Brave Trailer

Brave is Pixar's upcoming feature film about a Scottish princess who fights a giant bear.

Here's the trailer.

I'm really looking forward to it.

My Pokeymans 8

Aerodactyl is huge. I know he looks big, but he's even bigger than that. In both the anime and PBR, Aerodactyl is giant. He's giant and I love him.:) In Firered I trained one up after I beat the game and I used him to breed one for battle. Loki didn't have the best nature for battle, so I bred yet another and got Hel. Aerial Ace, Rock Slide, Fire Blast and Earthquake. I used another one, Flynn in a play through and he really held his own. Aerodactyl is fast and mean, but really doesn't like getting hit.

Out of all the legendary pokemon, I'd have to say the Articuno is my favourite. I used one in my first Firered play through and would like to train my modest one for battle. Terrible typing, but such a pretty, pretty bird.










Dragonite is the derpiest and happiest of all dragon pokemon. When I was younger, I really loved Dratini and Dragonair, but was disappointed that Dragonite looked so different. I guess I was more into the badass dragon look that Charizard had. And I have to say; mail delivery Dragonite from Pokemon: The First Movie kind of won me over to Dragonite. So adorable.

Anyway, when Heartgold/Soulsilver came out, I knew I had to make an Extremespeed Dragonite. It was long, and tedious, but Harvey the Dragonite has Extremespeed, Dragon Dance, Outrage and Aqua Tail. Harv is very good at what he does and what he does is break everything.

That's all for first generation pokemon!

Persona 4: Visualive

This is a huge year for Persona 4! Not only is there a fighting game in development by Arc System Works, a port for the Sony Vita and an ongoing anime series, but now there will be a live stage production as well!

It opens in Tokyo in March, so check it out if you happen to be in Japan.

Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt

Remember the old Cartoon Network shows like Powerpuff Girls, Johnny Bravo and Dexter's Lab? Well, Gainax's Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt is a love letter to those shows, but definitely for an older audience. I'd say "mature" but it's really quite far from mature in that most of the humor is gross out humor and sex jokes.

Despite that, the show is brilliant. It's got some excellent music and a really cool animation style. If you can stomach various bodily excretions, I'd highly recommend checking it out! It's an all around fun time!

My Pokeymans 7

Lapras is one of my favourite pokemon. I think I've used about 4 in total. My first one was in my first play of Firered. Rain Dance, Thunder, Ice Beam and Surf really makes Lapras shine in game. I also used a Lapras in a third run of Firered and a run of Pokemon XD. Noel the Christmas Lapras is a Lapras I bred for battle. Modest with Water Absorb and the moveset I mentioned above. Lapras is the best plesiosaur. :3

Vaporeon is another one of my favourite pokemon. At the very least, it was my first favourite pokemon. I used one in my first play of Firered, in Pokemon XD and have one trained for battle. Amphritite is Modest with Surf, Ice Beam, Shadowball and Wish.





I really underestimated Jolteon at one point, but then I used one in my third run of Firered and boy did Helena get the job done outrunning Agatha's Gengars and taking them down. I think my Jolteon was really the star player. I haven't raised one for battle yet, but it's a good possibility that I will in the future. Adam has a substitute passing Jolteon that can really kick my ass.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

Y'know what's awesome? Ponies. Particularly, Lauren Faust's brand of My Little Ponies. It's in it's second season now and recently aired the first Halloween themed episode, which is probably my favourite so far, since I love Halloween episodes.

If you haven't seen the show, it's all on YouTube, so give it a shot! The creators have worked on Powerpuff Girls and Foster's home for Imaginary Friends. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic may not be for everyone, but it's a delightfully written show with a target audience of young girls that still manages to get the attention of adults.

My Pokeymans 6

The Gengar line is the only ghost line in 1st gen, but it's still pretty awesome. I ran with a Gengar in my second run of Firered. Charlotte had Psychic, Shadowball, Thunderbolt and Confuse Ray and was a main mon for taking out water and flying types. It was tricky to get her to evolve because I needed to borrow a cable and my brother's gameboy and game. Trade evolutions aren't my favourite, but Gengar is so worth it. Fast and powerful.



Starmie is a great pokemon. It's the only pokemon that I ever hand-raised to level 100 by sheer use alone. I caught a Staryu in Emerald and EV trained her by hand without Pokerus. It took a while, but it paid off. That Starmie served me well and I brought her into Platinum as a "super high level pokemon that I take everywhere just in case". I later bred another Stamie for the Battle Tower named Evangeline with the same moveset. Surf, Thunderbolt, Icebeam and Psychic. Back when my brother first got Platinum, I bred him a team of cool pokemon to go through the game with. He named his Staryu Ruby. :)

Yeah Gyarados! Gyarados is rad! I never used one in game, but I bred one for battle, suitably named "Skulkraken" which was originally going to be Gyarados' English name. He's jolly with Waterfall, Earthquake, Dragon Dance and Ice Fang. He holds a Life Orb and if he gets one free Dragon Dance in, he's going to wreck everything. In the first battle I ever brought him to, he was my ace in the hole that I was hiding till the very end. I had already won the match before he even needed to come out, but when he did, that just confirmed it. :) I've also got Xerxes, the shiny red Gyarados in HeartGold.

Ouran High School Host Club

This show is one of my favourite anime. And I almost never watched it. I was browsing the anime available on streaming Netflix and nearly passed over the show, thinking it would be a played straight harem anime. Ouran High School Host Club is about how honors student Haruhi Fujioka accidentally becomes in debt to the school's host club and must work as a host to repay the debt. Unbeknownst to everyone at the start is the fact that Haruhi is really a girl. Wacky hijinks ensue.

The thing about Ouran is that it knows what it is and makes fun of the genre. The character Renge even comes in to be the otaku dating sim nerd fangirl of the group to call out all the tropes as they appear. Even Kirimi, a 5 year old girl who had been read shoujo romance stories calls out the "twincest" and "debauchery."

Despite all that, Ouran is not merely a parody. It has really interesting characters with fleshed out backgrounds. You even begin to feel differently about some of the characters as the story progresses.

I've currently been seeking out the manga for the series, but only have volumes 1 and 6 so far. The art is really beautiful and intricate.

If you haven't already, please check out the show! As I mentioned earlier, it's available on Netflix as well as Hulu and Funimation's Youtube Channel.

My Pokeymans 5

I used an Arcanine in a Firered run. I named him Murray and was so grateful when he finally evolved. I really needed the Extremespeed. For those who don't know, Arcanine's Pokedex entry talks about it being a legendary pokemon in China and it's species name is "Legendary Pokemon". This is because Arcanine is based on the Chinese Lion Dogs. It's kinda like a lion and kinda like a dog!

At some point, I want to make a battle Arcanine. He's got pretty good moveset and can learn Wild Charge in Gen V.


Oh man, Tentacruel. Tentacruel has always been a pretty badass pokemon. I always used to hate fighting them in the wild because I tended to use a lot of special attacks. Those things can soak up the Thunderbolts.

That was when I decided to train one for battle. Terrence the Tentacruel has Surf, Sludge Bomb, Ice Beam and Giga Drain and was built to use Choice Specs. He's kind of a beast and I love him.

Also, when I first saw Tentacruel in the anime, I assumed that all Tentacruel were giant, city destroying monsters. No wonder Misty thought they were so cool!

OMG Ponies! Ponyta and Rapidash are so pretty. I've never used one in-game, but I did make Maybel the Hypno-pony. She's a Rapidash with Flare Blitz, Mega Horn, Will-o-wisp and of course, Hypnosis. For that purpose, she carries a Wide Lens. She's a good pony.

I also like Ponyta enough that I chained for them in Pokemon Pearl. It took soooo long, but I finally got a blue flamed Ponyta. Her name is Henrietta and she will never evolve. I prefer Ponyta's blue flames over Rapidash's grey ones.

I even painted up an old Ponyta figure into a shiny. It needed a new paint job anyway.

Persona 4: The Animation

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love Persona 4. I love it thiiiiiiiiis much.

And now it has an anime! Horray!

There's a sweet looking website for it too!

It's planned to be released in North America by Sentai Filmworks. This has me somewhat worried that any of the original English cast will be coming back for the anime, but it's apparently "under consideration". Crossing fingers!

Anywho, you can watch the first episode of the anime (with translations of course) here.

I thought the first episode was really fantastic and they're sticking very very close to the game, while still trimming it down for 25 episodes. Shoji Meguro's beautiful music is back and they're even using the in-game calendar and stats screen. It's great. Can't wait to see more.

My Pokeymans 4

Vulpix is truly one of the cutest things ever. While I never used one in game, I did train one for battle, and retired her quite shortly. Pele the Ninetales had Flamethrower, Will o Wisp, Grudge, and Confuse Ray. As soon as I can get my hands on a Drought Vulpix, I will make a new Ninetales and it will be awesome.

As far as I'm concerned, Vulpix/Ninetales is an honorary Ghost type, due to the mysticism of foxes in Japanese mythology.

Cats are cool. Persian is cool. I used one in my second play of Firered. Her name was Nadia and she liked killin' ghosts. A Normal type with Dark attacks will absolutely wreck the Lavender Tower. Pay Day and Amulet coin also made sure I never ran out of money. One of these days, I'll have to make a Technician U-Turn Persian.





I'm not really a fan of the 1st Gen fighting types. Mankey is okay, though. It's a roundy pig-cat-monkey! So I decided to use one in my second Firered run. Vera was actually a pretty strong member of my team. She had Strength and Rock Smash and Brick Break and eventually, I gave her Earthquake. She was pretty cool. Mankey/Primeape is the only 1st Gen fighting type I like.

Codename: Sailor V and Sailor Moon

I watched Sailor Moon when I was a kid, but I never got the opportunity to read the original manga until now.

Both Sailor Moon and Codename: Sailor V are being reprinted for North American release by Kodansha (Sailor Moon has been out of print for 6 years).

I picked up volumes of both today and am excited to finally start reading them!

My Pokeymans 3

I've used a Fearow in two of my Firered play throughs so far. In my first run, I didn't name him, and he was replaced as soon as I caught Articuno. The second time I used a Fearow, I named him Fred and he lasted me through the game.

I chose Spearow over Pidgey just cause I thought Spearow looked cooler. Spearow/Fearow gets a pretty bad rap in the anime, but I think it's a pretty neat Pokemon.

I know Pikachu is over hyped and over merchandized as the series mascot, but I couldn't help catching one the first time I saw one in Veridian forest. He's pretty darn cute.

Pikachu may be everywhere, but Raichu doesn't get nearly enough love. Raichu is adorable! He's like a giant, electric hamster!

As I mentioned before, I had a Raichu on my first play of Firered, but I also bred one for battle. Thor was one of my first battle pokemon and packs Thunderbolt, Thunderwave, Focus Blast and Grass Knot. The Grass Knot is what really makes him work. Lure in a Rock/Ground type and BAM!

I've also got a Shiny Pikachu with Volt Tackle from the HeartGold/Soulsilver event. I still have yet to EV train him, and am only sad that I can't give him a name. :(

Again, in my first play of Firered, I used a Nidoking. It wasn't because I particularly like Nidoking, and more just because he could learn some HMs and I didn't know who else to fill that last slot with.

Pretty sure I gave him Cut, Rock Smash and Surf. He's one of the few Ground types who can actually learn Surf.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica!

Do you like Magical Girls? I sure do!

I was excited to hear about a popular magical girl anime that came out this year. But don't go in thinking that it's a standard shoujo magical girl show, despite what the intro and the first 2 episodes might have you believe. In fact, even if you don't like magical girls at all, you might still love this show.

Madoka Magica is a deconstruction of the magical girl genre, as Watchmen is a deconstruction of the superhero genre. It takes all the tropes and turns them on their head, and it does so in a beautifully animated fashion.

Seriously, give the first 3 episodes a try. If you don't like it by then, then it's probably not the show for you.

Also! A PSP RPG of Madoka is coming out in Japan in 2012. (Don't watch the video if you haven't seen the show. It's spoilerific.) Video Game!

I seriously hope that both the show and the game make it over to North America.

My Pokeymans 2

I didn't use a Butterfree until my 3rd play through of Firered. Marty the Butterfree was awful cute, but boy was he ever the weakest member of my team. He did manage to take out Blue's Exeggutor with Silver Wind, but he was too slow and fragile to be anything more than a buffer against everyone else in the Elite Four.

His cuteness kept him on the team, but I think he's a bit developmentally delayed... maybe if Quiver Dance was around in Gen 3....

Beedrill is awesome! He was my first bug pokemon! Unfortunately, like Butterfree, he just doesn't cut it as a late game pokemon. Excellent for the early game though. Even Butterfree had his use in the early game since he evolves much quicker than the rest of your party.

As disappointing as Beedrill is, I did breed and train one for battle. Cybele had Twineedle, X-Scissor, Brick Break and Toxic Spikes. I still like her, but she's really not cut out to be playing with the big boys.


Rattata is a pretty cute pokemon. Raticate, not so much, but I used one anyway. He didn't make it into my final team, but he was good for HMs and his STAB Hyper Fang usually got the job done. Pursuit was also pretty useful on him.

Jeff the Raticate was a pretty decent team member for the first half of the game. I brought him over to HeartGold, cause I'd feel bad if I deleted him.

Art Book

So my birthday is tomorrow, and I might have to treat myself to this lovely art book once it comes out in English.

The girl on the cover is Aigis of Persona 3 and I love love love Persona and art books.

"This beautiful art book features Shigenori Soejima''s best work from the various Persona games, including other projects such as Stella Deus and Momoiro Taisen Pairon, and an exclusive interview with the artist himself. "

My Pokeymans, Let me show you them.

I never really cared for the Bulbasaur family before. It was always my least favourite of the 1st Gen starters. On my 3rd play through of Firered, I picked a Bulbasaur. His name was Don and I managed to stick with him the entire game.

Don was slow and tanky, so I used that to my advantage. By the end of the game, he had Sleep Powder, Toxic, Leech Seed and Razor Leaf. I'm pretty sure he took out most of Bruno's team with Toxic and Leech Seed alone.

Currently, he's sitting in my HeartGold cart at level 62 and is Naughty in nature.


I love the Charizard family. Always have. I always wanted an awesome pet dragon when I was a kid, so I was excited to pick Charmander as my very first pokemon.

I also got the luck of the draw and snagged a girl. Female starters are only 1/8. I named her Charley and she was the only pokemon in the game that I named. She had an Adamant nature, which wasn't so great in a 3rd gen game, but much better in 4th gen where I'm going to teach her Flare Blitz at some point. Right now, she's level 63 and has Flamethrower, Wing Attack, Dragon Claw and Dragon Rage. At the time, I just figured Dragon moves were really good, so I let her have two of them.

In Platinum, I built myself a Sunnyzard named Scott. Sunny Day, Flamethrower, SolarBeam and Air Slash lets him take on water types like Swampert pretty well.


The Squirtle family was my second choice when going through Firered. I've realized that it's incredibly valuable to have a decent water type early on in the game, so long as you've got someone to take on all the grass types that pop up in the early game. Bug and Flying types are easy enough to get.

I also managed to luck out with another female, Ophelia. She was a Sassy Blastoise who pulled me through the game with Surf, Ice Beam, Brick Break and Waterfall. Brick Break was solely to deal with Lorelie's Ice types.

Ophelia is sitting in my HeartGold cart now at level 53.

Gotta Catch 'Em All!

Back when the Pokemon craze was first hitting the shores of North America, I was 10. I had a gameboy, but the only games I ever played on it were the ones my dad bought. Two Mario games, Tetris, Ninja Turtles and The Little Mermaid. I never got to play Pokemon. Heck, I didn't even know it started out as a video game. I just knew it was a card game and a cartoon.

I remember acquiring some odd plastic Pokemon toys back then. A broken Pokeball figure, a Kakuna and a Vaporeon, though at the time I didn't know their names. I just knew that I really liked the Vaporeon figure and wish I could find one just like it again. I also vaguely remember playing with a girl in a McDonald's Play Place and she wanted to pretend to be Pokemon. I asked her if there were any cat pokemon and learned of Meowth, Persian and Mew. I also asked if there were any pokemon with no limbs, as to ascertain the identity of my Kakuna figure.

"What the hell is this thing supposed to be?" I thought.

Not too long after this, my little brother (7 years younger than me) caught the Pokemon bug and wanted to watch the cartoon. A video rental store had recently opened up in town, so we rented VHS tapes of the episodes to watch. And since this was something my little brother was into, I had to be against it. Because Pokemon was only for babies. Though secretly, I really enjoyed watching the cartoon with my brother and kept a tiny plush Eevee (from Burger king, I think?) hanging from the drawer of my nightstand. I also managed to get a couple anime Pokemon cards of Ponyta and Dratini. I continued watching the anime until the end of the Johto series. After that, I mostly forgot about Pokemon.

It wasn't until I was 20 that I rediscovered it.

When we started dating, my boyfriend Adam was big into the Pokemon games. He had Pokemon Pearl and would mine in the underground while taking the bus to school. I watched him play it a bit, and he suggested we go through the anime series, since I had only seen up to Johto.

Once we started watching the anime, and after I had seen him play more Pokemon on his DS, I got curious. I figured I might actually enjoy playing the game myself and asked if I could play his copy of Firered. He let me play it under the condition that I pick Charmander because he still needed a Suicune from the game. (I was gonna pick Charmander anyway because Charizard is awesome.)

Charizard knows he's awesome. Actually mine was a she and I named her Charley. :3

I freaking loved Firered. I ended with a team of Charizard, Raichu, Articuno, Lapras, Vaporeon and Nidoking. After Firered, I played Adam's copy of Emerald and loved that too. (Hoenn is probably my favourite region.) I also went through the tedium that is Pokemon Colosseum to obtain more pokemon. I anxiously awaited the release of Pokemon Platinum so I could finally play a 4th gen game. Plat was excellent too.

Not long after Plat came out, we picked up a copy of Pokemon Battle Revolution and I started breeding and training pokemon for battle against Adam. With the addition of Pokemon White, I have over 40 battle ready pokemon.

I also got into sculpting pokemon figures with Sculpey and have around 46 sculptures.

These are just a few of the ones I've made.

I love Pokemon. Adorable monsters, badass monsters, friendly monsters. I have too many favourites to list them all in one post. The games themselves are also incredibly charming with a battle system that's really easy to get into. I love elements as a theme, and Pokemon does it really well, if a little confusing to start. Pokemon was my first RPG and I'm so glad I started playing it.

Hello!

This blog is just for me to talk about things that I love. Probably mostly video games and anime. :)