A horde of water lilies in Kamakura.

Did a little photoshop tribute to Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu’s opening sequence, thought the art stills were inspiring. Wanted to outline my hair like below but got too lazy :P

And the original photo, taken in the dining room lol:

Honestly, I thought winter is gonna be full of panty shots and fanservice galore (watched Ladies x Butler and Chu-bra first :S) with a microscopic amaeba they call a story. If it turns out to be like comedy king Sora no Otoshimono then I’m all for it. Here to save the season is the third season of slife-of-life goodness, Hidamari Sketch Hoshimittsu (that’s “3 stars” in English). Thank goodness.

I was very impressed with the first episode. Storytelling and comedy value are *still* entertaining on top of the no-need-for-improvement-but-still-improved animation and beautiful art style. I’m one happy anime fan. I love you Shaft.

If the third season goes well, it’ll be my number 5 best anime of all time.

So far (still more shows to go this month), I recommend for your winter viewing pleasure:

• Dance in the Vampire Bund: From the first episode of this show, you already know that Shaft doesn’t like to follow things by the book. You’d appreciate it more if you watch a lot of Japanese TV coz it’s a parody of it. Won’t spoil much but I’m amazed at its life-likeness.

• Ookamikakushi: I like the mystery part of Higurashi (innocent town with dark secrets), so this is right up my alley.

• Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu: Using school test results to summon beings? Now that’s something! An instant comedy hit for me. Not to mention it’s from a bestselling light novel, AND Silver Link did a great, no, superb job at animating it. Surprisingly high production value.

• EDIT: Just watched Durarara. Another recommendation, same studio and director as Baccano. Baccano had an interesting cast of characters that captured your attention upon first glance, which unfortunately Durarara doesn’t have. We’ll have to see how things go.

K-on second seas… I mean, Sora no Woto was nice, but still didn’t manage to pull me in just yet. Especially with the K-on character clones. Seriously, out of character design ideas?

Am waiting for Nodame Cantabile Finale, Hanamaru Youchien and Katanagatari.

Ok truth is, I’m just writing this post as an excuse to tell everyone how awesome Hidamari Sketch is :3 Yes I’m crazy for pastel colours and long oval heads.

Apparently it’s true, as confirmed by those who took the test. Try to tackle the question. Uploaded by some gaijin who’s not supposed to do so lol.

Dunno whether it’s been done before, but to think that a popular anime like Eva was used in an official government exam brings tears of joy to my eyes. Though this excerpt was taken from its audio drama series, not the anime. At least from what I read.

I read there was a Dragon Quest-related question too. Will get back on that once it’s confirmed. EDIT: Confirmed by my classmates, there was also a Dragon Quest question in there. Cool!

Guess watching anime helps. It sure helped me a lot, at least! Damn, if I knew it were to come out I would’ve taken Level 1, grrr. I would at least get this one correct :)

For those who don’t wish to try, the English translation of the audio is available after the jump, courtesy of Kinny Riddle of figure.fm. more >>