Little Piece Vol.1 - Preview video and demo

Studio e.go (the studio that brought you Izumo, Castle Fantasia and others) announced the release of their next game Little Piece Vol.1 in Spring 2008.
As the name and the website suggest, Little Piece will be visual novel combined with puzzle game system (look like it will be harder to earn CG)

It is expected that there will be 3 vol of this game. Seems like Studio e.go expect this game will be the next Izumo or Castle Fantasia (which currently has 3 and 4 volume)
Every volume have 2 stories, Psionic Lovers and Cross x Street. In Psionic Lovers, you'll play as a male transfer students, and in Cross x Street, you will play as a female character.

There are preview video and game demo available in the main website Studio e.go

What does H mean ?

We all know what Hentai means (sort of), but what does H(エッチ) stand for?
I found from various sources and it comes down to those theories.

+ For common knowledge, we think H is stand for the first character of Hentai(変態). Japanese girls used the first character to talk about those issues, to less embarrassing and more cute.


+ The character H is pronounced as /eitʃ/, and so the Japanese pronounced it as "etch". When we write that word down in Japanese "tc" will become as "cc", and "ch"will become "chi" because Japanese words always have vowels. Therefore "etch" became the word that we all know as "ecchi".So "ecchi" is how the Japanese read the character H in English.

+ The other theories is in the alphabet, the character H is follow behind the character G, so it means "attached to the back of a G(irl)"




+ In the old war days, slang words based on English became popular among Navy. The word 助平 (sukebe : lewdness) was used to indicated the lewdness, and soldiers in Navy slanged it to "he talk". "He" is as "help" in the word 助((su) : help). Then in the Navy, they often used the initial character to talk about something secret, so "he talk" became H.

+ H was used in Japanese Red-Light District as the first character of Homosexual.



+ Another theories is H also from the 破廉恥(harenchi)= embarrassing actions, actions normal people would not do.

Those theories are somewhat intervened. There is a theory that the world H or ecchi come from the world "Letch" as the character "L".
Letch is pronounced as /letʃ/. But back in those after-war days, English education in Japan is quite low, and the distinguishing between the pronounce of "L" and "R", as well as understanding English slang, was far more difficult than it is now (Toraboru can be read as To-love-ru or Trouble).
For that reason, when someone says "You letch!", people thought that "L" is not coming from "letch" but from "will" as "'ll". So they mistakt it as "You'll etch".
And because of the distinguishing between L and R, Japanese can easily mistake "You'll etch" to "You're etch". And we have the word "ecchi" from "letch". "ecchi" is a word that doesn't have the kanji writing may be because of this reason.
Later, people find the coincidence in pronouncing "etch" and H, therefore H begin to use as "letch".

If you have any other opinions, feel free to discuss :).

H2O - Full Version Ending Song and CG

The anime H2O is not as good as I predict, but the OP and ED is really top-notched (at least to me).
#Nipponsei just released the full version Ending Song, KazaHane (Wind Wings).
You can download it here.
A little high quality though.

This is the lyrics (Romanji, Tranlation, and Kanji), thanks to Atashi.

Kazahane
Vocals: Shimotsuki Haruka

Yuugure somaru oka ni tatazumi
Hitori nobiru kage mitsumeta
Mujou na hodo ni hakanai kono sekai
Mata negai wa koboreteku

Usotsuki no jibun kara
Me o somuketa mama de
Iji ni natte
Mamorou to shite ita mono wa nan na no?

Kizuita yo tatoe itamu kokoro ga
Hikari saegitta to shite mo
Miushinaccha ikenai ima ga
Tashika ni koko ni aru koto

Ugokidashita kaze ni fukarete
Mawarihajimeru kazaguruma
Hane no iro ga hitotsu ni tokeru
Futari tsunagu kizuna ni naru kara

Tsumetai ame ni utare tatazumu
Kimi wa sabishige ni waratta
Osanai te de wa muryoku sugita sekai
Mou nakushitaku wa nai yo

Hontou no kimochi kara
Me o somuketa mama de
Daiji na basho
Mamorikiru koto nado deki wa shinai ne

Kowakunai tatoe mugen no yami ga
Yukute saegitta to shite mo
Kasaneatta kokoro no tsuyosa
Tashika ni shitte iru kara

Sotto senaka kaze ni osarete
Arukihajimeru boku-tachi wa
Mayoinagara sore de mo susumu
Kimi o mou nido to hanasanai

Mimi no oku nokoru koe
Toozakaru kioku
Aa modoru koto wa kanawanai kedo
Sono saki no asa shinjite…yukou

Wasurenai tatoe itamu kokoro ga
Subete saegitta to shite mo
Akirametara kawaranai yo to
Kimi ga oshiete kureta ne

Ugokidashite toki o kanjite
Mawarihajimeru kazaguruma
Douka kaze ga yamanai you ni
Futari koko de sora miagete iru

Wind Wings
Vocals: Shimotsuki Haruka
Lyrics: Shimotsuki Haruka
Composition: Fujita Junpei
Arrangement: Kikuta Daisuke

I stood still on the hill that dusk dyed
Alone, I gazed at the stretching shadows
In this world fleeting enough to be heartless
Wishes spill again

While I turned my eyes away
From the liar in me
Stubborn as I became
What were the things that I would protect?

I’ve noticed, that even if my aching heart
Blocked the light
I mustn’t lose sight now
Of the things that certainly exist here

Blown by the wind that started moving
A pinwheel begins spinning
The colors of our wings melt into one
Because it’ll become the bond that connects us

Beaten upon by the cold rain, you stand still
You laughed forlornly
In my young hands, there’s a world that is too powerless
I don’t want to lose it anymore

While I turned my eyes away
From my true feelings
I couldn’t completely protect
Our precious place

I won’t be afraid, even if the infinite darkness
Blocked my path
Because I certainly know about
The strength of our combined hearts

With our backs gently pushed by the wind
We start walking
Even while we’re lost, we progress
I won’t ever leave you again

A voice remaining deep in my ears
A memory keeping afar
Ah, my wish to return won’t be fulfilled
But let’s believe in the morning ahead of it…and go

I won’t forget, even if my aching heart
Blocked everything
You taught me
That if I give up, nothing will change

Feeling the time that has started moving
A pinwheel begins spinning
Please, don’t let the wind stop
Together here, we are looking up at the sky

カザハネ
歌:霜月はるか
作詞:霜月はるか
作曲:藤田淳平
編曲:菊田大介

夕暮れ染まる丘に佇み
ひとり　伸びる影見つめた
無情なほどに儚いこの世界
また　願いは零れてく

嘘つきの自分から
目を背けたままで
意地になって
守ろうとしていたモノは何なの？

気付いたよ　たとえ痛む心が
光遮ったとしても
見失っちゃいけない今が
確かにここにある事

動き出した風に吹かれて
まわり始める風車
羽の色がひとつに溶ける
ふたり繋ぐ絆になるから

冷たい雨に打たれ佇む
君は寂しげに笑った
幼い手では無力すぎた世界
もう　失くしたくはないよ

本当の気持ちから
目を背けたままで
大事な場所
守りきることなど出来はしないね

怖くない　たとえ無限の闇が
行く手遮ったとしても
重ねあった心の強さ
確かに知っているから

そっと背中風に押されて
歩き始める僕たちは
迷いながらそれでも進む
君をもう二度と離さない

耳の奥残る声
遠ざかる記憶
あぁ　戻ることはかなわないけど
その先の朝信じて…行こう

忘れない　たとえ痛む心が
すべて遮ったとしても
諦めたら変わらないよと
君が教えてくれたね

動き出した時を感じて
まわり始める風車
どうか風が止まないように
ふたり此処で空見上げている

I must admit the game is beautiful, so much better than the anime.
You can download the CG here.

Cooking - New anime fashion mode (again!?)

When crawling around finding food to fill the stomach at 3 hour morning, I accidentally found out that in recent animes almost all of girls know how to cook. Seems like it is a new fashion to get to a man's heart, through his stomach.

Digging through the animes, I found that all 3 girls in True Tears know how to cook, and I'm sure they cook pretty well, too. Lucky Shinichiro! whoever he ends up with, he will be assure of full stomach.

True Tears Hiromi is doing
her daily morning cook.True Tears Noe is humming and cooking
Aiko with her own shop
(still can't figure why, where her parents are?)

Going on with the digging, I found that all Clannad girls know how to cook, too (technically for Fuko!?). We must have been remember the cute war between Kyou and Tomoyo to get Tomoya to eat lunch with.

Clannad twin Kyou Ryou new recipes? Buta soup

Nagisa of course, she must
have known how to cook.

Ok, even deliquent girl Tomoyo knows how to cook.

Our genius girl Kotomi, too.

I want to find a picture to prove Fuko also knows how to cook, too. But... who will believe it after ep 18 @_@. Oh well, if she doesn't have accident, I think she will know, too (I hope).

Here is 2 main girl Hinata and Hayami in H2O doing some cooking

Technically, this is still cooking... (Hayami in H2O)

She is trying, and successful (Hinata in H2O)

Unfortunately, in KimiKiss series, there are no cooking, they are busy lovesicking than loveydokey with their lover, except 2 little sisters with their udon cooking.

It has been a while since the last time I saw massive girl cooking like this. It is fun to see that almost every episodes in recent animes, girls are trying their best to fill her lovers' stomaches. What will be the next fashion after this? maybe knitting? Seeing Aiko in True Tears knitting is so cuute and nostalgic.

Clannad Review 18 - "Comeback Plan" is over or just begins

This is the best Clannad episode that I've seen. But maybe the harshest episode, too. Although I'm Nagisa fan, it is still to hurtful to watch it.
After nearly 2 episodes, Nagisa appears again. It seems like from the day Tomoya decides not to visit Nagisa anymore, his feeling builds up. And when she is back, this is the first time he is blushed. But seems like he still doesn't realize his feeling, because with his personality, once he realizes it, he will not stand still.
The scene that Tomoya protects Nagisa from the other boy is so surprised. It is like a statement of his feeling. And he does that in front of 4 girls who like him. I really can't get enough of it.

Blushed and saying "I'm not doing it for your sake!"

Unconsciously protect Nagisa from other boy and realize.

For Tomoyo, she is cooking for him everyday when he is suspended. And she is also the only one know about the relationship about him and his father. She even tells him about her dream, and her family. She thinks Tomoya tries to help her to be school president, because he wants her to archive her dream of keep the sakura trees. But after hearing Nagisa saying "I'm trying to reestablish the Theater Club", She seems to realize Tomoya's purpose.

I don't know if she's already realized her
feeling or not, but that face is just so painful.

As for the twin, Ryou again makes attempt to get Tomoya with her sister's help. It is just so hurtful to see Kyou face again and again trying to suppress her feeling to Tomoya.

But Ryou more and more can't express her feeling. Her word she said with Tomoya "It's a pity that I can't get it right (fortune telling) but I think it's better that i don't" left me confused. Is it because of the wrong translation, or because she hope that her wish shouldn't get right? Is it mean that she aware of her sister feeling, or just feel so hopeless?
Either way, it is so painful to see Kyou and Ryou, while helping each other, they actually express their feelings.

Kyou unconsciously runs to Tomoya when seeing him so
cheerful with Nagisa. But Ryou seems no surprise as if
she already know her sister feeling to Tomoya.

They both are crying for realizing Tomoya feeling to Nagisa. Ryou's crying for taking advantage of Kyou so much. Kyou's crying for not realize and yield so much.

Tomoya now is officially the best harem main character that I like. I'm impressed with him saying he vaguely understand Ryou's feeling and why Kyou keeps pushing her to him in ep 17, and some small things that he said through the anime. Tomoya is not the typical dumb character that know nothing about relationship and stand still. He is forceful (look at how he protects Nagisa,) and pretty smart. This episode is a K.O of him.

The most painful scene of the episode :

3 girls realize their feeling.

The most heart-warming scene in the episode :
needless to say.

The most hurtful girl in the episode : Kyou - realize her feeling at the same time with feeling the lost - The background song is "Over", a remix of her own theme song.
The most happy girl in the episode : Nagisa....

Although I'm Nagisa fan, but after this episode, I questioned that is it okay for every girls in the anime feel so painful, and know each other feeling for Tomoya, while Nagisa, who knows nothing about other girls' feeling, is the one Tomoya ends up with. But who know, there are 6 episodes, so there will be tons of unpredicted things.

Will there be another orb (or 2) in the next episode?

Or will it be like this?

True Tears - Look at their shoes

I don't know if it is the hidden meaning in True Tears or not. But I think it's exciting to talk about it.:)
In Asia, there is a saying : "When you look at people, look at their shoes". It means that although people can have different personality, or try to hide it under the clothes, accessories, but the shoes a person wears always tell us all about that person (for those who don't and want to know about its meaning, there's a movie "Beautiful Country", which a Vietnamese man tries to go to US to find his US father, and wants to open a shoe store; you can check out.)
I love that saying to the point that I use it to judge people a lot(not a good way to judge, i know =_=, but surprisingly it is right more than wrong). Now I just found out that it can be applied in this anime, too.


Normally, in other anime, I don't notice the shoes they wear, because it is almost the same: same sneaker, same girl shoes, same flipflop,.... But in this anime. It is really unique what they are wearing.


Isuguri Noe : At first we are all impressed how stylish she is: a flat high shoes with pink decoration. But hrough out the anime, all she wears is that pair of shoes (except her childhood, and her school sneaker, of course). She is the type of girl we may mistake as a goofing girl, or at least a girl who really cares about the appearance.But I think she actually is a fragile girl; she found something to lean on, to hide on and she sticks with it. She looks like being in a transparent bubble ( She made it herself, or her brother, her past made it, I'm not sure). She only sees things outside, not experience it. Once it is burst out, maybe that will be true tears. :). She is like a glass mask, although you can see through it, you still can't really know it.
Yuasa Hiromi : She is competely opposite with Noe. At first, what she wears is really typical: school shoes, sneaker,... It is kind of plain. But through out the anime, we can see her shoes really match with her cloth, and she has more choices than Noe. It seem like although she is unique, she tries to blend in her surround. She suppresses herself and try to be normal, maybe it is the reason why although she is so talent, she is not popular. She always seems to think carefully before doing anything.
In some ways, she is similar to Noe about purpose using clothes. But if Noe using fancy personality to others fr know her inner, Hiromi uses plain personality to hide her complex feeling. In other words, If Noe is using fancy firework to let people look up and not notice things in front of them, then Hiromi is using fog to make people confuse. If Noe is glass mask that gathers people but still hide her personality, then Hiromi is plain mask that drive people away.




Endo Aiko : A girl with blue sneaker :), needless to say. She is the type of girl who tries her best to fit in with her enviroment (her work as cook, her friend with 2 boys). She wears lots of shoes through out the anime, too. But unlike Hiromi, her shoes doesn't match her cloth or style that well. It seems like she is a sensitive girl, but doesn't know how to express herself. Unlike Hiromi, She always does exactly opposite with what she thinks (we've seen that already: Nobuse's confession, sweater incident,...). Besides, she always hides her leg with socks. She is afraid to show her true self, pessimistic about her appearance(She keeps thinking Noe, Hiromi beautiful than her).
In other words, if Noe is firework, Hiromi is fog, then Aiko is just simply run away from people. If Noe is glass mask, Hiromi is plain mask, then Aiko just simply cover her face.


Nagakami Shinichiro : A boy wears a pink sneaker? It is kind of weird to look at. But after 6 eps, we can understand some of his personality. He is rebellious, but sensitive, skillful. He doesn't care much about surrounding, and always occupied with his own thought. But it is not like he doesn't think about others, it's just like he keeps stubling around with his vague personality . I don't really understand much his personality at this point, so I can't say for sure about him.

So we have Noe is exactly opposite with Hiromi, and Hiromi is opposite with Aiko ?? What did I just write ? @_@ But you know what i mean, right?
Of course all of those are just my opinion :). Asian philosophy is always like fortune cookies, all blah blah are true :). Maybe you felt some in the anime already.



The series is not finished yet, and we've already seen the first tears (deep tears - Hiromi). There will be more and more exciting about this anime, and its level of drame. I wonder if the last tears will be true tears :p. Now I'm falling in love more and more with this anime.
This is the first time I write this kind of post, so it is confusing how I should express myself. If you have some other opinions, feel free to express ^^.

Happy Valentine to all !!!

Today is dokidoki day, waiting waiting day, and chocolate-comsumed day. Yes, today is Valentine day.

Let's treat ourselves a litte 2D chocolate. :)








For those who already has 3D, happy Valentine for both of you :)
And for those who hasn't have yet (like me), let's try out best. After all, real chocolate is tastier than 2D.

Lucky Star Dance - Haruhi Version

Today, i came accross dannychoo site, and found a really good clip. I fell in love at first sight, so I put it in the website.




Yes, it is the Lucky Star dance, Haruhi Version. How cool is that ?
Although it's well-made, CG and stuff, it is a fan-made and it is not completed yet. I can't wait to see the whole dance.

Vampire Knight - Bishoujo, Blood, Fang, Gun....

This is already old news but for those who still didn't know, the series Vampire Knight will be aired in Spring.


It was quite suprised for me when i found out about this. This is one of the best shoujo manga out there, but to be actually aired in the April, one of the busiest anime months of a year, I guess this manga is more popular than I think it is. You can find the website here.

The plot is [[ Yuki's earliest memory is of a stormy night in winter, wherein she was attacked by a vampire... And then rescued by another. Now 10 years later, Yuki Cross, the adapted daughter of the headmaster of Cross Academy, has grown up and become a guardian of the vampire race, protecting her savior, Kaname, from discovery as he leads a group of vampires at the elite boarding school. But also at her side is Zero Kiryu, a childhood friend who’s hatred for the creatures that destroyed everything he held dear, is now determined never to trust them. This coexisting arrangement seems all well and good, but have the vampires truly renounced their murderous ways, or is there a darker truth behind their actions. Is Kaname's infatuation with Yuki the beginning of a forbidden romance, or is it something in her forgotten past that draws him to her. Because in this world of secrets, nothing is as it seems. And the price of misplaced trust may even be worse than death. ]] from AnimeNewsNetwork.

For those who don't like boys chasing girl anime, this maybe a change, because although it is shoujo, but there are more dark and secret than blush and tears.

Look at the artwork of manga and anime, I'm quite impressive how detail the anime will be. In manga the color is more bright, but looks like in anime, the color is dark-based, even all character hair colors. Here are some manga image from the Vampire Knight translation groups. I like this male character more than the other one, so I picked his scenes. :)

He does sound like a student council member @_@Shoujo time ^_^b

Hist first bite.......

This is the best fanservice we can get ^_^

There is no news that how many episodes it will be, but in my opinion, it should be at least 26 eps to convey all the storyline. I don't expect the ending will be satisfied though, because after all, this still is ongoing manga in Japan. But maybe it will have SS2, who know?

The studio produced this series is DEEN, famous with shoujo-typed animes like Fruits Basket, Fullmoon wo Sagashite, Maria-sama ga Miteiru,.... , and action-typed animes like Fate/Stay Night, Samurai Deeper Kyo, R.O.D,.... So we can expect a good amount of romance scenes and action scenes.

For those who haven't read this manga, here are some clues :
- There's a kendo girl, although I don't think I've ever seen her win against Vampires.
- There are fang, Vampire Power, Silver Bullet, Rossario, Blood....
- There's a twin, and of course, light and dark.
- There's love triangle, typical for shoujo manga isn't it?
- Human study in the Day Class, Vampires study in Night Class, and there's a period to change class between.
- There's a loli hundred year-old girl.
- Of course there are deceptions, revenges and a dark storyline. Trust me, this is no comedy.

I think I will wait for the trailer to see how it will be. If anyone found the trailer, please let me know.