Ok, so I am slightly annoyed because people that I don't know say that I 'can't accept people for who they are'. Why? Because I said if given the choice, I would not live in a society which finds the song 'Call Me Maybe' or One Direction are socially acceptable. This stranger claimed that I should be more accepting of people because his girlfriend is a 'fan of 1d'. Firstly, I don't know him, or his girlfriend, and seeing as I don't know either of them, I could not give a shit about their own music preferences. Secondly, I don't believe I ever said I dislike people who are fans of either of the aforementioned things, it's the money used to produce this rubbish to flood the publicsphere that is unacceptable. If that money is to be spent on entertainment production, it should be done so on people who have the talent to warrant such things. I'm just saying that there is no reason why I should have to get pissed by listening to crap music on my way to work. I don't know, I just reckon we should all go back to the 80's when music was good and required actual talent.
Anyway, onto a happier note, I have finished Usagi drop. I was misinformed, there are actually 10 volumes, it's just that the 10th volume is a series of bonus chapters that are related to the main story at different points of time. Due to the content, I would consider it a mature read. Before reading this series, I looked it up on Wikipedia and I was aware of what I was reading but it is still a bit weird. The story is about 30 year old chronic bachelor, Daikichi and how he adopts the illegitimate child of his grandfather, 6 year old Rin, after the death of Daikichi's grandfather (so yes, technically she is his aunt). The first half of the story is about the 6 year old Rin and 30 year old Daikichi adjust to their new circumstances and how they develop bonds with not only each other, but also others (for Rin, she befriend Kouki, for Daikichi he befriends Kouki's mum and other co-workers) as well as Daikachi's research into Rin's birth mother. The second half of the story focuses 10 years down the track, when Rin is 16 and is now a high schooler, and Daikichi is now 40 and still single. This arc focuses on Rin's emotional development as she realises her feelings for Daikichi are romantic other than familiar and Daikichi's internal struggle to accept Rin's feelings, as well as Rin's genetic origins. We see that the bonds created 10 years earlier are still around today, with Kouki and Rin going to school together still and with Daikichi still working for the same company and still consults Kouki's mum. During the second arc, we see what happens in the 10 years between, including the delinquent years of Kouki, and Daikichi's proposal to Kouki's mum (which she declines). By the end, Rin is told, that Souchi (Daikichi's grandfather) is not her biological father and it seems she has a decent relationship with her biological mother despite the fact that she abandoned Rin. Apparently Daikichi knew since the beginning that him and Rin were never blood related through Souichi's will (we do get to see the will at the beginning of the story, but because of language differences, this part was lost in translation, which was unfortunate). The story ends two years further in time, Rin has just graduated high school and now her and Daikichi are discussing their future as Daikichi accepted Rin's feelings because he simply can't refuse her (They plan to marry and possibly have children). It is quite a nice story, it does deal with some complex and dark themes such as abandonment and death, and was quite enjoyable considering it breaks my personal rule of not dating anyone who is old enough to be your father. The only disappointed was Rin rejected Kouki when he confessed, which was a shame, because in the manga world, Kouki grew up fine ;).
Next on the list is Kakan no Madonna by Saito Chiho which is complete in Japanese at 7 volumes and nearly completely scanlated in English with upto chapter 1 of volume 7 being scanlated.
Anyways, that's about it for now, until next time :)
