A rose-colored life and thorns of youth: a Hyouka review

Houtarou Oreki, a high school freshman who believed in conserving his energy, finds himself in the classic club, a club on the verge of dissolution. There he meets Eru Chitanda, a heroine with a hearty curiosity, and his old friends from middle school, Mayaka Ibara and Satoshi Fukube. Together at Kamiyama High School the four of them investigate various incidents in this youthful academy mystery. ~ from ANN

Hyouka is surely one of the most memorable series that came out this year. Many people with different tastes embraced it and I think this speaks for how good it was. One may claim that popularity doesn't equal quality, but here Kyoto Animation amazed us at many levels. I can't say it's a flawless series or that everyone will like it. Yet if get excited with mundane questions and 'mysteries' and if you've got a little bit of patience to see the characters develop slowly, then you'll cherish Hyouka for sure.

It isn't very easy for me to talk about a series which was heavily discussed and for which you can find a review almost in every other anime blog. Nevertheless, I hope my fondness of the series will make up for this fact, and in case you haven't watched the series, I wish my enthousiasm will convince you to try it.

GLorious Love- Part 3 (special edition)

"The love that cannot speak its name" has long come out in streets in many countries around the world and talks in loud and prideful voice for itself. But queers aren't only the L and the G or even the B in LGBT. What about the T? Or the I that is still missing in many occasions or gets represented by the Q. This post suggests manga that are about transgenderism and intersexuality. We shouldn't forget these friends of us who go outside of binaries.

This post is dedicated to @PodaDixa and @anya_fennec.

The latter accepted my invitation and offers kindly her opinion on the featured manga as well as some tips to the young members of the transgender family. Anya is the blogger over at Forty-Four Fennecs, a MtF herself, and is currently writing a novel, Sweets and Steel, which deals with sexuality and transgendered issues. Feel free to contact her, if you need to ask anything!

GLorious Love - Part 2

This month the Pride Festivals around the world come to an end for this year. Before that, though, let's see some GL manga that take their protagonists' sexuality seriously. 

BLazed Passion - Part 2

Two dads can be equally awesome as other families - but doubly sexy ;) Yaoi sure understand that women have a thing for caring men and took advantage of the fact. And like always, there are very few of the bunch that stand out and show plausible situations and relationships. Let's take a look at the delicious titles I've gathered here.

Their destiny was foreordained - an X/1999 review

The seven angels and the seven seals.

  At the millennial edge, the concluding battle for humanity's future is staged. Kamui Shirou's destiny has been decided as he returns to Tokyo to face his ultimate challenge. The Dragon of Heaven, defenders of the Earth, stand ready to protect the world from the Dragon of Earth, the seven angels of legend, who embrace the devastation of the planet to bring about its purification. Now Kamui must decide which side to fight for although he finds the idea utterly unappealing. It isn't until realizing that his two childhood friends, Fuma and Kotori Monou, are in grievous peril that Kamui decides to step into his fated position in the climactic struggle of the Year of Destiny: 1999.

Do you love Tokyo? - a Tokyo Babylon review

From right to left: Subaru, Hokuto, Seishiro

   The year is 1990. The city is Tokyo, a busy megalopolis where people are caught in dreams, anonymity, loneliness, sadness and crushed hopes underneath the fevered rush for success and wealth. Sometimes the high-pitched emotions and acute despair manifest themselves into ghosts and curses.
   Enter Sumeragi Subaru, 13th head of the Sumeragi clan and a 16-year-old onmyouji. He uses his spiritual power and genuine compassion to help people, exorcise trapped spirits and undo maledictions. In this modern world, where nothing is truly black and white, this is hardly easy, especially because of Subaru's tendency to care too much for people. His twin sister Hokuto is there to help him, to cheer him up, and to make him wear eccentrically fashionable clothing. Sakurazuka Seishirou is a (male) 25-year-old gentle veterinarian friend of the twins, who professes to love Subaru.
   Hokuto thinks that making them a couple would be a marvelous idea, even though - or maybe because - she believes that Seishirou is the mysterious Sakurazukamori, an assassin onmyouji said to protect Japan from the shadows.

A mysterious very young thief- a Man of Many Faces review

Akira, Utako and Akira's mothers

   By day nine year old Akira Ijuyin is a normal student at Clamp School, but at night he becomes the mysterious thief 20 Masks. His thefts are usually subject to the whims of his two stepmothers, which Akira pulls off without any true objections or interactions. One night Akira ducks into the room of five year old Utako Ōkawa in an attempt to hide from the police.   
   Although the pair shares a four year age difference, they find themselves quickly falling for each other even as Akira finds himself being increasingly more involved with thefts, some of which include Utako's family. This as well as several other obstacles give the young couple's budding relationship a fair amount of difficulty.

"Six stars will fall to this plane. The dark stars that will defy the heavens..."- a RG Veda review

From left to right: Ashura, Yasha-ou, Souma-ou, Ryou-ou, Kendappa-ou, Karura-ou

    A 10-volume manga series by CLAMP, notable for being their debut work, and named after the ancient Hindu hymn collection the Rigveda. The series borrows elements of Hindu and Buddhist mythology for its setting and characters.    
300 years ago, the general Taishakuten rebelled against the Heavenly Emperor, killing both him and the guardian god Ashura-ou and installing himself as the king. The Ashura clan was thought to be destroyed until the god Yasha-ou found the remaining child sealed in a forest and began to gather the Six Stars, a group of individuals said to be the prophecied bringers of a celestial revolution.

Majo: Long ago there were witches...

Prepare yourself to enter an unseen world where living means experiencing with your whole being, body and mind. Prepare yourself to take a dip into the world of Witches...

BLazed Passion - Part 1

wallpaper by infinity-explorer on animepaper

Boys' time!

GLorious Love - Part 1

Daydreaming by Strawberry-Chocolate

Spring has arrived, love flourishes like flowers and my yuri/yaoi manga recommendation project begins along with it :) The posts will contain each time 3 manga with different levels of mature content (from 0-3), so that almost everyone can find something of his/her interest to try out. Rape themes aren't my cup of tea, but if there is one handled seriously, it'll be stated with a warning, along with other major info (author, number of volumes etc.). These post will be as spoiler-free as possible and SFW (if some panels are NSFW they'll be set in a link instead of displayed here openly).

Ladies go first, so here we go...

Spicy Wolf meats Merchant: a story of two travelling companions and economic adventures

by Satoshi Nishioka

Spices: precious cooking material that enhances their flavor into the food we eat. Only a few centuries ago they were a very good reason to go to war or to travel to the end of the world, as Christopher Columbus would tell you.

Wolf: One of the most mysterious creatures in mythology of all peoples. Independent, yet societal, lonely but caring, a killer yet not a beast. When a werewolf –half man, half animal-, it is depicted mostly as an aggressive, blood-thirsty murderer or a split personality to fight off his savage part.

In economics, when two powerful elements combine and create successive booms, it is only a matter of time before we find ourselves in a huge bust. In the case of Spice & Wolf however, we seem to have discovered a system of excessive growth, stability and productivity without any hard depressions- only a few recessions. Are you ready to read about one of these bloggers’ favorite anime?

Tender passion(s) amidst the winter

It is cold but two people are warm. (ch. 7)

It is hot outside, the shadows are thick. A pretty lady enters the art supply shop in order to post some art recommendations on a special place in the shop. A handsome young man, who works there, offers to help her. That's how they met. And some days later they run across each other again in a field under the sky that was so blue and high that is was suffocating; he paints and she watches. Their paths continue to cross until a night when the rain wouldn't stop... and then...

That's how Natsu no Zenjitsu by Yoshida Motoi starts unfolding and that's where our new header comes from.

A basket full with (not so interesting) fruits

After the death of her mother, young Tohru Honda has been secretly living on her own in a tent. Her life changes forever when she stumbles upon the secret of the Sohma family, whose land she has been living on. The secret of the Sohma family is a Hereditary Curse that changes some members of the family into animals of the Eastern Zodiac when they are hugged by someone of the opposite sex that is not also a Zodiac member.
Now living with three members, every day is an adventure for sweet Tohru, as she gets to know all of the very different members of the Sohma family better, in both common and bizarre situations. But, the Sohma family curse is certainly no laughing matter... it also holds horrible cruelty and heartbreak. Despite this, the members of the Sohma family find a new peace thanks to the presence of Tohru.

Hailed as one of the best shojo series out there, during its five years in-print (2004-2009) it was the best-selling shojo manga series in America, and often the second best-selling manga series in the US period, beat only by a certain ninja. -from TV Tropes

Yes, I’m in mood for ranting. Popular stuff usually scares me away from them due to how overrated they get and the hype created around them. I must write one of these days what anime/manga I find good stuff but I can say for now they rarely concern something less than simple entertainment. Mainstream might try to be deep, like this one, but the result is lukewarm.

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.

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 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...