Obligatory Game of Thrones Post

Okay, this one's for my fiancé Tony.  Thanks to him telling me every plot detail as he read them I don't have to read or watch any of The Song of Ice and Fire stuff, freeing me up to do other things.  ;)

This just killed me:

Hope you enjoy.  :)

Now for something completely different:

I just finished all of live action Zettai Kareshi (Absolute Boyfriend) and it was so full of feels that I just can't....wow.  I loved all the actors in it.  I really did.  They were great.  Shoujo manga translates really well into live action.  Sad but true.  Also, watch Otomen if you can, that was pure magic!

 

Prelude

So, one of my absolute favorite manga/anime of all time is Rurouni Kenshin.  Last August there was a live action film released in Japan that was an adaptation of the first season of the anime (I forget how many chapters of the manga it was...let's go with a buttload, official unit of measurement).  I have recently acquired said film and actually plan on reviewing it in detail very soon, along with my usual ramblings on the anime and manga in general.  For those who'd like a quick intro (and spoilers) as to the nature of the manga I seriously recommend either reading it or watching the amazing video below by the talented aoisenshi9.

Bask in the warmth that is Kenshin and Kaoru.  :)

Ouran Chapter 81!

Oh my God! For those who are fans of the Ouran High School Host Club a translation for chapter 81 was just posted on One Manga...unfortunately the site will be going down shortly. After years of storing scanalations they decided to to adhere to the publishers' wishes and will be taking down the site. Boo! Also chapter 81 isn't the last chapter, either.

Anyway, for those who don't want to be spoiled quit reading....here.

Spoilers

OH MY GOD! Haruhi and Tamaki admitted their love for each other! And it was hilarious! Perfect, perfect, perfect. Haruhi admits it when a plane flies overhead so Tamaki can't hear her, but he guesses correctly and tries to get her to confess again and then tries to confess himself by saying "Me too!" making it sound like he loves himself like in Haruhi's dream. That was a major run-on I just typed. Then he tries to plan their first date! It's so cute I couldn't help laughing. And the kissing. There's kissing! Soooooooooooooooo cute, I squealed. Can't wait for the translated manga. Anyone know if this is going to be onmibussed?

Actually not dead...Really...

So, yeah. I kinda gave up on this blog 'cause I got busy at work and then I thought no one would miss me ranting on random stuff on the Internet, but then I was told I was wrong! (Also that's a huge run-on sentence I just typed.) Apparently someone actually missed my blog. Color me surprised.

So, lots of news I totally haven't updated on. Quick rundown on what's currently taking up my free time as of right now:

• Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood and the Fullmetal Alchemist manga. After swearing I was done after that godawful movie Conqueror of Shambala (honestly, Nazi!Hughes?) Tony managed to pique my interest in what I thought was an unnecessary remake by telling me it was actually following the manga this time and then proceeded to spoil the manga for me because I thought I was done with it. Anyways, it's totally awesome and Arakawa is a friggin' genius, and anyone who thought they were done with the Elric brothers should give it another chance. Also the dub is pretty sweet if you hate subs. There's more I can fangirl on this, but I'll have to do it later as I really need to get to bed soon.
• Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour or just the whole Scott Pilgrim series in general. The last (sixth) book finally came out and the wait was totally worth it. This comic series is a genius blend of real life ennui, geekdom and video game obsession rolled into a truly hilarious ball of fun and craziness. Honestly, if you like parody, comics, hilarity, video games, love, music, etc. this is for you. Check it out. Also, bonus movie directed by Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) coming out in August that I'm really looking forward to.
• Ouran High School Host Club is almost done in manga form! It's wrapping up pretty fast, so I think there's only one (at most two) chapters left. Those who love Haruhi and Tamaki will squeal like crazy.
• Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins had hijacked my life. I'm replaying the former for the bizillionth time as I finally broke down and paid for DLC. I had to download Kasumi when I saw part of her loyalty mission on YouTube. Worth it. I love her. Also, for the record Bioware officially owns my soul. When I saw The Old Republic trailer I was hyperventilating until I remembered it's an MMORPG and I hate playing with others because they ruin my fantasy/happy place/escapism. MAKE KOTORIII DAMMIT!!
• Inception was brilliant. If you haven't seen it, close down your browser window and head to your nearest theater to see it right now. It's so refreshing to see a competent, well-made movie with real actors and practical effects and solid writing. Also great directing.
• Still haven't played new PoP. Also wishing they hadn't abandoned the Elika/Nolan North one. I loved that one, really wanted to see where they were taking that. Though the combat sucked, they could've fixed it easy. Why did Ubisoft listen to the twelve irritating fanboys of the last franchise and abondon the new one!? IT WAS GOING PLACES! There were characters I friggin' cared about! GAAAAAAAAAAAH . (Also dragged poor Tony to see that stupid movie. Words can't describe how much fail that movie had. But also shirtless Jake Gyllenhaal, so I can forgive some of it.)
• Kick Ass was great. Loved every moment, even if it was different than the comics. Sometimes you need to stray from the source material because of the medium it's currently in.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I'll sit down for real in the very near future to torture all two of you who read this thing with my incessant fangirl squeals about something previously mentioned or something I haven't had the chance to gush on yet. So...fear me?

Oh! True Blood! Totally awesome. Really the only thing I'm watching consistently on TV right now. They are totally making shit up, but I don't care because it is amazing. Mostly. Sick of Sam's deadbeat family and Jason's obsession with Crystal. To be fair, I hate Jason and Crystal in the books too.

New Link Post

Hey all! For those of you who enjoy manga scanilations will enjoy the new link I've added on my side bar there: One Manga. I like it because the scans are large, easy to see, and nicely translated. There is an incredibly large index of manga that's been translated and scanned (and completed!) as well as some search functions and all other kinds of neat things. No chapter summaries, though. Still, this site is worth its weight in gold just for the sheer volume of manga you can choose from. Er, if things on the internet weighed stuff, at least. ^_^

It's Almost Like An Epidemic...

Recently I've encountered three female adults who are into anime because of their children. I was astounded. My personal trainer (it feels weird saying that, or typing in this case) has a daughter who's basically a younger (14 years-old), cuter version of me when it comes to manga/anime/Japanese culture. Which is awesome. I can give tips on good series that the both of them would enjoy that's also age-appropriate, and so far they like it. ^_^

Another was a patient who spotted my desktop background (currently Saya and Haji from Blood +) and recognized them. Her children are five and seven and are into Pokémon and Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service. She became interested in the stories they were telling ("But I'm sick to death of Pokémon") and began to rent stuff, one accidentally being Blood +. I typed out a list of things I thought she'd like (with some recommendations for her kids as well) while she met with the doctor, and though the list wasn't long (I had trouble thinking of age-appropriate and shoujo titles in the twenty minutes I had) she was thrilled with it. I'll have to go through and find more titles that'd work.

The third was a woman in Subway who was reading a Wallflower manga. I saw it, shyly stepped over and recommended Ouran High School Host Club to her if she liked that one, and she was thrilled for the rec. "I'd heard about it! It's just my friend owned these and lent them to me. Thank you though--if it's funny like these are I'll have to check it out." I assured her that it was humorous (though in a different way) and she wrote it down with a happy look on her face.

It's like anime has begun to spread over the masses. Quite frankly it's about time.