Having trouble sleeping last night, I decided to searched for anything to watch while I attempted to doze off. What I came across is the anime Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai, a title about a group of outcasts and their club designed to help them make friends and build on their social skills.

What I saw was a cast of characters that drove me nuts in some way or another. To start, there’s Sena Kashiwazaki who has such an ample bust size that the animators feel they should bounce with the slightest of movements. Of course they also make sure you get plenty of skin of her whenever possible including a swimsuit that doesn’t fit her bust size at all. Yozora Mikazuki is quite abusive to Sena verbally, physically, and does several other things to get under her skin. Rika Shiguma is constantly sexually harassing the title’s protagonist. Kobato Hasegawa is the clingy little sister who likes to act out her favorite anime which gets old very fast. Maria Takayama is another young one who happens to be a nun and a supervising teacher to the club. She also develops a clingy attraction to the protagonist and will get into the most annoying fights with Kobato that has me wanting to scream for the two to shut up.

You know, I’m sure there was a plot in this title but I was focused on wanting to strangle all these characters. I figured a show like this would want to develop characters I would like but I’m easily not their target audience for this title that pushes the fan service here and there. There isn’t a character I like in this title. I can tolerate the protagonist Kodoka Hasegawa and the maid character Yukimura Kusunoki but that’s it. I don’t like them but they don’t make me want to bash my head into the wall. So, I guess that’s something…

There are many things that I was unaware that was shown on television during my childhood. One of those things was Barbara Walters, interviewer extraordinaire, going face to face with the radical, pizza eating heroes that us kids of the Tubbs household were into: the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I was so into them that I even dressed as Michelangelo for Halloween one year with an attached face mask and my parents putting the green make up on my face. Ah, memories. How I miss those days.

Anyhoo, the Turtles had their second movie hit the big screen and Barbara has a special interview with them in their lair on the night of the Oscars. I will say the actors in the costumes did a great job of being as human as possible in their mannerisms. It’s Barbara who was inhuman in this segment. It’s toward the end of the interview that she does something that has me questioning Barbara or the person that wrote this segment.

After insulting the Turtles, Barbara asks about the parents of the Turtles. The way she presents this question, it’s like she knows that they don’t have any parents and simply wanted them to suffer. This causes Donatello to fall apart and what does Barbara do? …shows that she is the devil! Seriously. Just watch the clip and at the end you’ll be asking yourself “What the hell, Barbara!?” …I mean I know these are fictional characters but cripes! What kind of message are you sending to the kids?

It’s that time of the year for everyone to go nuts trying to kill each other over a holiday that comes at the same time every year. It is also that time of the year for the usual holiday classics to be played over and over again. But there are some songs from my childhood that I remembered listening on the 1985 cassette Christmas Comedy Classics (definitely a purchase my father decided on). These were songs that made me laugh from such folks like Mel Blanc and Stan Freberg. As much as some holiday classics bring a smile to my face, I definitely prefer the ones that have me laughing.

Stan Freberg’s “Green Chri$tma$” is the one track that I remember most from my childhood. It’s the story of Scrooge and his big advertising agency discussing with his associates in how they will dress up all things holiday related to shill their products. It’s an amusing track about how Christmas has become this ginormous ad and how its original meaning has been forgotten which a naive Cratchit brings up to Scrooge. Now an adult, I can better understand this track. …and can’t help from laughing since I’m in the middle of having to design some advertising for the holiday.

Yogi Yorgesson’s (Harry Stewart) “I Yust Go Nuts At Christmas” tells the story of a man’s happening during the holiday from his down on his luck self to the dysfunctional family that he deals with during the holiday. There’s something about the way Yogi’s “Swedish” voice tells this story that allows me to easily picture this poor man with bags under his eyes who just wants some relaxing time to himself. Mel Blanc’s “The Hat I Got for Christmas Is Too Beeg” is the story of a poor fellow who for reasons unknown received a hat too big from Santa Claus. The song goes into all the mishaps that occur due to this hat and the fellow’s unhappiness toward Santa.

There are some other oddball ones out there that I also remember like the Stan Freberg’s “Nuttin for Christmas” about a very mischievous boy who tells his tale of all the bad things he’s done. These aren’t masterpieces but it’s simple humor that will still make me laugh every year as I visualize each story in the art style found in Looney Tunes and the like. …and then shake my head and realize how true most of it is.

I haven’t done much in the MMO scene. It’s kind of an on and off affair. I’ve had my hand in World of Warcraft, some indie style games (before they were labeled indie), and a lot with Ragnarok Online (official and mostly private servers). One thing they all have in common is they are point and click. Sure they are fun but I suck at all those keyboard hot key things. However, there is one game that has come along that mixes several things I like: side scrolling, platforming, hack n’ slash, co-op console style game play and the ability to use a controller.

The game I refer to is KOG Studios’ Elsword. The game does an amazing job and gives me the feeling of the side scrolling beat’em-ups like the good old arcade classics and modern titles like Castle Crashers or Muramasa. The game uses a combo system based on light and heavy attacks along with skills that have pretty cut-ins and effects like the Capcom versus titles. Even the same sound effect when you initiate it! The game is filled with several quests and many ways to upgrade your gear. It definitely has plenty to offer.  The game does get a little cheap with you replaying the same stages over and over on different difficulties but with the amount of action, it doesn’t seem so bad. With each new difficulty level, new sections to the stage are added, and more enemies will show up for you to pummel.

There is no create a character. You actually play one of five (six later next year) characters each with their own unique play style and story. Yes, like any other RPG, you follow the story of the character you play even with cutscenes. There are outfits you can buy to customize your character but that’s where this game gets you. It’s one of those games where you have to use real money to get some of the snazzy stuff but I’m happy with playing for free. …minus the hat I purchased for my mage character.

It’s a really fun game that feels like a mix of fighting game and beat’em up. I actually forget it’s a MMO style game because of its format. But if you’re into flashy graphics and beating things up, I definitely recommend you check the title out. And if you do, you can find me under my characters “AirRaid” and “Mystico”.

So… the insanely popular girlfriend simulator LOVE PLUS by Konami for the Nintendo DS has been mostly translated into English by the efforts of many people. …I cannot deny that I have had some curiosity for the title for a while ever since seeing the design and outfits for one of the girls from this title. And I have stated before that if it was in English, I’d give it a try.

Well, here is that opportunity for the very first title in series and my chance to “date” the sweet and innocent Manaka Takane, the responsible and mature Nene Aragasaki, and the tomboy tsundere Rinko Kobayakawa. So I gave the game a week and experienced a week going out with my first (virtual) girlfriend. Did the relationship with LOVE PLUS last or is it not going to work out?

Read on for an introduction to this game and my first week with LOVE PLUS.

I have not played the PlayStation 3 item synthesis title Atelier Totori ~The Adventurer of Arland~ but I did get plenty of it watching others play it and I can easily say it’s a disgustingly adoreable title. This is all because of the title heroine, Totori and her personality and an exceptional voice actress to bring out this character. What I found most charming is how she can be so blunt with someone but in such an innocent way. It’s like, “hey, you just insulted me but I’ll forgive you because you did it such a cute way”.

After learning more about Totori from the game, my on and off feelings for Phat! Company’s upcoming figure have been settled and it is a must have for me. It’s an adorable figure to match Totori’s character and it comes with a swanky base that includes elements from her adventures. I also think she has a cute outfit though the transparent skirt is rather silly. What’s with Japan and see through skirts?

Definitely looking forward to this since she’ll be shipping with Tales of the Abyss’ Luke by ALTAiR. That month is going to be expensive. Weak dollar, you get better! Now!

…OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! … What? Don’t give me that look! Stop judging me!!!