Who should I vote for in SaiGAR?

Seriously, I have no idea. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Also, the Japanese Society of Tobacco Control is apparently protesting all the underage smoking seen in NANA. Seriously, didn't that series start, what, last spring? And you wait til now to complain? Although I guess it gets you more publicity if you complain when it's popular...

Finally, Nanoha news has come in the greatness that is this month's Megami. Well, technically next month's. Anybody know how that pink-haired loli's name should be written? I put it as Carol Rue Lucie, but it's a bit of a stretch. Also, the car naming trend continues. And how, may I ask, is Subaru supposed to fight with rollerblades? Then again, I did drop Air Gear in the middle of the first episode...

You can't say no when they ask you for advice on who to vote for, hm?

Yes! Precure 5 new commercial

So it seems that Nozomi and her crew don't need to hold hands anymore (even though they're still divided into pairs by costume). Doing the hand-circle thing will be more fun anyway! Now just to make myself a henshin item! I still want to become a magical girl. Someday! It's my dream.

Anyone confirm or deny about this Ouran drama I keep hearing about? I know there's a renai game in production or something like that... It'd be pretty cool if it was real, but I'm not exactly holding my breath.

Also, apparently Shogakukan Publishing plans to put out a whole lot more light novels this spring. Now who saw that coming?

Hey, it's Akimoto Komachi! Overused joke.

Thoughts on ayyo's closing

A special entry today.

Sorry I haven't been posting for a while. I just had to say something about this, even though I didn't feel like blogging. As you've all probably heard by now, Makenai desuwayo! has shut down. Now I'm not blogging about this because I read it a lot, even though I did- it's been a good source of information. Nor because of the irony in the name, either. I'm writing because I'm incensed at why ayyo has decided to shut down his blog.

Long rant? Lots of pictures.

The site's been shut down now, replaced with falling snowflakes and random farewell comments. But if you read the last posts before that happened, you would have heard his reasoning. He didn't stop blogging for the same reasons that most of us do, like we just don't feel like it (he said that he had at least seven more articles in waiting and was forcing himself not to write them) or aren't read anyway (his comments were always full). Rather, he had come upon a rather disturbing awakening: "I hate blogs."

And then he told us why. Because he didn't believe anymore that everyone should put up their own feelings and try to have their voice heard. He ranted about TIME magazine naming its person of the year "You" and said that when the internet was invented, people should have stopped and wondered if other people cared about what they had to say. He also believed that certain people have leadership qualities, most do not, and everyone should accept this.

But the minor characters are always the most interesting.

Now before you sound off about my pouncing on a popular writer to improve my post count, I'm not an idiot. I don't want to make all of you hate me and I especially don't want to spread lies around. I am saying what he said, and I would quote it, but of course, the entries in question have been deleted. And yes, I am angry. Angry at this treatment of the individual, like we're back in the Middle Ages and the only person that matters in him or herself is the ruler of the country. But you have to remember, I'm angry because I liked what this guy wrote and it's a sad thing that he's come to think this way.

We are in an age of the individual, a second Renaissance. I know that sounds like a piece of propaganda from the 80's or something, but the Cold War ended less than twenty years ago with the individualists over the commune. It hurts to see somebody whose opinion was so respected and sought out turn his back on this and say that only a few people should have a voice because nobody cares about the others.

I wonder...

But people do care. Maybe not about my blog, but about lots of others. I care about yours, whether you get one comment per entry or twenty on the slow days. Whether I even read you or not. Because it means you can say what you want, and you do, because you know you're a person like anyone else and you have feelings that shouldn't be ignored.

Good luck, everyone, and don't give up. I know I won't.

When spring does come, I hope we can all be there to see it.

Score for the pink sparkles!

Seems Fushigiboshi no Futago Hime is actually being fansubbed again. It's been picked up by Honobono, which is known for actually finishing Tokyo Mew Mew, so I'm excited to watch this past however much Matthew subbed it. Lione is so cute. So, my dear fellow magical girl fans, be excited! Now to wait two more weeks for Yes! Precure 5...

It's the kyua-kyua dance!

News dump!

Okay, so the asosbrigade new design looks decent. And pink. For Valentine's, I guess. Is anyone else amused by the fact that there are now Ryouko and Tsuruya myspaces run by fans? It looks fun!

My Japanese class is great. And not just because we discuss the merits of romance manga in the lab, although that's an interesting point. Today, the teacher was going on with the overhead giving us the kana drills, then he said "I'm going to continue with the phrase I gave you yesterday..." and pulled up the overhead. Revealing not Japanese vocab, nor a blank chalkboard, but "Faeries are real" written across the board. Everybody, including the teacher, just stared and laughed.

ALSO. Anime Nano Podcast came back from hiatus. I am one of those Borders aisle kids, and I watch the dubs! Love it, though.

Am I the only one in the world that's looking forward to Yes! Precure 5? Tell me now, please.

And speaking of Haruhi... What is this?

Sakuya~!

My pizza. T_T

So I missed some important news bits, like Geneon licensing Rozen Maiden with a sucky viral marketing campaign that was just there to promote their own podcast. Sorry about that. Well, now you know, if you didn't already hear about that.

I don't see what people's complaints are about Saint October's lack of substance. I think it's a riot, and cute besides. Come on, flying karaoke, bad English on the news, very obvious episode titles and the heroines being named Ko*Na*Mi to plug the sponsor... were you really expecting Nanoha?

I love my Japanese class. Today we were practicing formal goodbyes, and we played rock-paper-scissors for who got to be the senior. I really need to study my penmanship, though, because I'm clearly the worst one in the class. I can pronounce stuff, though!

Moving on to the most important news bit of the day. MY PIZZA. I took a slice of nice, pineapple pizza to school today. It was actually made that way for once by the takeout people, so I wouldn't have to take off the ham. And it was all soft and I put it in the microwave for just enough time and it was warm and it looked so good and JUST AS I WAS TAKING IT OUT IT DROPPED AND LANDED FACE DOWN ON THE UGLY DIRTY SNOWY CARPET now I'm hungryyyy. *Sulks in a corner*

Wow. Clean shoujo fanart. Does such a thing exist?

Maybe it's the whole feminine mystique thing...

...but I'm confused.

As most of you probably know, I'm a girl. And like any self-respecting girl, I find guys to be mind-bogglingly messed up. Since most of the people reading this are probably guys, unless it's really only my friends that read this, I thought I'd ask you some questions. Because really, you're strange.

*Why do you have problems with girls' series, playing as a girl in games for ability or plot reasons rather than because the PC is cute, and reverse harem series if they're not Ouran? We watch/play/read those things that are targeted at guys, no problem. Generally.

*What is your fixation on drawing shoujo heroines from cute, unoffensive series in less clothing than episode seven's Lavinia "Nice Oppai" Reberth?

*Yaoi fangirls annoy me too, but why do you condemn them and then loudly proclaim yourself as a yuri fanboy? Seems like hypocrisy to me.

*Why do you buy figures of characters you don't even know? I can see why I would, because there aren't many male figures that look decent. But there are PVC girls wherever you go, so you would think...

*The whole manly pride thing is just strange. But whatever. Speaking of which, I go moe over Marcel-sama as well as Inaba Souta from Mugen Densetsu Takamagahara Dream Saga, so ha.

*When we have shown you too much shoujo anime, just say so; do not decide that we are hinting that you go ouji-sama on us. Although only my boyfriend has done this.

*Seriously, why do you not hold grudges unless someone dies? It's like you don't care about anything.

Feel free to leave your own retorts in the comments. After all, I said this, I should be able to take it.

I feel your pain, Suigintou

I don't often review things, but...

Well, I was at the comic shop and randomly decided to pick up the January 2007 Newtype USA, if only because I'd have something to review and that sort of thing is a nice break from the stuff I usually do. Besides a two-page spread on Kanon (which focused entirely on the girls' chosen foods, might I add... I didn't know taiyaki was a kind of crepe, but there you go), the magazine included a promo DVD that included episodes from Coyote Ragtime Show, Best Student Council and Utawarerumono.

Well, since I seem to be the only one around here that actually cares about the English voice actors companies use (seriously, they're not that bad), I figured I should review the ADV brigade's performance. Utawarerumono had the best lineup for the characters. For some reason, they showed episode 4, instead of episode 1, like the other series. I guess it was so they could show off more characters, because the acting's pretty good. And in case you didn't know what happened before (as they should know, this being a promotional disc put out by the most anti-fansub company we've got, a lot of people wouldn't), they had a little recap at the start kinda like the recaps at the beginning of Gargoyles episodes, only with a static screen and text, not clips and narration. Fun. Best Student Council, AKA Gokujou Seitokai, was meh. I guess my judgment's tainted, though, because I never really liked that series to begin with and only saw the first episode anyway.

Coyote, though, was a big mix. Most of the voice actors were really good. They did a new take on May that fits her character pretty well (plus we don't have to hear her "uhuhu" anymore) Chelsea was even less annoying than her Japanese voice. There were three voices, though, that irked me. Bishop was excusable, because his normal voice was fine, but disguised as the bomb squad guy, he sounded like a rat trying to write on the chalkboard with its teeth. Jessica Boone is normally a decent actress, but she needs to concentrate her work on her lower register; as Oct, Nove and Diesse (they changed her name to Dec... I guess that makes more sense), she was just annoying. But those pale in comparison to the travesty of Mister. He's supposed to be this great master coyote, but played by John Swasey, he just sounds like a dirty old man. I appreciate that the actor was trying to emulate Ootsuka Akio's gravelly voice for the character, but... no, just no. On the plus side, I so called Christine Auten as Angelica, and she was great. So most of the cast is on the good side, but Mister and the ugly box cover are just wrong.

(It reminds me of this Mickey Mouse poster that I got for my fifth birthday, except ugly and red. Keep that in the 90's, people!)

You know I just did this article for an excuse to post this.

Watch me post this from school.

So I saw the Deltora Quest preview. Everyone says it's better than the usual shounen fare, which I find a fun distraction anyway, but the preview still put me off. Besides the announcer going on and on about the children's book sales and reminding me every three seconds that as an 18-year-old female I have no business watching this, I still hate the character designs. Tell me Lief doesn't look like an idiot. The hair...

I definitely voted for the cabbage. Because it's funny.

Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight! seems to be the hit of the season, and I certainly hope it turns out good. From what I've seen it looks adorable. People look divided on Saint October but I'm still going to try it out. Besides, how can something the previews describe as "Gothloli Girl Show" be anything but amusing?

Definitely going to get caught on the school computer

Manabi Straight looks cute, and other notes.

Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight looks absolutely adorable, and with Deep Great Meaning too. Everyone loves that! In other news, I have a strong suspicion that Cure Mint of Yes! Precure 5 has been cloned from the (enhanced or not) DNA of Midorikawa Retasu. Whether she can breathe underwater and/or control nearby water sources with her anger is another thing entirely.

School's coming up, great. At least I don't have to trek all the way over to the building I thought my Indigenous Studies class was in; however, now it's in the kinesiology and health building. I stick out in there as the only one with no tan. Meh, at least my Japanese class is right by the Tim Hortons.

I have finally convinced Makoto that it is an English computer, not a Japanese computer. I am never going to mess with the language options again. (Watch me keep that promise. Not happening.)

You know I only made this entry for an excuse to post this.