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Five Things You May Not Know About Me!

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Hello all,

There was this thing going around on Twitter where people were sharing five things about themselves to their followers in honor of the new year beginning. Because I thought this kind of content might make the best “first” personal post (with much more spontaneity to come), I figured I’d share my answer here on the blog as well.

So, in case you didn’t know . . .

  1. I’ve always wanted to be famous, but only for creating something I love.
  2. I’ve recently gotten back into Kpop.
  3. I made an Insta (plz follow).
  4. I’m currently growing out my bangs.
  5. I’ve never been more serious about diet/exercise than I have now!

This tweet also made me realize that I’ve kinda neglected those who are new to my blog. To my latest followers, a warm welcome from me to you! I don’t know why you decided to follow my blog, but I hope you stick around for a long time to come. I’ve got lots of fun stuff coming in 2020, and it would mean the world to me if you were there by my side!

Now, I’ve shared something about myself. What’s something about you that I don’t know yet? Please, share something about yourself in the comments so we can get to know each other better! Thanks for stopping by~!

– Takuto, your host

Hooked on Light Novels: The Amazon USED Blind-Buy Game! | Cafe Talk

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Hey all,

I’m back with another “Cafe Talk” (woohoo it returns!), which is, for all my newcomers as of late, a free-flowing, comment-welcome segment that tends to lean towards anime “happenings,” or perhaps loose conversations related to my life and what’s new.

Today I wanted to discuss something that I’ve really been hammering down on in my updates (no, not my Danganronpa obsession). It’s reading, yup, I’ve gotten back into poppin’ open books and inhaling the words off of the pages. Specifically speaking, I’ve been getting into light novels more, partially to get to know them better (what they are, why they are so popular), but more so because I’ve been craving some light, short reads featuring our favorite anime characters. And what do you know? That’s exactly what a light novel is!

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I do not own this image.

Now, I have those couple series that I’ve been following on my own (Monogatari, Sword Art Online), but I was in search of something different at the time, a fresh tale featuring beautiful characters and all their cool adventures and mishaps. So I turned over to Twitter as a tool (and not just a place to retweet Yuri!!! On ICE artwork) to find out the kinds of light novels you guys are into right now. This way, I could also incorporate my Twitter with my blog more. Thank you to all who replied—it was very helpful, as I think I found some great contenders!

BEFORE I tell you the titles I plan to read, I want to let you know a bit about me: I’m a collector, a buyer of books, movies, and everything in between. This tends to put me at odds with libraries, as I find myself unable to simply rent/check out my entertainment—I NEED TO OWN IT, to hold it knowing that it’s MINE. Isn’t this terrible!? Gosh, I’m the worst, haha, but I might’ve found a remedy to my dilemma . . .

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Through Amazon’s USED books system (or eBay), if the volume I desire is available for, say, around $5 (shipping included), I’ll buy it, and hopefully review it, too! Doesn’t it kinda sound like fun? The idea just sorta came to me, and so long as I can get the books for cheap and have time to read them, well then, the more used literature, the better!

(I will ALSO be taking recommendations for single-volume/very short manga stories!)

AND SO, after weeding out the ones that didn’t intrigue me via synopsis, I present you with the following titles I picked up and the wonderful people who recommended them to me:

Mel—Seraph of the End—Guren Ichinose: Catastrophe at Sixteen

Simply Gee—Book Girl and the Suicidal Mime

Lethargic Ramblings—The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria

Moonlitasteria—Harmony

Myself—A Certain Magical Index

As of right this moment, November 16, I’ve yet to actually purchase Guren Ichinose or The Empty Box, but I WILL, I promise!!

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So what do you guys think? Is this a great way to interact with the community, read the works that excite some of you, and give used books a nice home, or is it a terrible waste of money and a poor way to pick up new novels? You ought to let me know! If you see any improvements to this “game” that I can make, let me know those, too. And lastly, if you have a little spare cash, I encourage you to join in on the madness!

Should all of this go smoothly, look out for another spontaneous Twitter call, as I could end up reading one of YOUR favorites so long as it is daring enough to meet the requirements of the game! ‘Till next time, everyone!

– Takuto, your host

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Dying Tech, Fading Tans, Bargain Hunting, and Homecoming King!? | Where I’ve Been Since Mid-July

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How truly nice it feels to once again be in this place, chatting about the one thing we all especially cherish: anime.

Hello all from around the globe, ‘tis I, Takuto, back with an update so large you’ll to download iOS 10 five times over just to comprehend my absence. It’s been a while . . . three months, in fact . . . so thanks for keeping the place all tidy. Speaking of, we have several thousand housekeeping items to go over concerning my return to the blogosphere and what that actually entails. Let’s get to it!

Overcoming the Computer Conundrum

I mentioned this in the July update, but if you couldn’t recall, I do not blog on my own computer. I used to have a personal laptop, but it went kaput years ago. Since then, I had just been using the laptops we loan during the school year to enter my virtual café. Naturally, when school ends in May and summer kicks in, I am without a key to here for three months until it starts back up again in August. I’ve only experienced two summers during my blogging session. The first, I borrowed the family silver laptop, which was fairly new and had sufficed at the time. This past summer I tried my luck in using the silver again, but to no avail. That one, as I said in July, and I quote:

Cannot be unplugged without it shutting off, frequently overheats itself, has lost Google and instead uses some sketchy browser (we got Chrome tho), and finally, that half of us need to use all the darn time.

Yup, and it became so bad that I just couldn’t take it anymore.

I used music camp (which was surprisingly quite pleasant, actually) in mid-July as a week-long vacation to just get away from the darn thing and ‘relax’ (cause 5-hour nights are totally soothing). The honor’s recital [that paid my entry] went by swimmingly and before I knew it, camp was over. I was planning to blog when I got back, but the computer wouldn’t let me. At that point, I just decided to take two weeks off until August when my dad would hand his mini laptop off to me.

Summer’s End, School Life is Back to Haunt Me

August came around and about a week or two in he upgraded and I inherited his gadget. At the time, I was too busy marathoning all of Fullmetal Alchemist and Brotherhood, and with the intent to finish that before school began again, blogging was out of the question.

The finale came and school resumed. I’ve never been more involved with school and community activities more than I have this year. IT’S INSANE. Not only has heavy course work kicked me in the rear (not surprised), but extracurricular activities execute projects of incomprehensible size, resulting in one tired Takuto.

Lifeguarding season has also come to a close, which means that my tan is sayin’ “PEACE OUT” and fleeing my skin at an incredible pace. That especially sucks since I spent three months cultivating that damn beauty. *dies*

Obliterating the Café Funds

Haha, no I don’t get paid to blog. But I’m sure many of us living in the South and Midwest have caught wind of the chain book/movie/music/game store Hastings announcing its bankruptcy. In preparation for that, I had probably spent well over $200 on myself, and have received over $200 worth of manga and blu-rays in the form of birthday gifts (thanks fam!). I am both mentally and physically drained from casual over-spending and dozens of spontaneous trips when the original plan was to blow it all on FUNimation’s recent collector’s edition releases. I suppose you could say it’s money well-spent, because now instead of getting Haruhi or Code Geass, I have obtained over 10 titles for the same price. It was a lot up front, but I’m sure the experiences I will have shall eventually pay it all forward.

King Takuto

Ohhh, where to start on this one . . .! So, sometime a couple weeks back I got the announcement that I, among 14 fellow classmates, were chosen to be 2016 Homecoming Candidates. For those who didn’t notice (because I try to keep it discreet), I am a high-school senior. Yup. Hope that doesn’t startle anyone too much. Anyway, the candidates are chosen by the senior class, and then the entire student body votes on one boy and one girl to be crowned King and Queen . . . Hehe, I’m that boy. When they gave the candidate announcement that morning, I immediately knew that, deep down, 14 of us had won—Two of us just happened to win again during the night of the crowning.

I felt so very humbled by all of my peers. There’s no other word to describe it than that. Humbled. So very humbled. If you would have asked me about all this a day before the announcement, I would have laughed at you hard. Super hard. I mean, there was NO WAY that little ol’ me was to be a candidate, let alone the man of the hour. The idea of being accepted by the majority of those who had voted . . . no words could describe . . . I’m honestly still speechless about the whole thing, even though I know full well that, within a year, none of it would matter anymore.

You can go ahead and address me as “King Taku—-

Where do we go from here?

Hmm, good question. I don’t see much point in making up the past couple of monthly updates, because this is it—I’ve been occupied with things other than blogging. One thing has changed, however, that being my system of reviewing. Previously, I reviewed a title every single time I finished a show. That’s right, each and every show. I’ve come to realize that that is not the best idea, for now whenever I think “Ah, I have some downtime—let’s watch some anime,” that thought also comes hand in hand with “Welp, now I must force myself to write up a formal review.” That isn’t necessarily healthy, for it led me to a period where I neither wanted to blog nor watch anime, which totally defeats the purpose of having a blog in the first place! You may have seen my experimentation in fighting the strain of a formal review with my “5 Ballistic Reasons You Should Watch Girls und Panzer” post. Now that I’ll only be reviewing anime that I want to say something about, reviews, “café talks,” and other related content like simulcast thoughts shall gradually be returning to the menu.

Speaking of, here are all of the anime I completed between July and now:

Fullmetal Alchemist, Space Patrol Luluco, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Planetarian, Psycho-Pass 2, SCHOOL-LIVE!, Ranma 1/2 (Viz Set 2), Sailor Moon

Currently Watching:

The Ambition of Oda Nobuna, Sailor Moon R

You’re pretty cool . . . How can we keep in touch?

For direct, unrelated-to-posts conversation and hilarity, seek out my Twitter @TakutoAnimeCafe. Want to know what I’m always watching? My MAL account under the name takuto27 is constantly being updated 24/7, so if you notice I’m watching a show you also enjoy, message me—let’s talk! And of course, there is also the option of leaving comments on my posts. (I’ll get on all those that I missed!) There is also a blog email now (hooray!), so if you want to talk privately, yet don’t have these forms of social media, check out takutoanimecafe@gmail.com for sure!

I miss you all—What have you been working on?

With the new schedule, I won’t be able to read every post that comes from everyone I follow like I usually do. Sorry, that’s the truth. But if you know me, I always (and will continue to do) my damnedest to keep up with y’all! Now. What do I want from you? PLEASE leave in the comments UP TO THREE posts you wrote [during my absence] that you feel confident in sharing with me. I WILL READ AND COMMENT ON THEM, ABSOLUTELY!! Sorry I have to cap it off at 3, but there will be time later down the line for me to scan through your guys’ blogs. If you don’t leave me your posts, I will not immediately catch up with you, which would be totally tragic!

2-year-anniversary

While we’re on tragic, I missed this by over a month!! Happy 2nd Birthday Takuto’s Anime Cafe! Here’s to many more to come~!

. . . So that’s about it. I’m back in my café with the customers who are like family to me. This time, I will try even harder to expand my reach to new folks, keep up with all of my current friends, and write better content that will make me proud. My break was crazy, but lots of fun and full of memories to treasure forever. Stay on the lookout for my first back-in-action post, for I have quite a few things in mind to discuss, and until next time, this has been

– Takuto, your host ~^.^~

~ It’s never too late to hit up the café—Follow Takuto the host today! ~

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Did I ever mention that over 10 people followed me while I wasn’t even here?? You guys are seriously awesome!

TAKING A WEEK OFF | End of June Update 7/5/16

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Helloooo cafegoers, ’tis I, Takuto, and it would appear yet another month has slipped between our fingers. Seriously, what’s up with that? Summer is going by way too fast! U-PUPUPUPUPU

Have you noticed my presence gradually increasing behind the scenes with this past week? Yup, it’s not just your imagination. Inspiration just kind of hit me smack dab in the face and, well, here I am! I think most of that natural high can be contributed to all of the Anime Expo announcements made, my favorites of which I’ll list later. However, it wouldn’t have been possible for me to keep tabs on AX if it weren’t for all of you pressing me to get a GODDAMN TWITTER. So I did, and it’s great! I already feel at home, though I’m not sure if I should drop the “Anime Cafe” part on Twitter and just leave my name. Let me know.

Being on Twitter, I noticed that if I had anything brief to say, I said it there rather than in a blog post. That’s a good and a bad thing. Good because hey, whatever stupid in-the-moment things I have to say usually don’t require a full-on post. I’d like to keep the blog a little more cleaned up, so having a Twitter for small talk and catching up with you people is great.

The bad is obvious — Everyone now knows that I’m alive and kickin’, so why leave comments? I’m sure you all noticed that waaay before I did, but now instead of discouraging me, it’s done quite the opposite. I feel like I’m a part of the community that’s on the edge of excitement and new things coming out, but I also feel like I’m pumping out my own material with a blog. In other words, I can be social on two planes now, one is just for ‘work.’

But you all wanted an update right? Sounds good, I can deliver!

Recently Finished:

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann – WHAT A SHOW! Watching this one was not only fun, but it felt educating in a way to see where KILL la KILL, a huge favorite of mine, sort of got its roots. It’s often wacky, and the battles are quite frequent, but that’s just shounen action anime, right? I could ramble on about its ups and downs, but why clutter the update when I did a whole review on the series RIGHT HERE!

The Lost Village – So I watched only 4 of the 2016 spring anime, and of those this was my  least favorite. Bad? Not necessarily . . . just a bit of an odd egg. It’s along the lines of “setting was awesome, concept was solid, but the execution of it was a bit rough.” There’s a good chance I’ll be writing a review on this one here soon, so stay tuned.

My Hero Academia – Last time I updated on this one I was about half way through. Having watched the last three episodes last night, I can confirm that this is indeed a fantastic show — And the prospect of a second season so soon makes me even happier, cause this first one just sort of ends. It’s a pleasant ending nevertheless, and it doesn’t fail to provide a solid story with quirky characters and exciting fights. Really happy with how this one turned out. Review on the way!

Absolute Duo – If you’re not familiar with FUNimation Entertainment’s YouTube account, then you might not know that they’ll frequently post episodes of shows that (I presume) didn’t do so hot in their airing phase, yet the plan to release anyway to make some greens. This was one of those shows and, oh my lands, was probably THE WORST anime I have ever seen!!! Loaded with tropes, bad animation, chicks that endlessly follow a shallow guy, and a story that is so unbelievable that it retracts the viewer from even calling it fiction, Absolute Duo is Absolute Shit. I’m not even going to dignify it with a review.

Seraph of the End: Battle in Nagoya – So I’m a huge Seraph fanboy. ‘Nuff said. I know this franchise is kind of stupid and that its first season in particular is pretty trashy, but after picking up on the manga series from the beginning, it has at least rocketed itself up into being one of the more entertaining franchises I have played with. Once I got my hands on the volumes that this sequel covers, I squealed like a girl when I also got to watch it play out in anime format, like pawns on a board, muahahaha! This second season was much more exciting than the first, having fixed many of the animation and soundtrack glitches that were omnipresent. It’s a series riddled with darkness at every turn, and that sometimes, we have to muddy our hands in that darkness to fight bigger nightmares. That ending though…It makes me so excited, yet so scared. Guess I just need to order volume 10 to find out if they did it right! Review might come your way, but don’t be surprised if it gets sidelined for a while.

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair (PS Vita game) – No, I didn’t play the game, nor do I even own a Vita. As several know, this summer season we’ll be getting TWO Danganronpas!!! One continues where the first series left off, the second being a prequel to the franchises second game, Goodbye Despair. So, in preparation of tangoing with despair once again (and having rewatched the first season with my siblings), I decided to flee to the YouTube game walkthroughs where 44 freakin’ hours of “NO, THAT’S NOT QUITE RIGHT!” stole my evenings. During this period, I decided to put the simulcasts I had been previously watching on hold, which is why I was missing for a while there. But it’s done now, and holy God is this the MOTHER OF ALL PLOT TWISTS. Seriously, the last three hours of gameplay are mindf*ck after mindf*ck until I couldn’t even see straight. Totally worth it though. I only wish they decided to adapt this instead of making a prequel. I mean, I’m not complaining — more Danganronpa is definitely a good thing. So hyped!!

Kizumonogatari (novel) – Having dabbed around in several different medias this past month, I can officially report that Kizumonogatari is my new favorite book!!!! Thanks to Seraph, my vampire phase couldn’t just end with manga, so it spread to light novel. And the Monogatari franchise of all things! This book is a thrill ride from beginning to end; a story of tragedy playing out on a school ground lit by the light of the moon; a tale of wounds inflicted, one onto her by him, the other done to him by her, both sharing this incredible burden and twisted fate. Brilliant tale, a masterpiece of supernatural-meets-school done right! Also, Vertical’s matte finish copy of it just feel so damn good in my hands, mhmm.

Currently Watching:

Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress – It’s interesting how sick people probably are about hearing the spring titles being mentioned, but hey, I still got three episodes to go! While I still think that episode 6 was the series’ highest point, the latter episodes were starting to pick up the pace a bit. Biba is simply an incredibly annoying character, manipulating Mumei like she’s some fodder of his. I already know that the series will end with a bang of beautiful animation thanks to ANN’s ‘reliable’ reports, but I want to explore that for myself. More exciting than the actual series though, did you all here that it’s getting released — and by Crunchyroll no less??!! I’m getting ahead of myself. Kabaneri still feels a bit lost, and I’m sure the end will not cover everything, but it’s been a hell of a ride — One clustered with glorious animation and music that’s hard to beat!

Kiznaiver – For me, nothing has changed much with this show. I still want to call it one of my “Top ten favorites,” even though I know it’s just a tad bit behind the others. With three episodes to go, it has reached lowest point so far, one where everyone has felt the pinnacle of their pain. Or at least it has me believe. I actually plan to rewatch this one from beginning to end BEFORE I give my final thoughts on it, for simulcasted isn’t the best way to watch Kiznaiver. The others just aren’t as sensitive as this one is. Loving everything that Trigger has done so far, and hoping that everyone pushes just a teensy-weensy bit more so that I can indeed let it go having watched a fantastic series.

2016 Summer Movie Theater Shows – We’ve gone through A Lull in the Sea, Girls und Panzer (recently wrote 5 reasons you should watch it here), Danganronpa, ef – a tale of memories and melodies, and Baccano! Currently about to start Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya. Being one lucky enough to show anime to his siblings, I am thankful that everything has gone fairly smoothly thus far. Everyone loved Nagi Asu, and Panzer seemed A-OK by the end. What really got the riled up was Danganronpa — Oh my, how they were thrilled by this one!! AGH, it makes me so happy! My sister even decided to, right after finishing, to recommend it to a friend and watch with them. It’s nice to know I’m doing my job, heh heh. While it was all well and good, they only thought ef – memories was fine, and they really didn’t care for melodies at all, which is sad, considering that they hold such a dear place in my heart. I guess not everyone will like everything you will *sighs*. Baccano! just sort of happened. They thought Isaac and Miria were the best part, haha, me too!

I’ll be starting up the summer anime soon after everything is finished and reviewed. There will be a separate post for that, so if you’re curious to see what I’ll be following, keep your eyes peeled. Same goes with my favorite announcements from AX 2016. I may not have gone, but everything was reported here on the home front, and boy, there are a lot of good things coming our way soon!!

Let’s see, what else . . . ah, home life. I’m not sure if many of you knew this, but I don’t blog on my own computer. During the school year, I get a rental one to do all of my posts, which is why you’ll actually see more of my reviews then. What am I typing on now then? Why, it’s our bomb-ass family laptop — The one that: can’t be unplugged without it shutting off, frequently overheats itself, has lost Google and instead uses some sketchy browser (we got Chrome tho), and finally, that half of us need to use all the darn time.

So life is stressful in that regard. If my dad decides to upgrade to an iPad soon (because he is starting to pick up on its convenience), I’ll graciously be inheriting his mini laptop, which is leaps and bounds ahead of what I currently use because it EHERM, ACTUALLY WORKS. Also, for WP’s privacy sake. Fingers crossed that this all goes down soon because, uff, I’m not sure how much more I can take.

I’ll be away from the 10th to the 16th of July

Lastly, I’ll be taking a week off due to a music camp that I really don’t want to go to, haha. You see, you can enter to win camp scholarships by recording a solo and the people picking yours. There’s only one rewarded to a camper who gets in for free, however . . . AND I’M THE FREAKING ONE WHO GOT IT. Damn my rotten luck! So now I’m out a week of pay from work AND a week of blogging, and instead I’ll be sitting in a stupid classroom like a domesticated animal being forced to re-audition to get a spot. Then, of course, there’s the whole week of activities that I didn’t want to do in the first place. Why, kami-sama, why?

That pretty much wraps up this lengthy update. I wasn’t expecting 2,000 words, hah! Sorry about that. I’m hoping that all of us Americans had a wonderful Independence day with lots of tasty food, good company, and explosions! Summer is hot as balls here, and being a lifeguard for 7-8 hours in a day doesn’t help that. I got a nice tan already though, so I guess entrance fee was paid for. Until my seasonal line up, favorite AX announcements, spring anime review, or whatever comes next, I hope you’re having a great day! See ya~!

– Takuto, your host