It's telling that the only reason katakana/hiragana is even a thing nowadays is because the Japanese collectively decided using full Chinese characters for their syllabaries was too hard!
I may or may not be hilariously oversimplifying what actually happened.
Why does this get away with so much shit? I mean...
trimming Kondo's pubes to put on the Shogun's head? Trimming Katsura's hair to give Kondo pubes!? PUTTING SHIT ON THE SHOGUN'S HEAD!? How gross, lewd, and full of manservice this is.
But thanks to it, we got the new greatest barbershop in town.
A better look at the Aldnoah Zero mechs. I'm still not really feeling the designs. But Ei Aoki can probably be trusted to make something interesting out of it at least.
If my brain found it easy to learn additional language I probably would. Not for anime though (though not needing subtitles would be great), it would be more for prose and for visiting Japan.
Not to mention the entire cast of Yes. (Cure White, though? Are you sure you don't mean Black? Honoka may have had a bit of a thing going on with Kiriya, but it was Nagisa who spent about a hundred episodes swooning over the same guy =p)
Actually, I should probably get this out there now, for the benefit of both Link Man and Corvo: the very last scene of Watanagashi-hen (the second arc) is the one thing about the series that I've always had a bit of a problem with, and it borders on being an actual plot hole. Pretty much everything else in the series has a satisfying explanation behind it when all's said and done, but that one...not so much.
There are ways of sort-of explaining it once you're done with the series, but none of them are much more satisfying than "lol he dreamed it", so it's better IMO to just forget that scene ever happened. It's really only there for the sake of providing a horror-style "stinger" ending to the arc anyway.
Its actually the reverse. If you watch alot of anime, you get used to hearing Japanese words so sometimes, the stuff you study just "sticks" to you. It also helps with listening and understanding the language if you're used to it and can pick apart sentences more easily. Japanese doesn't have spaces so your ability to differentiate between words is a plus even if you don't know the meaning to them yet.
I can vouch for this to an extent. I think the fact that I was already used to hearing so many Japanese words from anime probably made it quite a bit easier to start picking them up and getting a "feel" for the language. Of course there was still a heck of a lot to learn, but it helped. (And of course much more invaluable was the fact that I was constantly watching anime and stuff during my study of the language. There's really nothing more important when learning a language than being able to immerse yourself in it.)
"Learning" hiragana and katakana can be done relatively quickly, but I don't think it's really something that makes sense in isolation. You have to keep reading stuff in hiragana and katakana for quite a while once you've memorised all the characters for them to really stick and to become able to read them at any reasonable speed. That's why it's generally best to learn them first and then immediately move on to a beginner's course in the language that's taught entirely in kana, to force yourself to really get to grips with them.
Eh, there's a perfectly good word to describe katakana and hiragana - "syllabary" - so I wouldn't stand for anyone calling those an alphabet. There doesn't seem to be any one commonly-used noun for referring to Chinese characters as a whole in the same way, so using "alphabet" as a convenient substitute seems a little more reasonable.
Fresh Precure! 49
So it turns out
Möbius is a supercomputer that enslaved the people who created it. Not the most original villain trope in the world, by a long shot, but it does feel quite...Fresh...for a Precure Big Bad. It also neatly explains all of his actions and motivations. I approve of this twist.
Meanwhile the Cures now have
all of humanity on their side. Like, all three of Möbius' former human cronies are now fighting for the Cures, the people of his world are cheering them on, and the only people who stood against them to the last are Möbius himself (a computer), Klein (a lizard) and Northa (a plant). Hell, even the monsters of the week are on the Cures' side now, with Wester and Souler reenvisioning the Nakiwameke as the series' first good-aligned MOTW type, "Hohoemina"!
Incidentally, I almost laughed out loud when Kleinortha was defeated and they reverted to their "original forms". The lizard and plant just lying there on the ground seemed so bizarrely surreal. Come to think of it, I guess the last time we saw major villains being reverted to the mundane items they were created from was Splash Star (though of course it happens all the time with monsters of the week.)
Anyway, just one episode to go! Looks like I'll be finishing the series this evening as soon as I get home from work! Get hype!
Man this series deserves a full animated adaption. Preferably using the alternative version's superior art-style.
This was pretty nice though. Obviously veeeeeerrryyyy budgeted as far as animation quality goes but seemed to make the most of what it had with some smart layouts and good voice acting. The OVA covers a good portion of the early chapters of the manga and has a more sentimental atmosphere with the comedy and romance taking a backseat while instead focusing more on Miyamura's point of view. The ending was really well done, imo.
While I'd really love to see a full animated series for this manga, I'd be really interested to see how that would be handled. The story doesn't have a lot in the way of conflict and big dramatic scenarios which happens to be one of the reasons I'm such a fan of the manga. It doesn't need a lot of unnecessary drama and cliched misunderstandings to achieve development between the main characters. It's a very charming manga and a good portion of that is retained in this OVA. It's nothing groundbreaking but is a nice change of pace from the usual romantic comedy shenanigans.
If my brain found it easy to learn additional language I probably would. Not for anime though (though not needing subtitles would be great), it would be more for prose and for visiting Japan.
Pah, I'm visiting Japan end of next Month, I'll just be going round saying "Hoi hoi storeman-san, how much ere for this ere figurine merci beaucoup?" That's because I speak the universal language, money!
Pah, I'm visiting Japan end of next Month, I'll just be going round saying "Hoi hoi storeman-san, how much ere for this ere figurine merci beaucoup?" That's because I speak the universal language, money!
Pah, I'm visiting Japan end of next Month, I'll just be going round saying "Hoi hoi storeman-san, how much ere for this ere figurine merci beaucoup?" That's because I speak the universal language, money!
But it was also a very important episode for developing Jun's character. He's made progress since the show started, but he's still feeling his inferiority. The insecurities that made him a hikkikomori still plague him.
I didn't think the manager had that putdown speech in him, but part of what made it so effective is that we're so used to seeing him through Jun's eyes, and Jun always focused on all the ways he was a useless layabout. Even if his negative qualities remain, we see there's an intelligent person underneath as vindictive and resentful of the world as Jun is. So I really like how it was set up.
I'm not gonna find the .gif of this, but I've seen it used to good effect here before.
I didn't screencap it much, but I like how the show frames the characters, the dolls in particular. Scenes are framed to emphasize relative size, whether showing how Jun is shorter than Saito's brother, or how the dolls seem to match each other well in the house, but are occasionally shown in their true scale, entirely out-of-sync with the larger world around them. It's a good way of establishing the character's perceived power in their situation. There are times they feel at home, and times they feel overwhelmed by the world.
The old-timey storybook is starting to make some sense. I still hate how vague Kirakushou is.
A better look at the Aldnoah Zero mechs. I'm still not really feeling the designs. But Ei Aoki can probably be trusted to make something interesting out of it at least.
A better look at the Aldnoah Zero mechs. I'm still not really feeling the designs. But Ei Aoki can probably be trusted to make something interesting out of it at least.
Pah, I'm visiting Japan end of next Month, I'll just be going round saying "Hoi hoi storeman-san, how much ere for this ere figurine merci beaucoup?" That's because I speak the universal language, money!
Wow, Alciel is the master of the ass-pull! That was an amazing cover story!
As for the fast-food side of things, I remember those kinds of days. I don't remember having that kind of work ethic, though (we would use that as an opportunity to slack off, or would be bored and try to find a way to go home early).
Wow, Alciel is the master of the ass-pull! That was an amazing cover story!
As for the fast-food side of things, I remember those kinds of days. I don't remember having that kind of work ethic, though (we would use that as an opportunity to slack off, or would be bored and try to find a way to go home early).
RIP Mitty. The death flags stood out last episode anyway. Are the opposition forces anti Balsteros remnants from the former regime? It's not looking to good for Balsteros forces. They're outmanned and use barbaric technology. Was there some reason they couldn't stay at Isla/Balsteros? I'm looking forward to Karl (only Kal I know is Clark or dude from Dipset) reclaiming his throne.
Eh. The series is disappointing me. I think it was promising at first.
They haven't developed properly secondary characters (or their relation with the MC) like the blond rival or the mysterious white-hair guy.
They have lost time in episodes like the beach scenes or the restaurant scenes.
Even the relationship between the main characters is more or less at the same point that give episodes ago, they are stalling time until it's appropriate in the end part of the story.
This episode's end was incredibly easy to guess, very blatant, and the plane fights weren't even cool.
"Learning" hiragana and katakana can be done relatively quickly, but I don't think it's really something that makes sense in isolation. You have to keep reading stuff in hiragana and katakana for quite a while once you've memorised all the characters for them to really stick and to become able to read them at any reasonable speed. That's why it's generally best to learn them first and then immediately move on to a beginner's course in the language that's taught entirely in kana, to force yourself to really get to grips with them.
This is true and admittedly my original statement was kind of naive, since the kanas do seem more like a means to an end than something to learn by themselves... but on the other hand all the news blogs I read might qualify for the "reading stuff in kana for quite a while" portion... well, at any rate, it's probably not an immediate priority for me right now.
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Sales for this week were near nonexistent -- I mean, ongoing Totoro DVD sales managed to rank 3rd, for god's sake -- but here:
Only a couple things of note:
- The Bayonetta Bloody Fate movie moves just over 3,000 copies, which as least is probably less copies than Bayonetta 2 will sell on the Wii U. Probably.
- Free vol.6 has a strong second week, meaning the show's overall average has a chance at breaking 29k eventually.
- aaaand... that's it, pretty much. Winter season clocks in next week with SYK* vol.1.
I wasn't expecting him to come back this soon though, nor did I expect him to be trapped in a SIXTY FIVE MILLION YEAR OLD METEOR. So he went back in time? That would have caused a horrible time-paradox if they just so happened find that meteor before all of this!
So I was walking with my friend through Nakano Broadway last week, and I was surprised to see this art gallery showing a bunch of stuff from Uchouten Kazoku. I thought you all might be interested.
So I was walking with my friend through Nakano Broadway last week, and I was surprised to see this art gallery showing a bunch of stuff from Uchouten Kazoku. I thought you all might be interested.
I enjoyed staring at the beautiful art up close. That show had fantastic cinematography and backgrounds.
Pah, I'm visiting Japan end of next Month, I'll just be going round saying "Hoi hoi storeman-san, how much ere for this ere figurine merci beaucoup?" That's because I speak the universal language, money!
So I was walking with my friend through Nakano Broadway last week, and I was surprised to see this art gallery showing a bunch of stuff from Uchouten Kazoku. I thought you all might be interested.
I enjoyed staring at the beautiful art up close. That show had fantastic cinematography and backgrounds.
It was quite small. It's in a five floor mall, if that give you an idea of its size. I'm sure many of you would love that mall. It's full of figures and nerd stuff. I found original cell images from Touch for sale on the fifth floor once. Pretty cool stuff all around. I went with my artist friend who has an (I'm starting to fear it may be an addiction...) affinity for Godzilla figures. I spent most of my time looking at crazy clothes and art, though. Cool place. Too many stores... Every time I go there, I find new, cool things I didn't see before.
Anyway, I think the point to all this was that you needn't spend all day in that tiny gallery because there are many things to look at.
Korean isn't devoid of Chinese characters, and yes, Korean and Japanese are possibly comparable to Portugese and French. They're more related to each other than any other language, but Japanese went and became the Asian version of English with much of its "sophisticated" words lifted en masse from Chinese at various points in time. Maybe that's true of Korean too, but I get the impression that they tried to not let it be as apparent in their written language.
And when characters primarily convey meaning, the term is "logograph", but most hanzi/kanji are a hybrid in that they contain both meaning and pronunciation. Radicals are fun!
So I was walking with my friend through Nakano Broadway last week, and I was surprised to see this art gallery showing a bunch of stuff from Uchouten Kazoku. I thought you all might be interested.
I enjoyed staring at the beautiful art up close. That show had fantastic cinematography and backgrounds.
