Fred the Barber

Hah. Let me know how that goes for you - I dropped that game 10 years ago after a pretty short time as well, but have always regretted not playing it. Xenogears left me wanting a lot more plot and backstory, so I kind of yearn to play that series (even though I know it's not really set in precisely the same universe).

<3 Murakami; you can't go wrong with anything he's written. I think my favorite is Dance, Dance, Dance, but I usually recommend Hard-Boiled Wonderland And The End of the World to people first to see if they'll like his stuff. Have you read anything else of his? Have a favorite?

I'm watching Revolutionary Girl Utena. I can't decide which is worse: the terrible dub, or the weirdly-proportioned people (they almost look pointy to me). I guess gradually anime went from mostly making people look taller and pointier than in real life, towards having people mostly look shorter and rounder than in real life (blame moe for this, perhaps)? At any rate, older stuff like this show just looks weird to me. I'm going to stick with it at least through season 1, I've decided, just to see if the merits of the plot can hold it up - the show is legendary, and presumably for more than just pointy art, so I want to see why. I should probably at least switch to the sub, though...

While I agree with you that there's certainly no need to watch the anime before playing the VN, I completely disagree with the assessment of the anime as "average at best". It's a 10/10, for me, of which I really have very few compared to the number of anime I've watched. I haven't played the VN yet. Perhaps you played the VN first and watched the anime second? If so, it's almost certainly going to make the experience of the anime worse for you (similar to how I expect my enjoyment of the VN is going to be limited by having already seen the anime). Steins;Gate the anime is really slow for the first half, but once things start happening, it's easily one of the two most compelling shows I've ever watched (maybe edged out by Madoka; maybe). Vague effort at staying on topic: playing Hanako's route in Katawa Shoujo (the last one left). It's looking like it may become my new favorite Katawa Shoujo route, though I frankly am looking forward to being done with this VN at this point and moving onto something new...

True. Former jazz band bass player, current guitar owner (not player, though I muck around), keyboard owner (even less player... I really need to get around to scheduling lessons), and former expert singer in Rock Band. \m/ Next person would give up their left pinky finger to be awesome at drawing.

Angel Beats!: Bye.

Kimi ni Todoke definitely gets painful at times. I had to take a long break between seasons 1 and 2 because I got a bit fed up with how dense the main characters are. I found Wagnaria/Working!! to be the perfect comedic counter-balance to the Kimi ni Todoke blues.

Trigun is both entertaining and a classic. Haibane Renmei is a personal favorite, and at 13 years is probably old enough to be called a classic, but it might not be what you're looking for.

You, sir, have damn good taste. Welcome!

True, though it's rare; I usually sneeze in twos. I do, however, have an acquaintance who reliably sneezes in sevens. Next person sings along with Dango Daikazoku, every time.

Kimi ni Todoke: I like you, but I categorically refuse to say that out loud.

Your feelings about the game very closely match my own. To be honest, I still haven't finished all the routes (I have Yoru remaining), so I skipped over that section of your review. I'm debating abandoning the game with that undone, especially after how much I disliked Asa's route, but I'll probably give in and finish it (playing without the restore patch, though, so I expect Yoru's route to be a rather different experience...).

Funny, I was just talking about this yesterday. xD

True. I don't have a particularly good imagination False. I think I've had about 2 ounces of coffee in my life. So far, I've chosen not to acquire that particular taste, though I might be getting there since I'm starting to like stouts more and more. Next person hates their cell phone.

True. But I hire people to come clean my apartment regularly, so I don't have to clean much myself. Next person is anxiously awaiting spring break.

Just didn't give your liver enough training, I guess. No, I'm not being serious at all. Take care of yourself.

AnoHana: We'll kill Menma for good this time.

Yeah, I tried any number of other tools which did not work. Only Daemon Tools worked for mounting the image. I suspect someone used Daemon Tools to make the image in the first place, and it's a bad rip that only Daemon Tools is able to understand. You can certainly opt out of the adware, and from personal experience, even if you accidentally install the adware, you can find and uninstall it easily.

Bandai used to hold the licenses, but they went bankrupt, so it's hard to even get a copy of their release, and from what I understand about Bandai, they were presumably very high-priced to begin with. I didn't hear about this when it happened, but apparently Funimation acquried the rights to Lucky Star last summer: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-08-09/funimation-licenses-haruhi-suzumiya-lucky-star-anime-strike-witches-steins-gate-films/.77477. I doubt they are just going to sit on those rights - there'll almost certainly be a release at some point, and probably at a rather attractive price point given that Lucky Star never did all that well in the US. Hard to guess whether they'd do a DVD-only release, or whether there'll also be blu-ray, though, if that matters to you. Blu-ray discs are expensive to make, as I understand, so they may just go DVD-only. Either way, you can bet it'll be a hell of a lot more affordable than the Bandai releases, when it comes, but there's no telling when it'll arrive.

Kokoro Connect: I am you, I love you, but now you're a guy, wait, no, you're a girl again, and you love me, nevermind, we're not in love anymore.