Nendoroid time! I only have three, but this one is definitely my fav! Not only is Sakura a cute gal to look at, the web anime (Penguin Girl Heart/Penguin Musume Heart) is also pretty fun!


A short description from ANN:

“Sakura Nankyoku is a total otaku. Due to a fluke, she gets elected as her class’ Student Council President. Everything takes off from there into a series of crazy misadventures revolving around Sakura, her family, and her classmates.”

So yes. A female otaku, going for all the things a (male) otaku would love: cat-ears, shimapan… Sakura (nicknamed Penguin/Pen-chan for her penguin-like hair and the symbol for her parents’ company is a penguin) does them all! As I said, it’s a web anime (ONA) and not yet licensed, so available for download over at Anime Suki!

Here’s the first part of the first episode, I suggest trying it out~

On to the review!

Nendoroid Pen-chan comes with just a few extra’s. Other than two extra facial expressions, she comes with the helmet and pickaxe, which you can see in the ED of the anime~

The 3rd face is an angry one. I really love this one XD Unlike some other Nendoroids, Pen-chan gets some nice variety~

And the back. You can take off the back piece of her hair. Not sure why, but it perfectly fits in a figma stand, which can sometimes be nicer to move figures around. I’m not a big fan of the regular bases Nendoroids come with. They either get in the way, or just break (yeah, my Penguin one is broken, more about that later this week).

As with all Nendoroids, the eyes are big and nicely detailed. The rest of the figure is quite nice as well, especially the detail put in the small skirt is nice. However, the paint job seems to be a bit sloppy at some places, like on her sleeve. All in all a nice Nendoroid to have, especially with the awesome angry face! I can suggest it to every fan of the manga or anime! If you haven’t seen Penguin Girl Heart yet, go try it out! It’s free for legal download, so why not?

CARACTERISTICAS:

◊ Título: Penguin Musume Heart
◊ Título Alternativo: ペンギン娘♥はぁと
◊ Genero: Ecchi, Comedia.
◊ Año: 2008
◊ Categoria: Serie
◊ Cant. Capitulos: 22
◊ Fansub: Kaede Kawaii Fansub [KKF]
◊ Idioma: Japones
◊ Subtitulo: Español
◊ Resolucion: 848 x 480 / 704 x 396
◊ Formato: MP4 (x264 + AAC) / AVI (Xvid + MP3) encodeados por mi
◊ Tamaño x Capitulo: 90 ~ 110 MB / 110MB
◊ Duración x Capitulo: ~14 min
◊ Calidad: Espectacular Calidad.
◊ Servidor: SendSpace – Rapidshare

SINOPSIS:

La historia nos muestra a Nankyoku Sakura, una chica multimillonaria que parece estar obsesionada con todo lo que tenga que ver con anime y manga. En su primer dia de clases, llega vestida de cosplay, con un traje de baño escolar y tambien orejas de gato, ropa que al parecer usa para dormir.

CAPTURAS:

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FOLDERS DE DESCARGA:

MP4:

SendSpace – Rapidshare

AVI:

SendSpace – Rapidshare

Nombre: Penguin Musume ♥ Heart
Nombre Japones:  ペンギン娘♥はぁと
Categoría: Comedia, ecchi, lolicon, Instituto
Estudio: Picture Magic
Capítulos: 22
Año: 2008
Fansub: KKF
Fuente: DVD
Calidad: Excelente
Resolución: 848×480
Contenedor: mp4
Peso: 30 MB
Idioma: Japones/ Sub: Español
Host: Megaupload, Megavideo
Sitio Web: pen-musu.jp
Uploader: Dark

Sinopsis:

Sakura Nankyoku mejor conocida como penguin, es una chica rica además de eso es una total otaku. Sakura como buena otaku le encanta todo lo relacionado con cosplay, anime, etc. En su primer día de clases, por las prisas, llega a su escuela con un bañador y orejas de gato (al parecer es su pijama) ahí conoce a Etorofu-san una chica que al parecer odia el anime y todas sus expresiones, en cambio Sakura queda perdidamente emocionada al ver que Etorofu-san es igualita a Takenoko-chan (un personaje de un anime). Luego Sakura decide participar para ser presidenta del consejo y lo consigue, todo con el objetivo de obligar a Etorofu-san a hacer cosplay.

Qué pasara con las locuras de esta otaku. Una divertida serie con buenas dosis de ecchi, parodia y mucha comedia otaku. Los episodios son cortos de 14 minutos aproximadamente.

[Online][MU] 01: Penguin – ¡Irrumpe!
[Online][MU] 02: El tiburón ataca
[Online][MU] 03: Mi hermana es de tercero
[Online][MU] 04: Paseando durante la noche
[Online][MU] 05: María-sama ga Miteru
[Online][MU] 06: “Ella es mi ama, Chi”
[Online][MU] 07: La sacerdotisa encantadora [Minnazuki no Miko]
[Online][MU] 08: La Escuela Amenazada
[Online][MU] 09: Juego peligroso para cuatro
[Online][MU] 10: ¡Batalla a muerte, caballeros Blancos!
[Online][MU] 11: Invocación del Legendario Gigante Labu
[Online][MU] 12: La historia de las hermanas pobres
[Online][MU] 13: La Princesa del Badminton
[Online][MU] 14: La Leyenda de la Ardiente Galaxia
[Online][MU] 15: Regresando seis años
[Online][MU] 16: La chica perdida en el tiempo
[Online][MU] 17: Rozen no Tsukaima
[Online][MU] 18: Un adorable incidente
[Online][MU] 19: My Otome
[Online][MU] 20: ¡¿Sakura en problemas?!
[Online][MU] 21: Combinación Sakura y Kujira, ¡Magi y Cure!
[Online][MU] 22: ¡El mundo será destruido, así que corre!

Comentar es agradecer....!!

Sakura shares her noms with you~ What can I say, fries are amazing and I’m sure Pen-chan doesn’t mind eating giant fast food!

…Now I’m hungry 8D

Haven’t done a proper full Figure Review for a while, so here goes one for Nendoroid Nankyoku Sakura from GoodSmile Company ^_^

Sakura is from the Anime Series Penguin Musume Heart. I really didn’t think much of this series at first, it was more a download because I was bored and had nothing else to do at the time. I’m glad I did though, it was a gem ^_^. I love comedies that are just so stupid, it’s funny ^_^;;. I’ll go over the first few minutes of the opener to give you an idea of what kind of anime this is…

The series starts with an otaku in a dark room watching anime. An imouto character promptly scolds the otaku and advises her that she will be late too school. Not only that but delivers this evil line, “Sebastion, please dispose of anything that is related to anime.”

Nooooooooo! Sebastion don’t do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cut to school. Pink-haired Tsundere Etorofu-san is nominated to be Class President by her (Yandere?) friend Nene-san. Etorofu-san is less than enthused by the idea.

Suddenly!

(They seem to love Camel-toes in this Anime o_O;;)

A girl wearing strange “attire” shows up to class!

That would be my reaction too ^_^

The girl promptly realises she is still in her pyjamas. (Nekomimi and Sukumizu count as pyjamas? LOL)

The girl is introduced as a new student, Nankyoku Sakura (too bad she gets changed into something more normal ^_^;;)

Maybe Etorofu-san is disappointed as well…

Sakura reveals herself as an otaku who loves to cosplay characters in anime ^_^

Etorofu-san is bemoaning that she just doesn’t understand otaku… when Sakura spies her and immediately declares her as “Takanoko-chan!”

Sakura explains who Takenoko-chan is. Basically a loli heroine with one of the most ridiculous costumes I have ever seen…

Etorofu-san looks exactly like her!!! Well, maybe only the eyebrows! ^_^;;

Apparently in the Takenoko-chan anime’s end, she is eaten by an old man. Innuendo much? LOL

But it’s OK because Takenoko-chan returns in Takenoko-shan R!

Sakura finds out about the vote to become Class President. She promptly decides that she wants to be Class President so that she can force Etorofu-san into cosplaying as Takenoko-chan LOL

Sakura decides her intentions by quickly transforming …

Woops! Wrong Costume! LOL Yes, despite this being a comedy, they repeatedly show Sakura in her birthday suit…

She sure did pull the wrong thing…

Anyways! If you haven’t seen this anime yet, I do recommend it. Especially if you like my brand of humour (Otherwise you wouldn’t be here on my site, yes? ^_^). I hope that teaser was enough to convince you to download and watch it. It gets a lot more crazy and funnier than this, I might add…

But back to the review! Although I’m not a so much a fan of Nendoroids, than Figmas, I usually get them when the urge to buy strikes, and especially if it’s a character I like

Sakura is definitely one of my favourite characters. I do like air-headed, bubbly funny bishoujos ^_^

I’m probably bi-polar in the fact I like comedy so much, but also like dark depressing stuff… lately I’ve been writing comedy bubbly stuff, it’s about time I returned to my darker roots…

Sakura goes all out on the fetish stuff. She would be the ideal otaku girlfriend imo ^_^;;

Her design is pretty awesome. Schoolgirl, crazy, ahoge, nekomimi hair, massive chest, frequently goes nude for no reason at all, indestrucible (she’s frequently the target of violence from Etorofu-sans awesome punches, but is none the worse for wear)

Definitely a winner of a character.

I forgot to take rear shots, but Sakura’s tail of her hair is articulated ^_^

Sakura’s other face. Might be my favourite face…

Definitely a contender for Nendoroid funniest face

For some reason, they also included her miner hat and pick from the opener mining sequence. The hat is AWESOME and fits many other Nendoroids

The mining sequence is prettty damn random. But that’s what I like about this anime. They’re not afraid to be stupid

Removable Ahoge is a plus. At least it won’t be easy to break this way when transporting her around. Although the main reason you can remove it so you can put her helmet on

Angry face. You know I can’t remember when Sakura actually became angry in the anime ^_^;;

She actually looks scary! Kowai!

Now for more kawaii shots with the damn awesome hat

Hat is win

But hat with V-sign is even more WIN

And now time for what you’ve all been waiting for. Time for the “Ace” Part of this review!

I wonder… am I the only one sick enough to do Nendoroid Yuri? If not, I demand pix LOL!

ANYWAYS… in conclusion Sakura-chan is so kyutto that even the lovely Yoko cannot resist her. Sakura gets a solid 9 out of 10 from me…

This might be my last full Figure Review in a while … like I said in an earlier post, I’ll have a forced leave of absence next week because I’m off to the Philippine! However there still might be a few posts before I leave, depending if I pack in time… for now Ja Matta! ~Ace

Yeah, right after I came home, I had to leave to go to Germany! I wanted to post this particular photo here, because I think it’s one of the best I’ve made, and the only one worthy to post here anyway.

Bigger version here!

Presenting the main character of ペンギン娘 (Penguin Girl), 南極さくら (nankyoku sakura)!

As returning readers are probably aware, my first shoot with the new umbrella lamps.  Very happy with both the lights and the figure ^^

Yet another manga turned anime (with the slightly augmented title,ペンギン娘♥はぁと (penguin musume haato (penguin girl heart))), kinda unique in that the broadcast of this series happened on niconico douga.  Not sure if the official vids are still there but here’s ep 1 part 1 on youtube:

I’ve only watched the first 5 episodes or so… and don’t really remember this outfit but you learn pretty quick that this is totally inline with sakura’s character ^^

An energetic cosplay loving otaku, love how Alter has portrayed her.  Though let’s get the low point out of the way real quick…

I dunno about you, but I was pretty disappointed when I saw the big lump of hair.  Guess I shoulda known what to expect from the preview shots, but still… It just feels like it’s missing a lot.

Anyhow, back to the good stuff.

Her outfit is well executed, love all the fine details.

Love all the ribbons.

mmm and the tail~ ^^

The bells were a nice touch.

Base isn’t bad.  They actually did something kinda different with the heart shape and penguin.

Noticed that her maid outfit is actually pretty short.

pink pantsu!

her chikubi are… ^^;; ノーブラ？！　(no bra?!)

Love her face.  Wonderfully faithful to the character, love how they did her bangs ^^

nekomimi cachusha

Tiny little spec on her hand.

Only got around to one shot with a reflector ^^;

Think I need to explore that further… here’s the same shot with umbrella lamps on either side…

Saber comes to assert her maid dominance.

Saber’s larger scale yet even more finely detailed outfit keeps her at the top of my maid figure ranking ^^

nyoron~

GSC made a sakura release too.  Also very nice looking – goth-loli yukata woulda normally swayed me but Alter’s attention to detail and energy of the pose won in the end.  Maybe I’ll pick up the other version if they have a sale or something ^^; (as in, wholy crap, did you see the hlj sale?  don’t think i saw sakura, but as blowfish mentioned, insaaaaane deals and not just on no name figures.  lots of things are not on sale any more like alter’s signum, but teana and louise are still available for < 5000 yen,  alpha omega lala for ~4000 yen, etc!!!)

This release left me craving more penguin musume figures but alas, don’t think I’ve seen any besides sakura…  Anyhow, a great figure.  I recommend watching a few episodes of the anime (web broadcast, so the episodes are short too!) if you haven’t already then buying her immediately   Well, it’s definitely a service heavy series so I guess I wouldn’t forcefully push that on everyone ^^;

Any other reviews out there yet?  Saw that eltboy got her recently, but that was about it…

Update: stop by Nopy’s blog for a review of both this and GSC’s version!

Update 2: Pour une traduction partielle en français, s’il vous plaît visiter

Update 3: Stop by Exelica Meteor for James’ GSC version review!

Update 4: Blowfish has some review pics for ya too~

以上！

Haven’t quite taken enough photos for a full review of sakura yet, but in the meantime just wanted to say I got some new lights!

Not quite positioned appropriately since I was just trying to fit them in the shot, but you get the idea ^^;

I probably should’ve done some more research and asked around the community before ordering, but I was in a rush since one of the lamps I was using previously burnt out. ^^;

Was only going to order a single umbrella/stand/socket kit but ended up with the set of 2 thanks to a gift certificate and fear of mixing fluorescent and incandescent light.  Shipping was ~$20 so all told it was ~$90 for the set (-$40 gift certificate == ~$50 ^^).  Seeing as how desk lamps that will actually take high enough power bulbs were difficult to find and expensive I figured I’d just go for the real deal.

A little taste of the results…

First thing that I noticed was that it was pretty easy to get results similar to or better than my previous results.  That above pic is (I think) unedited, and just what I got placing sakura down and guessing where I should place the lights ^^;

You may remember the towers of boxes I had previously…

You can’t really see them, but on either side of the main stack of boxes is 2-3 other boxes to get the appropriate heights for things ^^;;  All told it was like 9 or 10 boxes ^^;;  Much easier now.

Basically I just set up the main shooting area and put the umbrellas on either side… started shooting away.  Pretty happy given the small amount of effort I spent setting up these shots.

Tried to do a little comparison with Airi since I hadn’t taken any sakura shots with the old setup.

Hopefully you can tell which is which… and hopefully the new one looks better? ^^;;  But to be clear, the one of the left is with the new lights, right is from my review.

A little more about the kit if you’re interested…

Got it on Amazon, but sold by cowboystudio (I guess they chose the name since they’re located in Texas…?).  Came with 2 stands, 2 umbrellas, 2 light sockets, and 2 30W CFL bulbs.  The bulbs are roughly equivalent to 125W incandescent bulbs or something like that.  It’s no professional kit, but based on what I can tell and the comments, it seems to be a descent starter kit, in terms of getting into this sorta lighting?  Some people commented on it not outputting enough light, but for figure photography it seems fine ^^;  Plus, you can just put in a higher watt bulb if you need more power.

Setup was pretty easy (assuming I put it together right ^^;;)… unfolded the stands, got the sockets mounted, screwed in the bulbs, umbrellas in place… action!  The cords on the sockets are a little shorter than I’d like, but some extension cords took care of that.

aaand one more sakura teaser.

Can’t get enuf alter ^^

Without the gift certificate I had, it was $86 so you’re looking at $43 per stand/lamp/umbrella.  After spending many many many times that on figures I guess it didn’t feel like such a big purchase and worth the investment ^^;;  If you’re more focused on growing your collection though, hard to recommend a nice figure’s worth of lighting

Alrighty, time to sleep so I can churn out the actual review sometime soon ^^;;

以上！

…

I miss Penguin Musume. It was awesome.

By TheBigN

Part 1: Interesting People
Part 2: Awesome OP/EDs
Part 3: Fun Phrases
Part 4: Scintillating Soundtracks

And so I finish with moments that made an impact on me in some way, shape or form. It makes me realize just how much has gone on this year that’s been interesting and fun to keep up with, and it also reminds me about how many moments that I haven’t seen yet. Things keep on moving, so hopefully this next year keeps up with the trend of interesting shows, though I might not be able to keep with them as much as I did this year. Ah well. As always, if you have selections of your own, please say them. :3

-DON DON!, Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

This season returned to even better form than the first season just from the opening act of episode 1, consisting of an alternate universe where our favorite suicidal teacher was a pyramid scheme representative getting caught up in things he didn’t understand, becoming a mutant, and chased by a mob of a religion that he’s apparently joined though he has no recognition of doing so. The sequence itself was hilarious (like Itoshiki-sensei saying the topic phrase while advertising his wares), but the fact that this story came from one of the inside pockets of one of the manga volumes, and that this was apparently a Go Nagai parody just made the moment even more better.

-PRRROMOTIONS!, ARIA The ORIGINATION

I can easily call episode 9 the climax of this season, and maybe of the whole entire series so far. We know that throughout ARIA, we’ve watched as out three little undines set out to achieve the highest rank possible as an undine, a Prima. I’m sure that at the back of our minds as well, we know that as soon as that goal is reached, everything will be over. So, with me being enthralled with the continuing adventures of the Three Gondoliers and co, I hoped that things could go as long as they can, but everything ends whether we like it or not.  In that case, I would only want that the series goes out as best as it can. :3 Alice’s promotion is probably the most powerful thing I’ve seen in anime in a while, showing just how much she’s grown. Acknowledging that it was with the help of both her friends and her seniors that make her a better undine, and being open and trusting enough to sing her heart out was a direct contrast to the shy, antisocial person she was at her introduction in the series.

And it was great to see how far she had come, both in the song, and in the aftermath, where Alice becomes the first of the three undine trainees to become a full fledged Prima.

Because it is redundant, and it had to be done.

-We Are Family!, CLANNAD

It was the climax of the first series, where Nagisa, having earlier realized the sacrifices that her parents had to make in order to accommodate her dreams, feels and unnecessary guilt trip and shuts down write as her dream to perform a play comes to fruition. Paralyzed on stage, it takes her parents bursting in, and Akio leading the charge with an impassioned speech about how they’ve just done what a family does: care for each other and try to promote the success of each other. As Sanae, Tomoya and the rest of the club members join in to remind Nagisa that her success is their success, than she’s able to shake herself out of her self-pitying and go on. The moment to me is the summation of what CLANNAD was trying to tell us about the strength of family, something that continues (with some hiccups along the way) in After Story.

-The Bus Stop, true tears

At this time in the final episode of the series, we can see that Shinichiro has things figured out.  That after all that’s happened, he loves Hiromi, yet at the same time acknowledges all that Noe’s done to help him come to that realization. Not to mention all she’s done to make him feel like the stuff he’s done actually matters, to make him “fly”. Noe, with a broken leg, understands and accepts this view though it hurts, as for a while she feels that she doesn’t really know a lot about what’s been going on, and that she finds herself still unable to fly, so to speak. As she uses crutches to go back to the hospital, determined to get there by herself while Shinichiro believes in her, he falls on his knees and cries while singing off-key (overwhelmed by the moment) a jingle about himself that she used to sing. Noe with determination moves on. I am pleased.

He may sing bad, but you know he means it.

-Breaking Through, Bamboo Blade

It was your typical “team goes through a rough patch, but becomes okay” episode here. The kendo club had lost their way after a series of unfortunate events. Team ace Tamaki was at a loss in terms of what to do against a rival after losing to her, temporarily taking a break from kendo to figure things out. Firebrand Miyako was contemplating quitting kendo because of a rival that she just couldn’t beat. And the captain Kirino was planning on taking the fall to protect the club, planning on resigning for the actions of two estranged members of the club. It’s been seen before, but I liked how things managed to come back together, with Yuuji reminding Tamaki that losing is alright if one learns from it, Satori accosting Miya-Miya for being a sore loser and telling her to try harder, and Saya reminding Kirino that it’s not all on her shoulders and that she should share some of the burden. With all of that, the members who caused problems deciding to quit by themselves, Ishida-sensei that he still has more to do with the club than he assumed and even Dan-kun realizing that he’s improved enough to defeat his bullies, the kendo club was whole again, and all was good. :3

-The Apartment Is Alive, With the Sound of Music, Kurenai

Episode 6 is something special out of left field… though not really. After a series of interesting events, Shinkurou and his apartment-mates were tapped to perform a play in a nearby park. Part of the play involves singing, and we, as well as Shinkurou find out that some members can’t carry a tune well. Suddenly during a practice duet between Shinkurou and the tone-deaf Yuuno, a musical number starts, and I still don’t understand what the hell had happened with that, save that everyone could carry a tune at least. Whether or not you could say they were all good singers is one thing (extra laughs because Yuuno’s voice actress, Ryouko Shintani, is actually a competent enough singer, and the change is stunning before and during the piece).  But it was very enjoyable.

-Falling vs. Floating, Kara no Kyoukai, Chapter 1

The fight between Shiki and the ghosts was fun to watch, though the details surrounding the existence of the specters in the first place were a little confusing to understand. Regardless of that, seeing Shiki utilize her Mystic Eyes of Death Perception at will, the constant shifting of her knife for maximum effect, the leap into a powerslide (and understanding why she could use that arm to land from that height in the first place), and the awesome shiny detail from ufotable made it a magic moment. :3

-You Are The Criminal!, Shion no Ou

Episode 21 of the series gives us the flashback that we’d been waiting to see. Not the murder per se, but the match between Shion and the murderer that came afterward. As Shion slowly realizes that the identity of the killer happens to be the one that is facing her right now in the final match of the shougi tournament, everything comes back to her. The phrases that she remembers the killer saying (“Listen to the voices of the pieces, they will tell you everything”), the king piece covered in blood, the vow not to speak, and so on. We also get to learn the motives behind this act by the killer himself, and as always, it’s not really something to justify actually killing for. I mean, there should be better ways to unlock someone’s potential in shougi than homicide, aren’t there? This climactic moment, coupled with one of the more powerful pieces from the OST (“Akai Kioku”, Red Memory I believe it translates to), and some dreamlike animation and montage (powerfully done by the director, who also did that infamous episode 4 of Gurren Lagann), and you have one of the most powerful “everything comes together” moments that I’ve ever seen in anime.  Who says shougi anime weren’t entertaining?

-Thanks For The Memories, Kaiba

Episode 3 introduced us to Chroniko, a girl who was working hard to try to help her family make ends meet, from having hser memories related to various things like music or books  being sold off to planning on having her physical body sold to make a lot of money. We find that she’s a hopeful girl with plans to go to another planet and live in the future, and that’s she’s okay with having her body being sold because her memories would be stored and kept for safekeeping to be placed in another body. Those hopes never come true, as her memories are removed and randomly scattered for good. We also find that Chroniko’s family, made up of her aunt and her two sons, are pretty well off, so her sacrifice was in vain and seemingly done because that aunt just didn’t want to bother taking care of her anymore. However, we see that in the aunt’s memories, despite how she might have felt and all the troubles she’s had in her life, she missed the fun times she had with his sister, Chroniko’s mother, and Chroniko herself. All of this comes back to her when playing a piano using Chroniko’s musical memories, which makes for a powerful and sad moment.

-I’m My Own Worst Enemy, Detroit Metal City

In the first episode, we already have an idea of how Negishi and Krauser-san are supposed to co-exist. And we can also see how when Negishi gets overly emotional about something, good or bad, sometimes things happen that can’t be helped. This was the case when he meets up with someone he had a crush on in Aikawa-san at a music store. While reminiscing the times that they had together, a DMC song plays on the radio, and Negishi, to save face, has to bash that band he plays for. While attempting to appease DMC fans that were offended (to say the least) by his remarks to protect himself and Aikawa, during his time showing off his Krauser air guitar skills, he began to get the confidence to tell her how he truly feels. In the process, the personalities of him and Krauser fuse, and when he’s finally able to get to her, he screams that he wants to rape her. Given how awesome Krauser is, I’m sure that’s totally what Negishi’s desire is, and Aikawa is understandably shaken by that moment. It’s just the start of things to come, but it’s a great one.

-You’ve Go A Friend in Me, Hidamari Sketch x365

Yuno, just starting out on her own for the first time, is painfully shy and painfully nervous in just getting to know people, though you can tell that she wants to get to know them. So it helps that people want to get to know her as well, especially in the case of Miyako, who just minutes after meeting her for the first time, decides to give her the nickname “Yunocchi”. As I said earlier in a post on this moment, “With that gesture of giving a nickname to Yuno not out of convenience, but because of interest, you could see that in Miyako, our protagonist had discovered someone who wants to get to know her as much as she wanted to get to know them.  It doesn’t take much to lift the weight of self doubt off your shoulders if you have someone that’s willing to help you out with it, as we’ve see in the first season and specials when Miyako recognizes when Yuno’s worry and attempts to assuage those fears time and time again. Everything has changed, as Yuno isn’t alone anymore with a new found friend and comrade, so it does make sense that the setting of “lonely Yuno” would change as well.” Add to that some awesome moments of foreshadowing how their friendship would be, and nice symbolism of the doors of Yuno’s anxiety with a vengeance, and you have a great moment.

-After My Own Heart, Penguin Musume Heart

I’d like to think that sometimes the random comedy that defined PMH had something more to it than that, and episode 14 is a big example why. In Sakura discovering a new member of the Student Council, we constantly get shots from her POV which highlight various “moe” points that the girl has. A Rei-clone (quiet, obedient, reticent, mysterious) seems to be an automatic starter for people, but it doesn’t work for me. Luckily they add in that she’s also dressed as a maid, is an otaku, Maguro’s little sister, and a lesbian. If that doesn’t manage to cover a wide swathe of anime fans, I don’t know what else would, and that’s probably the point. For what it’s worth, I’m a fan of the maid, otaku and lesbian portions myself, but you didn’t hear that from me. ;D

So moe, one could die.

-Meeting Each Other Halfway, CLANNAD

The show did it to me again during the episode 24 Tomoyo special, where Tomoyo and Tomoya had somehow managed to get to together (on a side note, it would be nice to see how that actually comes to fruition, as I enjoy the pairing). However, because of their positions in the hierarchy of school (Tomoyo being all-important student president, Tomoya as lowly delinquent), Tomoya bow out because he feels like he’s dragging Tomoyo down, like other silly fools you end up making things worse because they act selfishly. That being said, when they meet each other again long after in the snow (yay Key), while Tomoya tries to tell Tomoyo to go on with her life without him while he fends for himself, she pretty much says regardless of what he wants, she’ll wait for him, no matter how long it takes. Tomoya agrees, and things work like their supposed to again. It’s idealistic love, yes, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t tug at the heartstrings.

-Just When I Thought They Couldn’t Do It To Me Again, ef – a tale of melodies-

a tale of memories already had plenty of moments that stood out brilliantly, to the point where I felt like I wouldn’t be as affected from moments I saw in this recent season after the masterful job SHAFT did with it’s work. And I’m glad to say that I was proven wrong in that aspect in episode 6. We all knew that something wasn’t quite right with Yuuko in some way, what with her attire, how she seemed to try and drag Yuu out of his self-imposed exile from others while trying to keep herself a mystery. And when Yuu calls her out on hiding herself, Yuuko in a awesome “You can’t handle the truth” moment, reveals to Yuu what’s happened to her in the local church, disrobing herself in from of him and speaking a stream of consciousness that explains the feelings and shows the damages she’s received from being physically and sexually abused by her foster guardian. Along with her continuous speech, SHAFT starts with her prologue to the damage with tarot cards, then displayed a slow-pan up a silhouette of Yuuko’s body, highlighting in red and demonstrating in a variety of shapes the many places that she’s been hurt, figuratively and mentally.

And despite the fact that she’s revealing herself to Yuu, she doesn’t help things by using barbed words about how he doesn’t understand while it’s all his fault, and she seems to become demonic when she replies “LIAR” to a plea he made to her. Both Yuu and I were shell-shocked. Well played.

-Coming Out Of The Closet, Kannagi

Episode 7 of Kannagi reminded me of the episode in Kamichu where Yurie attempted to stay under a kotatsu for the entire episode, and succeeds. As that was my favorite episode of that show, having Nagi do the same thing by remaining in a closet for the majority of the show became my favorite episode of the series. It brought together the main cast in a way that shows off their individual characteristics, and plays them off during their interactions in a hilarious way.  The fact that Nagi plays an important and awesome role in the plot of the episode without us even really seeing her for more than two minutes tops in the show makes it great. Even without the silly reason as to why Nagi decided to whole herself up in the closet (though her feelings are understandable), and Akiba turning the episodes level up to 11, I wouldn’t have minded if it was just Nagi in a closet without anyone else, since it was funny enough.

-Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies, Ga-Rei Zero

This was a good way to get people hooked onto a show that people didn’t really care about when it began. Despite the cool action scenes, intriguing uses of fun weapons, and fun stuff like that, it didn’t really hold my attention until right at the end. All of a sudden, what seems to be a former comrade of the team we only started to get to know and like slaughters the majority of the team, with the rest killed off by another member of the team controlled by an spirit before killing herself. All of the backstory we started to learn and introductions to some people that had the potential to be interesting was wasted, and we wondered what was going to happen next after the massacre. For those who continued to watch, the show became what led to that moment and then some for one of my favorite shows of the year. But for those that stopped watching soon after the first episode, it was at least a good way to keep interest. And Yomi ;_;

Well, that’s it for the moments of 2008.  It’s really been a fun year in terms of anime that’s come out in Japan, new voices coming out in the anime blogosphere and all of the events that also happened outside of anime. I can only hope that next year begins even better. Have a great 2009 from Drastic My Anime Blog.

By TheBigN

Part 1: Interesting People

This year was insane with the amount of anime openings and endings that I liked, and it was hard to narrow down the amount to a “reasonable” number… so I didn’t really attempt to. But these ones here (coupled with Youtube videos) are the ones that stick in my mind the most over the year visually, aurally, or both. That being said, there is a list of Honorable Mentions at the end of the post to include OP/EDs that were also good, but stuff I could easily leave as well. I’m much more critical of music than I am of anime, but doesn’t mean that I have standards.

-ARIA The ORIGINATION ED – “Kin no Nami Sen no Nami”, Akino Arai

A great departure from the previous EDs done by ROUND TABLE feat. Nino and the ARIA seiyuu, and IMO the best ED song of all the series. Arai’s voice, as soft and flowing as I remember it, definitely encompasses the feel of Neo Venezia that I get from ARIA: Calming, smooth, ethereal, beautiful and wonderful.  Getting an idea how how Akari sees Neo Venezia helps as well. Favorite parts of the video: Akari looking through the multi-colored stone, the shots of her dear friends, and the rainbow over the lone undine rowing along the water.

-Spice and Wolf OP – “Tabi no Tochuu”, Kiyoura Natsumi

My favorite OP of the year song-wise, it had me at Natsumi’s first vocals. It has a simple, waltz-like melody (helps that the song has a ¾ time signature, or so I’d like to think) that I usually catch myself singing along with as it plays, especially at the chorus with the male accompaniment. It tells a story of a journey with and unknown destination (duh), coupled with the visuals that basically explain how Horo and Lawrence meet, partner up, and continue on this intriguing journey. The combo rouses me, making me want to join up with them on their journey. Favorite parts of the video: Yay beginning snowfall, Lawrence looking a little disturbed while Horo slyly grins just before the chorus, Horo flicking her hidden tail while she and Lawrence stand together, the handshake.

-Gunslinger Girl – Il Teatrino OP – “Tatta Hitotsu no Omoi”, KOKIA

Regardless of what people might think about the second season of the show (it’s not actually that bad, despite it’s radically different appearance), I wouldn’t think that people would be bugged that much by the OP, at least song-wise, though it’s no Delgados (as digitalboy might complain about). The dual vocals I hear from KOKIA help keep the tension and seriousness of the song ramped up as they go towards the chorus with determination, and I enjoy that. Of the two versions of the OP video (changes halfway for those who haven’t watched it), I prefer the second one, as though the first one is an interesting usage of montage and real life, it didn’t really explain what the show was about. Favorite parts of the video: Rico’s leap from roof to roof, Angelica’s footsteps, the dichotomy between Pinocchio’s and Triela’s upbringing, and the final faceoff between the two.

-Allison & Lillia OP – “Tameiki no Hashi”, Kuricoder Quartet & Yukawa Shione

The Kuricoder Quartet (seems quite a fun departure from the Kuricoder Orchestra for Azumanga Daioh) work well in making Shione’s vocals more like a folk song from times gone by. The vocals themselves are nice enough to me on their own though, but the instrumentation helps keep them from flying away, if that makes any sense. The visuals of our main pairs of protagonists for both halves flying around in their planes provide a nice backdrop for the song, but only at the end of the first version where we see Allison and Will admiring the scenery does it click in my head.

-Macross Frontier ED -  “Diamond Crevasse”, May’n

This is my favorite of the OP/EDs of the show, which was no contest in my opinion (though “Aimo” is still <3). I felt that Sheryl Nome bringing the audience home after all the action and antics that happened in the episode was great, making for an awesome closer. And I feel that the chorus just brings the house down, also providing a fitting coda to Yoko Kanno’s masterful work on the OST. It’s just “Go Home People” after that. :3 Favorite part of the video: the ending shot, which was great on episode 7 (I believe), since it ends up being the last shot of her powerful concert on Frontier.

-Kamen no Maid Guy ED – “Wakugai!!”, Yoshiki Fukuyama

Hearing this, I couldn’t help but imagine Basara rocking out to it, since Fukuyama is his singing voice for Macross 7. That aside, the pulsing song starts off strong from the initial drumbeat (or just from Kogarashi’s declaration with awesome screech at the end), and it never lets up. Just as our awesome Maid Guy never lets up on Naeka or Fubuki in the awesome ED video. Favorite parts of the video: the frightened pair running away from Kogarashi to the beat, their frightened faces cornered by his insanity near the end, and Kogarashi triumphant at the end.

-Kyouran Kazoku Nikki OP – “Chousai Kenbo Sengen”, MOSAIC.WAV

I’ve only really gotten into MOSAIC.WAV within the past year of so, but I’ve been liking a lot of their more recent stuff they’ve pumped out for anime, and this is an example. The pumping Akiba-Pop coupled with the waves of quickly spoken words throughout the sung vocals greatly demonstrates the hyper mood of the show, especially with the accompanying animation, which is one of my favorites of the year. The combo is probably a good representation of Kyouka’s decree to overload the world with frenzy, especially with her different declarations at the end of the OP in every episode. Favorites parts of the video: Umm, everything? Especially the intro with the mini-Kyouka’s introducing a Kyouka on the world, Kyouka parachuting onto Ouka’s head, the Midarezaki family getting ready to rumble, everyone pointing, from the running away of Ginka, Chika and Ouka from Kyouka to the end of the video.

-Soul Eater OP 1 – “resonance”, T.M. Revolution

It’s been a while since I’ve heard T.M. Revolution as such in anime, and it was great to hear him again for this first OP.  But the video takes precendence to me, as I loved the kinetic camerawork throughout, the stylized nature everywhere and everything, and how there was always some form of movement present by anyone of the characters. Favorite parts: Ummm everything? Specifically, the zoom out from the moon to the main characters stopping at Maka and Soul walking, Shinigami-san’s hand movements (Baka-Raptor doing it was a good moment for me), Medusa’s dancing Soul Eater punching the camera away, and Maka and Soul fighting (yay).

-Hidamari Sketch x365 OP  - “? de Wasshoi”, Kana Asumi, Kaori Mizuhashi, Yuuko Goto and Ryouko Shintani

Happy Happy Hidamari. I don’t feel like I need to say anything more about the song. Favorite parts of the video: It’s Hidamari Sketch. Everything to me.

-Birdy The Mighty Decode ED – “Let’s go together”, Afromania

Whenever Afromania is involved, you’re in for a rocking good time, and that’s the case with “Let’s go together”, which expresses fun vibes all around, as if one’s relaxing on the beach, if that makes any sense. It must be the opening quintet of notes from the guitar to the drumbeat and vocals kicking in. “Let’s go! Have a good time!”, indeed. I also enjoyed the video which pretty much just consisted of Tsutomu following the bands advice, with a silhouette of him dancing on by, and hi-fiving Birdy on the way. Good times.

-Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto: Natsu no Sora OP – “Fly Away”, THYME

It had me at the Engrish, “good night Days, good old Days” sung by THYME, and I joined in when the main rocking tune came in, as this is another one of my favorite OP songs. It was interesting to see how the lyrics that seemed to be the one of someone who’s nervous and nostalgic for earlier times contrasted with what seems to be a genuinely positive-sounding tune and video showing Sora and others in Tokyo living life.  Either way, it was good introduction of THYME to me (and their work on the ToLoveRU OP wasn’t bad either), and with their first album released (which I heartily recommend to those who like “Fly Away”), it’s a band I hope to hear from much later down the line. Favorite parts of the video: people stretching,  the beginning grind of a day, Sora going up and down a hill on her bike, and the photo with her and her dog.

-Tytania ED – “LOST IN SPACE”, Psychic Lover

The song and video screams “80s” to me. In terms of the music, it comes from the synthesizer, the general melody, the lyrics (Win, Lose, or Draw!, Dive into the light!), and so on. The video? Okay, mostly from Lira’s movement between the walking Fan in the middle of the chorus. That and the attire of the non-Tytania cast. And that’s okay with me.

-Penguin Musume Heart 2^nd ED - “Yurayura + Yuriyura + Nananana”, PNGN3: Azusa Kataoka, Mariya Ise, Yoshino Nanjou

Sung by the main trio of the show, the song gets me at the get go from the first “na” on it’s main rockish theme, I guess. Shows that it really doesn’t take much for me  to enjoy a song. The video doesn’t really serve any point at all, but it’s still fun to watch anyway (kinda like the main show). Extra kudos goes to IOSYS (yay Touhou flashes), which apparently animated this ED (let me know if I’m wrong). Favorite parts of the video: Sakura holding the “na” bubble, Marie Whitebear drinking tea on top of a toilet, Sakura on the apple (wonder what that’s about), Sakura happy to have friends, and the rainbow (yay!).

-Kannagi OP – “motto ☆ hade ni ne!”, Haruka Tomatsu

The song itself really doesn’t stay in my head that well, but when coupled with the best opening animation of the year IMO, it stands out well. Tells of an alternate reality, or probably Nagi’s dream in being a popular idol that gives her the faith she needs to exorcise impurities and then some. Favorite parts of the video: everything.

-Ga-rei Zero OP – “Paradise Lost”, Chihara Minori

A pulsing pop song that doesn’t stop from the first beat to the last, with nice synthesizers and strings and a nice Eastern flair hidden in there. Given that I don’t really listen to songs from Minorin, I do like what’s done here, though apparently the song isn’t as well received as some of her other stuff? Either way, I enjoyed that and the opening video tied to it, especially because the latter evokes sad feelings as I know what’s going to happen. ;_; Favorite parts of video: Kagura looking up at the beginning, Kagura and Yomi walking in opposite directions on the sidewalk, the Nabuu brothers bobbing side to side, the chairman waving, the silhouettes of the main group moving off and leaving Kagura to stand on her own, basically any moment with Kagura and Yomi together (;_;).

-Clannad After Story OP – “Toki wo Kizamu Uta”, Lia

This OP gave me much more than the first one, with a better song, and better visuals to match. I myself am still trying to figure out the varying time signatures of the piece (does it go into 27/8ths somewhere? At least 5/8 time after the main chorus I’d like to think), which I feel is pretty clever to keep me listening to a song. Lia never losing the beat is awesome in itself, and when she and the song go into the chorus, it’s magical. Favorite part of the video: the various shots of Nagisa before the zoom out of Tomoya and Yoshino in their electrical company van, the Nagisa and Tomoyo profiles, and Nagisa floating in the end.

-Michiko to Hatchin OP – “Paraiso”, Soil & “Pimp” Sessions

Pure Brazil in the song, the only instrumental piece of the openings and endings here, and it’s great. Both the song and the video jazzy, sassy, happy and very colorful, and they are a joy to experience. Favorite parts of the video, the intros of Michiko and Hatchin, the close-up shots of them on the motorcycle during the “chorus”, and them driving away.

Honorable Mentions (told you my list was too long) visually or aurally:

true tears ED – “Sekai no Namida”, Yuuki Aira (both);

Michiko to Hatchin ED – “Best Friend”, Karutetto (both);

ef – a tale of melodies OP – “ebullient future”, ELISA (visually);

Detroit Metal City OP – “SATSUGAI”, Detroit Metal City (both);

Golgo 13 ED 1- “Glass Highway”, doa (both);

Xam’d OP – “Shut Up and Explode”, Boom Boom Satellites (both, RUN AWAY);

Kure-nai OP – “Love Jump”, Minami Kuribayashi (visually);

Real Drive OP – “Wanderland”, 9mm Parabellum Bullet (both);

Kaiba OP – “Never”, Seira (both);

ToLoveRU OP -  “forever we can make it!”, THYME (both, ooh la la);

Macross Frontier OP 2 – “Lion”, Megumi Nakajima and May’n (both, “I will survive!”);

H2O ~Footprints in the Sand~ ED – “Kazahane”, Haruka Shimotsuki (aurally);

Kyouran Kazoku Nikki ED 6 – “Sekai de Ichiban Yabai Koi”, Haruka Tomatsu (both);

Kyouran Kazoku Nikki ED 8 – “Appare Henka Ja.”, Satou Rina (aurally);

Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei OP – “Kuusou Rumba”, Ootsuki Kenji & Zetsubou Shoujo Tachi (both, yay SHAFT);

TYTANIA OP – “Ano Sora wo, Yuke”, Ken Nishikiori (both, especially stabbing spaceships);

Kannagi ED – “Musuhi no Toki”, Haruka Tomatsu

Kurogane no Linebarrels ED – “Ame ga Furu”, Maaya Sakamoto

B-side of the year: “Take you as you are“, from Hatenkou Yuugi OP – “Heartbreaking Romance”, Kanako Itou (better a video with a game as its background than something else, I say. )

Tomorrow (hopefully): A bunch of random quotes. Help on this one is good.

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