New PV From Miku Hatsune Dark Is Hazy

Thanks, Crunchyroll, for the heads up: there's a new Miku Hatsune PV! From VOCALOID producer Keeno and the soundback of Hatsune Miku comes "morning haze". The song actually uses Miku Hatsune Dark, one of the Append music banks meant to create different moods in Miku's songs.

You'll be able to listen to the full LP that this song comes from - "Download feat. Miku Hatsune" when it comes out next month via Warner Music Japan. The album can be pre-ordered through CDJapan, either as a regular or a limited edition.

I Wasted Half An Hour Reading The Sword Art Online: Aincrad Manga

Pictured above: a huge waste
of time.

So you won't have to! Believe me, you don't want to. "But I'm the biggest SAO fan in my anime club!" No, you don't. "But I love Kirito and Asuna!" Then you'll hate this. "But I always read the-" NO. YOU. DON'T.

Quick summary of Sword Art Online for the cheap seats: an incredibly immersive MMORPG using virtual reality technology named Sword Art Online has just opened for regular play, only now thousands of players are locked into the game with no log out button and real, IRL death around every corner - unless they can defeat the final boss, clear every level, and beat the game.

Our protag, Kirito, is a beta tester player with a special dual wielding ability who becomes the user base's best chance at survival. He teams up with Asuna, one of the fastest and strongest users in the game, and they eventually fall in love. Video game hijinks ensue. People die. Ridiculous bosses spring up for drama. And then the final boss shows up! If you watched SAO on Toonami, you already know this familiar song and dance routine.

But if this is your first introduction to the SAO verse, you are getting a rather slapdash version of it. It's a non-linear, messy wreck of an adaptation and can be very confusing without previous knowledge of the series. And if you've already watched the Aincrad arc in anime form, you really don't need to read the manga.

Wednesday Briefs: Washed Right Out, Chapter Ten

I'm afraid I left the last installment of Wednesday Briefs on a cliffhanger. Luckily, in this chapter, that cliffhanger is resolved! The Washed Right Out series continues as a proposition is made, an argument is had, and food is stolen. I think the ending of this one will be intriguing to follow in later chapters. Hopefully, y'all keep reading on after this!

Washed Right Out, Chapter Ten. Prompts used: well that's a rough break, a snake in the grass.

"Kiss you?" Riley's brain spun in circles, like a hamster wheel on full tilt. "Dude!"

"What?" Eren gave him what could have been a harmlessly innocent look, but ended up looking more devious than he must have intended.

Manga Review: Library Wars GN 12

Library Wars volume 12
Author: Kiiro Yumi
Original Concept: Hiro Arikawa
Viz Manga/Shojo Beat
190 pages

Library Forces member Iku Kasahara has plans to go out for tea with her supervisor and secret crush, Dojo, but just figuring out what to wear puts her in a tailspin. When an urgent call comes in about an author seeking protection from the government, Iku realizes that the fight against censorship never takes a break! (Source: Viz)

One of the best things about the Library Forces manga is that even when it gets romantic and heartfelt, it never forgets what it's about: a world at violent odds with the ideas of censorship and artistic freedom, set in a society where soldiers must actively protect libraries from being destroyed and ideas from being stamped out. Unfortunately for Iku, another one of these incidents of authors vs censors comes during her first date-sort-of with Dojo, the man she's been crushing on for the entire series. Sorry, Iku-san.

Brief Blog Update: Now With 200% Spookier Stuff

Apparently, Tsukihime took more time that I'd like because now that October has come and gone, I've realized I didn't get to visit every series that was voted on by y'all even though I promised I would. So I get to spend part of November playing catch up! Yay!

Here are some of the posts you can look forward to during this month:

• looking at the visual novel Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
• revisiting the anime Pupa and comparing it to the manga
• finishing the Another anime series
• retrospective review of the Pet Shop Of Horrors manga
• a review of the Corpse Princess anime
• HOPEFULLY, a review of Shiki, but it's not on Crunchyroll and Netflix is being a jerk :|

Sounds fun! But y'all will have to sit through a review of the latest Library Wars manga before that happens, whoops.