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December 21st, 2009

ddboo101

11:33 am p.s.  yesterday dropped one minute.  2 mile = 20:09 still horrible tho

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ddboo101

11:32 am i used to think the ability to use nice words in a relationship to make your sig. other happy was one of the most important things.  and now look at me.. what am i doing?

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December 20th, 2009

shadow_chaser09

09:49 pm - Nostalgia trip! Aside from being swept up in Gundam Wing every Christmas, I always end up on a slight nostalgia trip too.  After over 10 years of watching anime and reading manga, I figure I should write a list of what I think are the best anime that I've seen and the best manga that I've seen.  If you'll notice, some manga have been made into anime that I have not listed as what are my favorite animes and vice versa.  This is because I felt that the mange or anime was truer to the story that it presented than in the other medium. I should also note: not all of the anime/manga listed here are my favorites.  These are the ones that I think presented their stories in a clear and concise way; you'll notice that Yoroiden Samurai Troopers did not make any list :(.  Here's the list: Anime: 10. Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion/Code Geass R2: Lelouch of the Rebellion       Code Geass was ground breaking because of its fast-paced storyline and animation style.  While the characters were drawn by CLAMP and the mobile suit designs were done by Sunrise; it melded together a blend of shojo and shounen styles to create a complex story.  Anyone who has seen the ending of R2 may be angry with the way the series ended, but I find that it is one of the defining qualities of the anime and a testament to the time that not all endings are happy endings. 9. Mobile Suit Gundam       Mobile Suit Gundam and its incarnations thereafter made this series the Star Trek of Japan and defined its love for all things mecha.  It is also one of the first anime that was created after World War II that dealt with the horrors and consequences of a seemingly neverending war.  The animation quality also, for 1979 was considered groundbreaking, especially the use of a mecha as a piloted weapon instead of just a robot. 8. Macross Plus       Yoko Kanno's soundtrack for Macross Plus put her on the map.  She soon after went to compose Vision of Escaflowne and hundreds of other soundtracks, including Cowboy Bebop.  A tightly buttoned storyline spread over 4 episodes continues the saga of Macross.  Plus, the VFX/CG was pretty good for that time. 7. Sailor Moon       Sailor Moon, if I am not mistaken, has a manga counterpart.  However, I felt that the anime expressed the story in a much better medium.  I could be wrong, but to me, watching 5 seasons of the anime (and not really liking it because of other reasons) gave Sailor Moon its place in here.  I do have to say, the story of Usagi and Mamoru's eternal love is very sweet.  Just a little too sweet for me. 6. IGPX       IGPX was created specifically for the U.S. audience by Production I.G. and Cartoon Network.  Thus it conformed to some of the U.S. cartoon standards with an anime flare.  However, its visual graphics of the racer suits and fights on the track is what boosted this short-lived anime series into its position.  Probably one of the prettiest visual effects in an anime with also sharp renderings of characters (their personalities though could be cut from the same cloth as other anime) make IGPX a visual fest, not a storyline fest. 5. Mobile Suit Gundam SEED       Gundam Wing could be considered the first in the Gundam series to seriously draw over the female crowd.  But it was Gundam SEED that kept both male and female crowds as well as draw in casual viewers.  Like it's predecessor, Mobile Suit Gundam, it was an anime of its time.  Dealing with a neverending bloody war, this series sought to not stop the bad guys, but most of all, stop everyone from fighting.  A rare thing in a Gundam series if you can recall what the other series' characters have done.  The only cavet I have against Gundam SEED is that its sequel series, Gundam SEED DESTINY totally ruined what could have been a great franchise. 4. Last Exile       Visually pretty, storyline subtle yet gripping.  This one brought an unusual mix into the anime catagory.  It's all steampunk.  See if you can imagine steampunk in an anime other than Last Exile. 3. Neon Genesis Evangelion       WTF is usually the first thought out of everyone's heads when they finish Neon Genesis Evangelion.  Many don't get if there is a storyline.  But there is...you just have to figure it out after multiple watching.  Or if you're really into it, you can probably figure it out after Shinji goes completely off the metaphoric deep end.  But this one got everyone thinking - and I have to say, corrupted me when I was just 13 years old.  ^_^ 2. Cowboy Bebop       Snappy soundtrack, great visuals, mysterious lead character with a haunted background, guns for hire, bounty hunters, all the makings of a sexy space anime that once again defied convention and was embraced by everyone from Japan to Hollywood and the masses inbetween.  I have replayed this anime for the unconverted masses and they have told me that it is really good.  If the unconverted masses say so, then it must be. 1. Vision of Escaflowne       However, this does not mean Cowboy Bebop is number one.  That distinction, in my opinion, belongs to Vision of Escaflowne.  Originally slated to be 39 episodes long, due to budget cuts and lingering in production hell for 4 years, it was cut to 26 episodes.  26 tightly packed storyline episodes that told of a story of a girl and a boy and their budding love for each other that defied worlds and even dimensions.  It has also one of the best endings of any anime series that I've ever seen (Code Geass not withstanding).  The music is hauntingly beautiful and evokes the emotion of what you're watching.  I think it is because of it being cut down that made this anime so good - you had to pay attention because the story swept you in. Manga: 10. Fruits Basket       I have only read a couple of volumes, but based on what I read and what I've seen, I think the manga expresses the story in a better format. 9. Fushigi Yuugi       Yuu Watase's masterpiece.  And the one where I think she does not screw with the ending (anyone see Ayashi no Ceres?) and gives a definitely conclusion to Miaka and Taka/Tamahome's love story.  Definitely better expressed than in the anime - which had piss poor animation too.  Though I hear she is now working on Fushigi Yuugi Gaiden, dealing with the Priestess of Genbu - awesome! 8. Samurai Deeper Kyo      I had only seen the anime, but I knew of the manga.  Based on the snippets I've read, the manga definitely has the better storyline than the anime.  And it's draw in a very stylized format.  Plus, what is there not to like involving the Tokugawa? 7. Fullmetal Alchemist      Okay, I was going to put FMA into the anime catagory, but then my muses reasoned with me that they're creating a 2nd FMA anime based on the latter half of the manga and I was like, well, if that's that, then FMA has to go into the manga catagory.  I believe that the manga, this time, has the upper hand than recreating a 2nd anime.  Not that the anime was bad mind you - it just had a different ending and incomplete one at that.  What's with Winrey in the FMA movie? 6. Matantei Loki Ragnarok       Too bad the manga is not published in the U.S. yet.  I'm still hoping for it, but alas, I may have to wait a while.  The anime is good, but I definitely do know for sure that the manga is much better.  For one, it has all of the major players in Loki's life in a very active role instead of having them appear from time to time.  It also deals with Odin being the bad guy instead of Loki being the bad guy in norse mythology.  Okay, well, amending that, Loki does sorta because semi-bad...ish.... 5. Bleach       If you are going to animate a filler about Bounts, why peoples, why?  I think those fillers totally ruined the anime series for me.  I much prefer to read Bleach in manga format thank you, where the plot actually continues insetad of you halting it just because Kubo-san can't publish them quick enough.  Plus, it is the premiere manga of its day and age at the moment - much popular than Dragonball Z I would think. 4. X (X/1999)       Before TRC, xxxHolic, Gohou Drug, there was X.  Before X there was Tokyo Babylon, Card Captor Sakura and others.  I think this is CLAMP's finest and prettiest work before they went to a more simpler stylized drawing.  The detailings and the visuals in X was astounding.  Compounded with the fact that it is apocalyptic fiction, it is a bit heady to read about pretty boys and girls running amok with mass psychic powers blowing stuff up and realizing that blood can look so pretty and sexy when someone is licking it (I'm looking at you Fuuma and Seishirou even though the two of you are frakking bastards). 3. Rurouni Kenshin       The anime would have gotten into the top 10 catagory had it not been for the post Kyoto-arc fillers that ruined the series.  However, the Revenge-arc in the manga made up for it and brought Kenshin's wanderings to a nice conclusion.  Hell even Saitou Hajime got a nice time in the spotlight.  ^_^ 2. Detective Conan       Starlightslk will kill me, but I think the Detective Conan manga (no way am I saying Cased Closed) is probably a better format for the long story than in the anime.  Essentially while the anime is playing catch up to the manga, there are times when the fillers/endless cases of fillers do get in the way of good storytelling.  I want to know what the Black Organization is doing, not what Genta had for lunch!  I want to know if Kaito Kid and Shin'ichi are related, not that there was a murder on a beach that has no bearing on anything.  But I do have to give props for the series for running for so long and spawned so many merchandise, movies, and TV specials. 1. Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle       I put CLAMP's work up as number one in the manga section because to tell you the truth - the anime sucked.  After Piffle, it was easy to see that the animators at Bee Train were running out of options.  They couldn't do more of the manga because CLAMP couldn't tell them what was going to happen next without ruining the publication.  So they filled it with some god-awful fillers.  However, I think, and I could be wrong, but this is one of the first long-form manga stories that CLAMP has finished (besides its companion series, xxxHolic).  So as a testament to their finished work (and visually pretty once more), TRC gets my vote. Anime Movie: 5. Grave of the Fireflies 4. Princess Mononoke 3. Blood: The Last Vampire 2. Spirited Away 1. Akira       TETSUOOOOOO!!!  KANEDAAAAAAA!!  :) Honorable Mentions: 1. Trinity Blood       Trinity Blood with all of its incarnations actually first started out as a series of light novels.  Those novels are currently being published in the U.S. and so far, they definitely expression a much more cohesive storyline than either the manga or anime will ever.  Give it a read! 2. Ghost in the Shell       It was hard to classify Ghost in the Shell only because it is a movie, and a TV series, video game, and I think manga could be next.  I don't know though.  However, it gets an honorable mention because it is an enduring legacy that has inspired a lot of other things, including The Matrix. -S. P.S. - Feel free to tell me your opinions in the comments section! Current Location: Home Current Mood: contemplative Current Music: Yoko Kanno - First Vision

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December 19th, 2009

ddboo101

09:32 pm went to the gym again.  i would have dropped more time off my 2 mile, but i had cramps.  so i did 21:05.  lol

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shadow_chaser09

01:30 pm - Tis a curious thing... Right around Christmas, like clockwork, I always end up falling into either a Yoroiden Samurai Troopers or Gundam Wing mood.  I don't know why, but I have a feeling that the YST mood could be due to me buying artbooks on ebay for my beta as a present.  The Gundam Wing mood is explanable because every Christmas Day, for the last 8-9 or so years since my beta and I fell in love with Gundam Wing, we would always play the OAV Endless Waltz.  It's Christmas themed!  ^_^ But it is a very curiously odd thing.  Only because I've pretty much stopped writing in the G-Wing fandom (Retaliation is on an extended haitus) and I don't know if I ever want to go back to that fandom to finish my incomplete stories.  I really liked Gundam Wing, in fact, ranks as one of my favorite animes of all time.  Its the fandom where I began to put forth my serious works and the fandom where I loved playing around with characters and so forth.  It's also the fandom where I began my stylized battle-writing. For my other fanfiction to exist, they all owe it to G-Wing for polishing and perfecting my writing style.  Ronin Warriors/YST is the fandom which got me interested in writing fanfiction.  G-Wing is the one where I became a serious fanfic writer and began to seriously consider the idea of writing my own original stories (April 2010 is the 10th anniversary of the After War series). So having these 2 weeks of "oooo shiney!" moments of G-Wing is a bit disconcerting because it creeps up so suddenly at times then disappears as soon as the Christmas cheer has waned.  In my room, I still keep up a single poster of the Wing boys (and a poster of Quatre) to remind myself the first fandom I had fallen in love with.  Of course, the rest of my room is now full of other posters. But to me, this coming March will be a special time. Do you guys remember March 6, 2000?  Cartoon Network, Toonami - debuts the first episode of Gundam Wing dubbed in English.  I'd already seen it in Japanese with English subs, but it was a treat watching it in English with all of the familiar English voice actors we've come to love and adore.  ^_^ -S. Current Location: Home Current Mood: dorky Current Music: Two-Mix - Just Communication

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December 18th, 2009

ddboo101

01:56 pm  so this semester really kicked my ass.  not because it was hard, but because i went through this huge stage of depression on top of not really being that happy day to day anyways.  so i promised myself that the minute school was over i would do things for myself.  one of those things being to go back to the gym.  so my plan was to go starting yesterday but i ended up babysitting from 11 - 7:30.  And after watching three kids all day i just wanted to go to sleep.  so i got up this morning and went.  i only did 2 miles (21:11) and 1500 yards in the pool, but it's a start.  i am going to try to get to the gym everyday of vacation!  That's a very ivory tower-like goal, i hope i can do it!

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December 9th, 2009

shadow_chaser09

08:52 pm - Legend of the Seeker Amending my previous post... *Ahem* I am obsessed with Legend of the Seeker right now. Seriously obsessed. :) And just found out that Craig Parker, who plays Darken Rahl, was Haldir in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. My inner fangirl went squeeeeeeee. My muse just went: o.O -S. Current Location: Work Current Music: None

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