Current status: In a good mood. Not dying at kendo does that to you.
Currently listening to: "Dragon", the opening to New Getter Robo. See for yourselves.
Quote of the day: "Are you ready guys? PUT YA GUNS ON!" - Masamune Date, one of the main characters in Sengoku Basara. Yes. A Japanese guy from the Middle Ages. Don't look at me like that, see for yourselves. If you're disgusted by this horrifying anachronism and start writing about the terrible state of contemporary culture, then get the hell out of here, I like it for its sincere insanity!
Hah! I've managed to post again!
I've finally started playing Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI, a turn-based strategy game based on the novel with same name (Well, except the number. Weird as it may seem, XI is not an all-caps Chinese name). I was a bit unsure about finishing the Tutorial, since it skips a lot of chapters and is filled with spoilers (I've only read 26 chapters out of the whopping 120), so I started a normal game. After blindly assigning officers (by the way, you can create your own independent force!), I picked 8 forces. Of course, I was a bit unconscious, so I didn't realise it meant I could control all of them. Long story made short, I had a lot of addictive fun (enough to play till 5 AM). It's complex, it has very nice character portraits and it has quite some replay value.
I went on with Souten Kouro and watched up to episode 7. Now I'm out of subbed episodes, so I'll try to write some short impressions based on what I've seen (without having read any of the manga).
Episode 3: The Demon of the North Gate
Cao Cao is obviously sued for attacking Zhang Rang. Zhang Rang tries to convince Cao's judge to convict him, but this judge seems to be incorrigible. So incorrigible that Cao Cao manages to impress out of him by telling him that Heaven is witness to the truth of his words and that he intends to take over China to bring justice. Cao Cao is given the title of North Buwei, some kind of officer who rules over one of the four gates of the capital Luoyang. Considering he's trying to destroy Britann-- eeeer, I mean the eunuchs, he's taking some very interesting measures. Whoever goes out or comes in without permission is to be punished be being hit on the back with a giant iron rod. Usually, a hundred or so. Of course, in the process, he has a nobleman beaten. He reduces his punishment to 20 hits, but the nobleman dies after only one. It kinda helps that he was a relative of one of the eunuchs. After that, he starts researching a revolt, that of the Partisans, hoping to find some proof that the eunuchs had done many terrible things. Oh, and he stops a survivor of the revolt from committing suicide (by ramming his head into an axe) by telling him his name and asking him to join him. Yeah, cause muscular guys who can kill themselves with axes are a must-have.
Episode 4: Banquet of Fire
Cao Cao intends to have the emperor read what he's discovered, whatever the means. The eunuchs plot against him and have an Imperial uncle go through his gate, to make him look bad in the Emperor's eyes. Cue Dan Hong wanting to see this demon of the gate in action and Cao Cao beating the hell out of his guards, then punishing him. Looks like Dan Hong died after one hit. Time for the eunuchs to come and punish Cao Cao, no? After some more talking, Cao Cao stabs Dan Hong's corpse, hidden under a cape. Subtle? Yeah, especially when he reveals that's no corpse, it's a bag of grains. The real Dan Hong is on the wall and has heard the eunuchs actually wanted him to die just to punish Cao Cao. Thanks to this ruse that basically saved his life, the Imperial uncle is willing to give his support to Cao Cao. Cue the Five-Five ceremony, where demons are chased away. The Emperor wonders where his uncle is, and we are introduced to the sword-dancer who is going to perform for them. Stupid sexy Cao Cao. Even the women faint at his sight. Oh, and he dances in front of the eunuchs, always coming close to slashing them. Some archers try to kill our hero, but last time's axe-wielding suicider is revealed to be the huge guy in the costume. He doesn't seem to be very disturbed by the arrows in his shoulder. Anyway, the emperor (who is like a child. A very retarded child) wants to reward him for amusing him so much, and Cao Cao wants to read him his research. Zhang Rang tries to stop him, by saying this is not a good occasion and that he should take it into custody. Later, Zhang Rang convinces the Emperor to appoint Cao Cao governor of a very far region. How does he convince him? By telling him he's sent some beautiful women in his room. The emperor, for all his fat, is delighted. Cao Cao is quite happy that his one paper was enough to ensure his governorship and intends to go on.
(Later edit) Originally, I had reviewed up to episode 6, but Firefox decided to die on me, taking most of the review for episode 5 with it. No worries, I'll review episodes 5, 6 and 7 some other time.I've finished Sengoku Basara (all 12 episodes of it). It was a series that didn't seem to take itself too seriously, but I would be underrating it if I'd say it was just nothing but brainless action. As soon as Nobunaga and his cronies show up, the series becomes much more dramatic. Oh, and people start dying, starting with Nagamasa Azai. The real shocker for me (historically speaking) was that Tokugawa Ieyasu, the one who was supposed to unify Japan, died off-screen. The final battle wasn't really all that good and Nobunaga was a terrible villain. I mean, they tried too hard to make him diabolical and Norio Wakamoto's voice acting was rather unimpressive, for once. Sometimes, even he was ridiculous, especially since he was drinking out of a skull. The problem? Skulls have eye sockets and once - I swear - his sake just poured out through the sockets. What an idiot! Nouhime was a pretty good villainess, since she manages to "kill" Honda Tadakatsu and Uesugi Kenshin. I know Oichi is supposed to be emo and all, but her unwillingness to do her brother any harm, even after Nagamasa's ghost talks to her brought her petty demise. She does manage to score a kill against Nouhime, but I'm afraid to ask just what the hell those hands were. Akechi Mitsuhide, voiced by Sho Hayami, was a real villain. He was sadistic, he was masochistic, he wanted to see Nobunaga humiliated and dead (in that order), without joining the good guys. He kills Ieyasu and almost kills Takeda. Which brings me to my next point: death is pretty cheap, even in this anime. I was actually touched, even outraged, when Kenshin and Takeda were killed, not to mention Tadakatsu. Their survival kind of cheapened the impact of the moment. It's true that all of them were too awesome to die. Well, except for Tadakatsu. He was basically a giant robot who was awesome enough to get killed off twice. I do have to admit that the duo of Yukimura and Masamune is what kept the show running. Yukimura's punch-outs with Takeda, Masamune's awesome Engrish, Kojuro (his "Right Eye") and Masamune's almost-named grunts made all this worthwhile. I couldn't help but cheer whenever they did something. To be very honest, Yukimura did have a tendency to mope around every now and then, but he was pretty decent. Masamune was just badass. The ninjas has some funny interaction. Sarutobi Sasuke is very well voiced and does his job justice by wearing camouflage colours. Kasuga, for most of the series, was there just for the gags. What gag, you might ask? She was supposed to assassinate Kenshin, but fell in love instead. How is her love? She goes orgasmic every single time Kenshin touches her. However, Kenshin's serious injuries did make her become a little more badass, as she escapes Nobunaga and takes Oichi with her, telling her (she, of all people) not to rush towards death. Good thing Oichi isn't depress-- nevermind. The final battle had some last-minute cameos, but the fight itself between Yukimura & Masamune and Nobunaga was pretty anticlimactic. Nobunaga is simply too overpowered up to a point, but thank God for everyone's random energy bursts randomly doing something and Masamune and Yukimura doing a team attack on Nobunaga. Oh, and the explosions are insane. The fact that season 2 has been announced makes me pity poor medieval Japan. If these people get serious, things are going to blow up like crazy. Anyway, the epilogue was pretty neat, though. Gotta love how everybody is back to wanting to kick everybody else's ass, now that the big bad guy is dead.I'll be leaving for Greece this Friday. As such, I doubt I'll post anything else while there. Unless they have more Internets there.Signing off for today, yours truly.
Current status: Relieved... Wait, I said that last time. Okay then: "Excited as hell!"
Currently listening to: "909" by Tribal Chair, the opening to currently airing anime Souten Kouro (which apparently means Beyond the Heavens). Despite the very out-of-place yelling at the end of the TV opening, it's quite good. I absolutely love they animation they use for it.
Random quote of the day: "Lord Oyakata!" - Sanada Yukimura from the Sengoku Basara anime series, as per Tadashi's subs. Oyakata (
親方) actually means "master" and is not a name. But yeah, who gives a damn about the names when you have samurais clashing swords so hard that they cause nuclear-sized explosions? Fuck yeah!
I lied. Damned exams made me postpone my scanlations update. I hope I can manage to make the damned update now. I mean, only one page left to translate and two or three to edit (this included). I am announcing that I'll probably work a bit on the Mazinger Bible as well. The only disadvantage is that I can't seem to find any copy of it online, so here's to the scans being any good.
That aside, today's post is about two anime I've recently started watching. One of them is Sengoku Basara, an anime based on a video game series (brought to the US and called Devil Kings, while replacing the Japanese references. I'm not sure whether I should be grateful. At leas they don't screw the names by pronouncing them weirdly. I mean, "Iron Ox" is better than Tadakatsu Honda, no? No.)
You can tell from the opening sequence that it's not meant to be accurate. If you can't, you desperately need to read a history book. That, and you should share the drugs you're on. Anyway, I liked the first episode because it simply tries to feed the series on the Rule of Cool, by having respectable samurais spout random English phrases, ride exhaust pipe and handle-equipped horses with their arms crossed, and duel like crazy, causing explosions. Sure, when you basically turn into coloured energy blasts, you can't expect much else. Also, I loved the dialogue between main character Sanada Yukimura and his lord Oyakata-- errr, I mean Shingen Takeda. Minor plot advancing aside, they simply punch each other through walls. Not because they hate each other. I mean, at some point, Takeda tells Yukimura that he will one day age. Yukimura rushes at him saying that "if there's someone who won't age, it's you, my lord!" and punches him. I like the director's way of thinking? Why sit like any real Japanese samurai and discuss this over tea when you can punch the everliving crap out of your counterpart? Obvious commercial purpose aside, this anime is obviously made to be fun and it certainly delivers. And yes, that lady in the skimpy costume seems to be a ninja. Gotta appreciate her effort to prevent getting her clothes getting sliced in the middle, like any perverted warrior would when faced with losing his life. Anyway, yays for the samurai who holds his SIX swords Wolverine-style.
The other anime is Souten Kouro (the official translation seems to be Beyond the Heaven). It's based on a manga partially based on 14th century novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo Yanyi), itself based on a period of internal crisis from the beginning of the 3rd century A.D. This period is called "of the Three Kingdoms" because of the three warlords who fought for supremacy over the huge chunk of land that is China. The most known ones are Liu Bei, Cao Cao (pronounced Ts'ao Ts'ao, not Cow Cow) and Sun Quan. The novel (which I am currently reading) isn't bad at all, although it's quite long (120 chapters and about 2000 pages, in a total of four volumes. I'm 23 chapters in). While the novel is heavily biased towards Liu Bei and his blood brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, the manga focuses on Cao Cao, who was a bit demonised in the novel (not so much up to now, I like his characterisation in the manga: he's a great and intelligent general, who knows how to use the ever-useful "Cao Cao? He went that way!"). I've only watched two episodes, but it's left a pretty good impression.
The opening theme (to which I have linked already) is quite badass if you ask me. Well, until the shrieking kicks in. After that, it loses a bit of its coherence, but it's still good. I am quite interested in seeing how they will portray Guan Yu (the long-bearded one around 0:33) and Zhang Fei (the hairy-chested guy at 0:32). I mean, they're going to be villains (just like Liu Bei), so we'll be seeing some new views. I see that, up to episode 2 at least, we're still around the very beginning of the novel, since the Ten Eunuchs are still alive (they die quite quickly in the book, not before screwing many people over). Cao Cao (0:53) is played by the same voice actor as Kira from Death Note and Setsuna F. Seiei from Gundam 00. Did I mention he falls in love with a dark-skinned girl called Shui Jing (Suishou in Japanese)? Did I also mention that she's most likely Italian? I mean, she tells him a word from her native tongue that expresses her feelings - "Amore". In second century China. Italian. 2nd century. Oh, and she dies by the end of the epside, but now Cao has a reason to hate the main eunuch, Zhang Rang.
Only three exams left and I'll be a free 20-year old man. Yay for freedom!
Signing off, yours truly.
Current status: Relieved.
Currently listening to: The intro theme to Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI. Here's a Youtube link to the movie itself.
Quote of the day: Not much use for this. I'll probably give up on it.
Well, it's been almost ten months since I last posted here. Not that anyone would care, last time, as you may recall, I was scolded for writing in English. I'd pay to see said person's face when she'd find out that the Blogger.com menus are all in Romanian now. I am such a delightful hypocrite. And so are many people. But I'm delightful.
Now that that friendly poke is out of the way, let's bring some updates:
- I've just noticed that due to Proficiency results and Deviantart gentlemen, I forgot to bitch about the Baccalaureate. Now, I may not have pointed this out, but I felt pretty humiliated by the whole business. Hell, who wouldn't? All your best friends end up way above you and you start feeling like everybody is pitying you for being such a loser. I admit, some of them might not have been pitying me, but who was I to tell? I felt so bad about this, that I had some awkward discussions with some of them. No less awkward was an interview I gave to this high-school girl I had met at the beloved Latin contest. Let's just say I wasn't very keen on praising Sava and my classmates. Why? Because I'm a proficient part-time asshole. I feel ashamed that people will see it when they search for me on the net. Not that the girl has any fault, God forbid, it's that I was pretty rude about some things. Someone pointed that out to me, and some other person called me... I forgot what she (I think it was a girl) said, but it was pretty insulting. Something among the lines of "How can such weirdos end up on the site?". Surely, I ought to feel like that person taught me a lesson and feel ashamed, maybe leave for the mountains and live a simple life. Here's a more accurate description of how I feel about that person: I'm being capitalistic. Anyway, that aside, it felt pretty awkward to be recognized by one or two people for that interview. Lesson? Don't spout shit. And if you do, do it properly, with names, addresses and hitmen. Lots of hitmen.
- I'm a college student now, so I'm studying Latin and Greek. Old Greek. The one that isn't phonetically selfish (good God, how many "i"'s can a language use?). Anyway, I like it here: it's calm, it's quaint, everybody knows everybody. Did I mention that we're 13? Yeah, we'll be seeing some kissing around here, I'm sure (it doesn't help that one of the texts we were translating counts as a foreshadowing to the fate of kissers. Yipee). Anyway, I've heard that we're actually a crowd, third year has (had?) some five students and second year... errr... nobody knows for sure. 9? Nobody ever sees them at the same place at the same time. I think I've found our Apocalypse detector.
- Oh yeah, Apocalypse. As of late, our doomsday is next year or so. Or maybe 2012. To quote Wiki: "On the sun, the solar maximum of Solar Cycle 24 in the 11-year sunspot cycle is forecast to occur. Solar Cycle 24 is regarded to have commenced January 2008, and on average will reach its peak of maximal sunspot activity around 2012. The period between successive solar maxima averages 11 years (the Schwabe cycle), and the previous solar maximum of Solar Cycle 23 occurred 2000 - 2002. During the solar maximum the sun's magnetic poles will reverse." Did I mention the Maya foresaw this? Nostradamus will be biting his fingers off for this, I bet. But thank God for researchers: "For the ancient Maya, it was a huge celebration to make it to the end of a whole cycle," says Sandra Noble,[12] executive director of the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. in Crystal River, Florida. "To render December 21, 2012, as a doomsday or moment of cosmic shifting", she says, is "a complete fabrication and a chance for a lot of people to cash in." And the scientist quoth: "Nevermore!"
- Also, the Romanian government intends to give us biometric IDs. They'll chip us and dale us and turn us into detectable chipmunks. Oooooh, the Church is gonna be angry, you'll see. Did I mention they're 666-related? Unknown are the devil's ways. You'd think he'd go for slaughtering us. But yeah, communism is a very fun apéritif. This is going to be a very fun End of the World, isn't it? I mean, the ones who are nostalgic about 1000 and 2000 A.D. have got absolutely nothing on this, this is the best Apocalypse ever. It's mixing our biggest fears: bureaucracy and civilisations we've slaughtered. Let's hope they manage to clone the dodo birds: people will go completely nuts.
- Clones. People die when they are made. Why? Because scientists are still trying to figure out how clones work. And they kill embryos in the process. Are they living beings yet or not? Are we trying to become gods? What if we bring Hitler back to life? That's too many bugging questions for them scientists. "Bah, we'll think of that later. Let's go clone another lamb. We could use some dinner. Do you think they'll grow mature by dinner? They should, they grow so fast." Scientists must be having so much fun.
- El Labirinto del Fauno is a great film, about a girl who embarks on a journey to a magical world, where fairies live alongside gentle fauns and mandragores feast on milk. She has a pure heart and desires to save her mother who is in the pains of childbirth. In the end, she learns an important lesson about self-sacrifice. Okay, that's enough hypocrisy of you, I know you're watching it for her stepfather who is fighting the rebels in the mountains. I know you loved how he smashed a boy's face with a bottle. That's right, it didn't break, it just smashed every single face-bone the boy had. And his father was witness to all this. Poor daddy, he was crying about it, so this military shoots him.And then he shoots the kid again, because disfiguring somebody doesn't just cut it. Lovely. Also, the faun made me shiver. I was expecting him to go all pedo on the girl any moment. In the end, the girl dies and ends up in a wonder-world: she was being tested and is now worthy of being the fairy queen. Awwww... Because all tests involve sick faceless monsters with eyes on their hands. But who cares, I genuinely cheered when the stepfather got Joker'd. Why so serious?
Well, that was a fun rant. Hope next time won't be in another year. Also, to those who bother with my scanlations, the next update will be out very soon.
Until then, signing off, yours truly.
