Two more Final Fantasy VII characters shown in the latest pictures from Advent Children.  Nanaki and Cid.  Reeve/Cait Sith and Yuffie are the last ones to be shown.  I'm still hoping Elena will show up somewhere too.  Reno and Rude also have new pictures.  Rude looks totally badass.  It's quite refreshing to see that since so many of the male characters (that have had their faces shown) look bishounen. -_-  Barret's new look isn't bishounen, but it certainly wasn't badass in my opinion.

I recently finished getting the complete second season of Beast Wars.  It's nice to relive some childhood moments.  I can't wait for the third season to be ripped.  >_>

I'm getting ready to take my fourth MCSE test on Wednesday.  Then I have to start getting stuff ready for Anime Expo.  The likelihood of me updating in the next few week is slim.  I'm really starting to slack off with Aishiteruze Baby reviews, but I want to do them still.  Tenjou Tenge on the other hand, I think I'll stop for now.  The fansubbers of this series are lagging a bit, and I'll just wait until a nice batch of episodes are released.

Yipee!  I just went to AdventChildren.net to see if there were any new pictures, and I found one.  In the pages they had, a picture of a woman is there looking exactly like Aerith.  First of all, don't jump to the conclusion that Aerith is being revived.  It's was a stupid rumor that plagued the game, and it's a stupid move to think that they would do something that stupid.  Kingdom Hearts was a separate universe, so don't bring that up either.  I agree with what someone in that forum thread thought, Cloud is just probably having some kind of dream.  Reno and Rude are also there with their faces shown.  I'm going to be one happy fanboy when this finally comes out.

I finished watching all of the live action GTO episodes, DVD special, and movie.  I thought it was really good, even better than the Anime at times.  I think I remember that someone said that the LA was way too fast, but I think it was perfect.  The girls who played Miyabi and Tomoko were cute.  Murai's mom was a disappointment though.  She was not hot at all.  Urumi's character wasn't even in the LA so that also sucked.

Since anime.mircx.com went down, I forgot to keep up with Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon.  I got caught up today to episode 36.  I don't know if I expressed this opinion before, but I'll do it again anyways.  Every one of the Sailor Soldiers look hot/cute when they're not transformed except for Usagi.  She looks about average un-transformed.  Usagi actually becomes hot when she transforms.  I think she looks much better with a blond wig on than her real hair.  She looked even hotter when she had that "upgrade" in episode 36.

Today, I barely found out that a clone of anime.mircx.com had been made.  Thanks to the GameFAQs Anime board, I found mirkx.com.  It's almost exactly like it.  It just needs to include a search box and it'll be perfect.

AX had a sudden surge of guest.  Out those announced, I'm excited to see the R.O.D. guys coming back.  So that's five 2002 guest coming back for 2004.  Those guys were really funny and I'm glad to have a chance to see their panel this year.

I was looking through the Internet Archive at my old webpages on Tripod and Tripod UK earlier today.  I looked at one of my old polls asking which Anime I should review, and I clicked on the "Other" option I provided so people could tell me what Anime to review that I didn't list.  One of the new ones was "stop writing reviews they suck".  That made me laugh.  Then I went to the links section of my site and I was reminded of Rocket Town.  Rocket Town was a site that was my favorite place to read Final Fantasy VII fan fiction.  It was there that I found Conflicts of Interest and Balance of Power.  Those two are probably my favorite fan fictions of the aftermath of Final Fantasy VII.  The Internet Archive happened to archive quite a lot of the Rocket Town site.  I'm going to look some more at what I can get off the archive from that site right after this update.

I finished watched all of it today.  It was a really great series.  My favorite character was definitely Urumi Kanzaki.  I'll be picking up the manga volumes soon, and I'll start watching the the live action GTO episodes that I kept for some reason.

It turns out that Onegai Friends is just a drama CD that contains a side story for Onegai Twins.  I was looking forward to another series too.  ;_;

I think it was just as gloomy last year as it was yesterday, except that last year was actually a bit colder.

I'm still a little pissed that I couldn't get a hotel so I could get a voucher for a guaranteed ticket to the Masquerade.  It looks dismal, but I may end up standing for another 2-3 hours in the standby line again.  -_-
It looks like I'll be attending 2-3 GoH panels and maybe the Yoko Ishida concert.  Hopefully this means I can get myself tickets to AMVs, AX Idol, and Masquerade easier.
This year, I plan on just getting a few things.  A box of Final Fantasy Trading Arts figures is really the only important thing I will most likely be buying.  Also, I might get a Justice or Freedom 1/100 model.

I saw Inu Yasha 154-155 earlier today.  The new opening shows Tessaiga now has a new diamond form.  It looks like a very entertaining attack.

It's been six years.  What have I learned in those six years?  I look back at all that has happened.  From that, I have learned that nothing will change.  Since then, I have been living vicariously through anime.  I have learned that in real life:  there is no Honda Tohru for me; I can't become like Urashima Keitaro; I won't be forced into a relationship like Kusangai Kei; I won't dial a wrong number and have a goddess; and I won't find a girl who puts up the same facade as me.

My ethics are things that no one can change.  If they change, the reason it changed will most likely change because of something I read out of a book.  Hardly anything, besides writing, can change them.  My facade is what really blocks the path, but it is the single thing I will not give up.  Is it possible for someone to overcome the obstacle I have stubbornly kept in my way?  Probably, but I bet the chances that I meet this person is so small, that it is an insignificant number.

Last year, I posted this exact thing up to the "Last year" part at the beginning of this sentence(look at June 2003).  This site is going on three years old.  Another year has gone by for me.  This is a pretty angsty post, but this day warrants it.  It's a Wednesday, but I hope I'll be able to spend it like any other day, all by myself.  It has been a pretty uneventful year actually.  Some friends grew apart and new friends grew closer.  This summer and fall will be a turning point for a lot of people, including myself.  I can only hope that I'm able to land a well-paying job so I can get the fuck out of this house before the end of this year.  From there, I wonder what will become of me.  Ayu-sama has been a gracious god.  There were definitely some huge bumps in this year's road, but Ayu-sama has still been very kind to my fate.  I have tasted the smallest wraths of the real world, and I'm going to take it head on with my will.  I have upped the amount of emotional damage I can take by a lot this year, and I know it will not be wasted upon my freedom into the hell of the free world.  I'm like a scorpion going for a swim.  Will I sink and drown, or will I live up to the Bayushi motto:  "I can swim"?

My favorite Bit Torrent site, anime.mircx.com, has been MIA since they made an announcement that ADV contacted them about removing all licensed torrents.  I'm back to using Baka-Updates and AnimeSuki, which blows chunks compared to mircx's torrent listings.  anime.mircx was nice because they listed any Anime related torrents like OSTs, mangas, and raws.

A new Anime I watched today was Samurai 7.  ANBU-Keep released episodes 1 and 2.  I am very impressed with everything it has to offer.  It's like Escaflowne in that their are machines, but there are still old things like the idea of bushido around.  The animation is just awesome, and the fights are nice.  I think I'll start writing reviews for it.

In Aishiteruze Baby 10, Kokoro actually let Kippei feel her up.  -_-
I really don't think that belongs in here, and it brings up my hatred for that "playboy" image that almost turned me off this Anime in the first place.

Revolutionary Girl Utena was a great Anime.  It's old-school style didn't bother me much at all.  The filler(it looked like filler to me anyways) centered around Nanami was a bit irritating though.  I felt sad for Utena when she found out that her prince was actually a bad person.  I had high hopes for a Touga-Utena relationship.  Even though he is a "playboy," I had a love/hate feeling towards him throughout the series.  For some reason, I really think that he can be a good person.  Whereas with Kippei, I just feel he's genuinely stupid.  I hope the movie can fill my thirst for a Touga-Utena relationship.  The ending was bittersweet, with the bitterness being more clear.

One Piece was licensed by 4Kids.  How in the hell did that happen?!  One Piece may have been targeted at Japanese kids, but American kids have soccer moms that won't like a lot of One Piece's scenes.  4Kids shouldn't have touched this Anime.  There are guns, blood, and cursing.  They said they planned on showing it on FoxBox.  Really, they will only butcher it to pieces.  Now, why do I have a problem with 4Kids licensing One Piece while I had no problem with Funimation licensing Fullmetal Alchemist?  Funimation brought out Kiddy Grade and Fruits Basket, and they were both superb dubs.  4Kids dubs and edits Anime for children.  Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Shaman King.  Let's take a look at the track records of these.

Pokémon - Many names were changed.  Episodes were completely cut for reasons such as having a gun and James having big tits.  If I recall correctly, they were edited and shown at a later time also.

Yu-Gi-Oh - Had many names changed also.  They completely skipped the first season.  I assume that the first season was just like the manga, and if that's true then they skipped some bad ass parts.  Also has the usual edits of guns and death dialogue.

Shaman King - I actually have only seen one episode of the dubbed version.  So I don't really have enough to go on.  The only edit I know of is that Manta's name became Mortimer.  I'll go dig up some information right now. *A few Google searches later.*  Okay, so it looks like they changed a lot of other names too.  Another horrible edit I read was that Yoh's reasoning for becoming a Shaman King was completely different in the dub.  As I said before, I haven't seen enough dub episodes to give a real good opinion on it.  It does seem like things 4Kids would do though. 

All of these Anime have also had their openings and endings completely redone.  These Americanization of Anime for kids are really stupid.  Funimation should be able to re-dub the series in uncut form for the hardcore fans.  I'm grateful that they can release uncut subs of Yu-Gi-Oh and Shaman King, but I'd love a dub done right.  One Piece was an Anime that I was hoping to get a real nice dub like Cowboy Bebop or Fruits Basket.  Now with 4Kids getting it and planning on showing it to kids, an uncut dub seems improbable.  I hope Funimation can make one though.

I know 4Kids is going to change Usopp and Sanji's names.  What's worse is that Sanji's signature things will be likely changed.  His French attacks will likely be renamed, his perverted-ness will be toned down, and his habit of using the word shit will be completely taken out.  My favorite scene in One Piece was when Nami was stabbing herself and Luffy came and stopped her.  She then finally asked Luffy to help.  I know this scene will be butchered to hell with 4Kids making everything "kid friendly." -_-

Fuck you 4Kids.  One Piece isn't for your wussy kids.  I hope your butchered piece of crap gets low ratings, and Funimation's uncut subs own the sales of your edited crap.

In other news, those damn Lakers won earlier tonight.  I want to see them cry like last season when they were knocked out.  Come on Detroit!  Don't give them another win!

My final score was 166.  It's about 30 points more than my score from last summer's character contest.  I think I'll do well for this summer's contest too.

Aishiteruze Baby 9 was awesome.  Kippei finally hooked up with Kokoro.  The next episode looks good too.

I was able to watch the first episode of Revolutionary Girl Utena today.  I thought it was very good.  Utena is my kind of girl.  ^_^

I haven't been checking up on the newest information about Kingdom Hearts 2 until today.  I wonder how Vincent is going to look like.  I know one of my friends isn't going to like it. *lol*

I'll just end with the picture I'll be using when I write up my Aishiteruze Baby 9 review.

I got the minimum score, 700, and passed my Windows 2000 Server test.  This test was harder than each of the SQL ones. -_-

Well, instead of starting on some reviews, I got caught up with Inu Yasha episodes(149-153).  I think I was one of the few people who didn't see Kikyou coming back.  >_>
It was nice to see some more Miroku and Sango interaction in episode 153.

In my PMX Con Report, I said that one of the AMVs that caught my attention was a Revolutionary Girl Utena AMV done to a Britney Spears's song.  I spent some time burning off a couple DVD-Rs of Anime earlier today so I could start a 8 GB torrent for the Utena series.  I have seen enough pictures to recognize that the AMV was from that series, but I hadn't seen any moving clips until that night.  From those scenes, I just got one of my spontaneous urges and now I want to watch that series.

I also watched the the Green Green 13 OVA.  I wanted Midori to be with Yusuke (in the end).  The episode is nice nonetheless.

Samurai Champloo looks like it'll be another nice samurai series.
I've given up on KonoMini and BakuTen.
I'm looking forward to further development on Kippei and Kokoro's relationship on Aishiteruze Baby.

Other than Naruto and sometimes One Piece, I really don't talk much about manga.  The actual amount of physical manga volumes I have is close to 300 I think.
Kare Kano is of course my favorite series.  Since it has finally went beyond the anime, they just don't come out fast enough for me.  >.<
I'm currently keeping up with Initial D, Fruits Basket, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Negima.
I bought the first volume of Yu-Gi-Oh just to give it a chance.  It was surprisingly good and I've been keeping up with it.
When I read Initial D I always replace the Americanized names with the originals sub-conciously so it isn't really that bad until some really corny slang is thrown in.
Negima is really good.  I think it'll be even more entertaining than Love Hina.

Of all the manga I've read, I love Negima's style of translation the best.  Del Ray put small translation text right next to most of the sound effects, and they had the explanation of honorifics that they left un-translated.  In my opinion, honorifics should always be left untranslated.  TokyoPop usually leaves sound effects unexplained.  In Fruits Basket they do have a section at the end of the manga that list most of the translation of the sounds, but Del Ray did it best by just writing it right next to the characters.  The only problem with Del Ray is that the pages are easily torn from the spine.

Starcraft did its best, but SSBM prevailed.  I will be very happy when I see FF7 completely own it. >_>

I forgot to mention this in the last update; Onegai's third series was announced.  This time it'll be called Onegai Friends.  This actually seems like it's going to be a normal romance series since there isn't really anything taboo like with Teacher and Twins.  Friends becoming lovers isn't that far out there, but it will be interesting to see if they put something taboo in it.

The latest AX 04 Guest of Honor is Yoko Ishida, and I feel very nostalgic since she was a GoH at the first AX I went to(AX 02).  Unfortunately, her concert is exactly at the same time as Range Murata's GoH Panel.  Murata was the character designer for Last Exile and I was hoping to see if I could win a sketch of his(I'ill ask for Tatiana if he doesn't pre-draw them).  I am still conflicted about which event to go to.  >.<
I'm still waiting for a Gundam Seed and/or Naruto GoH to be announced by way of Bandai.  If Bandai would sponsor a Naruto guest, it would be very likely for Bandai to announce the license for it.  It would finally end all this scared talk of 4Kids getting the license.  I'm still betting on Bandai to get the license since they already make the toys for Naruto.  It would also practically guarantee a spot on Cartoon Network.  Hopefully, Adult Swim.

Speaking of Naruto, it seems that Naruto will start having filler episodes this summer after the movie is released.  In the newest issue of NewTypeUSA, there is an article that says that they have basically caught up with the manga.  They want to put some space inbetween the Anime and manga so they will introduce a new character that will "cheer up" the series.  I welcome the filler with open arms/eyes/ears.  I prefer filler over stupid recaps any day of the week.

I'll be taking another Microsoft test tomorrow, so after I finish with that I'll try to catch up on the reviews.

My con report is here.  It was an okay con.  I think it'll be much better next next year.

I was amazed to find out that Starcraft was able to beat out Wind Waker, and yet I was saddened that FF fanboys weren't able to pull of the win against SSBM.  I hope Starcraft beats SSBM.

I was able to watch Aishiteruze Baby 8 earlier today when I got back.  I'll try to write up reviews as fast as I can.  >_>
PMX introduced me to another Anime.  I thought the first 5 episodes of Kaze no Yojimbo were good.  I'll see if I can download the rest of it tomorrow.