And then...

It's been a while. Yeah, I know I'm lazy. So, what's going on then for our favorite animus this season?

Sadly, no one seems to be subbing Guin Saga anymore, so I'll have to wait for a domestic release of that it seems. Or maybe I'll quit being a dork and actually go learn Japanese. That sounds fun. Right?

On the subject of Guin Saga, the ending song single has finally been released: "Saga - This is my Road" by Kanon. What a piece of music. It's like Enya only better (because it has lyrics I can't understand which automatically makes it cool). There's an English version of the song on the CD too, which is just as good. Anyway, enough of that.

Cross Game is continuing, but Ko and Aoba still don't like each other. Well, I guess they have some more story arc for Aoba. I guess it's good that she taught Ko a new pitch, too. Because he wasn't god-like enough already!

And then, Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood. I haven't written about this series yet, but it's a remake that apparently is much closer to the manga than its predecessor. The original series was pretty awesome, and so far the remake has not failed to deliver. It seems that a lot of the story is the same for the first part, but there's a whole new cast of characters (and one that was actually made exclusively for Brotherhood that did not appear in either the manga or the original series). We'll see how Ed and Al do against Scar this time. So far episode 21 was just released.

Wait, so what's it about you ask? Oh yea. For those that might not know, it's about two brothers that become alchemists, like their father before them. The aforementioned father decides to leave their family when they were young, leaving Edward and Alfonse to be raised by their mother. Ed and Al begin studying their father's research and become alchemists themselves. After their mother passes away, they attempt to use alchemy to resurrect her. Their plan goes horribly wrong, and not only do they fail to bring her back to life, Al's body is destroyed, along with Ed's leg. In an effort to save his brother's existence, Ed affixes Al's soul to a suit of armor in exchange for his right arm. The story revolves around the brothers' quest to restore Al's body; which the primary focus is the Philosopher's stone.

The remake is well animated by Bones and is definitely worth watching.

And then, there's Phantom, Requiem for Phantom. I can't remember if I wrote about this or not. I think I did. Anyway, it's by Beetrain, so expect chicks with guns killing everyone. Awesome, right? So far, I think this is Beetrain's finest work, even though Yuki Kajiura (who normally scores their shows) is not providing the soundtrack. It's interesting to see Cal turn into bat-shit-crazy murderer after being separated from Reiji. Hilarity will undoubtedly ensue when those two confront one-another and have to deal with Elen/Ein. Also: God damn you Ali Project. Why are some of your songs good and others make my ears bleed?

Ok, I'm done for now. No more and then!

Nope, still here! How about some commentary on old news?

So, it has been a while since I've posted my random thoughts. I figured I'd post some now, though!

Earlier this month it was announced that there would be a Fate/stay night anime movie released some time in the foreseeable future. I was hoping that some how the project would be taken over by a more competent animation studio like ufotable (Kara no Kyoukai), but unfortunately my hopes were dashed when studio DEEN was confirmed as the animation studio to continue the Fate project.

Oddly enough, I had actually enjoyed Fate/stay night the first time I watched it (when it first aired as an anime). Having never read the visual novel, I had nothing to compare it to. I already liked the character design and decided Saber was awesome long before I knew anything about the character. All I knew was that the characters had sex to recover their mana. As ridiculous as that might sound at first, it's not all that far-fetched.

According to everyone's favorite work of fiction, the bible, the Israelites were given manna by god to sustain them out in the wilderness. As everyone over the age of eight knows, sex creates life, so the two concepts are not entirely unrelated. Anyway, enough of that.

Needless to say, I was quite surprised to see a absurd CG dragon rather than a sex scene between Shirou and Saber. Back then, however, MirrorMoon had not even become close to finishing the translation of Fate, and all that had been translated was a demo of the prologue.

Fast forward 3 years to 2009 and Mirror Moon has finished translating Fate, and holy shit, did they change that story line. I haven't quite finished Heaven's Feel yet, however, after reading through Fate and Unlimited Blade Works, it pains me to look back on what Studio DEEN did with the Fate/stay night anime. It's almost as bad as the Tsukihime anime (which is so bad most Tsukihime fans refuse to acknowledge that it even exists, which I can't blame them for).

Regardless, one can hope that the upcoming Unlimited Blade Works movie will deliver where the Fate/stay night anime failed to do so. After all, it's about time we see Shirou turn into a fucking badass.

Of the three arcs (Fate (Saber), Unlimited Blade Works (Rin), and Heaven's Feel (Sakura)), Unlimited Blade Works would, without a doubt, make for the most entertaining story. Although I really like Saber, Rin is just as great a lead heroine, and Archer is pretty awesome too.

I would hate to have to start watching the UBW movie expecting crap, but that's all I can realistically expect from Studio DEEN, unless they are allowed to go all out on the movie instead of having to cater to general audiences for TV broadcasts.

Think positive. It is possible it can be awesome. And if it is, we might see a Heaven's Feel movie and maybe a Fate remake! Think positive!