insaneneko

Via wednesday_10_00, I've learned that the illustrator for the Flesh & Blood series by Matsuoka Natsuki has been changed from Yukifuna Kaoru to some artist named Aya. The next cd drama (coming out in December) and the next book (coming out sometime soon after) will feature the new artist. Talk about a crappy choice: get delayed books and no inside illustrations or NOT YUKIFUNA ART.

Flesh & Blood 11 is out! Took them long enough.

In any case, the cover! Look at the cover! I hope there are more illustrations inside...


xandria went to Japan and bought a whole crapload of Kuroshitsuji doujinshi. She's already started posting on yaoi_daily...While I am not a fan of shota, somehow I am compelled by the Sebastian x Ciel concept in a way I never was with the Loveless Soubi x Ritsuka thing (ick). I think I'd prefer some good mindfuck or something rather than real fucking, but I suppose one can't be too choosy when mooching off depending on the kindness of others. Though...It's hard for doujinshi artists to ever do justice when the original art kicks so much ass...


And that reminds me, xandria also bought an amazingly gorgeous pre-order-only Kuroshitsuji poster (not available on amazon japan but apparently available for quite a high price at yesasia). *_*

I think I had more to post about, but my brain is too dead to process anything more complicated than "oooh, pretty!" at this point. ^^;

Been trying to avoid the PoT manga posts I've seen around as I am planning on reading it in one fell swoop when the series ends...but the squeeing that erupted over Genius 349 defeated my resolve. leviosa8's post just killed me. I...can't quite believe that one infamous panel. Fanservice, much? I can't take it seriously (even though I do ship that pairing) because it just looks like it came straight out of a doujinshi. Love the fake scanlation, it just seems so much more fitting than the actual conversation!

Again via leviosa8, the Absolutely Unreliable Introduction to Oofuri! XD

Via wednesday_10_00, Matsuoka Natsuki wrote a bunch of short stories in celebration of the release of Flesh & Blood 10 (FINALLY!) on her blog (she uses Vox...heh) here. The stories will be up until 7/31. Speaking of Flesh & Blood 10, I can't believe how long it took for Amazon Japan to list the stinkin' book! The Chara novels I have ordered and am awaiting delivery of (though NOT from Amazon...):

Flesh & Blood 10 by Matsuoka Natsuki
The cover! *swoons* Too bad he's such a...a...a...

Soshite yubiwa wa kokuhaku suru (Book 4 of Sono yubi dake ga shitteiru) by Kannagi Satoru
What can I say? I like this series and have been waiting for this volume to come out for a long time--even longer than Flesh & Blood. I hope it doesn't suck (a lot of series with long blanks between volumes tend to go downhill...Do the authors just get sick of the series and write whatever to make money?).

Deadshot (Deadlock 3) by Aida Saki
I have only read Deadlock (the first book in the series) and can't say I was all that enamored of it...I think I need to reread it to make up my mind, though. In any case, I more or less liked Deadlock so I figured I'd just get Deadheat and Deadshot to finish up the series. If I end up hating the series, at least the art is nice. ^^;

For those who don't know Deadlock, check out the detailed review by Nanya, the translation of the first two chapters by xaevyn, and the very large pics posted by rusalkaz. It's prison drama with gorgeous men! In Cali! It does try to be gritty, but I don't think it quite got it...Did watching a bit of Oz spoil me? Man, that show was rather nasty...

(For those who actually buy manga or novels from Chara, don't forget the Chara 10th Anniversary Fair!)

Woo-hoo! I am down to one row of open tabs! Now when my orders (yeah, plural) arrive life will truly rock!

Via sargraf, why LJ was down this weekend. You don't have to know anything about Supernatural to enjoy!

"Chavvy chic" is in? I've been having enough problems with the eighties fashion resurgence, I don't think I can take any more tacky as cool.

I am halfway through Flesh & Blood volume 7, and the scene that stands out so far is the conversation between Geoffrey and Nigel. I love Geoffrey admitting he likes being scolded by Nigel because it's so easy to get too full of himself (both because of his personality and his position as ship's captain). He has Nigel to deflate him when it's necessary. I had to laugh at Geoffrey when he had to hastily clarify himself because Nigel initially took his words as a statement that he didn't take Nigel seriously. They have such a close, trusting relationship...Which is why looking back (forward?) at the scene when Nigel confesses to putting the moves on Kaito, it is much more painful. I really should read this in order. ^^;

I thought a bit more on Vicente...Though I haven't read all of the series yet, I can say this from what I do know: The dude is creepy. He wants to care for Kaito like a little brother, and have Kaito...er...can't think of the English right now...慕う him like a big brother? I dunno, maybe I've been brainwashed by reading too much BL, but I could swallow lust/romantic love fueling his obsession (his personal obsession, aside from his desire to capture Kaitofor Spain's advantage in the war) a lot better than this whole "brotherly love" thing. I don't think even the superimposing his dead little sister over Kaito explanation is enough for the sheer...fervor he seems to have to make things between them close and trusting. I harbor a slight perverse wish to see Vicente fall in love with Kaito so that he can angst over his unnatural, sinful feelings and urges. I think he's just a bit too...secure?...and needs a good deal of shaking up. But at the same time I don't want it to go down that route because it'd be too conventional (and a bit icky). :P

One thing that struck me when Kaito muttered 「マナツノヨルダ」 instead of 「真夏の夜だ」was the awkwardness of the conceit that people are speaking in a language other than the one that the story is actually written in. In Flesh & Blood, it's a given that everyone is speaking English . But the dialogue is written in Japanese, so when Kaito actually slips into Japanese, the author shows it by writing the Japanese in katakana. It feels unnatural, and reminded me of a similar problem with Black Lagoon. Basically I assume that everyone is speaking English, including our dear Japanese ex-businessman Rock. But when he is captured by a fellow Japanese? Nothing changed, but I was wondering if I should be assuming they are speaking Japanese. That question was only solved when the non-Japanese in the room said that though they were speaking in Japanese he knew Rock wasn't being questioned (which he wasn't). It's not a major problem, but something that does cross the back of my mind.

Started Flesh & Blood volume 4. Had to comment on Kaito admiring how British cooking hadn't progressed at all in four hundred years. LOL. (What's the matter, Kaito, doncha like British food?) Also, Vicente is...fascinating. He's of such a...noble mindset. Glory and honor, to country, king, god, the military, himself. It's rather disconcerting after being exposed to Geoffrey and company's attitude for so long. They are all devoted to their countries, but it's just odd how different they are. I can't imagine Kaito being comfortable around someone like him.

Love love love Luck in Legos, a Nightrunner adventure done in Legos. Cute, funny and retarded. XD

I can't believe how disgustingly boring it is to scan stuff in. I've been trying so hard to scan in this wonderful (beautiful) RyoTezu (yes, RyoTezu) doujinshi but I've only managed to do like 5 pages so far. It's going to take me a month at this rate. *sighs*

It's been pretty interesting seeing all the cosplay pics from whatever con just happened recently. In particularly like the first pic of Ritsuka and Seimei cosplay posted here. She has a look in her eye and the right kind of looks for Ritsuka.

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I've started reading Flesh & Blood volume 3...I had initially skimmed it really fast, but this series is not one for skimming so I'm going to go through each volume steadily instead of flying through them. I do like how the series highlights how spoiled we modern humans are. Kaito thinks he 'd rather die than eat buggy bread, but he learns to do so because he wants to survive. I felt strong empathy with him, because the thought of doing something like that is so revolting...but what if you have no choice? It's very easy to relate with Kaito because he's such a normal kid in many ways, but then I admire him for being able to survive (so far). I can't even begin to imagine living in such a stratified, dangerous world, especially as a clear foreigner.

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Oh my, Youtube is amazing. It seems everything is on there. I managed to skim through the entire Jyu Oh Sei anime without downloading anything. Admittedly the quality sucks (and the translations of the subtitles were awful) but at least I got to see the entire series without having to bother with bittorrent (which is still giving me problems *sighs*). It's interesting how each episode was made into thirds...is there some kind of limit on file sizes? In any case, too bad I couldn't find direct downloads of the series. I continue to be amused beyond all belief that the main character is voiced by Dohmoto Koichi from Kinki Kids. I've seen him in numerous dramas over the years, from when he was a youngster...but voice acting? I kind of skipped and hopped around the series, but it's interesting enough that I will probably try to somehow find a way to download it (and maybe find a better subber because seriously? The one that was uploaded on youtube was BAD) and watch it at decent quality. Two completely superficial reasons to watch it: Kazi in black and Third. I love their character designs, their voices. And I love Third later on, too. Oh, that was just too sweet. *_*

Part of the reason I wanted to watch the show (aside from the fact that the character designs were to my taste) was the ending song. I love the ending song. I fiddled with my bittorrent settings to attempt to get a decent speed (I failed and it took forever) to download it. Oh, but it was worth it. How I love the song:

Te wo tsunaide [Lyrics and translation]

I thought the name of the artist sounded familiar, and then it hit me that she sang one of the Bleach ending (or was it opening?) songs, Houkiboshi. Ah, that was a nice song. Check out Houki Boshi live on Pop Jam--for some reason I can't help but think there's a big gap between her looks and her voice. She's so wide-eyed, and yet her voice is (fairly) deep and mature.

I need to go find the opening song as well...*sighs* Mendokusai...

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I remember reading the thing about how people can read scrambled words if the first and last letters stay in the same place (Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.). Found an interesting article explaining the myths and truths behind the claim. The article also has examples of similar things in other languages, mostly European languages. Apparently it doesn't work in Hebrew. I know it wouldn't work in Japanese.