The Blog of Xbolt

The name “Bakemonogatari” comes from two root words. Bakemono, meaning monster, and monogatari, meaning story.

The story centers on Koyomi Araragi, a high school student who is 90% human again after briefly becoming a vampire as a result of an attack. One day, Hitagi Senjogahara, a classmate who never talks to anyone, falls down a flight of stairs, and Koyomi catches her. But to his surprise, she weighs almost nothing. However, that was something she’d rather have had nobody find out. Despite being threatened by her, Koyomi helps her out anyway. He takes her to Meme Oshino, the man who cured his vampirism, in order to have him cure Hitagi as well.

After that, Koyomi just has one encounter with an apparition after another. Ghosts, demons, spirits, mythological beasts, you name it.

The art direction in Bakemonogari is very odd. Well, I suppose you could say the whole show is a bit odd, though. But this is the good kind of odd. Unlike certain other shows, I was able to follow the story along pretty well.

Bakemonogatari is also (in)famous for having its final three episodes horribly delayed. The first twelve episodes aired on TV, and the final three were to be streamed on the Internet. But what should have been a 15-week show, was instead spread out to almost an entire year, after the online episodes were delayed, delayed, and delayed again. It kind of reminded me of Valve, actually…

Was the ending worth the wait? Well… I’m going to have to say that it was. I didn’t feel let down at the end as I have with many another show. Now that’s an achievement.

Bakemonogatari ED

Look at who wrote the song here. Does that name sound familiar? Eh? EH?

Yeah, that’s one reason this is one of my favorite EDs. That, and the style is just cool.

Over the past week, Valve has released the seven Portal 2 gameplay videos that were shown at E3, in all their HD glory. And so I’ve collected all of them here. For Science.

You monster. Read More

THE SCOUT IS A ⑨

Obvious joke that basically wrote itself.

Omoide Kakera

…

Okay, I want the names of the smartalecs who thought it would be funny to mess with the rankings.

I started watching this week’s ranking, and CMB greeted me at #30. I thought: “Aw man, it’s almost gone!” But then I noticed that it actually gained points over last week.

So then I thought: “Oh, cool! This is going to be a high-scoring week.” A few songs later, I realized: “Hey wait a second… These songs are all from 2008. Okay, what?”

For some reason, half the songs in the top 30, songs which had been completely dead and rotten last week, suddenly sprung to life all over. I can think of no explanation other than somebody’s trollin’.

And on GUMI’s birthday week no less! I was right, there were a bunch of good birthday songs, but only a couple made it into the top 30. The rest were displaced by the zombie songs.

So! This week I’m going to make an exception to my rule of only posting songs from the top 30 here. Since the top 30 couldn’t be trusted, I extend the limit down some. The song above was #39.

Angel Beats! (what is it with exclamation points in titles?) was written by guys from Key Visual Arts, who made Air, Kanon, and Clannad. It fits somewhere between Air and Kanon in regards to how much I enjoyed it. It was good, but it could have been better.

The setting is a school in the afterlife, where kids who haven’t accepted their deaths go to. The series is 13 episodes long, and while some stories can fit that length, Angel Beats! feels somewhat rushed in the second half. A lot of mystery is set up in the first half, but in the second half, new plot points are added and other ones are just… Dropped. Nothing more about them, they just disappear. I think the story could have been much cleaner and flowed better if the show had been a full 24-episode series instead.

That’s not to say it was bad. The story was definitely above average. There was a lot of great comedy in the show, but my favorite parts were actually the more depressing parts that moved the story forward. When we learned about the characters’ different backstories and how they ended up in this place. But again, the limited length of the show meant that not a lot of characters got this treatment, and were forced to remain comic relief characters. So if it sounds like I disliked the show, that’s wrong. I did like it; I’m just disappointed it had to be simply “above average” instead of stellar, like it should have been.

The visuals and soundtrack are amazing, regardless.

Get chance and luck!

The random, English-speaking TK is far and away my favorite character in the show.

UDK – The Physics Dance!

Because things like this are just plain AWESOME.

Megpoid Gumi- Circus (Birthday Tribute)

One year ago, this very day, GUMI was released to the world. In the days leading up to her release, I didn’t have very high expectations for her. Then she was released, and a number of excellent songs soon followed. And then we come to today, one year later, and GUMI is my favorite Vocaloid. Whaddaya know about that?

As is my tradition on a Vocaloid’s birthday, I will listen to her songs exclusively in the next 24-hour period.

Kago no Tori

I was disappointed to see that there were no new GUMI songs this week. But that’s understandable, as the rankings are tallied earlier in the week. So any birthday songs will be in next week’s ranking. And I’m sure there will be lots of them…

…Right?

Catnarok
Embedding disabled by request

This is the first, and only time I break my self-imposed rule of not posting any videos that contain coarse language. Nevertheless, I cannot possibly pass up this video.

On June 23, a video called “THE GRIND” appeared on YouTube, and contained footage of a mysterious thing known as “Catageddon”. What happened? What could have caused such a disaster? A team of sleuths at the Facepunch forums decided to get to the bottom of it. They acquired the map shown in the video from one of the guys who was in it, and set about trying to figure out what caused the Catpocalypse.

After three hours of investigating every corner of the map, the team succeeded in finding the cause. But at what price…?

At 1:15 in the linked video, it shows a certain member of the research team. I want you to take a good look at his name. And remember it.

And finally, I say this as a warning to anyone trying to follow in their footsteps…

DO NOT ANGER THE DEATH KITTY. IT WILL ONLY END IN PAIN.

EDIT 6/24 @ 4:15PM: A second video of the team’s findings has appeared.

WOOHOOO!! Singerrrrs…Innn….SPAAACE!!!

The year is 2059. Mankind is out wandering the galaxy, looking for hospitable planets to colonize.

In the beginning of the show, a reconnaissance unit sent to an unexplored asteroid belt is destroyed by a swarm of alien biomechanical insects, called the Vajra. The Vajra then start attacking the rest of the fleet.

Alto Saotome is a high school student, studying to become a pilot. He is often mistaken for a girl because of his features and long hair. His friends gave him the nickname “Princess”, which he dislikes.

Ranka Lee is a cheerful and lively teenage girl. She works at a Chinese restaurant, Nyan-Nyan. She also has a love of singing, and dreamt of becoming a professional.

Sheryl Nome is a pop music star. Known as the “Galactic Fairy”, her songs constantly top music charts. She’s a very proud person because of that. She recognizes that Ranka has talent, and offers to help her behind the scenes to get started in a pro singer career.

Ozma Lee, Ranka’s older brother, and holds the rank of major. He is a skilled pilot. He is also rather overprotective of Ranka.

In Alto’s school, we have: Mikhail Blanc, a friend and rival of Alto, and the guy responsible for the “Princess” nickname, Luca Angelloni, a junior classmate, and a genius with computers and electronics, and Nanase Matsuura, a friend of Ranka’s, who is a skilled artist.

But despite not being a major character, Clan Clang is my favorite character in Macross. She is a Zentradi, a race of giant humanoids. Due to a genetic anomaly, in the micronization process, which brings her down to standard human size, she becomes physically a juvenile. She can have a quick temper, but can also be insightful. And her eyebrows are shaped like lightning bolts. Who can go wrong with that, eh?

Ranka Lee – Aimo

Ranka’s seiyuu, Megumi Nakajima, also provided the voice samples for GUMI, who is, as you may know, my favorite Vocaloid. And totally coincidental, GUMI’s first birthday is tomorrow. I hope people do lots of great birthday songs.