Video: Madoka Magica MAD - "My Sun" by KOKIA

【まどかマギカ】私の太陽【KOKIA】
Seems that hisami_nathuki(Got the name wrong last time. KOKIA is the artist singing, not the MAD's maker) released another Madoka Magica MAD set to a KOKIA song in the same style as the last one. Unlike that one, the follow-up is based on the show's ending and prominently features Homura and Madoka in the video. Personally I don't think of it quite as good as the last one but it does make me appreciate the ending even more. I really do find it odd that it's only been a few days and yet here I am, already looking fondly back on the ending. Guess the all the new fanart just keeps reminding me how touching it was. I now think of it more as a healing reconstruction anime rather than the grimdark deconstruction that it was till the last episode and that really speaks volumes about the ending. Seriously, it completely turned the whole series on its head so fast and hard that I can't help but feel like I went through Stockholm syndrome because of it. Gen Urobuchi stabbed my humanity with blades tragedy and despair only to hook me up to a morphine drip laced with hope at the very end. Only someone as manipulative as QB could do something like that so I will stand by opinion that the white Faustian furball is in fact his author avatar. Here are some MadokaxHomura pics I dug up from Gelbooru.
















You can find more Goddess Madoka images here.

Video: A Boquet for the Magical Girls by KOKIA

For those of you not in the know, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica's final two episodes won't be showing till mid-April so those of you waiting in anticipation for 11's stream twelve hours should save themselves from being in left in despair later by finding something else to do. I myself was shocked and filled with a sudden emptiness when I heard about the latest delay but then after a few seconds it hit me that April wasn't all that far away so I got better. Time goes by so quickly these days. Being a Meguca fan is indeed suffering. And I really need to get back to blogging on a regular basis. That's why I decided post up this Madoka MAD by KOKIA that should relieve the emptiness a little bit but it may also induce some level of sadness as it's going to remind you just how bad the girls of the series have it. The song certainly is nice to listen to but it's the imagery that will get to you for this video. Enjoy their grief.



魔法少女に花束を by KOKIA

And if that wasn't enough to fill your usual Meguca is suffering quota for the week then this speculah image probably will. I expect something of at least this level for the canon end since it is Gen Urobuchi's spawn after all.



Translated image courtesy Gelbooru.

Video: Ashita he by Rap-bito, Clear & Ryo

This seems to be Ryo's latest work and it's the first song in long while that he's released outside of Supercell. I was under the impression he wouldn't be making any new songs to post on nico nico douga but to my pleasant surprise there it was sitting there at no. 16 of yesterday's rankings. This PV certainly made up for my disappointment with "Perfect Day" despite amazing animation work they did on the song's PV. "Perfect Day", Supercell's latest pv showed up there not too long ago but I felt that it was kinda underwhelming for a Supercell song so I didn't bother to post it up till now. I certainly did like it more than "Utakata no Hanabi" and Nagi's vocals are amazing as usual, might even be her best work so far, but these slow paced songs they come up with just aren't all that fun to listen to. "Ashita he", Towards Tomorrow in english, starts off slow for effect but then grows into a strong, sentimental tune matching the encouragement that the girl in the video is getting. Here's hoping Nagi or Wotamin does a cover of this song cause it's quite easy to imagine how amazing this would sound with voices like theirs.


Towards Tomorrow by Rap-bito, Clear & Ryo


Perfect Day by Supercell

Additionally, let's hope the situation in Japan doesn't get any worse. It's only been day one and there's always that possibility of a second quake coming soon.

Video: Charlotte Dunois Circulation

Renai circulation strikes once again the form of an Infinite Stratos MAD based on the fact that the most popular girl in the super dense main character's harem is also voiced by the same seiyuu who sang the song way back when Bakemonogatari was airing. I haven't actually watched the country wars anime past the first episode since it reeked of generic harem and cg mecha but even I have to admit that Charlotte Dunois is the epitome of the concept that otaku know as moe. Providing that Hanazawa Kana doesn't voice another incarnation of heart attack inducing cuteness this year(Based on how many roles she's been getting lately, it's actually quite possible), I am absolutely sure that she's going to bag the Saimoe contest this year by a huge landslide. Be sure to enjoy watching this video cause she's the reason I'll be marathoning what I suspect is a less than mediocre series when it ends.



WARNING! THIS VIDEO IS LIABLE TO CAUSE INTENSE BOUTS OF HNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG! WARNING!

Videos: Renai Circulation CAN gross you out

Renai Circulation, an anime opening engineered to induce an overload of moe into all those who watched it by means of soft, whimsical colors visually, sweet seemingly innocent vocals courtesy of Kanazawa Hana aurally and the cute, adorable antics of the character it's about. It pleases me to say I have found a remix(?) video that packs as much of a punch as the original only not in the way that the original was intended to. This video is an MMD among many that made it into the top 100 on nico nico douga's rankings today and it managed to not only tickle my funny bone but also give me goosebumps at how disgusting seeing some of the characters inserted into the video singing their takes on the song. I don't know if that was intentional or not but that Doraemon guy and Snake singing were very disturbing. Have a watch and see what I mean.


Renai Circulation MMD by 瓜玉子さん


Original Renai Circulation OP Bluray Version


Orchestral Version by Taste

Gurren Lagann Parallel Works Series 2

Heard about the new set of parallel works quite a number of months ago but I somehow forgot to check them out. From what I saw here, it seems that those rumors about Gainax animators loving their job were not unfounded. I could also see that they were working up to Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt with these cause I can see Stocking's swords in Big Building and plenty of English in Kittan Zero. All the videos are pretty interesting though if I have to pick a favorite it'd have to be The Sense of Wonder for it's great fairy tale-like ambience. The music in that one reminded me of Legend of Mana for some reason. Goodbye Dai-Gurren and Kittan Zero come pretty close too, it was nice seeing what the cast did off screen. I would like to get a full version of that jazz song in Goodbye Dai-Gurren though but I doubt that'll ever come to be. If you missed out on these videos in the past months then I would suggest you take some time and watch them. The staff put in a lot work into these and their dedication for their work shows. Also, Gong Xi Fa Cai to all who celebrate it!


Kittan Zero


The Sense of Wonder


My XXX is the Best in the Universe


Goodbye Dai-Gurren


Big Building


Kiyal's Magical Time, Three Minutes Before


Gunmen Symphonia

Video: Hatsune Miku, Virus Buster!!

Take note that's not the actual title of the video I found today on nico nico douga and that the actual title would be something along the lines of "My PC's turned into something awesome but...". This nine minute short MMD film features Miku coming to life and stepping out the MMD programming window and onto the computer's cyberspace where the entire place soon gets overtaken by this kickass looking virus. Miku escapes and finds herself in a desolate infected part of the computer when all these anti-virus software come in around her and upgrade her to netnavi status ala the megaman battle network games. You can easily guess what follows as in the end the PC is restored back to normal and Miku steps back into the MMD program. An interesting piece of work and though the idea of having eight different brands of anti-virus installed in your computer is ridiculously redundant I must say I loved how Norton was portrayed in the video. I can't tell if that hero helmet clad office guy was the result of creative liberty or really the actual packaging for the software in Japan but I know I'd feel safe having that guy protecting my laptop.


【初音ミク短編映画】うちのPCがえらいことになってるんだが【MMD】

Video: "Strobe Last" & "Crybaby Boyfriend"

Found two great videos on the nico nico rankings at the 24th and 27th spots today and they're respectively called "Strobe Last" and "Crybaby Boyfriend". The first one is a brand new Miku song and features a strangely relaxing trance-like beat to it while the other one is a cover of a Miku & Len song about a crybaby breaking up with his girlfriend by Wotamin and TaMU that I somehow missed last month.


Hatsune Miku - Strobe Last
I've listened to this at least ten times now and every time I try to understand what the lyrics are saying I always get distracted by the melody. Lyrics shown in the video aren't helping me much either cause this song's got a semi-hypnotic effect on me. I'm certain that the one persistent tone in the song is responsible for that since it's synced to play once every second and my own internal clock, one that's been proven to be quite excellent, can't help but try to match it too. Fact is that if you're listening to this song it won't be for the lyrics, it'll be for the great rhythmic beat that's making you tap your finger, foot, etc.


Crybaby Boyfriend by Wotamin & TaMU
This duet features the story of a couple who break up with the girl comforting her crybaby of a boyfriend as he boyfriend tries not to cry like he usually does for their farewell. Wotamin's an amazing singer so her singing at all makes it a worth listening to but the TaMU did a pretty good job too. I find this to be the best of the three versions I've found with the nice balance the two of them have going during the song though I like lino's take on the girl's part of the song better than Wotamin's.


Original Version by Hatsune Miku & Kagamine Len


Another Cover by lino & MISAKI
P.s. It seems that Youtube embedding's gotten so popular that they shortened the embed code to a more simplistic one. Going to miss being able to choose the player color though.

Video: "Bad Apple", Reaper Style!

Well it looks like the reaper strikes again with another one of his violin renditions and Bad Apple doesn't disappoint in the least. This video's actually been floating around up there in the higher half of the nico nico rankings for the past few days but I hadn't been able to find a youtube reprint of it till now. To be honest, I have no idea what this guy is called but his covers are easily identified by that signature reaper mask of his, the one he always wears in his vids. As per usual to his skill, it's a great cover of the original song albeit a little fast so take a listen to it.


Reaper Rendition


Original Version w/ subs


NIWANGO English Cover

Video: 【Hatsune Miku】 What's up? -どういうことなの！？

An interesting new Miku MMD showed up at the top spot on today's nico nico rankings this morning and it features what I suspect to be Miku driven by the Kinect's motion capture, music engineered to stay stuck in your head and a whole lot of awesomely screwy animations inspired by both madness and the cyberspace scenes from the first digimon movie and Summer Wars. I say I suspect that the Kinect was used to work out the subtle gestures and movements our favorite virtual idol because you don't usually get such precise movements from MMD software alone. Even the Project Diva modules used motion capture to come up with the dances in the game. Seeing as how brilliantly the Kinect can be utilized outside of its initial gaming specs Microsoft might as well start selling them off as standalone commercial motion capture devices cause there's no telling what other incredibly entertaining purpose those crazy Japs might come up with. Now that I've shared my opinion on the Kinect, please do take some time to watch this amazing new MMD and appreciate its awesomeness. I highly suggest watching it in HD.

Hatsune Miku - What's Up?

Video: "Chiisaki Mono" by ENE

Do you remember the sixth Pokemon movie Jirachi Wish Maker from all those years ago? I barely do since all I can remember is the horribly paced plot and story for that particular movie and that I didn't stick around for the credits. Today however, I discovered that I probably should have at least stuck around for the credits cause the song at the end was quite probably the high point of the entire film as I came across this cover of the song by ENE on the Nico Nico rankings at 40th place:

This really should have been in the top ten of the day.

After taking a listen to that blissfully angelic rendition of the song I searched around for the original versions of the songs and it turns out they were pretty good too, beautiful even. I can see why that's the first time the localizers decided to keep it in the English version of the movie. They even had the singer they hired to sing it in both English and Japanese for some reason. I do prefer ENE's cover by far because her voice makes it a lot more soothing. I would highly suggest that you take a listen to all three songs and find out just how amazing they are.

Original Japanese Version by Asuca Hayashi


English & Japanese Version by Cindy Mizelle.

Video: Shinryaku Shinryaku Shinryaku and a Santa

Found this MAD someone made up on the second place of the Nico Nico rankings and it's got the cast of Shinryaku Ika-Musume parodying the original opening song of Darker than Black along with a trailer for DtB's second season and a mock-up of what I assume was the title menu of its DVDs. I was honestly surprised at how many usable scenes Ika-musume had for this video and was highly amused by how well they fit the music. Fans of both series simply have to check this out cause it's of LMAO quality and just shows how great the production was for Shinryaku Ika-Musume.

Darker than Ikack - The White Invader

There was also this video someone made for Christmas not too far down from the MAD on the rankings and it features a rags to riches toymaker and the nun that's always been there for him. Love the art style and the short and sweet story it told so do yourself a favor and enjoy this vid as well.

Incidentally, this year's Doctor Who Christmas special went pretty much the same way. A pretty good take on the whole Christmas Carol plot.

Video: Calc. Piano Version by Wotamin

Song lyrics can be found here

Wotamin came up with yet another wonderful dub of a vocaloid song and I have to say I prefer her version over the original one which I quite liked as well. The original version's is quite a bit more upbeat than this one but it turns out the song works better with the slower pace. I'm betting the fact that the song is about a failed love had something to do with it. Also, I didn't notice it with the original or the Nico Nico Chorus versions but the piano arrangement made me realize that the has a composition style that's somewhat similar to Supercell's stuff, particularly that of "Kimi no Shiranaimonogatari". It's not quite that noticeable with the regular versions especially since Supercell's style is much livelier but take the piano versions and compare them and you'll see what I mean. And for those not willing to go to all that just exactly what do I mean? Simple, if you like Supercell's stuff you're going to like this.

Original Version

Nico Nico Chorus Version

Video: Matryoshka Gintama Style - Parfait-Mayoryoshka

I swear they did something like this before in the manga only without singing.

This latest take on the ever popular Matryoshka originally sung by Miku and Gumi has me busting my gut, my sides and the general area around my abdomen with laughter. It seems that someone had the brilliant idea of making a Gintama parody of the song with Gin-san and Hijikata-san singing off with one another about their favorite things to eat. I'd say food but I personally don't believe that Hijikata-san's beloved mayonnaise should even be categorized as an edible substance. Yuck. Anyways, this video certainly deserves the top ranking it snagged on today's nico nico douga rankings with the awesome animation any voice work by the singers. I never watched the Gintama anime so I have no idea if that sounds anything Hijikata-san's seiyuu but I do know that Gin-san's voice in this video sounds just like his official seiyuu, Tomokazu Sugita. Gintama fans should do themselves a favor and watch this bit of genius.

Original Version

Supercell's Hero Plus English Lyrics

Supercell's latest single just showed up on Nico Nico douga and I'm pleased to say I'm pleased with the song this time around. Utakata no Hanabi was nice slow song but to it just didn't feel like one of Ryo's compositions. None of his riveting strings to lift up and bring down the song's mood and thus nothing that really clicked with me like in their previous works. Thankfully "Hero" brings what I like best about their works - Ryo's story-like structured melodies, Nagi's sincere sounding emotion-filled singing and the sweet, short tale of the upbeat ballad. I wouldn't say that it's their best work so far but that doesn't stop it from being an incredibly catchy piece of music. Pretty sure I'll be listening to this for the next week or so myself.

Also, I took a half hour of my time to translate the lyrics since I was curious just what kind of song this was and why it was commissioned for the sake a manga which just seems to have made its debut. Used the romaji lyrics from this website to work it out. First time I translated a song though so it's a little rough since I usually have visuals to help me out on my scripts.

Supercell - Hero

As she talked to a friend that smile of hers was all too lovely
I pictured that form of hers as that of a heroine in some manga
I fell in love the moment my eyes saw her
I really, really came to like her
But you see, if she saw me
I would definitely be hated

See, that giggling voice again
It's fine though, I'm used to it after all
I'll forget about it but my chest feels like it's bursting

That's how the boy met
I wished that was definitely not just some coincidence
So that I would meet you
I wished it so many times
Someday, definitely!
But for people, that kind of miracle
They'll say they don't believe in it

The girls whisper
"That boy has been looking here since just now
What's up with that, it's gross
Don't come any closer you downer"
Sorry, I didn't mean to...
As I hung my head down, her voice called out
"I know this person!"
In my amazement I was dumbfounded as well

"I saw the drawings on that table
You drew them all right?"
Ahh! They're going to laugh at me again
But then you went
"I like things like this"

That's how the boy met her
Even if you were by billions of light years away
He'd still be captivated by you
No matter what obstacles are there
Overcoming all that
If that is to be called fate
Then he's sure to be a hero

But that day I saw it
Alone, your eyes swelling in tears
How powerless can I be
No wait, what did she say?
By your own doubtful existence
The girl is waiting to saved

"Acting all brave but actually a crybaby
Umm, this one's almost exactly like me"
She finally smiled! In front of the rejoicing me
But she who was in tears
What should I do?
You said this
"Thank You"

The boy met you
And he learnt of the meaning in living
Not that of a lie but a truth
And so, he'll become the knight that will protect you
Someday, definitely,
His left hand and her right
They will hold on tightly so that they won't part

And so I met you

[EDIT] Managed to check it further with the Japanese lyrics here so these should be as correct as I can make them.

[EDIT] Anon pointed out a mistake I made in one of the verses. Corrected.

Pudding on /b/!!

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Video: Hoshi no Samidare MAD OP + The Pillows

Came across this fanmade MAD OP of Hoshi no Samidare a.k.a. The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer and while it's not quite exactly a fitting OP for an animated version of the manga it's still pretty well-done and captures the awesomeness of the story quite nicely. It'd make a great trailer but I'm a little bit put off by the fact that I only found this just now. It's also making me want an anime adaptation even more but sadly I can only hope that GAINAX picks this up sometime soon. The series was practically tailored for their animation style so it really just has to go to them if they ever get it green-lighted. In any case enjoy the video down here along with a couple of the music videos by The Pillows as well as the other two Biscuit Hammer MADs. I'm not putting them all up cause these guys really made a lot of them.

The MAD in question


The song used in the video, Babylon Tenshi no Uta.


Rush


Terminal Heaven's Rock


I Think I Can


Ride on Shooting Star


Tiny Boat


Another Hoshi no Samidare MAD. Huge Spoilers if you haven't finished reading it all.


One more MAD I thought was worth sharing. Even more spoilerish.

Video: Hatsune Miku - むかしむかしのきょうのぼく by DECO*27

Just found DECO*27's latest vocaloid song at the top of today's Nico Nico Douga rankings called むかしむかしのきょうのぼく which would translates to "Today's Me From Once Upon A Time". The song's about someone, in this video's case Miku, who's basically asking some anon to listen to the troubles she's been having and how it's got her feeling down since there's nobody else for her to confide in. The songs got three parts to it, the first being Miku having just asked the person to listen to her, the second about how she's trying her best despite the adversity thanks to the anon's encouragement and the third where she's looking back on those hard days and tells them that it's her turn to return the favor and thank her fans. Kudos to poeyama for making such a great video to accompany the song and throwing in all those references to Miku's journey from obscurity to fame in the real world. I wonder how long this one's going to stay on the charts.

Hatsune Miku - Today's Me From Once Upon A Time

Video: Mind-blowing Guitar Duet

Found this little gem while I was browsing today's Nico-Nico Douga rankings and though I have absolutely no musical knowledge concerning guitars or otherwise, the duo in this video just blew me away with their unbelievable strumming. No idea if the two came together to make this video or someone just decided to mix together their own respective takes on wowaka's "Ura Omote Lovers" but damn if they didn't do an amazing job here. Click down on that video down there and prepare to have an eargasm!

And yes, that is a guy cosplaying in a high school girl's uniform.

Video: Unbelievable Victory!! Level 1 Pokemon vs Sinnoh Champion Cynthia!!!

This is just plain ridiculous. I know there are some really, really, really serious people about pokemon and the whole meta-battling stuff out there but I never thought I'd see a team of level ONE pokemon take out a champion's team, one whose average levels are 75! How he got level one pokemon in Black and White so quickly doesn't really matter, it's the fact that this guy used said pokemon to take down a champion with some of the most brilliant strategies I've ever seen. Seriously! You just have to see this for yourself!