[ cosplay ] himeno shirayuki : velvet

layer : Himeno Shirayuki
character : Velvet
series : Odin Sphere
score : *****

ODIN SPHERE APPRECIATION WEEK, COSPLAY SPECIAL VOL. 02

magnificently realistic. behold !, costume accuracy and character likeness point is over 9000 ! *crushes scouter*, and this certainly is what i [ greatly ] love the most when it comes to himeno-san's cosplays [ the very same thing as mentioned in the related post below ]; they were always, always, always done magnificently right on every single aspect possible; from her costumes [ which were often gloriously well made ] right down to her appearances in them - it's as if she was born to relive these characters [ that she has done so far ] IRL :3

with that said, this velvet-get of hers is so wonderfully executed and portrayed; very flawless, and very finely breathtaking i was put in awe the moment i first saw these back around a year ago, long before i realize from which game was the character from [ i sincerely admit that it is thanks to this velvet and gwendolyn-gets of hers that i have built quite a lasting curiosity and interest into the game odin sphere :3 ].

[ cosplay ] himeno shirayuki : gwendolyn

layer : Himeno Shirayuki
character : Gwendolyn
series : Odin Sphere
score : *****

ODIN SPHERE APPRECIATION WEEK, COSPLAY SPECIAL VOL. 01

it has been a [ very long ] while since himeno-san's elegance last grace the pages of +ophanium, and since i have recently picked up quite a huge interest and liking into the vanillaware game odin sphere + seeing that she had done two most exceptionally beautiful / splendid cosplay for gwendolyn and velvet from the mentioned game, so i had a thought to myself - 'why not if we hold a special odin sphere cosplay special, featuring both gwendolyn and velvet-gets of her ?'. and thus, the odin sphere appreciation week came to fruition.

truth to be told, himeno-san's cosplays as always often far exceed the words i could ever think of to write for them; praise worthily they were splendid, were beautifully crafted / executed and were simply most magnificent among the best i have seen all this while; and these pictures most definitely will speak for themselves :3

intermission : tea break from the game

[ author's note : this is just a random, spontaneous obligatory filler post that was conceived out of whim, and so you might as well skip reading it since i doubt you'll find any point of interest in this very post :3 ]

a lot of things have been distracting me lately, especially since now i have come with the decision to do some intensive catch up with all the games i have missed for the past two years; and the game marathon alone took about 1/3 of the time i've allocated for my daily / weekly anime watch, thus reducing the amount of time i could spend for anime backlogs [ since my priority now lies more on currently airing series ] and the material i could write for this blog here :P . that aside, i have also been much too engrossed on gathering as much cosplay images i could get at the moment, which sometimes robbed my entire time in front of my computer to the point that i was often left behind with my daily / weekly anime watchlist [ as a result of this i have now shoved all them currently airing episodes to a specific day of the week as opposed to me watching them on daily basis prior ].

honestly said, i didn't quite expect for +ophanium to last more than a year, given my short span of interest in everything i do and the amount of stress it has caused to me ever since i decided to expand this blog into more than just a place where i rant and rant and rant about almost every little thing that i had in mind. and +, i didn't quite expect for it to evolve into the blog it is as of today, as my initial expectation was to steer it more towards the music path [ to be precise, my original plan was to turn it into some sort of a music distro with occasional rantings on anime etc so to add in more diverse flavor ]; but given how horrid my skill in reviewing things are, i've come decided to take a much safer path and expand the blog on a much broader spectrum as how it is now, but somehow things took on a much more unsuspected turn and it now became grounded more into the anime / cosplay blog you were reading now xD

in the meanwhile, our chief editor / grammar police zange-chan is currently away for about a few weeks from this blog due to her commitment somewhere else, which as well will impair my working pace / productivity since i usually took thrice more the time she often spend on grammar checking. that, and my grammar skill is waaaaay beyond terrible :D and also, lately i've been somewhat less interested in whether this place still garner some readership or not [ as seen from my constant tardiness in providing updates / new posts as opposed to the much productive year we had in 2008 / 09 ], thus, you might as well consider me as getting entangled in the fatal disease that is 'laziness', but rest assured that despite all that has been written in this paragraph, i am more than devoted to keep this blog alive for as long as i could, though things might be crawling on the extreme slow pace it is now for the time being :P

okay, i'm done with the obligatory filler post. now back to my game xD [ edit : i don't watch world cup, so this slow pace we had here as of now absolutely has nothing to do with the said sports event :3 ]

odin sphere : first impression

ODIN SPHERE
developer : Vanillaware
publisher : Atlus / Square Enix [ PAL reg. ]
year of release : 2007 [ JP ]
genre : Action RPG
platform : Playstation 2

first of all this is a mere first impression overview so expect a brief, quick look into the game; full review will be posted much later once i have successfully completed the game :3 . now, since i just got my playstation 2 console back i might as well put up occasional game entries from time to time, though i must say that i have about 2-3 years worth of catching up to be done :P . be noted however, that my preference and interest lies more on role playing games, as i am horribly terrible at playing action-oriented games on console xD

anyway, odin sphere is a 2D fantasy action-rpg that seems to draw most of its myth, element and inspiration from the norse mythology [ most apparent from the title itself, for example ] with lavishly astounding visual that is accompanied by interesting gameplay and a series of nice story to back everything up [ though i am currently playing in gwendolyn's 'the valkyrie' arc by the time this post is conceived, so there is not much i can comment on for the time being :P ]. frankly said, the game is highly immersive [ i even put final fantasy xii aside in favor of odin sphere ] and and its gameplay is what has fully captivates me; for one, it didn't take long for you to fully learn on how everything works in odin sphere, from the controls to in-game elements such as 'alchemy' etc, though i was a bit puzzled on how the maps work at first :P

the entirely gorgeous character design of the game kept reminding me of the otokei dojin group sound horizon, and since i started playing the game, a select number of sound horizon music were playing in my head instead of the actual soundtrack, most notably '詩人バラッドの悲劇 / shijin ballad no higeki' [ from the 2001 album 'chronicle' ] :3 . that aside, the entire visual were done in [ side scrolling, classic much :3 ] 2D unlike most modern rpgs that is now being developed in 3D, but that doesn't drop any attraction point nor do it effect any part of the game as the graphics, as well as the overall art direction / design of odin sphere were splendidly well done. +i simply love the artist's touch on the foreground characters and the beautifully drawn background; simply put, the whole game itself is one wonderful piece of art :3



there seems to be no dramatic cutscenes between chapters, but that is absolutely fine with me since i get to have seamless gameplay in exchange. and let's not forget the accompanying background music, of which i thought to be one of the best [ and most beautiful, in case of the two opening themes by hitoshi sakimoto-sensei; valkyrie profile / final fantasy xii anyone ? :3 ] i have heard so far. despite there are many other awesome soundtracks out there, odin sphere's music wonderfully fits my musical taste just right :3

p/s : gwendolyn + ayako kawasumi = WIN xD

intermission : spring 2010 assessment

sorry for being absent from the blog for much too long, well i finally got my playstation 2 console back after being loaned to one of my younger brother, and is currently much too engrossed on catching up with some of the games i have missed for the past two years [ oh, slowpoke hime ]. okay, so now on to the main topic in hand; just one more week and the current spring 2010 block will come to its end, giving way to the incoming summer with some of its [ promised ] interesting titles for us to savor on [ and please let black rock shooter be released this time, for sure ]. now, looking back to the past two months of spring i must very well say that it's a fun and lively season for me, especially with the [ not so ] large amount of comedy series thrown at us;

01. K-ON !!
i must say it here that the second season by far is the best out of the two season produced for the series so far [ +kyoani delivers, as always :3 ], and i dare say this that k-on !! can easily snatch one of the first top 3 place in my best spring 2010 series list though it has already won over the awesome angel beats ! at this point of time [ despite the latter's splendid achievement / performance with episode 10 ]. but first, i must witness how it would end itself this time around; and hopefully in the same good fashion as the first season was, and after that will i properly judge the series' rank / position in my said 'best list' :3

02. ANGEL BEATS !
one of the two mainstream juggernauts that has been keeping the spring block lively with their respective active fandom. angel beats ! is a remarkably strong series with such an interesting concept and plot / story; the latter comes ultimately strengthen with the presence of the highly celebrated emotional terrorist jun maeda of key's fame [ remember air, kanon and clannad ? or should i remind you of a particular 'mikoto's arc' ? x3 ]. the series has been going pretty nice and well so far, and there were a number of times where an emotionally fragile audience such as myself could engage in brief tearful moments for the sake of some of its characters, most notably kanade-san and yui.

03. WORKING !!
working !! simply is the best slice of life comedy for spring aside from k-on !!, and the two has made such a good back to back pair on my weekly marathon with their charming light comedy taste and ever-interesting interaction between their respective cast of characters. anyway, you may as well read the rest of my view on the series here. btw, YAMADA IS WIN. 'nuff said :D

04. MAYOI NEKO OVERRUN !
i first view the series as being somewhat [ heavily ] inconsistent, both story and visual execution wise [ as i was rooting more on the series' romcom / harem foundation ]. but as the number of episodes grows it seems that there is something about this 'cycling director' thingy that helps in cementing mayoi neko overrun's position as one of the best parody / comedy series ever produced for the year 2010. a little bit more thoughts on this series here :3

05. KAICHOU WA MAID-SAMA !
without a single doubt, kaichou wa maid-sama ! is a splendid and nice shoujo entry for spring. well it may not be a behemoth like past season's kimi ni todoke but kaichou wa maid-sama ! has been holding quite a great fort for itself, much thanks must be given to oh-so-ever-lovely leading couple, misaki and usui. at times you may taste a bit of cliche-ness from its plot / story but that aside, the series has been utilizing such a well done timing and approach to the growing romance between its two leads.

06. KISSXSIS
some may refer to the series as a source of guilty pleasure but for me - as a bow ditama-sensei fan - it is my duty to poke my interest into this as i am very well a fan of his approach in ecchi comedies since the much frowned upon fight ippatsu ! juuden-chan !! [ though my fandom history goes well back to his ultimate masterpiece, mahoromatic ]. and when it comes to ecchi-centric comedy of the spring block, i personally think that this one is far much better than its close rival, b gata h kei :3

07. ICHIBAN USHIRO NO DAIMAOU
don't let the premise of an harem fool you as ichiban ushiro no daimaou is one of the best action comedy series to have graced the spring block. the visual execution may at first seem to be unattractive at first glimpse, as if it was executed with a below satisfying budget [ the character design otherwise is good, and i greatly love it ] but [ not very ] surprisingly it has done so much better than most of its similar-budgeted counterparts, especially against studio madhouse's low cost productions that were often ten times more horrid than this.

08. HEROMAN
heroman's plot is hugely predictable, and that very point is the series' most biggest letdown seeing how bones had previously scored some serious hitter with series like darker than black, fullmetal alchemist, wolf rain and eureka seven just to name a few. besides, they even got stan lee on the story helm but that doesn't seem to help much in bringing in some well felt impact into the series.

on-hold series : arakawa under the bridge, hakuouki [ its because i wanna marathon these two a complete series instead of going through them week by week ], senkou no night raid, house of five leaves [ the same reason as the former two, though not as much to that extent ] and b gata h kei [ this one bores me out. good thing i didn't dropped it yet as i might consider picking it up at some later point ]

oh, and just for a side note [ as usual ], despite all the hate [ some of ] the moe-centric series been constantly getting, i for one am one among the many [ or few ] who acknowledges these [ moe-centric ] series worth with justice, and weren't tempted at all to join in the ever raging wannabe-elitists bandwagon in demoralizing the spirit of its loyal fanbase as haters are mostly immature bunch of people who couldn't think pass their closed mindset to rage over stuff that they couldn't well stomach themselves, and thus, hoping to force their 'failure-to-coupe-with-the-series' through others in the most inelegant way such as hate and faux-elitism. i could bring myself as low as them by claiming that these haters has little to zero taste but that would be so very immature, and i prefer not to play on the same cards as theirs :3

[ cosplay ] uriu : pina sformklan estor

layer : Uriu
character : Pina Sformklan Estor
series : Ladies versus Butlers !
score : *****

MAHOU SHOUJO OTAKU HIME PINA~

this would mark her second attempt at cosplaying a female otaku character from a comedy anime, the first being this splendid konata-get of her from then [ btw, if there's any other related character she has done prior or between these two please do enlighten me, okay ? thank you^^ ], and frankly said, again this is one of her best cosplay-get from the many she has done and magnificently delivered so far. needless for me to write here, uriu-san wonderfully nailed the character [ almost ] perfectly especially on her looks, costume / accessories and most of all, the super-crucial character likeness factor. not to mention, i sincerely love how she did her long, pale blue wig.

flawless pina-get is flawless. that said, here's two thumbs up and a standing ovation from us here at +ophanium.

[ all images are property of muki ]

[ cosplay ] aka : tsukasa hiiragi

layer : Aka
character : Tsukasa Hiiragi
series : Lucky Star
score : *****

BALSAMIC VINEGAR~!

i haven't posted up any feature on aka-san for a while, so here's a magnificent tsukasa-get by her from somewhere in the early 2010. and by magnificent, you can pretty much see for yourself from the featured images above just how accurate and how close she has managed to get into her character; her looks, poses etc. and there's even enough tsukasa-factor to help back and bring life to this wonderful cosplay of her than i could simply ask :3

[ all images are property of mpzero ]

[ album ] demetori : 曼衍珠汝華 ～ nada upasana pundarika

DEMETORI
曼衍珠汝華 ～ Nada Upasana Pundarika
Progressive Metal
Demetori
****1/2

HIME APPROVES; DEMETORI IS THE ULTIMATE GOD OF JAPANESE METAL-

i must say in my highest praise that this would be the best metal album i have come to listen to for the year 2009, taking into account those released outside of japan - including the scandinavian region of which were mostly known for its exquisite melodic death metal scene. and frankly speaking, this is my first experience listening to demetori's music - yet from what i get to sum after few repeated listen on the album is that their blend of progressive metal closely echoes the sound / taste of meshuggah, dream theater and jeff loomis [ of the nevermore fame. and i greatly recommend that you peeps go and check his 'zero order phase' album out :3 ] of which i have already grown accustomed and familiar with, while at the same time retaining the unique japanese metal aftertaste [ japanese metal bands often had this distinct taste in their brand of metal, err... umami ? lol ] on their splendid metallic touhou arrangements.

that said however, the dream theater feel on their music is somewhat more prominent, most noticeably from the guitar works and keyboards [ the latter though is much less apparent than the former ]. but since i somewhat dislike to pull up comparison between two awesome bands so i guess i'll just stop here :3

the insane amount of technicality and their [ elaborately ] complex arrangements for selected touhou music [ in the key of metal :D ] simply strikes awe to myself, and one must also not ignore the explicit mathcore influenece as blatantly apparent from the opening track, for example. if prior to my discovery of this duo i might be listening heavily to either galneryus or versailles when it comes to japanese metal but i think after this it'll probably be demetori, and demetori alone- okay, let's throw in maximum the hormone in as well and i couldn't think of anymore awesome playlist than that [ oh wow, this line here obviously is so exaggerated xD ]. but anyway, if you were looking for some serious metal that will burn your mind and crush your soul [ more so than detroit metal city ] then i greatly suggest that you give demetori and the above featured album a go; i assure you that the album will rape you inside out without any mercy spared for you :E

oh and btw, the other awesome j-metal act that could pull quite a chance / feat against demetori is none other than the duo pizuya cell and myonmyon [ which to me leans a bit more toward the metalcore genre ]. i'll see if i could write something up for them later :3

TRACKLIST :
01. 平安のエイリアン ～ Crazy Xenomorph
02. 天空の花の都 ～ Bridge of The Lotus
03. 少女さとり　～ Innumerable Eyes
04. 霊知の太陽信仰　～ Nuclear Fusion
05. 少女が見た日本の原風景 ～ Dance of puNDarika
06. 感情の魔天楼　～ World's End
07. 春の湊に ～ Silent Voyage to Eternity
08. 法界の火 ～ Flame for Puja
09. 彼岸帰航 ～ View of The River Styx

[ the album is a total killer, and thus there's no need for me to pick any specific fave out of the songs :3 ]

kanade-san goes nendoroid [ puchi ]

if you're currently in keep of some mapotofu tickets well please do keep your firm hold to them a bit longer, as kanade-san might be coming to your shelves home anytime soon. i said so cuz mikatan of good smile company has tweeted something of [ very delightful ] interest just now.

intermission : from stray cats patisserie to wagnaria famiresu

01. MAYOI NEKO OVERRUN !

a few days ago, an irl friend of mine asked me this very question; "is mayoi neko overrun ! good and worth any watch ?". surprisingly for me, i had quite a hard time to answer him directly at the time as i was so unsure myself whether to recommend or to steer his interest away based on the inconsistency of the series that has been seen and felt so far. personally, i still have a great deal of standing interest in the series, most especially on both fumino and nozomi - two of whom has been keeping my love and interest into the series afloat. but still somehow i kept thinking that the series been heading to such a weird direction ever since episode 4 [ don't get me wrong, i greatly love that particular episode dearly :3 ].

that said however, i still find much amusement into the series, and given its random nature as of current it surely is a twisted fun for me to be pondering over what sort of surprises would i be in for the upcoming episodes. and so far i had quite a number of laughs that is sparked from the absurd parodies it has given itself for the past few episodes, most apparently the 'saki' spoof [ episode 08 ] and the ping pong scene in episode 04 which as well double as a terrific-moe overkill most apparently for my dearest ookami-tsundere fumino. [ EDIT ] on a second thought, i personally think that mayoi neko overrun is doing great as how it were now, despite straying a little [ or much ] from its romantic comedy foundation.

[ o hai thar- ]

02. WORKING !!

it will be a matter of time before spring 2010 wraps itself up, and so does the 4koma based series working !!, which i personally find to be among the best series to have been produced within the spring 2010 block aside from some other mainstream juggernauts like angel beats ! and k-on !!, so to name a few. well, heroman were supposed to carry on the magnificent legacy that has been set and brought forth by darker than black under studio bones' flag, but somehow the series didn't [ quite ] live up to the expectation it has set prior to its airing, especially with the fact that stan 'the man' lee is part of the creative team behind the series' production - and that, didn't really helped in moving the series towards a much better direction. mildly sad indeed, but nevertheless i had my fun from all the spanking the titular mech heroman had given to those extraterrestrial roaches skruggs.

now back to our main post for today; working !!, for one, is a series that has yet to fail me when it comes to providing lightweight entertainment in between titles such as the emotionally provoking angel beats ! and the chop ! chop ! chop !-centric hakuouki for example. some may consider working !! to be an uninteresting rehash of the many slice of life 4komas adaptation [ most apparently, being criticized as trying a bit hard to fit in the shoes of azumanga daioh ] that has been produced so far. well let me get this straight, working !! may not be one of the best [ though i do think otherwise ] but it certainly is waaaaay far from being the most terrible either. well some just didn't get it, as well as not having enough patience to sit back and discover its charm by actually giving it a thorough watch - and this, is what is currently wrong with modern ani-fan community; where some are more than quick enough to jump onto the bandwagon so to gain extra elitist cred. most of the time they would often hide behind the mask of 'personal preference[s]' but that only left for more room to question on :3



someone else, the catchy + lively opening theme for the series that is composed and arranged primarily in the style of ska punk [ fact : you didn't get to hear ska punk-centric stuff very often in animes, save for some rare instance[s] like the one in the first suzumiya haruhi no yuutsu series, for example ] were among the many key point of working !! that has held my interest into the series, and were among the few spring 2010 OPs that i would rather not skip aside from angel beats !'s 'my soul, your beats' and k-on !!'s 'go ! go ! maniac', not to mention it is one of the most ear-grabbing alternative rock number [ in an anime ] since 'forever we can make it' by thyme [ from to love-ru ]. reception / fandom-wise, it seems that this very song has been greatly dwarfed by the existence of the aforementioned etherealistic ballad behemoth 'my soul, your beats !' though.

well certainly it was her debut that has prompted in TWICE SO MUCH LOVE from me for the series [ not to include our dearest editor's love, which i believe is twice more than mine since yamada somewhat reminds her of a certain character she's in love with the most :D ] and aoi yamada has since becoming the new ultimate reason for me to poke my interest deeper into this series now, aside from the punch-moe androphobe inami mahiru of who i greatly consider as the true star of the series [ aside from poplar and katanashi takanashi who, is the sole voice of reason for the series, just like a certain guy named kyon ]. her androphobic nature as well as her killer punches is where the series' charms lies in, and i so greatly won't deny this as it was these two criterion were among those many reasons which has secured my outmost interest into the series.

[ screencaps credit : random curiosity ]

angel beats ! episode 10 : goodbye, yui

honestly, i didn't quite expect for her to find peace this 'early', but still i am glad for her that she finally get to fulfill all that has been missed while she was alive, in her previous life prior. and many thanks to hinata who showed up at the end, providing her with the so desired words she've been looking forward to hear to since [ and i must praise him for having it very well said, despite the love-hate relationship they had all this while ]. simply said, the final scene were just as touching and heartwarming as the scene in kanon where mikoto left the series at the end of her arc.

yui is among the characters that i've been favoring to in the series [ and i just noticed that she's absent from my spring favorite list, well that's simply because i totally forgot to mention her :P ], especially following her lovely debut with the alt. version of 'my soul, your beats'. and to lost her this early might as well change the course a bit as she's one of the pillars which've been supporting the series on the comedic side. thank you for all the fun time and laughs. and goodbye, yui. may she find happiness in her next life ;___;

[ screencap credit : random curiosity | edit : found this while i was reading kurogane's post on the 10th episode just now ]

p/s : i guess no more jokes on /YUI SPINELOCK after this.

princess lover ! h-ova : this september and october

[ news credit : cowboybibimbop via twitter ]

a set of mature oriented ova based on the bishoujoge princess lover ! by ricotta is set for release on september 24 [ vol. 01 ] and october 29 [ vol. 02 ] respectively. said ova, which will be explicitly h-oriented just like the game it is adapted from will feature new character design by kazuya kuroda-sensei who has done [ magnificently ] splendid work with spice and wolf, kaibutsu oujo, higurashi no naku koro ni rei, akisora and vandread among many to date.

previously, a safer 12 episode anime adaptation has been produced for the game [ IF, you haven't noticed it yet... which, i greatly doubt you haven't :3 ], featuring extensive artistic censorship [ for the tv version obviously, as the dvd-get bares it all :D ] much to the chagrin of some [ you may swap the word 'some' with 'many' if you like ] fans. considering the genre and nature of this upcoming set of ova however, fans of charlotte [ most notably ] will most likely to rejoice and grin in extreme delight / pleasure, heh-

[ i myself on the other hand will be sticking just as firm as i was to my dearest seika-ojousama :3 ]