Shooting Star Dreamer

Hello everyone! As you know, today is Halloween! I'm spreading a little treats of my own with Halloween Fest, which is basically me running different events and such on different social media outlets. To know what's going on please check my previous post! With that being said... Today I've also compiled a Halloween Wallpaper pack for you all! It contains many anime images, none being too scary or explicit. Feel free to use them today for Halloween! I tried to get a wide variety of sizes this time, because I understand that everyone has different sizes when it comes to devices and desktops. If anything is too big or too small, please let me know and I will try to accommodate you! Later on, I will be making a post for Halloween Fest, Compiling everything that went on. So in case you couldn't catch anything, or just want to see a big overview, please check back later. I understand many people will want to see previews of the images before downloading the pack, or...

Hello everyone! So today I'm doing another blog update, as I mentioned in my last post. I really love the holiday season, and I want to do something to give back to my viewers. So throughout October 30th - October 31st, I'm going to do a few different "events" hosted on different social media accounts. If you don't follow me on all of them, no worries, I'll make a post here that will showcase pretty much everything. So what exactly am I going to be doing? It's Halloween which is a holiday I love, and anime is something else that I really love. So why not combine the two? Instead of typing it all out in a boring fashion, how about a nice little graphic to sum things up? Apologies if the text is a little hard to read. I might pass around a simpler graphic later on! So as you can see, I've got things going on throughout every outlet. (Except Google Plus) So if you get the chance tune in to any one to see what's going on there, or if you...

Hey everyone! I've finally gotten time to write again. I just recently went through midterm week at college, or weeks, but I've fought through the storm and I am alive! Since Halloween is coming soon, I would like to do a little something for the holidays. I haven't figured out exactly what yet, but please keep a look out for a Halloween Announcement. So while I've made that clear, I want to address another Halloween related topic today. There's a lot of anime out there in the world, but only certain ones work the holidays into their plot. It's even better when they're airing during the holiday season. Despite this, there's a few anime that stand more than others. So today I'm going to discuss a few of my favorite Halloween episodes! Even if you're not a holiday person, I advise you to take a look since you might find an anime you want to check out. Also, I'm going to work in a question with every anime, so if you have the time, drop a...

Do you believe in anime being more than just a simple hobby or pleasure? You may or may not, but that doesn't mean people haven't found ways to live and breathe anime daily. Their lives revolve around this and they use it as a way to change the world for the better. I know a lot of people that view anime lovers and non lovers as black and white. If you do not like anime or merely see it as a hobby, you are said to be one who can be successful in life. If it is a major part of your life then sorry, they say you cannot be successful. If you remember, I mentioned a picture I saw that showed two sides; one being anime, the other being success. It was presented to us as a way of having to choose between the two. Of course I didn't agree with this! You can have both, not one or the other. In order to find and follow what really makes you happy, it's best to get out of this thinking. So similarly speaking, I believe that if you want to have a career path or life go...

With midterms coming to a close for me, I am now regaining a lot of time to continue my Japanese self-study. Luckily, Japanese is always fresh in my mind due to class, but I feel the need to put in extra study time outside of school. Going through textbooks and such is great practice yes, but how about doing something that's fun and smart? I've made learning Japanese and brushing up on it pretty easy with a few simple methods. Use Technology to Your Advantage So you might be asking, what kind of technology? Basically anything that you use on a daily basis, for any amount of time. That means phones, video game consoles, and laptop/computers. In order to get used to a Japanese environment, I turn all my electronics to Japanese. My laptop itself is in Japanese, my Google Chrome is in Japanese, and my Playstation 3 is in Japanese. Give it a try, and if you have trouble trying to change your device's language, Google is always here to help. (Or leave a comment!) ...

The new season of anime has begun, and as promised, I've started watching the series I placed on my watchlist. So far, I've been really enjoying a certain one more than the rest. That's right, Denki-Gai no Honya-san. So I'd like to share my thoughts on the anime with you guys, hopefully you don't mind! First things first, if you're a passerby or if you haven't read any of my anime specific posts, then you may not know how things work. I don't really do reviews or talks on each episode. Instead, I'd rather just give my thoughts on the series, and let my readers go forth and view the anime for themselves. With that in mind, let's begin! Denki-Gai no Honya-san, or translated The Electric Town's Bookstore, is a series that focuses more on slice of life aspects. All of the key characters work at the bookstore, which is stated in the name. Most of the characters are referred to by nicknames, and from the first episode, there aren't reall...

I remember a long time ago when I was in middle school, anime was seen as a negative thing. If you liked anime or manga, you were considered weird. For some reason, liking most things that came from a different culture were viewed as wrong. Although I had support at home and around the family, many people still didn't understand my interests. It almost felt like otaku were the minority; that they weren't important or inferior for some reason. Many of us had to hide our interests from our peers, and the ones that didn't, faced many mocking comments and various other forms of bullying. It's like a type of discrimination in a way, not anything to do with race or ethnic groups, but simply for being different . Things started to change when I began my last year of middle school and high school years. I started to be more open about my interests and not worry about people's opinions. I have to say that it was a hard switch, but it was definitely worth it. I att...

Sorry about the lack of posts, but there's been so much going on lately, that I've had little time to just sit and think. I get most of my ideas from dreaming, like my blog's name. No, not literally dreaming at night, but day dreams and thinking about the future. I guess this post could be considered a blog update, but it's basically me just talking about my thoughts now that I've finally gotten the chance to sit and think about my blog, and anime of course. Although my individual posts may not get enormous amounts of views, the fact that my blog has now reached 50k total, is pretty stunning. I never expected so many people would read my writing, much less, I didn't expect it to be any good. So I thank everyone single one of those viewers! I will continue to bring forward new posts and topics, relating to anime, video games, Japan, and more. I have also been watching a few new anime during this season. I will make posts on those soon, just please give me ...

Hello everyone! This post is probably coming through a little late, (it's officially 10/11 now! ^^;) but I just wanted to say Happy Birthday to Naruto! I always tend to remember his unique birthday of 10/10, but last time I forgot to post about it. I'm making up for it now! Most people know Naruto already, so I'd just like to give a little background about my love for the anime. I basically started watching Naruto when I was just entering 6th grade. I finally had access to a laptop, and I was just getting into the depths of technology. This was around the time YouTube was created, and you could find virtually anything online, including full Naruto episodes. If you know me well, you'd know that I love English dubs and I love the hard wok the voice actors put into their work. So of course, since I started Naruto with dubs, this version has a special place in my heart. I guess you could call Naruto somewhat of a gateway anime for me. I watched things like Pokemon an...

It has been a long time since I found out about Vocaloid . I remember somehow discovering a few songs when browsing YouTube one day. I was seeing Hatsune Miku everywhere. I was wondering, what in the world is this? So I proceeded to browse through a few videos. Unlike some people, when I first heard the voice I thought they sounded so nice! They were also anime characters to boot! However, I didn't quite understand how Vocaloid worked so I proceeded to do a little research. I found out that even though Vocaloid uses real voices, the characters basically are singers on their own. The whole process is a little extensive, but I knew from that point on that I found something I really loved.  Unfortunately, the Vocaloid software itself was pretty expensive. On top of that, I liked many characters, a few being Miku, Luka, and Gumi. So to do anything that required more than one singer, I'd have to buy the software multiple times. I definitely didn't want to do that! ...

If you're involved in the gaming community, you've probably been notified of the recent release of Super Smash Bros. for the 3DS. If not, you're learning about it now! Smash Bros. released on October 3rd, for the North American audience. We've just learned that the Wii U version will release on November 21st, again for North America. As for me, I was lucky enough to pick up the game on release day. I'm a huge Nintendo fan and I've played all the Smash games, so I was looking forward to this one. I wasn't going into this blind of course. Before now I watched many videos of the Japanese version and even got a chance to play the special demo. I had a lot of high hopes for this game. Now that I've played the game for a good amount of time I can say that I am definitely not disappointed . This Smash feels like the best one I've ever played. Even though the hype is starting to settle down and different tactics and mechanics are coming out, the gam...

It's been quite a bit since I've done a "Let's Share" that focuses on a single person. Like I said when I started the series, I want to focus on people who don't always get noticed, but have a lot of talent and potential. We talk about the "greats" all the time, but what about the people who are working hard, but not recognized? They need attention too. So today for you all, I'd like to focus on an artist who I think is amazing. I love looking into wonderful works of art, and a certain person's stands out to me. For today's spotlight, I'd like to showcase Racho-chan. For a complete list of her work, please check out her Twitter which can be found at this link . She doesn't necessarily focus on one subject, as her work involves drawings of anime characters, as well as realistic art. The quality between both does not decrease though, as you can tell that a lot of work was put into each drawing. On top of this Racho-chan is ...

The people we look up to, the figures we respect, and the ones who inspire us, can all be referred to by a common name. That's right, role models. They may not be anything special or famous. They may not have large amounts of money. Actually, they may not have anything. The only common thing they tend to have is the ability to inspire and cause a change in others. It's interesting that a person with nothing or someone low in social status can have the power to move others. That is a strength that seems to be underestimated. Until now, I hadn't realized the massive effects someone could have on another person. Negative words from someone you respect can kill your drive, your motivations. Positive words can push you forward.  If you've read my last post , you know that being an otaku is not always an easy feat. I was faced with someone who I respected, and they pretty much shattered my expectations. I'm not someone to stay focused on the past, so I'm no...

Do you ever wonder what people go through in their daily lives? Before you laugh and belittle someone, how about thinking about what they confront, what they face, the many challenges they endure. What if you were that person who you are looking down on, at this point in time?  I'm basically making this post, because of events that have happened to me recently. As you all know, I consider myself an otaku. Yes, I go outside, but I consider myself an otaku. I'm aware that this isn't the "textbook" definition , but I define the word in a different way compared to everyone else.  I've done many posts on what it means to be otaku. I've examined the myth of deciding between anime or success, the stereotypes that otaku face, and other things. Although I've been talking about them, I haven't always been the one in the line of fire when it comes to discrimination. However, today I was faced with it directly. Not only that, it came from a teac...