[LYRICS] Chu-Bra!! Character Song Single - We can do it! (Hayama Nayu)

Track List
1. We can do it!
2. Shy Girls -Hayama Nayu ver-
3. 女の子の本音-葉山奈由編- (Onna no Ko no Honne -Hayama Nayu-hen-)
4. We can do it! -off vocal ver.-

Four character song singles released on the same day… well, I don’t have to do lyrics again for Shy Girls, and the third track is a drama, so it’s not so bad. (track 2 cleverly redirected to the Shy Girls post)
Chu-Bra!! is actually pretty good music-wise. You’d think the songs were just your usual moe themes, but they’re actually really cute. It probably helps that the seiyuu cast is great. Minorin’s got a good singing range – compare cutesy stuff like this to say, Paradise Lost from Ga-Rei -Zero-.

Yako, Haruka, and Kiyono will have to wait until tomorrow. -w-

Also, this time I’ve actually bothered to make the song page jumps clickable from the main page too, since I’ve noticed that some people are clicking them from there only to reach a dead link. I’ll incorporate this from now on… editing of previous posts will be done eventually. Maybe.
—————————————-

We can do it!
Hayama Nayu (CV: Chihara Minori)

女の子同士だって 　言えない秘密があるよ
onna no ko doushi datte 　ienai himitsu ga aruyo
サイズの違う 　心と身体 　持って余してる毎日
saizu no chigau 　kokoro to karada 　motte amashiteru mainichi

一度きり! 　二度とない青春を
ichido kiri! 　nidoto nai seishun wo
どんなときも諦めない
donna toki mo akiramenai
ひとりでは出来ない 　冒険でも
hitori de ha dekinai 　bouken demo
みんなでなら 　出来そうでしょ
minna de nara 　dekisou desho
恥ずかしくなどないよ
hazukashiku nadonaiyo

強く強く 　願えばきっと
tsuyoku tsuyoku 　negaeba kitto
叶う未来（あした）がある We can do it!
kanau ashita ga aru We can do it!
ひとつひとつ 　頑張ることで
hitotsu hitotsu 　ganbaru koto de
気持ちいい 　ぴったりの
kimochi ii 　pittari no
笑顔に会えるはず
egao ni aeru hazu

女の子の一日は 　ドキドキすることばかり
onna no ko no ichinichi ha 　dokidoki suru koto bakari
周りの声に 　戸惑いながら 　抱きしめている情熱
mawari no koe ni 　tomadoi nagara 　dakishimeteiru jounetsu

大丈夫! 　無理しても仕方ない
daijoubu! 　murishitemo shikatanai
好きなように楽しんで
suki na youni tanoshinde
いつもなら見れない 　大きな夢
itsumo nara mirenai 　ooki na yume
みんなでなら 　見れそうでしょ
minna de nara 　miresou desho
照れることなどないよ
tereru koto nadonaiyo

高く高く 　望めばずっと
takaku takaku 　nozomeba zutto
育つ友情（きずな）がある We can make it!
sodatsu kizuna ga aru We can make it!
自分自身 　信じることで
jibun jishin 　shinjiru koto de
それそれが 　いつの日か
soresore ga 　itsu no hi ka
素敵になれるはず
suteki ni nareru hazu

立ち止まらず 　前を向いて 　歩いて行きたい
tachitomarazu 　mae wo muite 　aruite ikitai
胸の中には 　高鳴る希望があるよ
mune no naka ni ha 　takanaru kibou ga aruyo

強く強く 　願えばきっと
tsuyoku tsuyoku 　negaeba kitto
叶う未来（あした）がある We can do it!
kanau ashita ga aru We can do it!
ひとつひとつ 　頑張ることで
hitotsu hitotsu 　ganbaru koto de
気持ちいい 　ぴったりの
kimochi ii 　pittari no
笑顔に会えるはず
egao ni aeru hazu

[Via http://awesmoe.wordpress.com]

Free Anime From Viz

Anime fans – here’s an exciting announcement from Viz just for you. Free episodes of some great series, (with 400 already up, and more to come!).

VIZ MEDIA LAUNCHES VIZ ANIME

A NEW OFFICAL WEB DESTINATION FOR SOME OF THE HOTTEST ANIME CONTENT

Optimized Technology Allows Fans To Connect And Interact And Spend Less Time Looking For The Latest Anime Episodes And More Time Enjoying Them

In a significant news announcement, VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry’s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has detailed the launch of VIZ Anime – a brand new, free-to-use interactive web destination that will become a permanent home to some of the company’s best-loved animated series as well as new content which will be added on a weekly basis. VIZ Anime is accessible at:www.VIZAnime.com.

VIZ Anime kicks off with more than 400 episodes from hit series such as BLEACH, BUSO RENKIN, DEATH NOTE (complete series), HIKARU NO GO, HONEY & CLOVER, INUYASHA (complete series) and INUYASHA: THE FINAL ACT, NANA, NARUTO (complete series) and NARUTO SHIPPUDEN as well as THE PRINCE OF TENNIS. The site will also be the future web home for many other eagerly anticipated anime series set to launch later this year!

Episodes can be streamed for free with new ones being added weekly. A variety of interactive social networking tools and features also help foster an official online home and community for VIZ Media anime fans allowing them to connect on and discuss favorite shows, and offer ratings and opinions of various episodes. New functionalities will be added regularly.

• Users can “follow” as many series as they like and choose to be notified each time a new episode is released, as well as keep track of the last episode they’ve watched. This makes it easy to stay current on series like INUYASHA or NARUTO, which feature more than 100 episodes.
• Users can comment on individual episodes and also meet and interact with other fans, invite friends to join, ask questions and debate plot twists and characters, voice their opinion on what’s happening in a particular series, and also find out what else is going on across the anime and manga spectrums.

• Users can rate their favorite episodes by using a “Like” button on each episode page. They can quickly access a list of all the episodes they’ve similarly liked to compare how other users have liked an episode.

• Users can make a personalized profile page to keep track of the episodes they’ve watched and enjoyed, the series they’re currently following, and comments they’ve made. Mail tools can also be used to send private messages between individual users. Privacy controls let users decide what information is shared publicly and who is able to send them messages.

“We’re committed to developing VIZ Anime as a premiere online destination, and hope to offer a real community for VIZ Media fans to interact with each other and share their love of anime,” says Ken Sasaki, Senior Vice President & General Manager of VIZ Media. “We will also utilize the site as a means of two-way communication to better understand what our fans enjoy most and want, and how they engage with anime and manga online. With a lot of content to select from, VIZ Anime will become a favorite site to visit again and again!”

[Via http://arcanaquarterly.com]

The Great Bantorran Love-In

Book of Bantorra is the greatest love story ever told in the history of greatest love stories ever told in history.

It should be pretty obvious by now that everything that happens in Bantorra (of significance) boils down to “someone loves someone, then someone dies because of that love.” Colio became obsessed with Calico and because of that love he killed an arrogant Church “true man.” Volken was in love with Mirepoc and the concept of “justice” and ended up dying pathetically and branded a traitor. Noloty loved everything and refused to do anything worse than give someone a black eye, and she died and nearly triggered an apocalypse.

Until the latest storyline, though, one could argue that the whole “love” angle was just a subplot to spice stuff up. Said latest story blows that out of the water and proves that Bantorra is ultimately about love and how it makes us do crazy shit and get killed and blow up people. For love.

Chacoly was bred to basically be a weapon of mass love-in. She can manipulate people’s emotions, essentially making someone fall in love with her if she so desired. She was then conditioned to only want the love of one man: Ruruta. Ruruta is essentially god in the world of Bantorra, since he ousted the namesake of the series or something like that and became a book-eating tree that’s actually the “heaven” everyone talks about. Chacoly wants to fall in love with him, make him fall in love with her (using her hair-glowy mind tricks), and then pull a murder-suicide to save the world. All in the name of love.

Catch is, Ruruta already has the hots for some other chick. As far as we know she died (because of love) billions of years ago, but Ruruta still longs for her. Since he’s already dating, he’s able to resist Chacoly’s super-flirting and turns her into a gibbering shell of herself that instinctually tries to Jedi Mind Trick anyone that gets close to her into being her love toy.

Then Hamy snaps her neck. Again, because of love.

We’re coming to the end of the series, and everything is turning into a big apocalyptic soap opera. It’s as if The Young and the Restless got super powers. Matt’s getting into the mix, since he’s able to resist Ruruta’s world-ending snow machine power through the dual powers of love and bullets. Despite all of Hamy’s awesomeness, Matt’s “I’ll shoot myself to keep myself awake because I want to be the one to put the final cap in Hamy’s ass” moment is the most badass (and romantic) moment of the series so far. I’d wager that he knows what Hamy really wants, much like how Minth read her soul and knows she’s an empty, self-loathing love-sick puppy (who mass murders). He’s come to that realization at some point and knows that he has to be the one to fulfill her ultimate wish.

Matt has to perform the ultimate gesture of love and put a bullet in Hamy’s head. It will be beautiful.

As much as Hamy’s a superduper ultrabadass, and as much as she’s become one of my all-time favorite female anime characters over the course of the series, I think Matt’s my favorite character from the entire series, and a lot of that is due to what’s hinted at in this episode. He’s genuinely in love with Hamy, and he’s all but gone to hell for her sake. He was already fairly cynical before meeting her, but his love for her has caused him to do some rather nasty things he’d otherwise never give a damn about. He’s almost as wrapped up in the conspiracy as she is, knows about “the truth” behind all of Bantorra’s crazy secrets, and has performed all manners of heinous acts all for her sake. The others see him as her lapdog, but he’s doing it all out of genuine devotion.

Most male anime leads never have to sacrifice anything to get the girl. Usually it’s the girl who seems to “settle” for the guy due to some plot contrivance that’s nothing more than wish fulfillment, but Matt is the one that’s giving up what little he believes in for the sake of the woman he loves. Granted, he still gets him some on the side (which makes him all the more awesome, since he’s willing to cheat on a god-killing super villain), but this is one of the few anime relationships where the guy is on the giving side. He didn’t wish for her or lucked into knowing her as a child or saw her naked in a pool/beach/hot spring episode or picked the right choose-your-own-adventure lines and accumulated love points.

Hamyuts x Mattlast is the best anime relationship since Revy x Rock.

[Via http://mechaguignol.wordpress.com]

Unboxing <em>Evangelion: 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone</em>

My first Blu-ray disc.

Sweet.

This is not a review post; my schedule will need to clear up a bit more before I can write one of those. (There’s also the minor, completely inconsequential fact that I don’t have a Blu-ray player at this particular moment, but that little hiccup will be remedied within the day.)

We have the front of the slipcase above, and the other side below. Printed cardboard with an iridescent layer.

Freed from the slipcase, the actual disc folder features Ikari Shinji on the back (left) and Ayanami Rei on the front (right). Printed cardboard.

The folder contains the Blu-ray disc mounted on one side and has a small pocket for the information booklet on the opposite side. Cardboard with an iridescent layer; clear plastic.

The pocket also holds a mail-in reply card and a small promotional insert listing Funimation’s Blu-ray anime releases. I normally don’t pay much attention to these things, but one title in particular caught my eye (and has now been marked out as a potential future acquisition).

More on this soon (time permitting). Cheerio.

[Via http://animeaffairs.wordpress.com]

How to Draw Chibi Naruto?

How to Draw Chibi Naruto

Step 1.

Let’s get this show in the road. Draw a circle for the shape of Naruto’s chibi head and then add the facial guidelines. You will then draw the limb lines for the arms, torso, and legs.

Step 2.

You will now start drawing out chibi Naruto’s face like you see here. You will notice that all my chibi characters have basically the same shaped face because that is how they are supposed to be drawn out. But every person has their own style so what ever you want to do is fine. Once the face is drawn out you will need to draw the thick lining for his chibi eyes, and then his cute cheeks. Draw a mouth and then start the lining for his hair style which is sharp looking.

Step 3.

Finish drawing chibi Naruto’s hair style out and then draw the bandanna that he is wearing. Once that is done you can start drawing out the arms and then the hands. Draw the chopsticks and then detail inside the ears.

Step 4.

Start drawing out the jacket or his torso and then finish off the shape of his arms. Draw the marking lines for his coat and then add some wrinkles and crease lines.

Step 5.

You will draw the collar out for his jacket and then start drawing the zipper line and then cuff up the bottom of the coat. Start drawing out the shapes for his legs and then draw the crease and fold lines near the crotch area.

Step 6.

Here is your last drawing step and all you have to do now is draw out the left leg and both of his shoes and or feet. Add some definition and detailing to his clothes and then start erasing all the guidelines and shapes that you drew in step one.

Step 7.

When you are done your chibi character should come out looking like the one you see here. Color him in and you have just learned “how to draw chibi Naruto step by step”.

[Via http://shijufasu.wordpress.com]

A Note To Niche Communities

This rant comes from a region fairly close to my heart. One of my ribs or something. And just as in the book, god created Eve from a rib of Adam, so do I on the internet create a rant from a metaphorical rib. Pretty poor metaphor at that.

Anyway, let’s begin.

There’s a lot of nice communities and subcultures around, and with the dawn of the internet it has become easier for them to discuss and co-ordinate, ranging from quiet hobbyists, to anime clubs, sci-fi groups and the gothic/alternative communities.  But the problem with the internet is that people forget that there are other human beings on the internet, too. Or maybe they don’t. I’m not sure how the minds of these people work.

What I am here to discuss is the pathetic in-fighting that ravages these communities regularly. Not only are most of them ostracised from regular society because of their lifestyle choices, there’s an amazing amount of cliques within the damn groups themselves; a subculture that contains all of twenty people could have upwards of three groups of people who treat each other like dirt.

Most of us, if not all of us have been privy to this kind of thing; friend drama, animosity and for lack of a better phrase, bullshit. You all know what I mean, you’ll have that one friend who has an argument or mishap with another friend and then they drift apart and suddenly one or both of them is making you choose between them. Not only is this completely unfair, it’s also entirely too common.

Niche communities should not be doing this. It’s bad enough that they’re rejected from mainstream culture, if they don’t choose to hide it, anyway. These people are the worst; if you’re not going to let your friends be themselves around other people you know, then that too, is unfair.

In-fighting and drama makes for a hostile environment that everyone can feel from the first encounter, and it often makes people feel unwelcome, out of place or even unsafe, and there’s been many a newcomer who’ve never returned due to it. I usually stick it out but even I tend to shy away from groups where I can feel that this kind of thing is happening.

So take a note, please.

• To all of you drama mongers, fuck you and grow up. You’re killing the community with your pathetic shit. And to the drama mongers that drag other people into the drama just because they choose to talk to someone you don’t like? Go die somewhere. The community sure as hell doesn’t want you and I sure as hell don’t like you.
• To the older members, be nice to the newbies. There’s a lot of older members who treat newbies like shit, and that’s gotta stop. I mean, yes there is the long and cherished tradition of hazing new members, but there’s a difference between a bit of friendly spanking and being a complete asshat.
• To people in general; stop being so abusive and bitchy. You may think it’s funny but your sense of humour isn’t always shared, nor is everyone used to it. Your poking of fun might be severe abuse to a more sensitive person.
• Forum mods: I know you have a job to do. I’m a forum moderator myself. But seriously, sometimes people in that position can be utter jerks who overuse the edit button or banhammer. Do nto be one of these people.
• In regard to genuine drama, you know, serious business, keep it out of the forums. I don’t care if you flood each other’s e-mail accounts or anything, just keep it out of the forums. Ignore the other person’s posts if you like. Just keep it private. I’m sick of it.

But you know what? It’s not all bad. Because there are the nicer folk who stay in the communities. They’re the ones who welcome newbs and ignore the drama, even after they get dragged into it. There’s not enough of these good people around. I salute each and every one of these guys. The helpers, the welcomers, the jokers, the people that give advice or just generally go out of their way to make sure that the forum or message board’s atmosphere isn’t completely terrible.

I’ll remain part of these communities because I couldn’t imagine life without a decent amount of similarly like-minded folk around me, but it comes at a cost, and the cost is dealing with fuckholes like those noted above.

[Via http://someonewicked.com]

Durarara!! 09

Ever wanted to bang your favorite heads-in-a-jar? Ever desired to get into the pants of your beloved little brother? Or perhaps you’d like your head transplanted bimonthly as well. Whatever you name, the Yagiri siblings will deliver; 100% satisfaction guranteed!

Summary: Compared to other people’s love, Yagiri Namie’s love is different. Not because it’s directed toward his little brother, oh no, but because it is more vast and absolute. Too bad Mika Harima doesn’t approve of this, as she secretly throws Seiji’s phone into the fountain to prevent Namie from contacting Seiji.

The next morning, Namie finds her little brother missing. Frantic, she leaves her office and starts recounting how the head of Mika Harima is nothing but a doll to her. She’d first encountered the head in her uncle’s study, and finding it beautiful and totally not creepy at all, invited Seiji to look at it.

Seiji fell in love at first sight with the head floating in a jar.

Back at the present, Namie enters Izaya’s office and offers him money in return for locating Seiji. Izaya questions the importance of that, seeing as Yagiri Pharmaceuticals is facing absorption by a large foreign company called Nebula. At Namie’s insistence, Izaya agrees to help, though not before trolling her a bit for his own amusement.

As Izaya gets to work, Namie recalls how after Seiji first saw the head, he’d grown more and more in love with it by the day. Worried, Namie had decided to relocate the head into her research center, but Seiji broke into the lab and stole it. Soon later, he phoned Namie saying he might’ve killed someone, and at his room, Namie found the corpse of a stalker named Mika Harima. She decided to perform an operation on the body.

Namie’s flashback gets interrupted by Izaya, who assures her the cops will take Seiji into custody soon. As Namie receives a phone call and hastily leaves, Izaya puts on his signature Evil Smile™.

At a cafe, Mika receives a text message (presumably from Izaya) warning her to run. She pulls Seiji away from the cafe and into the park, where she encounters Celty and Shizuo. Celty recognizes Mika’s head and gives chase, while Seiji holds Shizuo at bay by waving around his extremely dangerous pens. Mika then bumps into Mikado, who, upon noticing the headless rider charging at them, randomly decides to escape with the girl through an underground subway. Meanwhile, Seiji pokes a pen through Shizuo’s hand and receives a headbutt for it, before getting taken by the cops.

That night, Celty recounts the whole mess back to Shinra, adding that she was in the park because Izaya told her to wait there. As Celty wonders why her head is tacked onto a body, Shinra speculates that someone might’ve chopped a corpse’s head off and stuck her’s onto it. Celty is totally creeped out, but she is even more uneasy at the fact that her head no longer wants her anymore and has found a new love partner.

After bringing Seiji back to her lab, Namie promises him that she’ll find Mika. In reality however, Namie has already deemed Mika an interference to her love, and she orders her underlings to capture her dead or alive.

At Mikado’s cruddy apartment, Mika receives a text message from Izaya. Izaya receives a reply, which excites him so much that he spins in his chair. Mikado finishes brewing his tea and offers Mika a cup while asking her some questions. Mika admits that she has amnesia, but refuses to go to a hospital or a police station. She believes she must leave however, before Namie interferes again.

Credits to Kanon of ASuki

I sort of already knew that Durarara!! has merely been building up its settings/characters for the past 8 episodes, but watching this ep is akin to getting slapped 17 times in a rapid succession by a wet octopus: now this is what I call plot movement. Don’t get me wrong though, because the past 8 weeks were still a load of fun in and of themselves as we looked into each character’s quirks and habits, and how they all fit into the grand scheme of things. In fact, without these developments I doubt this episode would’ve been as impactful either, seeing as the situation more or less remains largely unchanged. But now that our Mikado has decided for whatever reason to throw himself onto the stage naked, everything we’ve ever known is finally going to start colliding into one big wild party. It’s like those fancy domino mazes that people with no life spend 10 years to make: the first piece has begun its descent.

By the way, I don’t tend to go around being a hater but damn do I want give Seiji the old one-two. Here is a guy who believes in the power of love and risking his hide saving his girlfriend; that’s all good and dandy if not for that fact that he also has enough of an appetite to eat noodles in front of someone he just killed, and that he is shameless enough to open his palms wide for his sister to throw him cash. When he loses his girlfriend, he whines to his sister and go hides in a corner looking worse than a person who just lost his top 10 in Saimoe all in one round. And that’s an understatement. Although coming from a family who decorates their room with a head-in-a-jar, I guess it was inevitable Seiji would be pretty messed up himself.

Speaking of the head-in-a-jar, various forumers and bloggers have noticed that Namie’s uncle and Shinra’s dad seem to share a few similarities, namely their connection to the head, their tendency to not be shown with a face, and of course, their overall demented behavior. Although the fact that the uncle was not shown twirling his pen and the question of why in hell Shinra’s dad would be living in the Yagiri household remain, assuming they’re the same person, the connection between Shinra and Yagiri Pharmaceuticals (as shown in ep08) would be easily resolved, since Namie’s uncle is apparently the company’s head honcho. And in fact, it has been pointed out that one of the dude’s hairdo in Mika’s operation resembles that of Shinra’s, meaning Shinra might’ve even taken part in the operation as well. Do take note however that at this point, it’s still up in the air whether the surgery was intended for head transplantation or simple plastic surgery. Here are some counter arguments given by forumers for why the scene might just be a big fat red herring. Naturally, this calls into question Mika Harima’s current behavior and why she would retain her attraction to Seiji even after her own head is no longer here. It may well be that this is her head, only made to resemble Celty’s so much it’s deceiving everyone. Who knows? (Well, besides those cursed light novel readers >_>)

Some other miscellaneous observations/details:
- stuopidget at ASuki did an analysis of Izaya’s cheshogo game (i.e. the abomination formed from a threesome between chess, go, and shogi) and found out that it might be reflecting the current situation in Ikebukuro.
- In the preview for Durarara!! 10, Mikado narrates that the dude who’s in the classroom next to him is in the Dollars. Holy shit.
- Who the hell is this guy? Is he the one in the Dollars that Mikado is referring to? I thought he looked like Togusa at first glance, but his eyes look more feminine than half the girls I’ve seen so I don’t know.

PS:

Suffer with me.

[Via http://ghsanimeclub.wordpress.com]