While I’m still not done done with my Honey & Clover rewatch (Gonna ‘restart’ it after I’m done with Midori no Hibi, since that’s the one with a deadline) and also not done deciphering this interview with Umino Chika in Manga Kitchen, I’m afraid you’re gonna have to bear with this little teaser:

usagijen: I just read this “Manga Kitchen” book/mook/whatever
usagijen: which features various manga series wherein “food” is a motif of some sort
usagijen: or that food, in some ways, had a significance in that series
usagijen: thought it’d be soo relevant to scrumptious!
usagijen: and it so happens that H&C is featured in that book, the very first one too.
usagijen: ever wondered why the opening of H&C is the way it is?
Seleria: nope
usagijen: apparently, food was like one of the main motifs in the show. there’s no one episode where you don’t see the characters eating something
usagijen: then in the interview with umino chika, she likened love to food.
Seleria: uhuh
usagijen: you eat it, becomes part of your system… gives off different flavors. can be sweet, bitter, sour, etc
Seleria: if you have too much you’ll get fat?
usagijen: that too
Seleria: and if you don’t, you die?
usagijen: hahahaha
usagijen: but hey that could be too!
usagijen: thought of other analogies as well
usagijen: depending on whether you ‘let go’ and move on from a bitter experience, you end up letting it out of your system completely (excretion lolol), or it becomes a poison that’ll make you rot
usagijen: now I’m making things up haha. but it could still be possible
usagijen: it was also said that for takemoto, food was there when he fell in love (first encounter with love), coz he had these croquettes morita gave him that time (he asked hagu if she wants to eat it with them).
usagijen: then it was also through food that he saw the ‘end’ of the said love… the honey&clover sandwich
Seleria: lol
Seleria: you’re reading a lot into this
usagijen: nonono. these came from chika umino herself (except the food-love analogy bits that I added)
usagijen: so it’s.. official!
Seleria: ahahaha
Seleria: ok
usagijen: which explains why the opening is the way it is
Seleria: so that’s why there was scary food there :))
usagijen: oh, something was also mentioned about the weird foods that hagu and yamada were into
usagijen: something about… the perception of women re: food or what.
usagijen: like, girls can see food as ‘cute’ (moe? lol)
usagijen: but guys can’t understand it
usagijen: how food can be cute
usagijen: somewhat like guns are for men, according to umino chika-sensei haha
Seleria: huh
Seleria: food is cute
Seleria: …….
usagijen: food can make us feel moe. for guys, not quite so
Seleria: maybe i am a guy
Seleria: :))
Seleria: im pondering on
Seleria: what makes food cute
Seleria: coz i cant see it
usagijen: lol
Seleria: but i love pudding
Seleria: :))

Merry Christmas everyone! Till I come up with a coherent post out of this ‘Food Motif in H&C’ topic, ja~!

No related posts.

On the 13th of December my true love sent — rather, I turned 1/4-of-a-century old, a ‘Quarter Centurian’ according to j1m0ne. Might not be much, but it’s still zOMG 25 freaking years living on Planet Earth! Just another 25 years and I’ll be an obaasan! (or a MILF, we’ll see) Hello quarter-life crisis?

Birthday, by itself, isn’t anything special. Bluntly and unpoetically speaking, it’s just ‘the day you got expelled from the birth canal’, in Leonard of Big Bang Theory’s words. But year after year we celebrate it. What’s the deal? Is it because our parents are soooo happy to have given birth to us? Is it because we are soooo awesome, and that our very existence is enough of a reason to celebrate? Whatever the reason might be, growing old has certainly changed my perspective on birthday. More than just the ‘time I get a birthday cake and gifts from my parents, aunts and uncles’, it has now become my Annual Life Checkpoint.

Each year, we grow older; ideally, not simply age-wise but holistically. One year would’ve passed since our last birthday (with the exception of Feb29 people), and what exactly happened since then? Did anything exciting happen? Did we get to achieve our dreams, short-term and/or long-term goals? Did we make someone happy? Did we grow in wisdom?

Have you ever taken some time off, just to look back at life, count your blessings, see that Awesome Power at work (I consider it His fingerprints, but that would differ depending on our beliefs) through the circumstances that happen in your life, discover the gem that lies in the sh*ttiness of circumstances? Looking back allows you to see things from a different perspective, and in the end make you realize, that indeed, everything happens for a purpose. Let’s do a ‘What Ifs’ / ‘A Series of (Un)Fortunate Events Looking Back’ exercise, shall we?

(遺言 by mercre)

Had I not entered the company I’m working in up until present, then I wouldn’t have met Seleria. If I hadn’t met Seleria, then I wouldn’t have gotten into blogging at Scrumptious. If I hadn’t gotten into blogging, then I wouldn’t have met all these wonderful bloggers and readers and become part of this awesome community. I also wouldn’t have realized that I can actually write, and be read!

But then somewhere along the way I lost contact with Seleria, and if I hadn’t drifted apart from her, then perhaps I wouldn’t have gotten close to this one guy. Had I not gotten close to that guy, then I wouldn’t have experienced how it was like to have a really close male friend who I can even call my ‘best friend’. But, as they say, there’s no such thing as a platonic friendship between a guy and a girl.

Had I not burst my bubble and acknowledged the possibility of turning the said friendship to something more, then we wouldn’t have been sorta coulda ambiguously MU (stands for ‘mutual understanding’, probably only used in the Philippines). Had we not been sort-of MU, then I wouldn’t have gotten hooked into this game, and started acting as if I’m in a relationship when I wasn’t really in one.

Had I not started acting relationship-y, then things probably wouldn’t have turned sour. Had things not turned sour, then I wouldn’t have realized that it wasn’t meant to be, he wasn’t into me and obviously wasn’t meant for me, and I deserve something much better. Had I not realized that, then I probably wouldn’t have opened the door for another guy to come into my life. Had I not not gotten close to that guy, then I wouldn’t have gone out on a date with him. Had I not gone out on the said date, then I wouldn’t have realized that I’ve been seeking my own selfish ways up until then, not seeking guidance from people who should know better, and ultimately realizing that I wasn’t where I want to be in (and that I need the Almighty Father’s guidance). I personally thanked guy #1 for breaking my heart after this realization, and actually thought we were OK again, that the friendship was restored.

Had I not been in Cebu when this happened, then I wouldn’t have found my way back into church and the fellowship. Had I not been part of the fellowship and met my friends in church, then I wouldn’t have joined the Christian Youth camp this year. Had I not joined the said camp, then I wouldn’t have had a Spiritual Revival and meet even more wonderful people who share my belief.

Had I not joined the Camp this year, then I would’ve been sent to Japan for Hell Work and I wouldn’t have had enough time to prepare for JLPT1. Had I been in Japan for that business trip, I wouldn’t have been transferred to another project group, from whom I learned of the Japan Bridge Engineer seminar which I’m attending now.

As for ye ol’ personal life… Had I not convinced myself that me and guy #1 are good, chums like before but without the ‘more than friendship’ feelings complicating things, then I wouldn’t have had the painful slap of reality and realize that “no, things can never be the same again, woman. it’s difficult to restore the close friendship after all that happened (especially when you’re still not on the same wavelength; balance is still disrupted and all that). and you shouldn’t continue giving him the opportunity to hurt you more, BAKA”. Had this not happened, then I wouldn’t have been completely freed from the chains around my heart. Couldn’t have felt lighter and stronger like I do now! His existence is right where it should be, back to the background of my life. “Never make somebody a priority if they only consider you an option” …and balance is restored in the universe~!

So many what ifs, the ‘little changes in a series of events that can change the entire course of our lives’, as my friend says. But I don’t want to live in What Ifs, in that Woulda Coulda Shoulda Alternate Universe. I’m right here, right now, ‘this is real, this is me, this is where I’m supposed to be’ Whatever happened in my life, both good and bad (and even the unfortunate ones turn out fortunate if you look at it from another angle) shaped me as I am now. Had all these not happened, I wouldn’t be here talking about this right now

2009 was quite a roller-coaster ride for me, Life’s Ups and Downs, boy. But thanks to that, I grew in wisdom, much more than I expected (no pain, no gain). Life is too short to be taken for granted, look back and see the wonders of life at work! Look back, and also look forward to greater things to come! (forgot to add this when I first wrote this post T_T)

Thank you dear friends, readers, those who were part of the series of (un)fortunate events in my life, from the catalysts to positive changes in my life to the cause(s) of my misery. Thank you for being part of my life and allowing me to grow.

No related posts.

(awesome fail badge c/o otou-san)

We Proudly Failed the Otaku Elimination Game, JUST AS PLANNED.

One thing though, OEG said they dissected our blog. Really now. Allow me to do my own dissection of their evaluation, if you will:

What can we say about this place, well. When we first saw it we liked it a lot. The continual food-related themes running throughout were a nice touch, especially when it came to the rating system. We’ve seen so many idiotic fangirls now we were really glad to see some that actually had some common sense and could construct a decent blog about anime.

:3

But who exactly are these idiotic fangirls you speak of, OEG? Are they really idiotic, or just idiotic in your own standards? I don’t really like how we’re used to trample on them fangirls like that.

Unfortunately it seems that whoever is running the place has a real problem with PR.

PR, like Page Rank, Pattern Recognition, Performance Review, Progress Report, Personal Reflections, Prayer Request, Power Rangers? Given the context (or the lack thereof) of what’s being said here, I can’t really tell if we have the same PR in mind.

But go on…

The blog is a pisspan of childish, immature name-calling and pathetic arguments.

It was a place with potentially a lot of class and a friendliness, but instead it’s a mess.

You mean the opposite of having class and friendliness is being a mess? Even messy dishes can be served with much class and friendliness, you’re talking about two different things here. Or let me put it this way: even the classiest and fanciest of restaurants can serve messy dishes, messy yet delectable dishes.

Some dishes/desserts/whatever can be a mess but still be scrumptious — think rocky road, omelette, okonomiyaki, halo-halo, bibimbap. We’re not claiming to be messy AND scrumptious, but we might just be! Or at least, getting there! Who knows, perhaps we can be classy, friendly, and messy all at the same time! :3

And whatever OEG says, if not backed by clear evidence and proof, is all just a miss, just saying.

We’d love to go on but what can we say, the framework is good but the authors are terrible, it’s as simple as that. Throw them out and replace them with people who can actually write.

How can you judge how people write when you obviously fail at reading? I’d love to go on, but what can I say, the framework of OEG is good but their critiquing skills are terrible, simple as that. Why don’t we replace OEG with people who can actually read, write, and critique well? :3

Then again you don’t even have to replace authors of a blog to see changes in it, because people are dynamic beings and their potential is limitless.

They did a peice on how they wanted the OEG to end, we think it was supposed to generate humour but we really didn’t understand it at all.

Ohoho-humour~ trying to be British? Oh wait Singapore was under Britain’s rule for quite some time, my bad. As much as I’m tempted to laugh at one little typo they made, I won’t, because they didn’t really nitpick on our grammar and typos either. But that could also be because they didn’t really read our posts wwwwwwww

EDIT: the typo is NOT humour, dear sirs. Pardon me for not being clear enough, but I just wanted to be discrete about your peice of typo, but I’m afraid you left me no choice. There, now that excerpt is back to its original uncorrected / incorrect form.

Then it went on to to talk about sperm. What?

BWAHAHAHA. Nice one OEG, by not getting the humour in our post (and failing to understand Onani Master Kurosawa in general), you have managed to humour me instead. Boy did you make me laugh my arse off. GOOD JOB! d(≧▽≦)b

We rate the Scrumptious Anime Blog a 1.5: Nothing short of fodder. We also saw some misuse of the word otaku too, which we almost overlooked the first few times around.

They overlooked our misuse of ‘otaku’? or did they almost forget they’re checking out our site for the Otaku Elimination Game teehee :3 OH SNAP!

What have you got to say about this, Chu-Chu?

OMNOMNOM~ Should I even care about this sh*t?
* gets back to OMNOMNOM bsns *

Here, treat yourself to some more Chu-Chu goodness~

P.S. Chu-Chu is like the perfect mascot for our blog!

No related posts.

’nuff said.

…but for some reason I can’t stop myself from saying more.

As opposed to bloggers sucking up to each other (Anime Blog Awards), this time around we’ve got an otaku eliminator who jizzes and pisses at them blogs. Looking forward to the cumming of age of this one (I think it’s already happening, actually, not in their blog but in some other parts of the ’sphere, bloggers asking for feedback on how they can improve, being their own OEG, and all that). Still, I think the OEG needs more Baka-Raptor, seriously.

Further Reading

ETERNAL’s Commentary on the Otaku Revolution
Moritheil throws his two cents on the OEG
Seinime eliminates himself from the OEG
Michael of Low on Hit Points asks readers to critique his blog.
Gargron does the same and asks for some whippin’

No related posts.

Inspired by some recent turn of events in the house.

Oniichan no b-b-baka!

No related posts.

ZOMG OVER 9000!!!111!!!

And what better way to take advantage of this situation but to show my weeabooness >:]

When you’re stressed, stuff like this (even if it’s a bug) can turn a drab day a whole lot better

Too bad our project leader saw my lulz remark the following day and changed it before our [formal] test results document get submitted to our Japanese counterpart. Damn!

No related posts.

Inspired by Nomo’s Picture Drawing Song, I managed to make myself a Nomo fanart! w00t! Ok ok fine, I lied, I was actually intimida– I mean, inspired, by koda’s Gorgeous Nomo Artwork

Due to the lack of scanner, I decided to make the whole thing ’scenic’ since I’d have to use a cam, leaving the image quality lot to be desired.

Ladies and gents, meet Mocha the squished dog plushy, Nomo’s new friend. Oh and there’s the shiny Haro too, which seemed to have pooped out of there in the picture, saying haro~ 3 creatures~ /ha.ha.ha. (I wonder who can get that reference)

As you can tell, this is a totally random fanart sketch I drew in my notebook at work. The SD Nomo shown at the end of episode 16 (this was cut in the Central Anime version ) was a LOT cuter than the normal one (sorry Nomo), so I decided to take the SD-route.

/reminiscence mode

I wonder how long it’s been since I drew a fanart — 4 or 5 years already methinks. The last one I remember making was a Chii fanart I did for the cover of my English Journal in college Before blogging, that used to be my creative outlet. See how productive I was back then. Perhaps I should ditch blogging and go fanart-ing again? …or not?

…Aaaand that’s it, this post has become incredibly self-indulgent enough as it is

No related posts.

Yui Hisakawa was once an avid fan of castanets, but the evil Light Music Club has stolen her from her childhood love. She is now a captive of munchy snacks, fluffy cute girlfriends, and her fated guitar of destiny pink love™. That’s just wrong, Yui and castanets belong together, and here are 3 reasons why.

A picture is worth a thousand words. A picture with words is worth even more.

Just so you know, that review in #3 was an actual review of the actual product and served as the inspiration for this post. This was a fun post to do, editing pictures and coming up with a good layout. Man, I’ve got too much time in my hands

No related posts.

Very hot, yes?

School is out! You know what that means? TEATIME!!!

MIOMIOMIOMIOMIOMIOMIO

S-E-R-V-I-C-E

Why the hell not?

LOLOLOLOLOL! Shyness can kill.

I blame BeLe for showing me that first picture. Back to reviewing more pilot episodes and more K-ON! love soon :P 

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

No related posts.

Inspired by the “twitter conversation” that went from this, this, this, this, this, this, and this.

Before I end this post, may I just ask… IS THERE STILL ANYONE ON EARTH NOT LOOKING FORWARD TO EDEN OF THE EAST (especially after seeing that *ahem* revealing trailer)?!!! We might have varying ‘levels of looking forward’ to a series, given our varying degrees of biases, prejudices, personality, etc (hence your ‘looking forward’ might be far different from mine), but heck, if we’re one in the excitement of looking forward to this, should that even matter? Let’s just await the coming of its awesomeness.

No related posts.