I've been delaying this one long enough and seeing how I'll have to write something about the culture fest as well, I might as well get to reviewing Kamichu.

So what is this about?
Kamichu starts with a girl called Hitosubashi Yurie announcing that she became a goddess. How it happened and how she found out, we have no idea, nor is it important. People get used to it easily. But from that day forward, her life gets pretty hard. While being overwhelmed by schoolwork, she has to fulfill her divine duties and advise her schoolmates, thanks to the campaigning of her loud mouthed 'manager', Matsuri. Not mentioning the various favors people are asking from her, such as reviving old beach spots, recovering the remains of an old battleship, negotiating with cute aliens, bringing the towns cats back from the Cat-club (first rule of which is that you do NOT talk about the Cat-club), not to mention attending important events such as Kami-con. All the while, having to look out for her friends and family, and trying to get hooked up with the guy she likes.

Kamichu is mainly an average slice of life anime with supernatural elements, but features elements that rarely show up in these shows. For one, there IS romance in it, featuring at least one couple besides the main character and her love interest. Also, the scenery is modeled entirely after existing places in an existing town. Many of the deities and spirits that appear have unique and original, sometimes humorous designs, probably the most spectacular being the Seven Lucky Gods, as a J-pop band. The spirit world itself has a very lively atmosphere, reminiscent of old Japanese prints.

Beautifully detailed and animated, with lovable characters (even the closest thing the series has for a villain turns out to be a pretty swell guy once he gets some sense beaten into him), outstanding designs and a simple yet cute story, Kamichu is bound to be quite a treat when you want to watch something while taking it easy.

It's crazy. It's hard. It's downright maddening. The game that will push your adrenaline to the limit as you try your best at concentrating at a 4x4 pixel area on your monitor while seizure inducing flashes fill the screen, and you keep telling yourself to 'take it easy'. The game about... well let's see how ED puts it. "Badly drawn lolis fly over breathtakingly beautiful backgrounds and rape each other with an endless barrage of projectiles, while the computer plays surprisingly good midi music." Yup. That's the Touhou project.

For those who don't know, this is a 2d side scrolling curtain shooter, where your goal is to maneuver across seemingly endless waves and patterns of bullets of varying sizes and colors, trying to stay alive, make it to the boss and beat her (yes, all characters are girls for some reason). Easier said than done, seeing how you will not be able to make it through the first level in easy mode without getting hit at least once, if you look away even for a second. I've been playing it for a month now and I think I'm getting to hang of it. I'm by no means a hardcore player, but at least just now, I managed to beat easy mode in TH10 without using any 'continues'. That's gotta mean something (Yeah, it means I'm a noob can we get over it now?).

So here's how the game goes. Hakurei Reimu is a shrine maiden (that's pretty much why I first got interested) of a shrine that serves as a gate to the world of Gensokyo, a dimension populated by humans, and various supernatural creatures (all girls and only one MAN in the extended universe). Various incidents occur every now and then, and she sets out every single time, to find the culprit, and beat up everyone in her path. The player takes on her role, or the role of her friend, a witch called Kirisame Marisa, and occasionally, a knife-nut maid, Izayoi Sakuya. Other important characters include the puppeteer Alice Margatroid, the dimensional shifter, Yakumo Yukari, the demon Remilia Scarlet and her servants, Hong Meirin and Patchouli Knowledge (besides the above mentioned maid), a half ghost swordswoman, Youmou Konpaku, and a reporter whose name I've given up trying to pronounce.

Most, if not all of the characters are based on creatures or characters from Japanese folklore. Attack patterns are all unique and thematic, and the player must work out a different strategy for each one. Sometimes, there are blind spots that must be found. Sometimes gaps show up for a second, and vanish. And sometimes, you just have to be lucky. Or if all else fails, you carry a few spells (set number in earlier games, or cast at the expense of your power-level in later ones) that will wipe most of the area clean for you, along with providing other secondary effects.

But the game's main attraction is the soundtrack, featuring several awesome and pleasant songs that will reduce the stress from the repeated failures and keep you playing for hours.

It's more convenient this way, but I'll focus on the review. So to get this out of the way, today the CPJ had another meeting (second one in the past 10 days), this time in preparation for the upcoming culture festival, which is about to begin on the third of November and last till the 14'th. I'm looking forward to participating on as many events as possible. This marks the second year since I've first met the CPJ and the first anniversary of my joining. I made a lot of photos last year, which you can even find here. More on this when the time is right.

Let's see the review I've been putting off for the past few days.
This concerns the third Bleach movie. Right now I'm laughing on all the people who decided against watching it because 'they heard it will suck'. Well, not only it didn't suck, it was much better than Diamond Dust Rebellion. In fact, I don't think I saw an anime movie this good since the first Naruto movie. Most of the main cast didn't get a single frame, true, but I was willing to put up with that.
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SPOILERS
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So what exactly is this about? The whole thing starts with two intruders appearing in Mayuri's lab and sabotaging his latest experiment. The madman wakes up with all of his memories gone, and panicking, while the malfunctioning machines release a substance that covers most of the city before crystallizing. In the ensuing panic, the culprits kidnap Rukia.
Back on Earth, Ichigo experiences a temporary lapse in memory, and seeks out Urahara for advice, but when he brings up Rukia, his teacher doesn't seem to remember her. Being the smart guy he is, Urahara checks his notes (Hang on? Who is this guy? Riff?), which have Rukia's name, he immediately deduces, that all of his memories of her were somehow erased. Ichigo (accompanied by Kon) runs to Soul Society for answers, and finds the Court of Pure Souls in disarray. On top of that, no one seems to remember neither him nor Rukia, and after a confrontation with Renji, he's forced to leave, but not before accidentally mentioning Renji's Bankai, which also seems to be missing from his mind.
In the meantime, Rukia wakes up in a house and is greeted by two siblings she seems to know from her childhood. The two apparently hold a grudge against Soul Reapers, for taking Rukia away from them, and have erased the past hundred years from her mind to keep her from remembering them. After a meeting with Ichigo, however, her memories start coming back, and the siblings decide to wipe out the Court, before Rukia decides to go back there.
After being confronted by his spirit, Zabimaru (who was still a male baboon back then), who confirms that he really does have a Bankai, Renji realizes that his memories were altered, and seeks out Ichigo, deciding to help him out. Hitsugaya, Ikkaku and Yumichika also decide to help. The other captains suddenly show up, but Urahara arrives in time to break up the fight and explain his findings. Rukia's memories, along with peoples' memories of her and everything connected to her, were apparently "erased" by a memory consuming parasite, that escaped from his lab a hundred years ago.
Back in the Court, the siblings use the same experiment as before, to awaken an eldritch horror, that attacks the city. As all the 13 Court Guard Divisions mobilize to destroy it, Ichigo and Renji track down the culprits, who suddenly fuse with Rukia, triggering a Hollow transformation. Ichigo fights "Dark Rukia" and recalls the time they first met, and she gave him her powers by stabbing him through the heart. Ichigo now does the same, separating Rukia, the two siblings, and the true mastermind, the parasite, that was posessing the two siblings, and eventually disintegrates, unable to survive without a host. Finally being reunited with Rukia, the siblings are given names, before passing on.
With the shutdown of the giant machine in Mayuri's lab, the monstrosity is destroyed, and there is much rejoicing, since all problems are finally resolved. Except for one. Kon is still stuck in a crystal block he somehow got caught in.
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SPOILERS
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The movie was pretty enjoyable. Even if a few details were completely out of the place (Komamura going Bankai against Ichigo without any buildup; Hanataro showing up to heal Ichigo after the encounter, only to point out that even he can't remember him). The graphics were movie quality, even better, most of the time, and this was a problem, especially with deep shaded dark room scenes, where the extra detail, coupled with the regular style pushed all characters (but especially Rukia) into the Uncanny Valley. And about midway through the movie, the characters went off model, and remained like that for quite awhile.
The action scenes were good, and not as forced as they were in DDR. Even Kenpachi got a moment to shine. And yuri fanboys were also treated to more of the entirely not overdone Yoruichi/Shuifeng action. And by action I mean fighting.

Well, that's about it for tonight. I'll be back next week with new and photos of the culture festival.

Noir is the name of ancient destiny. The two maidens ruling over death.
This is the story of two girls who work as hired assassins under the title Noir, the word which may be the answer to the mysteries from their dark past. Little do they know what carrying this title truly means.
They inevitably clash with worlds most powerful organization, and get caught up in it's internal conflict.

Lots of shooting and knifing. Plenty of action and drama. Surprisingly little blood. Surprisingly little fanservice. Surprisingly accurately depicted shuriken (even Naruto, with it's drastic deconstruction of ninja stereotypes didn't touch that). Excellent soundtracks (including an intro from Ali Project). Overall it would be a good series, except for one thing that bothered me. The overall depressing atmosphere that was present in every single scene of every single episode. Even though it was pretty fitting of the theme, I didn't like the fact that the whole thing was so... dead.

Next on list: I started Kamichu as my morning series; that's more my type anyway... no, really! For night shifts, (seeing as I ran out of DB-Kai, and I'm watching DBZ in the Big City) I'm switching to... well let's see... Higurashi. So I'd better come prepared. I only hope it won't give me nightmares.

Just to clear this up. I've mentioned this cultural club I've been part of for almost a year now, and I think I should specify that the CPJ has nothing to do with the 'Citizens for Public Justice', the 'Communist Party of Jersey', or the 'Committee to Protect Journalists' (why would I associate with anything like that anyway; I hate journalists).

Now on to the point.

Another meeting with the CPJ. This time it's the Start-Season meeting. The foreman couldn't make it (that happens a lot), so Mino (she's the secretary) had to hold the line again. The subject of the meeting was basically a summary of the club's activities so far, and a presentation of the events they used to organize. And suddenly I realized something. It's been almost two years since I first met these guys (I first wrote about them in this [link] entry), and now I'm a regular member. I officially joined last year, in December, and have been to most of their meetings since then. Back in those days, we still held our meetings in Yume tea-house (that's the Seireitei manga club's territory), but by now, the group has it's own place to stay, complete with a meeting room, kitchen, two restrooms an office and a reading corner (that's my regular spot).
Interesting changes took place while I was away. The first thing I noticed when I entered was a large bookshelf filled with manga. I immediately recognized it as the Seireitei's collection (and bookshelf), and guess what? Yume tea-house is dismissed, and the foreman decided to invite Seireitei to join us. I have reasons to feel prejudiced against these guys, reasons I won't start getting into, but if you've seen the ad for Sakuracon 2009, you'll pretty much understand these reasons. And I'm not gonna link that horrible thing to MY journal. Look it up yourselves, and watch it at your own risk. Or better yet, take my word for it and DON'T watch it.
Anyway, we also looked through a lot of pictures that were taken at the previous meetings. My great suikawari achievement chronicled in this [link] entry, was once again brought up. Some older pictures still taken in Yume tea-house (more specifically from this [link] meeting) were also there, including one that featured a large hulking thug with a thick beard and long hair - took me awhile till I recognized myself.
Good memories overall.
Now the way home wasn't as eventful as it usually is, mainly because I was simply too tired to go on foot, especially with the large bag I brought to the big city with me. So instead, I walked with the others to the bus. I generally enjoy talking, but I don't like to go though the trouble to actually start conversations, so I was very thankful when one of the girls (her name is Ayako by the way), left a little out of the loop when the others were discussing something, asked me why I'm carrying that thing on my back. We had a nice chat on the way to the station. I rarely get to talk to people, so I really enjoyed it.

Now I know I should've reviewed Kamichama Karin a long time ago. But that topic has grown too old, and reviewing it now would be too forced. Suffice to say, it's a magical girl anime, and the first of that genre I ever watched. It was, how should I say, girly. Cute, funny, sometimes tear-jerking, but very, very girly. However it did have a funny character I almost fell in love with at first sight - and I would if he was an actual person (yes it's a guy, and no, I'm not gay but you should already know that). I faved this [link] stamp for a reason, you know.

Anyway, that's it for today. Writing this journal took me a whole hour, and I feel like playing something before going to bed.