Michiko to Hatchin, Honey & Clover and MORE + Spring Anime

OKAY! Now, I am going to sit down and write a GOOD post for the first time in a while! I apologize for the very bad picture-text ratio in the last 5 posts. I had stuff to say, but no motivation to put up pictures. This time, I will be organized!

First: it looks like there won’t be anything about dramas for awhile. MAL has turned me in another direction…

MICHIKO TO HATCHIN

Episodes watched: 16/22

Wow. Seriously awesome anime, appearances are decieving. It’s way deeper and original than it might seem at first glance. Also, really, really great characters. Some might call the plot random and scattered, but I like the unexpected element of each episode. It’s funny, but not over-the-top comedy… and it can be kind of pensive also.

I like the music, too… the ending theme isn’t great, but it works with the randomness. The settings are awesome. Overall, just very enjoyable. I’m sure the last 6 episodes won’t disappoint.

HONEY AND CLOVER

Episodes watched: 20/24

Ahhh I love Honey and Clover. Happiness in a box. I’m so happy to see this after the slight train-wreck of a Jdrama that it was… I should have ditched the drama and watched this lonnggg ago (the only thing that kept me watching back then was Ikuta Toma). All the characters are so wonderful (especially compared to their drama counterparts!) Okay, I’m gonna stop comparing this to the drama, because there’s no reason to. They are completely different. Hagu still gets on my nerves a bit, but I like her.

It makes me want to go to their college in Tokyo. 😀

Anyone else notice that while Mayama, Takemoto, Ayumi, Hanamoto-sensei and even Nomiya all get their chances to narrate a bit, Morita and Hagu never do? You never know what they’re thinking. You might know what Takemoto THINKS their thinking… Haha. Well, I don’t have much else to say for now, other than yeah HAPPINESS IN A BOX.

INUYASHA

Episodes watched: 38/167

Along with Rurouni Kenshin, my two shounen super fighting loves~ I really can’t explain why it is that I enjoy Rurouni Kenshin and InuYasha so much… there’s just something about them. Course, the InuYasha manga is decades better than the anime. I ordered the second season box from ebay for an astonishing price, I’m very happy. The thing about the anime is, it’s so fun to watch because it’s like seeing the books be alive! Which is fun, but the other things such as art and production quality you kinda have to put up with. Because nothing beats Takahashi’s original drawings. I’m also not looking forward to the fillers and deviations from the original plot. But, I keep watching anyway. It’s fun (and I secretly laugh at the animation of youkai… its so bad -_-).

SKIP BEAT

Episodes watched: 24/25

Ahhhhh it’s almost over… I loved watching this every Monday, it just helped me relax so much. Of course, I didn’t really need help with relaxing, which I probably do TOO much. But it was still something to look forward too. And next week is the finale.

It’s weird, because rather than hating this because I read the manga first, I think I only LIKED it because I’ve read the manga. If I hadn’t gotten so attached to the manga, I wouldn’t have enjoyed seeing it animated at all. So, yes, this turned out to be a disappointing adaption… the art was crappy and the pacing was a bit too slow. It also seemed to me like they sort of toned it down for younger kids. Plus it’s gonna end before like 1/2 the plot happens. But for me, this was like InuYasha… it’s just fun to see one of your favorite manga animated, regardless of the crap production values. And Kyoko is so perfectly kick-ass. So I’m content.

Well…

I miss Saiunkoku Mongatari. D: I’m really REALLY hoping all the season 3 rumors are true. And that this season 3 will be aired SOON. But in the meantime, I’ve downloaded The Twelve Kingdoms (Juuni Kokuki). And I guess there’s also Fushigi Yuugi. I never watched the anime, but I read all the books.

AND IT’S A NEW SEASON!

Yes, it’s SPRING! Late Spring is my favorite time ever. But that’s still a short way away… its so cold still ><. But on to the point, this means not only warmer weather and cherry blossoms, but also a new season of TV SHOWS. I mentioned I don’t care for any dramas this season. The only thing I feel any inclination to watch right now is Oni no Sumika. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s ever been subbed. Oh, I did plan on finishing Time Between Dog and Wolf… That’ll probably wait till Summer though. HEY. Back to the new season.

While I won’t be following any dramas (probably), there are two anime I will be checking out and possibly following.

HANASAKERU SEISHOUNEN

Yayyyy a bishi anime. Ish.  I can’t exactly say why, but this sounds promising. Will possibly fill the hole SaiMono left. I only think that because it says “Politics”… it takes place in the Middle East, focusing on the daughter of a powerful industrialist. Woah I’m excited. Doesn’t it look like it might be sort of Saiunkoku Monogatari-ish?!

Well, hopefully I’m not setting my expectations too high. There will be a post on the first episode! As long as someone subs it 0.O

Also: Studio Pierrot, hmmm. While they did do Ayashi no Ceres, I think the success behind that was more from the manga’s plot… hmmmm. This may or may not be good. We’ll just have to see.

This should be airing on APRIL 5th 2009. I AM OFFICIALLY EXCITED. Attention Fansubbers. I am now at your mercy. Please, please PLEASE at least sub the first episode. And the rest. Heehee.

SHANGRI-LA

This is a futuristic one, set in a post-Global-Warming Tokyo.  I’m taking a chance on this. I think the art will be good, and I’m hoping it’ll have a good plot, too. Unfortunately, it IS Gonzo at the helm on this one… I fear I may be disappointed. Ah well. Will blog first episode anyway.

Okay, now ONE MORE THING.

ITAZURA NA KISS

Completed

I watched this pretty fast… it was a pleasant shoujo, and I’m happy to say that I don’t feel the need to compare it to the TWdrama ISWAK. I think that means they each made themselves an individual place. I like both.

I’m glad that I got to see how the original story ends, so now I have absolutely no reason to force myself to watch They Kiss Again. Phew. Although the author of the manga died before she could finish. So no one will ever know the true ending. Maybe Kotoko actually becomes a pedophile and goes after Yuuki. o.O I’m kidding. I like the happy happy Jpop OP and ED songs. The OP is so Summer-y. Of course I also like Irie’s character, but I really think Joe Cheng did a good job playing him. It’s so great how he never gets sappy or suddenly for some mysterious reason completely changes his personality because of Kotoko. I love that. Amazingly, Kotoko doesn’t completely piss me off. So I’m content. I think this will go in the same category as Lovely Complex and Ouran HS HC for making me happy and comforted.

…

I think that about wraps it up for today. It’s nice to have a good varied and picture-filled post again.

PS. I’m also reading Rurouni Kenshin. More on that next time.

OMYGODOMYGODOHMYGODDDD

DO I BELIEVE MY EYES?

Are they really going to continue the InuYasha anime now that the manga has ended?!?!??!?!

*SO EXCITEDDDD!!!!!!*

Okay. Now I’m calm.

WEHASKLJLHFASJLKD. I just saw a link on Amazon to InuYasha Season 7, realeased April 2009. OH MY GOD. This is so amazing. Now I actually have motivation to finish the anime. I was just thinking about dropping it, because the manga is so much better. I don’t know hwy, they’re not that different, but I just really prefer the manga. But now~ if they’re going to fix the anime so it won’t end at a terrible place like only halfway through the actually plot~

YAY.

Okay, NOW I’m calm. Teehee.

I did start watching Michiko e Hatchin yesterday, I think I will like it. One episode 3. Anyway, I’m gonna continue downloading and watching it. I haven’t really watched a lot of this particular type of stuff, so it’s kinda refreshing for me. God, I have so much stuff to do. I will never be bored again, ever. EVER.

MWAHAHA Season 7! If its a lie, I will send in 10,000 angry crazy fan letters to the Animation Studio until they have to continue the anime. And they have to keep the the plot of the manga.

… EXCITED.

EDIT

Why didn’t I know about this? D:

Temporary post to hold over till I’m not lazy~!

Wahh, I finished Saiunkoku Monogatari! I’m just writing this to remind myself that I have to write a season wrap-up post about SM, and also a super secret special rhyming prayer for a third season. I’m gonna wait to write up that post, because I want to finish Ryusei no Kizuna as well so I can write their respective posts at the same time. SARS has yet to upload the subbed finale~ I’m excited! I’ve enjoyed Ryusei no Kizuna a lot this season, even though I started it late and have been waiting patiently for only the SARS subs.

With these 2 series out of the way (sadly), I think I will watch … INU YASHA! I want to finish volume 36 of the manga (where the anime ends) before I finish the anime and I want to finish the anime before I finish the manga. So I think now would be a perfect time to start watching the anime, what with all this sudden extra watching-time I will have. Inu Yasha will be kind of a hassle to get since I’m so picky and refuse to watch dubs. Plus I’m lazy and have done enough searching for the subs online. So I’m planning on renting the DVDs from Netflix. Whoo! It’ll take awhile, but I’m sure it’ll be worth it.

I am on volume 20 of the manga already. Pretty soon I will surpass where I’d read up to before. I never even read half of it. This freaking series is twice as long as everything I’ve ever read before, except Ranma, which doesn’t count because it doesn’t have a plot to follow. And it’s still 18 volumes longer than Ranma! *Still in awe over how long it is, and wondering how freaking many plot twists and side-plots there are, anyways*

Also, today is Monday, which means, of course…. new Skip Beat! Yay, it looks like they’ll be continuing this through the Dark Moon story arc. My favorite. Unfortunately, this show seems to be trying to aim at younger kids as well, which explains the bad quality and the fact that some things were cut out. I hope they don’t cut TOO much out. Eheheh. Anyway episode 20 was very enjoyable, and I’m looking forward to episode 21!

First it was Ranma, now guess what…

Did you guess? Yesm it’s Inu Yasha! Wow. You know, as soon as I finished reading Ranma 1/2 (I liked the ending. I really did. It was very pleasant.) I actually said to myself, Okay, just because you liked Ranma does NOT mean you have to go read all 56 volumes of Inu Yasha. Guess what I started reading the next day. I have a good excuse though. See, I liked Takahashi Rumiko ever since I was like 8 years old. Seriously, I had already read the majority of all that Ranma (so i guess technically i was actually re-reading it), and I distinctly remember having read like 20 or so volumes of Inu Yasha. That doesn’t really justify anything, but I thought I’d throw that out there. And its the only mainstream franchise Americanized manga/anime series that I like. Actually I shouldn’t say that, because I liked Rurouni Kenshin too (I think they called it Samurai X in American?).And does Cardcaptor Sakura count? Because I only watched the Japanese version. In third grade, yes, but hey. Oh… I guess if you want to go there, Pokemon and Sailor Moon… but come on, everybody watched that.

I should say that obviously I’m one of those freakish OCD types who refuses to watch anime in English. I hate, hate, haaaate it. And anyway, back to Inu Yasha, I’m still debating whether or not I’m gonna watch the TV show; I never did watch more than a couple episodes when I was into Inu Yasha before… plus I’ve heard the show only goes through volume 36, and has a crap ending. So we’ll see. Hopefully I won’t watch it, because I would like to see daylight sometime, and what with 50 volumes of anime and 56 volumes of manga, that wouldn’t happen. Plus there is still Ryusei no Kizuna, Skip Beat, Saiunkoku Monogatari and all that good stuff.

And even though the anime is all like “the characters are brought to life!” and in color and everything, the manga just has that Rumiko Takahashi touch that is what keeps me reading even though at times it will seem like it never, ever ends and you just want to throw something and make them remember that there is a plot, here.

But wait: I just thought of something. Mainstream anime. I mean like Naruto and Bleach and One Piece, the huge ones, you know what I mean, right? Gah. What I’m trying to say is the huge monstrous things tend not to interest me. They just don’t. Which is why it’s so weird for me to suddenly read Inu Yasha. Maybe I just get tired of watching the same thing, because the problem is, you watch non-mainstream things to get away from watching stuff thats all the same, right? But what if the non-mainstream stuff you watch starts to get to be all the same? That’s why you switch back and forth! Great genius, huh? But even so, it isn’t typical of me to get into long, twisting, plot deviating, huge character list, disposable characters, hundreds of story arcs, repetitive stuff.

The true answer is this: I just like Inu Yasha. Simple as that. No reason. Just do. Same for Rurouni Kenshin. Anything from when I was a kid is automatically fantastic.

Um, sorry for the kinda of out of character posts recently, I know, I know – jdrama post, where oh where can you be? But I just write about whatever the hell I’m watching/reading, so whatever. And for the next couple of weeks, it looks like its going to be Inu Yasha. (56 volumes! Thats like a death sentence for me! *is used to less than 20 volumes*)