THAT Animeblog | THAT blog of various wonders!

THAT’s New Address – We’ve Moved!

By ExecutiveOtaku | Published: January 25, 2010

Engines, weapons, navigation, communications: check. Systems all green. THAT is cleared for takeoff!

After much deliberation and hard work, THAT has now moved to our own domain! From now on, join us at www.THATanimeblog.com

We’re all looking forward to having our new site operational and having you join us there. Our own domain will allow us to have more control over the technical details of our site and better serve our readers. Please update any feeds or bookmarks you may have. This AB.net site will be staying up to redirect our readers to the new one, but all new content will be on the new site. We would like to thank the AB.net crew for the home they’ve given us since we started out and we wish them and the AB.net community the best.

Additionally, the excellent and difficult work done by those who helped set up our new site must be acknowledged. Many thanks to Crusader for securing the new address, to Kabitzin from Sea Slugs Team and our own Mabdese for their work in setting up the layout and importing files, and to mercenary computer security engineer extraordinaire Agruktos for getting down into the messy, buggy depths of such a complicated undertaking and managing to resolve our most persistent issues. The journey was long and arduous, and much more technically infuriating complicated than we first suspected, but now finally it is done. In the next few days some minor tweaks will be done to the new site, but these do not relate to the main functioning or appearance of the site. Starting tomorrow I (EO) will be remaking all the ‘premium subscriber’ logins for our friends who use them, so please be patient if you regularly use one. And please let us know if you encounter any technical problems, we’ve had so many it’s hard to believe that there isn’t one last gremlin lurking somewhere. Thank you for reading THAT, and we look forward to seeing you at our new home.

The THAT team moves our precious squid plushy and other materials over to the new site.

We are Oscar Mike! Stay frosty.

Posted in Site News, THAT Stuff | 8 Comments

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun 12-16: Of Big Fights and Beaches

By Crusader | Published: January 24, 2010

Bring it down Biribiri.

It’s been a while since my last Railgun post, most of it was because I was trying to over come my disappointment with Kuroko over her un-lady like behavior in 13 and dismay that Mii was in love with a dude… The BIG FIGHT with the hyper ugly baby thing was satisfying enough though through the course of these episodes Biribiri’s limited understanding of others and her unwavering sense of justice has come out in full force. The fight it self was pretty good with Biribiri’s close combat skills shining through, heavily reliant on her powers though it may be. With the arrival of the candy lady I guess we are getting hints of something bigger at work once again. I am more sympathetic to Biribiri’s never give up attitude, but having been enlisted for over five years now I don’t think kicking quitters to the curb is the proper solution. For every broken person there is always a way to rebuild them though scrapping them for spares is not yet ethical…

Posted in To Aru Kagaku no Railgun | 12 Comments

Durarara!! Episode 3 – Showdown in Ikebukuro

By Shokkeru | Published: January 23, 2010

durarara03_01

An episode where a lot of things happen but nothing really happens at all.

I’m feeling quite torn with my impressions of this episode. I was bored with the first half of it with all the minor things that happen that do not seem to have much relevance to anything. But, the second half was a thrill ride all the way through. But despite all of that, we just keep getting more questions and no answers. Well, I guess it IS only episode 3.

Izaya and Shizuo really do seem to steal the show whenever they appear. If it wasn’t for characters like them, I wouldn’t know what the fate of this show would be in the hands of the weak Mikado. Masaomi is great, but him alone just isn’t enough.
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Posted in Durarara!! | 14 Comments

Kimi ni Todoke episode 15 – Victory!

By ExecutiveOtaku | Published: January 23, 2010

SENSITIVE INTELLIGENCE REPORT – RESTRICTED DISSEMINATION

SUBJECT: 1. COMPLETE REJECTION OF FINAL KURUMI ATTEMPT ON KAZEHAYA.

……………2. TOTAL COLLAPSE OF ORGANIZED KURUMI RESISTANCE, FORMAL END TO CONFLICT DESPITE POSTURING.

DATE: LATE JANUARY 2010

1. CEASEFIRE WAS FOLLOWED BY CONTINUED NEGOTIATIONS WHERE KURUMI ADMITTED DEFEAT TO SAWAKO AND ALLIED FORCES. OUTSIDE OF FORMAL PEACE TREATY RATIFICATION, KURUMI APPROACHED KAZEHAYA, WHO FIRMLY REJECTED HER LAST DITCH ATTEMPT ON HIM. AS A CONCESSION, HE DID AGREE TO HER DEMAND TO CALL HER UME ONCE.

2. INTELLIGENCE HAS INTERCEPTED SEVERAL MIXED SIGNALS FROM KURUMI HIGH COMMAND, ON ONE HAND ADHERING TO THE TERMS OF THE PEACE TREATY, ON THE OTHER POSTURING AS IF SHE HAS NOT BEEN DEFEATED. THIS COULD INDICATE AN INTERNAL (TO THE BRAIN) POWER STRUGGLE, OR PERHAPS SIMPLY POSTURING FOR THE SAKE OF PRIDE WHILE THE WOUNDS OF HER RECENT DEFEAT ARE HEALING. THE WAR MAY BE OVER, BUT WE MUST REMAIN VIGILANTE UNTIL THE SITUATION STABILIZES. THE PROSPECT OF A FANATICAL ELEMENT SEIZING CONTROL AND RENEWING AGGRESSION CAN NOT YET BE RULED OUT.

Posted in Kimi ni Todoke | 9 Comments

Macross Zero episode 03 – Clash of Civilizations

By ExecutiveOtaku | Published: January 21, 2010

As the UN personnel begin to learn more about the alien artifact found near the island, the anti-UN forces plan to take it for themselves while increasingly strange things begin happening as the fighting comes to the island in earnest. Sara tells Shin that it’s his fault that this is happening, that the UN forces are ‘weakening the bond’ between nature and the island, and somehow this relates to the Protoculture artifacts but no one is quite sure how. Now that the generator is fixed, the islanders are becoming ever more entranced by the offerings of modernity, much to Sara’s dismay. And Mao suddenly makes her move on Shin, while his reactions indicate that he might have some sort of thing for her older sister. Ah yes, it wouldn’t be Macross without a love triangle now would it?

Posted in Macross Zero, Retroblogging | 23 Comments

2009 Honor Roll Part I: The Strategists, The Ruthless, and The Heroes

By Crusader | Published: January 19, 2010

Unlike that honor these do not require a beheading…

With the passing of 2009 we thought that it was time to recognize those who showed individual competence during the course of the year. While it is the habit of many to judge series here we prefer to recognize the characters that made their shows a little bit better even as their series was weighted down by anchors that exceed the weight of Big Zam. While there are many who are worthy we decided to only bestow honors to those who gallantry we have borne witness to so while air dates may vary, they are just as deserving if not more so than some of the scum that crept forth from the dirt this year. After much deliberation and table pounding we have finalized the list for those exceptional few who made 2009 so much more bearable and outright enjoyable. These are but the first in a long list of names that have scrawled their names upon the pages of history with the blood of their enemies.

Posted in Kampfgruppen of Shame, Miscellaneous, THAT Stuff | 17 Comments

Sora no Woto 03: Quinine is a Helluva Drug

By Crusader | Published: January 18, 2010

Seems Noel took one valuable lesson from Gulf War I, don’t sleep in your tank.

I am pleasantly surprised that three episodes in I have yet to find reason to shout WRONNNNNNGNGGGGG! at the screen for something woefully inconsistent with military life as I know it. So far it is is in line with instances of garrison life in an all volunteer force though things are different for the poor dumb bastards who get conscripted. Morning ceremonies seem consistent enough with a reveille and morning colors, cleaning is common enough though the practice has largely died out where bases contract out for civilian janitors who get pretty good pay state side though I hear that in the field the TCNs taking out the trash aren’t making bank despite their salaries usually being better than most other jobs in the area. I like how Felicia listed ammo as the first thing on her list of needs since ammunition usually gets first priority. Being low on ammo means they are probably expending it and that means range time. Other things I did like were the rifle PQS though Kanata has poor muzzle discipline as she was flagging Kureha, but at least Kureha and Noel weren’t flagging anyone and it wasn’t at a range. I could understand if the room was crowded but I can forgive Kanata since she isn’t squared away yet. I like how they had Noel teaching rifle and Felicia teaching tanks since it usually goes that way. It is also good to see that Rio has some basic first aid training, though she is no medic.