Afros?

Watched Afro Samurai the other day. Figured I’d give it a chance since the viewing was free.
I wish I could have asked for a refund.

On Solty Rei

Sotanaht: I started watching Solty Rei the other day, really had nothing else to do.
Graul: …
Sotanaht: I found it to be rather confusing, in a way.  The main character is this adorably sweet girl, the kind that makes you want to defend her from the world, but they constantly flaunt her sexuality…
Graul: Pedo creepiness then?
Sotanaht: Well she’s not exactly a “little girl” either.  Its just the way she acts.
Graul: Ditzy women are hot, just the way the world is.
Sotanaht: I wouldn’t say she’s ditsy.
Graul: A grown woman behaving like a little girl is ditsy.
Sotanaht: If anything, she’s just innocent.  She really has no past by the time of the show.
Graul: …
Graul: That’s so sexy.

Claymore, Rocking Zombies and Punching Bulls

Started playing WoW again (>.<). Cant say that I’m really happy with any of the updates that were applied while I was away. There seemed to be some minor changes, like a Glyph which added 30% to Windfury Attack power being changed to an extra 5% chance to fire off. The worst thing I notice seems to be Spell Power not actually adding to anything anymore. I’m lucky to get half of my SP added to any spell now. Naturally, this isn’t helping my DPS OR healing any. Oh well. They seemed to have exponentially buffed Warlocks though. Lendri (Graul) had me duel his Felguard (while he was healing him) and it came pretty close to me losing. I had to throw out pretty much everything I had and I still came down about 400 Life before I killed it. This was before I noticed I was being screwed out of my SP, so I was pretty damn amazed to say the least. It was a drastically needed improvement to Warlocks, and I’m pretty impressed with them now.

Also started watching Claymore yesterday. I ordered the first 3 DVD’s back during Right Stuf!’s Funimation sale, but was too busy re-watching Slayers to really pay it much mind. I felt pretty mixed about it, at least at first. The main character, Clare, is very taciturn and stoic, so the storytelling and character expression tends to be subtle with her. Until they throw the worthless sack of dung that is Rocky on you. For some reason, it was decided upon to absolutely ruin the intelligence of subtlety in character by balancing Clare with someone her extreme opposite. Which is to say, loud, stupid and childish. This made me believe the show would be another unfortunate title to suffer from the Orphen Effect (shows completely and irrevocably ruined by the inclusion of characters so nerve-wracking as to inspire open cursing of the television). I spent the majority of the first episodes hoping Rocky would be killed off, rooting for anyone attempting to (or better, actually succeeding in) causing him harm, generally expressing aloud my contempt for him and then lamenting that they would ruin such potential by including him. Yes, he was that annoying. Fortunately, episode 5 begins following the arc of Teresa of the Faint Smile.  I almost instantly began liking her, she is a bloody monster, and I mean that in the best possible way.  Watching her character grow is an inevitability you see coming, but it doesn’t deter you in the least.  You’re also introduced to Quickblade Irene, a very cold and logical woman who ends up being, surprisingly, my second favorite person in the show so far.  I even found myself growing attached to Clare when her presence was usurped from the infectiously annoying Rocky. It was about this time that I  began to find myself being immersed in the storytelling.  Even some of the brief  characters began to grow on me, and it happened before I even realized it.  So evidently they got that subtlety fixed.  The show’s winning streak continued on through disc 3 , enough so that I’m pretty impatient for disc 4 to release… in another month.  If the rest of the season is as nice as its been so far, I wouldn’t mind seeing it continue into another 26 episodes.

Light Come Forth!

I have this insatiable urge to start The Slayers over again.  I’ve been meaning to buy the DVD’s for some time now, just never got around to it.  In any case, with the new series on the horizon and the last of the books shipping, I think its about time.  I’v been Slayer-free for far too long now.

My God. It’s Full of Stars.

After finishing the adventure mode in SSB:B, I started investing some time into movies.  Ended up buying GTO the other day, along with the first few Mushi-Shi discs and xxxHOLIC.  Its amazing that after all this time and so many recommendations I am just now watching GTO.  Took a little bit to get into, but hwolly entertaining so far.  I’m loath to start Mushi-Shi yet, simply because if I like it I’d feel compelled to buy the other discs, and I still need to have money for FES and Ninja Gaiden II.  Life is hard.
I’ve also attempted to finish Lost Odyssey recently.  I took a break some time ago because I needed time away from the random encounters, which are the lowest form of evil, and as far as they go, LO has some pretty bad ones.  It was fortunate that I resumed at a story cluster, far from combat, or I may have been halted by overwhelming disgust.
I’ve also had the mediocre thrill of having seen Forgotten Kingdom recently.  Not the most stellar theatrical piece, but not terrible.  There were a few things that seemed overly forced, but Id imagine it was marketed for people that wouldn’t notice that (?).  And while on that subject, I feel it was worth noting that anyone familiar with Journey West may see some familiar things.

Mr. Clean

The recent Right Stuf! email sent out advertising their Spring Cleaning sale was dressed up, humorously, as a Mr. Clean detergent label.  I got a good chuckle out of the bottom of the “container.”

Death of a Legend

I was reading a recently received copy of EGM today, when I glanced over a small article. Essentially, it was voiced by a fan of the Legacy of Kain series, inquiring as to why there were no more games planned for the series. The details of the game (though I did like the plot, and Kain) were unimportant, but the response from one of the editors is what really caught my eye. It seems that Tony Jay, a pretty renowned voice actor (one of the best in my opinion), passed away quite a while back. A whole bloody year in fact. How I missed this back then will never know. Mr. Jay possessed a very interesting voice, the kind that seemed to echo in its own right. His voice as the Elder God is one of the most eerily appropriate casts ever done, and one of the most memorable voices ever (trust me if you have ever heard it you’d remember it).

Zip…

Finally finished going through and uploading all the vacation pics from the digital camera. Talk about time consuming.
I finished re-watching Zone of the Enders last night at about four in the morning, so now all I have to do is waste time online whilst I await the latest volumes of Eureka Seven, which is the best damn show I’ve seen all year (I’m behind in the times, so sue me). But before I rant on, I wanted to go back a moment and discuss the first title a bit. Zone of the Enders: Dolores, I, was an extremely good and under-rated show from back in the day. I’ve watched it all the way through five times now, and it still gets an emotional reaction from me at the end (for me, that’s fucking astounding). It also has hands-down one of the most endearing characters. Ever. If you haven’t seen this yet, then I ask, “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

All Things Come to Those Who Wait

Finally it shipped!  I don’t know what took it so long, as I had it pre-ordered ages ago, but oh well.  Good times, good times.

Of Times Past

I’ve basically been bored to death of late, so I found myself watching older anime series to pass the time.  It’s actually quite nice to go back to a few of them.  Just finished Mezzo the other day, going back through Scrapped Princess again now.  Fun eh?
Also, one of my favorite lines from Mezzo…
Kurokawa: “A bodyguard has to stay close, like the band on a pair of tighty-whities.  But now she’s relaxed, and I’ve got nothing covering my ass.”