J's Chimes: Trouble Again...

The ever so popular ecchi anime To Love Ru is back once again soon with a brand new season. Already, fans are eagerly waiting for it... (Understand-able because of the large amount of fan services given...) In any case, this should continue to follow the manga where it ends off last time. However the OVA does takes much of the popular ecchi sections of the manga already, so I guess season 2 will also follow the rhythm somehow. The manga ends quite abruptly though but hopefully the anime comes to a better conclusion than just to stop in the middle of nowhere without letting fans know what is the fate of Yuki Rito...

J's Chimes: Anime Eyes For Real...

Animation at times tends to take things a bit overboard with large bright eyes with alluring eyelids that attract attention. But seriously if this is applied into reality, it does seem pretty weird and scary if I do say so myself...


Imagine your cat has a priceless expression like this... Although at time Japanese Artworks are often been exaggerated with such facial expressions (Normally with the eyes), sometimes such are accredited by people because it brings out the liveliness of the anime and the character. Some of the many reasons why anime catches the audiences...

J's Chimes: Sega Classics

I remembered the time I owned a Sega Megadrive back in my younger days but little did I really notice the commercials that were airing in Japanese Tv and how they would looked like. Sonic the hedgehog was the icon of the console at that time and was a fan of it too. Here's a little video that will bring back some wonderful memories of gaming in the past...

J's Chimes: Crafting The Star...

A hectic day for me as yesterday was the launch of the game that many had waited 12 years for it... Fans of Starcraft 2 started queuing up for the launch as early as 7am in the morning just to be the first to grab a copy of it. The queue stretched all the way outside of the Funan IT Mall in Singapore to as far as the neighboring shopping centers.


Took me 4 hours just to be able to get into the mall and see the booth they've setup in the atrium. They held a couple of matches on stage and lucky draw giveaways which included Razor gitf packs and Steelseries gift packs... The queue is still as crazy inside as they began watching and cheering for the matches.


Finally it's my turn to grab my copy at the counter. So really excited about this. It's been 5 hours since the start of queuing and now I've really got it. The pacage includes the box set with the game inside, a dog tag, a T-shirt and some miscellaneous advert stuff. Ran to another queue to take the lead writer's autograph and photos just after that.


Took a photograph with the lead writer; Brian Kindregan of Starcraft 2 who came down all the way from the US just to sign out autographs and stuff... He's really kind and friendly to approach. It's just so cool to have a photo with him...


Finally it's the announcement of the grand prize draw which includes a trip for 2 to Blizzcon California with return tickets and accommodation. Some lucky winner got it and is up on stage to receive the prize... Darn, I envy him... In any case that's the end of the launch of Starcraft 2, now playing the game like there's no tomorrow...

J's Chimes: Starcraft 2 Launches Today...

By the time you read this post, am already waiting at Funan IT Mall in Singapore for the official launch of the game Starcraft 2. After 12 long years of waiting, it's finally out and am so wanna find out what happens in the storyline after the UED (United Earth Directorate) is destroyed by Kerrigan's Forces. Guess I'll be taking some photographs while at it as there are a couple of events going on too like lucky draws and presentations on the game... And for those who yet to purchase the game, get it asap as stocks are really running dry soon...

J's Chimes: Love Power For Love Plus Fans

With the launch of the new arcade game in Japan known as Love Plus, tons of dedicated fans rushed to play the game in Akihabara. Here's a video clip of the advertisements and posters about the game that's available in the Videogame Center, with different card designs and such to delight fans of Love Plus. Amazingly there's even a queue for people to play the game too just like how you'd line up while buying lottery tickets and such... Wonder what happens if someone continues to insert tokens and play all day long...


And here's another video showing parts of the gameplay of the Love Plus Arcade Version. Seriously, it takes in 3 hundred yen coins just to start up the game... (Approximately SGD$4.50). That's quite an amount for a game that only last about 5min... Don't know how the game will end or prompt you to insert coins to continue but it seems that if ya do failed a mini-game, it's game over... Anyway this is kinda interesting from the video clip and definitely you won't get this in Singapore...

J's Chimes: Love Plus Arcade Version

Just when ya thought Love Plus can't sink ronery people any longer, here comes the arcade version of the game. Having launched as a DS game that critics and the media dubbed it as a 'game which will endanger the country's population and induces more divorce and addiction', it is no wonder such is under much criticism and relationship problems as time passes on. Konami; the creator of Love Plus, is planning to launch the arcade version at videogame centers in Akihabara for a test run first before promoting it to other parts of the world 'when the need arises'. I believe many ronery people will seek more attention through these screens and wouldn't mind inserting coins just to continue this relationship gaming for time to come... Perhaps next time someone would wanna marry to it and buy the entire arcade set too?

J's Chimes: Railway Maze

The fact that Japan requires such an extensive railway network is because of the sheer size of the country. Of course if ya really do not do your homework, traveling is really a confusing thing as you do not know what railway services to board and so on to reach your destination... Speaking of Japan, Singapore's railway system will soon be just as extensive as this as shown below...


What really amazes me is that though Singapore is really a small island, such an extensive railway network is being setup to facilitate movement of the people from one place to another. Some of which aren't seen or being contructed as of yet as they are on the planning phase for the future ahead. But somehow or rather, it seems that almost the whole island is connected together with the Central Business District as the Main Interchange Area. Looking forward to more of such improvements in transport so that we can travel for one end to another with ease...

J's Chimes: Scanlation War Is Now...

With copyrighted laws set into full motion, manga publishing companies have finally made their move in stopping the release of Scanlations on websites. After much debates, it seems like scanlation websites are now slowly removing manga contents due to the fact that they are issued warnings of illegal publishing of licensed mangas. So it also means that in months to come ahead, popular mangas like Bleach to Claymore will soon be gone... Have been reading mangas through scanlations ever since high school because it does not 'Costs' any money except the Internet and Electricity charges. Mangas cost a lot more nowadays and occupies lots of space in the house so it is not feasible for me to be buying and storing them after reading. The fact that scanlations will be gone truly saddens me, however such is the law and there's nothing that we as readers can do anything about it. Let's just wait and see what happens next...

J's Chimes: Happy Birthday To Me!

Yup... forget all the past right now... Today's my birthday and am pretty excited about it... Unlike previous birthdays of pain and tears, this time it's not as ronery as it would be now as have manage to get plenty of friends to celebrate for me... Hoping that all would be able to make it though and things would get pretty hectic from today till the weekends... Yup, better take as many photos as possible... Not an everyday thing you gonna blow cakes or have that many friends to accommodate you for the days ahead. Was hoping to get some anime presents but it seems none of them has such interest in things other than me lol... Let's just see what happens then... Oh ya, and Happy Birthday To Me~!

J's Personal: I Was Never Lucky In Love To Begin With...

True enough, anime fans like me find it very hard to get relationships into motion. It is especially so in my age group where little to none of girls loves anime as a hobby... In fact, am always becoming the 'councilor' or 'light bulb' in helping people find happiness instead of myself. What truly pissed me off today was something that happened after lecture in school where a girl whom i knew of forgot to take her sweater home. I spotted it and wanted to take it to her but however was stopped by my friends who told me to pass it to another friend of mine who seem infatuated by her. Of course through much peer pressure that am reluctant to pass it to him to take the credit instead.

So this brings to the point whether am I just bad in love or because of such obstacles or my past that has prevented me from doing so... Yes indeed I felt jealous but at the same time it reminds me of my previous friend who did the same thing to me too where he loves girls so much to the extend that he'd actually badmouthed your personality to them to keep them from knowing others better. Such topics about relationships has brought me down to tears many a times before and even till now so it has really traumatize me a couple to make me feel really negative about such. Was hoping some kind soul would help get me to regain confidence in myself once again to get back my heartbeating moments one more time...

J's Chimes: New PS3 Hatsune Miku Game Awes...

The latest installment for the upccoming Hatsune Miku game for the PS3 console seriously awes many with its beautiful graphics and songs from the albums. It's just too bad I don't own a PS3 but some kind soul from youtube uploaded the videos of it without the gameplay or systems which should appear in the video... similar to games like dance dance revolution to guitar heroes, button symbols will appear in game for you to tap and follow the rhythm. Below are some song in which you might find familiar and are some of my favourites.


The World is mine is one of the most popular songs sung by Hatsune Miku and is the first song being sung during her concert a few months back.


One of my favourites is Packaged because it's so surreal just listening to it... love the way the makers using camera angles to make it more lively and such...

J's Chimes: Guns & Roses

Currently on episode 2, Asobi Ni Iku Yo is a new anime released this season and contains many fanfare and fan service that people probably likes... Yup, and I do mean the mixture of guns, weaponry, technology with a little ecchi-ness to boot ranging from tight fitting clothes to probable cosplays, boobs and a couple of neko moe madness. Asobi Ni Iku Yo is a story about an extra terrestrial lifeform which had feature similar to a cat, visits Earth for a peaceful mission of gathering intel. Eris; the name of the female lead character, met Kio in her adventures but were soon under probes by the government... Asobi Ni Iku Yo is a rather action-pack with a little dosage of good old ecchi segments that will surely get you hook to this anime.


And when I mean weapons, I do mean weapons like the classic M203, M1A tank, Humvee to the all advance weaponry like the battle suits to the Neko Technology in which the female lead character Eris uses... The onli setback I'd realized about this anime was that the story proceeds at a very fast pace... With little or not much introduction on the character's background and such, and then suddenly the espionage scenes starts kicking in. So it does keeps you wondering who and why the other characters are suddenly appearing here and there with little or no knowledge where they're from. Well of course if you'd read the manga, everything comes clear so you could really say that the anime is actually a fast forward version of it.


But then again who really cares when there are tons of moe-ness and ecchi-ness that will leave you ogling and wanting for more... And again such are some of the many reasons fans are interested in. if you'd observed carefully, many animes now does show a little bit of skin here and there so that's probably what's getting the viewers to watch... in any case, Asobi Ni Iku Yo is another good anime to watch which resembles To Love-Ru, Sora No Otoshimono and Kemeko DX. Fans of these anime should catch this new anime asap before the next episode airs again soon...

J's Chimes: Post Me!

Back in school I've often heard about examples like how the company 3M manage to create a product called 'Post It!' and immediately was in high demand when it was patented and launched into the public. But never in my wildest dream that someone actually bought many tons of it to create a stop motion video that is so creative and interesting... I guess someone has just too much time to spare. Amazingly this clip has a hit count of about 4 million viewers till date and rising. So... Should we join in the fray and buy some 'Post It!' stamps too?

J's Chimes: Cosplay Horrors

Cosplay is fun but at times can have devastating effects when done wrongly in public view. Sure...ya may see surprised looks and awes from the public but all eyes would be on you if something is amiss. Take the toilets for example, should you use the men's toilet if ya do crossdressing for some cosplay event? Maybe the urinal isn't such a good idea after all....


Don't want to let people see you buying an adult magazine or something bad? How about dressing up in armor in public? What would you do if ya saw an armor wearing person in a bookstore? I guess the most obvious thing people would do is taking out their phones and start snapping away... Then next thing you know it, it becomes a rant on a forum or some flaming website...


Seriously if ya gonna crossdress or cosplay as a girl, make sure you'd act like one... else this is absolutely nerve-wrecking and bad for one's heart. Try doing that in Singapore and you'd really be driven to the ground and marked as a pervert in all available networks and communications that technology has to offer...


Found a little shop which sells clothes and Star Wars face mask? How about a little makeover by someone whose so extremely bored that he or she decided to spice up the store's mannequins by donning them with the masks and a provocative post just for laughs? Cosplay materials are great ain't they?

J's Chimes: Dying For A Cause

With the new anime Highschool of the Dead airing this season, it's time to look back into the manga which started it all. It's been 3 months or so ever since the last chapter was released by scanlation fans and the latest series that's been uploaded shows a grueling end to the police officer known as Asami. It seems that Kohta had really shot her as she was surrounded by the horde. Was actually thinking that he would help by clearing the zombies away for her to escape but instead the authors had thus decided to kill off this character to continue on with the original surviving members. It is recommended that you should read the manga before watching the anime because it is much more interesting and has gone quite a lead ahead of the anime. You can read it here at 1000manga.com.

J's Chimes: Metal Gear Miku

Sometimes artwork take a drastic and weird twist with a mixture of Hatsune Miu and the all time favourite Metal Gear Solid... Wrap it up and you'd get something new... A little bit of Moe'ness and a Banana to make some flavor out of it... I guess now someone just love Miku and Metal Gear so much that he has manage to merge them into one. This one's kinda uniquely creative and funny at times. Well... It's art (anyhow...)

J's Chimes: Hatsune Yui

Artworks are nice but sometimes you'd also get to see similarities here and there from some animes you may have seen before... One such case in which I'd found on the web is this Hatsune Miku picture which looks exactly the same like Hirasawa Yui from the K-On! opening theme.


Dunno if you'd called it plagiarism or tribute no one is ever sure but the stance and the background is definitely a rip off from K-On! However it is so cleverly done that it does look kinda good in some ways or another... Quite a funny comparison I must say... Both are loveable characters and both play and sing music... what more do you want?

J's Chimes: World Cup With Hatsune Miku

A rather interesting picture that I've found on the web... It seems Hatsune Miku had also join in the World Cup somehow or rather... Even the Vuvuzela is written and drawn on the background with Chibi Miku blowing it... I guess some hardcore World Cup and Miku fan decided to blend this 2 together for some reason or another. In any case the World Cup fever is over and life goes on with many other cups to do instead...

J's Chimes: The Bang And Slice Of Everyday Life

I remembered playing cops and robbers during my youthful days but somehow some Japanese television programme took it to great height by playing a really funny prank on unsuspected people walking on the streets of Osaka. I love how the people react to this and some even act it as though it is for real... This one is really funny so beware... Oh, with English subtitles too...

J's Chimes: Back To School...

Yup... Finally its the new semester of school starting today and also the last. Gonna get busy again real soon with projects and stuff to handle but of course J's Chimes won't be neglected much due to that. Kinda have mixed feelings going back to school after a long break. Hopefully all goes well and miracles happen this term so that can enjoy the best of it as this is the last in school...

J's Chimes: Monochrome Art

Monochrome describes paintings, drawings, design, or photographs in one color or shades of a color. Monochrome images in neutral colors are called gray scale or black and white and such are artworks are beautiful even without the colors. Monochrome arts are normally seen in mangas or comics alike from Japan and has been pretty popular as such shades of dull colors could actually bring vibrant and realistic painting such as Hatsune Miku as seen above.


Of course there are plenty of types of monochrome arts altogether and such are the normal black and white style seen above compare to the 3D view of Hatsune Miku. The colors not only bring out the expressions and details into view, but also makes the important parts stand out more to make it more appealing... Another type could be seen as below.


Sometimes a small dash of a color is added to attract attention or to let people focus on a certain important part of the picture as wanted by the artist. Such would be the glove with 'Houkago Teatime' in red for people to take note of for the whole picture


Monochrome doesn't limits itself to only using only black and white but a mixture of a few colors to create a something out of the box to attract attention and such would be unique colors and shadings that brings out the picture. Am personally very fond of such art pieces and would try drawing again sometime soon when i do have the time given...

J's Chimes: 90,000 Hits!

After many posts, J's Chimes has reach a total of 90,000 hits. Thank you for visiting this blog, your hits are what that's driving me to keep blogging about animations and stuff in Singapore and Japan. In any case, there are more posts to come so stay tune...

J's Chimes: Real Animated Pictures

Animated gifs for animes are good for those special moments but have you seen real-life animated gifs before? Found these in the web that might interest you and somehow they seem pretty interesting in a way or two... Try uploading them in your blog or facebook and get those surprised reactions from your friends... especially these animation above. Stunningly addictive...


Can't really figure out what this advertisement is but it does have something to do with stresses and coping up with them with some seemingly interesting product or service that is on sale in Japan... Whatever the case, this is kinda funny...


My personal fav is this little kitty that goes in and out of a pipe with it's master wants to touch it with his hands... This is kinda good for a profile picture in your msn or yahoo messenger to get some unwanted attention and attracting people to talk to you...lol. Kawaii desu ne~


Finally for all Pocky Fans, here's a little Pocky wand goodness and instant image change of a lovely idol. Hmmm... makes me wanna eat Pocky again...

Animated gifs are great for capturing some great moments ya can't actually get from a still picture. You can actually try making them too (Provided if you have the time in your hands) by downloading some animated gif programs or softwares to convert them in animated gif formats... One of the programs in which i do use is Macromedia Flash. There are many other programs around that you can try so you might wanna go experiment it a bit here and there just for laughs...

J's Chimes: Ookamisan To Shichinin No Nakamatachi

Oh boy, even the title is a mouthful... translated as Ookami (Wolf) And Her Seven Companions, this is one of the new animes debuted this season. And easily, you could see and hear familiar faces and voice actresses on this anime. The story goes about with a club named Otogi Bank that assists students with their problems and in return for their assistance when needed, thus it's like a loan institute for problems where you can get help and will have to repay back when their assistance is required. Ookami Ryouko is one of the club's member that specializes in solving and dealing with problems with brute force wherever fighting is necessary.


Two things that will attract a series of fans can be easily seen or heard when you actually watch this anime and came to me as a surprise too. Anime fans will straight away know the resemblance of Ookami with Taiga from the anime Toradora... with her seemingly similar attitude and characteristics... Not to mention the blonde hair but however was distinguished by her blossom and height which differentiated the two of them. There's even a bit of a similarities between the red hair girl and the anime Arakawa Under The Bridge... Well, there are many similarities for mostly all the characters.. The next surprise was that the voice actor is seemingly same as Misaka Mikoto from To Aru Kagaku No Railgun. Same to the narrator of this anime who voiced Kuroko... Such delights fans and may get them to love this anime somehow...


This anime is somewhat a comedic action anime but episode 1 doesn't impress me as much compared to other better animes this season like Highschool of The Dead to Amagami SS. But seriously one can't really judge it by only the introduction of this anime but rather how the storyline is and will continue next week... Hopefully it gets better.

J's Chimes: Security Is Important...

Time for a little video that will tickle your funny bones... One of the reason that I find this video interesting was that back then in the Army, am also doing security duties just like him with the metal detector and stuff. However we are told that if we were to find something suspicious hidden in a women's clothing or bags, thou shall not touch or search a female regardless. This funny video sure gets one laughing for the misdeeds the security guard has done to check for suspicious stuff only on a beautiful girl...

J's Chimes: The Dead Is Rising...

The brand new season brings about a much awaiting zombie apocalypse anime known as The Highschool Of The Dead. Dubbed as one of the Greatest Masterpiece for this season and perhaps this year, such has a weird combination of gore, carnage and 'up-skirts' of girl pantsu. Have been waiting this anime for a long time and it has finally arrived... Having played many games in relations to zombies and stuff, this is the must watch of all animes upcoming this season.


Having said, much of this zombie apocalypse stuff come from books to movies, games and such... One example of a console game would be Deadrising where survivors held up in a shopping mall. Coincidentally, the plot from the movie 'Dawn of the dead' is somehow being used. As for computer games, it would easily be Left 4 Dead in which many people loved. Highschool of the dead is taken from a manga and I would believe that the anime will follow the plot respectfully without fail.


Finally, to get you all fired up to watch this amazing anime this season, here's the opening intro for the anime 'Highschool Of The Dead'. By the looks of it, it seems fans will not be disappointed with its quality whatsoever as it looks really great. With that, you might also want to read the manga as it really is good... Time to barricade your doors and load your weapons cause here comes the anime you wouldn't want to miss...

J's Chimes: Cosfest Event Photographs

Cosfest has finally come to a closure yesterday and had finally uploaded the photographs for all to see. Somehow there seems to be a lot more cosplayers around this year pretty much thanks to the cosplay culture that is slowly but surely spreading to Singapore. In any case, this has been an eventful day for me as taking photographs from morning till the evening without rest is truly an experience I would not want to talk much about... However, there are plenty of good cosplayers around this year so it's a good sign though. Anyway, stay i tune with J's Chimes for more posts on the Cosfest 2010. To view the photos for the event, you can click on the link on the right taskbar or simply click to view them here.

J's Chimes: Youth Parade Cosmo 2010

The Youth Parade Cosmo 2010 in the Shine Youth Festival had finally concluded today with a couple of cosplayers here and there. I would probably believe that most cosplayers have gone to the Cosfest at downtown East instead as it's a bigger scale event than this. But in any case, there are a number of interesting things happening around Orchard Road with this event that brought about many onlookers trying to figure out why there is a sudden wave of cosplayers parading around Orchard Road... A small bazaar selling anime goodies and stuff are also setup below the new SCAPE Mall in Orchard Road.


What comes as a surprise for this event is the appearance of popular cosplayers Alodia & Ashley from the Philippines. This is probably the 3rd time I see them in Singapore after AFA 2009 and the cosplay competition. Indeed they are so popular that a bunch of photographers kept chasing them to take pictures.


The second surprise visit would be Gundam Exia by 00 Emotions. Once again, they are the most sought after for photos and stuff... The cosplayers later parade the streets of Orchard Road with plenty of curious onlookers. With such, that concludes my day at the festival because a downpour is coming the way. In addition, tomorrow will be any busy day at the Cosfest 2010 in Downtown East. For more photos of the Shine Youth Festival Cosplays and Events, please click on the link at the right taskbar or simply click here.

J's Chimes: Amagami SS

One of the most awaited anime for this new season is Amagami SS. Amagami was previously a PS2 game and also came out as a manga in the early days and then came the anime industry to make this into what you'd see today. Firstly check out this wonderful opening theme which somehow makes it to have quite a romance nostalgic feel to it. This anime certainly reminds me of the previous animes like Boys Be to Tokimeki Memorial Only Love.


My first impression on this anime was 'wow, it's gonna be good', considering it being a romance genre in which I loved so much. But as I watch more, I'd kinda fell in love with Amagami. The fact is that the situation in which the male protagonist experience is the same as me in many a ways:

- To have someone you love turning down on you
- To have not found an answer upon reflection of what you or she did wrong
- To be scared to fall in love again because of the past experience
- To experience new love once again as my heart got that feeling once again
- To only experience failure once again in the end when you'd try very hard to get close to someone you love.
- To experience the cold and loneliness of the harsh realities of life


Amagami SS has somehow kept me pondering about stuff in relations to one's love life... It is really not easy for us to express our love to someone else. If you'd compare us with people who are much more charismatic and likable or handsome kinda guy, we gonna lose out big time because of our difference in personalities. In the case of the male protagonist, it is hard for a normal person to confess to a girl whose popular in school. It saddens me to see the rejection part of the story as we'd truly understand how he feels. Seriously, spare a thought for people who fail in their relationships. We are humans after all.


Anyway, am eagerly waiting for the next episode to know how the story goes for the male protagonist... Also went in search of the manga and read a bit of it and is surprised of what's to come. However, the story in the anime has been dramatically changed and tweaked here and there so some things may differ entirely from the manga and of course the game. Let's all hope for a happy ending for this new romantic anime for this new season...