My health, and my internet wasn’t cooperating with me the past few days, so this post got even more delayed than it already is… x__x’’’

Last November, I published a KimiKiss Deep Frying post, highlighting the lack of EroKawaii-ness as one of the main reasons why many game fans disliked the anime adaptation. A few weeks back, I visited 2ch, to check out the discussions and KimiKiss hate threads that abound, only to realize the falsity of my previous claims, which was simply based on what I’ve seen in the novels and the manga.

Looking at the sentiments made by fans in the discussion threads, I found a number of reasons justifying the fan’s sentiments regarding the anime, excluding the erokawaii factor which only the manga and the novel counterparts had. The game is really pure and innocent, from what I’ve seen in the game videos (from youtube).

To highlight the sentiments of fans regarding the changes made in the anime…

The Christmas title isn’t appropriate anymore so I changed it. This is actually the last post I have for the “12 Days of Christmas / New Year”, but since I still haven’t finished my supposedly 11th day post, here goes~

A retrospective post in my otaku life (or life in general) for the year 2007.

2007 is such a memorable year for me. Not to mention I actually greeted the 2007 New Year with a bang, when dengue mosquitoes danced in glee the moment I became their prey T__T As such, ’07 marks my first hospital confinement experience, where I went through the horror of regular blood checkups and change of dextrose every so often. Oh the pain. >__<

Let’s forget that and move on to the happy memories of 2007~

• The birth of our blog! =D
• My first ever credit card! (given by the bank, like a New Year present)…marking the start of my anime spending spree~
• Joining the Japanese Speech Competition, where I spoke about my otakuness! (sort of) …though it turned out to be a laugh trip than an inspiring story of success .___.
• Passing JLPT3, and also JITSE/PhilNITS (though I’m still wondering how I passed the latter exam… ?__?)
• First Trip to Japan! ^____^ Now I wanna go back~~~
• Nihongo studies, studying for JLPT2, which will hopefully pay off~
• My new console baby Wii~ (last year was PSP)
• New friends, reconciliation with former enemies. <3

A completely different and more emo Takayuki o__o

Initially, I wasn’t planning on watching any more of KimiNozo, after what I remembered as a suffocating and depressing ride with the original series. But after looking at some coverage from other people of the OVA that recently came out, I decided to watch it anyways, in the hopes that my sentiments for KimiNozo will change. As it turns out, this alternate ending seemed like an alternate universe of some sort, where we see Takayuki as a completely different person, and Mitsuki left out of the scene, with no explanations whatsoever. I’ll leave my judgments for the OVA till I get to watch more episodes, and reminisce my ride with KgNE instead.

I watched KimiNozo about 3 to 4 years ago, because it was highly recommended by people. I now remember it as a horrible part of my memory I never want to go back to. I think the fact that I marathoned it in 1 or 2 days made that even worse =__=. Contrary to how Ouran lifted my spirits when I was down, KimiNozo was its complete antithesis. It made me sooo depressed even when I’m supposed to be not. /me slits wrist. Saying “I hate KimiNozo” might be a sweeping statement. The more appropriate way to describe what I felt about the series, is that I hate how all the tragedies happened because of the actions and crappy decisions of the characters.

Emily, a girl filled with hopes and dreams~ never mind the forehead, ok?

Emily of New Moon~ probably the most underrated series of 2007. Many people (including subbers of course) gave it a thumbs-down, probably due to its classical and non-mainstream nature? The ones I know who faithfully kept up with this series are psgels and hashihime, both of whom give such a high regard for this series. Impz also praised this series when it aired.

I haven’t been much of a jdrama fan, until last year, though I was mostly into manga-based jdramas, especially those I’m already familiar with. There’s Hana Yori Dango (it’s 2005, but I just watched it last year), and Nodame Cantabile, for example. If we’re going to include movies then add Lovely Complex and Honey and Clover to my “watched jdramas list”.

There’s nothing special with mangas being turned into jdramas, as it’s been done so in the past, though the number of these adaptations are considerably less compared to manga turned animes.

Other notable adaptations in 2006 include Kurosagi, Iryu, Teppan Shoujo Akane, and Sapuri. Upon further checking, I discovered that there are a total of 13 manga-based jdramas in that same year, though most of the titles it was based on is something I have yet to come across with.

Things changed in 2007, particularly during Spring and onwards, where the influx of manga-based jdramas became evident. There’s a total of 30 of these adaptations in this year alone, more than twice as much as last year’s. The year started off with only two(2) manga to jdrama adaptations for the Winter 2007, before the influx kicked in: Spring (9), Summer(11), and Fall(8).

(I am now counting down to new year~ lol.)

Among the many manga to jdrama adaptations shown this year, Hanakimi is one of the few ones I set my eyes on right from the start, as an avid fan of the manga myself. It’s always interesting to see various forms of media with crossdressing elements, especially a girl disguising as a guy. And with tons of bishies gathered for this show, what more could fangirls ask for!

Maki Horikita took on the role of Mizuki, who, despite being so obviously female, certainly brought her character to life, earning her the Best Actress Award for 2007 at that.

Despite Maki Horikita’s exemplary acting however, what I found to be the most eye-popping, mind-boggling, attention-catcher scene in the series is this… (I think the post title already gives a hint to that)

Warning: NSFW. Your eyes are gonna burnnn, especially if you’re a guy

Finally, a post dedicated to my beloved Kaze no Stigma, after months. Since I wasn’t able to post a formal review of the series in its entirety, I think now is but the time to do so.

The “Tsun” Side

Kaze no Stigma started out as a potential epic. We have an antihero as the main lead, once regarded as a weakling by his very own family, but comes back with a vengeance, as a powerful Wind Contractor stronger than anyone ever imagined. Early on, we see hints of his tragic past, but we never saw him delight in angst (that is, until the last “arc”). He learned from all these experiences, evident in the very principles he imparted to both Ayano and Ren early on in the series. I remember Tj praising Kaze no Stigma when it first started, pointing out the GAR Kazuma as one of the biggest factors which makes this series enjoyable.

(Obviously, I’m uber delayed for this Christmas Countdown… but oh well, better late than never! >3)

Since I wasn’t able to mention much about the Japan trip I had last July, I guess this is but the time to look back and share more about my lucky Fukuoka escapade~ The only thing I seem to have shared about it is… the pile of loot I bought amidst the Hare-Raising Storm, in this post. My entire trip was far more exciting than that, filled with random interesting sightings and discoveries~

The “mystery” bunny

First, look at this bunny over here. Guess what its true identity is…

I know Ouran dates back 2006, but oh well =P

Ouran is one of the most successful shoujo manga adaptations to date, and one of the few series out there whose anime outweighs its original manga counterpart. Truth be told, I didn’t fully enjoy the Ouran Koukou Host Club manga, so I was really wondering what all the hype was about. Until, the anime came along which I immediately fell in love with.

Ouran holds a special place in my heart, for a couple more reasons, best described by this quote from Boys Be, with the “cherry blossom (桜)” as “Ouran(桜蘭)” in my case :3

“Cherry blossoms, the noble flower, witness to many an encounter over time. Cherry blossoms, the vain flower, have watched many a farewell. And again this year they bloom to watch over a lot of faint but painful feelings in the season of beginnings called spring.”

The experience I had may not be as dramatic, but similar nonetheless.

Fangirl post alert!

In the recent conversations me and Seleria had about the Christmas Countdown, the idea of a Christmas wishlist popped into the hamster’s mind. Wishlist with either, trademark stuffs in various series we’d like to have (like Konata’s choco-coronet), or guys or girls we’d love to spend Christmas with. Given that, do expect that there might be some of this wishlist items coming out of the 12 days of Christmas posts, like right now

Being a Corda fan, I immediately thought of Tsuchiura and Tsukimori, in the list of guys I’d want to spend Christmas with. But after much thought, I settled on Tsuchiura, who I’ve been proclaiming as the BF material amongst the Corda guys. Anyone disagrees? =P

Tsunde-Len is cute when he gets all dere-dere, but in a real-life perspective, I don’t think I’ll be able to stand someone as obnoxious as him. Attraction to real-life tsunderes will greatly depend on whether you can trigger the dere factor in them. Otherwise, seeing all tsuntsun is so not cute.

So there, Hino can have Len all to herself~

I would’ve fangirled over the Corda series yet again in this retrospective post, but I think I already did that here :3 Instead, I bring you do this mini analysis on the Tsu-boys (tsu is actually ‘two’ in japanese / engrish) of Corda~