Vision of Escaflowne

This was the first anime my boys ever saw, Then Pokemon hit and it was all downhill from there for the kids...:) Anyway, although this has a lot of romance in it and could be considered shoujo in a lot of ways it also has..dragons...mechs...swords..knight and princesses...war....evil villains...and a cat girl. Something for the boys out there. I LOVE Van. I would love to use that name. I like the anime series a lot. Not the one shown briefly on fox because of the editing. Fox was the way we first saw it though. Then I went out and found the dubbed version. The movie was ok but too condensed. There is so much going on in the story you do want to miss anything. The manga, well, there are two different versions. One more shoujo one more shonen. I am reading the shonen version right now and Van is more of a brat with a foul mouth to boot. It is funny though to read it when you are used to the anime. Hitomi is naked a lot in the manga too. Definitely shonen. oh and the best part is Dilandu.....cheek...cheek....cheek.

Gunsmith Cats

Muscle car. Guns. Bomb expert. Private eyes. Car Chases.
This has everything and the ones who do it all are Rally and May. Rally is the taller brunette and May the short blond. I swear I thought I was going to name my daughter Rally May for years. The art seems old now but the music is fun and the pace fast. The girls are tough and thereis nothing like coming home to a home full of grenade booby traps. It is violent. It is bloody. It is however a standard of 10 years ago so nothing like the stuff we see today. I have the series opening and a trailer. Enjoy!

Ouran High School Host Club

Eeeeeee! It's Host Club! I love this SO much. Shojo at it's funniest.  This is not dark or sad at all really. There are small life lessons here and there. Tamaki's grandmother is a "hag" according to my eight year old son. Meany. She is truly awful. OK quick summery. Take a elite high school for the very wealthy, add a poor scholarship student, mix with an all male host club and add a dash of ambiguous female and you have a laugh fest. This is just the first part of episode one. SEE the whole thing. I am still collecting the manga but the anime was enjoyable. Let me just say this about the first episode. I felt as dense as pound cake the first time I watched it. There are always things when you are watching anime as an outsider to Japanese culture that just go over your head and you just go with the flow and just enjoy. If you have a great dub then a lot is explained. You hear a lot about how British humor for example is dry or odd. Personally I love it but the same can be said for understanding any other culture. So I felt like a dummy when as the host club members began to figure out Haruhi was really a girl a little light bulb would appear over their heads. Can you believe I didn't get it? I just saw the light bulbs but never connected it was because they had figured it out. DUH. Oh well, I am just going to assume most of you know what host club is. If not they do explain it. My sons dressed up for a con last summer as Nekozawa and Hunny. My eight year old was Hunny. He was the perfect height and had the right color hair so he didn't need a wig. We did buy a bun bun though. Cons are so fun. It's a social acceptable excuse to dress like it's Halloween at other times of the year. 

Gokusen

Gokusen! I love this anime. I felt so stupid when I saw this the first time. I actually saw it on tv. It is rare I find something I really like from tv. I would have to say things I saw on tv first that I really liked were Inuyasha ( I loved the voice actors), Trigun (made me laugh then cry like a baby) then Gokusen. Now it has some nasty language in parts. More than Inuyasha favorite fight phrase of "You B*****d!". Of course it all makes sense when you realize it has yakuza and juvenile delinquints in it. Still, it's funny. The bonds between friends is enjoyable to watch. The way the teacher works so hard for her students to get them to graduate make you wish all teachers were so devoted. If you like the anime read the manga. It is longer and has much more plot. There is also a live action drama. the actors in it are amazing and how DO they find people who look so much like the characters? If anyone is interested I have links for the manga that is being scanlated. The drama can be found on youtube and rented on greencine. Dunno if the rentals have subtitals though. FIGHT-O!

Kanon

If you like a real tear jerker...watch. this. anime. It's awsome really. Just make sure you see the 2006 version. The art is better and the story is more fleshed out with more episodes then the 2002 version. If anyone has seen Air then this is for you.

Chibi Vampire Karin

As you can see from this opening it this about a vampire. The opening does have a low of flash nude shots which reminds me of the earlier topic about nudity. Cute nude vampire girl who makes blood instead of taking it. Mostly. Anyway, it is fanservice for certain..male fans. The opening anyway. The story is a bit more than that though. Both the anime and manga uses Karin's vampirism as an allegory for growing up and that entails. It has a lot of cute stuff as well. Don't let the nudity in the opening discourage you. Do any of you like the song?

Changes

OK, this blog is too big and random. I am going to divide it up into a few different ones to make things easier. I will have one for anime. I am thinking this one. The others will be to start with one for shojo manga and one for shonen. I may have another for more random stuff. This will enable me to cover more stuff the way I want and appeal more specifcly to people. I will update here on my progress and add the links to the new blogs here as well. Sooo, I don't want to go away without talking about something so here is what I did on Sunday. For various reasons I needed to take my mind off things. I have a TON of manga to read and so I read a bunch of different things. I will talk about those later or on the newer blogs. This picture is the cover of Otomen Vol.1. by Kanno Aya. I just finished chapter 4 of vol.1 scanned by Serenus Dreamers. As you can see this is a shojo manga. The pink colors, hearts, sparkles and flower should be a dead giveaway. The story is from the guys point of view and that is always fun. He is as macho and tough as it gets ...however...he bakes, sews, likes shojo manga and pink. He promised his mother on her death bed to "be a man". So he keeps the secret. Will the girl he likes not like this side of him? I like the fact the one guy who knows his secret also has one himself. He is writing about the whole thing in a manga! In the fact the lead characters favorite one. It will be quite a thing to see when it all comes out. The art is clean and fun. It isn't dirty (so far) just cute but not mushy. I will keep reading it for a s long as I can. I sense a lesson in acceptance of yourself lurking somewhere in the morals and life lessons learned component of the books. We'll see..:)

ok..ok..I feel guilty

I haven't done anything manga related the past few posts soooo...this is what I am reading right now. I am in the middle of this issue of Kekkaishi. I am reading borrowed books. I have one after this then I will have to wait. I can't put my finger on it but it reminds me of something else. Anyway, I found out there is an anime of this and I tried to download it to make sure and check it out but the files didn't work. It came in as an audio file. I was so disappointed. I still have to watch the Ai Yori Aoshi Enishi shows yet. I am so behind! Anyone else read this? 

What's better than mice with swords?

My son who is 8 loves this. To be honest I think it's cool too. Besides my affinity for mice the cover grabbed me. When I saw the year 1152 and mice with swords, how could I not do a flip through? Now I know, I did it again and this isn't manga. The art though is fun to look at. If you have any inspiring black knights in your home check this out. My sons are always outside with sticks for swords playing out the crusades or star wars. It seemed a fit. Don't think these are your cute and cuddly rodents. It is life and death and war. Not for the littlest of kids. A little grasp of history would be good to start off with for the younger reader. The basics you know. Like, there was a middle ages. Here is the link to the website for more information. You can find the book in any comic shop. Check there first and support a local place before going to a chain store. Or support me and go to my money pit...:) (shameless plug) 

http://www.davidpetersen.net/mouseguard/index.htm

Elfin Lied Opening Lilium

I need the pattern for this...

Brain Bunny. Cool huh? The fact the brain comes out is so hilarious! I know, I know. Very interesting but what has it got to do with manga or anime? Well, nothing. I just like it. You have to admit, there is something in the mentality of it that reminds you of some kinds of manga work. The really odd stuff not horror. I think of Alice in Wonderland when I see this...not the Disney version. Speaking of that book here is a little quirk of mine. Snark. I love that word. Snarky. I was told once that it wasn't a word. Hello Webster. It is and I like it. Read the Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark. Don't you love what people thought was appropriate for children's literature? Below is the link for the Brain Bunny. The site has a lot of cool stuff and I wish they would pay me for putting it here...alas. There is a knitting group where I live I go to from time to time (I am a novice knitter) called the Hookers (pun intented). Despite the humor of their name I don't think they would try and figure this pattern out. They are uhmm...older ladies.

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2008/03/test_lab_bunny_amigurumi.html?CMP=OTC-5JF307375954

Update and learning the blog ropes

Isn't she cute! I love the Read or Die series. Manga, Movie, tv show. There are a lot of different shows and manga I didn't mention on my lists we (my family and I) have read and watched that we really like and this is one of them. I have slacked big time on posting here. However, it wasn't because I was ignoring it. I have been trying to learn stuff, real basic, on blogs and things. I am a real novice. I am amazed at how much fun stuff there is to learn and do. I hope to improve and make this a fun place. Anyway, I have found I am having a hard time keeping up with all the stuff I have downloaded and trying to read and watch things. Anyone else have that problem. Sometimes I sit down and find something really interesting and download it and by the time that's done I have to log off because I have other things to do. Having four kids is time consuming...:) I am trying to watch Ai Yori Aoshi Enshi and am having trouble finding quiet time. I have to read Kodocha and Case Closed manga with my son. Some of the pages aren't translated and that is a bit disappointing. I wish I could read and translated Japanese and Korean. My oldest son is learning Japanese. I should steal his learning program! I have also started Shinobi Life. I have only read the first chapter and it doesn't take much for me to read a whole volume before I decide to either go the whole way or stop. So far I will continue to read it. I like the time travel idea. I can see it will be shojo all the way but not too cute. There is enough mystery to keep me wondering so far. Although I am more interested in Fairy Cube which I have also started. Crazy aren't I? I have been downloading Shinobi Life and I am real concerned about getting the third chapter. The place I have been using has it in rar format and I can't open those on my mac. I have desktop windows but I am too lazy to transfer stuff around. I did find a rar expander and tried to install it on the mac laptop but it didn't work. I will have to try again. If I can't I may give up on the series since I have so much other stuff to read and I am not totally into it yet. One of my Kodocha volumes is in rar too. Soooo, I am going to have to figure something out. What little Japanese I do know my father taught me from when he lived there. It isn't enough to get by I'm afraid. I'm sorry I just rambled this time. I will try and be more thought provoking next time. Still, I doubt I am the only one who has the time for reading problem and the downloading problem. Let me hear your problems. Not that I can do a darn thing about it! :)

La Corda d'Oro Anime Opening

Warning

So, I added some more stuff. I was checking out the video bar and whoa...some wild stuff. Now when I added it I just wnt in a typed for catagory anime and this is the selection that came up. I did NOT pick the video samples. I am going to try and figure out how to add just one clip at a time instead of a random sample so it will more suitable to our tastes. I kinda wanted random stuff though just to se what's out there and maybe fin something I might like too.:) So, for now I will leave the bar up and work on getting something not so....eewww.

New Stuff

I am adding new stuff all the time recently. I added a new video bar linked to you tube to cruise for something new to watch in Anime. I also added a link to my own store at the top. Any time anyone gets the urge to buy something from amazon related to manga or anime please think of me first *smile*. There a few more ads and stuff and I know it can be a drag but click them and help a poor family out *rattles tip cup*. Anyway, I was thinking about a new topic and it hit me. Duh. Fanfiction. How many of you read them? I do. I have for about 5 years now. I am always blown away by how much is out there related to anime and manga. How does a grown woman get sucked into something seemingly so, well...add your own description here. I actually stumbled upon it when I was searching for original fiction. I like reading things by unpublished authors and if I am lucky, over time see their skills improve and even see some become published. It is like watching your own child grow. *sniff* Some stuff out there is really and I mean REALLY horrid. Some is just an excuse to write porn. BE SELECTIVE. Most big sites have a rating system that helps. If you have a kid who is surfing for that kinda stuff, rating or not you can read the nasty stuff real easy. I try and read everything my kids do or at least try. So I have quite an age range from the alphabet to high school. I am thinking I may add some links to some of the stuff i am reading but that may wait for a bit. How to find time to read that when your favorite manga is out there is not easy. What soothes the pain is the fact that it's FREE. When you are waiting for the the next release you can just go online and find a story and pretend it's an elseworlds kind of tale. Even better, write something yourself and practice your rusty writing skills if you are old like me or keep them sharp and improve if you are a numericly challanged person (either up or down on the number scale). Let's see if anyone can post their favorite fanfiction sites before I do....please...:)