*COUGHS* ANYHOW, here’s a parody post. Because I love how ridiculous and crazy SHK is. Arina Tanemura, NEVER CHANGE. (Okay, no. I take that back. Handle transexuality and character death better, Tanemura-sensei but that’s for another post.)

WARNING: SPOILERS EVERYWHERE YOU GO.

Enju: Hello, my darling sister for whom we both have mutually incestuous feelings towards one another! Let’s have a happy family reunion!

Sakura: W-what? You can’t be my brother! My brother was nice! He didn’t turn my maids into monsters and kill off councilors! You’re not the brother I love!

Enju: I have grown, and experienced various hardships which I will use as excuses arguments for my sadomasochistic and douchebaggery behavior!

[MEANWHILE, AT THE PRISON ENTRANCE]

Fuji: La! Watch me hit on prison guards and bring out the booze to charm information out of everyone. I do not only hit on the ladies, it’s all about equal opportunity, baby.

Men love me too

Byakuya: Your ways are too inefficient. Watch me beat the prison guards unconscious to break our way into prison.

Fuji: … I think I prefer my methods. No one gets hurt.

Byakuya: I shall fill my narration with ominous words on how this is the entrance of the prison in which Sakura’s brother was kept in, along with a nice scenic shot of the prison itself. Because clearly Fuji and I are only here so that we can fill in the audience on Enju’s storyline.

behold... PRISON

[FLASHBACK TO ENJU’S DARK AND TRAGIC PAST because if you have mangst then your douchebaggery self is absolved of all sin]

Young!Enju: La, I visit the emperor to convince him to let his son, Prince Oura, to visit my sister! I only want the best for her!

Young!Enju *pinches cheek*

Emperor: Mwuaha, I haz midget demon in my hands. Watch me imprison you in the most hellish way possible even if you’ve never committed a crime for anything beyond simply existing. Oh, that, and Sakura kinda likes you too much in the romantic way. If she is left without a single living relative and only has Aoba for support, she will never betray the human race and work for us only! Also I’ll continue to ramble some misogynist crap about women only ruled by emotions to maximize audience hatred towards me.

Me: Gee, I guess he didn’t think about what’d happen to him and his court if she FOUND OUT. Not the most cunning of master plans, that one.

Enju: And so I was held in a water-filled prison. Which I would die from drowning and come back to life again due to my demon side. Which also made me go crazy, and turned into a full demon in order to break out.

Behold, the face of evil. Mmm~ You know you like 'em bad.

[END FLASHBACK OF ENJU'S MANGSTY BACKSTORY]

Enju: SICK IT TO THESE PATHETIC HUMANS, SAKURA. KILL THEM ALL.

Don't piss this BAMF off!

Sakura: I – I –

Aoba: I decide that this would be an opportune moment to make my appearance! In front of a demon out for human blood, no less!

Aoba and Enju: WE FIGHT OUT OUR LOVE TRIANGLE AS IN TIMES IMMEMORIAL FOR THE HAND OF OUR LOVE. WHO WILL SAKURA CHOOSE, WHOOOOOOOOOO?!

Me: Well – if this was a normal series, Sakura would logically choose Aoba because er, at least he isn’t homicidal.

Sakura: BACK OFF AOBA. DON’T YOU TOUCH MY BROTHER AND MY FIRST LOVE.

No one touches *my* brother, bitches.

Me: … But, this is an Arina Tanemura series. LOLOLOLOLOL YESSSSSSSSSS, *showers this series with love*

Enju: I will now show off my posse of demons before I whisk my one true love and sister, Sakura, away.

Here be Demon Posse

[and as our OTP separates...]

Sakura: *outreached hands* Aobaaaaaaaaaaaa

Aoba: *hand motions back* Sakuraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa*

* btw, this was literally part of the dialogue, them just screaming each other’s names. I didn’t even have to make shit up.

Comments:

You guys, I jumped ship. BRING ON MORE ENJUXSAKURA. The more fucked up the relationship, the better. *cackles and pets cover of my OTP*

Moar SHK! Why is this recap so short, you ask? Well, to be honest, I mostly found Chapter 10 boring–I can even sum up the whole 40 pages worth for y’all in a couple sentences right now, minus the SEKRIT REVEAL OF SEKRIT at the end (SPOILER SUMMARY IS SPOILERY):

Sakura: Replying to fan letters is so hard! Why must I be so popular? I will procrastinate and drag my posse to the club treehouse to talk about boys! Also, I reveal that I wanted to marry my brother. Incest just went canon, baby.

So yeah, except for the ending sekrit!reveal (which really wasn’t so secret since I bet half the audience guessed this already), this chapter was pretty dull in comparison to some of the other chapters. I was thinking of skipping this recap altogether but my prickly self and the need to do things in chronological order compelled me to finish. I ended up enjoying myself when I finally sat down and worked on this recap though, especially after I nailed down the format in which I should handle this Ch. 10 parody. Diary format was very fun to write in. >D

Excerpt from Sakura’s Diary:

Dear Diary,

Things have been great since Aoba and I made out in the fields of love. We’ve been avoiding the topic of marriage but he’s been treating me very well! The only disruptions in our happy dating lives are those wretched, wretched letters by those court ladies that I ignored and left piling up till I now have over two hundred letters unanswered. Can’t they see that the only letter I want to receive is from my big brother Kai? I wouldn’t bother with those letters normally but then Aoba said he wouldn’t see me anymore if I didn’t start replying to those letters! What shall I do!? I can’t take my days anymore without seeing my one true love’s face!

Being popular in the court is such a hassle. I don’t need any of those court ladies. Why should I when I already have my posse, Asagiri and Kohaku? I’d rather be off slaying those non-humanoid demons, that’s so much easier than letter writing.

But what do to? Aoba’s kiss compels me to pick up my slack. Big Brother Kai in Heaven, please wish me luck!

Do not underestimate the power of Aoba's lips

~Sakura

Excerpts from Fuji’s Diary:

Dear Diary,

Dealing with the Emperor is so annoying. He keeps talking about Sakura and Sakura’s future marriage with Aoba as if he knows her. Sakura would never think of the twisted ways love affairs can work, she’s simply too pure for that!

Thinking of Sakura makes me miss her. Perhaps I should consider signing up for a spot in Sakura’s fanclub. Everyone else in the court is doing it.

To join or to not join the Sakura fanclub, that is the question

~Fuji

Excerpt from Kohaku’s Diary:

Dear Diary

Guess what?! Asagiri, the Princess and I finally had our first girl talk about boys when she dragged us out to continue procrastinating on the letters she must write! It’s so nice to be part of the Princess’ inner circle. The Princess even asked me about my feelings for Hayate.

Oh Hayate, Hayate, Hayate. I love him but I can’t be with him even though we clearly reciprocate each other’s feelings! It is my fault that my love is now in the form of a frog, and until I turn him back and get rid of these feelings of guilt, I can’t be with him. I don’t want my love to be tainted by these feelings.

My epic love for Hayate is pure and full of longing

Anyhow, that’s not the interesting part. The really interesting part of today was when Princess was asked about her love. Guess who she named? Kai, her brother! I think Kai must have been a wonderful and gentle person, she had this face full of fondness when she talked about him… First love is so romantic!

It hurt a bit though when Sakura and Aoba decided to go all lovey-dovey right after though, especially since I just told her about Hayate and stuff. But I’ll try not to begrudge her of her happiness. I’m sure she didn’t mean anything by it. Sakura’s too nice of a person.

~Kohaku

Excerpt from Enju’s Diary

Dear Diary,

Would Sakura remember me if I send her the poem I composed for her back when I was Kai? I remade that comb with feathers and fruit too.

She will remember. And we will be together again.

I can’t wait to see her.

Family reunion time~

~Enju

Now, to the main point of this post: what brings me back to the animanga blogging world?

If you guessed Sakura Hime Kaden, YOU’D BE RIGHT. I’m the most predictable person ever, I know.

I was compelled by the cracktastic developments that followed in the latest chapter so I decided to neglect my many papers and studying for exams to write something for Sakura Hime Kaden. Now, before what I usually did was just post my page/panel reactions to the chapter and have commentaries at the end, but thinking about going through all the pages to do so hurt my brain. So I decided to change things up about and will from henceforth talk about each chapters in parody-style, script-format! W00t~~

And the first up on my list is the last chapter I left off: Chapter 9.

SAKURA HIME KADEN CHAPTER 9 – A PARODY

Disclaimer: I mock because I love =D

[OPENING SCENE IN SOME RANDOM COURTLY GARDEN WITH FALLING SAKURA PETALS, BECAUSE JAPAN LOVES THEIR CHERRY BLOSSOMS]

Asagiri: Lo and behold, our show’s mascot will capture falling petals in her hands and say cryptic messages referencing our poor killed deceased Oumi while really I’m taking this time to divulge in angst!face

Angst Face

Fans: Noooooo, it’s like watching a puppy getting kicked. *hearts*

Asagiri: Yes, mission to get higher character ratings through angst!face: Success.

[RESIDENCE OF CROWN PRINCE]

Fuji: Watch me be cheerful as I plan the rest of my days with bride-to-be, Sakura!

Byakuya: I don’t trust the cheerful ones.

Sakura: Watch as I stammer hesitantly about our plans as husband and wife about living together in same quarters.

Fuji: Sorry, doll. Rules of the Heian court, we cannot be in same quarters, restrictions of the times et all.

Sakura: This is totally because I am a demon princess from the moon and no one trusts meeeeeeeeeeee. *face of angst*

Face of Seduction

Fuji: Oh baby, baby, don’t be sad, I’ll be there every day to give you some sweet lovin’, Crown Prince style.

Crowd of women: *swoons*

Fuji: Oh yeah, never miss an opportunity to flirt with the ladies.

[SAKURA’S CARRIAGE]

Sakura: I muse thoughtlessly about that dead snake councillor dude.

Byakuya: !! I got shocking premonition through one of Sakura’s babbles on the source of some vague demonic power that involves Enju and water in some way! But I will not reveal my hunch in my thought process because that would be spoilery! Oh, and I gave Sakura back her life letter.

Sakura: This life letter reminds me of Aoba and the time he shot me. I miss my once-betrothed prince Aoba so, woe is meeeeeeeeeeeee.

Byakuya: Gawd, she never lets up on the self-angst, does she? Here’s a plan, how about we take back your clothes that are in Aoba’s residence, and maybe you can forget the guy who kind of tried to have you killed?

Sakura: NO, MY CLOTHES CAN STAY WITH HIM. May he look upon them and regret the fact he didn’t chase after me when Fuji gave me his proposal!

Byakuya: Er

Sakura: All I need is Oumi’s letter and Asagiri! I can always buy new clothes later, when I need to change out of the ones I’m wearing now.

Byakuya: … And I guess that makes me chopped liver. Everyone shall rue the day they pushed aside the old lady priestess with foreshadowing abilities.

[AOBA’S RESIDENCE]

Aoba: I have received word that Sakura and co has left. It’s a shame that I acted like a complete douche throughout her stay and I couldn’t be a decent gentleman to her and tried being nice before she left. *angst*

Hayate: I greet my man friends with a weapon against their throat! For it is the manly way!

Their friendship is manly

Aoba: Damn straight, bro. Allow me to follow up on that greet with a sucker bitchslap

Hayate: WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!

Aoba: YOU AVOIDED ME! MY FEELINGS ARE HURT! I WALLOW IN MANPAIN!

Hayate: I was a FROG. It is not manly to appear frog-like in the presence of friends.

Aoba: And it’s okay with Kohaku?

Hayate: First of all, she ain’t a man. Also, the woman of my dreams is kind of carrying me around in between her breasts, how can I pass that up?

Every boy frog's wet dream

Aoba: … Some guys get all the luck. My girl ditched me.

Hayate: Let’s talk about it!

Aoba: No. Instead I will distract you from your attempt to talk about my feelings by talking about your feelings for Kohaku

Hayate: *rightly distracted*

Kohaku: Boys, I should have known to never trust them to stay on the plan.

Aoba: I will finally man up and talk about my feelings of love by revealing to my childhood friends that I love Sakura but she seems to like another guy so I backed down.

Sakura: *bursts out of nowhere* IDIOT, WHY DID YOU JUST ACCEPT IT AND GIVE UP WHY DIDN’T YOU CHASE AFTER ME I WAS TESTING YOUR LOVE YOU’RE SO STUPID AND UNMANLY AND I WILL THROW WRAPPED CLOTH AT YOU AND GO TEARY EYED AND RUN AWAY NOW.

Me: Er, I thought she was in the carriage? I should stop trying to follow the logic in this manga, I know

Aoba: Following the conventions of shoujo manga I must now run after my fated woman. *runs*

Hayate: Obviously I must take advantage to this moment to grope my one true love!

Kohaku: Remind me, why are we childhood friends again?

[SOME SCENIC GARDEN WHEREIN OUR TWO LOVERS RUN THROUGH THE FIELDS OF LOVE AND ROMANCE]

AOBA: THE OPEN FIELDS ARE DANGEROUS STOP RUNNING

SAKURA: I’M AN IMMORTAL MOON PRINCESS WITH DEMON SLAYING SWORD, I FEAR NO DANGER. AND WHAT RIGHT DO YOU HAVE TO TELL ME WHAT TO DO ANYWAY? YOU DON’T EVEN LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE MEEEEEEEEEEE.

Aoba: YES I DOOOOOOO LET ME EXPLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIN

Sakura: NOOOOOOOOOOOO STOP FOLLOWING ME – *trips over grass*

Aoba: I TOLD YOU IT WAS DANGEROUS.

Sakura: Ugh, my tailor who made these clothes is so fired. These layers are NOT running material

Aoba: I was going to keep yelling at you but I am once again overcome by your crying face. This happens a lot.

Me: Of course you are. I mean, you’re a Arina Tanemura leading man, they all get turned on by crying girls. It’s like, a Arina Tanemura rule.

Face of the Tormented Lover

Sakura: Woe, for I love my attempted killer but I already took up Fujimurasaki’s proposal and no matter how hard I try I can’t forget about you! WHO CAN RESIST THE LOVE OF A MAN WHO STARES YOU DOWN AS HE SHOTS YOU BY THE ARROW?

[FLASHBACK TO AOBA’S PAST, BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE LEAD GIRL STARTS CRYING IN EXCESS]

Byakuya: Listen Aoba. Sakura is a very fragile flower with very fragile feelings so you must protect her from being hurt! Will you promise to shield her and protect her from harm? Will you?!

Aoba: Sure I will!

Me: AHAHAHAHAH oh the irony of the ages.

[BACK IN PRESENT, IN FIELD OF LOVE]

Aoba: When you have a girl tearing up and ranting about her angst and love problems the obvious solution is to make out with her!

Me: … I see why you and Fujimurasaki are related now.

Aoba: Hear me out on the reason why I was such a douche! See, people told me you were immortal and stuff, and then I thought about how I much I loved you but I’m only mortal and I will die one day we will have to be apart! I couldn’t bear that thought so I tried to hurt you physically and emotionally instead! And I will tell all this in such a way to illustrate that this is most definitely not about my self-centered concerns with only considerations about my own feelings and totally about my love for you! But I will try to redeem my cowardly behaviour myself in your eyes by giving you my life letter!

Sakura: lolwhut?

Aoba; Look at it, my life letter means “to live” or “to be born”. I was chosen to be your fiancé because it would go well with your life letter and make your fate less harsh!

Sakura: Just like with Oumi and we all know what happened to her! I am moved by your compassion!

Aoba: In exchange for my every awesome life letter, I will now unfold the wrapped cloth thing you threw at me oh so many pages ago– whut horsetails!?

Sakura: It seems I must have ditched my many maids and friends back in the carriage in order to give these horsetails to you, don’t you like it?! =D

Aoba: …If I accept this do I get make out scene?

Sakura: Yes

Aoba: Alright then.

Sakura & Aoba: *makes out in the glorious fields of sakura blossoms and love*

SHK - bringing on the mack

[FUJI’S RESIDENCE]

Sakura: So yeah, you know how I was kinda engaged to Aoba but then accepted your proposal because I wasn’t sure of his feelings and you were nice to me? Well now Aoba told me he loves me so I changed my mind about our whole marriage thing.

Fuji: My man pride is so not hurt, for that marriage proposal was a joke!

Sakura and Aoba: Whut?

Fuji: Well, you see, Aoba here kinda lacks some balls so I thought it’d take a little competition on my part to get the action going. Clearly it worked.

Sakura: Oh, in that case, great! Bye~

Fuji demands the fangirl love

Fuji: My man pride is so not hurt, I only make angst face because the fangirls dig it.

Fangirls: Noooooooooooooo I’LL MARRY YOU

Fuji: Ah, my lady charms, I still gots it.

Yeah, two posts this week to make up for last week? =D

So, the majority of the full versions for OP/ED of this season has been released. Hence, having heard the full versions, I picked out my favourites!

As I’m assuming everyone who listens to anime music would know, most of the time when we get the full version of the OP/ED, they end up sucking. Either the ones we hear during the Opening or Ending are the best part of the whole song and everything else is boring, or the song itself is just a repetition of those words for the next 4-5 minutes. But sometimes a full version will come along and surprise you, and you end up liking the full version over the tv version. =D

Favourite Full Version Anime Theme Song of Summer 2009:

Umineko No Naku Koro Ni’s Katayoku no Tori by Shikata Akiko!!! I believe I said this before, but if I didn’t nitpick over the visuals of the OP, this song itself would have won out in terms of my favourite for this season. I have a weakness for this kind of rdramatic style music, and the vocalist is extremely strong and powerful. <3 Also! Random foreign language insert! <333 Awesome chorus that blends welll with the main vocalist!! What’s there not to love, really. =D

Honourable Mentions:

Tokyo Magnitude’s M/elody by Tsuji Shion. I love the whole perky, breezy, summer feel to this music. And Shion’s got a really fresh voice, like a bit of YUI and Colbie Caillat, with a touch of rock. <3 This song never fails to make me smile.

Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei’s Zetsubou Restaurant by Zetsubou Shoujo-Tachi. lol! This song makes me want to dance. I can’t really describe it… it’s just kinda quirky and fun in a morbid way? I’ll give it to this song, it totally catches the whole style of the series in 4 minutes and 17 seconds. =D

The Full Version of these theme songs can be found at Gendon [DOT] Com.

So, everyone, which were your favourite full version anime theme songs of this season? Or which ones disappointed you? I’m all ears. =D

…I completely missed out on posting last week AND didn’t make it in time for this week’s monday. *hides* My excuse reason this time is actually because I’ve actually been mass-reading manga like a mofo. To be specific, sports manga. *insert shocked gasps here* Yeah, I’m gonna have to update “My Taste in Animanga” Page now… ETA: Updated, take a look

So what’s this post gonna be about? You guessed it, SPORTS MANGA REVIEWS~ =DDD

The reviews will be split into two categories: 1) Exactly My Cup of Tea and 2) Tea’s Okay, Have Doubts on the Milk & Sugar.

EXACTLY MY CUP OF TEA

ETA: Both Tetsuwan Girl and Nononono are under the seinen genre and feature mature content. Reader’s discretion is advised.

Tetsuwan Girl by Tsutomu Takahashi – gawd there are no words to express how much I love this series. Taishou Yukyuu Musume fans, this series is for you. Set after WWII, with the American occupation, Tomo the barmaid, a woman so fierce she could give Senjogahara a run for her money and then some, steps up to the playing field to become the MEANEST, MOST BADASS BASEBALL PITCHER EVAR. Like TYM, but seinen-fied and so, so intense. (Though, I was probably biased to like this series from the start since this is from the genius who invented Skyhigh and Alive!, which I read and loved way back when Omanga was an active scanlation group. But hey, Tsutomu Takahashi is a friggin genius sooo. <3) All-female’s sports manga DONE RIGHT, with all the fierce ambition and competition of the All-Male sports manga I find lacking in the other all girl’s team series I’ve checked. It kinda makes Taishou Yukyuu Musume and Crimson Hero look like a walk in the park in comparison. (I like TYM and CH! I’m just saying that TG sets the bar on a whole new level.)

Nononono by Lynn Okamoto - So, in this manga, Ski Jumping is a males-only sport competition in the Olympics. Enter Nonomiya Yuuta, a guy with amazing flying potential who can take the gold all the way to the top! Except, Yuuta is actually Nono, a girl disguised as a guy in order to achieve her dreams. Female athlete + crossdressing! How can this go wrong? =D And man, when you see this girl jump, the art just steals your breath away. My only complaint is that THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH SCANLATIONS OUT FOR THIS SERIES. *cries*

]]> http://galimagery.wordpress.com/2009/08/18/a-collection-of-sports-manga-reviews/feed/ 11 galimagery 14taishouy tetsuwangirl_v01c001_p008_009 nononono_vol1_ch01_fate.nononono_vol1_ch01_004_005 http://galimagery.wordpress.com/2009/08/08/summer-anime-2009-mid-season-impressions/ http://galimagery.wordpress.com/2009/08/08/summer-anime-2009-mid-season-impressions/#comments Sat, 08 Aug 2009 02:31:57 +0000 wingstodust http://galimagery.wordpress.com/?p=284 ]]>

why yes I do realize I keep missing my Monday blogging promise. Maybe I should just make it into “must blog any day within the week” promise? Sigh.

So, we’re about halfway through the summer season. Hence, Mid-Season remarks! Also, new rankings for my favourites of the season.

1) Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 – No one can be more shocked than me that this is my favourite show of the season. Seriously, I mean, I liked the first episode and all but nothing in it hinted at the spectacular performance this anime was gonna have once the earthquake hit. The moments in this show were endearing and heartbreaking at the same time. From episode 2 onwards, there was always a moment where my heart clenched and I’d go “oh” and feel my throat dry up. Like, that part where the two siblings lost each other in the crowd and there was the little boy calling out for his sister desperately, his cries echoing in the silence? My heart was in pieces. And that’s just one singular example of all the moments that happened so far. I can’t believe it’s only been 4 eps! I am also ridiculously fond of Mirai. She is such a brat: sullen and doesn’t trust easily and trying desperately cling onto an air of “grown-up” dignity to not pass for “a kid”. I tend to like my child stars spoiled (Rilla from Anne series, Mary and Colin from Secret Garden) and I empathize with that unique selfishness inherent when one’s a child. I’m with her, and I hope to see her grow more and more as the series progresses to the finale. I’m rooting for the three of them to get home safely. =D

2) Taishou Yukyuu Musume - …The world is gonna end. Not only am I actually watching a sports show, I’m actually ranking it as my top 2 favourite of the season. If I must be unbiased about it, I know in my head that Aoi Hana is actually better than this anime, but I’ll admit, I’m way more excited about catching an episode of TYM than AH. TYM is just cute, and makes me smile, and fuels my blood with the thoughts of “TAKE THOSE BOYS DOWN.” Yeah, I’m cheering from feminist lenses, I know. =D It’s pretty predictable, but there’s something seriously endearing about the whole cast. So yeah, um, I guess I can stop ignoring all the people screaming at me to JUST WATCH OOFURI ALREADY, since I can no longer use my distaste of sports stories as a shield anymore. Only if I still like this show all the way to the end though. Mind, I’m only gonna try sports shows that either have 1) baseball 2) a setting in the past or 3) an all-girls team. I haven’t sunken all the way yet, pplz. =D So plz don’t try to convince me to read Eyeshield whatever, all the shounen jump fans I know. It ain’t gonna work.

3) Bakemonogatari and Aoi Hana – Yeah, I’m tying them. I love both these shows to bits, and I couldn’t choose between them. They’re very different shows, but in my head, they kinda balance each other out. For me, Bakemonogatari is all style and the substance didn’t quite adapt fully onto the screen. The animation is still jaw-dropping, but somehow the story comes up short. I think it may be because Nisio Isin has all these puns on words that didn’t translate (for me, anyhow) on anime tv screen. So yeah, I don’t jump all over the latest sub releases when it comes out, since I’m not all that excited about the direction of the plot. But WHO CARES?! Senjogahara is my goddess. <333 Senjogahara x Araragi ALL THE WAY, YO. It can just have them talking and bantering all day long and I would watch it to the very end. Now, whereas for Aoi Hana, the story is very simple but sensitively told, but its understated storyline and steady pace makes it so that I’m not gonna drop everything once I notice the subs are up for the latest episode. But still, I do love the story and the cast, and watching the anime got me to start following the manga as well, lol. Also, Fumi-chan/Aa-chan ALL THE WAY. <3333

4) Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou - I can’t believe I’m still watching this. The fanservice HURTS MY BRAIN. But the Ep 00 made me all attached to the cast and I do like the concept of programming = modern magic, so I’m still sticking around. However, I AM NOT PLEASED. *mumbles* if this were the school year, I would have just dropped it. a;dlkfa;lj ARGH.

So, y’all~ Did your watchlist change by this mid-season? Any anime shows that surprised you? =D

I think when the summer anime ends, I’m gonna do a write up of each of these 5 anime series on the role and portrayals of women. Of course, ideally, I’d be doing this for all the summer anime, that way we can have a compare and contrast chart or w/e, but since I’m not watching the rest and I will not suffer through hundreds of episodes of shows I don’t even like just to do so, the writeups will have to do. assuming I actually do this, of course.

As some of you may or may not know, the Live-Action Adaptation of Avatar is using a white-washed cast. But you know, racebending is already doing a good job telling the world why this is WRONG WRONG WRONG so go to the link and check it out. What I’m here to post about today is the news that Del Rey is going to make a “manga” out of this live-action adaptation. Here be link

I could post a long rant about why this is the stupidest idea ever, but thankfully wistfuljane has a post about it already so that I don’t have to! Go there and read it now.

Yeah, I’m boycotting this movie. Excuse me while I drop off posters in protest now.

Also? In other relevant news, we have official word from the Avatar!movie staff that They are not going to use Chinese calligraphy at all, replacing it with unreadable symbols. I think this is one of those days where I just hate people and despair at humanity.

(In conclusion, I totally suck at keeping up my blogging promises)

ETA: Pimping out International Blog Against Racism Week Because I can.

Wow, I barely lasted two weeks before I broke my Monday blogging promise. *dies* I tried to write up something, I really did… I just, wasn’t really feeling inspired? =/ I’ll try to keep my promise for next monday though. =D

I love how Sakura Hime Kaden always manages to get me to blog here again, even if I loathe this chapter. Seriously WTF. The only saving grace was Enju, and 1 panel of him being hot doesn’t make up for 40 PAGES OF FAIL. (it’s like Ch. 5 over again, but WORSE, SO MUCH WORSE)

But anyhow, let’s talk about the cover. I actually like it a lot, anger issues over this chapter in its entirety put aside. Their sibling-like resemblance emphasized through colour scheme! Yeah, I’m still sticking to that theory. =D

Warning: Spoilers for the whole chapter. Also, the few pics I uploaded are all in full size so depending on your connection they might take a while to load.

Pg. 2-4 blabity blah, usual mahou shoujo transformation stuff…

Pg. 5 – The skin cracks on the councillor just looks like he gained more wrinkles all of a sudden, LULZ. Oumi’s skin cracking was much more intense IMO.

Pg. 6 – I KNEW THAT HE WAS INVOLVED WITH OUMI’S FAMILY’S DEATH!!! lol, I just thought he sent a demon serpent over, but Arina actually took it a step further and got him to kill off her family PERSONALLY!? oh, the twisted mess, ARINA NEVER CHANGE. <3

Also? his demon form is butt ugly. Just thought I’d say it. (Not posting up image because its seriously too ugly to be singled out and posted in blog post)

Pg. 8 – Byakuya TOTALLY SHIPS SAKURAXAOBA. Why else would she tell Sakura to cover his mouth? =D

Pg. 9 -

Byakuya: Bring forth the water

Kohaku: Erm, how will water stop a poisonous fog that spreads THROUGH THE AIR? Logic!Fail

Byakuya: SILENCE! I am an old lady priestess with all-knowing mystical powers, my word must never be questioned

(The only way I can sit past these worn out all-knowing!priestess/old ladies is to mock them) anyhow, Logic!Fail, Scoreboard: 1

Pg. 10 – *headdesks* If you want to ensure that your Aoba doesn’t die, WHY DON’T YOU STOP THE POISONOUS FOG BEING RELEASED BY EVIL!DEMON INSTEAD OF CLINGING TO HIM USELESSLY!? Logic!Fail, Scoreboard: 2

Pg. 11 – Yes, Aoba, she is stupid, and you love her anyways. I swear, as much as I love this couple, sometimes they just don’t make any sense. I guess it’s part of its appeal though, lulz.

Pg. 12 – I love SakuraxKohaku, have I ever mentioned that?

Pg. 13 – Argh, the only reason why I tolerated Kohaku’s clumsiness was because she’s shown to be capable despite it! SINCE WHEN DID SHE NEEDED TO BE RESCUED BY BOYS-WHO-USED-TO-BE-FROGS?! I’m so over the stupid clumsy girls who needs a guy to save her from herself troupe. Also, if I see Hayate all bishounen-fied in the next page I may just have to kill myself.

Pg. 14 – *KILLS SELF* ><”

geez there’s even horrid daisies BLOOMING AROUND HIM. I swear, shoujo takes CHEESE to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL. *STABS STABS STABS*

Pg. 15 – Hmm, again with the full moon thing, DO I SEE A TREND?!

Pg. 16-17 – … Arina just made HayatexKohaku canon. I love you Arina but sometimes you MAKE ME CRY. *hugs SakuraxKohaku ship*

Pg. 21 – … What? How did you only start breathing in the poison just now when all that time you were TALKING TO AOBA?! And, come to think of it, why can Byakuya still breathe? Argh, Logic!Fail Scoreboard: 3

Pg. 24 – … Do I sound twisted if I say that Enju here looks REALLY EPIC?! *.*

Pg. 25 – ENJU IS HER BROTHER, ENJU IS HER BROTHER, I CAN FEEL IT IN MY BOOOONES

Pg. 27 – … I DON’T CARE IF BYAKUYA IS PLAYING THE ALL-KNOWING OLD LADY ROLE, OUMI CAN STILL BE SAVED. *stabs everyone*

Pg. 30 – STOP TALKING ABOUT OUMI LIKE SHE’S ALREADY DEAD, SAKURA.

Pg. 34 – … Euthanasia, in my manga. I HATE THIS SO MUCH A;SLODKFJADL;FJKAD;LFJA;L NO OUMI~ T______T

Pg. 35-36 – NOOOOOOOOOO *CRIES*

Pg. 39 – I feel like this page is mocking me since it’s gorgeous BUT THE WORDS ARE KILLING ME WTF. I can’t believe Arina allowed her to be a plot device still to THE VERY FRIGGIN END. WTF WOMAN WTF.

Pg. 40 – Arina actually made it CANON for a side female character to completely entrust her life to the protagonist!!! ARGH WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE HOW PISSED I AM.

Concluding Thoughts

Wow, I’m just – I’m so full of rage I don’t even know where to start. (watch, this section is gonna be so long that I’m gonna have to put it under a different page and have multiple subheadings to organize everything) nvm, too pissed to section this off and organize this into coherent form.

Let’s start with the one I’m most pissed about: Oumi.

Total plot device through and through to the very end. As I mentioned various times in my previous recap, I wanted Arina Tanemura to do something more with her than just have her give Sakura angst! issues! to mull and cry over. And I feel like Arina teased us a bit in the previous chapter by giving me hope, and just KILLED it this chapter. What does Oumi’s death serve beyond giving Sakura angst? NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. I hate it when story creators do this, make up a character so that this side character can serve and further along the main protagonists’s storyline. It’s LAZY and CHEAP PLOT DEVICE TACTICS. I’m seriously unimpressed. She made it all official too with the ending on how Oumi trusts Sakura soooo much and will have “faith” and give her life if need be. WHICH BRINGS ME TO THE NEXT THING THAT PISSES ME OFF: Euthanasia

I have seriously complicated feelings about Euthanasia, the right to die, and all that idealogy in this controversial issue. I already have had very heated and thorny conversations about this issue in Real Life that ran around in circles, and even now I can see no definite stance where I can go “YES this is what I believe is right and I will push for this perspective all the way.” But there is one thing that I’m completely clear about: If someone is close to dying, under no circumstances should you end their life FOR THEM. That is WRONG. I do not care about all those arguments where they say they’re doing this because they’re feeling compassion and want to “end their misery” There is just a fine line you can’t cross and THIS IS ONE OF THOSE THINGS. If you kill someone before it’s their time to die then I don’t care how you justify it THAT WAS MURDER, END OF STORY.

And Sakura? Did exactly that. She murdered Oumi. Not only that, but Arina portrayed this act like some extremely sad yet noble thing Sakura must do, like she was being merciful rather than seeing it for the murder that it was. It’s sickening, appalling, seeing this glorified mercy killing unfold in my fiction. Like Sakura shouldn’t suffer jail time for doing this. Like she’s in the right. And underneath all this glorified, beautified scene, all I see is murder murder murder. And I wish death wasn’t handled so lightly in manga, like our “heroes” and “heroines” who commit such acts shouldn’t suffer for doing the unmentionable just because they’re on the “good side” BULLSHIT.

Also Hayate, for messing with my ship and for the corny lines and the daisies blooming in the full moon and the bishounen-fication. THE CHEESE, I’M CHOKING ON IT. Also, now Kohaku suddenly needs Hayate to rescue her?!?!? WTF. Excuse me while I vigorously plan out a SakuraxKohaku fic to erase those terrible moments out of my mind.

Also, the Logic!Fail in this whole entire frickin’ chapter. SAKURA, AOBA CAN LEARN TO COVER HIS MOUTH ON HIS OWN, HE’S A BIG BOY NOW. If she just CUT DOWN THE FRIGGIN SNAKE SOONER I WOULDN’T HAVE HAD TO SUFFER THROUGH THE HAYATEXKOHAKU MOMENT OF CORNIEST WITH MY POOR BLEEDING EYES. *stabs stabs stabs* And how does the stupid snake not strike for the kill after he lets out that poisonous fog thing in the air? What was he waiting for, an invitation?! And the fact that Byakuya can still shout out her orders while the fog was all around. And how Sakura was spewing her love confession without getting poisoned once but in the next panel she just opens her mouth and BAM homg she’s feeling faint from the poison!? Actually, everything about the fog just didn’t make any frickin’ sense. I swear, that part was just written in so Byakuya could send Kohaku and Hayate off for their quality time together. (She’s such a SHIPPER, I swear) Which of course, pisses me off even more. I was so happy when Enju killed of snake councillor dude. That guy was just way too stupid to live. In fact, Enju was the ONLY GOOD THING ABOUT THIS CHAPTER. The ONLY THING. And he didn’t appear NEARLY enough to make up for this chapter of FAIL FAIL FAIL.

Gratuitous Enju!pic because I can.

Bah, must now go and cry in a corner over this terrible chapter and write Oumi fic and SakuraxKohaku fic to console myself.

(lol, unlike last time after Ch. 5, I am not considering dropping the series recap. Still upset, yes, but I’m already pretty much invested in this fandom and series to quit it now.)

Scans by Chiibi

I said I’d post every Monday, and just because I posted yesterday doesn’t mean I will back out on this promise no matter how tempting it was to do so. ETA: hmm, the blog thinks its tuesday, but MY clock says 11:06 PM, so this still counts as monday, y/y!? =D

As a bit of a disclaimer, I’m not going to count Bakemonogatari in this because they seem to be doing the whole New OP Every Episode thing, and I’m already incredibly biased towards that series as it is. ‘sides, I figure it’d be more fun to do an examination of the OPs in that series when it has finished airing, lulz. =D

TOP 3 OP OF THE SEASON

3) Umineko No Naku Koro Ni

Never let it be said that I can’t make the effort to be unbiased when I attempt to rate my OP/EDs. =D Even if I didn’t like the anime at all, I will admit that I love, love the OP. In fact, if we were going by the music alone, this would undoubtably be my favourite OP song of the season. It has random lyrics from another language! It is ~*dramatic*~. There are these beautiful moments where the girl is seeing these long lyrics with strong vocals and then BAM BAM accentuated words with only hard beats to back it up and homg, my heart. <33 Unfortunately the animation of this OP isn’t particularly inspiring, with just a simple showcase of all the cast. However, the animation went extremely well with the beat of the song, I especially liked the part where the song was just hitting up with hard beats and the appearance of each of the cast’s face synchronized perfectly with every beat it hits. And the shaky background at some of the most random times. And, there were golden butterflies. And and and, the end, where the girl’s voice was reaching towards the climax and then Battler pointing out in accusation and Beatrice smirking just SHIFT and all you hear is the other European language (I keep thinking it’s Italian?) sung by the chorus, demanding on how harsh their punishment will be. Lovely moment, and for that it gets 3rd place. =D

2) Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi S2

homg this is such a HAPPY OP!! It just makes me want to sing and dance with it. And this ups Umineko because it did a far better job at synchronizing the animation with the song beats. In the Umineko OP, there would be just a couple moments where they get it perfect. But Haruhi’s OP? Is hitting each beat EVERY TIME. Like, seriously, the “I say, I say, My heaven” part? PERFECTION. OPs rarely have the animation match the music so perfectly, but this is just pure gold. And it captures the spirit of Haruhi PERFECTLY. The whole OP sequence just felt like a typical Haruhi start-of-the-day would be like, and the animation is so crazy and spotless on the wacky designs. And I was definitely smiling like a fool when we got to the bit where everyone is putting up their hands and shaking their head. So cute and perfect. <33

1) Aoi Hana

And then, sometimes, less is more. While Haruhi’s OP made me smile, this OP made my heart clench and fall in love. Seriously, it’s so deceptively simple, it took me by surprise, by how perfect it was. Just like the Haruhi OP, the animation synchronized with the music to a complete T (I really liked the synchronization with the bit on how the lyrics are “Sorry… I couldn’t tell you about the past” where the two hands just reach out slowly, and then spin out to reveal their sleeping form) . The music really captured the atmosphere of the whole series too. The piece was a slow piano, and a low female vocals carrying the song through. But not only does it have great music and perfect animation to go with it, but it also had a thing that Haruhi’s OP lacked and Umineko’s OP had: the ~*moments*~. The moments where the animation and the lyrics and the music all come together and deliver a MOMENT that will just knock your socks off. And in this OP, it’s the part where a hand with the flowers lifts and lets them fall like snow on Fumi’s face, with the song lyrics telling us it will become a flower bouquet. Just, I thought my heart skipped a beat. It was so PERFECT, such a beautiful moment thatf I won’t forget for a long while.

TOP 3 ED OF THIS SEASON

3) Tokyo Magnitude 8.0

There is no doubt that between the EDs and the OPs, the OPs of this season were of a far greater quality than the ED counterparts. (Like, Umineko’s ED? Was a pale shadow, a cheap copy of all the Good Parts of the OP. Bah) It’s like, because the ED is at the end, they don’t try as hard to make the ED music or animation catchy to draw the attention of the viewer. But anyhow, grumblings aside, there have been a couple EDs that were decent. Like Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, for example. Very nice concept with the grayed out background and the sharp clarity of the three-dimensional background of the photograph, with the flatness of the 2D cast. A 3-layered concept that worked surprisingly well. And the song was very summer-like and kind of reminds me of YUI, which is a good thing. Now, all the ED needed was to synchronize its good music with the animation and we would be all set, but unfortunately the creators decided to not go that extra mile, so what we got is what we got, I guess. =X

2) Spice and Wolf II

Wee, animation that matched the beat of the music. It’s always hard to do this when the song is slow, but it worked, and they even matched it with bits of the lyrics in a pretty clever and cute way as well. (Hint: the pick me up part) I like the whole art concept. It was clear that whoever was in charge of the ED wasn’t just slapping visuals together with slow music in the background to pass it of as an ED. Everything about the art was meticulous, with the white background and the frames showing the cast. I loved how the guy was always at the left and the wolf-girl was always at the right, each time you saw them. Consistency in my animation! Now, how rare is that? lulz, the only thing that makes me take away a point is that the music is a bit too dull sounding, even for an ED. =/ But who knows, maybe for some people this is EXACTLY their kind of music, so maybe this ED will seem like a boon from heaven. But that aside, very strong ED, in terms of animation and art concept and synchronization.

1) Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

homg, this was like, the only ED that had awesome concept art and animation, good music, and perfect synchronization to the song beats. There’s even art sequence that had a beginning, middle, and end! If I watched this ED first during this season, I would have actually started to expect like, more quality out of everyone else. Which, I guess, is a good thing I didn’t, since I would have seriously been disappointed.

lol, so now that I picked out my top 3 favourites, what are your favourites? Bring it on~

You know, I don’t know why people are complaining about this Summer having a lot of “crappy” anime. I mean, this wasn’t any worse or better than the last 2 seasons. In fact, there’s actually MORE shows that I’m interested in watching this season than before. It’s been a long time since I felt inclined to follow on a weekly basis more than 2 series in one season.

Then again, this season is full of female-centric anime, and y’all should know that I love my girls, lulz.

Okay, so this post is gonna be divided into three major categories: 1) Definitely Following 2) Checking Out and 3) DROPPED for it makes my eyes bleed

Warning: I’m not particularly nice when it comes to anime shows I don’t like. ^^;

DEFINITELY FOLLOWING

Bakemonogatari

al;skdjfa; SO MUCH LOVE LIKE WOAH. The visuals are stunning, the cast is crazy and awesome, and I’m actually thinking of making recap posts for each episode of this entire amazing, unbelievable series. Because I have so much I want to say on the art and the graphics and the characters in this show, and it can’t be satisfied through this Impressions post. Yes, I do realize that there are like, a million people who don’t rely on subs to get out their Recap post for this series already, and my posts on Bakemonogatari is just adding to the whole cluster of them, but this is for me, and hey, my blog, so w/e~

Aoi Hana

homg GL SERIES THAT DOESN’T HAVE STUPID FANSERVICE FOR BOYS TO GET OFF ON. *is shot* Sorry, I just, the occasional fanservice I can handle, but it always annoyed me that a lot of the GL anime I’ve checked out always made me feel like they were just catering to guys with all those useless boob and panty shots. I always wanted a GL anime that concentrated more on like, the love story than just the girls posing around in various sexy positions and fanservice with no proper storyline. But yes, back to the actual anime: I love how quiet and atmospheric the whole show is like so far, and I love how the feelings of love are being explored. It would have been really easy for this to just be a Fumi angstfest but it wasn’t! The director of this anime just gives us scenes and shows how Fumi reacts to it without gratuitous inner monologue of d00m, and I love it. Am definitely following.

Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou

Wah, Ep. 00 made me all addicted and rooting for the cast~ I mean, I even decided on my ship for this series! (Misa/Yumiko, btw) I’m not sure about where the actual plot is going so far, but I’m completely in love with the cast and Koyomi’s pan summoning magic, and will definitely stick around to the bitter end. Yaddy yadda, yes I realize it’s pretty much your standard mahou shoujo series, but I like how they poke at it and reimagine it into either modern magic (where magic becomes analogous to computer programming, lulz) and how the magic spells are reasoned out. ‘sides, Ep. 00 was really really funny and I can always appreciate a good comedy. =D