Mahou Tsukai Ni Taisetsu na Koto - Natsu no Sora

The second season of Someday’s Dreamers may have discarded its former English title, but it didn’t lose a single bit of its magic. Natsu no Sora follows the same flow as the first season, with Kikuchi Yume surrendering the lead role to Suzuki Sora, also a young apprentice Mage.

I instantly fell in love with the beautiful renditions of Shimokitazawa, the lovely OP, ED and insert songs and above it all the beauty of stories told through the eyes of professional, working-class Magi. I’m not sure if many people can appreciate this lovely show.

Amatsuki

This is one show that I found rather strange. The establishment of the premise is quite far-fetched. I mean, a boy gets sent back through time back to feudal age Japan by visiting, of all places, a high-tech museum. Still, I chose to disregard the little oddity and went ahead with it. Amatsuki plays around with youkai and ayakashi, always an interesting plot device, which also lends credit to the equally interesting adventures.

It only spanned for 13 episodes, but the plot-twist ending appeared to be promising a second season. Honestly, I’m not singing praises for this one, but somehow, I just can’t wait to get more of it.

Bounen no Xam’d

With virtually unlimited budget from Sony, Bones is going all out on their latest venture, and Bonen no Xam’d looks to be aiming to be the most epic show of the year. Xam’d follows the story of Takehara Akiyuki, a typical schoolboy who received an enchantment from a mysterious girl after she triggered a schoolbus explosion. The enchantment engulfs and transforms him into Xam’d, a rampaging beastlike humanoid creature with superhuman strength and agility.

He is rescued by a sky-riding girl who calmed the beast and nursed him to health aboard a postal service airship. Akiyuki finds himself struggling with his strange curse, all at the dawn of a mysterious war.

I know, my synopsis absolutely sucks, but there’s too many things going on in this show, and the fact that it’s only been made available on the PlayStation Networks makes it even more exciting to wait for proper re-encodes.

Animation and art direction simply looks stunning in 720p. Bones has yet to disappoint, and at the rate they’re going, they’re just gonna keep dropping bombs on us fans.

Natsume Yuujinchou

This is one of my favourites of this new season.

Mushishi was the first anime that showed me how a youkai-themed anime could be so emotionally moving and beautiful, as opposed to the stereoypical action-adventure commonly associated with the genre. Natsume Yuujinchou is the second title I discovered to have achieved the same effect as Mushishi. It tells the story of Natsume Takashi, a teenage orphan who is capable of seeing youkai, an ability he inherited from his late grandmother, Reiko.

He also inherited the Yuujinchou, The Book of Friends, which contains the names of many youkai who gave Reiko their names [allowing her to summon them at will] after she defeated them in odd duels, as Reiko had particularly strong spiritual powers. The story follows Takashi as he finds these long lost friends.

With the aid and tutelage of a powerful youkai in the guise of a maneki neko Takashi returns them their names and sets them free. In the process, he experiences Reiko’s memories and learns of how she befriended [or defeated] these youkai and often the stories describe youkai as gentle, peaceful and lovable creatures, who just happen to be misunderstood for their strange habits and appearances.

As the name implies, Yuujinchou is a story about love and friendship that transcends time and space. Even after her death, the youkai friends fondly remember Reiko for her quirks and for bringing small moments of bliss in their lives. One of the things that makes the anime adaptation special is how they got Hiroshi Kamiya to voice Takashi, recreating those magical ‘Takemoto Monologues‘ that we enjoyed so much back in Honey and Clover.

You want me to tell you how good this show is? I cried at the end of episode two. It’s that moving. BSS is doing an awesome job, so go and watch it.

Kaiba

Ah, and we arrive here at last. One of the best things I like about my pastime of anime appreciation, is when I stumble upon something, download it on a whim, and it turns out to be abso-fucking-lutely spectacular. This season, Kaiba is my surprise favourite.

Kaiba follows the story of a protagonist of the same name. We find him waking up suffering from amnesia and he sets off on a journey to rediscover his memories, and the truth of the world that he lives in today. Kaiba is an amazing piece of art. The creators described it as a sci-fi romance, and I only understood why as the series approaches its climax at episode 9.

In this age, human memory can be stored as chips and extracted from your body. In other words, even if you are physically killed, your memory may be salvaged as a chip which can be implanted in another body. The hero, Kaiba, goes on his journey swapping one body after another due to various circumstances. Slowly, the mysteries began to unravel as Kaiba rediscovers his memories and sets out to complete his destiny.

It is dramatic, it is suspenseful, it is romantic, and it is heart-wrenching. However, you may only notice these things if you choose to look beneath the surface. Kaiba is animated by Madhouse [Black Lagoon, Chi's Sweet Home], and judging from the astounding art direction, you can tell that the studio is having fun. It looks extremely ridiculous, but at the same time, the ridiculousness greatly extends its charm by a hundredfold.

In a subtle way, Kaiba asks its viewers to read between the lines, see beyond the superficial, and understand the true essence of beauty that lies underneath all things. It’s a strong message that was powerfully delivered through brilliant art, character designs and breath-taking music.

The best part of all? Nobody close to me is watching this jewel. That just makes it all the more special.

GAH! I’m ripping the ending music, nao. Here, if you love the music, I hope this can tone down the addiction a bit.

Click here to download ‘Northern Cross’

The link will be removed on 20th August 2008.

P/S: Try not to hog my limited bandwidth. Please ~

If Edo was here, I’m 101% sure he would post this up (if you noticed, all posts regarding Macross F were written by him). Since he’s MIA now, I shall post this in place of him.

Fasten Your Seatbelt Now!

Behold. Oh, to avoid any casualties - which Ocha! will not be held responsible for - please hold on tightly to your chair, table, bed, or whatever. If you’re reading this on a laptop in a car, fasten your seatbelt please.

Ready?
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Here

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You

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Go!

LOLWUT?!! OMGWTFBBQWTFISTHAT?

SERIOUSLY?! DAIRY? I didn’t know Ranka was lactating!

Japanese and their Engrish… tsk tsk tsk…

Nakajima Megumi is So Moo Moe!

Oh by the way, I wonder if any of you have seen the face behind Ranka’s voice? The seiyuu is Nakajima Megumi, who won herself the role of Ranka Lee through an audition.

Feast your eyes with the montage of Nakajima’s photos below. All photos taken from her blog and more can be found there.

So cute!

Isn’t she cute?! I think she really is. IMHO, for a girl to acknowledge that another girl is cute, she HAS to be REALLY CUTE.

Can’t wait for Ranka to send her songs echoing throughout the Milky Way in the upcoming episodes.

Okay, enough of this milky stuff already. XD

Meanwhile, here’s something that caused me to ROFL on sight. It was spotted as I was walking back from the event to the train station.

NICE SHOP

Yes, even a shop is fine too.

What do these shows have in common? Yeap, these 3 shows revolve around the same theme - distance. I don’t think there’s another director who can interpret “distance” in such a beautiful yet heart-wrenching way.

For those who haven’t watched any of Makoto’s work, perhaps this may open your eyes to his works and get you interested!

Voices of a Distant Star

Voices of a Distant Star revolves around the 2 main characters - Mikako and Noboru - who are classmates. Like most romance that blossom during the bitter-sweet high school time, both of them enjoy each other’s companny, doing simple things like going to the nearby convenient store together, taking shelter at a run-down hut when it rains.

Produced solely on Shinkai's Mac!!!

Mikaku and Noboru both know that they have feelings for each other, although neiher of them express their feelings explicitly. Don’t you think love is at its deepest when it is unspoken and yet both lovers know it?

However, things get harder when Mikako leaves for the Space as she is drafted to the UN Space Army in a war against the a group of aliens. Both of them keep in touch by sending text messages using their mobile phones. However, as Mikako journeys further from earth, the longer the messages take to reach Noboru on earth, and vice versa. It takes weeks at first, then months, and then, years!

Such is the anguish of loving someone at another end of the earth… no, universe.

The Place Promised in Our Early Days

Also known as Beyond the Clouds, the Promised Place. It tells a story of lost and found love, friendship and promises between three friends - Hiroki, Takuya and Sayuri.

The story takes place in post-war Japan, where its Southern part is occupied by the US, and the Northern part by the Union (presumably the Soviet Union). A strange and mysterious tower is constructed by the Union in Hokkaido. The three protagonists, fascinated by the mysteries of the tower, make a promise that they will one day fly to the tower.

You're a moron if you imitate this

Things take an unfortunate turn when Sayuri suddenly disappears from their lives. Without her, Hiroki and Takuya eventually drifts apart. , However, as the story progresses, both of the guys put aside their differences and reunite to fulfill their promise to Sayuri.

Like Hoshi no Koe, one of the underlying themes is distance: the distance between Sayuri and her two friends when she is trapped alone in the parallel universe, and the distance between Hiroki and Takuya as they drift apart after losing Sayuri. It also deals with reunification and lost love…

5 Centimeters per Second

5 Centimeters per Second, subtitled “a chain of short stories about their distance”, comprises of (yeap, you guessed it right) 3 short stories. The short stories are titled Oukashou (Cherry Blossom Extract), Cosmonaut, and 5 Centimeters per Second.

Look at the colours!

The stories revolve about the a boy named Takaki Touno, which each segment dedicated to a certain period of his youth. The first segment takes place upon Takaki’s graduation from elementary school, and second when he was in high school, and the last segment when he enters the work force as a computer programmer.

Each segment tells a compelling story of Takaki’s experience with love. It’s a series of short love stories that paint a bitter picture of sweet childhood love, painful separation with his loved one, unrequited love and then finally the depressing realization of how time and distance can cruelly lead two lovers to different space and time where the fragile connection that they once shared is inevitably lost.

IMHO, the insert song “One More Time, One More Chance” is one of the saddest anime love songs besides Toki o Kakeru Shoujo’s theme song and insert song. *sobs* The lyrics of these songs basically sum up the stories of the animes.

I Cried Watching Them

Putting below-par character designs aside, these 3 beautiful shows are not to be missed for they touch you at the deepest corner of you heart. Not to mention the beautiful art of Shinkai Makoto will definitely leave you in awe.

GAWD DAMMIT!

My life has been hectic and horribly unorganized now after my PC died few months back. So, how about others? Where did we go missing?

Edo

MY COMPUTER IS ALIVE AGAIN!

I’m stuck with EMiNA Japanese Animation Club ( our university’s anime club ) works. I know, I’m supposed to be a retired member ( and Ocha! is my retirement project ) but heck, I can’t leave the club just like that after seeing “things” happened differently than I tawt.

Plus, added with my broken PC ( fixed now, XD ) my anime feed schedule went haywire. I had a hard time tracking for anime now. Not cool. But don’t worry, I’m catching up fast now ( at least for Macross Frontier and Code Geass ).

I’ll start writing again this week, yay! Screw other things! I still need to release that Toshokan Sensou batch.

HolyCow and Miso-soup

Being the new President and the new secretary of the club, life is not as free as it used to be for them, I guess. Clubs registration week for freshies just ended and they got a lot of freshies in the club to take care of now. Don’t worry, they’ll be back after everything settles down in few weeks time.

Silencers

Still the President of our anime club in different campus, and same case like HolyCow and Miso-soup, torturing handling the new freshies.

Ashlynne

After done with the subbing works, she’s focusing on her coming internship period in months time, NOT. She’s taking a slight break now after those hectic subbing work. She’ll be back in few weeks time.

NaviX

Lazy. Fullstop. Will write when he feels like it.

NaviX: I AM NOT LAZY. I’m busy too with said anime club and my other responsibilities.

There. I shall focus on my new post now. Hmm.

The Ochans!

In case you still couldn’t guess, here’s how you can put names to those faces.
From left: NaviX, miso-soup, HolyCow, Silencers, Edo, Ashlynne

Yoroshiku na!

Sorry for the very long delay. I had my university business to attend to, same goes for Silencers. Also, the ED is quite different for this episode. Since our karaoke timer linkinstreet is very busy as well, please pardon us for the lack of the ED karaoke.

For those who like our subbing efforts, we thank you for your criticisms and encouragements. Although I’m kind of burnt out now, it’s been fun subbing Toshokan Sensou!

Last but not least, Ocha!Subs couldn’t have been possible without the help of these people:

• Edo: For encoding the the first 8 episodes.
• XRayMind: You people out there who couldn’t play MKV smoothly on your computers… Well you owe your thanks to him! The encoder for all 12 episodes of the XviD releases, and the last 4 episodes of Toshokan Sensou after Edo went MIA.
• Silencers: Our TL Checker. Thanks for re-phrasing some of my awkward sentences!
• linkinstreet: Well, what can I say except Wak! Kari Masin! Lol. I mean, thank you for the karaoke!
• Ashlynne: Well, no one thanks themselves. I shall represent Edo and say his thanks to me: “THANK YOU FOR SUBBING TOSHO SENSOU OTHERWISE I WOULD’VE DIED OF AGONY T_T TASUKATTA~ For that, I’ll belanja you up to RM50 worth of Japanese food at the coming Bon Odori to make up for all of this.” (Ash: Yay!)

Well, enjoy!
Toshokan Sensou 12 (1280×720)
Toshokan Sensou 12 (704×396)

Silencers’ Note:
As promised, we won’t be releasing a batch torrent until we fix some of the old episodes. If, however, you feel compelled to make your own batch out of our initial releases, you are more than welcome to do so. V2’s are coming as soon as I settle my worldly affairs XD

The subbed file is done! While waiting for the release of the encoded video, I shall entertain you with a little background story of how Ocha!Subs came about.

It all started with Edo whining about the lack of English subs after 2 episodes of Toshokan Sensou. I wasn’t really interested in this anime at first, but after seeing him whine on his IM status, I decided to download the Chinese subs to see what’s so “great” about this anime.

After watching the Chinese subbed episodes, I began to tease Edo for not being able to fully understand the story (he was so desperate he resorted to watching raws).

/Digs out the conversation between Edo and I.

Ash: still emo over toshokan sensou? =_=
Edo: SHADDAP
Ash: maybe u can ask those who do malay fansub and get someone to translate from chinese to english or malay lah
Edo: how about you translate it for me?

So… that was how it all started. The reason was simple: Edo wanted to watch it, and I translated it for him.

We didn’t think about releasing it at first (although we did upload the subtitle files here, but too few people visited this site at that time to care anyway), because back then there were already 2 groups which released the first episode.

But after entertaining the thoughts of Ocha!Subs, we decided to mux the subtitle files with the raws Edo downloaded for his own viewing pleasure (this explains the ridiculous 1080p first episode. I know lah Edo, you got a huge ass monitor) and release them.

It was just Edo and I who handled the first few episodes. As more people knew about Ocha!Subs, they offered their help for making the karaoke (linkinstreet), TL checking (Silencers), encoding (XRaymind) and distro-ing (all of you out there who helped distro).

There you go, a little story about Ocha!Subs. This is our first and only subbing project. At least, we don’t intend to sub any other animes in the mean time. I’m kinda burnt out already. THANK GOD it’s only 12 episodes!

Toshokan Sensou 12

Since the translation and TL checking are done, we’re now waiting for XRayMind to encode the file.

For those who can’t wait, download the subtitle file here. It’s timed to Zero-Raws’s 720p release.
Toshokan Sensou - 12 Subtitle

With this, we thank you for supporting us! Although we won’t be subbing anything from now on, do check out Ocha! every now and then~!

Harima becomes a man!!

That has got to be one of my favourtie moments in School Rumble >:3