Winter 2010 Edition -- Purchasing Decisions

Guess what?  Well, if you follow my twitter or are a friend on Facebook you know, but I beat Lunar.  26 hours of old fashioned RPG goodness.  Did any of you buy it yet?  DO IT!

I had so many ideas for a blog post this morning as I rode the bus, but now at 11:30AM I can't remember a thing.  I had time to think because I misplaced my ZuneHD and couldn't find it before needing to dash out the door and make my bus so it was a quiet morning.  So yeah, no music and I could think and now I sit down to write and I've got nothing.  I'm hoping this endless rambling will get my head in the game and fill me in on what I forgot.

Not really anime, but tangentially related and something to fill the page, I got Final Fantasy XIII (on PS3 of course).  I held a 24 hour poll on Twitter and Facebook on what I should get for my birthday: Final Fantasy XIII or Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver.  Pokemon won by one vote.  I vetoed that process and got FFXIII anyway.  Why?  Andrew and I can enjoy it together a LOT easier than a handheld title like Pokemon and it is more expensive and getting it for a gift made it free to me (also used my Reward Zone card at Best Buy when I got it and extra points is always good) so good times!  Only an hour or two in.  Fought the Fal'Cie in the Pulse Vestige and had a flashback to Day 11.  If you haven't played the game obviously this is all lost to you, but hopefully someone reading this gets it.

I do doubt my mother is playing Final Fantasy XIII, though. >. >

Oh!!  Bandai is having a sale over on Right Stuf and Randy just got paid.  I think he should at least get something for himself before the sale ends.  But what?


I could pre-order that Lucky Star set.  I own the first single DVD, the collection would be cheaper than purchasing the remaining singles (Duh, its a collection.  It's what they do.) and I would like to finish it.  Contrary to what I thought it was (loli-fetishism that would be super creepy to both watch and have on my shelf) it's a really cute, funny, referential show that is only funny to those that watch a ton of anime.  It would help if I watched some Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya as there are jokes-a-plenty for that show, but it's all still funny.

I could re-buy the first DVD of .hack//ROOTS and get the soundtrack CD, T-Shirt, and that delicious artbox to hold all of my singles.  While it would be cool to have a box to hold the DVDs, not to mention the first OST CD I'm missing to complete the set, it would be a repurchase that I doubt I would watch any time soon.

I could get at least the first half of Big-O.  It's a classic and really holds some nostalgia for me.  Unfortunately I'd only have enough to buy the first set and couldn't complete the collection.  Some is better than none, right?  Think of it as Batman meets mecha anime.  It's funny, its cute, is action-packed, its serious drama.  It's everything you'd want in an anime.  This show also doesn't get the amount of love it deserves and giving money their way and saying,"Hey, I like this show!" is always nice.

And then there's this.  Yeah, its Escaflowne...disc 4.  See, Andrew has the box set of Escaflowne so he has it all (sans the movie).  One day while I was at his old house, I lost my Megaman Anniversary Collection disc and was sad forever.  Until I was looking through his Escaflowne box and found my missing Megaman game.  HOORAY!  Wait, if that's in this box then that means...disc 4 of this set is missing.  Yeah, I'll probably throw this in an order since its $3 new and finishing that box would be great since I never did see all of it and I'm pretty sure I still need to watch that disc ^_^

Oh! Mobile Suit Gundam 08th MS Team! I haven't seen this since I was in 8th grade and it was playing on Toonami's Midnight Run.  I remember it being awesome and having the whole collection for $26 is not that bad.  What's it about?  Well, its Mobile Suit Gundam except its a whole military squad that has the Gundams and they are trying to stop another army from building a huge Gundam Armor thingy that kills all the stuff.  Oh yeah, the main dude is in love with a chick from the opposing army.  Yup, its Romeo and Juliet with giant robots!  Sweet!

Yup.  Gundam Wing.  More Gundam stuff.  I like it.  Andrew hates this one.  It's a classic.  I want it in my collection.  Cheap, but only half the show.

Jubei-chan.  I'm missing disc 1 and 4 from my collection of single releases and this set has it all for only $30.  Nice price, finishes my collection of it so I can make Andrew watch it, followed up by Jubei-chan 2 which I bought a couple years back.  Good stuff, but already watched.

Look!  It's that show I was talking about up there in the Lucky Star segment (Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya)!  I dunno if I'd like it.  It was popular a couple years ago.  It would help Lucky Star be more funny.  I dunno and it's the most expensive of the bunch at $45, but hey, if so many people like it, it can't be THAT bad, right?

Oooh.  Andrew says this show is amazing.  I've only seen the first episode of Silent Mobius and I thought it was intriguing.  Having this celebrated series on my shelf for only $37 wouldn't be bad.  Besides, I know I would be able to watch it with Andrew's interest in said show being so high.  This is definitely in the running for being the one I choose.

It's been a while, Witch Hunter Robin.  I liked watching you on Adult Swim.  $37 ain't bad, but I remember the ending sucking something horrible.  Although, it is regarded as being one of the best anime to come out that year.  Hmmm...decisions decisions.

Oh, hello there Wolf's Rain.  You're on my shelf because a friend lent you to me, but you're not mine though.  You're pretty and the music is done by Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Bebop fame) and all that.  I didn't much care for your finale either, but there are 4 bonus episodes I have yet to see of you.  Plus, you are also claimed as a classic and I must have those, ya know.  Again, $37 is hard to turn down.

Okay, so that's what I was pondering on the bus this morning.  Bandai's sale.  If you're interested in any of these or other Bandai titles, check out www.rightstuf.com before the sale ends March 15th.  Also, if you wanna get me a birthday present, I've already written out a handy wishlist just above!  Kidding, kidding.

Thanks all.  If you have any input as to what you think I should purchase, leave a comment or something, okay?

Laterz!!!

Winter 2010 Edition -- Long Overdue

Hello!!

It's been a while and I'm sure you can guess that since Lunar: SSH came out I have been playing like a madman. You know what?  You're completely right.  I...uh...even skipped class on Wednesday to play.  Look, it was a workday for both classes and I did laundry and the like while I was home so I was productive in some sense!

How is it?  It's fantastic.  Utterly fantastic.  The soundtrack is beautiful to listen to and the game is just pure joy.  Get it.  NOW.

So, have I been up to anything else?  Hmm...well, in the past week Andrew and I did start and finish a little show.  You may have heard of it:

Yup, wonderful and super cool Cowboy Bebop.  I've seen it before a couple of times, Andrew's seen it before but couldn't remember much, so it was quite enjoyable...except he didn't much care for the ending.  I, on the other hand, liked it, but felt it could have done more.  It had two whole episodes to resolve Spike's story and it somehow wasted it all.  The final battle with our seldom-seen, often-heard-about villain was incredibly short, but with what little time it used for concluding the series, it tied up most of the loose ends.

Mostly it was fun just watch with the show being gorgeously drawn and animated.  This really is a treat to watch as I completely forgot how well done the animation and art is for this show and the music, by none other than Yoko Kanno herself, is superb.  Even those that aren't fans of anime will really dig this title.

What's next?  We watched all of Bebop (oh, except that bonus Session 0 episode, which I need to find on one of the 6 discs) and there is PLENTY more on the shelf to watch an enjoy, but what will it be?  While watching AMV Hell 4, Andrew expressed interest in watching Serial Experiments LAIN, which I do own, but still have the last disc lent out to a friend and with it only being 13 episodes long I can see we'd run into a bit of trouble.  Maybe something I've had for a good long while?  Karas?  Or maybe something like Gungrave to follow up Bebop?

We shall see.  We shall see indeed.  Anyways, I've gotta get back to class and listening to the Lunar: Silver Star Harmony soundtrack whilst I work.

Laterz!