What I read in April 2013: Digest Version, part 1 of 3

o AI Ore! 3:I can really see why this series makes some readers uncomfortable.  It's hard to get behind a love interest who uses more than just the verbal threat of rape to "punish" another character who had something similar in mind.  Just, not okay, dude.  Not okay.  Maybe he'll become a better person as time passes?  Then again, this is Mayu Shinjo, so who knows what THAT would even mean.

b Black Butler 12-13: An ocean voyage complicated by the undead tests our characters in ways they have not been tested before.  It shows that the author, Yana Toboso, is an artist who actually understands human anatomy (weeping tears of joy).  It also shows that she's not afraid to toss in some awesome reversals, as we discover that Elizabeth IS actually more than annoying and sympathetic eye candy.  She, like all the people in her family (particularly all the women), is a master of the sword, and she saves Ciel's keister several times (reluctantly because she thought he wouldn't love her if she was strong enough to slay zombies when he couldn't).  This was actually very refreshing.  She kind of drives me crazy because she seems so irritating and pointless when you can't imagine that she could possibly be what she appears to be for 12. Whole. Volumes.  To find that there IS a reason she was engaged to a Phantomhive and that there is a real, adorable reason she's been hiding it (because when they were little, Ciel was scared of strong women who could use swords and totally beat the snot out of older and larger men and was unaware that Lizzie was one such person).  And, yes, I found it adorable because it's the sort of thing kids do/remember that scars them for longer than it should.  "I'm fine with not being cute if it means I can protect you!"

Anyway, things heat up a bit as the Reapers make their usual flamboyant appearance and give Sebastian lots of added trouble.  AND A HUGE AND WELCOME FLASHBACK, holy cow.  The covenant they made, how they interacted and learned their roles, why "Sebastian" (Ciel named him after his dog), how they found their footing with each other (HINT: Sebastian had a lot more to deal with than he bargained for).  GOOD STUFF.  "He wished three things of me.  To protect him without betrayal until his revenge came to fruition.  To obey his commands without question.  And to never tell lies."

b CrossGame 7: Oh, CrossGame, how I love thee.  Humor, pathos, sports, slices of life, thoughtfulness, one last shot at Koshien.  I want to know how it all ends, but I don't want it to end.  (Sign of a series/book I am really enjoying.)

"If worrying would make her better, I'd worry night and day for as long as it takes."

"Some things you gotta do.  Other things, you can only have faith."

"I'm a good liar."
"Even if it was a lie, it made me happy."

What I watched in October 2012

b Angelic Layer: Sometimes you just want some goofy, shonen goodness as only CLAMP can provide.  It's a tournament show about fighting dolls and the people (mostly girls) who play with them.  Seriously.  It's about grit and determination and odd family dynamics and wiggly, wiggly I-chan.

o Baccano:I was going to sit down and watch anime instead of having it on while I did other things.  Then the first couple minutes happened.  They were not kidding about the graphic violence.  And so I found this anime better "viewed" 25% with my eyes and 75% with my ears.  Defying laws of physics everywhere all the time!  Netflix apparently doesn't have the last volume, and I don't actually care.  I don't think my stomach can take the conclusion . . .

"Mercy and Compassion are virtues only the strong can possess.  And I am strong."

b DanDoh: Dandoh's dad is a loser!  What a total jerk!  I don't care why.  Where are the adults and the monitors and stuff?!  WTH!!!!!  If there's this much cheating in golf, it's a much more interesting game than I thought. Yuka, you are my hero.  You talked to the adults and explained what happened.  How novel!  The best voice acting comes from the golf announcers.  Nice.

"That's it!  I'm not going to lose to someone who can't even count!" 

"If adults teach them everything, then the kids will never get to explore and learn things on their own."

"Your ball hasn't given up this match yet!"

"He is a man who killed his talents with his own hands."

"That is SO RIDICULOUS!!!!" - me (so many times)

b Strawberry Marshmallow: Adorable warm fuzzy goodness and some amazing English voice acting.  Mio, in particular, is endearingly 100% obnoxious.  (I'm still not very fond of Anna, but she's the only exception.)  The group dynamics are a hoot and somehow realistic while still being firmly in comedy territory.  A neat trick.  This show is a real pick-me-up and pretty much always leaves me grinning for days. 

b Viewtiful Joe:Another great pick-me-up show, Viewtiful Joe makes me happy.  Its good natured, dudical goofiness and relentlessly positive slacker hero are just the ticket when you're feeling down.  And Joe's English voice is outstanding, as are several of the other characters.  It's an all-around good time.

"There's a kind of heroism in staying behind sometimes, I figure."

"What's cool now is to pretend you're too smart for hope.  That hope is for those too frightened to face life as it really is."

What I watched in December: Digest Version

o Neo Angelique Abyss Season 1: More on this later . . .  After the trauma fades more.

b Azumanga Daioh: You know, this one is still just dumb and hilarious after all these years.  Creepy teacher is still super creepy.  Yukari is still obnoxious.  And then at the end, it's still kind of tear-jerking. 

b Big Windup: There are some people that just invite being picked on.  It's not like there's one type or anything, but, I dunno.  This show made me think about that.  I used to be friends with a lot of these people.  There's one right now in the anime club I go to. and it's painful, but at least in the anime club, where many of the members are used to being outsiders and nerds and bullied, no one actually bullies him.  It's rather surprising.  Anyway, one character in this show had a great line when he and other boys were talking about this topic.  He said he was glad he hadn't met the kid until high school because if they'd met when he was less mature, he wouldn't have been able to stop himself from picking on the kid.  It's just hard to watch this poor little pitcher bundle of nerves and psychoses, but it's wonderful to watch the other kids on the team and how they grow and change over the course of this season.  There are others, but this one bombed so bad for Funimation, I will never see them.  Sports manga never does well here, either, so unless Digital Manga randomly takes a stab at it, I doubt I'll ever get to read and find out what happens in the next game and the rest of the tournament.  Which makes me sad.

b Durarara: This was a weird, wild, wonky ride full of ridiculousness, hilarity, and really awful tragedy.  Yeah, it somehow mostly worked.  Novels, please?

b Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit:  You know, this series is amazing every time I watch it.  It's so different from anything out there, but it's just breathtaking.  I wish more of the novels could be published here, too.

b Shura no Toki 5: "I'm a man of my word.  I always keep my promises.  Except one."  -Izumi Mutsu (Ohhhh!  So sad!) I know I already wrote about this one, but I finally finished it up, and last arc was pretty sad at times.  Don't worry, in the end, well, manly things happen, so don't worry.

b Spice and Wolf: This was a pretty fun series.  It's true that occasionally it would lapse into a brief bit of economics 101, but it's pretty good fun, and you can find yourself wrapped up in the success and failure of the business ventures.  And the ongoing mystery plot and road trip don't hurt.  I hope they publish the novels all the way through, too.

b Yukikaze: Just beautiful on the big screen in my parents' basement.  Super sad and a bit confusing since it did funny things with the plots from the novels and played fast and loose with lots of specific details from the books that maybe should have been left alone.  I was right that a series of stories that mostly take place in people's heads would be difficult to translate to screen, but the animation was lovely, and the voice acting was great in Japanese.

What I read in January: Digest Version, part 3 of 3

b Oresama Teacher 3-5: Dumb and goofy adventures with reformed-delinquent-trying-to-live-a-normal-school-life girl and her mysteriously motivated childhood friend/tormentor/teacher.  Her former gang friends are just kind of wrong.  The plot thickens.

b Pandora Hearts 3-6:  I knew I shouldn't get into this series until it ends.  I adore it.  I eat it up.  I love it.  I hope it ends brilliantly and lives up to all the tragic expectations and potential it has set up.  I need to lower my expectations, or it won't be able to . . .

o Pita-Ten 1:  Er, no thanks.  I think I'll just accept Kamichama Karin as the work by this author that I like.  This one's too much of a hassle to track down.  Thanks.

b Punch! 1-3: Silly romance in the Happy Hustle High vein more than the Wild Act vein. 

b Ratman 1: This is great.  I love it, and I want to read it all now.  Thank you Tokyopop, for making it likely that will never happen.

b Sakurahime 1: Fun, frilly Tanemura goodness.  I am not, er, pleased with the character who betrays because he isn't set up very well, but maybe that gets better as the series goes on?

b The Secret Notes of Lady Kanoko 2: One away from completion.  Acid black observational humor.  Thanks for 66% of the fun and snarky ride, Tokyopop.

b Switch 11-13: That was sad.  Never really grew to like the artwork, but it was a somewhat decent ending.  (That was a happy ending, right?)  Way to go, public library!  I'm not sure why you chose this one, but I appreciate the fact that you collected it all!

b Yotsuba&! 10: Enjoy everything, indeed.  Awwww.  This series is like happiness.

What I read in July: Digest Version, Part 2 of 3

b Fullmetal Alchemist 25:  Oh, Al!  Oh, Al!!  When I get the last volume, I am going to marathon all the volumes I have not lent to my sister, and I am going to have plenty of tissues on hand, and then I am going to watch Brotherhood.  And I will love it!!!!!

b Guin Saga 1-5: Guin Saga is a masterpiece of pulp soaked in testosterone.  It is not for the weak of stomach.  It is, however, chock full of hilarious invective, more fighting than you could shake an armory at, and enough slaughter to make you not want to eat for a few days.  I am really looking forward to seeing the anime because it goes further than the first 5-book arc we got here.  Thank you, Vertical!  More please.  (Please release it in the spring, so I can read it outside in the sun.)

b Imperfect Hero 3: I may not have had the chance to read the second one, but it didn't really matter.  It ended amusingly and predictably.

b La Quinta Camera: Ah, more Natsume Ono.  This is an early work, a breezy slice-of-life set of stories centered on a 5-bedroom house in Italy.  The titular fifth room is rented out to a succession of people, and you slowly learn about the oddball permanent inhabitants through shifting points of view until the bittersweet ending.

b The Manzai Comics 1: A bit more BL flavored than I was expecting from the description, but I should have known since it was published by Aurora and wasn't hetero romance.  Anyway, it's an amusing story about this guy who wants to be a comedian and the partner he courts who wants nothing to do with comedy or him.  Sad that more wasn't published.

o Moon and Blood 1: You know, I really didn't like this.  It was a mess, and it was so short it didn't have a chance to redeem itself.  Maybe 3 full-sized volumes would have resulted in something palatable, but this tiny, messy bite just wasn't enough.

b Nabari No Ou 5-7: I read a few volumes to see if I was remembering the books right, and I was.  They played things a bit more straight than the anime, but the adaptation seemed faithful (at least to the number of volumes published at the time).  I'm sure there's a divergence, or maybe that's just wishful thinking because the ending in the anime kind of fell apart, and/or I just didn't like it.  I'm looking forward to the manga to redeem the story's end.  You can do it!

What I read in July: Digest Version (Part 1 of 3)

b 20th Century Boys 15: This series is bad for my blood pressure.  I love it.  Suspense, occasional action, huge conspiracies, characters to give you nightmares.  I want to know how it all ends, but I don't want it to end.

b American Born Chinese: I was really curious how all three of these separate stories were going to come together, and I was a little baffled at how they managed to.  Nice, clean art and thought-provoking story.

b Chicago 2: Book of Justice: Don't you hate it when you read something the author just stopped writing?  Especially when it's really good?  I do . . .  Don't worry; this one's so out of print, you'll probably never find it to know what you're missing.

b Chi's Sweet Home 6: More wacky everyday adventures with an adorable kitten and family of humans now living in a pet-permitting apartment.

b Children of the Sea 4: Holy Cow, my children.  Sometimes gross, sometimes creepy beyond all belief, possessing a sense of wonder and a bizarre aesthetic, this series is always sort of whimsically baffling.  Really not like anything else out there.  Your mileage will vary . . . 

b Color Of Heaven: Once the subject of a MMF, it's been on my list.  Finally, it's off my list.  I found it fascinating, unique among manhwa brough here in translation.  The nature artwork of the backgrounds was my favorite part.  Reading the fictionalized history of a couple of women written by their male descendent was intriguing, and I do love encountering other cultures.  Should you read it?  How tolerant are you of nature as metaphor for woman in olden times?  And what about visual metaphors?  If you can handle being brained over the head with those, you might enjoy this trilogy.

o Countdown 7 Days 1: You know, I think this was one of those ones where the art is supposed to be enough to make up for the crazy plot holes and unsympathetic characters.  It almost was.  Maybe volume 2 will redeem it!

What I watched in June

o Gao-Gai-Gar: Well, that's finally over.  My question the last four discs has been, "Why is this still going on?"  I mean, how many climactic final battles can we have before it ends?  Answer: There's always room for one more!  On a positive note, the theme songs were also passionate and hilarious every time.

b Stellvia: I probably talked enough about this one already.  http://notanotakunao.blogspot.com/2011/06/why-i-love-stellvia.html

b Tsubasa: Sometimes Funimation gets a bit carried away with their "reversioning" for English dubs.  Tsubasa is unfortunately a prime example of this irritating tendency.  If you want to know what's really going on, watch with the subtitles on because the wide difference between the spoken English dialogue and the more literal subtitles is sometimes startling and occasional obscures the actual meaning of what's going on in a way I consider somewhat unforgivable.  Who gives a crap about lip flaps?!  Well, that's what the Japanese dub is for, I guess.

What I Watched in April

o Kiba:  Well, that's over.  I even managed to cry over some of the deaths, even when the setup that led to them didn't make sense.  I still can't really get over this friend who turned super evil due to being dumb even though he was supposed to be pretty smart.  Granted, the main character is one of those strong, silent types who isn't good at, you know, explaining what happened to prevent misunderstandings and stuff.  It was hardly his fault, though: I blame the writers.  A pretty, sort of gritty shonen action/adventure with a sprawling fantasy world and a punk main character.

b Nana: As I've mentioned, I'm a fan. Now I've seen it all, and I know where it ends in this incarnation.  Oddly enough, I'm a bit ticked off that they seemed to take all of the drug abuse out.  It was such a big part of Ren's character and a part of the problem with his relationship with Nana and a huge part of his troubles with Trapnest and a rather important part of the plot later on.  They finally brought it into the anime a bit towards the end, but then they ended the anime.  I enjoyed it, but part of me really wishes they'd animate up to when the manga went on hold even though I would cry copious tears if they did.  Where they ended it was certainly happier than where the manga stalled out.

What I Watched in February: Digest Version

b Ayashi Ghost Slayers: Hooray for middle aged heroes!  And Crispin Freeman's role in this one is priceless.  Fairly sober and usually melancholy among all the ghost slaying and eating fight scenes.

b Dojin Work: The best part of this series is the extras where two of the voice actors learn about how to make a doujinshi.  One of them is really awful at art; the other is decent.  They're both pretty hilariously out of their element.  It's educational, and I'd highly recommend it to manga readers who think they might like to try making their own but have no experience.  It's entertaining for anyone who's interested in manga.  It's also so chock-full of stock otaku stuff that no one else will get anything out of it at all.

o E's Otherwise: I'm close to asking to have those hours of my life back, but this was nowhere near as awful as Glass Fleet.

b Gakuen Alice: Ah, high octane, hyper fun with a dark undercurrent.  And one of my favorite characters ever: the evil sentient teddy bear with the gleaming eye.  Good times.

b Irresponsible Captain Tylor: Way too much fun, as I said when I was gushing over it earlier.  Another odd Crispin Freeman role here.  This dub's high energy but sounds like it was recorded in a tiled bathroom.  I'm still not sure what I think about Tylor himself, but I lean towards slightly crazed genius most of the time.  He plays a great idiot, though, so it's hard to tell.

b Zone of the Enders: Dolores, I:  I mentioned liking this.  It's great.

What I Read in March: Digest Version, Part 3 of 4

b Hetalia 1: I suppose if you take this too seriously, it will offend you, but if you just let yourself enjoy the goofy humor with the occasional actual historical fact, you could have a really good, sarcastic time here. Probably best encountered in small doses and with an atlas that shows all the countries' flags handy . . .

b High School Girls 1: Well, this series sure punctures any illusions you might harbor about the elegent beauty of an all-girls school.

b Imperfect Hero 1: Goofy story about a supporting character in a color-coded super hero team (sentai) and the wacky evil villainess he sort of accidentally befriends. If you like this one, definitely check out Heroes Are Exinct.

b Itsuwaribito 1: He's a chronic liar because of a serious, truth-related childhood trauma. Really awful, violent things happen, and then he sets out to become a sort of Robin Hood of Swindlers. Great premise.

o JoJo's Bizarre Adventure 1: Erm, wow. I suspect it will get more comprehensible even if I never read the real beginning of the series, but the art design is just killing me. And I've read and enjoyed tons of 70s and 80s manga and lots of shojo and shonen. Lots of people I respect like it, so I will probably give it at least another couple volumes before I make a final decision.

b Kamichama Karin Chu 3: I think this will make more sense if I read it all at once. Six months between volumes is too much. The art is still adorable, but I've sort of lost the plot.

b Kimi ni Todoke 7: Awwwww, still cute and adorable and awkward! This tension is killing me! I want them to get together, but I also want Sawako to really get a firm grasp on her own value and who she is first! If she doesn't, their relationship is probably doomed.

b Kitchen Princess 2: I think I may have to marathon this sucker. It's cute and bubbly but not totally stupid. There's sadness and giving up and friendship and romance. Also food that might make you drool.

b Kurogane 3: Sort of resurrected as a part mechanical samurai, he wanders the land surviving. The art is amazing, and I am compelled to follow this poor guy and his talking sword on their journey for whatever it is they're searching for . . .

What I Read in March: Digest Version, Part 2 of 4

b Captive Hearts 2: Manservant Fits are awesome. In this goofy romantic comedy, a young man has to deal with the rebound effect of a curse to obey a certain family. The family disappeared when he was young, so he's been free of it for years. Then the last child of that family is found, and he has to struggle with his growing crush on her and the stregnth of a backlog of years worth of the curse to try to do whatever he can to follow her orders and make her happy. It's delightfully awkward.

o Castlevania: Curse of Darkness 1: I've never played the game, so I know nothing about it. The story is more than a tad confusing, but the art is good, and I'm curious about the resolution.

b Cat Paradise 3-5: Wow. I didn't see that coming. The sometimes fanservice-y story of a girl and her cat and the ugly things she tries to knit for her cat to wear and superpowers and some other kids and their cats and a vengeful cat spirit and ancient grudges and other stuff. There are a few great twists here that I didn't see coming. Entertaining with a slightly bittersweet resolution.

b Clean Freak Fully Equipped 1: Yes, a goofy comedy manga about a kid with really serious OCD and the wacky hijinks that ensue when people try to make any kind of connection with him. Yeah, I'm pretty sure this one will offend a lot of people.  I believe the author's note even acknowledges this.  There are certainly moments of supreme insensitivity, but it's not meant to be taken seriously.

b D.Gray-Man 20: I now give Kanda my permission to be as sullen, anti-scoial, and withdrawn as he wants. Even if he doesn't really remember why he's not a big fan of other people. Wow. More sad and powerful back-story and new connections to the present. Y'know, I'm really starting to hate the Black Order, and I'm wondering if everybody's refusal to break ties with it is an example of really Japanese sentiments . . .

b Dazzle Volume 8: I'm really not sure why I like this series as much as I do. It's messy and sometimes incomprehensible, but somehow, the relationships between the main characters are kind of a treat to watch, and I need to know what's going on, so I keep reading.  Plenty of bickering and the occasional surprisingly serious and dramatic moment.

b Detroit Metal City 6: Still offensive and loving it. This story of a Swedish pop-loving metrosexual wannabe who secretly fronts a death metal band is chock full of distasteful hilarity.  Your mother will hate it, and there may be an intervention if she catches you reading it. 

b Eensy Weensy Monster 2 of 2: Totally adorable to the end. If you didn't care for the angst and tragic backstory of Kare Kano but you liked the rest, this little two volume series will give you laughs and warm fuzzies.

What I Read in March: Digest Version, Part 1 of 4

b 7 Billion Needles 1: Wow.  Really, this one's kind of amazing.  Alien crashlands and accidentally kills girl; resurrects her to help him hunt down an evil alien somewhere on the planet.  She's very antisocial, so finding this evil think, which is also possessing a person, is going to be difficult.

o Abandon the Old in Tokyo: Well, that was depressing.  Good variety of short stories.  Your mileage will vary.

b Adventures of Young Det 1: I still really like this series.  I give props to any series that takes more than one volume to create a backstory that is rock-solid, amazing, and tragic.  I just wish I were as interested in the later story.  I also wish this one had actually been finished . . .

o AX Volume 1: A Collection of Alternative Manga: Your mileage will seriously vary, as the content of this wild collection of alternative manga does.  Probably not for the fainthearted or those who love mainstream manga.

b BECK 5: Ah, the art is so ugly, but the spirit of the story is so powerful.  Oh, Tokyopop, why did you stop publishing this and then why did you go out of business before starting again?  And why didn't you just publish starting after where the anime left off?!

b Black Bird 7: Still doing its best to earn that 16+ rating but also trying to explore the main character with some more depth as she tries to adapt to this weird new world she's a part of where the people around her aren't human and don't come from human cultures.  Lots of people have lost patience with this series because all they see is smutty shojo, but I really feel for the main character.

b Black Butler 3: Well, that was depressing, too.  Sad story about Ciel's single remaining relative.  Ciel's such an ambiguous character sometimes.  I love the way his actions can be interpreted multiple ways and the way Sebastian so cruelly mocks him . . .  And then seems to care for him.  It's hard to get your balance with this series . . .

b Bokurano Ours 2: If you read the first one, you won't be surprised to find out that volume 2 was super-depressing, as well.  I mean, what joy and happiness can you expect from a giant robot story where all the pilots die, and you know they will, and you get sucked into their individual stories anyway?

o Butterflies, Flowers 5: Still ridiculous.  I really need to give up on this one.  It has moments of humor, but it's just so offensive that I just shouldn't care what happens to its protagonists.  Why am I still reading it?

What I read in January: Digest Version (3 of 4)

I had a dream one night that someone rescued an unfinished title I liked and started publishing the next volume due instead of wasting time and money and testing fan patience and memory by going all the way back to the beginning.  Then I woke up and wanted to cry because it was just a dream.

b Himeyuka and Rozione's Story: I like this author's art a lot, but the storytelling isn't up to par with the art.  A collection of odd and sometimes touching (and/or confusing) stories.

b HunterxHunter 10: Oh, Gon.  You're walking that razor edge, and that's one of the reasons I adore your quirky shonen series.  Killua is definitely a sociopath, but his experiences with you may pull him to the hero side some day, as long as you don't fall off the wagon into sociopath territory yourself . . .

b Invisible Boy 1-2: If there is a polar opposite of Seiho Boys' High School, this is it.  Sweet and melancholy and wispy set of short stories about a bunch of guys at an elite boys' boarding school.  Frustrating because there is no real resolution to anything.  It's like incomplete slice of life that begs for more time.

b Kekkaishi 24: I still love it.  This book had a lot of build-up in both plot and characters.  I do hope the series ends well because I want these threads to weave something strong and beautiful.

o Madness 2: Well, that certainly deserved its MA rating.Um, I really can't recommend this one to most folks because the content is just appalling.

b Maison Ikkoku 13: Painfully slow, awkward, full of miscommunications, and really wonderful.  I do adore this series.  How does he get in these situations?  He gets taken advantage of, grumbles and complains, and mostly does the right things, except when it comes to clearly communicating with the one he loves.  Reading this is like watching some of my real-life friends stagger around in the morass of relationships.

o Monkey High 6-8: Well, yes.  That's over.  It had its cute moments, but it really got sort of boring, conventional, and by-the-numbers at the end there. 

b Natsume's Book of Friends 2, 5: Oh, Natsume, I love you and all your awkwardness.  I love your weird yokai and your isolated and lonely protagonist and the painful process of reconnecting to others (or deciding against it).  This volume could be called Natsume makes a friend who almost gets him killed.  This episode was darned scary in the anime, which I wish will someday be released to DVD, so I can buy it.  Until then, there's Crunchyroll for you tech-savvy folks.

Will I catch up with January before May hits?  Stay tuned.

Selections from What I Read in November: Digest Version, Part 4 of 4

The last batch of November fun here.

• b Honey and Clover 9-10 of 10: I'm kind of embarrassed about how many months I delayed reading the ending.  Since I've seen the anime, I knew what happened, but reliving that trauma was part of my reason for delaying.  The other part, of course, was simply not wanting to be done with it . . .  I love this series for its goofiness, for its earnest nostalgia, for its realistic portrayals of human relationships, for its joys and choices and sorrows.  It sure ain't all honey, but that's life.
• b NG Life 6: Yes, I still love this series way too much.  The comic timing for the mood switches is priceless, and I enjoy romantic comedy mode, past life ADHD mode, and serious/tragic mode equally well.
• b Saturn Apartments 2: Still a quiet, meandering story with hints of awesome.
• o Tale of a White Night: Okay.  Some creepy, creepy horror stories in this one.  Wow.  Yikes.  I'm definitely a fan of this artist's work, but I'm not so good with the creepy stuff.
• b Tears of a Lamb 1-7: Ah, Banri Hidaka's work . . .  Refreshing.  I laugh, I cry, I appreciate earned happy endings.  Her characters are so weird and fun, and they tend to go full throttle frequently.  I think the male lead in this one would commiserate a lot with the lead in NG Life since they both get their chains yanked around and freak out about it in a similar way.  Thank you, CMX, for being so good to Hidaka.  If only you had finished all the series you started . . .
• b Twin Spica 4:  I dig this sort of subtle character building.  It's not all people talking about themselves and their dark pasts; it's more hints and glimpses, facial expressions and actions.  Another slow-burn sort of title with a melancholy-nostalgic vibe.  Lots of unexpected revelations and the occasional emotional gut-punch requiring access to tissues.  I think this might be literature.  :)  Good stuff. 

So December is up next, and it's a doozy.  And I'm already collecting a ton for January.  Wow.  I've started writing up books as I read them, so I don't have to try to remember a bunch all at once from nearly two months ago.   There are so many good titles.  It's a good thing I'm using my local library or I would be even more in debt

Selections from What I Read in November: Digest Version, Part 2 of 4

Well, now that the class I unwisely taught this semester (on top of my real full time job) is over, and I have scraped myself off the floor, I can get back to writing. 

• b Crimson Hero 14: More angst and volleyball.  Some folks make dumb decisions; others make smart ones.  Expiation via volleyball?  Bring it on.
• b D.Gray-Man 11: I do love the gorgeous gothicness of it all.
• o Diamond Girl 1:  Erm, I do want to read the next volume to find some things out, but I liked Princess Nine better.  I would have bought this series if CMX had kept publishing it because I always give sports manga love in the hopes that they'll bring more over here.
• b From Eroica with Love 15: Le Sigh.  I miss you, CMX.  A goofy and stupid story to go out on, but it came after a dangerous and stressful one, and it ended sort of neatly, so it was as good a place to end as any I could have hoped for.
• b Lapis Lazuli Crown 2: Goofy, sweet fun.  A happy ending.
• b My Darling Miss Bancho 1: This one was a total hoot.  A good steel plate in the school bag can come in handy.  The cast was goofy and fun, like a better drawn and completely different Cromartie High with a girl main character.
• b My Girlfriend's a Geek novel 1: I read some reviews of this one, and one talked about reasons he doubted the writer was really who and what he claimed to be for some reasons.  The reasons he disbelieved weren't the ones that made me suspicious.  (The thing that made me suspicious was the way the author knew all of the references and jokes that he did.  If he was only a very casual anime viewer, there's just no way he could have known some of these.)  That same reviewer complained about how it had a short and repetetive format.  This puzzled me.  If the blog was called My Fujoshi Girlfriend, why would you complain that every blog entry was about how much of a fujoshi his girlfriend was?  Sheesh.  I enjoyed the book.  Full of awkward and embarrassing moments in short chunks and packed with in-jokes and references.  I don't care if it was fiction, semi-autobiographical, or totally autobiographical.  It was entertaining.
• b Skip Beat! 21: Oh, the goofy, cursed joy of it all, and the frustration that it comes out sooooo verrrrrryyyyy sloooooowwwwlllyyyyy.
• b Suihelibe 1: Just pure sugary, silly goodness.
• b xxxHolic 16: Oh, so heartbreaking!  So sad!  You can tell by the expression on Watanuki's face on the cover. I want it to keep going, but I also want resolution (really excellent, well-done, well-earned resolution).  The way all the characters are so careful around each other is painful, as are some of the choices they've made.  Oh, how I love this series. I think I may need to marathon Tsubasa to figure out what exactly, you know, happened, but everything is still nicely melancholy whether you understand exactly or not.

I have some catching up to do, so I'll be posting a bunch this month unless some new crisis arises.  Until next time . . .  Read anything good lately?

Selections from What I Read in September: Digest Version, Part 2 of 2

September seems so far away now . . .

• b Boys Over Flowers 28-29: I will have to marathon this some day.  It might actually take three parts or so because I'm not sure I can put up with their ridiculousness for more than 10 volumes at a time . . .
• b Broken Blade 1: I got a kick out of the series. I'm fairly disappointed that I'll never get to find out what happens.
• o CLAMP School Detectives 3: I try to pretend that I'm not a completist.  I try hard. I fail.
• b From Eroica with Love 2-3: Just utterly ridiculous and fun.  Who knew NATO could be involved in such silliness?
• b Goong 7-9: it's funny that every time I get a volume of this series, for some reason I think it's going to be the last even though the series has some ridiculous number of volumes. I remember the same thing would happen with Fruits Basket and Hana Kimi.  For some reason, I can never accurately remember the number of volumes in a series.
• b House of Five Leaves 1: Okay, if I weren't a Ono fan before I read this, I would be now.  We really don't get enough serious samurai period drama manga over here for some reason.
• b Sand Chronicles 9: I wasn't sure how much value these exercise stories would add since the main story concluded already, but I'm really pleased.
• b Shaman King 30: I'm pretty sure I say this every single time, but how can I possibly forget how breathless the series makes me?  It's kind of funny that I forget, but I find myself doing about double time on the stair climber whenever I read this one while exercising.
• b Twin Spica 2-3: This is really an intriguing series. It might be a good series to show people the difference between manga aimed at younger teens and manga aimed at older people.  It's a school story, but it doesn't read at all like shojo or shonen.  It covers the same territory, but it does it with such a different tone and focus and execution that I'm not sure people the age of the protagonists would even find it interesting. I'd be curious to find out.  I love and hate every time the main story ends with a lot of pages left over. I whine every time, but I love those flashback stories . . .
• b We Were There 3: Yes, due to being poor, I'm way behind in this series.  I'm really liking the careful, sad brokenness this manga is not afraid to show.  People get screwed up pretty bad, and we stumble around hurting each other sometimes by accident and sometimes on purpose.  And sometimes, when it's happening to our friends and loved ones, we just have to watch it happen because there isn't anything we can do to fix them.  It's a sobering realization you don't see in much of the manga that makes it over here. Bring it on!

Next up, October, which looks kind of scant until you see that I sort of binged on a whole series . . .  Look forward to it!

Selections from what I read in May: digest version part 2 of 3

Viz-heavy month, here, but there was still some variety.

• b Black Bird 4:  Ah, uncomfortable.  There are a lot of similarities between this series and Butterflies, Flowers, but this one actually seems to have some real depth and politics and plays more than one note over and over.  I'm looking forward to how the relationship evolves now that sex is really out of the question for the time being.
• b Crown of Love 2: Yun Kouga does uncomfortable REALLY well.  She makes ambiguous, hard-to-read characters not out of clumsiness but out of intent, and the results are definitely interesting.  Fantastic quote here from Melinda Beasi's review: "This series’ hero, Hisayoshi, continues to be both intensely creepy and surprisingly relatable. It’s a combination guaranteed to make most readers uncomfortable, but it’s also one of the series’ greatest strengths. Watching Hisayoshi perilously straddle the line between crushing teenager and bona fide stalker quickly becomes a rather terrifying series of 'There, but for the grace of God,' moments for anyone who has experienced unrequited love (in other words, roughly everyone). His inner thoughts echo the kind of late-night self-confessions that rarely see the light of day, tucked firmly away in those dark, hidden corners where shame and denial conveniently coexist."  Yeah, go read the rest of the review.
• b Flower in a Storm 1: Fun, frothy shojo action.  One review I read a while ago said it was like what would happen if chicks made an action flick.  Yeah, I can kind of see that.  And it's only two volumes long, so enjoy.
• b Happy Boys 2: I didn't read 1 because our bookstore seems to think it's a good idea to carry later volumes of series they never carried earlier volumes of.  It didn't really matter much.  More plot-y than Cafe Kichijoji-de but equally as full of frothy eye candy.  Based off of a live-action drama from what I understand.  Made me crave another re-read of the superior Antique Bakery.
• b Kekkaishi 21: AWESOME.  The smart character development that happens in this volume and the way the characters relate to each other once again shows me why this is basically my favorite serious shonen series EVER.
• o Laon 2: Still a muddled, sometimes-offensive mess.  Unless I get some hint that the lost girlfriend plot is going to pick up a lot of steam in volume 3, I will have to write this clunker off.
• b Rasetsu 5: So others apparently suspected the same thing I did (that a certain character was really another character in dusguise).  I thought the last volume sort of disproved that theory, but some people are hanging onto it.  I don't really care either way because he's a delightfully, darkly mysterious character whoever he is.  And I love the way he picks on Yako.
• b Record of a Fallen Vampire 3-6: I was only going to read volume 3.  I had other series to catch up on.  I had a job interview to prepare for (even though I'd already spend four hours prepping that day).  I couldn't stop myself.  One awesome reversal after another left me reeling and then reeling again.  Incredibly compelling stuff.  I'm so glad I waited until this one was all available in English, or I would have gone crazy waiting.  And forgotten everything between volumes.
• b Sand Chronicles 8: I was surprised at how this one resolved.  I enjoyed every sad and melancholy and dramatic minute of it.
• b Shaman King 28: I'm kind of lost right now.  It may be better to read these later volumes in chunks, so you don't forget who's dead and stuff. Also, does ANYONE know what the cover is about? It made me laugh, but I just don't get it.

What've you read lately?

Princess*Princess: Hmmmmm

Hmmmm.  I understand that sometimes an anime adaptation of a manga property takes some liberties and rearranges things, especially when the manga was published irregularly and without a real concern for overall plot, and I am very supportive of that as long as the finished product is better/makes more sense than the original. However, when your source material is a series of gags about three first-years in an all male high school being forced to dress as girls for the something (amusement?) of their school-mates, why try?  Even the author thought it was a ridiculous idea.

I guess I see what they were trying to do: keep some sort of overarching tension/suspense going, but, honestly, its strength was in its episodic, slice-of-ridiculous-life nature.  (And those great afterwords by the author.  I still love the way she thought they were joking about making it into an anime.  That was awesome.)  What they sacrificed for that over-arching tension was a better told sequence of stories.  It's like the bones of the structure were just sticking out all over and not-quite-connected, making it all the more sad that you could see what they were trying (and failing) to do.  Such is life.

I don't think I can even try to watch the live action version of Princess*Princess, even if it's licensed.  Who thought that would be a good idea?  It probably tries to take itself a tad too seriously, too.  Feh.  And I couldn't sit through any more ridiculous openings and closings . . .  Those were, frankly, brutal.

I did enjoy hearing Mikoto freak out.  His VA did that very well.  I was also amused when Romi Park (a woman acting the part of a 15-year-old boy who sometimes has to dress as a girl for the something of his peers) sounded more like a man than the man playing the nominal main character.  Those moments were quite priceless.

I guess it didn't help that I'd read the original manga the month before seeing the anime.  It's always better if I have a fuzzy recollection of the actual contents and can say, as I'm watching the anime, "Did that happen?  That way?  Really?  Oh, well, I can't remember.  Onward."

Harry Potter movies are better that way, too.

Any thoughts on Princess*Princess?  (In any of its incarnations?)

Selections from anime I watched in January: digest version

Because we love anime as well as manga and don't want any jealous slap-fights.

• o - Moonlight Mile: Erm, to be fair, I was only giving this partial attention, which might account for the neutral rating.  If I were really paying attention, I might have actually gotten caught up in the action and intrigue.  Maybe.
• b - GunXSword: Lots of people seem to hate this one, and I think that has to do with expectations.  I did not expect this to be Planetes.  I expected something more s-CRY-ed, and I got it.  :)
• b - Yawara: For all my grumbling, I like this one.  It has character.
• ? - Karas 1: Wow.  What do I say about this incoherent train wreck?  I can't be neutral because my reactions are not neutral.  I guess I feel the same way about it that I feel about many experimental art pieces.  I can appreciate the work and care that went into it and mourn that it is incomprehnsible to me. 
• b - Shin Chan: Delightfully naughty.  Evil.
• b - Honey & Clover: If college nostalgia took the form of anime, it would be H&C.  Wistful and weird and wonderful.

What'd you see bits of in January?