Voices Of A Distant Star

'Voices of a Distant Star' to me was a beautifully poetic tale of love stretching across time and space. The film is about a girl called Mikako who must pilot a mecha in the far reaches of space, away from her childhood friend Noboro of whom she dearly loves with all her heart. Back on earth, the boy grows into a young man, waiting patiently for the precious few text messages that have travelled a few light years across space. It is a very poignant and romantic film where love is not broken, even across the cold, distant ocean of space that separates Noboro and Mikako. It is hard not to shed a tear at the very last sentence of dialogue and even now I feel my eyes welling up!

"I am here."

Damaged Rei

I was happily browsing through numerous AMVs for Noir when I came across an NGE AMV all about Rei. I have to say it is pretty good, timing and all.

Damaged Rei Mix

Of course the original reason why I was looking specifically for Noir AMVs is because of the amazing killing skills of Kirika's alter ego. For example, she wipes out an entire platoon of soldiers without the use of any of her own weapons. And it takes about 10 seconds. I was hoping to find an AMV centered around these scenes but the ones I found were not particularly interesting.

BUT check out this very amazing AMV in its professional looking glory:

Noir Die Another Day AMV

We_Are_The_Strange

A while back, I saw the trailer to 'We_Are_The_Strange' on youtube and I thought to myself, that could be quite hilariously interesting... And sure enough later after what seems like ages, the actual animated film itself is released on the youtube front page. So I decided that I would take it on and watch it. One of the warnings is: 'If you watch this while high, you might DIE!'. This generally takes into account realistically just how rather fucked up this film seems to be. I've watched half of it so far and my opinion is that it is actually quite a cool bit of experimental animation. Of course I've heard that some people hate it, just as you would expect. And admittedly, the film is quite mad and surreal with the plot tending to be just as crazy as the world itself...if you can even understand it. But it is a very good laugh, giving you the feeling that the animator got high one day and this is the result. Nothing is normal in this film. If you are a normal person, you probably won't be entertained. But some people are.

Here's a link to the full english version:

We_Are_The_Strange

I'm finding the subtitles slightly irritating...I mean who the hell would say 'your dead' etc? 'You're' is short for 'you are' and 'it's' is short for 'it is'. But a rather large number of americans seem to get such simple grammar wrong. All from a lack of education.

I'm not being uptight...just being observational!

Samurai Warriors

I'm glad I found Samurai Warriors 2; in fact I'm pretty chuffed. Never a game has been more satisfying, pitted against a huge army. I've been playing Yukimura while my housemate took on Mitsuhide, and together we kicked quite a lot of butt. The thing that I love most though is the combos. I've only used Yukimura so far, but when he flings a few enemies in the air, jumps up, slashes them mid air, slams them down to the ground and finishes off rocketing down with his spear knocking yet more samurai over, you have to look awestruck. If only a little.
Mind you, the storyline is a tad bit cheesy but I have nothing but bundles of forgiveness just because it's a good game. And I must unlock Nobunaga. Badass.

Ranma 1/2 Ends

A couple of days ago, I picked up the last volume of Ranma 1/2 off the shelf, feeling giddy looking at the picture of Ranma and Akane together in wedding dress. I was excited to actually see the end of Ranma 1/2 which I've been a fan of for a year or more (it started with the TV series). I expected the ending to be very emotional and in reality, it did not fall short. I am so happy for Ranma and Akane as they are the sweetest couple I have ever come across.
I've been doing my usual 'anime aftermath', thinking through my head "why would Akane be perfect for Ranma?" and of course the other way round. But the answer that comes is always the same: "she is".

What I liked about Ranma 1/2 is that Akane is not your usual anime girl with large sized breasts, long hair, an air of sweetness etc. She is basically more of a normal girl well practiced in martial arts. But what Rumiko Takahashi puts most emphasis on is the hidden beauty that Ranma sees and falls in love with. And those moments make you smile.

Ranma 1/2 is an absolute delight to read with its most stupendously random humour and its many characters from different completely ridiculous backgrounds. Just watching Ranma and Akane going through numerous trials, adventures and challenges (as well as arguments) is a pleasure to watch in itself. This is one tale I won't forget.

Back Where I Belong

After two long weeks, I've finally arrived back at uni...alive. Despite being in the shower when fellow students were leaving for the airport, I still got on the plane on time and made it back home. Luckeeeeeeee! It's been an interesting two weeks, the first spent designing a satellite capable of detecting gamma rays from supernovae remnants and the second making observations using two pretty large telescopes at the Izana observatory near Mount El Teide. So basically my entire free time consisted of one day and perhaps most of the evenings. Still...one day?! Guess I didn't pay much for the trip though... In any case, it was much more fun as I expected it to be (and I had expected to be surprised) and I enjoyed a couple of nights out with a few Spanish students. The nightlife in La Laguna is very impressive; many many bars which stayed open till 4!

In any case, I am back and I've spent my entire time doing nothing useful and getting nearer to finishing Ranma 1/2. So not completely uselessly used up my entire time doing nothing useful...