Alchemy Indepth: The Human Transmutation Circle

The world of Fullmetal Alchemist is a highly fascinating one, and it all begins with one central concept: alchemy. Individuals who have the ability to analyze, destroy and recreate objects are called alchemists. There are two rules that and alchemist must follow: transmuting gold and trying to bring someone back from the dead is not allowed. In what had started the entire series, Ed and Al’s attempt in reviving their late mother, lies a complex symbol that plays an important role in their naïve attempt at the taboo called human transmutation. This is none other than the human transmutation circle.

Fig. 1 The human transmutation circle used by Edward Elric in their unsuccessful attempt at reviving their mother.

Fall Anime 2007

A bit late, I know, but here are some of the anime due to be released this fall. image heavy post, dial-up users beware.

Dennou Coil OP ED Single – Prism [Ikeda Ayako]

Saimoe 2007

 

–UPDATED, August 31, 2007 as of 6:26 pm (GMT+8:00). keep checking for updates–

Q. What is the Anime Saimoe Tournament?

A. It’s pretty much the anime equivalent of GameFAQs’ annual Popular Video Character contests, where through daily online polls, the most “moe” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo%C3%A9) anime character.

Q. How is it held?

A. All (female) anime characters that appeared in anime series, OVA and animated movies airing and/or released in Japan between July 1st 2006 and June 30th 2007 can be nominated. (Even animals are included, it seems, as long as they’re not males. This means cross-dressers are ineligible, so sorry guys, no Mizuho from Otoboku. )

First there were two qualifying rounds.

After a few days of nominations amongst the users of 2ch, the 1st qualifying round was held between July 6th to July 25th, and has 18 groups. Of these 18 groups, the top 8 characters of each group would enter the tournament proper directly. (A total of 8 x 18 = 144 characters)

While those ranked 9th to 32nd of each group will enter the 2nd qualifying round. (A total of 24 x 18 = 432 characters)

The 2nd qualifying round was held between July 28th to August 5th. The 432 characters would be divided into 9 groups of 48. The top 16 of each group will qualify for the tournament proper. (A total of 16 x 9 = 144 characters)

In total, the tournament proper will have 288 characters = 144 (from 1st Qual. ) + 144 (from 2nd Qual. ) If more than one character ends up in the final qualifying spot of each group with equal votes, the extra characters would also be qualified. As a result, there will 290 characters in contention this year.

The tournament proper commences on August 8th all the way to the final on November 3rd. The tournament would follow the format used last year.

The 1st round proper (August 8th – 15th, August 21st – 28th, August 30th – September 6th and September 8th to 15th) will be divided into 8 blocks of 12 groups, each group having 3 characters (two groups will have 4 this year to accomodate the extra entrants). With 3 groups being contested per match day. In total, there are 96 groups. (96 x 3 = 288 characters)
The 96 group winners will qualify for the 2nd round.

The 2nd round would be in the same format as the 1st round, where 1 character is chosen from a list of 3. In total, there are 32 groups. (1 group contested per day. ) The 32 group winners will qualify for the 3rd round.

From the 3rd round onwards, two characters will face off with each other on simple knockout format until the winner is decided.

A draw is made for the pools from the 1st round to the 4th round, another draw would be made at the Quarter Final stage when all eight block winners are decided.

From AnimeSuki

Code Geass 24 & 25

We finished watching Geass 24 & 25 yesterday. It was wicked and the ending (?) is superb. I didn’t expect it to end that way. The cliffhanger at the end was a killer too. There were so many questions that bugged me qhen I saw 23, and I thought I’ll get at least some of them answered. However, I was wrong. More questions built up in my head as I was watching the final 2 episode of COde Geass season 1. In fact, it took me quite a while to calm down, and now I’m writing this post in the library. Im not going to be able to post for nearly a week.

Some spoilers, if you dare: