Otaku Let's Play! - Breath of Fire II: With a little Help From My... Who Are These Guys Anyway?

On this installment, Jade finally says something in a dialogue box but remains as overlooked as ever... The dragon adventure continues!

The Life and Time of Sakata Gintoki

Sakata Gintoki from the anime, "Gintama"

Sakata Gintoki is arguably the choice candidate for best bachelor in anime. He's got it all. Sakata Gintoki, he's somewhat of an enigma also. The man is near or in his mid-twenties, making him a good role filler in a Seinen, or genre of anime where the main character is more mature. Gintoku resists stereotypes and is a self-proclaimed jack-of-all trades. Despite his unpredictable life and friends, his number one best trait is... that he is a shounen hero.

Gintoki defines his life, by the bread he gives away and not the bread he makes... O.o

Somehow Gintoki gets into friendly quarrels... 

Gintoki doesn't always have it easy though. There are times, many times, that Gintoki gets stuck in a rut. The only thing is, Gintoki's key to being the best is that when he gets stuck in a rut it's usually because he jumps into every problem that his friends have. Is that what makes Gintoki such a prime bachelor?

Gintoki's adventures took him to some strange places. In one story, he got turned into a cat for carelessly peeing on a pet cemetery for cats and helped the stray alpha cat take down cat catchers that were mining cat balls and using an alien lion to fight all the stray cats in town. Yes, you read that correctly.

But Gintoki doesn't let those kind of setbacks phase him. He takes them with a kind of sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek attitude that characterizes a generation. Just a generation that Gintoki is a bit early to be a part of, being that he's in this twenties. The anime came out in the mid-2000's by the way but that doesn't matter because there aren't any time skips in Gintama, yet. Well there was a year timeskip I think, but it's not official. 

As the "Odd-Jobs Gin-San", Gintoki doesn't go on missions or want to be the best. In fact, all Gintoki wants to do is take odd jobs for anyone, no matter what. That makes him kind of amenable and able to fit in with all kinds of people. No matter how strong of a shounen hero he is, he considers himself to be a regular guy in the prime of life but he'd rather make fun of the irony of being in the prime of life because right after the prime of life is the decline... But Gintoki makes it seem funny!

Over the course of his earlier life, Gintoki went through a lot of ups and downs. That was before he started "Odd-Jobs Gin-San" and helped the town take on random adventures. The world he grew up in was unfair too. He lost people who were important to him and lived the life of a poor homeless teenager, until he was helped out by others. You could say that Gintoki didn't have it easy and made it, in part, because he had really good friends, a good teacher, and someone who helped him out first.

Once Gintoki did start to change and his life got better. He realized what was really important in life. It's not that you're a shounen hero and you can fight anyone all the time. Gintoki lets himself be himself all the time. That's what makes him really popular and sometimes gets him in trouble...

Gintoki's past life seems to always play a factor in his adventures. He IS a full-fledged shounen hero and his success depends on both defeating strong enemies and saving his friends from evil... Usually his enemies are way stronger than him at first and it seems like Gintoki will lose because he's never training. But the strength of the beliefs he gains from his everyday life always help him remember the right thing to do to win!

Instead of balancing his ego, Sakata Gintoki does not, which results in a balanced ego. I guess it's an Eastern Taoist/Zen kind of thing...

That is what makes Sakata Gintoki, the best Seinen anime character.

...and also a shounen hero...

White Day, Where Girls Get Their Due Too! (ホワイトデー Special!)

Sometimes Japan gets a lot of slack for celebrating Valentine's Day in their own special way: most girls are socially expected to buy the guys in their life (not just their husband, but their friends, neighbors, and even bosses) chocolates as a way of not only showing love, but just your ordinary everyday appreciation. Some girls go as far as making home made chocolate! If you want more information on that process, you can check out my Valentine's Day in Japan post from years past.

Weekly Vocaran by the Month!

Just to keep you guys up to date with Vocaloid music being released recently, here's the weekly Vocaloid Ranking (VocaRan for short) for a couple weeks ago (#232, March 5th - 12th). Most of the songs tend to stay the same so it'd be a little repetitous to post every week on it. It's as reliable as your Oricon! Anyway enjoy!

Spoilers: Check out the original #2 for that week! 

-chansu

FREE GIVEAWAY CONTEST (Otakon 2011)

Here at Otaku Reviewers, we are as selfless as Sakura Kyouko

with her strange yet cute desire to hand out free apples. But instead of

apples, you get sweet Otaku gear! 

"Kuu kai?"

"How do I enter the free contest giveaway?" you ask? Well, just follow the instructions below and you too can be eligible to receive some cool prizes from your friendly Otaku Reviewers writers.

*ahem* Need I emphasize that this contest is FREE?

[Information about signing up after the jump!]

Interesting Developments in Japan!

This is a new segment dedicated to cool or important advances in Japanese science, tech, or gadgets! Enjoy!

An umbrella that shows your favorite digital pics on a rainy day!

Japanese scientist grows a mouse teeth in a mouse kidney!

Vocaloid track of the Whenever I Feel Like It 11

"Is there happiness here? As if being in a dream, I'm aimlessly eager for the one scenery you sought."

The abstraction of today's Vocaloid song makes understanding it very difficult. It's one of those songs that has an individual meaning for whoever hears it. But sasakure.UK (composer) does an excellent job making the arrangement equally complex and enjoyable. Seriously, why don't these guys get paid the big bucks?

Japanese legend is rife with "things that bring happiness." Heck, add "shiawase no" before anything and it's the [blank] that brings happiness. "Fleetingly Eternal Burning Bird" is [partly] about the "shiawase no tori," or the bird that brings happiness to the one who catches it. But would a bird of happiness really be happy to be locked up in a cage? This contradiction proves that there really is no "bird of happiness"... In a broader sense, this song questions the search for happiness.

Depressing? Heck no. At least you get to enjoy an equally intriguingly dark and sophisticated 3DPV. A very interesting portrayal of an entire world made of crystals. If you're not into all that stuff then try to discern Miku's voice from Luka's. It's harder than you think, this song features "Hatsune Miku Append," a new version of Vocaloid that provides 6 archtypal voices for Miku, one of which is called "Dark." Strangely enough, it sounds almost exactly like Luka.

Anyway, enjoy!

Hatsune Miku [Dark] and Megurine Luka - Fleetingly Eternal Burning Bird

I didn't subtitle or create this video or music. I don't own it. Don't kill me copyright people.

-chansu

New Segment!

We writes for U!

Alright our non-existent/very shy/non-existent readers! It's time for you to get off your fat bottoms and show yourselves, in the form of a poll!

RPGHero and I have decided to create a new, more personal, more interactive segment on this blog of which we'll corroborate and gattai! I'm sure you guys'll enjoy what we've in store for you, but if you don't like the list of choices you can always comment on this post to tell us what you'd prefer! Just in case you can't find the poll, it's the first thing on the right. And just in case you can't read, here are the list of choices:

RPGHero and Chansu's 4 Day Animazement Journal
RPGHero and Chansu's Moment's in the Life of an Otaku
RPGHero and Chansu's "The State of Anime" Rants
Other (Comment in this post!)

So pals get a move on! Vote quick because this poll closes on the 27th!

-chansu

What do these two videos have in common?

I DON'T KNOW YOU TELL ME! (OAO)