These are going to sound totally random cause I stopped dating everything...alas....

I watched some RahXephon. I'll probably blabber about it in my livejournal. But anyway, I really like it. The animation is very good, and the acting is good too. Although Quon freaks me out. O_o

Oh, I almost forgot....I watched the end of Cowboy Bebop again (gah...I must be a masochist...). I'm just going to damn Lin and Shin and get it over with.

And, bending to pressure, I am now on LiveJournal, as is Mitsukai.... we even have a community, Anime and Manga for the Sane Fan Anyone else tired of freaky obsessed fanpersons? And I'm sorry, but just because they're pretty boys doesn't make them gay...

Grrr...... Someone is going to die. Our foster dog chewed my CDs of Angel Sanctuary manga. -_-' I am moderately annoyed with her at the moment....she already chewed on my FMA too.

Speaking of Fullmetal Alchemist, I started reading the manga on that too. It's hilarious! It moves more smoothly than the anime, in my opinion, since it seems to be trying less hard. I like it a lot. Exspecially when someone calls Edward "shrimp" (chibi, I'm guessing) and he goes apeshit. "Who's a super small speck?" and "Who's the flea-sized ultra-shrimp?" Nobody ever said that! But Ed heard it...cause he's a dork. He also has a tendency to take off his shirt and show his metal arm to people. Weirdest exhibitionism I've ever seen....

Although the chapter with Tucker and Nina was heart-wrenching. Especially Ed standing in the rain and saying "We're just insignificant humans...and we couldn't save one little girl!" Scar is also much cooler in the manga. He's an out-for-vengeance-Ishvarite-religious-crusader killing alchemists. I like him a lot. And Mustang's subordinates get to be much cooler, especially Hawkeye and Havok. Mustang himself is a cute badass, much less mysterious and threatening than he seems in the anime. Oh, and Hughes is so hilarious. And then there's Armstrong...he's weird. But I like him. And Winry is less of a wussy too.

Speaking of manga, I also started reading Sensei! by Kawaharu Kazune and Yamada Taro Monogatari by Morinaga Ai. Sensei! is very shoujo, as the heroine Shimada Hibiki is in love with the history teacher, Itou Kosaku-sensei. It's good to read, though. I don't know why, but Hibiki's friend Kawai Kosuke reminds me of Gojyo from Saiyuki (which I started re-reading, God help me....)

Yamada Taro is....hilarious. I seem to have used that world a lot to describe things today, but it really is. Taro is handsome and charming and everything a girl could want, but he's dirt poor and supporting his mother and six siblings. His best friend, Mimura Takuya (hottie!) is extremely rich, as if everyone else at the school. I tried finding seiyuu for the drama cd's of this manga, and I know it has Midorikawa Hikaru, Kakazu Yumi, Orikasa Fumiko, Tachiki Fumihiko, and Inoue Kikuko in it, but I don't know who's who. Although I think Midorikawa-san is one of Taro's rivals for popularity, Suguisa, who's a complete ass. You can check out sound samples here. It certainly sounds like him. I don't know who does Taro-kun or Takuya-kun, though.

Anyway, that's enough for today. Ja!

Okay, this is the third time in the past couple days I've tried to update this... O_o

Anyway. A friend of mine (muchas gracias, Floyd!) gave me a copy of Peacemaker Kurogane and Fullmetal Alchemist (Hagane no Renkin Jutsushi). Although I can't get eps 20-22 of PMK to work, I did end up watching 23 and 24. Granted, it was without sound and in slow-motion, but still. Suzu kind of...um...lost it. It was weird. But plausible.

Anyway, on to Fullmetal Alchemist. The premise of the world is this: conservation. That is, the law of matter conservation (yay for physics!) is the ultimate law in Nature. People can alter forms via Alchemy but they really can't create something from nothing. Alchemists use an array-a drawing resembling a magic circle-as a power focus to alter material. However, our ertswhile hero, Edward Elric (Paku Romi), is able to perform Alchemy without an array.

Ed is fifteen years old and the son of a famous Alchemist. I forget what his dad's name is. Something weird. Anyway, when Ed was about ten years old (and his brother Alphonse (Kugimiya Rie) is a year younger than him), their mother died. Devastated, the boys tried the forbidden-to bring her back from the dead using Alchemy. As punishment, Ed's left leg was torn off, and Al was sucked into the Other World. To save his little brother, Ed sacrificed his right arm to graft Al's soul to a suit of armor. Although you don't see it until later in the show, Al waking up to see his brother bleeding to death missing half his limbs and saying that his arm was only the best he could do...it's heart wrenching.

I love Ed, even though he's short, bad-tempered, single-minded, and somewhat crude. He's adorable! I've only seen twelve episodes because our foster dog chewed the CD. -_-' FMA has some other great seiyuu in it, and some very cool characters. There's the military Flame Alchemist and the show's true bishonen, Roy Mustang (Ohkawa Tohru), his aide Liza Hawkeye (Neya Michiko), the guy who looks like a cross between Tsume and The Rock named Scar (Okiayu Ryoutaro), Ed's childhood-crush-girl-next-door-mechanic friend Winly Rockbell (Toyoguchi Megumi), and various others doing cameos.

Overall I like FMA (the first opening theme, "Melissa," is good too) and I can't wait to see more...

More craziness in Twisted Subconscious. Now it's not just me!!

Phew. Mistukai and Anzu came to visit me for spring break! Very much fun, anime all around, and, unfortunately, also a nasty gastro-intestinal virus that's been headed around the state...now I know what Tatsunosuke feels like all the time. Ugh.

Saw up to episode 20 of PeaceMaker Kurogane, and I have a few major impressions: Evil Okita! Badass Saitoh! Dead Ayu-nee! Torn up Yamazaki! Guilt-ridden Hijikata! Adorable Yamanami! Yep, that sums it up pretty nicely. Now, I'll get down to some of the details, so you don't spend all the time going "wtf is she talking about." Which I know you do anyway... -_-'

Firstly, the evil sorcerer whose name I don't know discovered a boy who looks just like Okita, only has none of Okita's niceness. I mean, Okita's a conniving little prankster (omg...stealing Hijikata's haiku? I laughed so hard) but he's basically a nice guy, even if he is the child of the oni. This guy whose name I can't for the life of me remember but it begins with a K, and I'm just going to call him Evil Okita anyway, is just not a nice guy. He attempts to get Okita discredited by attacking a Kyoto patrol, but of course the Shinsengumi doesn't fall for it. Hijikata's pissed and says that this is a direct attack on them, and they'll find the culprit and turn him over to the proper authorities.

Okita, Hijikata, and naturally Saitoh (c'mon... you know he's the smartest and the most capable of them all. He always shows up to do the weird things and save them when no one else can...) go to a certain place to meet the Evil Okita and his commander, the freaky clown man named Maro. Maro's socerer has set several fude traps on the place they go to, keeping them in a "eight gated" endless place. Luckily, the chick who has a thing for Okita who used to spy for the Choushuu (Hotaru) comes along and innocently peels off the fuda, breaking the charm so that Saitoh, Okita, and Hijikata confront the badguys. Here is where Saitoh kicked SO much ass, even Mitsukai wanted him. Me, I always wanted him. I love Saitoh, even if he does look like Crush from Finding Nemo. He's got a damn sexy voice (He was also the father in Prince of Tennis, FYI).

Anyway, Maro is shooting fire arrows at them from a stage, and Evil Okita is laughing at them. Then Maro fires an arrow at Saitoh. Saitoh fucken catches the arrow, flips it around, and throws it back at Evil Okita. Maro protects Evil Okita, and the arrow imbeds itself in his back. Now, let me point something out. Firstly, to catch an arrow is nigh impossible. Secondly, to throw it back with enough force and direction to imbed in the vicinity of someone's ribs IS impossible. But Saitoh is just THAT kickass and badass and apaprently strong. Damn, I love him. He's also wicked smart, because he's explaining all the traps and everything to Hijikata and Okita as they go along. So cool. I love him. ^.^

So they emerge and find Hotaru, and she says she couldn't do anything, but Saitoh informs her that she set them free by removing the fuda. And he tells her not to be a spy, it doesn't suit her. She's a good girl. Oh my god, it was so cute I melted into a little puddle on the floor and had to be mopped up with paper towels.

On to Ayu-nee and Yamazaki. Well, being a cool character and a bit of a sticking point for her little bother, Ayu obviously had to go. To protect Yamazaki she took on a job trying to infiltrate Masuya's as a hairdresser, slept with a Choushu guy, was discovered and....yeah. There is nothing nice about raping and brutally beating a woman to death. Although Sano and Shinpachi took some men out to try to save her, they were too late. Yamazaki was the one who found her body lying in the rain in a pool of blood--one arm broken so badly that the bone showed, one of her eyes ruptured, battered all over. This was brutal to watch. He took off his shirt and covered her face...as he was being taunted by the Choushuu female ninja. That's how Tetsu, Sano, and Shinpachi found them.

I'm not sure I can even describe Yamazaki's reaction to his sister's death. It was very difficult to watch. My heart was tearing apart. Tetsu had promised to help him--so he sat there while Yamazaki said "I never called her sister." And when Yamazaki grabbed Tetsu's hand, and was crying...oh lord. I about died.

Then there was Ayu's actual funeral, with the whole Shinsengumi together greiving for her. And when Hijikata showed up - holy fuck. He was eaten by guilt for sending her to her death, and he looked damn good that way too. He left pretty quickly, and Okita followed him, saying "It wasn't your fault." But honestly, it was. Yamazaki went to Masuya's dressed as Ayu-nee to fuck with his head, and the Shinsengumi came in and caught the revoloutionists. And can I just say, even though I know it's very wrong, that when Hijikata was beating a tied-up strung upside-down Masuya for information he was so damn sexy because he was eaten alive by guilt and super angry? He wasn't even half naked! O_o

Now, Yamanami had it a lot easier. He took Tetsu back to Shimabara (well, and of course so he could go visit Akesato-san). And I must say that as PMK goes on, Yamanami looks more like his actualy age of 28 or so. In the opening credits he almost looks like he's 35-40, but he's really only in his late twenties (he died at 29). He's so cute! Anyway, he takes Akesato for a walk in the rain to leave Saya and Tetsu alone, and Akesato is saying how alone she is--she has a flashback to her fellow female ninjas working for the Isshinshishi, who left her. Because the bakufu killed her family, she could not leave Yoshida's plan alone, so now she feels that she is alone. Of course, Yamanami says that he feels alone too - even among his friends in the Shinsengumi. Aha! A point of similarity! And they kiss in the rain. It's adorable. I love Yamanami, he's uber cool.

I saw Dragon Half, and went "Wtf?" It came out in 1993, but I"m guessing is based on an 80's manga, because the style is reminiscent of Dragonball. The heroine is a half-human half-dragon named Mink (Mistuishi Kotono) who is trying to get to see her idol, Dick Saucer (Matsuomoto Yasunori). The king, however, wants to kill Mink's father Ruth (Aono Takeshi...he was Dakuan in Ninja Scroll) and steal his dragon wife Mana (Inoue Kikuko). Dragon Half is one of those weird two-part OVAs that you see, go "Wtf?" and then spend days trying to get the ending theme out of your head. Witness:

Pappara funi funi pappara hoe hoe pappara funi funi, tamago! Ran ranranran ran ranranran yan yanyanyan yan yanyanyan! Ah, tomato wa dame! Watashi no mono!

I don't know why she's talking about tomatoes and eggs or any of it. And there's the random Beethoven interludes....

I also saw the first two episodes of Koko wa Greenwood. Firstly, I love Tezuka Shinobu-sempai. =) Obviously, his seiyuu is Seki Toshihiko so I have to love him, but he's also got a twisted family, psychic powers, and he's a bit of a prick. My kind of guy. His roommate, Ikeda Mitsuru-sempai (Iwata Mitsuo) is kind of a jerk too, but a nice one. The story is actually about Hasukawa Kazuya, a young boy going to live in an all-boy's school because his brother, Kazuhiro, has just gotten married. The major problem is Hiro's wife Sumire is young Kazuya's first love. Greenwood is about Kazuya growing up and the weird people he has to deal with...including his roommate, Kisaragi Shun (Sakamoto Chika), who looks like a girl; his sempais; and Shinobu-sempai's weird oneesama, who's a total freaky bitch. I need to see more, but I like it so far.

I saw one episode of Witch Hunter Robin. My impressions are this: Robin's cool, Amon's hot, Haruto's adorable and the show's bitch, and the animation is great. Seriously, bad things just happen to Haruto and then he gets blamed for everything. Poor baby.

Ano...what else. I saw the first two episodes of Furi Kuri in Japanese. I love Naota-kun. I've already babbled about the show so it's on the Updates page.

I also saw two of the four final episodes of Wolf's Rain...and...well...damn! A lot goes on. And I saw a spoiler page for the final two episodes and it's going to kill me!!!!!!!!!!!! Mitsukai and Anzu have seen them and their reaction was "OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG." Literally. I know that pretty much everyone dies (what did you expect?). And I know Mitsukai says Hige's death is the most brutal, so I'll say this much...

The spoiler pick I saw was Hige smiling with his throat torn out. And Mitsukai tells me he's not quite dead at that point. What happens is, Darcia shot Quent, so Blue went after Darcia to avenge her Oyaji-san, Darcia killed Blue, and now Hige has nothing to live for, so Darcia obliginginly kills him. Oh. My. God. I loved Hige already, this is killing me.

Now it's time for me to die....sigh. Sayonara.

I just have to say I love Hiei. He's an uber cool badass. There, I'm done. Speaking of Hiei, tho.... you might want to check out Otome's Twisted Subconscious, where I basically wrote down all my anime-related dreams for your entertainment. Some of them are weird. Some of them are funny. All of them are anime.

And as far as funny goes, I've been writing for Bishonen Fiction. I like to think I'm funny. ^.^ Check it out.

Also...and I entirely blame Mitsukai for this one...I got hooked on Shimuzu Yuki's "Love Mode." It is not just shounen-ai, it has its full blown yaoi moments. But I love it anyway. My favorite character is Aoe Reiji, the dark-haired nicotine-addicted owner of the Blue Boy, or B&B Club, an exclusive members-only male escort service. Yes, Aoe-san is the biggest pimp of them all...he's totally awesome though, and funny, and uber protective of his loved ones. Unfortunately, his loved ones seem to be men...

Love Mode begins with Sakashita Izumi and Takamiya Katura. Takamiya persuades his good frien Aoe-san to set him up on a date with BB's no. 1 escort, Yanase Izumi. However, he mistakenly gets Izumi-chan instead....and ends up, well, raping him. Izumi-chan thought he was going to meet a girl for a date and instead got...Takamiya. Who somehow fell in love with him. And constantly harrassed him. In a nice way, though. And Izumi-chan "hates homos" and refuses to admit the possibility that he's gay because he's attracted to Takamiya. Eventually Aoe talks some sense into him. By which I mean, Aoe yells at him to stop teasing Takamiya, because if Izumi didn't like him, he wouldn't be hanging around, would he?

On to Aoe. He lost someone very dear to him (and seems to be the only main character of LM who's slept with a woman....at least that I've noticed...) and became rather cold and distant. Of course, there had to be someone to change that. That someone is Shirakawa Naoya, a boy whose family was killed in a car crash when he was thirteen. At fifteen he ended up being taken care of by Aoe, whose paternal feelings kind of faded after a while and became...well...love, I guess. Aoe also has an older brother, the medical examiner at the hospital all injured people in LM show up at. Aoe Kiichi is so funny, especially because he's always teasing his otooto and pretending to put the moves on Naoya. Kiichi is hilarious. He kind of looks like Cho Hakkai from Genso Maden Saiyuki...anyway, Kiichi is with his servant/bodyguard, Haruomi. In fact, Kiichi is probably one of the reasons that Aoe is able to accept that he kind of falls in love with a teenage boy 12 years younger than him...

I mentioned the BB's no. 1 on the uke side, Yanase Izumi. For those of you who don't know, the...um...topper in these yaoi relationships is called seme; and the one on the receiving end, for lack of a better term, is uke. Anyway, Izumi's story is told in vol. 3, where he meets up with Iketani Arashi. Izumi didn't exactly have the best of lives--he was taken as collateral on a debt his parents owed to some yakuza, and then when his parents didn't come good on the "loan," Izumi (at age 13) was gang raped and pretty much left for dead. He survived and was taken to the hospital, where Kiichi gets him into the BB (not sure why..........I mean, that would seem like a bad idea to me...). But Arashi loves him anyway, and Izumi quits working for the BB.

Love Mode can be rather graphic at times, but I got really drawn into it anyways. I'm not a yaoi fan (and I still don't understand why most yaoi fans are girls...O_o) but Love Mode luckily has more -- great characters, a decent plot...altho I have to kind of go "qwah" at the story of Seiichi and Tomoki, because Tomoki's 14. Ew. Other than that, you kind of get used to everyone being gay. It is amusing how everyone in a yaoi manga is gay....I don't think I've seen more than two women in all six volumes I've read. It's like a whole nother world...

Anyway, I've been stuck more in manga mode lately, especially after re-reading all of Angel Sanctuary...Yuki Kaori has done some amazing work. If you want to check out her other manga (Bloodhound, Count Cain, Kaine, Boys Next Door, Gravel Kingdom, Ludwig Kakumei, and Cruel Fairytales) go to Sakura-Crisis. I highly recommend you read their excellent scanlations.

Another mangaka whose art has inrigued me is Mamiya Oki. Warning: shounen-ai. I got pulled in when Mitsukai found some Ja-dou scans on Bane-Huntress, and I find Mamiya-sensei's style to be incredibly precise. She's extremely talented and has created some interesting characters. Just gotta watch out for the random boys on boys....but I love this picture because I'm a sick fuck. I think it's Akira, the drummer of the band Asgard from the manga "Arty Square," but I'm not sure. At any rate, gotta love a man with a knife in one hand and blood all over the other arm. I don't know if he's in a fight or if it's self-inflicted or what, but I want to read it and find out...

Oh yeah! I saw some kickass AMVs. The one I have to gush about first is a production of Zenmetsu Studios, Union Undergound's "Revolution Man" as the music for Angel Sanctuary. Let me just say, the damn AMV was better than the show (not the manga, tho, but that's cause I love Mika-chan). The fight scenes were done better in the AMV, the timing was impeccable, and the song has been stuck in my head since I saw it. Not that that's a bad thing, cause it's a great song, too. This is a definite keeper - if you downlaod it, watch it and keep it!

I also saw two Monty Python ones: "Asuka the Black Knight" for Evangelion, and "Camelot" to Record of Lodoss TV. The Black Knight was done really well, but I love the Camelot one more...for a couple obvious reasons. One being an SD Ashram saying "I have the push the pram a lot!" Another would be SD Orson dancing around and bonking into the wall. I laughed my ass off. Of course there was also Cowboy Bebop to Bittersweet Symphony....waaaah. The flashback of Spike back-to-back with Vicious KILLS me. In case you hadn't noticed, I have a thing for villainous men with swords....-.-' And I love Lin too. And Gren. =( I also really liked the Cowboy Bebop vs. Trigun AMV called "Tainted Donuts" to a song by Shakkazombie, which I think is "Shiroi Yami no Naka." It was amazingly done. They took some clips from Big Shot and subbed it with their own words (which works better when the listener doesn't understand any Japanese, I would guess) and the timing is well done. It's J-rap, so they have the characters acting like they're rapping. Very cool. ^_^ I also saw the "History of Anime" video, which has something like 95 different anime in it. I think I recognized about thirty. I do know that they show Recca at the end, right before Trunks. Eeto...what else...

Oh yeah! How could I forget? I saw an AMV for my favorite character from Yuu Yuu Hakusho - Hiei. Okay, I know he's a freaky looking little demon baby, but I love him to death anyway (geez, what's with my obsession with short, violent guys with bad attitudes? Who knows...). The video was done to Linkin Park's "Numb" and it's got some pretty good shots of the fight between Mukuro and Hiei. And of course, the final shot is of Mukuro reflected in Hiei's tear-gem, drawing back to Hiei with his head down on his arms, sitting against the wall. All in all very sad. But I love Hiei and I'm into the tortured past thing, so it works for me. Mitsukai is too freaked out by Hiei as a baby demon (okay, yeah, so he is a little strange... O_o) and she says she'd've thrown him off the Koorime lands too.... I still think he's adorable. ^.^

Enough for today. Back to the normal world. Otome out.

I have to say it. I don't like Miaka. I saw a little Fushigi Yuugi, and she really, really, REALLY annoys me....

All right! I watched some more Peace Maker Kurogane (I've seen all 15 episodes that are out now fansubbed) and I still love it. Poor Tetsu gets dragged to Shimabara (the brothel section of Kyoto) by Yamanami-fukucho and Todou. And there, of course, he meets Saya-chan! They are so adorable even if she does NOT look like she's 15. 10, yes. 15, NO. Anyway, budding romance there. And Apparently Suzu's got a thing for Yoshida-sensei. At least, the way he was describing Yoshida to Tetsu they sure made it sound like Suzu's got some homosexual tendencies. Altho I could have done without Tetsu picturing Hijikata naked...not sure why that happened...

Also, I am in love with Saitoh. He kicks ass, even if he looks like Crush from Finding Nemo. He spars with Tetsu at the behest of Sano and Shinpachi, and damn he has a nice voice! I don't know why they don't have him speaking more. But his seiyuu, Matsuyama Takashi, is also Hayama Akito-kun's father in Kodomo no Omocha. He has a gorgeous, deep, sexy voice. I hope he shows up more. Speaking of nice voices...Nakata Jouji has a hilarious episode (15) pursuing Tetsu, who has a book of haiku that Okita-kun stole from Hijikata's room. I recommend you watch. My cheeks hurt, I was laughing so hard.

Also, I have to gush about how kick ass Yamanami-fukucho is. Firstly, he's just a nice guy. He's a childhood friend of Hijikata, and has a somewhat more pacifistic view than his fellow vice commander. He's probably a little more mathematically inclined as well. ^.^ In the episode where Tetsu is dragged to Shimabara, Yamanami is visiting his geisha friend Akesato-san and a group of Yoshida's followers tried to bust in on the act and get with Akesato. Ha! Yamanami's not going to stand for that! He is kickin' the invaders' asses with his abacus. No really--he doesn't even draw his sword. He has his abacus against one guy's neck and is idly twirling the beads. He kicks ass. I really want him to lose the traditional hairstyle and dress and start taking fashion tips from Hijikata. =) I bet he'd be way hot with his hair down. Anyway, he's just super duper cool. I love Yamanami. And part of that's because I know what happened to the real Yamanami!!!!!! He fell for a Choushu spy and tried to escape the SHinsengumi and was forced to commit seppuku in front of Hijikata and other Shinsengumi members. He dies at age 29. ;_; Of course, Hijikata was killed a few years later in a battle, I think Sano also was killed, and Okita (as everyone knows) died of TB in 1868. Shinpachi and Saitoh both lived until 1915. I don't remember what happened to Kondo-kanchou. But anyway...

I also saw 42 episodes of Juuni Kokki, also called 12 Kingdoms. It's an amazingly well done show. Unfortunately, it was supposed to be 68 episodes, but the producers cut it off at 45 because they felt it was straying too far from Nakajima Yoko (Hisakawa Aya), the declared "heroine" of the show. It's too bad, cause the animation is great and the seiyuu are superb. Anyway, the first arc of the series is about Yoko. She's unhappy because she always does things to make other people happy. She's friends with Asano-kun (Ueda Yuuji), who is, unbeknownst to her, dating a social outcast named Sugimoto Yuka (Ishizu Aya). One day in class a strange and extremely pale man with very long platinum hair suddenly shows up and pledges his loyalty to her. His name is Keiki (Koyasu Takehito), and he is a kirin from another world. Kirin are creatures of Tentai (Heaven) who have a unicorn-like beast form and a human form. The life of the kirin is tied to the well-being of its land, and the life and longevity of the emperor is tied to his or her kirin.

Keiki promises to protect Yoko just as a very large youma (demon) comes to try to kill her. He summons several shirei (these are youma that a kirin has essentially struck a bargain with: the youma serve the kirin until the kirin dies, then the youma devour the kirin's body) and defends Yoko. Keiki also gives Yoko the imperial sword of the land Kei (that's where his name comes from: as a kirin, males have a land-ki name, and females the land-rin name) and possesses her with a hinman spirit named Jyoku (or something like that) which allows her to fight, then sends her through a vortex into the world he came from.

Yoko is understandably confused. While Keiki was defending her on the roof, Sugimoto and Asano were also brought to the new world by Keiki's shirei. They are called kaikyaku, which is the term for people who come from a land called "Wa" (it's Japan) from beyond the Sea. However, Yoko is what the inhabitants of this world call a "taika." Basically, in this world children are grown on trees in ranka, or eggs. There are shoku--the vortexes--which erupt from time to time, and occasionally a ranka is swept into the other world. These ranka are born to human parents and raised as normal people. However, if they travel back to the world of their birth, their appearance changes and they are able to speak the language. There are several other taika we meet among the main characters--other characters are Ooki Suzu (Wakabayashi Naomi)...altho she's actually a kaikyaku, she speaks the language because she became a sage; the taika are the emperor of En (En-oh), Shoryuu (Aizawa Masaki); his kirin Rokuta, who's also called Enki, but Rokuta is the name he was given in Japan (Yamaguchi Kappei); and Tatsako Kaname, or Taiki (as a child, Kugimiya Rie; as a teenager, Okano Kousuke). Okano-san also voices the evil spirit in Yoko's sword, Aozaru (literally, "blue monkey"). The sword reflects water and produces illusions when its user is not in control. Aozaru has some really cool scenes where he messes with Yoko's head. I was listening to some of the Image Album and I heard one of these scenes (the one called "Kamen") and I was like, it's Recca!!!!!!! He totally does an evil-Recca laugh and the Recca-shout.

Anyway, Sugimoto is a bit of an escapist and believes that she, not Yoko, is the chosen one who has been brought to save Kei. The kirins are given the right by Heaven to choose the emperor, and the emperor is the only person they will obey or kneel before. Kirins pledge absolute loyalty to their rulers and serve them tirelessly. Kei's previous empress was a bit unstable and went crazy for love of Keiki. She executed women in the palace and exiled all women in Kei so that no one would "tempt" Keiki. If you ask me, that's overboard, since a kirin is loyal only to its ruler and would do anything for the ruler. Because of her freakitude, Keiki got a wasting disease known as shitsudo: the only cure was for her to resign as empress, basically killing herself to save his life.

Then her sister, Johei, assumed the throne, even tho it's not hereditary. Although Keiki picked Yoko, he was kidnapped and his voice and spirit were silenced by a seal on his kirin horn. Thus the people believes Keiki had chosen Johei as empress. Yoko goes through some soul-searching, and makes friends with a half-beast in large rat form named Rakushun (who's ADORABLE). Rakushun is one of the few people that Yoko meets who doesn't immediately betray her. Rakushun's kickass. Eventually Yoko becomes accustomed to the idea that she's supposed to be empress of Kei. Sugimoto, who was being used by Kou-oh to keep Yoko off the throne (he didn't want a taika there because he was afraid of his inadequacies; compared to the reign of Shoryuu in En which is like, 500 years, Kou-oh's was very short...50 years). Kourin, his kirin, falls sick with the shitsudo because of Kou-oh's actions, and when he tries to actually murder Yoko himself, Kourin takes the sword into her own body instead, preferring death to dishonor.

I have to say one of my favorite episodes in the first arc is 10-11, where the history of Rokuta-kun and Shoryuu is explained. Rokuta was born in Japan and lives in Kyoto during the Ounin Wars, and his family was forced out of the city when it was attacked. His parents couldn't take care of him--he heard them at night saying they had to get rid of him. So his father took him out into the woods and left him there, saying he'd be back.

I'll stay here...I won't move...I won't go back...I won't be a burden. They'll remember me and give me a funeral...

Omg. Rokuta's like, four years old and he says "ore," which is so sad and so cute at the same time. He's on the verge of death when his nyoukai (a demon who is born before the kirin and assigned to protect the kirin) appears to save him. He says "Even if you eat me, I won't make a good meal." Oh. My. God. I love Rokuta so much! Wai!! He's so cute! I just want to grab him and cuddle with him. He's a little jerk, but being a kirin he'd be too nice to say no. Kirins are also weakened by the sight and smell of blood, which is one reason he was such a burden to his parents during the time of war. He's taken to Mt. Hou by his nyoukai, and there he learns about the world and his powers and transforms into his unicorn form. He's also told that he has to select an emperor for En--without one, the land has fallen into natural disasters. But Rokuta doesn't want to pick an emperor, because leaders only cause wars like the one he lived through. He's sucked back into Japan through a shoku, and there he encounters Shoryuu. Shoryuu is the leader of a small clan descended from pirates who are being ousted by a powerful new group of pirates. His father's been killed, and essentially everyone except him ends up dying. Rokuta uses his shirei to save Shoryuu.

Rokuta: Do you want a kingdom?

Shoryuu: Yes. A ruler without a kingdom is just a fool.

Rokuta: I can give you one. It's poor, and the land is wasted. Do you want it?

Shoryuu: Yes.

Rokuta and Shoryuu are adorable together. They are such a perfect pair! That's probably why Shoryuu's rule, and their friendship, has lasted 500 years. Rokuta's an insolent li'l bastard. I love him to death. Mistukai's all moony about Shoryuu (not that I blame her...)

Anyway, I've probably babbled long enough about Juuni Kokki. There are a couple other arcs, but that would take me forever to talk about, so I'll just stop there.

Watched a teeny bit of Saiyuki. Had to rewatch Reload episode two, because Sanzo chants the sutra as Kougaiji sujmons Engokuki, and there's a great double shot of them, and they're both chanting, and....yeah. Damn. Also saw episode eight, where OMG Sanzo is SO adorable! He gets a bit of a heart there. You know, it's the cold-bastard-has-a-soft-spot-for-animals episode. I also saw a little bit of Avenger. Very cool. I like Layla. And it amuses me that in the first episode, the bald guy who gets his ass kicked by Garcia (the blonde dude, Konishi Katsuyuki) is Miyake Kenta...aka, Tsume from Wolf's Rain. ^^ Let's see, what else did I do?

Well, I watched the first six episodes of Saiyuki: Reload. And hot damn, Sanzo filled out! Yay! I like this animator, who makes Sanzo look less anorexic. And also has him without his kimono over his shoulders all the time. Know what I mean? That is, half the time Sanzo's showing off his new bodacious body with that skin-tight black sleeves shirt or whatever it is he's wearing. Looks very, very nice. Also, Kougaiji has this nice Weiß-inspired whit sleeveless coat that is conveniently open to display chest and six-pack. He and Sanzo look so good in Reload....

And I must confirm that Dokugakuji and Ririn change seiyuu. >_< Ririn's seiyuu is now Kawakami Tomoko, and it just... is too annoying for Ririn. Ririn's previous seiyuu, Morota Kaoru (who also did Hakuryuu) made Ririn sound young but not overly juvenile. Kawakami-san's performance isn't bad it just....doesn't fit. And Kosugi Juurouta as Dokugakuji is equally well-performed and ill-fitting. I wouldn't put Doku at more than about thirty years of age--in Gojyo's flashbacks, Doku looks like he's in his late teens (especially if he's still living with his mom...). So he's probably 6-8 years older than Gojyo. Anyway, the whole point is, even if Doku's in his thirties, Kosugi-san's voice sounds too adult for the character, who's still in a rather adolescent-seeking-of-self stage in his life. And I love Kosugi-san's voice, but...it's just...not quite right, if you know what I mean.

I also saw episodes 9 and 10 of Peacemaker Kurogane, where we get to meet the Engrish-speaking, dredlocked, cowboy-hat wearing samurai. He's....vaguely reminiscent of Dryden Fassa from Tenkuu no Escaflowne and a little bit of the Dryden-Yohji lovechild, Paul Wan from GetBackers. And lord, he mangles English worse than I've heard in a long time...but I was watching how the beginning of episodes 9 is about Suzu's brother being killed by the Shinsengumi, and then when cowboy-man watches Tetsu and Tatsu being all brotherly together...I was like, "Oh lord...he's not Suzu's brother, is he?" So I dunno if he is or not. But that's the kind of thing that happens in anime. I think the cowboy's name is Sakamoto Ryoma. If so, his seiyuu is Ebara Masashi. You might remember him as Cowboy Andy from Cowboy Bebop, Berkley Rose from Fake, or Ingham from Trigun, altho I don't know who that is and it's bothering me....

Anyway. So I think Sakamoto will turn out ot be Suzu's brother, but I'm not sure. That's just my two cents.

Also, the PMK themes keep getting stuck in my head. It's so annoying! They're really cool and all, but I want to know who Jimmy is. The random Japanese rap cracks me up. I really want to see more of Saitoh. So far he's one of my favorite characters. I love the pothead. ^_^ He's still wicked dangerous (sorry, been watching Finding Nemo. "I'm telling you, it was wicked dahk down there.").

I started read PMK manga, and it's really good. So far, the anime holds pretty closely to the manga, which I like. Although Yamazaki's much cuter in anime form, for some reason. In the manga he really looks more like a chick. And Yamanami is a lot cuter in the manga, too--a little less middle-aged man looking. He looks a little more like Hijikata...and I really want to see him with his hair down. I bet he'd be cute then. ^_^ Okita's such a girl. He's so kawaii. Ohhh, and Shinpachi is SO much cuter in manga form. He and Sano are like...inseparable, and Shinpachi looks a lot like Mikael-sama from Angel Sanctuary.

Hey everybody! (Hey, Dr. Nick!) Sorry, random Simpsons reference. Happy Holidays to you all, and I can't say how much I hate this season. It has to do with being currently employed in a retail establishment, aka Kohl's. Customers are the worst people in the world. They all need to go back to kindergarten and learn that when you pick something up, you fucken put it back in the same place you got it. You don't toss it over the nearest table in haphazard fashion, because then someone (generally the employees of the store, aka me) has to pick up after you. I'm not your fucken mother, and it's not my job to clean up YOUR mess.

Sorry. I feel a little better now, actually. Anyway, I was visiting Anzu and Mitsukai last week (it was so much fun! I miss you guys!) and I got to see a little more of Saiyuki (man, I love Homura. He kicks ass ^_^), finally saw some El Hazard (Jinnai's... weird) and the first eight episodes of Peace Maker Kurogane.

As far as El Hazard goes, I liked it a lot. Fujisawa-sensei cracked my shit up. Hard to believe he's Mitsukake from FY, but it takes all kinds, I suppose. And poor Makoto being dressed up as Fatora... he's so cute tho. Besides, all bishies are inherently effeminate, so they'd all make good girls. I mean, they put Sohma Yuki in a dress. No wonder he has a complex about his girly looks. But back to El Hazard...I got to meet Shayla-Shayla (yeah, she still sounds like Misao to me, but it's cool) and the wind-priestess whose name I can never remember. Altho I do want to know why our little fire priestess, being a redhead, must wear PINK. I hate that combination...anyway, the thing that sticks out most in my memory about El Hazard is Jinnai's laugh. I absolutely love Okiayu Ryoutaro in all the forms I've heard him in (even the weird ones, although Mitsukai says he's REALLY weird in Saiyuki: Requiem)...but damn, this was sure something else. That laugh is...is...damn. I love the first time you hear it when he starts to choke. It's vaguely reminiscent of Kurei from Recca no Honoo, except less dangerous. Effectively, if Kurei were an incompetent and insanely envious high schooler, he might sound like Jinnai... with a touch of someone else. Anzu said it, but I can't remember who it is now...crud.

Peace Maker Kurogane...I LOVE it!!!!! Waaai! And not just cause it has Ueda Yuuji as Ichimura Tatsunosuke, the Shinsengumi's accountant (yeah, hard to picture Sagara Sanosuke doing math). It's got a TON of great seiyuu! Tatsu's boss, Yamanami Keisuke, is voiced by Inoue Norihiro. Tatsu's little brother, Tetsunosuke, is the hero of our story, a very short and plucky fifteen year old who wants to avenge the murder of their parents and tries to join the infamous Shinsengumi (Wolves of Mibu) to learn kendo. He's so kawaii. I mean, seriously. He's adorable. His seiyuu, Kobayashi Yumiko, did the voice of Kobayashi Excel (the girl who cosplays as Excel and shows up at random times) in Excel Saga. PMK also has Nakata Jouji as the Shinsengumi's vice-commander, Hijikata-sama....I was literally falling out of the chair listening to him. He's in his full-out Folken voice, but with the added bonus that Hijikata's a cold, merciless man in a conveniently open kimono. ^_^ There's also the deceptively effeminate Okita Souji (Saiga Mitsuki, whom you might recognize as GetBacker's MAKUBEX and .hack//sign's Tsukasa), the Three Stooges: Nagakura Shinpachi (Yamaguchi Kappei), Harada Sanosuke (Nomura Kenji), and Toudou Heisuke (Toriumu Kousuke). It's weird to see a character named Harada Sanosuke. Especially when Ueda Yuuji's also in the show. Sano's got a scar on his stomach from a failed harakiri attempt (probably seppuku). Okita-kun has a vicious little pig named Saizou who likes to attack Tetsu-kun, which is totally hilarious. I love Saizou. Sano's about seven feet tall, and always hangs out with Shinpachi, who's barely taller than Tetsu, so they made an odd pair.

There's also the infamous Saitoh Hajime (who, if any of you are Rurouni Kenshin fans, I know you will either hate or love). PMK's Saitoh is....not at all like the one from Kenshin, let me say that much. Although still exceptional with a sword--he and Okita are pretty evenly matched--Saitoh walks around like a pothead and acts like he's stoned all the time. Even when he's in battle, he has this completely out of it expression on his face. It's so funny to watch. His voice is done by Matsuyama Takashi. This is the first show I've seen him in, but I like his voice. And Saitoh's so totally out there, it cracks me up. I love him. ^_^ Tetsu spends some time following Saitoh around, and Saitoh fights these men who are re-animated, and he just keeps fighting. The puppeteer is scared away, and Saitoh watches the corpses fall with the unchanging expression of rather detached and somewhat drugged out interest on his face. Besides Saitoh, there's also the Shinsengumi's expert cross-dressing spy, Yamazaki Susumu. Yamazaki's the little brother of the woman who keeps house for the Shinsengumi (Ayu-nee), and he is very dangerous and very skilled. He often dresses as a woman, so you know he's bishie. His seiyuu is Sakurai Takahiro, who provided the voice for Genbu no Shin in Saint Beast, Di in Vie Durant, and Kagami in GetBackers. It's a very nice voice and occasionally reminiscent of Midorikawa Hikaru.

I have to spend a little time talking about the villain, Yoshida Toshimaru. Firstly, OH MY GOD he has one of the sexiest voices in this series. His seiyuu is Suwabe Junichi, who did Monou Fuuma in the tv series of X. And he has a beautiful, deep, dangerous, gorgeous voice that makes me swoon. I am kind of anticipating and kind of dreading seeing Yoshida and Hijikata in the same scene. ^_^ It will be all kinds of falling-out-of-my-chair-melt inducing. He looks a whole lot like Hijikata, actually, with the long, black hair in the ponytail and the kimono, but Yoshida has hair that covers part of his face, where there's a scar over his right eye. He's followed by his pupil and disciple, I guess, Kitamura Suzu (Imai Yuka), who I guess is a kind of foil for Tetsu-kun. Suzu wants desperately to learn from and please his sensei, and he's quite good with a sword already, although the one encounter we get to see him use it in the first episodes I saw, Tatsu stopped him and Tetsu-kun from fighting in the store. Suzu seems to have some inadequacy problems and a definite case of hero-worship. I don't blame him. ^_^

I can't wait to see more Peace Maker Kurogane. Tetsu-kun is adorable, and the supporting cast is incredible. Okita, although he appears to be carefree and genki, was in the Shinsengumi at age 9, and is merciless when it comes to Shinsengumi business. He is the top swordsman in the group (and you probably know that he, Hijikata, and Saitoh are all real figures in Japanese history: the real Okita died tragically young of tuberculosis after the Bakumatsu). He seems to have the best understand of Tetsu-kun as well, and mediates sometimes between the boy and Hijikata. It seems he is one person Hijikata actually listens to... I've heard some people complain that the series doesn't seem to have much plot. Well...I think a lot of people look at a show that's about a turbulent time in history, about a group of men who did a whole lot of killing, and expect that it's going to be a fun let's-go-kill-everything-and-bathe-in-blood-while-trying-valiantly-to-defend-the-falling-regime kind of show. But really...it's not about the Shinsengumi as a historical group. Peacemaker Kurogane is about Tetsu and his relationships with the men in the Shinsengumi. It's really a character driven show, and all the stuff that seems incidental is what gives you insight into the characters.

Enough rambling. I hope to see more soon.

I have to ramble about this, because it's starting to worry me. I dream in anime. And not just once or twice, but ALL the freakin' time!! (It happened again last night, which is why this topic is fresh in my mind). In the past twelve months, I have had 22 dreams that involved anime somehow: the dream style, had the characters, or mentioned something anime related. And these are only the ones that I remember (I write my dreams down. Sometimes they make good stories...and sometimes they make very bad stories -_-''). So far my list of characters I've dreamed about (and, I must blush to admit, I usually dream about anime men being involved with me...it makes me feel kind of pathetic, ne?) is fairly limited, and my subconscious obviously has a couple favorites.

Weiß

Fujimiya Aya: once by himself, two times with other Weiß members (once with Ken, Yohji, and Omi; the second time was just with Yohji), and once with Shinomori Aoshi

Kudoh Yohji: three times (twice with other Weiß boys, once just him and me *sigh*)

Schuldig: once, just him (not for very long...I got woken up by the alarm)

Once I also dreamed that people were talking about Weiß being drawn by Goscinny and Uderzo (for those of you who don't recognize the names, they did Asterix the Gaul), but I was confused and kept saying how it all belonged to Koyasu Takehito.

Rurouni Kenshin

Hiko Seijuuro: once, just him (he was a lech. 'Nuff said)

Sagara Sanosuke: twice (first was just him, second one was with Saitoh and Aoshi)

Shinomori Aoshi: three times (once with Kenshin--the whole cast in theory but I saw only Kenshin...and in a musical, no less--once with Saitoh and Sano, and once with Aya from Weiß)

Yami no Matsuei

Tatsumi Seiichiro: once, just him (and he was called Morikawa Toshiyuki in my dream...)

Muraki Kazutaka: once, just him (only he was actually a nice guy instead of a creepy psychofuck murderer rapist)

Record of Lodoss

Orson: once, just him (and he was my father, too, which was weird...)

Yuu Yuu Hakusho

Jaganshi Hiei: once, just him (long and very complicated by remarkably coherent dream that seemed to have a plot...)

Nightwalker

This one didn't have the characters, but I was somewhere looking at someone's stereo and they had Gessekai (only it wasn't labeled as BUCK-TICK, it was "S7 Sae" instead...weird...)

See what I mean? The rest of that 22 that I wrote down (not going to bother counting all the ones I listed up there and subtracting. You can do it yourself) were all anime-style dreams. And that's all just in the pazt twelve months. Although really, considering I went through the trouble to make a large webpage dedicated to bishies and how much anime I watch, I guess it isn't THAT surprising that I dream in the same medium.

Still....maybe one of these days I'll make a page so you can read about what my subconscious likes to do to two-dimensional men. ^_^

I'm not exactly sure how, but I've gotten hooked on フリクリ, aka FLCL, aka Furi Kuri, aka Fooly Cooly. It runs on Adult Swim Mon-Thurs. at 1 AM (Not anymore, tho - they changed the line-up again, so now it's Inu-Yasha, Big O, Blue Gender, and Reign). The dub is actually really really good, and so far I've only said that about one series I've seen on television (Yuu Yuu Hakusho). The thing I really like about the dub is that they use Japanese honorifics. Like, our schoolboy hero Naota is called Naota-kun by his father. And his father calls the...uh, don't know if I can call her the heroine, but the female lead Haruko-san. Her name is Haruhara Haruko--or at least that's what she's called. What a mouthful. She's a fucken psycho, too. But she's funny, and very very very very weird. She has a Vespa that can fly, and she's actually an alien. She's searching for the pirate king Atomsk.

Furi Kuri is done by Gainax. It has great character designs, weird action, and really good music. Here I go again with the music! But really, if I can like it listening to it in English, I bet it's great in Japanese. I love Naota. He's young and surly and living in the shadow of his brother, Takun, who's absentee. Besides, he has fun things come out of his head. I think that the only other character I like as much as I like Naota is Kanchide, the robot who came out of Naota's head, was defeated by Haruko, and is now living in the Nandaba house and doing housework. Kanchide and Naota end up merging to be more powerful--it's really funny to watch Kanchide swallow Naota. ^_^

Basically, one day Haruko crashes into Naota's life and after that he has to deal with her, and the fact that strange things come out of his head (which is actually because his head is like a warp point that can pull objects fomr anywhere). Naota's already got a crush on his brother's girlfriend Samejima Mamimi (well, she's not his girlfriend anymore, since Takun went to America and has another girl), and there's a girl named Ninamori Eri who likes Naota. Ninamori's seiyuu is Itou Miki...There are also the Space Police Amarao (gah, wtf is up with his eyebrows? I have NO idea....) and his blonde assistant, Kitsurabame. They're there to stop the Medical Mechanica plant, which is in the shape of a giant iron...mostly because it's there to flatten out the planet and make it so everyone can't think. It's like eliminating the problem of humanity by taking away our ability to think. The whole thing with the flattening uus out is because of how wrinkled our brains out: increased surface space increases the complexity of the organ.

Haruko's search for Atomsk is presumably because they were partners, and she loves him. However, she's not there to save Earth from the Medical Mechanica, or even possibly to save Atomsk or Naota--Atomsk was absorbed by MM and he and Naota are part of the Terminal Core which provides the power for the MM plant. Honestly, all Haruko wants is Atomsk's power. It may sound like the search for Atomsk is the plot, and it is a big part of it, but it's also a story about Naota. One of those coming-of-age ones. He has to come to grips with Mamimi (she kinds of hangs on to him just because he's Takun's brother), with Ninamori liking him, and with his own feelings for Haruko. At the end, when he comes to terms with his love for Haruko, and he tells her, it is right before he releases Atomsk from his head in the shape of a phoenix. Atomsk stops the MM plant and flies away, to be followed by Haruko, who still wants his power. Haruko offers to take Naota with her, but then say, "After all....you're still a kid." Is this consideration or rejection? That's up to you to decide. Haruko's okay as a character for the rest of the show, but I think I liked her best when she left. Because she'd made an impact on Naota, and I think she left him on Earth because she knew of his feelings (well, he DID tell her and kiss her), and that it would only hurt him to come with her. Or maybe she just didn't want to have him hanging around when she finds Atomsk again. Who knows.

Overall, I find Furi Kuri bizarre, entertaining, and more complex than it seems on the surface. I really like Naota-kun, and Kanchide, and even to some extent Haruko. She's kind of merciless to Naota, but it does snap him out of the slump he was in about Mimami and his brother and his life. And I think as a salutory life lesson, it did him a lot of good. Also, Furi Kuri's soundtrack, by The Pillows (I think this is the correct group), is great. I think my favorite song is Runners High, but I haven't heard it outside of the show, so I'm not sure about the title. ^.^ Anyway, that's all the news here. Watch and enjoy!

A couple weeks ago I went to visit Anzu and Mitsukai, now that they live in the same town again (now I'm the one who lives far away *sob*). Anyway, I got to watch some more anime, including the final episode of Hyper Police (kind of disappointing), some Gensomaden Saiyuki (almost all of the first season), and GetBackers.

Hyper Police: well, I wanted Batanen to finally get to kiss Natsuki, because the poor guy's been trying to get the balls to tell her he likes her through the whole series. The end is just sort of... open. Maybe there was supposed to be (or is?) a second season, but I don't know about it. Still, overall I really liked Hyper Police. How can you not love a show which has Ohtsuka Akio, Seki Toshihiko (more on him in a sec when I start on Saiyuki), and Ishino Ryuzou (Chang Wufei from Gundam Wing)? I would highly recommend Hyper Police for anyone who wants to see a funny and completely off-the-wall series.

GetBackers: I saw about the first ten episodes. The basic story is about two guys, Mido Ban and Amano Ginji, who are recovery experts, voiced by the very talented Canna Nobutoshi (formerly Hayashi Nobutoshi) and Morikubo Shoutarou. They have a 100% success rate at getting stuff back when it's been stolen. Ban is the resident tough guy with the use of the Jagan (they call it the "evil eye"...think like Hiei from Yuu Yuu Hakusho, only less obvious). When people meet Ban's gaze, they have a one-minute dream, which usually involves Ban and Ginji being killed by whomever they're fighting. Ginji, on the other hand, is a giant spark plug. He's known as Raitei ("Thunder Emperor") because he can control the electrical impulses in his body, up tot several hundred thousand volts of electricity, which he uses to zap his enemies. Ginji is so kawaii...he's completely genki and child-like, but he was the leader of a gang called the Volts before he took up with Ban. He runs into his old gang members--notably Katsuki, who is adept with garotte wire and looks like a woman, and Shido, who can talk to animals and has a half-transformation into a beast form. Katsuki-kun is voiced by the popular Hoshi Souichiro , and Shido by Hoshino Takanori. GetBackers also has Matsumoto Yasunori as Paul Won, the owner of the Honky Tonk bar where Ban and Ginji sponge off of his generosity. What freaks me out is he looks like the lovechild of Dryden Fassa and Kudoh Yohji O_o. Other seiyuu include Madono Mitsuaki, Koyasu Takehito, Miki Shin'ichiro (okay, so EVERY series seems to include Miki Shin'ichiro somewhere...), and Tobita Nobuo (as the rather freakish Claude Akabane). There's a whole big back story between Ban and his love interest, Himiko...and a girl named Natsumi who works part-time for Paul, and has a crush on Ginji. That's okay, cause Ginji's a total cutie. ^_^

Ayashi no Ceres: Ooh! I almost forgot! I saw Watase Yuu's second brainchild. It's the story of Mikage Aya and her twin brother, Aki. They're both possessed by the spirits of their respective ancestors-- that is, Aya's possessed by the tennyo Ceres, and Aki by her husband, a man named, well, Mikage. Ceres wants to kill Aki, and make him reveal where Mikage put her harogomo - the "feathered robe" that holds the power of the tennyo. Although the Mikage family wants to kill Aya for harboring the spirit of Ceres, Aogiri Suzumi (who is also a tennyo's descendent, and has some kickass psychic powers) stops them by sending her brother-in-law, Yuuhi, to rescue Aya. Meanwhile, Aya's somewhat demented cousin Kagame (I think that's his name...they don't use it much) sets a mysterious amnesiac named Tooya to guard Aki, specifically from Aya, and capture her if he can. Tooya is a hot redhead with an incredibly body, a gorgeous voice, beautiful eyes, and no memory of anything except his name, and that he has to serve the Mikage family somehow. Of course, since Tooya looks rather a lot like Tamahome, it was pretty obvious that Aya was going to end up with him. Poor Yuuhi, though, he ended up falling in love with Aya too. He actually looks a whole lot like a grown-up version of Amiboshi and Suboshi...complete with head band. It's weird. He's an excellent cook and fights with the chopsticks of death! And I must say, when Mikage finally took over Aki's body, I didn't even recognize Miki Shin'ichiro. I mean, you know how he's always the somewhat lazy playboy like Yohji? Well in this...damn, he was dangerous and freaky and obsessive, and had this possessive deep voice, and he kept demanding to see Ceres, "ore no onna" (my woman). I do not know where he pulled that voice, but it was damn sexy. Anyway, I really liked Ayashi no Ceres, although I kind of went "what the f?" at the ending. Watch it, you'll see what I mean.

Gensomaden Saiyuki: I knew I'd like the show as soon as I heard about it, mainly because the main character of the anime based on the famous journey of a Chinese monk in the 7th century AD happens to be voiced by the wonderfully sexy-voiced and ridiculously funny Seki Toshishiko. I LOVE Seki Toshihiko-san's voice. It's gorgeously dangerous as Legato Bluesummers in Trigun, ridiculously genki as Watari Yutaka in Yami no Matsuei, confused as Sakunoshin in Hyper Police, flaming as Fred Luo in Outlaw Star, and then...well...there's Duo Maxwell. Seki-san has an incredibly versatile voice, but I think that as Genjo Sanzo he has the most fun. ^_^ Sanzo is incredibly grumpy, and a bad monk. He smokes, he drinks, he swears, and he has a very cool special six-shooter that vaporizes youkai. His job is basically to stop the resurrection of Gyuu-Ma-Oh (Demon King Gyuu). His power comes mostly from the sutra draped over his shoulders, but also from his gun, and his kenpo...and also from his three companions, whom he rather grudgingly allows to accompany him. Sanzo is not a gregarious man. He spends a lot of his time telling Gojyo and Goku to be quiet ("Urusee!"), or threatening to kill them, or hitting them with his fan. It's so cute. The three youkai who help him are Cho Hakkai (Ishida Akira), Sa Gojyo (Hirata Hiroaki), and Son Goku (Hoshi Souichiro). Goku has the mentality of a ten year old, a hollow leg, and an adorable case of hero worship for Sanzo, who rescued him from the prison he'd been in for five hundred years (eep! That's a long time). Gojyo is a bitter half-human, half-youkai got some issues with being neither one or the other, and reminds me of Yohji because he can't go anywhere without hitting on some woman. Hakkai is very polite, very intelligent, and used to be human. When a youkai tribe kidnapped the woman he loved (even though I think she was his sister...ew), he killed 1,000 youkai, and became a demon himself as well. Sanzo pretends to be bitter, but I think he really likes the guys. I think he looks at Goku kind of like a little brother, since Goku clearly worships the ground Sanzo walks on. There's a couple times Sanzo gets very badly wounded...the first time he's stabbed through the stomach (oh god, I was dying) and Goku is so freaked out that his youryoku inhibitor (basically, it holds his true power in check) falls off, and he goes apeshit on everyone. The second time, when Sanzo is poisoned, Goku takes off the inhibitor to fight when their...well...I can't call them badguys, so I'll settle for "antagonists"...show up. Using my education very well, thank you. Kougaiji is the son of Gyuu-Ma-Oh and a regular youkai. His mother has been frozen in stone by Gyokumen Kousho (the demon empress), who strives to ressurect her husband. Kougaiji's got a bit of a mother-complex. Anyway, Kougaiji (voiced by Kusao Takeshi) serves Gyokumen Kousho in order to have his mother revived as well. He has two loyal servants, Yaone and Dokugakuji, and a little half-sister named Ririn. Ririn is...well...a female version of Goku, to be honest. It's kind of scary and a little cute. Yaone is a chemist, and suffers very much from unrequited love for Kougaiji. Dokugakuji is a huge guy with a sword (and sometimes no shirt... ^_^) who serves Kougaiji with similar blind loyalty, possibly because Kougaiji reminds him of his little brother. I really like Dokugakuji. He has a fun sword and he first shows up with no shirt on. ^_^ And we all know that's the best way for a cute guy to make his debut. For further reasons why I like Dokugakuji, here are a couple spoilers.

That's the update here. Enjoy!

Well, I've got some more anime under my belt. getting a little crowded in there, probably. Anyway, recently I've seen a couple series--Mahou Tsukai Tai! (the tv series), Hellsing, and the first half of Hyper Police. Overall I am pleased with them. (I have also heard I need to watch Gensomaden Saiyuki, but I haven't yet...)

Hellsing: a must-see for any Nakata Jouji fan. He is "Alucard" the vampire, who works for the British government in the form of the Hellsing Agency, which eliminates "freak" chip vampires (aka, non-traditionally made ones...Alucard's a purist). Supporting cast includes Ishizuka Unshou as a Hellsing officer Ferguson; an appearance by Koyasu Takehito as Luke Valentine; Yamazaki Takumi as the creepy Incognito; Orikasa Fumiko as Alucard's protege, Ceres Victoria; and Sakakibara Yoshiko as the Hellsing Agency's boss, Integra Wingates Hellsing. A lot of blood, some random homosexuality, but overall a good one.

Mahou Tsukai Tai! (TV): if you love the OVA, you'll at least like the series. It's a little more serious in some ways (and thank GOD Miyama got rid of that stupid haircut she has), and a little more complex in the relationship department. By which I mean, they imply that Aburatsubo likes Nanaka, which is kind of awkward if he's gay. She never struck me as being all THAT manly...but he does get protective of her. It's cute. What can I say, I'm a sucker, and when it comes to Koyasu-san (that's two characters he plays called "Aya"...Aburatsubo's first name is Ayanojo, and he's called "Aya-sama" by his stalker fangirls)...and, oh lord, you get to meet Aburatsubo's mother. Damn. *cough* Anyway, the one thing I really didn't like about it was the loss of Minowa-san. You might remember him as the reporter who peeked up Akane-chan's robe. Well, not entirely his fault. I love Ohstuka Akio, though, and I missed his voice in the show.

Hyper Police: speaking of Ohtsuka Akio...he plays the male lead in this post-Apocalyptic-beast-overrun-Japan. Our heroine, Sasahara Natsuki, is a 17-year-old half-human, half Nekotomi (cat-beast). She has four ears, even, which is just kind of weird...but I guess a sign that she's half human. Her seiyuu, Miyamura Yuko, is hilarious. Anyway, Natsuki is a bounty hunter, initially partnered with Batanen-sempai (Ohtsuka Akio). Batanen-sempai is kind of...well, imagine Takeo if he ever manages to make it to his thirties. Only, Batanen is also a werewolf. He is head over heels in love with Natsuki. I mean, he can hardly handle having her hug him without turning red. Natsuki doesn't seem to notice, but she's in love with him as well. Poor Batanen! Natsuki has a habit of calling massive amounts of lightning (via her "symbionts" Fuujin [wind god] and Raijin [storm god]) when she's unhappy or frightened, and Batenen gets fried a couple times. At one point, he carried a drunk (on catnip milk) Natuski home, and she fried him in her drunken sleep. Then upon waking in the morning and discovering Batanen sleeping next to her, Natuski freaked and fried him again. Poor guy probably didn't even have a chance to grope her first. Anyway, I love Hyper Police so far. It's funny and charming despite the sometimes gratuitous ecchi.

I think I've turned into an otaku, as scary a thought as that is. Why? I'm hooked on the music. Not just stuff like Kanno Yohko's gorgeous work in Escaflowne (Shadow of Doubt has got to be one of the most sensual pieces for a string trio I've ever heard, especially throwing in the added bonus of knowing that it plays sometimes for Folken), or that wonderfully eclectic Rurouni Kenshin background music (you know, the ones where it sounds in various places like "Bittersweet Symphony" by the Verve, some song by Celine Dion ["All Coming Back to Me?" Something like that], and the one glockenspiel-inspired song that will forever remind me of They Might Be Giants' "Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love" - it sounds weird, but listen to it and you'll see what I mean), but all those wonderful image songs and character themes from various shows. Can I just say that "Warrior's Blue (Aoshi's theme)" from RK is such wonderfully gorgeous music? Or that .hack//sign's OP "Obsession" sounds like it belongs on a techno mix? Hell, I even like the remix of "Heart of Sword" (RK ED).

What's getting to me most, though, is Weiß. Yup, not only are they animated (no pun intended) their seiyuu have mad skills in the singing department. Koyasu Takehito, Seki Tomokazu, Miki Shin'ichiroh, and Yuuki Hiro can SING. I still think Koyasu-san (Aya's seiyuu) gets the prettiest of the songs, which seems to fit with Aya's gloomy personality, I suppose. If you get a chance, find these mp3s and listen to them! That will inspire you to buy the CDs. You probably know already how beautifully sad the first ending theme "Beautiful Alone" is. Listen to "Blue Mask" some time. Koyasu-san has a great voice, and the song is so...just...listen and you'll know what I mean. ^_^

*Cough* Anyway, I didn't mean to turn this into a swooning fest over music. Currently I'm impatiently waiting to see more of two shows - "Kodomo no Omocha" (Child's Toy) and "Wolf's Rain." Kodocha is like the bastard offspring of Excel Saga and Hana Yori Dango, as weird a combination as that sounds. Imagine Excel at age 11-12, and you have Kurata Sana, our genki heroine. Now give her the sullen Doumyoji type with Hanazawa Rui-like quiet and looks and you have Hayama Akito-kun, who, from the get go, is quite clearly destined to be with Sana. It's so cute, sometimes it's disgusting.

Wolf's Rain, now - Kanno Yoko strikes again! This show has the character designer from the infamous "Cowboy Bebop." The story is that wolves will be able to find paradise (rakuen - the say it like 10 bazillion times, almost as often as they say "ore-tachi"), but wolves have been extinct for 200 years. Secretly, though, wolves (ookami...like Saitoh) have learned to disguise themselves by tricking people into thinking they look like humans. They're following the scent of the Lunar Flower (or the Flower Maiden, whatever the heck she is), Cheza. Of course, thigns just aren't ever that easy. Cheza starts off in the lab of Dr. Cher Degre (whom, I might add, is very cool - she and her ex-husband Hubb Lebowski have a wondeful rapport as characters) and then is stolen by some weird guy named Darcia. He hopes to use her to revive his severely ill lover, Harmony. It's weird. I definitely need to see more, tho...

It has some wonderfully picked seiyuu (no one who leaped out at me as being famous - although I did recognize Suyama Akio's name from watching Fruits Basket and Jikuu Tenshou Nazca), and Tsume has a beautiful, deep, angry voice. Kiba might look stoned all the time, but he's so...well...brash and loveable. Hige is so funny and Toboe is such a puppy it's adorable. Toboe actually really reminds me of my dog...except unfortnuately, I don't think my dog's as smart as Toboe. >_< And the opening theme, "Stray," gets into my head like you wouldn't believe. Check out Lioncrusher's Domain for more information on the show.

Anyway, I wasn't intending to rant and rave about these things that I like, but I guess I did. Oh well. I'm still hoping some time to get up a Yami no Matsuei page, although since I had to switch computers when I came home, I'll have to find all the images AGAIN because they're all upstairs on the computer that isn't connected to the net. Fun, ne?

3.26.03 Update! I found some great Weiß Kreuz shots at Befleckte: Stained , which is, I admit, a yaoi site (!). Not my thing, but whatever floats your boat, I suppose...But it has good pictures. So there are some more group shots, a few of Nagi, a few of Crawfie, and a few more of Schu. ^_^

2.17.03 Update! So I did some revamping of the Kenshin section...check it out! I added a page for Saitoh Hajime. Yes, I know, it should have been done a long time ago....sorry... ^_^'

1.17.03 Update! I did some way updating on the Recca pages, including putting up images of Tsukeshiro and Joker, and more of Raiha and Mikagami. they are GREAT screencaps and I want to thank Battou-chan for her wonderful Flame of Recca Museum where I got the images.

I updated the Seiyuu page...more recent updates have been filed on the Updates page...information on us is still on the Santouseiji page.

I don't know how much time I'll have to work on this over break...probably none. And, to be honest, next semetser is my last semester of college. Well, as an undergrad, hopefully. So I might be pretty pressed for time, so I'm afraid the harem might slide by the wayside for a while. But it will still be up for everyone to ogle. ^_^

12.9.02 Update! Okay. So I let Anzu put up the new pictures of us from Hallowe'en. You might be asking what the hell that has to do with bishounen, but check it out and maybe you'll see. We had fun. ^_^ And I apologize if the page sounds weird when you read it....like I said, it's not me...it's Anzu...

12.08.02 Update! A sounds page has gone up on the extension site. It includes a small collection of .wav files of the seiyuu (Japanese only - I'm afraid I cringe at dubs) form various shows. Also, an Opinions and Reviws page is up. Right now it has my review of Jikuu Tenshou Nazca. Hopefully more will be going up soon. Feel free to contribute any reviews or opinions on anime to us.