Tower of Druaga – the Sword of Uruk

Tower of Druaga - the Sword of Uruk

Phew. Finally getting to blogging about some of the anime for the winter season. “Tower of Druaga – the Sword of Uruk” is the 2nd season in the Druaga series, the first being “the Aegis of Uruk”. I really liked Aegis of Uruk although the 1st episode threw me off a little. I was very skeptical of the first season, although I understood that they (Gonzo) wanted to parody everything in fantasy rpgs/animes, but I toughed it out and man was I glad I did. It has been a long time since I’ve watched a good fantasy anime with Dragons, swords, magic, and cat ears….errrr what? Aegis of Uruk stuck true to the formula of fantasy animes (my favorite being Record of Lodoss War) with a bit of parody and silliness here and there. I loved the OP, it was cheery and uplifting while tricking you into thinking it was gonna be like a .Hack type of “oh we’re playing the game in IRL”. The ending of the first season left me wanting more and I just couldn’t wait for Sword of Uruk.

Here’s what happened in season 1:

Tower of Druaga - Sword of Uruk explained or more like outlined

Before reading on if you haven’t finished the first season stop and go watch it or if you haven’t caught up to episode 3 in Sword of Uruk go finish that. Now onto the main topic:

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Happy Chinese New Year!! (san nin faai lok)

Ox goes moooo

Left - Wishes fulfiled Right- Gods bring you good luck (I believe that's right)

Happy Chinese New Year!! 2009 is the year of the Ox (or cow). You don’t have to be Chinese to celebrate but if you are you have the racial bonus called “Get red envelopes from your relatives/elders”, which is a pretty damn sweet racial trait cause there’s money inside those red contraptions.
Unfortunately I didn’t go home this weekend and won’t be for a few weeks so no lai see (red envelopes) for me. Sucks cause I was hoping to buy Saber Lily with what I got and my kidney I just gutted lol.

Enjoy the day with your family and friends, read up on the Ox, and eat some beef! I’m gonna go enjoy my Chinese New Year doing financial accounting homework and writing an essay about western civilization. Fun.

Ox picture is by firefleasan
Cute qipao girls by CrazyGuyKung
both from deviantArt.

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Global Shinkai Day 2009

Just a small post while I’m trying to get through some of the animes of the new season and write about it.

Fellow Danny Choo user Laz Long who started a Makoto Shinkai Fan Forum will be holding a “Global Sinkai Day” which starts on February 27 and lasts till the 28th. A 24 hour extravaganza in appreciation of all things Makoto Shinkai. If you want more details you can search through the forums for the thread or click this. There are many things to be done and many people to enjoy the day with.

I personally am a BIG fan of Makoto Shinkai. Every time I see one of his films I am just blown away by the artistry and story. I know a lot of my friends loved 5 Centimeters per Second but hated the ending. I think they just didn’t want to accept the reality of it. Not saying it didn’t irk me too but when I thought about where Shinkai was coming from it I accepted it a bit more. Very excited to see what his next work will be like and if it has a happy ending it will blow minds (though it’s not his style).

So spread the word about Global Shinkai Day 2009 with you friends, family, and internet buddies. I know I will be.

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Satoru Kousaki an unsung hero

In the otaku-sphere, both western and eastern, once you delve far enough into the passion/hobby you start becoming acquainted with seiyuus (voice actors/actresses) and directors (Hideaki Anno, Hayao Miyazaki, Junichi Sato). Once acquainted with them and their works you start singing praise of work they have done both new and old. This can be best described in episode 1 of Genshiken where the guys are talking about various elements that they thought were good in the first episode of Kujibiki Unbalance. For the scene skip to 10:17.Now I think I know my otaku related stuff pretty damn well (not as well as the Japanese Otaku of course) and I rarely find myself in those kinds of conversations.

Satoru Kousaki-san you are the man!!

One of the unsung heroes of the industry which I will be embedding into my brain is Satoru Kousaki. This man is a GENIUS. If you take a look at his works you will notice a few things: 1. The theme songs he has composed and arranged are well known, 2. They are theme songs for some of the most popular anime (fan base wise), 3. They are all REALLY REALLY catchy, 4. I LOVE THEM.

These are songs that we have heard over and over again, seen many youtube parodies, seen many a grown men dressed in sailor outfits dancing to the songs, seen many a choreographed group at a con or tried to start a group, and heard remixes of. Some of us hate the songs but I can still listen to them and try to sing along with fond memories and a faint smile on my face. I usually find myself skipping through the OPs when I marathon shows but with Kannagi, Suzumiya Haruhi, and Lucky Star I found myself NOT skipping them and instead enjoying them. I think that is a great accomplishment as a composer where you can hook people in to your works and influence people to spawn mad offshoots of your work.

Example Kannagi OP:

Okay that was a really bad example and I think I scared some of you but it’s pretty decent.

Satoru Kousaki is the man behind these insanely crack addicting songs and I cannot wait for the next anime he composes a song for. In the future maybe we can see him spread out into a different genre of anime theme songs aside from catchy pop ones (but I’m ok if he keeps making them heh).

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Embracing 2009 while looking back at 2008

"Happy New Year!"

Well 2009 is upon us ladies and gentlemen and it is my pleasure to say “Happy New Year”! Here’s looking forward to another eventful year. Looking back 2008 was a pretty eventful and crazy year for me: I started college, met many a new friends, watched a whole slew of animes, and played some very awesome video games.

There were a lot of memorable animes from 2008 such as Natsume Yuujinchou, Aria the Origination, Code Geass R2, Soul Eater, Hidamari Sketch x365, Kannagi, To Aru Majutsu no Index, xxxHolic Kei, and Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Of course I watched more anime than just these titles but these are the memorable ones from the past year.

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