Original.Tough.Adaptable.Keen.Unique

As you may have guessed, I haven't been on to post something in a while because I'll be on vacation. I'm going to Detroit for this convention or whatever that my parents want to go to. I'll be back on the first, but I'll try to check out the blogs, here and there. All of you find a way to have fun!!

Never posted those pictures did I? Whatever. Anyways, I got around to making a Photoshop CS2 Signature Tutorial. It was for the forum I'm part of [in K-F] under the alias S.H.A. Here's a look at it.
http://img123.imageshack.us/content.php?page=done&l=img123/2262/shasigtutnw8.png


This was my first tutorial, so I think I did a SPLENDID job on this.

Today we went shopping. Nothing much happened. I only got like 5 books, including Newtype, so that sucked. I'll post a picture tomorrow.

I got:

Hot Gimmick S
Tsubasa 13
Love Com 1
SHANA 1

Newtype USA Jul. 2007 [vol.6/issue no. 7]

you know, except for Nagato Yuki-chan.

I made this as a tribute to her [2007-06-26]

Yesterday was probably the weirdest day ever. My mother, who indiscreetly cleaned the whole house, because her pen pal from Texas was coming over was possibly the happiest I've ever seen her. I thought that maybe she should do more political stuff like the activities she's doing now if she's this happy. Anyways, while they were away talking to a lawyer or whatever, I got a phone call, telling me that I was accepted into the school that I chose for HS. Now, I'm not one to brag about such a thing especially considering how easy the examination was, but there's something special about my case.

I'm skipping 8th grade.

That's right, I'm going from 7th grade to 9th grade. Skipping. Wow, I can't even believe it's happening to me. A lot of people told me that I was going to miss out on a lot because 8th grade is your best year. But I think it's a waste of time. Honestly. There's no point in wasting a whole year if you ain't gonna learn anything. That's all I have to say about the matter. My personal belief is that I will have less time for things, but that doesn't mean I won't have one hell of a school experience. I think that me skipping will just intensify it even more.


Why don't we say my report card looked something like this....

My-Hime [舞-HiME] and
My-Otome [舞-乙HiME]
My-Hime is one of my favorite animes that I watched. It helped me get a sense of mecha-manga or anime. This story, taking place in the future, is a lot about robots and magical, technological and medicinal advances. The story is rather entertaining and you can relate to the characters. One of the coolest animes ever. Mai Otome is the "sequel", but it's set in an alternate universe with the ame characters. It's awesome! I got the DVDs and Artbox for My-HiME and am going to get the Newtype June issue late this week. For the new My-Otome dub.


My-HiME Overview [SEMI-SPOILER For EPISODE 1]
The Fuuka Academy is a unified school (having students from primary school and high school). In the Fuuka Academy, a rumor that a mysterious monster appeared has spread, and that the only match for the monsters were girls called “HiME.” They have the abilities of HiME (Highly-advanced Materializing Equipment).

Mai Tokiha is an average high school girl and devoted older sister who earns a scholarship to the prestigious Fuuka Academy. During the ride on the ferry to the academy, the crew spots and rescues a young girl who is afloat face down in the water, gripping a large black sword. They rescue her, and attempt to resucitate her, yet Mai happens to be the only one present licensed with CPR training and is forced to assist. She is successful but soon afterwards, Mai notices that the girl has an odd birthmark, one identical to her own.The recovering girl is sent to rest, and everyone disperses. Everything returns to normal on the ferry, until a young female who is searching for the girl found in the water comes aboard the ferry during the night. A battle ensues between the girl from the water and the searching female, destroying the ferry in its wake. Everyone evacuates safely without Mai, and the first sight of HiME alongside Mai's dormant powers manifest, as she goes down with the sinking vessel.

~My thoughts~
Though it may seem like the normal girl gets powers/too much fanservice type of anime. It's quite the contrary. As a girl, I was a bit skeptical about this because it [wikipedia] said that this series was Shounen. I don't normally like Shounen mangas or anime, but this one is excellent. There are a lot of characters in this series, so you're bound to find one that suits your liking or that you can relate to. I know I did. Mai is one of those characters that you can see is a well rounded lead heroine. She isn't wavering in her thought and is responsible. She's the "big sister" type. If you want a big sister, you want one like her. She's caring and smart [to an extent] and always thinks of others before herself. What makes this series great is that they have a character, who, at first, seems like everything is good for her and everything is fine, but then they find her flaws and make them and the decisions that come from those flaws and insecurities. This goes for Mai Tokiha and every other maiden that is in this battle.

My-Otome Overview
The MAiDs (Otome; maidens) aren't quite your usual run-of-the-mill maids. They support royalty and politicians, and act as advisors to them as well. It's a profession all the girls want to do when they grow up. Girls who want to become MAiDs are gathered from each country and attend the Otome training school, Garderobe, for two years and undergo intensive training, after which they become Otome. The chosen among them who have the abilities might dream of becoming "Meister Otome". My-Otome's story takes place on the planet Earl in the distant future. "Old technology" has survived in the form of nanomachines that allow female virgins to take the role of Meister Otomes - bodyguards and warriors that serve the royalty of various kingdoms. Arika Yumemiya has come to Windbloom Kingdom in search of her mother, whom Arika knows was an Otome. On her arrival she meets the top Coral Otome student, Nina Wáng, and Windbloom's heir to the throne, Mashiro Blan de Windbloom. The series follows Arika's progress as a student at Garderobe Academy and the machinations of those desiring the destructive power of the old technology for themselves. The chosen among them who have the abilities might dream of becoming "Meister MAiDs".

~My Thoughts~
My-Otome, was in fact, in my opinion, the better of the two series. Anything else I tell you would be a spoiler, so WATCH IT!!! But I will say that most of the characters in HiME are in Otome but are just in alternate roles with different names/circumstances. It's really something to watch. Especially if you like the sci-fi/mecha mixed with super-powered girls type of animes. [That's what I like by the way.] I've honestly never watched more original anime. Buy the DVDs, too. They're really good! The dub, that is. Definitely worth your buck.

[for those of you who have seen it] THIS IS IN MY OPINION!! [highlight to see]
The ending was dissatisfactory in My-HiME *coughTatecough* so Otome was dubbed the better one.

Definately worth looking into. If you like Love Hina or Mahou Sensei Negima then you might be interested in My-HiME, as well as Mai Otome. They may look like some typical shounen junk, but I think you'll find yourself a lot more interested in this than first appearances.

I'm sure all of you have heard of the new manga publishing company, Yen Press. But then again, probably not. I found out about it a few months ago when the news came out and was absolutely ecstatic about it. First of all, here's what was stated in Publisher's Weekly

Yen Press, the much-anticipated graphic novel imprint launched by Kurt Hassler and Rich Johnson, will debut its first list in the fall with four licensed properties from Japanese videogame and manga publisher Square Enix and a new original manga work, Nightschool, from Svetlana Chmakova, author of Tokyopop’s bestselling original manga DramaCon. The new imprint also has plans for a monthly manga anthology that will likely start publication in early 2008.
...
The four Square Enix titles are Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna, story by Ky Shirodaira and art by Eita Mizuno; Black God by Dall-Young Lim with art by Sung-Woo Park; Zombie-Loan by the creative duo Peach-Pit; and Alice on Deadlines by Shir Ihara. The titles will be published in October and November.

As you can see, in the BOLD and italicized letters, I have highlighted the main manga that I look forward to: Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna. If any of you have seen the anime, which is dubbed by FUNimation, you should know that Spiral is one of the few mystery animes that is actually, well, good.

Look forward to this.

Here's the 3rd part of my collection. My collection is sadly [tear] not growing. I have to go shopping this weekend, because it is the last weekend before the new JULY Newtype comes out. And I still haven't gotten June. It sucks to be late in getting your magazines. I hardly have half the collection in those than I do for tankoubons. Personally, I hope I get my allowance this month, so I can buy some stuff... Like Rumbling Hearts or something. After my "homework operation" was shut down in school, due to the ending of school, I have no means of getting money whatsoever, and as so, I'm broke. Except for the few dollars I have stashed away.

Anyways, sorry for rambling on, but here's the third part to my collection!
Manga/Anime Collection Part 3: T-Z + Anime DVDs
~Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle [Vol. 1-3, 7, 9-12]
~Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge [Vol. 1-7]
ANIME
~My-HiME [Vol.3, 5-7]
~Burst Angel [COMPLETE BOXSET]

There was a discussion going on in AnimeNation about the best Manga Publishing company. I said:

"Del Rey, because their presentation and style of the book is really good. Unlike TokyoPop and Go Comi!, the books are easy too keep and don't bend or tear as frequently. Viz also does a pretty good job in this aspect. But the best, hands down, is Del Rey. They also keep their manga edit-free, as said before, and keep it as original as possible. Del Rey did an awesome job with Mahou Sensei Negima! and Air Gear.

Second would probably be Go Comi! for me because of Crossroad, it doesn't seem like they censored it that much and they have a lot of the honorifics in place and they're original like that. One negative [as mentioned before] is the durability of the cover, which bends quite easily.

Weirdly enough, about 60% of the books I own are Viz titles, so I have mixed feelings about them. Their "Shoujo" line, not Shojo Beat, is the best part, for me, because it has more mature titles, though some Shojo Beat titles could go there. And the editing isn't too swift there, unlike Shojo Beat and Shonen Jump titles.

Last, and least, would be TokyoPop. Two words; Love Hina.

Overall, it's Del Rey."

As promised, I've come to deliver the pictures. Enjoy!


The top shelf: My-HiME Vol. 7 Collector's Edition, Japanese books, Shonen Jump, Shoujo Beat, Newtype USA, Anime Insider, Protoculture Addicts

First half of middle shelf [right above is stereo]

Second Half of middle shelf

First half of bottom shelf

Second half of bottom shelf

1/2 of all books

2/2 of all books

I'm sure you've all been waiting for this, PART 2 of my COLLECTION!!!
On the 25th [of May], I went shopping with my friends and added 25 books to my collection. Oh it was a happy day indeed! Here's teh second part [out of 3] of my collection

~I’’s [Vol. 1-11]
~Instant Teen [Vol. 1-4]
~InuBaka [Vol. 1-2]
~Love Hina [Vol. 4, 6, 11-13]
~NANA [Vol. 1]
~Naruto [Vol. 12]
~Line
~Mahou Sensei Negima [Vol. 1-14]
~Ouran High School Host Club [Vol. 4-7]
~Pastel [Vol. 1-6]
~Princess Ai [Vol. 1-3]
~Punch! [Vol. 1-3]
~Read Or Die [Vol. 1-4]
~Read Or Dream [Vol. 1-4]
~Skip Beat [Vol. 1-6]


Look out for #3 coming out soon! Plus pictures of my video games/anime/manga.

As you may have guessed, I am a manga and anime collector. I just started this year, though. It was my New Years' resolution to make a manga collection that consisted of at least 50 books. 6 months later, I have a collection of about 150. yes. 150 manga books. Altogether totalling about $1,500 worth of manga merchandise. In light of recent events, I have decided to collect anime as well. This last week, I bought 2 series that I wanted for a long time. Time to begin, ne? Start your collectin today!
Here's the first part of my collection:

~ Absolute Boyfriend [Vol. 1-3]
~Air Gear [Vol. 1-4]
~Alice 19th [Vol. 1-5]
~Beautiful People
~Comic Party [Vol. 1-5]
~Crossroad [Vol. 1-4, 6]
~Doubt [Vol. 1-2]
~Fruits Basket [Vol. 10, 13, 15-16]
~Girl Got Game [Vol. 1-4]
~Gentlemen’s Alliance [Vol. 1-2]
~Hana-Kimi [Vol. 1-17]
~Hot Gimmick [Vol. 1-12]
~Immortal Rain [Vol. 1-4, 6]