This weekend we have three interesting conventions, all in the greater Seattle area:

1. SEATTLE TATTOO EXPO : @Seattle Center : Aug 7-9

Come and see dozens of tattoo artists and their art in Seattle Center, along with various hip-hop crews blastin some phat beats. Vendors are also present, and Kinokuniya (the Uwajimaya bookstore peeps) will be there! Woot! Even if you never plan to get a tat, i’m sure the artwork will stun you.

Link: Seattle Tattoo Expo

2. INNOCENTE SERAPHIM : The Bellevue Westin : Aug (7),8,9

A small convention with a focus on BJDs (Ball Jointed Dolls), Goth Lolita fashion, and tea parties. They have a concert featuring the Kissing Violets, a small exhibition hall, photo area, and even a bowling event for people in GothLoli/Victorian dresses! (?) This event does not really seem to cater to my interests, but I may attend for a day just to see what’s up. (as a side note, the creator of one of my fav animes Ghost in the Shell, Shirow Masamune once said that dolls arent simply mimicking real babies; no, girls grow up and have have babies because they subconciously want to relive life with dolls again !! interesting theory, no?)

link: Innocente Seraphim Site

3. DRAGONFLIGHT : Hilton Bellevue : Aug 7-9

This is supposedly the best gaming convention in all the Northwest…during this time period. With 29 Years in the running, this event with over 500 people focuses on tabletop gaming and larping (Rolemodels much?), with some comp gaming. Looks fun! Hope they have Settlers of Catan, cuz that’s one of the only tabletop games i know of…T_T

link: Dragonflight

I have no idea whether I’ll be going to all or none or some or two or three or one of these, but if you manage to find one to go to, gimme a ring, and i’ll come on OVA. : (425) 577-1073. I don’t bite, usually.

RHO

ok, just finished my sandwich.

Sakura-con!

oh that joyous time of year in Seattle, when fat people dress skinny, skinny people don armor, people hug strangers, and large crowds actually make you happy. My pilgrimage, my Carnaval, my bbq ribs laced in honey and sauce.
k, waiting in line is haaaado gei (in a bad way), and it seemed like the pre-reg line was just as long as the at-the-door-reg line. I waited for an hour, and this was partially because their database died for a while….
here’s a 4koma summarizing my struggles:

Highlights:
the Exhibitors area (merchandise place) has been physically expanded to encompass the entire room that it’s been in before (it used to only take up half). Downside: it seems like the selection of mercs has been kinda lame….for me, figure hunting has revealed lame results. Good thing: this time i actually didn’t accidentally stumble upon a heaping pile of yaoi, as happened in the past (long story). Kinokuniya reduced it’s stock there…maybe saturday will be bettah.

AMVs:
what can I say? I mean, even if everything else disappoints you, well, the AMV’s always impress. They crack me up like a…ghost…out of…the shell…(?).
Funny stuff:
Death Note AMV…but to Scar’s theme from Lion King.
Haruhi, gundam guys, and Death Note guys…playing…uh oh…section 9 in Counterstrike! talk about counter-terrorism…
the Death Note takes out criminals? Not today. It takes out bad anime series. There can only be one (Prince of Darkness) anime to rule them all!
And of course Steve and Vlad brought us the best of them all. Too lazy to list them all off.
Wanna see the secret lives of anime characters in real life behind the screen? Too bad, you’ll see something supposedly better tomorrow. They’re not gonna show this stuff again.
GO!: to saturday’s showing of the AMV contest. make sure to get blue tickets for it BEFOREhand to get in/ get good seats.

Manga library: hmmm…lame i can’t pick out books on my own. apparently i’m so untrustworthy with second-rate books that I have to trade in my badge to read a book…

Panels: stopped by an info session on the JET Program (studying in Japan). Get a scholarship to study there! wanna be an animator? goto the website, sheesh, don’t ask me. History of Visual Novels (H and non-H)…cereally? pplz, I pay 45+ dollars for this convention, could you not hire/bring in more capable, less boring speakers? All I learned was that Clannad was the first visual novel to introduce the “Crying story” type of visual novel (storyline: comedy, then romance, separation, then reunion…awwwwww :3). Meidos: hmmm, i never liked them much, but i stopped in and learned that guys like to wear such Victorian era outfits too. btw, they weren’t meant to be sexy looking, and well, they aren’t.

Anime Dating Game: WHO WANTS HARD-GAY!??!?!? also, the cousins in Katamari Damacy were up for love too. Funny stuff. Definitely not PG material. Don’t bring yo’ kids. btw, a guy dressed as a pimp “won” HG.

Sigh…Did not get a chance to see Girugamesh, or more importantly, the enthusiastic fan seen/made fun of in many a video/4chan.

Look forward to more news.

-RHO

Oh,…..they bETtaH not.

Now i’ve never really seen much of Dragonball Z, so i dunno what to think about the new live action of that…

but Fullmetal Panic! (?)

Something must be done.  And not Zac F-Ron. If he plays Sagara Sousuke, he’d better duck like Aflac, cuz i got a shoe that needs throwin’.

-RHO

PS: come to sakuracon. girugamesh

So since this year is the year of the ox people have started making pictures of girls in….cow costumes…and why? Because it’s moe probably…

Happy Moo year!

to clarify: where’s the funniness?
where’s the flow?
what’s the future (of this comic)?
worse than fanfics?
wasting the frames?
where’s the fangirl?
want this fanta?
winnie the foo?
These are very important questions I think about when I read this webcomic.

So…
This used to be quite a funny comic about two weaboos (spelling?) who somehow get stuck in Tokyo, and have to make their way there, earning money to fly back to the US of A.

Yes, that was years ago, but,
I can’t help but feel it was also years ago that the webcomic (one of the most if not the most popular fusion (American & Japanese style) ones out there) had an actual comprehensible plot. Far back there used to be a very endearing arc about the attraction between protagonist Piro and the rising seiyuu, Kimiko. For those of you how haven’t read the webcomic, the artistically talented Piro, who works at an anime store met Kimiko via a female coworker, and through many mishaps and troubles with fans, etc., the two grow closer together and make it offishhh(? i forget if that’s true). I found it particularly touching when Kimiko saw a bit of herself in the “sad girl in snow” pictures Piro drew. That’s some refrigerator-postable stuff.

Add some N!nj4 stuff, Great Teacher Largo, and the cute pipsqueak hamster (Largo’s conscience angel thing) and you had a great mix of comedy, light romance, and otaku-Dom. did i say DOM? that man’s hilarious (he’s a guest artist/ranter). Draws great too.

But, unfortunately, with the overly mysterious and perhaps cannibalistic/necrophiliac lolita goth Miho, robot chick, random appearance of class rep (i think), and more…all resemblance of a plot or at least a good one has faded.

Fred Gallagher, I admire your artist skill that has improved greatly over the ages (see below, unless you are Fred).
Before:

awesome scale:
After:

awesome scale:

But for a guy who does this for a living, you need to step up your update schedule, give teh comic back it’s plot and romance (rekindle mah fire, man), etc. to keep viewers like me comin’ back, time after time. Cuz, readers, if you’re lost and you’re lonely, you will find MT.

I’m gonna keep readin’ this series, hopin’ to see some more of the beautiful chemistry between Piro and Kimiko…but, remember Megatokyo: I loved you with a fire red, now it’s turnin’ blue. And for all that random Miho and Ping and Dead-Piro-Let’s-not-make-a-comic-for-10-days-and-instead-post-random-sketches stuff that made me wonder what the hell was going on…: it’s too late to apologize…it’s too late.

Good God, Everett is far away…


Aki-Con - Not in Canada, as the mascot may imply

Hello all, this is RHO, reporting from Aki-con ’08 in the Holiday Inn, Everett, WA. So far it is what I’ve expected – a couple hundred peeps here, one floor, kind of unorganized – but hey, it’s a con, and it balances of the huge gap in time between every annual Sakura-con.

The Main Stage. (Since I forgot to bring an actual camera, I will have to resort to using photoshop illustrations.)

Props go the organizers for setting up the entrances to the rooms (panel room, vid rooms, main stage, etc.) with torii gates. It’s not too crowded, with enough breathing air and space to take photos of the cosplayers and such. Not props for the opening ceremony speeches…the speakers need to speak up louder and not read from sheets. Also, the “volunteer” who read out the intro for the Ichidan cosplay group…needs to learn how to read first. With that let’s go to the main attractions of the first day.

I tend to be long-winded, so I’ll just try to sum things up without writing an essay:

On the main stage:
Cosplay Photo How To’s: Very talented photographers who taught us some basic lighting techniques, good use of environment, etc.

10 Commandments of Cosplay: A couple who were amazing at making costumes gave us the rundown about how to run to the thrift store and Home Depot to put together high quality costumes. Remember: low quality (cheap) materials = low quality costume, get appropriate footwear, pee with your costume on, not in your costume, and if you’re hot, dress like Belldandy.

The Slants. In concert!

Slants/Soul Candy Concert: ooo…Soul Candy opens with “Zero” from Nana, “Today” from Bleach, and more from Beck, and i forgot the other series….ugh. Slants - lead singer = ughhhh…

UPDATE!: Anime Dating Game:
If you like sexy time and comedy, but not both simultaneously, you should not show disinterest in not viewing the Anime Dating Game, which is like dating games where a girl/guy chooses one from four suitors based on how they answer questions behind a curtain (but with anime characters…). Vulgar and over the top - the following diagram accurately depicts what happened the first round - catman, engineer from team fortress II, hardgay, and a black man in a dragonball Z costume try their luck against Haruhara Haruko’s questions.

If you could destroy the world, how would you do it? I’d punch it.

Later: oh my: Anime Swim Suit Contest?
this could get ugly…unless you like men.

Unique things about Aki-Con I’ve noticed so far: Small, just on one floor. Registration/PreReg all at the front entrance…which could create a hassle if a lot of people need to wait in line (ppl would have to line up on the wall outside the building). The con is in a hotel, so it’s great for ppl who have rooms here.

They have a nice manga library type room here, where you can kick back, relax, and read manga. Just go back to what made you fall in love with Japanese pop culture in the first place.

-RHO

PS: Slants’ new album name: “Slanted Eyes, Slanted Hearts”…
…broken hearts…? maybe…?

Mystery at ye ol’ storage room

And this episode we….introduce more characters? Quite a bit of introducing, though it’s better than just brushing off all the minor characters. This episode was also quite funny, so I’m still enjoying the series, but I wonder when we’re going to see idol Nagi-tan. Well the art club is an interesting and well balanced group. The Megane x Waifu (Takako x Shino) seems similar to the Sae x Hiro from Hidamari Sketch except Takako is looking to be more of a fangirl (yaoi) than a lesbian (I’m pretty sure Sae had yuri tendencies…). Then there’s (Oh Geass No!) Jin x Daitetsu. And Meguru (Akiba) can go lust after Nagi or something. Wait, why am I forming pairings? And why is only one of them hetero?

There were a few funnies this episode, including Meguru’s shape shifting abilities and Jin’s hug-dodge (and here it is from another view :3)

The other day I was looking around for some Kannagi figures and found this. Not only is it a pretty nice looking figurine (except for the hair ends) it’s also got the PV for the OP song. By next time I should have the single album uploaded here.

I wonder what kind of magazine those guys are looking at. For some reason there always has to be one dude with an afro ><. Also is it just me or are the girls’ school uniforms a little…short…they should wear thigh highs…definately…

I’m not sure Jin is truly aware of the importance of his decision. (VEGETABLES?? She told him to make sure to eat the tamagoyaki last episode…wasn’t that supposed to be a sign?)

His character reminds me of Sakaki. Except…ummm this scene kinda freaked me out. His scream *shiver*

“Don’t worry Jin, I’ll always be—” NO…WHAT AM I….

Meguru’s second transformation. He shoulda joined the drama club

I liked this shot. It gave this (sorta) creepy sensation. Oh and Jin….grow some balls

Oh Rena, what happened to your hat? And billhook?

Shame on Meguru for comparing a game with reality. REAL WOMEN ARE JUST TRASH!!(read this manga it’s hilarious)

Jin=Pathetic. Nagi deflected all of his strikes….why would a god know self defense anyways?

OMG HIS AHOGE FELL. It was actually quite funny when I saw it.

If Tsugumi keeps pulling out those puppy eyes I might go back to liking humans again.

Auuuuu~~~(not really but it was the closest I could find =/)

Intermission!

Tsugumi:”Nagi-san….”

Nagi:”Hmmm?”

Tsugumi:”I have something very important to tell you….I…I…”

Tsugumi:”No, nevermind. Just forget I said anything…”

Nagi:”ufufufufu~~~”

Nagi:”Don’t worry, I understand…and I feel the same way about you.”

Tsugumi:”…!”

Tsugumi:”Ummm Nagi-san? I really don’t think–”

Nagi:”Shhh don’t worry. Nobody can hear us.”

Nagi:”I’ve gotten pretty good at this, so just leave it to me. Since it’s our first time I’ll be gentle.”

****************************************************************************************************

End (I apologize for sucking at writing a script)

It’s futile, but I want Jin to have these eyes when he beats Nagi and Tsugumi because he’s paranoid about them wanting to kill him.

Totally a boss fight. And Nagi is gonna solo it.

Meguru’s 3rd transformation of the episode. It looks like he got possesed by a mud demon. I’ll be looking forward to the other forms of Akiba Meguru.

Ursabear is confused! Ursabear uses Bite on Diglett!

So much for the boss fight. You know, if Shino would open her eyes I bet she’d look like Haruka (Minami-ke). Which would be awsome.

Oh man this was hilarious. Bonus points to Tsugumi for worrying about Nagi instead of Jin. (ohandbytheway those skirts are WAY too short.)

Yay next time I get to write about Zange and gym storage rape! Waku waku giri giri~~~

Sigh I can dream…

Screencaps!!

Introduction of Aoba Tsugumi

Frankly, I get the feeling that not much happened in this episode again. Tsugumi (childhood friend) is introduced, but other than that it’s pretty much standard stuff. Not much came out of Jin kicking out Nagi other than a piggyback. And a Nagi vs superball match. But the resolution was very sub par in my opinion. I’m not sure about the kitten things either. I’m considering siting the source just so I have an idea as to how this all connects.

What’s up with Jin? On one end he’s sniffing Nagi’s futon and on the other he’s got this disappointed look on his face knowing she didn’t run away or something.

Nagi should learn to put her “feminine charms” to better use. (In the words of Konata-sama DFC should be proud of their DFC because it’s a rarity.) Maybe then Jin would learn the benefits of listening to a girl.

This was priceless. 1:Imitating Jin 2:Indirectly commenting about her bust size 3:The laugh OMG. I’d hire Nagi as a maid even though she isn’t a maid and WHY hasn’t a meido Nagi appeared on Danbooru yet. I might just go and get a pixiv account…

How can Nagi excorsize demons if she doesn’t have her wand? Though this was cute of her so I’ll forget about it <3. Jin should learn to play along with these things.

Love triangle mode on! Even though she may claim to be a childhood friend, any girl that “fixes” their hair before ringing the doorbell has got to…wait why Jin? Why Rin? Why Takaki? Why Keitaro? What attracts girls to male leads in romantic comedies is a mystery to me.

Jin has made some pretty amazing faces so far. The pantie pull doesn’t hurt either.

And here we have the pantie toss.

Is it just me or when Nagi was acting all refined she got like 10x more beautiful. Maybe it’s just because there are so few “rich girls” that are not stuck-up or boisterous. Maybe I’m saying this because in this pic Nagi isn’t like….completely flat…

It makes me happy knowing that the animators do stuff with the background (red light/green light). Also, why do girls say things in such roundabout ways. I’m sure if this was Shana she’d just say straight up that she made the tamagoyaki. Could this possibly be….the real world?

Even though she’s a god, Nagi should at least know some things about womanly behavior. Maybe…well it’s a good thing Jin bought her panties (at the expense of his social standing)

I swear Nagi isn’t wearing a bra. There was one in the basket in ep1 but I refuse to believe it. As a lover of DFC I can’t let this investigation go unfinished….! What about dead kittens?

Why are ALL THE GUYS hiding behind the girl. Seriously…have some pride. That one on the right is even trying to look cool while hiding behind a girl.

Nagi vs. SuperBall. HEAVEN OR HELL…

Ball bounce where?

And Nagi is defeated. If I played Battle Raper I’d quote something from there. That wink is pretty cute, though…

That ball must have some kind of skirt shrinking power. Wonder if I can buy it online…

Thanks for reading through this ^^. I gotta pump out an essay now so I’ll get to episodes 3, 4 and 5 soon…hopefully…

And more Nagi pics…I’m really hopeless…(the last one in the table is extra, but thighs are nice too)

One god to rule them all

Some things I’d like to list off first about this series is that it actually makes me laugh and that I love Nagi. And Zange. The OP is awsome too.

So I like this OP a lot. It’s not like many other OPs that try and profile the main characters and focuses on a single character. They also portray Nagi as an idol which in itself would make it fairly popular. (as far as I know idols are quite popular in Japan and America.) This combined with a catchy song and some cutscenes make this OP stand out from the rest.

So for the first episode Kannagi does a nice job of defining the characteristics for Jin and Nagi and the situation they (Nagi mainly) are in. Outside of that nothing much happens, though. Not to say that I didn’t like it, but half of this episode seems to be taken out of some kind of romantic comedy. Now if Jin were more like, say, Kogarashi this might be an interesting route, but he seems like a pretty normal guy (like most other guys in anime >>’)

I like the highlights here. It’s not something that I’ll be expecting throughout the series, but it’s nice to see that the studio pays attention to this kind of detail.

He’s looking pretty intensely at….something…masaka….

While watching this, Jin’s reactions have been pretty funny, but if a hot girls materializes out of a wooden statue you just made, would you just drop your bike? Shame on Jin for not jumping her. On another note, why does she have clothes on?

Okay, this kid can’t be normal. There’s no reason a pubescent male should be in this much shock (see ep4 for another example…)

This scene was hilarious (9:36). I like how Jin completely ignores her and….wait is Nagi taller than Jin? So would that make Jin a lolicon or Nagi a shotacon? Or is this a normal relationship between a young-looking guy and girl with no complex?? This shouldn’t be this confusing =(

Wow Jin what a man. There’s a hawt girl in despair next to you and you scratch your ass. I hope you don’t get any of the girls at the end because it’ll be horribly depressing if you do. And what’s up with the band-aid? Replacing the bandages fetish?

Yes Jin you shouldn’t be watching those kinds of things with a lady in the room. This reminds me of a scene in GTO when the hot female teacher caught onizuka watching pron.

Just an interesting cap I found…mind you Nagi is a god. She’ll curse you if you say bad things about her.

This scene was unbearably cute. It’s nice to know that Chika isn’t always a dominatrix (same seiyuu).

Smiling is the second best thing you can do with your lips.<---for some reason I was reminded of this when I saw that shot. Mommy am I normal?

I wasn’t quite sure whether Jin wanted to wake her up or grope her…either way he failed. Better luck next time.

That face is almost Higurashi-class. If Jun was Keiichi Tsugumi would be Rena, Zange=Mion, Nagi=…Rika? This could totally work, Tsugumi just needs a billhook and we’re set.

Jun doesn’t look that much bigger than Nagi but there’s such a big difference in how the clothes fit. If you’re gonna do that at least have it slip a little. Pretty please?

And some pics of Nagi….

Kyonko has revived me!

It’s been a while since I’ve done a post about an episode, but this weekend I should be able to get a few in there (instead of pumping out an essay). The series I’m thinking about blogging would include: Kannagi, Ga-Rei-Zero, Chaos Head, Tales of the Abyss. 1 or 2 of those would probably be enough work (taking laziness into account). But anyways, the real reason I made this post is to share all the Hatsune Miku pictures I’ve saved (from Danbooru)

Here is a .rar of all 244 pics(I was planning on making this post when I got 200, but….) And a super cute 4koma starring Chibi Miku and the vocaloid crew

Well hopefully I’ll be able to crank out some eps tonight because I’m really behind (4 eps T.T)