J's Chimes: 80k Hits!

Once again, it's a J's Chimes tradition to thank you all for your support. Another 10k hits in just a month is truly an amazing feat to me and the blog. Please continue to visit us for more updates and stuff about anime and culture in Singapore. We hope that you could spread the word about this blog so as to gather more people to talk about our hobbies...

J's Chimes: Gamer's Meet

A friend of mine who plays Left 4 Dead 2 decides to organise a gamer's meet at Play Nation located at 60A Princep Street Singapore (Near Dhoby Ghaut MRT station, beside Sunshine Plaza). Around 9 people gathered together for a fun-filled day loaded with plenty of Xbox360 and Nintendo Wii gaming. This is the first outlet I've ever been to that has boardgames and console games for people to play and hangout together. Similar to the Mind's Cafe, this shop focuses more on games and activities within the group rather than a cafe by itself.


Our group decided to book a spacious room to gather and play games. It's SGD$11.50 per head for 4 hours of gaming, inclusive of free flow of drinks. Not too bad for room all to ourselves and 2 different consoles to play with... The more hardcore gamers of our group takes the Xbox360 while we decided to have a go at the Nintendo Wii. Haven't really touch a Wii before and thus decided to have a couple of fun while am at it.


Rock Band is one of the most popular games in our group that allows 4 players to play at the same time... Can't believe they actually spent hours playing that before switching to another game. Now the game room sounds so much like a Karaoke lounge instead... Things get a little more lively with more hardcore song coming along the way...


As for us, we played a couple of games here and there for the Wii console which includes Mario Brothers to crazy games like cooking and the likes. It's a new experience but gets old after a while. No doubt usinf the Wii controller is kinda hard, even the games are kinda strange and would moslty be catered to family fun instead of playing it alone. Thus for gamers like us, it is often preferred to purchase an Xbox360 or Playstation 3 if you're playing alone most of the time.


We tried guitar heros for the Nintendo Wii and I must say, am pretty tired after everything ends... Can't imagine playing games like this could be so... unique and tiring... (This is my first time playing...) Decided to put those aside and try other games after playing with the bass for long periods of time...


No game is complete without the guys playing soccer. After which a little Halo ODST to end the 4 hour period. Time flies when you're having fun. Hope to visit this place again for any gathering I'd may have as it's a good place to bond with your friends. Finally, everyone have their dinner at Mad Jack and then a little more gaming at the Plaza Singapura video game center. Got back early to buy some materials to fix up a vent for my computer as my desk get hot overtime with the power of an i7 processor...

J's Chimes: Motivation To Anime

Everyday that you don't watch anime, Domo-kun eats a kitten... A nice motivational poster to encourage you to watch anime without fail. But seriously, how often do you guys really watched anime and talked about it? Had been watching anime ever since my high school days and what really motivates me to watch them is not really from a hobby or a passion back then. It is from a failed relationship that I've experience and somehow turned to anime for comfort and entertainment. And thus soon then after, anime has become a hobby since then. It is kinda sad watching it alone though and would many times ponder about the past again and again because of this, which is also probably the reason why I love watching romantic genre animes much more than others, take for example Kimi Ni Todoke. In any case, anime has become part of my life and would probably be watching it till kingdom comes. Don't be surprise that in future generations that anime would become something big in Singapore as such are already rapidly picking up pace within the younger generations...

J's Chimes: Animating Anime

In my last post, we discussed about the salaries animators earn annually. But seriously do you really know how tough it is to animate anime? In fact I had actually believed that animators are paid a lot for their work because often such skills and talents in drawing are needed to draw he characters (which is often not an easy thing to do unless you are so seasoned that you are able to finish one frame in 10mins). Whatever the case, it is safe to assumed that an anime of about 20mins requires maybe hundreds or thousands of frames to complete depending on the flow of the animation (As in frames per second to allow smooth motion of the animation).


Let's take a look at a simple example like this without any shadings and stuff... Probably needs about 6 - 8 frames to make this 1 second clip which is seemingly tough for a novice like me in drawing animes. However, 1 thing I do admired about animators is that they have the patience to draw tons and tons of animations to complete 1 episode which is truly amazing.


The other amazing thing about animators is that they are able to draw well coordinated movements like this animation of a girl doing a roundhouse kick. You got to have really good observation of a person's movement in order to draw such. And trust me, it ain't easy to draw a character in different angles of view... Perhaps you could draw anime, but could you make it move smoothly?


The next would definitely be the details, the facial expressions and such that attracts your attention... An example is as show with character Taiga from the anime Toradora. It's amazing that even sketches like this could look so nice even without the colour. And how many would you need to draw to complete this? 10 - 12 frames of serious drawing pleasure... In any case, if drawing is a passion, it's no wonder animators are willing to do it not for the money but for their interest. We should really look up to these guys who make anime possible...

J's Chimes: Miku Station

Guess what? Hatsune Miku is coming to a Sony Playstation near you titled Project Diva... Seems to me its like a Beatmania or Guitar Heros kinda game whereby players hit the correct buttons upon correct notes given... This would probably be the intro for this game and is stunningly good and nice (However the high pitch tone at the end kinda ruins the mood...). In any case, seems like Luka and the other vocaloids are in this too so may turn out kinda nice... Enough said, watch this clip and be awed...

J's Chimes: Exams Fever

It's the time of year again when the exam results are out this morning... Can't say for sure till I wake up and look at the transcripts on the internet... Really hope to clear this semester's modules and move on to my very last semester this coming July... Guess time will tell. In any case, J's Chimes will continue to post more after this crisis is over and hopefully will pass with flying colours... Like the saying goes, if Yui can do it, so can I. Then I can celebrate by going out to have a good meal and take photographs... not to mention starting my cosplay in which I think about for a long time...

J's Chimes: New Season's Anime

Firstly, salutations for the people in Chartfag's Den who came out with this list of upcoming animes next season. This coming June will be a blast with a couple of seriously good animes to watch (Click on picture for a bigger view). Been waiting for Highschool of the Dead as it would be so cool... Others will include Seikirei and strike witches 2... Another amazing thing happened again to me was that had just read the manga titled Amagami and suddenly there it is, out as an anime this season... Happened to me not once but a couple of times on other animes too... anyway, look forward to next season soon...

J's Chimes: Otaku Writes Story For Romance Animes

This is something that intrigues me a lot and had been thinking it ever since I've read the article about it on Sankaku Complex. The question here is, 'how can an otaku who has no love experience be writing a storyline for romance animes in which we watch these days?' Come to think of it, otakus are despise for loving their 2D counterparts more and thus leading to many Japanese females to stay away from them... This is especially so too in Singapore in the age whereby anime is also quite condemned by people aging from 24 and above who doesn't know much about them.


A writer expresses his opinion that otaku cannot write romances as they are sad and lonely creatures with no experience. He also pointed out that otakus should get into real relationships rather than their 2D girlfriends. Though those in 2D are all ideal partners, the writer thinks that such are unrealistic and claims that they can't write anything new without these experiences.
Such has led to many netizens to discuss and backfire him for his unimpressive speech.


Though it does sound logical that Otakus can't possibly write romance, here;s what netizens have a say about such:

- "If you know the real thing you can’t make games and the like.”
- “He’s underestimating the imaginative power of virgins.”
- “I suppose you can’t make an RPG if you haven’t been an adventurer.”
- “A commoner has no qualifications to talk about otaku.”
- “So Konami must employ world class lovers…”
- “A product intended for virgins might as well be made by virgins.”

In my perspective, I'd believe that it's not really about what kind of person you are. Rather, it is about how creative and imaginative you are to be able to write a storyline that eventually captures the hearts of the audiences and become popular, just like the mangas Bleach, Naruto, One Piece or Full Metal Alchemist. The fact that Otakus do not have the experience to write a romance story is true. However this brings about things which you'd least expected in animes alike and are fantasies of what every guys or gals would like to have to be in love and doing things rarely thought of or being done in reality. Thus it brings to the point that such are considered remarkable as not many common people are able to think things out of the box that way. Well, many people have different perspectives of things around us so maybe you too have a different view of things too about such...