Anime Quick Review - Fall 2012

So, somehow I neglected this blog for a while - -a
I did manage to come to AFA ID.
It was amazing and wallet-draining.
But it was fun, especially the concert.
Got 2 figmas from there and 3 Originals Audio CD with LiSA, 7!!, and Stereophony Autographs
And got two posters with BLESS4 and Angela Autographs.

Wait!
I'm here not about AFA!
After some thought and what looks like good line-up of anime for this season (Fall 2012), I decided to finally back to anime route.
I still remember the last anime review I have here was Persona 4 the Animation. Man, that was eons ago. But, hey! Here I am willing to give you all a quick review of several anime that I decided to took my time to watch the first episodes.
If I watch new anime after this post finished, I'll update this post.
I will also put my recommendation for the fansub group since I'm one of those guy who are picky about subs quality. Thank you to subcompare.com who made me able to pick the best subs for me.
Whenever I decided to write a review for a particular anime, I will put the link here too, so you can always find it easily.

As for the rating system, I will use the simple format from my rating standard.
It's a simple 5 point rating system. Each have their own meaning.
Great : The anime is amazing! It's a must-watch!
Good : It's cool! Worth to watch.
Average  : Not bad. Not that good either. I have no problem watching it, but I'm not eager to see the next episode.
Bad : There's nothing special with this. Kinda tired watching this. Can be watched if you like the genre or if you don't have anything to watch.
Crap : It's CRAP! Totally not worth to watch. Avoid this at all cost!
Note:
1. These are solely my OWN opinion. It's not necessary the same as what you think.
2. These reviews are based on the FIRST episode ONLY! The whole series maybe better or worse than what reviewed here.
3. The genre and story review is based on the FIRST EPISODE only and no material taken from third party. So genre and story is only from my own experience.

Log:
13 October 2012 - K, Shinsekai Yori, Chuunibyou, BTOOOM!, Little Busters!, Kamisama Hajimemashita
24 October 2012 - Zetsuen no Tempest, Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun, Ixion Saga DT


[K]
Genre : Supernatural, Action
Fansub : Commie
Rate : Great
Probably one of the best anime this season and also one of the best animated anime this year. The animation is fluid and dynamic. The skateboarding scene is my favorite for the first episode. The story is about some gangs/groups war who use some kind of supernatural ability. The battle is great, and the CG effect is cool. The first episode left a lot of question but promises a great story to be unfolded. The character design is also good and cool. From my point of view, [K] is like Durarara! with supernatural ability and more emphasis on battle. The OP and ED is also artistic and makes me want to watch it again. Oh, and if you like goth-loli, we have one here :D Maybe I'll watch this for this gothic loli. She has white hair.

Shinsekai Yori
Genre: Supernatural, thriller, mystery
Fansub : UTW or Commie
Rate : Good
Shinsekai Yori tells story about sometimes in the future where people have supernatural abilities and need to joins a school which trains their ability. A lot of secrets and mysteries are established in the first episode. These secrets promise a good story for future episodes. The graphic itself is not bad, even quite good if I may say. Shinsekai Yori reminds me of Shiki with their slow paced story telling but still absorbs us into the mysteries they have on their disposal. It's for those people who love story that make them curious.

Chuunibyou Demo Koi Ga Shitai
Genre: Slice of Life, School Romance, Comedy
Fansub : URW
Rate : Good
This anime tells us story about people who suffers from Chuunibyou syndrome who have too much imagination and think of themself as someone who have powerful power. Some of us have experienced that, but the characters here taking it to the next level and admit their power publicly. As an Kyo-ani production, the characters really feels like K-on! characters. Hell, even the mom looks moe. This is what they call moe-blob alright. The comedy is quite good, though I didn't laugh out loud from them. This anime waver between Average and Good, but I list it as good in the end. If you like Kyo-ani or moe character, then this is for you. If you like comedy series, you can have it a go.

BTOOOM! 
Genre : Action, Adventure, Survival, Sci-Fi
Fansub : FFFPeeps or Commie
Rate : Good
BTOOOM! is an in-universe Multiplayer Online War Game which pit one team and another just like our world FPS games but with bomb only as the weapons. Yup, no gun, no melee, only bombs. And they have many kind of bombs ready at their disposal. The main character is a NEET and Japan's best player and Ace of World's 10th best team. Somehow, he find himself in a tropical forest and meet a guy who chase him and want to kill him with bombs. It's just like he thrown inside the game's world. BTOOOM! have the usual battle royal theme with quite unusual weapons. I expect a lot of tactical warfare in later episodes since they only have bombs. The character design is good and show the Seinen atmosphere on it. It's full of action and you should avoid this if you hate or can't stand violance.

Little Busters!
Genre : School Romance, Comedy, Slice of Life, Baseball(?)
Fansub : UTW-Mazui (Joint Project)
Rate : Great
Five childhood friends have a weird idea of making a baseball team when one of them is actually on his third year. This guy always want to be different and it makes him standout in school. And this idea of baseball team is actually his. Adapted from popular VN with the same name, this anime was hugely anticipated. I haven't played the game so you can be sure I'm not biased here. It have many great jokes and give me hell of a laugh on some of them. The story looks okay and promise to be quite good, but the rate here mostly because of the jokes :p The character design is standard of those VN games. Their faces not that distinct and quite generic. But the comedy is all I looking for here, so I'll stick to this one. And you should too if you like a good laugh.

Kamisama Hajimemashita
Genre : Romance, Comedy, Supernatural, School life, Shoujo
Fansub : Anime-koi
Rate: Good
They published the manga here in my country and I like that quite much. The main character is a girl who lost her house and ends up in a temple who actually the house of Earth Deity. She somehow ends up become the new Earth Deity. On the temple lives a Youkai who served the previous god and he doesn't acknowledge the new god. Well, this anime was adapted from a shoujo manga, so expect a lot of' awwwwwww' moments here and there. But yes, though I must say they make this one quite good, I still didn't enjoy this one very much. Maybe that's because I already read the manga. But it still a promising anime. And the OP and ED is good! I'm addicted to the OP and ED of this anime :D. The character design is not too far from the manga and therefore quite good in shoujo manga sense. As a romance comedy, the comedy was well directed and able to entertain me. If you don't like shoujo anime, you are expected to stay from this anime, but aside from that, you could always watch this for the comedy.

Zetsuen no Tempest
Genre: Action, Shounen
Fansub: Commie
Rate: Great
I really hate the fact that I delayed to watch this anime. There were these two good friends. One of them suddenly missing for a month. And when he returned, he able to use Magic! This anime has several sweet part that, I can't stop stress this, I really like. I like almost every aspect of this anime; the concept, the story, characters relationship. It's just... WOW! The character design is good, each character is unique and I love how they able to draw their expression so differently and lively. There only small battle scene on the first episode, but I like that very much. They make the battle and skill's effect really cool. The movement flow beautifully from one to another. The OP and ED is also really good, and I fall in love with the OP song! You know what? This is maybe my top priority anime this season (at this point, I already watched almost all first episode of the anime aired this season). If you like action anime with little to no comedy, this is just for you!

Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun
Genre: School, Slice of Life, Romance, Comedy
Fansub: FFF or Commie
Rate: Great
I was expecting little laugh on this one, but I burst into laughter instead. I swear this is one of the funniest romance comedy I've ever seen. So, there's this introvert girl who takes all her time to study. One day, she was asked to deliver hands-out to a guy who was suspended for fighting. She was hesitant, but somehow the guy consider her as his friend. I didn't expect I will have that much laugh over this anime, though the character design is quite simple, they still attractive in their own way. I also like how they draw the background. They use what looks like crayon hand-drawing for the background. It looks contrast with the character, but it looks good imo. Although this anime is romance comedy, I watch this for the comedy part. And if you like romance comedy, this maybe the best this season can offer!

Ixion Saga DT
Genre: Action, Video Games, Adventure, Comedy
Fansub: Commie
Rate: Good
A guy was playing a video game and somehow, in a weird turn of event, he ends up sucked to another world. What really interesting is, in viewer point of view (MY point of view), this other world amazingly looked like a video game, an RPG to be exact. They have power, skills, and weapon. They even have party too. And then, they push it to the limit with the really RPG-ish BGM. The BGM when they fight really feels like certain developer's games' BGM. It really fun to hear that. The strong point of this anime is the comedy. I really have good laughs here and there with this anime. They have a good chekov's gun on the first episode, though it was really expected, but still fun to watch. And the way the last fight of the first episode end really can makes everyone (yes, everyone) laugh. Want to laugh with an RPG-looks-alike anime? This is your best choice!

That's all for now. Will be updated as soon as I can.
Please read the log to know whether there are a new review or not.

This is Benard reporting, see you on the next post!!
AAAAAANNNNNNNNNDDDDDD CUT!!!!!!

News From AFA ID - Anime Festival Asia 2012!!

Hi, guys!
Long time no see. I've been busy with my works and some other things *cough*peacewalker*cough*
I also have less time to put some ISML news here.
And if you didn't know, my HDD is dead :|
A lot of data were gone (but seems salvageable). Thanks God my Anime and manga collections are on external HDD.
IN ANY CASE!

Ever heard of AFA?
If you are not from Asia (especially, South East Asia. To be precise, Singapore) then you probably never heard of it. Hell, even I, a being from Indonesia (just several inch from Singapore) hadn't heard about this until couple of months ago.
AFA stands for Anime Festival Asia. Difference from your common local Anime Event, AFA hosted by pro and even invited original Japanese stars! Yep, it's the real deal, no knock-off star here. It was first hosted in Singapore and starting this year, AFA expand it's wings toward Malaysia and Indonesia. You read it right, IN-DO-NE-SIA!!

My Lappie Was Down, But Now Well Again

Somehow the title looks weird and kinda like old novels' title.
Anyway, I'm so sorry for the lack of update for the last week.
I wasn't able to write down any specific information and updates on International Saimoe and anything else.

The cause of this can be known simply from my post's title.
Yes, for exactly one week my lappie was down.
Not only opening internet, I was simply can't do anything on my Lappie.

The details goes like this.
On Friday night, after I arrived home from my work, I started my lappie.
The start-up was long, but it was expected. My lappie's always work hard and the capacity almost cross the limit. Long start-up is not that foreign to me.
But then, out of a sudden, before she able to finished start-up, I could hear the sound of her fan slow down. This indicated that her engine was down and restarted.
I was surprised, this was never happen before. But, I quietly waited for her to wake up again.
And to my horror, after the initial boot up screen, she didn't show anything ordinary.
I was scared. I scared that I might lose her. The black screen then spew out white text, some of them were command informations.
But, the worst came the last. At the bottom of half-screen list of commands, I saw something that made my heart jumped. "Operating System Not Found."
My head spun, searching for answer. I tried to restart her again and went to setup. I was surprised to see that her internal HDD was not detected.
Seeing that I couldn't do much at that state, I was unwillingly switch off her.
I threw myself to bed, hoped that tomorrow everything would be fine.

Long story short, Nothing much I could do until last Friday.
Somehow the lappie able to start normally when the IT guy on my office turned her on.

But, true enough, even without lappie, I could made few post on my works.
Just like previously. But, since I was quite busy at work, I couldn't do that and relying on lappie instead.

Anyway, the good news was already written.
My lappie is up and well again. Hope I can make a good updates tonight.

This is Benard reporting, see you on the next post!!
AAAAAANNNNNNNNNDDDDDD CUT!!!!!!

Amethyst Round 1 Result Was Like How I Predicted

Like what the title said, the first round of International Saimoe League 2012 Amethyst Period was predictable. Nothing hard was on the match-up.
I'm proudly said that more than 80% of the match were just like I predicted.
Please note that I predict only who win and who lose, not some percentage like in Fantasy Voting on the ISML forum. (PS: I'm not really good at that... And I miss the first round Fantasy Vegas orz)

Anyway, here's the result~

ISML2012 Amethyst Period - Round 1 Result

Our "Tenshi" Is The Winner!! Aquamarine Period Has Ended

 Hi, sorry for the late report...
Since I'm late, probably post will be talking about out-dated info.
Whatever~
The International Saimoe League 2012 Aquamarine Necklace Showdown is over!
And the winner is......
Tachibana Kanade of Angel Beats!

I somehow ended not really liking this image of our Necklace Winner

Aquamarin Is Almost End! ISML 2012 First Necklace Showdown Is Coming!

 Hi, sorry for the late report.
Been busy and all (*making excuse*)
Anyway, FYI International Saimoe League 2012 Aquamarine Period is almost over. But brace yourself, because International Saimoe League 2012 first Necklace Showdown is in the corner peeking at us!!

Brace Your self! Aquamarine Necklace Showdown is Coming!!

If you haven't know already, Necklace Showdown is always held at the end of every period. The purpose? To give a period Necklace to those who are worthy. And the worthy one are the best at the current period. There are rules and etc that have been changed over the year, especially with the introduction of the division system, there need to be a new system for the showdown.
Curious?
Of course you are. But before that, let's see the final ranks for this Aquamarine Period. I won't post the result for bandwidth sake, just the rank. Because Ranks are important for Necklace Showdown.
So, here are the latest ranks for both division.

ISML 2012 Aquamarine Period Final Result

Last Round of ISML Aquamarine Period

 Hello guys!
If you're somehow delicate enough to notice the one writing here is not mr benz but benz, then I must say that you are have absolutely waste you time :| Well, though I should say that I'm happy someone manage to notice... (Well, who wouldn't after I pointed it out like this, no?)
It's still your same old Benz here. See, there's still my name on the bottom of the post. This is just another account that I made for my office usage. It's such a pain to switch profile each time I want to write a post.

Anyway, first I want to apologize for how I unable to write post yesterday. I was literally killing myself last weekend XD Being in the office until 4 AM etc etc etc...
So, I will skip the result and just go to the match-up.

If you're following this International Saimoe League 2012 quite closely, you will know (and additionally from my post's title too) that this is the last round in Aquamarine period. That's right folks, ISML 2012 Aquamarine period is nearing it's end. After this we will have Necklace Showdown which I will explained on the next post. Let's hope tonight/tomorrow I will be able to post it (in fact, I'm itching to write it down).

Enough for the chit-chat.
Match list for today!!

Want to see my comment about this?
Click on read more if you're on the main page.
You're not? Good.
Just move on then!

ISML 2012 - Aquamarine 6

Hi, what's up?
Sorry about this lateness for the post.
Meh, I won't talk much here since I'm at the office right now.
Anyway, at first I thought I will skip one match to comment.
But, when  I saw some of the match, I really couldn't argue that I really need to write this.

But, before we move to the match, what about we peek at the last result first.

Sorry, but currently I'm in no mood to put the standing... :p
So, let's go see the match!
Oh, btw, all my prediction on the matches on Aquamarine 5 are correct. Though I only predict 7 of it, but hey! 100% accuracy! LOL

Aquamarine Round 5 - Bites Your Nails Fella! It's TOO HARD!!

Hello guys!
My last post was around not that long, it feels like yesterday! (It is yesterday, you moron!)

Anyway, new post, new review!
Here the match list for International Saimoe League 2012 Aquamarine Period Round 5.
Fyuh, ISML official name is amazingly long...






We have derby in each division. How will it be?
Let's go into my preview and prediction!
Click 'Read more' if you are on the main page.

ISML 2012 - Aquamarine 3 Result And Standing And Aquamarine 4 Match!

Hello guys!
We meet again in another International Saimoe 2012 related post. Well, as I said before, I want to be  more active this year.
Still, I'm surprised on how 2 weeks of sleeping like normal person do really makes me couldn't sleep late. Last Friday I was up until 4 AM and couldn't wake up until 1 PM. That seems normal. What didn't normal is that I couldn't do much on Saturday. I literally beaten up all day. - -a
And that's, people, is my reason of lateness in doing this post. I'm still sad that I couldn't involved in Featured Match translation because of this....

Anyway!
Let's move to the result of third round of Aquamarine Period!

Well, how was it??
Was it live up to your expectation?
Here are my thought about these....

ISML 2012 - Aquamarine 2 Result Is Out!!

Hello, fellow voters!
How are you doing?
Now we have another International Saimoe League 2012 post coming up!
It's the result of the show!
On 15.00 GMT today, the result of Aquamarine Round 2 was out.
And I bet you are nothing but curious about how this fare out, right?

Well, here it is!
The result!

Kinda big, huh? But WHO CARES!
Wanna see my review and the latest standing?
Well, here! We! GOOOOO!

Day 3 of ISML - A Big Match Is Here!

Yo~
How are you guys doing?
Still eager to vote?
Relax, relax....
The next round of ISML will not up in 24 hours.
So, just sit back. Have a rest a bit...
And prepare to rage in 12 hours because the result of Round 2 will be out by then!

And before we move on, here are the list of match up for tomorrow match, round 3 of Aquamarine Period!

ISML 2012 - Aquamarine Round 2

Day two!
And it seems everybody eager to vote, no? It's really hard to vote right now - -'
Anyway, before we go to who I vote for, let's see some forecast from me.

First, we go with one of the Houkagou Tea Time member, Mugi-chan. After a big loss from Azunyan, she probably wanted to fare more on today's match. But it seems that luck isn't on her side. Her second opponent is Hinagiku. Hinagiku is a really strong opponent. For Mugi to win, she need a lot, and I mean A LOT, of support here....

The First Ever Regular Season Match of ISML 2012 Has Ended!

Ow yeah!!
After a long wait, finally we can see how good our favorite moe are. Especially those who are just in this year.
We can say this match is our first glimpse of what they are capable to do and how much strength they got this year.

Here's the standing for Round 1 of Aquamarine on International Saimoe League 2012:

The Battle Begin! ISML 2012 Regular Season Has Started!

Hi, long time no see!
Now, before I write down some info about 'me', we need to go to something even greater and more important than that.
Which is "International Saimoe League 2012"!!!!
YAY!

If you don't know yet, The first round of the first period was just started half an hour ago.
It was a nightmare. Both on technical side, and on the match side.
On technical, there was a flood of connection going to ISML 2012 server and make the site really hard to accessed. But, by the time I write this post, it's already calming down.
And on match side, we have a lot of derby here. A LOT!
We have 2 K-On! derbies (including one Hirasawa Kyoudai Derby), CLANNAD Derby, Shakugan no Shana Derby, and some other derby that I forgot - -a
Here's the complete list of the match.

You can click on the image to make it larger.
This years contestant are more than before because of the Stella-Nova system.
I don't mind that. The system basically allow for more moeness on ISML XD
Since I'm handling some unofficial thread on a certain board in Indonesia, I'll keep a close watch on ISML. And thus, I'll try to report on this blog as often as I can ^^

This is Benard reporting, see you on the next post!! And don't forget to vote here http://www.internationalsaimoe.com/voting/
AAAAAANNNNNNNNNDDDDDD CUT!!!!!!

Well.... Things Happen....

Hey, you may already notice that there was lack of update on this blog... One of the reason is... Laziness!! Yay! Okay, quick info. I've finished my college (woohoo!) and currently waiting for my graduation. That's left me on random state. Too much holidays with too many things on my plans. What's wrong with that? Well... I couldn't pick which I should do first. Again, that happen to me... And well... Currently a lot of things hasn't been done yet. I promise that another post will be out in near future. You can (not) have my words~ This is Benard reporting, see you on the next post!! AAAAAANNNNNNNNNDDDDDD CUT!!!!!!

Motteke! Maid Fuku~

SO!
Today I was attending BIJAC no MATSURI on Binus International. Today was the pre-event, so there was not much to do there. They planned to hold a kind of maid cafe starting tomorrow. Today, the cafe hadn't open yet. But, the maids weren't waiting for tomorrow to come just like that. They gave a performance for us there! YAY!!

They performed "Motteke! Sailor Fuku" dance with maid uniform (hence the title). That was lovely XD
What? You couldn't get there and want to see the performance?
Chill out, my friends~
I happened to be there, happened to bring a camera, and happened to record the dance :D
So, here you go!! Motteke Maid Fuku!!

Lovely, isn't it?

Sure, they should practice more. But hey, who am I to judge them? I like the maid outfit, I like the dance, and thus, I like the performance! (Yay!)

I planned to go there again tomorrow. Have to try the maid cafe for sure. Though, frankly I kinda hesitate to go alone. Buuuuuuuttttttttttt~ Nevermind.... Everything for the maid!!

YAY!!

This is Benard reporting, see you on the next post!!
AAAAAANNNNNNNNNDDDDDD CUT!!!!!!

When was my last post?

*Looking at previous' post date*
*Looking at today's date*

Am I really haven't post anything for that long??
It's almost.... 4 MONTH!!??
Darn, it's quite long. Maybe one of the longest hiatus I've ever make here.

So, for reason and excuse for the hiatus.
If you know me from my college, I'm sure you know that this is my last semester on under-graduate program. Which also mean that I need to submit a final thesis. And yes, I want to blame the hiatusity on that thesis. As I always say about thesis, "A Valid Reason For Everything".

A lot of things happens on that hiatus. Some are good, some are bad, while others really don't have anything to do with me. A lot of good animes are missed by me. As soon as I watch them, I'll write some review here. I promise (not!). The ISML 2012 is already started, though it still just passed the nomination period. Hopefully I can post about it before preliminary starts. And games... Haven't played much either, except for Skyrim. I haven't fully played any Elder Scroll series before this and now I can see why this series is wildly popular. I played it for more or less a full week before I was forced to stop because finals was approaching along with thesis defense.

There will be a huge possibility that my next posts will talk a lot about Skyrim. Most of them can be found anywhere as long as you have access to Google or the like. Still, I'm going to post it. Because it's fun to do so and there are some people who hate (aka Lazy) to do some research their self. This also means that a lot of my free time maybe will be spend on Skyrim. Hopefully I'll be able to secure some times for animes and stuffs.

Well, I think that's all for now. Just want to make you guys aware that I haven't forsaken this blog yet. My next post will most probably come after my thesis defense, which gonna happens in the near future. Wish me luck!

This is Benard reporting, see you on the next post!!
AAAAAANNNNNNNNNDDDDDD CUT!!!!!!