After many months of delays, wonderings and that eternal terror referred to by students and teachers world-wide as exams, I finally managed to get some free time together to finish off another drawing.

The character pictured below is Miyazaki Nodoka (宮崎 のどか) from Mahou Sensei Negima! This isn’t the actual version as featured in Ken Akamatsu’s manga – rather, this is the version featured in the spin-off manga Negima!? Neo drawn by Fujima Takuya. There aren’t any major differences though, and personality wise Nodoka remains pretty much the same.

Nodoka remains one of my favourite characters for various reasons. Despite being almost painfully shy and – initially – scared of men, she is probably one of the smartest, gutsiest and most capable characters in the series. She also doesn’t seem to have a jealous bone in her body, since she supports Yue’s love for Negi, despite being in love with him herself.

Not sure if that’s good or bad actually, but whatever.

At the start of the series Nodoka is 14 years old, she loves reading and is one of the top ranked students at Mahora. Her birthday is on the 10th of May, her blood-type is O, and her pactio artifact (which she received when she made a pactio with Negi), as pictured below, is the Diarium Ejus, which gives her the ability to read people’s thoughts once she knows what their name is.

Nodoka Miyazaki – Negima Neo by ~stellar-illusions on deviantART

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I’ve managed to scare up the next AMV I wanted to show you.

Now, if you believe for a second that the our Full Metal Panic! AMV in the previous post was high-energy, prepare to be surprised, because this one attains a new level of energy.

It’s fast, it’s pacy and above all it’s fun with a tune I can only call somewhat catchy. And worth watching more than once, certainly.

The video contains scenes from more than one anime – The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi, Ouran High School Host Club and Lucky Star. The song used is The Game of Love (E=MC2 Mix) by Jenny Rom.

It has also managed to nab itself the following awards in various comps:

Best Editing @ Anime Boston 2008
Finalist @ Anime Central 2008
Best In Show @ Otafest 2008
Fan Favorite @ Otafest 2008
Best Editing @ Anime North 2008
Best Fun @ Viewers Choice Awards 2009 (thanks to Angelic_Mew for reminding me)

Now – should you like the AMV and decide to add it to your collection, as always you can rely on Anime Music Videos to be hosting the file – click here to visit the video page. Remember, you’ll need an active profile in order to download it. While I love the idea of hosting some AMVs myself, its beyond my means at present.

So, on to the video – hope you enjoy.

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Been a bit of a while since I last updated, but my exams are finally out of the way, so I can get back to posting a bit more regularly. And for today, I’ve got another AMV to present. There are literally hundreds out there that I personally like, and more being added on an almost daily basis, so the chances of me getting to show them all to you are pretty slim.

But anyways, let’s try our best. Today’s AMV was edited and produced by Qyll, using Jimmy Eats World’s The Middle for the music, with scenes from Full Metal Panic! and Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu – mostly the latter. As the title of the post suggests, the AMV is a character profile focusing on Kaname Chidori, the particular person Sagara Sousuke has so much trouble looking after – or was she looking after him?

In any case, the song suits Chidori, and her personality, perfectly – and if you like what you see and feel like adding it to your collection, you can download it from this URL. And now, for the AMV itself:

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Eh? What? Where did she go?

Patience my friends. All shall be explained.

The second season of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya finished airing in Japan last month. Basically, it consists of the first season of the Melancholy, and adds in additional episodes based on events in the novels following after the first volume.

I’m currently, rather painfully, making my way through the ‘Endless Eight’ arc – an arc which reportedly ‘pissed off’ a large number of fans. It doesn’t surprise me. I feel the same way. And I’m a rather big fan. But I’ll talk about that at a later date, when I finish the series and do a review. In detail …

So what’s this ‘Disappearance’ about? you may ask. Were people so disenchanted that the series got scrapped?

No – a teaser trailer was actually aired at the end of season 2 – the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya concerns the events detailed in the fourth volume of the series – and a planned movie is in the making – scheduled for release in Spring 2010 (that would make it March-April for the people in the Southern Hemisphere).

So what’s the story about? Read the title again … fair enough – you want a synopsis. I’ll give you one.

Our favourite cynic – Kyon – wakes up one morning to find the world he had wanted when he started high-school. Normal. Very normal. So normal, in fact, that he finds it abnormal.

No Haruhi. No SOS Brigade. Asahina doesn’t know who he is. Koizumi (and his entire class) doesn’t exist. Yuki, the ever silent, expressionless doll – has emotions and no abilities beyond that of a normal human. Asakura Ryouko sits behind him in class, in the position formerly occupied by the SOS Brigade Chief, and considering the events of the first season, probably not something Kyon is entirely comfortable with.

However, Kyon has had, by this time, about eight months to get used to the SOS Brigade and the whirlwind disaster (read Haruhi) that had transformed his life and immediately sets out to find out why his world had been turned upside down. And to set it back to rights – if possible.

You most likely haven’t read the novels yet – the second novel is only now being released in translated format – but when they become available, I would definitely recommend getting hold of them and giving them a read – for a new author (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was Tanigawa Nagaru’s first novel) it was a spell-binding read.

My final treat – Kadokawa has made the 30-second teaser trailer of the upcoming movie available on their YouTube channel – have a look.

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I made mention, more than 2 years ago on my now long-dead MySpace profile of the expected sequel to Kiddy Grade. It really appeared to be in the works at the time, with a mysterious promo-video released, and it even had an expected launch-date planned. There was an official site for it as well.

And that was pretty much all that happened – the series itself never materialised. But now, I have some good news for Kiddy Grade fans; the much awaited sequel is finally making its appearance.

I’m not certain if I should treat it as a direct sequel, or as a spin-off. The new series is called Kiddy Girl-and (sounds vaguely lecherous, doesn’t it?) which takes place (according to this article Anime News Network) approximately 20 years after the events of the original.

The series introduces two new characters to the Kiddy Grade universe: the energetic Ascoeur and the more reserved Q-fueille. The sound like a perfect complementary partnership similar to that witnessed between Eclair and Lumiere, who were the main characters in Kiddy Grade. The two will be voiced by Uchida Aya and Gouda Aya respectively.

The two new characters are in training to become full ES-members. The question of course remains – will we see some of the original cast of Kiddy Grade? It seems so – the promo video shows shots of Tweedledee and Tweedledum – and other members (including Lumiere and Eclair) are listed in the credits on Anime News Network’s Kiddy Girl-and page. They also appear in the list of cast members listed on the official site. The site is in Japanese though, so feel free to check if you can read it.

The show is scheduled to release next week … yes … you read right – next week on the 15th October 2009. If you’re looking forward to it – here’s the latest promo video released by Kadokawa Shoten to whet your appetite a bit.

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