Some bad news for avid direct downloaders that frequent Nekodownloads.com and Anime.c.la. Nekodownloads.com is down at the moment due to hard drive failure and will be restored as soon as this is fixed (as reported by an admin in Anime-Yume’s forum). Anime.c.la’s problems, on the other hand, are unknown to me. It has been suffering from rather frequent outages in recent days, most probably due to heavy traffic / bandwidth use, but this outage has been one of the longest yet.

In fact, mezura.computed.net - another popular anime direct download site for the most recent fansubs - has also been suffering from sporadic FTP outages. Lucky for us, the outages tend to be temporary (less than 1 day).

Now for the opening video from Uta-Kata - a rather good anime, if you can take the underage fanservice that permeates most of the episodes. Oh yes, I liked the opening song. If you haven’t already seen Uta-Kata, download this video and tell me whether the opening song is good. If it isn’t, well… blame it on my bad taste.

In any case, I’m trying out another free file host to lessen the load on the Anime Field Download Server. This video, therefore, has two sources: The AF Download Server and Badongo. If you can, try out Badongo and tell me how it goes.

Format: .avi (unchanged settings from fansub)
Host: Badongo and Anime Field Download Server
Episode Fansubbed By: AnY-Spork

anime, animation, downloads, uta-kata, opening, video

Yup, yup. I’ve finally got some work done on the A-Z Anime Downloads List. For those who do not already know, it’s a list that points you to anime direct download sites, according to the the series they host. For example:

Ah My Goddess! TV Series

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Direct Download Sites:
• SushiBarNetwork | Requires Free Registration |
• GetItFido | Heavy Pop-Ups |
• AnimeOtaku.info | Requires Forum Posting |
• anime.yurikamome.info

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I’m finally at Page 2, i.e. series that start with alphabets D, E, and F. So, check out Page 1, i.e. A to C, and help me identify what I’m missing. Thanks. Oh yeah, it’s on the Key Pages section on the right sidebar.

And the suspense continues with this episode. I may be a sucker for anime involving the development of some tensai (genius), but the objective side of my brain still finds Akagi pretty good so far. In this episode, Akagi’s very first Mahjong session against the Yakuza continues (at the 5th game, I think) - with the detective that barged in earlier watching that is.

In the last episode, we saw Akagi simultaneously handle the police (with an excellently executed alibi) and the Yakuza Mahjong players (by stealing tiles with the police watching). In this episode, however, we see no more of that hanky-panky Akagi is capable of. Instead, we witness the Awakening of the Genius, which happens to be the title of the episode too. With super-risky move after super-risky move, Akagi wins the next Mahjong games hands down, to the extent that the Yakuza ends up calling their rep player (pro player), Yagi.

Yagi is no slouch either. He immediately recognizes Akagi’s talent in Mahjong and prefers to sit out and observe Akagi’s games rather than rush in with zero prep like overly arrogant pros tend to do. When Yagi starts playing, his first super-move is a full-blown psychological attack on Akagi by attempting to cause Akagi to lose trust in his judgment. And, of course, we not only see Akagi standing tall against that pressure, but deflecting the same tactic back at Yagi. With that ends the 2nd subbed episode of Akagi.

Conclusion:
Like all anime series of this kind, detailed explanation of every wonder-move that the genius (and his opponents) makes is given to allow appreciation of the skill involved. But unlike series like Prince of Tennis - where a super-move can easily be recognized as one (well, a ball that never bounces and a ball that changes spin in mid-air are clearly super-moves) - the super-moves in Akagi are far more difficult to understand, especially for a Mahjong newbie like me. This does turn me off a little.

But I suppose the converse is also true. Those who are proficient in Mahjong should appreciate the super-moves even more. The greater problem at hand is probably the slow subbing for Akagi. I can’t blame Triad (they have relatively few staff), but being at episode 2 with the epiosde 13 raw already out is pretty sucky. Now, this is when I wish my Japanese studies were more advanced.

anime, animation, summaries, akagi

Another anime direct downloads forum has come into the anime downloadsphere, moderated by several regular posters (and a moderator) from Animesanction.net.

1) http://www.animexcalibur.net
- Posts Required to Access Downloads: 5 Posts
- Download Speed: Above Average
- Video Format: High Quality .rmvb
- Content: Planet ES (1-26), Soultaker (1-13), Fate/Stay Night, Full Metal Alchemist Movie

Edit: Also has Getbackers, Sousei no Aquarion, Street Fighter Movie and Maburaho

I promised myself I would never ever watch any anime series of this type (i.e. witch-based + school girls transforming into supergirls-style). Oh, the pain involved: Corny transformation sequences and really akward spell names. But here I am blogging about Sugar Sugar Rune. I’ve failed myself, haven’t I?

Don’t take me wrong. I’ve watch witch-based anime. Take Mahou Shoujo Tai - a relatively undiscovered gem. Read PSGels’ summary of Mahou Shoujo Tai’s 36th episode at Star Crossed, which echo exactly my sentiments. I’ve watched school girls transforming into supergirls-style anime too, with Pretear and Pretty Cure as examples. But Sugar Sugar Rune brings these genres to new “heights”.

The series begins with an introduction of our cast, with the main characters being the two witches Chocolat and Vanilla (hmm…). Both have been selected as Queen Candidates and are tasked with collecting “hearts” in the human world. The one with the most hearts will thus become the new Queen.

Now, what are “hearts” you might ask? Well, these are the elusive crystals that can be collected by witches from humans who are either surprised or in love with the witches in question. So it seems that the “goal” of our dear witches is to make as many people in love with them as possible.

After the girls are sent to the Human World, Rockin’ Robin - a veteran guy witch (not sure what they are called in the series yet) - welcomes the girls and later, shows off his talent in collecting hearts (especially from females) at the school where both of the girls are posted to. But the most monumental scene in the episode was when Chocolat realised that the Human World was the opposite of the Magic World. While we value politeness in the human world (i.e. Vanilla-style), witches in the Magic World made great friends if they were nasty and scary (i.e. Chocolat-style). That’s different all right.

To make things clear, the guy in the screenshot above is a character introduced at the final parts of the first episode (not Rockin’ Robin). He’s the standard mysterious, handsome, classy and super-egoistic guy. We know nothing about him yet, but I have a funny feeling he’s the bad guy or something like that.

So, the story does seem to be original to some extent (to the credit of the anime creators). But, did I tell you that you use a heart-shaped “heart-holder” to store your hearts and that the number of hearts collected at the end of each episode are weighed and calculated? Oh yeah, at the end of episode 1, Chocolat scores with 1 yellow heart (a.k.a. “piss” and trust me, I didn’t come up with this) while Vanilla ends up with 0 hearts. Moreover, there isn’t even any moral to the “story” (well, most of these type of series have them).

Since I’m the type that completely watches any anime I start, no matter how bad it gets, I’ll probably finish this one too (if it gets completely subbed that is). Arghh, so far, it just seems as if I never blog anything good. (Note to myself: Is this why no one else blogs about Sugar Sugar Rune and Itsudatte My Santa?) It’s either that, or I’m a real pessimist.

anime, animation, summaries, sugar+sugar+rune

There has always been this Chinese site, irradiance.net that provides raw anime opening and ending videos for download, but given that I can’t read Chinese and have never bothered to Google/Babelfish translate the page, I forgot about it. But recently, I found a web page that lists the videos that irradiance.net hosts. Technically, it is hotlinking, so morally, you should visit irradiance.net first.

Anyway, go here if you want to see the list of raw anime opening and ending downloads listed in English. There are OPs and EDs from anime series such as Naruto, Initial D and School Rumble.

I just launched a poll (on the right sidebar) asking the commonly asked question (I think): Do you watch your anime raw or subbed (or maybe both)?

I registered my vote: I’m a sub watcher for the only reason that I can’t understand sufficient Japanese to last through half an episode. But I’m sure quite a number of anime watchers out here are raw watchers given the number of downloaders of raws on BT and the existence of anime bloggers watching raws, e.g. Matthew’s Anime Blog.

So, give me your 5 seconds. Now, go vote!