Going to do something about the Codex Alera coming up.  Probably mostly focused on Kitai and Isana who are my favorite characters in the series. 

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So, finally playing it, and I just unlocked my second ending--the Good End for the Unlimited Blade Works route.  And, well, some thoughts.  I'm probably not breaking new ground with this given how long it has been around but, whatever.  If you're like me and avoided it until now, spoilers below as usual. 

Obviously, I still have another ending to unlock from UBW and I still have to play through Heaven's feel.  This little bit is solely about the Good End to UBW. 
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So, I think Fate Stay night has more posts than anything else here.  Anyway, I just got the first Fate Stay Night on Blu Ray and just rewatched it in the first time since my last post about it here years ago (the sub this time as over the years my tolerance for English dubbing on shows has dramatically declined).  The emotions of that show still hit me just as strong as ever.  I cannot see that image at the end of the stuffed lion sitting on the desk without tearing up.  

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Because I'm significantly behind the curve I've only just now gotten around to watching A Certain Magical Index and A Certain Scientific Railgun.  And having seen both seasons of Index and the majority of the first season of Railgun, I'm thinking that, thus far, at least, Railgun is probably a better show.  Despite that I think I prefer Index, just because of Index herself.  I don't think any of the Railgun characters are quite as much fun as Index is. 

I'll have a full length post on something just as soon as I figure out what I want to post about. 

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So in my previous post I wrote about the OVA series and Universe, but I didn't mention any of the other Tenchi properties.  I cannot speak to Tenchi in Tokyo, GXP, or the War on Geminar simply because, in the case of the later two, I've never seen them, and I haven't watched the former since high school.  I fully intend to collect and watch them in time.  The other thing I didn't speak about were the movies.  Daughter of Darkness won't really be covered here as it lies outside the two continuities I'm discussing.  But the two Tenchi Muyo in Love movies are very relevant.  And are, honestly, the high point for the  Universe continuity.  And along with OVA 3 dragging down the OVA continuity, they are what ultimately pulls Universe ahead.  

Both of the Tenchi Muyo in Love movies are excellent, even though they are resoundingly different.  Tenchi Muyo in Love is simply a fun, enjoyable movie.  The good points are numerous.  The characters are all spot on.  Kiyone is her usual competent self although she doesn't have a huge role--really all of the girls roles are decreased slightly with the extra emphasis going to Tenchi and Achika, which isn't a bad thing.  Washu is also at her best at least as far as the Universe continuity is concerned.  Even Mioshi is less annoying than usual as she doesn't have her usual massive screw-ups.  But of the girls the highlights are Ryoko and Ayeka mostly do to their chemistry together.  This is possibly the first point in the Universe continuity where you actually start to see them as friends.  They are still clearly rivals and they have their usual fights and disagreements.  But they spend the bulk of the movie in each others company, and you can see a sense of camaraderie between them.  In addition, like many of the best parts of Tenchi, Ryoko has some good moments.  Perhaps my favorite scene of the movie is towards then end when Tenchi is fighting the effects of the temporal disturbance, and insisting on doing so without the assistance of Washu's device.  Ryoko places a hand on his back as he struggles, literally, to hold himself together.  You see her concern as she lends what little support she can, but allows him to take care of it himself because that is what he wants and what he needs at the time.  I love any chance that brash, loudmouthed Ryoko gets to show her softer side, especially done here with no words.  

The one main issue with the movie is Kain.  He is a rather poor villian overall.  He is clearly a threat, there is no denying that.  But there is no depth to the character.  He hates the Jurian power and wishes to destroy all sources of it.  That is all.  He's more of a force of nature than a character.  Which I suppose may have been the intention since he isn't on screen much.  He's the threat looming over the whole thing, and not directly involved until the end.  Then again, strong villains (character-wise not power-wise) have always been a weakness for Tenchi.  Ultimately, Tenchi Muyo in Love, is the best parts of the series in a 90 minute movie.  There is a lot to like about that.

Tenchi Muyo in Love 2, on the other hand, is a massive departure from the series' norm.  Where as the series is usually a comedy with some serious action elements, Tenchi Muyo in Love 2, basically drops both of those to instead focus entirely on the drama and the characters.  I would be lying if I said Tenchi Muyo in Love 2 was anywhere near the top of my favorite things about the series.  I enjoy it certainly, but it just isn't fun the way Tenchi is.  That said, again the interplay between Ayeka and Ryoko is good, which is good because it is the bulk of the movie.  Really, the main thing that Tenchi Muyo in Love 2 offers is a conclusion to the romantic element of the series when Ayeka bows out and admits that Ryoko is the only one who can get through to Tenchi which pretty much makes Universe unique among Tenchi continuities.  Apparently the original creator has self-published works where it is made evident that in the OVA continuity Tenchi ultimately ends up marrying them all.  But as he doesn't own the rights, it means that unless another OVA series is made that's all non-canon.

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Was originally going to add my next Tenchi post tonight, but I lost the post and I have to retype the whole thing.  My fault really.  I really should type these things up in notepad or something and then post them up here.  So...yeah, tomorrow maybe?  Should be Sunday at the latest. 

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So...Tenchi Muyo...anyone remember Tenchi Muyo?  I do.  And that is because Tenchi Muyo is fucking awesome. 

Anyway, up until the last couple of weeks I hadn't actually watched Tenchi since back in High School when it was on the Toonami roster so what...twelve/thirteen years ago?  Well, I had watched the movies more recently than that but it has probably been at least five or six years since the last time I had seen them.  Also, I had never seen the completion of the OVAs.  Which...yeah, after having seen OVA 3...okay, not really missing anything there.  Still, either I had forgotten how much I loved Tenchi in the past or, more likely, I simply like it more than I did before.  Whether that is because something about it speaks to me more now that I'm older or simply nostalgia I can't say for sure, although I think it is likely a combination of both. 

I'm just kind of rambling here because I'm not quite sure where to begin,  But I guess, I'll go ahead and return to my old three tier grading scheme and take it from there.  Various spoilers of various severity in the reviews.
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The Doctor Who episode "Kill the Moon" is the stupidest thing I've ever seen.

That is all. 

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Have you ever been on the internet and found your old blog that you haven't updated in three years, and been like: 'Hey, I want to do something with this?' 

Well, I haven't.  Actually what happened is I have started collecting the Tenchi series (So far the three OVA series and the Tenchi Universe series).  I started watching them (So far the OVAs...going to start on Universe after I finish this post) and it made me somewhat nostalgic and I happened to think of this place and my top anime females list and wondered if this was still a thing.  So...yeah.  Over the course of the the upcoming weeks, I'm going to make one last attempt at reviving this even though I am certain that absolutely no one will read this.  Who knows, convincing myself to update a blog periodically may get me in the habit of writing again, and I may actually get around to finishing that novel I'm 60,000 words into. 

Upcoming are posts on Tenchi.  Possibly also post something on Log Horizon.  Maybe I'll do something about the Dallas Cowboys surprising success so far this year, and maybe some thoughts on Rangers baseball.  I never really had a thought on what this blog was supposed to be, and apparently that is going to continue. 

Random update:  Oh, and it looks like at least some of the blogs I used to read when I was around this neck of the internet are still around.  I might have to check in on them again. 

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There were a couple of animes that I watched while I was away from this blog.

I'll do a brief post for each, likely in the next few days. 

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Finally saw it tonight.  And it was pretty good.  I don't know that I enjoyed it quite as much as Thor.  This despite Captain America being better paced, better written and despite it feeling like it had more of a point. The main difference is that whereas Chris Hemsworth was amazing as Thor, Chris Evans was merely good as Steve Rogers.  In nearly every other way Captain America was superior, and yet in the end it just isn't enough.

I will draw particular attention to Peggy Carter being a far more entertaining character than Jane Foster.  That's not the fault of Natalie Portman who I honestly feel was doing well with a character who felt poorly written to me. 

And although I am kind of looking forward to The Avengers…I actually kind of wish that instead Captain America and Thor were actually just getting their own sequels. I think it is entirely too possible that the movie will just be too busy. I do not see any conceivable way that each of the characters can get the treatment they deserve.

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So, yeah, I got Catherine Tuesday (the same day I picked up Seven Samurai), and I finished it Thursday. 

I have never in my life played a harder game.  Now, I admit, I'm not great at puzzle games, but I have never before felt the need to put a game on easy, which I did for Catherine after stage 3.  On easy, well, most of the regular levels were too simple, being no challenge whatsoever, but a few of the bosses were still fairly difficult.  But once I had it on easy I stayed consistently right at 99 retries remaining.  I wish that there would have been a difficulty setting between easy and normal. 

Story wise, I enjoyed the game.  I identified with the main character mainly because of one thing; neither of us really have much drive in our lives.  I don't want to go all emo again, like I was the last time I put posts up on this blog, because that's really not me.  But the game did make me somewhat sad about the direction of my own life, since I think the odds of a supernatural event convincing me to finally start to make the effort to get my life moving is relatively low.  However, as much as I enjoyed the story overall, I was a little dissatisfied with the way that things shook down with the ending I got.  Mostly, certain revelations came out of nowhere with little provocation, and things just kinda fell into place in odd ways.  I don't want to say much more than that as to avoid spoilers, since I really do recommend the game for those who can handle the frustrations of it's absurd difficultly.  And despite my complaints about how the ending (I wonder how many endings there are in this game--is it just one for each girl or are there more?) came together, it did end in a satisfying place. 

I probably won't play through it all the way again, unless I end up deciding that I have to reclaim my gamer card by going back through and beating it on normal.  I will likely never see any of the other endings.  Like I said, the one I got finished in a satisfying place.  

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I just saw that Revolutionary Girl Utena is getting re-released.  The first two box sets are out now, and I'm just going to go ahead and order them.  I'm a little disappointed that it isn't getting a Blu-Ray release since I'm trying to stick to Blu-Ray purchases (although I did get a DVD copy of Seven Samurai the other day).  Still, that is totally awesome.  I mean, I still have all of my DVDs, but still to have new box sets will be totally awesome. 

I'm just babbling, but fuck yeah!  Utena! 

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I have no idea what I have to say, or what I'm going to talk about.  But, well, I'll figure something out maybe. 

Maybe. 

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Don't really have anything to say now, either, just putting some kind of post up.

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This is so driving me crazy.  I can't even get enough of a post up to get my thoughts on L and Light up in one post.  Oh well

Spoilery: more...

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I actually had no interest in Death Note initially.  It just did not seem that it would be terribly interesting to me.  But my roommate put the Death Note live action movie on in the living room while I was out there.  I was sick at the time, and for some reason my room was making me feel a little claustrophobic, which was a new experience for me, so I just stayed in the living room figuring I would just go to sleep and it would not be an issue.  However, something about the show hooked me, and not only did I stay awake, I watched it largely fascinated.

Death Note is a good anime to be done live action.  There are almost no special effects and none of the big fight scenes that tend to show up in a lot of anime.  The only special effects there are the shinigami, and I thought they were handled very well in the live action.  The actors do a good job with their roles, and I have no complaints there (not even after now having seen the anime also).

Actual observations with spoilers in the next post.

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Okay, since I cannot get the longer posts to go up, I'll put it up in smaller pieces.
And no, I don' know why the posts won't go up.  It has to be the crappy internet connection at this house.  There are just some sites that won't work properly.

Next post will be how I got to watching Death Note.

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Middle Tier:  And very near the bottom of the middle tier.  I just read Steven den Beste's review, and this is one of the few times I'll agree pretty much whole heartedly with him.

His review: http://denbeste.nu/Chizumatic/reviews/Maburaho.shtml

The show had potential at first, but squandered it with all the issues that he mentioned.  The only thing that saves this show from being bottom tier is Rin.  I do really like her, and she'll probably debut on some later version of my favorite anime females. She is so socially awkward, but she is very sweet.  And though she looks flat when dressed, she's got probably the best figure of the girls in the show.  Kuriko's breasts are larger, not the too huge of some characters or some shows, but still larger than my ideal. 

By the way, I do still want to get those Death Note posts up.

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And two people are responsible.  Tony Romo and Jason Garrett.  Fuck them both.

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