Otakutako (*^ ・^)ノ⌒☆

Here There be Robots!

2009-06-26T05:20:00.001-07:00

Robots
Admit it. Robots are awesome. We all grew up on Masked Rider, Power Ranger and Transformers. We still have robots dolls (Excuse me. Action Figures…) in their original packaging. Heck, some of us even study Artificial Intelligence because of that. The MIT OpenCourseWare for those who wanna start learning AI.
On my online traversals, I found some very interesting robots and my most fave one? The little break - dancing guy.

The Sushi Maker

The Violinist

The FemBot

Some other Hot Chicks :D

The Coffee Maker

The Breakdancer

All i can say is moar :D.

Porco Rosso - A Studio Ghibli film

2009-06-19T13:46:00.000-07:00

Continuing the pig theme, let's review Porco Rosso. It is a movie from acclaimed diector Hayao Miyazaki, who also did other classics like My neighbour Totoro and Howl's Moving Castle.

Porco Rosso means Red Pig in Italian. The pig in the story is actually a World War 1 ace human pilot in the Italian Army, who has been cursed and transformed into a pig. After the war he became a freelance bounty hunter chasing after air pirates. As with most other Ghibli films, the rivalry is pretty chummy and amicable. When not trying to shoot each other down, Porco and the air pirates spend their evenings on neutral ground at the Hotel Adriano, the establishment run by Gina.

Gina is Porco's closest friend. She becomes the object of rivalry between Porco Rosso and another pilot Curtis. Gina is a majestic, cultured woman, who seems to hold some power over all the pilots in the area. Another character to note is Fio, a young girl who helps Porco repair his downed airplane. She is bubbly, determined and downright cute in the trademark Studio Ghibli way.

Porco Rosso is highly recommended simply for that feel-good vibe present at every stage of the movie. It is aimed at a younger audience but the cinematography and drawing is simply breathtaking. - Clyde

The swine !!!! Argh. Tonde Boorin

2009-06-17T02:53:00.000-07:00

Who's afraid of the swine (flu)? Here's Tonde Boorin, an anime about a piglet, and a girl turning to a pig.

Now this is one cutesy anime. The basic storyline is about a junior high school girl called Kokubu Karin, who is the stereotypical anime girl- friendly, a tad too clumsy, but extremely cheerful nonetheless. Kinda like my ex-gf really, who just happens to seriously dig the show.

One day she (Karin) found a piglet stuck behind a bush, lying unconscious. Instead of thinking "Hey free pork chop!" she decides to save the piglet. In return, it gave her a magic compact that transforms her into a super pig called Boorin. Wow, incredible! I wish i had one to give to Bonnie (and turn her into a pig haha). Of course Karin hates being a pig, so the piglet, who was majestically called Tonrariaano the Third, makes a deal with her. Every good deed she does makes a pearl come out of a shell, and when she collects 108 pearls she could choose any form she wished.

There's a lot of mischief and low-level humour ala Keroro, and though it's aimed at a younger demographic, it can be rather fun to watch. Check out the transform scene above, it's hi-la-rious. - Clyde

Western Digital Ext hard drive replacement

2009-06-14T12:09:00.001-07:00

My WD Elements Hard drive died on me a few months ago. It was chugging along fine until my sis brought home a new Vista machine (Lenovo SL 300 if you must know. I hate it a lot). Plugged it in, copied over 100 gb of videos and music. Or tried, anyway. The damn thing hung on me! After I 'manually removed' it from the com, it just couldn't move files anymore.

So I ransacked the ole nick-nack drawer for the original box, where the original store receipt should be. But, BUT! It was sorely missing. Without it I couldn't return the drive to the store. And so it sat in the box for 4 months, destined to become a future school project scrap part.

That is, until I came across the return policy site for WD drives. Woohoo! They actually have a Return Merchandise Authorisation policy. So actually, all I had to do was enter the serial number and print out the label to attach to the mailing box. As you can see from the pic. Fingers crossed then, see if I really get a replacement. (Fingers crossed for 3 weeks!)

Clyde.

The PSP Go

2009-06-14T08:17:00.000-07:00

Written by Clyde.

So a lot of PSP fanboys are getting excited over the PSP Go

I’m not one to mince my words, so here’s the all-important specs upfront:

GOOD:

1) No UMD drive, means it's lighter.

2) Downloadable games

3) 108 grams versus the already featherweight 189 g of the latest PSP 3000

4) 16 GB of internal flash memory, plus it's upgradeable by adding your own memory stick.

5) WIFI and Bluetooth!

BAD:

1) Again, only one analog controller

2) You can't play your UMDs

3) Smaller screen; 3.8 inch versus the PSP 3000's 4.3 inch.

It's comimg to the American market on Oct 1st (oh isn't that Children's Day?) and for us here in Singapore, we'll be queuing up on (date unannounced lol!). But it IS going to be released in Japan in November. So perhaps Dec for other Asian markets?

Anyways, I for one dig the cool, sexy design. It looks like one of those devices Inspector Gadget had. I'm actually looking forward to playing games or watching movies on the train. With a bluetooth headset. It's really like a playstation fanboy's wet dream.

However, I think the analog stick's gonna be a pain in the rear to use. It's so awkwardly placed, i can't imagine playing God Of War on it, let alone Gran Turismo Mobile when it comes out. PSP games like Naruto- Ultimate Ninja Hero should be fine, as it uses the directional buttons intensively.

So... what do you prefer? Black, or Pearl White? Check this out if you need help deciding.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wYzqaNTccY

Eight Animes for the Uninitiated

2009-06-02T09:37:00.000-07:00

Now that you have met the elusive Otaku, you may be wondering how you too may become one (hmm, a lot of wishful thinking there, eh, Clyde ^^)? The world of anime can be very daunting, especially for the uninitiated. There are thousands of animes out there. The best place to start? Short animes! Those with an episode run of 13 or 26 episodes. We have a friendly guide for you here :D.
Animes and mangas come in four major categories (let me get all Jane Goodall-ey):-
• Shojo – girls
• Shonen – boys
• Josei – adult females
• Seinen- adult males

Since humor is universal, we recommend you start with the funny ones. Clicky the screen shots to go to the Official Sites to purchase them :D!

1. Ouran High School Host Club (桜蘭高校ホスト部) – a shojo anime. Haruhi Fujioka, a poor but exceptionally smart student, gains admission into the prestigious Ouran Academy. There, due to an unfortunate accident (specifically, breaking a 8 million yen vase in the Host Club Room), she has to pose as a male host to work off her debt. The story has loads humor but for me the main draw was the Bishies XD. The anime has 26 episodes and has ended its run. The manga is still ongoing. Chuang Yi distributes the English and Mandarin translation in Singapore. Viz Media does the English translation too.

2. Toradora! (とらドラ!) – A shonen anime. This anime follows the story of a Aisaka Taiga, a feisty high-schooler and Takasu Ryuuji a very yankee looking guy. Taiga, who is acutely aware of her short stature, makes up for it with a, let’s say, ferocious bite. Ryuuji, on the other hand just wants people to not run away from him because of his scary looks. The story is fluffy enough, with loads of romance and humor. This is one of the very popular school themed animes in Japan. There does not appear to be a English manga version as of now.
3. Nodame Cantabile (のだめカンタービレ) – This Josei anime follows Megumi Noda, a.k.a Nodame, an exceptional piano player and Shinichi Chiaki, an aspiring conductor. Girl meets boy, girl falls in love and though it is a familiar story, it’s got humor and a quirky charm that makes it so loveable. Music lovers will adore the soundtrack of this anime as well. The manga is serialized in English by Del Rey.
4. Genshiken – A seinen anime for us kindred Otaku souls, this story follows the lives of the members of the Gendai Shikaku Bunka Kenkyukai or “The society for the Study if Modern Visual Culture”. The members learn to accept various aspects of their Otaku-ness, be it Cosplaying or dedicating days to building GunPla. this series is packed with inside jokes and various Japanese pop culture references as well. The manga is serialized by Del Rey.

Now lets move on to the serious stuff. some folk want substance over the glitz factor. Hence, let’s look at some of the more serious animes in each of the four genres.

1. Weiß Kreuz (ヴァイスクロイツ) – This shojo series is about a group of four assasins who belong to a group called Weiß (German for White), which is owned by Kritiker, a secret subsidiary of the Japanese Police. They oddly enough, work at a flower shop ^^ and are very bishie like, hence being more of a Shojo anime instead of a Shonen one. They are all haunted by events from their past and . There are 2 anime seasons, one from 1998 and another from 2002 and a 2 episode OVA in 2000. There are 2 volumes of this manga but not in English.

2. Samurai Champloo (サムライチャンプルー) – For those looking for a super stylish anime with a killer soundtrack this one is for you. Fuu, the show’s female protagonist, ropes Mugen, 19-year-old samurai, and Jin, another samurai (a Megane Bishie that Bonnie loves :D) on a quest to find the Samurai who smells like sunflowers. The ride is excellent, with very stylistic fight sequences and Nujabes’ cool tracks. Tokyopop carries the English translation of this manga.

3. Honey and Clover (ハチミツとクローバー) – Josei manga and anime usually feature college-aged women and this one follows that trend. For those looking for a more mature kind of anime, this is perfect. It follows the lives of five college-aged friends and how they navigate life, love and other aspects of growing into (yikes!) adulthood. The story line is complex enough and there is a live action version of this so you can look that up as well. Viz Media does the English translation of this manga.
4. Mushishi (蟲師) – Seinen animes tend to be quite meditative and calmer in nature as compared to the fightsy sequences common in shonen animes. This story is about Ginko, a mushi-shi – mushi doctor, who can see these mysterious floater-like creatures called mushi. In Japanese, mushi just means bugs ^^. He travels around and helps people who are troubled by the mushi. Some of the sequences can get a tad scary but this stop itself just before things get outright scary. Del Rey carries this manga in English.

I hope you now have an idea on what to start watching from :D. we shall do more of these lists (people love lists, I think).
Please leave us your thoughts on what are some good animes to start with as well.
じゃね!{“Ja Ne!”means Bye!}

The Otaku

2009-05-27T05:38:00.000-07:00

Who is he? (Most of the time, you can bet it’s a He.) If you know any female Otakus, we’d love to make contact ;-)
From the mostly trustee Wikipedia:
Otaku (おたく/オタク?) is a Japanese term used to refer to people with obsessive interests, particularly anime, manga, and video games.
Internationally, Otaku may also refer to people who are obsessed about Japan culture. A good example is this guy. He’s a major Otaku.

Is Otaku an octopus? What? NO! You’re thinking of “tako”, my friend. Still, it shows you do know some Japanese. Subscribe, and you will be well on your way to Otaku-hood. So first thing first, what do Otakus wear? Some say they dress to look like escapees of a anime-originated 2d world. However this guide from the Uncyclopedia will reveal more.

The common Otaku is seen, usually, wearing a T-shirt of a classic anime, or one that still hasn't made it to foreign shores (Like Dragon Ball or Samurai X). They are also usually seen with messenger bags, embellished with anime logos, like Full Metal Alchemist, which are usually bought at Comics Connection. These bags are adorned with pins and key chains which are supposed to represent their personalities and interests without actual need for socialization. Most of them wear glasses for all their time spent playing video games, and those that don't, just buy them to upkeep the appearance. Sometimes, Otaku may even cosplay when not intended in the style of their most favorite anime (This has been seen more often thanks to Naruto). In terms of footwear, even though in the old days, most Otaku were seen wearing sport foot wear, these days it is more common to see them wearing Converse or Vans footwear.

But how about the closet Otaku? Well usually this variant of the species does not blatantly declare die-hard love for anime, but you can tell when he exhibits anime-like body gestures like opening the mouth in a wide ‘O’, or even going “Nani?”when faced with something he doesn’t quite understand. But usually it’s the three-finger across forehead move that gives him away. He is usually the jock or some popular cool guy/girl who can’t afford to look geeky in public (“but Keroro is sooo cute…!”). For the record, Robin Williams is an Otaku.

2008-05-30T07:47:00.000-07:00

About Us

2008-05-30T06:27:00.000-07:00

Irashaimasen!! That's "Welcome!!" in Japanese ヽ(´ー｀)ノ!

We are 2 otakus who are pretty much into anything manga or anime related. We love new animes and obscure anime references send us rotfl.

Bonnie spends her time reading manga and comics mooched from the library or bought with lunch money. She prides herself in being an otaku :D and will love to move to Japan someday. Well, a trip to the Marvel Building would be nice too.

Clyde loves Naruto and other Shonen comics.

you can contact us on espada.islero [at] gmail.com.

And you can find us on YouTube now :D!
http://www.youtube.com/user/OtakuTako

{to be continued (*￣∇￣)ノ}