Kishin Taisen Gigantic Formula

Japanese title: 機神大戦 ギガンティック・フォーミュラ
Number of episodes: 26

Some info:
1) ANN
2) Wiki
3) Official page (Japanese)

Set in a fictitious future, Earth is under the phenomenon of “Equatorial Winter”, and according to the desires and wishes of the “gods”, these gods are given a mecha armor/body and they would be competing for the right to rule the world, in a war known as Wisest World War. More details about the mechas and other stuff can be read from the wiki article.

To be honest, the first thing is that the name of the world war is actually… quite… bad. Wisest. Sounds totally ironic and stupid, especially when news and bulletin about the duels are broadcast by U.N. Lol, suddenly makes U.N. look quite bad in the show. Heh, maybe it was intentional by the creators =P

Anyhow, while it’s a good thing that Japan’s Gigantic isn’t always fighting to avoid lots of repetitive action from the main character, the time is usually spent on their “intel gathering” session which can be quite dull at times when they get all emo over the unknown functionalities and uncertainties that they encounter for the first time. On the other hand, it is sometimes quite good in introducing other Gigantics without having to go to battle first hand. At least viewers get to know more about the other mechas along the way.

Well, at least there’s still a minor thing in the story that bugs me from the early episodes with the crappy UN bulletins and news as well as suspicious acts from the high-ranking officials. Haha, as expected, the true colours of all these scheming and stuff are only revealed towards the later half of the series. Ok, there’s also the true intentions of the Gods, or rather one of them, too. That one plays an important role only at the very end to end the story once and for all. Hahaha. Other than that, it’s pretty much quite mediocre and plain in terms of experience and entertainment value.

Mecha design wise, some of them don’t really look that appealing to me or perhaps it’s just me. Haha. And by the way, all of the Gigantics are actually named after some Greek myth. Not sure how accurate the explanations of the names and background story are, but I suppose they should be fairly ok. And to point out something really irritating. That’d be Japanese voice actors/actresses trying to speak English with an accent. Sounds totally… phail. Lol.

Overall, this mecha show wasn’t quite what I was expecting, and on many occasions it seemed rather weird. Perhaps the mix wasn’t really well done. Haha. Anyway on to another show… =P

KOF Clips Vol. 47

First up, Yamazaki speed bug in KOF 2002 against Chris. Hmm… I wonder how many characters can undergo the speed bug in 2002. Then, a bug in KOF2002 for Mary vs Andy. There are sure many glitches lying around waiting to be discovered eh? These bugs are performed by harrymason81.

Next, Red Flame’s Birthday CMV. A video that’s about 1.5 years old. Still has some nice stuff in there. Includes many guest appearances by various combo makers in thie 9 minute clip. Enjoy~

Following that, res543 presents a kof2001 K’ combo against Igniz. It’ll only work on Igniz because Igniz’s safe fall isn’t safe, just like Xiangfei in KOF99. If you don’t understand, just watch the clip and you should be able to get an idea. =D 2 variations just for fun =)

Up next, another video added to the FECU collection :) This one’s really quite old. If my memory serves me right, this was back around 2002 during the Korea/Japan world cup season. Well, after all there was even a song used as background music in the video. It’s also FECU’s collaborative effort (all character combo in kof2000) before their official “establishment” video. While the video may be old, there are many combos in there that probably formed some kind of foundation for future improvements and inspirations, and there’s certainly still many, many combos in there that I can only dream of pulling them off. Haha. =D

Finally, this CMV should be posix’s first try as an editor and it should also be one of the first true 60fps available in the combo video making scene. Certainly, this video has kind of influenced and changed the way the community later on until this very day. Although this video is already a few years old, it still contains some nice combos and of course, editing as well. I prefer posix’s later works though, but this one is still a very good first attempt. =)

Room Revamp Day 1

As some of you might know, I’m basically quite busy these few days over my room which needs to undergo a major surgery in order to increase its functionality and more importantly, make it into an even more comfy zone for myself.

Certainly, the amount of work and things that need to be done these few days is considered a heck lot for a lazy person such as myself, but I kept telling me that the end result is going to be worth the effort (hopefully lah hor?). Had to make trips to various places to look for new furniture that can fit into my smallish room (as compared to many others I know) in a decently nice fashion while having enough storage without overcrowding it.

I spent 2 afternoons clearing the stuff from my room, inclusive of getting rid of stuff that I forgot existed and no longer needed. I wonder how much time I need to put all those back into an unfamiliar environment that will require some form of planning to ensure it’s in some kind of order that I can associate with. I guess I’ll only start worrying about that on Wednesday after I can return to my little “base” =D

So u may be wondering – where/how am I using my com now to even blog this. To be honest, it’s not exactly in a very nice position to be used. I need to take many breaks because of the angle of elevation that I need to overcome can result in aches at various parts of the body rather quickly. I wonder how many breaks I took just to finish up this entry alone. Haha, yeah it affects my trend of thoughts so I can really feel that this entry is going to be in a serious lack of proper flow. But I don’t care =P

Looks like I really need to get down to serious planning once I can use my com in a proper posture to check the module timetable and exam schedule to find my complete set of 5 modules I am taking in the coming semester. Oh well, I hope that one turns out well because I don’t really like this phase of university life. Then again, how much of it do I exactly like anyway? Lols.

As expected, quite a nice new nice videos were released sometime yesterday after I slept and today. Currently, I’m without my speakers (put somewhere else for temp cold storage), so I won’t be viewing them till like a few days later. Sigh. What kind of odds is this? Things like CMVs don’t have a fixed release timing, and yet I can run into a couple of misses. Hah. What a wonderful world…

It may be a good thing that I’m out of the house for most of tmr, so I will feel less “pain” trying to use this com the way I normally do. Haha, hope these 2 days pass more quickly so that I can enjoy the remaining days of vacation (not much left D:). Argh my back and wrists hurt again. Bye~~~

Unfair (SP)

Japanese title: アンフェア The Special
Number of episodes: 1 (Special)

Some info @ D-Addicts Wiki

As I’ve mentioned in an earlier entry [here], this episode takes place sometime after the TV series, but before the events in the movie. And indeed, the movie carries on from various things left behind in this near 2-hour special.

As this special sort of hinges on code-breaking as part of its highlight, the actual code-breaking isn’t that much. In fact, much time was spent on trying to find out the link between the mysterious deaths of 5 ex-police officers and how all these link to a greater secret which requires them to unlock a code in order to access the files and contents.

The pace and development only sort of picked up somewhere halfway through or a little later, which isn’t very good in my opinion. Yeah well, but many important facts and things that take place from then on do have some form of significance in the movie. Of course, I’ve said that the movie doesn’t exactly require gross knowledge of this special, but indeed watching in the right sequence would give the viewer a more complete and wholesome flow and picture of the story.

Needless to say, this special brings back all the important and core characters of this series, mostly undertaking their usual roles in this 2 hour special. It also wraps up some minor things other than opening more avenues for the movie to make use of.

Oh, and at the end of the special is an announcement/promotion that there will be an Unfair movie, which of course was good news to all the fans of the show. It seems that this show had quite a high viewership rating in Japan back then.

Overall, this special is best watched in the sequence it belongs to, although I still think it’s not as nice the TV series nor the movie. Shrugs, perhaps I’m the weird one as usual. Haha.

Kurosagi (movie)

Japanese title: クロサギ
Rating: PG
Running time: 126 minutes
Now out on DVD!

Some info:
1) Wiki
2) IMDB Profile
3) Official Site (Japanese)

The much awaited movie spin-off of the Japanese drama by the same title, which was actually based off a manga. Fans of Yamapi and Maki alike were looking forward to this show, but Maki’s screen time is really little and doesn’t really have much role to play this time around.

For those who have not watched the drama series, do not worry if you are afraid that the movie will just dive into the plot proper without introducing the important characters. The movie actually does this quite a bit in the earlier parts of the movie to let all the viewers get to know those important characters that form the core of the Kurosagi story. Of course, there are some scenes taken from the drama series that I’ve seen quite many times already. Oh wells, I guess it’s to make sure that no one is left out. =)

Well, not surprisingly, this 2 hour movie is about Kurosaki trying to counter-con a White swindler but has more obstacles in his way than what you see on an average drama episode. Haha, how else to drag it to 2 hours? =P Ok lah, they do side-track a bit and explore the emotional side a little, and why one should continue their current way of life even though it is not what they desire or hope for.

As usual, some parts don’t quite seem to make sense since the other guy is supposed to be a pro swindler too. Unless the information control can be done so perfectly then I have nothing to say. Lol. Perhaps they are actually quite “un-cautious” when they are not trying to swindle people? Shrugs.

Overall, it’ s a pretty average movie. My take: 6/10. Should I be relieved that I didn’t watch this in theatres? Lol…