tarinai ...

June 9, 2010

Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou

Major spoilers.

The opening theme song: "REALOVE:REALIFE" by Sphere. This song has got the 80s electric-rock feel. The only thing about this song is: I can hardly hear Aki-san's voice, got overpowered by the other girls! Ahh!!! Only from the full song(see video below), do you hear a part with her distinctive voice. Great song, can't stop listening to it! Nice first step, way to go! You have got to see the AV below! Minna Kawaii!

reall

A. | MySpace Video

Woo I almost couldn't recognise Aki-san. She grew and dyed her hair back in this AV.

And look at the popularity of the CD/DVD! Shit I can't get it from the 2 sites. ( CD-Japan まで! ) Shit, I can only hope it'll be available again soon :(

Both wiki and animenewsnetwork reviews for いちばんうしろの大魔王 are rather short. Well I do some research before writing anything nowadays. But we have otaku Miharu-kun here to point up any mistakes, I can rest easy, anytime! Oh yah, here is a test for you to earn a PHD, Miharu. I know you can do it!

It is those short 12-episodes series, its theme similar to a lot of the shows before it, Kage Kara Mamoru; Omamori Himari. Fan service here is made a little more palatable by those cute-censoring-small-signs found in Hayate no Gotoku. Fan service, as I've said before, can be OK if you introduced it cleverly. These little small signs adds some intelligence (or at least fun) to the ecchi-jokes.

I am curious about the title, why the "Ichiban" n "Ushiro"? Hehe, sounds a little ecchi.. Well, Daimaou can be lossely translated to Demon Lord. Oh wait, rewatching the first episode, THERE is a reference. After Akuto gave his introduction to the class, he is assigned the seat furthest to the back. Hmmm.. How relevant it is up to the great detectives among the viewers to guess.

Misunderstandings in anime is so fun to watch. We love misunderstandings! Almost every action that Akuto do {btw Akuto(not his real name translation but sounds like): a bad guy :) }, Hiroshi 'helps' interprets it to something evil! Ha. Wrong choice of words at wrong timings is so common in Anime, a source for comedic situations and more importantly (many times) sets the premise plot of the whole story. It is WTF, the whole show started because of this/that? Hayate no Gotoku starts with Hayate's kidnaping quote: "Boku wa tsukiatte kure nai ka? Boku wa, kimi no hoshiin da". No matter how I see(or hear) it, it is a confession! LOL. These are also (I guess) headaches to translators trying to come up with appropriate subs haha. Come on, give them some slack sometimes instead of complaining every little thing everytime..

On the characters side, we have Junko(my fav), the serious Iga kunoichi. Yes, the 2 famous medival japanese ninja clans are also featured in the show, Kouga and Iga. "Brave" is a interesting addition to the story. Normally, there will be the usual follower to the main character, but there is a twist this time, actually a masked hero(not those lame ones - quite powerful even!). Oh I just noticed Hiroshi has a slight Kansai-bei acccent! And Keena, the mysterious class-skipping; rice-loving girl is voiced by... tada... our lovely Aki-san.

Back to the main plot(hey there is a plot, ok!), when Akuto was young, he viewed GOD as a system, a belief that many takes, in the name to do good. Haha the rich guy, trying to act humble, said to the children to thank GOD for his donation. But Akuto only wanted to thank him. Probably because he is an ophan, he doesn't want to believe in GOD (for landing him parentless?). Or maybe he is just being realistic; scientific; analytical. And for that matter/belief, he would to become the earnest student/worker, to strive to the top. Even Junko is impressed at their first meeting. Not a bad thing in all. So who could defy GOD? A DEMON LORD of course!

The story slowly introduced Akuto to some training, which he handled quite well. With each episode, we are let into thinking he is slowly but certainly progressing to the Maou the show is promising. Learning to control over his dormant powers, gaining a dragon... Now at its 9th episode, it kicked into high gear, with Keena being the GOD-controller, and terms like dimension-severing... woo hoo..

It has its meaningful portions too, "It's better to live and trust in those who care for u, than spend your time searching yourself or following some faith." (by Junko's granny when she is faced with making the decision to fight Akuto) WOw what words of wisdom. My quote of the moment!

2 more episodes more before it ends! お楽しみに!

A related blog I've visited.

Support the anime industry! Watch it at

The ending theme: Everyday Sunshine Line by Natsuko Aso

June 3, 2010

Who is that girl?

Been bothering me. Who is that girl in the closing theme? An alter ego of Mio??

Anyway, the costumes for the 2 closings, side by side.

June 2, 2010

Bisei Tokei

I don't need/want an iphone, but suddenly the urge can't be any greater! Haha I'm beginning to tremble at the decreased productivity all over the world, doing nothing but looking at time, every pic changes every min!

Click on the pictures to hyperlink to the sites.

Demin Mouse Pads

It is not an anime one, hehe, sorry to disappoint.

Denim, the rugged cloth most commonly used by jeans, make great mousepads, as I've found out. One of them now sits beautifully on my table.

I really couldn't use those normal plastic, ugly thick crappy ones. Not just for aesthetic reasons, I can't really put it in words, I just don't feel good with my mouse sliding on it. My aging 'FELT' Acer mousepad is showing its age, it is coming off at the edges. So how much that cost? S$2! Bought it at Daiso Sembawang Shopping Centre. Recommended!

June 1, 2010

the MSI Wind Pad

The keyword this year is "tablet". Taking over "netbook", there are quite a few of these attractive toys at Computex 2010. I knew the tablet is gonna take off, I just didn't expect it to be almost a decade later. Strange sometimes, it shows how senseless, herd-heading people(in general) are. Apple, has perfected its herd heading ability. It is something everyone can take a leaf out of. But Microsoft still has a trump-card, that is Windows itself, which might be its last. For most people, Windows is still the preferred OS. It is a total culture-shock when I tried to maneuver through Snow Leopard. Yes if there is time to spare, it is a nice adventure getting to know the cat, a lot of nice features(with multi-touch, you won't want to use a mouse - I am serious!). But a newbie would feel crippled, even finding or creating a folder can sometimes be so deceptively difficult! Boot Camp and a Windows7 install later, I almost forgot I had that cat before. I'll be back to the cat one day, when I have the time... Here is Wind, which looks like a XXL PMP.

P.S. I am not saying the OS is bad, I am just too used to Windows! :)

my little comment on "You Versus the Information Age"

Atlas

It doesn't hurt to dream. A geek's paradise, my kind of place! ATLAS. I must really go visit this place someday.

A gorgeous lamp!

the original hardwarezone article.

May 27, 2010

A Yoko interview..

It's a rather old interview. But everyone, time to time, is still constantly uncovering old stuff from the net. I was on facebook when I saw this. But haha this one shows a hyperactive Yoko-san who can't stop moving/swaying!

May 16, 2010

Grow vegetables in buildings...

...sounds so cool. Hydroponics has been here for so long that I almost forgotten about it. I've always loved green and high tech. Growing out of relience on oil-based energy is perhaps one of the most important thing for humanity, for now. Just watched the 11th Hour recently. How important it is to be substainable. It is scary thinking scenarios the likes of 2012, The Day After Tomorrow will one day be true, though likely not that drastic. It is high time giving the fossil fuel that has propelled our civilisation a retirement cert. I hope we can do it.

Vertical Farming

Coming back from the dark side, I want one(those buildings)!

Singapore is having one? | link2 | No mention of dates...

Alice is back..

After Ironman, the next title to anticipate could be Afterlife. A trailer! Haha, Alice's playing ninja, 2 katana(s) behind her, and throwing shurikens??? Opening 9th Sept in Singapore.

Get Nanami theme!

If your OS is WIn7, you can bring Nanami (or Nana for Miharu's case) to your desktop. Although the Nanami Win7 theme is only available in the first 7777 copies of Windows7 sold at Akiba PC, fans have made a rather authetic english version as well. Woo hoo! Lucky I've got Win7!

Are? Nana-System-Error da!

OS-tan-tachi. Wiki-tan

May 11, 2010

Windows Shoujo - Nanami-chan!

Winning over fans in this corner, Windows 7! Wiiith Nanami-chan! Man.... they should have more of these... Haha even her eyes are 4-colored! And "Sawate Ugoku! Yappari tanoshii" I can't stop laughing at her comments!! WTH! LOL!

May 3, 2010

Another call from the anime industry..

Haha..there are tons of comments there, some supportive, others still skeptical.

YAWARA! A Fashionable Judo Girl

I always have this wish of practicing as many different martial arts as possible! Unfortunately, I have trouble even getting out of my house. "The Great Internet Vaccum" has, for years sucking away my and a lot of ppl 's hours. I don even do enough exercise!

Yawara is a pretty nice Anime. Seeing the ANN article reminded me when I watched a few episodes on youtube maybe, a year ago? From the animation quality, everyone can tell its old. But making films has not always been having the most realistic moving pictures, but the story-telling. And I can't resist the martial arts backdrop....(drool).. Now where can I get it!

Here is a short segment of the first episode.