There mainly 3 game modes in the installment; The campaign containing the story, the arcade mode and the online mode.

I’ve mostly completed the campaign, unlocking all the characters except Devil Jin. The Nightmare Train stage is quite a nightmare when the gargoyles starts gathering around you and raping you to death. It doesn’t make things any better with the A.I not being too intelligent. Overall, the campaign mode was pretty enjoyable, but it would have been better if the camera angles were improved. Some of the angles were horrible, making it difficult to maneuver. Also, the final boss isn’t the most difficult boss. Alisa is.

I’m pretty sucky at the arcade mode, with all my characters having a horrid winning percentage record. In the campaign mode, I used the D-pad instead of the analog stick. Hence, when I’m playing the arcade mode, I have the tendency to use the D-pad too no matter how I try to stick to the analog stick. After growing up playing (and sucking at) fighting games with the D-pad, it’s just so much easier with the D-pad. If I’m ever going to get any good at the game in the arcade, I should play in the arcade setting.

I’ve tried out the online gameplay, but was greeted with some lag. There was this battle where I was almost winning when a sudden lag kicked in and all my blocks were ineffective due to the difference in timing. The next thing I knew, I was dead without being able to do much. Looks like I’ll be leaving the online experience aside for a while until the patch is released.

As with any other fighting games, everyone has their own favourite character, often called the main. When I played the arcade, I only used Lili has she was one of the easiest characters. Surely you would want to win some battles if you’re inserting a coin per play, don’t you? Back then, I never got pass Jin because I didn’t know how to block effectively.

Now that I can play for as long as I want on the PS3, I’ve tried using more characters to find out which would suit me. Currently, I’m mostly using Christie and Yoshimitsu. They aren’t exactly the easiest characters to use, like Lili or Nina, but I find them fun to play as. Alien looking samurais and females practicing the art of Capoeira are awesome.

For those who are playing Tekken 6, be it at the arcade or a home console, what are your thoughts about the game? Also, who is/are your favourite characters?

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This is definitely not the most suitable image to sell the image of an Infocomm Security Management course. Just look at the image. Does any part of it even emit the vibes of something related to Infocomm? I doubt so. This reminds me of how some people simply love including irrelevant clip art images into their Powerpoint presentation slides.

Apparently, this board was put up for the parent forum event. I haven’t got the simplest clue as to why they chose this. A classmate joked that they decided to use a 2D girl to attract more guys into the course. If so, they should be using 2D bishonens instead. The male-female ratio is horrible as it is already…

I have no idea who made the decision to put this up in the lab, but it’s dumb. The image used should have been somewhat related to IT, or even hacking, even though we don’t do anything much beyond what a regular script kiddie would do.

A “Bloody Monday”-vibed mascot would be far more suitable that some lame manga styled female drawing that doesn’t even fit in.

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3. Introducing Manga

BUMP’s R.I.P/Merry Christmas single and Sleepy.ab’s Paratroop album will be out on the 25th, and the HIATUS’ Insomnia single will be out on the 18th. Now, AJISAITOWN will be releasing their new single, 錯綜リアリズマ, on the 16th, and it’s only going at 500 yen for 4 songs! The way I see it, this release is more of a mini-album as compared to a single release.

M-1.Realism@hollic
M-2.ロンリーナイトフィーバー
M-3.Halfway singing
M-4.逆走錯綜更新曲

halfway singing

ロンリーナイトフィーバー

I suppose the single is only sold via their online store, and that means that those outside of Japan can’t get it via the conventional methods of Amazon Japan and HMV Japan. Still, I’m intending to get my copy by directly contacting them, just like I did previously. It’s a good thing I made my purchase back then as their first single is now out of print.

Anyone else interested in getting a copy?

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Just 2 hours ago, the first airing of R.I.P, one of the 2 A-side songs from BUMP’s new soon-to-be released single, was aired on School of Lock. I tried tuning in to the online streaming, but failed to do so. So, I decided to wait for someone to upload it on the net. Sure enough, within an hour, it’s up. Just bear with the noise. As soon as I can find a new upload with better quality, you’ll see it here. Thanks to Hyou for the link to the better quality upload.

Honestly, after a 2 year wait, I’m somewhat disappointed with R.I.P. I was really expecting something more mind-blowing, but I guess this will be like another 花の名. Hopefully, I’ll grow to like it after more listens. Now, I just hope that Merry Christmas will be impressive.

Hurry, 25th November!

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My very first experience was in Kyoto, where つばき’s live was held in Kyoto Mojo. The venue was really small, barely fitting 200 people, which meant that you could feel every single drum beat and note on the bass throughout your entire body. Also, it meant that you’d be struggling to get your ears back to normal after the event.

There were no lockers so I had to carry my bag throughout the 2 hours, or even longer, if you factor in the waiting time. I came straight from the hostel without unpacking, so I had a laptop and DSLR with me. Not exactly the best things to have with you at such a time.

Anyway, I can barely remember what happened throughout the live concert since I was too engrossed with the music. I didn’t really listen to much of the band’s first and second album before that, so I didn’t know some of the songs. Still, it didn’t stop me from getting immersed. I sang along to some songs I knew, but the music was so loud that I couldn’t even help my own voice.

My second live was Tacica at Shibuya-AX. This time, the venue was much larger, and only the crowd just right before the stage was packed. Other than that, there was lots of space in between people. Still, that didn’t make the live any less enjoyable. The 1000 odd crowd was amazingly responsive towards the band, be it during the performance or short talking sessions.

The vocals are absolutely amazing live. My only regret was that the I couldn’t see the guitarist playing too clearly. Each time the solo portions were played, the guitarist would turn to his right and work his magic on the guitar. I was on his left, so all I could see was his back.

My third and final live experience during my trip was the HIATUS at Zepp Sendai. Yes, I took a 2 hour Shikansen to Sendai, spent the day wandering around before going for for a live, followed by another 2 hours back to Tokyo, all in a single day. I’ve never really listened to ELLEGARDEN before the live, but I somehow picked up the HIATUS’ music and totally love it. I’ve even started listening to ELLEGARDEN as there’s something intriguing about Takeshi’s songwriting. However, I still prefer the HIATUS over ELLEGARDEN.

20 minutes before the HIATUS took the stage

The moment the band took the stage and began playing, I found myself totally captivated by the vocals. It was awesome on the CD, but when it was live, the awesomeness factor shot through the meter. Takeshi’s English pronunciation would put many who speak English as their first language to shame. I was hoping that he spoke in some English though.

The crowd was really insane. While they were doing the normal raise their index finger in the air thing during the slow songs, hell was unleashed during the faster ones. At any point of time during those songs, I could see at least 2 to 3 people who were crowd surfing. It was those moments that I felt glad that I was watching from second floor.

the HIATUS only had a single album released so far, so they played all the songs in the album. 2 songs were played twice, and a new unreleased song was played too. While I didn’t catch the name of that song, it was great hearing the math rock styled drum beats. Just as expected of Kashikura Takashi, toe’s drummer.

Words can’t fully describe how I felt at the lives. It was amazing, so amazing the to extent that I couldn’t actually believe I was there. It was like the same feeling that I had when I paid my first visit to Disneyworld when I was 8.

I think I’m really addicted to lives in Japan. The quality there far surpasses the quality in Singapore. No, I’m not being biased because I listen mostly to Japanese music. Putting the performer issue aside, the one thing that draws the divide would be the strict no photography and recording rule. Why so?

In Singapore, most people would be busy snapping shots on their cameras or trying to record the live audio, most of which ends up as crap. Don’t fool yourself, you can’t expect anything decent out of your 8 megapixel shitty sensor handphone camera. Not in a live house or club with such lighting.

All this brings me to the point of why the live experiences locally suck. When you get people trying to snap shots WHILE the band is performing, the cameras and handphones become a visual hindrance. Dude, I paid money to watch the band perform live, not a bunch of monkeys trying so very hard to snap a decent shot in poor lighting. This ain’t no photography session, it’s a freaking live performance. And lives are about the music, not how many blurry images you can take of the band. We have the professionals for that.

I’ve arrived at the conclusion that for Singapore live goers, enjoyment equates to taking as many pictures home from the live, while for the Japanese live goers, it’s all about soaking as much as you can in the audio and visuals, during the live. It doesn’t take a genius to guess which camp I’m in.

Ripped off from a friend who went to Mr Big’s live in Singapore

This is why I love Japanese crowds as opposed to the local crowd when it comes to live performances. At least they know how to show respect to the bands by actually appreciating the music by the band when they are playing instead of trying to grab some petty shots so that they can upload it on their social networking websites or blogs. Or at least they are skilled enough to hide their devices from plain sight.

Lesson of the day: Show some respect to the band’s music and the other fans attending the live. If you really must, takes pictures when the band isn’t performing.

I really need to go back for more of this drug. It’s horrible that I’m already suffering withdrawal symptoms.

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I hadn’t the slightest idea of what to expect in Kagoshima since I didn’t even do any information gathering. Upon arriving at Kagoshima Chuo station, I took a look at the area map at the station.

The most striking thing was Sakurajima, since it was the nearest island from the station. That was my destination.

Similar to Kumamoto City, there were trams. Yet, I chose to walk all the way to the ferry terminal. Usually, I would prefer to walk if the distance permits in order to take in more sights and sounds.

I finally arrived at a ferry terminal, only to find out that it was the one to Sakurajima, but islands such as Yakushima. Most of the people there were carrying trolley luggage and haversacks, indicating that the islands were not for 1 day trips. True enough, the ferry ride cost nearly 10000 yen for a 2-way trip, and took far longer than I had anticipated.

I made my way over to the correct terminal, but before that, I made a stop at the Kagoshima Aquarium.

It wasn’t anything impressive, and the only interesting thing was the dolphin show. I still prefer the aquarium in Nagoya which I went to 3 years ago.

The ferry ride to Sakurajima costs 300 yen for regular passengers. It’s possible to drive your vehicle aboard the ferry too. The ferry ride, while short, allowed me to bask a little in the relaxing sea breeze. I’m heading away from the city into nature!

Indeed, the sea is what separates the city and nature of Kagoshima city. For someone like me who has been facing concrete trees all day long, it’s a much welcomed refreshing change.

Divided by the sea

At Sakurajima, I grabbed a map to decide where to visit. It turned out that the island was far larger than I had expected. Most of the places were far from the terminal. Walking would be insane, especially for a day trip. I could take the bus, but it wasn’t cheap. I still had nearly 2 weeks remaining in Japan, so I decided to pass and walk instead.

Near the terminal, there was a volcanic rock route, as well as an outdoor foot bath. After quite a bit of walking in the city, I decided to soak my legs for a while before embarking on the route.

The scenery along the route was totally worth the 3km hike. I may be seem like it, but I do actually enjoy nature.

Halfway during the route, I wanted to sidetrack a little off the gravel path into the grassy areas. However, upon realising that I’ve only seen a single person on the route, I decided against it. If there were any snakes or who-knows-what, I’d probably end up dying there before I can get any medical aid.

When I finally arrived at the end of the route, I realised that the end point was just a observation hut. There was no bus back to the terminal, and that meant another 3km. My legs were starting to ache due to the exercise I’ve lacked for years. I’m starting to think that living in Japan might just keep my fitness level up.

I headed back to the city sometime during the evening. Worn out from all that walking, I treated myself to a famous Kagoshima dessert, the しろくま (Polar Bear). It was really sweet, too sweet for my liking.

It was a real pity that I didn’t do any preparation before heading to Kagoshima. I’ve only covered a fraction of what Kagoshima has to offer, and I’m certainly excited about going back there again. There’s still Kirishima and Yakushima that I want to visit, and Sakurajima which I want to revisit. However, the next time I return to Kagoshima, I’ll probably find some companions. Hiking and having fun in the outdoors gets boring really quick if you’re all alone.

Related posts:

1. Japan Trip 2009: Kumamoto
2. In Kumamoto
3. 2006 Japan Photos : Hakone

Just like any most IT courses, my friend’s class had the guys outnumbering the girls. Only 8 girls were present, but that’s much better than having only 2 girls in your class. Like my class, for 3 years. The group I hanged out were all Japanese guys, but what the heck, it was fun. My group met another group from his class, and my friend introduced me to the girls as the guy who really likes Ayanami Rei. I guess that killed all my chances? Haha.

Apparently, all the guys in his class are otakus of some sort. Pokemon otaku, Poker Card otaku, Airplane otaku, and many other types which were really interesting. One of them isn’t otaku though. Everyone says that he has surpassed the level of the otaku, going into the next realm.

The other Singaporean students that were in the same group couldn’t converse in Japanese, so once again, I took on the job of being the translator. In the beginning, I got a little confused, speaking Japanese to the Singaporeans and English to the Japanese when questions started flying like bullets and missiles in a warzone. It took about an hour or so for me to be able to function properly.

Here are a few interesting quotes I can recall:

“You know if you’re Japanese if the first thing you say when you step into an aquarium is “うまそう!”"

One of the Japanese students said this when we were in Underwater World, an aquarium. It was really hilarious as some of the students, unlike the other tourists in the aquarium, were more fascinated about how delicious some fishes looked over anything else.

“Singaporean girls don’t like Singaporean guys, so Singaporean guys don’t like Singaporean girls.”

Quoted from a friend who tagged along with the group. She was half Japanese, half Singaporean, but thinks totally like a Singaporean. When she mentioned that she had another friend who was obessessed with Japanese guys, my Japanese friend immediately look at me and said　”彼は逆だ！”.

Sending my friends off at the airport felt somewhat depressing. Just a month ago, I was at the airport too, heading to the same place they are headed now.

Now, I don’t want to go to Japan, I want to return to Japan.

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Before beginning on any additions to the event, I think most people would want to know about the ticket pricing, both for entry and the concerts. Well, here they are:

Entry ticket: $15 for 1 day, $25 for 2 days

Student price: $12 for 1 day, $20 for 2 days

Concert ticket : $108 for 1 day, $188 for 2 days

The concert ticket sales will be handled by by Sistic, so unlike last year where they had technical problems with the online sales due to the overwhelming response, history would unlikely repeat this year. You can begin grab your tickets when 19 October arrives. Ichirou Mizuki, Shoko Nakagawa and Hatsune Miku will be featured on 21st November, while Yoshiki Fukuyama and May’n will be featured on 22nd November.

For I Love Anisong, the concert, the virtual diva Hatsune Miku will be performing too. Apparently, such a thing was done in Japan too.

K-ON! fans will be delighted to find out that the seiyuus behind the girls will be making a trip down for a meet the fans session. During that session, there will be Q&A session as well as live dubbing. If I’m not wrong, this is the first time a group of seiyuus are attending such an event.

As for the anime studios attending the event, there will be Tatsunoko Productions (Speed Racer, Gatchaman, Macross) and MADHOUSE (Death Note, The Girl Who Leap Through Time, Needless).

These are the main additions that was highlighted to me after I arrived. You can find out the details of the other additions to the event at the AFA09 official website.

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Really long shopping street

My first week in Kyuushuu was rather slow paced. I was mostly hanging out with friends, and usually, Japanese people don’t really having their picture taken. On days that I hung out with my friends, I brought the camera along only for a few scenery shots. Sometimes, the camera was never taken out of my bag at all. As you should be able to infer, I don’t have too many pictures.

The following are the things that I did in Kumamoto:

- Visited Mount Aso

My luck was cursed that Sunday. It took a long 1 hour ride from my friend’s house, and minutes after I arrived at Mount Aso, there was a warning signal. It turned out that the volcano had decided to be an ass and start puking out volcanic gas. I only managed to snap a few shots before we were forced to leave the area. Phew, I stinked of sulphur for the rest of the day.

We headed down a little and there was this really nice field where horses graze during the weekdays. Finally, some beautiful nature greenery which Singapore sorely lacks.

Also, here’s something rare. A brown Lawson.

- Visited Suizenji Garden

While I’m fond of parks in Japan like Ueno park, I don’t exactly have a liking towards parks that charge an entrance fee. There wasn’t exactly much to do in Suizenji Garden except eating delicious ice that doesn’t give a brain freeze.

Yes, this image is from a past post, but I can’t help but emphasize on how awesome the ice is

Also, we visited the shrine. I got a crappy omikuji saying that nothing good would come of liking the current someone whom I had an interest in. True enough, I got rejected a couple of days later, and all contact was cut off after 3 weeks. Damn, out of the all the times I’ve gotten an omikuji, it’s only accurate this time.

- Watched Evangelion 2.0

I don’t have to wait till the 1st quarter of 2010 to find out what happened in the movie. Eva 2.0 felt a lot like the End of Evangelion. Here are some spoilers: The new meganekko doesn’t play an important role in this movie except aid in the cashcow milking. Also, Shinji and Eva unit 01 almost became god-like, but Kaworu decided to stab him with his man saber lance during the transformation, ruining everything.

And that’s all the interesting stuff I did.

My friend’s dad’s Fender Stratocaster. He’s a real cool dude. He even has his own band and they perform on a regular basis

The rest of the time in Kyuushuu was spent in Oomuta, Fukuoka and Kagoshima. I wouldn’t be writing about Fukuoka and Oomuta, since I was there mostly to meet friends. Nothing interesting was done. On the other hand, Kagoshima is a great place that I’d like to go back to. It’ll be awesome if I could visit Yakushima for a hiking trip. Kirishima too.

Next up, Kagoshima. And that includes the beautiful Sakurajima.

P.S. Pss… I’ve a special story that I’ll post soon. If you have me on Facebook, you’ll get what I’m talking about.

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It’s a double A-side single, not that it matters since BUMP’s songs are all good. Currently, there are no other details regarding what the songs will be like. Looks like it’s going to be a long impatient wait for the songs to appear on the radio for me.

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