Lineup

Ah, the joys of having transportation really washed over me this week. However, traveling around means I have less time to relax at home and watch my backlog of anime. Since somebody decided to deprive the world of useful reviews of new anime series *cough*, I decided to list my current lineup.

Series whose torrents I actively look for:
–Naruto: Still trucking along, although we’ve hit the lull before the storm. I’m hoping that the story picks up a little before the end of the 50’s. At least the episodes are coming along at a steady clip.
–Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien: This one is my pet shoujo series of the moment. Don’t be misled by the first episode! It might be generic and leave you with a warm happy fuzzy feeling, but neither of these will last! This series is so full of pain and hurt, and makes me depressed at work with that background music in my head. Of the new “h-game to anime series genre,” this is my favorite. So far I’m up to episode 4 and wanting more =).
–Full Metal Alchemist: So what if it rips off everyone? I like the art, and Al is rather humorous. The stories so far (up to episode 4) are kinda preliminary, but there seems to be potential for a very good over-arcing story.
–Gunslinger Girls: The first episode was ok, but the second was really good. Too bad with all the recap, it probably could have been fit into one episode. This one is getting subbed sloooooowly…
–R.O.D. TV: Curses! Licensed!

Series I download when I have nothing better to do:
–Mahoujin Guru Guru: I liked the manga, and I’m surprised someone is actually subbing this. It’s not that new. Kinda silly, but I like it anyway.
–Bottle Fairies: At times funny, but I don’t think it’s nearly as good as Azumanga Daioh. It is really cute though. They should be the Lilly Four or something.
–Avenger: More Hack Sign than Noir. I don’t consider that a compliment. I’m hoping it will pick up, or else I will just have to get the OST without watching it, lol.
–Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito: I’m still in the first few episodes. I don’t get this series at all…
–Tenshi na Konamaiki: Mildly interesting, but I really can’t get over the poor art quality…
–Cromartie: This one is pretty funny. I don’t like the art style too much, however. I’ve heard this one is really well-liked, but I don’t feel it’s anything to go gaga over.
–PeaceMaker Kurogane: This is more of a rip-off gone bad. In spite of the lame main character (I really don’t like him), I keep watching it and I even find the bad engrish songs kinda catchy. Plus I like Okita. A lot of the rest of the series makes me cringe, though.

Series I have yet to watch:
–Da Capo: I have a bunch of these. Still waiting to get around to them.
–Scrapped Princess: I saw the first 3 and now I’m waiting to finish downloading the mega folder of them. I’m worried about the allegedly disappointing ending.
–Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu: I liked the original, and I hear the sequel is better and hilarious. I hope to get around to downloading it, but I don’t know if I can deal with anymore blue-haired girls whose hair weighs more than the rest of their body at the moment.

Thank goodness for unofficial versions of Bittorrent! Otherwise I’d be forced to enjoy the gorgeous weather we’ve been having this week, or something =).

Welcome to the Jong-Il

OMG, this series of fake IMs is hilarious ^__^. Deer Leader!

And here’s a little sound of bounce your way now, combined with Gunbound wind. Sree Pointah from zeh cornah!

Back!

The trip back on Amtrak ended up being delayed an hour in DC and at times the diesel engine that was used for half of the trip made the coach train stink. With that said, the Amtrak experience was so intensely enjoyable when compared to the horrors of Greyhound, I don’t think I’ll ever go back to buses. The trees in the Metro area were changing colors, so the scenery was very nice outside (well, once I hit the Tri-State region, it was pretty much buildings and blacktop). The seats were fairly roomy, and there was a cafe car, too. Sure it was a bit expensive and kinda dark inside, but the same could be said about my dorm room freshman year…

My trip was very relaxing, if a bit nondescript. I found that all vestiges of my mid-range jumper had evaporated. My brother has grown quite a few inches, and gotten much better ballhandling skills recently, and so the games of 21 were entertaining. We had several laughs making fun of ESPN’s Streetball, and calling out “The Professor!” on various harebrained moves. I ate well and picked up a DVD from Chinatown. I thought it would be cool, cause it had Donnie Yen (of Iron Monkey fame, hahaha), but it ended up being a 3+ hour dramatic movie that I couldn’t make it through. Part of this was due to the allergy medicine and excessive red wine I had ingested, but I hope to finish the second disc someday. I picked up some new clothes to cart back to Virginia as well.

Waiting there was the car. On the one hand, it was a revelation. It changes how shopping is done (What’s that? I don’t have to buy months worth of stuff at once?). On the other hand, however, I can’t really go wild and have tons of fun because I lack dinero. Still, better to have a car than not. The brakes are a bit wonky, but all in all, it’s a positive.

I dropped Mike Miller to add Vin Baker to my fantasy team. Miller was better but I’m well stocked at the guard and forward positions, and Vin Baker is center eligible. I know he sucked last year, but I have hope that he’ll turn it around (plus he’s just my backup center anyway). Pressing the circle button over and over doesn’t seem to be helping my fantasy team any though…

Hmm, in other news, Full Metal Alchemist 4 was rather good. I know everyone thinks it’s just a Naruto/Trigun/Hikaru no Go ripoff, but that doesn’t mean it’s not an enjoyable series. The little adventures they’re having really seem to be well thought out, too. I also really enjoyed ROD episode 7, despite it being rather strange. Sucker that I am, I gave Peacemaker Kurogane another try. The latest episode wasn’t too bad. Then I downloaded the Naruto episode 55 with tribute video. Total waste of time. Bad quality, somewhat boring episode (well, the tadpole with legs scene was funny ^__~), and the video was just rehashed scenes set to a DMX song. Definitely not what I signed up for. Very much like Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito in fact. What in the world is going on with this series??? The H-game to anime trend is getting old rather fast… I still haven’t watched a single episode of Da Capo, lol!

Amtrak Testing

Woo, about to go try out Amtrak, for my trip home to NJ for my Birthday today. I’m hoping the experience will be a pleasant one *fingers crossed*. Probably won’t be any posts till Sunday night or Monday.

Early analysis of my team from other league managers follows mine pretty much. Solid team, no depth at C, Randolph was deemed steal of the draft in the last round. Now I just need to get a backup center…