news: Skip Beat! an interview with the cast

- from The Scrumptious Anime Blog In Lieu of the Fall Preview #3: Skip Beat Seiyuu Cast (and Director) Interview
With Skip Beat! coming close to it's broadcast in less than a week, here's a nice little interview of the cast and director that I found off of The Scrumptious Anime Blog (who's website link can be found about as well as in my blogroll). This particular interview can also be found in it's Japanese transliterated glory --> here <-- because the title of the site is in Japanese and I don't know what it means anyway. Basically, as far as I've read, thanks to usagijen from the Scrumptious Anime Blog's post is that this interview takes place after the second voice recording. Two episodes have come to pass and the seiyuu are talking about their experiences and how they like Skip Beat! thus far.

Much of the work is already done by usagijen so I won't repeat the translated interview and will simply direct anyone to visit the link above. Then again, no one really comes to my blog anyway, so...

In reading the interview, I found that I must agree with the seiyuu themselves on what parts they are looking forward to seeing. Especially Konishi-san who points out that he would love to watch the part where Kyoko and Moko-san are doing the commercial auditions. That will be so much fun to see in action (or rather in animation)!

After having read through the manga itself to a certain point, there is so much about the anime I am looking forward to. And after today, there will be five days left until the official broadcast date.

As I have been specifically using The Scrumptious Anime Blog as my source for Skip Beat! news, I would like to take this time to thank the bloggers of the site for having all this information available. It's nice to be able to know so backstage info about a specific anime as well as get to see a cute little interview of seiyuu where they kid around in the beginning. lol

first impression: Naisho no Tsubomi (anime)

When I first saw the summary of this anime, my thoughts were quite cruel. It was summarized about a little girl who was growing up and going through that phase of puberty where everything was completely foreign to her. Not only does she have to deal with her period coming soon, but she also had to deal with certain growing feelings of attraction towards a boy in her class. This is unfamiliar territory for Tsubomi.

Frankly, I wasn't really interested in it. A bunch of kids growing up. So what?

But then when I accidentally clicked to the title again not knowing what it was, for some wierd reason I decided that I might give it a try. After all, it's only 3 OVAs long and while the other two aren't available with subtitles yet, this first one might serve some minor entertainment. They're a bunch of kids, right? What harm could there be? Because in essence, I've learned that anything based off of shoujo manga has good endings, cute storylines, and nothing too heavily dramatized. Even angsty themes aren't too heavily traumatic.

I like good happy themes. And slice of life comedies with a twist of "girl growing up and learning to become a woman" kind of piqued my curiosity.

The advertisement of this short OVA series was no lie. Everything mentioned in the summary took place with Tsubomi meeting another girl in her class, Saya, who was much more mature and level-headed than she was. You wouldn't have guessed that Saya was just some snot nosed elementary school kid-- of course, upon further viewing, you learn that there is so much more to Saya and that there's something about her own life she may be hiding from Tsubomi. Otherwise, she's a very good source of mature information whenever Tsubomi seemed lost concerning her mother's pregnancy.

Of course, there was that friend who just had to point out that "Tsubomi's mommy and daddy did naughty things" and that's how babies are made. How cruel to make a little girl realize such a thing... Honestly, NO ONE likes to even think that their parents are doing it like a happy couple because it's just gross to think that way. Even if it is the truth.

In Tsubomi's case, "doing naughty things" such as having sex is definitely a no-no and her young and innocent little mind doesn't comprehend the whole situation. She only knows that it's bad. And so thanks to Saya's mature look on things, she is told to understand that, "it's okay since they're happily married and they love each other."

Is that really right? LOL Who knows nowadays.

The premise of Naisho no Tsubomi is interesting and cute. I wouldn't say it's original since a lot of movies and series have done these issues to death. After all, a girl advancing into the adolescent puberty stage is a natural element of life. The American movie, My Girl was all about a girl growing up and becoming a woman and falling in love... and things like that -- it was also quite popular back when I was growing up.

I'll have to admit, it was quite adorable to watch the girls discussing things such as sex and how babies are made like they were professionals in this matter. Amusing actually.

I'm not too stuck on this series, but I would like to see how things progress between Tsubomi and her friends as well as with the boy she's suddenly attracted to, Daichi. He's a nice kid who tries to help her and be there for her, so you may wonder whether or not he's already discovered his own mature-ness... if boys even really get to that point. Also the next episode preview makes mention that Daichi gets help from Saya as well after he and Tsubomi witness their friends kissing and start to see each other in a different light.

Geez... so young and innocent.

Honestly, in America, kids these days aren't as innocent as portrayed in this anime. They know a lot more things than you would expect them to know, and even more so than you would know yourself at the age of twenty-four and going. Sometimes, you don't even want to know what they know, because it could become a bit awkward. Maybe in Japan, despite their openness in the media about sex and whatnot, the kids are actually very innocent. Or maybe shoujo manga is just simply aimed at being completely innocent and fairy tale like.

Good ethics, maybe. I know we in America kind of lack that sense in a lot of places. Sadly.

first impression: Chocolate Underground (anime)

I have to laugh. I really have to laugh.

The premise of this online broadcasted anime is based on the children's novel Bootleg by the British author Alex Shearer.
- credit to crunchyroll

Basically the world has been turned into some sort of health revolution era. The "Good For You" party is an organization designed and created to make sure that people eat only foods that are, well, good for you. Sadly, these foods despite being good for the health are horrible for the taste buds. This gives a new twist on traditional thinking that anything that's good for you tastes like crap.

You know, I think parents and leaders of the world alike have gone through a lot of hardships already to convince kids that not all health foods have the same texture as cardboard.

And then this anime/story comes along and ruins it all.

Of course, I have to admit, the idea of having chocolate and sweets prohibited from society is an interesting detail. The first episode even boasts two innocent yet guilty people just trying to enjoy a nice bar of chocolate during their evening when their house gets torn down by an army of mecha troopers. And then the leader of this army claims that "Chocolate is evil" or something like that.

I think my heart stopped when he crushed the bar of chocolate. I think I laughed when the house got torn down though for something as petty as a chocolate bar. hehe

I've already seen the first five episodes available to me so this isn't so much a first impression as it is a first thoughts post. The anime in itself is short, lasting only about five minutes average per episode. There is no opening theme and there is a very short and sweet ending theme with preview spoilers for the next episode.

The characters are rather blunt and flat, except for Louise whom you meet first hand trying to tackle a television because it won't stop those silly "Good For You" infomercials that are both tacky and boring and probably annoying when you've seen them for the hundredth time in a day. It also doesn't help that Louise used to run a sweets shop and now has to run a health food shop.

As for Huntly and Smudger, our two little boy protagonists, they are quite typical of little boys except that they are also very curious little boys. They go as far as landing themselves in a secret chocolate production underground cave type of place and then enjoying themselves. More friends are made along the way and the story is supposed to veer into the actual bootlegging of chocolate so there is much more to look forward to.

Otherwise, it's just a cute little story to watch during free time and I'm quite interested in reading the book it's based off of now.

random thoughts: Dark Boots Evolved, Lenalee Back in Action

Episode 102: The Word of Promise



This is the moment I'd been waiting for since the time our heroine of D.Gray-man lost the use of her Innocense.

While I began watching D.Gray-man because of Suzumura Kenichi and his cast as Lavi, I began to grow to love this anime very much. Between the entire cast of the Dark Order whether or not they fought as exorcists or did research work as a normal person, I found I enjoyed all of their presence.

Lenalee grew on me very early on in the series because of her sense of justice, her toughness, as well as her penchant for treasuring those things and people important to her. We are shown that Lenalee has had a tough life ever since the first day she was discovered to be a host for Innocense. She was taken away from her home, separated from her brother, and forced to fight in a way she didn't really care to know about.

And then Komui entered into the organization as some regular joe, section chief and gave Lenalee a reason to live again.

As time passed by, Lenalee came to treasure the Dark Order Headquarters and everyone within which became her only home in the whole world. And thus her sense of needing to protect this life of hers was very great, so great, in fact that she has the willpower to go as far as sacrificing her own life to make sure she never loses anything or anyone she holds dear.

I like Lenalee because she's not a damsel in distress all the time.

At least she wasn't until she pushed passed the limits of her Innocense and lost the power to use it. And then she became just some regular little damsel who wanted to fight but could do anything but wait for everyone around her to save her time and time again. Throughout this time, you could see the frustration and the annoyance in her expression. She hated being the one who needed protection and she wanted to be the one protecting others.

But the wait is finally over.




We finally present to you the episode in which Lenalee is finally pushed passed her limits of remaining as the poor princess who needs protection. As a last resort to protecting her family of Dark Order and all of her friends and her home, Lenalee allows the damaged Innocense to be forced into her body so that she can fight once again.

And the results were quite fantastic. As her Innocense fragment had been shown to have evolved to protect her more than once already, it now ends up evolving even further to create a weapon against akuma in the form of her Dark Boots, but made purely from Innocense that has used her blood as a component.

It looks pretty cool and it seems that by uniting with her Innocense fragment in this way, Lenalee has become on par with the newly formed Level 4 akuma who has been whipping everyone's butts. Even Allen has been having issues fighting the newly upgraded akuma, although he is also the only exorcist among the Order who can keep up with the evil weapon at this point.

And so what happens?

After saving Allen from becoming fertilizer for a new Akuma experience level, it seems that Lenalee easily learns how much stronger her own power is. She feels faster, she feels more power, and she becomes aware that her boots are different than they were before.

This is no longer an equip-type weapon she'd been using since the beginning, but something completely different.

A little motion sickness is surprisingly not what I figured Allen would be worried about at a time like this.


And thus the two tag-team it up and destroy the level 4 who'd been wreaking havoc around the headquarters. The whole place is completely destroyed, the whole science research team is dead, and I'm not even sure how many exorcists there are left in the whole organization around the world anymore.

On top of that Lavi and Kanda have yet to acquire their still broken Innocense weapons.

While all of this is going on, I really, really kept wondering where the heck all those above 100% synch rate Generals were at the moment. To be honest, there's no way they could be anymore tired than Allen who'd been fighting hell and back before the Generals even arrived in the isolated science area to help out.

But anyway, apparently the fight with Level 4-kun isn't exactly over because the next episode continues the battle with him. I look forward to more and hopefully the series doesn't end before more can happen.

At least Allen is still strong and still going. I'd hate for the poor kid to have had to go through so much and end up being weaker than Lenalee. After all, no matter how I look at it, I still feel he should be the strongest of all the exorcists since it seems only right in that aspect.

thoughts: Caramel Milk Tea (manga)

When I go, I end up rolling right through without stop. Hopefully this pace keeps up, but I do have a test coming up and a lot of application work to do. That and business at my part-time is picking up so hopefully I'll at least have time to finish up a few review thoughts on some anime as well as all the manga I've been digesting lately.

Just as well, I'm dying to write about my top ten bishounen and the fact that I've been obsessed with bishies in glasses lately.

But anyway, onto the second manga thoughts post... that is if you don't count this month's spotlight for Sheet no Sukima.

***


Creator: Maki Usami
Genre: drama, romance, shoujo
Volumes/Chapters: 1 volume/ 4 oneshot stories


Story 1: Caramel Milk Tea
Okada Miki falls in love at first sight with Sasaki Ryuuji, a waiter at a small coffee shop when he looks directly at her one day. However, upon bravely asking him out, she is immediately rejected with a simple "The exit is in that direction." Unexpectedly, Miki is now a part-time worker at the same coffee shop and on her first day, Sasaki shows her the same kind of coldness he'd done so before, which irritates her immensely. "That kind of guy thinks so highly of himself just because he's passably hot," had been the words of one of Miki's friends. Because of this incident, Miki realizes that she must have been crazy to have fallen for a guy like this.

Now Miki is determined to work hard in order to prove that her being at the coffee shop has nothing to do with Sasaki. As the time goes by, both Miki and Sasaki begin to see a new side of each other. Sasaki accepts that Miki is there at the coffee shop to work and Miki learns why Sasaki had been so rude to her when she'd confessed to him. But as time goes by and the two become closer, Miki realizes that she is still in love with Sasaki.

Story 2: Our Time
Eri and Shirou have been friends since childhood, but were separated for four years when Shirou's family moved away. At present, reunited barely a month ago, Eri is less than ecstatic to learn that "quiet and cute" Shirou from the past is now "somewhat of a smart ass."

In a desparate attempt to make her ex-boyfriend leave her alone, Eri carelessly asks Shirou to be her boyfriend-- although knowing her motivation, Shirou willingly agrees. Somewhat taken aback both by her brutish request and his quick response, Eri questions Shirou to learn that he's been in love with her ever since they were kids. Because of this, Eri feels extremely guilty for what she's making him do and finds herself slowly falling for him.

On top of that, Eri has a secret she's keeping from Shirou, which she absolutely does not want him to know. The present-day Eri is not so much the same Eri that Shirou had fallen in love with years ago.

Story 3: A Sparkling Mood
Narumi has a crush on the school's top student Miyamoto, but unfortunately she and her family will be moving away from the city as soon as the end of the semester rolls around on December 25th. In order to do something to convey her feelings, Narumi is set on knitting a scarf for Miyamoto as a good-bye present, but is found out by Miyamoto's friend Kanzaki. While at first seeming unapproachable, Kanzaki turns out to be a kinder person than Narumi expected when he helps her choose a ready-made scarf for Miyamoto. As an added plus, he even takes her to see beautiful, sparkling Christmas lights when she admits to liking the feel that they give her and that she'll be moving away soon.

Because of this short meeting, the two become closer as they work together to decorate the school's trees and bushes with lights for the holiday. Little by little, Narumi realizes that she has grown more attracted to Kanzaki and has completely set aside her unadvanced feelings for Miyamoto to the point that she has even forgotten to buy the scarf she'd intended to give to her previous crush.

But the fact still stands that Narumi will be moving away soon and Kanzaki is still under the impression that she is in love with Miyamoto.

Story 4: No. 1 Girl
At the age of seventeen, Saiko is a popular model who is in the middle of forwarding her career. Unfortunately, amidst this decision is also the conflict of what will happen to her relationship with her boyfriend Hajime. Because of this, Saiko hadn't been able to bring up the courage to discuss this ordeal with Hajime and the two end up growing tense with their relationhip.

While it seems that Hajime can be understanding of her decision, Saiko is still conflicted. After all, she must either move away to further her career at this point, but lose her boyfriend. Or she can remain where she is right now, stay with her loving boyfriend, but lose out on an opportunity to climb the ladder higher to her goal.

Maybe it's not as complicated as Saiko thinks it is.


Thoughts:
I'm a guppy when it comes to oneshots. I get giddy and excited because oneshots are short and sweet, and present to you an entire romance story nicely packaged within a few pages. There is no long, drawn out-development, and there is no room for overly complicated issues to take form. We pick one simple issue and expand on it into a short oneshot manga story.

Basically, one shot stories make for really good doses of crack for the romance lover's soul. They're satisfying and their sweet and they're conclusive too so you're not sitting on the edge of your seat wondering when the conclusion will come around and why it hasn't already. One shots have their charm like longer series have their charm like ongoing series have their charm.

Caramel Milk Tea is actually a rather sweet title for this series, taking it from the first short story of the collection. I personally really enjoyed these four stories, and my favorite of the bunch was the first, Caramel Milk Tea.

The build up of the romance between Sasaki and Miki was a given, but the sudden declaration by Miki that "I must have been crazy to fall for a guy like you" was a little unexpected it. I had expected her to be a bit of a cockroach and continue on her pursuit instead of announcing that she doesn't like him anymore so quickly. Most shoujo manga females are quite cockroach like and it gets on my nerves so I was delighted to see Miki stand up for herself and say, "Screw him." After all, a lot of men are the type who don't bother with girls who are persistent and will become intrigued by girls who become hostile towards them. Men are men after all... greedy pigs.

But I digress... and almost climbed on top of my soap box. Whoops!

Anyway, Caramel Milk Tea was a cute little collection of one shots.
My preferences were the first and third stories. The second one was good too, and I really didn't care much for the last. I enjoyed it through, and anyone else who likes short story romances will probably enjoy them too. Usami Maki's artwork is quite pretty, but very simple and plain. I wouldn't really classify her males as bishounen, but the girls are drawn quite bishie-like so it's still good.

Overall, though short and sweet, it was exactly that. Very sweet (no pun actually intended). And for one, as a hopeless romantic, Caramel Milk Tea's first oneshot is one that I don't mind reading over and over again.

spotlight: Sheet no Sukima (manga - mature)

A little late, but here it is, the spotlight for this month that I'd been putting off because I couldn't really figure out what I wanted to write about it.


Warning: Even though this post does not contain anything fairly explicit in terms of adult themes, the manga mentioned is indeed filed as smut mature. Also, this post even makes mention of such things as sex and may offend those who do not take kindly to open mention of mature themes. Please proceed if you are okay with reading about smut.


Ahem... First of all... yes, I do read manga that is a little adult in nature. I indulge because I can.

But aside from being a little smutty, showing some nudity as well as some intense X-rated sex love scenes, the artwork, story, and complete feel of this particular manga by Yoshihara Yuki is actually very beautiful and cute. First and foremost, the work by Yoshihara Yuki, I've noticed is romantic comedy. The smut is just an added bonus to us obsessed fangirls...



Sheet no Sukima is a collection of six short stories that contain romance, comedy, intimacy, and even some angst and drama. But I make no mistake when I mention that the manga doesn't go out of its way to display sex, sex, and more sex as the main part of the stories. In fact, the way the stories flow, love scenes are weaved in as if they were just another part of a couple's intimate life. Because, after all, even though I'm a one hundred percent virgin in RL, I understand that sexual intercourse is a fairly natural part of life.

But my take on the subject is really better off left for some other post not related to anime and more for some unrelated, controversial website.

Within this little gem of a oneshots collection I was graced with three romantic comedies and three not so comedic romances.

First off, Sheherazade and the title oneshot Sheet no Sukima are my personal favorites of the entire collection. Yoru no Bannin is also a cute little story, but different from the rest of the oneshots, it does not contain an ounce of smut at all. Kizuato, and Izayoi are both much shorter one shots that each have quite a surprising twist in the ending two pages that you would have never guessed. Blanc is a bit more twisted in nature with no actual surprise plot or endearing romance, and is probably just a filler with smut on another controversial topic. Of the latter three, Kizuato has a rather sad ending that moves your heart-- even if only for a second.

So why is this particular manga the spotlight of this month? I had so many spotlights planned, but all-in-all, I could not resist making Sheet no Sukima the gem of September.

Basically, I just loved the romance and the comedy within the first three oneshot stories to death. They were funny at the right moments, romantic at the right moments, and Yoshihara-sensei doesn't go overboard trying to cover the panels with nudity or explicit material.

Altogether, the collection is a wonderful, beautiful read. I simply just enjoyed it so much that I just had to give it a special post. And a spotlight seemed perfect.

I plan on writing an actual thoughts with short summaries over this manga, so I won't try to give too much away.

But if I wanted to point out one scene within the manga that I thought was absolutely breath-taking, it would surprisingly have to be a certain love scene in the first oneshot, Sheherazade. As I am trying to keep this blog a little more or less not above X-rated, I can't post this particular scene as a picture and I mention it so that others may see for themselves if you happen to be little offended by mature content.

But after reading over the manga for the second time mainly for the story itself, I sat and stared in some sort of entranced way at one particular scene of the main couple sitting together nude about to slip into another night of passion. The background is completely black and the flower effect is drawn around them to add onto the beauty. Even for a love scene it was quite beautiful and I couldn't help but to just "look" at it and think: "Wow! This is gorgeous!"

In a weird way, it totally overshadowed the fact that the main couple would soon end up making love in the next few panels and that the manga itself included smut. The scene was just plain and simply beautiful.

In the end, the more I think about the manga, the more I felt that it deserved a good mention. Because it contains explicit material, and because Yoshihara-sensei is mainly a mangaka of the adult genre of romantic comedies, anyone who isn't open to such types of manga would probably miss out on this collection of oneshots, and thus miss out on the first two commendable stories, Sheherazade and Sheet no Sukima.

The characters are created uniquely, and Yoshihara-sensei has a good eye for handsome manga men and beautiful manga women. Most importantly, amidst all the shoujo manga that focus always on high school students and their loves and such as well as the taboo on "sex as high school kids", Yoshihara-sensei focuses more on those men and women who have already stepped into society as adults with careers and don't make such a big scene about sex being taboo.

Aside from being enraptured by Sheet no Sukima, Yoshihara-sensei has become one of the few liked mangaka I've found. Aside from her pretty character designs, her comedic timing and the way in which she artfully portrays the humor is very enjoyable. Although unfortunately, like all shoujo manga, Yoshihara-sensei's stories also base themselves around the nice, calm and level-headed male and a rather crazy and hormone driven, ditzy female.

But I digress.

Sheet no Sukima is absolutely a wonderful experience. Forget the fact that it is labeled as smut or mature! Forget the fact that some taboo themes occur in two of the six oneshots in this manga collection. Even if the first three were the only oneshots of the collection that I read, I would be completely satisfied because they are, as mentioned already, first and foremost romantic comedies.

I highly recommend this collection of oneshots to anyone who doesn't mind a little nudity and a little bit of adult material. And sooner or later, I also plan on writing a thoughts post on this manga.

But here you finally have September's gem spotlight.

featured song: Gravity performed by Maaya Sakamoto

-- ending theme to "Wolf's Rain"



Music: Yoko Kanno
Lyrics: Troy
Producer: Yoko Kanno

Lyrics:

Been a long road to follow
Been there and gone tomorrow
Without saying good-bye to yesterday
Are the memories I hold still valid?
Or have the tears deluded them?

Maybe this time tomorrow
The rain will cease to follow
And the mist will fade into a new today
Something somewhere out there
keeps calling

Am I going home?
Will I hear someone
singing solace to the silent moon?
Zero gravity, what's it like?

Am I alone...?

Is somebody there beyond these heavy aching feet?
Still the road keeps on telling me to go on...

Something is pulling me
I feel the gravity of it all


Thoughts:
I first got this song because it is sung by Maaya Sakamoto and because it was an ending theme to an anime that seems to be very popular. While I haven't seen Wolf's Rain myself, I've read rather good reviews about it-- good artwork, good storyline, good concept, beautiful scenery, etc, etc, etc...

The song in itself is beautiful. Maaya Sakamoto's voice is perfect for Gravity; very pretty and with randomly fluctuating tones at all the right places. She brings the song to life and even enunciates the english words wonderfully. Even without having watched the anime, I can scarcely imagine abstract images of what Wolf's Rain would be like if I decided to watch it, which I'm becoming very tempted just because of this song alone.

It's a very lonely, very sad feeling that you get listening to the music and the lyrics, but it seems that the road that is being followed is eventually leading somewhere. Loneliness won't last long, but as the first line says, it's still "a long road to follow." The song itself is full of hopes of a better day to come, and from what I know of the synopsis of Wolf's Rain, this song perfectly represents the feelings of the main characters and their desire to be able to roam freely once again as wolves and not have to hide anymore.

news: Skip Beat! October 5!! and counting!!

So it has come to my attention that the oh-so-wonderful anime adaptation of Skip Beat! shall be airing soon. According to my own sources a la certain download websites, it is noted that the broadcast day for Skip Beat! is set for October 6 October 5.

While finding this out, I had very dearly wanted to include a countdown clock in my sidebar to document this event. Unfortunately, my other sources are a little limited and so sadly I could not include one. Maybe I'll just create my own little piece of artwork with the broadcast date day in bold letters.

That'll be fine.

But anyway, until then... or if the date changes, because my sources are limited and not always reliable... I will be looking forward to the airing of Skip Beat!'s anime adaptation next month.

***

This post has been edited, because unfortunately, Ani got it wrong once again. Of course, it might just be that I got it right and wiki got it wrong. But I guess we'll see.

thoughts: Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning (anime)

I have to say, if there is something that I like about this guy, it's his very handsome glasses wearing look.
Creator: Shirodaira Kyou
Genre: mystery, drama, comedy
Episodes: 25

The premise of Spiral is based around Narumi Ayumu's search for his older brother Kiyotaka through those known as the Blade Children. Narumi Kiyotaka disappears without a trace two years ago and left only "Blade Children" as a clue to his little brother over the phone. Just as well, Kiyotaka also left behind his newly wed wife Madoka who ends up taking on the role of older sister to Ayumu.

In the present, murders occur that surround both Ayumu wherein he learns the first clues he's had about the Blade Children since his last contact with Kiyotaka. Because of this, Ayumu reluctantly walks into the schemes of these Blade Children time and time again, whether to help his newest partner in crime, Yuizaki Hiyono, or because of sheer interest in finding his brother's whereabouts through these Blade Children.

Cryptic much...

- credits to Spiral @ wikipedia

He's not the best looking bishie, but he gets brownie points for having a good sense of fashion and nice hair.
Narumi Ayumu -- voiced by Suzumura Kenichi
As the main protagonist of Spiral, Ayumu is a highly intelligent, though fairly uncaring high school boy in his first year. His daily routine involves skipping classes to sleep on the roof, then going home to cook dinner for his sister-in-law turned elder sister, Madoka.


Ayumu shows very little care for anything going on around him, but his interest is always piqued when anything that may have to do with his elder brother is mentioned. For two years, both he and Madoka have struggled in the search for Kiyotaka and with the appearance of the Blade Children, both become obsessed with searching for the truth behind the murders involved.

As a person, I feel like I can overpower Ayumu simply by punching him in the face, which is what I am tempted to do a lot throughout the series. Ayumu is not, by any means, a horrible person, nor is he an arrogant ass either, but the extent of his wallowing can get very annoying after a while. After all, this boy is highly intelligent, can solve all the murder cases in the blink of an eye, and can figure out problems without sweating. He's a great cook, apparently, and everyone else around him has the utmost faith that he can do anything he puts his mind to doing.

Men who can cook get +10 points in my book. Anime males voiced by Suzuken-sama get +100 more. And bishies with the cool look get another +10. Sadly, it's also -50 for unnecessary melancholy...
But in practically every episode, he is constantly comparing himself to Kiyotaka and claiming that he just can't do what everyone expects of him. What he doesn't seem to be able to grasp is the fact that, for an average human being, he has already surpassed normal expectation and needs to learn how to believe in himself every so often. But instead, he just compares himself to his older brother and then sulks.

It's fairly annoying. And then the way he treats Hiyono is also unforgivable, even if he has his redeeming moments where he actually considers her a friend.

In the end, however, I actually like this guy quite a bit. Poor kid simply has an overwhelming brother complex and was probably constantly compared to Kiyotaka during their childhood. Even if one were to tell him not to aim for Kiyotaka's level and simply aim as high as he can, he wouldn't be able to do it. In short, the way he can warm up to Hiyono finally and accept his potential and at least try and do what he can is commendable.

Ayumu, no matter what the situation, will come around eventually and come through for us and solve the problems without a sweat.

Being voiced by my favorite seiyu, Suzuken gives him bonus points for personality. Kenichi Suzumura does excellently in these calm, cool guy roles and it shows. He portray's Ayumu's boredom, his struggle, and his heck-care attitude smoothly.


In the end, Ayumu, I believe, just needs that little pick-me-up (though consistently) to realize that he isn't a loser. Which is where his partner, the infamous school journalist comes into play.


Splash screens make for good Hiyono-chin introductory scenes.
Yuizaki Hiyono -- voiced by Asano Masumi
Hiyono is probably one of the most lovable female characters in anime history. Though her antics and actions may come off as annoying and over the top for anyone else, she manages to pull them off wonderfully because of her cheery personality and her redeeming optimistic views on life. As the school journalist, Hiyono's network of information is extremely expanse which proves very useful in helping Ayumu with his investigations. Hiyono herself is very admirable for the way in which she is able to obtain information that any average high school student wouldn't be able to get.

Throughout the series, Hiyono is a very happy-go-lucky, intelligent, and optimistic girl. Her faith in Ayumu's ability is her winning trait, and ever since she meets him from episode one, her loyalty and faith in him is unwavering, not even for a second. When near the end it seems she has lost faith in him, she unexpectedly turns around and says to him, "Seems like the Narumi-san I once knew is gone. It can't be helped. I will wait until he comes back. If you meet Narumi-san somewhere, please tell him... 'Have the fighting spirit!'" And then she walks off with all the confidence that she has woken Ayumu back up and that he will return to doing what he can to help the Blade Children rather than brooding.
Fight-o! Fight-o!
Yay!
Another day in the life of Hiyono-chin meets Narumi-tan... wait, isn't this a mystery and drama anime?
Hiyono's character is very cute, by anime standards. Her cheerfulness is addicting and annoying at the same time, and some may want to know where to find the off switch for some peace and quiet. But when she's not jumping around and singing her strange song, you tend to miss her presence.

I would never want to see a sad Hiyono, because then would be proof that the world has come to an end.

The seiyu of Hiyono is unfamiliar to me, and so I can't judge the performance as compared to others, but she does quite the job bringing out the cheery attitude of Hiyono without fault. Her voice acting remains consistent throughout the series and never goes over the top, even for Hiyono's over-zealous personality.


Other characters in this series of significance include the Blade Children, who each have their own mysteriousness about them. As mentioned in the series, the Blade Children are seen as a blemish on human life, and those who will, see them as creatures born to die because they are evil and cursed.

Takeuchi Rio is a small girl with the intelligence of a physicist as she is the first to openly challenge Ayumu in the battle of wits. Though small, she displays immense courage and will-power, sacrificing her own life for the sake of the Blade Children's plans. She is straight-forward and still tends to act like a child outside of being part of the Blade Children.

Eyes Rutherford is the first of the Blade Children to challenge Ayumu with a bomb. He is supposedly cold-hearted, but he cares dearly for his friends, especially Rio. His belief in Kiyotaka's promise that Ayumu would be able to save the Blade Children is at first unwavering, but seems to falter towards the end. Nonetheless, he has hope and feels that one day the Blade Children will no longer have to hide from their hunters.

Asazuki Kousuke is an arrogant part of the Blade Children who is also hot-headed and not hesitant to carry out any immoral act necessary to protect his friends. He doesn't really trust anyone, but takes on the role of guarding Rio when she is in the hospital, and is the closest in relationship to Ryoko.

Takamachi Ryoko is the most down-to-earth member of the Blade Children. Clever and athletic, she is able to keep Kousuke in line whenever he goes overboard with his threats and his actions. She despises killing and when first introduced, wants nothing to do with the Blade Children now that she has been living a rather peaceful, normal life.

Kanone Hilbert is a older friend of the Blade Children, also a Blade Children himself. He is revealed to have grown up with Eyes, but their friendship had fallen apart due to conflict of interests. He is also known as the one who had helped the aforementioned Blade Children learn how to survive.

Other Blade Children have also been proven to exist, but few have actually been mentioned in the series.



Overall, the storyline is very intriguing and manages to grasp your attention at every turn. Ayumu's intelligence and wit is tested time and time again, and each time he manages to overcome all of the life-threatening obstacles placed before him. The series ends in a very open-ended way, because despite Ayumu becoming more confident of himself, the issue surrounding Kiyotaka's disappearance and the Blade Children's problems haven't exactly been resolved.

The art is very well done, and the characters are created clear and beautifully. The music composition of piano playing is good and I really enjoyed Hiyono's strange song. The opening theme is a little annoying and doesn't seem to fit the image of the series very well, but the ending theme is quite enjoyable to listen to.

Be mellow and lax for now... your life is about to get more interesting.

thoughts: H3 School (manga)

I betcha anyone who comes across my blog for this first month has been wondering: "I thought this was a place for anime and manga. But all I've been seeing is anime. Where's the manga? And what about shoujo manga and stuff... What does D.Gray-man have to do with shoujo manga?"

Well, I guess if people actually read my sorry attempt at blogging anime and manga, they would be thinking that. I know I've been wondering the same thing since I'm advertising anime and manga. Sadly, anime is so much easier to blog (in my pathetically half-baked opinion), but that's probably just an excuse.

But hey, the wait is over. Here before your very eyes (or really just my own eyes) is the very first shoujo manga review/post at anicabyss!

Well, it's really nothing to be proud of, but you get the excitement, right? No? Okay, that's fine too. But aside from this one, I will be presenting a few other thoughts and "reviews" over manga and some other anime. But not all at once. Sort of a way to make up for my undeserved absence in the past two weeks. After school started and I finished watching Hatenkou Yugi, I found no motivation to continue writing posts since I couldn't think of much to mention, but here I am back again.

*****

Creator: Takada Rie
Genre: comedy, romance, school life, shoujo, sports
Volumes/Chapters: 5 volumes

Anyway, as far as shoujo manga goes, all typical couples have the same characteristics (from what I've been able to decipher). A tall, cool, handsome, very, very awesome and smart boyfriend who is only suitable with the cute, shorter, very pretty, and crazy-in-some-way, academically not so smart girlfriend. So maybe some of those traits aren't exactly the correct assumptions, but you get the gist.

Before I continue on, I wanted to mention something quite significant. I'm not a fan of shoujo manga female protagonists even though I love reading this genre for all the sweet and fun romances. It's like watching short romantic comedies in black and white.

Secondly, Ozora Hanabi is one of my most favorite shoujo manga heroine ever created. You thought I loved Hana-Kimi, but I don't love Ashiya Mizuki half as much as I do Ozora Hanabi. You thought I was a big fan of Nakahara Aya's manga, but even her shoujo manga heroine don't stand a chance against the "holy terror" that is Ozora Hanabi. I absolutely love this girl. I can't say that I harbor the same affection for her boyfriend, but he's good looking and cool, and he completes her perfectly. They have a crazy sweet and awe-inspiring relationship and it's great. So I've no complaints about him.

To be honest, to this day, I don't know if I've found a cute and lovey-dovey couple in which I also liked the male counterpart as much as I like the female half or vice versa. Maybe Li Shaoran and Kinomoto Sakura I like equally, but it's not a definite because they're relationship was never elaborated on. But when it comes to couples, there's always something about one of the two I don't like and could care less about if he or she weren't paired with the other.

But this is information for another post another day.

This post is a review, or more like personal opinions and thoughts, about H3 School by Takada Rie.

As a brief summary, Ozora Hanabi is like the pimp/protector of all the girls of her all girls high school and finds herself joining the student council when her school merges with the Meibi High all boys school. On the very first day after the merging, Hanabi meets with Garaku Yasuaki and immediately gets off on the wrong foot with him despite finding him absolutely attractive. We later learn, however, that the only reason Yasuaki treated Hanabi so coldly was because he has a horrifying fear of girls and cannot speak or act whenever he's around them. And thus, while falling in love with him, Hanabi is dead set on helping him cure his fear of girls.

Basically, the story is quite simple and straight forward. It's nonlinear and so you don't really think about it following one big plot through to the end. What we see is a series of different events and plot devices surrounding the relationship of Hanabi and Yasuaki as they date and go through their years in high school. Though without any ultimate destination and seeming like it could go on forever, the story still manages to wrap up quite nicely and contains very endearing stories within each chapter. Some of the plot devices, I will admit, are rather tacky. But in the end, the whole of the series is definitely that of a "Must Read" manga shoujo romance story.

Most importantly, Hanabi and Yasuaki prove to be a very cute shoujo manga couple. Throughout the entire manga, you can feel the goosebumps raising as the two interact with each other. Hanabi will always do crazy things that tend to end up being very adorable, and Yasuaki may seem cold but will say things that are so sweet you feel like shivering.


The only other characters we encounter in H3 school are Kuon Yoshitomo and Aido Tokihisa -- the only two regulars to the entire storyline. They are both part of the student council as well, Kuon being the president and Tokihisa simply self-proclaiming himself as Yasuaki's rival. Enter Suno Takeru who is Hanabi's childhood friend; he is not only vieing for Hanabi's affection, but also claims to be the closest to her because he "practically raised her" as he taught her how to become tougher and to stop crying all the time.

This attempt at including a third-party as an accessory to the main couple relationship was a rather half-assed attempt since it didn't seem to cause much friction between Yasu and Hanabi. After all, it seems that when the two got together, they were settled and nothing could really come between them. In the end, Hanabi chose Yasuaki and as the readers, we already knew that would be the conclusion. This is a good-natured, light-hearted comedy romance after all; separating the two because of something as stupid as jealousy over a childhood friend would be too harsh on the fans.

This is the first time that I read through a manga series that hadn't already had prior hype and advertisement about it's greatness. In fact, I don't think very many people aside from the fans who scanlated Takada Rie's work or who like a good reverse harem story actually give much credit to how delightful this manga series is. Unlike Ouran High School Host Club or Lovely Complex, H3 has yet to hit the screen as an anime adaptation, and is rarely mentioned in topics about good shoujo romance manga.

Of course, I'm sure if mentioned, many would agree that H3 School is definitely a good read.

After all, who can resist the sexiness of the very Ozora Hanabi... right? She's cute, she crazy, she's pretty, and she's excellently created by Takada-sensei. Hanabi, I will claim, single-handedly runs the entire H3 show. Without her, I wouldn't have had as much fun reading the series.


In terms of artwork, as I've stated before -- somewhere not here, I think -- I'm not a good judge of what is good artwork and what isn't. But I know what I like and I like what stands out as pretty and smooth to me. Takada Rie's work is nice and not too crowded. Her character designs are a little on the wild side and so her female protagonists always seem to have some sort of crazy streak to them. The male protagonists always seem so calm and quiet.

Then again, a lot of shoujo manga out there are about the same when it comes to the combination of male/female protagonists.

H3 School did good in portraying Hanabi's wild side both in image and action as well as in her dialogue. The moment that she admitted to Yasuaki that she was a "holy terror" I found myself nodding in agreement and chuckling at how honest this girl was and how well she knew herself. When she "played" the piano to appease Yasuaki's father, I laughed out loud because even thought this is manga, I could just hear the "BAM!" of the piano keys reverberating through the hall. So wonderful.

Simply stated, there are just too many memorable moments in this series that I don't know how many I can mention without continuing longer than is necessary. From Hanabi's craziness to Yasuaki's sweet and coolness, and even Tokihisa's idiocy and Kuon's... creepy "hell if you're miserable" character... I love it all!

Anyway, H3 school... Good manga, good story, good romance. I like it a lot and I would recommend it to anyone. I'm glad that I decided not to pass up this one and move onto other things.

news: upcoming soon... what am I doing?

Yea... So I've been slacking off. It's really hard to keep myself disciplined to create a post over everything I've watched and everything I've read. And on top of that I even want to create some fun editorial features over certain aspects of anime or manga or both.

I think I need to work a little harder.

But have no fear! Or have lots of fear... Because I've been working on a few reviews and thoughts and I've been thinking about a lot of little featurettes and some nice little editorial features to write about. A lot involve my thoughts on plot devices, recurring themes, character creations, mangakas, interesting tidbits, and well... I guess it just means I haven't really done anything.

But lots of reviews and thoughts have been ready to post. My Amatsuki thoughts post will see the day of light sooner or later so that I can actually make myself watch the whole anime in piece and write another more detailed thoughts or review post on it. Speaking of the thoughts and review posts, I think I might do away with the word review and just make them all thoughts since reviewing is way beyond me anyway. I'll keep the titles for the reviews I've already done -- a total of one -- and just start to revolutionize (probably not the right word here) my blog... yet again.

I'm pathetic.

But anyway, as for some of my newest ideas, I'm planning on hosting a long-running thoughts/review feature over Ouran High School Host Club. If it goes well, I may do the same for some other anime/manga series that are non-linear and episodic like Natsume Yuujinchou and maybe even through another one in for the Hatenkou Yugi I've already written about. I need more than one post to talk about Hana-Kimi and so the long-running feature review may be the only way to do it.

I've also decided that every blog is not complete with the blog master's own nifty little "My Top Ten Bishies" post, or the like. It'll be fun cause other people like to see what kind of bishounen/bishoujo/good-looking people we adore and admire and have fallen in love with, right?

Finally, I'm going to try my hardest to post about some manga as well since I haven't been doing that aside from the August spotlight feature on Nakahara Aya. Which brings me to the September spotlight that I haven't even really thought of yet. This is gonna be a little cruel...

But until then...