So I overslept by an hour and missed my ride to the last anime convention of the year, meaning I have just lost my last chance to make a quick $200 or so off of excitable teenagers who like drawings of Naruto. Whoooooooooooooooops. At least I can make use of this time to write half of my lksdjgdsa;dgdgj 10 page research dlgjsagk what paper.

What's been going on with Tofu? Finals, that's what's been going on with Tofu. I finished a painting yesterday, have two papers to do, and need to do yet another painting. Blaarfhgh.

So I might as well recount my thoughts about yaoi right now, since I've got a bit of time to lie on the floor of my apartment and space out.

I'm probably the last person in toku fandom to talk about Goseiger--so I'm not going to put up that magazine leak/speculatory cast lists because you already saw 'em all.

Personally, I don't care who gets cast, couldn't give a flying fuck about ships, and don't want to even bother knowing rumors surrounding this. Why?

Because I habeeb that it will be a wonderful, wonderful show, and if it isn't, I'll probably find something about it that I like. I'm probably one of the few people who actually like Gekiranger, for instance (I can't help it, I love martial arts)...well, at least until they started getting into the Jan VS Rio things because by that point I was getting kinda bored with it (and the designs for the suits didn't really help...orz.)

The fact that Goseiger's designs are incredibly retro, and the fact that they're totally throw-back-y, is a total bone-off for me as an old-school sentai fan. : DDD I'm excited to see them in action, I really am. All of my friends are also excited, since the weapons and the mecha remind them of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.

I'll be really sad to see Tono and everyone leave, though ;A;. I love Shinkenger.

Still undecided on Double. It's not selling me just yet. Like I told gekidasa before, I don't feel the need to watch every episode right as it comes out, unlike with Decade. Don't get me wrong, Phillip's kind of a special snowflake of interesting, Shotaro's an adorable ho, Wakana's wonderful, and Akiko is awesome in her own way...but the show itself isn't really grabbing me.

That's probably why I started watching Agito. I had to put Kuuga on hold ( I'm not blaming you, gekidasa ! D : ) , so I went to watch Agito instead.

This was the series I had been making myself wait to watch. I saw episode one when I was still in the middle of Faiz, and I knew it was going to be good.

Now that I'm watching it, and I KNOW it's fantastic. First of all, it's a beautiful show. This has the best goddamn cinematography out of all the rider shows I've seen, bar none. The designs for the Unknown make a mythology geek like me fap like crazy since they're all based off of ancient gods and deities. \O/

Second of all, the characters are wonderful. Shoichi is an adorable dumbass. I love how he's a cheerful little housekeeper with bad puns who tries to make the best out of every situation. He isn't that smart, but he's also someone who thinks about his situation when he has to. It's an interesting contrast to Kuuga's Godai Yuusuke, who he obviously has some spiritual similarities to.

Godai is relentlessly upbeat and optimistic because he believes everything will be all right in the end. Shoichi is cheerful and optimistic because he believes that he shouldn't dwell too much on the complicated things in life, unless he absolutely has to.

G3.

AAAGH GOD G3. *___* Hikawa is one of my favorite characters, and his boss Ozaki is awesome as well. I like how Hikawa is just a dude in a suit, literally. He's just trying to do his job, and he'll do it the best way he can. He's also very forgiving and perceptive, which makes him interesting to me. There would be some interesting parallels Agito would draw with Kuuga when it came to him--or at least it was like that to me. Sometimes when he was driving around in his car, I would think back to Ichimonji. Hikawa, like his fellow cop from Kuuga, is just trying to make sense of the situation. Both he and Ichimonji believe in their unearthly-gifted compatriots, and are willing to trust Kuuga and Agito enough to fight alongside them.

Unlike Ichimonji, who knows who Kuuga is by episode 4, Hikawa hasn't found out who Agito is (keep in mind I'm like around episode 17 of Agito.)

It's an interesting contrast. Ichimonji didn't have a technologically created Kamen Rider suit like Hikawa, but that still didn't keep him from fighting alongside--and protecting--Kuuga.

Hikawa has no idea that his sort-of friend Shoichi is Agito, but when Agito does appear on the battlefield, he will lend him as much support as he can. Like Ichimonji, he also protects Agito by vouching for him back at headquarters.

Gills. Gills Gills Gilllllllls. I really like his design, but it's kind of a shame that he gets a smaller part then Shoichi/Hikawa/Mana. Still, he's interesting to me. He's coming into his powers from a different angle, and it's clear that he's Shoichi's contrast. Both he and Shoichi were brought into their powers the exact same way, but they chose to deal with it in different ways. Gills--whatever he is--is obviously not the god-warrior-thing that Agito is. He actually reminds me of a Grongi, even though the Grongis were totally obliterated by this point--or so I'm going to assume, since I only saw up to 21 of Kuuga and there's a lot I don't know (like about why Godai's MIA three years after the events of Kuuga.)

Shoichi is hesitant in finding out about his past, while Gills is determined to find out what happened to his father. It's clear that he does have a sense of justice behind his tough front, but the events that he went through will probably make it harder for him to convey that.

I'm probably calling this wayyy ahead of time, but he seems to be like the guy who's going to get killed off mid-series. ;A; that would be horrible, because I like Gills. Nnnnnnooooo.


Speaking of Kamen Rider, me and my friend drift (whom gekidasa met when I met up with her in J-town) knocked out the timeline of Kamen Rider.

NO, REALLY. WE CAME UP WITH THIS THEORY, AND AS FAR AS WE'RE CONCERNED, IT'S CANON. *_____* He's seen more KR then me, so he vouches for what we came up with. Lololol.


CUT FOR RAMBLE, SOME SPOILERS, AND SEVERE GEEKERY


( Rider Nonsense here )

the ♥ fanart love ♥ meme


In other news I love KR Agito with the burning passion of a thousand suns. I had to put Kuuga on hold, so I'm watching Agito, and...dsklggjo;gdsklj god whyyyyyy do I love the characters all so much???

*dashes off to do more finals*

*EDIT EDIT* For you APH hos coming over from the Fanart Love meme, I FOUND THE DRUNK APH ART *_____________*

It's not the best art ever. I'm not going to even lie. It's firmly in the realm of WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN--




Huge images are huge I apologize D :



UMMMM I THINK THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ENGLAND, BUT THEN ME AND MY FRIEND GAYED IT UP

yeah I should actually draw more APH for reaz and not like when I've been stonking smashed. >>

dir en gray at The Fillmore. I saw that today.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUCKUNFFFFFFFF. BLEW MY FUCKIN' BRAINS OUT. SO AWESOME.

No I don't have any pictures because I was in the pit the entire time and didn't want to bring a camera in there. I was in the 3-4th row from the front, right in front of Die and Kyo. RIGHT IN FRONT OF DIE AND KYO. *___________________* Fuuuuck me sideways.

Ahh, it was awesome. Kyo's voice was right on par this time, dipping from chant-like melodic strains to dying screams. Shinya drummed for 2 hours straight, I shit you not. He literally sat down, started drumming, and didn't take a break between songs at all. The man is all whiplash, I swear. Toshiya was inappropriately moe, bouncing around with his bass going : D like some sort of moron, but it was awwwwright. Kaoru...was...um...there. ILU I swear, Kaoru >> . Die made sweet love to his guitar and struck power poses the entire time.

Money well spent, A++ would do it again. Yesssss. I actually didn't care that it was an "all-ages" show, since all the kids left the minute me and a few other guys started getting crazy. When Toshiya came over to my side, all the loligirls swarmed the fucking stage and nearly smashed me into a speaker. One crazy bitch actually tried to climb over me, but I backhanded her across the face and she cut it out. They all dug out when the floor turned into a pit, anyway.

Ah, the pit, the pit. Me and this dude with dreads started it--it actually was Dreads' idea, seeing as he started slamming first, but I was the person who shoved him into other people. There was this other girl who was totally wiggin' out to every song, but she burnt out and retreated halfway through the show. I must have traveled in a huge circle around the floor, as the pit flung me around at least 3 times before I held down one corner of elbow room. Good times, good times.

Both of my friends who were there with me got CDs and had them signed by Toshiya and Die. My friend Heeeunee was bouncing around after the show because Toshiya was being a doofy goof and grinning in the most stupidly adorable way. He also, for some reason, thought she was Japanese and tried to talk to her, but unfortunately her Japanese wasn't that good. orz.

My ears are now officially shot because I was right near Die's massive speaker of doom, but it was SO WORTH IT.

OH RIGHT, YOU WANT THE MEME NOW, RIGHT?
midoriri

*edit: Also, Murai Ryouta is going to be dubbing a character in "Kamen Rider Dragon Knight." My japanese is crap, so I was only able to get that out of it, but still, it's pretty cool that he gets to play a rider again...sort of. : D The entry's here http://ameblo.jp/murai-ryouta/entry-10395868733.html#main

*EDIT AGAIN TOFU IS FAIL*: Murai will be playing Kamen Rider Imperer(as he's known in Ryuki), AKA Kamen Rider Spear on Dragon Knight. Thank you google.

sldkgjepijglsd;gjs;idgkl.

Someone please explain to me why fandom is fandom hurgh never mind, I answered it myself.

In other news, I watched the first ep of Tokyo Dogs, and it's pretty good. I like the quirky duo's interesting dynamics, so I think I'll be following this saikou no teemu for a bit. The series kind of feels like the Japanese take on Rush Hour, except that the guys are nowhere near as hilarious as Chris Tucker or as awesomely Jackie Chan as....Jackie Chan.

Personally, I think that Hiro Mizushima needs to have more roles like the one he has in Tokyo Dogs. Don't get me wrong, I loved him as Man-Who-Walks-The-Path-Of-Heaven Kabuto, but I like the fact that he's playing this scruffy, sloppy, down-to-earth kind of guy. He kind of had a role like that in Mr. Brain, but it gets pushed up here in Tokyo Dogs.

I did some VO work for the ever fantabulous
[info]claennis
for her audio project. It was pretty fun yelling down a mic for three hours, especially when I got to do some battle sfx as well. Hurrr. I can't wait to hear the finished project, seeing as my other friend was working on this as a VO as well. It's got vegetables and David Bowie in it. : D

What else, what else--OH RIGHT. DIR EN GREY CONCERT TOMORROW. HOLLAAAAAA. I am going to punch out every lolita I see. Goodtimes.

In other news, I am a procrastinator and should finish these two illustrations, hrgildjlksl;dgjk. I'll probably work on them while I watch the new TMNT crossover animated movie....

.....don't look at me like that. D : TMNT is cool, man.


also also also OMG guys, I'm so excited for the release of Cujo 2. : D

: D

Crossposting this to hero_chronicle and deependstudios , just because <3

I drew this yesterday. : D


I hung out with my pal driftjunky and met up with gekidasa , who was in my neck of the woods this weekend. It was really awesome meeting her--we talked about Kamen Rider, why we don't really feel the need to keep up to date with Double but why we need to see Decade's movie ending RIGHT NOW; I admitted that the reason I can't get past Blade's first ep was because everyone literally looked the same (drift and gekidasa both agreed, although they told me that I need to finish it, and I will I swear! D : ) .

We hung round Japantown, picked up a few things, and gekidasa found a new member of her KR family to take home (but I won't say who it is, so that she can show him off herself. )

All in all, it was a pretty sweet day. I'm sorry I had to take off early-ish, but it was great meeting you, Mura!



I drew this yesterday. : D


I hung out with my pal driftjunky and met up with gekidasa , who was in my neck of the woods this weekend. It was really awesome meeting her--we talked about Kamen Rider, why we don't really feel the need to keep up to date with Double but why we need to see Decade's movie ending RIGHT NOW; I admitted that the reason I can't get past Blade's first ep was because everyone literally looked the same (drift and gekidasa both agreed, although they told me that I need to finish it, and I will I swear! D : ) .

We hung round Japantown, picked up a few things, and gekidasa found a new member of her KR family to take home (but I won't say who it is, so that she can show him off herself. )

All in all, it was a pretty sweet day. I'm sorry I had to take off early-ish, but it was great meeting you, Mura!

EDIT: I just marathoned all of Princess Princess D, for some INEXPLICABLE, UNEXPLAINABLE REASON. Good god. I saw Kenken almost-kinda-not really make out with Nakamura Yuuichi, Fujita Ray almost-kinda-sort of make out with Kenken, lots of guys in pritti princess loli dresses, a lot of boys acting like giggly girls (OMG, claennis , this was like, BEYOND Junta McgirlfaceHatgigglepants), the fruitiest fruity fruit poses that I thought were impossible to pull off with human muscles, and so much soft focus that I was feeling as if I was watching the whole thing in a sauna. WHAT DID I JUST SEEEEEEEEEE

So guys, I just marathoned all of Fuuma no Kojirou.



HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

( Profit? I don't even know D : )

....goddammit, artikgato . ;A;

• Anyone who looks at this entry has to post this meme and their current wallpaper on their LiveJournal.
• Explain in five sentences why you're using that wallpaper!
• Don't change your wallpaper before doing this! The point is to see what you had on!

( Extreme Woobieness )

I've been pretty busy these last few days. Halloween weekend absolutely obliterated me, and all of my classes are getting ready to assign the final projects. Hnaggah.


Because I dressed as Samurai Champloo's Jin for Halloween, my friends wanted to watch the series, so I'm re-watching it with them. It's like the 5th time I've seen it, but I never get tired of it. It's so amazing that there's such a sheer amount of detail in this show, and each episode is fresh-feeling. I always spot something new every single time I see it.

Speaking of samurai, my printmaking professor lent me the entire Lone Wolf and Cub movie series--so after Halloween, I marathoned that box set over the course of two days.

SO AWESOME. 

I am a sucker for old-school chanbara movies, especially ones with unusual characters. Unfortunately, I couldn't grab screencaps since I returned the entire box set to him yesterday, so here's just a few pics that I have lying around:



"I am the killer-for-hire, Lone Wolf and Cub. We live at the crossroads to hell. If we die today, so be it!"

The "Lone Wolf and Cub"  movies are based off of the amazing manga of the same name. The main character, Ogami Itto, used to be the executioner for the Shogun. After his wife is killed and he is framed for the disgrace of an entire clan, Ogami declares that he'll seek his revenge against the Yagyu Shadow Ninja Clan, who were the ones responsible. He takes his only son Daigoro along with him, pushing him around in a baby cart. Together, they roam the countryside as the killers-for-hire "Lone Wolf and Cub".

These films have the craziest fight scenes, in which Ogami literally destroys waves upon waves of ninja. In fact, the final film holds the all-time record for the highest body count in any movie--150. That's a lotta dead ninja.



Little Daigoro is as grim and unwavering as his father, and has probably seen more in all of his three years then any of us want to see in a lifetime. I'm not sure who his actor was, but that was one hardcore kid.



Don't try threatening Daigoro, or attempt to scare him. He'll fight you to the death.

The "Lone Wolf and Cub" franchise has had a lasting impact on Japanese popular media--after the success of the movies and manga, the idea of a "wandering ronin for hire" became very popular. Examples include Tezuka's "Black Jack", Frank Miller's "Ronin", and the infamous "Ruroni Kenshin". The creator of "Road to Perdition" is quoted saying that "Road To Perdition is 'an unabashed homage' to Lone Wolf And Cub". I actually haven't read "Road to Perdition" yet (shame on me) , but I'll take his word for it.

Ogami Itto and Daigoro themselves appeared as cameos in "Usagi Yojimbo", "Samurai Champloo", "Samurai Jack", "Kill Bill", and the game "Final Fantasy X"--although Daigoro was a dog, not a child, in this case.


In short, go check out "Lone Wolf and Cub". Both the movies and the manga are fantastic works that have changed the comics industry in a massive way, and they're incredibly, incredibly awesome.

This also is my way of saying that no matter how fancy your orange jumpsuited ninja is, or how special his attacks are, he will eventually get destroyed by a stonefaced samurai pushing a baby cart.

Crossposted to kamenrider and hero_chronicle and deependstudios !

Holy hell I've been busy busy busy. These past three days, I've been up working on this promo piece for Illustration three:




I actually haven't posted up my illustration work on my LJ , so HERE HAVE SOME ILLUSTRATION ASSIGNMENT. Portrait Project, was originally just going to be Kuuga posin', but then my professor suggested that I have a whole bunch of guys, so HERE HAVE RIDER 1, AMAZON, BLACK, KUUGA, FAIZ, AND DOUBLE. : D\

Acrylic and ink on illustration boooard~

This is totally not important at all, but I have to shaarrreeeeee:

Crossposting this to kamenrider .

( Spoilers for new Onore Dikeido film! )

was fantastic. Oh god, am I tired tired tired--but these past two days have been worth it. Alternative Press Expo is one of my favorite cons to work.

Highlights:

-Running into masakocha, Deb (Bento Box) and Nuu (of Two Keys and Honeydew Syndrome fame)

-Meeting so many AWESOME artists

-Swapping stories about people-who-never-buy-things-at-cons-and-linger-awkwardly-at-your-table with the neighboring person next to us. Also, we talked about pteradon porn. Look that shit up. Or rather, don't. You will never unsee it.

-Drawing Baron Storey as a Tofubeast and giving it to him. : D 

-Chatting with the awesome guys at Viz Media--seriously, they're awesome as awesome things.

-Doin' the Kuuga henshin pose at the BAAU table and gurgling over cutie lil' Sasword and Den-O Sword Form figures that driftjunky bought at Super 7

-Sellin' my prints!!!LKJSLKGJKLSONE YES

-Trading a print for a pair of cute earrings, I fucking love you APE.  It's all about artists and art there.

So yes, all in all, it was great. Got my name out there a little bit more, sold some things, met some people. : D

Fast review 'bout the RAW of the movie!

There's so many spoilers here, but if you've watched Den-O and Decade all the way through, none of this should come as a surprise to you.

( In which I flail because HOLY FUCK G3 )

Guess who has the Chou Den-O and Decade RAW movie right now?

Thaaaaaaat's riiiiiight! Iiiiiiit's meeeeee~!

\: D /

Now before I go run around the room like an idiot, I'm going to let y'all know that I will be attending Alternative Press Expo @ SF this weekend, from 11 to who knows when it ends. I'll be with Bay Area Artists Unite, sellin' my stuffs. I'll also be at World Hetalia Day in SF J-town on the 24th--I'll also be hangin' with the BAAU peeps later at this dinner thing we're doing with Bay Area Anime Club something or other, so hang out with us if y'can!

AND NOW IF YOU'LL EXCUUUUSE MEEEE~

*frolics off*

So. Anime Destiny.

Not going to do that con again. I already raged up and down about it somewhere else (and raged at Claennis even more), so if anyone desperately feels the need to read it, I can copypasta it for 'em.

The small highlights about the whole clusterfuck:

-makin' some money

-drawing a commission of lil' SD wagatomo KaGAAAAAmi with Gatack Zecter. : D

-helming a panel for the very first time

-The Yatterman 1 and 2 cosplayers! I wish I had my camera! They were legit! They even had Yatter-Bark with them!

The reason why I won't do AD again?

It can be summed up through what one girl said when she looked over my stuff at the con (which was all traditional art, BTW): "You guys are living in the stone age! You should do digital art. It's prettier and more professional then traditional stuff."

Yeah. Riiiiiight.

Anyway.

I'll be over at SF's Alternative Press Expo, which is more artist-friendly. If you're down by Moscone Center, swing on by!


I'm slowly catching up on Oretachi wa Tenshi Da! I got distracted a teensy bit by Rookies (and Claennis, I'm going to do that compare/contrast post with Oofuri. I'M GOING TO DO IT) but now I'm back to watching Oreten. Yeeeeey.

I'll talk about double and shinkenger later. For now, I'm going to snicker over the world's most fail detectives.

SPEAKING OF DETECTIVES--Mizushima Hiro is going to be in a detective drama, Tokyo Dog.

\O/

PS lol, Rockies. :D

And I am on goddamn fire.

I don't have time to dick around now, I gotta take this seriously. LET'S DO THIS SHIT.

Heads up again, I'll be appearing at Anime Destiny (@UC Berkeley, this Saturday), Anime on Display (San Francisco), and Alternative Press Expo (also San Francisco). Be there!

I spent the entire half of this morning fighting with my external harddrive. Around...oh, just about now, I gave up, as it refuses to even turn on when I plug it in. Good night, sweet prince, fucking argh.

What I managed to salvage:

-Kuuga
-Agito
-Faiz
-Decade
-Double
-Various Super Sentai Movies
-Oretachi wa Tenshi Da!
-Sengoku Basara
-BLACK
- Detroit Metal City Movie

What I lost:

-Pretty much all documentation of my work from freshman year of college.
-All movie projects that I did for school.
-All of Kabuto, including God Speed Love AND Hyper Battle.
-All of Den-O, including the movies. Yes, even the bullshit one where Kiva is in it.
-All of my doujinshi. It's actually not that much of a big loss.
-All scanlated manga that I decided to download--not much of a big loss, either.
-All of Mirage Comics'...well, comics. I can easily get 'em all back.
-Diablo 2. I can easily get that back as well.


Looks like my con cash is going to go to a new ext. AND rent/groceries. No problem, I just gotta sell lotsa commissions for the next 3 cons I'm hitting up.

If you're going to Anime Destiny, Alternative Press Expo, or Anime on Display, I'll see ya there!

...now I need to get a new ext. harddrive. Argh.

...or is HJU down? It keeps 403-ing on me. : <

I'm not particularly worried, since I don't really post on the forums...but I'm trying to find one particular song, and I'd really like to download the rest of Agito.

: < Need mah Hikawa goodness.

At least I now have the *entire* Faiz song collection. KAIDO'S THEME. I AM LOVING IT.

IN OTHER NEWS I REALLY SHOULD GET BACK TO 24HRCOMICBOOKDAY .

Also holy shit the A's game was fun (omg Suzukiiiiiii : D I am a fangirl wtf) but we lost.


FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUU--THAT WAS SO NOT A FOUL BALL, BASE UMP. > C

A meme. : D

Stolen from thegirlwriter  and gekidasa and YOUR FACE--

Name a fandom and I'll tell you:

☆ OTP
☆ Runner-up
☆ Honorable mention(s)
☆ Crack pairing(s)
☆ Ship everyone else seems to like, but I don't.

\: D/

I'm so going to see dir en gray at the Fillmore this November. I'm looking at the tickets in my hands right now.

: D

BIIIIIIIIITCHEESSSSSSSSSSSSS <3