One thought, Arima seems a bit more boring than Yukino. This may not be his fault, though. Most everything so far has been more from Yukino's perspective. I am also more like Arima myself, though that may be telling . . .

In the first manga of SA (Special A), we meet all the members of this unique class, espeially Hikari and Kei. Kei is the only one to beat Hikari, and she even followed him to his elite private school so she can continue to challenge him on everything to tests to athletics and everything in between. Some of the artwork is beautiful. Some of it is not. Some of it is ment to be more funny than beautiful, but even there parts do not seem to be so well done. The good news is aside from the usual expected bonuses (author notes, specials at the end), there are stories that are not in the anime:) I especially liked the extra chapter. It doesn't even feature any of the SA members, but it is so sweet. So far, I am anyoing this series and would have to recommend it.

But I just thought of some manga I read that would be interesting to see as dramas, even if they would totally ruin it...

Top 5 Manga That Should Be Made Into Dramas

1. KODOMO NO OMOCHA This would be soooo fun to see as a drama. I love the manga, sorta like the anime... so why not try a drama? But I dont think it could possibly come anywhere near the manga. They might have trouble finding an actress weird enough to play Sana... Also, it would be really strange if the live action was about 6th & 7th graders... they would seem wayyyy to young. It would have to be moved up to maybe 8th & 9th graders.

2. KARE KANO Hmmm... this would most definitely be totally ruined. Again, would be hard to find an actress weird enough to play Yukino. It'd still be interesting to see the TV stations TRY.

3. FRUITS BASKET I know what you're thinking... I can already hear the screams of pain at the risk of this being turned into a soulless TV franchise... but you have to admit, it would be fun to see what they'd make of it. I wonder how they'd do the transformations... it would probably be really cheesy... like, POOF! Lol. I'm already laughing. See, I would be able to laugh it off if it was really awful, but I know a lot of Furuba fans out there would start to plan a mob... Of course I already know that no drama could ever live up to the manga, but I would be really interested if they ever do release a Furuba Live.

4. GIRL GOT GAME (POWER!) This might be overshadowed by Hana Kimi if it made it to the drama world, but the difference between Hana Kimi and this is that the manga was already really good... Hana Kimi manga I think tried to make something really silly with a weak plot into something serious, while Girl Got Game totally acknowledged that it was ridiculous from the start. This might not be ruined, actually... it would be really funny. But since Hana Kimi has already been released (and dont get me wrong, I would be totally deprived if it hadn't been), I don't think this one will ever turn into a Live. Of course, some smarty pants out there might realize how popular Hana Kimi has been and... hmmmm...

5. PEACH GIRL Actually, since I've heard good things about LIFE, which was from a manga, this might not be ruined either... but I don't know if I could stand watching the plot again... I was in such pain the whole time... I was always yelling things like, NO TOJI YOU STUPID)&@$)&)(@!)(&#_(*(^!!!! or, KILEY, WHYYYYYY??? Or MOMO )&@#)*(^$()*^@_(!_(&$@(*)& YOU! Yeah. it would probably be even worse to see it live. But, I would definitely watch it anyway. I love Kiley's character. XD Sae was pretty awesomely nasty, too.

My first impression: 3/5. Not bad, but doesn't really add anything to the manga. Given my anime list, I think I better pass for now.

I also saw the first part of Massugu no Ikou. When they say it is life from a dog's perspective, they weren't kidding. They do some of the same gags over and over, but that works since this first part is only four episodes long. And the dogs are so dog like, worrying about their partners, getting distracted by food or butterflies, and such. The main charater is Mametarou a crossbreed guy who's owner is a highschool girl named Iku. He has a girlfriend is Haneko, and he is totally worried about confessing his breed status to her since she is pure breed. You have the episode where they go to Iku's school, the episode where they go to the convenince store she works at, an episode about cell phones, and an episode where Mametarou tells Haneko he is a cross breed. Very cute, switching between normal animation and more flat and simple animation. Nothing too profound, but rather sweet.

I give this a 4/5. A nice enjoyable anime that's sweet and not long for a nice rainy afternoon or right before you go to bed.

I am still debating on watching the anime as well for two reasons. First, the story goes for much longer in the manga. Second, the story is very much internal, which works fine for still manga, but I don't know how well it would translate to moving anime. That, and I already have too long a list of anime to watch;_; Still, maybe I will, especially if the reviews are good. But I can make no promises on how soon that would be. In the mean time, I look forward to slowly collecting and reading the manga:)

I had even caught their anime. HAHAHAHA! Part 2 of their anime are coming out soon in October, I guess. Now, I am going to read their manga. HAHAHAHAHA! I am high on ecstasy. =D

Seriously, this show has left quite an impression and starting to love with classical music. The show had also given me more determination that I should follow my goal. =) Maybe, I shall talk about it in my next post. =X

And the drama allows me to remember quite vividly on “Moulin Rouge”, that was one of my favourite movies until now. I still love their song, “Come what may”.

The ending of the show is so depressing!!!!

Oh! I also caught another anime, “Kare Kano”, quite nice also. I wanted to watch it, as it has been in my mind since I was in my primary school. I remembered watching them on television before, however they stop showing half way. -.- The show is more about teenagers life, which is quite nice to watch.

So, I guess I will stop here and I need to go back to do my work. Time to get a little serious!

Au Revoir!

Oh, fa sho.

This morning was a medical adventure. At 10 AM, my eye doctor told me that yes, I would need glasses. BUT they will only be needed during class, when I'm squinting at the board. Isaac says I'll probably end up wearing them all the time. We'll see... *coughpuncough*
At 11 AM, I was given a filling. Those are no fun to receive, I assure you. I've had plenty in my day. No fun.

After all that, things got better. I hung in G-Funk with my buddy Josh, hittin' up all the thrift stores, getting ice cream, weed killer, and all that jazz. 

Good music I started listening to: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and The Tink Tinks. Interesting names...

I'm feeling the story-writing itch, but I'm not sure what to write about. Any suggestions? Right now, I'm looking at the possibility of making my favorite manga (Kare Kano) into a novel. Changing the names and details and such, of course, but keeping the main plot. But I'm not sure...boo...

What I need to do is find the one story that I actually finished (yes, it's true. I've finished a story), edit it, and get it the heck out there! Thing is, it's not the style I was hoping for at ALL. It's rather...edgy. Toward the end of writing it, I just kinda wrapped it up. So I really need to work on that. We'll see...maybe that will be my project for the rest of the summer?

I'm addicted to this Swedish girl's blog. Actually it's 2 sisters that blog together. I don't know what they're saying because it's not in English, but their pictures are great. moderniteter.devote.se

I just found out they made a sequel to one of the coolest Japanese movies ever: Nana. I still can't find a store that sells it, though. Maybe I'll buy them both on eBay or something. Bah.

Rating:

Commentary: This was a reread, and I still enjoyed it this time around. Kind of a cliche plotline and I know it sounds pretty phony and shallow from the summary, but Masami Tsuda does a good job of injecting both depth and lighthearted humor into this series.

The version I have is a compilation of volumes one through three, though the cover I have with this review is just of volume 3.

What I like most about Kare Kano (in English: His and Her Circumstances) are the funny bits--it might be a little bit outrageous at times, but on several occasions I've laughed out loud. I can't say I'm the biggest fan of Tsuda's drawing style, but the story moves along at a good pace, and all the characters are pretty fleshed-out and unique.

I can find myself relating to Yukino quite a bit, especially the bit about reputation. She's a very likable character, and I like the way she develops through the story.

Romantic, funny, light read.

Lange hat es gedauert. Aber nun habe ich mir die Serie endlich zu Ende angesehen.

Anfangs dachte ich immer. Das jede Folge eine Quall werden wird und ich mich dabei total langweilen würde. Was auch der Grund war weswegen ich die Serie immer so lange vor mir her geschoben habe.

Doch ich habe mich geirrt. Die Serie ist gar nicht mal so schlecht.

Vor allen merkt man sehr stark das Gainax und Hideaki Anno an denn Anime mitgearbeitet haben.

Kare Kano kann man fast als NGE klon bezeichen. Denn fast alles an denn Anime hat mich an NGE erinnert. Es wurden teilweise Musikstücke aus NGE benutz, die nur etwas anders klingen, und es wurden sehr viele Sounds aus NGE benutz. Besonders der Humor ist auch sehr NGE typisch. Ich musste sehr lachen als einer der Chraketere vor Wut Explodiert ist und so denn Third Impact ausgelöst hat. Oder wo der Kampf von EVA 01 gegen Shamshiel nach gestellt wurde. Es wurden so viele sachen aus NGE benutz das ich schon nicht mehr alles weiß. Ich denke mal jeder NGE Fan sollte sich diesen Anime mal angesehen haben. Er wird vieles wieder erkennen.

Doch leider wird die Serie nach Folge 18 doch recht langweilig. Denn nach Folge 18 Verlies Hideaki Anno das Projekt. Was man auch sehr stark merkt! Es kommen immer mehr rückblenden vor. Was denn Unterhaltungsgrad fast auf 0 Senken lässt. Zwar hat man versucht denn Stil beizubehalten. Doch in meinen Augen ist dies leider nicht gelungen. Sehr schade eigentlich. Schade ist auch das die Serie kein richtiges Ende hat.

Nur sollte man bei denn Deutschen DVDs die finger von der Synchro lassen. Auch der Deutsche Untertitel ist nicht gerade das Gelbe vom Ei. Besonders das Timing ist teilweise richtig mies.

Insgesamt gesehen aber eine doch recht gute Serie. Die ich, wie gesagt, jeden NGE Fan nur empfehlen kann.

“eh, sì, tu pensi, certo, tu pensi sempre, eccome se pensi…” e giù la seconda ondata. Attenzione però, lei non usava un tono esasperatamente aggressivo, non so se per istinto o per esperienza (esperienza che lui immediatamente farà di come girano certe dinamiche nel rapporto di coppia, come interpretare certe situazioni e certi toni di voce) lei aveva impostato quel tono querulo un po’ supplichevole grazie al quale ti può dire tutto ciò che vuole (nello specifico anche parolacce ed improperi) e tu, invece di contrattaccare, ti senti maledettamente in colpa per averla fatta sentire così male, per averla egoisticamente ferita e ridotta in quello stato pietoso prossimo alle lacrime, e va a finire che ti convinci di essere il peggiore uomo venuto sulla terra dopo Hitler.  Occhio alla finezza che avvalora ciò che dico. Lei: “certo, sono la tua vergogna non è vero? Sono una vergogna perché non riesco a correre veloce come vorresti… vaffa di qua vaffa di là” deve affinare la tecnica ma la ragazzina ci sa fare

“ma no, io ti avevo visto che eri rimasta indietro…” mica lo lascia finire, riparte subito all’attacco dopo che lui ha buttato lì un massimo di cinque parole, che servono a lei solo per avere nuovo materiale con cui continuare la sfuriata

“certo, quella povera scema indietro ero io, spero bene che tu mi abbia visto, però non hai rallentato bla bla bla”

“ma io pensavo di fare una corsa…” ma ti pare il caso di insistere ragazzo, anche se la tua voce ha un tono profondamente contrito con te non funziona

“ah, perché io invece che cosa credevi che fossi venuta a fare? Solo che non ce la faccio, io, a correre come voi, faccio schifo, sono una vergogna, dai, dillo che ti vergogni di me”. L’alterco, o meglio il monologo, prosegue su questo tono ed ogni tanto (e mi si gela il sangue se penso alla mia di esperienza) lei mette dentro il “no! Basta!” una pietra tombale che chiude ogni conversazione, cioè, tu non sei autorizzato a parlare ma lei ne ha di cose da dire sul tuo conto, e ci tiene che tu le sappia tutte. Lei poi imposta una scena madre sedendosi sul ciglio della strada, ma io mi allontano e non so come vada a finire.

Quanto materiale, che background di esperienza per lui se ha fatto attenzione a ciò che è successo (lei invece ne sa già una pagina più del libro); ad esempio, teorizzo ma credo sia andata così: se lei ti chiede di andare a correre tu metti in preventivo di non andare realmente a “correre”, la accompagni fuori, segui il suo ritmo, ci chiacchieri, ma soprattutto non inviti il tuo amico (è chiaro che l’abbia invitato lui, e lei avrà sbuffato perché la corsa è solo un pretesto per stare un po’ insieme tu e lei, ed è altrettanto chiaro che lei aspettava l’occasione per fargliela pagare e lui gliel’ha servita su di un piatto d’argento) ma se anche lo inviti, in ogni caso, ti concentri su di lei, se all’amico va bene buona, se no cavoli suoi.

Mi hanno fatto venire in mente un cartone che ho visto un po' di tempo fa (chiaramente la loro era una situazione da cartone) "le situazioni di lui e lei" (Kare Kano), che mi colpì perché in una puntata, quando lui e lei fanno per la prima volta all'ammmore, il momento era sottolineato da una variazione su di un preludio di Bach che era qualcosa di spettacolare. Ma perché noi in Italia che siamo il paese dell'arte, della cultura, della musica bla bla bla non abbiamo la stessa sensibilità musicale (e la stessa creatività) quando imbastiamo una fiction o un film?

MI piaceva anche la sigla finale, 30 secondi che mi mettevano di buonumore

Serial Experiment Lain

A mind puzzle, yep this anime was such. But I felt the concept was quite original and that it might have brought about the concept of wanting to be a part of the network. Reminds me of Ghost in the Shell. But at that time during high school, was having some identity crisis..

Shamanic Princess

This was the first anime I watched at the anime club, when I realize, after burning out from Jr. High that there were more than the current amount of anime I was watching. So I was very happy to see say this provided hope for me. I really like the second ending to this short OVA.

Slayers

The series where I loved Megumi Hayashibara, other than her works in other anime. I loved the funny elements of this set of series. I am pretty excited for the new series Slayers Revolution that is coming out this summer. I remember wanting to emulate the laughter of Naga the Serpant in the OVA and was in Xellos/Filia pairing for a while. There were three series for this show, so I figure I'll show all three show's OP and that two videos of that hilarious song in Slayers Next where Lina and Amelie was force to perform. Obviously a parody for Sailor Moon.

Kodomo no Omacha

http://youtube.com/watch?v=kE1nGCtDlww

Yay for Sana! Well this was one of the series I loved when I was in high school. Loved the energy of Sana and how Akito teased her at the beginning. This was the first series I think I realized the popularity of boy groups, with Tokio singing the first opening. Hmm another song I realized at that time was SMAP with Hime-chan no Ribbon, but didn't really pick up on liking until a lot later.

Kareshi Kanoji no Jijou

This series is commonly known as Kare Kano, but I learned it because of the first name. During the time I watched this anime and after, this was the first manga I seriously went and ordered the Japanese versions for, until Tokyopop started to release it. I loved the Tsubasa/Kazuma pairing in this series, while Yukino/Arima were all right for the most part. Just didn't really like the ending of the manga and realized that despite a lot of things, this was a shoujo series, that I thought was good for the most part.

Neon Genesis Evagelion

I've seen several blogs or videos that announce that this is one of the best opening of all time. Well the series is that good of an anime. Kinda spooky, but psychologically it screamed teen angst. Lots of people hated or didn't mind Shinji for his angst, but I watched and enjoyed the anime very much. Was very sadden by the second movie, when that scene with Asuka occured. I absolutely adored the first movie where there is much recap from the entire television series. My favorite episode from this series has to be The Day When Tokyo-3 Stood Still.. somehow teamwork always got to me.

Vampire Princess Miyu

After a while of reading The Last Vampire by Christopher Pike and the start of Buffy the Vampire Slayer with Sarah Michelle Gellar. I was hooked onto the romanticized image of vampires. So when i discovered this series, I grew in love with it. The soundtrack for this series is something I liked for years.

So a little background info to start this review off. Kareshi Kanojou No Jijou or Kare Kano as it's better known, is a romance manga written by Masami Tsuda. It's 21 volumes in length and was published from 1995 to 2005. According to my sources (wikipedia lol), Kare Kano has already been animated by the people from Gainax but wasn't really finished due to some conflict between the mangaka and the studio. SO that means I haven't seen the anime.

SO what prompted me to read this manga in the first place? Well people have been talking about Kare Kano for a long long time, and the first time I heard of it had to be last year. However it wasn't until recently that I decided to give it a try and as you might have guessed (from my first line xD) I totally loved it. I was just drawn in deeper as I read on and by the time I reached the middle volumes I was hooked.

Anyway, the main characters of Kare Kano are Souichiro Arima and Miyazawa Yukino. The manga focuses on the trials and hardships they face as they go through high school while maintaining their relationship. Okay, Yukino is at first glance your average smart kid, but her outward appearance is just a facade. On the inside, she's actually a schemer who keeps up appearances just to draw attention to herself. Ruthless, jealous and cold, this pretty much sums up Yukino's character. Arima, like Yukino, is also a top achiever; Handsome, athletic, good grades and the like, except for the fact that he beats her in pretty much everything she does. Always polite, always kind, Arima is the model student of their high school, Hakuou academy. However, like Yukino, he also hides dark and painful secrets.

However, amidst it all they manage to see through each others facades, fall in love and start a relationship. As they go on they are joined by many friends such as Hideaki Asaba, a handsome playboy who becomes Arima's best friend, Tsubasa, Arima's childhood friend, Maho, rival turned friend, Tsubaki, Aya and Risa, once distant but ending up being Yukino's best friends, and many others such as Tonami, Kazuma and even the Yin and Yang band.

Okay, now to the heart of the matter. I'd say the themes of this manga are quite obvious. Facing the past, Love and understanding, handling relationships, and stuff like that. I'll start with Yukino. Her obsessive attitude towards being the first is probably what defined the start of this manga. Smart, brilliant but at the same time all alone. However, she doesn't notice this until she meets Arima who is equally, if not more perfect. Since this manga starts with Yukino as the main character it's easy to see that the mangaka, Masami Tsuda, is setting her up for a relationship. However, Yukino only starts to shine in earnest when she pairs up with Arima. Both seemingly perfect, yet alone all the time, their relationship is what propels the series onwards.

The part of the story I can relate the most too would be Arima's story. Coming from an established family yet treated as an outcast, Arima's past is awfully complex. Being the illegitimate child of an illegitimate child made his relatives see him as nothing more than a disgrace. Living with his foster parents, who unlike everyone else love him very much, he starts to fall deeper into his self made prison. It's only until he meets Yukino that things start to change for the better. Now I won't write too much in detail about Arima's past. I'll leave that to you to figure out.

There are many other side stories too. One I enjoyed alot was Kazuma and Tsubasa's story. Meeting, becoming related through their parents marriage, loving as brother and sister, and eventually loving each other as couples. What struck me the most about Kazuma's story was his love for music. After joining the band Yin and Yang (who were indie at the time but ended up as worldwide stars at the end of the manga) to struggling between his love for Tsubasa and music, to finding out that both loves can coexist together, I was just hooked all along the way. Being a man of music myself this spoke volumes to me as I've always known that music is something that you pour part of yourself into, emotions, pain. experiences and the like.

Souji and Reiji's (Arima's foster and biological father) backstory was also very touching and just served to give Arima's childhood more depth. Seeing them deal with all the pain that'd been handed down from generation to generation just spoke to me on many different levels, making the manga even greater to me than what I originally felt it was. Other stories such as Tonami and Tsubaki's past, Rika and Aya's lives, Maho's journey to love, the Steel Snow play and even Miyazawa's parent's backstory were just breaths of fresh air for me too. Yup, I pretty much loved every part of it.

Okay, Just bear with me for a while more while I explain why it is that I'm so drawn to this manga. I believe that Arima's inner struggle with his past and how it gradually ruined his relationship with Yukino can be said as a parallel with many of the relationships we have. His past caused him to shun love from others, never opening himself up too much for fear of getting rejected again. So unsurprisingly, It wasn't until he set things right with Yukino, his parents and everyone else that their relationship became stronger than before.

I believe that we can learn many things from this, one of them is that no matter who we are or what we do, all of us need someone we can fall back onto. Taking all the burden ourself will just push us further away from the people we really care about. Secondly, I believe that just as Arima tried to change himself for the better, we need to do so too. Now, in regard to this matter, I've found that its amazing what God ( being a christian and all) can do to change our lives. What I've personally failed to change myself in the past, God has done for me. Even if you don't share my sentiments I'm sure you'll agree that , just like Arima, all of us would do better leaving bad habits behind.

Lastly, I totally loved the closure the final chapter (71 pages!) gave to this manga. Taking a look 16 years into the future was really great. The final panel where both Yukino and Arima bid their farewells(breaking the fourth dimension by talking to us, the viewers) was just really touching.

Wow that was a long review. I even lost track of my time while I was doing it! Anyway, Kare Kano to me, is probably the best romance manga I've ever read and will probably be the best I've read for a long time to come. So I hope my review did justice to this great series and that you enjoyed my thoughts on this awesome manga, until next time then! xD

P.S sorry for the long review and scrunched up pictures! xD

Well over 6 years ago, I started using the nickname Pero Pero. I loved it. It was the name of the Miyazawa family's dog, from Kareshi Kanojo no Jijyo.
Initially, Kare Kano was just another manga added to my collection, a manga with great quality and content, with no doubt, but nothing more than that. I did however feel more and more attracted to the characters and started to somewhat identify myself with the male counterpart of the story's main couple.
The main character is Yukino Miyazawa, a Japanese high school freshman who is the envy of her classmates because of her good grades and immaculate appearance. However, this is just a charade she maintains to win praise—at home and in private, she is spoiled, stubborn, and a slob, and studies relentlessly instead of spending time with her sisters. Her position is threatened by Soichiro Arima, a handsome young man who also gets top grades. Yukino considers his very existence to be a challenge to her class leadership positions and a threat to the praise on which she thrives, and so she vows to destroy him. But after some misunderstandings, they see past each other's facades and fall in love. The series follows their relationship as they are tested by school, family problems, and friends.
So why did the opening sequence of the anime become one of the songs of my life? I think this post is long enough already, maybe another time! *Watch me completely forget about it*

I'm going to get the bad out of the way first because it's fresh in my mind having been crammed mostly into the end of the series. Through the first 18 episodes the show was nonstop great and I thought would be a shoe-in candidate for my alltime favorites but the rest of the show went and ruined it. The plot gets totally unfocused, the pacing goes fucking insane, a new character who I found it thoroughly impossible to care about is thrown in and wastes plenty of time, and generally the quality was unimpressive.

It all seems to have to do with the 6-part episode '14 days' which is interrupted for 2 random eps before the ending. The first part is okay only because of it's totally awesome experimental animation techniques, but shit and fan collide for the next 3 eps. Besides a few good moments, it was almost entirely ass. Episode 13 finally seemed to be getting good again and episode 24 was awesome for he first half, the second half being recap. In fact, I think this would have made a perfectly fine ending to the series, but there were 2 more eps.

Luckily, episode 25 might have been my favorite episode of the whole show, however it SHOULD NOT have been episode 15 because it is a complete aside form any of the going plots. The last episode, though, is definitely the worst. At first it seems to be taking on a 'darkest just before dawn' approach or something with prospects of a potentially good ending but then, after some more of the 'this is all nice, but could we get some more plot please?' scenes that had plagued this arc the whole shebang ends in a shattering anti-climax with no real conclusions of anything. I know that the anime only makes up a small part of the manga but FOR GODS FUCKING SAKE, AT LEAST FUCKING TRY TO MAKE A REAL FUCKING ENDIND.

Setting aside my anger and trying to reach back into the nexus of my fond memories of this show, it's another one like Manabi that came for me at the right time with the right messages only this one was the most direct of em all. One of the main themes was literally that certain things are more important than schoolwork IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING. Thank you for understanding, fellow smart kids. It was also a really nice, quick-paced romance with interesting side-stories (aside from that fucking bullshit of the last arc). Putting aside her great looks, grades, and popularity, I relate with Yukino on many levels, so that was fun to see as well.

Honestly, though, even though I know the first 18 eps were freaking great I just can't shake the terrible that happened afterward. It just leaves an utterly horrible taste in my mouth. In addition, this show should NOT have been 26 eps. Like I said, I know the manga is much longer, but the amount of shit they got done could have fit in 13 episodes, had there not been SOOOOOOOO MUUUUCH RECAAAAAAP!!! It felt like the entire story was re-told from the start up to it's current point a zillion times either in pre-show or in characters' thoughts or in the 2 recap episodes (really it's 1 and 2 halves of eps but still good fucking god). Not to mention all the parts with just random cityscape pictures for up to a full minute.

In any case, I probably have to check out the manga now and I feel like I need to rewatch only the good episodes to get this bad taste out of my mouth lest my memories turn all sour since I was REALLY looking forward to praising this show and can't even remember what I had to say >_<

Oh! The characters. Arima was a great guy, Yukino is, as mentioned, very relatable, Asapin was funny, basically everyone was great except the basketball douchebag. My favorite, even though she was woefully underdeveloped, was the resident writer girl. I always have a thing for the character who follows their dreams, plus she had a personality made of win and best of all, she's a smoker! Charaters seem like another good reason I should read the manga, just to get to know them better.

I bought a couple manga today (Shugo Chara and Stray Little Devils) haven't read SC yet but the other one is a true gem. Maybe I'll do a part on it for my manga page : O Anywho, not that you'll read this in real time so it doesn't matter really but I'm staying up all night tonight. Just because I can. For those of you who aren't emo faggots and therefor don't use myspace (I only just created one for networking purposes) I am currently at a quandry because my progress report comes on Friday and I have been putting 0 effort into schoolwork. Of course, I don't give half a damn about my grades but I'm curious as to how my parents will receive this.

Anyway, this isn't Emo Boy's Anime Blog so I'll get back to what matters. For those who don't know, I'm a director with a sort of partnership with my cousin whom is also doing other projects with me. I've also been writing for years however I've never been good at literature because I don't read enough, however I have the most utterly pretentious taste in anime and that, combined with a creative mind and writing ability, is enough for me to have started work on a show script. YES I am fully aware that I cannot write an anime because, no shit, I can't speak Japanese. However, maybe I've got some chance in convincing a risk-taking cartoon company into helping me. Or maybe I should give up now, but hey, at least I'm dedicated to the project and I've been planning the living shit out of it instead of doing classwork for a while now. You can bet your ass it's full of crazy plot twists, yuri, many character deaths, and the all-important shared aspect of 4 of my top 5 - dream following though not in anywhere near the context of my favorites, oddly enough. If I absolutely had to compare it to something I'd consider it a mix between Gurren Lagann, 12 Kingdoms (even though I dislike the show I admit there are certain things it pulls off spectacularly that I hope to pull off just as well) and some dosage of a show I haven't seen but can probably find comparable.

Now that you are in a state of full-on inability to care about a word I'm saying, I'm going to bring up how awesomely grateful I am to have received this Right Stuf catalog which has been POSITIVELY DISTURBINGLY helpful to me the last few days. Having read the history of the company celebrating their 20th anniversary, I figured out that the disk read error when I put in Kare Kane volume 1 was probably because the PS2 couldn't handle the advanced DVD and sure enough the PS3 played it just fine. Next, they were talking about a series of theirs called Shingu which dm, a person I usually listen to, brought it up the next day as an underrated series. Lastly, I'd happened to catch notice of a picture from a manga called Stray Little Devils that looked interesting and when I happened to be buying manga on a whim it cought my eye, I bought it, and it was wonderfull. Also, because I realized that Kare Kano was a Right Stuf license, I was able to realise how it's possible for Boogiepop and Shinobuden to be coming to the FUNimation network.

Right Stuf has quickly become amongst my favorite licensing companies. Especially because they seem like the most likely to bring over any other UFOTable shows :O

If anyone can make me watch another one and have me give it a fighting chance, it's Gainax. Anytime the name Gainax is attached to an anime, I make it a point to at the very least check it out. After such quality anime such as FLCL, His & Her Circumstances(or "Kare Kano" for all you geeky purists out there), Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi, Gunbuster 2 and of course Evangelion, they have more than earned my trust. Except for Nadia, that was total crap.

So what's Gurren Lagann about? I don't really know. I figure it's about giant robots which I assume will fight other giant robots. I'm sure there will be a love story of some sort. I'll bet there will be some comedy elements and some fan service. Most likely someone will die. Oh and there's this mole looking thing that seems to be the mascot of the series. The thing that they can make toys of and make millions of dollars from.

Does it really matter? All you really need to know is: it's Gainax so the animation will be top notch, the character design will be really, really good, breasts will most definitely be bouncing and robots are cool. Sold. The first DVD of the series comes out in a few days. Buy it here.

*For the record Iron Monkey is my favorite kung fu film of all time.

Nomdaotto: When life kicks you in the teeth, it's your job to kick back! Only a true story of manly heroism can work now! Tengen Toppa Gurren Laggan might work, provided that he hasn't been jaded by endless repetitions of the "Don't believe in yourself... etc." meme and/or too many previous viewings. If that's the case, we'll pull out the trump card, either Captain H(G)arlock or the original Gundam movies. No funk can stand up to epic space battles and/or the Bright slap!

Ottonomad: You know, not everything can be solved with violence. How about a show that will encourage him to take a look at life's problems and realize that they aren't so bad. Something like Genshiken or Azumanga, combined with reading Yotsuba, will allow Paul to get back on his feet and away from the hug pillows.

Nomadotto: Well that's the last of the cases and I'm still standing, I guess your little challenge failed.

Ottonomad: The way I see it, "You're already dead"

Nomadotto: What, no! That's stealing a quote from my side of the moe/moe divide.

She was cultured
He was well-mannered

She was second in the class
He was the first

She hid behind a mask of perfection
He did not know yet his real face

She protected her true self from failure
He sacrificed his real self for success

She was a fake
He seemed the real thing

She hated him in private
He confessed his love in public

She refused him
He refused to give up

She showed her real face accidentally
He was more amazed than shocked

She feared for her image
He used his chance to get closer

She made her first true friend
He saw the beauty within her

She shed her masks because of him
He discovered himself because of her

She showed the world her real laugh
He discovered that he could laugh

She realized that she loved him
He realized that his past love was an illusion

This was true love
A journey of self-discovery
Through the eyes of another

In truth, I had never really thought about show openings before.

Sure, everyone knows that the A-Team had an awesome opening, and, yes, Star Trek is classic, but I really didn't contemplate this until today.

And, of course there's this, which is probably my favorite opening of any series ever:

Here we go with a few of my anime favorites. I'm not certain if these are my favorite openings, or just some favorite anime. Then again, some major titles didn't make the list, so maybe I did go for favorite openings.

This post is in two parts, with the part prior to the cut being identical.

In case you missed Part One...

Two more on the cliché end.

First, Cowboy Bebop

• What can I say that hasn't already been said about this anime? I won't say it's the best, because it's not. It's really, really good, but not the best (not if you're a big plot fan, though it is one of the top characterization series out there). Based on what I've seen of the other series, I would say that it compares in many ways to Firefly. Yeah, I went there. I've more than once heard this referred to as "the anime that people who don't like anime will probably like." Cowboy Bebop has some of the best music (if not the best) in an anime that I've encountered, and it's opening is no exception.

Second, Trigun

• Trigun is great. It's got a good story, it's alternately hilarious and heartbreaking (as is the next title), and it all asks some interesting moral questions. Also, some of the best action sequences ever animated. Vash rocks, so of course his opening has to as well.

Next are two anime quite removed from the previous two (just about the other end of the spectrum, actually).

Fruits Basket

• This is one of Amanda's favorite anime, but it's also one of mine. It's sweet, it's poignant, and it honestly made me teary-eyed on more than one occasion even on a SECOND viewing. Unfortunately, the ending is a screw-up of Fullmetal Alchemist proportions, as the original manga, like that one, was not finished yet when the anime ended. Still, highly recommended to anyone who doesn't mind watching something honestly nice. The opening song is bittersweet, like the show.

Kare Kano aka. His and Her Circumstances

• This is akin to Fruits Basket, in that it's very sweet. Sadly, it's another victim of "the story isn't over but the anime is" syndrome. It's really just a show about a high school romance. Two teenagers fall in love and try to deal with life and love. Mostly, they're not dealing with whacky hijinx or any of that, they're just dealing with tests, parental pressures, and peer pressure. It's really good (until the company ran out of money around episode 18, leaving 8 very sloppy episodes). Why should you care? Hideaki Anno adapted the screenplay and directed those first 18 episodes. Google his name if you don't know why that matters.

Now, here's the thing. None of these has managed to be my favorite.

You know why?

Because I can't think of anything that matches the awesomeness of this:

Animal Yokocho

• Yeah, a really, really cute kids show has my all-time favorite opening. Maybe it's because of the music, maybe it's because of the line "Door, door, I open you and out comes incredible nothing," maybe it's the use of parody. In any case, this show is great. Hilarious. It's crazy in ways that we Westerners don't allow our children's shows to be anymore. And hey, Godzilla reference in the opening credits.

KareKano #16

R$ 9,90
– de Masami Tsuda
– Romance / Comédia / Drama
– 192 Páginas
– Formato 11,4 x 17,7 Cm
– 21 Volumes

Éden #22

R$ 5,90
– de Hiroki Endo
– Aventura / Adulto
– 128 Páginas
– Formato 13 x 18 Cm
– em andamento

Pretty much a good song and I love the animation. Fate/Stay Night is one of those series that I loved even though it's not the best series out there. I have more Figures from this series that any other series. I love the upbeat tempo of this song, Disillusion even though it was a beautiful song felt off, plus I preferred This Illusion over Disillusion.

14. “Dramatic” – Yuki
Honey and Clover

This is one of the songs that the song itself isn't all that great, but mixed in with the tone of the series and the animation of the foods it makes it amazing.

13. "Duvet" – Boa
Serial Experiments Lain

This is the only song in my entire list that completely in English, I do love this song. It gives me chills every time I hear it and that is hard to do. When I hear this song it's very hard for me to not completely break out into song and sing along.

12. “Sakura” – NIRGILS
Eureka SeveN

Who knew Amaing grace could sound so cool? Even though all of the Eureka seveN songs were amazing this one left a strong impression on me.

11. “Super Shooter” – RIP SLYME
Gantz

It's just badass what more can I say? I'm not a fan of Rap but j-rap just sounds so much better in my head I guess. I would have a figure from Gantz if they weren't all so shitty, I'd prefer a Figure with the full body gantz suit than the slutty ones where it's only like pieces of the suit. I really liked the show but considering that the manga is still ongoing in japan it didn't really have a proper ending.

10. “Colors of the Heart” – UVERworld
Blood+

UVERworld by far my most favorite J-pop band ever. I was first introduced to them from the Bleach Opening D-technolife. But Colors of the Heart Made a lifetime fan, the song fit the show, plus the animation was amazing. I loved how they went with a completely different animation style for the Opening than for the actual series.

9. "Itoshii Kakera" – Melocure
Ufo Princess Valkyrie

I've always liked the Cutesty kind of songs that came from anime openings. But this song is one the likes to pop up on my playlist every once in a while and I just really love it. For this series this song was absolutely perfect.

8. “Bouken Deshou Deshou?” - Hirano Aya
Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu

I'm a fan of Hirano Aya but not a die hard fan. But still this song was pretty awesome, Maybe not as great as the insert songs from this series but thats for my next list.

7. "Tenshi no Yubikiri” - Fukuda Mai
Kare Kano

I love how this Series used the Manga for animation style. You can clearly see in even the Opening that most of it is just pieces of the manga in a collage style animation.

6. “Dogfight” – Move
Initial D: Fourth Stage

This song was a hard choice, between Noizy tribe, Around the world, Break in 2 the nite, and Blazin' beat. But in the end Dogfight won, not only was the animation amazing but I can't picture any other artist than Move for an Initial D opening. HAVE YOU SEEN THE DUB OPENING!!? It's REALLY BAD!! Now I admit I don't know much about cars, but the music from Initial D always makes me want to go down a mountain and race someone. Did I also mention that this show made me want a White RX-7 FC really really badly?

5. “Lucy” – Anna Tsuchiya
NANA

I'm a die hard Anna Tsuchiya fan, so this song is of course on this list. I cried when I saw her live in concert at AX. Thats pretty sad, but then i bet 53rg10 would have done the same at the SOS Brigade Invation Tour (well maybe not cry but you get the idea.) Lucy solidified my fangirlism to Anna Tsuchiya. Anna Tsuchiya really has the perfect tone for Nana in this series, and I feel if they used a different person to do the singing for the Black Stones the series wouldn't have felt the same.

4. “Sora iro Days” - Nakagawa Shouko
Tengen Toppa Gurren Laggan

There was no way in hell I wasn't going to have a Gurren Laggan song on this list. I do think i'm going to have to see this series again in a few days, I'm going through Gurren Laggan withdrawals. But seriously this song is great, this series was just plain Epic and this song is the perfect fit for it.

3. “Sore Ga, Ai Deshou” - Shimokawa Mikuni
Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu

Now this was a hard choice, It was a complete toss up between all three FMP Openings. I love them all so much and they each fit the series perfectly. But in the end I realize this song makes me sing along more than the rest, every time I hear this song I get the urge to just watch this series for the 90 millionth time.

2. “Catch you Catch me” – Gumi
Card Captor Sakura

It's rare for me to sit through the Opening of a series every time I see an episode. I'll maybe watch it the first few times then skip through it for the rest of the series. Catch you Catch me was different, I truly watched this opening every time I saw an episode of Card Captor Sakura. The animation drew me in, plus the song was just perfect for the tone of the series. Yes platinum and Tobira wo Akete are amazing songs but I just ending skipping them once the episode started.

1. “Hemisphere” – Maaya Sakamoto
Rahxephon

I'm one of the rare people who actually likes both Rahxephon and Evangalion, they both were one of the few series I first watched. I think I can honestly say Rahxephon was the 4th series I ever saw. This song helped get me into Anime music and j-pop it was an important start but not the first song to get me interested in anime music thats for my insert song list. Sorry all you platinum fans this is my favorite Mayaa Sakamoto song.