Once in a blue moon

[taotrooper]

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 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