Brits vs. Black Knights. Oh, and I love this drawing style.

So I’m slow. In catching up with the more popular (not necessarily better) anime series, that is. I know. Which is why, being a slacker with no grasp of time management, I have managed to marathon the first season in, oh, three days at most? And I started on R2 today, and I’m at around episode 18. I tell you, my EYAs are shot to hell. But firstly, my homework. As for my foot drill test, I’m leaving it to luck and my ability. (On second thoughts, this applies to most of everything I do.)

But that’s besides the point. Dear Lulu has given me so much entertainment these past few days.

I love the linework. Hm, someone told me this was the way to go for more pageviews

Now I’m not one who particularly likes watching ‘politics’-based shows, or those involving devious strategists and whatnot– Gundam 00 kind of started to bore me after episode 3, while I probably just jumped on the bandwagon for Death Note but either way got bored when LADIES– but seeing as to how I’ve taken quite nicely to Code Geass despite the ridiculous voice of Fukuyama Jun as Lulu (ugh, I especially hate his Zero voice just like I hate Christian Bale’s voice when he does Batman), as well as the fact that I loved Ender’s Game a few years back, I might just consider trying them out again once I’ve got free time. IF I don’t get distracted too easily again, that would mean the December holidays, but this year my lack of time management is entirely off the charts, so I wouldn’t count on that.

Contrast. Phew, the legs are mostly hidden. But the shoulders…

I don’t happen to nitpick the plot that often since I’m not very sharp. But as for the art, you wouldn’t even call it nitpicking.. I mean CLAMP does a great job for the manga versions (except for their inability to draw anything but anorexic bishies – just look at the legs and arms), but as for the anime art, though the animation’s fluid, and mecha scenes still manage to keep my interest, characters look okay after a while since animation’s fairly consistent, I can’t say I love it. From the front, most of the faces drawn are fine (albeit always too angular), but the side profiles are the worst sometimes. Really, just look at it. Specifically the Angry/Emo/Angsty Lulu ones. The Fingers are quite horrid too.

Lulu angsts.. a lot. But 'nuff said, take a look at the fingers…

Another thing is that I can’t help but start to laugh whenever Zero does one of his speeches. It is almost never complete without exaggerated hand-movements. That voice also contributes to the reason that I am so amused by it, I believe.

Summarised thoughts on characters so far:- Kallen is rather too tsundere for me, lol. But she sure kicks ass. A real pity she’s reduced to a mere woman (=fanservice) in R2, sigh. And despite C.C.’s outright advertisement for Pizza Hut (They even rendered that crazy Cheese Fondue or whatever it’s called pizza), I rather liked her (moreso before her memory loss in R2, but anyway). As for Lulu, he’s fine without the maniacal laughter that simply must be there at least once every 5 episodes. Granted, he’s quite the genius (at least in his little 2D fictional world), and a better strategist than I will ever be, but he’s quite the siscon… Furthermore, he liked Shirley, that good-for-nothing bimbo.

If Lulu wants an org– I mean, harem, this is it. Daw, isn't he loved.

That said, Rollo is still a bastard for killing her since she didn’t mean any harm to him nor to Lulu (I’ll take her word for it), and being jealous just because of his pathetic buracon. In fact his presence is quite uncalled for. Except for the oh-so-amusing Lulu x Rollo scenes and fanart. Quite disturbing how that even forms a whole fanbase (KL-chan included), but I’m not too surprised now since G00 has spawned such a fandom just based on the fujoshis (sirane included) already. Suzaku is another Syaoran clone, I believe? Suzaku is.. another very contradictory human. Euphie was a manifestation of Lulu’s secret desire for a yandere in the series. No, really. a tragedy. Nina is indeed a lesbian retard, her face when Euphemia died was like the Higurashi girls gone crazy, only a thousand times more unpleasant on the eyes. I see it has spawned several ’shopped versions of other characters on danbooru. Lloyd (especially his voice) is gay. Oh and Sayoko is the greatest ninja ever, while Li Xingke is worshippable prodigy. Too bad he is a lolicon and will die for such a sin.

Main characters for R2.. Pretty decent fanart, I might say.

…That’s all for now, not much to say about the music (bgm is mostly orchestrated :3 and ops/eds are ookay..) or plot (I told you, I’m not sharp enough). Have I told you that I love to ramble? That’s really all I am bothered to do nowadays it seems. :C It’s a bad habit but I don’t think it’s going to change anytime soon. But I shall relieve you of any further pain from reading my horrible ramblings by ending soon D:

Random note, I’ve applied for JLPT Level 3 even though I’d aspired to try for Level 2 this year. :\ It’s quite irritating how Level 3 seems too easy while Level 2 seems too hard. Sigh. Speaking of languages, though, Italian is such a pretty language. A pity learning languages requires commitment/passion and time.

I realise I’ve been neglecting Tetsuwan Birdy: DECODE. ‘Tis sad.

This is Lulu. (Is -ko even needed?) CAN YOU UNSEE IT? CAN YOU?!

P.S. Geass, or rather geis, or geasa -plural- which I assume the word is based on, is pronounced gesh. Sounds horrible, don’t you think? Which is why, I suppose, they decided to coin their own word. Or maybe they just thought it would sound cool to use some rare word.

P.P.S. More picspam below:

A special request made by megane-fetishists

Lulu, pimping out. Britannia, Dark Knights, bring it on – Pizza Hut will conquer all

Note the two (ridiculous) characters in the air. That said, I love the design of this costume.

Cheese-kun is Japan's Pizza Hut mascot

Someone told me to leave this for last

/randomise/ In conclusion, Code Geass is a really popular franchise now… It’s not bad, actually, quite action-packed most of the time, and deserves that popularity, but I think they could have toned down the fanservice. Especially the BL subtext. (Is it really even subtext anymore?!) Also, Fan-pandering and picspam is probably good for pageviews.

If you would excuse me, I have a foot drill test tomorrow. Dammit.

Give it a try I finished the whole series (12 episodes) in just about 3 days – that’s pretty darned fast, don’t you think? And meanwhile, I haven’t even got to finishing up Manabi Straight or other 12-episode semi-recommended series. Of course, the compromise made in terms of time means my grades are pretty screwed this year. Twice over as compared to midyears. Last year was much better, trust me on that one.

Not to digress, though, I think Kaiba is really one of the rarer finds (or maybe it’s because I’ve been watching all sorts of crap or not watching at all). I think Surreal describes the setting perfectly, but it seems to go deeper than that. Oh, and the ending is Confusing, unless it’s just me. I also think Cartoon for Adults or for the more mature sort of fits Kaiba well.

Before one of you Bleatards goes SQUEE HOLLOW!!11!1one, this is Kaiba. Say hello, shake hands, yep yep.

Oh and by the way, I think one other reason why I love Kaiba is that his colours remind me of Link. ORZ WTF SELF |D

In terms of graphics, the art style is very cartoony; not moe, but nowhere near realistic–realistic referring to the style which GONZO (or whatever other animation studio, since I’m not too familiar with them all) usually chooses to use nowadays, and the style which most series with above-average animation use. I got put off by the art style/ ignored it at first because of how kiddy it seemed. Despite the cartoony feel, though, I don’t really mind it now. In fact, I find it pretty interesting, and cute in other ways. The animation was very fluid, too, which is probably more of why I could accept the style and actually love it, in addition to unique and distinct character designs. The production studio is Madhouse btw. Either way the pictures’ll speak ten thousand words.

What I find especially interesting is that the unique, cartoonish art style belies quite a mature theme and overall feel, which is most felt later on in the series… For example there is quite a bit of ‘blood’ or rather green or purple or orange funky-coloured organic fluid that spews out due to conflicts :\ and there was this part pretty early on in the series to do with sex. Not presented in a very tasteful manner since that wasn’t the point, but I exceptionally found the context in this case quite disturbing. You’ll know what I mean once you watch it, it should be in the first 2 or 3 episodes..

Left: Kaba, Right: Hyo Hyo; really cute and unique characters

In terms of music, it mostly uses one main theme (except for action scenes) with quite a few/a lot of variations of it to convey a slightly different mood. Quite fittingly, may I add. Most are engrishy and serene.

As for the voice-acting… Generally quite suitable and well-done imo. Kaiba, who is the main character, is voiced by Kuwashima Houko. She is probably best known as Tomoyo in Clannad and Sango in Inuyasha. Oh, and also Michiru in Zombie-Loan, which I just kind of picked up, and now I can’t stop thinking of her as a guy when I hear her voice. Yep, here goes a ‘wtf self?!’. The second-most main character is Neiro, voiced by Noto Mamiko. The name should at least sound a little familiar.. She was Kotomi in Clannad, Ana in Ichigo Mashimaro (yet another yet-to-complete series) and Enma Ai in Jigoku Shoujo. Ring a few bells now?

Is this considered a spoiler? Anyway, Neiro on the left and Kaiba on the right.

Special mention for Paku Romi who voice-acts Popo, a secondary character though more major only later on. Her voice almost ALWAYS makes me automatically register the character as a guy first orz even though she still does female roles now and then like Kuchiha in Amatsuki. (I haven’t been catching up on the anime or manga ever since, because it’s kinda incoherent although that’s true for me too.) Anyway as I said, Popo doesn’t play too major a role in the first part of the series, but later on he gets to be a major asshole, also spelt ‘retard’ in this case.. Look out for that one. You might better know Paku Romi as Edward from FMA, Hitsugaya from Bleach, Temari from Naruto, Teresa from Claymore amongst some other popular roles. She does it pretty well imo except maybe the ever occasional screaming/shrieking parts…?

And, as a bonus if anyone’s interested in the voice of that cute girl Chroniko, Saito Chiwa most notably voiced Lavie from Last Exile, otherwise I only know her as Yuuta from Zombie-Loan. I actually wasn’t paying very much attention to her voice… And who cares about Vanilla lol

Chroniko on the left and Vanilla on the right. I love the dog here though it's fanart

Okay enough of all this rambling though. Although, I guess you could count it as a trademark of mine 89 |D If you’re wondering about the plot, the style kind of changes slightly as more revelations take place.

I should start by introducing the premise of the entire series.. So. Kaiba’s lost his memory, and to get it back, he needs to know more about the world he’s in. The thing is, in the world the series is set in, there’s this guy called Warp, the King, who invented a system in which memories of any individual could be stored in a chip. Even if you die, as long as the chip is unharmed, if the chip is placed into another body, that individual will still live life in the same way as before, except for any major physical differences in which it would simply be more difficult to get used to life again.

At first, Kaiba’s just trying to make sense of everything he’s thrown into, gets chased, and ends up going on a little trip to different planets (yep this part reminded me of Le Petit Prince which I was forced to read in CHINESE of all blasted things) where the audience learns more about the world of Kaiba through Kaiba’s new experiences and memories. But later on as he gets to know more and more is thus revealed, the plot just thickens on a whole new level and there are more things like politics, clones, romance, rebellion etc. There are also a lot of plot twists and major revelations nearing the end, which isn’t always a good thing :\ I think I got lost at the final episode of the series, though I still enjoyed it as a whole.

Kaba, again. Fanart

In a sense, you could take it that this series is essentially simply there to answer the What Ifs if technology advanced to such a level/ major implications of a major What If question. It’s more of an interesting than impacting series, because the whole atmosphere gets too surreal in most cases to relate to, although the characters are more or less realistic (though I’m afraid Popo became a bit too much of a retard for me), though I’m not too discerning of such things.

If you just need the lowdown on everything, I would give it around 8 or 9 out of 10. You can just take it as 8.5/10 lol. I’m in a good mood, and I really love the art and music. Although, definitely not as much in the same way as I love Wall-E animation or Zelda and Xenosaga and Chrono Trigger music or say, Mx0 plot. Kaiba is simply really unique and …different to me, but this may change as I get exposed to more series :\ oh the ironies of life..

I shall end off with a Moe. Except she has a buttcrack, which rates disturbing everytime I look at it. Even though it’s really not that obvious, and even though she’s always looking so innocent, you Chroniko you.

Chroniko has got to be the cutest character in the whole series. In terms of Moe that is.

Well I hope that wasn’t too bad a read. I get really really rambly. All the time, too. Not good. Not good at all.