensteins Gedanken nun ganz woanders abhängen.
Japan und USA wollen einander besser kennenlernen. Erste Auffälligkeit für Japan: Amerikas Devil Food, das allein vom Aussehen her wohl schon tausenden den Geschmacksnerv genommen hat. Kanade bezieht derweil täglich Prügel von Kuba, weshalb er sich nun bei seinem großen Nachbarn beschweren will. Da der aber gerade mit einer Kettensäge beschäftigt ist, will Kanada wieder abziehen.
USAxKanada war sehr toll, LiechtensteinxSchweiz ging so. 3 / 5

Kimi ni Todoke
8. Self-Practice


Immer mehr (zugegebenermaßen nette) Gerüchte um Sadako machen an der Schule die Runde, weshalb sich die anderen Schüler ihr gegenüber sogar noch freundlicher verhalten, sprich sie versuchen, zum Lächeln zu kriegen, denn dann gehts Glück um! Mittlerweile erkennt sie (dank etwas Hilfe) dann auch, dass sie sich mit Hiroki und Endo angefreundet hat. Zur Feier des Tages überlegt man sich gleich noch ein paar Spitznamen, die neuen Anreden fallen Sawako dann aber doch etwas schwer. In nächster Zeit steht auch noch das Sportfest an, und da bedarf es einen Schüler fürs Kommitee. Da Pin keinen Bock auf ewiges suchen hat, muss kurzer Hand Kazehaya dran glauben. Nebenbei hat die Klasse ein paar Schüler zu wenig, weshalb einige doppelt antreten müssen (die Unfähigen dürfen höchst offiziell schwänzen)… Sawako kriegt den Fussball ab, auch wenn sie davon eigentlich keine Ahnung hat. Als Kurumi dann von Kazehayas Kommiteemitgliedschaft hört, sorgt sie dann auch noch für ihre eigene Nominierung (und natürlich den Sieg!). Zwischen 4. und 5. Stunde sthet Fussballtraining an, und Sawako entpuppt sich (wie eigentlich erwartet) als ziemliche Null. Vielleicht ists besser, wenn sie einfach nur lächelt und damit den Gegner verschreckt… Kazehaya gefallen dafür ihre Zöpfe und sie schaltet mal eben auf Rot und Durchzug. Nach dem Unterricht will Sawako weiterüben, ‘nen Ball kriegt sie aber nicht. Beim Kommitee trifft Kazehaya dann auch auf Kurumi, lässt sich aber von Sawako ablenken, die unten Blumen gießt und mit einem Stein das Fussballspielen übt. Schließlich bringt er ihr dann einen echten Ball vorbei und man übt gemeinsam.
Die kurze Instrumentalversion des Endings war wunderschön, die Episode sowieso. 4 / 5

Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Purezza
8. Ich machs dir…


Mika lädt Yuuto auf ihre Girls-Only-Schule ein, einfach so, um mit ihm anzugeben; dafür wird mal eben die Biografie runtergerasselt (inklusive erster Liebe, an die sich der Hauptdarsteller wohl selbst nicht mehr erinnern kann) und anschließender Fragerunde, nach einem kleinen Ausrutscher ist aber erstmal Sense. Dafür gibts nun einen Rundgang und langsam zeigt sich, dass in Mika doch mehr steht: sie ist die Vorsitzende der Schülervertretung (mittlerweile zum 2. Mal, und einen Fanclub gabs gratis dazu). Im Theaterclub wird Yuuto dann ungewollt runtergemacht und anschließend werfen sich Mikas Freundinnen ihm an den Hals, wenn auch nur, um ihr die Schamesröte ins Gesicht zu treiben. Schließlich kommt aber das Hauptthema zur Sprache: Mikas Theater-Drehbuch (qualitativ irgendwo zwischen Pretty Cure, Cutey Honey, Sailor Moon und Yatterman). Die Probeaufführung gefällt Yuuto, Eri hat dafür aber noch ein paar Verständnisprobleme mit ihrer männlichen Rolle, also soll Yuuto helfen. Bevors dann aber etwas zu schön wird, soll sich Mika beim stellvertretenden Direktor melden. Das dauert ziemlich lange, und als sie wieder zurückkommt, ist nur noch Yuuto anwesend. Plötzlich kommt ne Lehrerin rum, also verstecken, am besten natürlich im Schrank… gemeinsam. Und da sich niemand findet, wird der Raum abgeschlossen. Handy hilft auch nix, kein Empfang. Mika fällt schließlich über Yuuto her, da er ja überhaupt nicht reagiert. Haruki hat derweil mit Hazuki ein Bad genommen und Nelson, den Waschbären (wtf?) kennen gelernt. Den hat Hazuki dann auch gleich mit Alice und Nanami mitgenommen, um Mika abzuholen, und prompt stolpert man da über die Zwei. Aber aufgeben ist für Mika dann doch nicht drin…
Oh, Mann. Nicht so extrem ecchi wie erwartet, sondern noch im erträglichen Rahmen. Auch sonst ganz okay. Und wer denkt sich eigentlich diese Episodentitel aus?! 3,5 / 5

Nyan Koi
8. Der glühende private Sportlehrer


Die Zwillinge bringen den übergewichtigen Micchi (Shintarou Oohata, Chiba in Beck) vorbei, der ziemliche Probleme beim Vögel fangen hat. Also Zeit für Training! Kaede und Nagi tauchen ganz zufällig auf, letztere lädt ihn gleich mal zum Training im Club ein. Das wird zu einer waschechten Tortur, auch und gerade für die ebenfalls eingeladene Kanako, die sich am nächsten Tag vor lauter Schmerzen gleich freinimmt. Da Junpei vor lauter Training mit Kaede garkeine Zeit mehr für Micchi hat, klaut der einen BH von ihr und stopft ihn in Junpeis Tasche, den dieser ihr auch gleich prompt statt eines frisch gewaschenen Taschentuchs gibt, inklusive der üblichen Rot-werd-Szene in der Einkaufsmeile. Wenigstens entshculdigt sich Micchi dann aber bei Junpei und nun gibts endloses Training und schnell nimmt der Kater ab und wird wieselflink. Ärger kriegt Junpei von Nagi und Kanade dann aber doch, als sie von dem “Unfall” hören. Haruhiko klärts aber dann auf, hat er doch gesehen, wie Micchi den BH geklaut hat.
Ich habe gelacht, habe mich an den Animationen erfreut, ergo Spaß gehabt. Was will man mehr? 4 / 5

Trapeze
6. Cell


Yuta Tsuda (Miyu Irino, Saji in Gundam 00) ist ein Fall von Kontrollsucht, die sich in seinem Handy manifestiert hat. Bei Irabu, dem handylosen, gibts erstmal eine Vitaminsprite von Mayumi (Yutas Tier ist ein Specht), die selbst auch ohne Mobilfunk unterwegs ist, was Yuta natürlich wundert. Später trifft er sich noch mit seinen Freunden im Cafe und sorgt bei einer der Bedienungen mit der Nachfrage nach ihrer Nummer dafür, dass sie einem Büroangestellten, Kaffee über die Klamotten schüttet. Die Nummer kriegt er aber trotzdem. Ein paar Tage später nimmt ihm sein Lehrer das Handy weg, woraufhin er vor Panik aus dem Unterricht flüchtet und mit seiner Mutter ein neues kauft. Dann textet er weiter mit Yuri und will für die Weihnachtsparty seiner Freunde noch ein paar CDs besorgen, die auch prompt mit aussuchen. Auf der Straße steht ‘ne Menschenmasse, Yuri wurde wohl angegriffen. Yuta will hin, abert natürlich fällt ihms Handy runter und der Kontrollvelrust bewahrt ihn mal wieder vor Einmischung. Irabu hat sich nun mehrer Handys zugelegt und textet Yuta wie wild zu, der aber nicht drauf reagiert. Das mit der Weihnachtsparty klappt aber dann irgendwie doch nicht, also klappert er sämtliche Karaokebars in Shibuya (25 an der Zahl, ergo ziemlich wenig) ab und findet sie schließlich. Er liefert noch schnell die CDs ab und zischt dann davon. Schließlich leert er seine rund 300 Einbträge lange Adressliste und kriegt von Irabu prompt ne Einladung zur Party im Krankenhaus von Mayumi, die nun doch ein Handy hat.
Sehr schöne Episode, gute Auflösung. 4 / 5

Umineko no Naku Koro Ni
4-4. Problemkind


Kinzo macht mithilfe der Siestas Nägel mit 6 Köpfen, 2 entkommen zu den Kindern und der Rest wandert in den Kerker unter Kuwadorian. Nun stellt er seine Enkel auf die Probe, ob sie des Erbes würdig sind. Ein paar Jahre zuvor verwandelt MAria ihre Mutter in Porzellan und zertrümmert ihre Hand, doch das ist einfach zu wenig für eine ordentliche Rache, also wird sie noch 99 weitere Male getötet. Schließlich erkennt Beatrice sie als Hexe an.
Etwas, das mir schon ewig im Hinterkopf rumfliegt, auf das es aber auch noch keine Antwort gab: was ist aus Kinzos Frau geworden? Man hört nie etwas von ihr, geschweige denn gibt es Bilder… Die Episode selbst hat gefesselt, nur hat man leider wieder zensieren müssen. 4 / 5

Luego de 3 mese y medio llevando este Blog he decidido mudarme a http://mangoteca.xtreemhost.com/ Es un Blog más personal, con más ventajas y que definitivamente era necesario hacerla antes de que llegué la Fase Final de Gantz , este Blog inicialmente estaba dedicado a Gantz pero debido a la gracia de Hiroya tuvé que alimentar la espera con buenos animes y mangas en fin para no hacerlo largo si les gustó este Blog el nuevo será igual o superior.

Saludos y gracias por todas sus visitas.. Al ser mi primera vez en BLogs (xD) me ha hechó mucha ilusión llegar a más de 29.000 visitas. Disfruten el nuevo Blog

http://mangoteca.xtreemhost.com/

P.D. Gomen.. A mis subscriptores, pero ya tienen en el nuevo Blog la aplicación para que se suscriban al Feed

Synesthesia is a  neuro condition where there is a mixing of your five senses.  Although it is rare to find synesthetes (a person with synesthesia) many people are born with mild cases. Many examples of synesthesia are used in modern speech such as “sharp cheddar” and “loud shirt”. Synesthetes can often hear colours and/or see sounds. Those who live with their synesthesia for a long period of time grow accustomed to it and wouldn’t want to be without it. Those that obtain synesthesia for a short period of time (i.e. concussion or after a drug dose) often feel very uncomfortable because of the mixing of the senses. In the anime CANAAN, on of our main characters, Canaan (hence the anime’s title) has the ability of synesthesia. She sees numbers and letters in different colours. This form of synesthesia is called color-graphemic synesthesia. She also mentions that people have different colours to reflect their emotions (like a mood ring). This ability becomes very handy when she’s going against the bad guys (:

This is what a group of numbers could look like to someone who has color-graphemic synesthesia.

 pretty neat eh?

holy shi- a Canaan fanfic! LOL

]]> http://biotoxic.wordpress.com/2009/11/15/fall-09-anime-so-far/ Sun, 15 Nov 2009 15:09:35 +0000 biotoxic http://biotoxic.wordpress.com/2009/11/15/fall-09-anime-so-far/

We’re roughly halfway through the “fall” season anime (at least the 12/13 episode series). I’ve also been watching a few older series during this time as well.

Current Fall 09 Line Up:

11eyes (eps 1-6). This one is quite interesting. A sort of cross between Shana and Fate/Stay Night. It’s based on an eroge, the same studio who did Akane Iro ni Somaru Saka. Story: Kakeru & Yuka (who loves repeating his name over and over) end up in a strange Red world where they are attacked by monsters. Slowly they find more similar people who have special powers and are affected by this alt world as well. They start to group together in order to find out more about this strange world and why only certain people are affected.

ANN encyclopedia : Wikipedia : Official Site

Letter Bee (eps 1-6). Blue world is blue. Lag Seeing (whiney kid) is delivered by a “letter bee” to his aunty because his mother was taken away. He then decides he wants to become a letter bee and begins his adventure. So far he’s not even got to the bloodly letter bee exam. He seems to get distracted easily . This series isn’t too bad, it’s certainly different, but it’s by no means outstanding so far.

ANN encyclopedia : Wikipedia : Official Website

Mainichi Kaa-san (up to ep 30). Good fun, humorous, light series. A series of short “sketches” about being a mum. Each episode is charming in its own way. My Gravatar shows Kaa-sans’ son Bunji biting wet metal because he was told it tastes like blood .

ANN encyclopedia : Wikipedia : Official Website

Natsu no Arashi! Season 2 (eps 1-6). More of the same good stuff as season 1. For those who don’t know season1, Hajime ends up meeting a ghost from WW2 and together they can time travel. Slowly the cast builds up and various antics ensue.

ANN encyclopedia : Wikipedia : Official Website

Queen’s Blade Season 2 (eps 1-7). Unlike season 1 there’s an actual structured tournament system going on. They also seem to be trying to create a story, and there was initially less boobs. Not to worry though, episode 7 soon fixed that, while also making the most pointless character death I have ever seen. Licensed are both season 1 & 2, hopefully we’ll see the Blu-ray too.

ANN encyclopedia : Wikipedia : Official Website

Shin Koihime Musou (eps 1-6). Yep, same stuff as season 1. New characters, new adventure, same everything else. New character Ryubii had her ID and sword stolen, so the usual gang head off to help retrieve it. Their quest takes them through the kingdoms we saw in season 1 and adds new characters into the mix.

ANN encyclopedia : Wikipedia : Official Website

Sora no Otoshimono (eps 1-6). So far episode 1-5 have been great, 6 was mince. Tomoki ends up with an angeloid servant that can grant him wishes. He’s not your usual male lead though, since he’s a perv and open about it. We’ve seen the world end, flying pantsu, exploding pantsu, and an abandoned dessert island with Jurassic Park music playing in the background. Hopefully this series will pick up again, otherwise it will be a great disappointment .

ANN encyclopedia : Wikipedia : Official Website

The Book of Bantorra (eps 1-6). Not sure what to make of this. Librarians fight the church; they have super abilities; normal humans are “Meat” and are used like “animals” or suicide bombers; librarians hunt out books; rare artifacts are bad and cause trouble; stuff happens. Dunno why, but it kind of reminds me of X-men.

ANN encyclopedia : Wikipedia : Official Website

Older series I’ve finished recently:

Code Geass Season 1. Amazing, well worth the wait. It’s kind of like Death Note, but with Mecha. Lelouche obtains a super power (Geass) which he can use to force people to do anything he commands. With his new found power he sets out to change the world for his little sister and avenge his mother. The story twists and turns at every opportunity, before leaving us on the bastard of all cliff hangers! Got to wait for season 2 DVDs now.

CANAAN. Another great series. Action packed girls with guns. It doesn’t really feel like there’s a story to it, but by the end you really miss the characters. Canaan is a super assassin in China and she’s ultimately out to kill her nemesis Alphard. The story then takes us through some memorable characters as they all eventually end up involved with Canaan and her/their past. License this someone please.

Princess Lover! Story goes, poor boy saves a princess, but actually turns out to be a successor to a rich company. He then ends up with 4 girls after him: 1 maid, 1 immature princess, 1 mature princess and 1 rich girl who started off hating him (they got all the bases covered?). Stuff then happens.

Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku wo. Do not watch this. This series is “Terribad”. It’s a harem, almost similar to Love Hina. Except the characters are even more uninteresting and bland. Why I watched all of this I don’t know.

Special mention goes out to Happiness! which managed to get dropped after 3 episodes. There’s no way I can stand watching any more of it.

BT

By now, you know the deal.

Candy Boy – Kanade Sakurai

Kanade is the one on the left, with the darker hair. The other one is her sister, whom she is dating (incest and yuri....yup, I watched it, and it wasn't bad)

Candy Boy. No boys involved (I think someone made that joke on some blog before). Anyway, there are really only 4 characters here, and as far as I’m concerned they’re all lesbians. Three of them are sisters, by the way. Why did I choose Kanade as the best characters? Well, she’s more mature than her sister/girlfriend, Yukino. Also, I like her character design more, and she’s sick at art, which is always awesome. She wears the pants in the relationship, but also has a soft side, and I think that her character as a whole has more depth than the others.

CANAAN – Taxi Cab Driver

WTF? A Taxi Driver?

Am I serious right now? A Taxi Driver? he was in like, 3 episodes. He had like, 6 lines in the entire show! Well, you know what? When you have an ISSS, you can chose whoever you want as your favorite character. And despite the fact that Canaan has a fucking cool character design, and sick ass powers, along with parkour moves that resemble Faith from Mirror’s Edge, the Taxi Driver has what Canaan does not…..a TAXI.

• Despite being a normal taxi driver from Shanghai, he has no problems with driving his taxi off of a bridge and onto a building. He also doesn’t get fired for doing something like that, because he’s the fucking man.
• Basically, this Taxi Driver is what Bill the Ass-Kicker would be like if he drove a Taxi: Fucking Awesome.

Cardcaptor Sakura – Tomoyo Daidouji

*This show was dropped at 9

Should I even include this? There’s really not any good characters, and I realized after I started watching that this show was dumb, and definitely not good. I’ll be honest, I hate all of the characters in this show, hence I dropped after only 9. I guess I’ll go with Tomoyo, for the sole reason that she’ll grow up to be a respectful lesbian.

Chaos;HEAD – Ayase Kishimoto

Chaos;HEAD was an awesome anime, and I liked it a lot. Now, my art teacher for screen-printing tells me that you can’t just say you “like something,” you have to explain why. And I will, with bullets….actually, I’ll use numbers.

1. Murder
2. Supernatural Powers
3. Dynamic Lead Character
4. Many BAM Moments
5. A pacing that is fast, but not too fast (except the last episode, I felt it should have been two episodes, and explained better)

That being said, Ayase is my favorite, because to me, she seems to be a more unique character than the others. Err, well, actually all of the characters are pretty unique, I actually had a touch time deciding to put Ayase up here, or instead vouch for Kozue, who speaks telepathically. In the end, I decided that Ayase was:

• In a rock band
• Has the best character design (I guess this is important to me)
• Has a different way of thinking (6 Dark Knights as opposed to Gigilomaniacs)

Clannad/Clannad ~After Story~ – Kyou Fujibayashi

See my review of Clannad ~ After Story ~: Kyou Chapter.

Claymore: Teresa of the Faint Smile

I was going to choose Deneve, but she really doesn’t get awesome until later in the manga, so I’m going with Teresa, who is probably still more awesome than Deneve, except for the fact that she dies, which sucks. If you’ve seen her fight, than you know that she’s unbeatable, except that she stupidly shows mercy and pity for Priscilla, which ultimately got her beheaded. I for one don’t believe in mercy (especially in sports). Claymore is one of the best anime ever. Manga is too. I just had to say that.

Chibi Vampire Karin (Karin) – Anju Maaka

She doesn’t talk. I should say, she has one of those personalities. Yea, I can’t really remember much about the actual characters in this show. I guess it wasn’t that great. Also, the anime is actually just called Karin, but for some reason I have the manga name listed, and I’m too lazy move it down. So yea.

Chobits – Chi

Don’t get me wrong, I loved this anime (does that make me a fucking homo? Don’t care.), but as far as characters go, there really wasn’t much to choose from. Chi isn’t really that great of a character, I mean, she’s not even a living thing. but she’s better than the moron who fell in love with her (how do you fall in love with a robot? How much of a loser are you dude?). First of all, robots can’t love or feel emotion at all. Whatever, I’m not going to get into it. And I know that Chi is technically a persecon or whatever, but it’s really the same thing. In the end, I chose Chi because you have to touch her vagina (or the place where a real girl would have a vagina) to turn her on. That’s right, I just dropped a FACTUAL PUN on you.

Code-E -Keisuke Ebihara

Here’s how bad this show was. Keisuke wins because he is wearing a cool Hawaiian shirt…and it’s not even that cool. God this show was bad.

Code Geass – Lelouch Lamperouge/Zero

Do I really have to explain? Ahhhh fuck. Lelouch is fucking awesome. I’m just going to list in bullets:

• Nasty at Chess.
• Nasty at formulating plots, as well as creating strategies.
• Looks fucking awesome.
• Is an anti-hero, which I love.
• Provided me with many BAM moments.
• And so on and so forth.

Code Geass rocked hard.

Cowboy Bebop – Spike Spiegel

Spike kicks ass. The end.

Okay I’ll put some work in. Why he kicks ass is really not a question that needs answering, but he kicks as firstly because he’s just so smooth. Take his fighting style for example. I forget specifically what episode it was (it was the one with the flower I think), but Spike actually shows the audience his technique, which is use the other person’s momentum against them. Needless to say (I really need to stop using that phrase), his style not only works, but makes him look really cool, smooth, and nonchalant when he fights.

Secondly, his general demeanor matches his fighting skill. He takes everything in stride, and doesn’t get flustered or agitated easily. He’s the man.

]]> http://washedandradiant.wordpress.com/2009/07/06/sovereignty-and-blessing/ Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:11:30 +0000 marycooke http://washedandradiant.wordpress.com/2009/07/06/sovereignty-and-blessing/

Today’s Reading: Genesis 25 – 26

Gen. 25. God’s Sovereignty

Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people. ~ Gen. 25:8

Altogether, Ishmael lived a hundred and thirty-seven years. He breathed his last and died, and he was gathered to his people. ~ Gen. 25:17

Today, we say that believers have “gone to be with the Lord”, but remember, at this point in time, Jesus had not been resurrected; so rather than joining Him in Heaven, believers went to a place that Jesus called Abraham’s Bosom.  Jesus talks about this place in Luke 16:19-31 and I believe this is what “gathered to his people” means.

Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant. The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the LORD.

The LORD said to her,
“Two nations are in your womb,
and two peoples from within you will be separated;
one people will be stronger than the other,
and the older will serve the younger.” ~ Gen. 25:21-23

This good husband prayed on his wife’s behalf. I love that! And I think God did too. Certainly God’s promises for Isaac were going to come to pass, but it was fitting for Isaac to remind God of his waiting in faith. When Rebekah was concerned about her babies, she went to the Lord. His answer was specific, and indicative of His sovereign will reigning supreme in the affairs of mankind.

So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau. Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel; so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. ~ Gen. 25:24-26

The name Esau means “hairy”, and the name Jacob means “heel catcher” or “supplanter”. Can you imagine if we named babies according to their birth circumstances today? Our children might be named “Feet First”, “Fourteen Hour Labor”, or “That Makes Two”!

So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. ~ Gen. 25:27-28

Parents demonstrating favoritism causes so many problems in families. In Esau’s case, he was rash and rebellious, an impulsive man of action rather than words — and Isaac let him get away with it. In Jacob’s case, he was a conniver, a deceitful man who used manipulative words to achieve his goals, rather than action — and Rebekah let him get away with it.

Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom.
But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.”
And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?”
Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.”
So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright. ~ Gen. 25:29-32

The name Edom comes from the word “red” and seems to refer to the color of the chili that meant more to Esau than his birthright. The significance of the birthright was the privilege of having the Messiah as one’s descendant, and the promise of God’s blessing. But God and His promises did not seem real to Esau, so he did not value them, and therefore he chose to do things his own way rather than God’s way.

Perhaps this explains the saying, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated”, if Jacob represents faithfulness and Esau faithlessness.  Isn’t this the same issue we saw exemplified with Cain and Abel?  Compare: Malachi 1:2-3 and Romans 9:10-15.  He is the potter; we are just the clay.

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Gen. 26. God’s Blessing

There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar. Then the LORD appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you. Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” So Isaac dwelt in Gerar. ~ Gen. 26:1-6

Isaac had been living in Beer-lahai-roi, which, it is believed, was about 60 miles south of Gaza. According to Google maps, Gerar was about 15 miles southeast of Gaza, and this town, where the King of the Philistines, Abimelech lived, was where Isaac now traveled. God reiterated that all the land in Canaan belonged to the offspring of Isaac (not Ishmael or the sons of Keturah), and confirmed his covenant with Isaac.

Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the LORD blessed him. The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous; for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants. So the Philistines envied him. Now the Philistines had stopped up all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, and they had filled them with earth. And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.” Then Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the Valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. ~ Gen. 26:12-17

The Philistines envied Isaac and all the blessings that God had bestowed on him. Isn’t this one of the reasons that people have persecuted the Jews throughout history?

Then he went up from there to Beersheba. And the LORD appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham’s sake.” So he built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD, and he pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well. ~ Gen. 26:23-25

Beersheba was about 20 miles southeast of Gerar. At this place, Isaac worshiped the Lord, and we see his reconnection with the Lord as the basis for his faith.

Then Abimelech came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath, one of his friends, and Phichol the commander of his army. And Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?”
But they said, “We have certainly seen that the LORD is with you. So we said, ‘Let there now be an oath between us, between you and us; and let us make a covenant with you, that you will do us no harm, since we have not touched you, and since we have done nothing to you but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the LORD.’”
So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank.  Then they arose early in the morning and swore an oath with one another; and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. ~ Gen. 26:26-31

So the Philistines and Isaac’s family were at peace in the time of Abimelech. We saw earlier that Abimelech was righteous before God, and here again, he demonstrates godly wisdom and his belief in the Lord and His sovereignty.

It came to pass the same day that Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well which they had dug, and said to him, “We have found water.” So he called it Shebah. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day. ~ Gen. 26:32-33

The name Shebah means “oath” and Beer means “well”.  It’s so cool that many of these places, like Beersheba, are still on the map today. And how awesome that God has preserved His Word for us, with all these records intact. My idea of heaven is having the time to learn everything we always wanted to learn. I’d like to delve into this a lot more!

When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. They were a source of grief to Isaac and Rebekah. ~ Gen. 26:34

Here is further proof of Esau’s rebellion against authority. He married two women who were outside the Hebrew faith, which brought sorrow and strife to his parents.