~alf layla wa layla~

gensokyo_dr Quote Icon Post 1 of x

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 12:36:13 GMT

Preview!

Link to entry is here. It has a few (a few?!) in-jokes, especially the one on the immortal idiots, but also some icons that don't require knowledge of context to understand. Only after counting did I realize Reimu showed up in 40% of them...that camera hog of a main character...

If taking, credit would be appreciated, but not compulsory. Just don't claim 'em as your own.

In related news, I found out only recently about LJ's limit on GIF uploads, which essentially makes the animated icons in my CANAAN icon post too big. ;^; Will have to work on those after exam season.

Nostalgia.

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:12:12 GMT

Rearranging stuff, I spent some time around half a month before looking through my older (mostly hardcopy) comics, acquired back when they hadn't cost so bleeding much and the unstable internet situation made it difficult to read scanlations. That thing they say about "dark history"? It is very, very true. Either ikka had horrible taste in stories then, or those mainstream stories that are still running have gotten increasingly bad. Perhaps it's a combination of the two, for some. ~~When did you turn into Dragonball, Bleach?~~

Detective Conan will always occupy a special place in my heart, because it was one of the first few manga I was exposed to...and, surprisingly, it had a follower in me for more than half of this short life. About a couple of years back, I finally dropped it because no end was in sight then, and the plot was getting ridiculously draggy, as one should expect from a long-runner. But during that cleanup day, many precious hours were burnt as ikka sat transfixed, reabsorbing volumes of yellowed/stained pages.

Groove Adventure Rave, when compared to Mashima-sensei's current work like Fairy Tail, is actually kind of immature. The heroes are rather generic (I suspect TV Tropers would have lots of fun with a character page were it more a prominent series), and even back in the days of Bad Ikka Judgment, the villains were more entertaining to read. The mark of a character turning bland usually started when they switched sides, because just about no one "turned bad". Very typical shounen fare, and yet it had its moments as well. I just can't get over how the scene of a crucial battle being decided with just one "killer" blow after pages and pages of talking or when the opponent clearly had the upper hand got increasingly common during its 30-odd volume run. (By the way, the mangaka retains this poor storytelling feature even now.) Having ridiculously drawn-out fights is one thing, too many asspulls and curbstomps are the exact logical extreme.
...yet I still want to apply for Sieg at an RP someday. WTF.

In the last couple of days, the urge to return to Loveless canon struck, and ikka wasted hours yesterday hunting and downloading the raw volumes 3 and 4 because many easily-accessible links have died. A pity that it has been stuck in the same arc for I can't even remember how long now. The plot is progressing at a rate worse than a snail's crawl, not only because it's a monthly story but also because so little takes place in every (stupidly short) chapter. To think that I was ready to drop it somewhere in the Sacrifice arc because Soubi squicks me like nobody does, plus it was so freaking slow (but not as bad as now). On a whim ~~←yeah, recurring pattern~~ I went back to it this year, with nearly 40 chapters unread. Reading through all of them was highly enjoyable, from which certain conclusions can be drawn. Huhuhuu.
On a somewhat-related note, Kouya was awesome to me before, and has gotten even more so now. ♥ *fangirls* //KOUGA-SENSEI, WRITE THE ZERO GIRLS BACK IN, PLEASE.

Okay. End babble.

The new, and the old: thoughts on some recently-read doujin [Kouma Edition]

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:14:43 GMT

Trying to get back into writing for amusement, because my drive has dropped a lot with prelim season and I find myself reading and watching enjoyable stuff but not feeling the "it". Must be all those brainkilling essays.

Starting with the vintage...

LETRA: Danse Macabre
A release from 2005, and Takitarou's first for this fandom. He (I think it's a he, the blog uses "watashi", but names can be deceiving) has come a long way since then. The art has a very 20th-century feel to it, more so when one compares it to recent work.

This is Sakuya in Danse Macabre.

And this is Sakuya from Rouge et Noir, released this May by the same circle.

Of course everyone's mileage will differ, but ikka favours the newer style, which has been more pronounced since 2007 or so. Perhaps it's because the decreased length of faces makes characters look a lot less manly --- the chins in his older style contributed to that effect as well. He's also stopped drawing eyes like this, which remind me of eyes like that of Haruka-chan's...^^; There are still instances of QUALITY, but all in all, there is a more minimalist approach that actually makes his characters look...cleaner, if that's the word to use, without as much detail. Compare Flan in Danse Macabre, ~~which comes with a bonus helping of turn-off eyes,~~ and Flan in Like an archangel (I have no idea when the latter was released, because it's not on the Doujin DB). Come, marvel at the art evolution.

Like the way some actors want to play serious roles after starting out in comedy, there are others who have roots in dark material and go on to do silly work. Takitarou is kind of the second type. I say "kind of", because there are moments of those characteristic humorous scenes that would appear in his later work, such as the aforementioned Rouge et Noir and the hilariously ridiculous Mishiranu Kuni no Ringo-tachi. They are just markedly lower in frequency. But then again, with a title like this, one should hardly expect anything less...maaaybe.

Now onto a couple of newer ones.

KEMONOMICHI: The Flying Dutchman

So, so, so very PRETTY. It's KEMONOMICHI, of course one would expect nothing less. It could be about Sakuya fighting for the last special-offer meat at the supermarket and I'd still be in awe at the amazingly pretty pictures. How Chihiro can accomplish so much with no screentones whatsoever and maintain that standard for 20+ pages is a mystery. A good one. Also, ikka is a horrible sucker for this kind of pencil-ly art, it gets her every time. LOL.

...what, you don't believe? O.K, Let's enjoy together KEMONOMICHI!
shh, yes, the joke was completely intentional, but well. Chihiro.

The scenes aboard the ship are obviously a reference to Wagner's Der Fliegende Holländer. Sakkyun in period dress notwithstanding, the transition from maid to 貴婦人 and back to maid as the opera progresses and ends was a nice touch. But exactly why the "whale" in this story resembled some kind of dinosaur is beyond me...maybe it's a Godzilla joke, or ikka fails zoology. Hmmm. The final page can also be seen as a reference to those immortal (no pun intended) lines at the end of TH8 Extra, which have been used in some form or another in many Remilia/Sakuya doujins.

Go read this. It really is too pretty for me to feign coherence any further.

FRAC: Adabana

This is one of those R-18s that aren't as simple as they seem. A rarity, certainly, but the fact that the Plot With Porn trope exists has got to prove...something. If the circle name is familiar, good job, you've probably recalled their earlier love for Remilia/Sakuya with Reminiscence and Sorrow. Reading/keeping the raws is highly recommended for the R-18s...I don't like having sfx translated. To each their own, though.

If there were any "chronological order", Adabana should take place after the previous two because it was released later, but there isn't any timeline stated --- ikka has such a feeling since the earlier two can be thought of as setting a background of sorts. Sorrow would be the morning after Reminiscence, and Adabana happening at a later period in time. Of course, each of them can be read as a stand-alone piece, so timeline and such isn't really relevant.

A recurring theme across all three, however, can be seen. Both Remilia and Sakuya are acutely aware that it is impossible for them to stay together forever, and so their emotions for the other causes them pain. This is touched on often in Remilia/Sakuya work, as it is with any other human-youkai pairing: one party is almost definitely going to die before the other, angst angst angst. What is admirable about Mitsuki's storytelling is the use of language that is almost poetic in depicting this issue, making it bittersweet yet beautiful.

...and that brings me back to the original point. Adabana is, for 23 whole pages, about the sex. The finest point of it, as with the other two doujins mentioned above, comes at the end, when the reader gets to know Remilia's reasons behind her...unusual...approach. It is at this moment that deeper realization of the meaning behind the doujin's title (which had been defined in the beginning, by the way) sinks in, making the experience much more worthwhile. As one uploader put it, "The presence of toys is not the main issue, the monologue at the end explains all." For someone like ikka who doesn't have any interest in that sort of subject matter, it was especially true. Very much a story told well.

Extra: by request, a link. Not scanned by me, please don't distribute indiscriminately.

Suara is now married...?!

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:02:37 GMT

Much as ikka is shocked by the news, it is true. An announcement was put up on her blog on September 19.

Her husband is Fujita Junpei, who does composing and arrangement work for Elements Garden. According to Suara, she met him when they were working on the BLUE DROP ED, 蕾 -blue dreams-.

What makes it even more surprising for me is that there were already hints about their relationship, according to a variety of folks I'm too lazy to list out. So this is what happens when we don't track the goings-on of the lives of the singers we like...lol. At least she's being open about it, unlike a certain Cantopop Heavenly King who's been getting flak after it was made known that he'd hushed up his marriage for 20 years.

Here's wishing both of them happiness in their marriage, and all the best to Suara in her future musical endeavours.

G.L.D followup

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:28:08 GMT

Uploaded the only new song from this album here. MP3, 224 kbps because the better quality one is on a host that hates this connection. Someone put the booklet up, please! It's impossible to find any YT stuff over here! *unwilling pirate tears*

On an additional note, FrostBytez is the best filehost ikka has had the experience of using, simply because it actually lets me upload something. Yeah, no idea either.

RP character list

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:33:16 GMT

Errr, yeah. If this is going to take away so much of my elgaying time, it should at least have something relevant to show for it.

Ikka plays ---

At paradisa :

lilblackdevil Erica Hartmann (Strike Witches, post-S1 finale + audio extras)
exhikki Chiba Seiya (Yankee-kun to Megane-chan, between chapters 89 and 90)
dog_the_ripper Izayoi Sakuya (Touhou Project, post-Imperishable Night Extra)

and was formerly

sigma_hime Shizuma Yuuho

At gensokyo_dr :

phoenix_downed Fujiwara no Mokou
dog_the_ripper Izayoi Sakuya
frogly_god Past!Moriya Suwako

So now everyone knows what identity I'm assuming when not doing silly stuff over here. Yay?

*is aware that this post makes creating fanworks involving any of the above characters extra-embarrassing...and may never get over it*

G.L.P.からG.L.D.まで。

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:27:06 GMT

So Yousei Teikoku's second full album Gothic Lolita Doctrine was out ~~today~~ yesterday. I might have been more excited about it, if not for the fact that all the songs on this album, save one, have already been released previously. It is very hard to look forward to only one new song.

I don't have anything against compilation albums. It is a fact that they are a godsend for fans who are selective regarding what they pay attention to, since material released on a certain single may not necessarily be relevant to their other interests. An example would be FictionJunction YUUKA's circus album, which had a good many songs ikka enjoyed, even though only El Cazador (which romanesque was the ED for) was the only show watched among the 6 or so that had related material collected on it.

Additionally, there is the prospect of a booklet, which means graphics. Maybe it's just me, but booklets are always something worth checking out. Folks might complain about photos when they test the boundaries of their sense of aesthetics too much (I can recall a certain hilarious blog post which remarked on the Gekkou Chigiri album art), and some booklets look as if the production company just typed the lyrics out and printed them in colour, but anything is better than nothing! ...or maybe I just like booklets the way others like their collectibles/photobooks/etc, who knows.

Still, it is very hard to look forward to only one new song. It may have something to do with how 9 of the 13 previously-released tracks are sitting on my carry-around playlist.

CANAAN - icon batch #1

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 14:19:58 GMT

Alphard: 6 (3 animated)
Canaan: 3 (2 animated)
Maria + Canaan: 1 animated
Liang Qi: 5 animated

Total: 15 (some duplicates from same scene - un-animated, or from another angle)

Disclaimer: watching these icons for too long may cause motion sickness ^^;

1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15

There was a nice table layout. ikka messed it up and it had to be changed to this. *wangst*
HOT DAMN, ALPHARD. /nosebleed...next set will have more of her excellent body ufufu. I promise.
AND HER SISTER...? Liang Qi may be a mad Chinawoman but I adore every scene she's in. The part where she raised her hand during the Evil Planning (tm) of Snake in Episode 5 ~~(aww oddly Suigintou moment)~~ and declared her loyalty was awesome. And the OP bit iconed up there is second only to FTH's hack-and-slash in StrikerS OP2 in flashiness for me.
Maria's antenna would be excellent for a mood theme. Just sayin'.
Comments, credits, etc. will be welcomed with much enthusiasm.

Mizuki Nana in Shinjuku Koma Ookii ni Utau (+ making) - Chinese subs by Banana

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:27:21 GMT

I've fallen in love with this icon, no idea why.

Anyway, spreading some love for this download as I know that it is relevant to the interests of some people (like so-and-so or so-and-so). There's a bit of drama behind the subs that's elaborated on in the forum post here, but I guess knowing about it is optional...even though it was certainly an incentive for me to grab this instead of alternate versions.

Mediafire links:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

The Making Of

No comment on the content and quality as my download is running concurrently with another bandwidth hog, but the folks working on this have a certain degree of rep to them so it should be at least fairly good.

Writer's Block: First Aid

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 13:36:54 GMT

Have you ever performed CPR, mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, or the Heimleich maneuver on someone in an emergency?

View 464 Answers

Yes. Also, it's the Heimlich maneuver.

ViVid 02

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 06:08:49 GMT

Now I think that this artist's work is like an inferior version of Fujieda Miyabi's. :\

-the process of how Vivio became Nanoha's daughter
(Fate: *tears up* I was the one who told her... ;^;)

-turning adult-sized <> Kaiserification
Seriously? The previous chapter was really misleading...purpose-wise, all ikka can say is that she's her mother's daughter indeed.

-"So I heard that mamas were like me(ry
The legend of the amazingly incredible 9-year-olds seems to be a staple that has to be brought up ever since they stopped being, well, 9.

-a vow, complete with pinky swear
OI, WHY DO THESE TWO LOOK LIKE THEY'RE CHALLENGING EACH OTHER TO A FIGHT *snerrrrk*

-after upsizing, Vivio is taller
Ga-rei chapter 42, the MSLN doujin 右眼と左眼に映る景色...
If it wasn't for these two things, I would have been significantly less touched. Just sayin'.

-hotpot time at the Nakajimas'
Eh, they're eating remarkably little. Compare with this. The later refill kinda explains it, but heh.
"That was a long time ago already." Genya is becoming more and more senile...j/k
WHY DOES CINQUE-NEE HAVE ARTHUR KIRKLAND EYEBROWS?!
Deredere Subaru is cute.
...this family practically treats Church HQ as a playground-slash-hangout spot, lol.

-cliffhanger
This picture says all I had to.

Happy birthday, Hayate-san~

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:23:01 GMT

This is, surprisingly, the first time ikka has drawn so many characters in one image. But the focus is on the brown one the middle, really.

My excuse for the "interesting" proportions and relative heights is that this was intended to come out cutesy-looking anyway.

It's times like this...

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:11:20 GMT

I suspect this has been covered already by certain bloggers, but am too lazy and uninitiated to check. Anyway, this falls within ikka's scope of interest, so 's all good. However, this post is probably not too interesting if you don't follow K-ON or care about headphones, lol.

The AKG K701, a model that's more high-end than your average (both price-wise and, according to reviews I've read, performance-wise), has recently garnered more attention after it was shown to be used by Mio in K-ON episode 5. According to one Taiwanese blogger who wrote about this, its sales ranking on price comparison site kakaku.com astonishingly rose from 41 to 6. Whoa.
...as to be expected, the price has also rose accordingly. Akiba shops have also been spotted promoting it with the Mio connection, calling it 澪ヘッドフィン (Mio Headphone) K701, as this image shows.

This phenomenon has found its way to gigazine, among other news-oriented (?) sites.

Admittedly, I've never had the chance to actually use the K701 - for one thing, it costs about $600 or so in SGD. The specs and manufacturing details are appealing, though. But this piece of news was pretty interesting, not to mention funny. Who's with me in saying that some of the people who bought it wouldn't know the difference in quality between the K701 and a more lower-end pair of cans?

Spot-the-pattern

Wed, 27 May 2009 15:37:49 GMT

Fujino and Yuuki
As some (many? idk) already know, ikka goes for this more than Yuuki and Kuga - never saw the appeal of, or was interested in, the latter. I admit to having completely no inkling as to why there are so many people who like/ship that. It probably stemmed from Kuga comparing Yuuki and herself. My point of view, roughly speaking, is like this - if Fujino could fall in love with Kuga, what's stopping her from being attracted to someone that's a lot like the one she loves?

"Are you an idiot? Love, attraction, affection...the only person you can trust is yourself!"

But not Viola and Zhang, because that takes far more mental acrobatics, despite the fact that they look exactly the same as their AU counterparts. aslkdljf

Reiri and Riza
Yeah, the natural enemies thing. Who was it that first came up with that idea? I don't know why I like this vampire-werewolf pair so much as compared to the 9387524 others out there. Maybe it has to do with how ikka is also a Riza fan. And volume 4, oh volume 4. I think I started seeing the possibility of these two together from then on. There are plenty of moments scattered here and there that can be used to construct a subtext-filled argument as well.

"Would you believe it? I've been banished from vampire society because of you, Riza."

Kaguya and Mokou
In ikka's mind, this works out more as Kaguya→Mokou, lol. Forgot who it was that brought up a point I agree with totally - Mokou stands out because she sees Kaguya as Kaguya, rather than a pretty object to be claimed (as in the suitors who'd wanted her hand in marriage in Taketori Monogatari) or a princess (as in...basically the whole of Eientei?) - Muffin-san, iirc? That also explains why NEET-hime would even step out of her manor just to provoke and fight somebody that she can never kill. Note, of course, that the opposite also applies, and Mokou has obsessed about a grudge that, as many fans have pointed out, should have been gotten over long ago. My interpretation of Cage in Lunatic Runagate 4 is that Kaguya had been her raison d'être for over a millennium already...how else would she even have made it?

"For the first three hundred years, other people hated me, and I was a sad creature who only caused trouble to myself and those around me if I didn't stay in hiding.

The next three hundred years I spent harboring a grudge against this world, and was able to preserve the faintest sense of identity by immediately dispatching anything that crossed my path, youkai or otherwise.

For the next three hundred years the youkai in the area couldn't hold my interest anymore, and I lost all motivation towards anything, living out a boring existence.

But during the next three hundred years, I was finally reunited with my immortal archrival, and we discovered the joys of killing each other over and over."

Negima chapter 252

Wed, 27 May 2009 13:50:50 GMT

Either scanlations aren't out yet, or no one has uploaded them to where I usually read mine. Either way, this chapter is remarkable because it actually has Konoka and Setsuna following through with that intended Pactio mentioned...how many chapters ago? Shippers everywhere must be screaming and clutching their noses in bliss.

(thank you Finestela-san for uploading the raw chapter)

Definitely the most canon support for this pair yet, it's already crossed the line from subtext into overtext IMO. Sure, the anime gave us moments like Secchan nosebleeding at being flashed (iirc) in one opening sequence, among other notable instances, but ikka saw them more as lulzy moments than anything too serious. Acknowledging that Akamatsu had a certain degree of say in what was written, and that there were staff members, including Kobayashi-gahaku and Aipon who professed their liking these two as a couple, that is. It still is nice to have scenes like this to cement their closeness.

Ah, a translation can be found here, for anyone interested.

人生無望

Mon, 25 May 2009 16:00:00 GMT

I WANT A LIFESTYLE LIKE THIS.

On an unrelated note, Hime Yuzuriha appears to be making its way into canon (if those 660 henshin pictures are for real). Guess someone on the MSLN staff roll decided to take a leaf from ZUN's book or something.

Neither is this a doujin review: Sweetest Love (Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha)

Wed, 13 May 2009 11:55:08 GMT

Hint: the cover is a lie. To some extent. This does not refer to the rating, or the pairing.

Doujin info:
Circle/artist: くりころ。/tokoharu; homepage
Fandom: Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha
Size: B5 offset, 28 pages
Available from toranoana.jp etc at 1155 yen (inclusive of tax)

ikka's scribbles:
I tried with much difficulty to write a summary like last time, and finally gave up out of embarrassment. NSFW is still far too challenging for someone like ikka. Reading/viewing is always a lot easier. Anyway, there are definitely folks who will scan(late) it for the masses, how else would I have come across it?

...ahhh, okay, it's painfully sweet, the protagonists are adorable and the plot is easy to understand. Enough?

Kurikoro. is a circle that seems to be less well-known compared to bigger names like this and this. ikka has no doubt that the MSLN fandom knows of these guys, or have come across/saved their pictures before. If it wasn't for Sweetest Love, I might not have known about this circle's existence. That doesn't mean they (...or rather tokoharu?) are lacking in quality, though. The art isn't particularly striking, but it's easy on the eyes in that the lines are clean and the paneling is done nicely, so following the scenes is effortless. Still, there is one gripe that bugs me, which is the inconsistent use of screentones for Nanoha's hair - it's done in some places and left out in others, so that can be jarring when one is expecting it but gets un-brunette Nanoha. On the whole, that inconsistency detracts from otherwise good art. IMO it's even better than Hina Sasaki's (of SEA STAR), because her (...I think it's a her) art sometimes scares me with the gigantic eyes and very shoujo style...I like shoujo when it's not done with too much anatomical inaccuracy. ^^;

Moving on to the content before going too far off tangent, it's...For Adult Only. Which doesn't refer to violence but sex...gahhh, if you've seen the cover before reading this, you already know that. Even if you hadn't, the NSFW warnings should have told you!

So. Is the content good? Yes. It's not entirely porn without plot, even if they do get down to it quite quickly. Admittedly, this is not a long story, so I find that understandable. Plus it was cute (the link is SFW)...before the serious touching and slightly dramatic moment came in, at least. During the first read through, ikka actually was reminded of a Chinese fanfic that came before this (but can't remember the title or where it was ;^;), which was very similar in some ways. How so? The creators both explored the Fate/Nanoha relationship similarly in the plot, I suppose. Please be reminded that this doujin does has something like that. I claim so, because unlike certain works that jump straight into or have little/poor excuses for characters to have sex, here, there's more of a "natural progression" feel. There's quite a bit of buildup to it, so even though one comes to expect it, there's not much wtf to go round at the lines (which were cheekiness on Fate's part anyway) before the actual sex comes in. I suppose I should also add that the depiction is very soft and gentle - no futa, no weird objects, no raepface, no crazy things like that - just a sense of tenderness.

And...that's about it. I'm still waiting for a translated version, but that's not exactly a must because, like previously mentioned, it's not very hard to understand. There's also a lingering sense of awe because the person who put it up made a great sacrifice in scanning this...the spine must have been weeping in agony when she pressed on it. :O

Edit: 7 hours after this was first posted, Sweetest Love was translated! *saves*

[MSLN] No more "mahou shoujo", eh

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:47:24 GMT

Was reading dimon-san's blog and saw this post on the upcoming Mahou Senki(ry. The protagonist this time is Tohma, a mysterious girl encountered within the depths of ruins...if I'd read the text correctly?

The part about how Hayate doesn't look like a tanuki anymore (literally, "Tanuki doesn't look like Tanuki anymore (because everyone looks so alike)") made me laugh, then worry for the quality of this sequel OTL
But hey, human-sized Rein-chan gets a thumbs-up. Since she wasn't 30cm in the group shot for Sound Stage Vocal Best Collection either, maybe Hayate's magic rose to such a high level that she'd be able to maintain that form? *headscratch*

Because ikka is rather proud of these

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:39:26 GMT

Have some Chiba icons over at exhikki .

This is one of those ~~(I sure hope not the only)~~ times where the icon-ing process was so easy. I completed coloring over 10 icons in the space of an afternoon, inclusive of distractions. Sure, part of the preparatory work was done earlier on, but I hadn't expected this to be finished so fast...

I will...do a post about Yankee-kun to Megane-chan someday. Perhaps. Don't think of this as a promise.

OMFG IT'S SHISHOU!!!one1one11eleven

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:55:35 GMT

The PV for the Nanoha movie was shown at the Tokyo International Anime Fair, and someone put it up here.

Looks as though there's a big chance that the novel's plot would be incorporated somehow. I certainly hope so, if only to get the people complaining about ~~the Testarossas~~ Precia-kaasan being a flat villain to rethink. And because there's LINITH-SHISHOU, YOU SAW THAT TOO RIGHT MOMMY? I MEAN, SHE'S ONLY LIKE THE REASON WHY THE FANS HAVE THE AWESOMENESS OF BARDICHE. SINCE SHE'S WIN AND ALL THAT.

</capslock> (heh, haven't had spazzing like that in a while)

By the way, the Gundamization of MSLN can be seen in the movie preview too. ^^; Is it stupid for the first thing to pop into ikka's mind at the bit with the traffic crossing to be the Kannazuki no Miko epilogue? |||OTL

Even though, even though, even though

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 15:47:18 GMT

Even though they boosted your age by 6 (3?) years with the recent announcement

Even though I suspect the only reason F is being drawn is to remove the possibility of Mizuhashi-san talking to herself, ~~thereby making it legit for you to commit bestiality~~ or rather, the other way round

Even though hardly anyone in the English-medium fandom knows about this

Even though the day is almost over ~~and is already over in Japan~~

Happy birthday, Nanoha-san! \o/

Nanoha season 4?!

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 13:14:55 GMT

Not much news yet aside from a small announcement, but it's something to look forward to I guess. Wrote a little bit on it over here.

Can't help but wonder just how the legacy of the Gundam in a ~~girl's~~ woman's body is going to be extended. By the way, were there still hopes out there that they would actually go into the lost years of A's to StrikerS? I had instead been wondering if there would be something about Mahou Shoujo Vivio, or even a story where X woke up, if there were to be a fourth season...hmm.

~~Weddingweddingweddingweddingwedding(ry~~

On the use of CPR in "popular media"

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 15:17:16 GMT

It should not be that much of a surprise for anyone reading this, if I were to say that a lot of depictions regarding the use of CPR on TV and in movies (especially Hollywood) are inaccurate...to different degrees, admittedly. But seeing it done properly is a huge rarity, and that isn't just because ikka doesn't like watching TV. I'm exposed to the idiot box on a daily basis due to the presence of TV addict/s in the household.

One common use of this is the "Kiss of Life" thing in which Person A does something (usually not very intelligent) in an attempt to get a "kiss" from Person B (usually the love interest). Outcomes are usually one of the following:
1) A not getting CPR done on him/her by B, but some other person, who might also be repulsive-looking/have bad breath/is another love interest
2) B performing CPR on A, where it is handled as if it is equivalent to a real kiss (which, as anyone who's done it before will say, is as far from the truth as you can get)
3) A's attempt gets him/her in trouble or danger, due to the circumstances that would cause him/her to need CPR in the first place.

Off the top of my head, the only instance of CPR being done properly I can recall is in Lost...because the person performing it was a doctor. And yet, a lot of shows/movies that focus on doctors/medicine seem to prefer showing the *GREAT DRAMA!*, *POWER STRUGGLES!* and what-have-you, instead of doing just that smidgen of research to not make people that know what's going on cringe horribly. Non-medical characters who can be expected to have relevant skills fall prey to it as well - even 007's CPR in a recent movie wasn't performed properly. Isn't it sad?

It occurs in animation as well. Watches of Mai HiME might recall Mai's "CPR" on Mikoto at the start of the series, or the rather...unsavory (?) idea that popped into Nina's head during the tentacle monster episode in Mai Otome. I'm pretty sure Western animation brings it in too, but have limited knowledge in that field. TV Tropes has a Code Lyoko instance on it, but don't expect me to have seen that show in the past, present or future ☆

There are many how-tos on the Web with regard to the correct way in which one goes about performing CPR, which may have slight differences but generally will involve the use of removing any possible blocks to the airway; head-tilt-chin-lift; rescue breathing and chest compressions. These are also the areas in which I have seen CPR being done wrongly: the casualty may still have water/liquid in their mouth, the head has been tilted too far back or not enough, rescue breaths are too long/short/spaced inaccurately, and my biggest personal peeve: incorrect chest compressions due to not "locking" the elbows or "pressing" on the chest with the hands' strength alone, rather than accurate positioning of the upper body.

Of course, one might look at this from a producer's point of view. The fact remains that there is a sizable part of audiences who have not undergone CPR training before, and that most people would get the idea that CPR is going on when the "appropriate" visual cues are provided. As such, the actors doing "CPR" (note the quotation marks) need not have the necessary skills to actually perform it onscreen, and the people in charge of artwork do not have to draw it to absolute accuracy if they don't know exactly what to depict. Of course, there's also the extra costs incurred if the actor would have to go for CPR training or if extra footage/animation would be needed, especially if the whole process (which can be much longer than usually depicted) is shown. Factor in the suspension of disbelief that goes into watching any fictional show, and you have a situation in which correct CPR isn't always needed.

Nevertheless, ikka can't help but wonder if there might be a lower mortality rate for the big and small screens if the characters involved actually knew just what they were doing (though they might be thought of as such, but that's another story). Has there actually been any instance in which a character fails to save a casualty because he/she lacked the appropriate skills? The only one that comes close, in my limited knowledge, is the Spielberg film Empire of the Sun...and even for that, also not quite.

DarkCurtis 4-koma: Madame President's Worrisome Prospects (part 1 of 2)

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 08:33:54 GMT

Or more literally, "Madame President, you've got prospects to worry about!"

A song most unrecommended while you see this would be Kajiura Yuki's Materialize. lol

Well, this isn't all that new, but...

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 12:09:40 GMT

Found this thing today and thought, why not try it out. The basic idea is to use a sorting algorithm that gives you a choice between 2 characters. Choosing either of them; or 引き分け (draw); or どっちも知らない (don't know either), will give a new choice. This is repeated until you get "100% sorted". There are similar choicemakers for other fandoms and one for seiyuu that I've seen.

So here goes ikka's Sorting Order for HCB, the top few were more or less expected. How Wanko ended up so near the bottom is a mystery, though...I think she's adorable.

SEMPAI~~IKKA <3 YOU~~xD

順位 [rank] / 名前 [name]

1 上条槙 Kamijou Maki
2 久我順 Kuga Jun
3 静馬夕歩 Shizuma Yuuho
4 神門玲 Mikado Akira
5 朱炎雪 Ju Ensuu
6 黒鉄はやて Kurogane Hayate
7 猿楽未知 Sagara Michi
8 宮本静久 Miyamoto Shizuku
9 染谷ゆかり Someya Yukari
10 天地ひつぎ Amachi Hitsugi
11 雉宮乙葉 Kijimiya Otoha
12 無道綾那 Mudou Ayana
13 士道美沙子（シド） Shidou "Sid" Misako
14 吉備桃香 Kibi Momoka
15 黒鉄ナギ Kurogane Nagi
16 星河紅愛 Hoshikawa Kurea
17 祈紗枝 Inori Sae
18 鬼吏谷桜花 Kiriya Ouka
19 市原さん (the Amachi housekeeper)
20 斗南柊（ナンシー）Tonami "Nancy" Shuu
21 黒鉄流麗 Kurogane Nagare (the twins' dad/mom)
21 辻 (...dunno)
21 加護 (...dunno)
21 帯刀洸 Tatewaki Hikaru
25 月島みのり Tsukishima Minori
26 宝田りおな Takarada Riona
27 放送部のお姉さん the Broadcasting Onee-chan
28 紅蜂清子 Benibachi Kiyoko (the...clerk lady)
29 久我のお父さん Kuga no Otou-san (Jun's father)
29 現国教師 the current Language teacher (not sure, I think she's the one from the time the bell rang during lessons)
31 ひつぎの父 Hitsugi's father
31 静馬のお母さん Shizuma no Okaa-san (Yuuho's mother)
33 単行本折り返しのジャッジ the recurring judge from the tankoubon
34 武器屋 Buki-ya (the weapons modifier)
34 美術部副部長 Art Club Vice-president
34 吉川司 Kikkawa Tsukasa (A-team)
34 布袋朋 Hotei Tomo (A-team)
34 みき Miki (the kid that got kidnapped during the school festival)
34 氷室瞑子 Himuro Meiko
34 細木カヅ子 (the World History teacher)
34 雑魚その２ small fry #2
34 貴水蒼 Takami Sou
34 瓜生愛（ナースキャプテン）Nurse Captain (where'd that name come from? Volume 9?)
34 ドナ Dona (the...cow/bull)
45 小竹莉菜（ジャッジリーダー） Judge Leader (see Nurse Captain)
46 ちはるさん Chiharu-san
47 スマイリーファイナンス社長 Smiley Finance boss (pretty sure this is Mizuchi's mother)
48 相田 (Suzuki's partner)
48 増田恵 Masuda "Masurao" Kei
48 稲葉響子 (...teaching staff...I think)
48 シャバ蔵 Shabazou (the guy Hayate kicked in volume 1)
48 雑魚その１ small fry #1
48 浅倉みずち Asakura Mizuchi
54 犬神五十鈴 Inugami Isuzu
55 鈴木園絵 Suzuki Sonoe (the idiot Hayate and Ayana pwned in Volume 1)
55 根本美鶴代 Nemoto Mitsuyo (masurao's partner)
55 松本美香 (...dunno)
58 神門玲一 Mikado Ryouichi (Inorin's fiance)

Oh yeah, find it here.