My first Death Note post refuses to go up.  Fortunately I have it saved on my computer.  I'll get it to work eventually.

But this works.

...are you freaking serious?

I do not understand why this post went up, but the Death Note post won't. Is there a timeout or something on the network before the post uploads?  The internet access has been shit at this house the whole time.  That isn't even including the times it has been fucked up completely.  Fuck.

Seriously, this is starting to piss me off.  I'm sure it isn't this site.  It has got to be the crappy internet access as a whole.  I'll try again later.  Maybe I'll have more success.

Posted by: Arson55 at 10:07 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Middle tier:  Black Cat was a largely entertaining, fun show with enjoyable characters.  But it could have been better than that.  The show simply does not take itself as seriously as its subject matter suggests it should be.  It is too lighthearted for much of what happens.  Not that that means everything necessarily works.  Creed utterly fails as a villain.  He is so far beyond bat-shit insane that he often fails to be a threat.  But he is the main thing that fails.  Otherwise, it is a pretty entertaining show. 

Posted by: Arson55 at 09:27 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Internet again...sorta.  I tried to post my opinion on Black Cat earlier but failed.  I'll try to rewrite the post later. 

Upcoming posts include (if the internet will oblige):
Black Cat
Death Note (Live Action)
Death Note (Anime)

I do actually have some things to say about each of them so maybe I can actually work up more than my usual half of a paragraph posts.

Posted by: Arson55 at 10:59 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Thanks to Ubu, I had to find my copy of the Ah My Goddess movie and watch it again. 

I don't have much to say except it is a very pretty show.

Posted by: Arson55 at 12:56 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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So I have internet again.  Yay. 

Noein: Middle tier- I enjoyed Noein the whole way through, but nothing stands out as really exceptional except the visuals.  Noein is a very pretty show, and it has, I think, the best looking CG I have seen in an anime. 

Oh, and I like Atori.  He's probably my favorite character.  But even he isn't all that great.  Just a solid show.  Not bad.  Not amazing.

Posted by: Arson55 at 01:27 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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And holy crap are there some nice ladies in this show.  When a girl like Aya is a distant, distant third on the hot girl rating...that's pretty significant.

I'm pretty sure that Maya Natsume and Chiaki will find their way onto my favorite anime females list. 

And Chiaki will stand out.  Maya fits in with the competent and athletic vibe that fills out the top part of the list, but Chiaki is so different.  She's rather gentle and so very sweet.  I liked Bob pretty much from the beginning.  But seeing him and Chiaki makes me like him more.  I understand why Bob would want to be strong for her.  She is so worth it.  Chiaki may find her way sneaking into the upper levels of the list...but then so could Maya.  They are both incredible. 

So far, I'm really enjoying the show.  As with all martial arts shows, you're not allowed to think (it will hurt you brain trying to make sense of it), but I like the characters.  None of them are bad...and like I said two of the girls are amazing. 

Posted by: Arson55 at 08:17 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I actually finished it awhile ago, I just never bothered to put this post up.

Middle Tier: I was almost tempted to put this in my upper tier.  But I think ultimately I just prefer more serious anime, and this just doesn't make the cut.  Don't get me wrong, the show is a lot of fun.  And it dips it's hand into more serious waters, without the laughably inept moments that other lighthearted shows usually have when they try for a serious tone.  At the same time, it doesn't quite reach the point where those moments have the force that they should. 

I guess the main reason I can't get behind this show as a top tier show (other than it just not being serious enough to reach those heights for me) is the main character.  Sure, he's amusing enough, but so are most of the other characters.  But he's just so very inept and clueless most of the time.  Exceedingly so.  He's not Shinji Ikari's level of whiny loser; he actually does buckle down and try.  And he does have a much better attitude than a lot of loser main characters, but most of the times when things get rough he only seems to get out of it because of his natural power as a god hunter or because one of the other more competent characters intervenes. 

Update:  Um, weird...I actually posted this one before my re-list of my top tier shows.  Wonder why it shaped out this way.

Update again:  And now they switch back around...hmm...

Posted by: Arson55 at 02:27 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I just wanted to list my favorite shows again.  Mostly because a couple dropped off the list since the first time I did it.

Rah Xephon- Rah Xephon still tops all with it's amazing relationships.  Wonderful characters and beautifully handled interactions (especially that between Ayato and Haruka) carry this show for me.

Revolutionary Girl Utena-  I like Utena.  Once again the characters stand strong.  Most of them are deep, complex people.  I also like the surreal elements that show up throughout. 

Crest of the Stars- There was some talk at some point of moving Fate Stay Night above this show.  But I can't do that until I give Crest another watch through.  I owe Crest that much for Lafiel's sake if nothing else.

Fate Stay Night- Like all of my top tier shows, the characters and relationships drive this one for me.  The beautiful but painful ending doesn't hurt either. 

Off the top:

8th MS Team-  Don't get me wrong, I still love 8th MS team, and I worry that I'm doing it a disservice.  I really enjoy the love story, but any time they're not together the show just falls a little short.  It certainly has its moments, but I don't think I can keep it in the top any longer.  I think the Middle tier is more clearly its place.

Infinite Ryvius- This show didn't survive the rewatch.  I still think it is a good show, but I didn't get far enough through it this second time to get to the points I really liked.  I know most of the characters are good enough to make it a very enjoyable show, but most of them really don't start that way.  I'll probably give it another shot, but for now it probably stands below some other shows that were in my middle tier when I first watched them.

Posted by: Arson55 at 02:27 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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In Don's most recent poll I had to vote Rin, Teletha, and Naomi since they were all nominated by me.  Spoor just missed.  A shame she wasn't in the previous rounds where I had votes to spare.

Update- And with only one vote in the final round, it has to be Lafiel.

I'll just have to hope Rin and Tessa get enough votes from others to give them a good score without me. 

Posted by: Arson55 at 12:48 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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My bitching about the end of Gilgamesh was just paused, not stopped.  I had to go to bed for work. 

Once again, spoilers follow.
more...

Posted by: Arson55 at 08:35 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Bottom Tier.  Not because it is really a bad show throughout but because it is the worst assfuck of an ending I think I've ever seen.  The ending to this is worse than that of Gasaraki, Knight Hunters, and Evangelion mixed together and vomited on.  My freaking God.  If you tried, I didn't think you could ass up an ending this bad. 

Spoilers to follow:
more...

Posted by: Arson55 at 03:17 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Free Reign is an interesting band.  Three of the four members are Dallas Cowboys offensive linemen: Starting Right Tackle/Vocalist and Guitarist: Marc Colombo, Starting Right Guard/Bassist: Leonard Davis, Back-up Guard/Drummer: Cory Procter.  The last member, lead guitarist Justin Chapman, played football with Davis in high school.

...and they are, surprisingly enough, not bad.  They're not good exactly.  They don't have a record deal or anything just now, and I guess a lot of the draw at this point is the whole professional football players thing.  But there are the makings of a decent heavy metal band in there.

No real point to this, just a random oddity I picked up.

http://www.myspace.com/freereign

If you're interested in checking them out.

Posted by: Arson55 at 07:12 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Okay, it has been almost a week since I saw Watchmen.  I should have done this post then, but...it's me.

Now before seeing the movie, I had no prior experience with Watchmen.  None.  Only Steven Den Beste mentioning it over at Chizumatic put it on my radar.  And well, I liked the movie...by and large.  The ending was fantastic and took a movie I was iffy on, and turned it into something I'll say I enjoyed. 

However, I have two major problems with the movie.  (In addition to Manhattan's penis being on full display throughout the movie).  First: So many flashbacks.  And they are not all relevant to what is going on in the movie.  It slowed the movie down too much.  I was more concerned with the present story.  And I have to believe that fully half of the movie was flashbacks if not more. 

Second, the characters were far too proficient for ones that had given up on the crimefighting.  In a typical superhero movie or show it would have made sense, but not in one that is obviously trying to defy the conventions of the genre.  Even at their peak, it would have been absurd for them to have plowed through people as they did.  After not doing it for sometime?  Silly.

Plus, Ozymandius should have been in the movie more.  He was the coolest.  In part because Ozymandius is just such an awesome name, and such an awesome reference for a super hero...or whatever. 

Posted by: Arson55 at 11:14 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Middle tier show.  Nothing too outstanding.  It has its moments (mostly involving Lyar), but the negatives are too significant.  I'm just not a big fan overall. 

I had another idea for a post in mind where I would examine the character designs, but that was just too pervy.  Suffice to say that I think Lyar is the only one of the girls who I didn't look at during the course of the show and think, 'she would look better with more reasonably sized breasts.'

Posted by: Arson55 at 12:09 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Middle Tier:  Hellsing- I liked Hellsing.  It wasn't a great show, but it was a good one.  It put together a handful of interesting characters, and put them against reasonably competent enemies, and kept me entertained the whole way through.

Bottom Tier- Bastard!!-  I loved the hell out of Bastard.  It was just so much fun.  But that is because Bastard is so clearly in the so bad it is good territory.  Everything was horrible--but the good kind of horrible.  From the main character's name being Dark Schneider (obviously Rob Schneider's cousin...even though they don't look alike, or sound alike, and Dark Schneider is clearly funnier), to the nonsense spells (Wait so you call on the power of fire to cast Venom...which has nothing to do with either fire or venom?  The ultimate attack spell Harrowing is cast three times and kills a grand total of...no one.).  Dark Schneider has a horrible voice in both Japanese and English so we just watched the English version and just rolled with it (and it is hilarious).  Oh, and the four Lords of Havoc seem to be naturally drawn to cliff faces.  And let's not forget that the castles of note are clearly named after rock bands Iron Maydon (Iron Maiden), Judas (Priest), Whiteos-Neiki (White Snake), Meta-Ricana (Metallica). 

Making this more amusing, I find out this is actually the case in the original Japanese manga, and the names were changed for the American release to prevent law suits.  Nice going guys, you manged to change it, but still keep it so that people can still tell what they were originally.  I wish you would have done a better job on the spells.  I didn't even realize Harrowing was Helloween.  Megadeth as Megadeath was an easy one though.

Posted by: Arson55 at 01:44 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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This season could not have been more of a disaster.  Everything sucked.  It sucked how the Cowboys crashed and burned.  It sucked the way two of my other favorite teams (Carolina and Tennessee) rolled over in the playoffs.  And it sucked that the Steelers got number six.  Especially the way the Cardinals snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.  Goddamn you, Cardinals defense.  Way to cave right at the fucking end.  Larry Fitzgerald had just given you a fucking Super Bowl victory.  And you had to say, "Fuck you, Larry Fitzgerald!  We don't want to win." 

Motherfuckers.

Posted by: Arson55 at 09:17 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I was watching RahXephon again.  I'm through the first three discs.  And I'm sure again that it is still my favorite anime.

But I noticed something strange.  I actually like the dub.  Usually I watch the dub either because I just don't bother to change it, or I'm watching with my roommates who seldom watch the shows subtitled.  But in this particular case I started watching it in Japanese then switched back to the dub.  This has got to be ADV's best.  That sounds like damning with faint praise, but I actually mean it as a good thing.  Sure, it has all of the same voice actors as all ADV shows, but the casting just seems better than normal, their voices fit the characters better, or they deliver their lines better.  I don't listen to the characters and think about how they sound just like someone else in some other show.  Obviously I recognize the voices, but I don't find myself dwelling on it as I do when I watch most ADV shows. 

I don't actually know if the dub is better than the Japanese language version.  The Japanese language version might well be better.  But I'm such a fan of the dub that I don't feel the urge to find out. 

Posted by: Arson55 at 02:54 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Ugh.  I'm checking out.  I don't really like any of the teams left in it.  If I had to chose anyone, I'd go Ravens.  Or as a last resort Cardinals.  But Steelers or Eagles?  Disasters, either one.  Last year was tolerable even if I hate the Giants because it was so much fun watching the Patriots (the team I hate the most, yes even more than the NFC East rivals) get the crap beat out of them.  If the Ravens make it till the end, I'll watch the Super Bowl, otherwise...what an ugly, ugly season.

Posted by: Arson55 at 01:57 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Well, I got Divergence Eve and the Misaki Chronicles with the Best Buy gift card I got on Christmas...and I don't know.  I'm one disc in and, well, I know I'm going to continue, but I'm in no hurry to do so.  Yeah, I knew about the over the top breast size (why every character?) going in.  And though irritating (why every character?), what I'm finding even more jarring is the downright bad CG.  I tend to dislike outright CG in anime to begin with, most of the time it is bad, and too jarring, and the CG here is no exception.  It's downright abysmmal.  I know I won't give up on the series.  After all, I plowed my way through Evangelion and Knight Hunters so I can get through this.  I just hope it picks up soon...and cuts down on the CG. 

On the other hand, I hope my roommates and I spend some time doing something other than playing games at some point so we can finish Last Exile.  It was an interesting show that I'm hoping to finish.

Posted by: Arson55 at 01:54 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I keep mentioning my favorite anime females.  Utena, Lafiel and everyone.  Here's the full list as it stands.  Since, I've already made it clear who the top ones are, there's no point building up.  Besides, this list is easier when I start at the top and work my way down.  The list only grows.  So new ladies will simply be crammed into their appropriate places. 

1.  Utena (Revolutionary Girl Utena)-  The total package.  Pretty, athletic, reasonably smart, capable, and fun.  There is an unshakable core of nobility and honor to her that makes her really incredible. 

2.  Lafiel (Crest/Banner of the Stars)-  Many of the same qualities as Utena, but she also brings a greater edge because she seems to have more of an attitude to her.  Still falls just a little flatter overall...because well...to me Utena is just one of the top anime hotties.

3. Rin Tosaka (Fate Stay Night)-  Once again she shares many of the qualities of the top two.  Good deep character; she plays at being tougher than she ultimately is...though she's certainly holds her own.  Like the other two, she is intelligent, and capable.  And she is one of the few that surpasses Utena in the looks department.  Still, ultimately she still falls just short of the others...and I can't really explain why.

4. Naomi Armitage (Armitage the Third Poly Matrix)- Competence, attitude, and looks.  Note this applies only to the Poly Matrix Armitage.  In Dual Matrix, they changed the art style too much (and the English voice actors) and I was no longer a fan. 

5. Ryoko (Tenchi)-  Just awesome.   In many ways, she's the only one in the show that you can see how deeply she cares for Tenchi (because I'm pretty sure she's the only one who does).  As to why she's on the list: attitude, energy, bad-assedry...and not a bad body. 

6. Saber (Fate Stay Night)-  Back to those same qualities.  Maybe losing some to the others because she is too rigid and unbending when it comes to her honor.  It's a good thing to have, but at this level it detracts from her humanity a bit, which is why she falls this low (though I love, love the scene with the stuffed lion...).

7. Teletha Testarossa (Full Metal Panic)-  Okay...this is a hottie pick.  Sure, I like Tessa, but she's lacking compared to the others...except when it comes to looks.  But she loses to no one, not even Rin or Saber there in my eyes.  A lot of guys look at Chidori, but I prefer Tessa.  Not only is she more attractive (once again: to me), she's not a freaking bitch.  By and large, she keeps herself composed, but other times she gets out of her depth which keeps her human.  Maybe a little too prone to make a fool of herself (at least in dealing with Sagara).  Overall I'm just a fan. 

By the way, the 4-7 spots are really tightly packed and these ladies can shift between these spots based upon any random whim of mine.  The first three are pretty well entrenched after that it gets iffy.

8. Lina Inverse (Slayers)-  Almost all attitude and competence here.  She doesn't match any of the others in looks, but no one is more competent or has more of an attitude than she does.  That counts for a lot. 

Not rated on account of being a kid: Ruri Hoshino:  Yeah, but if she were a few years older she would shoot up the list.  One of my favorite characters ever, while technically a female, her age prevents her from being anywhere on a list where looks weighs so heavily. 

Posted by: Arson55 at 02:53 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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