Ah, spring is in the air; the sun is out. Though hail is predicted for tomorrow :/

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So this entry comes hideously late and missing loads of stuff, but hey. I was shivering through the wind, rain and snow during my week’s vacation in Paris/Cologne and return to the UK amidst bright sunshine. Annoying. Still managed to keep up with some releases thanks to a nice wireless connection in Siegburg. Not that I missed a lot, mind you; I’ve heard quite a lot of mindless rubbish this week (NEWS, The Back Horn etc) - I still have a pretty sizeable backlog of anime to plough through though.

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Wish I could upload photos but I left the friggin’ cable back in UK. Left Paris this morning in sub-freezing conditions, and it was snowing in Cologne a few hours back….Snow!!!! It’s nearly April for goodness’ sake……oh, and thank God for the Internet, almost didn’t make it to Paris due to that damned track fire that caused Eurostar to suspend operations for a day. Online-ticketing banzai!!! British Airways bag drop is horrendously slow and irritating though.

14th March 2007
There’s not too much out this week which is a relief after the last fortnight’s flurry of releases. I’ll be away next week travelling around Europe (Paris and uh….Cologne) which is a little galling for me cos there’s tons of new stuff out on 21st March. Oh well, at least I’ll get to see the Eiffel Tower. And woe is me, YUI outsold Yuzu (涙).

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So there’s going to be an OVA in August. IN AUGUST!!!!! That seems like light years away (pulls hair in frustration) :/ Oh GONZO you horrible, horrible people. The last show of theirs I finished watching was erm…. Full Metal Panic? Tried Last Exile, got bored after 10 episodes, dropped. Same goes for everything else they’ve done recently - Gankutsuou, Black Cat, Samurai 7, NHK ni Youkoso!, Speed Grapher, Solty Rei. So to finish two in a row (Pumpkin Scissors is nearly done as well) is something like a personal accomplishment, lol. I swear I’ll get round to watching the second half of Kaleidostar someday……

So yeah, RED GARDEN. I spent the first few episodes utterly confused (plus the hideous singing drove me mad) and was ready to drop the series but somehow persevered and I’m glad I did - it’s turned out to be my favourite out of all the shows I picked up from the autumn season. I thought that it’d be some predictable ‘Girls Fight Monster Of The Week’ show but thankfully there was a more sinister, if rather odd and somewhat squeamish, plot behind the whole thing. Wasn’t impressed with the character designs, but they’re just a minor distraction and didn’t really diminish my enjoyment of the show.

The ending? I thought maybe it was a little rushed - the body/pile of sand count suddenly shot up - hardly anyone survived ^^;; None of the girls got as much screentime as I would’ve liked and of course, we didn’t get to see anymore yuri yuri scenes between Kate and Paula. Instead we get lots of blood, action and an emo-distorted Herve. The squelching sounds when he was killing Anna were gross. Ewwwww. And Lula!!!! And Lize!!!!!!! [;_;] Her sudden return to quasi-normality was senseless though. And who the hell is Emily???

Didn’t see enough of them Rozen Maidens either. Oh, and I wanted to see Rachel get a nice happy ending, she seemed to be dealt the crappiest cards out of them 4 girls - Kate has Paula, Rose has her dad, Claire has Euan and Rachel is left to drown her sorrows in bitter coffee and lemons. Oh well, I can always come up with possible scenarios in my mind - sometimes things are better left to the imagination.

That OVA blurb mentions some mysterious transfer student (Louise) and a (lol) bishonen called Edgar ^^; and how they approach the four girls. What’s their purpose/motive/blabla? plus some nonsense babble about some sacred grounds in the city called ‘Red Garden’ and the girls’ fate and whatnot. I was hoping for some ‘and-they-lived-happily-ever-after’ epilogue but oh well, it’s better than leaving us with blinding lights and pink flowers…… I wonder if the girls will regain their memories, or remain friends ?_? Or is it some alternate/parallel storyline?

Ah, RED GARDEN was such a fun ride. August can’t come soon enough….

07 March 2007
Oh my gosh it’s March!! And I was still saying Happy New Year to somebody the other day….I missed reviewing Hirai Ken’s Kimi na suki na toko last time out but it’s probably my fave song at the moment. This week - loads and loads of releases as well. Gyabo!!! I’m so behind the times with English language music now >_> I’ve just got hold of the Kaiser Chiefs’ new album. And Maximo Park. And Charlotte Hatherley. And Albert Hammond Jr. Oh my poor ears…..

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I like poking fun at Kobayashi Yu aka Gahaku (Master Artist Extraordinaire), who can’t draw to save her life. Despite the fact that I can barely draw myself. I was browsing through my usual catalogue of seiyuu blogs when I stumbled across Fukui Yukari’s blog post on the Goth Lolis’ attempt to draw Ronald McDonald. Kataoka was so moved by this work of art she described Kobayashi as a ‘modern-day Picasso’. And said that she was falling more in love with her ^^; Yukarin just called her a genius and gave her a standing ovation.

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微妙。

…………

(laughs ass off) in the end I only got 2 ; or rather, 1 1/2 correct, but hey, half of them awards were dubious. And having joint winners is lame. Ishida?? Miyata?????? Kakihara????????????????? Kano???????????????????????????????? The others are more or less OK I guess. Oh well, if Nana-chan hadn’t won that I’d have eaten my laptop. Yay for Kallen and Mikuru.

Best new male: Morita Masakazu - Ichigo (Bleach) , Kakihara Tetsuya - Mikoto (Princess Princess)
Best new female: Hirano Aya - Haruhi (Haruhi) , Kano Yui - Momoko (Sumomo)
Best personality: Asano Masumi (Anispa)
Best singer: Mizuki Nana (Justice to Believe)
Best male support: Ishida Akira - Athrun (Gundam Seed), Miyata Kouki - Kazumi (Yoshinaga)
Best male: Fukuyama Jun - Lelouch (Code Geass)
Best female support: Koshimizu Ami - Kallen (Code Geass), Goto Yuko - Mikuru (Haruhi)
Best female: Paku Romi - Nana (NANA)

I wouldn’t take this sort of stuff seriously anyway. “Who the hell is Kakihara Tetsuya?” crops up more than once on the Futaba-channel thread I read. Indeed, Kakihara ahead of Mamo, Sugita, Ono Daisuke; or even Irino Miyu - inexplicable. I guess there must be some behind-the-scenes politicking going on…. you scratch my back, I scratch yours? Though I have no idea what the winners get out of these awards anyway. Reminds me of all those Asian music/television awards - the winners are always those who actually bother to turn up for the ceremony.

Morita’s reaction - “I’m a newcomer? Shit, I’m 35-years old this year. I feel sorry for all the other kids (NOT).” More politely, of course.

Hirano’s reaction - “Shit, I’m not a newcomer. Why the hell am I getting this? Anyway, thanks a lot.” More politely, of course.

Happy that Gotu-za sama won.

I’m a little surprised Kyon didn’t win 0_o

Picture from Akiba, click on it for bigger pic. There’s also a short news segment on the ceremony at NHK’s site. Morita’s hair!!!!

Edit: Loved Paku Romi’s appearance on Anispa. She’s über cool. Nana on Comcha was dull, though.