JohnDiew0107

Anime, Figurines, Gundams, Slice of life and more…

Archive for June, 2008

WEEK’O 8

Posted by John on June 28, 2008

Not feeling very well today… got slight fever… i think 0.2′C-0.3′C raise in body temperature…

took a bath, drank LOTS of water… and now sitting half naked in front of my computer (dang)…. aiya.. easy for releasing heat…

Yayasan something…

Starting last Tuesday, our school is having a project.. I think that I heard other schools are having the same project also… what so-called “yayasan” something blah blah blah…

It is specially made for the PMR and SPM candidates, especially those who always have marvelous results in exams…

having tuition for some subjects… each lasts for 2hours after school… 2pm to 4pm… sometime…. we have to continue another subject… that makes 2pm – 6pm… oh wow… abnormal? think so..

before that, I’m determined to study hard within this 4months… but this kind of support is kinda… exaggerate…

talk about my determination to study hard… why am I so determined this time as I always taking things as easy as I could…

well, long story… I was moved by a real story from someone…

Busy Busy

July monthly test is around the corner, SPM Trial exam is coming, SPM follows…

I have to cut down my time on Gaming and computing… but not my everyday 1hour anime-session….

I’m very noob in gaming, while sux in studies… always wondered how did SiongHwa a gaming pro, still can score in exams…

oh.. almost forgot I still got reports have to write…. so thats all for this post…

Posted in School/University, WEEK'O | 2 Comments »

Anime Review: Mobile Suit Gundam SEED DESTINY

Posted by John on June 27, 2008

another anime review

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED DESTINY

Plot Summary:

Set in CE 73, two years after the peace treaty between ZAFT and the Earth Alliance was signed in Gundam SEED, members of the Earth Alliance special task force known as “Phantom Pain” hijack three new mobile suits from a ZAFT armory base during a meeting between Orb Chief Representative Cagalli Yula Athha and ZAFT Chairman Gilbert Durandal. What begins as a pursuit of a band of Extended Naturals by Orb refugee Shinn Asuka, Alex Dino (Athrun Zala in disguise), Rey Za Burrel, Lunamaria Hawke, and the crew of the Minerva battleship, escalates into cataclysmic circumstances which lead to the declaration of yet another war.

Genre: Drama, Mecha, Military, Romance, Science Fiction

Age Rating: Teenagers and above (may contain bloody violence, bad language, nudity)

No. of Episodes: 50, 1special, 1 Final Plus Ending.

Story

The opening of the story looks just the same as the Gundam SEED, hijacking Gundams… but this time is done by Earth Alliance’s Special troop “Phantom Pain”…

The whole story is very confusing… especially the protagonist… At first half, the protagonist is Shinn Asuka, but in middle, Kira Yamato suddenly came back and fights Shinn Asuka…. turns Shinn Asuka into a antagonist..

The ending just… well.. curi ayam la… after the 50th episode aired in Japan… many people complaints that the ending sux… never tell what happened after that… Thats why there’s 1 episode of Final Plus ending… they remake the ending…

1 more thing… Kira’s Strike Freedom Gundam and Athrun’s Infinite Justice Gundam just like immortal one.. They shoot down others a lot, and wont be shoot down… walao… too overwhelming edi.. cheating…

I don’t know what did the original story writer wants to do… what I know is, this is the worst storyline of Gundam series I’ve watched…

I’ll have it rated: 26/40

Animation

Studio: Sunrise

Year: 2004

Type: Series

Overall, Sunrise did a good job on the animations, they used some Computer Graphics the battle scenes are great…

but still the same problem as Gundam SEED, they’re repeating using the same battle scene… walao.. I wonder if reusing the battle scene is SEED series’ culture ar????…

I’ll have it rated: 21/30

Audio

Music Production:

  1. Epic Records Japan (OP 1)
  2. Sony Music Entertainment (OP 2, OP 3, OP 4, ED 1, ED 3)
  3. Victor Entertainment

Opening Themes:

  1. “Ignited” by T.M.Revolution
  2. “PRIDE” by High and Mighty Color
  3. “Bokutachi no Yukue” by Takahashi Hitomi
  4. “Wings of Words” by Chemistry

Ending Themes:

  1. “Reason” by Tamaki Nami
  2. “Life Goes On” by Arisaka Mika
  3. “I wanna go to a place…” by Rei Fu
  4. “Kimi wa Boku ni Niteiru” by See-Saw

Insert Themes:

  1. “Hoono no Tobira” by FictionJunction Yuuka
  2. “vestige” by T.M.Revolution
  3. “EMOTION” by Tanaka Rie
  4. “Quite Night CE73″ by Tanaka Rie

same as Gundam SEED… LOADS of opening themes, ending themes and Insert themes…. but however, I don’t like most of them, some of the song sounds very GAY…

I like “Reason” and “Kimi wa Boku ni Niteiru”… they’ve done very well in making the ending animation… and the song fits perfectly with it…

Original Soundtrack… well, I like the symphony part of the soundtracks… the melody is somehow full of emotions.. the music are telling the story…

I’ll have it rated: 15/20

Personal Rating

6/10

OVERALL POINTS

26 + 21 + 15 + 6 = 68points

68pts, GOOD anime [27/06/2008]

More Anime Reviews and Rating – Click HERE

How I Rate Anime – Click HERE

Anime Sales - Click HERE

Posted in Anime Reviews | Leave a Comment »

Anime Review: Mobile Suit Gundam SEED

Posted by John on June 22, 2008

Okay, here comes my first anime review: Mobile Suit Gundam SEED.

Plot Summary:

The series is the first set in the Cosmic Era. This series begins with the Bloody Valentine War between the Earth Alliance, and on the opposite is the space colonies that form ZAFT (Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty). Mankind is divided over human genetic engineering, with normal humans known as “Naturals” and the genetically engineered/upgraded humans known as “Coordinators”.

Heliopolis, a so-called neutral space colony was holding a top-secret weapons research facility, producing prototype Gundams for the Earth Alliance. ZAFT, which is composed of Coordinators, attacks Heliopolis, stealing 4 out of the Earth Alliance’s 5 Gundams. In the battlefield, civilian Kira Yamato stumbles upon the Strike, the last remaining Gundam of the alliance, and is forced to pilot it. In the midst of battle he encounters his old friend, Athrun Zala, as one of the hijackers of the 5 Gundams, who sides with ZAFT.

Being a Coordinator, he is the only one who can pilot the Gundam. But Kira is not with ZAFT, even though they’re his own kind, nor the Alliance. Since the Alliance is the only place he could turn to at the time, he sides with them. He pilots the Gundam to protect his friends, and to fight his best friend, which pains both of them. It’s a war between individual beliefs.

Genre: Drama, Mecha, Military, Romance, Science Fiction

Age Rating: Teenagers and above (May contain bloody violence, bad language, nudity)

No. of Episodes: 50 episodes and 1 OVA

Story

For those who had watched the original Gundam 0079 series (which aired in 1979), they’ll find that first half story of Gundam SEED has lots of similarities with Gundam 0079. Many people said that this series s*cks as it is reusing the old plot… But, I think that they’ve done a pretty good job in this series, although the first half of the story is modified from the original Gundam series, but in latter portion, the story begins to grow in its own way.

The story is simple and easy to understand. Since this is a military based anime, so it may contain some fiction politics which is not we’re used to. This is a good chance to have an idea about what is politic.

The bad is, they cant make clear of the character’s feelings of affection, for example, I don’t know that Kira is in love with Flay before he has a fight with her fiancee, Sai Argyle. lol…

But, overall, the story is very well told, there are more story arcs in latter part, and I found most of them are very interesting… I like it, lots of people who watched this series said they’re impressed with the story…

I’ll have it rated: 33/40

Animation

Studio: Sunrise 

Year: 2002

Type: Series

Gundam SEED is the first Gundam series to use the Digital Colouring. Overall, Sunrise did a great job at the animation. BUT, there’s one factor drags my rating down on this anime… There is some scene that always repeat… reusing the scene especially the battle scene… I’m fed up with it… It seems that they want to cut down their budget on the production… but using this tactic is a bad idea…

I’ll have it rated: 20/30

Audio

Music Production:

  1. Antinos Records (OP 1)
  2. Sony Music Entertainment (OP 2-4)
  3. Victor Entertainment

Opening Themes:

  1. “INVOKE” by T.M.Revolution
  2. “moment” by Vivian or Kazuma
  3. “Believe” by Tamaki Nami
  4. “Realize” by Tamaki Nami

Ending Themes:

  1. “Anna ni Issho Datta no ni” by See-Saw
  2. “River” by Isshi Tatsuya
  3. “Find The Way” by Nakashima Mika

Insert Themes:

  1. “Shizukana Yoru ni” by Tanaka Rie
  2. “Akatsuki no Kuruma” by See-Saw
  3. “Meteor” by T.M.Revolution
  4. “Mizu no Akashi” by Tanaka Rie

Loads of opening, ending and insert songs… and 4 CDs of Original Soundtrack…

Overall, the music is very nice and suits the show, especially the Ending and Insert songs. Good job

I’ll have it rated: 16/20

Personal Rating

7/10

OVERALL POINTS

33 + 20 + 16 + 7 = 76points

76pts, GREAT anime [22/06/2008]

 

Click HERE for How I Rate Anime

Posted in Anime Reviews | Leave a Comment »

Differences between Anime and Cartoon

Posted by John on June 21, 2008

As I said in previous post, there are bunch of people that don’t know what anime is, in addition, due to animes are being presented in animated form, so most of them think that anime are equal to cartoon…

 

Anime VS Cartoon

Cartoon VS Anime

“Cartoon” is a term that once referred to fine art during the renaissance period. Somehow, the term’s meaning evolved into the Cartoons which are animated TV programs meant to entertain people, mostly children.

“Anime” is a term used by the Japanese to refer to animations. Somehow, the world started using the term, “Anime”, in reference to Japanese animation exclusively. Japanese animation was once called “Japanimation”, but this term was discarded when the term ‘Anime’ was put into use.

Some say that they see absolutely no difference between the two. Some even classify both cartoons and anime as “childish” because they are both animations.

Technically, there’s no official “laws” to prove the difference, but you only have to watch a single episode of any anime series and you’ll see that anime is far more than your usual stupid comedy man-tripping-on-a-banana-peal cartoons. There is a HUGE difference gap between the two besides their spellings: Anime is so much more than ‘just a cartoon’.

Story/Plot

Cartoons usually have a simple and defined plot. And they’re usually about the good guys fighting the bad guys. Cartoons rarely go beyond that border.

Most Anime series, on the other hand, are also about the same, good vs. evil, but the plots are rarely simple and rarely predictable.

You’ll find an element of politics, religion, humanity, and a score of several other abstract concepts within an anime. Whereas cartoons are just about ‘evil’ cats chasing ‘innocent’ mice or a hero defending himself and others from a very evil bully.

Anime can blur the lines between good and evil so much that you’ll be left wondering which side is really right. Look at the plot of Gundam, there aren’t any good guys or bad guys. They’re both fighting for a worthy one, and both sides are prepared to do good and evil to achieve their goals.

However, there are few exceptions to the ‘cartoons are simple’ rule. There are cartoon series that are far advanced like X-men and etc.

In terms of humor, anime goes beyond the stupid comedy that cartoons offer. There won’t be any corny joke about the chicken crossing the road and tripped by a banana peal.

Anime humor is deep and witty. However, it is to be noted that cartoons are mostly for kids. Anime can be for an adult audience, actually it is… HUNDRED times that some anime plots are HARDLY suited for children.

But, there is some animes which are made for children, such as Doraemon.

Characters

In cartoons, there’s a protagonist, an antagonist, and bunch-o supportive characters. Their roles are well-defined and clear and the characters always act according to their roles.

In anime, however, a small supportive character may very well become the antagonist, leaving the protagonist in distress. There’s no knowing what to expect in anime. Anime characters, a lot of times, are developing overtime through trials and growth, while cartoon characters remain the same from when the show started. (I don’t think Mickey has grown old) (Of course, there are exceptions in advanced cartoon such as X-Men, Spiderman and etc.)

Since there’s an ongoing plot, Anime characters actually grow up and may even produce the next generation for the series. Anime fans tend to get into the characters a lot deeper because of the characters’ depth and charm. Consider Shounen Onmyouji; viewers see the protagonist, 安倍昌浩(Abe no Masahiro) grow, the way he relates to people, the way he learns new techniques, and the way he evolves visually. That is one of the chief reasons for popularities of anime over plain cartoons.

Source of this article:

  1. GOOGLE
  2. The differences between Anime and Cartoon by Henry Hsieh
  3.  

     

     

     

     

someone should give me a medal for writing this post…

more details on Anime, go Wikipedia by Click HERE

Posted in Anime, Blog/Site Update, Experience/Thoughts, Japan, News, Otaku | 1 Comment »

How I Rate Anime

Posted by John on June 17, 2008

I’m thinking of writing reviews for the anime I’ve watched, but before doing so, I’d like to share my method of rating anime. Well, It is not very professional but rather personal and subjective.

My ratings are from 1-10 points.

  • 9-10pts  = Masterpiece 
  • 8-8.9pts = Excellent
  • 7-7.9pts = Very Good
  • 6-6.9pts = Good
  • 5-5.9pts = Decent
  • 4-4.9pts = Not Really Good
  • 3-3.9pts = Weak
  • 2-2.9pts = Bad
  • 1-1.9pts = Awful
  • 0-0.9pts = WORST EVER
  • I don’t think I’m going to have any reviews with points below 3points, cause I’m not going to finish it… sux

    Animes which achieve 7points and above would be fantastic and strongly recommended to everyone.

    I’ll state which year I watched the anime, and which year I rated the anime. If I watch 1998’s anime in 2008, I don’t think the I’ll give high points for the animation…

    Story

    Hmm, this is very subjective and personal. There are stories that I like but you may not like them…  Some stories are making you laugh with them, but they make me laugh at you…

    Factors which take into account are:

    1. Genre of anime (what type the story is, Action? Romance? Fantasy? or others…)
    2. Strong Plot? or Fan-Service? or both. (If the anime is made with a strong plot, they should not waste most of their episodes on fan-servicing…)
    3. The progress of the story. (to be simple, how they told the story…)

    “Happy ever after” ending doesn’t always earn extra points, “Kill them all” ending sometimes get higher points… what I seek is a GOOD story, I wont complaint even if the ending is bad… as soon as the ending is reasonable.

    Animation

    Factors which take into account are:

    1. The time the anime was released (I wouldn’t expect the quality of an anime released in 1998 to have the same quality as one released in 2008, I mean the technology used to make it…)
    2. What type of the released anime, Movie? OVA? TV series? (movies are held to have higher quality than OVA, while OVA are held to have higher quality than TV series)
    3. The “look and feel against genre” of the anime. (If the anime is goofy and has goofy looking anime, I won’t necessarily hold that against it.)
    4. Art. (is the Anime production company is doing it properly? mostly same principle as above)
    5. Design. (character design or mecha design…)

    I’m not an Anime Expert, basically how I rate it is…if the animation is well done, I rate it high.  If it isn’t, then I won’t rate it high.  Pretty simple I think.

    Audio

    Again, partially subjective to whether I just like it or not. However, I do pay attention to  whether the music helps define or confuse the look and feel of the anime. Is the soundtrack used suitable for the anime? What is the music quality? The Opening song, Ending song and Insert song. Seiyuu (aka. 配音).

    Factors which take into account are:

    1. Opening song, Ending song, Insert song.
    2. Soundtrack used.
    3. Seiyuu (aka. 配音)

    Point Calculation

    1. 40points for Story.
    2. 30points for Animation.
    3. 20Points for Audio.
    4. 10Points for personal rating.

    40+30+20+10 = 100, then divide by 10. Pretty simple isn’t it?

     

    Posted in Anime, Anime Reviews, Blog/Site Update, Otaku | 4 Comments »

    Lotus Five Star Cinema

    Posted by John on June 16, 2008

    Well.. I think this post is a bit late… but anyway I’m gonna write something about the rebuilt ARASU cinema…

    went to the rebuilt ARASU cinema on last Saturday, which already start their business during the holiday…

    I believe the name of the cinema is “Lotus Five Star”, because I saw a big lotus logo with “Lotus Five Star” words in the cinema.. zzz blasted… enjoyed “The Incredible Hulk”…

    Straight to the point, although the screen is smaller than Ipoh parade’s GSC, but not much difference coz the chamber oso small… of course la, they converted 1 BIG chamber into 4 small chamber… the sound is impressive, have no complaints on the sound system… the interior is nicely rebuilt.. the chairs are good for my butt to rest, better than last time de chair.. ew..

    the BAD is, popcorns and drinks sold in the cinema is bloody expensive… thumbs down… I’m not enjoying eating the stuff+watching movie… coz the food already finished before the movie… ah, and… I appreciate that they want to keep us customers cool by not holding back any electricity, but its FREEZING inside the chamber… next time I’m gonna wear my sweater if I’m having another movie at there… next, the movie is being EDITED !!!! I want UNCUT version!!! GSC is showing UNCUT versions but why ARASU always EDIT the movies.. even the new Lotus Five Star…. editing the movie makes me feel that… “LOTUS NO STAR”… cheap…

    overall, this cinema is good enough… by having nice Visual and Sound system, ah dont forget about the movie-chair too although its not as good as GSC’s MOVIE SOFA… WOOO

    Posted in Entertainment, Experience/Thoughts, Movies, SLICE-O-LIFE | 1 Comment »

    WEEK’O 7

    Posted by John on June 15, 2008

    paiseh… for not writing a proper post this few days… coz my uncles came back from KL… have to take care the my little cousins..

    160GB portable HDD

    I ordered this baby from local internet shop on thursday, and recieved it on Saturday… SWEET

    and it costs me bloody RM200+…. have to cut down my spendings on figures.. T.T sob..

    do you online shopping? mind to share your experiences?

    I started online shopping since 2years ago and bought all sorts of things, guitar, gunplas, figures, electronics and etc… luckily, never met seller that ”elope” with my money, and I don’t want to meet this kind of seller… most important is to investigate the seller’s trading history before dealing with him…

    ANIME SALES [PC-DVD] [PC-CD]

    Updates for the list of anime for sale…

  • Chobits [PC-DVD] 2-DVD RM10

  • Chrono Crusade [PC-DVD] 2-DVD RM10

  • Chrono Crusade [TV-VCD] 8-VCD RM10 (2nd-hand ORIGINAL BOX RM39.90)

  • D.C. ~Da Capo~ [PC-DVD] 1-DVD RM5

  • D.C.S.S. ~Da Capo Second Season~ [PC-DVD] 1-DVD RM5

  • Edens Bowy [PC-DVD] 2-DVD RM10

  • ef-a tale of memories [PC-DVD] 1-DVD RM5

  • Fate/Stay Night [PC-DVD] 1-DVD RM5

  • Futakoi Alternative [PC-DVD] 1-DVD RM5

  • Gate Keepers [PC-DVD] 2-DVD RM10

  • Gate Keepers 21 [PC-DVD] 1-DVD RM5

  • Gundam X [PC-DVD] 2-DVD RM10

  • Gundam Wing [PC-DVD] 3-DVD RM15

  • Turn A Gundam [PC-DVD] 3-DVD RM15

  • Gundam SEED [PC-DVD] 4-DVD RM20

  • Gundam SEED DESTINY [PC-DVD] 3-DVD RM15

  • Gundam SEED Stargazer [PC-CD] 1-CD RM3

  • MS IGLOO [PC-DVD] 1-DVD RM5

  • Rental Magica [PC-DVD] 1-DVD RM5

  • Tales of Symphonia [PC-CD] 2-CD RM5

  • ToHeart2 [PC-DVD] 1-DVD RM5

  • Yoake Mae Yori Ruri Iro na ~Crescent Love~ [PC-DVD] 1-DVD RM5

  • You’re Under Arrest [PC-DVD] 3-DVD RM15

  • You’re Under Arrest Season 2 [PC-DVD] 1-DVD RM5

  • Posted in Anime, Gadjets, High-Tech Talk, Otaku, WEEK'O | Leave a Comment »

    Bandai 1/100 Avalanche Exia

    Posted by John on June 12, 2008

    Finally, painted sample of this kit.

    will available very soon…

    Those who bought 1/100 Exia probably are hitting their head on the wall…

    Picture of 1/100 Exia

     

    NEWS

    Nikkei Business Online has been posting a series of discussions with Bandai Hobby Division’s Deputy General Manager & Bandai Hobby Center chief Katsuhiko Sasaki.

    - Development of a plamodel (plastic model) takes 120-150 days from design to shipping out. They plan on optimizing this to 100 days.

    - The plamodel market exceeds 50 billion yen in value.

    - Said market is such that even 10-year-old products can be manufactured and sold with repeated demand. The ratio of sales for new products vs. old products is roughly 50-50.

    - The people who buy Gunpla can be largely divided into two groups: 10s to 20s-year-olds who purchase them because of their interest in the latest Gundam Series and 30s to 40s-year-olds who’ve been fans since the First Gundam Series in 1979. Gunpla has been particularly sustained by the latter.

    Posted in Gundam, News, Otaku | 1 Comment »