And A Happy First Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Whoops! Look at me, not updating my blog on the day of its first birthday. I wanted to get this up on May 1st, however a series of unfortunate and long events prevented me from doing so. Now here I am writing this post in the school library instead of working. Or sleeping.

But wow, already a year? TIME IS SO SHORT. I’m getting older and lazier day by day for my age…

I feel a little tinge whenever I think that my blog has existed for a year. It’s not much, but at least it’s a new accomplishment that I can add to my little life. I seriously didn’t think it would last that long, judging by the site’s name I choose without thinking and the boring posts I have written in the beginning. Thinking back, it was a really good idea to do the 30 Day Anime Challenge since I got to meet a lot of bloggers and improve myself.

I had no idea what else to write in this post, probably because I’m mentally sleeping at the moment, so I decided to make what I do best: Lists. A List on what I learned during my first year, and another one on what marked me let it be anime or what took place in the ani-blogosphere. And why not a list on my favorite posts?

• What Naru learned:

1. You can make friends very easily in the ani-blogosphere
2. It’s best to take your time writing a solid post instead of a short vague one
3. Avoid disappearing for long periods of time
4. Everything can be pink and happy in the ani-blogosphere if you make good friends
5. Team blogs are awesum!

• What scarred Naru for life:

1. How manga is not present in the hearts of many ani-bloggers.
2. Guilty Crown’s story/Realizing what OH MA SHOE meant–Seriously, I have a letter of a difference with Shu’s last name in mine.
3. Twitter can either be the greatest thing ever for bloggers, or the most idiotic thing since Facebook.
4. The ani-blog tourney–Nah actually, I’ll forget it about it. I have a short memory span concerning drama.
5. The amount of anime people have the time to watch. This is probably why I’m more of a manga person than an anime one.

• Naru’s favorite posts:

1. Best Yandere Character from the 30 Day Anime Challenge
2. Why is anime everywhere these days? My first serious post.
3. Phoenix Wright Is Never Wrong! A review post, but my favorite post ever.
4. First My Two Cenz post. I prefer the second one for my Ao no Exorcist paragraph, but whatever :P I’ll have to get back to making My Two Cenz…
5. My first post.

And there you have it people! With now around 20,000 views, 68 posts, and one year of existence, I’m going to do a little jig~

ohmaygawdwhatisthat.gif from Antares-Star-XD

Yet Another Aniblog Tourney Related Post

As the title says, my post is far from being the first one regarding the Aniblog tourney. But as a fellow aniblog-blogger of some kind, I repeatedly kept telling myself that I should release a post about it sooner it later to explain it to those who are a bit unaware of what’s going on in the aniblogosphere (I’ve taken a liking to that word recently).

• What is the Aniblog tourney?

The Aniblog tourney is a tournament held once a year where anime bloggers fight against themselves to the death. The strongest one becomes the Aniblog master and as a reward, takes control of the aniblogs that have lost against the winner. This sad cycle has yet to be stopped, but alas no-one has the courage to stand up against the powerful and cruel judges who were once aniblog masters a long time ago.

I’m too kawaii to die!!

One thing that I would like to add is that only the judges are allowed to decide who competes in the Aniblog tourney. If you are unfortunate as an aniblogger, you will receive a letter that states that you are forced to participate in this brutal game.

• No seriously…What is it about?

But what I said was true, silly! …Okay, so I joked a bit there.

The aniblog tourney is a completion for fun where anibloggers virtually-in-some-way fight against each other to see who’s the most popular and appreciated aniblog of them all. The participants will be judged by the following criteria: The content of the blog, the writer’s style, the layout of the blog, etc. So in an easy way to put it, every two days which is the equivalent of a round, you vote for the blog you appreciate the most. This continues until the 19th of June if I’m correct and the winner…well, gets a lot of exposure and new readers. Easy to understand, huh?

Tourney bracket!

• Why isn’t Naru on here?

Simple to answer: I’m not a regular blog updater. If I had updated more between January and March, I would have possibly been on the list. But it doesn’t bother me at all. Truth is, I’m not a big fan of the aniblog tourney and I cringe whenever I hear the word “competition”.

…

ALRIGHT SO MAYBE AT FIRST I WAS A LITTLE

 

“I’LL KILL YOU! I’LL KILL YOU ALLLL!!!!”

THEN,

“I wasn’t chosen…”

Until finally,

“Eh, I don’t care anymore.”

While more than one reader is speechless at the public and bizarre rage I virtually displayed, I want to say: Honestly, it’s all right take a joke and there’s always next year! I prefer continuing to work on my blog, make a few adjustments and changes over time before showing it off to the world.

Oh, and good news! I’m now an author over at Organisation ASG and will be reviewing some new spring anime in a few weeks, so finally…I’m kinda in the Aniblog tourney…

…Um, wow.

Expectations On Winter 2012 Anime

WordPress won’t obey me today, I wonder why?

It’s finally that time of the year again, huh? The end of the year is here, I’m still in a grumpy after-Christmas mood, most Fall anime are completed and we’re already thinking about what to watch for the beginning of the New Year. How organized can we already be?

It’s only been two weeks since I took a peek on what’s coming up and I have to honestly say in my humble opinion, that there’s not much to look forward to concerning new anime. Then again, you can’t judge a book by its cover so maybe I’ll be proven wrong. You are free to flame me as much as you like.

What’s new?

• High School DxD (January 6th):

The story follows Issei Hyodo, a dim-witted, lecherous second-year high school student who is killed by a girl on his first date ever. Issei is reincarnated as a devil, and from that day forward, he serves as an underling of Riasu, a high-level devil who is also the prettiest girl on Issei’s campus.

By only reading the synopsis, I think it might be very funny to watch. Adding it to my list! Of course, this will be filled with -unavoidable- fanservice, but I assure you I will be the first one to walk out the door if there is too much fanservice. I was already very close to my limit with Boku ha Tomodachi ga sukunai.

• Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai! (January 11th):

• 

  Segawa Yuta is a freshman of a university. He lost his parents when he was small and was raised by his sister Yuri. Yuta has been living alone since Yuri got married to a middle aged man when Yuta was a junior high student.

  One day, Yuri visited Yuta’s apartment and asked him to take care of her three daughters while Yuri and her husband were on a trip. He unwillingly accepted the job but the plane Yuri took went missing. In order to prevent the daughters from being adopted separately by relatives, Yuta decided to take in all three girls.

  A life of a strange family in a tiny apartment begins. (The elder two of the daughters are stepchildren of Yuri’s husband. The smallest one is Yuri’s child.)

This looks terribly cute (Okay, so only the little girl is terribly cute.) ! I’m a sucker for stories like this so I’ll be adding this too on my list. I just hope I won’t regret it.

Black★Rock Shooter TV (February 3rd):

I have no idea what the story will be talking about other than the past of Black Rock Shooter and her nemesis, but I’ll be watching it for two reasons: First, it’s Black★Rock Shooter. Second, it’s from noitaminA. Adding.

• Moretsu Uchuu Kaizoku (January 8th):

The story centers around a spirited high school girl named Marika. She keeps herself busy with the space yacht club and her part-time job at a high-class retro café. One day, two men suddenly appear and claim to be subordinates of her dead father. They demand that she assume command of the space pirate ship Benten Maru. A privateer ship’s compact was made during a war of independence a century ago, and according to that compact, the ship must be inherited by the captain’s next direct descendant. Marika finds herself embarking on a new life as a space pirate.

The story seems great, even if I’m not a big fan of the sci-fi genre and the art isn’t as fantastic. I’ll probably watch the first few episodes before making a solid choice.

• Another (January 9th):

26 years ago, in a third-year classroom of a middle school, there was a student named Misaki. As an honors student who was also good at sports, the charming girl was popular with her classmates. When she suddenly died, her classmates decided to carry on as if she was still alive until graduation. Then, in the spring of 1998, a boy named Sakakibara Kouichi transfers to that classroom, and he grows suspicious of the fearful atmosphere in that classroom. In particular, there is a beautiful, aloof girl named Mei Misaki who wears an eyepatch and is always alone drawing pictures.

What’s not to love in a horror story such as this? I’m trying this out.

• Inu x Boku SS (January 13th):

The Shirakiin house’s daughter, Shirakiin Riricho, who has a complex about being unable to live independently and unprotected, feels the need to move out and live on her own under the condition of residing in the mansion named “Ayakashi Kan.” In this mansion, only those who have cleared a very strict examination could reside in it, and for each resident, they are accompanied with one agent of the Secret Service (S.S.). Although Riricho has rejected the company of the S.S., while residing in the mansion she finds out that the agent dedicated to protecting her is actually the Fox Spirit whom she previously rescued.

Hm, hm. Not too sure about this one. The art is very attractive and the story seems decent… I’ll watch a few episodes before making a decision.

• Ano Natsu de Matteru (January 10th):

All I know about it is that the anime will be an original romantic comedy. I always end up being a fan of original anime so I guess I’ll try it.

• Brave 10 (January 8th)

The story reimagines the legendary adventures of the 10 brave warriors assembled by the warlord Sanada Yukimura in the year 1600, in the middle of Japan’s tumultuous Sengoku (Warring States) era.

Daisuke Ono will be the seiyuu of the main character~! But as much as I like historical adaptations, I don’t think I’ll be watching this one. I still have Sengoku Basara to watch (and play).

• Kill Me Baby (January 6th)

Kill Me Baby is a 4-panel style manga that follows the comedic life of a typical school girl Yasuna and her assassin classmate Sonya. Sonya’s attempt to fit in often fails when her natural assassin instincts kick in and Yasuna’s attempt to be more friendly with Sonya often gets her hurt or intimidated. Kill Me Baby’s cute sense of humor will keep you wanting more.

There’s not much to say about this one. When I first read about it weeks ago, I already knew that I was going to enjoy watching this anime. The art is cute, the characters look adorable, the humor seems present (if only I could say the same thing about the plot).

• Area no Kishi (January 7th)

Believing himself to be useless at football, Aizawa Kakeru opts to become the manager of his school’s football team, while his brother Suguru is its ace, and is even good enough to represent Japan. However, Kakeru may be harbouring a strong talent within himself that only Suguru can see, and the two often get into arguments over Kakeru’s denial of his skills. Things are made more complicated with the return of Nana, an old playmate of theirs that Kakeru has a crush on. Join the brothers in their journey to the national and even international championships!

Ah no. Nope, I’m not returning to the period where I was a fan of soccer anime. Next!

• Recorder to Randoseru (January 6th)

Miyagawa Atsushi is an 11-year-old boy who is 180 centimeters tall. Since he has a grown-up looking build but acts his age, he has always been running into troubles. On the other hand, his 17-year-old elder sister Atsumi is only 137 centimeters tall. Even though she has a childish looking build, Atsumi takes good care of Atsushi.

The guy is eleven. EVEVEN. The girl I can understand, but how in the world can an eleven year old boy have the face of a thirty year old man? Still not sure about this one. There’s probably 30% chances of me seeing this.

• Rinne no Lagrange: Flower declaration of your heart (January 8th)

Kyouno Madoka is a 17-year-old girl, who loves her home town Kamogawa and likes to help people in trouble. She rides a robot called Woks in her jersey wear and fights against aliens.

The first episode was aired very early and we’re already hearing bad comments on this fan-service filled anime. I’ll have to admit that at first I was curious to watching it since it reminded me a bit of Aria, the slice-of-life anime, however I’ll be taking my pass on this.

• Senhime Zesshou Symphogear (December 26th)

Humans have been menaced by mysterious monsters called “Designated Aberrant Disaster: Noise”. Tsubasa and Kanade are a popular vocal unit “Twei Wing”. They wear the new weapon “Symphogear” and fight against Noise to save the earth.

Pass.

• Smile PreCure (February 5th)

Once upon a time, there was a kingdom of fairy tales called “Märchenland”, where many fairy tale characters live together in joy. Suddenly, the evil emperor Pierrot made an invasion on Märchenland, sealing its Queen in the process. To revive the Queen, the symbol of happiness called Cure Decor, “the Queen’s scattered power of light of happiness”, is required. To collect the Cure Decor, a fairy named Candy searches for the Pretty Cures on Earth. There, Candy meets a girl, who decides to collect the Cure Decor. Now, will the world earn a “happy ending”?

I’m still pretty attached to magical girl anime (Sailor Moon was a part of my childhood after all), but the scenario of this anime turns me off somehow. Probably because this is a kids anime. Passing.

• Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki (January 8, 2012):

So it’s about a round cat. Err, as much as I like simple stories (Chi, for example), I’ll skip this one thank you.

• Daily Lives of High School Boys – Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou (January 9, 2012)

The original gag comedy manga follows the humorous yet “realistic” everyday life of Tadakuni, Hidenori, Yoshitake, and other students at a boys’ high school.

The only sequel of an anime that I wanted to post on here. Everyone seems to have great expectations on it, so I guess I’ll try to find out what the buzz is all about.

Sources and most images are from Squidoo, MyAnimeList, and Animeph.

My Two Cenz #5

After a week and a half, my vacation ends tonight and classes will start tomorrow. Bitterly, I now notice that I haven’t completed one-third of what I had planned to do during vacation: Update my fanfiction, play my favorite Aeria games, study Japanese, and write my review posts. The only good thing is that I’m not behind in my fall anime anymore…

Three specials of completed anime have been viewed this week:

Usagi Drop episode 2.5 special 1

Ao no Exorcist special 1 and 2

Deadman Wonderland OVA

And onwards to this week’s anime. Most of them were excellent this week. Others (-cough- Guilty Crown -cough-) were not. Seriously, is it so hard to ask for a original episode? I could rant more about Guilty Crown, but will refrain from doing so. For your own good.

Boku ha tomodachi ga sukunai episode 4:

Others joins the harem.

As said above, two new characters join the harem who are both special in their own way, as one would say. Possibly different from your typical megane girl in harem anime, I would say the new glasses girl is quite funny and sociable compared to the usual, overused quiet personality we usually see of her kind. As for the other one, I find her/him very entertaining.

Working! episode 4:

Hidden Durarara!! reference, right?

This episode had humor. Working! always does have humor, but this time it had humor that would actually make you roar with laughter (as it did for me). If some didn’t notice before, this time we officially learn Jun’s feelings towards Yachiyo and Machiru gets wind of it by accident.

UN-GO episode 3:

So. Inga is a magical girl?

Part one of a possible two-episode case, we get the privilege of seeing Rie help the main characters (once again) uncover the large mystery behind the death, or rather- true identity of the victim. Not much to say for a satisfying episode.

Kimi to Boku episode 4:

Friendship really is a wonderful thing.

At first, I was questioning myself why of all anime I choose Kimi to Boku as an anime to watch, but now I can understand why. Kimi to Boku is this season’s heartwarming anime (as did Usagi Drop last season). Slowly but surely, the characters are becoming more appealing to my eyes.

HunterxHunter episode 4:

And my Kilua is here!

Exemplary of a shonen anime, we get a part two of the last episode where the participants of the Hunter exam follow the Examiner. Nothing much happens until Leorio has a flashback about his past, which was probably the only interesting thing about this episode.

Gintama episode 231:

It’s over 9000! -bricked-

The first part of the episode was hilarious if you like to see Gin and Hijikata out of character. At least they were both reacting normally in their type of situation. But the second half was too much (too dirty DX). I had to skip it.

Beelzebub episode 40:

Well, she was gonna cry sooner or later.

Why? Why did they have to go out and buy potatoes?! If I ignore my emotional feelings towards this episode, this week’s Beelzebub left me speechless. A bit annoyed for the déja-vu sequence, but speechless nonetheless. So Beelzebub does have a lot of potential. At least more than Guilty Crown.

Mirai Nikki episode 3:

You’ll have to admit that scene was creepy.

Yukiteru makes the ultimate error in his case: he gets too curious about Yuno. Being the first one to change his future not once, but twice, this time the tables turn and unfortunately for Yukiteru, not in his favor. So far, Mirai Nikki is one of my fall favorites.

Persona 4 episode 4:

…

We’re still in the introduction arc where the main characters overcome their dark selves in order to gain a persona. For the moment, the introduction episodes are really great to watch since we find out a lot on the different backgrounds of the characters. Now to find out who’s behind the murders…

Guilty Crown episode 3:

How original.

Inori forces herself into Shu’s life: trouble ensues for him.
Inori’s nonchalant personality is reminding me more of Evangelion’s Rei and I hope the creators aren’t doing this on purpose. I’ve never been a fan of characters like her and Inori is giving me the same effet.

Her Many Expressions 1

Dark green eyes looked on helplessly as two forms walked away. Gathering up courage, the owner of said eyes proceeded to yell at the forms:

“You guys come back, right? You won’t die, huh?”

The larger form turned sightly, red eyes meeting hers and waved properly, bringing a smile to the green-eyed girl. The smaller form only gave a small wave from behind, without looking back.

They didn’t come back.

……………………………………………………………………………………

‘Do you love him?’

Everything else was silent in the living room, except for the creaking of the wooden floor followed by the clicking of heels.

Joyful baby-blue eyes wandered over to the photo album placed on a small table. From where the owner of said eyes was standing, she could see two pictures glued on each side of the album.

With small steps, in an attempt to respect the silence the best she could, Winry walked over towards it and eyed the pictures.
Looking at the first one, she recognized herself and her grandmother, Pinako.
On the second picture was a child with boyish-cut hair and dark green eyes. Beside them was one other child with short messy auburn hair and matching eyes.

‘Of course I do’. A smile.

A frown formed on Winry’s pale lips as she tucked her one of her long sunny-blonde bangs behind her ear. How old were these pictures?

Below each of the pictures, written in messy handwriting, were details that answered mostly Winry’s questions. Pictures that Winry didn’t remember the time, even if she’s seen those images so many times.

We really did look happy,didn’t we Winry?

She had almost forgotten his voice.

His amber eyes.

His golden-blond hair.

His smile.

Edward. Where in the world are you? I miss you so much. Everyone does.

The boy, who was so close, yet so far to her in many ways, was gone.

The sound of creaking wood from upstairs interrupted her thoughts.

Looking up at the ceiling, Winry closed the photo album before closing her eyes and reopening them. Slowly, she allowed herself a small, but graceful smile to appear on her lips. Her head turned towards the stairs, where a familiar figure descended slowly.

“Good Morning, Winry.”

The voice of the figure decending, belonging to a young woman, was terribly hoarse.
The woman cleared her throat a little before apologizing in a clearer and more normal tone.

“Sorry about that. How long have you been up?”

He loves you just as much as we do.

The young woman who had spoke had slight oriental features etched on her face. She had long dark hair in messy state which she ran a hand through and bright grass-green eyes that were now studying Winry’s face.

Winry’s smile widened. “Oh, Good Morning to you too, Melissa. I’ve been up a few minutes ago.”

“Really? But you’re all dressed-”

“I have a client coming in half an hour.” Winry had cut her off, walking over to where blueprints were spread around on the dining table and separating them.

Silence reigned again. Just like it was everyday. Even with her reappearance, the atmosphere in the house became colder than it usually was when she came over.

Pinako was in the kitchen; She would shout at them one minute or another, now that she surely knew that Melissa was awake.

“…Are you still mad? Listen, I’m sorry-”

Winry had cut her off again with a wave of her hand.”I keep telling you. DON’T worry about it. Why would I blame you?” Winry laughed off the last sentence while she walked over to Melissa and embraced her.

In reply, Melissa slowly wrapped her arms around Winry’s figure before smiling hesistantly.

And I may hate you just as much.

They didn’t expect that life would turn out like this.