Exclusive Insanity

I just finished reading a manga series called NG Life, which was actually very good! It's a shoujo series about a kind of dorky guy who remembers his past life when he was living in a little Italian city hanging around with his best friend and his wife and an assortment of other characters who show up as reincarnations later in the manga. Thing is, even though there are a few people around him who he recognizes as reincarnations of those he knows (I was particularly amused by his mother and father being his rival and younger sister from his past life), none of them remember anything. The most important two are his best friend, who has reincarnated as a girl with feelings for him (although he can't see past the "you used to be a dude" bit), and his wife, who is now a boy.

As you can imagine, many crazy hijinks occur.

The manga does a fairly good job of keeping the full story of what happened in the past (and why the main character is so stuck on it) under wraps and revealing pieces of it as the story goes on. I personally thought the relationship between the main character's past life and his best friend was very cute and would've liked to see them get together back then! Of course, that doesn't happen, but oh well, you can't have everything. The conclusion of the past life had me in tears at the end, and it almost felt like the rest of what happened afterwards was overpowered by it.

Still, the main romance was pretty sweet and the characters were all fairly likeable (except for one or two who got on my nerves a few times). I was hoping the manga would go more along the lines of gender not being a barrier to affection (either with the main character realizing he was okay with loving a boy or okay with loving someone who he had previously known as a boy), but even though it didn't, I still enjoyed it. It had a theme of not getting stuck on the past and learning to be who you are without trying to be someone else, which is always cool.

For the most part, I'd recommend it if you like shoujo romance and don't mind a lot of silliness mixed in. I'm going to go try and track down the Tokyopop translated version and add it to my manga collection!

In other reading-related news, I'm just about done with my Austen readings (making my way through a Watsons continuation now), and I'm thinking I'll move on to Georgette Heyer next. I've got a number of samples downloaded to my kindle, so I'll be giving them a go shortly. My expectations are high, so I hope they turn out to be good!

I just noticed I haven't updated since Cody's birthday... wow. I've been slacking. Or busy. A lot of both, really. Mostly Christmas stuff. It snowed here, too, so there's been some time spent shoveling, and of course going out with friends.

The cat has been put on a diet, and seems to be adapting well (as well as can be expected, anyway). The vet recommended reduced intakes of protein and fat so that he can avoid coming down with diabetes. We're hoping it'll help him lose some weight. Because seriously? He's huge. Like a real life Garfield, except not orange. I wouldn't care since he seems happy enough, but I figure he'll end up with joint problems later in life, and that would suck.

In my spare time, I've been reading manga. In particular, I picked up some romance series. The ones I've finished so far are Lovely Complex and Special A.

Lovely Complex was actually a fairly decent shoujo manga series. Like most shoujo manga, it suffers from a certain degree of melodrama, love triangles, unnecessary complications, and - of course - the warm happy stuff (this is what I'm in it for). I wouldn't say it's particularly spectacular or unique (although the concept of taller-girl-shorter-boy isn't exactly a common premise), but it won points with me for having genuine compatibility between the two main characters. Many romances seem content to forget this business of common interests and the spending of time together and what happens during that time, what the two talk about in casual conversation, etc, etc. Lovely Complex had two characters who were very similar and who enjoyed spending time together as friends before romantic feelings were even a question. Granted (as is typical for shoujo manga), they hated each other at first, but the building of the friendship was nice to see as a lead-in to the romance.

Special A... I'd heard good things about this one before I read it, but I don't really know why. Not that it's bad or anything, but what exactly is special about this series? Plucky, clueless girl - check. Boy utterly devoted to her in secret - check. They don't get along - check. Odd side characters - check. Everyone paired off by the end - check (note that this is not exactly a bad thing in my opinion, but it is pretty common). Wacky hi-jicks that may or may not have relevance to the main plot (is there a main plot? It bounced around a lot) - check. Honestly, I... got a little bored before the end of this series. It became too predictable and I didn't feel like I got to know the characters well enough to care much about them. I finished it, but that was more because I was curious about what they'd do to end it than because I really wanted to spend more time reading it.

I'm currently reading Suzuka. It's... kinda meh so far. The constant fanservice is a bit of a turnoff and the main characters tend to irritate me. I may or may not stick it out to the end, but I want to give it a fair chance first.

This is the news I was looking for, in regards to the Ghost Hunt manga. Finally, some confirmation! The series will end (or has ended, if the manga was published on the 30th like they said it would be). I'll get to see in manga form what I've read in summaries of the books. Volume 12 is going to cover most of the interesting stuff, so I really, really hope that Del Rey brings it over quickly. I can't wait to read it!

It would be awesome if the rest of the series were animated after volume 12 is released, but I don't want to get my hopes too high on that one. I think the Ghost Hunt anime enjoyed a moderate popularity, but I'm not sure if it's enough to get us more episodes.

So last week when Cody was on night shift and gone in the evening, I took the time to read a bunch of Wataru Yoshizumi's work (this is the mangaka responsible for Marmalade Boy and Ultra Maniac). A lot of her stuff follows her own traditional formula: the main couple suffer hardships but eventually end up together and happy in the end. Various other characters normally end up paired up happily or otherwise wrapped up in their own stories. I enjoyed them to varying degrees, but they weren't anything really special.

However, I'll talk about two of them.

( Cappucino )

( Spicy Pink )

I also read Datte Suki Nandamon, Kimishika Iranai, Mint na Bokura, Random Walk, Cherish and PxP, but don't really have much to say about them. They were cute and enjoyable for the most part. I'll probably read Handsome Girlfriend next - maybe even tonight. I think it's the only one left that I haven't read, besides Quartet Game which I can't find for viewing online.

Yesterday I finished reading Marmalade Boy, which I started the day before yesterday. It seems like lately that's what I've been doing when Cody's on night shift: reading manga. Last week I read Watashi no Messiah-sama, which was... odd. I read it on a recommendation, but I don't necessarily recommend it myself. This week it was Marmalade Boy.

( Thoughts (spoilerish) )

Marmalade Boy was not a bad series. It never tried to be more than it was, so it succeeded in being a cute little shoujo romance and a fairly enjoyable read. Not bad at all.

MANGA/ANIME/GAME Meme - ganked from nighteevee
- talk about the title
- add one title

( The Anime List )

I went on chapters.ca and got myself caught up on all the manga I'm collecting. That means volumes 11 and 12 of Hunter X Hunter, 11 and 12 of Tsubasa Chronicles, 3 and 4 of D.Gray-Man, and I almost went for volume 3 of +Anima, but decided to wait on that one. The local store will probably have it in at some point.

Free shipping, and because of my Christmas gift cards, this set is costing me less than $20. Woot.

And now, stuff mainly for my own reference in list form.


Series I am collecting in English manga form and how many volumes I have so far:

+Anima (volumes 1-3)
D.Gray-Man (volumes 1-5)
D.N.Angel (volumes 1-11)
Digimon (first three seasons - are they ever going to put season 4 in manga form?)
Fullmetal Alchemist (volumes 1-13)
Hikaru no Go (volumes 1-9)
Hunter X Hunter (volumes 1-14)
Tsubasa Chronicles (volumes 1-12)


On my Current Watching list for anime, and which episode I'm on:

Kanon (episode 3)
Last Exile (episode 4)
Ouran High School Host Club (episode 22)
Scrapped Princess (episode 4)


On my To Watch list for anime:

D.Gray-Man (8 episodes watched)
Honey and Clover (1 episode watched)
Kyou Kara Maou (30-something episodes watched)
Magical Canan (1 episode watched)
Tsubasa Chronicles (17 episodes watched)


I think that's all. For now.

My comic got its first email yesterday, and it was to tell us that it's not funny but the art is decent.

Hell, *I* couldn't told you that. I don't like the current comics either.

Ah well. Anyway, she likes Jer's art, so that is cool. I'll have to remember to tell him that when I see him.

I think the end of reading break is what prompted me to suddenly start downloading and/or starting up a whole lot of stuff. It's like... I might have to try and get stuff done now - crap! Gotta find other things to keep busy with!

I'm downloading two new anime series - King of Bandit Jing, which I have never heard of and don't know anything about (I saw a box set at a store once and liked the picture) and Uninhabited Planet Survive, which herongale recommended to me forever ago and which I've been meaning to get started on since then.

They're still downloading, so I have yet to watch anything of either of them. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow when I should be doing homework.

I also cracked and started reading a certain manga that various people on my Friends list are obsessed with. I figured at least the art would be good, since it was the artist who did Hikaru no Go. I've also been told by just about everyone who reads it that it's goddamn addicting, which I found to be ALL TOO TRUE.

Anyway, for those who don't know, it's called Death Note, and the main character is an arrogant little ass. I like his Shinigami pal, and I like his opponent, but I don't care much for him. I'm kind of hoping everything ends up blowing up in his face, really.

( Random philosophy and thoughts )

I had to stop reading last night to go to bed and get enough sleep for school today, but I'll be going back to it now. I want to see what happens next.

Well, I finally got the fifth and final volume of the Digimon manga... for season one, anyway. Mwaha! And it's not bad... they managed to de-slashify the Tai and Matt fighting scenes... And the scene where Matt came back! They killed it! No slash! Grrrr... but for the most part, the storyline remains intact.

I have the whole first season now!

( Memorable Moments )

On to season two!

(in December, when it's released)