Monday, January 1, 2007

   See I can post for real once in a while! ^^

Opening Act: Greetings friends, I’ll just state first out of the box that I’m very sorry I haven’t been visiting sites these past few weeks or really updating my own either. As you can tell my last two posts were beyond quickies to make sure you guys knew I was thinking about you. Unfortunately life doesn’t seem to want to cooperate in letting me have an enjoyable holiday season. But don’t worry about me I’m stronger than I look and this is unfortunately a rather familiar way for me to end a year. Just before Christmas I was contacted by several members of my old Marine unit who wanted to let me know that a very good friend of mine had been killed in action in Afghanistan. He was working with a local demolitions team to disarm various IED’s that had been located in a building they were sweeping. IED’s are improvised explosive devices…or booby traps. They tend to be placed in normal household objects and are notoriously difficult to locate and disarm. Scott was one of the best at locating these nasty devices and getting them disarmed safely. However while attempting to protect the civilians in the immediate area he sacrificed his own safety in order to save their lives and shield them with his own body. As sad as his death makes me…I am proud that he died a hero. He truly was one of the greatest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing and I know he’s laughing as he watches us mourn him. I watched him buried at Arlington National Cemetery on Saturday and stood with his mother as she watched her son laid to rest next to his father and grandfather. I held hands with his sister who had just returned from her 3rd tour in Iraq and will be returning to duty herself after a short R&R with her mother. Standing among them listening to the 21 gun salute and the haunting sounds of Taps being played all I could think…is I’ve done this too many times. My former unit has only 3 remaining original members where once we stood proud with 9. I am the only one so far who has survived the injuries given to me that made me leave the Corp. It’s a sad thought actually… Sorry guys…I didn’t mean to be quite as depressing as we entered the New Year. There is actually a great deal of positive to look at as well. My family is well and still as insane as ever. I didn’t manage to make it home to spend the holidays with them, but I’m was pleased to note they were all together anyway. I even managed to have a nice conversation with my brother on the telephone. We’re pretty close to being estranged, but we’re getting better and better at actually being civil to each other. Of course I love him…but that doesn’t mean I had to like him. ^^ We’re getting better at that as we get older, forgiving the past and accepting the way we live our lives. That’s a really good thing, I don’t want any more regrets than I already have. LoL I’m actually writing this in the airport as I wait for my flight back to Seattle. I hope to get back in time for New Years tonight. But the way it’s looking right now I’ll probably be flying in just in time to see the fireworks go off around the Space Needle. Last night’s post of the fireworks was actually done from my hotel room when I managed to log in long enough to download my e-mail. Oh I’m glad you guy’s liked the new bg! It’s actually quite a simple piece of work I did it while on the plane flying out here. ^^ Thank goodness for business class seats, I don’t have to feel like my laptop is going to smoosh me into the seat while trying to work on it. I’m quite fond of DeathNote, both the manga and the anime. They’re both amazing pieces of work and I highly recommend checking them out! They’re definitely worth your time and effort! I have never seen a series this captivating based purely on psychological elements. It’s a lovely thing. Oh I also posted this new bg as a wallpaper so you can see all the details. I’m certain some of the littler pictures will be cut off with the size of monitors and such so feel free to check it out if you’re interested. I really hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, and I’ll be spending most of New Years day attempting to get to everyone’s site and trying to reply to the PM’s I’ve received! Again so sorry for taking so long to do both of those! Sorry to say I don’t have time to do the Anime Word or Voice Actor for this post, but I should be back on track for my next update. ^^ Again recommendations are always welcome and any words you can think of that stumped you when you joined the Otaku family are welcome as well. I keep a big old list on my home computer for me to reference as I update my site but I can always use additional ideas. Well I’m going to try to grab some junk food from the shops here since my flight was just announced delayed for the third time today. ^^ Take care! Bye bye! PS: Since I'm getting in way late I'll start a spree of site visits tomorrow when I wake up! See you then!

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Sunday, December 31, 2006

   Happy New Years!

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Monday, December 25, 2006

   Happy Holidays!

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Thursday, December 21, 2006

   So very very cold in this garage...

> Anime Word of the Day

Eroge (エロゲ) is a Japanese video or computer game that features erotic content, usually in the form of anime-style artwork. Those games are also appropriately called dating simulations or visual novels, while the terms hentai-games or h-games are not that common in Japan. The common form of those games show a background image, one or more characters in front (in case you are talking to someone) and a text bar that shows the dialogues, monologues, answers and decisions you can choose. Depending on the decisions you make the story will take a different direction and have a different outcome. While people unfamiliar with eroge might think they are just cheap sex games, this is not quite true. In fact, most eroge feature a deep and professional storyline, which is why so many of them are taken for anime adaptations. Those stories are naturally of the harem genre, but still can vary a lot as they can be drama, fantasy, action, material arts, horror and many more genre in additional.

Opening Act: Hiya! Well this week has been just a bit on the side of insanity for me and my friends I’m afraid. Remember how I mentioned last week about the wind storm that caused all kinds of power problems and such. Well it ended up being a lot worse than I thought it was, unfortunately my roomies parents who live in the area here as well were pretty much stormed out. They lost electricity and in fact still haven’t gotten it back. At this point I’m just hoping they get back power by Christmas. ^^ So yeah they’ve been staying with us. And while I like their parents…our house isn’t exactly huge…so suddenly have six other people living here where four of us lived comfortably before is a bit crazy. Not to mention they brought their pets too. Lmao! My house is a zoo! A beyond crazy insane zoo… So trying to get some online time has pretty much been next to impossible. Thankfully when I stay up really late at night like this I can sneak into the garage and work on my lap top using the wifi. Hehehe Sneaky aren’t I? I’m going to attempt to make some site visits after this but I apologize if I don’t make it to your site. My laptop is pretty finicky…I really need to get a new one…so it doesn’t always let me view O sites. Especially if they have involved scripts or tables. I can’t actually even view my site on this thing. But thankfully I can get to the backroom! Anyway I apologize in advance and promise once I get all these people out of my house I’ll make it up to all of you! And wow it’s really cold in my garage…ok had to go get a sleeping bag so I can wrap up in the car while typing this up! Can you believe another storm is supposed to come through tonight as well? I pray to all the gods out there that it either bypasses us or at least doesn’t delay the electricity recovery any more than it has! Ok this is a shameless plug for the NBC show called Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip! I want everyone to watch this series! Please pretty please? ^^ Honestly this is one of the best series I’ve seen air on primetime in years. It’s a combination of amazing writing and killer acting to bring across a wonderful piece of comedy and drama. It’s worth checking out so please check your local listings and give it a try just for me! ^^ New Works: Made up a wallpaper from the series Utawarerumono of Oboro and his sister, Yuzuha. And put together about 10 new e-cards from series like Naruto, Full Metal Panic, Code Geass, and a few others as well. Some are sweet, some are inspirational…most are just silliness. ^^ And I know I’m late but I want to say thank you for over 52,000 downloads of my wallpapers! I’m thrilled and a bit scared to know that many different folks have looked at my little creations! Epilogue: Hmm well my Christmas wish has changed a little bit this week… right now all I wish is to have my house back. LoL Oh thanks everyone for trying to figure out the meaning of Mokkun for me…I’m pretty much giving up and just going to assume it’s just a random name then. Which makes me sad…I was positive that it meant something even if I couldn’t remember it. ^^ Again for those who missed it last week…Quiz Results now hosts the archives of my Anime Word of the Day and Voice Actor listings. Random Question: How are you spending this holiday weekend?

Johnny Yong Bosch’s Biography

Date of birth: January 6, 1976 in Kansas City, Missouri Occupation: Editing, Casting, Production, Directing, Writing, Stunts, Acting, Producing Accents: Scottish, Australian, Middle Eastern, Irish, British, Texan Performance Skills: Firearms, Stage Combat, Singing, Diving, Voiceover, Host, Stunts, Martial Arts Musical Instruments: Bass Guitar, Guitar

I am actually fairly ashamed that I haven’t featured this voice actor on my site before this time. Johnny is honestly one of the most talented voice actors I have ever seen and probably with ever see. His ability to bring emotions of all sorts to his characters is simply astounding. I knew he would be one of my all time favorites from the moment I heard him portray Vash the Stampede and switch between a goof and a tragic character in the frame of one line. Johnny also plays guitar in the band Eyeshine. If you’re interested in learning more about Eyeshine feel free to click on his photo above to see the official site for the group. And wow…am I the only person who didn’t realize that he played Adam the Black Power Ranger and Green Turbo Power Ranger? I just discovered this while looking up his information for this profile. See…even I learn new things doing these little profiles! How did you get into anime (voice acting)? “As far as doing voice-overs? Yeah. Well, what happened is I did an independent film with some guys-Koichi Sakamara, I don't know if you know those guys but one of the producers was actually involved with Pioneer and doing animation. So, what happened was during the actual shoot of our independent film the sound guy messed everything up as far as sound and recorder so we had to redub the whole movie, so the producer that does anime as well heard me and he was like "Well, I think you have kind of a hero voice." Okay, whatever that is. And so he said "I'm gonna get you an audition for something I want you to come in." And it was for Trigun. At the time I believe they had somebody else that might have started already. So then I got that I guess as kind of fluke.” So when you develop a character do you like watching the series first to get an idea of the character? “You know it all really happens on the spot. For instance when I go to an audition most of the time I really don't know what it’s for and I go in and then either I see a picture or I don't. Most of the time they give you a little thing that describes the character, and from there you just kind of have to figure out is he gonna be older with a deeper voice? Is he gonna be kinda wild and crazy or younger, so it’s all kinda once I get in there. Of course if they do show a picture that helps a lot and if they do have the Japanese I try as best as I can to kind of emulate that same tone that the Japanese voice actor did. Mainly because I think that’s what the audience would want as well without copying him exactly. Still be creative in my own sense, but I know and understand the hardest part I think as an American or English speaking voice actor is that when we say something in English it doesn't sound nearly as cool as it does when your speaking Japanese. Like I can say (mustering his bad ass voice)"I'm gonna use this pencil right now" you know "and write something" and it sounds stupid ok? But in Japanese it’s all like (in angry psuedo Japanese male voice Johnny imitates the pencil line, which sounds convincingly like the real thing) you know and it's like "Holy crap that was cool! Hey!" So I think as far as dialect Japanese is gonna sound cooler. But I think as an actor you gotta help the fans out a little bit you know? At least cross over.” Just a short listing of his voice acting career. Akira as Shotaro Kaneda BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad as Saku Bleach as Ichigo Kurosaki Daphne in the Brilliant Blue as Jonouchi Eureka 7 as Renton Thurston Fullmetal Alchemist as Lujon (ep 35) Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo as Albert Gate Keepers as Reiji Kageyama Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex as J • D (ep 9) GUNxSWORD as Michael Heat Guy J as Claire Leonelli Last Exile as Claus Valca Mars Daybreak as Gram River Mirage of Blaze as Kotaro Fuuma Naruto as Genma Shiranui; Shigure Paradise Kiss as Hiroyuki Tokumori Planetes as Kyuutarou Hoshino Please Twins! as Maiku Kamishiro Saiyuki Reload as Rampa (ep. 4) Samurai Champloo as Shinsuke (ep 7) Trigun as Vash the Stampede Witch Hunter Robin as Haruto Sakaki Wolf's Rain as Kiba

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Saturday, December 16, 2006

   Tis the Season!

> Anime Word of the Day

Enjo kosai (援助交際), or "dating for assistance", is a practice in Japan where high school-aged girls are paid by older men to accompany them on dates and sometimes to render sexual services. Most observers, especially overseas, regard it as a form of child prostitution, although it need not involve sexual activities; it often does not even involve kissing or holding hands. Enjo kōsai is linked with the consumerist kogal subculture. It appeared after the end of the 1980s economic boom, and many observers believe that it serves as a way for young girls to preserve the lifestyle of that era, despite their families' more difficult financial situations.

Opening Act: Hello everyone! I think I’m just going to permanently apologize how long it takes me to post my very long posts here. LoL Oh well at least that means you just have to visit once in a while and not every day to know I’m off doing weird stuff without you guys! I made it back from Vancouver, Canada safe and sound and finished up the job on Thursday. Which means I made it back home to Seattle in time for a nasty wind storm that tried to put a tree through my house. Just kidding! Though it put some trees through other people’s homes, not mine! I pretty much just spent the day with a big old power outage all day. And once we got the power back on it pretty much just kept flickering all day today as well. Guess it was a subtle hint I should get some sleep rather than playing on the internet! ^^ Hmm closest I got to watching a new anime was catching the first few episodes of an older series called Saint Beast. It’s not a very good show…but wow the characters are so very very pretty. I’m tempted to make some wallpapers and e-cards from the series just for that reason. LoL But seriously if you’re looking for a plot don’t watch this series but if you want lots of cute bishies then yeah check it out. I mean its only six episodes long! It won’t exactly eat into your life to watch it. Hmm anyone know a translation for the Japanese word Mokkun? It’s just bugging me…pretty soon I’m going to resort to calling Japan and asking. LoL New Works: Alas no new goodies this week, I have high hopes to create some goodies this weekend! Wish me luck! Epilogue: Oh some of you asked what I was doing up in Vancouver. Well what I do for a living is a bit odd. I’m a bit of a researcher; I can locate information on anyone and anything given a short amount of time and access to a computer and a cell phone. I started out doing just basic background information for some local companies. This has branched out a bit since I started and I occasionally get called in by people who know and trust me to locate problems within companies. Hmm by problems I mean people who are breaking the rules, lied about their experience or are selling information to the competition. This last week I was hunting out moles for a company in Vancouver who shall remain nameless of course. ^^ I do feel a bit bad about head hunting so close to the holidays but I rather enjoy taking down people who are back stabbing the folks who pay them for their loyalty. And yes I was successful; I located three moles within the company who were selling confidential information to other companies and made myself a lovely pile of money to buy my friends and family holiday gifts! Ok and to buy myself some fun anime and manga stuff as well! Another Child's Play Charity update! This week we have reached the amazing total of $760,000!! Which is absolutely fantastic! And we still have a few weeks to go before its over! You’re ever so kind to worry about my health! I’m doing really well after my little car accident! I’m down to just the cast on my leg and using crutches to get around. The cast won’t come off for another month or so but I’m doing great even with this evil thing on my leg. I guess after being stuck in the bed for so long just being able to move outside of the house is a fantastic thing! Ah like a lot of you guys I listen to all kinds of music, though I tend to linger in the alternative, pop, rock, country genres more than anything else. But still I do listen to hip hop, rap and even opera when the mood strikes me. LoL I love world music from Japanese pop to African tribal. Yeah I’m just an eclectic person! But I do love music in all of its many forms. I can’t judge a genre by a single artist so I try not to judge music by anyone who performs it. If I did I’d reduce people to tears every time I sing along with my radio! LoL Oh and for those of you who might be interested lately I’ve been slowly adding the voice actor profiles and anime word descriptions to the Quiz Results page. I say slowly because this involves updating the html to match any background I chose to put together. As well as adding a few new goodies and images to some of the voice actor profiles. So please if you’re interested check it out. Every day I try to add in a new piece so in a few weeks I’m certain I’ll be up to date! Random Question: Do you have a Christmas wish?

Richard Ian Cox’s Biography

Date of birth: October 3, 1973 in St. Asaph, Wales, UK Age:33 Other Names: Richard Cox Occupation: Voice Actor/Actor

Oddly enough this voice actor first drew my attention not as a voice actor but as a TV actor in which a certain teenage girl obsessed over for years. Mainly because I was a big horse fan and he was starring in the Family Channel’s Adventures of the Black Stallion! He’s also done multiple appearances on Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Outerlimits, and E.R among other shows. But of course I became even more thrilled as the anime fan in me realized this was the fantastic voice actor portraying Inuyasha on my TV every night of the week on Adult Swim! ^^ Just a short listing of his voice acting career. Dragon Drive as Kouhei Toki Galaxy Angel as Jonathan; Normad Galaxy Angel Z as Jonathan; Normad; Bully; Contestant; Press Conference Reporter; Referee Green Legend Ran (OAV) as Rulo Hamtaro as Sabu Human Crossing as Kazuya; Man at Party C; Yoshio Wakabayashi Infinite Ryvius as Gran McDaniel; Impulse XO Inu Yasha as Inuyasha; Buyo/Kagome's Cat; Young Inuyasha Inuyasha the Movie: Affections Touching Across Time as Inu-Yasha Inuyasha the Movie 2: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass as Inuyasha InuYasha the Movie 3: Swords of an Honorable Ruler as Inuyasha Inuyasha the Movie 4: Fire on the Mystic Island as Inuyasha MegaMan NT Warrior as NoodleMan Monkey Magic as Redchimp; Sansoh Mobile Suit Gundam as Kai Shiden Mobile Suit Gundam Seed as Tolle Koening; Shani Andras Ranma ½ as Ranma Saotome (Boy-Type) Transformers: Cybertron as Scattorshot Trouble Chocolate as Cacao Rockman.EXE Axess as BurnerMan (eps 59, 61); NoodleMan (ep 31) Zoids/ZERO as Bit Cloud X-Men Evolution as Quicksilver

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Saturday, December 9, 2006

   Sorry for the recent MIA!

> Anime Word of the Day

Ecchi (エッチ etchi) is an English word deriving from a Japanese word meaning "lewd" or "naughty" when used as an adjective, and can refer to a pervert or sexual intercourse when used as a noun. It is universally agreed that the origin of the Japanese word is the English letter "H". The most common theory states that it derives from the first character of the word hentai (変態). In English, the word is often used in the context of manga and anime. The term ecchi is applied to anime or manga that has vague sexual content (such as skimpy clothing, partial or full nudity), but does not show sexual intercourse. However, ecchi has historically often been used as a synonym of hentai, presumably due to confusion of the two; thus it can carry different connotations than allowed for by the original Japanese. The ecchi art style is loosely comparable to pin-up girl artwork, as well provocative fantasy and comic book art in the United States and other countries.

Opening Act: Hello everyone! First off I want to apologize for pretty much disappearing this week! I’m afraid I wasn’t able to squeeze any online time into my schedule. Which is in one way a good thing, I was just so busy I didn’t have time to do more than check my e-mail occasionally throughout the week. And honestly I only worked that time in because I was expecting some photos from my parents. Needless to say it’s been on heck of a week, but a really boring one if you had to listen to it. Mostly I was working on a new project to keep myself employed and racking in the money for new anime and manga! So pretty boring to chat about, but thankfully I am nearly done with all that stuff so I hope to be back to my normal surfing schedule! I know I’m so far behind in visiting everyone and commenting, but I promise I’ll get to see all your sites this weekend! And I promise to check on the multiple PM’s I’ve gotten over the past week as well! Even now I’m not really online…I’m typing this up on my lap top while driving to Vancouver. Hmm ok I’m not driving but I’m in the car…I’m not crazy enough to drive and type at the same time! Not skilled enough either! LoL Anyway while on the road this past week I did manage to get some anime watching in…mostly because my friend whose driving brought DVD’s of Gantz. Has anyone else seen this anime? It is honestly one of the weirdest premises I’ve ever seen. But honestly a pretty great watch. Except for the end…the last three or so episodes were just weird. Right now I’m reading the manga as well, which is just as good as the anime but doesn’t have that ending, in fact it’s still ongoing something I love to see in a complex storyline! Oh but warnings for you young folks out there, this anime and manga both contain tons of violence and sexual content. Including scenes of rape and desecration, so if those things bother you a lot don’t check this one out. Oh but basic premise…when some people die they are copied by this black ball called Gantz and teleported to a strange apartment. In this room they are given power suits and weapons and told to go out and hunt down aliens and destroy them. Weird huh? If you survive the experience and kill the alien you get to return to the room and your life, if you fail. Well you just pretty much die again. However Gantz makes it even more interesting in the fact the hunters aren’t really given any information about what’s needed. The target is given, the guns and suits are displayed but that’s it. So if you don’t pick them up, you’re pretty much out of luck. But you really get to see the full gamut of human emotions on this one, fear, courage, rage, hate, lust, greed, blood lust, its all there and sometimes all in the same person. An interesting series for my darker tastes to say the least. New Works: Sorry no online time means no new creations either. However I suspect my next group of wallpapers will be from Gantz. I’m pretty predictable that way. Epilogue: Hmm last anime I watched as Gantz…so yeah if you read above then yup I would recommend it, but only for a select view. It is a pretty twisted anime I have a feeling a majority of folks wouldn’t enjoy it as much as I did. So I’d have to say folks who are into shows like berserk would like it but folks who are into kinder shows wouldn’t. Great news from the Penny Arcade guys in charge of Child’s Play, this week’s totals have been posted. As I mentioned before, last week the total was $260,000. Which is just great, however this week is even more amazing! In just one week the total has increased to $495,000! Just how fantastic is that!! Random Question: What kind of music do you listen to?

Toshihiko Seki’s Biography

Date of birth: June 11, 1962 in Tochigi, Japan Blood Type:A Other Names:Family name (in kanji): 関 - Given name (in kanji): 俊彦 Occupation: Voice Actor/Singer

Special Request Voice Actor I’m quite familiar with the works of this requested voice actor! Over the years he’s made it a habit of portraying side characters that are fundamentally important to the creation of the main characters story. I’m sure if you recognize any of the animes below you’ll understand what I mean. I mean for a character who essentially only had one line in Fruits Basket of Momiji’s Father…his voice and line are ones that I will never forget. Of course he’s done some main character acting as well but I guess I’m a sucker for falling for the side characters. Though I admit his portrayal of Sanzo in Saiyuki is definitely one of the main reasons I’m so addicted to that anime series. He truly possesses an amazing ability to bring emotion and lack of emotion into every character he represents. Just a short listing of his voice acting career. Angel Cop as Tachihara Angelique as Luva Baby Felix as Felix Bastard!! as Karu Su Biohunter as Komada Bleach as Shiba Kaien Case Closed as Teruhiko Kasuda (ep 72) Descendants of Darkness as Yutaka Watari F as Gunma Akagi Final Fantasy: Unlimited as Cid Flag as Nobel Fruits Basket as Momiji's Father Fullmetal Alchemist as Belshio (eps 11-12) Future GPX Cyber Formula as Bleed Kaga Gakuen Tokusou Hikaruon as Hikaru Shihodo Higurashi no Naku Koro ni as Kyosuke Irie Inu Yasha as Garamaru Karura Mau as Shinguuji Kiddy Grade as Franz (ep 13) Knight Hunters Eternity as Knight Legend of Crystania as Nursel Legend of the Galactic Heroes as Fügenberch Mai-Otome as Rad MÄR as Danna Meine Liebe as Ludwig Mirage of Blaze as Takaya Ohgi Mobile Suit Gundam Seed as Rau Le Creuset; George Allster Nadia - Secret of Blue Water as Fejto Naruto as Iruka Umino Neon Genesis Evangelion as Asuka's father Nightwalker as Beito Ninja Scroll as Aizen Outlaw Star as Fred Luo; Ark Manaf Paranoia Agent as Maniwa Please Save My Earth as Mikuro RahXephon as Makoto Isshiki Ranma ½ as Mousse Rave Master as Shuda Reign: The Conqueror as Alexander Saint Seiya as Fenril Saiyuki as Genjo Sanzo; Konzen Douji Samurai Deeper Kyo as Benitora Shonen Onmyouji as Yukinari Fujiwarano Silent Möbius as Genvara Trigun as Legato Bluesummers Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (movie) as Grove Violinist of Hamelin (movie) as Raiel X (movie) as Shougo Zatch Bell as Aporo

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Saturday, December 2, 2006

   Good morning sunshine!

> Anime Word of the Day

Cosplay (コスプレ) is a contraction of the English words "costume" and "play", is a Japanese subculture centered on dressing as characters from manga, anime, tokusatsu, and video games, and, less commonly, Japanese live action television shows, fantasy movies, or Japanese pop music bands. However, in some circles, "cosplay" has been expanded to mean simply wearing a costume. In Japan, "cosplay" as a hobby is usually an end unto itself. Likeminded people gather to see others' costumes, show off their own elaborate handmade creations, take lots of pictures, and possibly participate in best costume contests. Cosplay can be seen at public events such as video game shows, as well as at dedicated cosplay parties at nightclubs or amusement parks. It is not unusual for Japanese teenagers to gather with like-minded friends in places like Tokyo's Harajuku district to engage in cosplay. Since 1998, Tokyo's Akihabara district has contained a large number of cosplay cafés, catering to devoted anime and cosplay fans. The waitresses at such cafés dress as game or anime characters; maid costumes are particularly popular.

Opening Act: Hello Everyone! Time for my Saturday morning update! Or…really late Friday night if you’re still up. LoL I hope everyone has been having a fantastic week! This week has been pretty darn great for me! Being mobile again pretty much has me thrilled beyond all measure! Even though I spent the last couple of days just cleaning out house! I had not idea that three boy roomies could do that much damage in just a few months of me not cleaning up after them. Lmao! Well now they have to suffer the after effects of tons of antiseptic and cleanser everywhere! Though I’m pretty sure if my doctor saw me doing floors with my cast stretched out behind me he’d have my head on a platter. ^^ Good thing he’s far away, ne? Alas the snow is pretty much gone now…we had some rain and today’s sunshine pretty much melted it all. So sad…oh well I’m glad we had some anyway. Makes it feel a lot more like winter than it did before the rain. I’m originally from Minnesota so it just feels odd not to have snow covering everything for months! Just isn’t Christmas until I’ve frozen into a little ice cube! ^^ Alright I’m going to recommend an older anime today called Hajime No Ippo. This one is for those of you who watch sports animes. Though it’s a bit different from your usual sports anime. Rather than having a born genius play his way through, or having some discovered a born genius you follow a boy named Ippo. Bullied all through school he works hard to help his widowed mother at their fishing boat business. One day while being beaten by bullies he’s ‘rescued’ by a pro boxer. The boxer inspires him to change his way of thinking and discover what it means to be truly strong. While Ippo has amazing power the true appeal to watching him learn to box and go through the ranks isn’t his power. It’s the fact he’s insecure and trains constantly to try and gain the slightest confidence in himself. ^^ I can honestly say I watch every match he’s in without knowing if he’ll win or lose in the end. The fights are that impressive and his opponents all have their own reasons and in-depth motivations. It’s just a great inspirational series. And the manga is just as good if not better. Where the anime series only lasts 75 episodes the manga is still ongoing following this strong group of characters! So hmm...yeah go watch it or read it. Oh and those of you interested and those of you who have helped out for Child’s Play! Thanks! For the first month they’ve already managed to get over $250,000 worth of donations and gifts! Please remember if you can to help out, even something as small as a 5 dollar thing of play dough or batteries would be worth it and are needed. Oh great news too, several new hospitals have been added including one in Egypt and two in Australia!! Just awesome!! One more month of collecting before the holiday, so please give from your heart if you can help! The link as always is available at the top of my post! ^^ New Works: New wallpapers! Ok since the last time I was on here posting I’ve put up two more wintery themed Prince of Tennis wallpapers. This time one set is for Fuji and his brother Yuta and the second is two of my fave rivals, Sanada and Yukimura! So enjoy those if you so choose! ^^ I’ve also put up two Naruto wallpapers, one of my ever fave sensei Kakashi and another of Sasuke. I’m actually not a huge Sasuke fan though I like him well enough. But I just couldn’t resist working with this particular image. I just love him playing a flute. I know I’m pretty weird but musical instruments can totally make a character for me. LoL Oh and the last wallpaper I posted was from Samurai X, though I had to list it as Rurouni Kenshin here. No listing for Samurai X, so sad. Oh well since it’s Kenshin in his younger much more violent days I don’t mind too much. This picture I am beyond thrilled with, the moment I saw it I knew I had to make a wallpaper for it. This mostly involved hours of cleaning up the scan and choosing a simple background that wouldn’t steal attention away from the image itself. I think I succeeded in the end so I’m pretty pleased with this one. ^^ Besides those eyes just haunted me until I finished it up! And a bunch of new e-cards for folks to check out, these run the rampart between silly to inspirational, so enjoy! ^^ Hmm lets see I think I hit on Utawarerumono, Tsubasa, Fruits Basket, Bleach and probably a few others as well. Epilogue: Ah this one has me puzzled as well…trying to remember my first piece of memorabilia. It’s tough…I’m such an addict to those little dust gathers! I love collecting figurines and posters and all kinds of oddities. Good to see I’m not alone in that either! ^^ I swear most of my spending money goes into the anime market…LoL I guess you could say Anime is my Anti-Drug? So glad to see I’m not the only one enjoying the snow! Though I’m still shocked to see so many folks who should have snow not getting it! This weather is just so crazy lately. I guess it just goes to prove we really can mess up a whole planet if we try hard enough. *ducks* Ok, probably not exactly funny there, but still have some pride! It only took us a few generations to mess up a whole planets climate system! *sigh* And my friends mock me for recycling and going off to bizarre places to try and save the world. ^^ And wow no new voice actor requests this week either…man you guys are making me choose my own actors, what are you thinking? Anyway please remember I’m happy to take requests and if you just like a voice but don’t know who actually does it; always bear in mind that research is fun for me. I know way too many sites to look up character names and find out who the voice is! Random Question: What was the last anime you watched and would you recommend it to others?

Atsuko Tanaka’s Biography
Date of birth: November 14, 1962 in Gunma, Japan Blood Type:O Other Names:Family name (in kanji): 田中 Given name (in kanji): 敦子 Occupation: Voice Actor/Singer/Dancer
Ah one of my truly favorite voice actresses! I don’t know why I’ve taken so long to actually do a profile on Tanaka other than laziness! This lady has one of the best voices I’ve ever heard in a voice acting career. She tends to voice independent, strong, self assured women and trust me she does it amazingly well. I was first introduced to her as the voice of the Major on Ghost in the Shell and she truly captured the role perfectly! More recently I’ve been thrilled by her abilities playing Kurara in Utewarerumono. Just another strong and fierce character with a silly side to her this role just once again showed what a powerful actress she really is. And I’m certain that those of you who watch anime in Japanese will recognize her from more than one of her amazing roles over the past decade! Just a short listing of his voice acting career. Agent Aika as Nena Hargen Angel Links as Valeria Angelique as Dia AWOL - Absent WithOut Leave as Dana Battle Programmer SHIRASE as Kotoe Amano Berserk as Suran Black Cat as Echidna Black Jack as Abumaru Blue Seed as Mother Kanbayashi Captain Tsubasa: Road to 2002 as Matsumoto Kaori Chouja Reideen as Reiko Amakai Cowboy Bebop as Coffee Ergo Proxy as Lacan Fate/stay night as Caster Fushigi Yuugi as Soi Ghost in the Shell (movie) as Major Motoko Kusanagi Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex as Motoko Kusanagi; Chroma (ep 9) Gravitation as Kaoruko (ep 1) Hataraki Man as Maiko Kaj Hoop Days as Kyoko Himuro Legend of Himiko as Fujina Magic User's Club as Saki Sawanoguchi Macross 7 the Movie: The Galaxy's Calling Me! as Margarita Mahou Shoujo Tai Arusu as Ateria Megami Paradise as Mamamega Mirage of Blaze: Rebels of the River Edge as Dashi Mobile Suit Victory Gundam as Yuka Myras Monster as Margott Noein - to your other self as Miyuki Gotou Outlaw Star as Valeria RahXephon as Sayoko Nanamori Reign: The Conqueror as Cassandra Soukou no Strain as Medlock Trigun as Claire Utawarerumono as Karura Wolf's Rain as Jagara Yu-Gi-Oh! as Imori Hajime Yukikaze as Marnie