One of the things I like most about Kure-nai, aside from the adorable Murasaki, is its slice-of-Japanese-life elements, a topic which has already been discussed to no end by other bloggers. It’s a [gaijin's] window to the Japanese culture, providing insights on the Japanese way of life of characters like no other animes I’ve watched.

That said, I find it surprising that despite the number of people who mentioned the Japan-esque aspect of Kure-nai, no one seemed to have bothered looking into the significance of the Hina-doll and why the Kuhouins found it detestable that Souju died while holding onto this doll. Oh wait, there’s one, Teeif. Even Japanese blogs never seemed to have mentioned anything about this, I guess this was no longer a mystery to them since they’re, well, Japanese o.O Nonetheless, I found this subject fascinating enough to take a plunge into the Hina festival, to find out what the Hina doll really symbolizes.

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Despite my long KnS-silence, I still kept myself updated with the series behind-the-blogging-scene (among the rare few KnS fans out there in the English-speaking blogosphere too). I read chapter 9 of the manga about 5 months back, then I no longer heard of any updates, until recently. Chapter 10 came out in the April 2008 issue of Dragon Age (and I only got to read it last month), much to my surprise that it marks the end of both the Misao arc, and the entire KnS manga too My hopes to see the Ignition novels in its manga form has been crushed. ;___;

But oh well, no use moping about it now. Perhaps the mangaka also found the succeeding arcs to be a trainwreck, and decided that ending the manga with the novel’s best arc would be best.

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Wow, hisashiburi~ It’s been a long time since I last wrote about Kure-nai, and now I’m brimming with guilt, shame, and a chunk-load of thoughts accumulated from the episodes that aired. I was planning to post a teaser-spoilers regarding the coming revelations about the fucked-up Kuhouin family after watching episodes 7-8, to prepare people for what is to come, and also to assure people that this anime is neither headed downhill, nor it is going to be just a fanservice show. But then time passed so damn fast and episode 9 already aired (and was subbed) before I know it! T__T My planned spoiler is now spoilt orz. Anyways, as I have realized now, not writing about Kure-nai is a SIN! More so, not watching it! It’s one of the best this season has to offer, no doubt about it.

Just a word of warning, this post is now convoluted due to the horde of thoughts I have. My apologies for the lack of coherence and structure, not that my post(s) have any of such to begin with =[

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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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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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Ok, so I managed to get some free time in the office to finish this post, before I leave~ I shall reply to the comments if I manage to snag a connection during my trip

I’ll save any comments I have on Mao x Kouichi x Yuumi after I watch the last episode of the series (which won’t be until next week coz I wasn’t able to bring my copy of the last KimiKiss episode with me T__T), as it will highly depend on what the outcome of this love polygon will be. For now, since we all know the glorious Asuka has been sealed a bittersweet ending, I’ll be showing how things would’ve went for her, if she was fated to have a happy ending. I’ll be providing snapshots of the second volume of the KimiKiss ~various heroines~ manga on this one, the Kouichi x Asuka arc.

The manga is just pure fluff, more ecchi and sweet (it’s a little bit contradicting I know), so much unlike the anime. While I applaud Kasai for successfully transforming the KimiKiss heroines into 3D realistic characters, it also became detrimental in that some of them became flawed and unlikeable, especially Mao and Kouichi.

So here’s this Asuka-centric post, for those who want to take a break from the serious drama of the KimiKiss anime, or those who want to see the alternate happy ending with Asuka x Kouichi

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This is a tale of a girl, in search for her prince charming…

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GAR Women FTW! >3

I CAN’T WAIT FOR THE TOSHOKAN SENSOU ANIME!!!! RAWR!

Ok, just thought I had to let that out

I know we still haven’t cooked up our Spring 2008 Menu post, but I wanted to pimp Toshokan Sensou SO BAD I detracted from doing that and dedicated a post for this series instead. Not much information around this title’s novel and mangas can be found on the net so far, and so I decided to provide a sneak preview for this show as early as now. I’ve already done this for Kurenai, and Junjou Romantica, so why not do this for my most anticipated anime of the season, right? =3

Just for the record, I’m reading the novel, and both the manga versions at the moment, and I’m LOVING it! It’s a great mix of action, romance, and comedy, which gives me some FMP vibes too, sans the mecha. With this, allow me to guide you into the world of Toshokan Sensou, as I reveal some inside information on this upcoming anime, and hopefully, make you guys see that this is a series that fanboys and fangirls alike will love

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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…

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I’ve become… emo~

Took me long enough to get this one out. Been busy with work and JLPT studies, and now I came down with a slight fever which started out with a sore throat (curse that cake I ate =___=) Hopefully, this won’t happen next week or else my JLPT is doomed o__O (reminds me of what happened to Mao).

Enjoy~ especially the melodramatic Mitsuki scenes from the manga

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