feeling the anime love: ookiku furikabutte

I figured I wouldn't watch any of the new anime for a while, since I haven't really had much of an urge to watch anything at all in the last five months or so. I was going to eventually check out Ookiku Furikabutte since I love the manga and there's just something about baseball anime (and movies) that works for me. But I was galvanized into immediate action when prillalar posted about how much she loves it so far. So I looked for torrents, found some really underseeded ones, then discovered through oofuri one of those posts with links to downloadable episodes, saving me from eternal bittorrent hell. (Right now there's only raws on the post...Who the heck is subbing this? I totally don't mind raws, but I like to download subs to facilitate pimping...)

In any case, I saw the first two episodes and...I couldn't stay still, I was so excited. It brought back exactly why I love the manga. I love how the characters have been realized in the anime, even though Abe's voice throws me off for some reason (not wrong, but not what I imagined). As I've probably said before re: the manga, I love how...earnest and willing the entire team is. Not much in the way of ego and machismo, just boys wanting to play ball! XD I love that coach so much, too. I love how she just bubbles over with love of the game. Most of the "good" coaches I've read/seen in sports manga/anime have been cryptic or a tad bit distant (not in a bad way, though). This coach is just so there.

I need to go dig out my manga and reread it. And possibly find scans of the newest chapters not yet in tankobon form.

I even already like the opening song. I am so looking forward to watching more!

desire extra

I didn't realize that there had been an extra for Desire (aka Yabai Kimochi), the manga by Kazumi Maki and Honami Yukine, until enelte approached me to translate it. It's cute! Check it out:

via sendspace
via savefile

It made me take a look at the novel version again, which includes a second story about as long as the first one (the part made into the manga) as well as a shorter one from Ryoji's POV (which I happen to like a lot...so much so I had done a rough translation of it, but I lost it and have yet to find it...). Has the novel been licensed? If not, and if anyone's interested, I can scan the pics from the novel and summarize the parts not in the manga. I think the novel fills out the relationship so much more, and Ryoji made so much more sense to me. Toru also comes off as so much less of a weak, wimpy character. That is, unless someone's already translated/summarized it already (being supremely lazy, I'd rather not duplicate effort XD).

I highly recommend the CD drama as well. The casting is excellent, especially Ryoji. The voice actor actually made me take a second look at Ryoji, whom I didn't even like much before (inconsiderate cad, much?). Only after I gave the character another chance did I begin to appreciate him. I would've uploaded it if I could've found it on my hard drive...I must have archived it already. :P

Love Love Enpitsu-chan 4 by CJ Michalski

Sorry I haven't posted anything "of substance" lately. The raw desire is there, just not all the other stuff it takes. In this case, the focus to proof the translation I did quite a while ago and just left hanging...Does anyone want to proof the translations for me so that I don't have to?

In any case, I love how retarded this family is. XDXD

( Love Love Enpitsu-chan 4 by CJ Michalski )