Hi~~ The energy and genkiness is still lacking, but I watched all of .hack//Chibi in two sittings which I think had some effect. I have Saikano to watch tonight. I was waiting until I had all of the manga since I realised quite early on that the manga was significantly better than the anime. That's not to say that the anime was bad, but the manga didn't receive national acclaim for no reason - it is quite superb. Anyway, it looks like Asahiya don't want to get in anything beyond vol 4, so I will just have to wait until I go over in September to pick up the rest - and I can't wait that long which is why I've decided to finish off the anime now.

iRO is down again this afternoon. There is no official word yet, but everything seems to be pointing to some sort of database trouble. The Comodo rumours have resurfaced as they always do whenever the system goes down unexpectedly, but it seems a little early for that seeing as Loki and Chaos have only just got the Cute Pet patch.

While I haven't been playing much iRO lately, I have made a new character. I originally created her as a support character for AzieƖ, but she has proven quite fun to play by herself. Her name is Occie (pron.: "oh-see") and she is a lvl 21/17 merchant from the port town of Alberta. I don't have a full background story for Occie as I do for AzieƖ as I didn't plan to roleplay properly - rather, she was just a way of getting money and discount on AzieƖ's increasingly expensive purchases. However, I've become quite attached to her as a character (never thought I'd be saying that about a merchant - although that was before she started making profits of 100,000Z per day...) so I will probably work one out. I might even try to fit her into the planned fanfic which should near completion sometime in November, 2018.

Monday marked 5 months of BBI. Has it already been that long? The site has now logged over 1500 visits, which seems pretty good considering the overwhelming lack of content (which will unfortunately remain overwhelmingly lacking until I get back from Japan in October). "bishoujo game" is this month's most popular search string, although "lolicon" and "bittorrent ecchi" still feature in the list. >_<

Ooer... what an odd sensation. What little motivation and feelings of self worth I had left just deserted me. I actually felt them leave my body! It was at the exact moment I stuck a new Post-It note with a shopping list for Monday to my monitor. I think I need an injection of raw cute. Failing that .hack//Udeden should help - I've had virtually no cute for a week and I can feel it, physically. I never realised how dependent I am on it. Cute is a drug it would seem.

LAC is next weekend though (and with it, a PLACICACDASCP and a chance to see everyone again). The Japan Trip isn't too far off either, which should serve to lift my spirits (and give my wallet nightmares). Hopefully we'll have the accommodation all booked up next week. On a related note, I've decided not to upload the shopping guide until after I get back. I'm going to use the trip to do another sweep of all the shops in the guide to see what's changed. (I know at least two of the shops I put in the original guide are no longer there.)

No real news. Just to let everyone know who didn't really want to that the PS2 version of Omoi no Kakera ~Close To~ was released today. Information on the release of the Omoi no Kakera Sound Collection on August 20th has also now been announced.

It seems to have been a little cooler, weather-wise, this weekend - although not by much. Kotoko has stopped complaining though which means we don't have to fight over who gets the nice oscillating fan.

As always, I don't really have anything interesting to say. However, I will pass on a couple of interesting findings I made over the weekend. Firstly, it seems that this month's issue of Magazine Z (another publication widely unavailable in the UK) will be carrying the first chapter of a new Popotan manga series. This will be the first official Popotan manga (there have, of course, been numerous doujinshi and anthology comics). However, this isn't necessarily a good thing. The manga is a collaboration between Petit Ferret and doujin circle Abarenbow Tengu's chief mangaka, Yuujiro Izumi. Izumi-san's track record leads me to believe that there is a strong possibility that more than a hint of ecchiness may work its way into the manga, which is more than I would have liked. I'm also not too keen on some of his character designs. Having said that, it shouldn't be too bad - I've seen a couple of pages and the characters look better than his usual doujin fare, plus the Popotan website describes the story as only a little ecchi, which goes some way to reassure me that it won't be an all-out hentai-fest.

Finally, I'll leave you with this. Of course, real cat lovers know exactly what their cat is trying to tell them without the need for such a device. ^_^ Well, most of the time - there are always those times when your cat decides she wants something, although she can't decide quite what, but will let you know about it all the same in the hope that she will realise what it is she wanted eventually. Anyway, it does look quite an interesting little gadget.

P.S. I do not have a gender bias when it comes to cats. I substituted "she" for "he/she" in that last paragraph because four "he/she"s in one sentence seemed a bit too much. I decided on "she" because, for some reason or another, most non-cat-owners seem to regard cats as female. However, my cat would like it known that he is very much male, and that anyone calling him a "she" will soon discover exactly how a scratching post feels.

It's been a busy week, but nothing really exciting has happened that I can write about here.

I added a new picture to the gallery yesterday. A coloured pencil sketch of a catgirl. I think I'm improving slowly, although there are still plenty of things about the image I'm not happy about.

Oh, and in iRO, the Cute Pet update finally went live on Loki and Chaos a couple of days ago. I like the way Lunatics (little bunny things) flap their ears and hover several feet off the ground when they're happy. Soo cute~ ^_^

Tsuki no Mori (Guardian of the Moon) was a game by Ark that I spotted shortly after its release back in March. It stood out because of its stunning background art and cute character designs. The music was also above par and the story looked interesting. I never found out the nature of the adult segments in the game though. One review site I visited described is as a junai game, while another contradicted that claim. That was one of the main reasons I didn't investigate it further. That, and the ridiculous import prices. If anyone knows for certain if the story is predominantly junai-oriented, please let me know.

Anyway, I then forgot about the game until now. The other day, I noticed that Ark had got together with D-Dream to create the Tsuki no Mori Art Collection, available to download as an "e-mook" for the reasonable fee of 1,980 yen. The collection comprises CG scenes, background and character art, music from the game and a few extras. There's a small, free-to-download demo also available from D-Dream so you can get a feel for it. It's a nice price, so I may go back to check it out later (registration - and a Japanese address - is required, but they do accept popular credit cards - Visa, MC, Amex, etc.).

After mentioning the Popotan TV series yesterday, I went and dug out the old game demo I had for it. (Yes, another game I want but don't have due to silly £50+ price tags. Okay, there is the ecchi too, but the cuteness is cute enough to make me selectively blind to that.) There's not much to the demo, but it does have plenty of cuteness and a minigame (a cross between DDR and whack-a-mole). I'm interested to see what approach they will take with the TV series. Will the series be story driven or will the episodes be self-contained mini-stories? I'm hoping the former, otherwise Popotan might just become another Happy Lesson TV. Not that there's anything wrong with Happy Lesson TV, but I would like to see a series with a bit more substance. The BS-i 12:30am timeslot is also worrying me a little, since it opens the door for potential ecchiness. Oh well, no use worrying. I'll just have to wait and see.

——— Update ———
I just discovered Tsuki no Mori has tentacles. Doesn't really sound like junai to me... T_T I guess I'll just get the Art Collection (where tentacle-viewing is optional) rather than the game itself.

I was under the impression that today was supposed to be cooler than yesterday. Maybe it is, but it certainly doesn't feel it. I don't function well in hot weather. -_-

I realised today that I am not keeping up with anime releases as much as I would like. There are still too many series from late spring that I've hardly started to watch (Kino no Tabi, Wandaba Style, Matantei Loki Ragnarok, etc.) and now the summer season has kicked off. Thankfully, there aren't too many new series starting this month. Narutaru is probably the only one I will make an effort to see. Happy Lesson Advance will probably be a bit of lighthearted fun while at the same time being nothing particularly special, much like the first TV series. Continuing the trend of turning renai simulation games into anime, D.C. started last Saturday. I have no idea what to expect from it though. Popotan is another game to anime series on my 'must see' list and starts next Thursday (July 17th). I love the character designs and the cute happiness. ^_^ Something else I wouldn't mind catching is Ultra Maniac, which started back in May. I haven't had a chance to watch any yet, but I enjoy the manga and every time I thumb through a copy of Ribon, I am reminded that I should make an effort to obtain an episode or two.

There just isn't enough time for me to source and watch everything I want to. And it's not going to get any easier. Daisuke Moriyama's Chrno Crusade, a favourite of mine running in Dragon, will make the transition to the animated medium later this year. Studio Gonzo will be producing the animation, but have yet to launch an official site. Another Gonzo production, Kaleido Star, kicks off in just over a week. Another series of Chicchana Yukitsukai Sugar will appear at the end of August, set some six years after the events in the first TV series - more Koge Donbo-inspired cuteness to look forward too. Oh... and there's that new series of Ai Yori Aoshi in the works too... I don't know why I dislike that show so much. Probably something to do with every episode I've seen of it seeming to be devoid of story and full of fanservice. Kinda like Mouse, but without the plot...

I'm also looking forward to Steam Boy which is released this October. There's something about fantasy stories set in late 19th/early 20th century settings but with advanced technology based around simple concepts such as steam power that appeals to me. That was one of the main reasons I was drawn to Sakura Taisen - an early 20th century society but with all mod cons, provided by imaginative uses of the technologies available at the time.

Anyway, enough about anime. I've noticed a few release lists online have started to list the DC version of Snow. However, I'm puzzled that some of them have listed it as an 18-rated game. I'm not sure if that's true or whether they've just copied all of the details from the PC version. Neither Studio Mebius or NEC Interchannel have commented on whether it will be an adult game, although NECi do now have a webpage up for the DC version. It would be disappointing if it is as I was hoping for a non-adult version of Snow on the DC. I'll have to keep on looking out for announcements. A game release that snuck up on me is the PS2 version of Close To - Omoi no Kakera on July 24th. Love the Goto-P goodness. =^^=

I'll leave you with another KID release, the KID Music Museum vol 1, which will appear on shop shelves on July 16th (or possibly the 15th if you're in range of a good Joshin store). It's a 2 disc music compilation album. I was a little disappointed to find it didn't feature any tracks from Tentama (my favourite KID game), although Close To is on there. Maybe there'll be some Tentama tracks on vol 2, due on August 22nd.

A short while ago, Tycho over at Penny Arcade was discussing how few magazines he buys today compared to a few years ago. It occured to me the other day, while throwing out around 100 old copies of PC Plus, that I have also stopped buying magazines on a regular basis. 3 or 4 years ago, I had a subscription to PC Plus and most months also bought a copy of Computer Shopper and another random magazine that took my fancy depending on the cover CDs (usually either PC Format or Linux Format). That was 3 magazines, every month. But with information that was once only obtainable from the magazines now freely available on the internet and without the constraints inherent in dead-tree publishing with a fixed timetable (namely the speed at which information can be carried from the publisher to the reader), magazines are no longer good value for money. With the advent of broadband internet connections, most of the programs featured on cover disks and CDs are but a short download away. The only magazine I'm currently buying every month is Animage, since while most of the news and information is freely available online, its so widely dispersed that it would take too much time to search for it all. The Ghibli exclusives (Animage being a Tokuma publication) are nice too. ^_^

From one webcomic to another. Mr. Angst (the artist formerly known as Piro) over at MegaTokyo appears to have had another falling out, this time with his publisher, I.C. Entertainment. This makes the release of MegaTokyo vol 2 and Warmth later this year a little difficult, although I suspect a new publisher will be found shortly.

On to Ragnarok now. iRO is more or less back to normal now. The BBS is back up and the hack is a fading memory. The server restart at 9pm PST tonight to end the 2nd 2x EXP and drop rate 'compensation period' will also mark the start of a fun little event called "The Days of Red Snow" - also known as PvP in Lutie. ^_^ I haven't played since the 3rd post-P2P rollback so haven't regained the levels I lost. As a result, AzieƖ is a little too low level to be participating in a PvP event. Nevertheless, if I get the time, I may wander up to Al De Baran to see if I can at least get one hit in before I am annihilated by a level 95 Wizard. While on the subject of RO, here's an interesting little story that was /.ed earlier on how the Thai government is combating the evils of online gaming.

I feel like doodling...

A happy 4th of July to those of you who celebrate it.

Apologies for the brief disappearance. With any luck, all should return to normal from next week. I've been pretty busy this past week, and while saying that I haven't had the time to update BBI sounds like a poor excuse for not posting updates on the life of SoZ, it's the truth. Due to the unexpected busy period, the shopping guide that I originally thought might materialise the other weekend never did. Therefore, I'm not going to make any more predictions as to when I'll upload it. It will be online when it's ready.

The world has been busy during my absence. This weekend marks the second of the 2x EXP and item drop rate bonus events to take place after the 3rd rollback on iRO since P2P (the 2nd since The Hack). Gravity also restored access to the iRO BBS yesterday after it collapsed a week ago under the load of thousands of disgruntled players. Hopefully, this is the end of the whole sorry affair and we can get back to the old routine of killing innocent woodland creatures and buying 'cool things', like we did in the old days. ^^ Development of iRO is still rather slower than that of KRO, although considering the problems Gravity have had, it's not too surprising. I think I'd rather they concentrate on ironing out the existing problems rather than introduce new features for the time being. However, at the rate at which things are going, iRO should hopefully see both the Cute Pet patch and Comodo on Chaos and Loki towards the end of the year with PVP following sometime in early 2004.

While I'm discussing dates, a few more have come to my attention. Key have said that barring any unforeseen problems, Clannad should be with us in 2003 Q4. I'm sure we've all heard them say things like this before, but they do sound quite sincere this time. The mood among most Key fans at the moment seems to be one of cautious optimism. Square-Enix have also reconfirmed that they are going to release FFXII (or perhaps FF12 - most of the recent official press releases from Square have seen the use of Arabic numerals in the title) in March 2004. There had been rumours a few weeks ago that Square may have been considering the possibility of getting the game in stores in time for the Christmas/New Year sales boom, but the execs seem to have come to their senses.

While I usually find little to comment on in politics, this week has probably been quite entertaining for political spectators. At last, we have a European politician with a level of diplomatic skill to rival that of George Bush. Things are just as interesting across the pond, with Arnie again trying to get a foothold in politics. Remember that bit in the film Demolition Man where Sandra Bullock was explaining the political history of the United States in the early 21st century? Strange how fact often follows fiction...