chibiforte

I just thought I'd make a non-post post that lists out the podcasts that I'm subscribed to and listen to, most of which I actually listen to on a regulard basis (some only sporadically).  This is alphabetical order.

Daizenshuu EX Podcast [Anime]
Dan Carlin's Hardcore History [History]
Dave and Joel's Fast Karate for the Gentleman [Gaming/Anime]
Desiring God (Host: John Piper) [Sermons/Christian]
Focus on the Family (Host: James Dobson) [Christian/Family]
Grace to You (Host: John MacArthur) [Sermons/Christian]
HeartCry Missionary Society [Christian]
IGN Game Scoop! [Gaming]
IGN Nintendo Voice Chat [Gaming]
Jesus Geek [Christian/Technology]
Just Thinking (Host: Ravi Zacharias) [Christian/Philosophy]
Let My People Think (Host: Ravi Zacharias) [Christian/Philosophy]
Nuclearity [Christian/Family]
Renewing Your Mind [Christian/Apologetics]
Stand to Reason [Christian/Philosophy/Psychology/Apologetics/Talk Show]
The Albert Mohler Program [Christian/Talk Show]
The Christian Worldview [Christian/Talk Show]
The Narrow Mind [Christian/Apologetics/Theology]
The Official Adventures in Odyssey Podcast [Christian]
The Unofficial Adventures in Odyssey Podcast [Christian]
Truth for Life (Host: Alistair Begg) [Sermons/Christian]
Way of the Master Radio [Christian/Talk Show]
White Horse Inn [Christian/Theology]
WiiSpot.com Podcast [Gaming]

That's 24 podcasts... and probably why I don't listen to music very often, anymore. o_o;

Been playin' a little o' Mario Kart Wii.  I'm doing pretty well, actually.  I've raced a few online matches against Ted and beat him a few times.  I'm actually getting fairly adept at playing with the Wii Wheel.  I'm still better with the Gamecube controller, but the Wheel helps make it feel more real, if you can call kart racing while throwing shells and dropping banana peels "real". :P

I received my Myself; Yourself OP CD Single, yesterday.  Along with the anime's opening theme, it also had the opening theme for the visual novel.  Both are actually really engaging songs, and I'm glad I made the purchase.  I still haven't received my H20 ~footprints in the sand~ OP CD single, but I expect to get it tomorrow.

I'm also thinking of purchasing the 2006 "LEGEND OF DRAGONWORLD" CD set, which contains a lot of songs from the Dragonball anime.  It seems to have a lot of songs, and when I was listening to the Daizenshuu EX Podcast, the hosts agreed that it was the CD set that you want to get if you're just looking for the main movie themes, OP and ED themes, insert songs, image songs, etc.

Speaking of Dragonball, I actually just finished reading the series last night.  42 volumes worth, as a matter of fact.  It was nice to just get through the entire series in a non-stressful, easy go.  Reading it was the best choice, since it would be extremely expensive to get all the DVDs right now.  I easily breezed through dozens of episodes worth of material in only a few hours each night.  Now, I have the entire series fresh in my mind, and that's nice to have.

Still don't have the pictures of little Matthew.  I'm hoping they'll send them sometime tonight.  I actually talked to my brother on the phone today, and he held the phone up to the baby while he was making noise.  It was so cute! <3

I received my true tears OP CD single, earlier today.  It's pretty good.  I enjoy "Reflectia" the most, obviously, but I didn't particularly care for "elekta".  Maybe I'll have to give it a few more listens.  The piano in the background was obviously nice to hear, but the vocals didn't really catch me.  Maybe because it's slow?

My nephew should be born on Monday, at the latest (since he was due last week, they are going to induce her on Monday if he isn't born till then).  His name will be Matthew Jr., after his Dad.  He better be cute as a button.  I wonder how Sarai will take not being the only baby anymore?

I'm picking up Mario Kart Wii, tomorrow.  I actually wasn't really planning on picking this game up until the summer, but my Dad ended up preordering it for me, so I don't really have an excuse.  I was wanting to pick up The World Ends with You for the DS, but eh, it can wait.  This is kart-racing with Mario, and I hear the online is fantastic, so I'm looking forward to it.

I just had an idea a little bit ago, while vacuuming the living room.  I think it'd be really neat to have a remix album of, what else, but Haruhi Suzumiya music.  Not just any remix album though, but a PIANO album.  Where all of the songs are done on the piano, without vocals or anything.  I think it'd be pretty easy to fill up an album with music from the series and games.  The OP and ED for the anime, obviously, but you could also branch off and do songs from the character albums, or use the BGM for the anime, or even do the OP/ED from the two games they have out.  Even Mikuru's Love Legend!  I could see it being done... maybe being distributed using Bittorrent... I'd need to buy the albums, though, just so I can hear all the music that can be done... and I'd need to find someone else who can play the piano with me... hmmm...

Don't you just hate it when your router gets completely fried, thus driving your internet use to a grinding halt for almost a week?

Yeah, that four-year-old router I bought when my first laptop was given to me finally burnt out last week, never to work again.  I'll miss the thing, since it did its job (never really worked properly with my DS, though).  Now we have a new installation set up and everything, but it took my brother several days to do it since he finally moved out and had to come back from his new place of residence in order to hook it up.

It wasn't really that terrible to be without the internet, but it was annoying that I couldn't get my podcasts daily.  I honestly didn't mind that much, since it gave me time to read the entire original Dragonball series in manga form.  That was cool, since I never saw most of the Red Ribbon arc, or the 22nd or 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai, or the Piccolo-Daimao arc, or pretty much most of what happens after the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai.  It was good to really get the whole story.  I'll start on the "Z" era next, since I'm not totally familiar with the Namek, Freeza, Android, or Cell arcs.

I found my Johnny Cash CD.  It's really neat, and I'm listening to it right now.  Of course I ripped it to my laptop, since I don't want to lose it again and be without the songs.  I should buy more of his albums, they're really neat.

I'm also really getting back into Petra and DC Talk, lately.  I really want to find our old "Free At Last" CD, and I want to find the CD that had Petra's "No Doubt" song on it.  I'm anxious to see if it really was as awesome as I remember it to be.

I received the two CD singles for my favorite Tokusatsu programs, today.  Yep, I got the CD single to Kamen Rider Kiva, which is called "Break the Chain", and the opening and ending theme single for Engine Sentai Go-onger.  I even got a neat poster and a single trading card for the "Break the Chain" CD, both of which feature Kiva in all his Fangire awesomeness.  I'm wondering as to whether or not I should hang the poster up now, or wait until I move so it's in pristine condition (and so my roommates can get a good laugh).

I also watched a new Toku last night, called Tomica Hero Rescue Force.  It's basically a Super Sentai-esque show, but it revolves more around actually saving people from natural disasters instead of fighting a rubber monster that can grow to gigantic sizes.  It was interesting, and while the budget for the show is obviously more than most Tokusatsu programs, something about it felt... strange.  I think it was the framerate that the show is broadcast in, as the camera seemed to look more like it was filmed by college students than professionals.  But that's just a minor gripe, because the special effects are fantastic.  I loved the police car's look, and I wouldn't mind having one, myself.

I think I understand my recent uncertainties about this whole novel deal.  I feel as if I need to know absolutely everything about the world in which these characters interact, and that I have to disclose so many unnecessary details about the characters and their families and school.  But I know that this isn't necessary, since even Haruhi Suzumiya didn't even name the teachers, or the main character's families, or even what they learn, really.  And look how great that series is doing in commercialization.  Surely nobody expects much from a random guy on the internet, right?

And yes, I still have writer's block, although the ideas are slowly coming together, piece by piece...

Also, does anybody have any ideas for new names?  I'm not sure if "Law/Grace" is going to cut it, given its source material... I mean, it's not copyrighted or anything, but I don't want the companies to be unknowingly affiliated with me because I use their terminology or anything.

I've been downloading sooo many Overclocked Remixes, lately.  I literally have about 1,139 remixes from their website, give or take.  I'm pretty sure this is legal, since they've become such a huge site and Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft would have shut them down a long time ago if this was illegal.  It's nice to hear all of those old songs I listened to in chiptune format as a child reimagined in ways I never thought possible.  It just gives me such a sense of nostalgia that's been unrivaled for years, now...

I've been playing Crisis Core, since I bought it the other day.  A very, very engaging game.  Makes me appreciate the FF7 series a bit more, since I didn't really care for it originally.  Hopefully I'll be able to actually finish it, given that I haven't been very dedicated to RPGs, as of late.

I'm not feeling very well, at the moment.  Kinda feeling... sickish...

I'm becoming disenchanted with so much of anime, it seems.  I just tried to watch the first episode of kure-nai.  I got about six minutes into it before I just shut it off, bored out of my mind.  The opening theme reminded me of "The Nanny" with Fran Drescher, which was an immediate turn-off.  The animation reminded me of what I very strongly disliked about Samurai Champloo.  Which was, of course, the animation, or most of it, at least.  I don't know, it just bored me to death.  Maybe I'll read some blog posts about it to see if I missed anything, but if the small portion I watched is indicative of the series as a whole, then it's safe to say that I'm not going to watch it.  It's sad, too, since this is one of the series' that I was looking forward to seeing.

And I didn't care for the first episode of To Love-Ru, either, but at least I made it to the end of the first episode.  It struck me as typical fanservice, with not much more thrown in.  I've read almost all of the manga so far, but it's also somewhat boring and typical.  Bleh.

Hopefully Allison & Lillia will be put up soon.  I'd enjoy watching something good, and hopefully it'll BE good.

Anyway, since this Spring Season is pretty lackluster, I might just start devoting my night times to video games, again.  I'd like to complete EarthBound before going to college, as well as try to get into Chrono Trigger a little more.

I don't know why I made an entry, but it's time I have to kill.

 Still pondering that particular transition in the novels that I have to figure out.  Hopefully I'll be making some headway on that soon, since I want to finish up these summaries.

This upcoming Spring Anime Season doesn't look all that special.  Allison & Lillia looks really interesting, as well as Kyouran Kazoku Nikki, Nijuu Mensou no Musume, Itazura no Kiss, and especially kure-nai, but that's pretty much it.  I really doubt I'll even watch much else besides Allison & Lillia, but we'll see how it goes.

We forked Ben and Jay's yard, last week.  And just earlier tonight, my older brother and sister-in-law placed hundreds of post-it notes on both Gabe's and Jeremy's trucks.  It looked awesome.  This'll show everybody at the Youth Group that our family is not meant to be messed with. :3

I read today that the Ben Stein movie is going to definitely be airing at our local theater, which is a huge plus for me, seeing as how I didn't think the subject matter would be accepted by the theater's owner (seeing as how he aired the Al Gore movie thing), but it turns out that he's just in these things for the money, and if he can make money from a movie, it doesn't really matter what the subject matter is about.  And considering this is a small town, it'd probably be more accepted than all of these big cities.  I'm predicting that there will be at least one boycott of the movie in at least one state, probably here in California in certain cities.  It wouldn't surprise me in the least, considering the terribly hypocritical patrons of this state who think they're open-minded, but are far more bigoted than the things they fight against. xD

I haven't been playing as much Brawl, lately, but that's because there's not much more for me to do on it.  We've unlocked pretty much everything we can, except for the Boss Battle challenges, which are horrendously difficult and something that I don't want to partake in.  I want to try to get into some RPGs again, like Earthbound, but I just can't seem to find the time to sit down and play it.  If nothing else, then I'm certainly going to have a giant backlog of video games that will finally be completed once I'm in college with free time on my hands.  I predict weekend marathons will be taking place with my roommates.

Speaking of roommates, I'm really hoping that I get some cool ones.  I think the current allocationg per room is about four people, so I'll have three roommates.  I want at least one of them to be a chef of some sort, so they'll constantly make food and ask me to taste-test it.  I'm also hoping that another one of them is a computer genius who can help me with tech stuff.  And I hope the last one is an artist or musician of some sort, who can draw or help me with music stuff.  It'd be awesome if that happened.

I downloaded at least two gigabytes of OCRemixes, today.  I decided that it was time I go through what that website has and just enjoy what they put out.  So far, I'm impressed by these remixers.  They really know how to take chiptunes and rework them into a completely new creation.

Basically, I'm writing a "light novel"-esque story.  But, what does this mean, you might ask?  Let's ask Wikipedia...

"A light novel (ライトノベル, raito noberu^?) is a novel with anime or manga style illustrations, primarily targeting teens and young adults. The term "light novel" is a wasei-eigo, or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language. Light novels are often called ranobe (ラノベ, ranobe^?) or rainobe (ライノベ, rainobe^?) for short."

Okay, that was a bit too much on the katakana side, but you get the idea.  And how are these written (when not in Japanese, of course)?

"Light novels also frequently have very short paragraphs, often only one or two sentences in length, and are usually driven by dialogue. The overall effect is for a very fast read."

That's the basic effect I'm trying to master.  I just want it to be read quickly, to where the audience doesn't have to spend days trying to finish a single volume.

See, this idea came about out of the blue, and even I don't know exactly where I got the idea.  I guess part of the inspiration came from reading the translated Haruhi Suzumiya light novels, and because I liked the style of writing so much, it stuck with me.  Now, I think this would be the best way for me to write a novel series.

Considering how few light novels there are out there that are actually translated for an English-speaking audience, shouldn't we English-speakers have our own alternative?  I've been looking around the internet, but I gotta tell you, I haven't found a single idea like mine.  I've found fan manga written and drawn in the way I'm doing so, of course, but not a full blown literary series like I'm planning.  I think I've essentially cornered the market on the subject matter I'm going to tackle.

And while I know I'm going to get shellacked on this choice, I'm obviously going to go with Japanese names, terms, and overall culture as the backdrop to the series.  It just makes sense, considering I'm lifting the entire writing style from them, so why not just go all the way?  And, in a way, it feels like I"m going something every other anime fan wants to do: create my own series.  Sure, it won't be animated, but this is the next best thing.  If I can also find a decent artist to make illustrations to go along with the chapters, then so much the better!

This project is basically an outlet for ME, so I can do what I like (write) and have fun with it.  I'm making it available to the masses simply because it'd be nice to have feedback.  I can't edit my mistakes by myself, you know!

Just for the record, I'm not even done with a single chapter yet.  I'm doing so much preliminary work, like character personalities, designs, storylines, settings, character arcs, etc.  This is the sort of thing that's done by serious writers. :P

I'm thinking of doing all this preliminary work while I'm still in high school, and once I'm in college, I'll start the actual process of writing it.  Sound good?

Why did he choose me to give the sermon, tomorrow?  Agh... this is the most stressful thing I've ever done, even more than reading reports out loud in school!  Sure, my outline is 5 pages long, but really, what does that mean?  It just means that I drone on.  A lot.

I haven't been making very many posts lately, have I?  My apologies.  Having joined the Town of Odyssey, I am trying to make time for them.  I've made two suggestions for the show so far, and I think they're fairly good suggestions.  It'd be neat if the writers saw what I was saying, but that's wishful thinking, I guess.

I've also been hard at work on my novels!  So far, I have the first three novels already plotted out, and they are just waiting to be written completely.  I'm fleshing out the characters as much as I can, but it's difficult when I don't have a visual aid helping me when writing descriptions.  Either I need to meet an artist who can draw anime-style quickly, or I need to learn how to draw it all by myself.  Referring to character designs that are from other anime shows that are similar to my characters seems kind of like cheating. D:

Yeeeeeeeah, Super Smash Bros. Brawl is coming out next Sunday!!  This is going to be fantastic.  I'm going to stay up all night and play through as much as I can, then I'm going to invite Steven over so I can beat him down before he learns the controls properly!  Sounds like a plan! <3

I started my piano lessons last night.  It was only 30 minutes long, but I did learn some stuff.  I didn't actually play anything, of course.  I'm not ready for something like that.  But she did teach me some things, like finger placement, rests, the difference between the fortissimo and the pianissimo.  Good stuff.

I've been playing through both Earthbound and Mother 3, lately.  M3 is obviously more difficult, since I can't read the Kanji, but I have a no-spoilers guide that'll help me through it, so it's all good.  Earthbound is just so awesome, though.  I just beat the Sludge monster that was sending zombies to Threed, so now I'm at Fourside with no clue as to how I continue the game.  I seem to have missed a Soundstone tune, as well.  I need to backtrack a little bit, I guess.  I really need to start playing Chrono Trigger, though.  I don't want to have to sell it since it's such a rare game, but if I don't play it, that's exactly what my Dad plans to do.

Joined a new message board!  The Town of Odyssey, to be precise.  Sure, it will only make sense to an Odyssey fan, but if you can get past that, it's a great board.

Engine Sentai Go-Onger seems to be a really funny series, so far.  Sure, I haven't actually been able to watch any episodes with subtitles, but even watching it RAW is still good, and I can understand some basic things fairly easily.  It's essentially a parody, that's all I need to know.

CLANNAD was apparently cut to 22 episodes... Ugh.  But, well, I guess I shouldn't complain too much, considering that it's been a really good series, so far.  I just have no clue what they're going to do with the ending.  I'm not even going to hazard a guess, I'm just going to wait and see what happens.

I ordered some Gekiranger CDs a few days ago!  They should be here either next week, or the few days following the release of Brawl.  It's awesome, one of the CDs has all of the character songs and various insert songs on it.  The other CD has theme songs from Gekiranger, Boukenger, and Magiranger, so I'm psyched for that.  I also ordered the Digimon Adventure OP Theme CD Single, but that wasn't in-stock at the time I ordered it, so they'll ship it out at a later date.  No worries, I'm still going to enjoy it.

I've been doing some more work on my planned novel series.  I was able to plot out what happens in the first two novels, and I finished working on a major event in the third novel last night.  I'm hoping to get at least ten or so novels planned out before I start the actual writing process, just so I know where I'm taking the story.  I'm going to make sure that I have any loose ends tied up neatly before I even make it public, so there shouldn't be any worries about me abandoning the project.  I don't know how or where I'll host them, but I'll decide that when the time comes.  I'm still thinking of a title change, however.

I forgot to mention this, but I finished up all the translated parts of Clannad that I was able to, which includes all the main routes.  It was a good game, and I hope I can continue on and start the After Story once they release a full translation patch.  It'll be fun, I'm sure.

I've actually downloaded about four visual novels that I plan to play.  The ones I snagged are Narcissu, true rememberance, planetarian, and Gadget Trial.  Out of those four, I'm most interested in planetarian and Narcissu, as the former is supposed to be a really sad story, and the latter is supposed to be some kind of story about hospital patients and what the patient's who have contracted fatal illnesses (and are without hope) have to go through.  I'm almost scared to finish these novels, since I'm not an emotional person and I'm not sure how I'll react if the ending's are shockingly sad... but I'll make sure to talk about them in the future.  planetarian keeps freezing up my computer as I make my way through the story, though, and it's driving me bonkers.

I've been listening to a lot of Earthbound music, lately.  I downloaded all the "Rock Candy" remix albums from starmen.net, and I'm now in the middle of the fourth album.  And, I gotta say, I'm really impressed by how well these Earthbound fans remix their favorite game's music.  There are some tracks that I don't particularly appreciate, but for the most part, it's pretty good stuff.  I really want to try playing that game again, though.  I have every game in the series, but Mother 1 through 3 are in Japanese, and Earthbound is on the SNES (and I can't find time to play console games right now).  I'll have to figure something out.

I seriously cannot wait until Super Smash Bros. Brawl comes out.  I know I've said it before, but I can't help myself.  This game is going to be the best thing since sliced bread, and trust me, I like sliced bread.  I've been dreaming about it, listening to the music rips from the Japanese version, planning on sleeping over at my cousin's house so that my friends and I can play it all night, figuring out how quickly we can get back from the Gamestop in the next town so I can play it as soon as possible, etc.  I can't help that I'm addicted to it... and it's not even out, yet!

I'm still in the planning stages of my novel series.  I'm not sure whether I should keep the name or not ("Law/Grace").  It's a bit of a rip-off from WOTM Radio, since that IS their catchphrase, and I wouldn't want to make it seem as if I'm plagiarizing them or that their whole organization was involved in the production of my novels or anything.  I may not understand business matters, but I can at least figure out that unintentionally associating their name with mine is not a good idea for either of us.  They don't put that forward slash in how they present the entire concept, though, so maybe I'm safe.  It's kinda like Fate/Stay Night, in a way, so maybe there won't be too much confusion.  I'll have to send them an e-mail, just to be safe.

 I'm going to be talking about media items I've partaken in within the last few weeks, which means I'm be giving little mini-reviews on them.

Premiere - Enjin Sentai Go-onger
The premiere of the new Sentai season!  And, like many were guessing, it's, more or less, a parody season.  And I actually liked it, even if I did watch it RAW.  It was fairly simple to understand, and I enjoyed the Henshin sequence and fights.  It seemed to be a bit over-acted, but I can only guess that it's part of the whole parody motiff.  From what I can guess of the story, it's mostly some kind of fight against pollution-making monsters, which just screams Gaoranger to me, but whatever, it's not a big deal.  I just hope somebody subs the episode, soon...

Premiere - Kamen Rider Kiva
It's a new Kamen Rider.  What else do you need to know?  It's got vampires, action, organizations, a rival dedicated to bringing down Kiva, all that fun stuff.  I'm up to episode #4 right now, and I'm really enjoying it.  I like having Tomokazu Sugita in the role of Kivat, and I really enjoy the actor who plays Wataru's father, Otoya.  He's just such a funny character, I found myself laughing out loud most of the times he made an appearance.  And having the young-looking and innocent Wataru as Kiva was just an interesting choice, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this show goes.

Premiere - Powers Rangers Jungle Fury
Yeah, baby!  Another new season of Power Rangers!  And wouldn't you know it... I fell in love just by watching the first two episodes.  This show has got it goin' on.  While it is, more or less, a translation of it's Sentai counterpart, it just seems to work, for some reason.  I'm not diggin' the sunglasses as morphers, but I'm sure it'll pass (I don't know why they changed from the wrist morphers, but whatever).  I'm really impressed by how they kept in so many Japanese and Chinese names for various aspects of the series, instead of localizing them as simply "Jungle Weapon ______" (which they did do for some things, but they were necessary changes)
I like the rangers, especially the Blue Ranger, Theo, since it seemed that they wanted to translate the character of Retsu in a way that worked in America, and it does work.  The supporting characters are actually interesting, including Fran and R.J. and Master Mao, and the villians are good counterparts of the originals.  I even enjoy listening to the theme song, which is a first in a long while.  Can't wait to see what they do with the Kensei, Violet Ranger, Chopper, and some various other things.
One more thing, though: I'm actually really confused as to why they kept in a few certain parts that happened in the original.  I'm talking about things like the FLOODING of a MAJOR CITY, in particular, which is strange considering how recent the New Orleans Hurricane has been.  Usually Disney wouldn't touch something like that with a ten-foot pole, but they seemed to not have a problem using it this year.  I'm also speaking of how the giant monster DESTROYED the TOP of a SKYSCRAPER, which just shocked me to no end.  I mean, they stopped using exploding building footage ever since 9/11, but now they actually have a monster committing the act intentionally?  Woah... that's all I have to say.  Quite impressive, Disney.  Now, let us use the word "kill" instead of "destroy" and you'll get your teenage audience.

General Thoughts - Rosario + Vampire
I'm a bit disappointed on how this anime is proceeding.  I was so interested in this show before it aired that I went and read what was released of the manga just so I knew how this whole plotline would go.  And yet, they're not only diverging from the manga on what I consider important points, but they just throw faaaaar too much fanservice in the mix, as well as rushing through manga chapters to the point that you lose any emotional connection to the characters.  I'm disappointed at that.  They should've chose an animation studio that would NOT turn it into a typical fanservice show and give it to one that would actually take the story that was given to them and make something out of it.

General Thoughts - H20 ~footprints in the sand~
This show has impressed me soooo much within the last few weeks.  Not many people were expecting anything from this show, but I don't know where all this dislike comes from.  This show can pack so much drama and humor into the episodes that I'm amazed it's not one of the top shows this season.  And even though it's supposed to be a short series, I don't feel that it's being rushed at all, and it's proceeding at a pace that's not too fast or slow.  I know for a fact that I'll be buying these DVDs when/if they are licensed here in America, I find it that enjoyable.

General Thoughts - true tears
This is another show that I'm impressed with.  At the beginning, I thought it was somewhat boring and not too interesting, but these last few episodes have really piqued my interest, to the point where I don't find it the least bit boring, anymore.  I love how they always end the episodes with SOME kind of cliffhanger, and while some may see it as a cheap trick to get more watchers, it just grabs my interest all the more.  Since this series is actually licensed, I'm definitely going to pick up the DVDs, as I'm curious as to which voices they'll choose for the dub.

And... that's all I have.

I actually spent a good half hour on some preliminary work on the novel series I'd like to make.  Yes, I believe I'm actually going to write this thing.  I had such great inspiration last night and earlier today as to one of the big story elements I'd like to implement.  I think I'd like to create that particular scene I envisioned in my mind as a test chapter, since it's such an emotionally gripping moment, and if I do well enough with that, I know I'm able to write somewhat coherently.  It'll be great, but I don't know who I'd make it available to.  I guess I could put it up as a download in this journal for anyone to come by and read, as long as they comment on it after they finish.  It'll be awhile before I can get that done, I'm pretty sure, however.  Unless I surprise myself and actually come up with good names for the characters.  Considering that it is going to be illustrated with anime-styled artwork (once I find an artist, of course), I'll just go with Japanese names.  Just a stylistic choice on my part, and I'm not one of those fans who insist that Japan is the end-all, be-all awesome country.  I prefer America, thank you.  And English, of course.

...What was I doing, again?

Oh yeah, so, I'll make a test chapter available when I'm finished, for critiquing and whatnot.  Look forward to that.

I got an opportunity to view a screening of a horror movie, today.  It was one of those test screening deals where the filmmakers allow an audience to watch a movie that is still in development in order to get data in order to make the movie better.  I filled out a questionaire and everything, it was neat.  The movie was decent, but there was far too much cursing and blasphemy, and I really hate that sort of thing (I even mentioned it on the comments section, so maybe they'll take heed).  I took Ben, Jay, and Bronson, and I was going to take Steven, but he bowed out at the last minute in order to finish homework, so that was pretty sad.  It was kind of funny when we got there, though, since the movie theater wouldn't let anybody inside for almost an hour AFTER we arrived there, so we ended up buying chips and salsa from a nearby Mexican restaurant and just snacked and talked during that time on the tailgate of Bronson's truck.  It was a fantastic bonding moment. :3

I can't get over how awesome this Dragonball CD is.  It's my first Japanese CD purchase, and I'm so content with the songs on this album.  I've listened to the album at least once today, and I'm relistening to it right now.  I really like the remastered songs, specifically "CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA", "We Gotta Power!", "Hikari no Tabi", "HERO", and especially "Kimi no Sora e".  They are just adorable songs.

I'm going to be taking piano lessons pretty soon, hopefully.  I started playing around on the keyboard a couple days ago, and I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner.  I really, really like the piano, and it's the one instrument that I could see myself playing as a hobby.  I can already somewhat play Nagisa's Theme from Clannad, as well as part of the Super Mario Bros. World 1-1 song, and the Twoson Theme from Earthbound, and the first group of notes from the Forest level in Super Mario RPG.  And some other various parts of other songs.  And it's fun!  I want to mainly play video game music, but I'm good with anything, really.  I just want to be "that guy", the person who is able to play the piano at a party that is housed in a place that has a piano.  I think it'd be neat.  I can kinda read sheet music, though I have to study it beforehand before I can actually play anything.  I need to read it better, as well as learn finger placement and work on my timing, although timing won't really be a problem with songs I know.

I'm going to be a piano man. :3

I finished both routes, already, but I didn't previously feel like making an entry for either one.  But, now that I have some time, I'll just combine my thoughts on both at the same time.

I really enjoyed the Kotomi route.  She is just such a likeable character in many reguards.  I want my future girlfriend to have her personality.  And she suffers from a tragic past, which contributes to her fractured psyche.  Although, one thing I noticed about the route that was different from the anime was that they actually did not have many references to God in the show, and yet there were a few instances in the game that kind of took me by surprise.  

Things like Kotomi trying to get Tomoya to read the Old Testament was interesting to me, with what she had to say about it (which was actually handled with some degree of respect, as opposed to what you'd find in America).  She mentioned how it's an adored book all around the world, having been translated in many languages, and that her favorite story was Noah's Ark (which, to me, is a rather strange and interesting choice, but whatever).  But specifically stated that it was such an amazing Book that while even scholars would read it with fervency, it can even be understood by a small child.  So, I enjoyed that, and if I had the chance to sit down with this fictional character, I'd specifically ask if she picked up the underlying message (the "velvet thread", as it were) in the historical accounts.

I also noticed that her parents, the scholars, weren't precisely string theorists like many fans of the show believed.  I recall a specific line from an anime that was expounded upon in the game.

"Those who pursue truth must not be arrogant. Just because it can't be proven scientifically, you must not laugh at miracles. You must not deny your eyes the beauty of this world."

Once he said that, he mentioned something about the world being made of harps, or something like that, and that's how Kotomi got her name.  I'm kind of fuzzy on the details from that part.  And in the anime, after that interesting bit of info, the conversation shifts.  But in the game, her Dad mentions something quite straight and to the point.  I believe Kotomi asks why the world is like that.  And what is his answer?

"I believe it's God".

That particular line is what got me.  They didn't mention that in the show, and it disappoints me.  That's why Kotomi made that promise to God about being a good girl in the first place at a pivotal point in her story, and yet... it's just somewhat confusing in the show when she mentions the promise.  I don't know, I guess it can still be understood, but it loses some of its impact.

And the previous statement REALLY got me.  It sounds like he's positing an argument from design, which is something I believe wholeheartedly.  The specific parts of his statement is also quite revealing, and it's almost like Kyoto Animation is making a statement against the so-called "scientists" today.  Let me explain: 

"Those who pursue the truth must not be arrogant".  This is exactly the type of thing happening with leading atheists like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, who simply mock the very idea of God, and, if I may say, are quite arrogant in their claims.  They almost say that people shouldn't even challenge what they have said, and any opponents should just shut up (because their opponents are so OBVIOUSLY biased and closed-minded).

"Just because it can't be proven scientifically, you must not laugh at miracles".  Again, this is exactly what we're dealing with in the world today.  Scientists will simply not allow for a divine "foot in the door", as it is.  Their presuppositions automatically assume that there is no chance whatsoever for something miraculous to happen, so that's how they interpret everything they come across.  I believe, and many will agree, that presuppositions are something that should be set aside when interpreting evidence in the way that it is, rather than forcing our presuppositions on the evidence in order to interpret it in the way we want it to be interpreted.  It's the same thing with exogesis and eisogesis, but that's another topic entirely.

"You must not deny your eyes the beauty of this world" This, again, is an acceptable argument from design.  But nowadays, scientists are trying to completely downplay the sheer inestimable complexity of the world we live in today.  This truly is a beautiful world, make no mistake about it.  And yet scientists are trying to make this world seem "normal" and "routine".  And I have to ask, WHAT is normal and routine about this world?  This is a world with so many mysteries that it'd be impossible to solve even a fraction of them!  Science can surely explain the process of how a seed becomes a tree, but it can't answer WHY it happens.  There is simply no naturalistic reason behind why a seed can grow into a tree!  And yet, it happens!  That's just one, single example.  We also have no natural explanation as to why the universe obeys certain laws, either.  Do you want to realize how small your existence is compared to this beautiful world and universe we live in?  Just read The Book of Job, Chapters 38, 39, and 40.  Maybe you'll gain an understanding as to how amazing this world is that we live in.

That was kind of a tangeant... I didn't know I could look this deeply into something from a computer game.

Anyway, as for the Fuko route, it was nice, I guess.  It had the signature humor that was in the anime, but some funny jokes were left out of the show, obviously due to time issues and whatnot.  It was a cute story, and I enjoyed the true ending.

I feel so strange talking about Fuko's route after giving such a lengthy commentary on a certain part of Kotomi's route... xD

Y'know, I was thinking about it, and I actually think I could get into something like that...

Remember one of my previous entries, where I answered the question about what creative or artistic thing I'd do if I had the opportunity, or something like that?  And I mentioned how I'd like to create something like a light novel series?

I think I could actually pull something like that off.

I've been taking walks every day, and I've been able to think about things to do, and for some reason, I'm able to unravel an entire plotline in my mind for this story I've thought up.  Now, granted, I'm not sure how interesting it is to other people, but it's still something, right?  And while it may have some tangential similarities to some other shows, it really is quite stand-alone when it comes to content (haven't seen anything close to it since SuperBook, honestly).  Also, because it's only a light novel, illustrations don't have to be the main priority, and can instead be used without suffering from a quality loss, correct?

As for the content, again, it's not something I've ever seen before, and I'm sure I would've seen something like this, if it already existed.  I developed an idea while reading some certain American-made manga online, and while their story is still developing, I've already thought up years in advance.  My focus is constantly shifting from the beginning of the story, to later parts of the story, back to earlier parts, all the way to the end, how I get to the end, and back to the beginning.  My thought process is strange like that, I realize, but that also means that I have a good handle on the characters and events.  And I'm also capable of rendering high quality art in my mind, so I can picture it exactly how I want it.

I'm not going to commit to anything right now, but if I do end up making some trial chapters, I'll make sure to post them.  Obviously, I'll put a disclaimer and say that "this story is heavily influenced by Christianity", but anybody who's watched Evangelion, Haruhi Suzumiya... uh... episode #19 of Samurai Champloo... what else... I don't know, but anybody who watched those shows shouldn't have any qualms about this.  My story isn't violent, though, so you don't have to worry about seeing samurai, or Children, or espers/time travelers/aliens (...maybe).  This is something that can actually be rooted in reality, so don't worry. xD

I forgot to make an entry about the Sunohara route after I finished it.  Whoops!  Now I can't really remember what the route was about...

But, from what I remember, it was actually a good route.  It provided a lot of backstory for Youhei that I didn't know previously, and introducing his younger sister for longer than a single episode (*cough*) was enjoyable.  It deals with how Youhei has to deal with his younger sister, Mei, when she comes to visit him, but if I go into any detail, it will spoil so much.  I can at least say that it finally explains how exactly Tomoya and Youhei met each other, and I just thought it was a funny moment that it's too good to just describe.

And I think it'd be better to have Mei as my little sister, rather than a certain little girl with red hair... (*cough*) xD

C'mon, people!  You gotta play this game!  It's fantastic, and it's so enjoyable, and I just can't get enough of it.  Sure, I'm taking a bit of a break from it, right now, but I'm going to start again on it, tonight.  I think I'm on the Kotomi route, which I'm QUITE interested in, considering that there's supposed to be stuff that they didn't cover in the anime.  That'll be awesome.

This'll be a short entry since there's not much to say about her route.

I enjoyed myself, for what it was worth.  Yukine wasn't a very interesting character in the first place, and she didn't really change her personality from the beginning of her route towards the end like most of the other characters in the game, but I still enjoyed her backstory.  It was kinda... deep, and you didn't expect that kind of story behind a female character like that.  But I can't say I was really surprised by it, it was just unexpected.  At least they gave some kind of explanation about the lights that Tomoya sees, which I can't remember if I already knew or not, but it was still a nice little side comment.

I'm moving onto the Sunohara Sibling's route, next, which will hopefully give an interesting backstory to Mei, and especially Youhei, since he's a supporting character in every route, seeing as he has the role of comedy relief and as Tomoya's only friend.  It'll be interesting to see how in-depth of a story they give him, or if they almost exclusively stick to Mei.  She didn't have much of a role in the anime yet, so I don't know what to expect.  After that, I'll finally be able to get into the remaining three heroine's routes (Kotomi, Fuko, and Nagisa), and I'm really looking forward to that.  Should make for an interesting week, provided I keep playing and don't drop it for awhile to watch my RAWs of Digimon Adventure.

(I noticed that I forgot to previously put the picture of Kappei in the post about him, so I went and edited the post to put one in)

I'm definitely taking a break from Clannad, tonight.  I've spent quite a few hours digging into that game, but it's kinda taking over all of my spare time to watch anime and play video games (which is, anytime after 8:00PM).  I need to catch up on my Digimon viewing, not to mention the various other shows I need to watch.  I can't help that I love the game so much, but moderation (at least, my definition of the word) is definitely something I need to practice.

I can't believe all this Super Smash Bros. Brawl news that's been coming out.  I mean, I expected it, considering that this is a blockbuster game that just came out in Japan and will be out in a month and a week here, but the amount of spoilers is overwhelming.  I'm kind of disappointed by the secret characters, but eh, it's not that big of a deal.  I'll get over it.

There's not much to say about the Vegas trip we took, last weekend.  We just stayed down for a single night, saw little Sarai and Kasandra, and left.  Nothing too big, but still enjoyable.  We're waiting for Kasandra to send the pictures she took of Sarai to our e-mail address, so maybe I'll post a few pictures up of her when I get them.  Can't wait until she has the little boy, because then I'll finally have a baby nephew to teach all sorts of cool stuff. :3

I'm just tired of all this school stuff.  I don't feel like all this applying and whatnot.  And financial aid and everything... it's just a pain...

I'm doing fairly well in Harvest Moon: Boy and Girl.  I decided to go after the Doctor's assistant, Elli.  She's one of the girls that I never married in the games based on Mineral Town, so I thought it'd be a change of pace.  I'm at the end of Spring in the first year, and I already have her at a light blue heart, so, go me.

You know what?  I think I'm just going to go legit.  I want to legally buy my music from now on.  I should have morals, I should have integrity.  Even though most of what I listen to is expensive Japanese music, I should still purchase it.  That's what I'm trying to do.  But now that I'm trying to do that, I can see quite clearly what all this excessive downloading has done to the import music market.

You see, I've been trying to find the Clannad anime CD single.  I really enjoy the music that's on it, so I thought it'd be good to import it.  But, you see, I've looked around about eight different websites, and only ONE store has it.  I mean, I can't even find the CD single from Play-Asia, and that's concerning, to me.  I can't even find it on eBay or Amazon Japan, and the CD was just released back in October!  I mean, Play-Asia and eBay still have the CD singles from Digimon Adventure!  Why is Clannad the only series that I can't find hardly anything for?  Or, for that matter, most of the Key Sounds albums in the first place?  The only place I could find the CD single at was HimeyaShop, and it costs $14, plus $19 to ship it to America, which equals $33 to buy the CD.  Now, I want to buy it legally, and I will probably end up buying it soon, but c'mon, $33 for seven songs?  I know that's the norm in Japan, but at least cut down the shipping a bit and don't get my hopes up with the base price, you know?  Play-Asia has cheap shipping, so why don't they have the CD at all?  It's just mind-blowing, to me.

I'm assuming this is all because the constant downloads that these songs have, that they're not even trying to sell them to America, which makes me sad because I would like to spend money, now.  I see quite clearly what I've been doing, and I'd like to atone for what I've done, but I guess I'm reaping what I sowed.  I just wish it didn't have to come at the cost of not being able to listen to songs that I really, really enjoy...

I just really want to listen to the "Dango Daikazoku" song in some way, shape, or form...

I ended up ordering the Digimon Adventure CD Single for "brave heart", in the meantime.  It was cheap, only $9.90, plus $3.60 for shipping.  That's pretty cheap, especially for Japanese CDs.  Hopefully they'll put up the Clannad CD Single soon, or else I'll be a Sad Wesley.

I wanted to wait to post another entry until I finished these two routes.  The Misae route is somewhat connected to the Tomoyo route, and if you complete her route before Tomoyo's, you get a bonus scene and an extra light.

I really enjoyed myself on the Misae route.  I didn't really expect anything to come out of it, since the anime has hardly ever touched upon her character in the least.  But wow, that was a good story.  It focused on how Misae became the person she is, as the dorm landlady, and it even takes a bit of a detour into the past to when she was the Student Council President, who is being followed by a young boy who wants to grant her wish.  I won't get into it any more than that, since I've already spoiled some of it, but trust me, this is a good little detour from the normal heroine paths.  I definitely appreciate her character a little more, but I have no clue as to how they're going to translate this into the anime.

The Tomoyo route, though... MAN!  I never cared for Tomoyo before, but I absolutely love her character, now.  It's no wonder she's the only one who got a sequel ("Tomoyo After"), because her story was so engaging... and long, don't forget long (took me three and a half hours or so to complete only part of the route).  It focuses on her friendship with the main character, but also how that relationship with him is hurting her chance to succeed not only in the Student Council election, but her academic pursuits, as well.  Getting into it even more would spoil it so much, so I'll refrain.  But this is a fantastic route, and I enjoyed it so much.

Give me a good story, and I'll love it despite its faults, it seems.  There were a few minor quibbles I had with the routes, but nothing that even remotely tampered with my enjoyment.  I just can't get over how amazing this game is, and if there are more visual novels like this, I want to import them all.  I just wish I knew where to get more translation patches, or else it'll kinda be meaningless to play the game without understanding what's going on...

My thoughts?  Clannad is simply beautiful.  It has plenty of humor, but not too much to where it's annoying, and the deep moments are truly gorgeous.

I'm still just worried that they won't be able to do these routes justice.  The Kyou route would be difficult enough to do, but the Tomoyo route?  Nigh impossible, to me, unless you cut out the ending or change it so drastically to where it's a new beast, altogether.  The only remedy I can see for this is if they animate the Tomoyo After story.  That would be awesome, since I can't play it without a patch (and that version has... stuff I don't care for).  I think it'd be awesome if they made an OVA series that tightly wrapped up Tomoyo's story from this first game, and then moved onto the After story.  I'm sure they could make a four-episode series, since the manga is a single volume that wraps up the entire After story, far as I know.  I'm trying to find the manga, but it's difficult to locate something like this that's actually translated, so I'll probably just get it RAW, and look at the pretty pictures.

I'm actually hoping the Clannad anime gets licensed, just so I can watch it legally with subs.  And so I can buy it for a lower price.  That'd be nice.  Since Kanon and Air both got licensed (and Shuffle! is on its way), I don't see why it couldn't happen.  And I want them to translate the games and release them here.  With the release and success of the Phoenix Wright series, it's obvious that visual novel-esque games can succeed here in the states, if branded properly and rightly advertised.  Why couldn't they release one of these games, here?  If the related anime series succeed, people would obviously like to explore the original story, right?  Put 'em out cheap enough, and I'd buy several copies just for myself.  Or they could translate and release the PS2 versions and put them out for really cheap, considering that it's hardly a problem to put out PS2 games, anymore.  It seems to be the go-to video game console these days for putting out low-risk games.  Or just translate the PSP versions and bring them over, for an even lower risk!  I mean, c'mon, Game Companies, we'd love to buy these games, but you aren't making them available to us!  It can't be that difficult to translate these games if you see these fans putting out patches for them, right?  Just get a small team together, with translators and editors, and just sell us something awesome.  I'd buy it legally, no problem, first day of release.  I'd preorder it, for crying out loud.  And I know so many other people would love to indulge in the games.  It wouldn't sell fantastically, I'm sure, but even a modest success is a success, right?  I'd advertise it like crazy, on every forum I could.

I just want something.  Gimme something.  Anything!

Well, anyway... Tomoyo.  Misae.  You gals are great, you gave me good stories.  I'm hoping I'll be able to continue on the former's route someday in the future.



(I'm so addicted to this game... xD)

That's right, who's the one who spent all day yesterday getting Clannad to work on my ever-suffering laptop?

Yep, it's me.  I can now play Clannad.  <3

Between downloading the actual game through the torrent, changing the non-unicode language/region, using some trickery through an emulator in order to get the executable files from the .cdi file, patching the actual game with the English patch, and figuring out why it just wouldn't load up until I changed the region, I'm sure I spent about six hours working on this crazy thing.  Maybe more, I didn't time myself.

All I know is that I'm finally going to play the story to the game that I've wanted to play since last year, and I can play it in my own native language (albeit, slightly gimped, considering the grammar errors).

I win.  Again.

(Don't worry, I'm going to actually purchase a copy of the game when it comes out with the new version, since the original version is nigh unfindable)

Oh yeah, and I also got all A's on my semester report card.  Nice.  I'm upholding my 4.0 GPA quite well.  Next comes college.

And I purchased Harvest Moon: Boy and Girl for the PSP, today.  I don't know when I'm actually going to find time to play it, considering the other games I have to finish, but it's always nice to have a little Harvest Moon to play, right?


The duck is totally stealing lettuce from the bucket.  Little thief.  
And that cow is trying to stomp on the ducklings and chicks.  
Didn't PETA see this before the game was released?