Bored and waiting for my 4 pm class. So I'm blog hopping.
Joy - Yes there will be a Haruka Naru ... naka de page up (eventually) after I work on phase 1 of the Kagerou Nostalgia page. (which is actually coming along quite nicely.) Either way I'll probably bug those with LaLa issues (I need to resubscribe ~_~) for some input on characters and stuff (hint: you too ^^). Emi and I are going to attempt to put up pages together (she does layout & design I do most of the content). I find myself hitting design blocks when I want to put up a page. Content isn't a problem, design is a problem. ~_~ The Kagerou Nostalgia would have gone up months earlier if I didn't hit a design block. ~_~
I still have to update the KKJ page and the Pretear page. I'm here at school in the computer lab trying to stay warm. Its very chilly out right now, but to quote Mark Twain (was it Mark Twain?) "The coldest day I ever had was a summer day in San Francisco." and its quite fitting. ^^;;; But its a welcome cold day after spending hot days and humid days. ~_~
I'm thinking of getting straight up CDs (haven't I been talking about this for weeks?) either way it comes down to a few imported cds that will pretty much prevent me from buying manga for a long time (not that I mind since all I want are magazine subscriptions).
1) Pretear OST 2 (first pressing comes with a collector's card, I have the first pressing of OST 1 and it came with a card with Hayate on the front and what looks like Himeno's neck on the back ^^;;)
2) Saiyuki Requiem OST
3) Sen to Chihiro Image Album
4) Noir OST
5) Bachlorette Japanese Import version (this cd has 4 remixes of Bachlorette)
6) Da Best of Da Pump (I'm an Issa fan what can I say? ^_^;;;)
I hear that Book-Off will open in LA. I love book-off, 100 yen manga! (okay here it will probably be $2 manga but its okay anything is better than $6 a tank) and used CDs and books! Waiii~~~ Now all I need is for my Animate point card to work at the LA Animate. *_*
Listening to: Hunter - Bjork (this cd is awesome, it grows on you. ^^)
[ added later...]
Oh my god I am so bored, someone shoot me or save me or something, >_< Tuesdays are going to be a pain. *Steph gnaws on the clock* go fasterrrrrrrr!
Listening to: Hunter - (yeah the CD looped back to track 1 scaaarrrryyy.)
I am 50% done with the Kagerou Nostalgia page, the layout is a simple style with a fixed background. I wish I knew how to fix backgrounds on netscape, oh well.
Pages going up in phase 1:
+ Profiles (of the main 5 first) [50%]
+ Manga Information (+ GanGan Wing info) [done]
+ Site Info [done]
+ Introduction [0%]
Splash page is also up. The site will go live by the end of the week or so.
I had a very nice conversation with Hali today. ^^ I was surprised that she IMed from my blog. (I know people read this blog but still its a nice surprise.) *Steph waves to Hali* Either way I'm always pleased to meet new people through IMs and talk about random things (Pretear/LaLa/Phonebook readerships etc.) Either way feel free to leave a message if you see me online. To be honest I'm surprised I don't scare y'all with my random ranting about random obessions. !_!
Anyways off to bed, swimming at 11 am. (yay!)
Listening to: White Destiny - Pretear OST 1 kokoro no naka hitorijyana ii koto...
Michi - your blog (like Juri's too) keeps moving around! @_@ If this keeps up I can host it. Let me know. On Keekiland perhaps? ^_~ And thank you for answering my Suoh question right on the CML. ^^
Waghhhhhh damnit if Ebay doesn't had more hurt to injury they emailed me an invoice. WTF I thought they bill my cc directly. grrrr. Ebay will have to wait a week. ~_~
TamaTama- you don't have to pay me for the extra (newer copy) of Pretear 2. Sorry about that, the covers look the same and it was one of the last stops we did on the last day of our trip. ^_^;;; Pretear 2 looks about the same as Pretear 4 (Hayate in the background, blue border, White Pretear foreground man I even know what it looks like w/o looking at the manga ~_~). err yeah.
While visting (and paying homage to) the Takoyaki stand at J-town yesterday, I briefly met Tayla in a group of Yaoi-con goers. I was really pleased to meet Tayla, whose GW fanfiction pretty much educated me on the entire Gundam Wing fandom and the #'s for the pairings. To be honest I think its the best way to learn about Gundam Wing. ^_~
Visit the Takoyaki stand in J-town, its open 12-7pm and closed Mondays and Tuesdays. I demand that all you SF people get to know the wonders of Takoyaki. (Oh Mitsuwa sells frozen takoyaki for 4.99 might I add. ^_~).
I am almost done with Shape of the Heart its been about 4 months with this monster. ~_~
I will be starting a Kagerou Nostalgia page soon. This will include my random observations at how slashable these characters are. Let's take a look at our main chracters:(left to right, same order as the image)
Kazuma - the resident surly character, who is actually the reincarnation of the leader of the band of merry fighters in the past. Kazuma was my top choice to slash with Shiranui (and I was pleased to know that the DJ fandom in Japan agreed with me XD). Kazuma is good at a) shouting, b) fighting with a katana, c) protecting Shiranui at no cost (slash! slash!)
Fuwa - the resident "sano" of the 5 characters, who is actually the reincarnation of a man that loves women. When we first meet Fuwa in vol 1 he's at a brothel (at the age of 14 ... okay let's move on) not much has changed for this genki guy.
Shiranui - the resident monk, who actually is the reincarnation of a key person named Kagerou (thus the title of the manga) the cool thing about him is the fact that he has permanent kanji up and down his back and chest pretty much making him a) single for the rest of his life b) impervious to bad monsters/guys/women who want him as a sacrifice etc. c) the most important character in the manga
Mizuki - the most feminine of the 5 and rightfully so since he is the reincarnation of a girl in the fighting 5. He also has a large bow and is under the protection/protector of Miyo Hime.
Gouki - Gouki has the most beautiful hair of any male character I've seen (period) its long, red, and gorgeous (I have hair envy). Gouki has some back history that will take too long to get into, but basically, Gouki has the most memories of being one of the fighting 5. He pretty much remembers the most and retells the most out of the 5. Shiranui has no idea what his past life was like.
Yes I was seduced by the cover of this magna and bought vol 1 & 2 and had to wait a year before I picked up 3 & 4 in Japan. *waii~~* to be honest its one of the best randomly picked up manga I've picked up in the past year. ^^ Speaking of which I will be ebaying E's manga (a randomly picked up series)1&2.
Off to nap.
Listening to: silence (ah so nice)
nyaa~~~
Sunday, September 2, 2001 ::
___________________
:: It's
03:29 a.m. why isn't Steph asleep yet!? :: Goin' Old School ::
September doki-doki is up. Yay! And surprisingly it took a shorter amount of time to do (compared to the August layout that never went live ;_;) than some I've done in the past. This layout features our favorite Tokyo Babylon trio and a collection of 80's song lines.
While in Japan I picked up the Tokyo Babylon Image Sountrack 1. Its a funny collection of 80's songs but the CD set itself is gorgeous, Clamp did not waste a surface, the drama CD has Subaru and the music CD has Hokuto. The front of the 2 CD box is Subaru and on the back is Seishirou. It also came with 4 postcards.
Things I will be ebaying next week (as soon as Ebay figures out that I do have a seller account):
+ Pretear vol 1 (manga)
+ Saiyuki 1 (manga)
+ Toraware no Mi no Ue 3(manga)
+ Boys Be 1-4 (manga)
+ Kaze Hikaru 1-3(manga)
+ X OVA Promo poster (poster)*
+ Clover Doujinshi (DJ) (1)
+ Fruits Basket DJ (2)
+ Hana Kimi DJ (1)
* absolutely gorgeous poster I picked up in Japan but then brought it home and realized that I never really put up posters unless they're framed. ~_~
And I think that's it for now ^_^;;;
Kristina: Your package was sent today. ^^ It should arrive Weds at the latest
TamaTama: Your package was sent today too. It should arrive by Tuesday (if not then I lose all faith in priority mail with in the Bay Area ~_~)
The new layout is still cute but not as blue as I mentioned before. Chyo-chan wasn't behaving as a layout, well not enough to look the way I wanted it to. This layout features SD Kuroneko and Minagawa Hifumi from the manga Cafe Kichijyoji. Cafe was one of the manga I picked up in Japan, I had a few chapters of it here and there in random Wings issues I had. But the chapters I had were superdeformed and it had some great engrish dialouge. (See links at the end of the info sidebar). Its one of the reasons why I bought this manga. ^^
I think (as soon as I feem comfortable enough with the story) I will put up a Kagerou Nostalgia page. Which is one of the manga series I found DJ for at Comiket. I'm very surprised at Kagerou Nostalgia fandom and the pairings of the DJ I bought. ^^ The DJ aritsts were really nice, I bought a pair of coasters with Mizuki and Kazuma on them and I ended up getting a clock face and a rice cracker with Kazuma and Mizuki on it. A table down I got a paperclip with my DJ, and another table down I got a set of laminated hand drawn bookmarks. XD
I will be planning on ebaying a few things. Mainly some doubles, some doujinshi, (depending on how much I really like this poster) an X OVA Promo Poster. Some of the manga I'm ebaying is a bit obscure, and some of it rather boring (Boys Be manga @_@). Some titles:
+ Pretear vol 1
+ Toraware no Mi no Ue 3 (new)
+ Boys Be 1-4
+ Card Captor Sakura DJ (tba)
+ Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne DJ
+ Hana Kimi DJ
+ Fruits Basket
I'm not sure I'll take a look at them as soon as I tackle the rest of the unpacking and class. @_@ Check the manga blog out for entries on things I picked up in Japan. ^^
Listening to: Mayonaka wa Junketsu - Shiina Ringo (I have her singles on rotate ^^;;)
While taking to Kristina online, we ran a test on the shipping rates of Amazon.co.jp and CDJapan. The difference (on their air-mail rates) is about 1000 yen difference (give or take 100 yen). Based on a order of:
+ Sen to Chihiro Image Album
+ Pretear Image Album (OST 2)
Which is amazing. Amazon (which made me scream in terror at the high shipping price) is actually the cheaper one. Crazy. Anyways I will wait until Supersonic Angel Engine 3 comes out and Shounen Shyouhasu comes out in September and order some things and pray the shipping won't gouge me an eye or two. Man all I want is some Sen to Chihiro music. ;_;
Also I've managed to unpack my box'o manga and put most of it on the shelves. (While pausing to sparkle at the block of Nervous Venus manga. ******^^******) Some pages will probably go up:
+ Kamikaze - Shiki Satoshi (because I keep getting hits for that on a weekly basis o_o that and the manga is visually gorgeous.)
+ Shiina Ringo - Shiina Ringo rocks that's why
+ Azumanga Daioh - by Azuma (because this manga needs to be shared with the entire world, its that great!)
+ Haruka Naru Toki no Naka De - Emi is doing the layout, I'm working on the content
+ Angelic Layer - same as above
Updating:
+ Nervous Venus page (including a mini Chie Waseda Page)
+ Mikan no Tsuki page (adding a Haruko Iida works page)
+ KKJ page (fixing broken links, adding links, adding a "static" marker on the page)
+ Keekiland - (Keroshrine will go through over haul, update clique)
+ Update manga blog
Things I'd like to do but probably never will:
+ Create an Ayumi Ai page - the mangaka that did Wind Up Tina, Yokoso Hohohoemi Ryou E, and Delicious!
+ Finish Pretear ep summaries
Listening to: Aozora - Shiina Ringo from her Honnou Single (because she rocks)
Actually shipping came out about the same as the manga I was going to buy (technically 300 yen more in shipping o_O). I think I will buy CDs from CD Japan.
Pretear OST2 (aka the Pretear Image Album)
Sen to Chihiro Image Album
Koppelia a ma Hitsugi (Noir OP)
Shipping for this order will be about $8-10 (wheeew)
To badly paraphrase the Sear's ad, I decided to use the Bush Tax Rebate/refund/bribe etc for something amusing. Half of it will go to the credit card and part of it will go to Amazon.co.jp which is the Japanese brother of the company that loves to burn a hole into my wallet.
I was looking primarily for a manga by Ayumi Ai (who does Delicious! and Wind Up Tina manga) her art is beautiful and her Wind Up Tina style is very refined, but her earlier work (such has her first few volumes of Delicious) were a bit sketchier. Yokosou Hoho Emi Gakuen(I think) E! Is a really cute manga about a girl name Makoto (who for future purposes of plot explaining will be called Makoto-chan) who is off to Hoho Emi Gakuen for the first time. Hoho Emi is a boarding school. On her way to class she gets smacked upside the head by a soccer ball which turns out to have her name on it! (Steph would like to pause for a moment to note the wonderful use of shoujo manga plot point here). Anyways, she tries to get rid of the ball but it ricochett's off of things and smacks her upside the head again. Since the ball has her name on it (Sort of) she decides to take it to school with her. In the end she meets the owner of the Makoto-ball when her father calls out her name during the induction ceremony (how embarrasing especially at that age right? ^^) Makoto (who for the rest of this summary will be named Makoto-kun) pops up behind Makoto-chan and they both stare at each other and he sees the soccer ball and smiles at her. Makoto-chan promptly throws the ball into his face. (Steph: another plot point ^_~)
In the end Yokosou Hoho Emi is about both Makotos as they learn to become friends and eventually a couple, and making friends with their roommates. In Makoto-chan's case are a) a really talented Guitarist (prodigy I think?) and b) a cute model. Makoto-kun wants to be on the school's soccer team but he runs into trouble on and off the field when the school's idol and soccer star has an interest in Makoto-chan! (Plot point yet again ^^) Makoto-kun quits the soccer team (much to the dismay of his fellow soccer team-mate and roommate). In the end Makoto-chan chooses Makoto-kun and they learn to be around each other until another challenger comes along trying to take Makoto-chan away!
It's adorably cute and full of typical shoujo plot points but that's what makes this manga very readable. ^^
Taking advantage of the exchange rate being at a nice 118 to $1 I decided to get from Amazon:
+ Youkosou Hoho Emi... - #5 (but no 4 strange o_o)
+ Fruits Basket #3-7 (might as well but that can be thrown out when I find out shipping rates or the Azumanga Box set)
+ Azumanga Daioh #2 (Oh yessssssss)
Kristina - yes there's a Katsumoto Kasane manga in Shoujo Teikoku. I recognized Kasane's art style while flipping through issue 9. I haven't sat down and looked at the other stories (aside from Lawful Drug and Fushikaden Cadenza ^^;;) but they all look very interesting. Also, I forgot to mention the Mekakushi no Kuni Drama CD, its so cute, the voices are fitting, Namiki took some getting used to as well as Arou but after a while Arou sounded very Arou like. There's a recipie in the booklet, its Arou's recipie for pasta? (or something like that...)
I was really amused that Amazon Japan suggested that I buy Chobits 2. =)
Listening to: Coppellia no Hitsugi - Ali Project (Noir OP) its Ali Project that's all the incentive I need to listen to this song. ^^
Hmmmm the cute layout is being frustrating, I think I need to fix it a bit... maybe scrap it for something cute and random... I'll need to think about this for a moment.
There is a new ML on yahoo.groups. Its actually something I've been wanting. =D A LaLa & LaLaDX mailing list. A ML dedicated to specifically those two magazines (and probably anything else shueishida tho there is a Hana to Yume ML...) anyways I've joined it. *^^*
Does anybody know anything about these two groups?
Eccentric Opera - notably known for singing Ai no Fugue on the Nazca OP
Ali Project - known for making Wish more sugary sweet than humanly possible with the Wish music vid. (they did all the music for it)
Mostly if there are CDs out for them (not Noir, Wish, or Nazca ^^;;)
Anyways off to watch the flan cook, its really wobbly right now.
