I’ve been putting off watching this episode just because I had hints of how awesome it is, and I wanted to watch it carefully, so I can kind of fully absorb it. And now that I have, I can truly say it’s more than amazing, and I’ve already rewatched it (twice xD). This is definitely one of the best episodes of the last season, if not the best of the year, and a fitting wrap-up for the anime (even though we’re still missing on the conclusion of Tsubasa Cat story, but that’s also soon to come).

Short summary: Senjougahara arranges the first date for Araragi and herself, which first seems as a half-torture for Araragi when he has to spend a considerable amount of time being teased by Senjougahara while her father’s driving them to the date spot (seriously, it’s the most embarrasing situation to be in, especially with Senjougahara as your girlfriend). After a short chat with her dad who thanks Araragi for helping Hitagi, she takes Araragi to her treasured spot (stars and lots of stars – beautiful SHAFT visuals, as expected). So they just lay there, watch the stars, talk to each other, honestly revealing their feelings and finally mark an important day for them as lovers. (And then, the ending song comes kicking in, with perfectly fitting lyrics and it just moves you to tears (T_T)

For me (and probably for most people), Senjougahara’s character was enough to love this anime, but somehow after this episode I see her whole character wouldn’t be as half as enjoyable without Araragi. Her questions and his retorts are all that makes this series so worthy watching, and a sort of balance between the two makes them a perfect couple. That’s why I loved this sort of ‘ending’, where you can just plainly enjoy in the two of them interacting, but also watch as they open up to each other and clear out their feelings. I think I just feel happy for them (T_T)  This is the best kind of first date ever!
Now we’ve got still 3 episodes to come, first one is a webcast on October 28 (soon!). I just hope there’ll be more Senjougahara-sama, but I don’t mind Tsubasa Neko-form either :3

Summary: QUALITY Sailor Starlights meet Kimi ga Nozomu Eien QUALITY genderbending yuri romance fightan comedy Senou Natsuru is your normal, everyday high school student. However he´s been chosen to be a Kampfer, who´s objective consists on fighting other Kampfer with either guns, swords or magic, however, there´s catch; first you can´t chose if you´re a Kampfer or not, and second, you must have the body of a girl to use your powers. (from ANN) + QUALITY

After 3 eps (the only eps which our out, next ep airs in few hours) I can honestly say this is so bad I’m gonna watch it. I-It’s not like I like it or something Just to see if it can get worse, or maybe BETTER haha. Oh, but not the QUALITY, that has to stay, I demand it.
So, I introduce you to a nice heart-warming story about Natsuru (genderbent Mitsuki from KGNE), a boy with a girlish voice (Marina Inoue), who gains the ability to transform into a girl in order to fight female Kampfer (not genderbent). As a guy he’s a wimp, as a girl he’s a wimp shooting fire and breaking hearts of the young maidens at school. His partner is Akane Suzumiya from KGNE Akane Mishima, shy (tsundere when Kampfer-mode) girl who tries to help Natsuru deal with his everday yuri antics at school (also she’s clearly interested in him/her). Natsuru(male)’s love interest is the beauty of the school, gracious Haruka Suzumiya Kaede Sakura, who lusts for Natsuru(female), but hates Natsuru(male), because of an ugly rumor that Natsuru is dating Natsuru. Confused? Me too. Oh, and add to that some Kampfer fighting with student council president Shizuka (and a childhood friend Mikoto in the next episodes).

Yeah, I’ll watch it for the thrills, and who knows, I might get pleasantly surprised in the end by the number of completely ridiculous twists and bents

AM I CUTE?

So fiiiinally, a first fall season post. Man, it’s been already 3 weeks since it started, and I’ve sure gotten lazy with classes starting and all. Well, better late then never.

First anime I’ve seen is – surprise, surprise – Fairy Tail (?!). It sure is a surprise. I don’t know how or why I decided to watch this and not, oh something like Trapeze or Aoi Bungaku which I’ve been eagerly waiting for, but something clicked and I thought ‘Oh why the hell not’.

So, basically this will be the first shounen series (after DBZ which was in the freaking 90s) I’ll be starting. I’ve always wanted to try watching at least One Piece, but it didn’t take me long to realize that catching up on One Piece anime is impossible (I’ve managed to see 8 episodes of like, 420something -.-’). And Fairy Tail is, supposedly, similar to One Piece (and I mean not just the manga art, but everything else).

The first two episodes seemed really ok, although I can see the main girl, Lucy will be irritating as hell (Aya Hirano’s voice sure fits). I liked the comedy mostly, so if I continue to watch it, it will probably be ’cause of that. I mean, I like the magic fightan, guild stuff (reminds of D&D), hopefully there will be interesting characters, but all the other ‘shounen’ stuff kind of puts me off. Oh well, it’s only two episodes. When I watch anime, I tend to watch it to the very end, unless I get a nauseating feeling as soon as the first episode ends, which cleverly reminds me to nicely drop the whole thing. Which I didn’t get with Fairy Tail, which means I’ll be sticking with it for a while ^^

But, will I blog it here?….Who knows, maybe if I find some episode interesting or funny enough I’ll at least put up some pics.

Oh yeah, find more about Fairy Tail here , here ,  or here

Title: Onidere
Author&Artist: CRYSTALNA Yōsuke
Genre: Comedy, Romance, School Life, Shounen
Year: 2008-
Publisher: running in Shogakukan’s Shonen Sunday (weekly)
Releases: 4 volumes (ongoing)

Summary: Tadashi is in his second year of junior high school and is a member of the handicraft club and loves nothing more than knitting. Unfortunately he’s in a secret relationship with Saya, the member of a notorious all-girl gang, who says she will kill him and herself if anyone ever finds out about it. (from MangaUpdates)

This is a relatively new manga I started reading. Even though there’s already about 60 chapters out, I catched up pretty quickly since it’s one of those quick reads. The chapters are short, about 15 pages each, and the story is light but really funny. The characters were what really got me, they’re all funny in their own ways, especially the cute dere-dere Saya. It’s definitely earned my keep.
The art is also very simplistic, nothing of great skill, but it kind of fits, so it’s nothing to mind.

Title: Kimi wa Pet, Tramps Like Us
Author&Artist: OGAWA Yayoi
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Josei, Romance, Slice of Life, Mature
Year: 2000
Publisher: Kodansha, licensed by TokyoPop (can buy here)
Releases: 14 volumes (complete)
Related: Kimi wa Pet (live-action TV)

Summary: On top of being sexually harrassed by her boss, demoted and dumped by her fiancee for his pregnant mistress, Sumire finds a homeless boy on the street. In an attempt to scare him off, she offers to take him in as a pet and he gladly accepts. They begin to develop an odd sort of relationship as Sumire sets out on her quest to find the perfect man. (from ANN)

Thoughts: I’ve been planning to read this manga for an awfully long time, but it was only scanlated up to seventh volume. But in the last few days, thanks to some awesome users on MangaFox, it was finally finished.

So the premise of the story at first may suggest a very mature theme (basically a woman takes a boy as a pet, who wouldn’t get the insinuation), but it’s much more lighthearted than that. She really does take him as a pet, and literally as a pet dog. She treats him like a human, but the basic relationship is that of master-dog.
So the slice-of-life story follows Sumire, a strong career woman, her struggles in the work environment, in her love life, and with herself. Her time with Momo (the pet) is the only haven for her, where she feels the most comfortable.
The strongest point of the story IMO is how these daily occurences are presented through such lighthearted comedy and brilliant character interactions, that we can easily imagine them and easily associate with them. The character development can be sometimes a bit slow or a bit rushed, but in no way does it interfere with the general pace and overall feeling of the story. The story is not just focused on Sumire, it also develops each of the important characters in her life. The manga often shifts to their point of view, so when you read the whole story you really get a sense of completeness. I really liked the ending. It wasn’t abrupt, it sort of just came with the the pace, and the story was really well rounded up.
I also like the mangaka’s art. I’ve read Ogawa’s works before, and her art really matches up to her stories. Nothing too realistic, but it’s not slapdash either. She also puts a lot of effort in backgrounds, especially in the most important parts of the story, so it leaves a good realistic impression. For those who are reading her works for the first time, it may seem weird at times, especially the faces, but you get used to it really fast. It’s really individualistic, and easily recognizable.

Well this is certainly one of the best josei works I’ve read, and I highly recommend it. If you like manga like Nana, NodaCan, or stuff by Yoshihara Yuki, you should definitely read it. I guarantee the enjoyment on this one; whether you like the drama, comedy or just plain heart-warming story, this manga has it all.

Score: 9/10

Now excuse me while I hop off to watch the J-dorama with delicious Matsumoto Jun ヽ(*ゝヮ゜*)ﾉノ

Superflat Monogram (2003)

Superflat First Love (2009)

Both videos are parts of an ad campaign for LOUIS VUITTON (2003, 2009), with character designs by famous superflat artist Takashi Murakami. Although the format was just an advertisement video, the animation was quite special (in 2003 at least). It features the Superflat style, which is actually credited to Murakami.

His art in general is actually a Japanese version of Western pop art, and is heavily influenced by otaku culture, anime and manga. In the same way as Pop Art of the 50s, which came from direct contact with the rising popular culture, Superflat is related with the rising moe culture of the postmodern Japan. You can read some basic information on wiki,  Superflat, artnet.
Even though Murakami was (and is) intensely influenced by Japanese animation, it also happens to be the other way around. Superflat style is considerably featured in works by Studio 4°C, and many anime we watch today have superflat character designs. Of course, especially noticeable in moe anime, such as K-ON or Manabi Straight. (If you browse through some of the artwork, you can see that Superflat also tends to be loli and kawaii~ oriented).
Here‘s a nice essay by Hiroki Azuma on Superflat and Otaku. You can also find some works by Murakami on artnet.com.

It’s sort of weird fascinating to see how much the cute (or moe) factor is actually present throughout the Japanese (postmodern) culture. Especially if you consider that the first video was made in 2003, which is still pretty early for such character designs. Whether it’s the one being influenced, or being the influence, it really is a strong aspect of postmodern Japan, and obviously not just reserved for the otaku. Well, only time will be able to tell how much more moe can actually go.

Wow longpost. Well, it’s a nice break for a while, especially now that my HDD is dead and I’ve got zero anime to watch  OTL. Maybe I can catch up with my planned-to-read manga, and come up with my first manga post, woo~  Oh well, until then ヽ（´ー｀）┌

Excel Sheet za jesensku sezonu, preuzeto sa mahoushowtime .

fall09sheet

Yay, organizing (≧∇≦)/

ANIME FALL SEASON

fallseasonchart

Fall anime season. Pink zvijezde su anime koje definitivno pratim, a yellow koje ću provjerit. Obično pogledam prve dvi epizode, pa vidim hoću  li nastavljat. No do tog ima još, tek 01.10….

maji je napokon našla zadovoljavajući domain za blogat. Anime ofc, i mango.  An epic day my friends, let’s remember it  \(*O*)/