mDuo13

Well, I'm now breaking what I think is the longest streak of not writing any blog entries since I updated this site. And it hasn't been for a lack of things to write about; closer to a lack of time to write about them. In the time since my last post I've finished ARIA The ORIGINATION, Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 and a few other anime series, graduated from college, played Metal Gear Solid 3, gone to Fanime Con, started smoking, gotten married, gotten divorced, lost my job, gone to the moon, fought off cancer, climbed Mount Everest, and played a lot of mahjong. Okay, I admit, a few of those were made up. But really, a lot has happened.

Watching the final episode of ARIA The ORIGINATION as I graduated from college was a really bittersweet experience. I mean, ARIA is a series that had carried me through most of college, something I had made friends over and grown to love with that deep-seated power that brings tears of joy. I was somewhat prepared for the last episode, so it wasn't as emotional as it could've been, but it conjured moments of recollection to when realizing that the series would end brought tears to my eyes; and, upon the realization that I, too, was moving on in life, I felt closer to Akari than ever before.

Many of the other things I did - MGS3, for example, were not nearly as emotional. Yes, it was a good game, frustrating at times but much more emotionally powerful than MGS2, and interestingly different at times. I don't know why, but I loved the infamous ladder scene. Probably because MGS3 has such a good theme. Meanwhile, Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket was pretty enjoyable, especially the amazingly good animation of the mechs, and 0079 was pretty interesting and classic. I like to describe the latter as a show that's 30 episodes about post-traumatic stress disorder, and 10 episodes about lysergic acid diethylamide.

The part about losing my job was true, too. Unfortunately, economic times are tough, and it's a lot easier to lay off the intern just before he becomes full time than it is to fire someone else who's already full-time. Luckily, I'm still on good terms with the folks at MontaVista, and I think I've got a pretty strong resume. It's just an issue of getting it to companies that need me, something I honestly haven't been pushing too hard just yet. Right now I'm biding my time, getting better at mahjong, and working on various side projects that I never had time for at school. Honestly, if I hadn't gotten laid off, there's a good chance I never would have finished and released a scanlation of Tabi to Michidure. So it isn't all bad things.

My justification for that, by the way, has to do with a few things. At Fanime, I picked up 10 volumes of Tsukuyomi ~Moon Phase~ manga for a paltry $25, which turns out is not the whole series; it diverges from the anime around tankobon 8 or 9, and Tokyopop hasn't gotten past 12 yet. But when I was reading it, the feeling I got was kind of similar to Yui's reaction to watching the fledgling K-ON band's first performance. "How can I say it... you weren't really that good! But it looked really fun, and hearing it like that, it makes me feel like even I could do it." Tokyopop's translations for Moon Phase are really not that good. Characters' names change from volume to volume or even chapter to chapter within the same volume: Haiji gets called Heidi, Balgus becomes Valgus and then Balgus again; there are typos and poor grammar sprinkled throughout, and lots of just generally awkward phrasing akin to what you might find in a fansub. But my favorite one of all has to be what they call the most powerful of vampires: "Vampire Road". Now, I suppose it is acutely possible that this is some sort of bad pun by the mangaka, but I'm more apt to believe that someone probably working in a hurry simply didn't notice how バンパイア・ロード (Banpaia Ro-do for those who don't read moon runes) has a much more natural reading in this context. So, given the fact that the professional level is not particularly high quality, I felt assured that I could make a scanlation of acceptable quality myself, and with some help from Spiritsnare on typesetting and LastElixir on indecipherable kanji scribbles, I think I've managed to do just that for a series nobody else is reading.

Anyway, I should probably call this chattering off here before I lose your attention (perhaps it's too late already?) and thus, I sign off here. See you next mission!