Years ago, I found myself drawn by the story of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. My first exposure was the 2002 film. From there, I understood the basic storyline that dealt with revenge, and it fascinated me. Several years later, I saw that they made an anime adaptation of the story, and I decided that I had to watch it. Lo and behold, though, my procrastination skills interfered, so after having the series for over two years, I finally watched it. And now I present my review.

The Goods
* With the exceptions of Baron Danglars and Madame Danglars, Mr and Mrs de Villefort, and Edouard de Villefort, the characters of this series were all interesting and likeable to a certain extent.
* I found myself liking a lot of the female characters here such as Valentine de Villefort, Eugénie de Danglars, and Haydée Tebelin. This fact is quite unusual since most female characters aggravate me.
* The music the series used — the classical pieces and the operatic pieces — all contributed well to the atmosphere of the story.
* The unique art style really grew on me, as well as its vibrant colours. For an anime that’s pretty dark in nature, the colours are quite a contrast.
* Le Baron Franz d’Epinay *LOVES LOVES*
* The pacing was excellent. After each episode, I wanted to watch more — especially if it ended in a cliffhanger! But the overall pacing for the series was excellent. Not a single episode was a filler! WOO HOO!
* Since the pacing was good, the story was well delivered, too! The story here is drastically different in certain areas from the book, but it works since the main theme is kept the same.
* The voice acting were great! And yes, I watched it in Japanese, so of course it’s great!

The Bads
* The anime style might take some time to get used to, but luckily the zooey-ness of the crazy style tones down after about the third episode.
* I’m still trying to figure out why a lot of guys went after Madame Danglars. I mean . . . she’s not even pretty and her personality was quite uninteresting, SO WHY?!
* I don’t know about Albert and the residents of Paris, but I am still scratching my head trying to figure out how the Count won them over since honestly? He would have freaked me out more than being charismatic.
* Okay, okay. The anime takes place in 5053? In a futuristic world where there are space travels, holographic computers, cars, and other technology that are advanced, but NO CELLPHONES?! There were several times in the series where I was thinking that having a cellphone would have solved the problems . . .
* The . . . random mecha scenes just made me go huh. Not only that, but they were ugly machines and it was kind of hard to differentiate who was who.

The Uglies
* Franz, oh, FRANZ! You silly boy.
* ALBERT IS STUPID. Homg. This was my major complaint. I know he’s 15, but his stupidity stemming from being naive made me go bonkers at times. I’m glad he matured and grew some brains and balls at the end. This is a coming of the age anime after all. ~_~;;

Conclusion
My only regret is to not watching it sooner! After finishing the last episode, I decided that this was one of the best non-yaoi/shounen-ai anime series I’ve watched in years! The last anime that left such an impact on me like this was when I watched Generator Gawl and Tekuu no Escaflowne. This series is really great for its story and its representation of music, animation, and characters. If I had to rate it, it would definitely be 10/10, and I do not give those out easily. I give out 9/10 fairly often, but a 10/10? Very rare.

I, TC the video game and gadget fanatic, strike again! I’m now the owner of this smexy thing dubbed “Medea”. Actually, I was just going to buy the system, but the store only had this PSP bundle. ~_~;;

Now I can play PlayStation 1 games and watch animes on my backlogged list on the go. Whoo hoo! Now all I need is a case, a carrying case, and a plastic sticker for the screen, and I am good to go!

. . . And with Ubi the DS, my life will revolve around handheld systems! All I need now is a portable computer to complete my world domination. XD

I recently bought The Rescuers and The Rescuers Down Under on DVD. Over the years I have been trying to buy the DVD version of the films I liked as a kid, and of course I was into the whole Walt Disney Animated Classics shebang growing up! However, what I liked as a child and disliked as a child came with me into adulthood, and I’ve decided to only replace what I loved back then. These are the films I liked as a kid and want or will get on DVD or whatever one day.

• One Hundred and One Dalmatians — Never mind all those classics that came before this one, I’ll take this over them any day! Gotta love those dogs and Cruella De Vil. I was so happy to finally get this on DVD since I gave my VHS tape to my cousin who then gave it away . . . so I had no way of obtaining that back into my hands!
• Robin Hood — Come on. I still think Robin Hood had the sexiest voice ever — even if he wasn’t British, hahaha! And Prince John? He just cracks me up.
• The Rescuers — Miss Bianca and Bernard are made of many wins. Plus, the Rescue Aid Society’s song is just damn catchy!
• The Little Mermaid — I need to get the DVD for this one day. The film that began the Disney Renaissance collection :D The film that started to have those songs a lot of us are familiar with. The only thing I could never understand was — something I wondered when I got older — was why didn’t Ariel try to write her problem out to the prince or something.
• The Rescuers Down Under — Not as great as the first one, but still perhaps the only Disney sequel that turned out well. But did anybody notice how different Miss Bianca sounded in this one? I mean, yeah there was like a fifteen year difference since the first film, but still?
• Beauty and the Beast — Artistically and musically, this is my favourite Disney film of all. That beautiful opening scene still makes me go GUH. I love bookish Belle and all those characters at the castle. Plus, that library the Beast shows Belle? May I steal it?! Oh and let me bonk myself on the head for not getting the DVD when it first came out (actually, I didn’t even know it came out until two years ago ~_~;;). Now I have to either get it from a third-party seller or . . . wait until Disney releases it again.
• The Lion King — I love this one, too, but I hate how it is a rip-off of Tezuka-sama’s Kimba the White Lion series. However, if I can ignore that blatantly, obvious “theft”, I adore this film regardless. Don’t get me started on Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

The following films are honourable mentions — films I should like but . . . I will not buy the DVD or whatever for.

• Any of the classics like Pinocchio, The Sleeping Beauty, and etcetera — They just never made it special for me. Some of the films I watched a lot, but it still didn’t grab me like the ones above did! Oh well.
• Pocahontas — This film holds a special spot in my heart because it’s the first film I saw in a theatre. Plus, “Colours of the Wind” is probably my favourite Disney song of them all. But everything else is just blahhhh.
• Hercules — I liked it, I had fun watching it, but I HATED their portrayal of Hades. I know the film needed a villain, but if anybody had to be a villain, why couldn’t it be Hera? Hades is my favourite Greek deity, so to see that awful image of him in the film . . . I wanted to throw something at the screen and the writers!

Anyway, what are your favourite Walt Disney Animated Classics?

Introduction
Years ago, I watched the first part of this anime series, and I loved it. I thought it had a great balance of humour/drama, had the whole travel to another world plotline, had awesome primary and secondary characters, and it was generally fun! Sometime last year or the one before, I finally decided to get the second season DVD set. I finally got off my lazy arse and watched it yesterday and today.

The Goods
* Lantis, Eagle, Geo, Zazu, and big!Ascot are LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE. Especially Ascot! And Eagle. *swoons* Oh and add Clef to the list. Only he’d be cooler if he was big!Clef like Ascot. :D And while I would add Ferio and Lafarga to the list, those two didn’t really strike me as OMG, I LOVE THEM type.
* Those boys I mentioned previously? Now do some mixing and matching with any of the boys, and you will get some wonderful yaoi pairing opportunities. XD Especially Lantis/Eagle and Geo/Eagle.
* Lady Aska and Sanyun were really adorable!
* Mokona is still the most awesome little fluffball in the world. He’s way cooler and better than Mashimaro, who I think is just a rip-off of Mokona.
* I actually liked the character portrayals and the interaction amongst the secondary characters in this season.
* The fact that the series did pick up at the end of the first season excited me.
* Giant Sanyun! I want one of those as a plushie. :D

The Bads
* This season was indeed darker than the first. While I thought the first season had a nice balance of humour/drama, this one was mostly 15% humour 85% angst/drama/BLAHGARONIs.
* Those, er, genie dudes that made Umi and Lady Aska sick? I still don’t see what was so sick about them? I mean, yes, they were . . . not appealing, but they could have been more disgusting!
* Eagle’s aftermath . . . let’s just say I am not happy. GRRRRRR.
* The opening/ending theme songs didn’t do anything for me. The ones they used for the first season were much better.
* I WANTED MORE ASCOT, DAMMIT! He needed more screen time!

The Uglies
* ARGH! The pacing, the effing pacing of this season was a killer. I don’t know why, but I felt like most of the parts were dragged out unnecessarily or cut too sudden to the point I’m scratching my head going, WTF?
* All the flashbacks of the first season and the recap at the beginning of each episode also probably ruined the pacing for me.
* Nova and Hikaru. Those two characters pissed me off the most throughout the series. Nova’s action drove me nuts. Talk about one crazy, bi-polar girl.
* The romance. Oh, Gods. No. I can see Ferio and Fuu, but . . . Hikaru and her main love interest made no sense to me. And Umi’s? Well, her romance with Mr. Shortie made no sense to me either! The big dude, I can see, though!

Conclusion
I’ll take the first season in terms of plot, pacing, and the humour/drama balance. The second is great in the bishounen department, at least, but I’ll take the first any day. Actually, I’ll take the second for a couple of things: Eagle and Ascot. *DROOLS* But I’d rather gorge my eyes than watch it again any time soon. If I have to see another pink or red-haired chick in the next two months, I’ll puke.

Speaking of pink-haired chick . . . was it me or does Utena look sort of like a creepy copycat of Nova? Perhaps it’s just me.

Here’s a list of unexpected events I’ve been subjected to today:

• My pillow scratched me. More specifically, the zipper on my pillow did. My arm is a victim of a six-inch “gash”.
• I tripped over a bunch of preschoolers and crash landed on my right knee.
• Tired from my morning events, I took a 45-minute nap in the staff lounge.
• My supervisors nearly had me expedited to the emergency room to have my knee checked up.
• I fought a long hard battle on unlocking the X-ray room locker’s padlock and a equally long battle to open the sodding locker.
• The sphygmomanometer in the ER hated me and gave me a low blood pressure reading — to which the nurses asked if I felt light-headed. I retorted with “I’m tired!” And really, why wouldn’t I be?! I was subjected to wait what felt like an eternity. Who else wouldn’t feel light-headed?
• My final diagnosis was a contusion, and it took three stinking hours to come to that conclusion.
• Even though the paper said to stay off my knee for 48-hours, I shall only take tomorrow off as I originally intended to do without the frustrating ER visit.

Needless to say, I do not want to repeat this day at all. I’m sure anybody reading this will think I’m a clumsy fool, or maybe they will think of me as someone who just have bad luck. Whichever is the case, I was not a happy camper today. After I injured myself, I told one of the supervisors what happened. She told me to let her know when it started hurting. Well, it started to act up, so I told her and tried to tell her that I could finish my work-day and just take one day off to stay off of it. Before I could even say that, I was thrown a bunch of paperwork to fill out and was told to go to the ER (ironically enough, I have no car, so I don’t know how they expected me to go there). Luckily, Daddy picked me up, and I went there.

. . . The last time I was there, it was because I had a really bad case of tonsillitis. This time it’s for a contusion — a simple diagnosis I could have come up with (except I’d call it a “banged up knee”.), and my supervisors did all this to cover themselves since this was a work-related injury. Not that I’m complaining, no. I just hope my employers cover the unexpected medical bill, and next time if I ever do seriously get injured, at least I know my employers care. XD But honestly? This was a long afternoon that I do not care to repeat. No thank you. I will not give out any gracias for this!