The final volume ;_;.

Man, this was well worth the wait. The BD versions of 11 and 12 were deliciously upgraded, especially 12. Especially the floating in space scene between Madoka and Homura. Very nice, SHAFT. Very nice indeed.

*ahem*

The final OST also includes all the awesome tracks from 11 and 12, and dear god I don’t know how many times I’ve looped Surgem identidem and Sagitta luminis over the past 3 days. Just those two tracks… damn, it’s really sad now that’s it’s all finally out. Though I find it quite funny that the Walpurgisnacht theme plays right after Sagitta luminis in the OST. Weird arrangement. Intentional or… ?

For some reason, I had a really horrible delay on getting my package, no thanks to the shitty timing of the DHL couriers. Coming way too early, not calling me when they couldn’t get anyone at home, delivering at the wrong times even though I prearranged it. Then to top it off, the box was practically disintegrating when I finally collected it personally from them. Never had I been so thankful of Amazon.JP’s packaging before. Helps too that the blu-ray packaging itself is pretty damn robust :P.

Of course, while this finally ends the series proper, there is still more of the Madoka-verse in the form of Kazumi Magica and even Urobuchi himself has said he’s writing something more for this franchise. Not quite sure whether to welcome the news or not, but Puella Magi Madoka Magica has definitely sealed its place in the Anime Hall of Fame.

And dear god I wish I could set the BD 6 top menu as my wallpaper. I sooooo wish.

©2012 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

… and now, I have collectively spent almost RM 1,000 (~340USD) on an anime series. Tohohohoho.

Anyways, as a proud owner of a PS3, I can immediately watch it and oh wow, SHAFT really redrew quite a bit for both episodes 7 and 8. Some of the scenes were even quite okay in the TV series but SHAFT just redrew them from a proper angle. Some of the really noticeable ones included;

from episode 7: Homura talking to Madoka on the school rooftop, the fight with Elsa Maria also added more blood for extra brutality effect.
from episode 8: the fountain in the park scene where Kyubey almost got Madoka to contract with him, honeycomb-ed Kyubey turning black, the scene with Kyouko trying to comfort Sayaka but instead sees her Witch transformation.

Weirdly enough, some of the “meduka”-quality scenes were left untouched. I wonder why….

The OST isn’t as memorable as the first one for me though, seems like they put in all the grim and sad tracks in to this volume.

©2012 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Another month, another Madoka, another 12k yen gone….

I really need to get myself a blu-ray player though. I haven’t opened a single one of my Madoka blu-rays yet ORZ.

The bonus CD that came along with this, in case you missed yesterday’s post, is a special CD drama of the cast done in slice-of-life style. Surprisingly well worth it.

Next month… OST Vol.2 FUCK YEAH!!

©2012 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

ｷﾀ━━━━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━━━━ !!!!!

Finally got it. A little disappointed DHL took 3 days to deliver it to me, but oh well.

The original soundtrack is only disappointing in how short it is but otherwise finally getting the clean versions of the BGM’s of the show really feels good.

1. Sis puella magica! [Become a Magical Girl!] – Undoubtably the signature track of the series. No idea how high the play count for it is, but every damn time I listen to it, all the epic parts of the show just flash back out at me… Homura’s contract in episode stands out especially.
2. Salve, terrae magicae [Greetings, Worlds of Magic] – Ahh… the preview music,the 裏 signature track of the series IMHO. I just love the whimsical feel of the track.
3. Gradus prohibitus [Hindered Steps] – Mmmmm, the first Witch appearance track. Looking back at it, the sheer ominous-ness of this piece was trying to foreshadow things wasn’t it?
4. Credens justitiam [Believing in Justice] – Oh god Mami’s track. ’nuff said.
5. Clementia [Compassion] – Hmm… not much impression on this track, though I think a variant of it was used in the final episode somewhere.
6. Desiderium [Longing] – Another whimsical track, but in a more calming feel compared to Salve, terrae magicae. Somehow I am reminded of Junko when I listen to this.
7. Conturbatio [Disorder] – A serious track, it’s the slower version of Sayaka’s theme.
8. Postmeridie [Afternoon] – Meanwhile… I can’t help but to associate this track with the teacher. Probably because they use it for the school scenes quite a bit.
9. Puella in somnio [The Girl in Sleep] – Ahhh, another recognizable track. I call it the “serious business” track. Some will probably call it the “QB is a stalker” track though.
10. Umbra nigra [Black Shadow] – Another ominous track.
11. Terror adhaerens [Clinging Terror] – Befitting its name, also yet another of the ominous tracks of the series. This is more “serious” though.
12. Scaena felix [A Blessed Scene] – Back to a more calming piece, this is the music that is used for the slower scenes in the show.
13. Pugna cum maga [A Duel with a Witch] – Amongst the ominous pieces, this is surprisingly my favourite out of them all. Guess it’s because of how they used this track in episode 10 to show Homura stealing guns from the yakuza and generally getting more and more desperate.

Well, that’s my impression of the OST so far. There’s definitely going to be another OST as well since there’s still a fuckton of missing tracks. Unfortunately the next volume will be another drama CD again, so it looks like there’ll be another two more months to go before we get more of Kajiura’s awesome pieces :|.

Also, Aoki Ume’s special 4-koma in the booklet this volume is rather touching. Mami T_T.

©2012 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

>dat feel when you don’t want to unwrap your merchandise because even the shrink wrap is part of the packaging.

Actually these arrived on Tuesday, but I didn’t really have time to take them out of the Amazon box until now. And then I realize even the shrink-wrap is part of the packaging and get lazy to open it :P.

But oh well, this is the “collector’s edition” anyways. Maybe I will be able to sell this off YJA for a crazy price in 5 years time. Probably will get myself the proper copy later when it’s actually released www

Can’t wait for Vol. 2 to come though, ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK DISC FUCK YEAH.

©2012 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

You know what, I am sick of moralfags looking down on people because they read scanlations online. More than 60% of scanlations probably don’t have even have an English market, and the English market wouldn’t even have existed if not for scanlations.

I am sick of moralfags preaching about buying original merchandise of a certain area when they themselves pirate almost everything else. Then they also look down on people for reading scanlations online.

I am sick of the whole “TEH INDUSTRY IS DYING BECUZ PEOPLE STEAL STUFF FROM THE INTERWEBS!” gospel. God knows the industry wouldn’t have actually come this far without the Internet acting as a catalyst to spread it further.

I am sick of outdated Intellectual Property laws that seem to protect the creators but are actually used to enrich the rights-holders (in many cases the recording/publishing/production company) without ACTUALLY fairly giving the REAL creators their share.

I am sick of the moralfags that just pretty much act like asses just because their buying power is greater than people in third world countries without any regard for how much inequalities exist in the world economy.

Fuck all these. I do and will continue to buy original merchandise that I deem worthy enough to justify the enormous expense. Otherwise I am quite comfortable with reading scanlations and watching fansubs/raws as they come off the Internet. If there’s anything really good, then I WILL SUPPORT THE FUCKING INDUSTRY EVEN IF IT’S GOING TO COST ME HALF A MONTH’S WORTH OF LUNCH MONEY. I’m not just gonna crawl under a fucking rock just because I don’t have enough money to BUY EVERY FUCKING CONTENT I CONSUME.

Otherwise, fuck off and get the fuck off your fucking high horse before you start preaching about SUPPORTING THE FUCKING INDUSTRY. Are you even sure you’re not consuming any illegal content at all? Think about it, moralfags.

</rant>

©2012 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Got to tip my hat off the sugoi-ness of Amazon.jp and DHL International Express, my Blu-Ray arrived right on the morning of May 26th even though I am like a whole hemisphere away from Japan!

Pretty much smaller than Evangelion 1.01. No idea how it compares to 1.11 since I didn’t buy it. After carefully cutting open the wrapping plastic, this is what it contains inside…

And finally… for the filmstrip. Of all the scenes… I had to get this…

Oh well, at least it’s better than getting Toji or Kensuke. But why is it out cropped and out of focus!?!! Faulty merchandise?! Can I make a returns claim!?

Goddamnit, I wanted Asuka!!!!!!

Oh. I am now officially broke with 50 ringgit left in the account.

( ﾟ∀ﾟ)ｱﾊﾊ八八ﾉヽﾉヽﾉヽﾉ ＼ / ＼/ ＼
( ﾟ∀ﾟ)ｱﾊﾊ八八ﾉヽﾉヽﾉヽﾉ ＼ / ＼/ ＼

©2012 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

The group has managed to persuade Sankyo, a Japanese company, to make the music box mechanism but it requires a one-time project fee of USD 670 + about USD 7 per mechanism to produce and they are looking for fellow fans or kind donators to contribute to the fee.

Personally, I think this isn’t a bad undertaking and it does result in very interesting piece of merchandise. Fellow Elfen Lied fans can visit their website/forums at http://stromnova.webs.com/ to register and find out how to donate.

Interested fans can also directly email Mr. Jarrod Pierce at liliumbox@gmail.com to get more clarification on the project.

©2012 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Went to Kinokuniya to pick up my order for the THIRD time in 10 days to collect my order of Negima! Vol. 25 Limited Edition, after they trolled me last Saturday. To my most pleasant surprise, Kino actually gave me 20% off (RM 170 -> RM 136) my Negima Vol. 25 LE! Must’ve been a reward for my loyalty to them \o/.

The card this time round is of Albireo, while the Vol. 25 LE cover is an awesome illustration of Setsuna getting stripped. It’s really kinda worth buying the LE’s just for Akamatsu’s awesome ecchi renditions of the tankouban cover.　Actually I might also buy the normal edition of Vol. 25, since it’s Secchan on both… orz

mmm~ delicious Secchan

I can’t really say I liked OAD 3, I didn’t properly watch it but I did notice the production quality dropping for it already. And I have no idea if I ever will complete subbing OAD 2 and 3, I’ve been busy the past few months as well as lacking in the motivation to do them. I do have a rough script up for 2 so maybe I will eventually complete it.

And finally, the complete set of all three LE’s. Cost in total = RM 170 + SGD 55.92 (yea, i bought the second one in Singapore) + RM 136 = RM 440 ~ USD 118. (Wow, it looks so cheap when converted to USD… orz.)

©2012 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.

I went to Kinokuniya for the second (SECOND!!) time this week with some friends and fell in to temptation again, buying myself the 20th Anniversary artbook of Ah! My Goddess, with a 20% discount (saving me RM 32,which is quite a substantial amount).

My wallet despairs, but my heart rejoices though, since the book is quite worth the RM 130 I paid for it, as it’s really thick. It also contains just about every damn Ah! My Goddess color illustrations over the past 20 years.

There’s even an entire section dedicated to all of the tankouban covers where you get to see how much the art of A!MG has changed over the years from the “oh my god wtfugly” style back when it first started to the current “Belldandy’s eyes look so hollow” style. (I still think the best Belldandy is during the mid 90′s by the way.)

A long interview with Kosuke Fujishima is at the back of the book…

… and an index of all the illustrations and where it was sourced from.

The inside back of the book.

The artbook is really a worthwhile buy for fans of the series and I am glad to own it myself. This is really what artbooks should be like, :D.

If you want the original photos I used for this post, they are all nicely zipped up for download.

P.S. Right after publishing this post, I get an SMS from Kino: “Dear customer. Your order for Negima Vol. 25 Limited Edition has arrived at the store. Please proceed to….”.

…..WTF Kino? I just bloody came back from there!
…… and they said the book’s gonna arrive NEXT week when I placed the order orz.

©2012 Kurogane's Anime Blog. All Rights Reserved.