orz...

I'm too busy to watch anything nowadays. I can only spare some time to watch Hidamari, Manabi and Akazukin, otherwise I just keep piling up loads of unwatched anime in my HD...

I feel like singing this song.

Anime - Manabi Straight Episode 2

Suprisingly, it was a wonderful episode.
Even better than the first episode.
This is what I wanted from ufotable.
Such a nice slice-of-life anime.

Anime - Hidamari Sketch Episode 1

I love this! Definitely my #1 for this season.

Though, initially I expected this one to be a nice slice-of-life loli anime, I was wrong.
It doesn't feel loli at all. Yuno is flat. That's all. Loli? Nope.

But, putting aside loli matter, this is a very nice slice of life anime. It was based on 4 komas manga just like Azumanga Daiou, so expect short stories/parts inside one episode. But not really like Azumanga Daiou though, no weird jokes; just simple story of 4 art-stream students' daily life, nothing much.

Though I am quite dissapointed that the loli element is not there, I am very satisfied with slice-of-life value of this anime.

Blog - Lolitron on Manabi Straight Episode 1

As usual, his comment never fails to amuse me. Especially that quote.

Anime - Otogi Juushi Akazukin Episode 27

Zukkyun~

Nice episode.
All of them have zukkyuned enough.

Somehow Ringo is quite cute in this episode, quite different from her normal self.

After all that castle is a fake one, the real one is at the place where Cendrillion was sealed.
And though the fact that Cendrillion is actually Maren quite clear starting from episode 23, it is mentioned clearly in this episode though.

Anime - Manabi Straight Episode 1

Somehow the first episode gave me the very same impression like Futakoi Alternative.
Hectic, but peaceful. I love this feeling.

I really didn't expect that it would turn out as nice as this, probably due to the fact that I didn't watch the previews. I'm glad that it turned out to be another slice-of-life anime.

Of course since it is from the same studio that made Futakoi Alternative, UFOTABLE, then you can expect the same idea when it comes to animation, but this one is nice on its own, not exactly like Futakoi Alternative.

This one would be one of my favourite for this season.

(I ranted about not being able to download anime etc, but somehow I got this one. Source? Hi-Mi-Tsu)

Anime, Manga - No more... Thanks to ***tty ISP

ISP in my country pulled the plug for p2p aplications = no anime, manga download.
It seems to me that I can no longer make early comments on newest anime and manga.

This means that I'm now restricted to manga available at Kinokuniya only.

POP - I should have like his work long time ago orz

POP updated his ElectromagneticWave website recently, with links to his recent works.

This one item grabbed my attention, a link to Loveny no Ehon (ラヴニーの絵本) online keitai game which was apparently released one month ago in Japan. Nice character design by POP, so loliciously tasty.

Sincerely, I'm not really into his work until recently when I came across his illustration for Akazukin, the one included with Otogi Juushi Akazukin DVD. He made Akazukin look tastier though :p I know that he is the character designer for popular Moe-tan, but other than that I couldn't seem to like his artwork, not until I found this tasty one:

Manga - Kumabachi no Koto

This is a one-shot manga by Ashinano Hitoshi, published in the latest Afternoon (February 2007). After about 5 months without any new manga from Ashinano sensei (the last one was Touge, special concluding chapter for Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, not included in volume 14 tankoubon), I'm glad that at last, right before cristmas, I was able to read another wonderful work from him.

Simply put, this work feels like the usual Ashinano sensei, though this one feels more or less like PositioN rather than YKK with that kind of 'magical' setting as opposed to post-apocalyptic YKK. I felt like crying reading that manga, though there was nothing in particular to be sad about. I think it was out of satisfaction.

Well, the elves at cafealpha already finished with the translation work, you can get the scanlated one there.

Somehow, the very same day I posted a link to RAW version of the manga on pander.us forum, it already surfaced on tokyotosho. Thank you for putting the torrent on behalf of me since it's quite problematic for me keep up a torrent given the condition of isp in my country, but for the part "Scanned by painsama", it should be "Leeched off ny by painsama" though :p

Live Action - Mushishi

Mushishi live action trailer.

Looks very nice, especially the cinematography is quite promising. I don't expect realistic CGI from Japanese movie though, but the CGI in this movie looks good.

Thank you Memento for info.

Is it the time for me to return to real world?

Anime - Ichigo Mashimaro OVA!

Release dates: 23/2/2007, 28/3/2007, 25/4/2007
3 OVAs in total. Definitely a must watch lolicious OVA series!
Official Site: http://www.ichigomashimaro.com/

Anime - 2006

My top 11 animes for year 2006 are:
ARIA The NATURAL
Mushishi
Hachimitsu to Clover II
Chokotto Sister
Binchoutan
Asatte no Houkou
Kashimashi
Binbou Shimai Monogatari
Bokura ga Ita
Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora
Tonagura!

No Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu? Higurashi no Naku Koro ni? Mai Otome? Probably I should make a top 100 anime list instead. There are other animes that I love in this year apart from those mentioned such as Ergo Proxy, Lemon Angel, Zero no Tsukaima, Shakugan no Shana, and also Fate/Staynight, but after all, only those 11 animes are the ones that I can easily say I can't 'live' without. 11? I'm just too indecisive. Those 11 are the ones that I love very much. It's hard too choose by the way.

But if I am to choose only one anime, I will definitely choose ARIA The NATURAL. I even make extra efford for this particular anime with screenshots for almost all the episodes, and manga-anime comparison tables. After all I have all the mangas too ^^ This is truly an ultimate iyashii anime for this year.

As for Mushishi, the animation is really wonderful, together with very nice, original storyline, plus probably one of the best BGM for anime. Though Hachimitsu to Clover II is more serious that the first season, it offers very nice insert songs, nice dialogues and monologues, and also Hagumi... However the ending is kind of unexpected to me. I should have read the manga first. Chokotto Sister is an ultimate anime to me, Choko is superb, and Yuri-pyon too is superb! Everything is superb. Uh... I want more Choko...

Binchoutan, as I said before, is a killer anime. Watch it or die! Anyone can resist the temptation of chibi characters in anime? Plus the iyashii value of it? Asatte no Houkou ended recently, so I'm still having vivid memories of the nice environment the story is set in, plus the superloli so called super-tsundere-loli Shouko-chan, and also not so superloli Karada-chan, since we can see her loli form in the 1st episode, opening, ending themes, and in some parts of the story only. I was really dissappointed that Shouko-chan returned back into her adult form. Too bad. By the way, even without loli element, this anime is very nice by itself though. Kashimashi is legendary for its "Anone" ending, frustrating many people excluding me :p Probably can be described as metaphoric Yuri anime, since there many dialogues that resort to metaphors and sometimes seem insensible. That is good by the way...

Binbou Shimai Monogatari, animation-wise is not really a good anime, but such heart-warming story has overcomed the short-comings from low budget animation. Bokura ga Ita is one of the nicest Shoujo anime I ever watch, this is such a rare gem. Such a story full of emotion, a tear-jerking anime.

I was so obsessed with Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora to the extend of buying complete set of the novel, but after reading the novel, I find that the novel version is better than the anime one, in which the storyline in the anime somehow feels a bit jumpy, and kind of hasty as compared to the novel, but given that the director had to compressed the novels into 6 episodes of anime, I think he has done a good job. The anime is only halfway through the novel though. There is a live-action version of Hantsuki, but I'm not really bothered to watch it until now, probably later. As for Tonagura!, I myself didn't really expect that I would like this kind of anime, but somehow I love it. Marie-chan is definitely my favourite character ^^ The hectic nature of this anime, plus that crazy onee-san, plus the emotionless Marie make up this anime.

It is worth mentioning that I also love Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu for the crazy hectic storyline, Mai Otome for the yuriness :p, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni for the superb murder scenes, Ergo Proxy for the very nice animations and mind boggling story, Lemon Angel for the nice songs and cute girls, Zero no Tsukaima and Shakugan no Shana for the ultimate tsundere loli, and Fate/Staynight for nice fighting scenes, but somehow they didn't make their way into my top 11 list.

Probably some may argue that Mushishi, Mai Otome, and Shakugan no Shana should be listed among 2005 animes, but since those animes ended in year 2006, I decided that it's better to list them among year 2006 animes. That's also the reason why I didn't put down Otogi Juushi Akazukin since it's still ongoing until year 2007.

Anime - Hidamari Sketch

Judging from the promo video, I'd think of a nice, slice-of-life loli anime.

The story is basically about Yuno, who gets admitted into Yamabuki Highschool, Fine Arts stream. She stays in Hidamari-sou (inn), marking the start of her independent life, away from her parents. Hidamari-sou is well known to be a place for eccentric artists, and this is where Yuno met the other 3 main characters; Miyako, Hiro and Sae.

I like the character design in this anime, super kawaii! The 4 koma manga which you can find on the official website looks very nice too.

Definitely my first priority for this new season.

Anime - Winter 2007

I'm thinking of watching the following animes:

• Hidamari Sketch: Private Art High School! Hidamari-sou! Though it's high school, take a look at the characters carefully, full of lolis and loli-like characters! The 4-komas look good too. It's definitely loli sketch!!!
  Official site: http://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/hidamari/


• Gakuen Utopia - Manabi Straight: Set in year 2035, it is said that the number population is going down, and schools also become such boring place with not many people around. That is also the case with Sakura Gakuen, until this one transfer student comes in. What will happen to this boring school? Would she turn that into lolicious school? I believe that this would be another loli epic for this season... it's from ufotable too...
  Official site: http://www.ufotable.com/manabi/


• Saint October: Uh? Loli characters? I'd consider watching it.
  Official site: http://www.konami.jp/visual/saintoctober/


• Getsumento Heiki Mi-na: You know that usagi-mimikko with that carrots attached to her back whatever right? The one in Densha Otoko? Anime version of that. Would it be a good anime?
  Official site: http://www.mi-na.jp/


• Kyoushirou to Towa no Sora: Is it another Yuri epic like Kannazuki no Miko?
  Official site: http://www.kyoshiro-sora.net/

Haha... After all, I copy pasted what I've written on my anime page :p

I'm thinking of blogging too...

Well, it's been for almost 3 years I've been writing about newest animes on my original website on geocities, in which I started out just making short summaries/comments at the beginning of the season and by the end of it, which was not too much of work for me, but as I went by, it's getting harder to put down the comments; I have too many things too write, but limited space, limited bandwidth, quite bothersome to go though the codes to write something, and kind of headache for me to manually crosslink everything in the codes. I love the ability to code everything, and full control of my site, but it's getting out of my hand. Probably I should follow everyone in blogging instead of being stuck with old style website arrangement. It would reduce my workload momentously this way, while at the same time I'll keep on putting summary on what I've written on this blog on this site instead (um yes, I'm running out of space on the previous site though).