And I have finished the Shiori and Makoto routes in Kanon. To much the same reaction.

I just finished the Tsukimiya Ayu route in Kanon.

...and just finished crying a minute ago.

Just thought I'd bring it up.

That today was. 

I managed to make it to school by trolley, while correcting my Japanese homework and (successfully) studying for a quiz in that class.  Which felt less painful today.  I managed to nab a fresh slice of stuffed sausage and pepperoni pizza and a fresh breadstick with fresh marinara sauce when Sbarro opened.  I won an informal Super Smash Brothers Brawl tournament, beating a skilled Zelda, decent Meta Knight, rival-level Snake, and rather good Lucas players, securing my victory with Olimar.  This left me plenty of time to study for the ISCOR test, and I'm confident that my IDs on the BWC, CWC, NPT, CTBT, and NWFZ were sufficient for a good grade.  ISCOR class was followed by a productive meeting of my simulation group representing the Gulf Cooperation Council, and my skimming details on each country in the GCC (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates).  The new family car was bought today, so I no longer have to borrow and drive a truck.  And, after a lot of effort, my PS2 is set up to play import games.  For the first time in nine months, I can play Fate/Unlimited Codes, and I feel confident to import a copy of Melty Blood: Actress Again.

That's for another day, though.  Tomorrow, I have a trip to the art museum for a class assignment...

((H-san, signing off))
_____________________________________________

"The story in this game is very good. That sentence is the result of five hours of careful thought. I'm so eloquent."

 - my Yume Miru Kusuri review

My internship will be over tomorrow, and school starts next week.  I'm taking ISCOR, Political Science, and History classes (and Japanese, of course).

I just bought Wii Sports Resort a week and a half ago, and it's pretty darn fun.  I also bought Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition a few days ago, and I've been kicking ass and taking names with Vergil since then.  Also, I'm finally working through that large bag of J-List bought visual novels and eroge.  I played Xchange, to start with, and since I'm not inclined towards rape fantasies, it was one of the worst games I've ever played.

I'm currently playing Yume Miru Kusuri ("A Drug That Makes You Dream").  I guess to even out the karmic scales, this is one of the absolute best games I've ever played, and I'd even compare it favorably to Tsukihime.  I'll probably say more about it later.  I'm still recovering from my immediate playtime (having finished Aeka Shiraki's and Mizuki Kirimiya's scenarios), and gearing up for the next and final route (Cat Sidhe Nekoko's).

That's if I manage to feel up to typing.  Or if I'm really capable of communicating just how much I love this game, how powerful Aeka's arc is, how truly, unbelievably heartwarming Mizuki's happy ending is...and just how soul-crushing their bad endings are.

I'm actually kind of worried to set foot onto the final arc...

((H-san, getting friendly with a stoned catgirl...in context))
_________________________________________________

"EVERY CELL OF MY BEING SCREAMS IN DEFIANCE OF YOU, SHE-DEVIL OF THE BLACKEST ABYSS!  FROM HELL'S HEART, ON MY SIDE OF THE COMPUTER, I SPIT AT THY VIRTUAL IMAGE!"

 - H-san's initial reaction to Kyoka Nanjou, of A Drug That Makes You Dream (outdated opinion; it got worse)

Well, it's over now.  I've finished the 23rd, final volume of Fruits Basket.  Spoilers be damned from here on out.

...what can I say about it?  Well, I was definitely wrong when I said last time that the manga essentially ended with the last one (volume 22).  While this one was certainly devoted to wrapping up loose ends, I underestimated how important those loose ends are.  The ramifications of everyone openly being in relationships is explored, especially with Kyo and Tohru.  The aftereffects of Akito coming out and trying to apologize to the Zodiac, but failing (because that would feel too much of a cop out), but everyone forgiving her to an extent...except Isuzu, who suffered the most, and will probably never be able to.  Akito finally confessing her love for Shigure...ah, Shigure.  It's not often I find a character who literally baffles me.  I honestly have no idea what to think about him.  I'm not even sure if that's a plus or a minus.  It just is.

But...oh man.  The second-to-last chapter, ostensibly devoted to the end of Tohru and Kyo's first date, when he springs the fact that he's moving and asks her to join (and, to his surprise, she agrees pretty much immediately)...well, the whole thing was done in front of Kyoko Honda's grave, and Tohru assures Kyo that she can't believe her mother hated him.

And then, of all things, Natsuki Takaya decides to show us Kyoko's perspective on the day  of the car accident she died in.  Her thought process when she noticed Kyo and freaked him out by muttering her dying words, "I won't forgive you."

( Paraphrased )

I broke down.

I seriously started sobbing like a little girl.  And then the last chapter started, mostly devoted to everyone's reactions before Kyo and Tohru left.  I managed to recover somewhat...just in time for the scene when Yuki finally confesses to Tohru just what she meant to him (not just a friend, but a mother figure who loved him unconditionally and helped him join society), and him thanking her, on his own behalf, and that of the entire Sohma family, and telling her outright that they all love her.

And then the last two pages hit.  It's a timeskip of indeterminate time, with a child asking her mother where Tohru and Kyo are.  After her mother tells her off for using their names (telling her to call them grandma and grandpa), she reveals that they've gone out walking together.  The two's grandchild then pouts that they always do that lovey-dovey stuff and leave her behind, to her mother's gentle admonishment. 

...I cannot imagine a better ending than that.




After three or four years, it's over.  My first manga series, the one that got me fully into the medium in the first place has finally finished.  It's been a very fun ride, and it's a very pleasant, reassuring feeling to know that it remained my favorite series (only matched by Negima) all that time, and cannot be dislodged from at least my top two.

As a side note: I think this is only either the first or the second time I've used that userpic.  Considering my occasionally-conservative family every so often reads this thing, I've been reluctant to use it (and a couple others I have)...but as the marker of the culmination of another plot I looked forward to for a long time, I don't have a more appropriate symbol for this situation.  Besides...it's my LJ, after all.

((H-san, signing off))
_______________________________

"...I came out of those times realizing that Furuba had begun to travel all over the world, and was being read by fans all over the globe.  It's times like these that I think there can't be any greater happiness than to be a manga creator.  Truly, thank you.  The ever kind and smiling Tohru, bashful Kyo, and awkward Yuki, and all the other characters...thank you for loving them so much.  For that, I love all of you in return.  Truly, truly, thank you."

 - Natsuki Takaya, creator of Fruits Basket

Well, it's over.  And good thing for my finances, too.  Now I get to start saving for textbooks...

Since I didn't have a shift in the anime rooms, today was appealingly slow.  I arrived at the customary time of noon, and took some time to finish any last-minute shopping.  While this included one last visit to the J-List booth (to get Princess Waltz and Casual Romance Club...and a free copy of Tea Society for a Witch), I also managed to find gifts for my parents (a set of earrings of "elven" design for my  mother, with her birthstone, and an Asha'man pin for my father, who's also a Wheel of Time fan) and a Saber figurine!  It's great quality, and the same make as my others (PVC); I was worried she'd be much larger than the others, but she's actually the same size as my Ciel and Akiha figurines.  I'm kinda confused as to why she's holding Caliburn instead of Excalibur, but that's an incredibly geeky nitpick.

The rest of my time was spent hanging around the anime rooms, watching episodes of Clannad, Lucky Star, Urusei Yatsura, and Hayate the Combat Butler.  I stepped out during a showing of World of Narue to buy lunch, and ended up with a caesar salad with chicken.  Odd thing was, I sat outside the shoujo room eating my salad when I got briefly interviewed.  And by "interviewed" I mean "some woman dressed as some character I didn't recognize, who was followed by a guy with a video camera, sat by me and some other guy and acted out something I didn't recognize."  I guess she was supposed to be some kind of Red Queen evil mistress-style thing, and she asked me what I thought of the brains. 

Not knowing a thing about what she was talking about, I decided to play along, and insisted that if she was slighting the fine makers of that salad, I would have none of it.  I think I actually faked an accent for it.  Eventually, she decided that she liked me (in character), and I thanked her (acting awkward), speaking into the microphone she had with her.  Then she and the cameraman asked me if I had their permission to use the footage of me, and had me state my name and agreement into the camera when I said that was fine.  Then they left.

Me: "..."
Others: "..."
M: "What was that about?"
O: *chuckling*

So...yeah.  My confidence in my acting skills has gone up, but I wonder what that was.

Anyway, I decided to leave the Con after watching Hayate the Combat Butler, rather than wait and watch Negima?!, or even School Rumble.  I read the manga of both of those, and I'll watch the Negima?! adaptation on my own (since, like I said, it's so completely different from the manga, it's surreal).

Either way, the San Diego Comic Con is over.  Five days when it truly is good to be a geek.  Like my avatar said, no regrets.

((H-san, hiding the J-List bag))
________________________________________________

Today was a little more nerve-wracking than usual.  I managed to get to the Con just in time for my 1:00 shift to start (had to deposit a check, after waking late). 

Anyway, my day today was basically nothing but anime (and walking around the giant crowd of people there for Masquerade Night).  I started work by showing Clannad (which I'm liking so far) and Lucky Star (which I've liked for a while).

Then came Kanon.  A.K.A. the anime based on that game I want to play since some people on the internet just finished a translation patch.  Unfortunately, today we were showing the last two episodes of the anime adaptation.  Or rather, that may have been fortunate, since I took that excuse to visit the exhibition hall very briefly...or so I'd hoped.  It took a little longer than expected, but I bought my three sensitive purchases.  Somehow, I wound up buying those two things I mentioned yesterday: Little My Maid and Yume Miru Kusuri.  Then I bought a tuna sandwich, because I was hungry.  Come to think of it, I barely ate today...

Anyway, I made it back to the room 1/3 of the way through the last Kanon episode, so I wound up taking off my glasses while eating lunch.  My vision is pretty bad, so I could barely distinguish the shapes of the characters, let alone read the subtitles, and my Japanese wasn't good enough to know what was happening.  The lengths I go to...

As for the rest of the anime shift, there were only a few highlights.  Hayate was funny, as usual.  The ending to Karin was somewhat abrupt, but I actually liked it a lot (not to mention monster-form Karin looked surprisingly badass...makes me wish there was a screenshot somewhere online).  After Con ends, I'm going to track down and watch all of Familiar of Zero and Doujin Work.  When we were showing School Rumble, the DVD had an unskippable advertisement for Negima?!, another Funmation show.  I know it was unskippable, because it was so loud and embarassing that I tried everything in my power to move past it, and nothing worked.  Considering I was sort of loud, and my efforts showed on the screen, I think I gave the audience a good show, though.

Me: "Fast forward!"
*That DVD option cannot be used at this time*
Me: "Skip!"
*That DVD option cannot be used at this time*
Me: "Menu!"
*That DVD option cannot be used at this time*
Me: "Top Menu!!"
*That DVD option cannot be used at this time*
Me: "Random button!"
*the DVD pauses*
Me: "THAT DOESN'T HELP AT ALL!"

Incidentally, during one of our showings (can't remember which), there was a huge commotion outside the anime rooms, and I could have sworn I heard cheering.  My shiftmate went out to investigate, but it turned out to be not terribly interesting.  Just Stan Lee passing by.

(That's half a joke.  I know Stan Lee is huge, and responsible for a lot of conventions in the comic industry...but my interaction with the American comic industry is pretty limited, and that mostly in the form of movies.  I'm simply from a different geekdom.)

Anyway, after my shift ended, I decided to step outside the room so as not to watch the last episode of Buso Renkin.  It leaves me at a cliffhanger point, but I really want to watch the whole series first.  After some time reading, I went into a different anime room that was going to be showing an episode of Shingetsutan Tsukihime.  But before that, they showed two episodes of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, english title: When They Cry.

...holy crap.

It was pretty intense, and one of the creepiest anime I've ever been able to make myself watch.  Really, I'm glad it ended the way it did (well...I should put "ended" in quotation marks, for being a visual novel adaptation), because I couldn't leave the room.  I don't think I blinked for about forty minutes.  It made the Tsukihime episode stand out, certainly...

I ended the evening watching something called Ah My Buddha, and then the thing I was waiting all day for: Ninja Nonsense.  Seriously, that anime is perfect for watching in large groups of geeks.  I left the con with a cough and a sideache from laughing so hard.  It certainly made waiting an hour for a trolley going as far as I needed more bearable.

Well, tomorrow, it ends.  I still need to look for gifts, possibly a shirt, and possibly a J-List game (I'm thinking the ironically-titled Princess Waltz).  We'll see.

((H-san, signing off))
__________________________________________

"Some people play tennis.  I erode the human soul."

 - Tycho, Penny Arcade

Well, transportation was a lot easier today.  But enough of that, now for the con.

In a way, today was like a repeat of yesterday.  I played Tekken for a bit, watched Lucky Star in the anime rooms, and shopped around in the exhibit hall.  I noticed the cosplayers even more today, and really liked a lot of them.  Altair from Assassin's Creed.  Various Soras and Links.  Pedobear (seriously, and he was headed in the direction of the daycare...).  A Sniper and a Spy (complete with happyface mask) from Team Fortress 2.  Gene Simmons.

Oh, wait.  That wasn't cosplay.  That was actually Gene Simmons.

I'm serious.  Gene Simmons (dressed normally) walked by with a couple of bodyguards and a guy following with a giant camera.  If clips show up on his TV show, I'm the confused-looking guy in the back with a beard wearing a "Legolas is my House Elf" t-shirt.

I finally purchased dice and weaponry today.  I bought a random mugful of dice, plus shiny dice (1d20 for rolling, 4d6 for stats, 1d4/6/8/10/12 for hit die, and 1d4 for gold...stuff for 3.5 character creation), and I bought a red oak fighting staff (pretty hefty, and tall as I am).  Then, of course, I went back to J-List and bought Heart de Roommate and Xchange...and I might go back again for Little My Maid and Yume Miru Kusuri (A Drug that Makes You Dream).  I'm not quite sure why.

The rest of the day was filled with anime (with a slice of Tekken).  I made it to the Hayate the Combat Butler episode today, thankfully.  Additionally...

- School Rumble was okay.  It was, thankfully, at a point I'd already seen in the manga.
- Karin was really, really good.  I'm glad the last episode is covered in my shift tomorrow.
- Genshiken...I'm officially a Madarame fan.  Dude's awesome.
- Negima?! was...interesting.  Unlike most of the others, I think I might prefer watching it alone.  It would make the contrast with the manga that much easier to ignore.
- As soon as I'm able, I'm going to look up Familiar of Zero.  Based on the two episodes I've seen, I think I'll really like it.

The main difference between today and yesterday was that yesterday was the concert, where today was my anime room shift.  Speaking of...

- I's...eh.  It was vaguely interesting (or at least nerve-wracking) while I watched, but I don't want to watch more.
- Otoboku...it might be interesting.
- Buso Renkin...I'm going to look for this one.  It looks really good.
- Ah My Buddha looks pretty lighthearted and fun.  If I look for it, I'll do it alone, though.  I don't like watching fanservice-heavy shows in company (unless it's straight-up comedic, like Girls' High).
- Kujibiki Unbalance...I'm not sure what to think.

I also stayed after to watch half an episode of Ninin ga Shinobuden (English title: Ninja Nonsense), the show I discovered while working the anime rooms two years ago.  It once again confirms my theory that a funny show is twice as funny if you're watching it with people who laugh at the same jokes as you.

Well, tomorrow is my long shift, and it starts at 1:00 pm!  I'll have to get there a little earlier than usual...

((H-san, going to bed))
__________________________________________________________

Onsokumaru: Stop laughin' will ya and just trust me. You'll live longer if you bathe with men.
Miyabi: Really? Is that true, sis?
Shinobu: Uh... is that true, Kaede?
Kaede: I've never heard of such a bizarre theory!
Ninja 2: Ah, yes ladies, it's quite true. We've even got a letter from the Surgeon General saying so. ...actually, it's really from my uncle Kazuhiko whom everyone calls Pervyhiko and I'm not sure why, though.

 - Ninin ga Shinobuden, episode 9A: "The Girls Get Warm"

And here I was expecting a more-or-less uneventful day.

Well...the trolley ride to the Con was uneventful, at least, after my Einstein Bros. breakfast of a blueberry muffin and hot chocolate.  And the first few hours of the Con were comfortably slow.  I stopped over in the Game room and played Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion for an hour or so.  There were three guys from SDSU there (Alan, Cheeto, and Zeng...at least, that's what I think they're called), but half my time was spent playing against two other guys.  Turns out my skill level since I first played Tekken 6 in Japan hasn't dropped by much...other than my fumbling with the control schemes of the Xbox and PS3 (it's hard playing fighting games without an arcade setup).  Bob and Miguel are just as fun as when I left, and there seem to be two new characters: Alisa and Lars.  I couldn't use the former (who's apparently a robot...with chainsaws, missiles, and detachable extremities), but the later was quick fun to play as.  Now, if only I could figure out why he's using something strikingly similar to Mishima-style karate...

(Huh.  A quick check on Wikipedia says he's Heihachi's illegitimate son.  That explains a lot, including why he kinda resembles Kazuya.  And Alisa is Dr. Boskonovitch's creation, it seems).

After leaving Tekken, I headed over to the anime rooms to watch Lucky Star (and catching a glimpse of Clannad before that).  It was pretty good (note to self: remember why "No!" "Yes." is so funny).  Afterwards, I had a hot dog and powerade for lunch and wandered.  I found the dice place, this time, but held off on buying anything just yet.  Watched a demonstration of that new Dante's Inferno game... which I can best describe as "Devil May Cry meets Mortal Kombat."

I headed back to J-List to pick up two games I looked up last night, Crescendo and Tokimeki Check-in.  I'm considering going back to buy Heart de Roommate and Xchange, but I've yet to decide.  Still, I'm doubly glad I went back there, because I wound up at another booth playing (and buying a copy of) a really fun side-scrolling shooter game called Suguri.  I managed to impress the salespeople by getting to the third level, where I hit a brick wall (in the form of an android named Nanako).  I wound up missing the episode of Hayate the Combat Butler I was planning to see, but I didn't mind much.

Then, my anime room shift started.  After a bit of a rocky start (accidentally stopping the DVD after one episode when we were watching two), it settled down, and I had a good time.  Let's see, a list of things...

- Doujin Work looks pretty funny.  And it had one of the two funniest exchanges I heard the entire day.  I might use it for a quote some day, but it's late now, so I'll sum it up with "IT'S NOT YURI!"
- Negima?! was...strange.  Speaking as a big fan of the manga, watching the second TV adaptation was incredibly surreal.  Almost none of the characters acted right (especially Asuna, yeesh), and the storyline was like something out of the first two manga volumes.  I'll give them this, though: this time, they got Chisame's hair color right.  I mean, come on, first TV series, dark green?
- Karin was good.  It looks like we're watching the final episodes, so I'm hoping they're very different from the manga (which I"m currently reading).
- World of Narue looks vaguely interesting.  It had a bit of random fanservice, though (some people walked in during the commercial break sign, saw it, and walked right back out).
- The Genshiken OVA was absolutely hilarious.  Given that I have some contact with yaoi fans, it was the funniest thing I've watched for a while.  The whole argument between Ohno and Ogiue, the loudly-proclaimed yaoi fangirl and the closeted one...

I left my shift slightly early to head over to the Embarcadero, where the Video Games Live concert was being held.  And after buying a shirt, and some margarita pizza and a sierra mist for dinner, I sat and watched.  I had a lawn seat, but eventually moved to an unoccupied table in the cabaret.  Another list of things...

- There was a costume contest between a large group of cosplayers.  It eventually came down to a Night Elf quest giver (complete with gold exclamation mark over her head), Dark Link (complete with Midna), and Solid Snake (complete with cardboard box hat).  Snake won.
- First up was a medley of music from various old Atari and NES era games, from Pong to Tetris, Dragon's Lair, Duck Hunt, and the like.
- Next was Metal Gear Solid music (introduced with a video message by Hideo Kojima), accompanied by footage from the games (mostly Guns of the Patriots).  During the song, a guard prowled around on stage, looking for an intruder...who was hiding in a cardboard box.  Seriously.
- The person in the cardboard box turned out to the be the evening's main pianist, who then played a medley of Final Fantasy songs (including Zanarkand, Eyes on Me, Terra's and Aeris' themes, Liberi Fatali, and the FF6 victory music).  I will admit my eyes starting to tear up at Zanarkand...
- They brought out D. Baker, who does voice acting (including, say, Appa and Momo from Avatar).  He did sound effects for a few games (hilariously, he did Asteroids, Pacman, and Centipede).  He also did voice effects for a guy from the audience who did a large-scale thing of Space Invaders.  He lost, but I suspect the controls threw him off (physically moving back and forth across the stage!).
- There was a Kingdom Hearts medley, accompanied by footage of Disney films.
- Something from Civilization IV, which I never played (though the singer had a wonderful voice).
- An extremely talented flute player doing a symphony-backed medley of Legend of Zelda pieces.  She also had Link's costume, complete with Navi the fairy...who, of course, interrupted once (Hey!  Listen!) with her own music.
- Another Legend of Zelda piece, by just the symphony.  Used footage from Legend of Zelda original, Adventure of Link, Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess.  Easily my favorite section the entire night!
- There was an intermission, complete with a loading screen!
- During intermission was a segment called "My Childhood in 4 minutes" with a song backed by a medley of NES, SNES, and Genesis games (a ton, including, to my delight, Ristar, Jurassic Park, Road Rash 2, Ecco the Dolphin, the Sonic games, among others).
- After intermission was a few pieces from Need For Speed, World of Warcraft (including a visit by the game's main composer), and Super Mario games (with a video message by Koji Kondo).
- The pianist came back and played various Mario themes...blindfolded.  Perfectly.
- Some guy who won a contest played "Sweet Emotion" on Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, with the symphony backing him up.  The goal to win was to get 200,000 points on Hard, but he insisted on playing Expert instead.  In addition to being a better crowd pleaser, this had the secondary effect of opening up more point opportunities...which helped, since he succeeded handily!
- The night wrapped up with stuff from Mega Man (none of which I ever played), Halo (which ended with a Spartan on stage with the Red Flag), and a version of One-Winged Angel backed by images of cosplayers and fanart.  Odd choice, that.

Okay, so the evening didn't really end there.  The announcer mentioned that at concerts of old, people held aloft their lighters to call for an encore.  We, however, were gamers, so we held up electronics: cell phones, iPods, PSPs, DSs, and even one guy with a laptop!  Naturally, an encore was played.  Two, in fact.  The first was of Castlevania, backed by images from the various games, and the final one (apparently the most requested one online) was from Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross.

All in all, a very fun day, that wasn't even dampened too much by my missing the last train to Santee by five minutes and having to sheepishly call my parents to ask them to pick me up at SDSU.

What will happen tomorrow, I wonder...?

((H-san, signing off))
________________________________________________

Ogiue: "How can you call this anything but lewd?!" *holds up Slam Dunk doujinshi* "I bet you *bleep* to this!"
Kasukabe: "Um...you know, just because we're all girls here doesn't mean you have to--"
Ohno: *holds up bald guy doujinshi*  "THIS is what I *bleep* to!"

Oh, what a day.

It started out slow enough: waking up at 10:30, having a slice of cheeseless pizza for breakfast, doing a load of laundry, eating ramen for lunch, and killing time listening to Linkara while I played Hunter: The Reckoning (Gamecube version).  The most eventful thing that happened before 4 pm was my tearing the room apart looking for my Fruits Basket journal.

The trolley ride was also fairly slow.  Nothing of interest happened until I got off a 12th and Imperial, and ran into a guy I know from the SDSU arcade.  I'm not entirely sure what his name is, just roughly how everyone pronounces it ("Zeng" or "Zan" or something).  We wound up walking to the Con, talking about games.  Mainly Blazblue (which he insisted I had to try, and as a Guilty Gear fan, I agree wholeheartedly) and Tekken.  Matter of fact, he brought up a Tekken tournament that's happening at Comic Con, which apparently some of the guys from SDSU are going to be in, so I'm really hoping my anime room shift schedule doesn't conflict.

Getting into the Con took a while.  I arrived at about 4:45 and waited in the Volunteer line to get my badge...then, after I was told that I had been waiting in the wrong line (I'm apparently not a volunteer, I'm staff), I walked down to the correct place and got a badge.  Then, after another 15 minutes of walking, I finally got a bag for stuff.  Then, the night was on!

After being lured by Del Rey's large Negima poster, I stumbled onto Dayfree Press, where Jeph Jacques (creator of the webcomic Questionable Content) was, but I didn't buy anything (yet).  Then,  wandered over to Penny Arcade, where I bought a shirt (I Roll Twenties), a poster (of the Carboard Tube Samurai), and a book (Case of the Mummy's Gold).  Then, I found the Rooster Teeth booth, and bought a copy of Red vs. Blue: Reconstruction.  Then, my wanderings truly began in earnest.

After coming upon a booth selling manga, I found to my amazment and pleasure...FRUITS BASKET VOL. 23!  And Fullmetal Alchemist vol. 19, but it was Furuba that I was bouncing with joy over.  I bought both and moved on.  The giant wall o' shirts was there, and I recognized a few that I'd purchased over the years.  I'll have to head back for more, once I've made up my mind. 

I located J-List again, which was where I first learned how difficult a search for Tsukihime would be, two years ago.  Most of their products are...weird.  Well, by that I mean that half of their products were dating sims and eroge, and the other half was straight-up porn, both in manga form, and in quite familiar magazine form (I take the 5th).  Okay, maybe that's a bit unfair, since there was a large portion of non-pornographic stuff.  I'm still a little off-put by my realization that J-List is the company that caters to all the Japanophiles that give us normal anime fans a bad name.

That said, I was there this time specifically to look for Kanon, Clannad, or To Heart, all visual novels I'd heard good things about.  However, while I didn't see any of those, there was one very familiar title that did catch my eye...Kana: Little Sister.  Widely considered to be the very definiton of the Japanese concept of "utsuge" (roughly: "depressing game"), I know only a little of the story.  What little I know is that you play a high school student taking care of his younger sister, who has a terminal disease.  ...yeah.  Naturally, since I don't spend nearly enough of my time as a sobbing, twisted ,emotional wreck of a man, I bought it.  Of course, then the salesperson started recommending other titles.  It got kind of strange.

Salesperson: "...and in this one, it's really cool, with this one girl, you can enter a kind of sex friend relationship.  The thing progesses with certain choices, but if you don't pursue it, she gets kind of upset, but if you--"
Me: "Please stop describing that."

My response actually got some chuckles out of the people around the booth, so I managed to save some face (like I heard another guy there say, "Wow.  Just looking at some of this stuff is embarassing...").  Which was good, because I'm going back there to buy more stuff.  I decided to hold off until I learned more about some of the games whose names sounded familiar (Crescendo, Tokimeki Check-in, Heart de Roommate).  All three of those, and a couple more besides, actually sound interesting.

After fleeing the booth, I located the place where I buy weapons.  Considering I have now a shinai, a bokken, a wooden gladius, a kunai, and a pair of tonfa, I might have to branch into bladed weapons.  There was a kukri for $45...but that's a decision for another day.  I found a place selling anime, and despite a lack of success in finding the sixth and final volume of Fate/Stay Night (so my dad can watch it; Netflix seems to have lost their copy) I did find the Lucky Star OVA.

Then came the trek to the other end of the exhibit hall, through the teeming mass (or morass) of people.  I don't think I'll describe that, though I'll say that I think my time in Japan helped.  I don't seem to get claustrophobic in large crowds any more.

I didn't find the dice tonight, so I'll look tomorrow.  I did, however, find NC Soft's area, with their new MMO Aion, and with a preview of City of Heroes Issue 16: Going Rogue.

...wait, what?!

After an experiment with a nearby computer and a commercial shown on the NC Soft screen, I realized two things.

1. They're going to add power customization.
2. They're going to add a way to switch sides.

...*insert incoherent cry of victory that sounds roughly like "YYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!"*

I think the only thing that kept me from breaking into my geek dance was the prospect of a few hundred people staring at me.  But, come on!  Friggin' power customization and side-switching!  I'm gonna have Masterminds fighting crime!  Hell, most of my villains (mostly anti-heroes of one stripe or another) would fit better into Paragon City.  And being able to change the color of your powers officially takes City of Heroes/Villains' character creation system from "incrediblely awesome" to "mind-blowingly awesome."  My experiment involved recreating Umbramancer and tinting his powers various appropriate shades of black, green, blue, and red, befitting what I envisioned of his powers!

Anyway, with my exhibit hall wandering done, and after locating the room the Tekken  tournament will be in, I went out the back of the Convention Center.  The weather was pleasant, the Pops were practicing something at the outdoor symphony hall, and in one of the few times since I stepped off the plane last August, I was extremely happy to be home.  The music sounded familiar, and I asked a nearby security guard what it might be.  He wasn't sure, but he'd heard them play some Legend of Zelda and Metal Gear Solid music.  ...wait, what?

Then I heard the organizer speaing over the sound system to the symphony.  "Okay, and the World of Warcraft piece will be next."

Wait, WHAT?!     (Yes, I actually said that out loud)

Long story short, the San Diego Summer Pops is doing a "Video Games Live" concert.  I listened and watched outside the fence as they performed a WoW piece, and then (I swear) they had the band play "Sweet Emotion" while a guy played the song on Guitar Hero: Aerosmith.  Needless to say, I bought a ticket immediately when I got home.

...

Not a bad first day, all told.  We'll see what tomorrow brings, when I start my anime room shifts...

((H-san, going to bed))
_________________________________________________________

"I am a MAN!"
*punch*