Bludging at it's finest

Oh hey! I am happy to say that the past few days I have done some hardcore budging and man am I enjoying doing absolutely nothing. Well, not completely true, being a sports fan, I am currently up all hours at night channel surfing between Wimbledon and Tour de France, and soon, the Olympics. In some good news, I passed Semester One of Uni, including the nightmare that is accounting! I am so so so happy that I was able to pass accounting, given my 4am cram session the night before the exam :). Finally, my suffering has ended and I can look forward to the awesome subjects I have selected for my second semester.

Anyhow, I have read Kakan no Madonna by Saito Chiho. I must say, I quite like this mangaka's work, the plots are shoujo, however there is always unexpected plot turns which always ensures an interesting read. I remember reading Mou Hitori no Marionette, which deals with multiple personality disorders such as schizophrenia, which is something that not even the best novelists write about. Anyway, as for Kakan no Madonna, it is set in 16th century Italy in the era of Da Vinci and co, and focuses on Leonora, a girl who bears a striking resemblance to a painting Da Vinci painted ten years prior to the commencement of the story. Da Vinci is actually a character in the manga, so I found that rather interesting. Anyhow, the painting is a clue to a legend that involves a hidden sword and if found, the holder of the sword would become King of Italy. So Leonora goes on a journey to find the sword despite the fact that she is sought after many who wish to become the king, and meets and falls in love with the prince of Naples, Falco, despite the fact that originally, he had the same the purpose as others of becoming king. There is some factual accuracy to this story, as there is to some of Saito Chiho's other series. For example, one of the men after her in order to become king is Cesare Borgia. The series coincides with the demise of the Borgia family, which actually happened, look it up on Wikipedia. As I said, there are unexpected plot turns, some of which have quite adult themes (rape, murder etc) but overall it is a quite entertaining read. I am just waiting for the final few chapters to be scanlated so I can read the ending :)

I will also say I attempted to read Kirarin Revolution. I could only read the first six chapters because from that point onwards, the scans become of such poor quality that I can't stand it. I know I don't have any right to complain, but the English was so bad that I couldn't make sense of what was happening so I just gave up. The art is cute though, so it is easy on the eye!

In the meantime, I have read Taming the Cat Master by Han Yu Rang. The story is about an orphan girl Hye Sung, and how she is forced out of the orphanage to live with a stranger of the name of Kang Jae Young due to the will left by Kang Jae Young's deceased grandfather. At first, the two fight continuously as both are stubborn to admit defeat, although this animosity between the two also harbors a deeper, subconscious level of attraction, as Hye Sung unknowingly becomes jealous of the women around Kang Jae Young. Throughout the story, it is revealed what the contents of the will were, which was for Kang Jae Young and Hye Sung to marry in order for them to receive an inheritance. At first, Hye Sung rejects, but after a few humiliating encounters with Kang Jae Young's mother, Hye Sung agrees to the marriage out of spite for his mother. After a previous lover of Kang Jae Young hears the news, she becomes jealous that she has lost him to someone she deems unworthy, and plots a revenge that makes Hye Sung appear to be frivolous and unfaithful to Kang Jae Young that spirals way out of control to the point where Hye Sung is expelled from school. This plot by the former lover completely backfires as it acts as a catalyst for Hye Sung and Kang Jae Young as the attraction is brought to the surface. When there seems to be no way to solve the current crisis, Kang Jae Young's mother offers Hye Sung a lifeline to stop the crisis, on the condition she obeys the mother's wishes. Hye Sung agrees and the crisis dies down, then as expected, Kang Jae Young's mother asks Hye Sung to leave and to never contact them again. This is where the story kind of ends for now as scanlations are still going, the last volume was released by Blue Moon scans a few hours ago and I haven't had a chance to read it yet, so Ill do that when I have some time.

Anyways, next on the list is Youth Gone Wild, which I am really looking forward to, so watch this space!

Anyways, that's about it for now, until next time :)

Getting back to business

Yes, I am finally able to stay up long enough to write a decent update, although given the amount of time between drinks, it will most likely be somewhat abbreviated.

Firstly, I must say, so proud of my swannies, beating Geelong on Friday night, I must say that I take back every bad thing I ever said about Andrejs Everitt, he is now my hero after kicking the match winning goal. So now I have bragging rights over 90% of AFL supporters, as my team sits pretty in second spot. I am content ^.^

Ok, so as I mentioned what seemed like forever ago, I have read Galism, what i didn't realize is that it is by the same mangaka who wrote Bijo Juku and I Love HS, so I must say I was a pretty happy chappy when I found out. I absolutely love the three sister heroines, Ran, Nobara and Yuri, they are a set of siblings that do things their own way. I guess I am glad to see this within shoujo manga, because more often than not, I find the female leads crying every two pages, and I think anyone would agree that it is super annoying. The story is about the sisters who try to unravel the evil plans of the principal of the school which they attend. The principal's son Yuudai is dating Ran, while her step son, Kento, not only wants to stop his step mother from inheriting the school, but also has feelings for Ran. As you can see, the characters are all inter-related and the plot does get a but messy at times. There are a few ongoing gags, such as the grandfather plotting to get his grandsons to get along (even faking his death at one point) and the older two sister's efforts in interrupting Ran's first time with Yuudai (more like stop it from ever happening). The art is good, as one would expect with this mangaka, so overall, rather enjoyable, especially the comedic aspect :)

I have read a couple of manhwa series too, Fallen Angels and Become Habituated to Kiss. Fallen Angels by Han Yu Rang, I must say was a bit of a disappointment. So far, 20 chapters have been scanlated into English, but I definitely won't continue with the series once more chapters are released. Unfortunately, the title is about as interesting as the story gets. I found the plot difficult to follow and rather boring. Kind of a shame considering I tend to love Han Yu Rang series.

Become Habituated to Kiss is by Hwang Mi Ri and has about 17 chapters scanlated thus far into English. I found this one much more entertaining and to my enjoyment. Again, this story has the strong, but somewhat airheaded female lead, which is always entertaining for me. The female lead, Kang Da Yeon, saves a handsome man, Kang Oh Hyuk from being beaten by a group of thugs (yes she beat the thugs up, if that happened in real life how bad ass would that be), and he 'repays' her with a kiss. From this point onwards, Kang Oh Hyuk takes a liking to Kang Da Yeon as he finds her entertaining and relieves him of his boredom, to the point that he at one point tries to blackmail her into living together (the blackmail was rather funny I must say, thing along the lines of Bridget Jones' Diary). True to Hwang Mi Ri's work, the characters also seem to have respective family issues to deal with.

I have also read Sekai de Ichiban Dakarai by Banri Hidaka. It is complete, but I don't know how long it is (at least 10 volumes) but only 2 and a half of which have actually been scanlated. The story is about Kazuha and Maki and the development of their relationship. As for the ending, thanks to them  being minor, re-occuring characters in Hidaka's next series, V.B Rose, we know that they end up together and get married (^o^). Anyway, I tend to think of this as a prequal for V.B Rose, most likely because I read V.B rose first, but it is like an ongoing saga as such. I got annoyed writing this paragraph because I typed it and then accidently deleting it before saving it, so to my frustration, I got to write this last bit twice (-.-;)

Anyways, that's about it for now, until next time :)

Sickness should just go away!!

So yeah, I have been kind of sick the last few days, which has been absolutely no fun. It seems to be a combination of stomach virus and migraines, so yeah, I definitely am beginning to miss food...and sleep, the migraines hurt to the point that I can't sleep. Sigh, I have taken many migraine tablets and aside from the fact they make me trip balls they do make me feel better, so I guess I should keep taking them. Also didn't help that there was an earthquake yesterday, which is rare for Australia because we are conveniently geographically situated in terms of tectonic plates, but still, when you are just reading in bed and your house starts to shake, automatic response is that you shit yourself (metaphorically of course)

For starters, still going with NANA, but only 2 episodes left to go. I have tomorrow off, so I have to get on Youtube to check it out seeing as my DVD player has decided it is going to hate me.

Also, I am currently watching the Amazing Race Australia. All I can say is they definitely choose the more eccentric participants to compete in reality format shows.

Moving on, As previously mentioned, I have read Do you Remember, Mogwa? by Han Yu Rang and since I last talked about it, two more chapters have been scanlated and released (Lucky >.<) because when I initially read it, the chapter that it ended on was really suspenseful, so I was really glad to not have to wait too long. I have found this series rather interesting. It is about a girl who is traumatized by an experience when she was 8 years old. Basically what happened was Sun Jong (the main girl) was kidnapped by her mother's friend when she was 8. The woman held her captive while she killed herself, exclaiming that Sun Jong's mother is a murderer and such. This experience leaves Sun Jong unable to communicate and also makes her incapable of looking at her own face. From that day on, Sun Jong has since worn a mask and refuses to talk to anyone except her grandma. Moo Kae is a presumably homeless boy/man (thus far his age has not been disclosed, but I think he is meant to be around 18) who Sun Jong's grandmother takes in on the condition that he befriend her grand-daughter. Moo Kae reveals little about himself, however we do know that he himself has lost his memory. Per Usual, there is also the villainous rich girl, Min Hee, who will do anything to get what she wants, which in this case is Moo Kae, lies in order to befriend the socially awkward Sun Jong and to break up the friendship between Sun Jong and Moo Kae in order to have Moo Kae all to herself. Anyway, I thought that the concept of the mask because she fears her own face was really interesting, I guess it is a more serious approach but at the same time similar to Usotsuki Lily, where En can't look at his own reflection without breaking the reflecting surface. 

I have also read Chihayafuru by Yuki Suetsugu, which is ongoing at 17 volumes in Japanese and scanlated to the beginning of volume 7 in English (chap 37) and for some weird reason, chapters 89-93 are also scanlated (I haven't read these chapters because then I would be missing 50 chapters of valuable story!!). Anyway, I have found it a very interesting series thus far. It is about the sport Kuruta and the friendship the sport has developed between Chihaya, Arata and Taichi. To be honest, I don't really understand how to play the game, mainly because I can't read or speak Japanese, but I understand the concept of how it is played. I guess the easiest way to say it is that is kind of like a more difficult and extreme way of playing a combination Go Fish and chess. I am not suggesting that the two are the same by any means, Go Fish is easy, Kuruta is hard, it involves poetry and extreme strategy. One thing that I particularly like about this series is the prologue. The first 6 chapters of the story introduce the characters at elementary school level and lay the foundations for the main story when they begin high school, which starts at chapter 7. Anyways, I look forward to reading more of this series in the near future as this series is updated quite frequently (Lucky >.<).

For now, I am reading Galism, which is complete in Japanese with 6 volumes and currently 15 chapter scanlated in English.

Anyways, that's about it for now, until next time :)

I'm in Hibernation Mode

I spent the entire weekend working, which is a bit of a bummer, but because of my efforts, I got Monday off, hence I spent the entirety of the day hibernating, except for when I had to clean my room, but other than that it has for once, been a relaxing day with nothing much to do. Anyways, as promised before the weekend, which seems like months ago to me for some reason, I am no in a way better mood, hence I am willing now to talk about stuff.

Last Friday, I went to the movies and watched Adam Sandler's new film 'That's my Boy', which also stars Andy Samberg and Leighton Meester with cameo appearances by Vanilla Ice, Ciara and Susan Sarandon. So there is quite a few names in this film, and to be honest, probably one of the better ones featuring Adam Sandler in recent times. It was by no means a 'Billy Madison' or 'Happy Gilmore' but still a good laugh in what is largely slapstick comedy. The humor is also very adult based, so definitely not one for the kiddies. The link provided is for the wikipedia page of the film, which has a comprehensive summary of the plot line of the film for anyone wanted more information.

Just a quick update with NANA, I still haven't watched the last five episodes but plan on doing so tonight, so I'll have my thoughts on that one in my next post.

As for Anatolia Story by Chie Shinohara (also more commonly known as Red River), I have actually finished reading it (yes, all 28 volumes) and because it is so long, there is no way I am summarizing such a storyline! I have to say absolutely loved this series, it is probably up there in my top 5 all time favourites for many reasons. Firstly, I am a massive fan of the old school manga. Red River started in 1995, so around the same time as Sailor Moon ended and just before Ayashi no Ceres began (both great 90's series). I regard the 90's as a great decade for shoujo manga and this one surely didn't disappoint. I also love any story with historical genre, but I loved this one even more so for many of the characters and events in the story were inspired by actual historic figures and events, which is really cool (source: Wikipedia). One thing I will say is that the themes and content is fairly gruesome and graphic with adult themes as well. A few examples of this include when a young servant boy, Tito, is killed and skinned by his murderer and his dead body is shown with his flesh missing, and in a fighting scene we see an enemy soldier actually sliced in half. I won't sugar coat it, a lot of characters die and there is a lot of bloodshed and war. I guess you could also say that there is this psychological element as well with Queen Nakia, the main villain feeling the need to place her son on the thrown at any cost to the point were she 'would even defy the heavens'. She plots numerous murders and schemes to ensure she gets what she wants. I also like how the author used Narration to explain some of the historical context of the story, especially towards the end, we find out that in real history what happened to some of the characters after the completion of the story especially the end, which states that 'around 150 years after the prosperity of Mursili's reign, the Hittite empire vanished into history' and then continues on with possible reasons as to why. It actually makes me want to learn more about ancient times, as I have already studied Ancient Egypt somewhat, so it looks like Wikipedia will be of great use to me in the near future. I will say, that some of the scans are of poorer quality that what some may be used to, in particular volume 25, however, if that puts you off reading it, your loss, you are missing out on one fantastic story. I am kind of disappointed though that I have finished reading Red River, because now I feel that whatever I read next will just lack in comparison.

Speaking of which, next on the list is "Do you remember, Mogwa" by Han Yu Rang. From what I have read, it is complete at 15 volumes Korean/14 and complete in Vietnamese and currently 9 and a half volumes scanlated in English. 

Anyways, that's about it for now, until next time :)

At last...

I had a very peaceful day today ^_^ For the first time in a good couple of months I had a day which required me to do absolutely nothing, and let me say, it was glorious. Although, in all seriously, come Monday I will be hitting the books for the next few weeks in order to pass my exams, but fear not! I will make time to update my blog as it helps me relax at times.

So my team, the Sydney Swans played today. Although they played in Melbourne this weekend, I did not venture to the game, as after my last experience left me freezing cold. Good thing I didn't go, as I would have been bitterly disappointed as they once again, lost in Melbourne. It seems that they can't win here. Also, I am trying to save my money for the moment, so going to the AFL will just have to wait!

I have had the chance to read a few more manhwa series as well recently. I read Daddy Long Legs, and no it is not about the spider kind. It is a tragedy, and if you don't pay attention, you may get a bit lost, so to explain, I will most likely reveal spoilers. Sorry in advance. The story starts with Cha Young-Mi's employment at a radio station as a script writer, which just so happens to be her dream job. Turns out ever since her parents died in an accident, an anonymous person has been sponsoring the young girl so she can achieve her dream, their only contact being through snail mail. As the story progresses Young-Mi receives emails from a girl who's house she currently lives in, except the messages were sent a year ago with the intention of being received the following year (She assumes it is a girl for there is a massive portrait of her hanging in the main room). These emails serve as a journal for the girl and details of her unrequited love, who went oversees for medical reasons, in case she lost her memory as a result of the disease she has. The emails reveal also that the girl may only have a year to live. In the meanwhile, Young-Mi falls in love with a fellow colleague, Kim Joon-Hoo while also looking for her mysterious daddy long legs, who seems to be closer than he lets on. After a particular incident where a letter was answered (daddy long legs responded) but was never sent (because she never wrote an address) it is discovered that the director is her daddy long legs. After confronting the director, he admits that he is only a 'stand in' for the real daddy long legs, and that the real sponsor was originally Kim Joon-Hoo. The audience is then taken on a trip through Kim Joon-Hoo's memories and we find that he is owner of the house Young-Mi lives in, the sender of the emails, thus the person with the disease. At this point, Young-Mi and Joon-Hoo, who can't remember that he previosuly loved Young-Mi before his illness, reconcile at Young-Mi's favourite place (a park overlooking the town) only for Joon-Hoo to die next to her. After Joon-Hoo's death, Young-Mi finds the key to the attic, which turns out to be an office filled with sketches and notes about Young-Mi. At this point a ghost of Joon-Hoo appears (Young-Mi can't see it, but can feel his precence) that says he likes the smiling Young Mi the best. The story ends with Young-Mi saying that she is happy, but can't wait for the day when the two of them meet again. So yeah, that is about it, a bit long, but very confusing, I had to read the last few chapters twice to understand, but given that it is only two volumes in length, it is a nice, very well put together story and an enjoyable read. Everyone should get on it even if it isn't your cup of tea because this is such an amazing story.

I also read I Accept You, another Manhwa series, but this one is 6 volumes long. As far as Manhwa goes, this one is pretty standard. You have the two main characters, You have your gangs, your crazy stalker girl, the other guy who loves the stalker girl, another, totally unrelated girl, the dark hidden pasts etc. In short, there was simple, unlike Daddy Long Legs, which i felt had that depth. I Accept You definitely had it's moments, and  I still found it enjoyable, it's just that in comparison, for me it is no contest. However you like the works of great Manhwa artists such as Hwang Mi-Ri and Han Yu-Rang, then I feel that you will find that you will enjoy this series. 

For the record, I love Hwang Mi-Ri's and Han Yu-Rang's work, just a lot of their work has the whole gang/bad boy thing written into the plot. Also, I do read manga as well (a lot more than manhwa) but I have been reading a lot of manhwa lately because of my list. Basically, I have a list of the series that I wish to read, and to select the next series I will read, I number each series and then use a random number generator. I then match the random number generator with the number corresponding on the list and voila! It just so happens that a lot of Manwha numbers have come up recently :)

Anyway, a rather lengthy update I must say, but that is pretty much it for now, so until next time :)