ハヤテのごとく！ - Hayate the Combat Butler

-- Editing --

==============================================

Genre: Action, Romantic Comedy, Parody

Air Period: April 1, 2007 – March 30, 2008

Episodes: 52

"Abandoned by his parents and given a monumentally large debt as a Christmas present, 16-year old Ayasaki Hayate is at the lowest point of his life. Desperately trying alter his hapless fate, he decides to kidnap someone to hold for a ransom. Due to an ill choice of words, the girl he tries to kidnap misunderstands the action as a confession of love. His plan is totally crushed when he gives his real name out. Realizing his wrongdoing, Hayate proceeds to rescue the girl from the yakuza, who had instead kidnapped her. The girl, as a token of thanks, offers Hayate a job as her butler. Hayate, overwhelmed by her kindness, vows to protect her even at the cost of his life.

16-year-old Hayate is really down on his luck. His unemployed parents are good-for-nothings who waste the money they have on gambling. One day, his parents have racked up a huge gambling debt that they had to sell Hayate to the yakuza for the value of his organs. In a desperate attempt to avoid that fate, Hayate decides to become a “bad guy” and kidnap someone to be held for ransom, but his efforts to do so are mistaken as a confession of love by the girl he targets." - ANN

==============================================

Spring 2009 Line-up

Speaking of anime, the line up for Spring has arrived. (Credits to Denizen)

Click to enlarge

Hayate no Gotoku 2! Wahahaha! Marked first on the Spring queue list. Saki, Shangri-La, K-ON, Hatsukoi Gentei look interesting. Haha, Beyblade remake, lol.

I'll check out Natsu no Arashi too. Hehe, Mainichi-Kaa San for the lols.

Happy Cow Year

Went Kino today (20% discount storewide for members, wOOt! Once again, thanks to Cleon for lending me his card.) to grab a few books. Took home the following:

Okami Official Complete Works @ SGD 72.22. Interesting concept and ideas of using Japanese mythology and history. Traditional Japanese watercolour art style usage intrigued me further. Though haven't play the game, I'd say this would be an innovative concept to move into while tinkering for game ideas. Fully illustrated with colour, detailed descriptions, very nice.

Rockman Zero Official Complete Works @ SGD 49.00. The FFXI World Atlas disappeared from the shelves (service counter staff could find no data of the book within their database, how odd.) I had to choose between this and the DMC art book as a replacement. Rockman/Megaman is a classic. Hell, couldn't resist getting this one instead. (I'll take the DMC one next time I go back to Kino) Nice illustrations, impressive concepts. Plenty of characters posed at different angles. Happy I got this fella.

Pokemon Platinum game guide @ SGD 26.30. I took this because:

1) I'll be getting Platinum version.

2) Of all the game guides I've encountered so far, all are published by Prima Guides. Guess what: This Japanese one's by Nintendo itself! Holy shit! First time seeing a Nintendo official guide book. Hell I couldn't resist grabbing it.

3) A thick book like this costs only 26 bucks?! You gotta be kidding me. This ones I've seen this thick, or even thinner fetch at least about SGD 40. I'm surprised one can find this in Japan for only 1,200 Yen.

Damn,  the book contains the entire Pokedex updated till Platinum, all maps of the game world with NPC locations and entrances/exits numbered, tips and tricks, items lists, etc. Pretty pretty book...

And as always, busy rushing projects ever since the last time I posted, not enough time to watch anime. Another two more weeks and my agony will be over... for the time being.

Graphic Book Mania

I'm simply too busy to keep up with the major submissions within the next three weeks, not to mention continuing my anime campaign. I'll cut things short (got board game to finalize and finish tonight):

- Camped at Jackie's from yesterday to this afternoon. Did board game foundations and cleared the War of the Ring campaign. Now starting Rise of Sauron at Heroic.

- Went Kino yesterday afternoon, now marked as one of my favorite spots. The manga and graphic books helped fuel my interest in those areas. Saw the wide array of imported "treasures" ... think the DSi or new games can wait huh, more books instead.

- Grabbed a copy of Monster Hunter Illustrations at 65 bucks. (thanks Cleon for the 10% discount) This one's some awesome shit, very detailed. So happy I bought it. Consists of two books: one full coloured and the other monochrome. Booth are filled with beautiful concepts of the beastiary and characters. Excellent references for armoury and monsters, should help a lot in future game concepts.

I must make sure to continue Hayate no Gotoku tonight. (yawns)

War of the Ring

"You... shall... not... pass!"

As we were fighting to gain control of the One Ring and ditch it into enemy territory. The four of us nearly spent two hours just to get the Ring into the goal five times. Damn Jackie and Jon for hindering our victory and camping behind the damn barrier to snipe.

Kaizer was blur enough to not join the second co-op game and went for tutorial, thinking we were in there with him. (I don't blame him. As always, it's Kaizer)

To the one dude who picked up the game case with so much force, leaving a mark on the plastic at the back, thanks.

To those who dragged the case against the table, thanks too.

Game controls were hard to pick up on start. The camera doesn't follow your characters direction for keyboard buttons A and D, and aiming for a target could bring headaches. You'll have to get used to the configurations, which was pretty fast. Have some wisdom while using the controls.

Overall, turned out to meet my expectations from the same guys of the Battlefront series. Quite worth the money. Funny though, being an EA title the security this time round was surprisingly "low". The same serial key could be used by as many as possible (without online capabilities) and playable without the disc in. I wonder how much they're counting on SecuROM.

Speaking of DRM, its all too controversial and contradicting. Nothing about it in detail inside the ToA, no mention of how many machines one disc could for, confusion led to a small debate and uncertainties with Jason and Kaizer over Kaizer's Mirror's Edge and other EA software.

I'll stick to adventuring in Middle Earth for now.

New year, new anime, new games

2009 feels like a good year ahead. More releases, more epic stories to tell, waiting to see what's in store.

I checked the calendar, quite a number of long weekends this time round.

==============================================

Queue list for 2009:

Nintendo DS

1. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon - Feb 16

2. Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride - Feb 17

3. Blue Dragon Plus - Feb 24

4. Little Magician's Magic Adventure - Mar 17

5. Pokemon: Platinum Version - Mar 22

6. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time - Spring

7. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days - TBA

8. Dragon Quest IX: Protectors of the Sky - TBA

Personal Computer

1. The Lord of the Rings: Conquest - 13 Jan

2. Mirror's Edge - 13 Jan

3. Street Fighter IV - Feb 17

4. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - 27 Feb

5. Tom Clancy's EndWar - 2 Mar

6. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - TBA

7. Starcraft II - TBA

==============================================

Finally decided to get Pokemon Diamond. I felt that it was a good game worth the money, and heck yeah, got it yesterday. My first console game bought, and also the first DS Game bought.

Will be training while on the train to and from school.

灼眼のシャナⅡ - Shakugan no Shana II

-- Editing --

==============================================

Genre: Action, Romance, Supernatural, Drama

Air Period: October 5, 2007 – March 28, 2008

Episodes: 24

" Shana and Alastor, Lord of the Crimson Realm continue to do battle with the Denizens, who are trying to steal the Power of Existence from mortals. In the last battle, Yuji is revealed to be a mystes, a "torch" of nearly unlimited Power of Existince. Since the Denizens want to capture Yuji and use him to upset the balance of the Realm, Shana resolves to protect Yuji. Yuji then vows to join Shana in her fight. " - ANN

==============================================