:anime: Global Shinkai Day 2013 Is Here--Plus One More!!

Now Showing…

While this isn't the Free/Low-Cost Anime Pick of the Month--I have something else planned for that, but I guess you can consider this a semi-one --I couldn't let the opportunity slip by to mention this year's Global Shinkai Day festivities at Crunchyroll! This year's will be a little different than most, as Makoto Shinkai's most recent work, Children Who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below, will be showing over the three-day weekend! It's a different kind of film from him, as well, both in scope and in feel, as it follows a young girl's journey through a fantastical underworld.

:boxing: Boxing Bits :03:01.13: Broner Is the Problem, & So Is Pot…

Posterizing, posturing, and pot penalizations highlighted the last few week's of boxing in this return installment of Boxing Bits!

:Sat.02.16.13: Broner Beats Rees

Gavin Rees was as game as game could be and with heart to spare, but his body and ebbs in composure ultimately did him in versus the talented Adrian "The Problem" Broner, who stopped him within five. The final result was largely expected, but Broner's pomposity and narcissistic complacency in his own abilities has led to him allowing his opponents to land an increasingly large amount of punches on him, as if to show that he no one can do him harm. Rees, to his credit, employed some fine movement and tenacity in scoring good, flush shots on the open Broner, who shook them off but didn't exactly do much about them, either.

:anime: Free/Low-Cost Anime Pick of the Month:: Love Live! School idol project

Love Live! School idol project

Official Site: Japanese
Additional Links: ANN Entry, MAL Entry
Video: Crunchyroll

I spotlighted shows a few times last year that I personally did not like, but that you, the reader, may still find worthwhile. This month's Pick is a bit like those, but rather than the show itself not being good--to the contrary, it's surprisingly so--it, instead, revolves around two subject matters that are not quite dear to my heart: school spirit and idols.

:anime: Love Comes & Goes…

Most of the time, when you like a show or movie, you tend to keep liking it for as many times as you watch it or, at least, continue to hold fond memories of it when you last saw it. However, there are times when second impressions make less of an impact than your first, maybe to the point that you find yourself not liking it as quite much as before. As such, it is only fitting on Valentine's Day to look back on a couple of rare occasions when an anime didn't quite stand up as well on a second viewing, as well as the rarer few that did the exact opposite…

:anime: Final Impression:: Teekyu

Not only is this a review, it's also the first "Free/Low-Cost Anime Pick of the Month" of the year!

Review: Teekyu
Alt. Titles: Te-kyu, Teekyuu

Official Site: Japanese
Additional Links: ANN Entry, MAL Entry
Video: Crunchyroll

"Four high-school girls" series are a dime a dozen these days, though that isn't to say that there aren't any bright spots in the genre, as Nichijou (My Ordinary Life) and Hyakko have shown in recent years. A popular flavor has the girls involved in a club, where they often do zany, non- club-related things. Teekyu is one of those series, which centers on straight-laced high school freshman Yuri Oshimoto, who gets sucked into the inane escapades of her three senior classmates in the school's tennis club (which, as you guessed it, involves little tennis). At the same time, there is more to this little (and I mean "two-minutes-per-episode" little) show, whose behind-the-scenes notoriety maybe as sublime as the show's most notable accomplishment--being one of the very few, if not the first, show that can out Fooly Cooly FLCL.

:anime: Ani-Journal - For January 10, 2013

For New Year's, it was about not-so-good things. A day later, for Jan. 2, it was about the technical stuff. And now for the 10th, and closing out this trilogy of-sorts of Ani-Journal entries, let's get down to some more anime!

--(But really…I was trying really to get that Jan. 2 one completed on the 1st. Just missed it…)

--I've already touched on this on Twitter, but I can't really see why Sword Art Online has elicited the kind of emotion that it has among fans. Either it's a popular, great show, or a steaming pile of putrid crap. Personally, cliche-sacked second half and all that hate over that one character aside (see Jan. 2 link), the first half at least was a pretty good, albeit imperfect, one. On the negative side, it skipped time a bit too brusque in certain spots and the "die in the game, die in real life" hook lost some of its edge as the series drifted away from the intensity that was present in the early episodes. Additionally, Asuna, the main heroine and Kirito's main squeeze, is inconsistently portrayed throughout (even in the second half). She's either a strong, independent  and very capable warrior and woman, or she's a helpless damsel-in-distress that gets into avoidable binds (at least, for someone at her level) so Kirito can fulfill his role as the requisite heroic male--sometimes in the same scene.

:anime: Ani-Journal - For January 02, 2013

Last year, we kicked off 2012 with an Ani-Journal entry and concluded it with one (which was, um, a day ago). So, I figured, hey, why not kick off 2013 (and a new year again) with yet another installment of Ani-Journal, now out of its beta phase! I mean, when you've barely had the chance to post anything the past year, you've got a lot of things left to say!

--In early June, I finally was able to purchase a PlayStation 3 (320 GB Slim w/ Move bundle). While, yes, you can play video games on it, I primarily bought it for its Blu-ray functionality, as well as its streaming video services. The latter was rather slim at first for anime (Hulu Plus, Amazon, and Netflix), but the timing couldn't have been more apropos, as the options exploded soon after with Crunchyroll, Neon Alley, Crackle, and YouTube.

:anime: Ani-Journal (BETA) - For December 31, 2012

Don't fret. Hopefully, you'll be license rescued… (Hopefully…)

We started the year with an Ani-Journal entry and now we end the year with an Ani-Journal entry (although the gap was unintentional. Been a busy bee…)!

--Speaking of, I would've caught Sacred Seven a little earlier in the month, but I spent much of that time doing Christmas decorations and watching holiday programming (I'm the festive type… ^^;; ). Thankfully, it was a marathon-easy show and I had enough time to watch it over the course of two, because it turned out to be a really good show. I wanted to see it due to its production quality from some screenshots and promotional pictures, but given that it 1) revolved around rocks and 2) looked like just another shounen action show, I put it towards the back of my list of shows to watch. However, with Bandai Ent., who licensed it, going down and them relinquishing titles they are unable to release, Sacred Seven was one of them and was disappearing from Hulu by the end of the year (and already had from Crunchyroll).

:anime: Free/Low-Cost Anime Pick of the Month:: The Rose of Versailles

The Rose of Versailles

Official Site: English
Additional Links: ANN Entry, MAL Entry
Video: Viki, YouTube (first ep. only)

There are many great anime titles that one can buy and/or watch in North America. At the same time, there are still plenty more that have yet to see the light of day here, much less have been license-rescued. Older works, despite their quality, tend to have the least-likely chance of being acquired, due to their age. There has been one title, however, that has defied that stigma and has been among the most requested titles--and for good reason.

HardDoor--now tumblr-ized!

If you couldn't tell by now, I like posting pictures here at HardDoor whenever I can. I have literally thousands of pictures, and there are a number of things I'd like to do picture-wise on HD, but alas, the Blogger-connected Picasa only gives you so much room, and I'd rather save that space for future anime reviews and previews. Additionally, I don't think some of what I had in mind would necessarily fit into the style and format of the blog.

So I got to thinking: since HardDoor isn't really confined to just Blogger anymore--Twitter (personal thoughts, live blogging, biggest source of random content) and Facebook (exclusive pictures, rankings, the occasional quick prediction) have their own functions by extension--why not just expand the blog through another venue? It crossed my mind beforehand, but I had decided to start something at tumblr!

HardDoor: Screenshot Haven has actually been open since Dec. 13, but it is dedicated primarily to screenshots that I have taken over time, as well as other nice, pretty pictures. The screenies range from the cool-looking and elegant, to the weird and embarrassingly-drawn, plus I'll post the occasional edited screenshot and a few shots from HardDoor, itself. These are predominately ones that I have taken and/or edited myself, though pictures beyond that will have likely have come from elsewhere. I'll also be "reblogging" interesting pictures from other tumblr users, as well, and while the majority of what's posted will be anime-related, there is no real set type of content that'll be shown. If it's neat, I'll post it.

More or less, it's kind of like HD in picture form or some mini-version of it (it even has a slightly different logo!). I'll still post pictures here, mind you, but if you are in the mood for some more interesting screenshots or pictures, come and check out HardDoor: Screenshot Haven, too. Hope you all enjoy it!!

--HD