On an episode of Rurouni Kenshin,a legend says if you make a wish to the fireflies above the lake everyday for a year without missing a single day,your wish will come true.I wonder if this legend is true,and if it is,what would you wish for? For those who don't know,fireflies are insects that glow in the dark at night in wet,forest areas and look very beautiful.

I can't list all of them so I've just listed the ones that caught my eye.

Cross Edge

Developed by Capcom, Nippon Ichi, Namco Bandai, Gust, and Idea Factory.Features turn-based battles and the option to dress the female characters in a wide variety of outfits.Features characters from Darkstalkers, Disgaea, Ar Tonelico, Spectral Souls, Atelier Iris, and Mana-Khemia 2.Released in Japan on September 25,2008 and a translated version is due outside of Japan in March.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmrPJf86bHE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUE1B_HBL0w&feature=related

Demon's Soul

Demon's Souls is an action RPG which pits you against the forces of The Old One as you fight to save humanity from extinction.Released in Japan on Feb 5, 09.International release TBA

Final Fantasy XIII

My impressions are;the story sounds great,a female main character named 'lightning' is an interesting idea,the world looks beautiful and interesting,the graphics look incredible.The battle system will bring back the ATB system and add things that are new.And the summons will have a more mechanical feel to them eg Shiva will return and takes the form of a pair of sisters who can merge into a motorcycle, which the character Snow rides, and can use ice to create a path to drive on.Release date in Japan in late 2009.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ephE0HMts0

Star Ocean 4 The Last Hope

"AD 2064. Humanity made its third and most costly mistake. World War III. Weapons of mass destruction deployed with complete impunity, razed the land in the blink of an eye. People believed it's the end of the world. The planet Earth was dying. So humanity began to search for a new home in space." Edge Maverick is volunteers to join the SRF to save mankind and travels to other solar systems in his ship.

White Knight Chronicles

Developed by Level-5 and published by Sony Computer Entertainment.The battle system used in White Knight Chronicles uses a real-time combat system, where the battle mode is initiated automatically when enemies are present. Before a battle, the player optionally goes into the "Battle Preparation" menu (accessible at any time) and chooses a set of seven commands for each character in the party.Was planned to be a 100 hour length game,released in Japan on December 25, 2008 and to be released outside of Japan in 2009.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH3309Q09fs&feature=related

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

Many people have talked about why this game is so great,so I don't really need to say much.But I will say this,before I played Final Fantasy VII I was primarily a PC gamer,because of games like StarCraft,Dark Reign,Total Annihilation,Quake and the PC versions of Red Alert and Need for Speed III were much better than the Playstation version.

It had come to the point I rarely wanted to play games on my Playstation.Then oneday in 1999 I decided to purchase Final Fantasy VII as a budget priced game(there was many brand new copies of FFVII sitting on the shelf for around 50$ Australian,and keep in mind a budget priced game in Australia is 50$ or under).

The reasons I choose Final Fantasy VII that day were,it looked interesting on the commericals and I was curious to see what a Final Fantasy game was really like.See when I was in highschool(from grades 7-12 because we don't do the Jnr highschool thing here)not very many people talked about RPGs,and most people prefered PC gaming,or if they played games on consoles they liked shooting games,or simplistic games like Spyro the dragon.And keep in mind,Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG were never released for PAL,so Australian SNES owners never got the chance to experience how great JRPGs could be until much later.In fact I don't even remember seeing Final Fantasy 1-6 on any store shelves for the NES/SNES even though I went to video game stores ALOT.

When I played Final Fantasy VII,it was unlike any other game I had ever played.It was the first game that the story alone was deep enough to keep me playing,and in fact the story was better than many movies I've watched.And the use of FMV for presentation made the world feel more lifelike than anything I had ever experienced,and using FMV to show story segments made it so exciting and created so much anticipation on what would happen next eg Would Cloud fall to his death on that collapsing bridge? Another thing that stood out to be about the game was the diversity of the world,having a dark metropolis,city slums,countryside and valleys,tropical locations,desert,caves,ancient cities,forest,terrain with snow and many villages.

I loved the interaction with NPCs,about being able to tell the cook at the diner his food was good,it was OK,or it tasted like dogfood and seeing his reaction.I remember having to give CPR to a child who had drowned,or disguising Cloud as a woman so he could sneak into a brothel,and at the amusement park you can influence the game to choose which person you want to go on a date with(and it was nice seeing Cloud and Aeris on that ride together talking),and you could even play the arcade machines/mini games!

For a while you think Shinra are the main enemy,then Sephiroth shows up later on,and there's the love triangle between Cloud,Aeris,Tifa.And I remember when Shinra made the higher level of Midgar collapse on the lower level killing most of the lower level residents because they were hoping to kill the AVALANCHE(rebel)members,so Shinra were prepared to sacrifise many innocent residents on the lower levels just to kill a few rebels! I was so outraged when this happened!

I would finally like to say FFVII got me into JRPGs,and now JRPGS are my favorite genre,and I think FFVII showed the true potential of how great a JRPG can be.And to be honest JRPGs are the reason I stick to console gaming because they are better to play on consoles and there is more of them available for consoles.

My latest purchase.I can't drive and I don't even like cars and I don't like most racing games,but Initial D is fun because the drifting makes the racing more unpredictable.I also love to collect Japanese games,and I love the Initial D movie with Jay Chou(it isn't just about the racing,it has a great love story,drama,deep music and the Japanese girl in the movie is really cute)

I'd first like to point out,this blog might contain spoilers for FFVII,FFVIII,FFX,Lost Odyssey,Blue Dragon.

One thing I've noticed lacking from later JRPGs is a great love story.People are asking why are the newer JRPGs not as fun to play as the ones from the past? and suggestions have been that people are growing ''bored'' of JRPGs,or they are too generic and not bringing enough new things into the genre.

Well I was thinking,would people love Final Fantasy VII as much as they do now if there was no love triangle between Cloud,Aeris,Tifa? How many people were upset when Aeris died?

In Final Fantasy VIII,the love story between Squall and Riona made the story much more heart felt.Squall was an anti social,self centered guy,Riona was a warm,bubbly woman and she brought Squall out of his shell and when he was with Riona,people saw Squall smiling for the first time.

Final Fantasy X has one of the most moving love stories you can ever imagine.And the love story between Tidus and Yuna is so moving and powerful it's worth playing through FFX-2 just to see if Yuna can be with Tidus again.

In Final Fantasy IV,Cecil had to journey to get medicine for his girlfriend Rosa who was greatly ill.And Cecil choose to take care of a little girl because her village was destroyed and her mother was killed(and it made me think what a wonderful guy Cecil is and Rosa is lucky to have him)

I'm not saying all JRPGs need to have a great love story to be great(because many great JRPGs don't have a great love story).I'm just saying that if you add a great love story,it makes the experience that much more magical.I understand not all JRPGs are suited for a love story type experience,and that's OK.

Final Fantasy XII was the first Final Fantasy game in a long time to not have a love story,and many people said they didn't like it's story that much.Perhaps because the story wasn't as deep and meaningful.eg in FFVII,people always wondered if Cloud would choose Aeris or Tifa,and when Aeris died,people were heart broken.In FFVIII,Riona becoming interested in Squall was the turning point in the story,because before then,Squall seemed like another quiet,emotionally cold guy(just like Cloud).In FFX,many people were in tears when Tidus had to leave Yuna and even before then many people cried because of the development in the love story between Tidus and Yuna.These are stories that people LOVE.

With the JRPGs on next gen consoles,Lost Odyssey had a couple of love stories,one of them was nice(between Jansen and Ming)but not memorable,although it had some very funny moments and beautiful music for it's scenes.Kaim and Sarah were supposed to have been married and have forgotten about it because they had their memories stripped.It's a painful concept,but I didn't feel as saddened or moved by it as I felt with JRPGs in the past.Blue Dragon tried to add a weak love triangle but it was more annoying than moving,as Kluke didn't seem like she was interested in either Shu or Jiro.And Eternal Sonata,Last Remnant,Infinite Undiscovery,Tales of Vesperia,Valkyria Chronicles seem to focus more on the gameplay,let alone a love story.

Anyways this is all I want to say,thanks for reading.

I've read somewhere that the Suzuka manga continues a little bit after where the anime left off,so I started reading the Suzuka manga to get some closure on the story.

I would first like to point out some of the characters have different personalities in the manga compared with their anime versions.And the anime has a more serious tone,while the manga is very goofy and overly perverted.

In the manga it was not as clear cut whether Suzuka or Honoka was the right girl for Yamato(in my opinion).Because the dialogue was made shorter for the manga version,and alot of the dialogue was different and you don't hear voice expressions.

In the anime,Honoka was shy,kind,giving,she would do anything for Yamato,she was more feminine,she liked Yamato even before he had feelings for her and she really wanted to be with Yamato.Yamato thought to himself he feels more comfortable with Honoka than he feels with Suzuka and he can be himself around Honoka.

Suzuka was ill-mannered,ungreatful for things Yamato did for her(and even when she was greatful she never showed it),she liked Yamato but not as much as Honoka,she didn't want to be with Yamato,and when Yamato and Suzuka did talk,most of the time they were only able to have friendly conversations about the track team(because they are both athletes)and when they tried talking about other subjects they would end up fighting.

In the manga,it ends with Suzuka getting pregnent by Yamato and they get married,and Honoka is a little bit upset by this,and Yamato goes to represent Japan in sprinting.All the characters have graduated and Yamato and Suzuka have their own apartment now.I was disappointed with the ending,but like the manga site said,the story didn't go how we wanted but it was a great story.I've just thought to myself life is the same way,it doesn't always go how we want it,but that's just how it is.

Your profile looking up to the blue sky,
Is like the paused spiral of time.
I am always striving hard,
And hiding my feelings.
It becomes suffocating (yearningly) and painful,

I am not really that strong,
I'm just afraid of the distance between the two of us.
I want to feel the your touch, my heart.
And if I can reach it even by taking the long way,

Start line, the story that unties a knotted heart.
Bid farewell to our tears, and let's walk towards future.
I will learn to embrace in my heart, the kindness that I've discovered.
So please, Just stay as you are for now.

Your breath almost touches me,
Like the unstoppable spiral of love.
I want you to look for me, even though we are right next to each other.
I want to meet you (I want to touch you), so much that tears are flowing.

I hid the inner feelings of my trembling heart.
Teach me the magical charm of courage.
Please help me, my dear.
Please give me courage to put them into words.

Start line, the story that spins the future.
I want your smile and tears to be only for me,
But I think I'll be happy with just your kindness.
So please, Just stay as you are for now.

Start line, the story that unties a knotted heart.
Bid farewell to our tears, and let's walk towards future.
I will learn to embrace in my heart, the kindness that I've discovered.
So please, Just stay as you are for now, just for now.

The weather forecast for western Sydney tomorrow is 47c and it will be the hottest temperature for any place on Earth at the time.I know some places are hotter at different times,but the news said Western Sydney will have the hottest temperature on Earth tomorrow.Keep in mind I said Western Sydney not Sydney city,so if you see an international weather report it might only give Sydney city's temperature(which has been lower than Western Sydney)

For the last 2 weeks,the temperature has been over 40 c nearly everyday,and this summer crops are dying(on the news a farmer showed some of his fruit was literally cooked by the heat and stewed)and many elderly and babies are dying and there's bushfires burning everywhere and tomorrow will be quite a bit hotter than the last 2 weeks!

Is an anime series I've started watching and it's pretty good.The story begins with Yamato Akitsuki seeing the most beautiful girl he's ever seen named Suzuka Asahina.Yamato has moved to Tokyo to study at a highschool and he will be staying at the apartment building which his aunt owns and it's a girls only apartment.

Yamato

Suzuka

Yamato is quite clumsy,but eventually he sees Suzuka has fallen asleep in the steamroom and he's worried she will dehydrate and die so he breaks the door down(instead of just opening it)to save her,but afterwards everybody is angry at him(including Suzuka)for breaking the door,even though he saved Suzuka's life.Eventually Yamato and Suzuka start talking alot but they argue alot of the time even though they spend alot of time together.Yamato finds out Suzuka is alot more complex than being just a pretty girl and she used to go to a school in a smaller city and had lots of friends there,but she gave it all up to study in Tokyo because she wants to be part of the high jump team(she's one of the best high jump athletes in the country).

Suzuka realizes her high jump performances improve greatly when Yamato is around and she performs one of the highest jumps in the country.

However things change when school starts and they have to deal with the social aspects of it,and Yamato meets another beautiful girl named Honoka who is very shy but she likes Yamato alot and she tries to spend alot of time with him and impress him,so a love triangle develops.Suzuka likes Yamato but she won't show she does and often yells at Yamato and calls him names and doesn't show her appreciation for the nice things Yamato does for her(such as going to the grocery store with her just to help her carry alot of groceries that Suzuka has to buy for many people).Honoka tries to do nice things for Yamato and openly shows she likes him,but she's very shy and socially awkward,I've only started watching the anime so I don't know how the rest will pan out.

Honoka

Yasunobu is a ''friend'' of Yamato and is a pervert and sexually obsessed maniac but he's very good looking and popular at school and women like him (including many of the woman at the apartment and he got into the apartment by claiming he is Yamato's friend even though Yamato didn't want him there,and Suzuka likes Yasunobu and thinks he's a gentlemen and Yamato told Yasunobu to back off from Suzuka because she's Yamato's love interest but Yasunobu said he doesn't want Suzuka anyways and he's interested in Yamato's aunt because he likes older(mature)women!

Yasunobo likes to use Yamato for his own selfish pleasures,such as when Yamato and Yasunobu were younger,Yasunobu would force Yamato to let him into the womens shower area of the apartment so Yasunobo could spy on them showering,and on one occasion Yasunobo ran into the shower where all the women were naked and Yasunbo lied and said Yamato pushed him in there and said Yamato would punch him if he didn't and the pretty Japanese girls while they were naked cuddled Yasunobo and put his head on their chest,and Yamato got the blame for it.

Yasunobo

For more comedy when Yamato got sick and couldn't come to school,Yasunobo sent Honoka to Yamato's apartment to ''spend the day with Yamato'' because Yasunobo really is interested in Suzuka but he is only interested in having sex with Suzuka but Suzuka declined spending the afternoon with him.However Suzuka is very jealous and upset when she saw Honoka at Yamato's apartment even though Yamato and Honoka didn't do anything sexual,Yasunobo tried to make Suzuka think Yamato and Honoka were actually doing something sexual and Yasunobo often tries to convince Suzuka that Yamato likes Honoka alot(although he really likes Suzuka more)

There's nudity and alot of funny sexual situations too.Other characters to notice are Miho Fujikawa who is Yamato's younger cousin,who is very beautiful but bossey and always nags Yamato and Yuka Saotome who likes to flaunt her body at Yamato and lets him see her naked and tries to frame him for being in sexual situations with her even though she was the one who initiated it.

Miho and Yamato

Yuki