I have a German friend, whom I will refer to as “ribbon”. Now ribbon and I see eye to eye on an intellectual level. We have long engaging talks through the night on topics ranging from the health of the American economy to which child star we would like to bang. However, he revealed to me on one such night a certain anime series he was looking forward to for the New Year, and now we are no longer friends.

But that’s not what I wanted to write. Yesterday, I told ribbon to watch an ONA called “Ontama” since I thought the show was fairly entertaining and cute. He looked it up on youtube and told me that it was a children’s show and that the girl was too young. I was taken aback by the statement “too young” because as far as I know, I don’t watch anime to get a stiffy. He explained to me that is the only reason he watches anime. And also why he loves K-on.

Now, how do these two off-tangent blurbs tie together? Well, the anime he was looking forward to for January 2010 is none other than So-Ra-No-Wo-To. I took it to be nothing more than K-on! with less tea-time and more hay rides. Ribbon sees it as more K-on with less music. Well, at least we agree that it’s going to be another K-on! On the other hand, perhaps we’re both wrong and it is actually something worth watching. Whatever.

You guys suck.

More importantly, one of my good friends from way back is going to jail for child porn. Let’s wish him luck, wherever the court trials lead him. If you liked K-on, then you’ll probably be joining him in a few years. Say hi for me, you sheeps.

Oh yes, by the way, I’ve done gone and bought me one of them fancy television sets. I now have a use for the PS3 sitting in my closet.

Yes, my room is that dark.

What an ugly cover.

A recent article from Yen Press reveals the cover for the new English version of Spice and Wolf, and boy does it suck. Do people really buy novels based on the cover? Unfortunately, yes. It’s a rather shallow way of approaching literature; no, rather than shallow, I’d have to say contradictory… Therefore I can understand their reasoning behind why they would pull something so daft. Many people are less inclined to buy novels with anime characters on the cover, including myself. However, I’m sure whoever gets tricked into buying spice and wolf will feel betrayed upon seeing the inner illustrations, so I think pulling that move was rather stupid and unnecessary on Yen Press’s part.

Not to mention, I’m pretty sure a lot of potential buyers didn’t buy the Haruhi novel because the cover for the paperback sucked. Besides, even though the cover was not anime-oriented, they still stuck it in the “manga” section of every bookstore I’ve gone to. It seems everything is just working against these people’s genuine efforts to bring Japanese light novels to a wider audience. Oh well, I don’t think too highly of any of these children’s books to begin with, so I’m not too affected.

To be entirely frank, I’m not completely enamored of Spice and Wolf, and its elementary economics, or its token furry heroine. I don’t care if the series gets ruined because it got a horrible eyesore as a cover, or the fact Yen Press’s logogram experts can’t come up with a title design that does not look like some early 90′s RPG. Let’s just say, I’m content with what I see. Hah!

As it turns out, today was the date set for something called MikuFES’09. And amongst the humble list of artists who will be present, the last name on the list surprised me. MOSAIC.WAV, known for their creation of the ‘new’ music genre “Akiba-Pop”, have jumped on the bandwagon and will be releasing a ‘collaboration’ CD with Hatsune Miku. Now the only part of all this that bothers me… Is that MOSAIC.WAV already has a high-pitched vocalist who gives me headaches. If you add in Miku to that garbage, just how awful will it become?

On the other hand, MOSAIC.WAV haven’t exactly been the talk of the town after Sumomo mo Momomo, Potemayo, and Kyouran Kazoku Nikki; so perhaps this is their chance to worm their way back into the afterthoughts of nerdy otaku socialites.

What a long wait...

This news isn’t new in the slightest, I believe it was announced nearly two weeks before Comic Market 76. However, my lack of enthusiasm for websurfing cost me dearly in this regard. That makes me sound like I actually care. Hah, nevermind that. I know I won’t be buying this.

No, this isn't the reason I'm broke. Though I wish it was.

Oh geez, I never thought it would happen to me, but it’s finally happened. I’m broke. My mother needed a large sum of money to pay off her debt and ensure that my two older sisters survive the next month without dying of starvation or alcohol poisoning. So I, being the generous son, gave her the entirety of my savings account. And as if preordained by the cosmos, my car chose this morning to decide to stop running as I made plans to go to the nearest Walmart and stock up on instant ramen for the next six months. So now it’s sitting in the parking lot as a $7,000USD paper weight and I’m stuck without a car for at least a good solid month until my next paycheck. What really bothers me though, is that I was planning on buying a WA-6SE for my meager headphone collection before all this went down. The stark reality that faces me now destroys all hope and optimism that I once held for this world.

As most of you already know, nearly 50% of my paycheck goes towards purchasing anime or manga; but now I will not be able to support the industry from the shadows like I have been doing. No more Kira Kira, no more imported manga, still no game consoles and all I come away with is a broken heart. And thus is the life of a messiah, I presume. Call me paranoid, but I believe this is karma for all the badmouthing I’ve done of Kyo-Ani.

Hm, almost looks interesting...

I’m extremely late on this one. So, I just found out yesterday that the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra got involved with some bad crowd and is the talk of the intrusive otaku culture. Little did I know that they were referring to Haruhi music. So I did a simple torrent search, and sure enough there it was. Not one to be fooled, I decided to download the album and sample it — before purchasing of course. Nothing wrong with that. Don’t judge me. I can’t be a straight shooter all the time. I’m only human.

Now where was I? Oh yes, well, Aya Hirano sucks at singing. Good night.

If you’re not convinced by my convincing argument, go  right ahead: buy it and listen for yourself. Granted, the orchestral parts were pretty impressive, but I’m assuming my slight infatuation with the Suzumiya Haruhi bandwagon is biasing my good taste. I’d suggest downloading the FLACs buying the CD, hooking up a cheap ATH-HA20 or Hartmann’s to your computer or player, and borrowing a pair of Kenwood KH-K1000 to listen to the classical instruments completely ruined by anime pop; and just when you think it can’t get any worse Aya Hirano’s vocal seals the deal.

In other news, South Carolina’s governor admits to infidelity. But nine out of 17 Republicans agree, it’s still not quite as bad as Aya Hirano’s singing.

Japanese Lesson For Today: gen – sou, ‘gen’ means a bowstring or chord and ‘sou’ appears to be a type of pastry. Wait, this doesn’t seem right. Oh there we go, I was on the wrong line. It’s to play music.

So I recently bought a JVC HA-RX900 because it was pretty cheap and it looked comfy. Well, for 60 bucks, it’s not a bad headphone, but not very practical. The cord was extremely long, which I assume is because these headphones are meant for people who live in small houses and want to take walks to the local park without carrying an iPod or Zune. more…