音時雨 ～Regentropfen～

Sing a song if you feel scared.
People always say this, but in my case, the very first song popped up in my mind was "Tooryanse", followed by "Kagome-Kagome", and then "Akakakushi"~ While the first two belong to the canonical Japanese horror folk songs, the last one isn't a relax and happy either~♪

And recently I'm addicted to Eiko-sensei's newest single: Kokuchou no Psychedelica

Both songs are great!

To someone who has experienced Silent Hill 1-4 + biohazard 1-5 + Siren 1-NT + Juon series (Japanese + US) + The Ring 2 (didn't get chance to watch 1), "Zero (Fatal Frame)" can't create enough horror to me -- I was rather amused.

The character and stage design are very pretty (Miku simply looks like Claire Redfield IMO), and the ghosts are so "plain" compared to those in bio and SH (I'd like to see something much more grotesque -- I'm resistant to the grotesque, at least visually). Although it's true some battles can be stressful, but since I've got enough experience in biohazard 4 and 5, to use the camera (I indeed enjoyed this battle system) isn't that hard, just like how to shoot with a rifle~
The story is quite interesting. It's exciting to figure out what happened in the past and the connections between all (living and dead) people through various files -- this game is surprisingly full of reading materials, while lots of them have rare kanji -- hey, people can't read them, at least put ruby beside!! Σ(ﾟДﾟ);
However, the control is not smooth (she can get stuck by even a hanging rope!). Also, to chase those quickly-flashing-away ghosts and get snaps is fun, and very harsh sometimes (like those kids). The worst, your snaps isn't saved unless you put them into albums, and I was out of space in the memory card when I realised it!! ( ﾟдﾟ) Hope there's some kind of extra after game clear.
Briefly, it's not like a horror game but more like an errand-game, in which you go between a few places endlessly to complete quests, in a huge mansion where ghosts drifting around (I especially like the appearance of that Ina-Bauer female ghost [Miku's grandmother?! or maybe not]). Besides, the riddles are too easy and to be called riddles. Shall I be looking forward nightmare mode?! (´∀｀);

The dead's blue fiery balls remind me nothing but the Ring Spirits in Shadow Hearts.
Perhaps it's a good time for me to do "Zero" because I've been taking snaps like mad in SHF! (・ω・`)

this shot is awesome ↓

Before I start:
SH = Shadow Hearts as a series
SH1 = Shadow Hearts
SH2 = Shadow Hearts II
SHF = Shadow Hearts: From the New World

Even I myself couldn't believe that I've finished all three Shadow Hearts games, with a rather high degree of completion, after declared to no longer touch RPG about 2 years ago. Why I said that was simply because lots of RPGs have so many hidden flags that hard and tiresome to find out. Yet I still decided to resume my RPG playing with SH1, after watching someone's SH1 play video. The story and world setting were interesting, the battle system was unique, also, for quite a lot of times, the ambience is like those you'd see in a horror. So I stopped following that player's videos (when they just arrived at Da-Lian) and decided to try SH1 on my own. Which then led me to my lovely four months with Shadow Hearts since last November.

However, my first SH1 experience was so sad and so bad. Apparently I wasn't prepared after a long RPG-free (horror-only) time span. This game have so many time-limited flags. Once you missed it, it's gone forever (in this round). Therefore, some boss fights was deadly hard (because I couldn't put the correct soul monsters), and the bad ending came with no surprising (because I didn't know how to get the good one!).
So I did get my lesson: while playing an RPG, find a story-spoiler-free guide first.
and here, I'll show my special thanks to this website:
http://www.geocities.jp/sky_peace000/
Without this guide, I won't have so much fun with SH series. I might miss lots of hard-to-see items, miss proper flags to trigger hidden dungeons, and fail due to the lack of good "boss fight preps" (I remember my first Maiki-battle was so harsh, due to his instant-death skills).

The stories are all good with no doubt. SH1 and SH2 are gloomier compared to SHF: People in SH1 die mercilessly, SH2 connects to the bad ending of SH1 (which indeed shocked me), while in my opinion, SHF is more limited in a small circle of people and the connection to the-destiny-of-the-world is weaker -- although I don't mind it at all. The story flow is rather (or at least made me feeling) smooth compared to lots of others (recently I'm following the game DEAD SPACE, and each time when Issac completes an objective he gets the hint/direction from other people -- that I don't even have the desire to poke in).

Then, about the endings, SH1 and SHF are straight forward, but SH2's both endings are rather intriguing and make people want to think more.

On the other hand, as of the characters, most of them are so impressive that I couldn't refuse (or wish if s/he is playable) to keep in my party, while a few are out of my favourite type and hardly get a chance to go with me, and the existence of the rest is just as invisible as the air.

Fixed party members:
Yuri: no body should complain about him (and you can't really remove him from the party ^^;)
Alice: I personally don't want to include her in the party, but only she is able to do the arch-cure.
Keith: Ikemen Mr. Vampire! High HP + SP + PAtk, my choice in the "super god fight". The event with his gold-flashy brother is excellent!

Why I didn't use others
Zhu-zhen: I wished I could use him till the end as I love his skills, but he's low on HP and can't heal the entire party with high efficiency.
Margarete: her rings are hard, and her skills are... to be honest, I've seen enough in Biohazard series so I didn't use her that much.
Harry: skills are ranged from supporting to attacking, flexible, but same as Zhu-zhen, he's not as strong as Keith and can't do supports as Alice.

Fixed party members:
Yuri: guess no body would complain about my choice toward him. xD
Blanca: with fully powered up soul comet, strong party cure and full HP revive, and with my affection of a wolf.
Gepetto: has the highest MP and SAtk, easy to switch attribute, and Cornelia is cute~
Joachim: same reason as why I stick to Keith. AND MORE, HE'S SUCH A FUN GUY (I kept his frozen tuna till the end of game)!

↓ Joachim's symbolic pose (both before and after battle):

Why I didn't use others
Kallen: yes, she's strong and her skills are great -- I'd consider using her more if she keeps her military uniform.
Lucia: cute is justice, being sexy is worth nothing! lol;;
Anastasia: the album-skill isn't useful, normal attack is weak, and isn't as cute as Kawashima Yoshiko (I want her to be a party member though!).
Kurando: I'd like to use him more but he appears too late while the top four already occupy my heart. :P

Others who I wished to become party members:
Nicolas: for Koyasu's voice!! <3
Yoshiko Kawashima: as a magic girl that would be fantastic.
Kato: a tough guy (expected to be as strong as Joachim).

Fixed party members:
Johnny (=可愛い): the main character should be within the party! Not only he's essential to take snaps, which is much more important than SH2, he's cute! Lots of players say Johnny is weak, but I maxed all his chart nodes for attacking magic to turn him into a true magic warrior~
Natan (=渋い): another tough guy (I just love tough guys, complaints?)
Frank (=面白い): another Joachim. His bowling ball attack is my favourite skill => "ミーにパワーをぉぉ"
Ricardo (=格好いい): high PAtk + MP, fits into various situations, and he's also an ikemen. ;3

↓ Johnny's most attractive face -- perhaps that's my first time having so much love toward a boy!

Why I didn't use others
Shania: she's supposed to be in the party all the time, but I changed my mind to have a fusion-free SHF, because, the same reason as Lucia. Too sexy = loveless. Moreover, I want to complain about that I had to "farm" soul energy points in order to get into the dungeon for Tirawa, what a pain it was! While after obtaining Tirawa, the appearance is even worse than her previous three spirits that I had totally no desire to use. orz. She's strong with them? -- who cares! (btw, I hardly used Jutendoji for the same reason)
Nyanko-sensei Mao: I love cats! I indeed hesitated between her and Frank and Natan, but eventually I went with the tough + funny combination. (Also, to get her skills powered up was tiresome so I lost interest halfway.)
Hilda: I love her brothers much more, but she's not my type at all! ^^;

Summary: In SH1, non party members can't get Exp at all, and it hurts! Plus I fail a lot at hitting rings so my Sh1 party members are fixed since the very beginning. But thanks to the customisable magic system, I could choose my party members more freely based on my personal taste, rather than how strong (or weak) s/he is. (・ω・`)

The sense of humour of SH series is currently the most marvellous, and reached the climax in SH2 (thanks to Joachim's join) -- although it's hard to explain to people who didn't play.

Such as:
Motion of Maiki's skill: the death game (both as a human and a monster),
Joachim and Man-Festival and Man-Sushi,
Roger and his collection of Shanghai-Tengoku and N.Y.Heaven,
..and our environmently-friendly heroes! ( ´∀｀)

↓ Joachim thinks seriously in front of a postbox:

↓ Joachim's frozen tuna:

↓ Frank's ultimate Oden-stew:

As of the music. Actually I didn't think SH OSTs are so great until I finished the games. Lots of battle BGMs can be looped forever, especially the final boss BGM: Imbroglio and The 3 Karma (SHF's final boss BGM isn't as good as these two IMO). And need not to mention the Akiko-singing-Mozart-aria. In game, the sound was twisted as being played by a near-death gramophone (or record). At first I was disappointed as with that aria only a man was eaten by a monster, but later, when that man reappears -- so you're sort of important, and your death with that aira is now acceptable. << I don't know what I'm talking about...

But, how come the SHF OST has no the piece for Ninja's hideaway?! °A° That BGM (Frank does Momonga flying) is so relaxing and adorable.. maybe I should get record from the game some day..

Shadow Hearts series is really great. Now look at the GUST's Ar Tonelico I and II (because I can't recall other RPGs right now), they look so cheap (except the gorgeous music/hymmnos..)!! Fine, that's a thing called style.

↓ At last, my personal pride:

やーーーーっと見つけた！！！
Furtwängler conducts Don Giovanni in 1954, the audio recording that I've been looking for almost one year! My very first Don, and also my best Don, even after listening to over 22 versions.
Perhaps this is the so-called "love at first sight". Sight, literally yes, as I was referring to the DG's DVD release.
After that, although I've found Furtwän's another recording in 1953, I wasn't satisfied since what I wanted was the exactly 1954 performance. Many Furtwän fan sites have pointed such an audio version does exist, but with no luck, I just couldn't locate it anywhere.

And on this Monday came my belated luck. The title of "Wilhelm Furtwängler - The Legacy (2010)" was indeed attractive. Why I didn't find it out in last year? -- anyway, being overwhelmed by thoughts like "I want to eat it right now!", I left my laptop on for the entire day.
It actually didn't finish until next morning. So my hunger lasted till Tuesday evening. Took a quick glance at its tracklist, a lot Brahms, Bruckner, Beethoven, a bunch of Mozart, and... a heavy Wagner bundle.
Okay, quoting Amano Tooko's words "食べ物を粗末にしてはいけません(it's not good to waste food!)", guess it's a chance for me to increase my intake of Wagner/Bruckner/etc.--although I'm not very confident about it, don't waste the mono, which always sounds nostalgic, noble and historic.

But, my point was, really, when I read on the booklet saying this "Don Giovanni" was recorded in 1954, I was driven into a hyper.
You gotta cherish your first love~ (*´∀｀)

P.S. Right now, my fb2k is playing Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 3rd movement. There's no good, what I recall is nothing but scenes from "Legend of the Galactic Heroes". ~_~
--I've finished the original novel like 10 years ago, but never dared to finish OVA, because I already know people I like are all going to die! >_<

Continuing from the 107-CD box. However, I didn't challenge the posted links, which would take me forever as a free user. So I relied on those nice people who like to torrent.
On Monday evening, I decided to finish the final make-up with my girls while waiting for the torrent to finish. But right after I started PS5, a message box popped up from my google drive saying there's no enough space on my drive D.
Apparently the 22GB torrent + ~6GB PS cache have eaten up all the remaining space of my hard drive. Only leaving me 1MB that I couldn't even make a screen shot of that moment. u_u

A bit different from my previous plan that to attach a DG label. Instead putting a real DG logo, I merely borrowed the overall CD jacket design and the bright yellow banner.

For a long while, since my mind was keep changing, I didn't put my girls' names on any works in case if I want to make changes. But this time, I decided to finalise their names so I put them here: from piano, to violin, then cello.
Of course, there're always lots of back stories about how I named them (maybe I should start a single page for introducing more of such sometime later): Arietta: before I knew the meaning of this word, "tta" was appended after "Arie" ("aria" in German) to make up something like Henrietta, and later I was very happy after learning the meaning of "arietta". Fidelia: Came up when I was randomly browsing an English dictionary and kept it as I like its sound. That's everything, simple enough. Luminora: I didn't want to admit this name was made up after "luminol" that I learned from watching "Detective Conan", but it's the truth. -_-''

Yesterday it was around -12°C, and today it was +12°C!! Not unbelievable, just so crazy.