NKDS

Looking forward to Shin Sonic Cure Blossom. 

You know its bad when two writers on this blog wrote about the same episode twice. You know its doubly bad when it happened despite one of the writers having zero prior affinity or liking towards the Precure series. You know its REALLY bad when said writer starts liking Precure… if only because of his devotion to Nana Mizuki.

Welcome to Heartcatch Precure, where two different groups of audience from two wildly differing age groups are watching the series for two totally different reasons. This series will have children going crazy over the fight scenes, while Nana fans will simply gush “NANANANANANANANANANA” whenever Tsubomi speaks. Of course, both demographics will like Tsubomi’s transformation scene and Cure Blossom’s costume, though once again for two entirely different reasons…

I mean, look at Cure Blossom’s figure and nice legs. And her short skirt. Yummy.

*ahem* Anyway, I strongly urge all Nana fans to start this series. If you like Nana, you owe it to yourself to at least give the first episode a spin. Just put away the fact that you are watching a children’s show, and you may be pleasantly surprised. Nana’s performance as Tsubomi was awesome, that much had to be said. I haven’t heard Nana like this for a long time, and Tsubomi nearly moe-ed me to death with her loli megane-ko antics.  

See the number 7 on Tsubomi’s shirt? Yeah, that’s about it. Its all about Nana.

At the end of the episode I had the distinct impression that the rest of the series would be good in its own right, so I will continue watching this, if only for my weekly moe Nana fix. I am still refusing to admit that I have become a Precure fan, but I feel my willpower slipping away each time I watch Tsubomi’s transformation sequence and the ending sequence. Whoever casted Nana as Tsubomi and Cure Blossom is a freaking genius.

And yes, we need character singles for Tsubomi. Having that missing out from the franchise would be a terrible, terrible waste.

 This is Julius Firefocht, signing off.

 Seven flavours of schoolgirl Nana to choose from. 

The webpage for the Live Academy concert goods is up here. Me? I’m only getting the school calendar, seen in the above picture. There is enough fantasy material in the calendar for the most exacting Nana fan out there.

A 17 year old girl should act her age by cosplaying in various school uniforms. Nana-chan gets my intense approval for this series of pictures.

This is Julius Firefocht, signing off.

Its finally here!!! The start of the 7th season of プリキュア

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Noto~~!! <3

Another year, another time to wish Noto happy birthday again. The past year has been pretty Notoble, with her voicing a few roles she has voiced before in sequels, namely Notozaka Haruka in Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu Purezza and Toudou Shimako in Marimite 4. But her new roles were also awesome, with the most determined and cool Tomoe from Queen’s Blade and as an ojou-sama type as Toudou Lilicia in Seitokai no Ichizon. But the role that dominated my memory of the past year is most definitely Kuronuma Sawako from Notodoke; what can I say, it’s simply 2D Noto! Ever so sweet, so cute, so naive (and hence even more cute), so earnest and so lovable; just like Noto! This took the spot of most iconic Noto role ever for sure at least, and now I simply cannot imagine anybody else voicing for that role.

And on Noto’s birthday it seems that I was blessed; opened a signed Starlight Breaker in one of the Nanoha First boxes that I bought today, making this happy day just simply fantastic. Now for another year of joy, another year of happiness and another year of Noto! <3

Some old favourites return, while some turn into…something else. Note the NOD Crawler in the picture.

So, the reason why I have not been posting for the past few days is the multiplayer beta of Command and Conquer 4, which I have been lucky enough to participate in. Between CnC4, my work and my anime commitments, I have more than enough to preoccupy myself throughout my long Chinese New Year holidays.

Longtime fans take note, CnC4 is a CnC game only in name. Gone are the base building and the harvesting of Tiberium, the substance that the CnC universe has revolved around since the first game. Gone are the construction of massive armies with which you would steamroll your opponent. In their place are new MCVs called Crawlers that serve as your mobile all-in-one base, and the Offense, Defense and Support game classes that will determine the role you play in the battlefield. You build your units and defensive structures from your Crawlers, and move around the map capturing Tiberium Control Network Nodes with your army. Whichever team manages to capture and hold on to the most TCN nodes will eventually win. Oh, and Kane is still around. He will never die, just like the legions of Westwood and old-school CnC fanboys who are crying bitter and impotent tears over how “their game” has mutated into something unrecognizable.

If the gameplay sounds familiar, that’s because it probably is. This gameplay is lifted directly from the Dawn of War series, but its fun and fast paced. Team play and coordination is important here, as a coordinated team will always beat a uncoordinated team. I had a game where the opposing GDI team tried to overrun my NOD team’s defenses in the middle of the map. I simply told the rest of my team to hang in there and soak up the assault while I flanked the GDI forces, moving behind their lines to capture their TCN Nodes. The GDI players did not know what hit them and the game went downhill for them from there. And yes, games consist of only GDI vs NOD as players are not allowed to mix GDI and NOD in one team, at least in the beta. Funny logic, but the wisdom of this decision becomes apparent once you play the game for a few rounds.

Projectile and guns are rare in this game. Lasers, energy weapons and railguns are common. Misaka would be proud.

Other significant new features include things like a population cap, and the unlocking of new units via a level-up system. So the more you fight, the faster you will unlock the juicy stuff like Avatars and Mammoth Tanks. However, I think the biggest change compared to past CnCs has to be the pace of the game. In past games it usually takes a few minutes before the bullets and missiles start to fly, as players take time to build up their armies. Now it takes barely a minute before the first confrontation takes place, with both teams scrambling for as many TCN Nodes as possible within the shortest amount of time. The action in CnC4 is usually over within 15 minutes, but its 15 minutes of high-paced gameplay that will keep you on your toes as you create strategies on the fly. Compare that to previous games where it often takes a longer time to resolve a winner.

There are other changes, such as the command point and upgrade point system that replaced the old resource gathering routine. But at the end of the day, only the following three questions mattered. Is this the CnC game that I knew and loved? Nope, it is not. Is it fun? Yeah, it sure is, if the beta is anything to go by. Will I buy it? Hell yeah. I feel sorry for the old CnC diehards who refuse to touch this game with a 10-foot pole. They have no idea what they are missing out on.

This is Julius Firefocht, signing off from Temple Prime, Sarajevo. Peace through power.

Brought to you by Ryukishi7 and Peach Pit, I present to you Nemuru-chan.

If you have been watching so far, you will notice that the people in this show are not normal. More akin to wolves than reinwolf Akaiwolf peanut. Even crazier than higurashi and umineko.
To end this random post, if you like the town, please kindly join me here.

Yes, Im bored.

Enough said. And the plushies do look pretty big!

This is Julius Firefocht, signing off.

Images taken from 1999.co.jp, product by Cospa

So the Kanden Yamaneko plushie does exist, and its made by Cospa no less. Its not fair, I was just about to do some planning for my upcoming budget and Bjorn has to show me this. I can either get the Fate plushie or this, but a voice in my head keeps saying “both, both, both”. And worse of all, the voice sounds like Nana.

Shit, I am hearing Yukarin’s voice too. And it sounds like Seppuku Kurousagi.

I’m so screwed.

This is Julius Firefocht, signing off.

 Picture heavily related to this post.

So I have recently fallen into the addictive trading card game that is Weiβ Schwarz, otherwise known as WS. I can’t help it, it is just about the only game that allows me to use an entire deck full of Fate Testarossa cards, and kick ass with her. It’s a fun game, and I’ve fought the temptation for ages only to be done in by the recent release of  the Nanoha Movie 1st expansion pack. Loli Feito is just too moe to resist.

Anyways, if you are in Singapore and you want to try out or learn the game, feel free to drop by TCG, a shop that specializes in games such as WS, Chaos and Victory Spark. That’s where our group of friends play regularly, and the address is 91 Bencoolen Street Sunshine Plaza #01-77. Or you can drop by WS@NK-DS, which is a WS information site set-up some time back by Mycstea.

I think between my regular anime purchases, WS and the upcoming Warhammer 40K release of the Blood Angels codex in April, I won’t have any money left for anything but the most basic of necessities. T_T

This is Julius Firefocht, signing off.

Well, I am sort of jumping the gun since I did not watch the movie, but I thought I might as well post about the info I read around the Net. Spoilers ahead, so be warned.

EDIT: Updated with more new spoilers.

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