JOURNAL: Arigatomina

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  • updates 2005-03-14 17:01:47 I've decided not to get a new cat. I know I didn't mention it here, but the day after I wrote how relieved I was to have him safely at the vet, I got a call that he'd died. It's nothing compared to a human loss, but considering I live alone, it was a big blow. My oh-so-sensitive boss offered ne a new cat immediately, but I don't want it. I'll go solo, that way I don't have to deal with a repeat. And here I thought actually being able to afford a vet would make a difference. Really naive on my part, that.

    I finished reading up the Naruto manga, as much as I could get ahold of. I'm not going to bother watching any more of the series. I just don't like where it's heading. I might get some of the later episodes for some of the fights - footage, but I don't want to watch the series anymore. Big disappointment there.

    Got my hands on One Piece, some of it, anyway. It's very different from the manga in spots - new adventures, some lasting as long as the manga arcs - and yet they cut out the beginning to conserve space and get to the good stuff quicker. I don't really mind, though. It's like filler that isn't really filler - instead of pointless "nothing happens" episodes, they have actual "goal and finish" mini-arcs. It's interesting.

    Finished reading as much as I could of HunterxHunter. I need to watch that series. I don't really like the way he rearranged the YYH 'characters' so Kuwa and Kurama are 'partners' and Hiei and Yusuke are best friends, it's just strange to get used to. But I do like that Kurapica has a real 'original' design, and he's much darker than Kurama. And it's great to see a different approach to the 'killer' in Killua, with the mix of childish innocence. Gon is a Yusuke rip-off, though it's his father who really looks almost identical to YYH's Yusuke. He's a little cute at times, so I can stand it. I think I'll be a major fan of Kurapica when I see the anime - his character just strikes me stronger than Killua (they softened him too much, I only really pay attention to him when he's fighting or killing people). Sparkly-Kura is cool even when he's being cute. #^_^#

    I'm reading Hikaru no Go. It started nice enough, but I'm starting to get a little bored with it. I'll have to read more to know if the anime is worth watching.

    I've downloaded most of the vids in my op thread, though I've only submitted one of the reviews so far. I have three on my comp at work, but I think I'll finish them and just submit them all at once. Probably Saturday, since I'll be ripping dvds.

    I'm expecting to get Trigun next in my rental que, so that'll be a new series. I don't think I'll like it, but I'll give it a shot. I got my hands on Saiyuki: Requiem (movie) - that was messed up. It's fun to watch new anime once in a while, especially now that I'm reading manga as well.

    No vid plans as of yet, not any that I'm dedicated to finishing any time soon. I'll probably be watching One Piece the next few nights, and reading manga or working on reviews in my offtime (at work, if I can get my lazy boss to actually go out on the yard where he's supposed to be). It's nice to write up reviews at work, but I can't watch vids there when he's just standing around wanting to chat with me. Blegh, I'd rather be answering phones - at least I can hang up on them after a minute or two. 
  • always a bride's maid 2005-03-08 17:28:11 VCA's are done. I was startled with the Helpful result since I stopped reading guides about the time AD added 8000 more words to the avtech guide and took out the sections I actually used.

    But thinking about it, the results make sense. Everyone who's won the 'helping hand' award made a guide. If AD hadn't dropped, he'd have gotten it again this year since his and Ermac's guide is the most-read (by forum-users *and* new editors). Since Ermac has no forum presence, AD would get it by default. Heck, his name was one of the first I learned - from that one guide.

    I was startled because I hadn't realized there was a new 'big' guide up this year. Unless his name is on that new avtech guide... o.O Yes, I'm behind in the times when it comes to guides, mini or otherwise.

    Scintilla topped the forum, so I'm sure the votes were splintered on that side, and I still think MexicanJunior and myself have a presence in the review category (though I was lax this past year). Maybe if Scintilla had reviewed more he might have gotten those 'off-forum' votes. But I still don't think it can compare to a name posted at the top of a widely read guide that every newbie with a question is invariably pointed toward.

    My only complaint would be the description of the 'helpful' category. I think they should cut out the part about reviews being important. No one who's ever won was big on reviewing. It makes you think that's helpful, and honestly, it isn't on a big scale. A guide helps everyone, a review can only help one person.

    As for the rest of the winners...heh, I didn't watch enough vids to vote in more than a few categories. I'm happy to see Shonen Bishidou get some awards. I think my definition of 'artistic' is far from the average (not complaining, just noticing), and the horror winner is pleasing to me in an "I told you so" way.

    I've never found a scary amv. A halloween amv is as close to 'horror' as it comes around here. The rest are just dark action vids - action and violence does not equal scary or horror. A little kid in a witch outfit is closer to 'horror' than Kenshin slicing cartoon people into bits.

    I did think Requiem had that 'creepy' feel of the classical 'horror' genre. But let's face it, people want gore and violence in "scary movies". No one really appreciates the fact that The Exorcist would have been scary without the high squick factor, if they'd just played on the 'unknown' more. I didn't think Requiem would get it because I don't think the average viewer will appreciate it for being more...horrific than those dark action vids. So I'm glad to have a halloween vid up there. It's closer to my interpretation of the 'horror theme' than a dark action vid would have been. 
  • new video 2005-03-03 06:15:19 It's no wonder I like Samurai Deeper Kyo so much, all I have to do is look at the characters. Yukimura and Sasuke are so similar to Kurama and Hiei it's obvious why I like them - I'm shallow like that. The neatest bit is the voice actor - Kurama and Yuki both use Ogata Megumi, but then there's the hair styles - in profile shots the way Yukimura's hair curls at the back resembles Kurama's hair style, and that doesn't even touch the little 'promo' scene of Yukimura using a whip. I could almost swear that entire 'fight' dance scene was lifted directly from Yu Yu Hakusho - Yukimura doesn't even *use* a whip in SDK. ^_^;;

    I'm not announcing this vid on the forum since it's the antithesis of recent effects vids. I managed to get the Doomrider project (thanks a million go to Kalium, he's a saint for hosting it for those of us who can't do torents). After watching that, I'm very relieved to have a simple emotional video to watch. I can appreciate editing for itself, and I do like dancing effects, but I'm an anime fan. I want to see emotion in the characters, eye shots, facial shots, dramatic pauses - I want to feel it. For that, I don't care how much the editing is loosened. I'd rather see a character duck or turn or nod or blink on a beat, than seven clips flashing to that same beat. Make the characters dance, not the clips themselves.

    I will use effects in future vids, so I'm not bashing them at all. I'm simply reestablishing my like for anime set to music, where it's the anime you watch more than anything else. 
  • Updates 2005-02-25 22:08:21 A very busy time over here.

    One of my uncles is dying, estimated 1.5 weeks to live. My mom is taking it badly.

    I ran my cat to the vet for emergency surgery, hoping to get him back in better shape Monday (fingers crossed).

    Still need to email India - I swear I'm on it, and I really do want to see you. Email me if you read this first (arigatoumina@hotmail.com)

    Downloaded a new video by an older creator I like, and have a new Hiei vid to download after that - probably won't get to watch them till Sunday.

    Still need to rip some Sailormoon footage for someone, it's on my list, honestly.

    I managed to clear my harddrive, so that's a step forward (positive).

    I'm going to get One Piece. I've only read 30 volumes of the manga so far, but I want to see the anime version. I'm a Zoro fan. Thanks go to Paulo for that, I'm still rewatching his video often.

    Still need to upload some zip versions of vids to one of my yahoo groups for someone who's having trouble with email attachments - estimated time for that...Tuesday? Maybe...

    I have 2 weeks left on my mIRC trial...rushing to get as much use out of it as possible. After that I'll have to convert the 'instructions' to work for VIRC...I've no idea how I'll manage that.

    I have 1.8 weeks left on my membership at a new website - I have to remember to cancel it before I'm automatically renewed (it's only a few dollars, but I don't expect to use the site any longer than necessary).

    Finished reading vid descriptions for all the Samurai Deeper Kyo videos on this site (including vids with 5 or fewer anime titles used). I've only found 1 video with Yukimura, and it's a 'make a man out of you' mulan spoof vid. Very disappointed over here. Actually annoyed about it.

    I'm making a Samurai Deeper Kyo video next, one featuring Sasuke, Yukimura, and a little of Saizo. It's just crap that no one has done it yet. Like I said, I'm very annoyed about that slight. Are there no girls out there making videos to this anime? Or am I just strange to think they'd be popular characters? I at *least* expected a few Yukimura profile videos. No point hoping for anything that highlights Akira or Hotaru. Really really annoyed.

    I miss my cat. I'm glad he's not dead. 
  • Samurai Deeper Kyo (spoilers) 2005-02-19 15:06:58 Just finished the series. It's really rather short when I think of the anime it was compared with in the reviews - namely Rurouni Kenshin. I don't see that much similarity between the two. Sure, they're both samurai, and they have certain 'styles' of attack. But that's about it.

    I loved the little link to Fushigi Yuugi - the main 'style' had four levels for suzaku, genbu, seiyru, and byakko. I know, those are typical for Japanese anime, but I found it cute after having watched FY so recently.

    My favorite pair is, naturally Yukimura and Sasuke (can we say Kurama-Hiei? We can? I thought so). But I also liked the betrayal toward the end, and Saizu, who's just excellent for comic relief. I wasn't fooled, but I'm not sure if we were supposed to be fooled or not. Maybe I'm overly optimistic, but I didn't believe for a second that Yukimura had actually killed the person most dedicated to him. It just didn't fit with his character at all. But I liked that Sasuke was so naive as to fall for it. That really reminds us that he's more of a kid than anything. I know he's at least 18 (the years that passed since the first Kyo-Kyoshiro fight, he'd already joined up with Yukimura then, and he was at least 10 when he left the forest of the trees). But he's so small he looks like a kid throughout. So it's nice that they have him behaving like one most of the time.

    I liked all the little 'partner/comrade' bits mixed into the story. One of the reasons I like Rurouni Kenshin so much is because of Sano, and the balance he adds to the main 'hero' of the anime. There are a number of those pairs in SDK, even with the 'villains' of the piece.

    My favorite 'pair' for the villain side is Hotaru and Akira, although they aren't really 'villains' per say. I was very happy to find out that Hotaru wasn't as cold (pun intended, he's the fire user btw) as he looked when the two turned on each other. And the cute ending scene with them, reconciliation, really made for a happy ending for two otherwise unimportant characters.

    I'm really curious about the older 'Sasuke'. The one who can see the future (history). They really screwed over a lot of characters in this anime - people who obviously had a lot of background to them. I think if they'd told his story better (particularly his relation with Yukimura and the Sanada clan), his 'final' scene would have had a stronger impact. For me, he was just the one who tried to kill 'young' Sasuke. I don't see why he was working to prevent the 'ending' he saw in his vision. Maybe he was doing it to keep Yukimura from being killed, but I didn't see why he was so dedicated. They should have shown some sort of interraction between them after Yukimura joined the Mebu clan - so we'd care more about his character. They almost 'threw him in' to take care of the problem with the gate. I'm assuming he had a lot more focus in the manga.

    I didn't care for the ending of the anime. I admit I liked the pairing of Yuya and Kyo - much better than wimpy Kyoshiro and Sakuya (I really didn't like Sakuya). But the fight...what happened? I take it Kyoshiro's body lived, but since when was Yuya in love with Kyoshiro? Did Kyo's personality die along with his body? If so, then Kyoshiro should have gone back to Sakuya. If they combined again, then I guess he'd rather be with Yuya (since he thought he had to be pure to have Sakuya), but why would Yuya want him? It makes me feel like she's betraying Kyo that she'd be so quick to take whichever she could get.

    The 'final' scene with the war that's going on was not satisfying. So we get Hideta fighting Sanada. Great. Two of my favorite 'good guys' are at war against each other. Why show me that? It's as bad as making an anime with the sole purpose of killing off a beloved character (the last Kenshin ova). It pretty much killed that soft, satisfied ending they had before they jumped ahead 11 years. We get closure with Akira and Hotaru walking off together, and even Migeira looks like he's found a future for himself (with the woman whose name I can't remember - the one who looks like a female Marron from Sorcerer Hunters). And then we get Yukimura and Sasuke and Saizo going back to their clan, smiles all around. And then it jumps 11 years ahead to show that hey, they're all going to fight each other and die.

    The ending clip of Yuya and the Kyoshiro body (I don't know whose mind was in it, Kyo's, or his, or both) was stupid. What a waste. All that effort to get Kyo's body, the happy ending where he actually *got* it. And then we screw it all up and go back to where we started.

    If I had this anime to watch over again, I'd stop it before we get to the 11 yrs in the future, Edo, jump. After that it's not worth watching.

    So basically, I loved the anime. But I'd recommend not watching the last 5 minutes of it. The ending is better without that final 'future clip.'

    Now I'm off to find fiction for my favorite characters. I just *know* there are fics out there for Yukimura, even if there aren't any for Akira. ;p 
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