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.