What the heck? I found out today that my school's computers block Photobucket. I understand them blocking Youtube, but Photobucket is a useful resource, especially considering I'm in all graphics classes and need to use images. I've been using it a lot since September, so this is frustrating. Even my high school, which blocked everything, didn't block Photobucket. I am pissed, and will have to find a better way to store images besides clogging up space on my flash drives.

There were definitely some pluses to this episode, but the fact that the resolution was predictable as death made it a bit slow to watch at parts. Obviously, Mai wasn't going to leave the team, considering 1)She's a main character 2)They obviously need the giant flying ship (if only because it's cool), and she'd take that with her and 3)She's casted in the next couple episodes. So, yeah.

But as for the pluses (in no particular order
-Krakki! He still manages to be hilarious. I kinda expected he'd lose the battle, just because he was acting so smug the whole time.
-Seven! Galaxy! Okay, so he was only in for like less then a minute, but since he'll be in the next few episodes, I assume this was just a tease. Actually, I half-expected for him to only show up at the end or something (he only showed up in the middle, actually) so I wasn't greatly disappointed. Plus, he did the stupid poses and his catchphrase, so that was enough win.
-The Yuuki/Kajitsu scene. That was rather interesting. Kajitsu seems to be suffering a lot from whatever was happening to her last time. She's still quite mysterious. I hope she doesn't die or anything, just because she's my favorite new character at the moment, but they seem to definitely be building her up as a tragic character, so I'm not sure what to expect. Given the nature of this show as a fantasy rather than slice-of-life as the original Battle Spirits was, I actually do see character death as a possibility.
-The next episode (which should be the last before the break) looks very interesting. So there was a previous red soldier, and he's Magisa's lover or something? I'd love to know.

As for my other shows, I watched the next 4 episodes of 11eyes. Yuka is really creepy. Still, I think that makes her kind of awesome. I don't get why all the comments on the Youtube videos are about how much people hate her. I thought yandere-type characters were the cool thing these days. Also, I hate the subtitles for this show. I don't know if these are the ones ripped from Crunchyroll I'm watching, or some fansubbers work, but I keep finding errors in them. They do get the general point across, but still, a lot of times it's just not what the characters are saying. If it is the Crunchyroll subs, then I kinda think they should be more professional with their translations. I understand using a more liberal script in dubbing, so it matches the mouth flaps and sounds more natural, but subs tend to be more exact.

Yesterday I decided to watch the first 5 episodes of 11eyes. I've been kinda curious about the series, if only because the character designs are really cute, and from things I've heard about it (mostly that one of the main characters goes psycho), I decided it'd be worth just checking out. I like it so far. A bit slow paced for the episode count, but since it's mildly confusing, maybe that's a good thing. Also, it has some seiyuu I like in the main cast, so bonus points for that. The series is still airing, so I'll try to catch up with it this week.

Another series I'm curious about is Fairy Tail. I know I can hardly stay interested in shounen fighting anime for very long, so I probably would end up dropping it, but it just looks interesting. Anyone watched it/have an opinion on it?

I finally started on my Christmas shopping. I don't think it's too late, especially because sometimes there's extra mail, and so things ship faster around Christmas time. It can get so complicated to pick the right things out, and I don't exactly have a great budget, not having worked since last year because I've been much too busy with school. And I'm probably going to be taking summer classes again, in order to save money, so I don't know about working then either.

Finally back from another long day out. I'll still be busy tomorrow, since I have something to get done for school and grocery shopping.

Anyway, the weekend was a lot of fun. On Friday, the actual day of my birthday, I was shopping in the city with my father. It wasn't really for my birthday, just that he had the day off that day and was planning it anyway, and invited me to come. Still, it was nice because I got to have a Jamba Juice, and I just love being out there. I miss living there. Too bad nothing really went in my favor when trying to transfer schools.

As for gifts, I got two of the R2 Battle Spirits DVDs, volumes 1 and 13. I also got a truckload of cards, including some that I particularly wanted. I've never actually played the game (partially because I don't have anyone to play with) but they're kinda fun to collect, especially the ones used in the show for fannish reasons (ie: I got J's overkill X-rare, the card I jokingly dubbed months ago "the symbol of Card Sensei/Eight OTP" and a ton of Smile's original deck.)

Today I went to the Palisades Mall, basically my most favorite place. It was fun, and I got all the food I wanted (more Jamba Juice, TCBY, Cold Stone Creamery, a salad from Blimpies.) Unfortunately, the Kinokuniya was a disappointment. Usually it's great, and I actually can find better things here than the one in the city. However, they didn't really have anything I was looking for. I thought of getting some of the Railgun manga to spoil myself on the anime (speaking of which, episode 10 was an awesome birthday gift) but I figured I should just save my money, because I'll find out eventually. The art isn't as cute as the anime anyway. Also, they used to have a lot of open samples of the magazines and artbooks, so I could skim through and see if something would appeal to me. The only magazines they had open though were either ones that had things stolen from them or no articles I was interested in. I'd rather not buy something on impulse without knowing the content, so I decided to pass on any of the rest.

I can live with it, obviously, but I missed Battle Spirits this week. Hope it shows up online soon. I spoiled myself on 2chan though. I know the character designer for this series is different, but why did they change Seven's hair color from blonde to white? The mascot character's hair is also blonde. Unless it's Ko-Galaxy instead, but I know it's not. He still looks pretty, but it'll take some getting used to. Regardless, I should not be more excited about this than this. Sick, twisted pairing is sick and twisted.

It's my birthday!

I'm glad it's finally December. Even since Thanksgiving, the days have been dragging, and I'm anxious about this weekend. To keep busy, I decided to finally do another art meme on DeviantArt. I haven't in a while, just because they take so long (I'm tablet-less), but now I welcome that. Instead of using Paint this time, I'm trying Photoshop, so it will take even longer. I've gotten five panels done so far (started yesterday) actually, so that's decent progress, as there's 11 questions total.

Of course, there's one thing about this month I'm dreading, which is the Code Geass announcement coming up, but I still have my hopes up that it will be something other than a direct sequel series.

*Goes back to drawing*

I must go on about this ep a bit, because it was all sorts of mind-blowing.

-Kajitsu finally got a battle, besides the snippet where she beat Dan in the real world in the first ep. That was cool, but I was even more intrigued by the fact that she's managing to get even creepier. The last scene was one big what-the-heck moment.
-I think this ep. has made a new mark in that characters are actually trying to resolve conflict not by playing Battle Spirits (though they're also doing that) but with actual physical combat. The Magisa vs. Yuuki fight was interesting, but who really stood out was Mai. I guess I just wasn't expecting her to get so violent. I loved what she did to Kazan. I actually like him, but it was still funny.
-Don't die Krakki. I'm sure he'll be fine, since it's only ep. 12 of approx 50, but that still leaves a bit of suspense.
-Hideto=still absent. Hmm...
-New potential pairing: Serju/Mai. I never thought of it beforehand, but they do look very pretty together.

Next week, unless there's a snowstorm or something (which there had best not be) I won't get to see the resolution of the cliffhanger, as I'm going out for my birthday. Oh well, I'll find it online eventually.

New season of ikki Tousen announced! One anime I don't mind sequels for, because it doesn't have much ongoing plot anyway. Just a new story each season, with the same overall premise. Still, the third season was weak at points. Loved the Saji/Ryomou in it, but some of it wasn't all that exciting, maybe just because I didn't much care for Ryofu, and her return was a big plot point. I also heard the 3rd wasn't based off the manga, but was an original story. I wonder if this will be the same. Anyway, hope it'll be interesting.

As tomorrow's Thanksgiving, I've already done a bit of cooking. I'm trying to make a pudding pie, but since I've never attempted it myself before, I have no idea how it's going to turn out. Hopefully it's tasty. Tomorrow I'll work on the rest, so it's fresher.

I woke up to Christmas music on my alarm clock this morning. Pure awesome. Sure, I'll get sick of it long before Christmas like most years, (November 21st is a bit too early), but for now, it's awesome to realize that it's not that far off (and my birthday is even sooner.)

I think I can see now what people meant when they said the plot of Railgun in the early episodes was practically dragged out filler. I enjoyed the episodes and I'm loving this show, but compared to yesterday's episode, mostly the surprise ending, I think it's going to get much better. I wonder if Saten is really going to use the level upper, and what's going to happen to her. Since it apparently puts its users into comas, that could mean temporarily offing a major character. Definitely looking forward to seeing what happens next, because I haven't read the manga.

Haven't talked about Smallville in a bit, but as usual, Clark is an idiot. Last night's episode, and his plan on how to deal with Zod proved that. The episode, amazingly, was actually kind of enjoyable. Maybe I just liked seeing everyone die, even though it was their future selves. They just had to ruin it with the stupid ending.

-Finally some more of Yuuki and Kajitsu. They interest me, so I'm glad to finally get some background on them and their motives. I guess they're not really evil, probably more like well-intentioned extremists. At that, I think I've officially given up in my resolve to not ship them. If they weren't siblings, they'd be pretty much canon at this point
-As far as pairings go, I'm still disappointed at the lack of them. There's Krakki/Sophia, but I don't even know if she'll show up again. Zungurii/Mai maybe, but it's absolutely one-sided, and I don't really think Zungurii will end up with anyone. Though I don't remember his age ever being stated, he definitely looks like a little kid, so it would feel too pedo. And I still like Dan/Magisa, but the likelihood of that is pretty low. Dan/Krakki is growing on me too, as far as slash goes, and I'd like to see more Dan/Yuuki interaction as well.
-I was surprised by the lack of Dan's group this episode. Still, Krakki was amusing as usual. I wonder when (if?) Hideto is going to join them. The OP/ED certainly indicate it, but the first quarter is almost over, so I'm surprised they haven't filled the whole team yet.
-Michiko Neya's character shows up next week, yay! I doubt she'll be more than a one-ep character, though.
-I'm hoping Belga (or however it's spelled) is a one ep. character. Maybe part of the reason I saw Yuuki in a much more positive light this week is because his opponent was such an egotistical jerk. If he does show up again, then I hope he'll develop to the point where I can tolerate his presence.
-I should make some icons for this series. /random