Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Happy First Anniversary, Yūjin!

Just remembered today is my blog's first birthday! Happy Birthday! It's been a year since I created this blog and made my first post! Man, I'm glad that I managed to keep blogging until now and not get tired of it!- It is an accomplishment. This blog had served as a platform for me to pen my thoughts down to sort out my feelings and emotions! It certainly became a irreplaceable friend of mine! Let's continue being friends!

Due to my computer being problematic, I couldn't do much adjustment to the blog... Sorry but instead of giving you a do-over, I decided to change how I address you! It's nothing special but I thought of calling you Yūjin! It is friend in Japanese and it sounded nice! In addition, you're a friend; not just a blog.

With that, my resolution for Yūjin will be that it will be that I will get to celebrate Yūjin's birthday the next year, the year before and even in the future!

That's about it then! It is a short post but it served as reminder or milestone that Yūjin just turned one year old! See you in the next post and look forward on my post about the stuff I bought in Japan!

And also A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

This is Will signing off!

Dark~   

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Back From Heaven and I feel like going again...

Hi all, it's been a while. As said before, I was away for a while on an one week trip and I was back a few days ago. From the title, you must be thinking where exactly did I go. To anime fans like me, it is heaven and you can guess where is it...(DRUMROLL, please!)...JAPAN! Yes, Japan. This is my forth trip there and yet I don't get tired of it at all! The culture there has always been captivating and one that I admire from the people's kindness and politeness! The language barrier was a problem but that was not going to stop me from communicating with the people there!
Considering I went there in December, I was met with quite a cold climate that I wasn't used to. It was an experience and the best of all... I saw REAL SNOW for the FIRST TIME! For someone who is born in a country without four seasons, seeing real snow is really a big eye view for me!
Next, this trip was the first time I ate bento! Just this trip alone, I had ate 3 times and man, it was great that how badly I wished such a thing actually existed in my country! Below are some of the bentos I ate throughout the trip.



Bentos would be great if not for the coldness. Out of all, omu rice was the best but sadly due to it being cold, it wasn't that good; it would be good if eaten warm.
Following that, this is also my first time I am on a bullet train. Can't really see or feel the difference between a normal and this but certainly, this is fast; since going from Osaka to Tokyo could actually use a plane to get there, then using this train and only require 2 hours plus ride, I guess the train is really fast. The best thing about train rides is that you can eat and drink in them! In my country, I can't so it is like a person will have to endure an hour without eating or drinking in the train... Kinda sad but the rule is there so that the trains are clean so I can understand.
Nozomi 700- bullet train took to get from Osaka to Tokyo
Then, there're the different train tickets.
Normal Train Ride

Train Ticket to Odaiba

Bullet Train ticket
The train ticket to Odaiba is my favourite due to the colour blue which is my favourite colour and the design. Beside that, I went to a lot more theme parks this time! There're Universal Studio Japan(USJ), DisneySea, Joypolis and J world! The tickets are as followed:
Joypolis

USJ

Jworld

DisneySea
If I were to rate them from least like to best like... I will put USJ as the most like, followed by DisneySea then J world before Joypolis. The rating is kinda biased since the theme park that I put as forth, I did not play much and next, it is indoor... The third was due to the fact that the rides were mainly kiddy rides. For teenagers like me, it was a relaxed theme park. Then, you'll be wondering why I put  J world as the third... It is partly due to the fact that every ride comes with a free coin! I know you must be thinking I am some cheap person... Well, I don't deny that since I do like being given gifts. For the other two parks, they were both outdoor parks! Again, the rating is biased since I did not play all rides in DisneySea and also, this is my second time going there so the excitement naturally isn't the same as the first while USJ was my first time. Man, there were similarities between USJ and USS like there were the water ride and 4D Shriek Movie.

Water Ride- coming down with a...

BLAST! Water splashing all over... 

Spiderman Ride
Moving on, Japan is quite considerate to people's wants and needs. 
Akihabara Street
 
Like in the photo, during sunday, all roads are closed (at least in Akihabara). People can walk anywhere without fear of any incoming cars or wait for traffic lights. In other words, they walk the whole streets of Akihabara like a boss. This actually make the walking faster and easier! 

In addition, like my country, they have CIP and the best is that, due to the season, the people involved wore santa costumes as seen in the photo below.
   
Also, their buildings are great with anime pictures! Their trains too!



Then, in Ikebukuro's animate, at the 7th floor, there was a showcase of attack on titan. Considering it being the one of the best animes this year, it does not struck me as shocking. Its popularity can be on par with SAO. 
Featuring (from left to right), Levi, Eren and Mikasa
Lastly, the scenery in Japan wasn't bad; with the leaves on trees turning yellow and red.

With that, this concludes my post on my Japan Trip. The next post will be on what I bought and some updates. Here's a little preview: 

What I bought! Money went flying...
I will finish the gundams and reveal the figurines I got from all these anime boxes that have random figurines inside! 

Before I go, like to share a great song! It is called Kokoro No Komete by Miyamoto Kanako (Voice Actor of Makoto or Cure Sword) in the anime, Doki Doki Precure
 

This is Will signing off!

Dark~ 



















Saturday, December 14, 2013

New toy

Hi all. I'm back for another post. This time, I'll be talking about the new toy I had over the week to experiment on!

It's none other than a planting kit!
 From the image, you can see that the plant I will be growing, is lucky clover! Basically, this kit is actually made from japan. (You'll know why in a short while...) Inside this ceramic jar, the 'materials' are all inside.
Left: SOIL        Right: SEEDS

Instruction sheet
At first, I thought those 4 'things' are the seeds but in the end, they were not...Sigh... I really don't know anything about planting... Next, as you can see from the instruction sheet, it is all in Japanese... I was dumbfounded by it but later seeing that there's pictures, not able to read Japanese isn't that bad; at least I can still follow via those pictures. Just that the warning at the end, I needed someone to help me translate a bit... Anyway, I managed to make the soil which require water for it to soften before adding the seeds in. Following that, it is the observation period with care and love added in. Below is the 6-days observation period:
Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6
For the first 2 days, there was no spout...I was a little worried, thinking I did something wrong and the planting failed or something but! On the third day, one of the seed finally spouted!- I was overjoyed and gained back my confidence and continued to show my care and love! Before long, on the 4th or 5th day, the plant grown even longer! Banzai desu! ^^

With that, I'll continue to observe it and await the time when the leaves are out and then the flower! Hope a nice lucky clover really grow out of it!

For the weaponry session that I said in the last post, I'm sorry to say that there was not much progress due to me being occupied in a MMORPG game called Dragon Nest. You can find me as Aestron03 if you're a player there in the world, Springwood! In addition, there'll be no post next week as I'll be out of country but reassure that when I'm back, there'll be a lot of surprises and updates to look forward to!

Before I go, it's been a long time since I shared some great amvs and here is one of them! The song is endless tears feat.中村舞子 and I once again recommend this song to Jpop lovers. Also, if you're curious of the animes used, see the original LINK.
Until then, Ja ne! This is Will signing off!

Dark~ 

Saturday, December 7, 2013

劇場版 魔法少女まどか☆マギカ 叛逆の物語 Magical Girl Madoka Magica: Rebellion Movie Review

Hi to all! Like I said, I'll be posting the anime movie, Madoka Movie 3: rebellion review. But, before that, a little intro to this awesome anime that was shown in 2011 if I am not wrong!

 Featuring the casts from left to right: Sakura Kyoko, Miki Sayaka, Kaname Madoka with Kyubey, Tomoe Mami and Akemi Homura(standing)
This anime, Magical Girl Madoka Magica is as the title said, a magical girl show. Before you think that all magical girl shows are like precure, fighting villians and saving the day with a good ending, think again; cos this anime is going to give you a different perspective of the life of a magical girl!
What we normally see in a magical girl show is of girls either being chosen or choose to become a magical girl. These girls will then have the ability to transform into their magical girl forms in which the forms give them inhuman strength, defense and abilities such as jumping so high that they can almost touch the sky or flying. Likewise, this anime does grant the girls these abilities. However, what differs this magical girl anime from other similar types is the horrible truth of what the girls sacrificed in becoming magical girls and the dangers that come along with it... In a way, it makes sense that a price is needed to pay for one to be granted inhuman abilities and that's not all. The girl become a magical girl after she is granted a wish. At this point, you'll think that this is TOO GOOD a deal; First, you get a wish of yours to be granted and next, you become a magical girl after having your wish granted!- How cool is that?

Like I said before, sacrifices are made and these sacrifices are pretty much too cruel and let alone to befall a girl... To add up the cruelty, the one that grants the girls wishes is a little cute but creepy (sort of) animal. Audience who watch the beginning would never believe that animal is an evil being since our mindsets are set that cute beings are harmless creatures. Well, you'll be proved wrong in this show.
To sum up, this anime is an angst genre story but reassure the ending isn't very bad though I wouldn't say it is a happy one...     

Movie Poster
 I think I have rambled too much on the anime itself so I'll move onto the review itself now. Before that, I like to say that the movie I watched was sort of a cam rip by someone so the quality isn't the best but okay enough to watch and understand the gist of the story! I like to give a big thank you to that person! If not for him/her, I would have to wait for around another 3 to 4 months or so to watch it! If you want to watch, you can go to this LINK! If you've not watch the first 2, you're recommended to watch unless you've already watched the anime since the first two pretty much sum up the 12 episodes. The first 2 movies can be found in the same website given in the link. (Just search under movies/OVA) The slight difference in the sum-up 2 movies and the 12 episodes, is the new opening sang by Claris, called luminous in the 2 movies. Here's the video:
And here is the opening for movie 3: rebellion. Similarly, it is sang by Claris, called Colourful- It is a nice song that I recommended Jpop lovers to download! The video is of bad quality since this is a cam rip version... The HD version will only be out with subs in like 3 to 4 months from now unless you live in western countries that have movie screening of this movie...

With that, I'll start my review! First of all, this movie was much anticipated by many Madoka Fan since this movie continues from the anime storyline. A large number of fans was hoping a happy ending especially for the couple(?), Homura and Madoka aka HomuMado for short. The storywriter, Gen Urobuchi, was going to give the fans a happy ending for this couple and sort of end this anime once and for all. However, in the end, there was a twist and the ending sent many of the fans speechless, even me too...

I wouldn't say I like the ending very much yet I can't say I dislike it completely; partly it does give room for a sequel-I am hoping for one if there is! Another reason is that the ending, if one watch it without thinking a bit, it would be seen as bad but after having thought over it and reading a fanfic speculating how this ending will turn out in the future of Madoka's world, it isn't that bad. To be fair, there is no decision that one can deem as the perfect good end yet the opposite holds true too; no decision is completely bad...

In addition, audience also think that this ending has many plot holes since there was a drastic change in one of the character and she was my favorite character but to change until like that... I'm speechless. The change may be drastic but I think there was much foreshadowing in the movie that led to this conclusion.

For one, before Homura went to acknowledge the truth of her being a witch, she met with Madoka. The conversion between the two of them led to Homura to realise that Madoka never liked the decision she made to sacrifice her life to eliminate all witches Next, this is just my opinion but it would seem that Homura herself could not bear to leave Madoka.

Thus, to satisfy both her and what she think Madoka want instead, she become a demon, taking over Madoka's place as a god and rewriting the world where all the magical girls can live peacefully, including Madoka... This is what the rebellion means; Homura rebelling against Madoka...

One could never believe that of all the girls... The one who desperately want to save Madoka, would be the one rebelling against Madoka... To many, she will be the last character people had in mind who would be capable of such a feat...  That's why the twist was so big that some think it is unbelievable and have many plot holes.

One of the plot holes was that given that Madoka is a god, she should have foresaw Homura's rebel yet she was not prepared at all... For this point, I got a theory to support the story than this point. As the people who had watched the movie, they would know that Madoka's memories were like overwritten and she does not remember her identity nor her mission... I think that after the barrier placed around Homura's soul gem was broken and Madoka came to get Homura, Madoka could be slowly remembering the stuff she seen. Since she came to get Homura right after she returned to her god form, she may have not remembered Homura's outcome and thus fell into Homura's trap... Another theory that I thought of while typing is that Kyubey did say that the barrier that it placed, separated Homura's soul gem from Madoka's influence. In that case, maybe whatever outcome Homura's soul gem ended up could not be foreseen by Madoka? Then again this is just my viewpoint and considering in the world of anime, infinite theories can be made that seem impossible in reality but possible in the anime world!

Another plot hole which I think I myself have only a bit of a theory to help justify the movie is how Homura was able to gain the ability to become an akuma... For Madoka's case, audience can understand since it is Kyubey which did it but Homura... There was no one(for now...) and she just simply became an akuma because of her love for Madoka. (happiness for HomuMado fans?) For now, I can only say that maybe there is a third force doing this and this third force may hate Madoka as a god. Bear in mind there could be other gods beside Madoka herself in the world...

I think these are just the questioning plot holes that I find interesting to be pointed out. To sum up, audience said that Madoka's love is considered selfless love while Homura's is considered selfish love... I neither completely agree nor disagree. I can understand and agree that Madoka's love is selfless since she sacrificed her normal life to help make the world a better one but for Homura's case... It is the same as how one see the ending. To me, at first, I thought the ending was bad as Homura just betrayed Madoka and took her place so that Madoka would have a normal life, away from her god's role without ever asking Madoka's opinion... In a way, Homura was forcing her ideas onto Madoka...

Yet again, one should think again that maybe... Just maybe Homura was sacrificing her life for Madoka's happiness even though it is a forced one in making this rebellion. No one ever said that Madoka's decision was the best since it was happy ending for all except herself... People may argue that "no, Homura still has her life as a whole." But this depends one how one sees it. To me, Homura pretty much manipulate the people to suit her needs and wants. In a way, her life could be spent on a false belief... This will not be much of a difference from how Madoka was forgetton in the world she changed; false could be equivalent to nothing... In the nutshell, I could not agree with Homura's love as a selfish one...


In conclusion, this movie was great in my opinion. The opening theme, colourful by claris is a great song that
I can't get enough of listening to it. The ending theme, Kimi no Gin no Niwa, was also great since it was sang by none other than Kalafina! For the visual part... I wouldn't say it was bad but the art the anime adapted, does not appeal to me much. The art was the reason I had my doubts in watching this anime but the story pretty much hooked me up fast. Nonetheless, I believe all artists have their own styles and me disliking the art does not mean others dislike too. To give a overall rating, I will give a high score of 8/10!

I think this is about it then. As I am more passionate about anime, I typed a lot more than the previous movie review... Not being biased or anything but I got more stuff to talk about for this movie than the previous one.

A little update to be made: I'll be posting another post on what to expect in the following week as I got a new 'toy' to play with and experiment on plus the fact that I'll be working on my weaponry project! Look forward to it! Following that, I will only post in the weekends due to some technical problem with my com...

With that, I'll be signing off now! See ya in the next post!

Dark~