Random post is random
Just a random post about random things. Birthdays, Higurashi: Kizuna III, the latest chapters of Shin Tenipuri, and the like.
Birthdays
First of all, it's been Katsura's birthday (June 26), haruyuki's birthday (June 27), Chinen's birthday (June 29), and Yasuka Saitou's birthday (June 29) fairly recently. So, happy birthday to them. =3 It was also Al and Matthew's (Hetalia) birthdays recently (July 1 and 4), so happy birthday to them, too.
Higurashi
I managed to get Kizuna III, and completed it fairly recently. I might post another 'guide' thing up, in case people can't figure out how to unlock certain paths (I had to look it up, as usual). I was surprised that Tokihogushi-hen didn't have as much appearance by Rena as I expected it too (and I found it difficult to unlock, for some reason), but I think it was still mainly about Rena and her L5 stint before the start of the story. The first time through Tsumihoboroshi also gave me a bit of a surprise, as Rena blew up the school at the end instead of the usual 'battle with K1 on the rooftop' scenario. .____.; I guess it was necessary to link to Yoigoshi-hen, so perhaps I should have seen it coming, but it still surprised me. Yoigoshi was fun, although sometimes I forget Miyuki isn't supposed to be there. (The same Miyuki who's Akasaka's daughter, too- it seems strange, having seen her as a child). Natsumi also appeared again, which I wasn't expecting (in Tokihogushi). Lastly, I thought Minagoroshi was good- long, but good, from what I could make of it. Must be really frustrating for Rika, though.
Umineko
Speaking of Higurashi, the Umineko anime aired recently. It's difficult at this stage to know how the rest of it is going to go, but I think that it looks good so far. I like the drawing style better than the one DEEN used for Higurashi (although I'm unused to Battler's big eyes) and the voices are good. George and Kanon's weren't quite how I imagined them, but they're not bad, by any means. I imagine I'll get used to them. The only thing I could possibly find a bit off about it is the pacing, but that's probably a genre adaption thing. Hopefully they'll be able to put missed things in later (Kyrie being Battler's stepmother, and not his mother, for example). Concerning potential censoring (I didn't see the censored version, but heard that Natsuhi and Eva's conversation was censored), I kind of hope they don't censor too much of it, as much as I'm not fond of gore myself- what with it being a kind of gory series, I'm not sure how they'd be able to exclude it. But I thought it was good, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the episodes airing.
Shin Tenipuri
Shin Tenipuri chapters 8 and 9 also came out today. I'm not too happy that (mostly) doubles pairs are being made to fight each other anyway, but I guess I've conceded that as long as it's written alright, I'll be fine with it. Niou and Yagyuu's match last month was handled well, I thought. Pity to hear that the colour spread theory is mainly disproven, too, as it was a useful prediction tool. I guess there's still some opportunity for the people on the colour spread to win, though- and perhaps even for some of the losers to come back to the camp later (as I didn't like them being kicked out of the camp, really). As for this month's matchups...
Sanada-Yukimura (7-1 victory to Yukimura): I was expecting a bit of a higher score on Sanada's part, because I always thought he and Yukimura were at a level where they could comfortably play together and for there to be an equal chance of them both winning, but I think the match was at least handled well. I would protest to Yukimura being a bit harsh, as there's a difference between being harsh and giving it your all (... well, mostly), but apart from that, it's nice that there was a bit of 'thanks to you, I can play tennis again', and Yukimura giving it his all. I also kind of wish the match had gotten more closure- as it is, Sanada just walked off trembling (whether from the black aura of d00m or the Yips) and didn't talk to Yukimura at all- but maybe he needed to settle first. I rather hope that the black aura of d00m is more about determination rather than another out-of-control Akuma-esque thing, which has been suggested (I think it would suit Sanada to have a focus on his determination). I also kind of hope that he comes back, as I'm not sure of the point of the black aura of d00m if he doesn't.
Shinji-Kamio (7-5 victory to Kamio): The match admittedly didn't last very long. .___.; I found it a bit odd that Shinji didn't seem to try to use Spot, but other than that, I thought the match was fine. I didn't mind too much who won.
Lili (Krauser)- Sakata (7-0 victory to Lili): Kind of glad that Lili won, much as I don't condone smashing people into fences. He's kind of interesting, and I wouldn't mind seeing more of him (I also think I find it kind of funny that he's just so... well, wacked out). I guess a word of warning would be not to trip the resident psychopath over, or you get smashed face-first into a fence... ouch. Not a lot shown of it (just Sakata smashed into the fence and Lili walking off with his hair flowing), but nevertheless.
The three middle pair-ups I feel got a bit overlooked. I was interested in Kite-Kai, just for the sake of it involving Higa, but they didn't get a score (Kite won). Kind of wish it would have had a bit more. Even though I wasn't particularly personally invested in either the Fuji brothers match or Shishido-Choutarou, I do feel bad for people who were: they were skimmed over, pretty much, with a panel of Fuji just winning 7-0 and a page or so of Shishido-Choutarou. I kind of feel particularly bad for the latter, as they're one of those married-couple pairs whose reactions to all this 'we want to tear you apart. >D' mess should really be taken into account- especially as Niou-Yagyuu and Sanada-Yukimura got a lot of focus (although I was happy about that).
As for next month, I'm only really interested in seeing how Pyon, Kaidoh, and Kenya do. I'm not interested in Atobe or Shiraishi, and only really in how the other does before (presumably) getting knocked out. Tezuka and Kaidoh should be fine, although I'm guessing Tezuka wins on this one (as much as Kaidoh's stamina is beastly). Kind of wish it wasn't another month, but isn't it always like that. .__-;
Japan
Finally, I signed up for a summer course in Japan for about July 29- August 19, and was accepted, so I'm happy about that. I'll finally get to go to Japan. 8D I hope the course is good (and I learn something)- I chose Japanese language and the history of Edo-Tokyo. I signed up for the former because I just want to improve my Japanese (as always), and the latter should just be generally interesting especially in the context of Gintama. So, I hope that'll be nice. (I'm also hoping I'll get a chance to go to Ikebukuro to look for an Animate or to look for doujin, or something like that. Having never had the opportunity to buy these things before, I'm looking forward to it- if I manage to get there and don't get lost on the streets or in the underground. =3).
And, that's really all. I'll stop talking now.