Vocaloid 2 Fun

So I started playing around with the Vocaloid program a couple of days ago.  I've always wanted to try it out and now I finally have the chance.

Overall, the program's not to difficult to use, though there are a lot of little details that must be worked out in order to produce a decent song.  I'm nowhere near pro, but I think I'm on the way to at least be competent.  The user must have a hefty amount of prior music knowledge, such as understanding of notations, tones, dynamics, techniques, and so forth.  It takes a while to get used to the functions of each aspect, which all play important roles in making the digital singer sound as smooth as possible.

What Vocaloid program would be complete without the digital singer Hatsune Miku (see previous post)?  Of course, I had to choose Miku as my pop idol of choice.  Here's a song that I uploaded to YouTube earlier.  It's a Hatsune Miku version of "Euterpe," the oft-played insert song from Guilty Crown.

Remember, Miku's a digital entity.  She's not going to sound as real or accurate as a human vocalist... but regardless, I like the possibilities that are spawning from Vocaloid 2.  Maybe I can do a butchered version of an English song in the future?

Sims 3 Power

Well, it's been a while since I've posted here.  My excuse is this:

Yes.  EA Games' The Sims 3 has pretty much occupied 75 percent of my waking hours (I work the other 24 percent and eat one percent of the time).

The thing about The Sims 3, and all the other Sims games for that matter, is that once you start a particular project, you can't stop.  And for someone with self-declared OCD like me, stopping is seriously out of the question.  It's 6 a.m. here and I'm still tweaking things in the game.

For example, take a look at this:

Why, it's Hatsune Miku!  The virtual pop star!

The first image is from The Sims 3, which I made after scouring the net for hair, clothing and accessory parts.  Eventually I was able to combine everything and—if you look at the second image, the official art—conjure something up that looks awfully like the real deal.

How about this?

Who's that?

That is correct.  It's Haruhi from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.  And yes, that's correct, I've gone that far.  But that's not all I did...

...I gave her a bunny suit, too.  Sure, it's not the best work, but it was certainly fun as hell to put it all together.  I'll have to find time to finish building her house, though.  And throw in a Sims version of Kyon, as well.

Right now, my current project involves building up Hilda from Beelzebub, and anime that is still currently airing in Japan.

A rather typical blonde bombshell in a gothic lolita dress.  Happens all the time and I was too tempted to resist making her.

I'm missing the little braided ponytail.  I've dug through countless websites online and I'm starting to believe "massive-left-side-bangs-plus-braided-ponytail" types of hair currently do not exist.  I could take up 3D modeling and design, but... not now.  Not yet, anyway.

Wolf whistle...

Interview: Guilty Crown Staff

While I'm busy trying to beat the main storyline for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, I can still manage some time to read up on same interesting tidbits on the net.

I suggest a read for this article on Anime News Network:

"After the New York Comic Con premiere of the first two episodes of the new Guilty Crown anime, [David Cabrera] sat down with Chief Producers Kōji Yamamoto and Ryo Ohyama, Production I.G's George Wada. Aniplex USA's Yosuke Kodaka interpreted. Guilty Crown is available streaming at Funimation.com and NicoNico.com..."

 Full article here:

I have to say, a lot of points were covered that I had already anticipated since the first couple of episodes, such as the comparison between Shu and Shinji (Evangelion) and the potential of multiple seasons...

Guilty Crown Update

Well!  When I said I had high hopes for Guilty Crown as of the fifth episode, boy was I pleased with the recently released sixth episode.  Finally, it looks like things are happening and characters are truly being revealed.

Still, the series is filled with cliché moments and devices.  But still, Guilty Crown is proving to be a worthwhile watch.  Although Anime News Network lists Guilty Crown as 11 episodes long, both My Anime List and Wikipedia report the series as 22 episodes.  While 11 episodes is doable, I believe 22 episodes is far more realistic.  At the rate the plot is developing, mysteries being introduced and characters developing, 11 episodes equates rushing, while 22 is... well, more standard.

While Shu remains oftentimes a weak, pathetic male lead, he is starting to show signs of being a worthy character that viewers can support.  I support him now, nonetheless, just because I've supported characters like him in the past.

Ahem:

Shinji Ikari - Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995)

WEAK, PATHETIC MALE LEAD

Renton Thurston - Eureka Seven (2005)

WEAK, PATHETIC MALE LEAD

Shu Ouma - Guilty Crown (2011)

WEAK, PATHETIC MALE LEAD

Yes, all three have their early moments that show some form of hope... but in essence, they start off as virtually worthless young men who have serious confidence issues.  As Guilty Crown is projected to be the shortest of the three anime titles—Evangelion at 26 episodes (plus a ton of alternative titles and releases) and Eureka Seven at 50 (plus an alternate film)—it looks like Shu will have the opportunity to demonstrate his manhood a tad earlier than the others.  At least that's what I predict.

Currently, I give Guilty Crown a B+.  By the end of the series, I hope this title can convince me to bump it to an A- or A.  I repeat, I have great hopes for this anime.  Don't let me down.

Crown of Guilt

"After the outbreak of the unidentified virus 'Lost Christmas' in 2029, Japan has been under the control of a multi-nation organization called GHQ. Ohma Shu is a 17-year-old boy who has a psychic power in his right hand. He can use the power 'Ability of King' to extract tools or weapons from his friends. He has been avoiding making trouble for others but his life changes when he meets a girl Yuzuriha Inori, a member of a resistance guerrilla group called 'Undertaker,' whose members pilot mecha weapons to fight against the government."

via Anime News Network

Currently airing right now in Japan is an anime titled Guilty Crown.  For newcomers, this series looks to be an eye-popper.

Oh, Inori so pretty!  So shiny!  And oh so emotionless (see below)!

Not exaggerating.  Scenes are beautifully rendered all throughout.  This is thanks to "Redjuice" of the band, Supercell.  The artist manages all the illustrations that go with composer Ryo's music.  I first started exploring Supercell's music when I was first introduced to "君の知らない物語 (Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari)" a.k.a. "The Story You Don't Know," the ending theme to the anime Bakemonogatari.  Now I wouldn't be pointing any of this out if I didn't like Supercell.  The music score that goes along with Guilty Crown, as of now, is phenomenal.

But Guilty Crown has one big problem so far, despite there being only five episodes out right now (with episode 6 due this Thursday).  The story isn't advancing.  Sources point out that Guilty Crown will only have 11 episodes.  If that's the case, I'm willing to bet the series will need three to four seasons in order to get anywhere, simply based on the pace it's currently maintaining.

On that note, I realized that Guilty Crown is showing major similarities with another sci-fi anime: Eureka Seven.  The male protagonists in both series, Shu in Guilty Crown and Renton in Eureka Seven, initially start out as whiny, self-hating bratty teens with serious confidence issues... but they soon grow up only as people around them basically pump them up with boosters like, "You are the chosen one!  Only you can save us all!"  The female protagonists in both series, Inori in Guilty Crown and Eureka in Eureka Seven, begin as emotionless, floating bricks that appear human... and in Eureka Seven's case (might as well be Guilty Crown's, too), the girl shows more signs of humanity after she and her male counterpart's constant shouting and calling-out to each other ("Renton!" "Eureka!"  "RENTON!" "EUREKA!" repeat 10 times) finally get through.

Speaking of similarities, the constant calling-out made an appearance in Guilty Crown, as well:

Click to enlarge
Okay, so it didn't loop 10 times.  And Inori didn't exactly shout her second time around.  But you get the idea.

The pace that Guilty Crown is currently working on is eerily similar to how Eureka Seven panned out.  But the good news is that Eureka Seven turned out to be one of my favorite series, thanks to the amount of time I decided to invest in following all 50 episodes.  Thus, I do hope Guilty Crown is separated into four parts of 11, 12, 13 or so episodes, much like Eureka Seven was... given that Guilty Crown continues its snail's pace of storytelling.

Despite the drawbacks of the first few episodes, Guilty Crown has shown signs of life in the latest episode, where apparently the director and storyboard leaders decided to do some side character exploration.  For the majority of anime that I have watched, I devote a lot of attention to the characters and how they are portrayed and developed.  The fact that Guilty Crown finally started this was a necessary step in grabbing my interest for sure.

Ayase seems pretty cool so far. Her being voiced by Kana Hanazawa (Suou Pavlichenko "Darker Than Black: Gemini of the Meteor," Anri Sonohara "Durarara!!") makes her even cooler.

If the story fails to go anywhere in the 11 episodes its due for, it won't be a total disaster... not to me anyway.  At least I had something pretty to look at for 4.5 hours.  Nonetheless, I seriously, seriously hope Guilty Crown does its job.  It looks too good to be an empty, pointless show.  After all, I'm a fan of Supercell and I believe their people can get it all done.  I'm sure I'm not the only one out there that wishes for this show to continue stepping up, as it did in episode 5.  Only episode 6 can show us this Thursday.