Journey into Mystery

happy new year! ♥

I'll break the deredere to say thank you, for being around. I know I'm a lousy friend, but this was a shitty year and without you guys or fandom, it would've been even more sucktacular. You make me feel less lonelier, so gracias.

Now let's try to recap this past year a bit. This is completely subjective, of course.

( Randomness )

If there is one person or more on your friends list who makes your world a better place just because they exist and who you would not have met (in real life or not) without the internet, then post this same sentence in your journal.

Thanks, guys ♥ I'd be more insane today if I hadn't people to talk to.

My God, finally my brother's Math exam is over, meaning I have something more similar to a vacation going on. I haven't even been on the Internet that much this week. Or at least not at LJ. I'm really sorry I didn't reply to oldish comments; I felt kind of embarrassed because I'm a shy asshole or something :(

I'm still stuck at my mom's, though. I REALLY WANT TO PLAY MY PS2 VIDEO GAMES BAWW. And we have to go shopping on Saturday because I need a fucking dress I'll only wear once. I hate that crap.

And my mom got Wii Fit because she's a bit fat, and my brother is whining about going on a diet, and I could use to lose three extra kilos and whatever. I did some "training" during 20 minutes and it was so boring and the board voice so annoying and... Apparently I have "good balance", which I say it's bullshit because I keep stumbling over people in public transportation pffft.

And so it's not all RL without resorting to pending memes to do. Dude, there's already merchandising with Ling Yao in the making. Maaaaan, how neat. Come to think of it, even if Ling is my favorite FMA character, the last chapters were so kickass I didn't even miss him. Now I see that (most likely ugly) SD gashapon and feel nostalgic.

ETA: the new Suzumiya Haruhi opening is really shiny and pop-art-ish and I like it enough to want to icon it *_*

You know that kind of days when stuff (and others) keep getting in the way of everything? You crouch and then bump on your forehead with the corner of a furniture piece (it still hurts, btw). There are long queues for every bus you take, and they take more time to get to the stop -also, it's freezing. There's people on the snack bending machine when normally there isn't. A chair is in the middle of the library hallway and you gotta take a detour. The cleaning ladies are in the restroom just when you're going inside. There's a higher rate of people crossing or stopping in front of you while you walk. And when you finally get home, the front door of the building won't open on the first try. Add some mental clumsiness in general.

The day cockblocked me. Seriously.

Happier things. How about things I've checked out recently?

Michiko to Hatchin: Actually, I thought the three episodes they had been released were good, old-school fun. The action scenes are entertaining, just like Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo's (making the comparison on purpose because it's the same creator/studio or something). The location and character design are much refreshing, but then again remember I'm Caribbean South American and might be biased (go figure). But yeah, it's fun to watch. Don't expect a lot of sense, I mean, remember Cowboy Bebop before it got sort of a plot? Hell, MtH has MORE plot than Bebop. More or less like Champloo, I suppose. Also, kickass ladies, which is a huge plus.

I can't get over the fact Michiko's last name is Malandro, however XDDDD *knows maybe no one will get it* I know, in Brazilian it means something different, but the Venezuelan seems... sort of adequate.

To explain the next two series: Lack of XXXHOLiC and no more chapters/episodes of supernatural manganime I dig in my system. Desperate measures to fill the gap with random "kid who can see youkai" manga. (Is it January yet? I want moar Natsume)

Nurarihyon no Mago: Saw it on the small fandoms comm and gave it a try. Actually, it's also a shounen. Not bad, yet nothing spectacular. The main character, cliché as he can be, is cute as a button and sort of hot in his am-I-suddenly-reading-DNAngel night form; however, I was more interested in the very minor characters themselves, especially the youkai (Yuki-onna is adorable). I guess it's okay to pass the time, but nothing impressive so far. The grandpa should have more screentime. Also, karasu tengu so cute~

Hyakkiyakou Shou: Oh, I like the art style, it's different and more realistic. So far I've read only two volumes but the stories are pretty good, more tending to horror than fluffy slice of life. I must say, to be honest, that the only big flaw I find is that the main character, Ritsu, is feeling dull to me. He just helps because is there, he lacks personality and motivation. However, when it comes to characters, Blue Spirit is cool. The grandpa should have more flashback screentime. Also, karasu tengu so cute~

Weekend in bullet points

1. Laptop status = OS reinstalled, firefox reinstalled. Can't watch videos on desktop because the safe mode has no sound, so I'd download shit to my pendrive and plug it to my portable DVD player. Only what I could get on AVI, sadly.

2. Went to buy manga on Friday. Only got:
Rurouni Kenshin deluxe #2
Fullmetal Alchemist #16-17

3. Finished Witches Abroad by PTerry. Interestingly, this might be my favorite Witches series book so far. The meta was quite... Princess Tutu-like.

4. Quick notes on anime I've watched.
- Tales of the Abyss 03: I loved that they animated the "I'll kill you bastards!" Anise off-scene on the Tartarus XD
- Kuroshitsuji 01: I haven't read the manga for this one yet so I could have an unbiased impression. The creepy atmosphere was interesting so I'll keep watching so far, even though the humor wasn't that funny and the characters felt topic and/or fanservicey so far. Also, the one in charge of the music could lay it down with the opera BGM a bit.

Last night I finished Seirei no Moribito, and it was a pretty good anime. The plot gets interesting, the characters are great and you get attached to them, the action sequences are so well animated. It's good Asian-like fantasy and pretty to look at. There are no evil villains, either, not even La Lunga.

Also, Balsa/Tanda are so OTP ♥ Everyone ships them in canon, even. Really where can you find stoic wild warrior female + mellow herbalist shaman male where the waifu waiting for the husbando to return and love them back is the MAN? Nowhere else, that's where. Stupid Balsa. But I still love both characters separately and together all the same, especially Tanda. Maybe Tanda is my favorite character, go figure.

Chagum, the title character and the boy Balsa is protecting, has really awesome character growth and he's overall adorable in several occasions. My only concern was that he seemed to get used to life in town too fast for royalty, but it might be a problem of time constrains. Probably the original source took its timing.

One thing I like about the series is how smart the characters are. Balsa is pretty clever herself, dodging death and persecutors and future attacks, what you wouldn't quite expect from the brawns of the team. Tanda is a herbologist/doctor and a shaman disciple so it's a given, but I particularly love how several of his own discoveries and talents at the ending were what saved the day. Chagum is also quite the clever kid. And then we get to characters like shaman Torogai, who's your kooky yet filled with ancient knowledge old lady, for your interrogate-astral-lifeforms needs. And star-diviner Shuga from court (another favorite of mine), who takes the role of the resident Ravenclaw and academically investigates in parallel the whole plot a la noir detective like nobody else does. Then we have the emperor's elite assassin group, who don't have to envy a thing to the FBI. And Tohya, a boy who's friends with Balsa and Tanda, who might not always be the brightest crayon but lives out of his nice street smarts. And so on.

Do I recommend it? I do. It started slow for me -but I know people who fell in love from episode 01- but it's packed with awesome. And even if you were a shallow, nitpicky person, the animation and character design is pretty. It's only 26 episodes, also.

I shouldn't won't be able to check them out soon because I do have an exam on the 10th, but here it goes. Recommend me anime, manga, TV shows you think I might like. No matter how old they are. Mind you, I might even prefer old stuff to boring new series. Hell, if you want even throw series you don't think I might like anyway but you love a lot. This is your chance to poke me or change my mind on things.

The only restriction is length. When it comes to shounen or American TV, please don't rec lengthy, ongoing fandoms. Right now I'm looking for autoconclusive series. Long manga is fine, though, but notice I've already given a chance to several long Jump series I ended up dropping out of boredom (Bleach, DGM, KHR).

My preferred genres are comedy, supernatural, fantasy, historic/mythological, suspense, horror, or just quirky crap. I prefer interesting plots or characters over prettiness of animation/actors. I will accept romance as long as it's set in one or more of the genres above girls crossdressing is guilty pleasure; if it's BL I'm not taking seme/uke stereotypes, if it's het or yuri I won't enjoy mushy saccharine (and in any, I won't like abusive couples or hatesex). Anyway, in doubt there's a list of fandoms I loved in my profile. Or just ignore it and throw things at me.

( List of stuff I plan to watch/read after final )

Goes to show how much of a weird freak I am. I actually enjoyed 3 minutes of music video of canon AU (with hip hop BGM) better than 27 episodes of mecha and attacking with galaxies and OMGSOGAR.

You know why? Because it's a fucking ZELDA RIPOFF. No, really, it is. And I'd play it if this was a videogame, but only if it was an action-with-puzzles in the lines of (of course!) Zelda/Okami.

Honestly, guys. Slithering through guards hiding under bushes.



I've done it... in OCARINA OF TIME. And one of the Oracle games too, I think.

But really, honestly, I'm broken because I find this more epic. THE LEGEND OF NIA: A DRILL TO THE PAST. I'm half serious with this. SIMON, HERO OF SPIRAL, PIERCE THE HEAVENS WITH YOUR MASTER DRILL. Or something.

I... am too lazy to reply comments on the last two posts, WTF. Maybe tomorrow. By the way, it's done:



Oh, and it seems to be the season for friend cuts. Guys, if any more of you want to defriend me now, go ahead. Really, it's not a big deal. I've sort of been lame recently, so it's okay.

And now an anime/manga meme I took from sha_chan: ( It's long )

The adapter/cable for the laptop is here already /o/ Of course, this makes me realize I just installed Linux on the desktop for nothing. I thought it'd take weeks. UGH.

This week there'll be some anime screenings in my faculty. Easiest extra credit activity ever: sit down through three afternoons of Japanese animation. There are contests, too. They tried to make a cosplay competition as well, but today only one dude came in disguise (in Akatsuki from Naruto robes) so... he won by default.

Either way, we watched the following today:
- Mononoke Hime (watched this one already, really neat and good-looking)
- Suzumiya Haruhi ep. 1 & 2 (it's an odd experience to watch amusing/funny anime/movies/series in group, especially a large audience, because you end up laughing harder than you would/did in private)
- Hikaru no Go ep. 1 (awww, Sai ;_;)
- Eyeshield 21 ep. 1 (in which TRC!Syaoran's voice is now a shounen retard)
- D.N.A^2 ep. 1 (old series is old, and I still fucking dislike Katsura harem series)
- Ichigo Mashimaro ep. 1 (extremely DULL and not really that funny)

Tomorrow I'm looking forward to Grave of the Fireflies, since I still haven't watched it (and I hope I don't weep, considering its fame in the sad department). We're also checking out Darker Than Black and Macross Frontier. On Friday there's no new series or movies I want to watch, but they got Marc Bernabé and Verónica Calafell to give us a talk (they're known Japanese translators here, and the guy is the author of a cool series of Japanese-teaching books) and the meta might be interesting.

Happy New Year, guys!

telrunya, you bitch, look what you've done. Now I'll have to buy the novel!

Translation to this. I just watched Brave Story, and it's such a cute anime movie. I really enjoyed it, there was something so Ende about it even if it had more of the "youth thrown into another world" Japanese fantasy cliché in essence (complete with wink to RPG elements). I really recommend it :D

So I'm told the novel is more obscure. It still sounds good to me either way! So, it goes to the to-buy list~

And it's kind of funny because the books I want to read the most recently are all Japanese light novels, and all of them are fantasy-oriented. There's Kino no Tabi, which might be less fantasy than the others, but you know... talking bike, and feeling like a twisted version of Petit Prince. There's Slayers, which is probably the most similar to what we all think when we hear the word fantasy: magic, sorcerers, demons, swordsmen, dragons, the whole lot. There's Twelve Kingdoms, which has such a rich world and background, and it's the only one that truly feels Asian. And now there's Brave Story, and I thank God it's only ONE book.

And of course, they all have in common I watched their anime versions first. There's also Howl's Moving Castle, but since it's based in a Western book I set it apart.

Well, sigh. I think I know where my money will go to this year: to import English translations of the series listed above!