Hajime No Ippo

On this blog,I usually talk about games and anime and stuff.
While I usually don't put much thought into most of my posts,I would like to introduce something new to whoever's reading these,like with my Saint Seiya entries.

This series is Hajime No Ippo,also known as Fighting Spirit for the American audience.

The premise is that this quiet shy kid gets his ass kicked by bullies until one day,a professional boxer saves him and he admires how strong he is and becomes a boxer in the search of true strength

The series is basically a sports anime,but it stands out due to it's stellar fights,great character development and just fun characters.

Hajime no Ippo has 2 anime series,a "Tv special",an OVA and loads of manga chapters,so it does take some time,but I found that it was well worth the time.

*This is the order you should watch them*
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The first series is simply called Hajime no Ippo and it's 76 episodes.
The Tv special is called Champion's Road and it's about 2 hours,taking place after the first anime series.
The OVA,Kimura vs Mashiba,takes place after Champion's Road.
The second anime series is called Hajime no Ippo:New Challenger and it's the last anime related thing for this series.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The series is very good but one flaw is that the anime barely scratches the surface,there's literally over 1000 chapters of manga material(1015 as of this writing)

I recently went back to reading the manga,and I'm all caught up now,so I wanted to pass the time telling you how great the series is.

If you're not too big on anime,no worries,you'll still like it enough.My mother of all people saw me watching this in the living room during episode 2 or 3 and she was just watching.
She ended up seeing the all of the anime episodes and specials,and she said she really enjoyed it.

I think the reason she enjoyed it is because this anime is grounded in reality.You don't see super powers or too many fantasy elements.I watched some of Ring ni Kakero with her,a boxing anime that has alot more fantasy elements like special moves,and she didn't like it nearly as much.

With Hajime no Ippo,it feels more relatable since these characters are human,and while later manga chapters seem to be pushing the limits of what a human can do,it's still done very well.

The fights in this series get pretty intense,even when you're reading the manga,you can still feel the intensity,though the anime portrays this aspect better.

Only the first series of Hajime no Ippo and Champion's Road got licensed and released in America,and the series doesn't seem to have a happy future in the West,so that's pretty much all we're getting unless FUNimation or someone picks it up,but it's very,very unlikely.


While there is an English dub of this anime,I recommend to listen to the japanese version.
The English dub doesn't have the same feelling as the Japanese one,it's more awkward and the some of the voices just plain suck.


Anyway,this is one of my favorite series of all time,so if you read this far,I expect you to at least give it a shot.


All of the episodes are on YouTube,even Champion's Road and Kimura vs Mashiba,although not all of New Challenger's episodes are found there.

If you choose to ignore my words and want to watch the dub episodes,I guess you can,you can find them at Toonami Aftermath(plug) during the weekends,although they only show 4 episodes a week,so that's hardly the recommended way to watch a 76 episode series.




As always,I shall post pictures about various things that I own from the series,it's relatively barren for a collection,but this is all I could do for this obscure in the West series.Oh yeah,and I kinda lost my drive to buy more dvds after I've seen the series 3 times online.








































EDIT:I haven't worked on this in over 2 months,it was pretty much finished,but I never published it.
Oh well,that works out greatly because they're recently announced the 3rd season of Hajime No Ippo!
You cannot even fathom the hype I have!

Region Locking and imported games

I already kinda sorta talked about this topic but its different this time,I swear!It's a rant,so it's going to be long.

I'm making this basically because I had enough of Nintendo's bullshit.
Even Microsoft got rid of the region lock,the Vita doesn't have it,it's not fucking time traveling across dimensions!

As I step away from the computer to gather my thoughts,I remember why region locking exists,basically a way to stop reverse importing.

You see,when it comes to anime and video games,they tend to be more expensive in Japan than it is in America,ESPECIALLY with anime.

If DVD players weren't region locked,I'm sure many Japanese people would import the American releases,after all,they usually include the Japanese audio in addition to the English dub and it's cheaper.
This would obviously hurt the anime industry even more in Japan.

We're already seen it with Persona 4 Arena and with the Persona 4 Anime.
They basically didn't want the Japanese to reverse import the cheaper versions.

However,for us Americans and especially you poor Europeans guys,we don't always get the same things that Japan does,be it anime or video games.

We have to import the game,and try to play through a game in a language we don't understand.
If the system is region locked,we might miss out on a great game

Dragon Ball Kai Ultimate Budoden is simultaneously the best Dragon Ball game and the best fighting game on the DS.
I don't understand Japanese,but I know Dragon Ball Z like the back of my hand,so the language wasn't an issue for me,and I LOVE that game.

There's a few games I also like quite a bit on the DS,Hotel Dusk and Trace Memory.
Both of those games have sequels,released in English for European countries only.
I imported the Hotel Dusk sequel and loved it more than the original,glad that I have it.
Now I'm sure I would love the Trace Memory sequel but it's on the Wii,which is region locked.

*sobs uncontrollably*

The Nintendo DS wasn't,and because it wasn't,I got to experience a really great game in English.
I can't do the same with Another Code R,I would have to import a European Wii to play it and believe me,I was tempted a couple of years ago.

I'm sure you remember the Operation Rainfall Trilogy,Xenoblade,The Last Story and Pandora's Tower were all in English,but Nintendo refused to bring them over to America for some reason.
If I imported a European Wii,I could've bought Xenoblade,The Last Story,Pandora's Tower,Another Code R and Disaster:Day of Crisis,all good to excellent games that probably weren't coming over here.

Of course,then Nintendo brought Xenoblade over here and XSEED brought Pandora's Tower and The Last Story over here,so buying a European Wii for 2 games couldn't be justified.
In fact,the idea of buying a European Wii so I can play 5 games in English is crazy,after I beat those games,that Wii would probably be in a closet somewhere,and I would only bring it out when I wanted to replay those games.



EX Troopers,a game I talked about far too much,wasn't coming over here,but I imported it and I loved it,despite not knowing what the story was about.

Jump Super Stars,that Smash Bros clone with Shonen Jump characters,was pretty fun,and glad I imported it.

Saint Seiya Sanctuary Battle,game that wasn't released in America but it was in Europe because it's more popular over there,was pretty cool to play as the Saints,also worth the import price.

Saint Seiya Brave Soldiers.I will also be importing because I know it's not coming out over here but it will be in English,so I'll have no problems whatsoever.

J-Stars Victory,another Shonen Jump crossover game on the PS3,hasn't a word on an English release,so I may end up importing it in the future.

I know I'm in the minority here,but region locking is a huge pain for people like me.
Importing games tends to be at least 30 to 70 bucks in my experience,and I'm not one to import for the hell of it,if a game gets released in my country,I'll buy it new,preorder it to support the publishers and all of that.

When Sega did that Facebook thing for Hatsune Miku Project Diva F,I thought it was brilliant and yet simple,simply like and share,and that's how Sega gauged interest in the game.No advertising whatsoever,just make a banner and if it got enough attention,it would come out over here.

Project Diva F IS coming over here and I WILL be preordering it and getting it day one.

Really though,like every game company has a Twitter and Facebook,so they should be taking full advantage of it,Sega should really be applauded for taking the first step for what could be a better way to gauge interest in Japanese games.

(And yes,I remember that Level 5 also had a Facebook poll but since we didn't get the game yet,I feel it's weird to credit them,but I guess they do deserve some praise.)

And then there's games like Retro Game Challenge,a game based on that Japanese show,Retro Game Master and while it gets localized,the sequel does not because of poor sales of the original.
This is the sad reality when it games,if it doesn't make enough money,you might not see the other one,so if you really care about something,buy it new so the publishers get the money.

Anyway,I'm still sore about region locks,I know a lot of games get published here anyway,and I do support them when they do come out,but I have 5 games that I imported.
I enjoyed all 5 of those games and it just sucks that I may miss out on more games and I won't ever have the chance to play them because frankly,I don't want to buy Japanese or European versions of game systems I own and I don't want to hack my systems,I like to do everything legitimately.

These games will be mine!

Thoughts on Lucky Star

Lucky Star is an anime I knew existed but never really looked up any information on it,I just knew that it was around.

I finally decided to watch it on Crunchyroll,and as I'm writing this,I'm just thinking on how much I enjoyed it.

This is a slice of life anime,which means plot isn't the main draw,it's more about the characters and how they interact.

This is the first one I watched and I think I can get into other anime of this nature,I do like the characters a lot in this series and I assume other slice of life anime will make me attached to the characters.

Lucky Star is more meant for hardcore otaku fans,Konata frequently references manga and games in pretty much every episode and while I did catch a lot of these,there was also a lot that flew over my head.They reference The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya a lot,and since I haven't watched that yet,I kinda felt like I missed something.

While I was kinda forcing myself to watch it for the first couple episodes,the show starts to get more fun around episode 3 and it was at that point that I realized that this anime isn't a waste of time.

I liked all the characters,Konata being my favorite,since she's essential me if I was a Japanese anime girl.I found her easy to relate to,but it is kinda scary how similar I am to her,they frequently point out her faults,almost like they were referring to me,telling us to focus on our studies instead of our hobbies.

Oh yeah,these girls are in high school,because nobody could've guessed that from the art style.
I do like the art style though,it's very cutesy and it never felt too out of place.

I liked it a lot,it's definitely an anime I would watch again at some point,I just need to watch more anime to get the references,because random anime references are a big part of Lucky Star.

There's 24 episodes and an OVA,which I'm thinking I might buy,since this anime left me wanting more.I can finally say I'm a Lucky Star fan.

Do I regret not watching it sooner?
Not really since I wasn't that into anime when Lucky Star came out,so a lot of the gags would've gone over my head.I was mostly interested in fighting anime back then,so that's why this didn't catch my interest all those years back anyway.Thankfully,my anime tastes have matured and I can now enjoy my hobby even more.


Anyway,next anime I plan on watching is either The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya or Oreimo,but I'll probably go with Haruhi,since that's already finished and it's been around forever.

My experince with the Tales of series

There's this JRPG series that I really love,the "Tales" series.The Tales series is known for their great character development and character interaction,fun combat and it's deconstructure of the JRPG genre.

[I really first played Tales of Eternia on the PSP,a game not released for the American PSP.I have no idea how this game plopped into my hands,my dad bought a PSP and some games off this guy and I somehow got ahold of a PAL game,so this was the first imported title I ever had.I stupidly pawned the game after I couldn't beat it,thinking I could just buy it again at any store.I should've done some more research]

I first heard of Tales of Symphonia way back when,but I sadly never picked it up.Around 2008-2009 in the summer,I went to Best Buy (plug) and found Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World for about 15 bucks.Since I heard of this game,I decided to take a chance and see what the fuss was all about.This was one of the first games I bought just a whim,with no prior research aside from hearing the title.

It turns out that Dawn of the New World was a sequel to Tales of Symphonia on the Gamecube,not an updated rerelease like I originally thought,but I played through it nonetheless.

By the time I finished it,I was hooked actually did research on this game and the respective series.This is when I found out I traded in an imported PSP game,and I felt like such a dumbass,that I rarely buy games these days without doing extensive research.

Anyway,around December 2010 and while I was at Gamestop searching for some other game,I found the original Tales of Symphonia on the Gamecube for 20(!) bucks.
Screw whatever I was going to buy earlier,I want this!

I played it,and after 15 hours,I got stuck and didn't have the foresight to use a walkthrough,I gave up.

Around the end of 2011,after beating Zelda Skyward Sword for the 2nd time,I decided to try and finish Tales of Symphonia again,because Tales of the Abyss and Tales of Graces f were coming out in 2012,so what better time to finish this game and replay Dawn of the New World.

I actually finshed the game this time and I loved it as well.I even saw the anime and I liked that as well,it got me more interested in watching anime again.

I played though Tales of the Abyss on the Nintendo 3DS and I liked that game as well,enough to buy the 26 anime episodes as well.

Then I preordered Tales of Graces f,even if I didn't have a PS3 at the time,I decided to buy it anyway,just to support the fans on the Facebook page.

Anyway,I finally got a PS3 that summer and I still think that game is my favorite in the series.

And then I bought the Tales of Vesperia:First Strike movie in September.

And then I bought those chibi Tales figurines around November.

And now I have preordered the Tales of Xillia Collector's Edition.
My hype for this series is too much!I can't wait for Xillia and Xillia 2,and now that the Tales of Symphonia HD collection is going to come out,I can't think of a better time to be a Tales fan.

I hope more people get into this series,even if you're not that hardcore into JRPG's,I say still give them a shot,because they're just great games.

I should really replay this game sometime this year.

The film was pretty good even if you haven't played
the game.

I'm disappointed they didn't dub it,but whatever,I liked the subs anyway.

Drawing/Japanese update

As an anime and video game fan,I like the various art styles of these and the all the fan art people make.


Naturally,I would like to make my own fan art.
I tried to draw time and time again,whether buying prisma color pencils,or taking art class in high school,or buying Colors 3D.

*sobs*

It's not meant to be.It's really my fault because I don't practice.I don't want to put the time into it.
Screw it,I tried a few times,but I never got very far.

I'm like Iwata(right side) when it comes to drawing.

This is my general attitude towards new things.I had a passing interest in learning how to design video games,because since I love games,it must be fun to make them as well,right?I played Warioware D.I.Y,which lets you create 3-6 second mini games.It's such a pain in the ass to spend so much time for a small result,and I assume it's the same when creating a real video game,so I was turned off from ever making video games.


On my last blog entry,I talked about how I have an interest in learning Japanese.Yeah,after looking back on my experience with drawing and even briefer experience with "game design",I won't even try,since I know I'll quit not even halfway into the process.All I wanted to do is apply this new language to my hobbies,but screw it,I have too much stuff to juggle as it is.

My social life outside school is basically nonexistant,and I still don't have enough time to watch all the anime and video games I have.
In college,I predict my social life will be slightly better (I hope so,at least) and I actually have to study instead of looking over my notes five minutes before the test like I got so used to in high school.

Not to mention I'll be tired,I probably don't even want to play games or catch up with my anime,in fact,I felt this way in my Junior and Senior years,even though High School isn't hard,I still get tired from waking up early and all that crap.
I watch Let's Plays instead of playing the games myself,so there's also that to catch up on.

Learning another language is a massive task that I won't be willing to go through in college (or in general) and Japanese is so prominent on the internet,people will always translate stuff for me.
Yeah,while I can't play Japanese RPG's if they're not localized,there's so many other things I could do instead of tackling a 40+ hours RPG that I can't understand.

So in short,I'll stick to watching and playing the mediums I love,but I can't create them to save my life.
On the bright side,at least I haven't resorted to the Sonic recolors done on Paint.

I can't bring myself to post
a fan's recolored "character"

I think I should stop opening up old
wounds from the ancient days on YouTube.

Anime Odyssey thoughts on

First of all,it was raining.Hard.The weather is always bipolar in Texas,but did we really need to have a flash flood on for the entire weekend?
Anyway,I went on Friday for about 2 hours,more or less to know where everything was in the hotel.The only panel I went to that day was with Eric Vale and Colleen Clinkinbeard doing a Q and A session and while I went in halfway into the panel,I still had a lot of fun.
The rest of that day,I was checking out the venders room and buying various things.

On Saturday,I went for about 4 hours.I checked out a Naruto panel some by some cosplayers and while it was a very silly,I laughed a lot.I was somewhat expecting people to be talking about the newest chapter (631) and where the story might go from here,but no,everyone wanted to make fun of Neji's crossdressing habits in SD.So yeah.

After that was done,there really wasn't anything going on that I was interested in for about an hour,so I awkwardly wandered around the hotel,seeing what stuff people were doing and buying some more stuff.Did I mention that nobody I knew went to this thing,and I felt a little out of place being a loner,because that's what happened.

Anyway,then Tia Ballard was holding a panel for amateur voice acting and I think this was my favorite.She was pretty funny and a lot of people in the audience were pretty funny as well,making the atmosphere pretty lively and enjoyable.
I didn't go on Sunday because that's the depressing day when people are packing up and everyone's tired,so I decided to stay home,just watching anime and playing games.


All in all,I don't think it was too bad for my "first" con,I probably should've talked more and I should've stayed a few more hours,but I still had fun.

The con was pretty good all things considered,I hope Anime Odyssey will be there next year,because I'm probably going again.I think I'll also go to San Japan in August,because that one the biggest con in San Antonio.

Compared to AniMex in Mexico,this one felt more organized since it was at a hotel rather than a convention center.In AniMex,everything was in one big area,the venders were in the center while the panels were being held in cubicles around the sides of the area.
For Anime Odyssey,all the panels were in seperate rooms and the venders area was in another building entirely,so it felt more organized.


On the 3DS side of things,I got 10 people on streetpass and on Saturday,I got 18 people,so while it might not seem much,it's a lot for me,since there's times where I go to the mall and Gamestops and I don't get anybody.

On the cosplay side,I saw a lot of Naruto cosplayers,people in Goku shirts,some Vocaloids,some people in lab coats (I assume Stein;s Gate?),a couple Soul Reapers and this one Zero (Code Geass)

In retrospect,maybe I should've taken pictures of the actual event,but I'm a dumbass that didn't think to do that even though so many people were.

Well,I guess I'll show off the stuff I bought.

Bakuman card that comes with gum.



A Madoka Nendoroid chibi figure.


















This little Salamence plush.



Castlevania manga and Death Note
and Resident Evil movies.










Meanwhile...

This.

 

Sub vs Dub/Japanese in general

Yeah,I'm sure this is a tired and worn out subject but I want to give my thoughts on the matter.

I don't mind either one,but I tend to go with the dub if possible.If there's no dub available,oh well,there's the Japanese version.

One thing that's really weird is that when you go from sub to dub like say Naruto,it feels off for some reason.It may be a matter of better talent or it may be that I'm not a Japanese speaker and therefore,I can't tell the flaws of a Japanese dub,so it doesn't feel as weird when I go from dub to sub.
On the other hand,I can easily criticize the English dub because I know what sounds natural and what doesn't.One thing to take note is dubbers have it harder because the anime was made for Japanese language,not easily translated for another language.

Some early dubs of anime are pretty bad,but some have the effect of "so bad,it's good" thing going on,like Sailor Moon.It's fun to watch for the cheesy voices and outdated 90's slang.

Another reason why I prefer dubs to subs is because I'm much more likely to meet the dub voice actors as opposed to the Japanese voice actors in real life at anime conventions.Unless I go to Japan,but then there's the whole language/cultural barrier.

But then there's the advantage that I can learn some minor Japanese while watching anime.When I was playing EX Troopers,which is entirely in Japanese,I did catch some of the things they said.
I owe that to anime,but I doubt I can actually interact with a Japanese person,anime isn't Rosetta Stone or whatever people use to learn Japanese.

This one is more helpful for learning Japanese.
I recommend both anyway,they're free.

This is a fun rhythm game with Japanese,I like it a lot.

On the subject of Japanese,I'm wondering if I should take a Japanese class in college.
Speaking Japanese is probably something I can handle but I'm wondering if I can handle writing Japanese.
With the apps I have along with my anime,I'll probably be fine if I do take a Japanese course.
I already 2 languages,English and Spanish,and Japanese would look pretty cool on my resume or whatever,a business/marketing major that's also Trilingual.
I assume I'll meet some anime fans in that Japanese course since those pretty much overlap.
Maybe I can even understand my imported Japanese video games!
The only negative I see with this idea is that I might suck at writing Japanese,or I may not be smart enough to learn 3 languages.
Learning a new language isn't easy,and I'm not sure if I'm willing to invest the time into it,I mean,Japanese isn't really necessary for everyday life in San Antonio,and I can see myself dropping that class just because I'm too lazy to put the effort.

I figure it might be worth a shot though,so I think I'll try it anyway.