Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid Review

When Full Metal Panic! finished its run in 2002, it left several questions unanswered. Like, what happens to Chidori now? or what happens to Sousuke and Chidori afterwards? or why is Gau always laughing? It's sequel, Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu was really not that connected with the ending of FMP!. It was merely an inspired stab at comedy based around some unused chapters of the manga adaptation. So in the end, the main story did not progress as the viewers expected.

Enter Full Metal Panic: The Second Raid



Based on the manga Full Metal Panic Sigma (which in turn was based on the novel The End of Day by Day),The Second Raid, as the fans hoped for, is the direct sequel of the origininal series. A lot of improvements can be seen in this sequel. The series focuses more on Kaname Chidori's Love Life, Sagara Sousuke's "becoming a real man", and the real secret behind the "Whispered". The series also reveals more about Amalgam and introduces two new villans: the twin sisters (originally brothers in the novel) Xia Yu Fan and Xia Yu Lan, and a very intrguing character which I know that bish lovers will love; Tessa Testarossa's brother. The action sequences remain smart and strategic, even when Sousuke is just blowing up things in his Arbalest and being very paranoid about "Wraith" who is supposed to be a Mithril member assigned to watch over Kaname. Of course Chidori still whacks Sousuke with her paper fan, but now it's funnier because it isn't happening every minute.



The action sequences stand out as being done particularly well, but it is solid top to bottom. There's nothing groundbreaking, but it doesn't suffer from the inconsistent character designs and lazy CG animation that a lot of current anime do. Overall, there is little to fault in The Second Raid. The only complaint would be that Chidori fans will be disappointed in her role in the first few episodes of the show, though her importance to the story will certainly grow as more about "Whispered" is revealed. There are even a few surprises thrown into the mix, which keeps the story fresh as it progresses. Fans of the original Full Metal Panic! have no excuse to not check this series out, as it promises to be a worthy successor.



All in all, I give it a very deserving score of 10/10

We are rarely proud when we are alone

a beautiful quote by Mr. Voltaire in his book entitled Philosophical Dictionary...

I am all alone in this four cornered room with no one to talk to but the silent monitor.. the rainy weather outside just adds to the loneliness.. you can hear the voices of people outside, chatting, having fun, enjoying.. while I am all alone, brooding inside this loneliness festered room.. I wouldn't mind if someone would suddenly warp here.. I wouldn't mind at all..


The earth is a beehive, we all enter by the same door but live in different cells


I wouldn't mind at all...

Boredom 101

argh!! I'm so bored.. well not that this would do any good to my boredom.. i just wanna tell everyone that I am bored.. hehe magulo.. bored, bothered, happy, depressed, worried, impressed.. ano pa..basta lahat nagsamasama... hay ... hehehe oh well tingin ko walang mangyayari kung mananatili lang akong bored.. hehehe have to do something... aha! :D see you in 2 weeks!

Thus Signals the end of the Sem

YEH! it really was the best semender ever!, and like our sexy leader Andrew, I dont know where to start..

let us begin at around 5AM in the morning... most of us are still asleep at that time so let us skip

at around 10AM I arrived at Whitehouse apartments where we are supposed to cook and prepare for the semender. when i entered i saw celsus topcoding and angel along with cherrie sleeping on the couch... we are supposed to start working at 8AM. it was already 10AM and Andrew is still sleeping.. lolz! anyway, when he arrived we cooked rice and waited for the others to come and join us. we hired a jeepney, and went to the resort at around 1PM. :D this is what the resort looked like

Teh Semender Pics

When we entered the resort we were like "Oh my God! It's so cool!" the place is nothing compared to our previous semenders.

Sobrang masaya lahat ng tao except maybe dun sa mga tao na nagdecide na ipagpalit kami dun sa Komikon which i heard was sooo boring. buti nga sa inyo! :P sobrang nageenjoy lahat! ang gulo! ang saya! syempre di mawawala yung mga hirit at mga pangaasar. hehehe... wala ako masabi. :D nakangiti ako habang sinusulat ko ito. naaalala ko yung semender. sana maulit to. basta! words can describe the happiness and enjoyment that we felt.. it may be because the resort is spacious, or the ambiance is great, or the cool rooms, or the nice pool.. but i think above all that we are happy because we are spending this one special day with the people we love, with the group that everyone treasured and the thought that whatever happens, Skewed Studios will always be the Best Group Ever! I love you Guys!

and as quoted in Andrew's Blog, here are some of the most memorable semender quotes

"..hangover... gulo gulo upuan... walang tao .... banas ....walang tao... gulo gulo upuan... hangover... lang tao... banas.. hangover .... banas ...gulo gulo upuan ...lang tao..."
- Me, Gelo, Celsus, Brian, Louis ala Strangebrew

"Ang masasabi ko lang talaga.. SO MUCHED HAS CHANGED IN 3 YEARS!!! Kung dati puro anime anime lang pinaguusapan natin, ngayon... an-lalakas na ng mga hirit!!"
- Ken

"Dildo Baggins and the One cock-Ring of POWER!!!"
- err... sino nga ba?

"Ano? Ayos ba? AYOS BA!? AYOS!!!!" *high five*
- ako, tinatanong lahat ng tao at nagsusurvey

"'di pa ko laseng.."
- lasing na lasing at namumulang Butch.

"..wag kasing manliligaw gamit ang anime!! Tangina, ano yan!? I wanna be you kenshin!?"
- lasing na Ken

"I'm like a shooting star, I've come so far! ...Snipershot!!!"
- me, snipe-squirting with the Pepsi 1.5 easy grip bottle

"...Drew, penge naman ng juice" *gives me upside-down plastic cup*
- lasing at namumulang Butch

"..akala niyo kayo lang (@Kyan and Karina)!!? ..Oh! kami na ni Mara!! Wala nang papatos dito!!" - Ken, nagpapa-cradle kay Mara

"Si Fernan ooo... Nilalasing si Mara, LUMANG STYLE NA YAN!!"
- Ken

"Kaya ko paaa.. Kaya ko paa..."
- Butch

"AYAN NA SI LOUIS AYAN NA SI LOUIS!!!! Andyan na yung CLOWN!!!"
*everyone splashes Louis*

"Tahan na, tahan na, anjan na yung clown~~!!"
- Gelo, at Neil

"LOUIS!!! TRIIICKS! TRIIICKS!!!"
- at Louis, official party clown

"WTF anu yung spooning?!" - Gelo (lol, hindi talaga alam)
"Wag ka na! Bata ka pa!" - Ken
*Gelo squirts sprite bottle at Ken*

"Di ko kasalanan kung may mabubuo dito ah!"
- Ken

"LETS FEET TOGETHEEERR!!!"
- mga taong jacuzzi na walang magawa

"Si Fernan nanglalasing ng babae, pero mauuna pa sya malasing kesa sa babae."
- Ken

"MANG HOSEEE!! MANG HOOOSEEEEEE!!!"
- Gelo, wasted.

"Look at those ABS!!"
- Brian, @Therese

"Best semendah evah!!!"
- Therese, with the accent

"MANG TEBAN!!!! MANG TEBAAANN!!!! ang superhero na ....marunong .... mag-PHOTOSHOP!!!!!"
- (@Neil Amiel Cervantes; Photoshop god sung in the tune of "Mang Jose")

"Kung alam ko lang na ganyan ang hatak sa chics ng ORIGAMI!!... gusto ko ng ART PAPER!!"
- Ken, @Clemen

"ART PAPER!!! ART PAPER!!!!! ART PAAAAPEEER!!!!"
- (@Clemen's origami tutorials, sung in the tune of "Ordertaker")

"Uy biro lang ah, Clemen. Ikaw pa rin ang Necrolyte ng buhay ko."
- Gelo, @Clemen

"Walang nangyari! Bokalist ng Rivermaya! Rico Blanco BADING!!!"
- Drew, Ken, Gelo, Therese - sooo wasted, with Halina sa Parokya in the background.

".................... *ngiti*"
- Dianne (grabe, kahit lasing tahimik pa rin!)




Teh Terrorista Is Back

Topcoding from the Top

Our good friend Celsu Kintanar is solving a component design problem as of this moment. the competition started yesterday 9am US time and the competitors are expected to be done by Friday noon. Let us hope Celsus can outsmart the 7 other competitors from all around the globe. but we know Celsus can do it? right? right! go celsus! topcode from the top and stay there! :D

Days

My day started early. I woke up at 7 in the morning too lazy to wake up, too lazy to start the things i should be doing like studying for an exam at 10am. Lazily I got up and ate my breakfast which tasted like sand (maybe my tongue is still asleep). woke my brains with a teaspoon of coffee, a pinch of sugar, some hot water, and a bit of news. after having my daily dose of caffeine i started to pick my notes and try to sort out the topic that i have to focus cause i havent got enough time to study them all. undecided on what to pick i threw my notes in my bed and randomly picked a handout. feeling so stupid and irresponsible while reading that damn handout i stared to think back on the days when i was very very enthusiatic to study. i was the most diligent in our class when i was in elementary. i would even skip class on a holiday! but now I'm making my own holiday. after some time i snapped out of my daydreaming and continued to study. i realized that the handout that i picked was quite long and knowing my instructor (which happens to be my batchmate) she would only pick one topic which is quite long and have lots of questions in it and give it as the final exam.. i tried to absorb every little detail of that topic while half praying to The Dude up there that my instructor will give this topic as our exam otherwise I will sure to fail and be depressed for the rest of the sembreak. after like 2 and a half hours of studying i checked the time... 8:30 am... i have studied every little detail of that topic in just 30 minutes! not knowing what to do next, i tried to review it and re-review it hoping it would waste the time until 9:15 which is my proposed time to start fixing my self. after rereviewing i check the time again and i was amazed when i saw the time.. 8:40 am.. not knowing what to do next (again!) i turned on the television and watched an early morning cartoon ( i think it's Hamtaro) the story was quite interesting because the main character was ranting about him always doing the thinking while his companions just stand and wait for him to come up with a great idea. while he was ranting about that he came up with an idea on how they would cross the creek. anyway, that cartoon took up most of my time. after watching i started fixing my self. while i was taking a bath, i realized that i havent bought a graphing paper which we might be needing in our final exam... i hurriedly finished taking a bath and stuff because it was already 9:55 am.. 5 minutes to buy graphing paper, review and go there. as if i would do it in 5 mins! of course I came in 15 minutes late because of the damn graphing paper only to find out that we wont be needing any paper... just our pen, calculator, and ruler. gardemmet!! anyway, my frustration quickly faded when i saw the Final Exam.. I smiled and started to finish it. After 2 hours we exchanged test papers and checked it. after checking our instructor told us not to tell anyone their grade and wait patiently for 15 mins. that was my longest 15 minutes this semester. after 15 mins we got our paper and frowned when i got my paper.. i got 001.. i started walking out of the room feeling so numb and stupid. i smiled the whole examination only to get a score of 001... i took a jeepney ride towards whitehouse and checked my exam again to find where i made a mistake... and for the second time today i smiled. i didnt get a 001, it was a flat 1.00 all this time :D

Teh Quiz

Your Blog Should Be Blue

Your blog is a peaceful, calming force in the blogosphere. You tend to avoid conflict - you're more likely to share than rant. From your social causes to cute pet photos, your life is a (mostly) open book.

What Color Should Your Blog or Journal Be?

Cool!!! I like blue! :D

Topcoder Open 2005 Finals

wehehe our good friend Celsus Kintanar will once again compete in the 2005 Topcoder Open Competition hosted by SUN Microsystems :D he's one of the 8 chosen topcoders from around the world to code and compete. Good Luck Celsus! You can do it! make Philippines proud!

New Layout

I got this new layout from blogskins.com, looks more peaceful and organized. :D

How to make a Louis

How to make a Louis

Ingredients: 3 parts intelligence 3 parts arrogance 5 parts instinct

Method: Stir together in a glass tumbler with a salted rim. Add a little cocktail umbrella and a dash of curiosity

Username:

Personality cocktail
From Go-Quiz.com