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Project Diva Dreamy Theatre 2nd is so shiny and colourful. I got a bit of a headache trying to play it, I think it will take some getting use to probably because my eyes can't render it in high definition. The timings are tighter in DT than the PSP version so hopefully I might fare a bit better trying to get those perfect combos on extreme ^_^;;. I tend to press slightly too early where as the PSP version tends to register them slightly late which is not so good for someone like me. The game also lags a little when the graphics and animations get a bit heavy but all these things seems to be ironed out in DT so it's all good. It's quite expensive for an add-on (DT is not the game, it doesn't even come with any songs or costumes) but probably one that shouldn't be overlooked by Project Diva fans.
The first thing Muso does with DT is play World is Mine with Kaito speedos version. I think I'm being trolled. So much do not want, the speedos look even tighter in HD but at least they've fixed his child bearing hips.
Whilst in Japan, I had a go at Project Diva Arcade. There's always a queue for it and for 100 yen you only get 2 songs D: (you have your 1 credit and then join the back of the queue). There's also 300 yen for the game card which saves your progress and is essential if you want to unlock songs and costumes. I did figure out how to buy the costumes with the in game points. Muso picked cat girl Miku and I picked original Meiko. I don't know why, it didn't even occur to me to buy Kaito XD. Anyway, the game is like DT, very colourful and shiny but the game mechanics are quite different. For a start, the buttons are laid out horizontally, which made the switch from a classic Playstation controller a bit difficult. Then there's the double, triple and quadruple buttons which are tricky when you don't know where the buttons are. There's also the hold mechanism where you get more points the longer you hold down the buttons for. The other thing that doesn't carryover much is knowing the song pattern in the PSP version, the patterns are actually different for the arcade version o_O. The thing that annoys me the most is probably the crazy way the buttons fly in which is more so than the original and they're scrunched together to make it hard to see what is what. It's almost like it's designed to make you lose D:. I couldn't even pass songs on Hard mode and yet everybody in Japan were all playing the songs on Extreme o.O. It's sort of embarrassing losing on a big TV screen. Some of the machines were linked to huge TVs with a seating area for others in the queue to watch you ;_;. Overall though, I thought the game was very good. The timings are sharp, the graphics are pretty and there's loads of songs to choose from but I think to get any good at it would require a lot of money, time and continual practice, which for me didn't feel like a worthy investment when we were only there for a few weeks. If I saw it again, I'd probably have another go but again, I probably wouldn't be spending all my yens and time there.
In Japan, they're getting hyped about Project Diva 2nd Extend which is due at the end of this month. The tracklist looks good and there are even more costumes. Some of the costumes are designed by pretty well known vocaloid artists like redjuice, NEGI and CAFFEIN, which made me raise my eyebrows so I'll join the rest of the fandom in anticipating its release.
It's been a while since I've posted fanart but that's probably because I haven't draw much for the last few months. So here's a half finished one that I did before going to Japan. Let's see if I can remember much about the thoughts on this pic.
This was quite pain to draw because trying to get the pose right in the third dimension (the legs) was quite hard x_x. I also felt like drawing frills and pin stripes and the results were a bit mixed. I think the frills were not bad but the stripes were hard. I wasn't sure how they were meant to follow the contours of the legs. I also sketched in a background but it would have needed a lot more use of Illustrator or Photoshop, which I did start on but then I went away for a few weeks and I can't quite bond with my picture any more, oh well
After I got back, I drew this one in between watching and playing Uta Puri so it took about a week ^_^;;
I tried to draw it with the original style in mind. When HAYATO appeared, I thought "He looks a little like Kaito" and when it turns out his personality is a bit derp, I thought "If he was a little less over-the-top annoying, I can imagine Kaito being like that" XD.
Either way, I tried to draw twin brother Tokiya and it's actually quite tricky because he when he's not looking miserable, he looks really smug. I didn't really want to draw him looking miserable in the STARISH outfit so that only left me with smug XD. I don't normally draw that kind of expression so I had to spend a bit of time getting it to look right ^_^;;. The "open" parting in the hair (i.e. drawing the hairline) was a little tricky too because I normally draw the "closed" hair style. I think the shape has turned out well but the shading could have been better. There's also the anime halo for the hair which I don't normally draw in but I think it's in the right place ^_^;;. The outfit had so many accessories and layers which also took me a while and a few re-draws to do (e.g. the left cuff is above the elbow whereas the right one is below the elbow x_x). Because it was the STARISH outfit, I didn't have any still references for the costume and ended up watching the Maji LOVE 1000% opening many, many times XD.
After drawing the left arm and hand for the third time, I gave in and took a photo of the pose for references because my brain really can't conjure up the right image. I was pleasantly surprised that apart from the left arm, the rest of the pose and the proportions of the body were actually spot on =o. The shading is done anime style (sharp shading), which I haven't done in ages and I think it's decent. It took a few tries to get the shading on the eyes and the chest right.and I'm still not completely sure but it's the best I can do right now. I think the colouring style in the game is actually quite similar to my own (and the shading look very much like SAI pen strokes XD) so maybe it wasn't difficult for me to make the shading look more like the original ^_^;;.
I wanted a simple background so I just drew something in SAI and it actually looks a bit like the opening in the game so yay! I think the only thing is that whenever I make a background in SAI, it always look really hand-drawn and a bit sloppy but I suppose I prefer to spend more of my time drawing a pretty face XD.
So yeah, I unwittingly got sucked into a fandom. I'm playing through the third route in Uta Puri Repeat and they're actually pretty good. It's taking me a while because I can't read Japanese that fast ^_^;;. The stories are quite different from the anime, I suppose it's quite hard to do a faithfully adaptation for dating sims but both have that mix of funny craziness and romantic shoujo moments. I find myself marvelling several times at how they've managed to write so much melodrama with such a serious tone in the most outrageous scenarios.
You get to choose the Class A guys and when you complete the route, it opens up the S class rival's route. I made a bee-line for Hijirikawa's route ^_^;;. I probably would have drawn fanart of him but I think Tokiya's hair is probably easier for me to draw than Hijirikawa's straight bob ^_^;;. I quite liked his route but he tends to be more of a reactive character, he does things usually because it's prompted by Jinguji. I suppose his personality is a bit distant but he looks out for Haruka in a stoic kind of way ^_^;;. I think even the best ending was a little sad for Haruka.
I played Otoya-kun's route to open up Tokiya's 8D and I actually felt bad about it XD. Ittoki is quite the cheerful chap and has a brash way of doing things and resolving problems. He's quite a nice guy, has a lot of friends and they're usually more than happy to help him so his route often features the other A class guys commenting on various things and of course Tokiya to make some patronising comments. The route was better than I expected, partly because I wasn't expecting much but mostly because there's quite an interesting part of the story that isn't even eluded to in the anime.
The characters are also younger than I thought they looked. I thought Haruka (15) was 16 or 17 and Tokiya (16) to be at least 18 o.O. He certainly sounds at least 18 ^_^;;. I also wonder whether some of the numbers are actually plausable, 185cm and 70kg, 181cm and 65kg? It must be huge padding in those school blazers XD.
My obsession with trying to get S ranks in the rhythm mini-game is constantly getting those cheesy songs stuck in my head ^_^;;. Like the character songs, the music and lyrics were written to reflect the different guys and they're pretty well done. I also noticed some crossover of the lyrics in the anime and game songs which is nice 8D. The CG in the game is quite good, especially compared to the original Uta Puri game. It looks like some of the more complicated scenes were redrawn and all the pictures now have a background (compared to the random swish of colours and sparkles XD). I was surprised that the animation was done by Production I.G and the game developed by Nippon Ichi Software, doesn't seem like the kind of things they do ^_^;;. I'm also surprised that the system menus and loading screens were in English =o.
Random note, I wouldn't mind having a go at cosplaying one of the dudes in their STARISH costumes so I can do that dance but I don't have 5 friends who would a) cosplay, b) watch the anime or c) do a dance routine. :( Here's a very good rendition though:
It's DANCEROID who usually dances to vocaloid songs ^_^. Aikawa has been going for a while and she's so good at choreographing. I'd say that it's better than the original XD. The start has the narrative from episode 1 done by voiceroid Ai, I think. The dance is just like the original and the use of floor space is so good (it looks rather tricky from the random zoomed shots in the anime).
And then there's the long-winded, subtly altered lyrics version of Maji LOVE 1000%, which has me in stitches
Anyway, enough of me rambling on and on, for now ^_^;;. Muso thinks I should try and draw all of them =o. I suppose it would be quite a challenge, epecially Syo who is a bit small and moe compared to what I normally draw. I also want to have a go at drawing Shining because he's amazing *_*.
The first thing Muso does with DT is play World is Mine with Kaito speedos version. I think I'm being trolled. So much do not want, the speedos look even tighter in HD but at least they've fixed his child bearing hips.
Whilst in Japan, I had a go at Project Diva Arcade. There's always a queue for it and for 100 yen you only get 2 songs D: (you have your 1 credit and then join the back of the queue). There's also 300 yen for the game card which saves your progress and is essential if you want to unlock songs and costumes. I did figure out how to buy the costumes with the in game points. Muso picked cat girl Miku and I picked original Meiko. I don't know why, it didn't even occur to me to buy Kaito XD. Anyway, the game is like DT, very colourful and shiny but the game mechanics are quite different. For a start, the buttons are laid out horizontally, which made the switch from a classic Playstation controller a bit difficult. Then there's the double, triple and quadruple buttons which are tricky when you don't know where the buttons are. There's also the hold mechanism where you get more points the longer you hold down the buttons for. The other thing that doesn't carryover much is knowing the song pattern in the PSP version, the patterns are actually different for the arcade version o_O. The thing that annoys me the most is probably the crazy way the buttons fly in which is more so than the original and they're scrunched together to make it hard to see what is what. It's almost like it's designed to make you lose D:. I couldn't even pass songs on Hard mode and yet everybody in Japan were all playing the songs on Extreme o.O. It's sort of embarrassing losing on a big TV screen. Some of the machines were linked to huge TVs with a seating area for others in the queue to watch you ;_;. Overall though, I thought the game was very good. The timings are sharp, the graphics are pretty and there's loads of songs to choose from but I think to get any good at it would require a lot of money, time and continual practice, which for me didn't feel like a worthy investment when we were only there for a few weeks. If I saw it again, I'd probably have another go but again, I probably wouldn't be spending all my yens and time there.
In Japan, they're getting hyped about Project Diva 2nd Extend which is due at the end of this month. The tracklist looks good and there are even more costumes. Some of the costumes are designed by pretty well known vocaloid artists like redjuice, NEGI and CAFFEIN, which made me raise my eyebrows so I'll join the rest of the fandom in anticipating its release.
It's been a while since I've posted fanart but that's probably because I haven't draw much for the last few months. So here's a half finished one that I did before going to Japan. Let's see if I can remember much about the thoughts on this pic.
This was quite pain to draw because trying to get the pose right in the third dimension (the legs) was quite hard x_x. I also felt like drawing frills and pin stripes and the results were a bit mixed. I think the frills were not bad but the stripes were hard. I wasn't sure how they were meant to follow the contours of the legs. I also sketched in a background but it would have needed a lot more use of Illustrator or Photoshop, which I did start on but then I went away for a few weeks and I can't quite bond with my picture any more, oh well
After I got back, I drew this one in between watching and playing Uta Puri so it took about a week ^_^;;
I tried to draw it with the original style in mind. When HAYATO appeared, I thought "He looks a little like Kaito" and when it turns out his personality is a bit derp, I thought "If he was a little less over-the-top annoying, I can imagine Kaito being like that" XD.
Either way, I tried to draw twin brother Tokiya and it's actually quite tricky because he when he's not looking miserable, he looks really smug. I didn't really want to draw him looking miserable in the STARISH outfit so that only left me with smug XD. I don't normally draw that kind of expression so I had to spend a bit of time getting it to look right ^_^;;. The "open" parting in the hair (i.e. drawing the hairline) was a little tricky too because I normally draw the "closed" hair style. I think the shape has turned out well but the shading could have been better. There's also the anime halo for the hair which I don't normally draw in but I think it's in the right place ^_^;;. The outfit had so many accessories and layers which also took me a while and a few re-draws to do (e.g. the left cuff is above the elbow whereas the right one is below the elbow x_x). Because it was the STARISH outfit, I didn't have any still references for the costume and ended up watching the Maji LOVE 1000% opening many, many times XD.
After drawing the left arm and hand for the third time, I gave in and took a photo of the pose for references because my brain really can't conjure up the right image. I was pleasantly surprised that apart from the left arm, the rest of the pose and the proportions of the body were actually spot on =o. The shading is done anime style (sharp shading), which I haven't done in ages and I think it's decent. It took a few tries to get the shading on the eyes and the chest right.and I'm still not completely sure but it's the best I can do right now. I think the colouring style in the game is actually quite similar to my own (and the shading look very much like SAI pen strokes XD) so maybe it wasn't difficult for me to make the shading look more like the original ^_^;;.
I wanted a simple background so I just drew something in SAI and it actually looks a bit like the opening in the game so yay! I think the only thing is that whenever I make a background in SAI, it always look really hand-drawn and a bit sloppy but I suppose I prefer to spend more of my time drawing a pretty face XD.
So yeah, I unwittingly got sucked into a fandom. I'm playing through the third route in Uta Puri Repeat and they're actually pretty good. It's taking me a while because I can't read Japanese that fast ^_^;;. The stories are quite different from the anime, I suppose it's quite hard to do a faithfully adaptation for dating sims but both have that mix of funny craziness and romantic shoujo moments. I find myself marvelling several times at how they've managed to write so much melodrama with such a serious tone in the most outrageous scenarios.
You get to choose the Class A guys and when you complete the route, it opens up the S class rival's route. I made a bee-line for Hijirikawa's route ^_^;;. I probably would have drawn fanart of him but I think Tokiya's hair is probably easier for me to draw than Hijirikawa's straight bob ^_^;;. I quite liked his route but he tends to be more of a reactive character, he does things usually because it's prompted by Jinguji. I suppose his personality is a bit distant but he looks out for Haruka in a stoic kind of way ^_^;;. I think even the best ending was a little sad for Haruka.
I played Otoya-kun's route to open up Tokiya's 8D and I actually felt bad about it XD. Ittoki is quite the cheerful chap and has a brash way of doing things and resolving problems. He's quite a nice guy, has a lot of friends and they're usually more than happy to help him so his route often features the other A class guys commenting on various things and of course Tokiya to make some patronising comments. The route was better than I expected, partly because I wasn't expecting much but mostly because there's quite an interesting part of the story that isn't even eluded to in the anime.
The characters are also younger than I thought they looked. I thought Haruka (15) was 16 or 17 and Tokiya (16) to be at least 18 o.O. He certainly sounds at least 18 ^_^;;. I also wonder whether some of the numbers are actually plausable, 185cm and 70kg, 181cm and 65kg? It must be huge padding in those school blazers XD.
My obsession with trying to get S ranks in the rhythm mini-game is constantly getting those cheesy songs stuck in my head ^_^;;. Like the character songs, the music and lyrics were written to reflect the different guys and they're pretty well done. I also noticed some crossover of the lyrics in the anime and game songs which is nice 8D. The CG in the game is quite good, especially compared to the original Uta Puri game. It looks like some of the more complicated scenes were redrawn and all the pictures now have a background (compared to the random swish of colours and sparkles XD). I was surprised that the animation was done by Production I.G and the game developed by Nippon Ichi Software, doesn't seem like the kind of things they do ^_^;;. I'm also surprised that the system menus and loading screens were in English =o.
Random note, I wouldn't mind having a go at cosplaying one of the dudes in their STARISH costumes so I can do that dance but I don't have 5 friends who would a) cosplay, b) watch the anime or c) do a dance routine. :( Here's a very good rendition though:
Click to viewIt's DANCEROID who usually dances to vocaloid songs ^_^. Aikawa has been going for a while and she's so good at choreographing. I'd say that it's better than the original XD. The start has the narrative from episode 1 done by voiceroid Ai, I think. The dance is just like the original and the use of floor space is so good (it looks rather tricky from the random zoomed shots in the anime).
And then there's the long-winded, subtly altered lyrics version of Maji LOVE 1000%, which has me in stitches
Anyway, enough of me rambling on and on, for now ^_^;;. Muso thinks I should try and draw all of them =o. I suppose it would be quite a challenge, epecially Syo who is a bit small and moe compared to what I normally draw. I also want to have a go at drawing Shining because he's amazing *_*.