...what are you watching...

Started reading Zetman after seeing the anime promo image; c'mon, look at the potential fanservice! It's one of those gritty shounen manga aimed at the male population. I've never read any US comics, so while this background story sounds sorta like a superhero (Batman-like) story, do US comics show as much blood and guts that manga does? Anyway, there are two main male leads in this story; one created with supernatural powers who tries to help people for money, and one rich-boy character who was influenced by anime and fights for justice with technology. There are a couple time skips in this manga each with some fairly violent events that shape the boys. The female characters aren't treated really well, so beware of fairly graphic scenes depicting well, crimes against young female students and at least one prostitute.

Basically, some mad scientist try to create perfect humans in a lab and end up creating 'Players', humanoid-type beings who transform into monsters. Jin/Zetman was the only perfected experiment, and so on. Masakazu Katsura is the mangaka whose only other work I know is DNA^2...and hey, character designs for Tiger & Bunny. The development of the two boys take up almost 12 volumes. Then, it seems they have their posse of supporters and direct their energy into facing Players. And the potential fanservice part is...that they aren't rivals or enemies at that point and hold some sort of admiration for each other. Anyway, if you could stomach manga like Claymore or anime like Rainbow, feel free to check this out. I have a feeling that the anime's story might be slightly edited.

and I thought everyone was writing about NY. :)


A post for ShinScans: The best BL couple...Touya and Yukito from Cardcaptor Sakura. They look cute with their couple pjs. Important lessons taken from this pairing include working hard to feed your partner, being nice to their family, and sacrifice. It's a shame CLAMP never openly wrote about other couples like this. Their whole genderless category of characters is rather dull in the long run of a story. Anyway, the funniest scene from the CCS dub was how they treated Syaoran's crush on Yukito. I don't think the dubbed anime made it far enough for Nelvana to mangle their actual story. *whew*

Interview with the cast of Ouran Host Club: I have very low expectations for this drama. The actors have to be really good to be able to sell those characters.

Just read the recent chapter of Kuroshitsuji. I'm glad Elizabeth turned out to be more than just the innocent girl obsessed with cute things. Yay for kickass fighter and girl power qualities. Since she is now suitable to be Ciel's fiancee, there goes the most of the BL factor. It's a shame the anime took such bad turn with its storytelling; killing off Ciel. The manga had some pretty good story arcs that the anime never got it.

Tiger and Bunny 12! Jake still holding the city hostage, challenges the Heroes one by one. I was expecting Tiger to do something unexpected, but nope, he gets defeated fairly quickly.

Hiromu Arakawa's Gin no Saji has begun! Cute baby cow/calf. Get it here

Not that I love this manga or anything. I think I've mentioned how awful the typesetter and/or cover designer at Tokyopop is. I didn't think BLU had the same awful person, but if the above is the final artwork, it is the same person. Looks like scribble, scribble, scribble, click on ugly font, type, type, type, click on ugly add-ins.

Yaoi manga have some ugly cover illustrations; usually with two guys performing acts of contortion. One guy usually has his shirt open and butt sticking out. Sometimes the cover just has two guys groping/hugging with constipation written on their faces.
I do like these covers. The font choice and placement are great. The characters look like they are part of some kind of wealthy gentlemen's club; the secret, naughty kind...haha.

Speaking of such things...Level E 8! Haha, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, but the beginning threw me off track. Kraft is a great character; spastic, extreme, etc. The Prince actually leaves him alone in this episode. The first arc was a sci-fi parody, the 2nd was a sentai parody and this was a romantic comedy parody...with the alien twist. The sparklies were a nice touch as was the use of the Santa statue.

Ouran School Host Club manga ch 1-83! with this month's chapter another shoujo manga has finished, but I expect there will be some sort of epilogue special. Admittedly, I wouldn't have picked up this manga if it had not been for the excellent anime. I don't like the mangaka's art style. There's something odd about the way the characters' heads are attached to the body. The faces & chins are off much of the time. Her toning and coloring isn't as aesthetically pleasing as other shoujo artists are.

Anyhow, the story after the anime was pretty fun. The mangaka has a good sense of comedic timing, and there was no real 'bad guy' to bring the light-hearted story down. The conflict between Tamaki and his grandmother didn't cause too much angst for too long. I'm glad the mangaka didn't introduce a bunch of girls to pair off the host club members at the end or something similarly inane. The study-abroad device was cliche, but turns out to be more cute than I thought. I also thought it was cute that the fangirls thought they knew Haruhi's secret, and later found out that what they thought was in error. ~7/10 rating~ While a charming piece of fluff, the anime was the better media for the story. Mamoru Miyano and Maaya Sakamoto really brought the story to life.

Why does Mori have a chicken and an odd-looking raccoon with him at the end?

The Ooku/Ohuku trailer looks good. Tamaki Hiroshi, Nino(the frail-looking Arashi member), Kou Shibasaki & Maki Horikita are the most recognizable actors starring in this. I actually picked up Viz's volumes of the manga which are physically very nice; great cover, color pages, printing. My (and almost everyone else's) criticism is the horrible Shakespearean-Yoda English translation. That is so distracting. I wish they used standard English, maybe an effort to use a few more polite or intelligent/complex English words, and then stuck a footnote to explain how the original manga was read. Anyway, it's a story of how a fictional Japan is forced to become a matriarchal society. It's hard to pick up anything uninteresting that Fumi Yoshinaga creates. I like her What Did You Eat Yesterday? manga. It's a cookbook.


Bad Guy 15! And the crap hits the fan? The parents know the true identity of Gun-wook via the loyal butler/servant and maid. Of course, the father has a heart attack when he finds out...yawn, drama cliche. Other than the father getting shut up so he couldn't reveal the truth too quickly, the actual development of the truth being revealed was pretty darn good; car accident & go mysterious butler! It's a shame Tae-ra deludes herself most of this episode. She should be smarter than that. Remember that model from episode 1-2? I'm glad the writers made her disappear. I'm also glad Mo-ne was shipped off though not soon enough. Four women harping over one guy could have been messy. I thoroughly enjoy any scene with Jae-in's little sister.

ETA: The Woot employess have Danboard T-shirts. I want one.

Hagaren ch 108 marks the end of one of the best manga stories out there. *no spoilers* but can I be a smidge sad that May did not end up with Scar?...hehe. ~10/10 rating~ since I cannot think of a better action manga that was as enjoyable and ended up as satisfying as this.

I don't play, but I want this chess set! about 9800 yen...so cute. Where can I preorder it? :D

Arakawa under the Bridge 5! I do enjoy character-centric openings as silly as the one featured in this episode (similar to those in Bakemonogatari). Maria torturing a guy who pretends to be a nun. mmm.

Enjoying the xxxHolic splashes someone is uploading at moe. Just got volume 17...mmm, good stuff...well, the fantasy BL I got with it gets the mmm.