Monsuno

I have only recently started watching this show here in Australia on channel "GO!" And I think it is pretty good of what I have seen, it has been released not too long ago here. I have just discovered it is also a card game and you can purchase the toys as well, but have not found any being sold in Australian shops yet.

My first impression of this show is that it was something crossed between Yu-Gi-Oh and Beyblade, but this show has grown on me and it's not all that bad.

"The series revolves around "re-awakened Monster DNA called Monsuno" that finds its way into the unsuspecting hands of adventure-seeking teenagers Chase, Jinja, and Bren. Accompanied by their Monsuno, Lock, Charger, and Quickforce, they are searching for Chase's father Jeredy Suno, the creator of the Monsuno.They are soon joined by Beyal, a monk from the Himalayas along with his Monsuno Glowblade. Beyal often speaks of five people that with the help of their Monsuno, could change the world. It just so happens that they are that five, along with Dax, a teenager who along with his Monsuno Airswitch, opposes the team and is disliked among most people. The team has yet to befriend him and persuade him to join their cause. They are also on the run from an agency called "S.T.O.R.M." (Strategic Tactical Operatives for Recovery of Monsuno) whose plans are still in question". - Wikipedia

In this video is a "Hands-on video of the Monsuno toys in action from Toy Fair 2012 in NYC." When the toys first started to come out.

Beyblade Series

Beyblade:

A young boy named Tyson Granger enters the Japan Regional BeyBlade Qualifying Tournament. Tyson encounters Ray Kon and Kai Hiwatari, and after defeating them, they organize a team, known as the Bladebreakers, along with Max Tate. The Bladebreakers tour China to register for the championships, while confronting the White Tigers, Ray's former team. It is seen that Ray's old team holds a grudge against him for leaving them, but towards the end of the Chinese Tournament, Ray and his ex-teammates make amends, and the Bladebreakers win the tournament. After this, Tyson and his friends arrive in the United States to fight the All Starz, who are coached by Max's mother. After winning the American league, the team find themselves stranded in Europe. In order to get to Russia to register for the World Championships, they must battle the Majestics who are Europe's top bladers. Once in Russia, Tyson and his friends find themselves up against the Demolition Boys, the Russian Champions, who are ruthless and obsessed with power. The Bladebreakers then discover that the Demolition Boys are merely tools for the BIOVOLT Corporation, run by Kai's grandfather, Voltaire, and Boris, a criminal mastermind. Initially, Kai was pursued by Boris to join the Demolition Boys in the ultimate quest for power, the Black Dranzer Bit-Beast which Kai was seeking to become the best Beyblader. However, he realizes his mistakes and rejoins the Bladebreakers. During the finals, Kai loses the first round and his Dranzer to Spencer and his bit-beast Seaborg. Ray barely manages to win against Bryan, but has to be taken to hospital after the injuries from the match. Tyson manages to defeat Tala, the Demolition Boys whose body had been modified by Boris to win the match, in the final round and manages to win the title of the BBA world champion.

Beyblade: V-Force

The team has gone their separate ways, but Team Psykick and the Saint Shields, attack the Blade-breakers by trying to steal their bit-beasts for their own reasons. Hilary Tachibana joins the Blade-breakers, but takes time to learn the fact that Beyblade isn't just a stupid game as she thinks it is. The first half of the second season ends with the Blade-breakers defeating Team Psykick, who were manipulating their friends Kane, Salima, Goki and Jimmy. The second half of season 2 deals with the truth of why the Saint Shields and Team Psykick are after their bit-beasts and about a rock that Max's mother found that contains bit-beasts, which is stolen by Team Psykick. The Saint Shields' reason is because they wish to seal the bit-beasts in a rock because they fear that the bit-beasts could get out of control like they did in the past. Team Psykick's reason is because the Psykick's leader, Dr. Zagart, wants the bit-beasts to turn his android son (an exact replica of his actual son who died in an accident) into a real human. After defeating the Saint Shields, Zeo, who is one of Tyson's new friends, learns the truth about his past and how he was created Dr. Zagart, so he uses the rock's strongest bit-beast, Cerberus (pronounced ker-bur-is), to get the bit-beasts. The world championships are coming to Japan, so Hilary separates the Blade-breakers into two teams: Tyson and Max for one, Kai and Ray for the other. However, during the tournament, Zeo and his partner Gordo, are destroying the competition. Soon enough, Zeo and Gordo eliminate Kai and Ray, taking Kai's Dranzer in the process. Tyson and Max face Zeo and Gordo in the final. Tyson manages to beat Gordo, but Zeo defeats Max and captures Draciel. During the final battle between Tyson and Zeo, the Blade-breakers find out that Zeo is actually an android, and about Dr. Zagart's reason for trying to use Zeo to get the bit-beasts. Tyson manages to convince him otherwise, and manages to defeat Zeo, making him and Max the world champions once again.

Beyblade: G-Revolution:

Kai, Ray, Max and Tyson went their separate ways and rejoined their old teams so that they have a chance to beat each other at the World Championship. This leaves only Tyson, Hilary, and Kenny on the team, but a new character, Daichi Sumeragi, and Tyson's brother Hiro Granger, join them. One week after the results of the World Championships, Boris, the secondary villain from the first season, says things will return to the way they were before. But he declares that all the Beyblade shops must sell beyblades and their parts to BEGA associated Beybladers only, otherwise they will not be allowed to run the shops.
Tyson and the team find some parts at Max's father's store, which are insufficient. Then after sometime Kenny comes with the solution, he makes new type of Beyblades, using different type of parts. But they still needed one more blader, that's when Kai, who tried to join BEGA but lost severely to Brooklyn, rejoins the team. Daichi and Ray lose the first two matches to Ming-Ming and Crusher and Max ends the third match with Mystel in a draw. Then it was Kai's turn to face the unbeaten Brooklyn. Kai then defeats Brooklyn in a match but loses Dranzer later. Then Tyson beats Garland. Brooklyn becomes insane due to his loss to Kai and confronts Tyson. In the ensuing match match, Tyson then defeats Brooklyn after his Beyblade Dragoon absorbs the power of all the Sacred Bit Beasts and evolves into the most powerful Beyblade on Earth.



Vampire Knight

Vampire Knight first started as an anime and manga magazine, and was later produced into a anime tv show series but there is also a light book novel and a video game.

In the first episode of Vampire Knight it's called "Night of Vampires" where Yuki Cross recalls her earliest memories in which she is attacked by a vampire, and saved by the pureblood vampire Kaname Kuran. In the present, she attends the Cross Academy, a school founded by her adoptive father, Kaien Cross, and she works as a "guardian" with vampire hunter Zero Kiryuu to protect the human students of the "Day Class" from the vampires of the "Night Class", an arrangement created by Kaien to foster better relations between vampires and humans. That evening, Yuki discovers a pair of Night Class students, Hanabusa Aido and Akatsuki Kain, threatening to feed on a pair of Day Class students. Yuki attempts to stop them, and they retreat only after Zero arrives and threatens them with his anti-vampire gun, Bloody Rose.

Here is the first "clip" to Vampire Knight.

Note: This is not the whole episode, it is just a clip.

For those who want to know what the theme song says in English it is here:

Shaking in red, in red, in red

To the edge of the dream, of the dream

We can’t be separated

Already, every time when I’m stifled to death when I give up again and again

My emotions that have no place to go wake me up

Your flawless smile knows

That it’s an existence so distant that it’s cruel

Even though the wound that can’t be healed only eats away at my heart

Even now I can’t completely hold back my thoughts (that dwell) (within) the darkness

Shaking in red, in red, in red

To the edge of the dream, of the dream

We met, and destiny begins to turn

It’s a secret that no one, no one knows about

I fall, I fall, I fall

And I certainly can’t return anymore, even if I carve out my my sins

While I was walking in the abyss of loneliness, I was saved

By realistic eyes that never change

But a shadow born as the light is bright

Deeply and pronouncedly creeps up to me

The two pulses are exactly like mirrors facing each other

The (pains) are similar (but) different and continue infinitely

Burning in red, in red, in red

Erasing everything, everything

An unfulfilled illusion begins to move

Strongly, strongly

Overcoming, overcoming, overcoming the fleeting night

And I certainly can’t escape, even if I drown in my sins

Shaking in red, in red, in red

To the edge of the dream, of the dream

We met, and destiny begins to turn

It’s a secret that no one, no one knows about

I fall, I fall, I fall

And I certainly can’t return anymore, even if I carve out my my sins.

Yu-Gi-Oh!

Most people remember Yu-Gi-Oh as the tv show and having the collectable cards but never battled using their cards; some went online to battle against others and some such as myself  battled against eachother without the use of internet and traded the many cards we have collected.

Yu-Gi-Oh cards are still available to purchase, you just have to look for them, but they can be a lot cheaper to purchase them through the internet such as ebay.

But it's not all card games and tv, Yu-Gi-Oh is also available through a range of video games.

Here you can go through the online Yu-Gi-Oh trading card game online, and you can go through the rule book by either watching each rule or you can download the PDF file and have the rulebook downloaded onto your computer so it's always there when you need it.

You can also go through what products there are available such as: Booster Packs, Special Editions, Starter Decks,Structure Decks and so much more.

And if you click on one of the products available such as the tins the next webpage displays all the information about the tin and what comes with them when they are purchased.

And this is a video of a "time lapse video of the Yu Gi Oh! 10th Anniversary chalk mural created for toonzaki.com and 4Kids Entertainment at the 2010 New York Comic Con and Anime Festival by artist and illustrator Eric Maruscak. This special 10th Anniversary artwork features Yugi with Dark Magician, Jaden with Elemental Hero Neos and Yusei with Stardust Dragon. The mural is 9 feet wide by 12.5 feet tall and took around 28 hours to complete from start to finish."

Pokémon

Pokémon is very popular among many people, it varies from the TV show, Nintendo DS games, PC games, drawings, cards and ofcourse the original format of the Gameboy games.

Not as many people show as much interest in Pokémon compared to when it first came out in 1996, the Pokémon TV series is still played here in Australia for all I know but not sure on other countries as such.

So why does most people choose Pikachu over every other character?

I believe that that people choose Pikachu because he is one of the main Pokémon characters and many people find him cute and one of the more powerful Pokémon.

Personally Pikachu is not my favourite Pokémon but Ninetales is mine and being rare and a very smart Pokémon and has many legends from each Pokedex discriptions. You can find more about Ninetales here: Ninetales Pokedex Stats.

You can also find a whole range of Pokémon and their stats from the different games here: List Of Pokémon.

Here is the first episode played on tv in full English: "Pokémon - I Choose You!"

Purikura BFF's Makeover ~ Doll Divine

This another anime facemaker but made for a BFF (Best Friends Forever) makeover sort of thing, this one is good because it shows a variety of things that you can use to make them look as close as you can to you and your best friend.

E.g.:
First it comes up with a random choice of hairstyles and colours, and everything else included but that can easily be changed by simply clicking onto the next availble choice, for like I have done for the skin colour:

Next is the eye shape and colour along with the facial expression:

Then the mouth of whatever suits you and your friend best:



Next comes the hairstyle and colour of choice:

Followed by a series of clothing and accessories to add to your characters (but unfortunately there are not very many clothes to choose from):

Then there are multiple choices of hand possitionings:

And lastly there is the background choices  (the only think I dislike about that is when clicking on the words it comes up not only in English but in another language which fustrates me a little):

And that's the end of Purikura BFF's Makeover brought to you by Doll Divine.
If you are after the link to the website it is displayed at the bottom of this post. :)
http://www.dolldivine.com/purikura-bffs-makeover-game.php

Anime Drawings

Drawing is a skill that many people have, yet so little can draw such perfect figures of reality. When drawing anime it is a lot easier in design but can be a lot harder in some ways also such as drawing the eyes with a such detail to make it look like it is from a TV show itself.
On dragoart.com they show how to draw an anime girl, step by step making it simple to follow.
Here is a link:
http://www.dragoart.com/tuts/11902/1/1/how-to-draw-an-anime-girl-drawing.htm

There are many drawings that I have found just googling:

 

There are a lot of people that are good at drawing anime, these people are simply gifted.

But ANYONE can draw it just takes practice, even I could never draw, I simply traced printed pictures and learnt from there.

And if you need any other help with drawings dragoart.com has many other forms:

Anime Eyes:
http://www.dragoart.com/tuts/6898/1/1/drawing-anime-eyes.htm
Anime Cartoon Puppy:
http://www.dragoart.com/tuts/1800/1/1/how-to-draw-an-anime-cartoon-puppy.htm
Anime Cartoon Kitten:

http://www.dragoart.com/tuts/1678/1/1/how-to-draw-an-anime-cartoon-kitty.htm

Anime Wolf - From Legend Of Zelda
http://www.dragoart.com/tuts/12891/1/1/how-to-draw-chibi-wolf-link,-wolf-link-from-legend-of-zelda.htm


Unless you are like me and once you see something you can draw it the way it is, then it's easy to find some anime character makers.


These are some of my drawings that I have done a couple weeks ago:

Spirited Away

Ten-year old Chihiro and her parents are moving when her father takes a wrong turn. Her father thinks they've found an abandoned amusement park and insists on exploring. Chihiro, scared to be alone, accompanies her parents.

They cross a dry riverbed. Chihiro's parents gorge themselves at an unattended restaurant stall while Chihiro wanders off. She finds an exquisite bathhouse. Suddenly a boy orders her to cross the river before dark. Spirits begin haunting the park, and when Chihiro returns to her parents, they have become pigs.

Chihiro runs to the river, but it has flooded and is impossible to cross. The boy, whose name is Haku, finds her and says he has known her since she was little. He tells her to ask for a job from the bathhouse's boiler-man, Kamaji. Kamaji and the worker Lin send Chihiro to the witch Yubaba, who runs the bathhouse. Yubaba gives Chihiro a job but steals her name. She is renamed Sen (千^?), the first character of her name.

Haku shows Sen her parents' pigpen. Among her belongings, she finds a goodbye card addressed to Chihiro. Sen realizes that she has already forgotten her name. Haku warns her that Yubaba controls people by taking their names. If she forgets hers like he has forgotten his, then she cannot leave the spirit world.

At work, Sen invites a silent masked creature inside. A stink spirit arrives and is Sen's first customer. She discovers he is the spirit of a polluted river. In gratitude for cleaning him, he gifts Sen with a magic emetic dumpling. Secretly, the masked creature tempts a worker with gold, then swallows him. Publically, the creature demands food and begins tipping extravagantly.

The next morning, Sen sees paper shikigami attacking a dragon. She recognizes the dragon as Haku transformed. When Haku crashes into Yubaba's penthouse, she runs upstairs. As she passes the masked creature, he offers her a heap of gold, but she refuses it.

When Sen reaches Haku, a shikigami that stowed away on her back transforms into Zeniba, Yubaba's identical twin sister. Zeniba turns Yubaba's baby son Boh into a mouse and creates a decoy baby. Haku has stolen a magic gold seal from her, and she warns that it carries a deadly curse. Haku dives to the boiler room with Sen and Boh on his back. As they fall, Sen has a memory of being underwater. She feeds Haku part of the dumpling, and he vomits up the seal and a black slug that Sen crushes. She resolves to return the seal and apologize for Haku.

Before she leaves, she confronts the masked creature, who is a monster named No-Face. No-Face has become disgustingly obese, so Sen feeds him the rest of the dumpling. He begins vomiting and angrily chases Sen out of the bathhouse. As he vomits, he returns to a normal size and a gentle demeanor.

While Sen, No-Face, and Boh travel to Zeniba, Yubaba is furious at the damage caused by No-Face. She blames Sen for inviting him in and orders that her parents be slaughtered. Haku prods her into realizing that her baby is missing. He proposes to return Boh in exchange for Yubaba freeing Sen and her parents.

Sen, No-Face, and Boh arrive at Zeniba's house. Zeniba reveals that Sen's love for Haku broke her curse. The black slug was how Yubaba controlled him. Haku arrives. As he flies her and Boh back to the bathhouse, Sen has another memory of being underwater: When she was little, she fell in the Kohaku River but was washed safely ashore. She realizes that Haku is the spirit of the Kohaku River and tells him his name.

To break the curse on her parents, Sen must recognize them from among a group of pigs. She correctly discerns that her parents are not there. Haku takes her to the riverbed, which is dry once more. He says that he can't come with her, and she must not look back, but they will surely meet again.

Chihiro's parents are waiting for her on the other side. They do not remember anything and scold her for wandering off. They walk back to their car, which is filled with dust.

Sailor Moon Review

Sailor Moon, known in Japan as Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon (美少女戦士セーラームーン, Bishōjo Senshi Sērā Mūn, which is translated into “Pretty Soldier Sailormoon" or "Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon."

The protagonist of Sailor Moon, Serena Tsukino (Usagi Tsukino), an ordinary, ditzy, 14-year-old girl — or so she thinks — discovers a talking cat named Luna, who reveals Serena's identity as "Sailor Moon", a special warrior with the destiny of saving the planet Earth, and later the entire galaxy. Now Serena must now find the Moon Princess and protect Earth from a series of villains, beginning with the Dark Kingdom that had appeared once before, long ago, and destroyed the Kingdom of the Moon.

When the dark nemesis attacked the kingdom, the Queen sent the Moon Princess, her guardians and advisors, and her true love into the future to be reborn, as a result Sailor Moon must help Luna awaken members of the court of the kingdom of the Moon, and the people dedicated to protecting it. As Serena and Luna battle evil and search for the Moon Princess, they meet the other Sailor Senshi, incarnations of the Moon Princess' protectors, and the mysterious Tuxedo Mask.

As the series progresses, Serena and her friends learn more and more about the enemies they face and the evil force that directs them. The characters' pasts are mysterious and hidden even to them, and much of the early series is devoted to discovering their true identities and pasts. Luna, who teaches and guides the Sailor Senshi, does not know everything about their histories either, and the Senshi eventually learn that Serena is the real Moon Princess. The Moon Princess' mother had her reborn as a Sailor Senshi to protect her. Gradually Serena discovers the truth about her own past life, her destined true love, and the possibilities for the future of the Solar System.

The series features an extensive cast of characters. Initially, the main protagonists are title character Sailor Moon, her love interest Tuxedo Mask, and the Guardian Senshi (Sailors Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus). They are later joined by Chibiusa, Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask's daughter from the future, and the Outer Senshi (Sailors Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and Saturn).

The complete original manga spans 52 chapters, known as Acts, as well as ten separate side-stories. Its main series appeared in serial form in Nakayoshi, Kodansha's shōjo manga magazine, from 1991 to 1995; the side-stories were serialized in Kodansha's Run Run. Kodansha has published all the chapters and side-stories in book form. The first edition came out as the series was being produced, from 1992 through 1997, and consisted of 18 volumes with all the chapters and side stories in the order in which they had been released.

The second edition, called the shinsōban or "renewal" edition, began in 2003 during the run of the live-action series. Kodansha redistributed the individual chapters so that there are more per book, and some corrections and updates were made to the dialogue and drawings. New art was featured as well, including completely new cover art and character sketches (including characters unique to the live-action series). In all, the new edition consists of 12 main volumes and two separate short-story volumes.

By the end of 1995, the thirteen Sailor Moon volumes then available had sold about one million copies each, and Japan had exported the manga to over 23 countries, including China, Mexico, Australia, most of Europe and North America.

Here is a link to the first episode in full English:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt9vTxmoNEs

Anime Face Maker 2

Anime Face Maker 2 by Gen8 ~ deviantart.net

This anime maker game is fairly easy to use and to make your character look like anyone, your best friend or even yourself.
As usual you can select your particular hairstyles with colour.
E.g.

Then the facial features:
E.g. (Eyes)

Mouth:

Eyebrows:

Other features:
(such as blushing)

And then moves onto the clothing section:
E.g.
Eyeware:

Tops:
(Page one is for female tops and the page two is for male tops)

Earings:
(I chose not to put these on this character for they won't be seen due to the hairstyle chosen).

Neck Accessories:

Other Accessories:
(There consists of three pages, which two are of head accessories and the final page is of back accessories).

And that is the completion of the Anime Face Maker 2.