osu! is a free rhythm game for the PC that is somewhat in the style of DDR except with clicking.

I discovered this game after watching a Starcraft II stream where the player was warming up with osu! before playing his matches.

There is a built-in editor that allows you to create your own beatmaps, which has resulted in a large selection of user-generated content. Plus, there are online rankings and even multiplayer mode!

I’m pretty impressed so far with what I’ve seen, and it looks like this game will last me quite a while considering that normal difficulty is challenging enough already.

I attended both nights of the Distant Worlds Concert. The first night I was sitting in the First Tier, and the second night I was in the front row Orchestra Level.

We arrived an hour early and sat there waiting for the concert to start.

This was the first concert I have attended that was actually held in a real concert hall. I noticed many of the seats were empty when the concert started, but I recall those seats being sold out online. Are people normally late or don’t show up at all?

Nobuo Uematsu made his entrance with a spotlight on him and sat with the audience in the center area of the Orchestra Level.

The starting piece for both nights was “Opening – Bombing Mission” (FINAL FANTASY VII). Between both nights, the orchestra played the entire Distant Worlds II album along with other well-known pieces from the Final Fantasy games. They ended with “One Winged Angel” (FINAL FANTASY VII) and asked the audience to sing the lyrics – with mixed results. There was a lot of laughter and the singing wasn’t that loud, but it was a good attempt.

Afterward, I went to the Meet and Greet with Arnie Roth, Nobuo Uematsu, and Susan Calloway.

There was a girl in front of me that brought a FFXIII Collector’s Edition Strategy Guide for Nobuo to autograph. He stared at it for a few seconds and signed it anyways (Masashi Hamauzu composed FFXIII’s soundtrack, not Nobuo Uematsu).

This concert was simply amazing. Arnie Roth and the San Francisco Symphony put on a great performance. Susan Calloway also did a good job singing a few of the pieces.

The Distant Worlds concert is still on their worldwide tour, so be sure to attend if they’re in your area. I highly recommend it.

All my loot from Anime Expo this year was purchased from the MangaGamer booths.

The AX convention bag came with the program guide, a starter deck for Magic: the Gathering, and various advertisement cards.

Random Goodies

A purchase of $10 or more at MangaGamer netted you a free bag, $30 or more got you a t-shirt, and $50 or more got you a mousepad.

Wall Scrolls

I couldn’t resist the high quality wall scrolls that were made in Japan and then priced very reasonably for the convention.

Sketches

The bulk of my spending money went towards getting sketches. Many well-known artists were there such as Kayura Yuka (Da Capo II), Fumio (Tomoyo After ~It’s a Wonderful Life~), and Watanabe Akio (Bakemonogatari).

I’m still bummed out that I wasn’t able to get sketches from Fumio and Watanabe Akio since their orders filled up almost instantly. It seems like other exhibitors commissioned sketches before the hall was even open to the public.

At least I’ll be joining the ranks of the exhibitors next year. *shrug*

Autographs

By Day 3, I was tired of getting autographs and skipped out on Yui Horie/Eri Kitamura and May’n/Megumi Nakajima when I saw the lines. Oh well.

Music CDs

It was awesome that MangaGamer brought Minami Kuribayashi to perform at their booth. She was Haruka Suzumiya in Kimi ga Nozomu Eien and also sang the openings for anime such as Chrono Crusade and Katanagatari. Hearing “Tsubasa wa Pleasure Line” live was a real treat.

I purchased their CDs and got them autographed afterward. ^^

It was an amazing AX this year, let’s hope next year is even better!

I was introduced to a music group called Headphone-Tokyo through a friend linking me to one of their PVs.

Good music and neat animations, what more could I ask for?

Most of their music uses Hatsune Miku as their vocalist, but they recently released another version of ARiA with lino doing the vocals.

ARiA

ARiA [lino]

SPiCa

My favorite so far would have to be ARiA with lino as their vocalist, plus the 3D and animation were very impressive. The PV gave me an Ar Tonelico feeling with the image of the tower extending into the heavens.

I’m looking forward to more of their work since they seem to have a team of very talented individuals.

I remember telling my friends that if any anime or video game related concert came to San Francisco again, I was definitely going to go.

Well, my wishes have been granted with the Distant Worlds concert being held July 15th and 16th at the Davies Concert Hall with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. The concert will also be held in some other cities; check their website for more details.

Attendees wishing to actually meet Nobuo Uematsu along with taking a photo with him and receiving an autographed copy of the “Distant Worlds II: more music from FINAL FANTASY” CD can do so by purchasing a separate ticket for that event taking place after the concert. A bit costly, but I just couldn’t resist.

The 2-hour program consists of music from Final Fantasy I to Final Fantasy XI. They also put up a couple tracks for us to preview, which you can listen to via the above widget.

I believe this concert is well worth the ticket price, especially if you’re a fan of the Final Fantasy series. Personally, I can’t wait!

The OP single for the Fate/stay night TV reproduction has been released as well!

Title: Fate-stay Night reproduction OP Single – disillusion -2010-
Artist: Tainaka Sachi
Street Release Date: January 22, 2010

Tracklist:

1. disillusion -2010-

2. Kumo no Kakera

3. disillusion -2010- (instrumental)
4. Kumo no Kakera (instrumental)

It’s now available for download over at Nipponsei, but you know that you have to buy the CD. Especially since it’s Fate/stay night.

Kumo no Kakera is the 2nd ED for the TV reproduction, while With… is the 1st ED.

With… by Jyukai feat

Considering that the original disillusion was Tainaka Sachi’s debut album, it’s interesting to listen to both to compare and contrast. I prefer this new version, but that’s just me.

Now waiting on subs for the Fate/stay night TV reproduction…

The main theme for the Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works movie is out!

Title: Fate-stay Night Unlimited Blade Works Main Theme Single – Voice ~Tadori Tsuku Basho~
Artist: Tainaka Sachi
Street Release Date: January 20, 2010

Tracklist:

1. Voice ~Tadori Tsuku Basho~

2. Sunao ni Natte

3. Voice ~Tadori Tsuku Basho~ (instrumental)
4. Sunao ni Natte (instrumental)

You can download the single over at Nipponsei, but I strongly urge you to purchase it as well. It’s well worth it!

Now we just have to wait for the movie to be released on DVD or Blu-ray.

I recently marathoned Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood to catch up, and it was epic. I like it more than the first series so far.

The image above shows two of the new characters that are from the country of Xing, aka China.

So to go along with this I have been listening to the 3 OP and 3 ED songs from this series the entire week while I have been coding my final CS projects.

I like the first OP the most, but they’re all good.

OP1: “Again” by Yui

OP2: “Hologram” by Nico Touches the Walls

OP3: “Golden Time Lover” by Sukima Switch

ED1: “Uso” by SID

ED2: “Let It Out” by Miho Fukuhara

ED3: “Tsunaida Te” by Lil’B

Image Source: pixiv