Thoughts in 2D

The last blast of my summer! and I'll talk about it tonight.

I decided to post again, and realized that I had a couple of drafts saved that I never published... silly me ^_^'. Here are my thoughts from 7/1/06.... So, Kalinara and I are at Heroes Convention, since I'm no where near the fan of comics that she is, I competed in my first Magic tourney. We got into Charlotte yesterday morning and hit the floor. I surprised myself at how much The Amateur Challenge was fun, I got to meet a lot of players even though I finished last. I won two matches on technicalities. The first was because my opponent didn't show up, and the other was because I was the odd person out. That part really sucked because it was the last in the last match before the elimination rounds. There was one person that had bad luck with me in games and for about 3 matches we were sitting next to each other commenting on our horrid luck and we were expecting to be paired against each other in the final open match... twas not the case. But we ended up playing afterwards w...

After watching episode 10 of Kiba, I keep trashing at the bit for them to bring Noa and Zed together in the plot again. It's nice having the diverging plots, but there aren't enough people yet in the series to warrent it. I hope Rebecca can get out of that image she has with her people. And the glasses wearing guy (I always forget his name and he's like the main villain of the series so far.) Looks awesome. He reminds me a little of Noa though, which will be interesting if anything is there. I think I might hold on to this series, it's a kind of a mix between .Hack// and Yu-gi-oh with a bite.

Tomorrow, the single for the current Bleach ending will be released in Japan. Which means that sometime next week or so I'll be able to post a full lyrics ^_^. Until then, here's a video from youtube.

Last night I was thinking about cute anime that were unexplicably engaging. And I thought of Hikaru no Go. The anime is about Go, how is it possible to have an action packed series about Go? It's not exactly Yu-Gi-Oh or any of its clones (not that I actually watch the show or get turned into a mindless zombie when I'm flipping through the channels when it happens to be on). There are no giant monsters looming over the gaming bored ready to smite the opponents' monsters at verbal command. So what is it that makes Hikaru no Go so fantastically action packed? Great story telling. It's simple fantastically and all about learning that strength and ability are found within yourself and that those that inspire you to greatness are always with you even when their souls have departed. Ok, so I'm a sentimental sap. What can you do? ^_^

I'm so happy this week! I thought this was going to be the most depressing time of my life. Things didn't go quite as well as I'd hope they would these past few months and my last day at my old job on last Friday. BUT! In a whiplash of events everything is turned around and I have a new job, so to celebrate, an amv of Kingdom Hearts 2! :) If you don't want spoilers for the game.. don't click play :P

I decided to add a "Currently Watching" List. I'm too much of a prude to list all the manga I'm reading. The list is actually pretty small. I guess I'll post a list of list of manga I've got my eye on for releases, Like Crimson Spell and anything by Akino Matsuri or Morimoto Shuu in general. The only live action show on my list that I'll most likely blog about here, however, is Doctor Who. Comments on Kamen Rider will go to my Sentai blog . And with that I say... "I like Swords!" ^_^

OK, first off, I know there's going to be a debate over my translation. So to alleviate some of the questions, I've provided the japanese I translated from. If you by chance have a different set of lyrics, then email them to me . I'll listen to the song again and match it up. Yes, my translation is different from Dattebayo that's because the lyrics I have different slightly from the ones they show on the ending. I'm not saying they're wrong, I'm just saying I have a different set. If you speak japanese and have suggestions for different wording, by all means either email me or post them in the comments section, I'll take them under advisement. And now without further ado, MY PACE by Sunset Swish - English Translation Count 1. It's good to improve Count 2. It's good to rest Count 3. It's good to think It's good to be able to progress at my own pace. Left behind in the river of time you must not forget your impatient feelings "This r...

Ok, so classes are finally over and I can finally get to translating the 6th Ending of Bleach. The 7th ending is already here, I actually like it, not as much as My Pace of course :P. The new opening is also pretty cool. I'm also awaiting the 4th Volume of Vampire Hunter D. It' supposed to be out next month. I don't know how much more I'll be able to take of this series. There's always a damsel in distress most of the time she's a strong independent woman. Sometimes the change is for the better in the character and sometimes not, but the fact that the whole series is like this makes me tired. I just hope Mephistopheles shows up soon. that should be interesting.

The lately seems to be to turn non-convention on its ears. BL and Yaoi readers have gotten used to the helpless innocent and almost always younger student, being cornered and manipulated into sex that they could only dream of in the past. Take Desire for example. Toru is the shy bashiful friend of Ryoji the dashing Lady's Man. Ryoji wants to experiment out of the blue and this should make Toru happy, however, he believes Ryoji's feelings aren't true and that they are merely "fuck buddies", through the course of the manga everything is made alright and two boys become closer. The entire time you could replace Toru with a girl and the story would absolutely be the same. My proof? Ouran High School Host Club. I've only managed to catch the first chapter or so of the manga, but I'm current with the anime series so far at 5 episodes. Fujioka Haruhi, a scholarship student at a very exclusive high school, stumbles across the school's host club and accidently...

I was going to wait until after finals to post again... must concentrate on studying. but when I was checking for updates that I hadn't seen in a while I ran across the latest Nakama scans for Crimson Spell I quickly downloaded the three I'd missed. A little bit about Crimson Spell ... First and foremost, it is a yaoi manga, if you're offended grossed out by yaoiness, well stop reading and look at my bleach post. It will make you feel warm and fuzzy inside to sing along to the song ^_^. ...Read more Ok now that the obligatory warning is out of the way, Crimson Spell is a yaoi manga that kind of turns a few stereotypes on their ears. And keeps them at the same time. The Crown Prince of Aresweis whose name is Valdrigue, Val for short (thank god!) is cursed when he uses a mystical (cursed) sword to save his kingdom. This reminds me of another prince from an American animation from the 80s. The curse causes the prince to transform into a a dark haired bishi demon with tatto...

I really hate this time of year... I thought I'd have a little fun with my research papers this year and write them on cool things. Like video games and movies... well that's all fine and good... but I spent just a *tad* bit too much time researching :-P now everything's due this week and I've barely got a thesis statement to start the damn thing... Oh well... Here's to burning that midnight oil!! After finals week I'll get to translating My Pace, and getting the full lyrics to the new Bleach ending :)

I don't know why it's taken me so long to get around to actually watch the Petshop of Horrors OVA series. I sat down and watched all 4 episodes. I really like Count D. As fey as he is. He's really cool. He's got to be the best business man in the world if so many people die after buying pets from him. Making them sign a contract goes a long way I guess. After watching the series I cracked open the manga I had laying in the pile of "I'll get to it one of these days" and the very first page nearly made me spray my tea all over the book, laughing so hard. The first page makes a direct reference to Gremlins . The rules of the contract he quotes: 1) keep them out of bright light.. 2) Don't get them wet... 3) Don't feed them after midnight (paraphrased of course.) The case the man has carrying "Gizmo" out in is even the same! This made me laugh... I'll scan a pick while at work tomorrow. This couldn't have been anything other than a hom...

So, after beating Comcast over the head with a stick to get my internet back... I'm here! :) yay for me. So my general quiet search for non-pissy (emasculated) bottoms in yaoi manga has turned slightly more toward doing an actual research paper for my art history class. Who would have thought there'd be so much 16th & 17th century explicit images of men having sex in japanese literature?! Now I have to actually pick an image or two and bring my paper into focus. How ever will I survive looking at such graphic images and stay objective? :P

After watching the first season of Meine Liebe I've come to the conclusion that "My Love" refers to the country of Kuchen where the story takes place versus a specific character in the anime. Additionally, this series doesn't count as shounen-ai or yaoi. Many might disagree with me, but it's true. I do agree that it's extremely slashable. The characters go through enough angst that I can see how it's mistaken for a shounen-ai series. Let's see: 5 bishounen main characters following a j-rock group formala, female characters are non-entities except when they're evil bitches, each of the 5 main characters has a different yet equally angst filled past that makes you want to cry.

Last week I stumbled across the first episode of Meine Liebe Wieder, curious I looked up on it and realized that it was the second season of and anime called Meine Liebe, German for "my love". Having only a very very rudimentary understanding of German, I thought nothing of this. Then I got talking to Kalinara about it, and she noted that for an anime about an all boys elite school... this title is a bit off. I had a nice giggle about it. I've only seen the first two episodes so far and it's rather intriguing. Though if they have any more goofy names I'm going to have a difficult time watching it without cackling myself to an early grave. One of the main characters' name is Orpheus Furst von Marmelade. ...

Ok so I was going to talk about something else with this post but err. well nevermind:-P I'll talk about this picture instead :) It's from Desire. There's a really funny story on how I actually came to buy this manga as I don't normally buy yaoi manga. It's just never enticed me enough to want to buy it. However, two Christmases ago I saw Desire in a Walden Books wrapped in celophane. Just sitting there. Now the only other manga I'd really seen before that randomly had celophane on was volume 7 of Fake. And based on the original volumes I have. I absolutely knew why they'd wrapped just volume 7 in celophane. I just had to see it. Yes, I'm a packaging major's dream shopper. If the package is shiny and pretty I want to buy it. (I have a bottle of chinese liquour as proof of that) With my next paycheck I went back to Walden books and wouldn't you know? It was gone!! Months past as I longingly looked at the shelves every few days at Walden Boo...

I just realized that I'd posted this on my sentai instead of here... yes i'm a bit slow sometimes. Anyway... on with the show :P Once in a while I'd like to see male bottoms as men. My quest continues in the search for non-emasculated uke (bottoms). This image is sadly not one of them. We shall play a quick game of where's waldo for a moment. Can you tell whose moping and acting like the whiney uke he is? This is from Yabai Kimochi commercially published as Desire. It's about an 11th grader with a crush on his best friend,Ryoji, who is a lady's man and pretty much sleeps with any girl with a pretty face. There's the pining -- the endless pining -- and then Toru's wish comes true... sort of. Things get complicated (as they always do) and needless to say Ryoji finally sees the light by the end of this oneshot yaoi manga. Stay tuned for the next installment of Guess the Uke!

In a recent post by Kalinara she talks about how sick Johnny Sorrow is for molesting poor innocent Sand in her comic blog. I replied to her saying that creepy villains go to a convention every year and trade notes on how they molest our heroes. This both makes me laugh and choke back a bit of fear at the same time. On one hand you have a bunch of comic/manga characters getting together and that in itself is kind of funny seeing them in a weird cosplayish way, but then the subject mannor hits you and it's just wrong. Some of the molestors you almost feel sorry for. Almost. Like say for instance Naoe from Mirage of Blaze . He's psychotic after waiting 400 years of lusting after his commander, Kagetora, whom clearly lusts after him too, but won't do anything about it. If you think Sorrow's a bad boy, try a lust crazed 400 year old Japanese guy. Who in the last life, rapes his commander's fiance (this is a speculation the events are still a bit muddled since they're...

I recently went back and read my copy of Gohou Drug (Legal Drug) by Clamp, and it made me hate Clamp all over again. I don't understand this Manga groups inability to complete a series. I found this little gem of a story online and became near obsessed (ok very obsessed) with finding the whole story. It's about two guys (naturally), Kudo and Rikuo. Both have special abilities and work for the owner of a local pharmacy (hence the title of the manga). Both are searching for someone they've lost. Kudo has clairvoyance and psychometic abilities and Rikuo has the ability to break things. Together they are sent on missions by Kakei (the drugstore owner/landlord) where Kudo usually ends up cross-dressing and even voted the "bride" at an all boys school for a festival. As the story unfolds the characters' lives get more interesting and certain revelations are made about Kakei and Saiga as well as the past behind Kudo and Rikuo. By the end of volume 3 I was left with t...

Allo ^_^ Welcome to my wonderful new blog dedicated entirely to anime and manga. a warning, most of the manga I read tends toward the YAOI and Shounen-Ai variety, meaning stories and situations dealing with male-male love. If this is not your cup of tea, don't harass me about how I stole your precious innocence away. Comments on my skewed perspectives in a genuinely educated away are accepted. (ie. you suck and your ideas are horrid will not be accepted, however, I think your viewpoint on this particular matter is uneducated in the ways of men having sex with each other, that position is in fact plausible/implausible and you know nothing about what it's like to be a gay man, however are accepted. Because really I don't know what it's like to be a gay man, I'm a yaoi fangirl that can take correctly spelled criticism.)