Mashing the keyboard with Typing of the Date

(tags game, keyboard, love simulation, date, Dreamcast)

I was going to type up the story leading up to playing this game, but I'm tired of typing (and I'll save it for another post). Let's just say that Typing of The Date (タイピング OF THE デート: Dreamcast T-14307M) by Hudson is an interesting mix of love simulation and typing practice. I can't say much about the game since I only played 30 minutes of it, but I did enjoy it and plan on continuing it. Most of the game consists of a conversation with your girl, but you can pick among three responses of varying lengths. It looks like this:

(Sample conversation, my trans:)

Ayumi: Me too, I don't have a boyfriend, you know.
I sure would like to go and have fun with a boyfriend during my summer vacation.

Player (response 1): You only think of having fun, don't you?
Player (response 2): That means you're looking for a boyfriend?
Player (response 3): Umm, yeah.

At first, I thought the best answer was the longest answer. But perhaps the other answers make sense in other ways. At least I cleared the first "date". It takes about 15-20 minutes long to finish a level, and there are other types of mini-games, not just conversation typing.

Unfortunately, since Japanese can be romanized in many different ways, I was worried that the way that I am used typing was not supported. For example "し" can be typed either by "shi" or "si". I'm used to the former, but the game defaulted to the latter. Luckily I looked around the key config and there are 4 full pages of configurations. Here's the first page:

I am surprised I can't customize anymore, but this should be good enough for now.

As far as my own typing skills are concerned, I don't need touch typing help, but I wouldn't say I'm the model touch typist. Perhaps I get an average 60 words per minute in English. I almost never need to look at the keyboard anymore. I rarely use the right shift key. I can use both Japanese and US English keyboards (qwerty) with minimal transition time. The only big differences between them are the placement of punctuation characters. Typing Japanese earns my bread, so obviously I don't have difficulty here. I don't own any PC based touch typing games, except an old version of Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing (version 8 circa 1996? PC version). I do think I have the Typing of the Dead somewhere around here.

That pink Hello Kitty Dreamcast keyboard is alright. I'm used to Dell keyboards, for reference. But for some reason, this used keyboard's "y" key is too firm and hard to press. Perhaps the previous owner abused it. It's getting annoying so I'm going to try my other keyboards. I wonder if you can connect a regular PS/2 or USB keyboard to the Dreamcast?

I'll be reviewing this game a little bit more, so look for a follow up post later.

Deep voice Yuko Goto

(tags anime, voice actress, Futago Hime)

After listening to Yuko Goto (後藤邑子) as high-pitched voice as Hiyori "Ponkotsu-san" Hayasaka in  Mizuiro, Nanami in Lamune, et al, for years, I finally encountered her "deep" voice in Fushigi Hoshi no Futago Hime (ふしぎ星★ふたご姫), episode 29, 「元気を出して☆アルテッサ」 (my trans: Cheer Up, Altessa!). Here she is as Princess Rain (leftmost), mimicking Prince Bright:

It was over in a flash, and Pumo is shocked to hear it. BTW, isn't Princess Altessa (right most) the most adorable flower-stem thrower? It's a blonde afro.

Just in case you were wondering, this Futago Hime is the last leg of my "Lost in a princess world" 3 part series of posts (1, 2), but I still haven't gotten around to a worthy post for the last part. Worthy meaning picture-ful.

Kashimashi, extremely satisfying purchase

(tags anime, Kashimashi, DVD region 2)

For an unaired 13th episode ending, the seventh DVD for Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl is extremely satisfying (for comparison I'm looking at you Tide Line Blue). The story throws a curveball, there's still character development going on. The visuals satisfy with everybody  in various costumes and outfits. The anime finally takes a trip to the magical, instead of just a write off appearance by Mr. Sora. Aster is stepped on repeatedly, but we can thank him for his dream sequences. Even Ayuki (go Masumin!) and Namiko-sensei gets some air time. Finally there's a CD pack-in, an extra booklet, repeats of all the opening and endings, and an long 17 minute interview with the three main voice actresses, Kana Ueda (植田佳奈), Yui Horie (堀江由衣), and Yukari Tamura (田村ゆかり).

There are some faults, like the final character Namiko Tsuki's voice actress Yuko Mizutani (水谷優子) does not get an interview. Also there's more risque angles and some crude visual pantsu jokes, but this is admittedly par for the course with this anime adaptation. But the more I think about it, the more I gloss over those things and warm up to the friendly banter and camaraderie, both on and off camera.

I'm saddened that the anime has come to a close, but it is refreshing compared to the other anime series that are open-ended because of the continuing manga. Frankly, the official manga right now is floating dead in the water. Finally I have one last thing related to Kashimashi, but I save it for a later post or two. This has got to be my most satisfying anime DVD purchase of 2006. Yeah, O RLY. 5 out of 5 stars.

How hard is it to get Kashimashi 7 Box set?

(tags anime, purchase, ECsite, Kashimashi, music, artist)

It was "hard". It was released on 2006/10/27. This is the order in which I canvassed the stores:

1. Sofmap Kobe (0 copies at +0 day)
2. Sofmap Osaka (0 copies at +0 day)
3. Gamers Sannomiya (0 copies at +1day, 1 copy at +0 day)
4. Animate Sannomiya (0 copies at +1 day, 1 copy at +0 day)
5. Joshin Sannomiya (1 copies at +1 day) <- Captured.

I lucked out at Joshin Sannomiya. Nobody goes there. Well, actually when I went there, there was a pack of anime-fanboi with DVDs in both hands, each. But Joshin FTW O RLY. I celebrated by walking through Merikan Park "between" Sannomiya (Kobe downtown) and Mosaic (Kobe maritime amusement center) and snapping the above picture.

I'm kinda of surprised it got a 1 star out of 5 user review at Amazon: 「いわゆる「あのね商法」の第１３話」 (my trans: It's what you call "what's up with business practice" 13th ep release) with 30 people out of 102 agreeing. Well, let's just watch it first.

As an aside, I picked up DEEN's newest CD+DVD (I love these guys and play their Tales of Destiny OP track 「夢であるように」 a lot) and that Austrailian wonder Delta Goodrem's first Japanese foray "Innocent Eyes" (wow what a voice). Brian Setzer also had his "13" album out, complete with a bonus track for Japan (making it 14 tracks, huh). I saw that he toured Japan to promote this early October release. I missed it, ugh.

Promises, Promises (Xbox collected)

(tags game, Xbox, Xbox 360, shmup, beat 'em up)

Maybe it's late, but I finally am getting into the Xbox (family) fever. I promised myself to get Spikeout before, but I totally forgot about it until now. And yes, my first actual Xbox 360 purchase is a non-crass risque sexy: Senko no Ronde Rev. X. Limited Edition (旋光の輪舞 Rev. X 限定版), thus making this post less interesting. This makes my previous purchase of the Supersweep-published Senko No Ronde Image Sound Tracks meaningful.

Both are used, though. No tokuten either. Did I jump the gun?

As an aside, my local Sofmap is selling some copies of the US version of Dead Rising. I was surprised to see the ESRB "M" rating instead of the CERO "Z" rating, but both of them had the in-store 18+ sticker. Both sit prominently visible, not hidden. Sofmap caters to the grownups, yes. And, that Blue Dragon + Core System pre-orders have been refilled so I could get this one if I wanted it. But it's Core System plus an "unproven" RPG game. The only way I'm getting a Xbox 360 is if there's some Dead or Alive pack-in. Finally, I've been trying to get into that RockStar's Table Tennis demo, but the AI still kicks my booty at easy exhibition level. Ugh.

Sold out, the rush to Osaka, forgot my preorder

(tags game, anime, DVD region 2, ECsite, pre-order)

This week's anime and game releases are perfectly timed with the monthly stipend. Well it's like that every month. I must fulfill my imperative as a brash, automaton-consumer.

So while I was collecting stuff up like in the last post, the DVDs and games had to wait till Friday to be picked up, like Honey and Clover II and Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu 4. But to my surprise, Kashimashi 7 was sold out at all the two Sofmaps I went to (Kobe, Osaka). Well who could blame the buyers, since this last DVD contains the 13th un-aired final episode. Ah. What is this, Ayuki is clasping Aster's arm in a "we're platonic" pose, on the cover of the DVD?

In my panic to go from Kobe to Osaka in time to check up on the Kashimashi 7 love at Sofmap at closing time, I forgot to buy my pre-ordered copy of Princess Princess - Princesses' After-School Danger (プリンセスプリンセス：姫たちのあぶない放課後後) SPLS-25693. That and I didn't have a chance to get into Yodobashi Camera Osaka, either, since I got there at 21:03. (this is Yodobashi Camera that Kotaku gets their Only In Japan shots) Even though the first floor was open, I couldn't even go up or down to the DVD and game floors, respectively. Where are the stairs? Guarded by temp secrs and bowing skirts. The escalators were in spit-customer-out mode.

Here's the fashionable south (?) side of Yodobashi Camera which is closest to Sofmap Osaka. This area (Japan Railway Osaka Station) is under construction for some reason.

Please excuse me now, I need to go to downtown Kobe to pick up Kashimashi 7 at either Gamers or Animate at FULL PRICE, no tokuten. orz  <- that sure looks dumb in serif font. This is much better -> orz

Excellence in Anime CDs, season 2006/10

(tags CD, anime, ripping)

Today was a good day for anime related CD releases. Yui Sakakibara (榊原ゆい) is slowly worming her way into my consciousness. That Muv-Luv CD was a surprise, with Minami Kuribayashi (栗林みな実), Miyuki Hashimoto (橋本みゆき), and Aki Misato (美郷あき) songs. And I'm ready for a "desuu, desuu" session from "Suiseiseki" Natsuko Kuwatani (桑谷夏子). KOTOKO kicks but is she really appropriate for a Maria-sama ga Miteru work?

I quickly added them to Musicbrainz.org, hopefully beating those arr-matey, wiki-maniacs to the info punch.

It's a great time to be in college

(tags game, anime, figure, review, photo-expose)

I've been enjoying the Singaporean versions of anime bloggers. They're just as crazy as the Japanese guys, but in English. In particular, check out the great real nature + figure shots by Anime Desho Desho, while get lessons in Japanese through Ramblings of DarkMirage. In between the shots of the dorm rooms covered with imported Megami magazine posters, cosplay romps with requisite mosaic out faces, blatant rips and digital whoring of doujinshi, seiyuu-struck, complaints about oncoming homework, it's just a wonderful life in college, eh?

In particular I find it interesting they have to worry if their figures are pirated. I wonder if the stuff I buy in the store is the same way.

Game & Watch Collection is 3900 yen used

(tags game, used, EC, Nintendo, nostalgia)

Chris Kohler and (seperately) someone else did a special breathlessly passionate/drunk review of that exclusive Japan-only Game & Watch Collection for the DS. I first saw it in the used shops going for 10000 yen plus unopened a couple of weeks ago, but then at my local Sofmap I saw it for 3900 yen used. Since I know from the above reviews that it contains 1:54 minutes of game, I let this one pass. You can probably get it online through Yahoo Auctions for even less.

Will this blog ever get public?

(tags blog)

It's already the end of October. It will be almost 1 year since my old blog died and I still haven't replaced it with something that throughly satisfies me. I've been thinking about adding comments, and/or biting the bullet and subscribing to a major blog service/framework, etc. I don't have the confidence anymore to make my own blog software which can match and fulfill my spoiled expections now from using Microsoft Live Writer and Blogspot. And it takes too long for me to post, often an hour or more for just one.

And the content. I've been posting a lot of potentially embarassing and socially non-starting pictures of game or anime or figure chickadees, and my real name is attached to each and every page. Or it could be, if this blog ever went "public". Not much gaming. Fantastic adventures in consumer excess. Foibles and English imperialism despite living in Japan.

Well, keeping the blog like this keeps me honest. Yeah, as honest as a robin on a springtime window sill. Chirp chirp chirp, that's a piyo piyo.

I'm trying to motivate myself to change this blog. Be the programmer. NIH syndrome. But I rather type up content and boasts, link and swipe pictures and just generally shout loud into an empty box.

There, one post without any pictures.

On Pangya (Arin figure kills me)

(tags game, figure, kawaii, cute, Windows, online, Wii)

Speaking of Pangya from the last post: I knew of Pangya, an online golf game, but it only stuck in my mind recently because of this figure:

This is the Arin figure from Pangya. Very cute. Impossibly cute. I know there's a regular picture where you can see the base too but this close up is terrific. Face is just, just perfect. Awesome. Bust is impossible but hey. Pose is downright excellent. Flowing hair captures the wind gusts on the tee. The white cap gets me giddy. But do I feel like playing golf? Nah. Yeah! Wii controller makes any sports game "new and improved"!

According to the info, this figure is sculpted by IBUKI (羅刹) and is 1/8 scale which means about 18 to 20 cm.

You could order it online from Moekei.com and get some non-kawaii keitai bag. Or Chara-Ani with no tokuten. Coming out in 2007/01, but pre-orders close this month it seems.

Since this game is coming out for the Wii as Tecmo's Super Shots Golf Pangya (a joint venture between the original Korean developer Ntreev Soft and Japanese publisher Tecmo) and a launch title to boot, it's mainstream. So, I think it's not bad to pre-order this figure.

Unfortunately I must say that I don't have a light blue background in my room, so this figure may not look its best. That hasn't stopped me before mu hahaha.

My first Xbox 360 game... once

(tags game, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, love-sim, simulation, cross-dress, dance, cel-shading, training, pre-order, ECsite)

I was in Sofmap Kobe making my rounds and I finally decided to pre-order the Princess Princess - Princesses' After-School Danger (プリンセスプリンセス：姫たちのあぶない放課後後) SPLS-25693 game (previous post about it) there when I spotted a video of the IdolM@ster game for the Xbox 360. I was impressed by the animation, heh. It keeps reminding me of my time with Yumeria. Are these two games developed by the same teams? Both were published by Namco, right? I gotta look this up sometime.

Anyway, I was watching the video (low res available at official site) loop over and over again, impressed with the motion capture movement and 60 FPS Hello! Project-like dancing (you know, cute and not vulgar). The music sucked, really. I am concerned. I did read the Insert Credit New Gaming Journalism entry on The IdolM@ster, which clued me in on the heart-wrenching, coin-gobbling arcade version. BUT! The last pre-order slip was hanging in the box. It has dancing and seiyuu-activated music! It comes with this crazy diorama complete with figures (I first saw it from Kotaku, thanks). What is the scale for these figures, please.

And the "new face" is a blonde hair Miki Hoshii! Very fresh! I'm sold!

So I checked the price. Oh yeah, only 20000 yen. And the pre-order is only 2000 yen. (Usually pre-orders are 500 yen for PS2 games, and free for Nintendo games. I wonder if this is related to limitied quantities?). No biggie, make no payments till January 2007, to paraphrase a commercial sound bite (but it comes out on 2007/01/27, truth in advertising indeed). I did the deed and while I was at the register, some other Sofmap dood took down the pre-order slot for the game. Does that mean I'm the last person to get a guaranteed limited edition copy? Hahahaha.

But no telephone card so I am disappointed. Just kidding.

This makes three systems where my first game is crass risque sexy.

• Xbox : Dead or Alive Ultimate (no I think I'm mis-remembering but it makes good blog material)
• PSP : Princess Maker 4
• Xbox 360 : The IdolM@ster.

What of the Wii? Will it be Tecmo's Super Swing Golf Pangya (Wikipedia) that does me in?

(photo thanks: Dengeki Online, Game Watch)

My first PSP game... twice

(tags game, PlayStation Portable, Playstation 2, love-sim, simulation, goods)

I really like the Naoto Tenhiro (天広直人) look. Too bad Tenhiro wasn't on board with Strawberry Panic (he was partnered with the main writer of Sister Princess, Sakurako Kimino (公野櫻子, Wikipedia-JP), who is also the main writer for Strawberry Panic). So it was no surprise that I picked up the twice-ported Princess Maker 4 for the PlayStation Portable, available since last week.

The copy on the left was bundled with the exclusive Sofmap telephone card. I was lucky enough to grab the last bundled copy at Kobe. Similarly, the right copy has the exclusive Gamers "promide" card. Both came with a A3 sized poster with the same design as the pictured cover. I was somewhat disappointed that the Gamers goods wasn't a telephone card, but a promide card has the same usefulness as a telephone card to me anyway.

This is my first PSP game. I suppose that means I have to start looking for a PSP now. There's no PSPs that I can borrow within my phy-space friend net. DS everywhere, though.

You could also call this post "Lost in a princess world, part 1 of 3 (Princess Maker 4), the sequel"

Information Processing Test

(tags test, Japan, Japanese)

Yesterday I spent the whole day on the Japanese Information Processing Test, Software Engineer (情報処理試験). The test itself wasn't too hard analytically, but I don't know much SQL so I flunked those parts. I don't think I passed it, but there wasn't as much free writing as I expected. Unfortunately I still goofed and forgot how to write some critical kanji. Oh well, there's always next year. One thing is that I can take the test booklet home. I gotta check the correct answers online somewhere.

What struck me about the experience was the small desks, the young doods with their smoking habits, fast test takers leaving the room. I was probably older than 90% of them. It was held at a technical college in Kobe that I never knew about but is within a couple of blocks from my daily commute.

If I passed the test, I get a money reward from work. I don't know if it's great to put on a resume, but in a certification-happy Japan, I suppose it carries weight.

irc kills my blog energy (or irc saps my blog stats, part II)

(tag irc, blog)

I'm beginning to think that hanging out in irc is just a waste of time for me. I've already learned a lot about Emacs from irc://irc.freenode.org/emacs but last week was a plateau of understanding and plenty of thick skin level upping. I don't learn much about gaming from irc://irc.esper.net/insertcredit, but I sure learned something about new profanities and mispelling scene. And I tried irc://irc.debian.org/debian recently, but too many prickly cactuses. I was greeted with "ask a constructive question". I practiced with /ignore but I thought it was too annoying.

I'll go back to blogging in a box for now.

DVD writing thwarted by ATAPI error

(tags hardware, upgrade, Windows, backup)

Maybe I'm folly's example, but I keep picking Plextor CD and DVD drives because they've been good and pretty trouble free to me. The following is the paradox. My 2004 Plextor PX-708A was giving me ATAPI errors during burns, and after the 20th non-consecutive coaster I decided to get a new drive. So I jet over to the Sofmap and see a Plextor PX-760SA (2006/05). I ignore the other makes and models. I must be Plextor's whipping boy.

Anyway, Serial ATA. Of course there is a regular ATAPI version, but I wanna end the tyranny of fat cables in my PC. All 4 SATA ports on the motherboard are taken so I decided to go get a PCI card at the same time. I was thinking that Sugoi Card was going to do the trick but at 7000 yen for 4 internal + 3 external ports it was too steep. So I settled for an SATA 1 x external port, 2 internal port, and USB2.0 x 4 port full-height PCI card, the Buffalo IFC-PCI7ESAU2. I don't need more USB2.0 ports, but you can never have enough overkill.

While I was attempting to operate on my PC, I picked up a PC case internal card reader/writer called 16+1 by Owltech. It uses a 3.5" drive bay and has a USB pin header connector. It came in silver, which matches my Owltech case. (Who woulda thunk it?) Now I can use my Memory Stick Pro Duo without adapters. Nice.

So the new Plextor also has a replaceable bezel that comes in silver. Ah. Sweet. How does burning feel at DVD 16x feel? I wouldn't know, the media I got is rated 8x. But 30 minutes for burn and verify, sweet.

The old Plextor still works for reading. I don't trust it much for writing. How's life with 2 drives? ITunes doesn't let me rip from both at the same time, but I can rip with iTunes and burn with the supplied burning soft at the same time.

Lovely Happiness Idol

(tags anime, season 2006/10)

I was impressed with Happiness episode 1, not for the predictable story or the panty shots, oniichan, valentine chocolate, cross-dressing kawaii shonen, magic girls in capes, talking weapons at the ready even in school. No, I was impressed with the artistic non-voiced transitions with music. There's a quiet piece where Haruhi and Anri go to their next class while the Yuuma and company contemplate the fantasy of school with cute magic girls across the way.

Similarly at the end of the episode when the two finally meet in the same class and their surprise turns quietly into shared smiles, the voices stop and music takes over. Very artistic. Or maybe I'm annoyed by voices and the quiet is comforting? Here words say less than the visuals, really.

Mainly PC-ecchi game seiyuu and singer Yui Sakakibara (榊原ゆい) lends her talent here competently as lead heroine Haruhi. I notice she voices some heaves and sighs, which is kind of annoying. Is this supposed to make the 2d characters more alive or pensive? Takashi Ohara (大原 崇) as Yuuma has the enviable nice guy voice here. I keep thinking back to To Heart Remember My Memories' male lead's voice and experience nightmares. Finally Hitomi/Hokuto Minami (ひと美/北都南) is here in a supporting role, this time as sexy older teacher voice. Heh, must see, must hear.

I've been wanting to buy the original game for a while, but maybe the anime will tide me over.

I ruined my morning first though with Lovely Idol. On many levels (story, plot, music, action) this show blows chunks crudely, but I can't fault the character design and art at all. Character designer Aoi Nishimata (西又葵) 2d designs in Magikyu Magazine and the Lovely Idol PlayStation 2 game are suprisingly faithfully translated to the anime unlike Final Approach and Shuffle (both were great but they don't make you think "Nishimata animated"). When is the quality going to drop? Actually, the opening sequence is a little bland, so maybe we can expect a quality drop sometime during the series? The camera though, hovers at risque positions, but never a panty shot, thankfully. On one hand, the first third of the show is a rehash or recycle of the PS2 game's contents. On the other, crowds of glow-stick waving, chorus-singing otaku at Comiket are rendered here.

Sakura Nogawa (野川さくら) comes back to female lead spotlight here. Though I am probably the only person that likes Hina Ichigo best out of all the Rozen Maiden dolls, Sakura Nogawa makes her push outside high and carefree role into a deeper voiced, mysterious Mizuki. As an aside, I picked up Nogawa's live action DVDs at some bargain bin in the Books Lashinbang. I'm not sure how bright her star or how sucessful is, but she's been trying to branch out into singing and acting. I noticed recently she had a couple of DVD sets of live concerts. Hm.

I actually have the PS2 game (unopened) and the opening music CD I got for half off at a unpopular Joshin. I doubted that this world would continue. But I'm pretty happy with both of these series. At least I won't have to play the original games anymore.

(edit: added comparison to Final Approach and Shuffle)