Character profile - Quartz

Quartz is Mineral Moe poster girl. She is second most abundant mineral on Earth and she could be seen almost everywhere, from beach sands, to aggregate of sedimentary rocks to crystals. For geologist, she is very common, yet Quartz in its large crystalline form is a sight to behold.

The crystal itself is very sleek, exquisite and variable. Because of that, I imagine Quartz as a cool beauty, simple yet elegant. Personality wise, she is your generic Kuudere; cold, blunt, cynical, and pretty much doesn't care of anything much. That's what she is on the outside but she is actually caring and nice on the inside. I tried a different approach of designing characters this time and having a loli as a main character (a first for me). One of her remarkable traits is her obsession with JoJo Bizarre Adventure, and I can assure you she will do a JoJo pose everytime she had the chance to do so.

Quartz has a rather basic, yet enigmatic crystal structure. The lattice has a lots of polymorph. A such, Quartz is a character that could advance and change readily as the story progress. She uses dual sword as her main choices of weapon, to complement with her crystal group. These swords could change into many forms to suit her battle style. Her fighting technique is very refined. She does not use speed or strength to overwhelm her opponent, but rather using her instinct to adapt based on the situations and using her own enemy power to counter against them. She never loses her cools, as such she would remain very focused when the situation calls for it. As plain as she looks, she is actually a force to reckon with.


"You thought you would find a precious gemstones, but instead it was I, Quartz!"

-Quartz

Mineral Moe project - how it all started

Mineral moe project is a new project I've initiated, inspired by my recent university life. I love anime, games and manga. I enjoy drawing anime girls, humongous robot and terrifying monsters. It's just a hobby however, and I just thought it was just another way to spend my time. I can't really do much about it, since I'm studying Earth science, and the only thing I was able to draw during the course is just rocks and geological features (and occasionally fossils).

However, one day, while looking at a bunch of rock specimens, I thought it would be nice if they could turn into anime girls or something. Then an idea struck into my head. If we can have ship girls (yes, Kancolle), can't we also have mineral girls? Later in the evening, I spend my time drawing the minerals in a humanoid form. A mineral bishojo. And from there, my mind started to go wild, thinking what else I could do with it. I've written a character sheet for each of them, with their own unique personalities. I even planned a story board for the mineral girls universe.

One of my main objective is to integrate both the fun and learning factors together, where people can admire the beauty of mineral girls and also learn something about those minerals. I saw how convenient we could put information into a phone instead of a huge book, since it is easy to access. And that is how I get my idea to start the project, first by making an app. From there, I've discovered lot's of stuff, from the amazing Live2D software, learning back how to use Unity Game engine, understanding complex scripting (bear in mind I am no computer science student) and spend my free time digitally painting these girls.

It was a lot of fun, and there is a lot more to come.

The original draft for the mineral girls:

Mineral Moe app promotional video

Rocks, cute girls and geology. Combine them all together and you have mineral moe project. It's a new way to learn and having fun at the same time.

This is the promotional video for the upcoming mineral moe app. Powered by Live2D, mineral girls is now 'alive' on your phone. It's not just a fun app to have, it's also very useful and handy for those who want to learn more about rocks, minerals and lithology as a whole. 

Live2D is an awesome software that allow me to unleash my creativity to its maximum potential. I don't even have to learn complex scripting or animating to allow my drawing to come alive.It also allows me to begin a new project which aim to entertain and have people to learn more about rocks in minerals, using cute animated 'mineral girls' as a medium.

Stay tune for more!

Vandread: 3D fifteen years ago

Hey there, Wolvenciel here again. Sorry for the very long silence. I was busy with moving out of my house and well... I kinda didn't pay for my internet bills. Now you guys might be wondering or questioning as to why this review is here. I felt the need to go back a bit and try to review on the older mecha animes that were popular back in the days and Vandread was the first one that came to mind. I watched it back in 2007 and I was quite impressed with the 3D. During that time there weren't that many shows that utilized this kind of thing yet so being the kid that I was, I got very impressed.

For those of you who have never heard of this anime, Vandread is set in an era where men and women do not live together in the same planet any more(some planets still do, just the protagonist's planet I guess). Plus, both planets hate each other. The men brainwash their citizens into thinking that women are evil demon-like creatures that wants to kill them and eat their intestines. The story hits off as Hibiki, a thrid-class citizen on Tarak(the before mentioned all-man planet) planning to steal the brand new military mobile suit, Vanguard and free himself from the misfortune of being a third-class citizen. He ends up being caught in a crossfire between a band of women pirates and the Tarak military force that's having a practice run to test their brand new ship. Hibiki then was taken into custody by the women pirates and so his adventure begins.

Lets start off with Hibiki. He is your average mecha anime protagonist. Whiny, emotional and hot-tempered. Its just that due to his upbringing, he isn't that cliche. He doesn't get flustered by being shoved into a pair of boobs or getting a kiss on his mouth or poking someone else's butt. Well... not unless that someone is Dita (the heroine of course) but even that is a bit later in the anime. In the beginning he was like,"Women. Ugh." much like otakus when they hear you mentioning real life girls they'd go,"3dpd. Ugh."(No offense fellow otakus).

Dita, the heroine (YES people this is not a harem anime) is totally the opposite. A very positive, very perky airhead that screams attention and always runs around calling,"Uchuujin-san! Uchuujin-san!" making it very hard for Hibiki to resist her but he did anyway because he's whiny as hell. I have to say I like her a lot (maybe because I do prefer airheads)

Now then, enough about the menial stuff. Lets get down to business. Vandread is an anime that was aired in 2000-2001 and all of the fights in this anime uses 3D. Again, I'm saying that this is like 15 years ago. Please don't go and say,"Eww this is sloppy. Aldnoah Zero's 3D is soooo much better." Of course it is, as it is now 15 years after this anime was aired. Back then, even this much 3D was already something to be amazed at. I mean, 3D mechs and spaceships. It may not appeal as much nowadays but when I watched it back then I really went "kyaaa" over some of the scenes in Vandread.

I played Grandia 2 which was a video game made by Ubisoft and GameArts that is published around the year 2000 too and when I compared the 3D used in the cutscenes of Grandia 2 and Vandread, the ones in Vandread is a more sharper and detailed than the ones in Grandia 2. I'm not saying that the graphics in the game wasn't any good, its just that maybe the guys who made Vandread were working as hard as they could to deliver that kind of 3D as best as they can during that time. To me that's just so cool and amazing (unlike some studios who cut corners and just deliver crap to viewers eventhough the technology is much more advanced nowadays).

Another interesting point in Vandread is that the show gets sexist on friggin high levels and it attacks BOTH sides. The males blame the females and the females blame the males. This kind of stuff goes on throughout the show consistently and well, it points out to us that both genders has their pros and cons and that they should remind each other of that. Most of the stuff they say in the anime about men and women are so true that it'll leave you nodding or muttering,"Yeah that's... kinda true." and sometimes even touches one of your own weaknesses as a man/woman (if you are of any other gender, I am so sorry. Not trying to be sexist here).

In the end, Vandread is still one of my favorite watches of all time (due to the fact that its a mecha anime) and it still rubs me the wrong way that the plot itself was very nice up until the ending. You'll understand it if you watch the anime. They didn't provide sufficient background info on both the settings and the antagonists in this anime. It is however, enjoyable to follow Hibiki on his random adventures around the galaxy and getting confused as how to feel or what to make of women's behaviours and ... physical traits. If you can't stand the 3D action, at least look forward to the comedy and that subtle romance. That's kinda what Vandread wants to deliver.

Weekly anime montage (4.6.2015)

It's June, and the new anime season are around the corner. But before that, we still have this season anime to enjoy, each going for their climaxes as the ending approaches. Enough with the talk, let us go straight to the pictures.