Interludium

Oh wow. I haven't done one of these since 2005. I have checked out about 15 titles from the fall season. I thought I'd commemorate by posting again (that and Debi picked a fine time to NOT pick up new titles. So I have to do this for her too). Breaking it down to 5 titles per post. Links to ANN included for those who want a summary, as I suck at summaries so I don't do them.

( Gundam 00 S2 )
( Casshern Sins )
( To Aru Majutsu no Index )
( Kyou no Go no Ni )
( Kono Aozora ni Yakusoku wo )

[Kiba] broke my anime dryspell, as I've found myself unable to watch much of anything as of late. So actually watching episodes 3-12 in one day is a really big accomplishment for me (sitting through one episode used to be a big accomplishment, I've just been really listless the past few months). Anyway, it's not a series that I would say is really good, but the pacing of the story is good enough so as not to bore me and actually made me want to watch more. So I was talking to Debi about this in IM, and apparently, while I was not aware of this the entire time I was watching, I had some unresolved issues with the spirits' 'wanglessness'.

mithas: Also, THEIR SUMMONS HAVE NO WANG.
sofar: uhm, r u referring to the subbers way of wording summons or the anime itself?
mithas: nuuuu. the way they're drawn. they be nekkid and have no wang.
sofar: ......................
mithas: *looks for a nice shot of wangless spirit*
sofar: uhmkay you do that XD
mithas: i hear doubt of their wanglessness! *eyes you*
sofar: its not so much doubt as I dunno what the hell ur talking about XD
sofar: so a picture would be most helpful
sofar: seeing as I dunno how their summons look like
sofar: the conversations we have XD
mithas: http://www.fickleminds.net/junk/ihavenowang.jpg
sofar: *cough*
sofar: uhm, seeing as their spirits, maybe they don't need one?
sofar: or maybe the summons are asexual?
mithas: they should have just drawn them with clooothes.
mithas: *is disturbed by the wanglessness*
sofar: XDDD
sofar: *is disturbed at how fixated you are on their wanglessness*

And I have proof!


Too sleepy to say anything constructive about this series, besides I'm not really pimping it. We'll see how it goes after a few more episodes. I just... you know, had to share the wanglessness.

( random caps )

Never had a use for LJ's scrapbook before, but with 10gbs of space I'm now using it for hosting screencaps and whatnot. Lessens the traffic on my server and should prevent hotlinking problems. Now I can disable hotlinks on my servers completely. <3 I stopped taking screencaps midway because BSplayer hung on me twice while I was capping Jigoku Shoujo. Will post about other series' on a later date.

Series: Mushishi
Eps: 1-8
Gallery: 26 screencaps
Probably my favorite from the autumn releases. The only title other than Ginban Kaleidoscope that I watch almost immediately after getting the new eps. Was initially disappointed after finding out that it was episodic as I liked Shinra and Lenzu from the first episode. ;_; It has not failed me yet however, and each episode leaves me with much love for it. It has a very calming effect to it, so I find I prefer watching it during a particularly trying day.

Series: Blood+
Eps: 1-10
Gallery: 13 screencaps
Watched episodes 8-10 a few nights back. I'm glad to see it's finally picking up. I found the pacing not quite to my liking from about eps. 3-7 (though Em liked it just fine, so it's probably just me), because despite there actually being something going on I found story and character progress completely lacking until it finally started to pick up by episode 7. I'm not as pleased with present-day Saya, but I don't dislike her either, just that I prefer her in the movie and during the flashbacks in Japan. In other words, I just prefer her kicking ass.

I am also wondering whether Haji was the chiropteran that she left alive in the end of the movie. It makes the most sense to me, but I'm unsure whether this was ever confirmed officially. If so, wasn't he the one in drag? *is amused* I will laugh, because he's being all uber-bishie cool right now. Uh-huh.

Series: Jigoku Shoujo
Eps: 1-6
Gallery: 38 screencaps
While I like this series, like the art and like Ai, it's not going anywhere fast. It's predictable and repetitive and starting to get boring. I continue to watch it just waiting for something else to happen. It's still a better watch than some of the new titles, but aside from the nice art and what would have been an interesting premise, it becomes stagnant after a few episodes. Here's to hoping something else happens later on. Behold my Ai icon, because I like her and she makes the series worth watching. :D

Series: Cluster Edge
Eps: 1-6
Gallery: 21 screencaps
*laugh* If you go in planning to take this series even semi-seriously, then you are better off watching something else. Unless you're prepared to be amused and grit your teeth through all the (numerous) shamelessly cheesy parts of the series, then you'll probably want to throw something huge and highly destructive at your monitor. It is best watched with friends, with humor and sarcasm to match. It has shoujo bubbles and men pining over would-be lovers, as well as men in capes who like to pose with big, shiny swords and frolicking in flower fields. What more can you ask for? ;P

1. Would anyone happen to know how to fix your styles so that when looking at your tags list it doesn't use this fugly style? It seems this should be automatic with S2 styles, but I edited my S2 style layers before the tags were put into place, maybe I just have to redo everything.

2. So after two months of not really watching anything, have decided to slowly catch up with old series' I'm behind in. Watched until episode 20 of Honey and Clover and upto 18 of Eyeshield 21 (though I skipped a few eps in ES21, I did catch up with the manga). I don't want to watch anymore HnC until the last 2 episodes are out and subbed. BTW, can anyone tell me whether the HachiKuro manga is finished at 8 volumes or whether it's still ongoing?

I might decide to finish watching FMA once and for all, since someone has been nagging me to finish watching it and I don't really have a lot of space left on my HD to be going on a download spree. I need to buy a dvd-writer so bad. >.> Extreme download spree once I get one! <3 (My priorities of things I should buy keep changing.)

3. I started re-playing FF7 a week or two ago, then I abandoned it to finish Shadow Hearts: Covenant and now that I was going to play FF7 again the disc hangs before the game even loads... Someone up there doesn't want me to watch AC. ;P That aside, I've started playing Wild Arms, since I never played it, and cugami's Wild Arms 1 & 2 games happen to be with me. Yey for pixelized art. Cecilia's sprite dances after every battle, I find it really cute so I end up watching it a lot. XD

Playing old games make me realize just how much the analog stick has spoiled me. I can never play for too long because I feel like I'm straining my hand when using the directional buttons. This almost makes me consider replaying Chrono Trigger on the SNES sim instead of playing the PS1 version on the console.

4. Has anyone seen the newest trailer for Xenosaga III? I wasn't really that excited about the game before, but omfgabel. ;_; Now I want it very badly.

5. There's a group actually subbing [Tonde Boorin] (Or Tonde Buurin? Heck, I know it as Super Boink! lol. :P). <3 I never saw the ending of this series, now I can! I hope they finish subbing it.

6. I never have the patience to sit down and actually write a long post about a particular topic, so what happens is that during the course of a week (or more), whenever something comes up that I actually want to talk about, I'll open my semagic client and write it down. If the post is too short, I won't post it and then I'll wait for the next time I have something else I want to say. Sometimes, I will delete the entire thing and not post at all, sometimes, like right now, I will decide to post it. Hence, this post actually took me a week and a half to write. XD

HAHAHA! Not cutting those caps mainly because I demand that everyone on the flist sees this. :P Otherwise nobody's gonna look behind the cut.

16gb torrent that was so slooow. Took me about a month to finish downloading. But worth it? You betcha! Memories! I still want to see the Tagalog dub again. This was like, the third anime series I ever saw as it started airing in local tv shortly after I got into anime. I am now convinced that Hotta Yumi and Obata Takeshi are Zenki fans. Goki was named Akira, and... *gestures at his character design* Lol. *amused*



DORKS 'R US
mithas: OMG SO CUUTTEE! *DIES* ZZEEEENKI!
cugami: DO NOT MAKE ME ENVIOUS!
cugami: *keels!*
cugami: but zenki <3
cugami: ahahaha cutest demon
mithas: XDDDD SO CUUTE.
cugami: slap!
mithas: *TAKES HIM HOME*
mithas: Lol. We should all have like.. a Zenki marathon or something.
cugami: we should!
cugami: i'm all for it XD do NOT WATCH NOW

I am now forbidden to watch Zenki until said marathon. WOE.

I've disabled my livejournal e-mail address because it was getting spam at least once or twice a day. So if anyone needs to contact me, my livejournal address is not the way to do it.

Anyhow, have watched a bit more of the new series' out. I've discovered I have more chances of sitting through episodes if I get something I can work on productively while watching (even if it's something as mundane as punching holes through paper so I can file them away properly), or if I have someone over to watch it with.

Hence, the only time I got around to watching Trinity Blood was when Debi came over. Snippets of our comments while watching the series behind the cut. I think it pretty much says what I thought of it.

( Screencaps and commentary. Why it's always good to be watching with someone with similar taste as you. )

And the other series' I've watched more of since my last post.
( MAR, Eureka Seven, Gokujou Seitokai, Honey and Clover, The Law of Ueki. )

E-mail for the yaoicest project was sent out Monday. If you didn't get it then tell me so I can forward it. If you haven't checked mail yet, please do so when you have time. Just waiting to hear from everyone (yes, even if you back out) before I set things up.

General impressions on the first batch of spring series' in a nutshell. I was supposed to include screencaps and mini-reviews, but then I couldn't be bothered while writing this post. If there's anything actually worth pimping (other than ES21, because I've been randomly pimping it for years), then I'll probably create a separate post for it.

Series I'll be watching - or will try to, but we all know how that goes
+ Eyeshield 21 - I found the Jump Festa release (Hiruma had a whole lot more explosives) much more exciting than the first episode, but alright overall. Read the manga. I am still undecided on Hiruma's seiyuu, I like the impish quality to it, but it comes out as too high-pitched for me at times. After having watched the second episode, I'm still undecided on Hiruma's seiyuu, but my love for the anime has been renewed. This would be one of those series' where I wouldn't care very much if they make changes from the manga, as long as they deliver with evil, sadistic Hiruma. <3 Seeing Cerberus made me cackle insanely at my monitor. ♥

Yea well, that's all. I have to pull my own teeth to get around to watching anime these days and everything else didn't seem very interesting.

Series I'll continue to watch until I get bored
(better known as series' I will continue downloading but take forever to watch before I drop them)

+ Tsubasa - One of the few CLAMP series' I actually like enough to watch. Granted I don't know enough about CLAMP's other works to actually know where some of the other characters come from. It's not something I feel strongly about, but I'll download and watch for as long as my interest lasts.

+ Speed Grapher - This is Gonzo wanting to screw our minds over again. I personally didn't find it very interesting after the initial impression of the art and the atmosphere set in. I will continue to watch it with the same morbid fascination in which I watched Madlax with. Although Madlax had points up for having a het pair I liked. (Which I initially thought was crack and then had me going OMFG when it turned out to be canon. o_O)

+ Erementar Gerad - I find Coud (main) annoying. I would not be watching this at all if I weren't even slightly curious about where the series is going. It's nice to see Ishida Akira being more diverse in his type of roles, but he still has the knack of playing characters I dislike. Music by Kajiura Yuki, but it didn't impress upon me as much.

+ The Law of Ueki - This kind of reminds me of Konjiki no Gash Bell! in terms of crack/seriousness factor except Gash Bell had more crack. Ueki hasn't given signs of being able to break your brain yet.

+ Sousei no Aquarion - I like Apollo. I wasn't expecting him to be the main character o.O, but he amused me. Lol. The entire time I was watching this series I had "Let's volt in!" echoing in my head. I was much disappointed to have them say "Metamorphosis!" "Unite!" instead of "Let's volt in!" when they merged. Boring. It also amuses me very much that they sound like they're in the throes of passion when they volt in! (I insist on calling it volting in. Childhood memories and all. Though I suspect only a limited number of ppl on the flist will get the 'let's volt in!' reference.)

+ Basilisk - Actually, I haven't watched this, I'd already watched four other episodes before this (watched two and skipped another two to be exact) and I'm putting off watching this until I actually feel like watching something again. Nonetheless, skimming through it has gotten my attention enough (it's not the blood, really it isn't). Actually, it's the guy fighting with strings/wires that caught my attention. Futaroh Yamada seems to be fond of those, and it's been one of my favorite weapons since Yurimaru from Ninja Scroll. *dork*

Series I won't be watching
+ Loveless - It's pretty and the concept is interesting (I like Yun Kouga), but I spent more time twitching than liking what I was watching. I will likely stick to the manga, when it's finished. I suspect I won't like the characters very much (actually, I already don't). I have avoided Yun Kouga's stuff like the plague ever since Gestalt took forever. I will download though, as I suspect I have friends who'd want a copy of it.

+ Emma - I actually liked the first episode for this, and if it had come out a few years ago when I was devoting more time to watching anime, then I would have continued to watch it, but I'm not, so I'm dropping the series. Though I wonder why I chose to drop this instead of say... boring awful Gerad. Maybe I should switch them.

Kimagure Robot - If I didn't find downloading anime so bothersome these days, I'd probably decide to watch this just for the wtf factor.

Pandalian - Panda's in a fantasy type setting? Pft! Nothing beats Panda Z! Unless if they make Panda V, complete with "Let's volt in!" (oh alright, I don't know how that goes in Japanese, I've only ever really seen Voltes V with the english dub) and a brand new theme song. >D

Onmyou Taisenki - Onmyoji meets Digimon.

Futakoi Alternative - It's more interesting than Futakoi that's for sure, but nothing worth watching. The mafia second-in-command reminds me of Ban.

Series I didn't watch at all - meaning I didn't even finish episode 1
Memories Off 3.5 Inori no Todoku Toki
Magical Canan
Izumo-Takeki Tsurugi no Senki


I have to make more ES21 icons. Two isn't enough.

[Latest ad] for the Eyeshield 21 anime has announced Miyu Irino as Kobayakawa Sena and Aya Hirano for Anezaki Mamori, both of which are different from their seiyuu in the ES21 Jump Festa movie. Which means no Paku Romi (Sena), and which probably means no Miki Shinichirou as Hiruma either. :( I'm mildly disappointed. I'm not a big Shinichirou fan, but I liked his Hiruma. Though I think it may have been more of my love for Hiruma than anything else.

I'd actually love to see lesser known seiyuu take part in the ES21 anime. I'm strange that way, and sometimes I tire of hearing some of my favorite seiyuu in all the shows I watch. I'm not as disappointed with Paku Romi no longer voicing Sena as I probably should be, because as much as I did like her Sena, she's got enough shows currently running that can fill my Paku-obsession for a while.

Other than that, have slowly started to catch up with my manga reading again (I've only been reading Naruto for the longest time - and BL titles all of last month.), and of course ES21 was first on my list. I was just laughing the entire night while I was reading it. I still adore Hiruma, and I'm reminded once again why I love this series a lot. Anything that can make me laugh that much is well deserving of the love. ♥

Tohjoh Asami made an [Eyeshield 21 doujinshi]. As if she needed to give more reasons for me to love her (and to spend my money).

That aside, I am taking a break and making a useless list for the year, anime series-wise. Since I've not really been talking much about the series' (the few of which) I've been watching/reading (new and old), so here's my list of Top 5s. Although since I couldn't think of five series' for each category...

Feel free to rec me anything not on the list. I've been really behind as far as anime/manga goes.

But before all that, does anyone have any idea what is up with Takashima Kazusa's Last Client series? Shi-ran had it scanlated upto chapter 6, but it's not done. And it doesn't look like a tankouban is out for it. I can't find anything on amazon.co.jp or yahoo. Want. ;_;

Top 5 series' I would rec to anyone in a heartbeat.
1. Juuni Kokki
2. Heatguy J
3. Last Exile
4. Fullmetal Alchemist
5. Monster

Top 5 series' I'm currently following.
1. Beck
2. Gakuen Alice
3. 20th Century Boys (I want more. ;_;)
4. Samurai 7
5. All the ongoing series' listed on the list below. :P

Top 5 series' I love for a number of different reasons.
1. Naruto
2. Hikaru no Go
3. One Piece
4. Bleach
5. Konjiki no Gash Bell

Top 5 4 series' whose crack I love.
1. Papuwa
2. Eyeshield 21
3. Yakitate!Japan
4. Gakuen Alice

Top 5 3 series' which won me over by the cuteness factor.
1. Rozen Maiden
2. Gakuen Alice
3. Aishiteruze Baby (the cuteness had me hooked for a while.. then Kippei just started annoying the hell out of me)

Top 5 3 series I watch for the slash/bishonen factor.
1. Meine Leibe
2. Tactics
3. Sokyou no Fafner

Top 5 3 disappointments. (it started out great, ended up blah)
1. Samurai Champloo
2. Kenran Butou Sai
3. Otogizoushi (though I reserve final judgement on this)

Top 5 series' which don't get enough attention.
1. Twin Spica
2. Tantei Gakuen Q
3. Gakuen Alice
4. Beck
5. (And just because I don't know why there are so few people who love this show) HEATGUY J

Apparently, the only thing short of a disaster that would force me to post nowadays is cute little boys in shorts and perverted teachers that like to molest them... or something remotely like it anyhow. ;D Took luminata's suggestion to watch Gakuen Alice (mentioned after a passing comment about how my attention tend to zero in on little boys rather quickly.) and now I demand that all the perverts people on my flist watch it too. bathala, you'll love this series. Little boys and crack.

Gakuen Alice in a nutshell is about a girl (Mikan) who follows her childhood friend to a school which cater to people with an Alice ability. 'Alice' pertaining to supernatural powers inherent in an individual, that of which differ from person to person. The series I assume, will focus on Mikan's life in the school and the people she meets. I've only skimmed through the first two episodes, so I can't really say much about it.

Also, any anime that has even a vague mention of a sea otter gets my vote. Love Mikan and her expressions. She makes me laugh. Succeeded on not going screencap happy on this one, so a bare minimum behind the cut. I love that Paku Romi is getting more roles as of late. <3

( Mikan is amusing. )

Rozen Maiden so cute. ♥ Little boy doll should go live with Jun too. >D

I keep meaning to make a post about this series, but I never find the time to, so this will do for now.

Cleared all the missions for Fatal Frame II, finally unlocked the gothic lolita costume. Now I can defeat hard mode with pretty costumes. <3

... for what has always been my biggest yaoi kink to date.

Anyone have anime/manga/book titles to suggest to me which have yaoicest in them? Tell. Now. *points at comments link* Please?


Since I've been pimping to a bunch of people in AIM, I might as well do so here as well. Read Ouran Kokou Host Club!

Ouran Kokou Host Club by Hatori Bisuko
I know I've seen others in my flist mention it, but I only paid attention when hyukta mentioned the twins. >D (Yea, one of the keywords to make me sit-up and take notice. ;P) Incestuous twins aside, I did like the story (of what little I've seen). I love the main character and basically nearly everyone in it. Which is rare in nearly any given series, and even more so in shoujo manga.

Come now, a private school for the extremely rich, whose classes are separated by pedigree and which has a host club comprising of six beautiful young boys with a mix of varying personalities and twisted humor. Enter unwitting commoner studying at the school on a scholarship who accidentally breaks an 8 million yen vase and is then forced to work on the host club to pay the debt. Sound like fun? Extremely. ;D

Now, a few pics of Hikaru and Kaoru, because the twins make Arc happy.

( show me a host club with twins like these and I'd be there daily )

Chinko no Tsubuyaki by Nase Yamato
Two words. Talking penes. kitsune_jade forced it into my harddrive during one of her visits. I read. I liked. team7 has shared it on her server and has had it kill her bandwidth. I now I understand why I only distributed the link to this through AIM (well in truth I was too lazy to post about it at the time).

For those who have yet to see it, you've got to see it to believe. Both the Host Club and Chintsubu chapters can be downloaded from my server, but if you wish the URL plus the username and password, please leave a comment asking for it. Replies will be screened so I hope you have your e-mail for comment notification activated. I will reply to every individual request, but doing this would help monitor the traffic on my server. Also, I don't think it needs to be said, but please do not distribute the url/user/password around.


Tactics by Sakura Kinoshita & Kazuko Higashiyama [anime]
Just screencaps from the first episode. I wasn't planning on saying anything about the new shows this season but I was pimping this to cirnelle and decided to make screencaps and post it here as well. I take my laziness to new heights and barely comment at all, but I'm hoping the subs would be enough.

( screencaps. a bunch of 'em. )

Didn't understand a thing? Go download it and be enlightened. The manga has also been licensed by ADV with the first volume already out.

*after seeing the last scene in episode 23* EEEW.

The Ragnarok animation is the WORST anime series to have ever come out. EVER. I may not like the game, but the series I hate with a passion.

And Yuufa really does beat out Miaka as Most Annoying Female Character in Anime History. I LIKE Miaka compared to her.

And since I don't have time to make this into a proper rant about the awfulness of the Ragnarok anime. I'll leave it at that. I just needed to rantdamnit.

(Granted if this had been any other series and if those had been two brothers, I'd bet you I'd be fangirling. ;P)

*goes back to teh godawful anime*

Ep 24! My last episode. *waves smugly at Mich and Charm*

I've been meaning to pimp this out for ages, but for those unaware of it, team7 has a Fan Soundtrack Project in the works, details of which can be found [here] and an updated list of the taken series' [here]. The idea is for you to create a list of CD tracks for a series (anime/manga/book) of your choice and then make it available for people to download. I believe there are people willing to host the files if you don't have a place to host them in. So go there now and pick a series. ^_^ Tin doesn't bite and it should be a lot of fun. I'm not in it because I can't decide on a series.


New licenses: Digi Charat tv (Synch Point); Princess Tutu (ADV); Digi Charat Nyo, Onegai Twins (Bandai); Kodomo no Omocha (Funimation); Paranoia Agent, Dokkoider, Uchuu no Stellvia, Samurai Champloo (Geneon).

Geneon (formerly Pioneer) remains true to its habit of having a series licensed before it even airs in Japan.

Heh. I'm still giddy over Naruto 212, but thoughts on the second batch of new shows I've seen. Too lazy to take screencaps. Randomly arranged, since I didn't really like any of these other than Monster.

Monster [ official site ]
I left this out of the first batch because I wanted to watch it before I said anything. I still haven't gotten around to watching it though, but I love the manga like you won't believe and soubiless and wetheril have seen it and say it doesn't disappoint. So if it continues in that vein then this series by far, is the best series out of the spring season hands down, I kid you not.

The manga is just amazing. Normally I would tell people to read the manga, but if you're planning to watch the anime, then I'm tempted to say don't read it until it finishes (and for a series that's slated for 78 episodes that will take a while). Not because I don't think you'll enjoy the anime after having read the manga, but it's really a series that has you anticipating what's going to happen next, and I'm evil and I want to see people whining and demanding to see the next episode every week. >3 Although that aside, pick up the manga, you won't regret it.

GIP! I was making a button for the Monster fanlist (I went on another FL joining spree. Pointless things are fun.) and decided to make an icon as well. So Monster iconage.

Phantom - The Animation [ official site ]

When the first five minutes make me go, "Not Madlax Take 2 damn you!" then that's not a good thing. XD It's an OVA, will probably be 3 episodes long or so. Young Japanese man goes to the US for a vacation right after graduation, ends up being witness to an assassination and instead of being killed is recruited to become an assassin.

Phantom is the name given to the best assassin in the organization, currently a female killer named Ein. Have no idea where this is going, but will probably get the next two episodes when it comes out just to see. Nothing outstanding, you won't be missing much.

Submarine Super 99 [ official site ]

You know, when it's a Matsumoto spin-off, I tend to be wary and approach it with great caution. Especially when there's a young man with an older brother or a father or a grandfather, because said family members are always likely going to die while the youngest member left continues down the same path as his brother, and his father and his grandfather and his great grandfather and his great great grandfather... you get the idea. Same old, same old, but I'm drawn to the art, because it's old school and I still love it, so I watch it anyway.

Interlude [ official site ]

It looks to me like it's based on a game, but I can't be sure. I get the impression of .//hack meets survival horror meets quasi ecchi dating game. Will continue watching because my curiousity kills me. If you haven't gotten it yet though, then don't bother.

Moekan

Based on a hentai game. Given a choice between watching this or Konomini, I would choose Konomini. >.> I was at least able to finish episode 1 of Konomini, I couldn't bring myself to finish this one.

>> cutting this short. Will talk about the rest on a later post.

P.S. The Bleach 2004 calendar looks awesome. *_* (As if there would be any doubt.) Why isn't there a Bleach anime yet? Although come to think of it, I'd much rather they wait for the manga to end before making an anime. *crosses fingers*

( F1 babble. Behind the cut because I think I have less than 5 people who read my journal who give a shit about it. )


New season series roundup. First batch. I haven't done this for a new season since spring 2003. It seems like spring is the only time I ever care enough to talk about the new shows out. Starting from the one I liked the most to the least. Again, summaries? What summaries? I don't do those. :P

Kenran Butou Sai: The Mars Daybreak [ official game site | official anime site ]

BONES proves once again, why they're one of my favorite production companies. I believe tricianna posted about this before the season started, but I'd forgotten the name of the series. This is pretty much the surprise of the season. This is the series I hadn't heard of at all (therefore wasn't looking forward to), but holds promise to be a favorite. Last season, I could have said the exact same thing about Last Exile (and we all know how obsessed I got with that show). ^_^ (This was also the case for Heatguy J in 2002.)

And Yagami/Grahm? So there. >3 Though seriously guys, if we're going to give likeness, I'd like to think of Yagami more in terms of Oshitari. *stabs all of you* It amuses me that Yagami has a higher reward on his head than the pirate ship captain. >3

Not really a show for everyone, but if mecha and pirates are your kind of thing then definitely check it out. The series is based on a videogame of the same name, but as I know nothing about the game I'm not exactly sure what the series will revolve around.

( Kenran screencaps x17 )

Tenjou Tenge [ official site ]

sofar go and download this already. You've been watching such crappy anime as of late just because of Hoshi Souichirou. Here's at least one good series that has him playing the main character.

It's been a while since I read the manga, so I can't really compare in terms of story transition, but I like it so far. Hoshi does a very good Souichirou and Miki Shinichirou as Makihara makes me happy. I've come to the conclusion that my Miki fangirling is in the same league as my fangirling over Hirata Hiroaki. Not a big fan, but I never fail to flail happily when I hear them. XD

I love the part where Souichirou kept on asking Makihara what to do when Maya showed up, and Best Bud Bob kept on going "I don't know". I don't remember this in the manga. I love these two. XD

( Tenten screenaps x15 )

Aishiteruze Baby [ official site ]

So, playboy Kippei suddenly finds himself in charge of babysitting five-year old Yuzuyu after her mom left her. It's horribly cute, and we all know I can be taken in by shoujo cuteness.

Satsuki (Suzuki Masami). strangely enough, is my favorite character out of all of them. 12 years old, quiet, but I am amused every time he says something. XD *stomps on athene before she can call me a pedo...again*

( Aishiteruze screencaps x7 )

Midori no Hibi [ official site ]

Boy suddenly gets a girl who's had a crush on him for three years turn into his right hand. Cuteness ensues. I am sold. :P

( Midori screencaps x4 )

Madlax [ official site ]

I've got one name for this series. Kajiura Yuki composes the music for it. Yoko Kanno aside, she's one of a few other anime music composers whom I like. If the first episode is anything to go by, then it's a soundtrack that won't disappoint. Too bad I can't say the same for the series itself.

I ripped this [sound clip] from the avi just to give those interested a sample of the music. This one in particular is trademark Kajiura style.

The series had/has a lot of promise. It has a girl who uses guns and who can kick lots of badguy ass. It's just my kind of series. It was going pretty well, but when said heroine shows up fighting in an evening gown and making wtf poses then I start getting skeptical. I especially do not think a platoon commander would be unable to hit a stationary target (she was too busy posing to avoid the bullets see, but she didn't have to, because none of them hit her) that's only give or take, twenty feet away from him.

I'll continue following the series though, to see where it goes. And also because I want to hear more of the soundtrack before the CD comes out.

Madlax is voiced by Kobayashi Sanae, which is probably another reason why I've decided to continue following it for the time being. We'll see how it goes, the first episode wasn't really enough to get a grasp on the series.

( Madlax screencaps x4 )

Kono Minikuku mo Utsukushii Sekai [ official site | GAINAX' Konomini site ]

I remember when the previews came out this was one of the series' I said I wouldn't bother looking up. I don't see why I don't listen to myself. This was just an annoying waste of time. The only one out of the six titles listed here which I'm dropping.

Tenjou Tenge has already been licensed by Geneon Entertainment (formerly Pioneer), so it looks like it's left to downloading raws for this series. Which can be a rather big pain at the moment, with my server capping its download speed at 30kbps (!@$@#%!#$%!#^%&) and if the first episode is anything to go by, that's 300+mb downloads per episode. I'm so behind on my downloads. ;_; Stupid server! Edit: Looks like anime-station will be subbing Tenjou Tenge.

Other licenses: GitS: Innocence (Dreamworks), Yu-Gi-Oh! Movie (WB), Chrno Crusade (ADV), Koikaze (Geneon), Hanaukyo Maids La Verite (Geneon)

And my BT refuses to download anything. 'I am not amused' is an understatement. And Monster starts airing this week. -_- IRC downloads are just fine (albeit still limited at 30kbps max), but this also means I don't have downloads running while I'm away from the PC for extended periods of time. Since I can't queue IRC downloads to get one after the other, and with new releases, you barely have to queue before your download starts anyway.

Edit: Tracker problems located on some servers are due to the server provider blocking all traffic to port 6969. Further details can be found here. Torrents will be moved to announce on port 443. Old torrents will have to be downloaded again.

Completely random. Amazon should have a 'never recommend anything by this author' option on their recommendations list. They keep recommending Mercedes Lackey books to me. I keep clicking on the 'not interested' option, but they can't seem to get the hint. =/


( where I muse on Gakuto's future career choice )

:: Gah! Damn you, Mura. I had utterly no intentions of downloading 127, but now I must for the Akutsu and Taichi cuteness. =/ Or I can just wait for the subs, since I'll be downloading them anyway for the sake of completing the series.

:: The Gokusen anime ends on episode 13. I would complain, but I suppose with the new season starting and all the new titles coming out, I should be thankful that so many of the series' I follow are ending.

:: Monster preview up. For people who do not know anything about the series, I can't exactly say the preview would help make others want to see it.

:: Have watched more of Area 88 and Gash Bell. More thoughts on this later. soubiless and thistle_chaser talking about Heatguy J has made me want to rewatch the series (of what episodes I have). So watch it again I shall. Claire! ♥

Or I'll probably skip to episode 9. Because I love episode 9. ^_^ And episode 6, because it has one of my favorite Claire scenes so far. <3 And uhm... I'm almost fangirling again. Oh no! say the people who had to go through this the first time around. Nyah. :P

Edit: Oops. That would be episode 8, not 9. My bad.

( Useless trivia about me picked up while I was going through old posts. )

I used to do this a lot, back before all my posts started to be about Last Exile and Juuni Kokki and later on about PoT. So for those unused to it, disjointed, news tidbit posts like this are the norm. XD

So I was thinking of waiting until they finished subbing Twin Spica before I started watching it again. I might be old and gray by then. ;_;

You know, the Gantz preview had me going O_O, not because of the blood and the violence, because that was to be expected from the manga, but the music. What the hell was up with that music?

Also, since I don't really expect Death Note to run for too long. It would be great if they made an anime for it once the manga ends. And in that note, an OVA for MPD Psycho would be twisted, and bloody and disturbing and very very nice. <3

For those who thought the 13-part Mirage of Blaze OVA was horribly lacking. Then you can now bang your head against the wall some more since there's a new 3-part OVA in the works, which is sure to leave you hanging just as much (probably more) as the previous OVA did. XD

The continuation for the Saiyuki Reload tv, Saiyuki Reload Gunlock's website can be found [here]. Saiyuki Reload Gunlock will show us animated 'Against the Stream' arc. Yey! ^__^ With Zakuro being played by Ken'yuu Horiuchi. With the 'Against the Stream' arc supposedly starting on the shows 3rd episode, I wonder if they'll take it upto the 'Burial' arc.


The Tokyo Anime Awards held last March 26 gave the best seiyuu award to Paku Romi! *FANGIRLS!!!* ^________________^ Who's a happy little fangirl you ask? w00t! I believe Yamaguchi Kappei won this award last year (probably for Inuyasha, as Inuyasha got Best TV anime last year). The animation of the year award went to Gundam Seed, while Best TV anime went to Astroboy, Gundam Seed and HagaRen. Yoko Kanno wins best music yet again. ♥

Hirai Hisashi won best character design, undoubtedly for his work on Gundam Seed. He's also done character designs for Infinite Ryvius and Scryed.

Does anyone know anything about Tokyo Godfathers? Not only did it win 'best movie anime', but Kon Satoshi and Ike Nobutaka won best director and best background art respectively for it.

Lastly, Aikawa Shou won best script, I'm assuming for HagaRen, but who also did Juuni Kokki (♥!), RahXephon and Gad Guard. Complete list of winners can be found [here].

( RL stuff. 3 days to print, wtf?! )

I took these screencaps before so I could show Oshodani and Komoro to a couple of friends who I kept talking to about them. Oshodani in particular, because I love him and he's my favorite character in Papuwa. ;P So I thought I'd sic them on the rest of my flist. I'd have taken more screencaps, but my Papuwa cds are currently with caillen

These caps were taken during the Manly Volleyball Tournament (or whatever they called it) episode. I didn't resize, because Papuwa must be appreciated in all its glory.

( swing swing! )

And, I finally tried the Drabble-Matic with my crack OTP. :P How fitting that it would choose Shakespeare for Mizuki. But alas, I don't think he'd very happy about the sea otter bit.

( what light through yonder window breaks )

Discovered I actually had the Chichi wo Moge single on my HD. It's just that I've never listened to it. The songs will be up until the end of the week.
| moge moge version | muteki forugore | hyper moge! mix | karaoke |

I'm a week behind on my flist, so I only got to see this now. thistle_chaser has a list of the upcoming spring series' here.

Will be looking forward to Tenjou Tenge, Monster, Gantz (I had no idea they were making an anime out of these three. o_O Where have I been?) and of course, Initial D 4th Stage. ^_^ And Samurai Champloo is finally showing. I don't know what to expect, but I've been curious about it since they launched the initial site last year.

Also saw the Bakuretsu Tenshi preview. Looks interesting, will definitely have to try watching it once it comes out (and nonsense, it has nothing to do with Gonzo, what are you talking about? Gonzo's also making Gantz btw. ^__^ They rock so much!). The Melody of Oblivion makes me wary, but I'm curious.

Midori no Hibi and Kono Minikuku mo Utsukushii Sekai I'm not even bothering with unless if someone can convince me otherwise. Although I might have to check out Midori no Hibi if only because well... the main character has a girl who used to worship him (still does) turn into his right hand. The implications aren't lost on us. That lucky bastard! the entire male population wails.

My Hime, believe it or not, I am so planning to check out. ;P The brightness dragged me in. Haha! Let's see if I can last through all the gratitious panty shots and bouncing breasts (bo-ing~! bo-ing~!).

This means I have to start watching all those shows I'm behind on before April... >.>

My blinding pink and yellow layout is back.