Tytania is a show that gives high expectations and fails to live up to them. It has so much potential for greatness but ends up squandering them faster than a glue-sniffing MIT grad. If Yoshiki Tanaka, the author of the original novels, were dead, he’d be spinning in his grave right now. But he isn’t, so he has to pretend on his blog that he likes the anime. It’s tough to earn a living.

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Read the rest of Tytania — Space Opera Lite (889 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2009. | Permalink | 16 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: artland, review, tytania

Here’s another ancient artefact unearthed during my idle excavation of anime past. RahXephon is an original anime series from the long-gone era of 2002, back when George W Bush ruled the free world with an iron fist and people thought Witch Hunter Robin was actually enjoyable. Those were simpler times. *switches on flame shield*

I enjoyed RahXephon the first time I watched it, so naturally when I recently had the chance to revisit the series, I assumed that like most good things from my (relative) childhood it would turn out to be a piece of turd. Fortunately I was proven wrong.

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Read the rest of RahXephon (799 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2009. | Permalink | 30 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bones, rahxephon, review

And so I continue my way. Life is once again settling into a comforting rhythm, though deep in my heart I sometimes wish for a beautiful girl to descend from heaven and take me to her world with her giant mecha. Maybe that is why I recently brushed the digital dust off this ancient relic from the classical era of 2005 and gave it a second spin after its premature deposition almost exactly four dozen months ago. (I think I watched the first episode then.) Whatever the reason, I’m glad I did it.

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Read the rest of Eureka Seven (1,511 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2009. | Permalink | 29 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bones, eureka seven, review

It’s been so long since my last post. It’s not that my schedule is too full for my to blog — it isn’t — but rather I feel my writing inspirations gradually drained from my soul in this mindless meat grinder that is involuntary national service.

It will be a journey of rediscovery as I slowly relocate my lost ethos. Full recovery will take a while. For now, I’d like to start off with a book review — I believe the first ever on this blog if you don’t count manga and light novels.

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.

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Read the rest of Norwegian Wood (596 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2009. | Permalink | 30 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: haruki murakami, norwegian wood, novel, review

Tower of Druaga is like that ugly girl with the glasses whom you have never actually met in real life, and when you finally do meet her, you realize that she’s in fact very attractive and doesn’t actually wear glasses. Also, there’s probably a that’s-what-she-said joke somewhere in that title…

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Read the rest of Tower of Druaga (836 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2009. | Permalink | 37 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: gonzo, review, tower of druaga

But if you do manage to hold through, and unlike Tameiki, you will be rewarded for your patience. The second half of the story is well worth the effort. Of course, it’s not as perfect as it could’ve been with a better scenario writer, but it’s good enough that I have some regained hope for the anime, which BTW seriously needs to stop outsourcing its art to Korea.

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Read the rest of Yoake Mae yori Ruri-iro na (1,157 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2006. | Permalink | 25 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: feena fam earthlight, review, yoake mae yori ruriiro na

After watching the first episode, I’m happy to say that Tokimeki Memorial ～Only Love～ is not at all the cheap game advertisement I thought it would be! Recommended viewing for TokiMemo fans! Sayuri ftw!

Summary and screenshots after the jump~

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Read the rest of Tokimeki Memorial ～Only Love～ Episode 1 (160 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2006. | Permalink | 22 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: episode review, first episode, hiyoko, review, sayuri amamiya, tokimeki memorial

It’s a pretty good deal considering the printed retail price is ￥6,800 and I got it for S$75 (about ￥5,500). Still, can’t say that it didn’t hurt a little…

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Read the rest of 1/6 Saber Holiday ver. (337 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2006. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 1/6, good smile company, review, saber

The first novel took me about three days to finish. For comparison, it took me a few weeks of half-hearted reading to complete Suzumiya Haruhi no Tameiki. Either Zero was that good or Tameiki really really sucked. Anyway, read on for my thoughts and some comparisons to the anime.

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Read the rest of Zero no Tsukaima Vol.1 チェック！ (596 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2006. | Permalink | 14 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: light novel, media factoy, noboru yamaguchi, review, zero no tsukaima

Zipang, or Zipangu, or Jipangu, or however you think it should be spelt, is the ancient European name for Japan. It was believed by foreigners to be a land of immense wealth and the name carries a somewhat mythical association.

Zipang the anime is about Mirai, an AEGIS class cruiser belonging to the Maritime Self Defense Force (de facto Navy of modern Japan), travelling 60 years into the past by accident while in the middle of a joint military exercise in the Pacific. The ship found itself right in the middle of Japan’s attack on Midway in the Pacific theatre of WW2.

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Read the rest of Zipang and WW2 (1,409 words)

© DarkMirage for Ramblings of DarkMirage, 2006. | Permalink | 17 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Rant, review, ww2, zipang