Tag Archive for 'reviews'

Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood

fmab

This weekend I watched Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood from episode 1 to 27, even though I had some other things to do. The first part of the series was similar to the first series – Full Metal Alchemist, then the other half was totally different. It’s quite interesting to watch another version of the story. I read that FMA Brotherhood is closely related to the manga unlike the first animated series. Though, I don’t like the part of their jokes, even in serious battles they have silly chibi characters having tantrums, specifically Ed. That’s just my own opinion though. The artwork also differs with characters like Scar, they look older compared to the first series. The series by far is very interesting to watch, and I’m still craving for more!

Photo from: Nippon Media

Eden of the East

eden-of-the-eastThis week, I watched all the episodes of the anime series Eden of the East (Higashi no Eden). At first, I was hesitant on watching the series due to the artwork style, but I was hooked instantly after watching the first episode.

The Plot

The anime revolve around the Selecaos – 12 people who were given phones that have a value of 10,000,000,000 yen each. This money cannot be converted into cash and must be used to save Japan. The money must also not reach zero while not being able to save Japan, if that happens the penalty is death. These Selecaos are in a game they can’t refuse to accept were there is only one winner, and will be the only one to survive in the end.

The interesting part about the story is about the personas the phones were given to. Each of these people have different beliefs, passions and personalities. But the story centers on the 9th Selecao and his quest to stop the evil plot of the other Selecao members.

The Artwork

At first I didn’t like the artwork, the characters have a weird look on their face, due to the big smiles and flat-looking nose. I really didn’t like the shading on the mid part of their noses, since it adds up to the “flat-nosed” effect. Besides that, I have no complaints. They have good backgrounds that uses vibrant colors which easily catches attention. In some parts of the anime, they used 3d objects like cars, building and even the thousand buck naked running men. I would have preferred those 3d objects to be drawn traditionally, since the characters and the backgrounds would blend more naturally.

Also. their opening theme has a good art style. I like the combination of good typography, contrasting colors and vector shapes in the video. It greatly adds to the modern effect, and they pulled it off perfectly.

Conclusion

Overall, I loved the series, Eden of the East now belongs to the list of  my favorite animes. I would recommend it to anyone who wants a unique story and great entertainment. I can’t wait for the release of their first movie on November 28, 2009.

DataMapper Problems on DreamHost

poutingYes, I do want to pout right now. Here’s a fast drawing done today, even with messy shading. This drawing features a girl drawn in the style of Yuu Watase (creator of Fushigi Yuugi, Ayashi no Ceres, Alice 19th and etc.), I used to like her artworks back then, but now I have my own preferred style. I do love the girl characters of Watase when pouting, since they look so cute!

So, what’s making me pout then? Yesterday, Wayne gave me the code for the config.ru file for the ruby application. The ruby gem path now works in DreamHost! But I still have an error, just one error though, there’s a fastthread installation in DreamHost currently version 1.0.1, but DataMapper requires 1.0.4. The fastthread 1.0.1 is activated by another gem first, so 1.0.4 can’t be activated anymore. I contacted DreamHost about the problem, they won’t upgrade the gem on a server basis. I must add the fastthread upgrade to the suggestions corner and wait for people to vote if they want the upgrade or not.

I’ll try to find other means of using DataMapper for the recoding of ChanLu Design, since I won’t give up on using that wonderful gem. Here’s the code that Wayne gave me, tell me though if there are other better alternatives.

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if (ENV['HOME'] =~ /^\/home\//)  ## DREAMHOST
  require "#{ENV['HOME']}/.gems/gems/rack-0.9.1/lib/rack.rb"
  require "#{ENV['HOME']}/.gems/gems/sinatra-0.9.1.1/lib/sinatra.rb"
  ENV['GEM_HOME'] = "#{ENV['HOME']}/.gems"
  ENV['GEM_PATH'] = "#{ENV['HOME']}/.gems:/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8"
  require 'rubygems'
  Gem.clear_paths
else
  require 'sinatra'
end
require 'datamapper'
require 'haml'
require 'app'
run Sinatra::Application

The rack and sinatra gems are being required manually because when requiring it by using their names, a lower rack version is activated which is installed default in DreamHost.

haruhi_suzumiya_vector_by_leek128

Besides that, I have been watching The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Though I still haven’t been able to finish the series yet due to my personal projects and work. I do like the series, its worth a few laughs and the characters are cute! I also find Itsuki Koizumi quite appealing.

I will be posting more about this series after I watch all the episodes, maybe this weekend if my brother bugs me onto watching this show.

00-cover2Also, I have been reading Japanese comics (manga) – shoujo manga is my current genre of interest, I read Kimi ni Todoke (Reaching You) but sadly there are no more scanlantions for the other chapters. But this manga is really fun! It is about a girl who is really pale having long black hair and is being called as Sadako, encounters the “refreshing” guy – Kazehaya which will open her up to new opportunities such as having friends. This story is a love comedy, which has cute artwork and will hook you up wanting for more.

hana-to-akuma

I am also reading Hana to Akuma, it is about a Demon who decided to live on earth, and adopted a baby human. Though the story focuses when the child is 14 years old already. The artwork of the male characters is awesome, they look cool, handsome and cute, depending on what they want to portray. But the girls in this manga seem like blank looking, it’s only my own opinion though. I do find the story entertaining and it gives me a good amout of laughs. I haven’t finished reading the current chapters of this manga, so I may post later more about this series.

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