The manga I’m collecting

Yesterday, I managed to put my manga in some semblance of order. They were lying in an undignified heap by my bed for a few weeks now, but now they're back on the bookshelves in my library safe and sound. From the pile, this is worth collecting:

Monster

What happens when you save the life of a child who grows up to be a vicious serial killer? This is what the manga is all about; it's a character-focused story, so we get to see all this from the perspective of a surgeon, Dr Tenma. The art is gorgeous, clean, realistic and neat. I can't wait to watch the 74-episodes anime!

Kekkaishi

This shonen manga is just so cute and hilarious! I love the art, which is classic shonen style. The humour is what makes collecting this manga worthwhile – Yoshimori comes from a family of kekkaishis who guard the site of an ancient site. This site is located at their school (of course), and Yoshimori and his neighbour, Tokine has to guard it every night. Yoshimori is in love with Tokine, who is older than him btw (refreshing!) but she's from a rival kekkaishi family and they believe tha they're the true heirs of the kekkaishi legacy. So, it's like Romeo and Juliet without the angst.

Descendants of Darkness

Although I find the shonen-ai bits overdone and overwrought (it's fanservice all the way!), I love the art, and I love the lead character, Tsuzuki and the angst he's put through. So lovable, yet he has a painful past, so kind and yet so capable of such destruction. Too bad the mangaka stopped producing and left the project halfway. Therefore, Vol.11 is the "last" volume, though I heard the mangaka will be continuing the story this year. She better …

Anne Freaks

There's something about this disturbing manga that makes me want to read g the next volume. The characters are amoral, they don't regret killing people … but the secrets they have intrigue you so much you have to keep on reading! 

On the fence:

Blame

This sci-fi, apocalyptic tale enthralled me with its gritty art and deep story, but all the teasing for the final 3 volumes have gotten to me. If there aren't any answers soon, I feel like giving up.

Black Cat

Way better than the anime. And the story is very different too. But for now, although the art is good (I'm very particular about art in my manga. I don't buy manga with bad art no matter how good the story is) I don't feel for the characters. 

Manga I wished I never spent money on:

Deus Vitae

No doubt the art is super-gorgeous. I've never seen such achingly detailed work, but there were too many nipples! The girls take every opportunity to striiip. At one point, a law officer decided to interrogate the main character by … yes, you heard me, "bonding" with him, which requires her to striiip of course. The abundance of nipple exposure just got to me – thank god it ended at the third volume. And oh yeah, the story – if only it was a good story. It had a lot of potential, however. Humanity has been almost eliminated by this cyborg called Eve who, in turn, created a race of super androids to take humanity's place. Now, humanity must defeat them somehow. The ending was silly.

I actually have way  more manga than this, but listing this all will take me days.  

Boys’ Love, anybody?

I love Ouran High School Host Club because the comedy is so on. Compared to the manga, it's actually funnier – and this is a rare case where the anime is actually better than the manga. (The manga tends to take the fun out of the humour a little by overexplaining the humour.)

One element of Ouran that I have to get used to is the "twincest" between the Hitaiichin twins. In case you straightaway rate the anime as an R-rated show, rest assured that for the twins, it's just an act to pull in the girls that they (cough) "service". And nothing goes beyond a teary-eyed look and embrace.

But like the character Haruhi, I really don't understand the appeal of having twins showing, er, romantic love towards each other. Its still ick to me, but I laugh anyway when the Hitaiichins do their thing because, in case anybody doesn't know it already, Ouran makes fun of the whole boys' love genre to the max.

The twins represent the brotherxbrother "genre" that appears in yaoi sometimes, while Mori and Huny represent the whole "shota" deal. Shota – and I'm probably oversimplifying it – is where the seme - the dominant guy – is this massively huge guy and the uke, (the submissive guy) is shorter, more effeminate and here's the rub – they often look like children. Eventhough it's almost always stated in the story that they're 18.

It's hilarious how Ouran tapped into the shota genre with Mori and Huny. Huny looks like a six-year-old, but he's actually 18. Apparently the author jokingly said (in the manga) that since Huny's birthday is on Feb 29, he grows only once every leap year. That could explain it! ;D

I personally just hate the shota genre. It's just too unrealistic and it reminds me too much of paedophilia. Sorry to shoto lovers – no offence, yah? But with Huny and Mori, it's all played out so … subtly … I can handle that.

This post is sparked off by a post at Sama Zama: Boys' Love: Yo-go or No-go? where he asked whether you'd stop watching if Haruhi never turned out to be a girl. To be honest … I will. Not because it's too shonen-ai as a result, but because where's the fun of it?

Because Haruhi is a girl, we see Tamaki's antics, we see his jealous streak and hopeless attempts at trying to win her – that's why Ouran is so hilarious!

And about Boys' Love – yaoi and shonen-ai and all that. To be honest, when I first heard about it, I was like, Oh my God, are you serious??

It's not that I dislike gays etc. It's just that I find it absolutely weird that girls will be into this. I am a girl, and I am so not into seeing two guys making out.

Well, at least, was. hehe.

My best friend is really into yaoi and shonen-ai. Her favourite series is Gravitation, followed by Fake. I used to tease her so much about it, but seeing that she's fed up with me making assumptions about the genre, I decided to do my little investigation.

What I found out there was … yikes. I disliked shota-slanted yaoi immediately, didn't like gakuen settings and didn't like how 60% of the time one guy is drawn as a massive hulk while the other is frail and girly. My main complaint about these yaoi is that it is so unoriginal, silly and unrealistic. (That's why I don't really like the shonen-ai aspect of Yami No Matsuei either … it doesn't seem very realistic at all.)

Then I found Takanaga Hinako's Tyrant who fall in love or Koisuru Boukun and I was smitten. (DramaQueen has licensed it, and to my utter relief, is naming it The Tyrant falls in love. I've been dying to insert the "s" after "fall" for ages.)

Both of the guys are drawn in a realistic fashion (meaning, they don't look like underdeveloped 18-year-olds, and both behave in a realistic fashion – no weepy ukes here! The weepy one is the seme, hehe.). Then it's absolutely hilarious as well! I thought – well, if yaoi can be like this, I don't mind.

I understand why girls dig yaoi now. As a girl, I find it romantic that guys can be so 'emotionally open' to each other. Some girls say it's because they can see two bishie guys having 'fun'. But I also understand it as a fulfilment of a girls' desire to see their guys as sensitive and emotionally open as the men they see in yaoi. And oh yeah, that they're sexy, desireable and all that as well.
Well, so far no yaoi out there has topped Tyrant, and I don't expect any to. Perhaps my taste is just far too narrow (or fussy and spoiled, as my friend says) for me to enjoy the yaoi genre properly, so I'll call myself a "dabbler" more than anything else.

Ouran High School Host Club Episode 1

Summary: While looking for a quiet place to study, Haruhi stumbles upon the Host Club where a group of bishonen of different flavours “entertain” girls. No, there’s nothing hentai-ish about the whole setup. Just think about them as great hosts.

Well, Haruhi unfortunately breaks a priceless vase, and in the end has to work it off by being the host club’s “dog”. But when the Host Club King – Tamaki – discovers that Haruhi has pretty eyes, he recruits Haruhi as a host. If you want a detailed summary of the episode, Memento, as usual, has a great sypnopsis. (I don’t detailed sypnosis since these folks do it so well.)
Thoughts: (Spoilers, btw!) My friend and I sat down to watch it on my laptop with neutral expectations. I heard that it was good … but I wasn’t prepared for it being this good. It was a laugh-a-riot thanks to its unique humourous style.

I knew rightaway what the lightbulbs represent, though my friend theorised that it meant that Haruhi had “won” over a person. Nopers!

Note that I deliberately kept Haruhi’s gender a secret. Yeah, I know a lot of people know who Haruhi really is, but it would’ve been such a great watch if they didn’t know.

Tamaki’s reaction to Haruhi being a girl was hilarious. Man, I lurve Tamaki. He’s such a ditz. My favourite scene was Tamaki’s soliloquy and how Haruhi completely ignored his wise “tips” and instead was too busy trying figure out what to call people like Tamaki! And Tamaki’s reaction when Haruhi finally figured the word (it’s obnoxious) was priceless!

I was a bit brr with the boy-twins-love bit. Like Haruhi, I totally do not get what’s so attractive about a pair of bishie twins showing unbrotherly attention to each other. Kinda makes my skin crawl. ;P I know, you say tomahto I say tomato; just don’t hate me for liking my love affairs differently.

So, it’s obvious that Tamaki and Haruhi is a potential couple. When I asked my friend what she thinks about them as a couple, she burst out laughing. Yes, Tamaki is going to drive Haruhi absolutely mad and I’m sure she’ll do the same for him. Ah … love.

So, is Ouran worth the download? You betcha!! If you’re not convinced with my post you can read these glowing reviews: Yummy Sushi Pajamas, BasuBaguBakuhatsu Anime Blog, Cinammon Ass and more at blog suki.

Noein Episode 8

Brief summary: Karasu returns Haruka to her world, with his former comrades determined to finish him for his betrayal.

Yuu is having a hard time with his mum. He’s finally trying to break free from her super control freak ways. He is determined never to return home. Can’t blame the kid. We get a hint why Yuu’s mum – Miyuki – is like this. Apparently it has something to do with her sister. And mother.

Sure, but I still don’t like her.

Thoughts: Poor Yuu, he doesn’t get to be a hero when Haruka returns to the world with Karasu. The damsel in distress prefers to be with Karasu, poor guy.Then when he returns home, Crazy!Mum who wants Yuu to have no life but study 1500% catches him sneaking in.

Yuu insists that he can decide his own future, but she insists that it’s impossible – throwing Karasu’s earlier words to him back to his face.Seriously, Crazy!Mum needsa big ass spanking. Who the heck does she think she is, running Yuu’s life like that?

I’m glad that Yuu has now got a backbone and is running away from control freak mom. I don’t understand why Crazy!Mum is the way she is because of some sister. Ah, but I heard we’ll find out next episode.

And my question about how people like Karasu and Fukurou get their powers is explained when crazy Atori mentions that their cells have been changed to a quantum level. Hokay.

And boy … did Yuu laugh?? Smile?? Actually have fun? What happened to angsty Yuu? Not that I miss him. AT ALL. That’s a relief.

A “gentler” quieter episode, a nice break from the harsh world of La’cryma. But we all know that means all hell is going to break loose in the next episode.

Noein Episode 7

Brief summary: Haruka’s friends search desperately for her on present day Earth. In the alternate world of La’cryma, Haruka discovers that 15 years from her time, the world will come to an end when some catastrophic thing happens. She is also shocked to meet the future version of her best friend Ai. Karasu, meanwhile, is deemed a traitor and is locked up and tortured because he tried to “save” Haruka. When Shangri-La attacks, Future Ai decides to harness Haruka’s dragon torque power by drowning her. Locked up or not, Karasu definitely doesn’t want that to happen.

Thoughts: This is one amazing episode. I have to say that Shangri-La’s Oroborus (big ass flying machine) is a thing of creepiness and beauty. The way it crawls around, how its face changes expression when it’s hit etc, is something I’ve never seen before.

Future Ai tried to explain that the past is not really the past and the future is not really the future but like Haruka, I’m damned confused. I’m just going to go with the flow and enjoy the anime without wrapping my brains around quantum physics.

The battle between Fukurou (Fujiyama’s future version) and the Oroborus is cool, but I just don’t understand how he can be that powerful. I think it is hinted that they’re infused with something called Layze, but they never really do explain the mechanics of it.

A nice episode, a little tragic when I realise the future selves of the formerly care-free children are so … screwed up. But that’s what makes this anime gripping, eh?

Noein: Episode 1-6

I’m not going to blog about these episodes because
a) there are far better bloggers out there who have done summaries/reviews of the episodes
b) Okay, I’m lazy,

So I’m going to direct you to Cinammon Ass who’s done a great job blogging the series.

Noein: an overview

I stumbled upon Noein purely by accident. I was browsing YouTube one day when I saw that there were episodes of it there. I clicked on the first episode, and to say that I was blown away was an understatement.

It opens in a world where large, giant machines fly in the orange sky. Out of nowhere, people fly towards the machine and proceeds to hammer it to bits. Then flash to present day Earth, and we’re introduced the the idyllic lives of some school kids during summer.

Not all of the kids are having a good time, though. Yuu, a sulky, moody kid, is a bit “stressed” thanks to his mum who just wants him to study, study, study, go to cram school and study some more. His friends Haruka, Ai and Fujiwara are worried for him, but what can they do when he keeps yelling at them all emo-like?

The animation was good – not mindblowing – but way better from other Autumn/Winter spring releases like Black Cat. It doesn’t dilly dally like Fate/Stay Night either. It gets straight to the action and things start happening really fast.

Haruka one day meets a strange creature on top of a church tower. Her friends think it’s a ghost, so they start hunting it down at a cemetary one night. Of course, you and I know that it isn’t – it’s Karasu, one of the super beings we saw punching that big, giant, floating machine in that orange-tinged world earlier. (He’s the white-haired dude in the picture.)

Karasu – and a bunch of other cloaked beings – want to capture Haruka because she’s the Dragon Torque. Now, I’m watching episode 7 and I still don’t know what the [beep] that means. But Haruka is important all right.

(spoilers ahead!)

It’s hard not to be fascinated by Noein. Especially when you find out that Karasu is a future version of Yuu. And that Haruka can change reality somehow. It also has a very odd feel throughout the serious. One moment it is major angsty/grim with all the Karasu and apocalyptic alternate world scenes, but it is also idyllic and care-free when we concentrate on the escapades of the worry-free children of present day Earth.

At first I was really irritated by all the filler-like deviations from the main plot. I mean, who wants to know what kids do after school today or their little adventures trying to hunt a ghost? But after watching episode 6, I realise that it is to show the drastic change the kids’ world (and their future selves) went through after the said apocalypse. With all those memories you have of the kids when they were far happier and far more normal, it’s difficult not to feel sad for their future versions, and you can’t help but sympathise with their desire to capture the dragon torque (because it’ll supposedly save their world, La’cryma).

My Spring 2006 anime list

With my limited bandwidth, and with Streamyx being as sucky as it is, I have to severely limit my choices. Sigh! Here's what I'll definitely watch:

Tokko
Supernatural, psychological, mystery horror show! I'm in! It helps massively that the hero is cute and has a tortured past. So basically this guy's parents were ripped to shreds by some supernatural bad dude and he joins The Special Mobile Investigation Force to avenge his parents' deaths. It's only at 13 episodes, but hopefully it is a fulfilling 13 episodes.

Ju Oh Sei
Looks very interesting. However, I don't see any fansubbers picking it yet. (Please do, sob!) There's this planet called Chimera where criminals reside. A pair of twins raised in a privilieged background is sent there thanks to a nefarious plot against their father. They have to be "beasts" to survive. It looks very interesting. Wish someone would pick it though.
I'm still watching Fate/Stay Night and Blood+, so my list of downloads is quite packed!

Vaguely curious about:

Utawarerumono
I'm going to have such a fun time remembering this title. A amnesiac man awakens in a strange land wearing a mask that he can't remove from his face. He tries to discover who he is and how he ended up this way. Yeah, I seem to have a thing for men with tortured pasts. The only downside is the loli-looking girls. I really hate loli.

Ouran Host Club
The manga is apparently very popular. It's what one anime blogger I read call "reverse harem" anime. Imagine – six super rich guys in an elite private school have a club where they act as social escorts to the rich gals. So, one hapless nerd knocks over a priceless vase and the six make him work it off at their club. The said nerd, however, is a gal.

Ray the Animation
If memory serves me right, it's about a girl who can cure people through rays emitted from her eyes. Saw the manga, wonder whether it's any good. Will probably try it out anyway.

xxxHolic
Only because it's so popular I just have to see what the fuss is all about. Since it's by CLAMP I suppose it will be good. But I don't really like the art much.

Black Lagoon
Internation spy is captured, betrayed by the company he works for. Very little info about it right now, though it seems that it will be fansubbed.

You can find the complete list of spring 2006 anime at Spring 2006 – test wiki.

New opening song for Bleach!

It doesn't look like Bleach is going to go into the Hollow arc anytime soon. And since they premiered this new OP without any Hollow arc hints … it may be along while yet. (Moans) Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the Bount arc, but this new opening sequence seems to hint that the Shinigami Captains will be involved! (fangirl scream) And they'll be wearing gigais which means they could be wearing normal Earth clothes! (fangirl scream) If this is going to happen, I don't mind the Bount, haha!!

And did you see Uruhara or what? (first row, right pic) Damn sexy man … I wonder what Bakuya will wear.

The new opening and ending song didn't do much for me though. I was just too distracted by how they mangled the English words. I prefer the one before this – very punchy and cool. This one … don't knowlah … don't feel for it. At least not right now.
Ishida is so the damsel in distress in this arc. I don't mind heheh. I mean, we always get girls who need rescuing, so it's nice to get guys in that role instead. But poor bloke … it's so hard for him to be helpless. sniff.

Anyway, I have not even watched Bleach 72 yet, let alone this episode (75-76). Sadly, I don't feel any desire to watch it immediately like last time. (Ah, the good ol' Soul Society arc days.) But from what little I can see as I checked the vid, the animation is kinda much better. And there's a new Bount villain who was a … (spoiler!!) former shinigami? Hmmmmmmmm

Watching anime online

I just discovered recently that you can watch anime via You Tube. I stumbled upon this nugget of a discovery when I was searching episode summaries of Kyou Kara Maou. Man, when I found it my eyes went as big as saucers. Watch anime?? In the office? While surfing? No need to download? Wow!

I'm not very fussy with how I watch the anime – I actually watch anime on a DVD player that plays DIVX files (cool man!).
But have you regretted spending the time and bandwidth downloading some anime? Did you regret buying some of them?

I, for one, regretted buying and downloading Black Cat. The story is not bad, but it's typical shonen fair about an assassin who's now a bounty hunter. It's very Get Backers, actually. But the animation is piss poor. Suprising for Gonzo. But I heard they were low on budget. Is it worth collecting? Not really. You can watch it once, but I wouldn't want to watch it again. But besides that, so far I'm pretty lucky with the anime I've watched. Most of them I love, except for Samurai Deeper Kyo which I found out has a sucky ending and S-cry-ed which has a mind-twisting ending.

So the long story is You Tube allows you to preview anime and then from there you can decide whether to buy them or to, ahem, download them.

After watching Jigoku Shoujo, I decided that one is definitely worth keeping. I like it's episodic, "horror of the week" feel. I'll probably end up watching my favourite "revenge" episode.

Noein is probably another one – the animation is superb – but I have not "clicked" with the characters yet. It's important for me to feel for the characters. And it should have a bishonen or two, hehe. But the story looks intriguing.

However, I most probably will watch a few more eps to decide. But seeing how bittorrent is being clamped these days, I probably wouldn't bother downloading it.