It took me four months to get this completed. (oh and sorry for the crappy cellphone cam pic… I still haven’t bought a replacement for my old [stolen] one =.=; )
As you probably know by now, I bought the actual copies of the Library War novels months before the anime started airing and gawd are they thick and such a pain in the ass to read! That was way back January, almost at the same time I made this short random blurb on the upcoming Spring shows, and well, I only got my copy of the last two volumes just this week. Surprising huh.
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Continue Reading May 9th, 2008
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After watching episode 4 last week, I was ready to churn out an insightful post on the episode, but it turned out to be a total mind-fart. It’s not that I had a sudden Kure-nai writer’s block (I wouldn’t want that to happen D: ), but rather because the post I had in mind for episode 3 continued to linger in my head, as though haunting me for taking it for granted O_O So here I am, writing down this long-overdue piece dedicated for episode 3 and the sudden burst of thoughts I had thanks to that train scene (and also some bits in Murasaki x Tamaki’s convo). OGT already gave his insightful thoughts on this one, but I thought it wouldn’t hurt if I expound on it a little further, and add my own personal touch.
The train scene in episode 3 really hit close to home, as it mirrored one of the great struggles I faced with for years — being assertive and confrontational, having the guts to stand up for what I believe in, a sincerity vs hypocrisy struggle – a struggle I’d like to think as ever-present in non-liberal Asian countries like Japan and ours, among others.
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Continue Reading May 4th, 2008
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Allow me to rant first before I switch to my Shugo Chara fangurl mode.
My Nakayoshi subscription ended last last month, and I no longer renewed it because it was too costly and takes up a lot of space. Hence, I asked permission from another scanner to use her scans for the blog instead. But alas, she’s also a normal healthy girl, whose life doesn’t revolve around Shugo Chara, so she wasn’t able to scan chapter 28. To the impatient people grumbling (and even cursing) for the next chapter, I suggest you go get yourself a subscription from CDJapan. It costs 6,540yen for a 3-months subscription with air-mail shipping, and you’ll get it two or three days after its release (or even before it gets released on the market)! How good is that! Better yet, scan it for the sake of us Shugo Chara fans~
Instead of waiting impatiently for the next chapter of Shugo Chara, why don’t you guys discover the vast world out there, the tons of other mangas and animes, or well, Real Life. Do keep in mind that this is a blog, not a manga request forum. Comments are supposedly for facilitating discussion and/or random fangurl raves, not to b*tch about the next chapter. And what do you know, I have work, a life, and other animes/mangas I want to dedicate post(s) for! So please, if you’re just going to ask about the next chapter (especially in a bitchy manner), save your energies and develop the virtue of patience, and understand that I have no obligations whatsoever to do this T__T I can even choose to not talk about Shugo Chara anymore, and you are still in no position to bitch about it! And another useful tip, do subscribe through email updates or through out rss feed, so you’ll know about the site updates and be informed when I actually get to post about Shugo Chara… or not.
Ok, now that I have that out of my system, I can finally talk about this fun-filled chapter! A big thanks to ShiningNinja for providing me the first set of scans for this chapter, and also to Ri-San for pointing out where to find the HQ Shugo Chara chapter 28 scans (and a big thanks to the scanner of course, though I don’t know who she is ^^;;; )
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Continue Reading May 2nd, 2008
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Despite not living up to Shimizu Reiko’s artwork, the anime is still great.
I can only blame the Spring anime bonanza for the lack of attention Himitsu is getting from both fansubbers and bloggers alike. Seriously, if thought-provoking shows with mystery and drama elements are your cup of tea, Himitsu is something you should not let pass. Wabi Sabi of Iwa ni Hana has already said much about the beauty of Shimizu Reiko’s works, and Himitsu is no exception to that. Oh and please, don’t let that silly ’siscon’ and ‘BL’ I placed in the title scare you away, it’s just the tip of the iceberg of what this show has to offer. And no I’m not trying to emphasize that you’ll find more siscon and BL stuff here, this show is way deeper than that. It deals with these taboo loves as real moral issues (as was shown in episodes 2-3).
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Continue Reading May 1st, 2008
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The uber fast monster speed of the anime somewhat forced me to go and Deep Fry Toshokan Sensou like I did with Kaze no Stigma. The Toshokan Sensou anime might be realll good at this point, but I do think it’s even better if you know the missing antics and tidbits in between. So yeah, hopefully I’ll be able to fill in those stuff for you guys!
And, I was supposedly taking down notes on the stuff omitted in episodes 1-2 of Toshokan Sensou, detail by detail, till episode 3 comes down like a BOMB and as I check what it covered in the novel, I see that it skipped 100+ pages! Now before I struggle over whether to skip reading some parts too, I shall go and talk about the differences I’ve seen in episode 1 first.
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Continue Reading April 28th, 2008
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While my fellow chef absolute0 prodded me to join MyAnimeList months back, lazy old me didn’t get to update my list until recently. While Owen and his constant MAL preaching did get me to stop bumming around MAL-ing, I’d like to think I did it for the sake of my fans (LOL!). So yeah, feel free to stalk add me as your friend. I’d love to know more about the lurkers in our blog =D
Hopefully, I’ll be able to regularly update my list, especially the recent ones I’m watching, and post mini blurbs in the MAL blog too while I’m at it. I still have to add more animes and mangas in my completed list, but I’ll procrastinate and finish that for later XD
Now if you still don’t have an MAL account, now’s the time to do so! 
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April 27th, 2008
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While this topic has been argued to no end, a recent issue just sparked me to post my thoughts on this.
First off, let me ask you this, will you watch an anime raw, and even go to the extent of blogging it, if you didn’t understand much of what’s being said in the episode(s)? This is not quite a problem with regards to bloggers who openly admit that they don’t understand the raw episode they’re watching, especially for those who put disclaimer in each post like “Feel free to correct me blah blah because I watched this raw”, “From what I understood…”, “I didn’t quite understand… but I think”, and all that, to highlight the lack of certainty. Not to boast (because it’s not really worth boasting about), but I did this when I first started out in blogging, pointing out how confused I was with Touka Gettan, for example, where I even put (?) in parts of the summary I was uncertain about, etc. FYI, that post sucks butt. The problem comes in when the blogger starts stating things in a matter-of-fact tone, when in fact, it’s far from the truth.
Call it being egotistic or what, but I don’t think both my conscience and pride will allow me to blog about something I don’t really understand, and deceive people into believing the ’facts’ that I say. Perhaps there would be times in which you’d think that you understood the episode, when in fact you didn’t, in which cases counter-check will always help (more on this later). Not having a good grasp of Japanese isn’t supposed to be an excuse to just leave things as misunderstood as it is, and to post your thoughts about something you didn’t understand just makes you lose credibility over all. It’s to the detriment of both you and the readers as well… 
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Continue Reading April 26th, 2008
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After quite some server downtime yesterday, the blog is finally up! I hope you guys didn’t suffer from some heart attack, seizures or whatnot when you thought our blog is dead or something D: So to those who read my post on Kure-nai before the blog went down, now’s your time to comment! So please come back!! D:
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April 26th, 2008
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After three episodes, well what can I say~! The staff behind Kurenai never ceases to amaze me with what they have done to this anime, transforming the supposedly lackluster novel (at least in terms of the overall pacing and plot progression) into the awesome anime that we see now. They certainly know how to make the most out of an anime adaptation, incorporating foreshadowing, revealing bits of Murasaki’s past and Shinkurou’s dark side with each episode, something which is yet to be tackled in the novel, as far as the halfway point of the first volume goes. Without revealing all this, the anime would not have been as compelling and awesome (for the lack of a better word). With the early revelation of Murasaki’s past, we get to see the complexity and depth of Murasaki’s character, and the reason why she acts the way she does.
From what I’ve read so far, there was not even a mention about Murasaki’s family background; Murasaki just came out of nowhere in the novel, unlike in the anime where we actually see how Benika kidnapped her from the Kuhouin household. We also don’t get to see a glimpse of Shinkurou’s ‘dark’ trouble-maker self, till past the halfway mark of the novel. Instead, we see Shinkurou’s past and how he met Benika, early on in the novel. Though in my opinion, it was a rather sloppy shoved-in-your-face kind of revelation, where you get to see the entire past in an instant (it’s a complete wall of text in the novel, 8 pages worth of Shinkurou past, all at once!) T__T
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Continue Reading April 25th, 2008
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Ahh, Neo Angelique~ Yet another Koei shoujo show that’s not getting any love. Deja vu~ The only ones in the blogosphere who took the time to cover the first episode of this anime were Aroduc, psgels, and recently, BluWacky though all of them already decided that it’s not an anime they want to bother with anymore. I can’t blame them though, given the number of other great shows this Spring (heck even I’m having a hard time choosing which shows I’m going to stick to x_x). Neo Angelique is, after all, a generic-looking shoujo anime, whose bishies serve to lure the likes of fangurls, especially those who got to play the PS2 game(s) *points to self*
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Continue Reading April 23rd, 2008
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There’s only 1 day left before the Anime Blog Awards Nomination Phase ends, so I’m not sure if this post will still be of any use, but anyways. Anyone who has an anime blog who’s currently reading this, please get your nominations in by April 22, which is coincidentally, Earth Day (although I wouldn’t have known about this if it weren’t for that Starbucks promo XD).
The top 5 nominees in each category will be selected for the next phase, the actual voting, which will run from April 25-June 1.
In behalf of my fellow chefs who are still hibernating at this wonderful Springtime, I’d like to once again thank everyone who nominated us! We may not have a chance to become part of the top 5 nominees, but one nomination is enough to touch the heart of this little bunny *bow*
So anyways, I finished placing my nominations (partly thanks to the power of copy pastah lol), and to spare me the agony of having to write about my selections for each category, I’m just going to highlight one which I consider to be the most personal of all, The Most Influential Blog Category.
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Continue Reading April 22nd, 2008
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peek a boo!
By the time this post is published, I’d have already gone for our company’s Beach Party, and won’t be back till Sunday afternoon. I remember mentioning to some people about my Oryzae plushie, and how it’s going to become our Beach Party Mascot character. And well, I wasn’t kidding when I said that.
See, this cute Oryzae is like the epitome of a happy summertime, with its sun shape and its radiant smile. So a couple my officemates and I suggested Oryzae to be our official mascot, and it was heartily approved What can I say, Oryzae is well loved <33 xD
Enough with the talk, and on with the pics!
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Continue Reading April 19th, 2008
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While tons of other bloggers have given their praises for Kure-nai (especially for the adorable Murasaki), allow me to join in the bandwagon just for fun. Contained within this post are my impressions, insights, predictions, and what have you.
My eagerness for this anime was apparent in my earlier pimpings, though I should say that after watching two episodes, it far exceeded my expectations. It completely blew me away. I mean, who would’ve thought that I’d find myself crying buckets of tears just by watching the first episode? I know that my tears are somewhat shallow, considering how I’ve shed them for KimiKiss and True Tears as well, but this time around it’s of Aka-chan to Boku or Aishiteruze Baby quality. That’s how genuinely moved I was.
The bond between Murasaki and Shinkurou is one of the purest and sweetest ones I’ve seen thus far, as exhibited in episode 2, where not even a trace of lolicon and other pedo elements were present in their hot spring bath scene together. Their relationship is like that of siblings way back the 80s or 90s, where the minds of people were still not corrupted by the vile thoughts plaguing our society now.
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Continue Reading April 18th, 2008
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Yes, dear readers, it’s been a year since the [official] birth of Scrumptious, which is coincidentally, a few days away from the blog birthday of my cute little otouto Totali and the nazi dictator Owen. So yeah, that means we share the same blog signs too.
And just to share with you guys the lengthy history of our little blog…
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Continue Reading April 17th, 2008
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Junjou Romantica at its finest.
Much has been said about dissing-or-dismissing a show for what it’s really worth, simply because of the genre it falls under, a point of contention in the blogosphere for who knows how long, and a topic tackled by Stripey-nii and Owen a few months back. As much as I hate to admit it, I found myself guilty of doing this act of vitriolic judging for the yaoi manga/anime Junjou Romantica, when I advised people to stay away from this show. Despite how justifiable my disgust for the manga (and all things yaoi, in general) seemed like, the fact remains that I found myself stereotyping it simply for being yaoi, failing to see things from an objective and non-homophobic standpoint. So this time around, I’m going to rid myself of that tsuntsun-poser self, and give this show the objective review it so deserves.
Popularity: 22% [?]
Continue Reading April 16th, 2008
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