Yami no Papuru and no more exams!

So yay! Last exam over and done with exams for the year now...Although today's was an open book exam, so it definitely made things a lot easier. I am pretty confident that I have passed all my subjects for this semester, so onto year two next year.

Ok, so I think I may have said something about writing about Love SOS, but I think I can summarize it in a sentence: Read anything by the kkotnim company, and I'm sure you will get the jist. The beginning is failry interesting, the protagonist is blind for the first little while, but after that it was kind of standards, fights and all.

So moving on, I would much rather talk about Yami no Papuru by Chie Shinohara. Let me just say, I love Chie Shinohara's works, the story is never the cliche shoujo/josei story, and I love how gruesome it can be, it is quite refreshing. The series is quite old, published during the 80's, and is complete with 12 volumes, only the first 9 have been scanlated so far.

So the story is about Rinko, a 1st year high school student who is dating her childhood friend Shin'ya, who starts to notice changes within her, in particular, her eyes beginning to change to purple at times (hence the title, which roughly tranlates to purple eyes). She is captured by 3 men who lock her in a shed with the intention to 'attack/rape' her at the request of a third party. Before she is attacked, Rinko eyes change purple and she disappears, only for a 'beast' to appear shortly after. The beast brutally murders the three men before escaping. The next morning, Rinko awakens and has no clue how she got home. The incidents catches the attention of Sonehara, a science teacher at Rinko's school who set up the incident in the hopes she could catch a transformer in the action.

Sonehara believes in her late father's research that there are humans who are capable of transforming into animals, and believes Rinko to be one such being. Sonehara kidnaps Rinko and locks her in a small compartment under the floor. Shin'ya notices that Sonehara is up to something, and eventually manage to escape. Sonehara then abducts Rinko's younger sister Maiko, in the hopes that she too can transform. Rinko and Shin'ya find Sonehara's villa and find Maiko. They attempt to escape but Maiko is attacked by Sonehara's dogs and is killed. This causes Rinko to transform, with Sonehara capturing the scene on tape as evidence. Rinko is then captured again and is betrayed by Shin'ya who drugs her and traps her for Sonehara. While captured, it is revealed that Sonehara's father is alive albeit mentally and physically disabled and he is eventually killed. Eventually it is revealed that Shin'ya planned to use Sonehara as a means of getting money and the evidence so he can hide Rinko from Sonehara.

While escaping they note a man going to Sonehara under the pretense that he is a freelance journalist interested in the transformer theory.  He reveals himself to be Odagiri, a man who later reveals himself to be a transformer. He takes interest in Rinko, claiming it is the first time he has encountered a transformer like her, mainly because she is female (In the second arc of the story it is revealed that he was part of a 'clan' that claim to preserve them, but acts otherwise). After he departs, Sonehara chases after Shin'ya and Rinko, Shin'ya being shot in the shoulder in the process and Rinko transforming once again. Once Rinko untransforms, she is found by Odagiri who has taken Shin'ya with him. The three stay in an isolated cabin, with Odagiri suggesting Rinko should be with him, a fellow transformer, instead of someone who doesn't know what it is like. After a fight, Shin'ya and Rinko escape, only for Rinko to be captured and taken to Odagiri's apartment. It is revealed that Odagiri does not have long to live. He also hints Rinko's mother may have had the ability to transform, as she only lived to 35 years of age (died young like other transformers).

Rinko somehow leaves the apartment and return home with Shin'ya. A couple of months have passed since Rinko was first kidnapped by Sonehara, so her father had long been looking for Rinko and Maika. Rinko decides that Odagiri is right, and that she can no longer live with Shin'ya and her father because she is different and does not know when she will turn on them. She returns to Odagiri and agrees to be his lover on the concession that he gives her time. Odagiri drugs Rinko then has sex with an unconscious Rinko because he 'doesn't have time to wait for her'. After she regains consciousness, she escapes. After a spate of incidents involving both Rinko and Odagiri in panther form Sonehara knows about her whereabouts and captures Rinko once again. Still hellbent on her research, Sonehara quickly discovers that Rinko is pregrant (This all happened in like a space of 50 pages btw). Rinko does not wish to have the child because she feels that she is not ready and because she still loves Shin'ya. Shin'ya finds Rinko in Sonehara's villa and finds out about Rinko's situation. They escape, but when Rinko transforms the police attempt to shoot Rinko. Meanwhile, Sonehara lures Odagiri into a warehouse where is only option is to transform. This results in Odagiri sacrificing himself to allow Rinko and Shin'ya to escape. Unfortunately, Rinko has been shot repeatedly and is seriously injured. The only option left is for Shin'ya to allow Sonehara to take Rinko to a doctor she knows (already sounds shifty).

The shifty doctor manages to save Rinko's life. Shin'ya decides he wants to marry Rinko because he loves her, even though he isn't the father of Rinko's baby. A few months later Rinko gives birth to a daughter and names her Mai (mainly in rememberence of her dead sister). At first the three seem happy until they realise Sonehara plans to steal the baby an commence even crueler experiments on her. Shin'ya and Rinko escape,  and take sanctuary in a church where they are married by the priest. It is then that Rinko knows that she does not have long left to live. After a rockslide caused by Sonehara kills the priest, this allows an opportunity for Sonehara to steal Mai, which she does, however, she is caught by a transformed Rinko, who lunges herself, along with Sonehara, over a cliff.

15 years have passed since Rinko and Sonehara presumedly died, and Shin'ya  has raised Mai as his own daughter. He has since become a doctor in the hopes of finding a way to extend the lifespan of a transforming being. Mai comes to the attention of the 'clan' for being a pureblood, and she is almost killed as a result. She is only saved by Akio, a university student who can transform who realizes the clan is wrong for trying to kill Mai. At first Akio had also tried to kill Mai, but no longer does so for his feelings for her. it is then revealed that Sonehara did not die and has been helping the clan for the entire 15 years since she fell off the cliff. Sonehara also reveals that Rinko is not dead.

This leads Mai and Akio to go to the lab where Rinko is supposedly being held. Sonehara attemtps to capture Mai and Akio but is unsuccessful. Mai is at this point attacked by Rinko. Eventually Mai returns in order to meet her mother. It is revealed that Sonehara had no intention of letting Mai talk to Rinko, instead, attempting to brainwash her like she did Rinko (hence why Rinko attacked Mai). This backfires and ends up destroying most of the lab. It is revealed that Rinko has lived until now due to her being almost always cryogenically frozen, except when needed by Sonehara.

And that's about where the story is up to currently. First of all, I think Sonehara needs to seriously get laid. I mean, I reckon she would chill out a lot. She also needs some hobbies like sewing, or fishing, just something to keep her from being even crazier. The story has dual protagonists, the first 6 volumes focusing on Rinko and the other 6 focusing on her daughter, Mai, I thought having the split narrative was really good. I was really sad when I got to the time skip. I felt especially bad for Shin'ya, as he believes that Rinko was the only one for him. I felt the 15 years demonstrates his decision to stay alone with Mai for his life. it probably makes it harder that Mai is suppose to look a lot like Rinko too. By the sounds of some spoilers, it sounds like that Shin'ya may actually find a way to extend the lifespan of transformers, as it seems that Akio is still alive at the end of the series despite the fact that he is clearly already very ill.

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

New Sexy Simpleton and stuffs

Yep, I have gone missing for a while there, mainly due to the fact that I have to watch a whole bunch of films that I don't really want to because they will be on my exams...Speaking of which, I lost my Western virginity yesterday, watching my first western film. There was a reason why I have not watched one until now, and after I watch this other one for my exams, I have no intention of watching anymore. It turned out to be a lot quieter weekend that I thought, two of my shifts being cancelled because it's a long weekend, so everyone has gone on holiday (except for me, I am stuck at home studying).

Anyways, moving on. As previoulsy mentioned I have read New Sexy Simpleton by Hwang Mi-Ri. It is completely scanlated with 9 volumes. Just a warning, there is incest as a subplot but that is only towards the end. There is also a prequal, The Sexy Simpleton, but it is not completely scanlated and you don't need to read it beforehand, the sequal has got you covered.

So the story starts off with Eun Bi, who is back in her own time with the Prince a year after the events of the Sexy Simpleton, and Prince is adjusting to life in the 21st century. Eun Bi is working as a currently popular model and actress with Prince using his 'warrior skills' to be a stunt man. The two of them, along with the production crew and other stars of the film are sent to Mongolia I think to film on location. In the meanwhile, Prince is being nice to a middle-aged actress because she has the body shape adored by men in the past (The Prince is from the 8th century and back then it is believed that volumptious women were preferred by men). 

After arriving on location, Prince comes across a pair of shoes that were traditionally used to bind feet, which was a common practice in China on women up until around 1910. The shoes carry the wrath of their owner and are strong enough to pull both Prince and Eun Bi back to the past. This time, they end up in the 13th century or there abouts. Immediately, they run into bandits, but quickly turn the situation around by robbing the bandits. Eun Bi and Prince are then seperated, before Eun Bi stumbles into soldiers who take her back to their leader who looks a lot like Prince, except with longer hair. 

Prince disguises himself and saves Eun Bi, but in the process Khubilai (the other guy who looks like prince) takes interest in Prince for his similar looks and strong fighting technique, because of this, Khubilai pursues the pair (he also cuts his hair, and now they look like twins). Before long, Eun Bi and Prince start looking for the owner of the evil shoes, but realize how hard it is because nearly all women of the era have bound feet. They soon encounter a strange man who seems knowledgable, I think his name was Yi Joo or something like that. Anyway, he helps the pair by meeting his sister who shows the pair of shoes and then another lady who also possesses a pair of shoes, but neither seem to be the pair that they are looking for. After searching some more, they find the owners of the last two pairs, one being dead, the other a princess being sold off/traded through marriage. The two decide to leave Yi Joo at his residence and follow this princess. However Yi Joo is stubborn, suggesting that both Eun Bi and Prince become his concubines (LOL).

When they finally escape, Prince realizes someone is following them, so he leaves Eun Bi on the horse and goes back to check out the situation. The person following the two was Khubilai, and he and prince then engage in a sword fight. Both manage to significantly injure each other, with Khubilai jumping off the roof in an attempted suicide to save himself from the shame. Prince however manages to get down from the roof but collapses in the street. The two are found by their opposing groups, Khubilai being taken by Yi-Joo's men and Prince taken by Khubilai's men, but neither group know that they have the wrong person because they both look similar. Eun Bi is also caught and is returned to Yi Joo. She is unable to tell that the unconcious injured man is not Prince, however Yi Joo suspects. Khubilai wakes up and can't remember anything, because when he jumped he landed head first, so he now has amnesia. Eun Bi starts telling him about her and  Prince, with Khubilai contemplating killing her, but chooses against it as he needs any hint of memories he can find. On the flipside, Prince is being attended to by Khubilai's men, and although one of his generals suspect something, Prince does not slip up give evidence of the swap. Prince plays along because Khubilai's group is responsible for ensuring the princess gets to he fiance's home safely.

Prince then orders his men to capture Eun Bi, claiming that she need to be punished. In the meanwhile, Khubilai still hasn't regained his memories and is wondering how he loved Eun Bi before the incident. Eun Bi is captured by Khubilai's men, and is shocked to see how 'Khubilai' looks like prince (yes she is an idiot). Although she tries to escape she is captured again, however she is used by Prince as a slave and lover. The princess who is about to be married also loves Khubilai, but she too does not know that Khubilai is actually Prince. Although he treats her like a slave, Prince uses the pretense of a concubine, then lady in waiting (lasy servant) for the princess to make sure she is treated kindly. This includes kissing Eun Bi in order to give her water and sleeping in his tent (just sleeping, nothing else, which makes later on so much funnier). When Eun Bi begins her duties as a lady in waiting, she believes the princess is autistic because she does not speak, but she is actually just deep in thought.

Eun Bi uses this opportunity to search for the shoes, but is caught by the princess. The princess feels that Eun Bi understands her desires to 'play around and get dirty' and such, and Eun Bi quickly becomes the princess's confidant. Meanwhile Khubilai (the real one) is searching frantically for Eun Bi because he too actually loves her. Eun Bi in the meantime is struggling with her feelings, as 'Khubilai' is so much like Prince (yes, she is that dumb, what happens later proves it) and reluctantly acts as matchmaker between the Princess and 'Khubilai'. Both bribe her to do their bidding, with the princess finally winning by offering Eun Bi the shoes. 'Khubilai' says he doesn't feel that way about the princess, but she requests to touch him, which in the end turned out to be a poke in the arm (ah, customs of a different era).

The princess is about to leave to finish her journey to her fiance's residence and wishes to take Eun Bi with her. (sidenote: this is like my favourite part just because of how stupid Eun Bi is). Just before leaving, 'Khubilai' (yes she still doesn't know it is prince) kisses her, but gives her a mouthful of water mixed with rotted fish (EWWWWWWWWWWWW!!) causing Eun Bi to be sick. 'Khubilai' claims that she is pregnant and that she should stay with him. Although nothing happened between them other than kissing, 'Khubilai' convinces Eun Bi that it is possible, with Eun Bi believing that their is some kind of pregnancy virus (*facepalm*). It is about at this time that the real Khubilai shows up. When he hears about this 'pregnancy' he intends to kill it, and this is when Eun Bi finally realizes that he isn't Prince...

At this point everyone figures out what is going on, the real Khubilai does regain some memories, and although Eun Bi and the real Prince escape back to Yi-Joo's because they figured that his sister gave them a fake pair the first time round and that she is the actual owner of the evil shoes. (There is also an arguement between Eun Bi and Prince which is rather funny, saying how dumb she can be for believing everything he said). Back at Yi-Joo's everyone is getting ready for his sister's wedding. Prince and Eun Bi find the shoes, but encounter troubles with Khubilai, and Yi-Joo elopes with his sister (although she is adopted, it would still be considered incest in that era) and they are never heard from again. 

Eun Bi is kidnapped by Khubilai and Prince manages to save her, coming up with a plan with Yi-Joo's men. Khubilai traps them with a fire, planning to kill them together, however, Prince and Eun Bi are able to go back to the present with the shows. Prince sends Eun Bi back by herself first before going back himself and the two get separated. Back in the 21st century, Eun Bi re-appears and begins walking back to the hotel. She curses Prince for choosing the past over her. Upon her return, Prince is already at the hotel and is wondering how he got there before her. The series ends with them having a 'play argument'.

Thoughts? Well, firstly, I thought that Eun Bi is really dumb. Even though it was obvious from their different clothes that Khubilai and Prince were swapped at the fight scene, she didn't believe Yi-Joo out of stubbornness. I thought this series is definition of 'idiot protagonist' (although I thought it was funny how Prince managed to convince her there is a pregnancy virus). I quite like how both this series and the prequal offer different interpretations of beauty. This one showing how in previous eras, women with bound, or lily feet were considered beautiful. Anyway, I quite enjoyed this one, it was quite a fun series overall. Despite what many others say, I was not disappointed by the ending, when I see the words 'Hwang Mi-Ri' I always believe it to be an open ending, so I got exactly what I expected.

Anyway, I don't know what's next on the agenda. Nisekoi perhaps, I can't really remember the last time I wrote anything on an ongoing series. We'll see. Anyways, that's about it for now, until next time :)

For the Sake of Dulcinea etc.

Sigh, such a  horrible day, I think I seriously pissed someone off in my former life. Other than the fact that I had to work, not only was it rediculously busy, but on the way there, there was some major cycling event (like a fundraising ride or something) which route was my exact route to work, and it's like 30kms to work, so for 30kms I had to drive at a leisurely pace as there was not much opportunity to take over these cyclists...I mean really though, what unbelievable bad luck that it went from my house to past my work.

So, moving on, I have read For the Sake of Dulcinea, by Hwang Mi-Ri, it is completely scanlated with 6 volumes, so rather short for the kkotnim company. The story is about Soon-Ae, who is a girl who has been with her boyfriend for just a little under 3 years, but she feels that she is no longer in love with him. Enter Wook-Hwan, a handsome guy who boards at Soon-Ae's house. Soon-Ae soons develops feelings for Wook-Hwan and as a result breaks up with Dong-Hwa. Wook-Hwan and Soon-Ae soon start dating, Wook-Hwan says he is from the future but Soon-Ae doesn't believe him. it is revealed that Wook-Hwan travelled to the past to find the composer of a song that has gone missing from a museum of the future found with with some fossils of two people. It is revealed that the composer is Dong-Hwa and he had composed that song for Soon-Ae. After Soon-Ae realizes that she does love Dong-Hwa and Wook-Hwan realises that Soon-Ae and Dong-hwa need to be together for the song to be written, Soon-Ae and Wook-Hwan try to get Soon-Ae and Dong-hwa back together. Eventually, they are successful and Wook-Hwan gets his song. After this Wook-Hwan decides it is best to kill Dong-Hwa so he can have Soon-Ae again. He does this by sending Dong-hwa to a building he knows will collapse under the pretense of meeting Soon-Ae there. Dong-hwa dies, and Soon-Ae soon finds out that Wook-Hwan was the cause of it. Wook Hwan says that even though he murdered Dong-hwa, he as well Soon-Ae would have died 8 days later (or it says "today" in the story) due to the meteor shower that would kill them. Wook-Hwan gives Soon-Ae his time watch so she can travel to an alternate universe where the meteor shower wouldn't happen and her and Song-hwa could continue their relationship. She takes the watch and goes to an alternative world, but also 3 years in the past to when she first met Dong-hwa. Meanwhile Wook-Hwan stays in the present and sacrifices himself to make sure the song made it to the future. So, I thought Wook-Hwan was a bit extreme, killing someone so he could get the girl, when she only rejected him anyway, so I can't really feel too sad that he sacrificed himself in the end.

Anyway, I will leave it there for now, next time I'll talk about Hoshi no Furu Machi and Sad Love Story. Until next time :)

Finally I have caught up!

Ok, so I have been meaning to do an update about my thoughts on various series that I have read recently, seeing as I have been pretty lazy and not bothered to actually give my thoughts on them. I believe series that I have mentioned include Wait!Wolf, Amakusa 1637 and Sakamichi no Apollon.

So firstly, I will start with Wait Wolf! by Hwang Mi Ri. I did talk about this a while ago briefly but I thought I would talk about it more.  Obviously it is a manhwa series, it's completed at 18 volumes in Korean and currently 14 volumes are scanlated into English. The female lead  Hwi Kwang (varies throughout the series depending on which chapter you read) is a bit dense, but is very unfeminine and has no clue about love. She ends up on the bad side of Suh Rin, taking his watch as collateral for her glasses, then loses the watch. As punishment, Suh Rin makes Hwi Kwang his fake girlfriend to stop the stalker girls from following him. Suh Rin eventually begins to actually like Hwi Kwang and she agrees to go out with him. Hwi Kwang has three best friends, Te Ri, Hwan Sung and another guy (I forgot his name) who are all in love with Hwi Kwang aswell, but have a deal stating none of them will confess. Anyways, some stuff happens and Hwi Kwang realises the love she has for Suh Rin is like that of a friend or brother, and she actually likes Hwan Sung and they end up together at the end. As I previously mentioned, this is quite unconvential for Hwang Mi Ri work, as the friend who is in love with the main chick always gets permanently friend-zoned. However in saying that, there is a lot of gangs and fighting at the same time too, so it's the best of both worlds as far as Hwang Mi Ri is concerned.

Next is Amakusa 1637 by Akaishi Michiyo. The series is complete with 12 volumes in Japanese, and scanlations are up to the middle of volume 6. The story is about a group of high school students who break slip through a time slip in the space time continuum. The group end up in 1636, a year before the Shimabara Rebellion and end up on a journey to try and save the lives of the people who would die in the impending revolt. The characters appear in the past at different points and places in time, for example Yatsuka is the first to arrive, sometime around 1628, where as Natsuki only arrives in 1636. So like previous series I have read, it is inspired on a historical event and the fictional story is written about it. From what I read, the group of friends are at this point succeeding in changing the past. From what I have read on the forums, they succeed in changing history, with Eri the only one of the group to choose to go back to where she came from, the rest choosing to stay in the past for their own reasons. It is classed as a tragedy, and I think it is because Eri has to go back by herself. Anyways, thats about it.

Onto Sakamichi no Apollon which is by Kodama Yuki. Depending on your methedology it can be considered both complete and incomplete. The main story, which is 9 volumes long is completely scanlated, but there is a 10th volume, which is a series of spinoffs and oneshots related to the main story, which is yet to be scanlated (kind of like Usagi Drop). Anyway, the story is set in 1966 and follows Kaoru, a high school student who transfers schools due to his father's job. At his new school, he befriends the delinquint Sen and his childhood friend Ricchan. The first 8 volumes follow the three of them throughout their highschool journey as they all learn about love and the importance of friendship. Kaoru falls for Ricchan, but is rejected at first before the feelings become mutual, Sen falls for a senpai who ends up eloping with neighbour and spiritual brother Junichi along with struggling to accept his biological heratige, and Ricchan struggles with her feelings as at first she likes Sen then changes to liking Kaoru. By the end of the 8th volume, Sen runs away as he feels he no longer belongs in his town. The 9th volume focuses on life after high school. kaoru goes to university in Tokyo to become a doctor, during a time when student revolt was at a high and Ricchan stays near her hometown and studies to be a teacher. The two continue to communicate until Kaoru calls and another man answers. In the meanwhile, Kaoru still searches for Sen. Kaoru doesn't find Sen until after he finishes university (so that's about 7 years that Sen has had no contact with them). Sen ran off and is a priest in training, taking care of orphans like he was. Ricchan and Kaoru clear up their misunderstanding. The story ends with Kaoru returning to the town to become a local doctor, rather than inheriting the hospital his family owns. The relationship between Kaoru and Ricchan is left open to the reader, but there may be a side story in the spin off volume.

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

Sigh...

Unfortunately, it is that time of the semester again when all of my major university assignments are due, but unlike in times past, I am actually moderately organized for once. For example, I actually completed a full essay a week before it was due. 2012 must be real. Although that is fantastic as it means that I won't have any 4am last minute cram session to get everything done, I still find it troublesome to actually do all this work when I have meaning other things I would much rather do.

Oh, so I totally forgot to mention this the other day, but I have finally finished watching Marmalade Boy, although I was always expecting it to take some time because there are 70-something episodes after all. I really loved it, but then again, 90s anime is the best. Ah, there is so much to talk about. Although it is very anti-climatic by todays standards, I guess 20 years ago, this kind of storyline would almost be unheard of (i.e. false incest thing). I have a love/hate thing for their parents, I feel they are irresponsible, just up and doing whatever they want, like going on an International holiday without telling their kids, but at the same time, it wouldn't have worked without them because...well, it's the whole plot line to start with, but also the parents made light of some pretty serious issues, which I thought was quite clever (not to give too much away, but especially in the last few episodes). One thing I thought was hilarious was the fact that in America they spoke Japanese, but as soon as Miki would call, no-one understood a word. I understand that they had to speak Japanese so the audience could understand, but I just thought that was funny. Overall, I quite liked this series, well worth it and I am very glad that both the manga and anime went down the happy path rather than the tragedy path that it was originally meant to.

I have been reading some manga and manwha too recently. In terms of manga, I am reading Amakusa 1637, but more about that when actually finish it. In manwha, I have been reading Wait Wolf, by the psuedonym Hwang Mi Ri. i quite like this one, because it takes a different path than the standard story from that publishing company. For instance, after reading spoilers, the main girl ends up with the childhood friend. I thought this was quite funny, because everyone seems to be going on about 'the friendzone' at the moment. It's also different because it's usually the new guy that gets the girl. But it's still the same that there are gangs and violence, not that I am complaining, I like that kind of stuff.

Anyway, 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 :)

The Nightmare has ended

The nightmare has ended! I never have to deal with accounting ever again. Words can not describe how glorious this feels. Hello 6 weeks of absolutely nothing. Actually I lied. Turns out the internet won't have my undivided attention as I have picked up heaps of extra work at my jobs, which makes my bank account very happy. The first thing I did after my accounting exam was sleep. How good it felt after being up until 4am the night before studying just so I could understand what the heck I had to do. The only downside is that when I am not working I will be bored out of my brains, but I'll find something else to do in the meantime.

Okay, so I have read a few series over the past few days, not that they have been long or anything. One of the series I read was Kimi no Tame ni Hiku Chopin by Nagae Tomomi. There is little information about this series at the moment, but there are currently two chapters scanlated into English and I know there is at least 4 chapters so far, but that's it. It seems promising I must say. The story is about a girl who moves from Hokkaido to Tokyo in hopes of finding a boy she remembered playing the piano with as a child. She finds him but he doesn't remember her. When he hears her playing the piano, he remembers that playing the piano can be fun, something he had forgotten long ago. In the meantime, the girl's playing, along with a pendant she received from her guardian in Hokkaido, awakens the spirit of Chopin. Because there is two chapters, that is about all there is to the story so far. The art is very cute, although it does make the female lead look like she is 14 when she is in fact a university student. I haven't used character names because what in in the scanlations and what the summary says is completely different so it's just to remove any confusion as such.

I have also read Tenshi no Hitsugi by Higuri Yuu. To be 100% honest, I absolutely hated it. I was pretty keen because as I have previously said, I love reading the tragedy stories because they usually are unconventional. However, this one annoyed me beyond belief. It is based in Vienna, 1889 and chronicles the forbidden romance between crown prince Rudolf and Lady Maria and how their life and death revolutionized Austria, and how the 'God' Sato tried to avoid the tragedy (obviously being manga, it is based primarily in an alternate reality). Luckily, it is only 5 chapters in length so it was not very time consuming. I don't really want to go into it, but the characters are beyond annoying so as a reader, I couldn't sympathize with the characters at all, hence it really can't be called tragedy. I'm actually not going to talk about this anymore because it is just to frustrating.

 Moving on, I read Honganne. Another of Hwang Mi-Ri's many series, it is complete in Korean at 11 volumes, with just 3 chapters left to be scanlated in English. I love korean high school gang manhwas. I can't get enough, but because it is a korean high school gang manhwa, it is the same to other series out there, still, it is a good read. There are a few things that differ from other works. It is probably one of the first Hwang Mi-Ri series where the main characters have families. Usually the main characters are orphaned or unwanted or have neglectful parents. This series also uses the 'sister complex' with the main character's older brother obsessively protective of his little sister to the point he hospitalizes any guy who approaches her. I kind of feel sorry for her, if I had an overbearing sibling, I would probably feel trapped to some extent. All in all, I am greatly anticipating the final 3 chapters to complete this series!

As for what is next on my agenda, It is Anatolia Story, which is just a casual 28 volumes in length completed. So this one is probably going to take me a while, especially considering all the extra work that I have picked up.

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

Oh, Hey There!

I feel like I kind of neglected my blog for a few days because life has been rather busy! But that's is good, it means there is a lot to talk about :)

All I can say is that I am so, so happy that I have completed one of my university exams. Just a shame that I still have another two to go :(. But I feel that I did well, I am very proud of the fact that I got to use the metaphor 'Some people are hermits', lets just hope it all turns out well :)

I was fortunate enough to go on a rampage in the city on Friday, which means I got some more manga and anime. I even got to make some onigiri, here is how it turned out

Pretty good for a first attempt if I do say so myself. Anyway, I bought the last two volumes of Chiyou yo, Hana yo (Butterflies, Flowes) by Yuki Yoshihara, mainly because I love her work and the last two volumes won't be scanlated because they are licensed. I am so happy to say I now own a Yuki Yoshihara manga, I love it so much, and this one is no different. I love the comedy and the pervertedness of her series, I always have to expect the unexpected. I won't say too much about this series, I have already posted a comprehensive summary of the last 10 chapters from my mangafox account, so click >>HERE<< if you want to read my spoilers for Chiyou yo, Hana yo.

I also bought the anime for NANA. I have only watched the first three episodes so far but I am so far enjoying it. I had a hard time reading the manga and gave up because the undertones were quite heavy and I just found it too depressing, but considering how great everyone says it is, I hope the anime will enlighten me so I can re-attempt to read the manga. Yes I have succumbed to peer pressure, what of it? I think I will have a lot more to say about NANA in the near future.

As I said in my previous post, I did read Crazy Girl Shin Bia and I have to say I absolutely loved it. I quite like historical series, and I liked how this was set in an alternate reality that was a reflection of history. The story begins with Shin Bia, an orpahned school girl who is the Jjang of her current school. She is targeted by a rich kid, who tries to get his cronies to attack and rape her. At the same time in an alternate reality, Celestial Bia predicts her death is near, and says that there is a way to make Ju prosperous without her, that is to transfer the other Bia to the world where Ju is. Back to the real world, Shin Bia jumps out the window to a certain death to avoid the rape scenario, which at that same time, Celestial Bia jumps off a cliff in her world to allow Shin Bia to take over the life of Celestial Bia. Trouble ensures, with Shin Bia having no clue of palace rituals, as Celestial Bia is engaged to the future emporor Yoo Baek, who Shin Bia dislikes. There is also Yiu Hoo, Yoo Baek's half brother and Mo Yeung, the hostage prince of Ah Jin who plots to take over Ju, who both love Bia as well. Most of the story is based on the relationships Shin Bia develops in Ju and the journey she goes through to become stonger than the original Shin Bia and lead Ju to ultimate victory over Ah Jin. To fill you in, Over the story, Shin Bia and Yoo Baek fall in love with each other, Bia's maid, Ka Yeon is a spy from Ah Jin working for Prince Mo Yeung who she loves, Bia tries to escape to her original world and has secret rendezvous with Mo Yeung to do so, Yiu Hoo's mother does everything she can to kill Yoo Baek and Bia to make Yiu Hoo the emporor, Some princess (don't remember her name) comes to try and break up Yoo Baek and Bia, Bia gains the powers of the original Bia and then some, Ka Yeon tries to kill Bia, but almost kills Yoo Baek instead, Bia is blamed for it and nearly killed, Yoo Baek uses his last bit of life to clear her name, he dies but Bia revives him with her power, Everyone finds out that Bia is not the Celestial Bia, causing a fight between Yoo Baek and Bia, When Yoo Baek realizes he loves the new Bia instead of the old one, Bia gets kidnapped by Mo Yeung, War breaks out between Ju and Ah Jin, Mo Yeung's betrayals are revealed and becomes obsessive with Bia, Yoo Baek gets imprisoned by Ah Jin when trying to rescue Bia, Ju defeats Ah Jin, Yoo Baek and Mo Yeung have a battle to the death, Yoo Baek wins, Mo Yeung is still alive and forces Bia's sword saying that only Bia may take his life, Ka Yeon poisons herself to die with Mo Yeung, Yoo Baek is crowned emporor and Yoo Baek and Bia marry and as a result Ju becomes the most prosperous nation in the past 1000 years. There is a 60 page epilogue set  a year after Yoo Baek and Bia get married and it is about how Bia wants to explore more but Yoo Baek wont allow it and how Princess whats-her name wants to marry Yiu Hoo. The epilogue ends with Bia and Yoo Baek travelling the world together and princess whats her name and Yiu Hoo getting married. There! 19 Volumes of manhwa condensed into 1 paragraph. Sorry if it doesn't make sense lol.

Moving on, my footytips are done and dusted for the year, after another shocking round where the teams that should have lost didn't. I have to say, very happy with my Swannies, 92 point winners, that's one good thing to come out of this round :)

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

What Happens When I Have Free Time

Hello again! I wish that I could jump forward in time. Not too far, just far enough so I would have already completed my exams. Oh, how I hate exams. Due to my timetable, I am able to dedicate two hours a day of study, which in my opinion is two hours longer than what I find ideal.

I finally got a chance to watch Aladdin and the King of Thieves yesterday. I love the old school Disney movies, not so much the straight video films, but  I have this one  a shot, and I am glad I did, because I got to hear one of the best innuendo lines in Disney history thanks to the Genie “I thought the earth wasn’t meant to move until the honeymoon”. Watching many Disney classics, I have found that throughout history, they have endorsed different values. Sleeping beauty is an example. Although it would have been the norm when it was made to get married and have kids as early as possible, nowadays, it’s completely different. Watch it and you’ll see what I mean.

Anyways, moving on! I have read Ubukawa Hajimete no Kare. It is complete in Japanese with 5 volumes, however only 5 chapters have been scanlated into English thus far. What can I say about it? The first chapter is very standard. We are interested to the main characters and the plot line. There are quite a few characters because it is a harem. It also uses the standard parents remarrying so Uri now has three brothers, who all happen to be bishounens and who all seem interested in her one way or another. But I found it frustrating to read, maybe because the main girl, Uri, changes crushes like one would change underwear. 5 chapters in, she has almost been raped twice by two different people, and has had two different crushes (the same people who tried to rape her) because she is too innocent and places way to much trust in people. Even though every her stepbrothers and best friend repeatedly warn her that boys in puberty will do stupid things regardless of how girls feel. It is pretty full on, so I think this is definitely more for mature readers, although it is currently a project of midnight scans, which focuses more on the mature serializations. Anyway I think if it had to come down to one guy Uri would end up with, my money is on Ryuu, because he is the first to kiss her (he has not attempted to rape her…yet) and in many shoujo mangas, the guy to kiss the girl first usually ends up together. 

I also read a nice one shot, even though I hate one shots, Oresama Kiss by Nagae Tomomi. Even though the status is ongoing, I have the feeling that is only a one shot. It’s pretty standard plot. Same scenario as before, the girl, Kana and the guy, Ryuo (very popular name in mangas) become step siblings through their parent’s remarriage. Kana finds out that her new brother is now the brother of is ‘unrequited love’, which she immediately assumes to be her sister, Hina because they go to the same university. Anyway, the plot unfolds and Kana gets upset when Hina takes Ryou to a wedding boutique in place of her fiancé` because he cancelled at the last minute and seems to be avoiding her. Kana becomes upset at her sister’s selfishness for making Ryou do something so painful. As Hina leaves to meet her fiancé` a psycho chick with a knife comes in trying to hurt Hina (the psycho chick is a stalker of her fiancé`). The fiancé` rushes in and explains everything. All seems well and good and then Ryou says that Hina isn’t his ‘unrequited love’ but its kana, and then they kiss and the end. As I said, pretty standard, had a bit of everything. Any, it’s a more condensed, laid back version of I’ll still love you tomorrow.

On the manga forums, I found the best quote in someone’s signature. Anyone who has read Shinjo Mayu’s work would understand. Although I enjoy her work, I find this rings true –

"Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."...unless you’re the main girl in a Shinjo Mayu manga. Then you will most definitely have an overly possessive boyfriend and will be sexually harassed and forcibly groped multiple times.

This is mainly true, except I had to add something to this “who also has a cat fetish”. I don’t know if it just me, but I find that true. I mean I find this the case in ‘Love Celeb’ and Haou Airen’ and to a lesser extent her other series. But regardless, I had a good laugh about it.

I’ve also read the scanlated chapters of Advent of Snow White of the Hell by Hwang Mi-Ri. See, this is what happens when I get too much free time! Anyway, I have to say I am loving it thus far. It is different from Hwang Mi-Ri’s other works. It’s not set in high school setting, it isn’t primarily about gang wars and the lead guy doesn’t seem to have anger management issues. The Female lead, whose name literally means ‘Happy Snow White’ is unbelievably stupid to the point of annoying, but other than that the characters are likeable. The story is set predominately in hell, after Snow White (Can’t remember her Korean name) travels to hell to save her father’s soul. Of course, there are demons, even the main guy, Taesan is one of the stongest demons in hell. I quite like how it isn’t the traditional view of fire and burning that hell is normally depicted as. I mean, when we are first taken to hell, we are taken to a place known as Aguido, which looks like a small country village from a couple of centuries ago. I am having a lot of fun with this one so far. It seems that the series is complete at 10 Volumes (short for a Hwang Mi-Ri series) so it looks like I have a lot to look forward to in this one, provided that they ever scanlate it.

Finally, (this is turning out to be an essay) I thought I would briefly mention some movies that I have recorded to my Foxtel which I plan to view once my exams are over. Most of them are Japanese and tragedies in one. The movies that I have recorded include Ichi, 20^th Century Boys 1, 2 & 3 (the complete trilogy), Goemon and for some reason I have the 1996 version of Romeo + Juliet, you know the one with Leonardo DiCaprio. I watched the first 10 minutes of Romeo + Juliet today, and was pissing myself laughing. I reckon the gun fight at the gas station is the best start to a movie. Unfortunately, from memory, that was as good as it gets (I watched it like 7 years ago, so I can’t remember the rest of it).

Ah, finally done. Sorry for the essay! Anyways, that’s all for now, until next time :)