Ikoku Meiro no Croisée: Episodes 10 - 12

Camille, Alice, Yune, Oscar and Claude - the main cast of Ikoku Meiro

Final 3 episodes that revolve mainly around Claude and a review - the aftertaste.

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée - Episodes 7-9

We get to see lots of Camille and Claude and of childhood moments.

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée - Episodes 4.5 - 6

I think that I won't ever try blogging a series episode by episode. Always something happens: it gets busy, PC has problems, I face personal problems... and I'm not really fast at screencaping, deciding what to write etc. You get the picture. But since I started Ikoku and it has some things to offer, I'll blog it to the end; changing the number of episodes reviewed per post- from 2 to 3.

For your own good: childhood traumas and bad parenthood in Mawaru Penguindrum

The tools used to create that 'pure' love

Only blood-related family members can be trusted. Family members never lie. Pure and beautiful love exists only among family. ~ Yuri's father

Anti-freudian Sanetoshi, go!

Don't you think families are a sort of fantasy, a curse of sorts? Think about it. Just how many children suffer because they are bound to their family? Parents who treat their children as objects in the name of love, abusing them. They only love themselves, yet kids must love their parents solely because they are family, and love their siblings. ~ Sanetoshi

In Mawaru Penguindrum's episode 'Savior of the World' Yuri's past is revealed and it's not a beautiful one. More than all the other characters' past, Yuri's is the most loaded with heavy symbolism and dipped in the blue of sadness, melancholy and despair. The dialogues are shoved into the viewers' face and provoke them to deconstruct the notion of family as shelter. Sanetoshi chats with Kanba and echoes Alice Miller's work and that of other modern psychotherapists. Ikuhara sure has read a lot of psychology.

The mysteries of the brain

The Phantoms of the Brain by richworks on deviantart

The title of the artwork refers to The Phantoms of the Brain . It appears to be a very stimulating read; I'm going to buy it when the chance is given.

For the time being I've got some enlightening videos posted here.

PRAY THE HATE AWAY!

 

Millions of Americans wear purple on Spirit Day as a sign of support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth and to speak out against bullying. Spirit Day was started in 2010 by teenager Brittany McMillan as a response to the young people who had taken their own lives. Observed annually on October 20, individuals, schools, organizations, corporations, media professionals and celebrities wear purple, which symbolizes spirit on the rainbow flag. Getting involved is easy -- participants are asked to simply "go purple" on October 20 as we work to create a world in which LGBT teens are celebrated and accepted for who they are. ~ glaad

American or not, let's wear purple today and show support.

An Update of Eastern Melodies

Music by Kyoko Taide on deviantart

A little note: Hello to all our readers!
We have not posted anything in a long time, because of a series of personal and professional issues that take most of our time. But now things seem to be coming back to normal, so we hope to update The Beautiful World more oftenly.

This time we won't go deep into any issue, but rather give emphasis on five beautiful songs from Japan and Korea, hoping that they will make your days and nights beautiful. All of the bands presented here compose great music, so we suggest you search more of their songs.

Fear of blood and silence - An essay on my relationship with Silent Hill

Introduction

I recall being a little boy, one who, at the time, could barely understand the English language. I remember how deeply in love I was with video games, the long agonizing hours I sat down playing my favorite stories.

One day of that age, I visited the neighborhood's video club and I noticed a new game, one that had many copies on the main shelf. The cover was blurry and I could hardly tell the main face apart from the rest of the image: there it was, a person looking pale and weak appeared, with a vague look in its eyes. I decided to give the product a try and so I rented a copy. That same night, with the lights turned off and total silence surrounding me, I started walking my path in the streets of Silent Hill.

Pleasure is good but safety is better

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Pool of memories: TRC things to remember and fawn over

crossing time and space is 'remembering love'

Neko has already covered me up and said what it needs to be said about the TRC manga. So this post has to do with things I liked in the series and lots of fan stuff! Like amvs, fanfictions, fanarts, sites and quotes.

The journey for the Lost Feathers: a TRC manga review

A princess, an archeologist, a mage and a ninja, and a white fluffy bun -and the journey begins...

CLAMP are a group of female mangaka that have published some of the most popular manga of the past two decades, with works such as xxxHolic, Card Captor Sakura and Tokyo Babylon. They are extremely loved by fans all over the world. That kind of hype though is what always kept me away from their stories. A few years ago I bought and read The One I Love but I never went any further. That was all until about a week ago, when a friend tagged me in a Facebook picture to a CLAMP character (namely Syaoran) from their manga series Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. That was the initial reason I decided to sit down and read the story. In the beginning I told myself today that I would read four chapters, just to have a speedy start and be able to finish the whole thing in a month or two. Three days after I started, I had gone through all the chapters of the 28 volumes and I was officially owned.

Kokia: Bird of Paradise

This flower was used for the cover of her first album 'Songbird'. And how fitting this is indeed. Far more suitable than the hibiskus flower of her nickname.

Kokia is the nickname of Akiko Yoshida. Can you see her inventiveness? A-KI-KO -> KO-KI-A. It's spelled backwards, signifying also her birth flower, a species of hibiskus flower. She may be quite humble and not particular cute for the standards of the japanese song industry, but her voice is stunning and full of surprises. For almost 2 decades she has given us a rich repertoire. She's 35 now and often performs in Europe, basing her activities in Paris. As she was sent a couple of times in America during summer for music classes, she is one of the very few artists speaking so clearly and fluently English. She came to be known through her songs for anime and games.

Usagi Drop/Bunny Drop (Episodes 1-4)

This season, me and Mrs. Kitsune are watching a lot of good anime, we've already said as much in the First Impressions post.  Usagi Drop is here to give something totally different, a journey through the life of a young man named Daikichi, who finds himself the only person capable of raising Rin, a little girl who was left on her own after her father, Daikichi's grandfather, died. This is surely an idea that we rarely see animated, and the manga has earned some amazing reviews. So, after 80 minutes of anime entertainment, has Usagi Drop provided us with a result good enough to match our expectations?

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée- episodes 3-4

19th century: Europe goes Japanophile!

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée- episodes 1-2

...but a different language and the lack of communication in a common code can become a source of misunderstandings...

F: So here we are late as always... I kinda forced myself to go for this. I'm a bit lazy lately and without doing much, time passes away so quickly. It's not that I don't want to do it.It's that I always get carried away with screencaping and I struggle to keep posts short and unique. I convinced myself to go on, because having a series blogged you notice so much more and you remember more things from the series. I decided I won't do seperate episodes but bunches of them per 2. After some contemplation, I thought that just summarizing the series won't do. This is done by all blogs out there. What I'll do is after giving a short summary, I'll pinpoint the differences between the french and the japanese culture as shown from the episodes and I'll post images of situations not mentioned in the manga or only mentioned in it.

First Impressions Summer Season 2011

That's what we are watching this season: Mawaru Penguin Drum, Natsume Yuujinchou San, Usagi Drop and Ikoku Meiro no Croisee.

F: Mainly of the slice of life genre, except perhaps the first mindfuck multigenre one...As I've already written, I will try blogging the latter two. Though I am late again... I am so lame =.=

N: This season we have decided to watch many different kinds of anime. We have literally no time for anything more, because there are so many good stuff to actually watch this season.
Let's go see some general things about the series.

Hourou Musuko- 9. Cool girlfriend ~ Green eye

In the mirror: Takatsuki's girls' uniform she left behind.

I am not sure if the 'cool girlfriend' applies to Anna, because we don't get much of her this episode, but the green eye applies easily to many of the characters of Hourou Musuko for this episode. We have Takatsuki that crossdresses finally at school and the teacher sees this action mostly as jealousy towards Sarashina; then we have Doi who visits Yuki and seems kinda jealous of a guy that can look that beautiful (there are other feelings there, too) and so urges Nitorin who wants to crossdress, as well. Oh, I almost forgot Maho who is surely jealous about how her brother not only looks like her,but people find him so cute, that he gets attention.

Now that I'm thinking about it... if girlfriend is meant as a female friend, than this title applies firstly to Chiba, who is a good counselor to both Takatsuki and Nitorin in subtle ways, and then to the quirky Sarashina, who takes a bit of her time off job to talk with Nitorin about crossdressing.

The hot spot of this episode: the different reactions towards Takatsuki and Nitorin crossdressing due to their sex.  

Hourou Musuko - 8. Spring ~ Brand new me

After episode 6, a new arc begins that puts in focus the relationship of Nitorin with Anna and the one of Chiba with Takatsuki. The storyline evolves really smoothly, adding details each episode that complement what we already know. In episode 8 things start to move faster: it's a new school year, the group is separated in different classes, they share typical discussions about which class they are in, with whom, how is their teacher. With the new school year start Takatsuki's feelings for crossdressing re-emerge. Nitorin is going out with Anna (though their relationship can't really be defined as romantic, at least from Anna's part) and he really enjoys shopping with her. His desire to wear pretty clothes again are barely held back only by the fact he's in relationship.

Nitorin and Takatsuki remain distant. On the contrary, Takatsuki and Chiba have become pretty close again, at the point that Takatsuki grows her hair back, influenced by Chiba's request. Those four meet by chance and get better acquainted. With Chiba-san with them an almost quarrel errupted. In the end, things went quite well. The only ominent event is the reappearance of a former classmate of Nitorin from primary school, Doi. Doi had bullied him and now sits in front of him in the class. Soon, he seeks to get involved with Nitorin once more, with the motive of getting to know Yuki, the 'hot chick' he saw with Nitorin one day.

Hourou Musuko- 7. Rosy cheeks~ Growing pains

Growing pains refer of course to both Nitorin's acne problems but mostly to the troubles a love relationship can bring to the people involved and their friends.

Hourou Musuko- 6. Cultural Festival ~ Dream of a butterfly

I'm back! Exams ended back in June but there's much going on still now, searching for a job, studying for a public exam... and my laziness. I'm going to blog to episode 9 for the time being, since later in the summer and early fall the last dvd volumes of the series will be out with bonus stuff and episode 10 and 11 seperate and whole, unlike the way they got aired (due to noitama slot's restrictions).

As the title says, we finally get the festival day. The episode can somehow be split into 3 parts: pre-play (the preparations of last moment before going on-stage), play and after-play (comments from friends and family members to our little actors). And since the main actors are Chiba as Romeo and Makoto as Juliet, the episode centers around their feelings and reactions.

The future is here (so let me take a look back)

by Juanma Teixido

All things, good and bad, reach a point where you can finally take a breath and look at what you have done for those who care about you and for yourselves. For me, this moment is now, since a very important period of five years as a graphic design student have ended.

My work can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/33861093@N06/

Serendipities- part 2

 How much more will I have to lose, before my heart is forgiven?
How many more pain will I have to suffer, to meet you once again?
One more time, oh seasons, don't disappear
One more time, the time when we were messing around

Serendipity

Well, it's neither about the above restaurant nor about the movie with John Cusack. It's about what happens to everyone in significant periods of his/her life, what (s)he comes across and retells the situation or gives a kind of solution.

Celtic Magic

From Wikipedia:

Often, the term Celtic music is applied to the music of Ireland and Scotland because both lands have produced well-known distinctive styles which actually have genuine commonality and clear mutual influences; however, it is notable that Irish and Scottish traditional musicians themselves avoid the term "Celtic music," except when forced by the necessities of the market. The definition is further complicated by the fact that Irish independence has allowed Ireland to promote 'Celtic' music as a specifically Irish product. In reality, the terms 'Scots/Scottish' and 'Irish' are purely modern geographical references to a people who share a common Celtic ancestry and consequently, a common musical heritage.

[...]Critics of the idea of modern Celtic music claim that the idea is the creation of modern marketing designed to stimulate regional identity in the creation of a consumer niche.

 Marketing or not, it's such joyful and mystical music. It makes you wanna dance! I love it!

Light in the Darkness

from the first pages of Children of the Sea

 The ocean is like a starlit night sky...

Ready to impress? Ready to apply for a job?

Really Ugly Résumés

View more presentations from @JESSEDEE

And some good examples after the link...

Smile, though your heart is aching...

Let's play! It's more important than you think!

The smell of Koki that allured us- a Mushishi review

mystery, beautiful scenery and emotions: that's what Mushishi is as a series- by fatsia on pixiv

Beings that are considered otherwordly, lowly, grotesque beings, far different than mundane animals or plants, as time passed, these deformed beings came to be known collectively, with fear and respect, as 'Mushi' .

Mushishi is an amazing series we watched a few months ago and unexpectedly became one of our favorite shows of all time, in terms of script and art. Our reviews go as following...

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust- our viewing experience of Haibane Renmei

It surely took us quite long to post this review, although we had watched this the previous December, just before Christmas. The title of the post is a pun, of course: the phrase is used in a religious context and Haibane is in a great extend religious (strangely, without the appearance of any cult or worshipping acts); at the same time Haibane means 'ash-grey'. BUT if read literally, it expresses also the taste the anime left us with...

Jorge Bucay- An Interview translation (partly) and 'Count on me' quotes

Hallelujah by Misty on deviantart

I want you to listen to me without judging me
I want your opinion without advice
I want you to trust me without requirements
I want your help, not to decide for me
I want you to take care of me without invalidating me
I want you to look without projecting yourself onto me
I want you to embrace me without making me choke
I want you to give me vitality without pushing me
I want to be supported by you, not to become a burden to you
I want you to protect me without lies
I want you to be close without invading
I want you to be aware of my sides that are the most disturbing to you, to accept them and to not try to change them...
I want you to know.. that today you can depend on me... unconditionally

 
Jorge Bucay was on this blog earlier and I think that he'll continue to make appearances, because he is a very competent story-teller and a phychotherapist that can talk simple words and still be a professional or a scientist if you want. Some of his stories helped me immediately with problems 'on the agenda' or ones occuring suddenly. I think this tells something. And today this post about him is also a way of giving an answer to a person very dear to me :)

So, I'll begin with a translation of a small part of an interview I found in greek and I'll proceed with a summary and some very important stories from his book 'Count on me'.

John Adams

 


Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes,
our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions,
they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.

Hourou Musuko- 5. Long, long shadow

End of summer and they are gathered to finish the play script. Momo here is yelling at Saori.

Episode 5 revolves around the preparations of the upcoming festival and the interactions between the cast. Saori is sour as always, trying to cause troubles at first, then accepting the situation. Fumiya is introduced, Saori's friend, that causes quite a fuss by being reckless and indiscrete, and Chi is way too curious and nosy without understanding that she makes people uncomfortable. Maho can be cute and rude. And Anna has looks but... I wouldn't say she's the epitome of a good-hearted person... As for Nitorin and Takatsuki they go on being good friends and protecting each other. The same goes for Nitorin and Makoto.

Hourou Musuko- 4. I'll give you my name

First time in a 'special' shop for queers

Episode 5 is mostly about Nitorin's and Takatsuki's first visit to a shop where transgendered people can buy, about them 'exchanging' names and about Chiba's questions and nerves.

Hourou Musuko- 3. Romeo and Juliet

Violet (purple hues) seem to be Nitori's colour... after all it's a mix of blue (see boys) and red/pink (see girls). Do you also remember that in the 1rst episode violet was the flower assigned to him? Violet stands for 'I'll always be true', faithfullness and modesty... let's see if he's gonna be true to himself...

Pink might be a girlish colour but my thoughts on it revolved around how we get it from the red (strength, determination, passion) with lots of white... White is a colour reflecting all the others, so someone could say it's like a mirror. Takatsuki wavers in her determination to 'be' a boy and in the end she gaves in a bit... more inside

Back to the themes of episode one, though more elaborated. Here problems start occuring; problems with their body : deepening voice and growing breasts for Nitori and Takatsuki respectively. They have to confront the changes and accept them...

Hourou Musuko- 2. Cry Baby, Cry (Hate, Hate, Dispise)

No, this episode isn't about Sasa. Sasa works as link between Chiba and Takatsuki and as a plot element

This episodes centers around one stubborn, rude and arrogant girl...

Hourou Musuko-1. Roses are red, violets are blue

the trap promotion poster

the protagonists and their school friends

In a nutshell: The story depicts a young boy named Shūichi Nitori who wants to be a girl, and his friend Yoshino Takatsuki, a girl who wants to be a boy. From the mangaka who also gave us Aoi Hana.

Wandering Son was selected as a recommended work by the awards jury of the 10nth Japan Media Arts Festival in 2006.

Believe me, I don't know about the manga, but just by watching the first episode, this series is going to be one of the best anime ever!