Sunday, October 2, 2005

   I'm Still Around!!!
I've not been on the site for a little while, but I'm still here!!!

Hurray, I reached 500 hits!!! Thanks to everyone who stops by to read my deranged rantings, I couldn't have made it without you ^_^ !!

Well, I haven't really been doing any kind of new artwork recently, but what I have done is go back and update some old pics I did a while ago.
I'm gonna post them on my site because they're just updates rather than new pics.



One of my earlier pics from when I actually had the patience and skill (sort of!!) to use watercolours. I used Photoshop to neaten up the edges and to correct any colour bleeding, plus I added a simple background.




This was a sketch of the Jet Alone robot that appared in an episode of Evangelion (Of which I've forgetten the name!!) It's an attempt to make it look like one of the images from the show, where Jet Alove was being viewed on a monitor.
Looking at it now, I want to go back and update it some more, there are loads of little mistakes I can see!!

Hopefully looking at these, it has inspired me enough to do some more drawing soon. I'm very tempted to have another go at drawing an Eva Unit (How many times have I said I'd do that now?!!)

Well, that was my update, LATER!!


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Friday, September 16, 2005

   Misato!!!!
Hey guys, just a quick post to say that Mari15 has posted an excellent pic of Misato (the best character in Evangelion!!!) It looks amazing, if my HTML skills were better I'd post it up here!! However, I'm an idiot so you'll have to find it on the Evangelion page (http://fanart.theotaku.com/view.php?action=retrieve&id=71134). Please go vote and comment generously, thank you!!!!
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Friday, September 9, 2005

   More of The Eva!!!
Well, I've been going through some of my Eva collection recently and I just thought I'd show this, as again, I thought it was something different.

There was an Evangelion Game released on the Sega Saturn many years ago called simply "Neon Genesis Evangelion". It was basically an interactive episode of the show, where it played a section of video and then at certain points you have the option to give answers to questions. Depending on which answer you selected, it changed the way the story went.



The game was recently re-launched in Japan on DVD, you use the DVD remote to make the selections, which is a really neat idea. It takes about 20 minutes to play through one story line, but there are so many different ways the story can end!! So far I've managed to End the World, Get Shinji Beaten up by Asuka and Hikari, and have a damn good fight with a new Angel!!

The best bit is that there's quite a bit of new animation, and although it's all in Japanese, it's still pretty fun to play through. There's a new soundtrack with Music by the original composer, and the voices are all played by the original cast.

Again, I took a few screen caps on my PC (The fun never stops!!! Lol)













I apologise if you're not an Eva fan because this probably wont mean anything to you.
But I'll take the opportunity to reccommend this site;
www.cdjapan.co.jp.
It's an excelent place to import Japanese Goods from, lots of anime items!!! The whole site is in English and really easy to use. The only problem is the shipping costs!!

Anywho, that was another update I hope you enjoyed the pics....Long live Evangelion!!! (I'm off to go and calm down now)

Later!! ^_^



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Tuesday, September 6, 2005

   Just A Quick Post
Just a quick post that will probably mean nothing to you unless you're a fan of or have seen Evangelion, but I thought it was pretty cool.

The other day I was watching an Eva DVD that I got from Japan, "Neon Genesis
Evangelion Test Type 01" and I noticed a special feature which was a re-edited version of the opening and closing credits.
The opening was pretty much a longer series of clips all taken from the Japanese Renewal of Evangelion (or platinum edition as it's called in the U.S., U.K. etc!!!) So whilst it looked nice, there was nothing really new.
However the closing, whilst still the floating Rei, has been re-done with a new, more realistic background and some close up shots of Rei.

I took a few screen caps of it on my PC, I just thought it was neat, as I'd never seen or heard of it before.







(Hopefully these pics show up, my html is a little rusty!!)

Well, that was a short update, hope you enjoy the pics!!

Later!! ^_^



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Tuesday, August 23, 2005

   Marathon Viewing Finally Complete!!!
Today I finished an anime series that I have been watching pretty much every other day since just before last Christmas!!!! There is only one series that could take that amount of watching, it is, of course, the Dragonball series!!!!



Dragonball, Dragonball Z and Dragonball GT are without a doubt, one of the most famous collections of anime out there and I thought it was about time I checked what all the fuss was about. So, with the the help of an old buddy, cheers Morbo (Soooo many DVDs!!), that's what I did!!

I have to say I was surprised, the Dragonball series has had alot of harsh criticism as well as praise from people, and in some ways I can see where they're coming from, but overall I really enjoyed it.

To get the best from these shows you really have to see them uncut, I was lucky enough to see the whole thing uncut, including the earlier episodes of DBZ.

The original series Dragonball, REALLY surpised me, it's the best of the three by far. It's where it all started and has a great mix of action and very silly gag style humor, Master Roshi is by far the best character of those earlier episodes!!! It's a good set of stories, and showing the characters grow into what they become in the next series Dragonball Z. It's just about the right length, as well, at 153 episodes, it feels complete.

Dragonball Z, obviously the most famous and popular of the 3 series, follows straight on from DB. The earlier episodes of DBZ ,to me, were the best bit of the series. The stories were much darker and the action started to look a little better, a punch really does draw blood and break bones, it was like BD had grown up!! But as the series went on I found the stories less compelling. However, saying that, I can't deny that the transformations and battles look cool (I dont care how immature that makes me sound!! Lol)in the later episodes and the animation really does jump up in quality.
I think my biggest criticism is the length of the show, 291 episodes is alot, and that time isn't always spent so well, it drags a little at times!! It's still a good series overall though and is where the original stories in the Manga ended. However, a new series of episodes were written.

Dragonball GT is the last of the series, and the shortest at 64 episodes. I'm not sure about this series, it looks great, the animation is top-notch compared to the earlier shows and it does try to capture some of the feel of the original Dragonball, but I felt that 64 episodes was enough. Also, this has to have one of the most conclusive endings I've seen to any anime!!! Again not bad, but to me it just wasn't the same, most of the characters I knew from DB were gone or were only in one episode, and the newer characters just weren't as good!! A series that's still above average but not great!!!

I spose I better wrap this up!! Overall I was pleasantly surprised, this is a good series with some excellent story lines, and unique style. Akira Toriyamas' character designs look like nothing else in anime. It's definately worth a watch, if not just for the original Dragonball, as long as you have the time to invest in all 508 episodes of these three series!!

PHEW!!! Long review, then agian, it's a LONG series!!!

LATER!!!! ^_^




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Tuesday, August 9, 2005

   A New Pic!!!!!
Like a bolt from the blue, that took a few months to finally decide what I wanted to draw, a new pic has been completed!!! It was going to be an all out action pic, then after long consideration I just drew another Master Roshi pic!!! It will tide me over 'til I can decide exactly hat I want to draw!!

Just a quick post, I hope you can spare a few moments to go take a look at my pic!! I hope you enjoy!!! Thanks.

Later ^_^
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Wednesday, July 20, 2005

   Another anime recommendation!!!
Yup, it's another anime recommendation, since I enjoyed writing the last one!!!

This time it's a little known anime called 'Nadia The Secret of Blue Water'. Quite an old show, aired on Japanese TV in 1990.

The story is, apparently, an adaptation of the Jules Verne novel "20,000 Leagus Under The Sea" (Although I've never actually read the book, so I'm not sure how close to the original it is!!). Set in 1889, the story focuses on a mysterious 14 year old orphan girl, Nadia. Working as a circus acrobat at the 1889 World Exposition in Paris, Nadia is attacked by Gem Theives who try to steal the Blue Water, a gem which is the only possession Nadia has from her past. However, she is rescued by a young inventor named Jean, who has a number of ingenious, but not always reliable, inventions to hand!!! The two kids manage to escape and through a series of unfortunate events, mostly through Jeans 'ingenious' inventions, end up stranded in the Atlantic Ocean. Here they are picked up the Nautilus, an amazing submarine way ahead of its time and its mysterious crew.
The series twists and turns from there as Nadia discovers more about the Blue Water and the real bad guys who are after it.



This series is definately aimed at a slightly younger audience than myself, however, what drew me to it was the people behind the series.
The show was directed by Hideki Anno, perhaps best known for his series "Neon Genesis Evangelion" (My favourite anime of all time). Not only that, but the show also had the same character designer, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (Nadia and Shinji look incredibly similar!!! Lol) and even the same musical composer, Shiro Sagisu.

After watching the series, I could really see just how much it influenced Evangelion. So many of the little details, some of the suits that people wear later on in Nadia look like very simplified versions of the 'Plug Suits' that the Eva pilots wear, the music seems very familiar, suitably atmospheric and a storyline which twists and turns to become much darker as it goes along!!!! (Not as dark as Eva, but still theres a familiarity to the story telling).

Nadia The Secret of Blue Water is an enjoyable series, not groundbreaking, but still a show that I believe deserves a more attention. Definately worth a watch if you're an Evangelion fan!!


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Sunday, July 10, 2005

   Puni Puni Peomi, a warped, twisted and VERY funny anime!!!!
Recently, I bought the anime series 'Puni Puni Poemi' all 2, yes, 2 episodes on DVD. Saying ONLY 2 episodes, after watching them, you feel that they are enough!!

Not in a bad way however, this anime is the work of the team behind Excel Saga, which for those who don't know was a series that set out to parody as many different types of anime there is, and to amuse and offend as much as possible along the way.

Puni Puni Poemi is very much along the same lines, however, with all the restraints removed!!!! For those who have seen episode 26 of Excel Saga entitled "Going WAY too far" a 'too hot for TV' type episode, Puni Puni Poemi runs like that, but constantly!!!

I won't give away too much of the plot (to be honest, I'm too lazy!!! Lol)
Basically, Nabeshin (Shinichi Watanabe), the incredibly self centered director from Excel Saga, and his wife Kumi Kumi are killed by strange (and rather dodgy looking) invading aliens, leaving an orphan child, Poemi Watanabe. Poemi is then left to the care of the Seven Asuu Sisters, who all have magical and truely useless powers. The show manages to parody so many anime genres in such a short time. From Magical Girl shows such as Sailor Moon all the way through to Dragonball!!!

It's an assault on the senses, hilarious and at the same time so down right disturbing. Well worth a watch, especially if you're a fan of Excel Saga, which serves well as a warm-up for the sheer insanity that is Puni Puni Poemi!!!



(As you can tell, I'm no proffessional writer!!! Lol.)
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Monday, July 4, 2005

   Back Online
Hurray!! Just a quick post to say my internet is back up and in full working order. To celebrate I made yet another Greeting. I will draw something soon, but still haven't decided on what!!!!
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Wednesday, June 29, 2005

   Yes, I am still alive!!!
It's been quite a while since I posted anything!!!
That's mostly due to my internet connection!!
It's being VERY unreliable at the moment, a recent spell of unusally hot weather here in the UK has caused my crappy modem to overheat and burn out, so it very rarely connects and if it does, it's only for about 5 mins!!!!
So if I haven't been visiting peoples sites very much over the last couple of weeks that's why!!

Anyways, I have ideas for some new pics. I'm trying to decide between an Evangelion or DBZ pic (I could do both, but I'm a lazy, lazy man!!) something action or dynamic looking, I recently noticed most of my pics are quite subdued so it might be interesting to do something a bit different!!!

Anywho, Later!!!
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