Anime Episode Review: ToraDora Ep. 1

SUMMARY:

Ryuuji Takasu is entering his second year of high school. Having inherited the sharp look of a delinquent from his father, his hungover mother (Yasuko) praises him, but he despises being compared to him. After finding out he is in the same class with his friend, Kitamura, and manages through a staggered conversation with his crush, Minori Kushieda, he encounters a chibi-sized girl with a ferocious attitude known to all at school as the “Palmtop Tiger.” Taiga Aisaka violently makes her way into Ryuuji’s life, getting him caught up in her own klutziness in a way he could never imagine. However, in the midst of his own family issues, Ryuuji acknowledges Taiga’s own shortcomings, though one would hardly call his new situation fortunate.

INPUT:

I found this intro episode to be not only hilarious, but catered nicely to my otaku side. The one thing I like about this series already is that it didn’t try to hook you in with some over-the-top scenario. The character interaction is just right to do that all on its own. Exactly how I like my anime.

JC STAFF is handling the animation for this one, so I can definitely tell the animators had plenty of fun with Taiga’s Shana-like personality. For crying out loud, Taiga even attacks Ryuuji the same way Shana attacked Sakai! On top of it all, they even got Rie Kugimiya (Taiga/Shana’s VA) to do Shana’s famous “Urusai (x3)” [Taiga only does it x2] and Yui Horie (Minori/Kanon [2006]’s Ayu) in on this!

Now for an equation of pure mindblowing fanlove:

(Minami Ke’s Chiaki + 5 years) + Shana’s soul = Taiga Aisaka! I seriously fan-gushed so hard!

Amazing casting once again for a series that is really shaping up to be worthwhile series to keep an eye on. Not to mention we all know JC STAFF won’t freaking slack on the key animation, which makes me happy. As a side note, I heard the manga for this was pretty good.

FSS’s EPISODE RATING: 8/10

EPISODE 1 GALLERY

FFVII Remake: Killing Us Softly?

Chances are, you’ve either seen, heard, or experienced the epic adventure that is Final Fantasy VII. And those of you who have probably also heard about the FFVII PS3 graphics engine demo test that quickly sparked a desire in all of us (yes, even you) for a FFVII remake on the PS3. However, the dreams of such an occurrence were dashed…until I read Kotaku’s recent article about FFVII’s director pondering a FFVII remake. Kotaku closes this article with a good point:

With the remake-happy way Square Enix is going these days, you can bet there’s eventually going to be a FFVII. Reassuring to know that Kitase wants to do it in-house with the original team.

We’ve already seen a few old-school FF remakes, and Square Enix seems to be enjoying their Kingdom Hearts high. Why do you think this is? Because we are now seeing a similar trend that I brought up in my New Slayers Season: Should We Care? article. What we now have are loads of old-school gamers wanting an FF remake, while new-school tweens are pining for more Kingdom Hearts. What I love to see is that not all old-school gamers see the need for a “timeless” classic to be stripped of its vintage value as expressed by a user comment made in Kotaku’s article:

…Why do people want or need a remake so bad? Final Fantasy VII was an excellent JRPG, which is now timeless enough to still be played and enjoyed today even by younger audiences who’ve never even been old enough to play FFVII back in 1997. The game’s popularity is already beyond question, yet people still aren’t satisfied? I’m sorry, but I’ll take some new titles over something I’ve played ten years ago with prettier graphics. The World Ends With you is a beginning sign of Square-Enix trying to be the creative Squaresoft of old again; let’s not take another step backwards.

Am I the only one seeing a slighted contradiction between the last two sentences? Here’s a prime example of a conflicting issue that might reside in many old-school players who long for the Squaresoft days, and yet see no need for the past to be reborn. My [hard] question to you is this:

Do you think Square Enix would become a crowd-pleaser by creating a FFVII remake, or would they really be regressing by remaking an already groundbreaking game?

I look forward to at least one constructive reply, though that might be asking a tad too much. ^_^

A Brief Reiteration of Miku Hatsune

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I’m a pretty big fan of the first of three VOCALOID2 creations, Miku Hatsune (初音ミク), in terms of her physical appearance and moé appeal. So much so that the other day, I started imagining creating my own fan site. However, this so-called fan-gushing was without much regard to her voice in general, as I was under the impression that they were one in the same. After researching some of her songs, however, I decided that I wanted to write something brief about Miku, as I had fallen in love with not just her adorable, post-future style, but with her voice as well.

I have to shamefully admit I was a bit confused about how so users were easily obtaining mixes and generating that content on Nico Nico Douga. It was only until I decided to write this entry that I discovered that Miku isn’t just a computer-generated synthesized voice only accessible by Yamaha, put to an anime-style character. For those in the West who don’t know, the VOCALOID2 series was indeed created by Yamaha and the third-party company, Crypton, but the marketed software, VOCALOID2, uses preset, tuned pitches capable of producing varying tones centered around a particular style given the type of voice. Miku Hatsune is the name given to the J-Pop-type voice used in the VOCALOID2 Character Vocaloid Series. The voice originally belongs to Saki Fujita.

I’m really impressed to find out that Nico Nico Douga was a big contributer to Miku Hatsune’s popularity, and the VOCALOID2 software in general. Without greater fans than me, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy such lovely user-generated mixes that use Miku’s sweet-sounding voice. I wish I had that kind of time and interest on my hands. I do adore the Miku’s character and the “magic” of her voice, so here are a few visual culture sources that I have come across that are all about Miku Hatsune.

Miku Clips

My current favorite song by Miku

NicoNico Vocaloid Animation

Lucky*Star OP w/ Vocaloid CG

Miku Links

• MikuFan.com: A Hatsune Miku Fansite
• YouTube: MikuFan
• http://www.mikumiku.info/
• DarkMirage – VOCALOID2’s Hatsune Miku
• More about VOCALOIDs

Do you like Miku Hatsune (or VOCALOIDs)? Tell us why or why not!