Best of 2009 – Anime (Yes it is super overdue) (But its full of links)

I get the feeling that I’ve somehow forgotten a large amount of the stuff I’ve watched this year as I feel that I’ve watched a fuckton of anime but when it came time to compile a list it was a real struggle to come up with ten. Of course when I did put together a list it became difficult to select just ten titles as I watched a lot of quality stuff this year. Continue reading…

(Re) Watching Naruto Shippuden: Episodes 001 – 006

So Ive decided to (finally) catch up on Shippuden in order to avoid any story based spoilers while playing Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 2. I’ve seen the first thirty or so episodes before. But it was so long ago that I can only remember the rough outline events. Anyhow I have to make it to episode 176 so watching an extra twenty or thirty episodes doesnt really make that much of a difference. In theory I should have been banging through thirty or so episodes a day in order to be prepared for the games release on Friday. But due to this and that Im afraid that as of the moment (2:38 AM Wednesday morning) I have managed to get through six episodes. Continue reading…

October Viewing – Anime Edition – Oversights and Updates

Well October’s viewing schedule is off to a good start. Watched all of Bakemonogatari yesterday and today, and I have to say, its going to be tough for what comes next to live up to that standard. It really was uniformly excellent. But in a one step forwards, two steps back stylee I realised that I’d left one or two entries out of the last post. Partly because Im rather forgetful and partly because I hadnt realised some of them had finished translation. I think I’m going to go with something relatively low on emotional intensity and thinking and high on crazy shit next, possibly High School of the Dead or Heroman. Continue reading…

(Planned) September/October Viewing – Anime Edition

When brainstorming about a Top 10 Anime list I realised that Im several months behind in my anime viewing, the tragic consequence of living with other people sucking up ones time, as such there are several anime which would quite possibly make it onto this list (K-ON!, Code Geass R2, Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Arakawa Under the Bridge, Bakemonogatari, etc.) that I havent got around to watching yet. I do plan to most watch of them during September, so I thought I’d go ahead and make a list because a) the minutiae of my life is amazingly interesting and b) because some people may also wish to see these and if so are welcome to call around. Continue reading…

Armed Librarians : The Book of Bantorra

Just finished watching this and I have to say that it was very enjoyable. The entire series builds excellently to an extremely satisfying (if not necessarily happy) finale. While the ending was certainly worth it the continuous lack of explanation throughout the majority of the series did wear on me at times. Still hard to argue it wasnt worth it. The animation was excellent, as was the voice acting and the music was noticeably well done. The characters, while not always likeable, were nearly always engaging. So all in all I’d say it was very good, but not excellent, four stars perhaps? I might come back to this and expand on it later.

Best of 2008 – Definitive Edition

I think only the lucky or the terminally un-opinionated actually fully enjoy reading Top X lists. For the rest of us it’s an experience all too often filled with bewildering disbelief that some idiots voted item X above item Y even though it’s clearly inferior or why poltroons who engaged in voting entirely forgot about item M. The one advantage of public Top X lists is that they have at least the pretence of objectivity as they’re based on public votes. On the flip side this means they’re an indication of popularity rather than quality (as only the naive believe the two are inseparable). Though I suppose “Top X” has always been shorthand for “Most Popular X” rather than “Best X”. I sure do love me some variables. Continue reading…

Don’t look so frightened, this is just a passing phase

APOC1 – Book 2 – Entry XX – Culled from the apocrypha left by one of the early splinter cults which practiced a debased version of the widespread worship of “Mick”. Recovered from the outlands of Gundalk, one of the areas worst hit by the Fall in 07. The widely meandering and rapidly changing subject and tone is clear evidence of their mental degeneration – within a few (unwieldy) paragraphs it examines the supposed life of Mick, his feelings of existential angst, plans for the future, spirituality and questionable emotional stability. It then veers wildly into a strange discussion of “cosplay” before petering out in a tedious history of his infatuation with fighting games and an alleged round up of the various media products this fabled “Mick” engaged with – barely worth reading as anything other than a historical curiosity Continue reading…

Around the noble god are borrowed things

To quote myself:

“I also think I shall unleash some rating fury on the tried and tested one to five scale (1=crap 2=average 3=good 4=excellent 5=”perfect”). I suppose I should come up with some kind of unit for these as well, but I’ll hold of on that for the moment and go with stars. I would also like to point out in advance that the reason so many of these ratings are so high is that I usually research what I’m downloading/buying and try to weed out the shite in advance.”

Also, because I love you so (and certainly not because I’m an anal retentive with too much spare time), the titles of all the items below are linked to further (and almost certainly more objective) sources of information about the item in question. Continue reading…

What I’ve Watched – First Draft

Hmm, there is quite a bit here, well it has been almost three months, but it still seems like far too much. Perhaps even worse is the fact that I have at least twice this much on my computer never mind the (literal) stack of DVD’s sitting beside my bed that I have yet to open never mind watch. I think I’ll re-arrange these into alphabetical rather than chronological order (as it turned out they ended up arranged in relatively random fashion). I also think I shall unleash some rating fury on the tried and tested one to five scale (1=crap 2=average 3=good 4=excellent 5=”perfect”). I suppose I should come up with some kind of unit for these as well, but I’ll hold of on that for the moment and go with stars. I would also like to point out in advance that the reason so many of these ratings are so high is that I usually research what Im downloading/buying and try to weed out the shite in advance. Continue reading…