Title:  Warui Ko Demo ii

 Mangaka: Sakuraga Mei

Genre: Yaoi, Romance
Publisher: Houbunsha
Volume/s: 1

Summary:

Towa heard advice from his friend: “All men are beast. Don’t get fooled by their appearance.” Of course, Mikado is not exempted with that. With the ups and downs of their relationship, will Towa finally realize his budding affection for Mikado?

While the earlier volume is adorable, it is only in this book that this pairing captured my attention. Instead of another round of teenage angst, we get another simple and light plot. Towa is clueless as ever as to why Mikado and him do things that most best friends do not. What confuses him more is that he somewhat enjoys and loves his best friend’s touch. One day, he notices that Mikado is avoiding him which confuses him more. Will this gap between them tear them apart or pull them more together?

Mikado proves once more how deeply he cares for Towa despite how cold his appearance are. He is usually perceived as a sadist. The truth is he is just aloof and care less for people who bears no importance to him. Moreover, he acts like that to tease Towa to reveal the latter’s honest feelings.

Another interesting point presented here is how the roles of the side characters presented. Warui series has 2 spin-offs and the pairings for those stories have a brief interaction in the story. They had one or two scenes in the previous book but only in this one we get to have a few conversation from them. That gives us a slight idea of how they interact in other people’s perspectives. In return, it shows us how they view the main pairing and their relationship with them.

It seems that the mangaka does not only focused on the development of the main characters but also the other characters. Towa’s friends are of course, like him, delinquents and act like one. So who would have expect that despite their happy-go-lucky lifestyle, they value their friendship a lot. Even if Towa is not confiding them everything, they still understand what he’s going through and will stand by his side when times get rough. It’s nice to see them this supportive and all even when they are considered trashes by most people.

There is another volume left (or is it two? hmmm) dedicated for Towa and Mikado. I’m a little uncertain at the next one since I can’t think of anything that can finally conclude the story of this two. This book is good yet a little too early for the conclusion of their story. I’m hoping the next one will moved me too. If you’ve read the previous book and loved the pairing, you’ll definitely like this too.

Title:

English Title: I want to get naughty

Mangaka: Sakuraga Mei

Genre: Yaoi, Romance

Volume/s: 1

Chapters: 6 + 1 extra chapter

Publisher: Houbunsha

Licensed by: Kitty Media

Synopsis:

The Student Council has their eye on Towa Aikawa, the school delinquent. He hides out on the rooftop, it’s his special illegal place. He finds Mikado Shirahane on the roof one day. He’s the hottest, smartest guy in school, and now he’s in Towa’s Xanadu…why would Towa find himself falling for him?

Perhaps it’s the passionate kisses and longing looks from the school stud…!?

Hello. First post for 2012! Yet here I am having a hard time to write a proper review. It seems that my earlier reviews are a little too ‘stiff’ or formal and I don’t like that. It’s as if I’m writing a science journal or one of my laboratory reports. As much as possible, I love to write it just like I’m talking to one of my fandom friends. I’d appreciate if you tell me if I’m being over-the-top serious with my reviews. Onto the review!

With our stupidly-brave uke Towa on the blacklist of the Student Council, Mikado the mysterious guy he met at the roof top appears to be quite protective of him. What Towa does not know is that same guy rules the Council, his so-called ‘arch-enemy’. That does not the only thing that bugs his mind. He slowly finds his heart aching for Mikado. The battle between his brain and heart ensues!

As much as I love its spin-off, Kirai Ja Nai Kedo, I have mixed feelings in this one. Everything about this is pretty generic, if not very much common in other BL stories. The plot of the main story is definitely not the selling point of this book. There is nothing new offered in the entire story. At least the main story gets a pretty decent plot by establishing each character’s circumstances.

Having said that, the remaining 3 one-shots suffer from lack of development and plot; decreasing enormously with each chapter. It’s not they are uninteresting. In fact, they have lots of potential to be a good story but the storyboard is not solid; confusing you with their sort of jumbled plots.

What make this one endearing are the characters, the main pairing particularly. Towa may look like a feminine guy but he stands up for what he believes in. Sure, I found myself wanting to facepalm once in a while because of his dumbness and naiveté. However, that makes him more adorable and one-step ahead for being the standard uke. The seme, Mikado, appears to be the manipulative type at first. On the contrary, he’s a softie for Towa to the point of protecting him to the other members of Student Council. This couple’s undying trust with each other shows how deep their faith is with one another through their actions. Which help us empathize with the emotional struggle they’re going through their relationship.

The only thing that I find pointless is that there is no confession happened and there is Mikado expecting something from Towa. Like, come on dude. You know how clueless your uke is so you have to explain one by one to him. Not all couple having smexy scenes are lovers (read: The Tyrant Falls in Love).

As for the one-shot characters, they are just plain characters with lots of potential (as mentioned above) when given a few more chapters for both plot and character development. Like, chapter 4. It’s a unique set of characters but isn’t explained thoroughly so there are some loopholes in the story. Same goes to the other one-shots. It’s such a shame since I like some of them and could have been a good mainstream pairing.

Another positive note for this is its pretty and detailed drawings. The lines are distinct, each facial expression is clear. The downside is that this is only clear on the first 3 chapters. The artist might have gone lazy for the characters have become less distinguishable with one another. It becomes sketchy with each pages. It’s sad since her designs are good. So much as I like the characters design; it is masked by the heavy shading.  It’s a little too much that I had to squint to read the texts.

All in all, it’s a good read. It has its fair share of comedy, drama, and high school romance which for sure, you’ll like. Towa may be a little grating to your nerves at first but he’ll surely grow on you. If romance with a bit of comedy and some teenage angst is your cup of tea, you might want to give it a try.

Title: Sacred Seven

No. of episodes: 12

Genre/s: Action, Mecha

Synopsis:

Tandouji Aruma is known as a delinquent in his school. In reality, he is just a loner detached to any human relationship. Until Aiba Ruri asked for his help by using his power of the Sacred Seven. Of course, he turned her down. But when a monster attacked the city, Aruma decided to use his power to fight it. Unfortunately, he went berserk and the only person who can help him control it is the girl he previously met.

Not only a loner and brooding guy, Tanjouji is often the misunderstood type of guy. He is infamous for his “inhuman” strength that defeated a bunch of thugs. This resulted to him being the most fearful guy in school. However, that rumor does not discourage the president of the Rock club to persuade him in joining them. Obviously, he refused. But not until Ruri asked for his help in defeat the Darkstones. Lately, some rocky creatures are turning the city into chaos; putting the lives of its inhabitants to danger. Ruri knows that Tandouji have some kind of power similar to Darkstones, and if used properly, can actually defeat the evil rocks. He agrees when he feels something tugging inside him when near a Darkstone, not to mention his past that he couldn’t leave behind.

So we have what it seemed an action-packed series, with some high school fluff, and family drama. Right from the first episode, Sacred Seven shows a promising plot ahead. The entire premise of the story is interesting, indeed. But my interest goes up and down throughout the series. The plot is nowhere near complex yet it becomes confusing when the main story is being interrupted by filler episodes. One episode it’s action and drama here and there, next one it’s a high school life filler episode. It’s like the creators are trying to establish the relationship of the characters, at the same focusing in the main goal of the whole story.

It does not help that this is only a 12-episode anime to contain all those things. In other words, it should have been more direct, and have faster pacing of events. You should not be surprised if you do not understand why Character A responds like this, or Character B chooses to do that etc.

In most shounen series, be it in anime or manga, the hero is most likely powerless at first and a bit troublesome to others. But he has always this something that he wants to protect. Later on, this something will bring out the best of him. And yes, Tandouji is just like that; your average shounen lead. Being the awkward guy that he is, Tandouji is not good in building friendship with other people. At least, not until he meets Ruri and becomes a member of the Rock Club. Just like our lead guy, the rest of the characters are not that remarkable. Let’s see, we have a loli-like female lead, a butler who seems to be a rip off of Sebastian (Kuroshitsuji), an oddball club president, a bunch of kickass maids, and some standard villains. Good thing is the leads have some developments in their personalities while the others remain the same. Meh.

Unlike for some who have watched this and liked the op and ed songs, it takes me a while to appreciate the songs. Out of all the songs, the one that stands out is Stone Cold. It suits the entire mecha atmosphere this anime is emitting. The others are melodramatic but isn’t that good enough to leave an impression.

The art resembles Code Geass since the head in the character design is the same as CG. Sadly, this one is a little inconsistent in the design. Sometimes the characters look a little different with a. The biggest problem is Tandouji’s and Ruri’s body build. Tandouji is so huge, even taller than most of the guys. Then, there’s Ruri and her small built. It wouldn’t have been a problem if she isn’t paired with Tandouji. They look so awkward with their height difference.

I think this will be the first time I’ll be commenting to the voice actor/actress. With Ruri’s loli looks alone, more often than not, the voice will be high-pitched plus some clingy attitude. To my relief, it is not. It is rather deep that it surprised me when I first heard about it. The others are good.

While I enjoyed this at some point, I cannot say that I can 100% recommend this. It has its good parts but it does not outweigh the bad ones which I’ve stated above. It could have been a good action anime if not for the unnecessary drama and anticlimactic scenes. Despite that, this is still pretty decent to watch. You’ll just have to watch this when you’ve run out of other good series to watch.

Which one will you be watching? Me? I won’t probably be watching anything other than Ai no Kusabi. Yes, not even Shin Tennis no Oujisama. I was a big fan of PoT back then. xD;;

Anyway, I guess some series have already started. You might want to check them out. ^^

Title: 劇場版 Fate/stay night: UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS

Aired: January 23, 2010

Genre/s: Action, Supernatural, Fantasy

Synopsis:

An alternate retelling of the main plot with Tohsaka Rin as the main female character. It delves more on Shirou’s destiny and his connection with Archer.

=========================================================================

With the success of the visual novel Fate/Stay Night, they made an adaptation of the second route of the game and thus, the Unlimited Blade Works. It may seem like the Fate/Stay Night anime with some alterations in the sequence of events. For someone who hadn’t played the game but had watched the anime, this is quite confusing at first. It’s been a while since the last time I’ve watched the anime so I can barely grasp what is happening. But then, the differences from the series are quite evident that made me realized this one will go on for a different route.

Although it may appear almost the same as Fate/Stay Night, their main distinction lies on their aim. While the series focuses more on the destruction of the Holy Grail to stop the war, Unlimited Blade Works concentrates the relationship between Archer, Rin, and Shiro, and Shiro’s fate.

The main problem in this movie is the plot. The basic points remain but the entire plot has lots of loop holes. If by any chance someone will watch this without any idea about the game nor the previous anime, they’ll most probably be at lost on what is happening. It relies more on the knowledge from its predecessors. This results to a lot of unexplained happenings and appearances in its 1 hour and 40 minutes air time. There is a very futile attempt to explain the background of the story at the start but does not help in clarifying the loop holes presented in the storyline.

Given the time constraint, the lack of development is not only limited in the story but also in its characters. Personality-wise, they are rather weak. They do not bother to offer some brief backstory for the characters or perhaps their main purpose in the entire story. The latter is mostly for the supporting characters who are just there, without any reason other than to act as a villain. Period.

Fans of action-packed series will love the fight scenes in UBW. There is fighting, scenes after scenes…and after scenes. It’s as if 80% of the movie is action scenes. It’s rather cool and made it fast-paced, though. Indeed, battle scenes are enjoyable. But at some point, it is rather drawn out. Some battles are a little too long and unnecessarily dramatic. Not to mention, we do not get to see some of the signature moves of the servants.

The movie looks really good with its awesome animation. Compared with the series, the background is a lot more vivid and detailed. For instance, there is a distinct feature of Archer’s world to that of Shirou’s. The characters, though look the same, appears to have a sharper appearances which helps a lot in appreciating the battle scenes.

While it is a decent action-packed movie, it is far from being the best one. The high-end animation and good set of songs balances the so-so storyline. I had lots of expectation from this but after I finished watching, it was a let-down. It was lacking on some part that really disappointed me. So I wouldn’t really recommend this unless you’re a HUGE fan of this franchise.

Merry merry Christmas everyone!!! *huggles all of you*

☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆

Please excuse my nonexistant photo editing skills. u.u *runs off to make fruit salad*

Released Date: June 1, 2010

Platform: NDS

My de-stressor. (*^▽^*)

A rhythm game by iNis, Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! is a very addicting and enjoyable one. It is about Ouendan, an all-male cheer squad helping the characters who are in a pinch by cheering them through music. Ouendan can cheer anyone in need regardless of time period, and place. The scenarios of each character are shown briefly at the beginning of each story in manga-form. Players will find it amusing or may even relate to them since the stories are often told in simple and comical way. Some characters may appear on another scene as a background character and what not.

While one can easily get used to the set up of Ouendan, the only drawback is the language. The situations are heavily based on Japanese culture. Not to mention the songs are all from popular Japanese songs. It is in the native language so for those who are not familiar with it will have difficult time deciphering what is being said in the game.

Despite the language barrier, anyone can still enjoy playing this. There are translations of the game in the internet that you’d want to read before playing. The stories may be in manga-form but still you can get the basic idea just by looking at the images. Once you get the hang of the basics, you’ll be find it even more entertaining than it initially looks.

The biggest advantage of this game is its songs. The music are all in the top list from topnotch singers, for instance, Asian Kung-Fu Generation, Morning Musume, L’Arc en Ciel among others. Honestly, I am not familiar to any of the 15 songs here other than Ready! Steady! Go! by Laruku. But thanks to Ouendan, I am able to discover good titles such as Loop & Loop by Asian Kung-Fu Generation (my fave now (≡^∇^≡)).

You will have to use the touch pad and stylus many times during your playthrough. What and how you will click will be explained in the tutorial at the start of the game. There are 4 levels: easy, normal, hard, and insane. You start with easy and normal levels with Tanaka Hajime and Ippongi Ryuta as the lead squad leaders, respectively. All levels have same characters and 15 set of songs.

One word for the game: fun.  With its beautiful set of songs to amusing characters, I can never get enough of Ouendan. I’m looking forward in playing the sequel Moero! Nekketsu, and its English ‘soul’ sequel, Elite Beat Agents.

I was tad busy in RL so I wasn’t in here or in Twitter. I don’t know if this is a fortunate thing but I’ve got a few more months of slacking off before another “hibernation” period.

Having said that, I’m planning to finish the pile of anime, manga, and games on my list (not to mention some American series and Jdrama OTL) . I’m not sure if someone out there is really anticipating for my reviews (or rants) especially most of them are kinda not-so-recent things. But still, I’ll put them up. XD;;

With my long list, I don’t know where should I start first. I hope to clear them before January (impossible feat, I know XP).

Anyway, I found this pic of Ruka (TMGS 3). I really should get back on that game after I finished Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!

Title: Machi de Uwasa no Hakushaku-sama
Released Date: June 1, 2010
Platform: PC
Number of stills: 19
Number of endings: 16
Official Site: http://erfolg.main.jp/muh/index.html
Synopsis:

After saving her when she got lost in the forest, Siena showed her gratitude to her savior by working diligently as the maidservant. With her new life, Siena will discover different things about her three housemates…even their darkest secrets.

Translation of the official summary:

A family that was affected by a wave of recession
Dispersed by such an event that they are chased out from their separate homes
Siena, who got lost in the forest, whose heart and body are both at its limit
She was helped where she was found unconcious and wanted to return the favour..

“You, who trespassed my territory is mine.”

Provided with food and shelter, she now becomes a maidservant but..

The owner of this mansion Waltred
The servant Dalim
The person that came out of a box Jurij

A black fantasy, living together with the residents of the mansion who has various sides of themselves..

I have finally managed to finish this game. Initially lured by the art, I came to love the story as well. Not bad for a free game. ≧(´▽｀)≦

Machi de Uwasa no Hakushaku-sama is a dark story and some may find some scenes rather creepy. However, I find this the strongest point of the game. The story is nowhere grand. It is rather pretty straight-forward and simple yet it never ceased to pique my interest whenever they revealed something. Even if its theme is fantasy, you’ll see its resemblance to real-life situations. For instance, if you choose option A this will be the ending. However, if you choose the other option the ending also changes. That’s how big the impact of a seemingly trivial answer to the story, much like what happens in reality. The other options and endings are like showing the “what ifs” that you have in mind.

I was only after the Earl, Waltred, when I started this game but Dalim was adorable enough, making it impossible not to like him. This mute butler has been working for the Earl for who-knows-how-long (it may have been revealed in the game and I’ve just missed it ^^;;). He is gentle and ever smiling that Siena finds it easy to talk to him. Dalim is dedicated to his work which is evident by his never-failing care to the entire estate. Apparently, his care also extends to Siena. He likes patting her head while smiling and lovingly looking at her (or his eyes are just expressive xD) . There is more than meets the eye with this guy, though. That, you should look forward to in his ending.

Next is the guy from the box, Jurij. Let me say this, I dislike this guy :/. I mean, everything about him is weird, ranging from where Siena first find him, to his real age and connection to the rest of the household, and to his so-called ‘experiments’. He is good in medicine and often asks Siena to be his test subject. So I’m really indifferent with this guy and it goes stronger when I realized that he is the flippant-looking-yet-emo-outside type of character ( ￣っ￣). It does not help that he only blushed for, like, 2 times during his entire route. Meh. Moving on to the Earl…

The tsudere Earl~! o(〃＾▽＾〃)o
Out of 16 endings, most of it is on his route. He also have 3 endings: romance, gag, and dark. Obviously, the main guy of the story. Waltred is the one who saved Siena from the forest. He appears serious and grumpy but he is actually a tsundere! ≧(´▽｀)≦ On his 3 routes, Waltred shows a different side of him. Not only him, but Siena as well as she changes personality in each route.

Romance Route:
This has most of the drama of the story. This is where his tsundere-ness shows the most lol. He is sooo cute when he blushes~!

Here Siena is in her usual self: optimistic, naive, and meek.

Gag Route:
My fave route! (*゜▽゜ノノ゛☆ Siena trolls him a lot since he believes her words easily. He falls into tricks without breaking a sweat. Thus, he is the usual victim of Jurij and Siena’s pranks. He’s like a cute, grumpy kid when he realized he’s being trolled.

Siena is also quite scary in this route. She isn’t afraid to tell whatever she is thinking, even taming the pet wolf when it entered the mansion uninvited. I loved seeing the terrified faces of the guys whenever she outrages lol.

Dark Route:
Thanks to the gag route, the images from this was erased from my mind lol. Waltred shows his dark self (no pun intended ^^;;) which can be both scary and interesting. He isn’t his usual tsundere, kid-like self but he seems to have a grudge for Siena or something. Honestly, when he confessed to Siena, I was like (￣_￣ i). I find it hard to believe it since he is quite hostile towards Siena throughout the route. ^^;;

On the other hand, Siena is doubtful to everyone. She acts all friendly, complete with a carefree smile but deep inside she is contradicting whatever the other characters are telling her on her mind. Though I think, this is like the most natural reaction she showed throughout the game. Hearing a that kind of rumor, makes you a little queasy right? So being doubtful is not bad. I only don’t like what she decided to do after that…but uh, I guess, that’s kinda human nature? (｡・ε・｡)

As I’ve mentioned above, the art is the very reason I’ve started playing this one. IMO, the stills are better than the CGs. I think, the only likeable CGs are Dalim’s ending and Waltred’s dark ending. But the overall feel of the art is very fitting to the theme of the game. Same goes for the music as it blends accordingly and appropriately to the mood of the story.

The only downside of this game is it’s not voiced. But no worries, Machi de Uwasa no Hakushaku-sama will keep you entertained with its interesting story, pretty art, and fitting music, not to mention that this is FREE. Who says good things need to be expensive? X3

NOTE: ERFOLG is nice enough to make this beautiful game a freeware one. As a token of appreciation for their hardwork, please enjoy the game in its original languange. Bear in mind that reproduction and/or republishing is not allowed. More about this in this link: http://erfolg.main.jp/terms.html

PS Many thanks to animationfreak for the information and for reminding me about what I’ve mentioned above, and the people from MNR for the walkthrough. ^_^