I Can’t Speak Isekai-Go!

Or, the blog post otherwise known as the Isekai Anime Progress Report, April 2021.

State of the Proxy December 2019

So I’m trying to find the patience to go through the rest of fall 2019 anime. Sometimes I watch older anime (with some that I haven’t seen yet), and that tends to take time from the new ones and thus the backlog piles up.

I rewatched Last Exile, Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu, Crest of the Stars, Banner of the Stars, and random episodes of random anime. The Crest/Banner of Stars rewatch was spurred on by the release of the official English translations (ebook) by J-Novel Club. If you liked Crest/Banner too please support the official English translations, so that it could continue after the material covered by the anime. I bought mine via Amazon, but it is available on other platforms too if you don’t want to buy from Amazon.

Anime I saw that was not from 2019:
Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken (2018)
Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun (2014)
Uchuu Patrol Luluco (2016)
Kill La Kill (2013)
Amagi Brilliant Park (2014)
New Game! (2016)
Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii (2018)
Kono Subarashii Sekai Ni Shukufuku Wo (2016)

Best one of the bunch has to be Kill La Kill. I don’t know why I missed it then, I must have confused it with some other anime. Or, maybe I saw it already and dismissed it outright? I lost out on the fun but I have rectified it now, I guess.

As you can see above I have been avoiding depressing anime. To be honest, I have been beset by real-life happenings that not only gave me a lot of stress but took a toll on finances and my time, for 2 years in a row. This year has been worse than last year, and I am still trying to adapt to the new circumstances in my life. So I have been actively seeking out light-hearted anime, and my consumption has increased as a result. Thank God for anime, I wouldn’t be able to de-stress as much without it.

I have other post topics in mind, but I haven’t really been able to gather my thoughts as quickly thus they have been in the planning stage forever. Hopefully I’ll get to them, and until then, ja! 🙂

Ending the year with Yuru Camp

What a nice anime to end the year for me. It feels like a reward for diving back into active anime watching. Of course I had to sift through season lists over and over, browsing forums and reviews to find possible shows to watch. I’m happy that I found shows that I liked and a lot of them were fun and/or inspiring. With that, expect a year-end list! But there are still some shows I haven’t finished watching, so it’ll be a while haha.

Again, Happy New Year! 😀

Back to the anime life, for now

Hello there! I’m back!

…for a while at least.

Unbelievable, it’s been 2 years since I posted anything! So what have I been up to? Mostly real life activities, delving into other hobbies. Though what I mostly have to show for it are a backlog of kits, undisplayed figures, scarcely used drawing materials, and loads of books.

But why did I stop blogging?

Mostly because a lot of the anime showing in 2016 was uninteresting to me. Macross Delta was a bit of a letdown. On the the other hand, Yuri!!! on Ice and March Comes in like a Lion were both good, but not enough for me to blog about it. I think I finished only 8 shows from 2016 and there really was nothing for me to write about…(The indicator that it was a really bad year–as I used to watch more than 10 shows a year). So I forgot about catching up with the new anime. With my interests turning toward physical/RL things I was also very close to shutting down this blog.

Fortunately in the 2nd half of 2018 I started exploring new anime again. I think this was due to a stressful stretch in RL (which started in June). I noticed Piano no Mori had gotten a series, so I decided to give it a watch. I liked the movie so the TV series must be good, right? However the CG of the anime was such a disappointment, and over-all the execution felt average. I had to wash the bad taste off with a rewatch of the live-action Nodame Cantabile–still very good after all these years. Along the way I researched on what anime was popular, which led me to Boku no Hero Academia and Golden Kamuy. I also tried looking for ‘light’ anime fare, and finding Hinamatsuri opened the floodgates to more anime.

So will this mean more blogging? I don’t think so, I’m trying to develop skills that can enrich my life (if it adds to my income the better). But this ‘anime-watching’ revival proves that stress drives me back to anime lol. I will probably be able to post some more before the year ends, or early next year. For now, I’m back to the anime life! 😀

[2013 Year-End] My anime viewing habit is still in one piece

What can I say?  It was a boring year for new anime.  Not much stood out for me, except for Chihayafuru 2 and Zetsuen no Tempest.  So this year, I’m not writing the year-end usual stuff like the “My Top Anime for 2013” post.

The bored and the impatient

I thought I could keep up the one-post-a-month momentum.  Alas, it was not to be.  The stress from work is ramping up, though it’s nowhere near the level when I first started blogging.  Still, stress is stress.

Anyway, once Chihayafuru 2 finished, my interest in the spring season anime waned.  I then went on a time-wasting, mind-numbing anime marathon:

Honey & Clover
Honey & Clover II
Ergo Proxy
Claymore

My excuse?  I thought it was good to get better versions of old series.  And what better way to do quality assurance than to watch ’em all episodes?  Let this post be proof of where my time went lol.

I also started rewatching Monster and Moshidora.  Unfortunately these two depress me so I couldn’t get past 5 episodes.  I’m sure I’ll finish the rewatch.  Someday.

I have also been on a manga-reading binge lately.  Aside from Chihayafuru, I have read several chapters of Silver Spoon, Space Brothers , ahead of the anime.  I also read ahead of Claymore back then, but now I have caught up.  It’s an even more excruciating wait than Chihayafuru.  ^_^;

I think that’s it for now with the updates.  There’s actually more I want to say, especially about the summer anime but it will be bedtime soon.  Till next, ja!  🙂

Living for the weekends

Hurry up Friday!  I want my next episode of Chihayafuru!  😀

While agonizing over the week-long wait for the next Chihayafuru fix (usually the subs come out Saturday), I have been alternating between rewatches of episodes from the 1st and 2nd (current) season.  Not to mention rewatches of the latest episodes:

• Episode 14 – rewatched 6 times
• Episode 15 – rewatched 5 times.

One Random Curiousity writer had the perfect phrase for the show:  exquisite torture.  I don’t remember being this gaga for the show the first time.  When the 2nd season started I wasn’t that really hot about seeing the next episode.  One reason may be that my obsession then was Zetsuen no Tempest.  Now it’s like I can never be satisfied with watching a Chihayafuru episode only once.  ^_^;

My favorite moments from the 2 latest episodes:

• Ep 14 – Kana-chan blurting out ‘Pizusawa’ instead of ‘Mizusawa’–it was really cute; Tajiri asking Wakamiya why she’s thin now and what dieting she did; Megumu taking the Chihayafuru card
• Ep 15 – Makoto thinking about Rion copying his hairstyle; Kana-chan and her question about Monk Saigyo–another cute moment; Queen Wakamiya changing her clothes (were those really bloomers??); and lastly the reading of the order of the players.

Despite how good Chihayafuru 2 is I think I have to watch something else.  Currently I’m also watching both the live-action adaptations of Xxxholic and Itazura na Kiss.  I had been rewatching episodes of Xxxholic until Chihayafuru fever went out of control.  Maybe I should get started on rewatching Itazura na Kiss anime so that I don’t get Chihayafuru rewatch overload.  🙂

Anyway lately I have felt that the weekends fly by so fast nowadays, hence the title.  Lately I have had a lot of activities planned on the weekends and before I know it the 2 days of rest are over.  Maybe it’s the summer heat agitating me to do something.  😉

Now excuse me as I go pick another Chihayafuru episode to rewatch.  Ja!

A Macross-themed Christmas

It feels like ages since I last posted.

So what was I up to?  Actually I wrote a post but I haven’t completed it yet.  Things just piled up and here we are, nearing the end of 2012 still not a post about my November adventure hahaha.

So how’s the anime progress?  I have been regularly watching SAO and Uchuu Kyodai.  As for the rest of the other unfinished series, well, it will depend on my mood if I watch them or not.  This means the year-end rankings post could be delayed.  The world hasn’t ended and it can wait.  😛

Anyway back to topic.  So what’s with the Macross-themed Christmas?  Actually since the 2nd half of the year began I had been planning on rewatching something for Christmas (or the whole of December).  I settled on Macross since well, I am a mecha fangirl.  ‘Nuff said.

So I started with the Macross F concert in Budokan.  I almost managed to finish it and then I found a 1080p version.

May’n as Sheryl Nome and Megumi Nakajima as Ranka Lee

It really feels nostalgic.  (And there is a slight pang in my heart when I remember that I missed it by a year–I was in Japan in 2007.)  When you see May’n now she looks better and dances better.  She sings with more control.  As for Megumi Nakajima unfortunately I haven’t read any news about her lately, so I can’t really comment much about her.

On the 24th and 25th of December I did a marathon of SDF Macross.  As usual I couldn’t finish Phantasm episode.

Better resolution is better 😛

Earlier in the year I had contemplated about buying the Bluray set but as I have no player I have been waffling between buying a PS3 or a standalone player or having an HTPC.  Of course I ended up buying something else different so the Blurays may have to wait a little while.  There were other priorities but I hope I can have one soon.

As for the final arc of course there is some sadness to it.  It still evokes those feelings even if I’ve watched it before a lot.  In  the final episode it is also Christmas-time, and for Misa and Hikaru it’s a good Christmas because they’re finally together.  It’s unfortunate for Minmay but of course my favorite has always been Misa.  😉

Misa x Hikaru yey!

And I really like that piano version of Goodbye Tenderness.  I hope that someday I can play it on the piano.  Someday.  🙂

Next up?  Well, once I’m finished with the Budokan concert proper and encore, it’ll be the Macross Frontier Choujikuu Super Live cosmic nyaan concert (and with other stuff in between naturally).  Of course I’ll be reserving that for the new year.  😀

Oh, it seems I forgot I had an anime blog

So, not only did I manage to achieve one post per month for 4 straight months, I did not post anything in August!  Hahaha!

The culprit/s?  A new job and the 2012 London Olympics.

As I announced in July, I got a new job.  I’m still enjoying the perks of a newbie at my job–not much work to do.  I will probably get busy next month, though I don’t think I’d have to do a lot of OT this time just to get things done.  And I’m actually happy about that prospect.   😀

On the other hand, the London Olympics just took my mind off anime for a whole month.  When it’s something that comes only every 4 years it’s kind of hard to ignore.  I didn’t watch like crazy but on weekends I’d be in front of the TV for hours.  It’s only now I’ve started reading anime blogs again.  I’ve watched some anime in between but not that much.

And regarding JLPT, I think I’ll pass up this year.  I just don’t have the discipline right now to be studying at the level that I had years ago.  I know I shouldn’t worry that much about my declining Nihongo skills, but every time I hear Nihongo being spoken that curiosity, that yearning to understand would pop up again.  I wonder when I can shake off this lethargy that has gone over me the past 2 years.

On the anime front, I have a lot of catching up to do.  I still haven’t finished Aquarion EVOL, Fate/Zero, Mine Fujiko to xxx, and Tsuritama.  Though I’ve now caught up with Natsuyuki Rendezvous and Uchuu Kyodai.

And since the fall anime previews are out, here are the shows I’m planning on checking out:

Shinsekai Yori – It’s sci-fi, ’nuff said.
Jormungand: Perfect Order – Not as good as Black Lagoon but what else is there?
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (2012) – Trying this out of curiousity.
Suki-tte Ii na yo – Something for the heart.
Psycho-pass – Almost anything in Noitamina I will check out.
Robotics:Notes – Same as above.
Kami-sama Hajimemashita – Comedy.  Something to lighten me up.
Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun – Same as above.

Until the next month? post, ja!

State of Transition

So I thought I’d post something again, before this blog turns into a one-post-a-month blog.

First off, the time of posting a lot seems to be over.  That era of staying up well over 12 AM just finishing a post is long gone.  In short, my mindset has changed considerably since the year I started this blog.  However, I’m still enamored with anime, and as long as that feeling stays this blog will endure.