Finished. Spoilers ahead.
Absolutely wonderful ending. Kiriya's room of star he created for Karin, was absolutely stunning. I had to flip back and look at that page again to let the impact hit me fully. When he told her to look for the particular star, and I saw it, I knew immediate what it was. And of course it was, and I had such a ridiculously big smile on at that time it couldn't possibly have been bigger. Even though I didn't cry, I did well up, it was the most perfect ending it could've had. Very very good read. I'll definitely have to read a lot more shojo.
Next up though is something very drastically different; Dragon Head. A horror from my understanding, and personal impressions of the first couple chapters. The first four volumes are en route now, should be receiving them soon. Love Hina will be read with it whenever vol 6 gets here.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
K-ON!, Voices of a Distant Star
K-ON! is finished. At the moment I have it at a 9/10. It really felt like an 8 most of the time but for some reason now that it's over it just really feels like a 9. Yet, at the same time, that doesn't feel quite right. So, though it's a 9 right now, chances are like in a couple weeks time I'll bump it down to an 8. Maybe.
It was great though. Great characters, and a fun goal to watch them work towards. I also believe I now have a firmer understanding of just what moe is >_> these characters are most definitely very moe. Love Ritsu especially. Don't really see what all the fuss is over Mio either, apparently being the most popular character of the show. imo Ritsu > Yui > Mio > Mugi out of the main four. Added distance between Yui and Mio as well, it's sort of like two tiers really. I could never really connect with Mio and Mugi as I could with Ritsu and Yui.
Great op as well. Having Yui's voice actor do the vocals makes it even better. The first verse is moe as hell, when played with the opening video.
Voices of a Distant Star on the other hand is very depressing. It was a great watch, but it was criminally short. It had the potential to be a tearjerker, but in the end it didn't quite hit that level. It was still very good and very depressing, but it was definitely limited by its length. It really would have benfited from more character development and more fleshing out beyond where the anime leaves off.
Up next for anime, I'm not really sure yet. Still waiting on the remaining volumes of Kare First Love, and Love Hina vol 6.
It was great though. Great characters, and a fun goal to watch them work towards. I also believe I now have a firmer understanding of just what moe is >_> these characters are most definitely very moe. Love Ritsu especially. Don't really see what all the fuss is over Mio either, apparently being the most popular character of the show. imo Ritsu > Yui > Mio > Mugi out of the main four. Added distance between Yui and Mio as well, it's sort of like two tiers really. I could never really connect with Mio and Mugi as I could with Ritsu and Yui.
Great op as well. Having Yui's voice actor do the vocals makes it even better. The first verse is moe as hell, when played with the opening video.
Voices of a Distant Star on the other hand is very depressing. It was a great watch, but it was criminally short. It had the potential to be a tearjerker, but in the end it didn't quite hit that level. It was still very good and very depressing, but it was definitely limited by its length. It really would have benfited from more character development and more fleshing out beyond where the anime leaves off.
Up next for anime, I'm not really sure yet. Still waiting on the remaining volumes of Kare First Love, and Love Hina vol 6.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Azumanga Daioh
It's over ;_;
Very fun series. Ending had more impact than I expected it to. I mean, not to say it was some powerful ending, just that, it really was the end of a time spent with the characters. You can sort of shoehorn yourself into that, and think back to your own high school, you know? It's over now. What fun times they were :) definitely this show was well worth watching. Many laugh-out-loud moments. Though I don't yet own a physical copy of the DVDs, I'll definitely be buying one of the sets in the near future.
My next series is K-ON! I was having trouble deciding because K-ON! is another slice of life and I'm not so sure I'm so ready to just hop on to another right after AzuDai but I started it a bit ago and I'm two eps in and well, I might as well start chipping away at my backlog of started animes before I start yet another one, only to put it on the backburner one or two eps in.
Strawberry 100% vol 10 came out, didn't know it was coming so soon but I bought it anyway. Also bought Love Hina vol 6 from my fourth source now. Crossing my fingers that this one will actually make it to the post office, and when it does that it won't have the misfortune of being run over while en route.
Very fun series. Ending had more impact than I expected it to. I mean, not to say it was some powerful ending, just that, it really was the end of a time spent with the characters. You can sort of shoehorn yourself into that, and think back to your own high school, you know? It's over now. What fun times they were :) definitely this show was well worth watching. Many laugh-out-loud moments. Though I don't yet own a physical copy of the DVDs, I'll definitely be buying one of the sets in the near future.
My next series is K-ON! I was having trouble deciding because K-ON! is another slice of life and I'm not so sure I'm so ready to just hop on to another right after AzuDai but I started it a bit ago and I'm two eps in and well, I might as well start chipping away at my backlog of started animes before I start yet another one, only to put it on the backburner one or two eps in.
Strawberry 100% vol 10 came out, didn't know it was coming so soon but I bought it anyway. Also bought Love Hina vol 6 from my fourth source now. Crossing my fingers that this one will actually make it to the post office, and when it does that it won't have the misfortune of being run over while en route.
Dear hexrapper,
Hello, we are very sorry to let you know that the book we mailed to you last week just got returned by USPS with a note of damadged parcel, it appears the package got wet and the shipping label was almost missing, and the first several pages of the book were badly damadged. It seems to got runned over by some heavy object in the wet condition. Unforturnately we don't have another vol.6 of Love Hina to re-send you for replacement, we will issue you the full refund to your paypal account after this message, and email you the ebay agreement to cancel the transaction.
We apologize for any inconvenience, and thank you in advance for your cooperation.
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
I dunno guys, I think vol 6 is cursed, there can't be this many places that all conveniently can't actually manage to get the book to the customer. Will I EVER get it? D: Perhaps my collection will always be vols 1-5, 7-14. And 6 will become my mortal enemy, and whenever I think about it, my face will get all serious like I ain't taking any shit >:O
We apologize for any inconvenience, and thank you in advance for your cooperation.
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
I dunno guys, I think vol 6 is cursed, there can't be this many places that all conveniently can't actually manage to get the book to the customer. Will I EVER get it? D: Perhaps my collection will always be vols 1-5, 7-14. And 6 will become my mortal enemy, and whenever I think about it, my face will get all serious like I ain't taking any shit >:O
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Kare First Love, Higurashi
Finished up to vol 7 of Kare First Love. Very enjoyable. It's my first shojo really, I mean, I've read various first volumes of different shojos but this is the first one I've actually pursued and it was a good choice imo. Great characters, you become really attached to Karin and you can really feel like you're there with her as she goes through the relationship. It's fun to read something that takes relationships more seriously over stuff like Love Hina or Strawberry 100% where yeah, there's relationships but they aren't built the same way they are here and they feel significantly weaker. Final three vols in the mail, dunno if they'll be here by Friday but something next week for sure at the latest. Looking forward to the ending of it.
Higurashi vol 4 also finally came out. I remember some guy said that for this arc, the anime was actually a bit better than the manga. I disagree, as with the first arc the manga was definitely the superior format. The anime did a few scenes better but overall the manga definitely had more of the right cards. In particular the ending, was way more effective than the anime's lolwut sort of sudden, very random ending. The manga made it much creepier. Enjoyed this arc, now another couple months before the next vol ugh.
Up to vol 5 on Love Hina because vol 6 is apparently impossible to get. It's been frustrating accumulating all of Love Hina, JustManga didn't have all the volumes so I've had to hunt around and somehow, most places I bought from wound up realizing after my purchase that they were actually out of stock so it's taken a while but I've *finally* accumulated all but vol 6, which I have purchased (third place I've tried) but that was a couple days ago and they still haven't confirmed that it's shipped so I'm wondering if they were maybe out of stock of it too. Ugh I dunno when this one will get done.
In any case I'm taking some liberties with my next set of manga to look into to make way for a lot of Tokyopop titles under the Kodansha license, figure I should get 'em now while I can buy several volumes at once from a single outlet rather than individual volumes from a mass of different eBayers, which I fear will be the reality once Tokyopop's remaining stock finally dwindles. So I'm not pursuing Eureka Seven after Kare First Love, instead I'm hitting up Dragon Head, which is a horror manga that looked really good. After that I'll be finishing up my GTO collection (which right now stands at a grand total of one volume) and then I'll be picking up what they published of Love Attack.
Anime-wise, I've been on and off with AzuDai. Just haven't been in the mood for anime lately. I did buy vol 2 of Paranoia Agent though, I plan to eventually get 3 and 4 as well, I really want to see that one through sometime soon.
Higurashi vol 4 also finally came out. I remember some guy said that for this arc, the anime was actually a bit better than the manga. I disagree, as with the first arc the manga was definitely the superior format. The anime did a few scenes better but overall the manga definitely had more of the right cards. In particular the ending, was way more effective than the anime's lolwut sort of sudden, very random ending. The manga made it much creepier. Enjoyed this arc, now another couple months before the next vol ugh.
Up to vol 5 on Love Hina because vol 6 is apparently impossible to get. It's been frustrating accumulating all of Love Hina, JustManga didn't have all the volumes so I've had to hunt around and somehow, most places I bought from wound up realizing after my purchase that they were actually out of stock so it's taken a while but I've *finally* accumulated all but vol 6, which I have purchased (third place I've tried) but that was a couple days ago and they still haven't confirmed that it's shipped so I'm wondering if they were maybe out of stock of it too. Ugh I dunno when this one will get done.
In any case I'm taking some liberties with my next set of manga to look into to make way for a lot of Tokyopop titles under the Kodansha license, figure I should get 'em now while I can buy several volumes at once from a single outlet rather than individual volumes from a mass of different eBayers, which I fear will be the reality once Tokyopop's remaining stock finally dwindles. So I'm not pursuing Eureka Seven after Kare First Love, instead I'm hitting up Dragon Head, which is a horror manga that looked really good. After that I'll be finishing up my GTO collection (which right now stands at a grand total of one volume) and then I'll be picking up what they published of Love Attack.
Anime-wise, I've been on and off with AzuDai. Just haven't been in the mood for anime lately. I did buy vol 2 of Paranoia Agent though, I plan to eventually get 3 and 4 as well, I really want to see that one through sometime soon.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
School Days
Rather than posting a detailed recount of events I'll re-post three posts I made on a message board containing my thoughts of the final episodes.
Hexrapper | Posted 9/11/2009 2:12:34 AM | message detail
school days ep 11 spoilers for this post
are you ****ing kidding me. so now he's with her. twice. then a threesome with those three random jerkoffs who filmed the others doing it. you have to be kidding me. anger and frustration isn't even registering anymore. now it's just, **** this ****. this isn't fun to watch.
kotonoha needs to let it go though. i feel bad for her but i mean, you got two-timed by a jerk off who's now sleeping with whoever he can get his sleazy hands on. he was trash, why the hell do you still want him. why are you thinking about spending more time with him. ugggggghhhhhhh
i almost feel sorry for sekai now too actually. i mean, she's a *****, but she isn't like she was in the manga, i mean, while she didn't do anything to stop it makoto made all the advances with the one exception of that first kiss. he pushed things from there, he's the one who wound her up and had some good rides with her while building up her feelings for him, then went to sleep with other girls. sucks for sekai too. she genuinely loved him. he just played her 'cause she was close and willing and easy.
ok so im posting stuff as i watch it. anyway now it's alluding that sekai might be pregnant. i already knew this because i was stupid and spoiled it for myself but i fear for how things will go now with makoto.
well that was a fun scene. **** makoto.
i seriously wonder how many people are actually like this irl. it's kinda sickening to think about it.
**** makoto even more. so otome calls and theres all this with sekai's pregnancy and he jumps at inviting me over, quite obviously thinking it's so he can **** her. happy otome left, made note that he was no longer a nice person (hahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahhahhaa, hahaha, no longer a nice person, putting things a little lightly no?) baka indeed.
kotonoha is creeping the hell out of me now. her face when she runs into makoto, those demented eyes to go with her smile. something is very wrong with her now. that break up was far more damaging than i thought it was.
http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/2294/creeeeeepy.jpg
on to the final ep
---
Electronic Arts - www.ea.com
http://myanimelist.net/profile/Hexrapper
are you ****ing kidding me. so now he's with her. twice. then a threesome with those three random jerkoffs who filmed the others doing it. you have to be kidding me. anger and frustration isn't even registering anymore. now it's just, **** this ****. this isn't fun to watch.
kotonoha needs to let it go though. i feel bad for her but i mean, you got two-timed by a jerk off who's now sleeping with whoever he can get his sleazy hands on. he was trash, why the hell do you still want him. why are you thinking about spending more time with him. ugggggghhhhhhh
i almost feel sorry for sekai now too actually. i mean, she's a *****, but she isn't like she was in the manga, i mean, while she didn't do anything to stop it makoto made all the advances with the one exception of that first kiss. he pushed things from there, he's the one who wound her up and had some good rides with her while building up her feelings for him, then went to sleep with other girls. sucks for sekai too. she genuinely loved him. he just played her 'cause she was close and willing and easy.
ok so im posting stuff as i watch it. anyway now it's alluding that sekai might be pregnant. i already knew this because i was stupid and spoiled it for myself but i fear for how things will go now with makoto.
well that was a fun scene. **** makoto.
i seriously wonder how many people are actually like this irl. it's kinda sickening to think about it.
**** makoto even more. so otome calls and theres all this with sekai's pregnancy and he jumps at inviting me over, quite obviously thinking it's so he can **** her. happy otome left, made note that he was no longer a nice person (hahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahhahhaa, hahaha, no longer a nice person, putting things a little lightly no?) baka indeed.
kotonoha is creeping the hell out of me now. her face when she runs into makoto, those demented eyes to go with her smile. something is very wrong with her now. that break up was far more damaging than i thought it was.
http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/2294/creeeeeepy.jpg
on to the final ep
---
Electronic Arts - www.ea.com
http://myanimelist.net/profile/Hexrapper
Hexrapper | Posted 9/11/2009 2:48:54 AM | message detail
school days spoilers for this post
hey makoto, i really hate to break it to you but you broke up with kotonoha, and sekai's pregnant now. i know kotonoha is taking it very hard and she's becoming creepy and she talks on the cell phone when it's turned off now but sekai is pregnant. so what the **** are you doing now with kotonoha, with sekai at home alone with a baby in her stomach.
hey makoto you sure handled that phone call well good job buddy can i stab you in the face yet
they are about to kiss in front of sekai who came storming to his house who is in emotional disarray i have it paused because i know this has to the the sparking point for the grand finale. makoto really is an idiot.
yes makoto ignore sekai standing there and continue to suck kotonoha's face keep going you're so smart
that wasn't the spark? or maybe the aftermath comes later. half way point
she actually walked away? really? considering its sekai that's surprising. **** makoto btw
back to lying to kotonoha huh. just picked her up again because you had no one else. the cycle would repeat were your end not inevitable. i eagerly anticipate it.
throw some touchy, emotional lines at kotonoha why not. churn her heart. we all know you don't mean a word of it you sociopathic bastard. ugggggghhhhh
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/8712/godiemakoto.jpg
i seem to recall you saying those exact words to sekai back when she'd **** you everytime she came over to your place.
oh ****
so she wasn't actually pregnant. yeah, sekai really was a *****. **** i dont know what to think anymore
good bye makoto. good bye sekai. that wasn't really satisfying like i thought it'd be. idk.
wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy different than the manga. way different. way more effective. way harder to watch. i still really like the manga. maybe even more so. it's a lot easier to digest. the majority of the anime was frustrating as hell. so i mean, great anime i guess. what a stupid ****ing show. it was well worth watching and it really got to me emotionally. i'm never watching that pos again.
---
Electronic Arts - www.ea.com
http://myanimelist.net/profile/Hexrapper
hey makoto, i really hate to break it to you but you broke up with kotonoha, and sekai's pregnant now. i know kotonoha is taking it very hard and she's becoming creepy and she talks on the cell phone when it's turned off now but sekai is pregnant. so what the **** are you doing now with kotonoha, with sekai at home alone with a baby in her stomach.
hey makoto you sure handled that phone call well good job buddy can i stab you in the face yet
they are about to kiss in front of sekai who came storming to his house who is in emotional disarray i have it paused because i know this has to the the sparking point for the grand finale. makoto really is an idiot.
yes makoto ignore sekai standing there and continue to suck kotonoha's face keep going you're so smart
that wasn't the spark? or maybe the aftermath comes later. half way point
she actually walked away? really? considering its sekai that's surprising. **** makoto btw
back to lying to kotonoha huh. just picked her up again because you had no one else. the cycle would repeat were your end not inevitable. i eagerly anticipate it.
throw some touchy, emotional lines at kotonoha why not. churn her heart. we all know you don't mean a word of it you sociopathic bastard. ugggggghhhhh
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/8712/godiemakoto.jpg
i seem to recall you saying those exact words to sekai back when she'd **** you everytime she came over to your place.
oh ****
so she wasn't actually pregnant. yeah, sekai really was a *****. **** i dont know what to think anymore
good bye makoto. good bye sekai. that wasn't really satisfying like i thought it'd be. idk.
wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy different than the manga. way different. way more effective. way harder to watch. i still really like the manga. maybe even more so. it's a lot easier to digest. the majority of the anime was frustrating as hell. so i mean, great anime i guess. what a stupid ****ing show. it was well worth watching and it really got to me emotionally. i'm never watching that pos again.
---
Electronic Arts - www.ea.com
http://myanimelist.net/profile/Hexrapper
Hexrapper | Posted 9/11/2009 2:55:52 AM | message detail
I finally finished the anime. So vastly different from the manga. I don't know which I prefer. Manga was waayyyyyyyyyyyyyy easier to digest, wasn't anywhere even CLOSE to being as frustrating as the anime. The anime I was basically cringing and cursing Makoto out the whole way through. It felt kinda weird because Makoto was ingrained into my mind as a good guy. Now I don't think I'll EVER be able to see him as a good guy again. If I re-read the manga at some point my view will most definitely be skewed, even though in that iteration he really IS a good guy. The anime is too powerful. Too much heavy **** going on. Wow.
Well, I'm glad I watched it. Not for myself emotionally, that thing ****ing my emotions sideways. It was really effective. Several times I actually audibly cursed Makoto out. UGH. Good watch. I ****ing hate it to death.
And that wasn't a creepy final scene at all. Yeah, you're whacked Kotonoha. I knew it from the moment you started looking like this http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/2294/creeeeeepy.jpg
---
Electronic Arts - www.ea.com
http://myanimelist.net/profile/Hexrapper
Well, I'm glad I watched it. Not for myself emotionally, that thing ****ing my emotions sideways. It was really effective. Several times I actually audibly cursed Makoto out. UGH. Good watch. I ****ing hate it to death.
And that wasn't a creepy final scene at all. Yeah, you're whacked Kotonoha. I knew it from the moment you started looking like this http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/2294/creeeeeepy.jpg
---
Electronic Arts - www.ea.com
http://myanimelist.net/profile/Hexrapper
Thursday, September 10, 2009
I'm almost done School Days
It is soooo hard to watch right now. I also made a big mistake of reading a topic on it because I thought it was already all spoiled for me but I missed something huge that's now spoiled for me and damn it that would've been an effective reveal D: I'll talk more about it after I finish it. Two eps to go.
I've also laid out my next bunch of animes I'll be watching because I like wasting time and I liked doing it with the manga. I'll recap the manga too so I can have this list in one post for later reference. In order, after School Days:
ANIME TO WATCH
- Azumanga Daioh
- Kimera
- Berserk
- Shuffle!
- Paranoia Agent
- Android Kikaider
- Miami Guns
- Ghost in the Shell
- Revolutionary Girl Utena M
- Air
- K-ON!
- Mobile Suit Gundam Seed
- Apocalypse Zero
- Voices of a Distant Star
MANGA TO READ
- Love Hina & Strawberry 100%
- Kare First Love
- Eureka Seven
- Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei
- Fullmetal Alchemist
- Trigun
- Hellsing
- Tail of the Moon
- GTO
- Gantz
- Love Attack
- Gacha Gacha
All the manga will be purchased when possible. I've already purchased all the anime on that list that's been localized with the exception of Paranoia Agent, which I'll purchase when I get to it.
School starts tomorrow. It's like three in the morning lol, I gotta be up at seven. Plus after I get back around one forty five I then have just 'till four thirty when I gotta head out to work 'till ten. Fun day to go through while running off such little sleep =D I shouldn't ever do this again.
I've also laid out my next bunch of animes I'll be watching because I like wasting time and I liked doing it with the manga. I'll recap the manga too so I can have this list in one post for later reference. In order, after School Days:
ANIME TO WATCH
- Azumanga Daioh
- Kimera
- Berserk
- Shuffle!
- Paranoia Agent
- Android Kikaider
- Miami Guns
- Ghost in the Shell
- Revolutionary Girl Utena M
- Air
- K-ON!
- Mobile Suit Gundam Seed
- Apocalypse Zero
- Voices of a Distant Star
MANGA TO READ
- Love Hina & Strawberry 100%
- Kare First Love
- Eureka Seven
- Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei
- Fullmetal Alchemist
- Trigun
- Hellsing
- Tail of the Moon
- GTO
- Gantz
- Love Attack
- Gacha Gacha
All the manga will be purchased when possible. I've already purchased all the anime on that list that's been localized with the exception of Paranoia Agent, which I'll purchase when I get to it.
School starts tomorrow. It's like three in the morning lol, I gotta be up at seven. Plus after I get back around one forty five I then have just 'till four thirty when I gotta head out to work 'till ten. Fun day to go through while running off such little sleep =D I shouldn't ever do this again.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
General impressions on recent watches
Haven't really made significant progress in any one particular series, just a bunch of baby-steps in a number of different ones. General impressions:
School Days (anime) is a lot different than the manga. Makoto is pretty much completely unlikable here, so far I've finished up to ep 5 and it's pretty frustrating to watch. Kotonoha deserves so much better than that asshole. What drives my hate for him even more though is that I know people just like him. It's frustrating as hell.
Azumanga Daioh is still funny =D up to ep 12.
Gunslinger Girl is a new anime on my plate, but I'm not pursuing it immediately. First episode has a solid hook on me, so when I finish up some already started anime I'll be getting around to this one.
I've got the remaining volumes of Love Hina coming from a multitude of different websites since no one website had all the volumes in stock, so I dunno when I'll wind up finishing that. Enjoyable though, I'd say it's almost on par with Strawberry 100% so far.
I read vol 11 of Strawberry 100% with the chapters out of order, didn't realize it 'till I was through. Still got the gist of what went on though. Will be tackling vol 12 soon.
School Days (anime) is a lot different than the manga. Makoto is pretty much completely unlikable here, so far I've finished up to ep 5 and it's pretty frustrating to watch. Kotonoha deserves so much better than that asshole. What drives my hate for him even more though is that I know people just like him. It's frustrating as hell.
Azumanga Daioh is still funny =D up to ep 12.
Gunslinger Girl is a new anime on my plate, but I'm not pursuing it immediately. First episode has a solid hook on me, so when I finish up some already started anime I'll be getting around to this one.
I've got the remaining volumes of Love Hina coming from a multitude of different websites since no one website had all the volumes in stock, so I dunno when I'll wind up finishing that. Enjoyable though, I'd say it's almost on par with Strawberry 100% so far.
I read vol 11 of Strawberry 100% with the chapters out of order, didn't realize it 'till I was through. Still got the gist of what went on though. Will be tackling vol 12 soon.
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