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 :)

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 :)