While doing my daily checks for updates on the Kagamine Rin page, I finally noticed the little "Illustrated by" mark underneath the pictures. The character designs for both Miku and Rin are done by KEI, an illustrator who has done work for a variety of productions including Dengeki HP, "How to Create Characters" (CG Coloring), and the jacket design for Hardcore Syndrome.

Check out more of his work at his site by clicking the banner, or at his Web Clap.

Yes, I know I have the alignment all off. I should stop posting stuff at work.

Woke up today and realized that it's been a loong time since I've last posted, so decided to make a sort of huge post of what's been going on recently.
(More after the break)

First, the artist link:

If any of you have played or seen Ar Tonelico, this is the amazing artist who did the artwork.

Anwyay, rant time, chock full of linkness. Once again beaten to the punch by teh dave, I will resign myself to posting a fairly lengthy note about the background to this awesome piece of animation. First off, you can find a DVD rip here. Next, a quick background on the entire special ED.

Hey everyone, it's been a while. Recently I've been struggling with unemployment, but finally some good news: I have a job offer. And I start on Monday. [note: this blog post has nothing insightful or anything else in it. I'll post stuff that's actually relevant to this blog later]

A Happy New Year from all of us at Otakugen to all you (three? maybe four?) loyal readers out there.

My New Years Resolution? Don't embarass myself in front of hawt Guests of Honor at AX this year.

That's right folks, I'll be doing simultaneous announcements with the press releases of Anime Expo guests here on this blog. Or until I get fired for chasing all of them away.

That and quit smoking. I'm thinking one will be easier than the other...

Artist Link:

I have to remark: I love this guy's art. Check it out, it looks fantastic. Don't let that tiny banner fool you, it's awesome.

Finally, I'm back in town. Once again, I have journeyed out into the wide expanses of the outdoors and experienced what fresh air (+ cigarettes), bright sun (and horrible, horrible wind/snow), and good exercise lead to (legs, arms, etc. burn with unholy fire). Yes, my annual ski trip with my family and friends was at Mammoth Mountain Resorts this year, and once again a great three days were spent snowboarding in the great outdoors despite the terrible snowfall we've had this year.

This year, we stayed at the Timber Ridge condominiums, which claimed to be ski-in-ski-out. In previous years we have had very enjoyable stays at Mountainback condominiums. This year, however, we paid the extra premium for the priveledge of convenience. Of course, that was not exactly true. Not only was the condo smaller than Mountainback's, it was also not nearly as convenient. No towel service, and only a single central location with a jacuzzi/sauna that required five minutes of walking over very slippery surfaces to reach. Still, small price to pay for a ski-in-ski-out place right? Wrong. [More after the break]

Artists Link:

I think I've already posted this one, so a second link...

"Super Swing Golf," or "Ska to Golf Pangya," was released last week. So, like the good little consumer sheep I am I went and bought it on the day it came out. Clutching it in my sweaty excited grip I went home and popped it in, hoping to see and play as my sweet honeys: Kooh and Cecelia. That, of course was not to be.

Last week I picked up Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin on recommendation of Tony. 1215 hours into the game and I must admit that it is one of the best games I've played this year.

Hell, in the typing of that previous pathetic paragraph I've already stopped to play more of that damn game twice.

Alright, make that previous paragraph "... stopped writing completely in order to play that game for another couple hours, sleep, then play some more." Yes, I know I'm an addict.

Artist Link:

(I'm experimenting on where to put my Artists Links when I have them)

If any of you read Joystiq, then most likely you have read about the various stories over Thanksgiving Weekend of gamers convincing their families to play the console with them, usually ending with very positive results. Well, to test that, I finally managed to convince my parents to sit down and play a round of games with me.

So I just spent the last hour or so playing Wii Sports and I have figured out once again what I have been saying all these years through college: Damn, I need to work out more.

I mean, seriously. You get out of college, you get a nice job where you actually have decent amount of time to do other things, and you vow to get in shape by getting an expensive membership at the local gym (for me, the rock climbing gym). Yet what do you end up doing? You sit on your couch playing video games (or in front of your computer watching anime) and watch your wallet bleed dry from these stupid gym costs that you never bothered going to.