Monday, November 6, 2006

   Sing as though you don't know you're tone deaf!

Anime Word of the Day

Otaku(お宅) is a Japanese pejorative term used to refer to a variety of geek, fanboy or fangirl, particularly one obsessed with such hobbies as anime and manga. When applied to a person, the word generally has negative connotations which it has yet to completely shake, though it can have either positive or negative connotations depending on the situation and the person using the term. In modern Japanese slang, an otaku refers to an overtly obsessive fan of any one particular theme, topic, or hobby. Common uses are anime otaku (one who sometimes enjoys many days of excessive anime watching with no rest) and manga otaku (a fan of Japanese graphic novels), pāsokon otaku (personal computer geeks), gēmu otaku (playing video games), and otaku that are extreme fans of idols, heavily promoted singing girls. There are also tetsudō otaku (metrophiles) or gunji otaku (military geeks). While these are the most common uses of otaku, the word can be applied to anything (music otaku, martial arts otaku, cooking otaku, etc).

Opening Act:
Hi everyone! Sorry I was a bit delayed in getting to people’s site this weekend. I had a couple of really good reasons! Hmm well one good reason at least…the other was me playing video games pretty much non-stop! LoL See not really the best reason. LoL The good reason was my roomie bought a new router for our house network so he spent some time getting that set up. This meant no playing on the internet while he played with that. See that’s a much better reason than me being stuck playing video games. I’m still playing pretty much the same games as I mentioned last time Final Fantasy XII and Okami. Yes I’m completely addicted!

I’m a bit shocked to discover today that I won 3rd place in the e-card contest. ^^ I was a bit surprised since I didn’t expect anything from this contest. Especially since I avoided the rules with the whole spooky theme and just went for a silly theme. Oh well I’m happy and I’m glad folks enjoyed the card. And well for anyone who hadn’t seen it you can see it now. LoL

It was quite a lot of fun to visit sites this week, I loved seeing folks switching out of the Halloween themes into new ones as well as hearing about how they spent their Halloween. I loved seeing photos too! It always gives me new ideas about what to dress up as in the future! Something I appreciate since I lack the ability to dress myself. ^^

Is anyone playing Neverwinter Nights II? I know it just came out but I had to choose between FFXII and that. But I haven’t heard any reviews yet and I’m curious how it all looks! I have to admit I’m a bit disappointed with FFXII quality of animation. After waiting so long the cut scenes and game play seem pretty much the same quality as FFXI which came out…hmm what five years ago? O.o Why exactly was this one delayed so long? LoL Oh well I know they’re working on XIII right now for the PS3 so maybe that one will make me smile again.

Oh time for my recommendations of new anime series to watch or at least watch out for!! I’ve got a couple of them this time through. And I will say again…Death Note and D.Gray-man just keep getting better and better! Both are on their fifth episode now and are just as amazing as the first four! Lovely work!

Also a new series Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion – This anime had me intrigued simply by its animation style. It’s from Clamp so if you’re familiar with XXXholic or Tsubasa Chronicles you know what style I’m talking about. But not only is it beautiful but the storyline is amazingly thought out and more unique than I gave it credit for at first! The story starts out with Japan being conquered by the Brittania nation. A nation which as pretty much taken over most of the world, including North and South America. ^^ In our first image we see two young boys staring out from a beautiful forest as bombs and explosions fill the horizon. We later see these same two boys standing solemnly next to a pile of burning bodies. One looks sad and lost the other angry…he swears he will crush Brittania. Not that new right? Now he’s the fun…Lelouch the angry boy…is Brittanian. He was visiting the country with his friend when his nation invaded. Odd timing no? Considering Lelouch is also a member of the royal family. The storyline just gets more twisted from there, adding new enemies, hidden pasts, lost friends and twisted betrayals along with godlike powers. ^^I don’t think it’s a far stretch to compare Lelouch to Raito from Death Note. Both characters have decided to use their minds and powers to create a better world…in their image. ^^ So far only four episodes have aired and I have to admit I’ve enjoyed every moment of them. Unfortunately so far only one fan sub team has picked up this series and they’re not one I care much for. The codec and subbing detail run a bit flat and misspellings are common. Nonetheless its still a great series and I have hopes of another subbing team picking it up! ^^

Hmm I was going to talk about another series but this post is already running long so I’ll make you wait for next time. LoL

New Works:
A couple of new goodies this week. I made up a few more Prince of Tennis wallpapers with a few of the lesser known members of the rival teams. For some reason I have such a fondness for every character in this series! It’s beyond weird. Normally I forgot the rivals before they’ve finished a match and yet with this show I can remember names, schools, grades and power moves even after them disappearing from the screen a 100 episodes ago. LoL Maybe that’s just a sign of my true addiction to this anime series and manga…and OVA’s… Yeah I’m addicted I’ll just go with that! ^^

I also posted a D.Gray-man wallpaper that I’ve been fooling around with for a while now. It’s from the manga this time not the anime. But it’s a shot that has always made me smile. Or maybe it’s just the fact I like Allen for playing poker and cheating. Hehehe

That’s all for the wallpapers this time and I have a few e-cards that I should be submitting later today if my internet decides to behave. It’s feeling a bit temperamental this evening. I’m guessing it’s working out the kinks with the new router … either that or it just wants to kick me offline. Hehehe

Epilogue:
Hmm I asked about the first anime that got you into the otaku spirit…mostly because I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately. I mean I’ve watched various animes all my life but never really fall into an otaku mindset. But deciding which one pushed me over the end has always been a bit of a debate for me. I mean…Rurouni Kenshin made me spend several hundred dollars to order illegal copies online. LoL Ok at the time I didn’t know they were illegal...honestly. I still have them actually and they still look like a professional box set. But anyway…does that make me otaku? Or does draining my bandwidth for weeks while I scrambled for Naruto episodes push me over into the otaku view point. Hmm or could it be berserk…no other series has ever made me do as much online research and spend so much on manga as that series. LoL Darn expensive mature audience mangas…Perhaps Wolf’s Rain…I ended up buying that whole DVD set too since Adult Swim wasn’t going to show the full thing. Bah…of course then they showed the full thing. LoL So yeah...I don’t know…but I’m happy to be one. ^^

Hmm no questions again this week…I must be making more sense in my posts lately. Either that or you guys gave up on me. ^^

Random Question: Is there any anime series or mangas that you’ve read/watched more than once? Just because you wanted too. ^^ Not because you were showing it to someone new.

John Burgmeier’s Biography
Date of birth: September 24, 1974 in Mesquite, Texas Age:32 Occupation: Voice Actor/Script Coordinator/Script Writer/Producer/Director Fave Ice Cream: Mint chocolate chip
Special Request Voice Actor! Ok trying to find a picture of John has driven me completely insane. I have never been to so many websites in a row. Unfortunately not a single one has a decent photo of him! Most have this tiny little shot of him that just drives me to distraction! Oh well I guess I’ll have to settle for that unless I get lucky some how and one pops up. But man I had no idea there were that many conventions out there. LoL Anyway I’m an old time fan of John ever since I heard him voice the lovely Kurama from Yu Yu Hakushu I’ve been a loyal listener to his voice acting! Hehehe Yes I’m easily won over by people who voice fox demons. ^^ Honestly though he’s a very talented voice actor who brings a great deal of personality to all of the character he’s portrayed. I was honestly surprised to see he’d done so little voice acting. But I’m guessing his other career choices keep him pretty busy as well. He is the son of Linda Chambers-Young, who also voices characters for FUNimation. Just a short listing of his voice acting career. Basilisk as Chikuma Koshiro BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad as Eiji Blue Gender as Joey Heald Dragon Ball as Tien Fruits Basket as Shigure Sohma Fullmetal Alchemist as Dorochet/Dorchet Gunslinger Girl as Jose Kiddy Grade as Smith Samurai 7 as Kanzo Spiral as Eyes Rutherford Trinity Blood as Father Hugue de Watteau Yu Yu Hakusho as Kurama Kodocha as Rei Sagami

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