Here Is An Irrelevant Title

Let this (Re)set the tone for the rest of this post.

Except probably not. So I figured that I'd take some time to write something before the year ends. There isn't a whole lot to say but I must admit this festive season has been quite good for self-indulgence (read: eating); well it's fine since for some strange reasons I can't seem to gain weight. Anyway I talked about a2c being featured on Maon Kurosaki's Vanishing Point back in July, and I have been meaning to do this for a while now so here's Maon's first full-length album, "Butterfly Effect", which was released at the end of last month.

Move your mouse over it. The album starts with an introductory track which really doesn't seem to flow into "Vanishing Point", the highlight of the album, all that well. Indeed the more pop-oriented songs that have been put in between the heavier rock tracks make the album feel as if it is lacking in consistency, which is rather unfortunate because it ends up destroying the album's momentum. I wouldn't really know but some of you may find that a few songs sound familiar; Magic∞world and メモリーズ・ラスト, the ending songs of To Aru Majutsu no Index II; ANSWER, the opening to the To Aru Majutsu no Index PSP game; and SCARS, the ending theme of HELLSING IX OVA. All in all it's not a bad effort from Maon for her first album. It'd be interesting to see what directions she will take for her next release; will she stick with rock songs that seem to suit her or will she go for dance pop that feels a little off? The butterfly effect indeed.

Where In The World Did November Go?

Give me back my November. Actually on second thought, please don't. So yeah, changing the blog design was really troublesome. I'm beginning to think maybe I should just leave the background plain. In the end I decided to settle with Sanae and Kogasa; it seems to fit in with the overall theme quite well. While I'm not much of a fan of that particular pairing or just any pairings in general, Hang in There, Kogasa-san can be quite fun from time to time.

Anyway remember back in my first post I mentioned a manga series called Bloody Cross? Well I went back and read up to the latest chapter, since I liked the cast and thought the story was actually getting a bit more interesting as it progressed. However the days of seeing Tsukimiya and Hinata coming together are still far ahead, because I'm getting the feeling that Shiwo just loves to pit them against each other.

Insert inappropriate texts

Tsukimiya disappeared for a few good chapters, having been captured by a new organization called "Divine Burial (神葬, Shinsou)" who really showed up out of nowhere and overwhelmed the main cast with their superior numbers and prowess. They claim that their objective is to locate and take care of every single one of God's Inheritance, and supposedly they are also in charge of the second Crusade (?) after the first one finished without a victor. Anyway the Divine Burial guys are a secretive lot and literally live in a parallel or self-created dimension from what I understand. It's impossible to get in or out by normal means, as Hinata and Nao found out the hard way. Hinata had intended for Nao to go in as a spy alone but he was outsmarted by Izumi who forced him to go along as well. With the help of two traitors from Divine Burial - Ooma and Kanade, the captains of the third and sixth divisions respectively, Hinata and Nao manage to sneak in and make contact with Izumi. After rumours of traitors within Divine Burial's ranks begin to spread, Kanade (who started the rumours herself) and Ooma successfully frame the fourth division captain Yamabuki, who is then immediately executed.

I Don't Have Many Posts

So let's rectify that. Although it's a bit difficult when I feel like I have a lot of things to say and not sure where to start. In any case I've uploaded two new videos and they actually show up on the sidebar! A couple of quick notes on the tracks for those who are learning them; "The Lancer" is primarily in the key of E minor but during some parts it alternates between E and A minor. The solo is a bit weird to me, the way it's constructed isn't something I'm familiar with. As for the Arcana Heart 3 OP, I don't think there's much that can be said since it's pretty straightforward, even if the patterns can get a little tricky. I will probably go back to do some Touhou arranges for the next few videos, so stay tuned till then.

I randomly ended up playing Tenkuu no Yumina (Yumina of the Sky but well, Yumina the Ethereal) instead of LE FRUIT DE LA GRISAIA which I have been putting off for quite some time now. Anyway Yumina turned out a little different from what I thought it was, as it revealed itself to be what can be best described as the bastard child of Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu and Aselia the Eternal; though of course before long I wondered if I was playing Star Ocean or Phantasy Star Online. The game's battle system will be very familiar to those who have played Aselia the Eternal (and Seinarukana), wait actually the game mechanics and even the interface should be extremely familiar since the game is designed by the same guy who did Seinarukana, not to mention the fact that ETERNAL is actually a child company of Xuse's.

Nayuta is a Super Robot

The game follows Ayumu who is instructed by his father to protect Yumina, a likable girl who is seemingly good at nothing. In order to avoid repeating a grade after failing her maths exam and banish grade retention forever from the school, Yumina decides to participate in the Seitokai tournament which will determine the next student council president, who has the power to set whatever rules he or she wants. As the students prepare for the tournament however, the teachers seem to be secretly planning something else.

I'm Writing This

But I don't know what to say. So here's a picture,

Sanae, making moves on blue-haired Touhous since 2007

Watch where your hand is going Sanae. Anyways I got around to uploading some more videos of me messing around on the guitar. By the looks of it, the YouTube player on the side hasn't updated yet; I'm leaving out the links since chances are if you are reading this, you were probably linked from my channel anyway. Ideally it would have been better if I played more accurately and faithfully to the original tracks, but I don't feel as committed to figuring out songs as much as I did a couple of years ago. These days I'm pretty content with just playing whatever that comes to my mind, though every now and then I try something different; it would be terrible if I get stuck inside my own small bag of tricks. I will be updating the channel irregularly with random covers; I'm thinking it's going to be mostly Touhou tracks but I'd like to do some other music as well. It's going to be fun I guess; too much fun for me maybe; the last two videos took 2 hours and 53 minutes to upload. There's a reason why I'm a bit reluctant to record long tracks.

This will be the second time I mention it but the Overloud TH2 is really good. It feels and sounds a little more authentic than AmpliTube 3 to me, but I think both software are very well-made. I don't particularly like the TH2 user interface; it's more straightforward than AmpliTube 3 but I reckon I can switch between things much faster in AmpliTube. Apart from that though I don't have anything bad to say about the TH2, the amp models sound really nice, the mics are also very well-done. Many of the presets are also very usable, which is somewhat surprising because often the presets tend to be mediocre at best. All in all I think it is a software worth getting. Blatant advertising.

What If I Were To Write The Title Of A Novel Which Is Pretty Long And Even Though I Didn't I Still End Up With This Long Title?

What if the female manager of a high school baseball club read Peter Drucker's "Management"? Better known as Moshidora, it's a story about Minami Kawashima who takes over her best friend's position as the manager of their school's baseball team after the friend is hospitalized due to an illness. Minami, who used to love baseball but realized that women should stay in the kitchen and make sandwiches it was impossible to achieve her dream of becoming a professional player because of the differences between man and woman (seriously), so her love for the sport turned into hate instead. With no previous experience in managing teams, Minami goes to buy a book on management but ends up with Peter Drucker's business book, Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices because otherwise the story would have been completely different. Soon enough Minami starts applying Drucker's concepts to managing her team, hoping that they will be able to reach the nationals.

Now I have never actually read the original novel, glanced through the manga, watched the anime or the film; I heard the novel was one of the best-selling books of 2010 but the anime received mixed reactions. However that didn't stop me from getting this (or rather from a friend as a birthday present),

Top of the world Reisen, top of the world

The very first extra-large picture in this blog. Time for celebration. Anyways, that's Minami reading Drucker's book. I will leave other poses and faces till my friend comes here with his big camera next time. Now I just need more nendoroids from shows I don't watch, but it looks like all the new ones won't be released until next year.