The Occurence and Frequent Manifestation of Capricious Thought in the Post-Adolescent Male.
Started Kingdom Hearts II last night (no spoilers here). Probably the longest prologue I've ever experienced in a video game, but it leads into the main plotline fairly well. It's great to see how they've improved some of the elements of the original. KH II's gameplay feels more engaging in general than the first. One nice surprise: the gummi ship sequences don't suck nearly as much.
I didn't really think anything of this until somebody else addressed it: Bethesda Softworks, the development group behind Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion...is located near Bethesda, Maryland. I guess I just assumed that nothing good video-game wise could come out of this state, so I didn't bother making the correlation. I looked it up, and it says that they have a building in Rockville. It's pretty cool to know that the development group responsible for the #1 RPG on the Xbox 360, the fourth game of one of the most critically acclaimed RPG series in the U.S., is about 30 mintues from here.
Anime Update:
Monday Schedule
Read or Die - Author Nenene Sumiregawa's life is put in danger on her visit to Hong Kong when she is targeted by a mad bomber. Three sisters, Anita, Maggie, and Michelle, part of the Three Sisters Detective Agency, are assigned the task of acting as Sumiregawa's bodyguard. In addition to their great fondness of books, each sister also possesses the unique ability to psychically manipulate paper and use it as a weapon. An action-packed series with lots of female espionage.
Paradise Kiss - A high-school student named Yukari drops out to join the world of fashion and modeling under the clothing design label, "Paradise Kiss". There, she meets a bunch of quirky characters that embrace her, including one that she eventually develops a very close relationship with. Naturally, this one may appeal moreso to women, but I liked the overall presentaion; art design and detail was top-notch.
Negima! - A 10 year-old boy genius by the name of Negi Springfield is given the task of teaching an all-girl 8th-grade class. The premise certainly creeped me out, as it opened the path for all sorts of perveted sexual events, but the series manages to maintain its childhood innocence...pretty much. Oh, and he has to teach the class while keeping his magical powers a secret. Hilarity ensues.
Gankutsuou - A futuristic anime adaptation of the novel "The Count of Monte Cristo," by Alexandre Dumas. Plot twists, political scandal, betrayal, intrigue, murder...lots of stuff going on in this one. It gets complicated near the end with all the characters to keep track of, but it's a great story regardless.
Wednesday Schedule
Hellsing - Copied from hellsing.pioneeranimation.com (figured they could explain it much better than I could):
"A secret war is brewing in the night a war in which humanity is only a pawn. The mysterious Hellsing Organization deploys in the shadows to protect ordinary mortals from the undead legions who would prey upon them.
Now, artificially spawned ghouls and vampires are appearing, stretching the Hellsing soldiers to their limits forcing them to call in their ultimate weapon the rogue vampire, Arucard!
After saving young Seras Victoria, a Hellsing operative, from death by transforming her into a vampire, Arucard must work with her to fight the artificial undead army as well as her own newfound hungers!"
Expect a lot of blood and gore from this anime. This seems to be a popular one among anime fans, but the skewed Christian overtones turned me off.
Genshiken - Whoa...I certainly didn't know that something like this even existed. This anime centers around making fun of none other than...college anime clubs. Genshiken, short for "Gendai Shikaku Bunka Kenkyuu Kai" (Contemporary Visual Culture Research Organization), is made up of an ecclectic cast of characters, such as Kanji Sasahara, the new guy intimidated by all the vets surrounding him (...), or Saki Kasukabe, who's boyfriend is an Otaku but is too cool to be invloved with anime herself. The dialogue falls under the category of "typical poorly dubbed anime," which is disappointing, but not unbearable to listen to. Besdies, the great script and cutural in-jokes more than make up for it.
School Rumble - Tsukamoto Tenma, a "second grader of high school" (I assume that means 10th grade), is in love with her classmate Karasumaru, but doesn't know how to tell him. Another classmate, Harima Kenji, the school delinquent, is in love with her, but shares the same trouble of not knowing how to confess his feelings. Humor runs rampant, intensified by the fact that Karasumaru never shows any emotion and Tenma's a complete dunce.
and Bleach continues its awesomeness...
Well, I've written way more than I originally intended to. Update over.
I didn't really think anything of this until somebody else addressed it: Bethesda Softworks, the development group behind Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion...is located near Bethesda, Maryland. I guess I just assumed that nothing good video-game wise could come out of this state, so I didn't bother making the correlation. I looked it up, and it says that they have a building in Rockville. It's pretty cool to know that the development group responsible for the #1 RPG on the Xbox 360, the fourth game of one of the most critically acclaimed RPG series in the U.S., is about 30 mintues from here.
Anime Update:
Monday Schedule
Read or Die - Author Nenene Sumiregawa's life is put in danger on her visit to Hong Kong when she is targeted by a mad bomber. Three sisters, Anita, Maggie, and Michelle, part of the Three Sisters Detective Agency, are assigned the task of acting as Sumiregawa's bodyguard. In addition to their great fondness of books, each sister also possesses the unique ability to psychically manipulate paper and use it as a weapon. An action-packed series with lots of female espionage.
Paradise Kiss - A high-school student named Yukari drops out to join the world of fashion and modeling under the clothing design label, "Paradise Kiss". There, she meets a bunch of quirky characters that embrace her, including one that she eventually develops a very close relationship with. Naturally, this one may appeal moreso to women, but I liked the overall presentaion; art design and detail was top-notch.
Negima! - A 10 year-old boy genius by the name of Negi Springfield is given the task of teaching an all-girl 8th-grade class. The premise certainly creeped me out, as it opened the path for all sorts of perveted sexual events, but the series manages to maintain its childhood innocence...pretty much. Oh, and he has to teach the class while keeping his magical powers a secret. Hilarity ensues.
Gankutsuou - A futuristic anime adaptation of the novel "The Count of Monte Cristo," by Alexandre Dumas. Plot twists, political scandal, betrayal, intrigue, murder...lots of stuff going on in this one. It gets complicated near the end with all the characters to keep track of, but it's a great story regardless.
Wednesday Schedule
Hellsing - Copied from hellsing.pioneeranimation.com (figured they could explain it much better than I could):
"A secret war is brewing in the night a war in which humanity is only a pawn. The mysterious Hellsing Organization deploys in the shadows to protect ordinary mortals from the undead legions who would prey upon them.
Now, artificially spawned ghouls and vampires are appearing, stretching the Hellsing soldiers to their limits forcing them to call in their ultimate weapon the rogue vampire, Arucard!
After saving young Seras Victoria, a Hellsing operative, from death by transforming her into a vampire, Arucard must work with her to fight the artificial undead army as well as her own newfound hungers!"
Expect a lot of blood and gore from this anime. This seems to be a popular one among anime fans, but the skewed Christian overtones turned me off.
Genshiken - Whoa...I certainly didn't know that something like this even existed. This anime centers around making fun of none other than...college anime clubs. Genshiken, short for "Gendai Shikaku Bunka Kenkyuu Kai" (Contemporary Visual Culture Research Organization), is made up of an ecclectic cast of characters, such as Kanji Sasahara, the new guy intimidated by all the vets surrounding him (...), or Saki Kasukabe, who's boyfriend is an Otaku but is too cool to be invloved with anime herself. The dialogue falls under the category of "typical poorly dubbed anime," which is disappointing, but not unbearable to listen to. Besdies, the great script and cutural in-jokes more than make up for it.
School Rumble - Tsukamoto Tenma, a "second grader of high school" (I assume that means 10th grade), is in love with her classmate Karasumaru, but doesn't know how to tell him. Another classmate, Harima Kenji, the school delinquent, is in love with her, but shares the same trouble of not knowing how to confess his feelings. Humor runs rampant, intensified by the fact that Karasumaru never shows any emotion and Tenma's a complete dunce.
and Bleach continues its awesomeness...
Well, I've written way more than I originally intended to. Update over.