Fullmetal Alchemist S2, Episode 1

Being a bit of a fan of the first series, I made the mistake of going into an anime with a “Yeah, this is going to be great” attitude, something I always tell myself to do. In retrospect, this would have been one of the better times to do it.

The first FMA episode seems to have a mixed audience going into it, making it that much harder. You have newcomers, who’ve heard of FMA before and want to see what it’s all about. You have the anime-only watchers, who are inclined to see the “real” story behind the anime. And we have the manga readers, who have a good idea where the plot should be heading.

FMA seems like its trying to cater to all of these audiences, and they might not be doing a great job of it because of that. Newcomers are treated to spoilers in the opening about Ed losing his arm and leg through alchemy, while Al lost his whole body. Yet, the opening doesn’t really show much to manga readers, and, compared to the more RAH-RAH energetic openings of the first run, it has a more serious, dramatic spin to it, rather than the sort of adventurous action/drama that it had before. It’s not a bad opening (I actually think it’s pretty decent), but I think it might have a better impact as a SECOND opening, after the whole FMA gets settled into the viewers’ systems.

In terms of the episode itself, it seems like it’s all over the place. Previous watchers are bored as random character introductions are done again and again. I don’t think my friend Kyokushi will be very happy about Roy Mustang’s new voice. It isn’t bad, per se, but it’s definitely “just different enough” to notice the dissimilarity. I’m glad that there’s still comedic sequences, but it seems almost a bit exaggerated and out-of-place, as if their trying to say, “Hey dumb viewers! Remember this gag from the first run?!” Yeah, we remember, please don’t grind it into our face. >_> There’s a good amount of action, and they probably do a better job of pulling off reveals (Al and Ed’s bodies) than stuff they did earlier. I give characterization a C+.

On the positive side, the animation is a little different, but easy on the eyes. Some of camera angles and choreography is a little overdone, though. Yes, I get to see the Crimson Alchemist’s cell in HIGH-DEFINITION, BUT I DON’T CARE ABOUT HIS STATIC-SCREEN CELL. I understand that production companies have a tight budget in such times, but some more simply drawn, close-angled shots with a more artistic nature might work better. Colors, though are good, vibrant when it needs to be, dark and foggy when you’re in the cold, cold streets of Central. Gives plenty of atmosphere. B+

The music. Music? Didn’t seem to stand out, but I guess it therefore wasn’t bad, either. Voice acting was decent enough, but nothing spectacular. I’m glad that Ed and Al sound pretty much the same as before (with acceptable aging differences), otherwise I would have a hard time getting over the change with Mustang. I give it a B-.

Plot and pacing-wise, as mentioned, it was a bit all over the place, and seemed more like a TV special than the start of a new series. As mentioned before, they seem to be hitting three very different groups at the same time. The first half is relatively spastic and disconnected. The second half, however, seems to gain momentum with the action, where it’s probably strongest. The fight with the Ice Alchemist kinda’ gets you excited about what else this guy can do with water in the middle of battle, and how Ed and Al can overcome his abilities. It saddens me, though that Mustang is presented more comically than dramatic during his action sequences, thereby somewhat ruining the “cool” factor that he has. B-.

Now that my opinion of the show is a bit more down, I can at least hope for things to get better. Rehashes and remakes aren’t really my thing (with the special exception of the Shana movie).

We’ll see what happens. As everyone who knows me already (or now) knows, I tend to be much more forgiving of anime than most people.

AX 2008, Wednesday (Day 0)

Funnily enough, most of the day was me helping WhiteMage clean up stuff and doing last-minute stuff for her. Not exactly fun, as I was hoping not to be straining my arms so early. =_=

When we actually did take off, we had fun navigating through downtown LA. Sticking to the driving directions probably saved us, as we were oriented towards the parking lots. Yay~.

The Los Angeles Convention Center is definitely worthy of AX. A huge, clean, modern monstrosity of a structure. Air-conditioned with wide corridors, grand entranceways, and an easy to follow format. Far nicer than Long Beach. I didn’t see much in the way of LACC and Nokia theater personnel, though, so I’m still wary actual operating experiences. But, it honestly can’t be much worse than last year.

Registration was a breeze. Ten to fifteen minutes of waiting or so, followed by a five second swap of the barcode ID and confirmation. Wow, I wish they had this system all the other years, as well.

Being a snap-happy fella’, I took some random pictures.

I had hurt my foot on the previous day, and was worried that it would be a hinderance, but it didn’t seem like a problem while walking around. There wasn’t much of a rush, as the convention center was mostly empty. I caught some video of a random Melty Blood match going on in the arcade, though.

There was a dance, too, but there was a grand total of 20 or so people. Yeah… that’s really enticing.

After walking around a bit more and finding out where the Nokia Theatre was, WM and I left to do some errands, pick up people, and actually eat dinner. Not really that much for today.

NoodleKnight evidently wanted to meet at the convention center, but due to some massive miscommunication problems over the phone, we ended up missing each other. Mainly, I didn’t even know he was going to even come to the convention center. =_=

Well, there’s always today. Woo. Time to print up my schedule plan for today.

Anime Expo 2008, Day 0: Random Melty Blood Match

Preparing for Anime Expo

Ahh… this will be the seventh time going to Anime Expo.

Do I qualify as a veteran, yet?

In any case, my plan.

Day 1 Plan

Anime Expo – Day 1 Plan

Doesn’t look like I’m going to hit the Exhibit Hall very much, as the Toshihiko Seki and Shokotan panels will be taking up a good amount of time. Also, afterward, I will probably need to be standing in line for the AMV tickets and whatnot. And, afterward, the AMVs themselves.

It’ll be nice if the #beastslair gang and I can get together for the AMVs. Or at least dinner afterward. Probably won’t be any time for a dance or anything. Also, it’ll be nice to see the usual host one more time, as he wanted to retire last year, but things were so horrible that he decided to stay on another year just so things could end on a good note.

Day 2 Plan

Anime Expo – Day 2 Plan

I’m mainly hoping for people to get up earlier than the day before and head over to the LACC, rather than groggily not doing so. It always seems to be a problem getting people up, as if sleep they’ve never had to go with only a few hours of sleep. Bleh.

I especially want to be early this day for the David Hayter panel. I’ll be bringing my MGS3 box with me (not the actual game) so I can have it signed sometime during the day. Hopefully during a time that isn’t inconvenient. Too bad I don’t have a PS3 and MGS4, but I’m not exactly rich, either. I don’t think any of the #beastslair people going have the game, so…

I wonder if they’ll let Banquo get his rifle stock autographed. ^^;

In any case, I’m hoping for a fun time at the Jyukai / Yoko Ishida concert. Woot.

If what the Anime Expo website scroller says is correct, then the Masquerade should be on Friday, not Saturday. I.E., Day 2 instead of Day 3. Unfortunately, some of the retards in charge of the site information and updates don’t really know what the hell they’re doing, as the schedule of programming still shows AX Idol as being on the second. I’ll probably make second backup plan in case AX Idol is really on Friday like their schedule says so.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to personally take a lot of nice pictures of the cosplayers, for a change.

I don’t think many family members realize I’m fairly snap happy if I actually have a digital camera in my hand. ^^;

After Masquerade, hopefully I can go to one of the dances, possibly with other #beastslair people. Club dances, mind you. I can’t dance for beans, anyway. But I at least can pretend I know how to dance.

With the help of large amounts of sugar in my bloodstream. >_>

Thank God for Denny’s. I love that restaurant.

Edit: Alright, I guess they’re referring to Masquerade Ball being changed to Friday, not Masquerade. Which is a sidenote of a dance on the schedule, displayed in a box, rather than actually having been put in the schedule itself.

… Can’t they just make a visual schedule for dances and gaming and make things easier? Consistency of design, dammit.

Day 3 Plan

Anime Expo – Day 3 Plan

Day 3 is a particularly troublesome day. I want to support Jyukai and secure her signature, but the Shokotan concert happens right afterwards. Being a main event, it would require tickets. There’s only a half-hour gap between the end of the Jyukai panel and the beginning of seating for the Shokotan concert; tickets very easily might be gone by then.

One solution is to have someone else wait in line for a ticket while I attend the panel, but I would feel guilty about that.

The other solution is to forgo going to the Jyukai panel and waiting in line for a ticket for Shokotan. orz

The latter solution might be what will end up happening, as I value going to a concert higher than going to a panel.

In any case, as alluded to before, the Masquerade is stated in the schedule to be on this day, and it is implied by the news scroller that AX Idol will be on this day in actuality. I will probably have to make a backup plan, as well. If AX Idol does happen on this day, I will be in luck, as I don’t plan on attending it!

This opens me up for the Exhibit Hall and several smaller panels and events, such as the Otaku Parliamentary Debate finals, the Dating Sim panel, and Last Comic Standing. I have no particular preference for most of them, but I’m sure Banquo of the #beastslair crowd would be interested in attending a few of them. So, it’d be fun to go in a group. I just want people to have a good time, really.

Day 4 Plan

Anime Expo – Day 4 Plan

The sad part about the last day is that there aren’t many events, and things end generally about 3PM. At least last year, we had a Transformers movie to wait in line and get excited over. This year, back to the Exhibit Hall for the last few freebies and deals. Or attending some of the panels specific to the last day, like the voice actors panel and whatnot. And convention feedback.

If this AX turns into a disaster, I will definitely have something to say. In fact, I probably will have something to say, anyways, as the AX website is very bad with giving names and whatnot. Thankfully, registration seems to be going smoother, and Day 0 registration day seems to have stuck as a lasting tradition. But, I’m interested in voicing my opinion about the updates. I’m looking at you, Joseph Kitzman. Too, I’d also be interested in getting their IT shop working efficiently and securely. Apparently, they have some serious problems getting things working. >_>

Finally, the closing ceremonies. Last year, it was actually entertaining, as they had some Central/South American homemade video about two otakus arguing with each other over something stupid, and then fighting some anime-like battle to the death. For something homebrew, it was pretty darn impressive.

I sure do hope AX will be good this year. Of course, it can’t be worse than last year, but for a few people, this is going to be their first Anime Expo, and I want to help make it a good experience for them, as well as help them realize that 1.) LA isn’t a dangerous, gang-infested slum of violence, where you have to live in constant fear for your life, and 2.) that anime conventions aren’t about having some horribly obnoxious otaku stinking up your personal space.

Alright, guess I’m done for now.

Whoooo

That’s what I felt like after finishing Slayers NEXT (recommended by the great Arai). A nice ol’ fantasy adventure with a nice, in-depth world to support it. Slowly but surely, I’m gearing up for Slayers Revolution (which I hope will be good and not suffer from any “resurrection sickness”).

In the last post, I mentioned being concerned about lag between frame and location, so I went and ran some ad hoc tests. Turns out that, at least on the computer I’m using, the difference in lag is less than millisecond. ^^; I guess I was worrying too much… In any case, Codename Spark reached v0.0.6.3, and about all I really want to do with it for now. Guess it’s time to move onto another section… probably image layers? Since I’ve done so much graphical coding so far (which is definitely not my forte), I guess it’s good to continue with it until I get sick of pixels and SDL_Surfaces and whatnot. That way, doing something far more interesting, like reimplementing the ZODIAC system I had before, will be far, far more engaging.

Lately, I’ve been getting more ideas for Eldeen’s world, to the point that I might just end up writing some of this stuff down. Maybe afterwards, it’ll make more sense. Hopefully, after all of Nekohime is said and done, I can use the engine to recreate my new world. At the very least, it’ll serve as a nice way to demonstrate other things you can do with it.

RK should stop staying up so late. He should also stop doing stupid mistakes that would take over an hour of debugging to figure out, only to change a two 0’s into two i’s. God save us all.

Spark v0.0.6.3

Anime Expo 2007, Day 4

Day 4

Sunday, July 2nd, 2007

With checkout at 11AM, there was a bit of a rush to get people to wake up and pack. Afterwards, I headed off to the exhibit hall at 11:30, since I actually wanted to look around and buy something.

It was then that I nabbed a Revoltech Saber figure for $25. Niiice. With a bit of money left over for a few more purchases, I searched around for one store that had an Arche Klaine figurine: one that wasn’t $69. And that’s when I saw it… marked down to $35 for the final day. Previously, it had been $45, which was still out of my price range on Day 1, and I would later find out that $35 is about where you’d actually want to pay excluding shipping.

Going through some last rounds through the booths before I headed towards the line for the Transformers movie, I snagged six packs of T-M Lycée cards before bidding fare well to the exhibit hall. ::sigh:: I wish I had more time.

The line, however, was ridiculously long, worse than the line for the exhibit hall (though not as bad as Day 1 Registration). Stuck in the blazing hot sun, Tokyopop bag beginning to break due to excessive use, I showed off what little I had to the rest of my group. And, of course, like every other line I’ve ever been in, whenever I get incredibly bored and try to situate myself into a less-boring and more entertaining position, the line moves. Like magic. Which usually means trying to stuff everything back into my backpack. D:

Mahou~

We eventually made it faster through some creative maneuvering and a contact we knew further up the line. Wheee… Stuffed into balcony seats, unfortunately.

But I guess that didn’t matter. Transformers was by far the best action flick I’ve seen in forever. The robotics animation was fluid yet natural. The power of the Autobots and the Decepticons seemed on par to a Gundam, yet seemed more believable given the live-action context. The plot wasn’t that bad for an action movie, and served to complement it rather than exist separate from it. Old-school quotes were well-received in the movie, but not to the extent to make it painfully obvious, cheesy, or out-of-place. And the U.S. military, even though they were getting their ass kicked by Blackout and troubled by Sector 7, proved themselves to actually be competent, adaptive, and effective, unlike how many other movies typically portray them.

My guess on why people still are mixed about this movie is because they have these enormous preconceptions as to what the movie would be about, with some having their heads so far up their own asses to see that why a lot of the changes from the original Transformers had some very good reasoning behind it. But, you know, I’ll just group them with the same people who think that the Fate/stay night was horrible because it lacked the sex scene, or that Emiya Shirou is an idiot and a loser because he isn’t using his Unlimited Blade Works non-stop.

So… anyways!

After Transformers, we headed over to the closing ceremonies. A short foreign film called “Otaku” was playing, where these two Latin American (?) otakus are arguing over some insignificant detail about some anime series. The argument escalates into a DBZ-like fight between nerds, which was actually surprisingly well-done. Afterwards, the Guests of Honor came out, and all the fans cheered for them. I’m glad they were there, because the host was a retard who didn’t know how to speak if it wasn’t actually written in his script. Ishikawa was there, and my sister and I cheered for her. I had a feeling that they, too, felt disappointed with the Anime Expo itself because of how things were organized. And, I think the fans wanted them all to know that they very much appreciated having them over.

And, that was the end. While it was probably the worst Anime Expo I’ve been to, I ended up finding things to do anyways, and generally enjoyed myself. I just hope that Anime Expo cleans up their act.

I also hope that next year, Anime Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center won’t be a bomb, either.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Anime Expo 2007, Day 3

Day 3
Sunday, July 1st, 2007

For once, something was actually scheduled correctly. The new AMV Contest re-viewing thing at 10:00AM actually went off without a hitch. We all left at 9:30AM and got there just as it started.

Had the original AMV Contest schedule actually gone smoothly, it would have been a fairly good all around. Not stupendously impressive, but good nonetheless.. There were a total of three Fate videos: Even More Fatal Blood (probably from the guy who made Fatal Blood the year before), Nascent Malediction (two more words I have to Google), and Knights of Fate, which I felt was the best made out of the three, and might have a good chance of actually winning. That is, if everyone doesn’t vote for Skittles, the Haruhi video.

I kinda’ wanted to head back to the exhibit hall, mainly to look for the Revoltech Saber, but I needed to send off a friend who was going home that day. I ended up instead heading to the line to get tickets for the Ishikawa Chiaki concert. Luckily, there wasn’t much of a line. And, luckily, even though they were delayed, and security were particularly anal, the concert wasn’t a disaster like the Haruhi one. Everything was fairly solid, even if the Arena wasn’t exactly crowded.

Strangely enough, the Masquerade was mostly on time. We got in fairly quickly, and it actually started on schedule. There weren’t any T-M costumes, though, so that was a bit of a shame, but for the most part, there were some very good cosplays. Unfortunately, it seems like the Long Beach Convention Center itself and their hired security retards were getting in the way of a lot of people. Or, at least, that’s what I could glean from the situation. Apparently, upper-management of both Long Beach and SPJA were… stupid, anal, and overly concerned about money. But that’s just my opinion.

As I chat away in #beastslair, my eyes become tired. I need sleep. But I can’t stop typing.

D:

Anime Expo 2007, Day 2

Day  2

Saturday, June 30th, 2007

Ended up sleeping in until 11:15AM… I ended up staying up last night fairly late to watch a friend of mine play Melty Blood on his laptop. And… the Ishikawa Chiaki panel was to start at 11:30AM. For those who don’t know, Ishikawa-san is the singer half to See-Saw, with Kajiura Yuki making up the second half. Recently, she’s been going solo. Guaaahh… I’m gonna miss this… ;-;

But, this is me. And I’m not gonna let something like oversleeping keep me back!

So, I threw on my clothes and whatnot in five minutes, then ran off towards the convention center. Only to realize that I had to go the far end to get to the panel. So I continued to run. D:

I arrived at the panel at 11:40AM. Ouch… oh well. I enjoyed it anyway. Ishikawa-san was a very nice and friendly person. And had her own cute way of talking, I guess. I didn’t know and still don’t know much about her anyway, so the questions that were asked of her and her corresponding answers were very insightful and enjoyable for me. I’m also somewhat glad I can understand about maybe a third of what she’s saying, despite my limited grasp of Japanese. Whee~!

Honestly, I feel that the only enjoyment I’ve had from the AX events themselves are the panels.

After we were let out at 12:20PM, I headed into the exhibition hall for a bit. Spotted EvoSpace again at his booth, seemingly bored with his job at that moment as he passed out mini-fliers. He pointed me towards a booth somewhere the 600 Aisle that he said sold some Lycee cards. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find it. -_-; Worse, when I went to visit my favorite booth again, they lacked any more Touhou games in their doujin game section. Guhh… I was hoping to pick up at least Imperishable Night, then Perfect Cherry Blossom there. ::sigh::

I wandered around some more, but decided that I should probably search for the line for tickets for the Haruhi concert that would be coming up later on. So I headed over to the Arena building and secured six tickets for Haruhi, one for each of our group. YAY! Something is going right!

Or not.

I ended up waiting in line for hours on end. First outside for hours, then inside the building for hours, then inside the concert area for hours. Nothing has started, and they were already a few hours late. I missed watching the Death Note movies because of this. D:

I don’t know exactly what was going on. But I’m betting it’s a mix of technical difficulties, inability to locate the three seiyuu, and inability for management to tell workers what the hell is going on. But, I honestly waited many hours of my life doing nothing. And when people finally came on stage (first Mikuru, then Haruhi & Nagato afterwords), it was obvious that the hosts were stalling for time because of some major complication. We also find the English VAs being forced onto the stage to partake in various delaying tactics. It got to the point where there the people were even arguing and blaming people on-stage. Yeowch.

In the end, we got several songs spread throughout the event, anyway. Which were good in themselves, but as part of the whole… I was enjoying those moments mostly for the fact that something was going on.

Later on, I went to the dance at one of the hotels. Now THAT was actually fun. Something good at the end of the day. Dancing isn’t really my thing, since I can’t really dance at all, but it got my mind off of the worse parts of the day. There are a few stories about that, but I’ll save that for later, since I’m heading off to the AMVs now. Hopefully they got it right this time. D:

Anime Expo 2007, Day 1

 

Day 1

 

Friday, June 29th, 2007

Woke up at 6:30AM, but didn’t start getting ready until 7:00. By 7:30, though, I was pretty much ready to head out for registration. But, just like I predicted, other people would be slow. So, as I waited and played music for the next hour or so, I breathed a sigh of regret. The line would only get longer and longer.

We finally left at 9AM, but the line was, at this point, ridiculously large. Sent to the back of the line, which snaked itself in and around the whole of a parking lot. We finally registered around 12PM, around when the exhibition hall opened up. I wasn’t able to get into it until 1:30, but I was able to quickly locate Hen Da Ne, which I regularly go to each Anime Expo for various doujin and… uhh… visual novel goods.f

Chatting with the storekeeper, he seemed to have figured that TYPE-MOON stuff in general tends to be good sellers. He had stocked up a lot of hollow ataraxia, as a result, but Realta Nua was going “for a high price,” as the shopkeeper from Resident Evil 4 would say. It would be bundled with the telephone card, all of the grail bust statues (sans the Kuro Saber), and, as well as the Torabura game. The sad fact of the matter is that I don’t own a PSP, and as much as I’m disappointed with Sony in various ways, I wouldn’t mind owning a PSP at all.

I ended up purchasing Fate/hollow ataraxia, the This Illusion and Hollow singles, and the Hishoku no Sora single by Kawada Mami. Uwaah… Oh wait. And Fate/Zero volume 1 & 2. Yay.

I wandered around some more, and spotted a rather nice Arche figurine. I was hoping for $30-40 USD, but it ended up being $69 USD. Ouch. ;-; I’m, sorry, Arche, but my money is tight. Maybe if I can find you at a more reasonable price.

Afterwords, I headed to the Broccoli booth to track down EvoSpace, or Koji. Supposedly, he was supposed to be near, but the people at Circus didn’t know where he was. Hell, I asked for “Koji,” and I got a larger, more broadly built man. I’m thinking, “ZOMG THAT’S NOT EVO… unless he changed a lot. o__o”

I hung around for a bit, hoping to spot him. Luckily, I ran into none other than Raven, who I somehow remembered. I exchanged some words with him, and he found out that Koji wouldn’t be coming until maybe a half hour.

Damn. You need to work, Evo!

So, we waited and hung around, idly chatting as we looked for Koji. We spotted him and flagged him down, intercepting him before he could even get close to the Circus booth. We greeted him and talked with him a bit as a few other people joined in. Koji was doing such a -wonderful- job of handing out brochures as we loitered around.

And so, around 2:30 or so, I took my leave and started look searching for the inevitable line that would lead to tickets for the AMV Contest. Apparently, the staff has no idea about anything. The people by the ticket office tell me to go downstairs. Downstairs tells me to go downstairs. Downstairs’s downstairs tells me to check near the exhibition hall. The exhibition hall tells me to check near the ticket office.

WHAT.

I swear, organization this year is absolutely stupid dumb. Instead, I head into the Galaxy Angel panel, which I thoroughly enjoy. I didn’t win any raffle prizes, though, but… eh. It was getting to see the producers and character designers talk and whatnot. I know it must be difficult to speak in English, so I applaud their efforts.

Afterwards, it’s sitting in line for the AMV tickets. After waiting for hours, it turns into sitting in line for the AMV itself. Which somehow turns into, “Someone stole my laptop which had all the contest AMVs on it so no AMV contest tonight.”

D:

Now THAT just sucks. Worse, they plan to reschedule for 9:30am tomorrow morning. NINE THIRTY. It was already hard to get people to leave at 9AM for something as important as registration.

Long Beach sucks.

All that was shown was a single category: AmTV. Which isn’t necessarily the best. There was a rather nice Fate/stay night video called “Knights of Fate,” but I guess our votes don’t matter!

In the end, I returned back to where we’re crashing to drop stuff off and pop a pair of aspirin pills for the annoying ass headache that the whole AMV fiasco caused.

I was hoping that I would enjoy more of the events and less of the exhibition hall this year. Unfortunately, due to inept care of the AX staff, that hope was scattered into the wind.

Today’s loot

- Fate/hollow ataraxia
- Fate/Zero Vol. 1
- Fate/Zero Vol. 2
- Fate/stay night – This Illusion / days Single
- Fate/hollow ataraxia Single
- Kawada Mami – Hishoku no Sora Single (Shakugan no Shana OP1)

Anime Expo 2007, Day 0

I arrived at Long Beach at around 8PM… just about time when pre-registration closed

orz

I won’t go into details why, but let’s just say I was ready to go since this morning. Oh well. I guess that means I’ll have to wake up early tomorrow.

Long Beach looks better than I remembered. Out by the ocean, lots of restaurants and bars and whatnot to support a decent nightlife, a nice cool breeze. What isn’t so great, though, is the hotel situation. To be frank, Long Beach doesn’t seem to have the actual CAPABILITY to host something as large as an Anime Expo. Trying to reserve a room six months in advance was nothing less than hell. Not mailing out my badge until June 25th is bad. Even if they had printing problems because of the lack of a sponsor, that just shows that they didn’t handle an even more important thing — finding a sponsor for them — with enough proper care and attention as they should have. I mean, I don’t think someone like Geneon or ADV or Viz or Newtype would be that hard to sign up for a certain type of advertising. And people love the lanyards.

It’s already hard enough to get people to come together and meet. Thank you, SPJA, for making things more complicated. Because, you know, having a year in advance every year, you’d hope the process would get better each year.

So,  that’s how this ends up. Tomorrow… I plan to go for registration. I’ll probably miss the opening ceremonies. The first thing I want to do, though, is head into the exhibit hall and grab some of the rarer items that are around. Also chat up with some of the store owners that I always see each year. Then, while people attend the SKIN concert, I’ll be patiently waiting for tickets to the AMVs. After I secure them, the Galaxy Angel panel is next. Wheeeee. Followed by the Hirano, Chihara, & Goto Focus Panel (the three principal female seiyuu for Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu), and then rushing to a presentation about Afterworld.

Then, from 6:30PM onward, it’s AMVs and the waiting for the AMVs. Hopefully, the guy won’t put his laptop on a cart, then accidentally drop it, completely destroying it and the AMVs on it, further delaying the AMV Contest. Ugh. I’ll probably bring a muffin with me tomorrow.

Crunch Time

Seems like a bunch of projects and other things in my life are hitting critical points. Time to rant away…

• A+ and Network+ Certification programs coming to an end in a little more than a week. I get to take tests afterwards. >_>
• The BL Game Project (semi-renamed, unofficially, to Project Nekohime) is hitting a point where things the battle code might be put into production. Hopefully, I can get Raf, Noodle, and JSeabolt to join in, and CB if he’s still around. >_>
• Planning on joining a role-playing game. Though I really don’t have too much time to be doing stuff like this. >_>
• The Tsukihime Translation Project has been in normal playtesting phase, which takes a lot of time to go through, and the deadline is fast approaching. >_>
• Classes start up in the beginning of September. I need to get my Japanese up to speed again. >_>
• I made a slight promise to have Project Neco-Arc would be up within a month. Well, that month has now transformed into a little more than a week. >_>
• Project W has been trying to be restarted for a while. Sort of waiting on me. >_>