Vampire Boy

It's a little old. Done mostly on a whim. Hell, I wasn't really trying at all. :D But, the thing is, when I'm not trying, that's when my best pieces are created. Like, I got this one work in progress Altair drawing and I haven't touched it for years! I'm trying to persuade myself to try and finish it, but no luck. Instead, I draw these random things without really thinking about what I'm doing. This Vampire Boy is one of the results. Maybe I should have added some blood on the fangs... 

This is done with markers - alcohol and water based - and some colored pencils for the skin because I only have one skin tone marker that would work for this and it's way too dark. And I only got it after finishing this picture. The highlights are done with a white gel pen. A crappy one at that. Now I got a white permanent marker and it works quite a bit better. Still not the best thing I could get my hands on though...

Hope you like the picture. Feel free to comment below. :) 

~AnnElfwind

Something people don't know about me

I have absolutely no idea what to write about. Nothing interesting happened today. Well, maybe something. I bought a new pair of pants. And it's snowing outside. Like, a lot! And it's been snowing for the past few hours. I just checked the topic of the week on blog.cz and can't say I'm interested. Something people don't know about me... Well, they don't know because I don't want them to know. So I'm not gonna tell, but I'm sure there's a lot of things people don't know about me. Or things that only one or two people know. Hell, there's this thing I'm writing and the only person who ever got anything in any detail told about it was a random person from the country of South Africa... Talked to them several years back on Facebook. Don't even know their name anymore. 

Heh, but even they don't know about the written version. Well, it's not really a secret that I'm writing it, it's just the contents that nobody knows about. Just me. And recently, there's been a shift in the universe that forced me to redo the whole thing. Still working on it. Nowhere near where I was before but getting there. And the newer version is better. So. Still not gonna tell you what it's about. Just know that if I ever mention something called the DO, it has to do with this thing I'm writing and never showing anyone. It's for me and me only. Nobody else has any business seeing it. Like, I might let people read it after my death. Would be cool to have it published after I'm dead. Even if only on this blog... :D Still, that's far away as I'm not planning to kick the bucket any time soon. I'm only 26 after all. So there. I guess I had something to write about... Even if I didn't really tell you anything. :D

~AnnElfwind

BTW: I got that pic as my phone wallpaper. :D Usually, I can't stand female characters, this one is an exception. Don't think there are any other exceptions. :D

Blake Crouch - Wayward Pines

So, how come I only just now figured out that it's also a TV series? What gives?! At least I'll have something to watch when done with Kindaichi. But this post is not about the series, it's about the book. Don't know if there are more than one, probably yes, but this post will focus on the first book. Titled Wayward Pines. If I did my translation homework correctly. Because, to be honest, I read the book in Czech. Bought it for cheap in a used books store.

And what is it about? Well, it starts with Ethan Burke [and is it just me who got a flash from Resident Evil 7 after reading that name? I made myself research RE 7 while reading this book]. Ethan goes to a tiny town called Wayward Pines where two federal agents were lost. Or, to be precise, it's the place where the agency lost contact with them. So he goes there, but on the way, he is in an accident, a truck rams into him.

When he wakes up near a river, he thinks something is off. For the town, people act weird around him and he's having a hard time learning anything about anything. He's unable to contact his boss or leave the place. Later, he joins together with a young woman. A woman, that doesn't act like the rest of the town. He also finds his old work partner, but she's older than she should be.

So Ethan tries to leave the town. And by some miracle, he succeeds. He crosses the river and then climbs over an electric fence that seems to be there more to keep something out rather than in. After he leaves the town and the immediate surrounding area, he's walking through a canyon. There, he encounters weird white-y mutated beings. And while he manages to kill the first as well as outrun the others, he's cornered and his only option is a ventilation shaft that has no place being in the side of a canyon wall.

He goes in. And there he finds the big secret. After going through some corridors and a big warehouse that has anything, from food to different models of cars, he enters a cryogenic chamber. There, he's finally told, that he was sleeping for a really long time. And that the world as he knows it, has ceased to exist. That Wayward Pines is the only oasis of humankind left on earth.

The man behind the oasis takes him out of there on a chopper to show him. To let him see it with his own eyes. And after that, he's on board with the project and replaces the old sheriff that has been thinking of somehow making profits only for himself and climbing to power.

The book reads by itself, it's written in a way that will make it hard for you to put it down. At least the Czech version. Don't know about the original version, but the Czech translation is really great. And as for the cryogenic sleep and the destruction of mankind, you will not be able to guess it till the very end. Like, you will know something's off, but won't guess the exact thing that happened, unless you're very lucky. I expected some kind of a dystopian crisis, but not cryogenic sleep. That's for sure.

The whole thing reminded me of a book I've read some years back. A sci-fi. Set supposedly in space, all the population is fooled but two or so inquisitive younger people. And it turns out they are trapped in this gigantic space ring made of several links, but, the whole thing is sitting on the surface of a planet. Wish I could remember the name of the book... I know the author starts with something close to the beginning of the alphabet... At least that's what my gut tells me... Will have to go and do a bit of googling. Wouldn't mind reading that thing again. 

Back to Wayward Pines. The book is good, I will definitely try to get my hands on the next in the series. Though I'm not getting my hopes up for the TV show. Kinda gave up [at least for now] within the first few seconds. Thing is, The acting of the MC, it seemed like when the Japanese make a supernatural elemented movie or some of the older dramas they made. But the problem is, I don't mind this style of acting when it comes to the Japanese. I kinda expect it from them. But Wayward Pines TV series is definitely not done by the Japanese. So that kind of acting has nothing to do there. Might give it another try if I find myself with nothing to watch, but for now, the show has been shelved. 

Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo

Not sure, if I want to post another anime featuring post, but well... Lately, I've been into Kindaichi shounen no jikenbo. And well, since my last post was about Detective Conan and Kindaichi is kinda similar... At least to me, it is, I'm gonna go with it. Like, Kindaichi himself is the equivalent of Conan in Shinichi's body. Kindaichi's friend Nanase is like Ran and their friend Saki is like a mix of Sonoko and the Shounen Tantei Dan - or the Detective Boys if you prefer the English name. Then there's Kenmochi, he's a police officer and he's a lot like Mouri Kogoro, just somewhat smarter and less of an idiot in general. Last but not least when it comes to the protagonists is Akechi Kengo, he's a superintendent and Kenmochi's boss - to put it simply. He's also really smart and somehow, reminds me of both Akai and Zero from DC. A bit more Akai than Zero, but somehow a mix of both. 

Thing is, there are two versions of Kindaichi. One is old, last century thing. that's the one I'm watching now, but before that, I watched the newer one from years 2014 and 2015. The Akechi in the newer one is even smarter. Always several steps ahead of everyone, while in the old version, it seems like Akechi and Kindaichi are more evenly matched. 

Well, that's it for the protagonists, now the antagonists. Even though I would really like it for one of them to be on the other side. I'm talking about the Puppeteer from Hell - Takato Youichi. He's the black org compressed into one person with the added aspect of Magic. The magic reminds me of Kaitou Kid. And that is probably the reason I want him to be on the other side of the law.
Another main villain is the Gentleman Thief. Which, really, just take KID's magic away and change his gender and this is what you'll get. I got nothing against the Kaitou Shinshi (Is that how you spell it?), but the Puppeteer is my favorite bad guy from Kindaichi.

As this is being written is several sessions, I an now at a point in the anime where Kindaichi Fumi, a relative of the MC has made an appearance. And while I said that Saki was a mix of Sonoko and the Shounen Tantei Dan, Fumi is a mix of the Detective Boys and Haibara. She's smart and while she doesn't always arrive to the correct conclusion, she is really useful on some of the cases Kindaichi has to deal with.
I would prefer that the newer version of the anime be longer, but hey, can't have everything. Should be glad that there even is a newer version. If there wasn't, I would have probably never even started watching this... And what a shame that would have been.
This anime is perfect for Detective Conan fans as well as fans of any other detective featuring anime out there. Especially animes that have teenage or younger protagonist detectives in it. Like Detective Academy Q or similar. I think that Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna lovers would like Kindaichi too.

I've seen so many animes that some of them seem to blur together, but I'm sure that there's more detective anime than this. And I'm not talking about Nogami or Matantei Loki Ragnarok, those have way too many supernatural elements. While the DC  pseudo-science is a bit farfetched as well as the addition of the character of Akako, the self-proclaimed witch, it's still a lot more realistic than Nogami or Matantei. Same goes for Kindaichi, for that one has no supernatural elements at all, just a lot of pseudo-science, but the science kinda makes sense when you watch the anime, so there... I guess it always makes sense while watching. You just can't think about it too hard after you're done watching.
Well, maybe it's not really pseudo-science for Kindaichi, just a lot of superstition and well, there might be some pseudo-science, but Conan is lot's more heavy on it. Apotoxin anyone? Still, Kindaichi is a great anime. I just wish that the newer part of it was longer. And that Akechi was super smart in both the old and the new, not just the new. I mean, he¨s smart in the old too, but not super smart. I mentioned at the beginning of this post, that in the newer version, he's like 10 steps ahead of everyone, Kindaichi included, well, that's true. It's just, in the older version, he's lucky if he's two steps ahead... Usually, he's more or less evenly matched with Kindaichi. Too bad there's only so many episodes that include him...
The one saving grace is the movie for the newer version that focuses mainly and mostly on Akechi. His younger version, but still.
Just, you know what? Go watch the anime and make up your own mind about it, okay?
~AnnElfwind

Detective Conan Movie 22 - Zero the Enforcer [2018]

Finally! The 22nd movie came online. The Japanese people need way too long for the anime movies to come out on DVD or Blue Ray. Or on some other media. But that's not the only problem, it came out in October, the problem is, that then we had to wait for worthwhile subs to be added. But, the day before yesterday, it finally happened! It was added to OtakuStream. And I just know that Otaku Stream would not upload it unless the quality of the subs and the whole thing was good. 

So I watched it. BLOWN AWAY! After watching the 21st movie, I was quite disappointed, because movies 18, 19 and 20 were awesome! I mean, 18 is the best, simply because it finally confirms the alive status of one Akai Shuuichi! Simply by making Subaru Okiya open his eyes. So that one is great. Movie 19 is great too because it has Kaitou KID. And Any KID movie is great. And 20 gives us Furuya Rei and Akai Shuuichi out of disguise working together, so also awesome! But then we get some weird love story with Heiji and Kazuha in movie 21 and that's lame... Like, don't misunderstand me, I watched it too and enjoyed it, just not as much as movies 18, 19 and 20. So 22 was a pleasant surprise. 

The main focus is on Zero, aka Furuya Rei who is from the NPA, Japanese Secret Police. Don't ask me to decipher the abbreviations, I didn't do my homework on that, but it's a section of the police force. 

The movie takes place during a time where an unmanned capsule is supposed to come back from the outer space and the main culprit's goal is to use it to blow up the police headquarters, but this comes to play way way later. There is also going to be a summit of the World Leaders of some sort. The who is not important. The important thing is, that the venue is blown up and Zero is caught in it. Then Mouri Kogoro is framed and Conan tries to uncover the truth. At first, he doesn't know that Zero tapped his phone, but when he finds out, he uses it to his advantage. 

And then Conan and Zero have to work together to alter the path of the capsule to avoid it smashing into the location where everyone has evacuated to from the area around the police headquarters. In the process, Zero's car is totaled and he gets injured, but the injury is minor and the car can be replaced. The important thing is, they manage to save the day and they do it by working together. 

However, I was thinking and the one thing I would love to see, is Akai, Zero, KID and Shinichi working together, I mean, that would be awesome and I just know that they would be able to take down any threat. However, it doesn't seem like they will make an episode like that. Or god forbid a movie... Hell, I even kinda hate the whole Ran/Shinichi romance... He's way more suited to be together with Kaitou KID. But again, if I want that, I have to go and read fanfiction.
My fanfic search purposefully excludes any Ran/Shinichi pairing tagged fics. I won't read those. Unless it's a fic that starts with this couple and then follows with Ran!Bashing and then KaiShin.

Okay. I'm gonna go and do something else now. Like rewatch some Conan movies. And wait for the newest SAO Alicization episode. Which has nothing to do with Conan. But hey, SAO fan here. Though I hate Asuna. Nya!

~Bye.