taotrooper: It's a polar bear dancing the hula; your argument is invalid (Raine / the texture of these tiles!)
Kiri ☂ ([personal profile] taotrooper) wrote2009-12-31 11:27 pm

Once in a blue moon

happy new year! ♥

I'll break the deredere to say thank you, for being around. I know I'm a lousy friend, but this was a shitty year and without you guys or fandom, it would've been even more sucktacular. You make me feel less lonelier, so gracias.

Now let's try to recap this past year a bit. This is completely subjective, of course.

Fandom win overall

Tales of series was the most fulfilling for me, in particular Tales of the Abyss because not only I managed to finally play it (twice), but because there was a lot going on. The anime adaptation finished this year, being the most decent anime for that franchise so far. Then a new manga spinoff, Tsuioku no Jade, came out and is the greatest thing ever since it gives massive love not only to the title character, but also minor favorites of mine such as emperor Peony IX, professor Nebilim, and Nephry Osbourne. Tales of Vesperia also came out in Europe, and while I own it I haven't been able to play it accordingly; it's also kind of a fail subfandom because of the improvement of the PS3 port. There was also cockteasing for the upcoming Vesperia movie and Symphonia: Tethe'alla OVAs.

This fandom needs more fanfiction, but they give me scans of Jade doujinshi of all sorts and I can't get mad.

Fandom fail overall

CLAMP lost me as a client. My flist is torn between OMG GENIOUS and OMG HACKS so I won't repeat my thoughts on the Tsubasa ending or the XXXHOLiC timeskip. The point here is that I'm pretty sad that I'm not unable to feel anything for many of my favorite characters of them. Also, I lost my OTP for years since the bad handling of Clow's thing turned me off them and also Yuuko. Also, now there are plotbunnies regarding Eriol and I'm still annoyed.

I still read Kobato for the plushies. Shut up.

Old fandom that is resurrecting like a phoenix

Okami. I bought awesome merchandising this year: artbook, that fanbook with DVD I coveted for ages, the picture book that must be on its way. The fandom tried with a dressing room, but sadly it failed. Not everything was bad, though, since someone awesome scanned their doujinshi collection *_*

Of course, there's still next year's possible revival with Okamiden. At least it has us talking! I wish I could stop whining and just go PUPPEH!1! like the others (or maybe not).

Best games I've played

Starting with this since I was about gaming in '09. I must say Persona 4. I found myself loving it even though it's not my kind of game and handed my ass; right now I'm on my +game second walkthrough, maxing all the S.links and completing the Persona compendium. A close favorite was Chrono Trigger DS. It's been a very RPG year, so my goal next year is to finish some action games I have on hold.

Worst games I've played

After one hour of Final Fantasy XII, I decided I didn't dig that. I have problems retaking Persona 3 FES, but that's just me disliking the AI and every main character but Ryoji.

Featured manga I read

Fullmetal Alchemist is badass, like every month year. I also have to mention Mushishi; while it ended last year, the Spanish serialization was completed on 2009. I hear One Piece is epic right now but I'm really behind. I haven't been following much shounen. For seinen, Vinland Saga and Historie picked up the pace, and I'll go to hell for Saint Young Men. For shoujo, Ouran Host Club was my favorite soap opera.

For breakthrough performances, some recs:
- Katana is the lovechild of Natsume Yuujinchou, XXXHOLiC, and Moshiyamon. But with spirits of blades.
- Kimi ni Todoke is such a cute, sappy shoujo! I want to befriend Sawako so much.
- Mozart doesn't sing lullabies is apparently finished now. Regardless of bishiefied classical composers, it's not a bad mystery manga.

Featured anime I watched

I didn't watch much anime this year, actually. The ones I did finish were mostly silly fun and crack. Sengoku Basara was packed with epic (and ridiculous) action, and resulted more heartwarming than expected... but still crack. Loved it. I also retook Kyou Kara Maou because of [livejournal.com profile] allira_dream, and I was quite satisfied with the plot and characters.

Anime movies this year weren't bad: Ponyo and Summer Wars were nice, even if the former had some potential squick in pairing up little kids (but the parents and old people were cool).

Featured movies I watched

I'm not a huge movie-goer so the few movies I checked out were kinda old, instead of the big blockbusters. Wall·e and The Princess and the Frog were adorable and so pretty to look at. I finally watched El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan's Labyrinth) and that was one of the best movies I've ever watched. In silly stuff I enjoyed regardless, Hot Fuzz and the two Onmyouji movies.

Attempts to watch TV

Besides How I Met Your Mother (I'm so behind), I downloaded more real action series to taste. Merlin (5 episodes so far) is completely ridiculous and I might continue to watch for the lulz. The Big Bang Theory (first season) wasn't as funny as I was expecting from a geek show, don't like any character, dropped it. Pushing Daisies (first season) is pretty to look at and quirky, might watch the rest. On the other hand, Dead Like Me (first season) captivated me and I'll definitely watch the rest. I also tried two episodes of Star Wars: The Next Generation, now that everyone is into TOS and I don't care about that one; sadly, the subtitles were off and I can't comfortably watch sci-fi without them. Will retake it if I find hardsubs or someone to borrow the DVDs.

Random random random

- Much vlog watching. From The Escapist: Zero Punctuation and Unskippable. From That Guy With The Glasses: Nostalgia Critic, Bum Reviews, Nostalgia Chick. From Giantbomb: Persona 4 Endurance Run.

- My favorite meme was Keyboard Cat.

- Takehito Koyasu and Mamoru Miyano ARE everywhere.

- Michael Jackson passed away. Radio stations had Thriller on loop. I'm surprised he didn't come back as a zombie overlord yet.

- Hideo Kojima is a troll. But you guys knew that.

- CAPCOM and NAMCO suck balls. But you guys knew that.

- The most surreal thing in the news here: Somalian pirates kidnapping an entire Spanish ship.

- I'm reading too much mythology books.

- Re: college. ALMOST THEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE. /Tiana

[identity profile] kirarakim.livejournal.com 2009-12-31 10:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Happy New Years! ♥

And yay for El Laberinto del Fauno (one of my favorite films)
ext_387179: A sea turtle swimming (Lina / she's dangerous)

[identity profile] rainmage.livejournal.com 2010-01-01 01:14 am (UTC)(link)
Same!

I've always felt kind of weird, being a Latin-Spaniard and not having watched this one right when it came out.

[identity profile] starsdust.livejournal.com 2009-12-31 11:25 pm (UTC)(link)
CLAMP me perdió hace mucho, mucho tiempo. Pero xxxHOLiC lo sigo, intermitentemente. Ahora estoy unos tomos atrasada. Y feliz año XD
ext_387179: A sea turtle swimming (Kyon / oh happy face)

[identity profile] rainmage.livejournal.com 2010-01-01 01:15 am (UTC)(link)
Feliz año! Si no has leído spoilers, te espera una que otra sorpresita. Yo por mi parte lo que quiero es tirarle agua bendita encima a mis tomos o algo :| *is weird*

[identity profile] hamsterfactor.livejournal.com 2010-01-01 01:22 am (UTC)(link)
Oh man your CLAMP trauma reminds me of my issues with The X-Files, although I still haven't completely forsaken it. It's SO HARD when a fandom that basically defines you gives you a kick in the (metaphotic) balls :(

Oops I didn't make an EPIC GAME section in my list, but Chrono Trigger would have been in it ♥ Also, it makes me so happy that you enjoy Kimi ni Todoke! ♥♥

(although I have to admit I watched Pan's Labyrinth recently and didn't think too much of it, but that's tastes for you I guess)

And you trying to watch ST:TNG is awesome! I hated the NEW TOS movie and I hate that it's revived the fandom, but at least they haven't touched my TNG, which is really Star Trek for me, so... Hope you find those subs (or DVDs!) :D
ext_387179: A sea turtle swimming (Tanpopo / squeee)

[identity profile] rainmage.livejournal.com 2010-01-01 01:43 am (UTC)(link)
Ugh, yeah! I really wish I could drop them altogether, but then I go all "oh, for this canon/character they haven't fucked up/I can ignore that shit!" so... I even have retained an Eriol icon, FFS. I guess you do that with seasons, in The X-Files' case?

KnT is soooo adorable! BTW, Ouran was scanlated this week and son, is shit getting real. :o

I've wanted to watch TNG since I stumbled into The Picard Song, LMAO. Someone was uploading it to Megaupload and all. But curse my inability to keep with a dialog when they throw one word I couldn't understand :(

[identity profile] hamsterfactor.livejournal.com 2010-01-01 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
Actually, all I'd have to do is keep on not watching seasons 8 and 9 and erase Movie 2 from my memory... but so much damage was done there :( I find myself unable to forgive and I'm kind of stuck right now.

I read it! TAMAKIIIIIIIII ♥ WHY DOES ONLY SAD SHIT HAPPEN TO HIM? :(

Haha, Picard is epic. Actually, most unknown words you'll encounter are random technobabble and I myself still don't understand it, so. They usually explain it with an easy metaphor afterwards, lol.
ext_387179: A sea turtle swimming (Persona / amused Yosuke)

[identity profile] rainmage.livejournal.com 2010-01-01 02:27 am (UTC)(link)
I wish it was so easy and it was ONLY technobabble. Sometimes it happens with normal words because people in sci-fi talk too damn fast (or so it seems to my level of comprehension, idk). Or with names, I'm all "huh, I wonder how that's spelled", and then while I'm wondering three other people have talked and I lost track. And with all those alien countries/races, and considering Q's tendency to tl;dring, I wouldn't dare.

[identity profile] bearhive.livejournal.com 2010-01-01 06:41 am (UTC)(link)
After one hour of Final Fantasy XII, I decided I didn't dig that. I have problems retaking Persona 3 FES, but that's just me disliking the AI and every main character but Ryoji.

I thought I was alone in disliking both of these games, like seriously. 'Fandoms make me feel like an outcast. :| Huh!

And MAN, FMA. I was so into that when the anime came out! I-I'm tempted to pick it back up, but I know I'm crazy far behind. D: ALSO THAT MANGA PULLS AT MY HEARTSTRINGS LIKE WHOA, am I prepared for that again-? /contemplates

Anyway, Happy New Year! ♪ Hope 2010 is a wonderful year for you. The good news about '09: it's over!
ext_387179: A sea turtle swimming (Kaho / she's rather dotty)

[identity profile] rainmage.livejournal.com 2010-01-01 02:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Happy new year!

Yeah, I really wanted to give them a chance, but FFXII's system confused the hell out of me, and I just preferred to read a Let's Play for P3 instead to be able to poke the Persona fandom.

Oh, the manga is excellent ♥ But if you really don't want to feel emotionally attached then wait for at least one more year. The plot's heading to the end, so every month is left in tense cliffhangers and leaves you yelling for some character(s). Which is great, but also evil.

[identity profile] hikari318.livejournal.com 2010-01-01 09:26 am (UTC)(link)
Happy New Year~~~

yay for Tales! =D
ext_387179: A sea turtle swimming (Default)

[identity profile] rainmage.livejournal.com 2010-01-01 02:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Happy new year!

[identity profile] mairenn-k.livejournal.com 2010-01-01 09:41 am (UTC)(link)
Happy new year!

Sengoku Basara was definitely one of my favorite shows this year too. It was ridiculous at time, but it was awesome ridiculousness. I can't wait for the second season.

I started reading Katana a while ago, mainly because someone mentioned that it had similarities to Natsume Yuujinchou. I like it a lot so far.

I watched very few new movies this year too, I'm so bad at keeping up with thing like that even though I keep hearing about new titles that I would like to see. And yes, Pan's Labyrinth is a truly wonderful movie.
ext_387179: A sea turtle swimming (Default)

[identity profile] rainmage.livejournal.com 2010-01-01 02:47 pm (UTC)(link)
It's so ridiculous it's awesome, exactly.

Katana is great. I mean, I'm already a sucker for "kid can see spirits" manga, but this one is pretty original since this time it's not youkai for once.

It's just that I'm not into movies so much XD I'm sure my stepfather had illegal copies of this year's cool movies, but I didn't care.

[identity profile] eve-sparda.livejournal.com 2010-01-01 01:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Pobre Final Fantasy XII xDDD

Feliz Año Nuevo!!
ext_387179: A sea turtle swimming (Default)

[identity profile] rainmage.livejournal.com 2010-01-01 02:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Qué va, si al que dejé puteado fue al P3 XD Es más que no aguanté el sistema; entraba a cada batalla en angustia, me estresaba el tablerito de habilidades, y luego de 1-2 horas de andar en las calles de la amargura (literalmente), me fui a jugar un Tales o algo. Lo peor es que por lo que he oído del plot, seguramente era el FF con más chances de que me hubiese molado algún personaje. Es que los Finals nunca me impresionan como a los demás, soy así de rara.

Y feliz año!
Edited 2010-01-01 14:51 (UTC)