Truly grateful to have met you guys. Thank you.

I have to say, it's quite rare for me to write entries like this. I am going to be quite emotional in this blog. It's a rare sight, kind of like seeing a shiny pokemon.

Music's a big part of my life, and recently I found the song 一個像夏天 一個像秋天 in my iTunes. An English translation would be One is like summer, one is like fall. The title of the song is about how two really different things can actually suit each other quite well. Because they are so different, they cover each other's weakness. This song is quite old, and I never really paid a lot of attention to this song, but now I have. Like I've said, I dug out this song again after a few years, and looked at its lyrics; it really made me appreciate my friends even more than I already do.

This song is about how friends are so important. Sure, some will say family is more important, but I think you need both to be complete. There are some things where you can only tell your family, but there are other things where it's the other way around -- we really need friends to survive in this world. I know I wouldn't survive. I know I am pretty independent, but it's because I know if I ever need something, I can always count on my friends to break my fall.

The first verse goes like this 第一次看你不太順眼、誰知道後來關係那麼密切。我們一個像夏天、一個像秋天。卻總能把冬天變成春天. Translation would be I didn't like you very much when I first saw you, but who knew that we would become so close. We were like summer and fall, but we can always make Winter Spring again. This is very true for me; I have friends that didn't like me very much at first, but we still bonded in the end. I'm really happy.

There is one line that goes like this 如果不是你、我不會相信、朋友比情人還死心踏地. In English is If it's not you, I won't believe that friends are more loyal than lovers. There are countless cases where this had happened for me as I haven't dated in my life, but I can still feel the warmth from my friends overwhelming the sadness in my heart. Thank you.

Another beautiful line is 你了解我所有得意的東西、才常潑我冷水、怕我忘形. It's saying how you understand all the things I get overconfident about, and you put me down just to prevent me from embarrassing myself. It brings up a good point about relationship. Friendship is not friendship if all you're saying is the good part about your friend; that's really fake. Don't give me the bullshit "I like everything about her/him". That's not possible. If you're human, you're bound to find something you don't like about another human being, and it's fine to do that. That's all part of being human, BUT if you truly care about your friend, you would tell your friend the things you don't like about her/him, so the dislike wouldn't evolve into hatred or even further. A relationship built from compliments are fake, fake, fake. After that said, I am sorry if I ever hurt your feeling. I really do care about my friends, but sometimes my jokes are a bit too heavy to others.

One of my favourite line is from the song is 遇見一個人然後生命全改變. It means Life changes after meeting one person. People would think it's the other half, but this line can also work for a friend. In fact, I think it's better when it's describing a friend. How did you two get together? Because you two were friends. It's your other half when she/he was still a friend that changed your life. People think I'm very stubborn, but I always have my ears open for new ways of thinking. The thing is that I just didn't hear anything that would make me want to change my way of thinking, and therefore, it just seems like I am stubborn. What I didn't realise until I looked at this lyrics is that their words do change the way I think -- I may not change right away, but I do change the way I think. Big or Small. So everyone I met changes my life in one way or another, for better or worse. Even if someone makes me go downhill, I wouldn't blame them, it's just all part of life. Even if I sunk too low, I'm sure my friends would just pull me right back up.

Especially right now, I am like poor beyond imagine. Thanks to all my friends who are paying things for me when we hang out. Once I find a job, I will definitely repay this favour. And also, when I said I am moving, you have no idea how many people offered to help me move, or help me find a place. It really surprised me. I don't think I can ever repay this debt of friendship. Thank you for trusting me so much.

Since I'm being all emotional and all, I'd like to take this time to thank some certain individuals.

Cindy
You're like my closest friend, so I don't really need to worry about how heavy my jokes are because I know you'll know it's all okay. I can tell you anything, and you'll be there to listen. And you immediately offered me a place to stay when I said I need a place when I go back to Vancouver. Thanks.

Kathleen
I'm sorry that I scared you that one time, and the other few times that I got mad but wasn't directed to you. You probably think I am scary or something. Even though we have a term for you and all, but I think that's a good thing. Keep that innocence for as long as you can because once you lose it you can never go back. (If you don't know what I am talking about, don't think the wrong way. It is very legit)

Joseph
Though we haven't talked much after we graduated, but thank you for being there during my high school years. Giving me a good reason to skip PE and stuff. And thank you for putting up with my selfish demands sometimes.

Andy D.
I was never mad at you for that bag incidence; I just lost too much brain cells to think about anything that day... To be honest, I don't remember anything after being hit. Thanks for talking to me online when I'm procrastinating.

Nicole
I don't know if you still read my blog or not, but you're one of the most life inspiring person I've met in my whole life. You're probably the one who made me think that sometimes human do need to be emotional. Thank you for helping me with homework during grade 9.

Daniel H.
Don't be surprised that you're on this list. We always acted that we hated each other, but we get along pretty well. It's a relationship built on insults after all. I really enjoy the bizarre conversations we have as long as it doesn't involve certain people/things.

Kevin
Our hobbies matched really well -- sleeping and eating, so we bonded real quickly. Had lots of fun with you around, and I'm glad you're coming to UT this coming year.

Anne
You're another inspiring person I'm glad I met. Opened my eyes to new point of views. I also enjoy reading your blogs though I haven't been commenting very much. Hope you can come to UT though the final decision's still up to you.

Lisa
Really happy that you came to UT, even though it's Scarborough. You added many rays of sunshine to my dull Toronto life during the first month. I also won't forget about the many adventures we had during I block -- real fun.

Kristie
You made a lot of classes fun -- especially social classes. I'm also glad that you came to UT. Taiwan people need to stick together, you know. And it's because of you I met a lot of other people.

Crystal
You're one of the first people I met in Toronto, so if it weren't for you, I'd probably would have no friends or something. It's because of you that I met all your roommates, and thanks for cooking for me many times. Also thanks a lot for being in my video.

Atsushi
Thanks for being there many times for me, and staying up with me during all nighters. You're always okay with my outrageous demands. Had a lot of fun tickling you...

Mike
Tthanks for taking care of me when I sleepover at your place. I also enjoyed the talk we had the other night, opened my eyes to another point of view. I really appreciate for all the things you've done for me even though we just met this year. I would really like to repay you right now, but I just don't have the financial power to do so.

Vicki
You're really open and free towards Mike, unlike some other couples whom I wouldn't name. I really like that about a girl. I had fun talking with you, too. Really bonded for just met. Thanks.

Jinglin
You're the first friend I met from UTSC. You're the one who helped me rediscover my love for photography, so you're also the one who I named the term after. It's only reasonable to do so. It's also because of you I met lots of other people. It's because of you(and Lisa) I get to meet the Shutterbugs people.

Fiona
We didn't officially talk until recently, but the awkward stage didn't last very long at all. I mean just look at the facebook comments. I'm really looking forward to hanging out with you again.

Sunny
Thanks for remembering the name of a hobo like me. Though we haven't really talked until today, but I still had fun joking around with you. To tell you the truth, I enjoy those kind of conversation quite a bit -- as long as it doesn't go into too much details.

Andy K.
I'm thankful for telling me about the program, and offering so much help. Really, truly grateful. Thanks for treating me the other day; I'll return the favour when I can. You've been helping me endlessly ever since we met, but I haven't really done anything to repay you, yet. It's a fresh new start for me in Toronto, and it's quite hard on me.

Like I've mentioned in my earlier blogs, I believe that words can't truly express one's feeling, but that's all I can do at this point and time, so I'm sorry if this means nothing to you. My feelings towards all of you are all deeper than that, but it's all feeling of friendship. My friends are not like my second family because they ARE my second family. Thanks for helping me so much in Toronto. I've never felt so useless in my life right now more than ever. I don't have the power to help anyone as I am not really in the position to do anything like that. I don't have the power to do anything I feel like doing -- totally opposite from back in Burnaby. I believe I'll make it through though, and it's all thanks for all of you supporting me.

Things you see and feel in life will shape who you are in the future, and I find that friends are the most influential factor of all. It's not an exaggeration what so ever, so from the bottom of my heart, I thank all of you for being here for me. Far and near, high and low.

Thank you,
~Daniel Chou

五月天 MayDay!

It's not MayDay as in like plane crashing.

It's MayDay as in May, the month, and Day, you know... that bright sunny stuff...(though it's snowing here).

Anyways, MayDay is a Taiwanese Band, and they make good music. I downloaded their whole discography, so I thought I'd share it with you all =]

I uploaded to Megaupload and here's the link.

Enjoy =]~

~Daniel Chou

Quick Update - Random info

Just thought I'd share it with the world for no particular reasons

1. Gonna head to Eaton Centre soon... if I ever get out of bed. I need to go pick up the edgeworth game which was released today. I wonder if EB games got the games yet...

2. I've also given up waiting for McDonalds to call me, so I'm going to try applying at other places (like Starbucks) because I REALLY need the money. FAIL

3. It's reading week this week, so I have no school, but it seems like I'm busier than usual. Why does these things always happen to me!!!

4. I am just rambling. Really. There's not much point to this blog at all. 'Tis why it's called 'Quick Update'.

5. If you're still reading then wow, you have pretty good patient. I won't test your patient any longer though. Ending this now (unless I think of something more)

6. Yes, I just thought of something else. Anyone know where this song comes from? ため息(Tameiki) by 柴田淳(Jun Shibata). I found it in my iTunes recently; not a bad song... I just don't know where it came from. Is it the OP or ED of some movie/anime/game?? If you know, please tell me =]!!

~Daniel Chou

Quick Update - The Gummi Bears that you can't eat

Recently I found the Gummi Bear theme song. At first I didn't know what it's for until I showed it for Kristie. She said that it's the opening for the show Gummi Bear(really really oldschool)

So I'd just like to share the theme song with you all ---> Here

If you want the full good quality version of the song visit here

~Daniel Chou

Some quick things I forgot to blog about.

The Shiny-glittery cover

1. Pokemon: I asked Atsushi to buy me ten volumes of my favourite manga ポケットモンスター Special(the Japanese version) like... back in November, and I finally got it recently because I keep forgetting to get it when I go to his house, and he keeps forgetting to bring it when he comes to mine. I just like to point out that the Japanese and the Chinese version of the manga(Yes, I own both) has a really big difference. The cover of the Japanese version is a lot smoother and shinier than the Chinese version; it's like of like adding the 'glitter' feel when printing photos. The paper that the Japanese version used is a lot better, too. It's a lot softer, so it feels better when I turn the page. The Chinese version for the paper is not bad, too -- they just went for the 'sturdy' kind. You know... thick...

Since I'm talking about Manga qualities, I'm just gonna bash a little about the English manga, and when I said a little, I meant a lot. English version SUCKS. First of all, unlike the Japanese and the Chinese version, there is no protective covering for the manga. If you don't know what a protective covering is... (I really hope you do), look at the picture below. The paper the English manga uses, it's like recycled paper or something -- so ugly and rough. Don't even get me started on the translations, but good thing it's not dubbing...

The Legendary protective cover.

2. Birthday: Atsushi's birthday was last week, and I gave him a present just recently because stuff happened (blames on the birthday boy, or should I say man since he's legally an adult now). I bought him Katamari Forever on the PS3. If you don't know what Katamari is, you're missing out. It's a really popular series in Japan where the Prince of all cosmos rolls a tiny ball picking up everything it rolled through. From candy to pencils, from cats to humans, from schools to bridges, and even from stars to planets, our little prince rolls them all up! What's the objective you say? You have to roll your ball to a certain size within a time limit, and the King of all cosmos will grade you on your performance. The amount of things, the different kind of things, and such. The little ball that you rolled up will be then turned into 'something' that will let you advance into the story. Pretty addicting if you ask me. Hope you enjoy your present, Atsushi(I know you'll read this someday :P)

Katamari Forever on the PS3

3. Doctor Who: I watched Doctor Who, the animated series(two of the episodes) today, and it was quite interesting. I don't really know how to explain it, and I won't since none of my blog readers actually watch Doctor Who. Still, I want to just talk about it a little. By a little, I really mean a little, so I will end it now.

4. Youtube: I have an idea for my next youtube video, and I will start filming it soon once I finalize my plan. 'Course I'll blog about it when I upload it, so look forward to it!!

5. Music/Video of the day: Today's music of the day is the opening from Tales of Eternia the animation. It's called '空にかける端' (Sora ni kakeru hashi). It's really nothing special; it just brings back a lot of memories of when I watched the anime. The anime is not even that good, too. I still like the song and such though =]!

Video of day is by WongFuProductions, a channel on Youtube. Video's called 'Yellow Fever'. It's not really a video, but like a short film. I know it's pretty long, but it's pretty funny and has pretty good message behind it.

The corner of Treasure/Junk

By the way, this is what's happening to my bed. I am running out of room to sleep on. Haha

That's all I can think of for the moment, that's all. Bye!

~Daniel Chou

Music & Video of the day

This song called 葉子(Leaf) by 阿桑(Judy) has got to be one of the most emo songs I've ever heard. Its chorus is

我一個人吃飯　旅行　到處走走停停

也一個人看書　寫信　自己對話談心

The english Translation is...

I eat, travel and walk around all by myself

I also read books, write letters and talk to myself

Yea... that's kind of emo if you ask me. But it's still a pretty good song if you ask me.

Video of the day is Vlogcandy! It's a collaboration youtube channel, and that video explains it all. Click the link to go to the introduction video of their channel; the video will tell you what their whole channel is about. Great Stuff.

Enjoy the emo/happy stuff I recommended! :P

~Daniel Chou

Music & Video of the day

Music of the day is a song by Atsushi's favourite Chinese singer -- 孫燕姿(Stefanie Sun). The song is called 我不難過(I'm not sad). This song is about person A betraying person B to be with person C(sung in person B's point of view). On surface B is like "No, it's okay. I understand, so just don't say things like 'I'm sorry' or 'at least I loved you before' anymore.", but inside, B is really sad and blaming him/herself for not being with A when A needed the most. What I like about this song so much is that, the lyrics and the emotion put in this song doesn't only work for 'love', but also 'friendship'.

Video for today is a really famous Youtuber HappySlip. She made a video called 'Slip into Bubble Wrap!'. Her videos are so creative and funny, makes people happy. (And I really like bubble wrap). There's really nothing much I need to say about it -- if you just watch the video, you'll understand what I'm talking about =].

~Daniel Chou

Rant - The world?!?!

I spent the whole day reading Objective-C and worked on my assignment for my SLOG course(I hope you[you know who you are] are working on it, too and not just flirting :P)... That's really nothing interesting to talk about, so instead I'm gonna rant about something that happened to me when I went to the cafeteria to buy food. It happened today, by the way. (That's how the blog started, then I started ranting about everything else...)

Before I start talking about what happened to me in the cafeteria, I want to generalize and say how I really * 100 hate people with no manners. I'm not talking about farting in public or swearing. I'm not even talking about how 'guys' have to open the doors for 'the ladies' or how 'guys' are not suppose to hit 'girls' because it's not gentlemen like. Though I do have something to say about the expectations people have on how guys treat girls, which I will do after I rant about manners. Back on topic... What I am talking about is more like discipline.

You know how people don't say sorry when they bump into you, or don't say thank you when they're being helped? That's what I am talking about!! This is also why I despise all 'gangster' wannabes. They try to be 'cool' by 'throwing away' their manners, thinking that's the definition of 'cool'. Just wait like ten years, and they'll know what's 'cool' and what's not 'cool', when they're on the streets begging for money because they failed to get any jobs. I hope they all die. And no, I don't think that's mean. My policy is if you don't want me to be mean to you, then don't be mean to me -- I can also tell you that when I want to be mean and sneaky, I really CAN be mean and sneaky. I don't really mind friends doing that because I know they're just doing it as a joke. A lot of people mix up stupidity with lack of manners. Lack of manner is people who doesn't 'give a shit' about the world except themselves. Yes, that's like selfishness; they kind of tie together. Stupidity is more like being ignorant about the world. In a simpler term, it's just lack of common sense.

So I went to the cafeteria and bought today's special -- pasta & garlic bread. There are two kind of boxes when you want it to go. A small one(like the picture) or a big one. I asked for pasta(which by default, should fill up to 3cm below the line in the box), so using the small box will be correct. But that's if I ONLY asked for pasta. I clearly said 'Pasta and TWO garlic bread', but he still chose the small box. He fills the pasta & sauce to 3cm below the line, and then just ADDS THE GARLIC BREAD ON TOP. You know, there's a reason why people ask for TO GO; They want to take it TO GO. They still want to CLOSE THE BOX after the foods in it, so they can take it TO GO as in like OUTSIDE IN THE COLD. Apparently he doesn't think the same way. He just put my two garlic bread on top, overfilling my box. A little common sense here? That's not the only complaint I have about him. He's working there, and I'm a costumer, but I don't feel any costumer service at all. He face is all grumpy and squished together like a meat bun. It's their responsibility to smile to the costumer and be happy. They're the one choosing to work there. I don't care if broke up with your girlfriend or if your broke your leg or even that your mom just died. When you're working, you can't put any personal emotion in there -- even when you're sad, you still have to put up a fake smile. I don't care.

I had to do it when I worked in McDonald. There are times when I was the only one taking orders when there are like 50 costumers. I was swearing inside(what did I do to deserve this, etc), but I still kept my smile when talking to costumers because it's my job to smile, and the costumers didn't do anything wrong. There are many more incident when I had to fake my smile(feeling sick, etc etc), but you know, my point is that I SMILE AT COSTUMERS UNLIKE SOMEONE.

Yea, that guy is like lack of manners and full of stupidity combined. In other words, hopeless.

On to next little rant I want to do, which I mentioned above -- 'the expectations people have on how guys treat girls'. I believe in equality, which means that all the expectations DO NOT EXIST for me. I hit girls if I want to, at the same time, they can hit me back (They have to make me really mad to make me hit them though). I don't want to be 'expected' to hold doors open for girls or 'pull chairs' for girls. I can do it if I want to, but it's not an expectation. I am not REQUIRED to do anything for girls at all. I do it if I want to. There are so many things that guys are not allow to do to girls, but it's okay for girls to do to guys? What kind of fucking logic is that?

And if there are girls who are not happy about it, then let me ask you this. You girls say 'the man overpowers the females, it's not fair', but at the same time you expect the males to hold doors and pull up chairs for you? Are you so weak that you can't even do it yourself? Are you so stupid that you can't even open a door yourself? But at the same time you want more power? So let me get this straight -- you want power, but you're too weak to do anything. Kind of ironic don't you think? And don't give me any reason that has to do with equality. If you really support equality then you wouldn't be asking the guys to do all the bullshits for you.

The world is so messed up. There are connotated(is that a word?) images for everything; The men HAVE to be muscular and buff while the women HAVE to be pretty and white. It's because those images are imprinted into our heads that we can't get away from it. We can't break away from the curse of the society -- a never ending curse. Here's another ironic thing, how can anyone 'stand out' and be 'unique' when the images of the society is set in stone? Sure, you can THINK differently, but that's all in your head. How can you be unique and different physically? Look at all the celebrities. They're all the same physically -- all wearing make-up, flashy clothing, etc. And that's the 'images' of the society. If someone tries not break away from that -- people classify them as 'ugly'.

So is that how the society works now? If you're different, or doesn't fit into the society's image, then you're 'ugly', and get isolated? Some kind of equality this is.

(I just read my blog, and wow, this is so deep and dark. Not like me at all.

Umm.....

Yea..............

HAPPY MUSIC!!!!

Enjoy your day! :P)

~Daniel Chou

Best movie of 2009!!! Music & Video of the day

I suddenly thought of all the movies that I watched this summer(and I watched at least 5). Anyways, there's one movie that I thought is really good. From acting to plot, from costumes to settings, there is nothing wrong with the movie. That movie is 'Julie & Julia'. I usually don't like documentaries, but this one is so different. As the title suggested, it's the lives of Julie and Julia. The movie is about how Julia Child discovers the art of French Cooking, and Julie's attempt in French Cooking.

In more details about the movie, Julia wrote a cookbook called 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking', and Julie is going to attempt to cook everything in that book in a 365 days, while blogging about her daily process. Because the movie needs to cover the lives of two people, they can only pick out the important part, and they did that perfectly. The scene transitions from one life to another is flawless. Everything about this movie is perfect(doesn't really want to spoil a lot), except the ending. It ended kind of abruptly; there is one thing that the movie didn't explain well. BUT I am not going to say what because you all need to watch the movie if you haven't. If you did, you'll know what I am talking about!! It's seriously the best movie I've watched all year, topping the animation film Up!, Transformers, and even G.I. Joe. Just look at the awards that they won -- well Meryl Streep won. She's an amazing actress.

I noticed that when I say this song is good... ALL I am saying that it is a good song -- that's it. I never really talked about why it's good, or the lyrics behind this song... or any reason why the song is good. So starting today, I'll talk about the meaning behind the lyrics, basically analyzing it in a... non-boring way. (Or other reasons why I like it)

Today's music is by a singer 陶喆(David Tao). The song is from his first album ever, which is like 3~4 years ago called '愛很簡單'(Love is easy). The song is about how love is easy(like the title suggested). You don't really know how it started, but it just happens, and you're willing to do anything for your other half... you know those typical love song lyrics. Sure, the lyrics is nothing special, but together with the melody, it's a new feeling. The lyrics talks about how 'easy' it is to fall in love, so the melody for this song is also very simple -- a little bit of everything. Just the right amount of Piano, Percussion, Guitar.

Video for today is by a Youtuber named TheWineKone -- it's a parody video of the hit videos on youtube at that time. That video was about... a year ago. Basically you need to watch a lot of random youtube videos to get the parody, but if you don't know what he's doing the parody of, there are the links to the original video in his description. Video is called 'Viral Video Failure'. Check it out.

~Daniel Chou

Objective-C, more Rats & Music, Video of the day

I spent most of my day today reading about Objective-C -- a computer language. This book is actually not bad... gives a lot of useful information 'efficiently'. Yes, the key word is efficiently. Most textbook has a lot of good information in there, but they top it of with endless examples and bullshits -- while some textbook... are just plain useless.

So as I was reading the book, I heard a scream coming from the hall way. Turns out, there is a mouse in her room. Apparently, the mouse hole is also in her room. Maybe the mouse that was in my room was from there? Gonna hope it is.

Today's music is 五月天's DNA. 五月天 is a band in Taiwan, also known as MayDay. DNA is their newest single which came out a few months ago.

Video today is a trailer to a documentary that 4 youtubers are working on. They are davidchoimusic, HappySlip, Daxflame, and TayZonday. Just read the description of the video for more details!

~Daniel Chou

Video & Music of the day

Today's music is the ending song to the movie 'Summer Wars'. The song is called '僕らの夏の夢' (Bokura no Natsu no Yume). English translation is 'My summer's dream' -- very suitable for Summer Wars. I just watched Summer Wars for the fifth time today, still enjoy it very much!!

Video of the day is a video by gunnarolla -- a youtuber. It's titled 'what colour is slacktivist's bra?' It made me laughed pretty hard, but also made some really good points. His videos are pretty nice, you should check it out!

Go watch/listen!

~Daniel Chou

Quick Update - Video & Music of the day.

I youtube(yes, it's totally a verb) every day, so I thought I'd post a video that I think is really awesome/artistic/meaningful every day! Since I'm doing a video of the day, I might as well do a 'music of the day', too.

Starting today.

Today's video of the day is from a Youtube Channel 'WongFuProductions'.

Today's music of the day is from an artist Sam Harts, who sang the 'Mario Kart Love Song'.

Hope you enjoy them as much as I do. =]

~Daniel Chou

Breakdown of Tales of Graces without playing the game!

I probably should've talk about this a long time ago, but guess what? I didn't have a blog back then. So too bad!!!

Tales of Graces, part of the 'Tales of' game series made by Namco, came out in Japan on Dec 18, 2009... if I remember correctly. At any rate, it was last year! (Sorry, I had to use the joke) Because it was released in Japan, so of course I can't play it. I don't have an imported Wii, or a modded one... sadly. But that's not going to stop a big tales fan like me! I do what everybody would do, I youtube. I still want the element of surprise when I eventually play the game, so I won't look at people's playthrough or anything, but I listened and watched the opening.

I wasn't really impressed....

I mean the opening SONG was good, but the opening animation is just not there, if you know what I mean. It just seems like there's no climax. I understand that in the beginning of the animation they need to introduce the characters slightly, but their animation won't make me want to play the game at all. During the chorus of the song in the opening, there's nothing big that's happening, just a bunch of people looking into each other's eyes and lots of running. I know that's suppose to be some dramatic moments in the game, but do they think people who's watching the animation for the first time would know what the story is about? Are we suppose to understand the 'moment' the characters are having? Maybe it's just me, but the opening is just not my taste. Tales of the Abyss, on the other hand, has one of the BEST opening of ALL time. Abyss' opening even beat a lot of the anime openings; I wouldn't be surprised if BUMP OF CHICKEN(the band who sang the opening for Tales of the Abyss) made that opening their MV for the song. It's THAT good. This blog's about Graces, so I won't go into details about the opening for Abyss. I'll post the links at the end of the blog so you can look at them and compare.

Enough about the opening, but that's not all about Graces that I know. I watched the trailers at least 50 times, one of the trailers. That trailer was better than the opening (sorry, I couldn't resist). I guessed a lot of the plot from that trailer, but I don't know if my assumptions are correct or not. What I found is that it's similar to the plot in Abyss in some ways.

So basically, the hero in Graces is named Asbel, and something happened to his village/town/city/home and killed everyone in the village(I'm guessing). He found this purple haired girl somewhere near the village at the time of the destruction of his home named Sophie. Since Asbel is alone, and she lost her memory, they traveled together and stuff. Years passed Asbel joined the knights because he "doesn't want to lose anyone anymore", so trained under this master-like person(I can't recall the name right now. Goldfish memory span). Time passed, and someone big died in the castle and the culprit was the master-like person. Yes, the master-like person is a bad guy.

If you pause for a second, and recall the background story of Abyss. Luke, the apprentice(are all apprentice's name Luke?? [Professor Layton]) trained under Van whom Luke calls him master, and guess what? He's a bad guy!

Back to Sophie, the purple haired girl for a bit. I'm guessing that she's not a real person. She's probably a machine, or something is implanted into her brain. I'm also guessing she's the one that destroyed Asbel's village, but something happened which caused her to lose her memory. That's basically the summary of plot I got from the trailer(more info than the opening!).

There's this character named Cherrie(I think), and I really really like her design. But I think I'll hate her personality, she seems like the person who is too... feminine. That's not the right word. You know how in games, drama, or TV shows, there is always this character who is always getting captured. The 'weak' one, if you will. Anyways, Cherrie just seems like she's that kind of character. Even her name suggests that. I'm hoping that I am wrong, but I'm pretty good at guessing what people are like just by taking a look at them... real life or fake (life...?).

I can't wait for the day they announce the release date of Tales of Graces in North America. While they're at it, they can also release Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2, Tales of Hearts, Tales of Innocence.. etc. =]

Here are the links to the songs and the opening for Tales of Graces and Tales of the Abyss:

Tales of the Abyss

Opening:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afp4jgCCzxk

Song: カルマ - BUMP OF CHICKEN　(Karma)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz8A889diyQ

Tales of Graces

Opening:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKW-cHOTWew

Trailer:

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/tgs-09-tales-of/57583

Song: まもりたい~White Wishes~ - BoA (Want to protect)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dHP3ikuJ_A

~Daniel Chou