Category Archives: Anime & Manga

Katsucon 20 – 2014

I went to Katsucon 20! Since conventions are the only posts I keep up to date here any more, might as well make a post, right? Right.

Friday

Stood in the pre-registration line for three hours. Great way to start a Convention. The lines were crazy long all weekend this year. o_o

All I had time for was a quick trip in the Dealer’s Room and Artist Alley before heading out.

We had Korean BBQ that night though, and it was amazing. I’m in love with Bulgolgi.

Saturday

Dealer’s Room, Artist Alley and the AMV Competition were the main events. Didn’t do much else aside from getting to see Erin & Kennedy from the Tamuran crew while they waited in line for the Masquerade.

Came out of it with some great figures, but no Misato. Sadness.

Spent the evening watching The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya with friends.

Sunday

One last run through AA and Dealer’s.

Headed home.

It was a good time, but not as exciting as some previous years. So, that’s that.

Katsucon 19 – 2013

It’s that time again! My Convention report! No pictures today ’cause…honestly I didn’t buy any figures this year, and that’s really the only reason I take pictures to show off. So…reading you shall!

Friday

I got to the convention on time this year. XD I only had an hour delay! Go me!

As soon as I got there, we stood in line and registered (The Pre-Reg line was longer than the normal registration when we got there, which is sort of funny, but true…). Followed quickly by a trip to the dealer’s room. A friend showed up while we were there, so we ditched and helped her unpack.

From there, it was the AMV competition! Two of the videos had technical difficulties, which sucked, but overall it was a good show with a lot of great entries. Though one of the filler, pre-show entries: Gaga For Bishies, made me laugh the most.

After AMV’s we went back to the room and crashed watching some Tron: Uprising. Bold because you should watch it. WATCH IT.

Friday night ended with a trip to the VIP Club on the 18 & 19th floors of the Gaylord Hotel…and then bed.

Saturday

We finally hit the Artist’s Alley, where I got some awesome Tsuritama fanart. And you know how much I love Tsuritama. Then it was the Dealer’s room, where I actually behaved myself this year and only bought the Dark Souls Design Works art book, and a grab bag that I ended up giving the contents away to one of my roomies.

Oh! I got a plushie of Wheatley. That probably deserves a pic:

Wheatley Plush

Ain’t he cute? Yeah. He is. Let’s see. After Dealer’s Room, we hit Artist Alley & Ran into some fine folks at Tamuran and Snow by Night. I saw the TechnoAngel Crew’s booth, but didn’t say hi. xD But I saw them!

After that we tried to watch AMV Hell, but due to technological difficulties, we crashed the A Certain Scientific Railgun Video Room instead. Cute show. Might have to check out more later.

Then it was Dinner at the restaurant across from the hotel, and we returned in time for one more trip around Dealer’s and Artist Alley before heading to the showing of Hellsing: Ultimate Abridged. Funny stuff. (We also caught the end of an episode of Blood C. Violent stuff. XD)

Sunday

Apparently a fire alarm went off early in the morning, but we all thought it was someone’s alarm clock and ignored it. When the ‘all clear’ went off an hour or so later, we…realized we’d slept through something. Oops.

Got all our crap in the car, and went one more time around Dealer’s & Artist’s Alley. Though this time, I stopped being blind and actually noticed Naki’s booth. XD I’ve been talking to her online for like 12 years, so it was really cool to put a face to her name and artwork. :D

I also got a Braeburn keychain from her. <3

We ended our con trip by attending the Symphonic Anime Orchestra performance. Good stuff for a group that was pretty much sight reading. XD Nice selection & a great end. :3

And I’m out. :D

Nekocon 15 -2012

It’s that time again! Where I give you a rundown of my con events & fun, fun, fun~ :D

Friday

Friday was a bit of a wash. I didn’t get to the con until around 6pm, and even then I had to stand in line to register with my brother. We didn’t get to Artist’s Alley to say “Hi!” to everyone until 7pm or so. We ran around the Dealer’s Room & Artist Alley for a bit, but we went home early.

Saturday

I was at the convention (or with people from the convention) from 8:30 in the morning, to oh, 1:00AM Sunday. Long day.

So, I had the honor of being invited to sit in & talk on a Panel with the Tamuran crew about writing for Long-Format webcomics. We had about 11 or 12 people sit in, so that was awesome. It was my first time on a panel, and I consider it a good one. :3

After that, we (my brother & I) dashed to the AMV Competition & it was a good show this year. The hands down best video (in my humble opinion) was definitely PonyNote. Oh man, PonyNote–how had I not seen you before?

Anyway, after that we took a lunch break & then ran around the Dealer’s Room & Artist Alley to get this year’s Haul. (Which you’ll see below.)

We headed off to watch Evangelion 2.22 around 8pm–still an awesome movie, btw.

Then! Dinner with 14 folks from Artist’s Alley at Oliver Garden until 1AM. It was awesome and included a lot of different studios & it was fun to tag along even though I didn’t have a table, but Erin & Chez of Tamuran invited me, so nyah.

I’d list all the groups, but I can’t remember everyone and I don’t want to leave anyone out. XD

Sunday

The standard run around the dealer’s room and artist alley. Easy day.

THE HAUL

Mami Soul Gem

I love Mami. Now I can carry her with me everywhere! :D

This one is actually an early christmas present from my brother. :3 He knows what a big fan I am of Mami from Madoka Magica, so he got me her Soul Gem as a Cell Phone charm. It’s already on there and I play with it. I’m counting down until I break/shatter the thing. XD

Tamuran Bookmark

BOOKMARK

So, Tamuran Bookmark. Isn’t it cool? I had a hard time picking which one I wanted. Soooo many cool knot designs. T_T They make me jealous.

Kaji and Misato

Aren’t they cute?

So, if you’ve paid attention to my previous Con Hauls, you know I’ve got a wee obsession with Misato Katsuragi figures. Well, Saturday I found a figure of Kaji. I’ve never seen a figure of Kaji before, and as he’s Misato’s main man–it was a no-brainer. Lucky enough, he came with a cute Bikini!Misato that was the same size. :D

Kaji's Backside

Misato knows what she likes.

Heh. Looks good from both sides,  ya’ know? XD  <3

Misato Standing

She’s so cool. <3

Last but not least, my big purchase of the con: Large Misato Figure. So this con, I got 2 Misato figures!!! Whoo hoo.

I’m going to start running out of figures to buy sooner or later. There aren’t as many Misato as Rei and Asuka. XD Ahhhh.

Sunday I also bought some discount DVDS, but I forgot to take a picture of them. I think it was Burnout & Princess Minerva? Something like that.

Overall

Fun convention. I think I interacted with the most people this time around, which is always good & fun. XD Love you, Nekocon!

Tsuritama – It Makes You Want To Fish

No, seriously. Tsuritama makes me want to go fishing and I am terrified of fish, and boats make me nervous (I’m really good at hiding it–but deep down they both freak me out). That’s how great this series is. XD

Best of all? You can watch it on CrunchyRoll right now.

Tsuritama Episodes 1-5

I don’t even know where to start with this show. It’s amazing and I was not expecting it to be–it’s sort of that “Turned out to be Amazing even though I just clicked it for curiosity’s sake” shows.

Haru does chores.

I can’t remember the last time “trouble” was this adorable.

Funny story though–THIS is the series I thought I’d be watching when I saw Princess Jellyfish a while back. When I first saw the ad for Princess Jellyfish, and read the initial description (before I saw the trailer, mind you), I thought it was about a girl who met an alien Jellyfish Princess who would change her life. Well, replace Alien with Cross-Dresser and you get the same thing–just without all the sci-fi stuff. Don’t get me wrong, it was an amazing series and I adored every second, but there was always that slight disappointment that it wasn’t the sci-fi alien plot line I went in for.

Tsuritama provided that. It is exactly what I wanted & man does it deliver. So here we go:

Yuki Drown

When Yuki gets anxious, it’s symbolized by drowning him in water–when something happens to break him free from his anxiety, he bursts forth from the water. It’s a really amazing effect & one of my favorite parts of the gorgeous animation.

The plot revolves around Haru, an Alien, determined to make Yuki, his new best friend, an amazing fisher to help catch a certain fish he’s after (against the advice of his more sensible sister, Coco–who thinks he can do better). There’s something about saving the world, but we’re still trying to get Yuki to fish, so the save the world plot will have to wait until later. In the meantime, Haru insists on getting help from their classmate Natsuki, who is secretly the Fishing Prince (a title he despises)! Natsuki is reluctant to be seen with the class ‘oddballs’, but eventually relents when he realizes they’re serious about learning. As he teaches Yuki and Haru to fish, we get to see all three boys grow and learn something about not only themselves, but what it means to interact and be friends with other people–whether it’s Haru learning to give people their space, Yuki learning to say what he’s thinking, or Natsuki learning to be patient with others.

And of course, lurking alongside them all, there’s Yamada–the Indian boy with a duck. Unless the opening is lying, he’s our forth main character & I can’t wait for him to start taking more screen time and becoming a full time member of our crew~ He’s already adorable in his own right, and who doesn’t love Tapioca (his duck)? Sadly though, it looks like he’s more involved with the save-the-world side of the plot, so his big parts are probably yet to come.

But all that matters, is Alien!Haru is the most adorable thing ever (he’s like a hyperactive little kid), and we’ve got the makings of bromance amazing-ness. Heck, it’s already there–it just has room to grow, and you know how I love that.  I don’t know, but what I like most of all is probably how much I connect to Yuki. He’s socially anxious around new people, and I immediately connected with him–because I know how he feels. I freeze up the same way (though I recover outwardly much faster), and seeing him get over it and past those feelings is great. You really want him to learn how to fish and catch the bass and when he manages to really make friends with Natsuki–it’s just an amazing thing.

Teaching to Fish

Also, not joking. Natsuki teaches them to fish on screen. It really makes you want to go grab a rod and reel. I’m endlessly amazed they made this interesting and fun. XD

Words really don’t do it justice. I’m five episodes in and really excited for more. I’m almost terrified this will be a 12 episode series, because I want more already. I can’t wait to see where the series main plot (you know, save the world) actually goes, and right now I’m loving every minute. If you like some great humorous, feel-good, coming out of your shell story–come right on in. If you just like comedy? Come for that, too. The series is hilarious on top of all the ‘aw’ moments.

It’s got it’s serious side too, though, and there’s one plot line involving Yuki’s grandmother I’m assuming will end in tears–but we’ll see where that goes. It could honestly go either way, though the more gut-punch ending is looking more likely considering how high and happy Yuki has become in five episodes. I look forward to it either way.

Anyway–go watch it.

Tsuritama Dance

Also, the opening is absurdly addictive and adorable. The dance they do is so cute!

Edit 7/7/12: I have seen episodes 6-12. Just. Just go watch it. I’d do a post on it, but then I’d have to spoil things for you and I just can’t bring myself to do that. All you need to know is the rest of the series goes completely crazy, but it’s awesome & words really won’t do it justice if I try and explain. Go watch it. Just do it.

Fangirl #23 – Madoka and Owls…and The Once-ler

Whoo! We got some Fangirlin’ to do today! :D

Anime

Madoka Magica: Okay, so I’m watching this series episode by episode over on Crunchy Roll just to check it out after all the hype and fandom I see. Up to Episode 9, I thought it was a creative, dark take on Magical Girls. The twists were good, the animation was fantastic, and I was enjoying it–but nothing that I was too crazy over. Or rather, I didn’t mind waiting a few days after they released the episode to watch it, I should say. It was good, but nothing I was totally in love with.

And then Episode 10 happened, “I Won’t Rely On Anyone.”

Akemi Homura.

This is approximately 21:00 minutes into the episode. I literally shouted, "Yes! You are awesome and I love you!"

This. Was. Amazing. I don’t want to spoil it–but this is how you do “Homura’s Power” right.  This is the episode that validated & made the rest of the series amazing, made me fall in love with Homura, her relationship with Madoka in its entirety, and has me itching for the next few episodes. Love it. So good.

Recorder and Randsell: I’d just like to stick in here that this show is still freakishly adorable and the episodes should be longer.

Comics

Supergirl #8: New Artist! It threw me a little, but it wasn’t bad. Just a different style, but it all still looked good. Actually liking the Silver Banshee storyline. New girl Siobahn is fun and her & Kara were great interacting off each other. Seriously, people wanting awesome females in comics should be reading this. >.> It’s just been one great girl after another.

My only complaint is the Silver Banshee costume is…ew. *Shiver*

Kori and Roy Adorable

Yes. Yes. Yes. 1000x Yes.

Red Hood and the Outlaws #8: This….has easily become my favorite issue of the series. 10/10 no question. It had everything.

It was fun, funny (hilarious, really), adorable, sweet, heartwarming, and full of action all packed together in a smooth narrative. I were to list my ‘favorite parts’ I’d pretty much quote the entire thing, but, for highlights’ sake: 1) I now ship Roy and Kori 100% and if that happens I will squeal in fangirl joy. 2) The Tim & Jason moment was amazing and well, perfect. Sooo good. I might actually hunt this one down in print. <3

Nightwing #8: I dropped Nightwing back at issue #3, but I was informed this was a must have as far as the Owl’s arc was concerned. So I went ahead and snatched it…and I’m glad I did. Definitely an improvement from what I was reading earlier & the cliffhanger was amazing. Can’t wait for #9. :D

Batman #8: This would be the one everyone’s talking about and waiting for. And they are right to do so:

“…I now know that you can spend your whole life learning Gotham from deep inside, and still know nothing about it at all.” -Bruce Wayne, Batman #8: Attack on Wayne Manor

Jaw dropping issue. If I were to paste the best screens, it’d be the entire book. Amazing writing, amazing artwork & top form cover to cover. I don’t know who was better, Alfred or Bruce. You’ve read the summaries elsewhere, so I’ll just say go read it as a second opinion (or probably a third or forth or fifth since I’m behind. XD) I had reservations when the Court of Owls thing first started, but this is an amazing cross-issue arc and I recommend it full force. <3

And, since that’s all the drama and action you need, we’ll just end with this one:

Movies

The Once-ler

He's adorable.

The Lorax:  Loved this movie. Love the soundtrack more though: Ed Helms can sing and be hilarious at the same time. It’s an amazing combination.

I didn’t think I’d like this movie, mostly because movies that push the ‘Go Green!’ thing tend to bug me, but hey! I liked Captain Planet, right?

Anyway, the green-thing wasn’t nearly as in your face as I thought it might be, and giving The Once-ler some character and motivation worked very, very well. He also got the best musical number in the movie–“How Bad Can I Be” never really leaves your head. And Once-ler is amazing…because he’s adorable and I loved him. So much. I drew so much fanart of him and I really, really want the DVD to come out already so I can take screens of him in his suit and stare at them all day.

*cough* But aside from being obsessed with The Once-ler, it was funny and Ted’s Mother made me laugh more than Betty White as Grandma Norma.

And the sounds cut from the movie and/or the original demos are amazing. Love the soundtrack. Buy it. :D

ONCE-LER IS LOVE.