A Conversation with my Bonnets

After I took a bath one day, the black (with dark shades of blue) bonnet spoke to me, where are you going? I looked at it with utmost disgust, and told him to shut up. It’s none of your business, I said to him.  He retorted back, and told me, you creep! You aren’t bringing me now, are you? Damn it.  I knew you had already someone else in your mind, and went to a whole lot of frenzy talk about the bonnets we have both seen in the mall and convincing me that they sucked. I covered him with my bath towel, and he shut up for the minute, but later on he shouted in frustration.  That alerted my other bonnet as well.

Will you shout up midget! my maroon in white stripe-bonnet told my black.  You are wrecking havoc in this room, you know.

Who are you calling midget, you furry bloated smelly brat! said the black in a furious anger.  Get the hell out of this room, airhead!

And they continue to rant on with each other’s anger.  It was only seconds later that I finally realized my

And What About Junpei Manaka?

Junpei Manaka

Nah, don’t believe that a guy like Manaka can attract so many girls.

But in Miyuki Kawashita’s Ichigo 100% manga, it is almost convincing that a dim-witted guy who doesn’t know much about choosing the girl he really likes and understanding his own emotions can get so many girls.  He couldn’t just decide the best among the girls around him! But the best thing about Manaka is that he is a cute when he is in that way, and probably that’s why girls love him.

And he is also a good film maker, I suppose.

He is also determined to pursue his dream to do movies in the future, and he

Inuyasha

Good news! New Inuyasha episodes coming up soon! very soon!

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Inuyasha

Inuyasha remains to be one of my favorite anime shows I have ever seen, second best to Rurouni Kenshin. I constantly watch the encore run in Hero Channel even though I already watched it a long time ago. The anime is classified as ‘shounen’ – action-packed anime whose lead protagonist are usually boys, and often referred as ‘for boys’. Other shounen titles include Prince of Tennis, Death Note, Naruto, Bleach and many more.

The manga was written by Rumiko Takahashi, and I’m currently downloading the scanlated volumes from the internet (oh, I wish that I knew who were the scanlators to give proper credits, but unfortunately it was not indicated in the manga copy that I have). But to tell you honestly, I rather much prefer the anime adaptation than the manga itself. I don’t know how to explain it, but if you have seen the manga version, then you’ll surely know what I mean. I was even quite surprised that the manga won the 2002 Shogakukan Award for the Best Shounen title for that year. Uhmm, maybe the manga was really good (given its nice anime adaptation) and I might be too early to rate it, when in fact I only started to download a few titles and I am NOT even halfway through it! Can you believe that I only download eight chapters when the latest volume release was just this May 2008 which ended in chapter 554, and still ongoing? Tssk… it is a long-term project for me, to think that the manga is still released in Japan, though it is said to be nearing its final story arc.

The 167-episode anime adaptation was produced by Yomiuri TV and Sunrise (like Kekkaishi) and directed by Masashi Ikeda and Yasunao Aoki one after the other. Even though it was officially premiered in year 2000 (in Japan), but until now, I still haven’t seen a hell lot of a conclusion in the story. The anime adaptation ended in chapter 356 of the manga. So basically all I’m seeing all the years are the encore runs and replays all over again, but that’s okay because I’m not tired to watch them at all. But I just wish for new anime episodes, something to look forward to, or is it better that the anime is unended?

Inuyasha and Kagome

Although there were four movies produced, these movies didn’t serve as a conclusion to the story either, and their plots exist independently from the original story line. I recall the time when Animax Asia premiered these movies every weekend of the month, and I’ve seen them all. These four movies are (1) Inuyasha the Movie: Affections Touching Across Time; (2) Inuyasha the Movie: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass; (3) Inuyasha the Movie: Swords of the Honorable Ruler; and (4) Inuyasha the Movie: Fire on the Mystic Island. My personal favorite is the third released movie, the Swords of the Honorable Ruler because Inuyasha’s brother Sesshoumaru made an appearance in there – and he’s got to be the hottest antagonist I’ve ever seen in the whole anime series (laughs)! Even though I also consider Naraku as a handsome guy, but he is still second-best to my Sesshoumaru.

The anime was broadcast in Japan and in other parts of Asia in its networks in East Asia, Yomiuri TV, and Nippon Television. The anime songs for the series are licensed by Avex Trax. I downloaded quite a few songs, but I hope I can complete the whole set. I only downloaded Change the World by V6, My Will by dream, I am by Hitomi, Deep Forest by Do As Infinity, Unending Dream by Nanase Aikawa, Dearest by Ayumi Hamasaki, Grip! by Every Little Thing, Every Heart by BoA, One Day, One Dream by Tackey and Tsubasa, Come by Namie Amuro, Angelus by Hitomi Shimatani, and Brand New World by V6. I still haven’t found a copy of Shinjitsu no Uta by Do as Infinity, and Itasura na Kiss by Day After Tomorrow, as well as all the movie theme songs.

Inuyasha

The story centers about the high school girl Kagome Higurashii, who was transported into the feudal world of Inuyasha through an old well. There she accidentally broke the Shikon no Tama (Jewel of Four Souls) into pieces, which is utterly dangerous because any creature that would use these broken pieces in a bad way may be dangerous. Inuyasha, who was a half-demon also pursued to get all the pieces by himself, but he ended up pairing with Kagome in this quest since Kagome is the reincarnation of Kikyou, a former priestess who stood guard of the of the jewel and Inuyasha’s beloved. There, the two meets Miroku, a lascivious monk I say, who asks every girl he meets to be the mother of his future children, Sango, a demon exterminator who is in the quest for revenge against Naraku, and Shippo, a cute fox demon. The main villain is Naraku who is responsible for the misunderstanding between Inuyasha and Kagome, Miroku’s curse hand, and the death of Sango’s family. Sesshoumaru appeared once in a while to add conflict elements (and he’s so cute!) but I know deep inside that he’s a very compassionate guy. Ha-ha!

Big Toys Superweapons!

I amused myself by watching TV or reading manga when I’m bored. Other times I read books, but ever since I finished reading the painstaking Anna Karenina (I call it ‘painstaking’ because it was so thick that I’ve read it for over a month – on and off, but the book was nice though), I imposed a total restraining order for reading thick books because I’m still exhausted and ‘overwhelmed’ by that Tolstoy-book. So most of the time I just stayed in the house eating and sleeping and doing something in between.

Part of my TV schedule is watching amazing features from Discovery Channel. I can still remember one of its coolest episodes by far, Superweapons: Top Ten. It’s not that I’m cruel, but war never ceases to amaze me, and even that, the weapons used are something that fascinates me. I’ve lived my childhood days preferring toy cars and guns than cheesy Barbie dolls.

There are five specific considerations for choosing the top ten superweapons: the fear factor, the fire power, the protection, the innovation and the service length. Among the reviewers were defense analysts – Rebecca Grant and Paul Beaver, and naval architects, James Harrison and Philip Simms. The super weapons chosen were the hardest, the fastest and the ones that won the battle for over the years. Some of the minor considerations are its own features like displacement, propulsion, speed, crew, range, protection, and principal armament. Cool!

Hood Class Battle Cruiser

To start the countdown, at number ten, we have the Hood Class Battle Cruiser, completed in Germany on year 1920. It has a speed of 31 knots and range of 5,170 nautical miles. It was used by Germany in its great battles in year 1960. It is 860 feet long and one of the largest ships ever built for royal armor at that time. It was also the best fighting ship because of its side armor at an angle. It was unfortunately destroyed in 1941, where about 1,400 people died.

Deutschland Class Pocket Battleship

At the ninth spot is the Deutschland Class Pocket Battleship (I dunno if I got the spelling right but it sounds and looks like that way). It has a speed of 26 knots and can accommodate a crew of 1,150 people. It amazing features includes its innovative design to make it lighter, that’s why it can cruise 12,500 miles. This German battle ship was used during the outbreak of World War 1, where it was used to attack merchant shipping by its 5-inch thick armor, thereby, earning its nickname, ‘The Formidable Raider’.

Essex Class Aircraft Carrier

At the eight spot is the Essex Class Aircraft Carrier, used during America’s pacific wars. It has propulsion of 4 X shaft steam turbines, a speed of 33 knots, a range of 15,000 nautical miles, and protection of a maximum armor of 3 inches. It weighs for about 34,880 tons, and can accommodate a crew of 2,687. It was commissioned by America to replace its battleships during American-Japanese War. It fears an adversary: it is the number one target of the kamikaze pilots. There were 24 aircraft carriers built on this class, and most of them remained in service for another 30 years. This is probably one of the reasons why Allies won the World War 1, and this reason remains to be one of its tremendous impacts.

Bismarck Class Battle Ship

At the seventh spot is Hitler’s favorite ship! The Bismarck Class Battle Ship weighs 50,153 tons, has propulsion of 3 X geared steam turbines, speed of 30 knots and range of 8,525 nautical miles. It can take up a crew of 2,300 people. It has a protection of maximum armor of 14 inches, and its principal armament was 8 X 15-inch guns. It is considered as the best German navy ship. In 1941, it was used as a first war patrol, but then later on it was used to attack Allied ships. Its technology was so advanced that it was a major threat at sea.

North Carolina Class Battleship

At the sixth spot is the North Carolina Class Battleship. It has a displacement of 44,800 tons, and propulsion of quadruple steam engines producing 121,000 horsepower. It has a speed of 27 knots, and a range of 17,850 miles. It can take up 1,880 people. It has a protection of a maximum armor of 16 inches and its principal armaments are the 9 X 16-inch guns. Because of these features it is used as service combats in pacific battles, especially against Japan. Only, it is known to have a short operational service life.

Fletcher Class Destroyer

The Fletcher Class Destroyer is in the fifth spot, the little ship with a big punch! It has a displacement of 2,325 tons, and propulsion of 2 geared turbines. It can accommodate a crew of 329 people. Its range can take up to 6,500 nautical miles. It has a protection of maximum armor of 0.5 inches over vital areas and its principal armaments are 5 X 5-inch guns. It is an awesome fighting machine because it has built-in sonar to identify any incoming attacks. It is used to target and kill mainly kamikaze attacks. It is responsible for the sinking of 29 Japanese submarines and more than 15,000 kamikaze pilots were killed. Personally, this is my favorite weapon, haha!

Ticonderoga Class Missile Cruiser

The sophisticated Ticonderoga Class Missile Cruiser is in the fourth spot. It has a displacement of 9,466 tons and propulsion of 4 X general electric turbine engine. It has a speed of 30 knots and a range of 6000 nautical miles at 20 knots. It has a protection of Kevlar armor over vital areas and it has principal armaments of 2 X M45 5-inch guns. It can take up 400 crew members. It is known to be a missile destroyer. It has advanced radar track targets. It was upgraded with tomahawk attack missiles that can shoot in a digital battle field. Later on, it was used to patrol in waters for both commercial and military shipping. It has a service length of 20 years.

Queen Elizabeth Battle Ship

At the third spot is the Queen Elizabeth Battle Ship, the toughest battle ship. It has a displacement of 36,450 tons, and propulsion of quadruple screw steam turbines. It runs in a speed of 23 knots and can take a range of 4500 nautical miles at ten knots. It has a protection armor of 13 inches and a principal armament of 8 X 15-inch guns. It can accommodate a crew of 1,190 people. The different thing about this ship is it is powered with oil, rather than coal. It has been used during World War 1 and World War 2, and its service length took long as 30 years.

Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier

At the second spot is the Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier. It has a displacement of a staggering 97,000 tons! Its propulsion is 2 X nuclear reactors with 4 turbines. Its speed is 30 knots and its range is unlimited. Protection: none. But it can carry and facilitate 85 X aircrafts and can accommodate a crew of 5,680 people. It is known as the largest and the most powerful warship because of its size and capability.

Iowa Class Battle Ship

Finally, at the first spot – the best of all the best superweapons – is the Iowa Class Battle Ship. It has a displacement of 57,450 tons and propulsion of 4 X screw steam turbines. It has a speed of 33 knots and a range of 15,000 nautical miles over 12 knots. It has a protection armor of 18 inches and a principal armament of 9 X 16-inch guns that can fire up to 24 miles. It was launched on year 1942 and because of the war, it was always on the heat of the action. It was upgraded to shoot tomahawk missiles. This ship is the evidence that there are so many ways to hurl destruction. It was used during World War 2, Korean War, Vietnam War, and even in Gulf War, thus its service length was 50 years. With its massive power and top speed, no wonder it earned the first spot in the countdown.

So it’s about the top ten fighting ships, eh?

They are really big toys. Trust me.

Midori Days!

Midori Days

Oh, today, I’ll blog about one of my favorite manga that I’ve finished reading last summer – Midori no Hibi, or to put it simply, Midori Days.  The main character Midori Kasugano, is in love with the high school delinquent Seiji Sawamura – nicknamed, “Mad Dog” Sawamura, and extremely famous for his “Devil’s Right Hand”.  Now, what would happen if Seiji’s precious hand becomes a miniature Midori?  Well, that’s definitely what the manga is all about.

Seiji Sawamura (voiced by Kisho Taniyama in Japanese version, and Drew Aaron in English) is a high school student who is known for his amazing fighting skills, but he is not really totally what I call ‘juvenile delinquent’ – he’s just the kind of guy that fights off other bad guys who oppresses the weak.  He uses his ‘devil’s right hand’ to fight the bad guys off, but this hand is also the main reason why he couldn’t find a single girlfriend.  He has gone through 17 years without one, and at the start of the manga (as well as the anime) this is thoroughly exemplified.  Physically, Seiji appears to be a cool, hot guy oozing with sex appeal, *laughs, it’s so ironic how bad guys ends up like that in manga.

Midori Kasugano

Midori Kasugano (voiced by Mai Nakahara in Japanese, and Kether Fernandez in English) on the other hand, is a student of Ogurabashi High School which is a different school from Seiji’s.  She has a crush for Seiji for three years, but unfortunately, she is too shy to let him know.  She just watches Seiji from afar.  She wishes to be with Seiji someday, which actually happened when she became Seiji’s right hand.

The story started with Seiji being rejected by a girl he was courting, and went home depressed because he couldn’t find a girlfriend for himself.  Thus, at home he was daydreaming of having one, and surprisingly, he saw that a miniature girl has appeared in his right hand!  Midori readily confesses her love for him, and Seiji was initially delighted about this – not until he realized that this isn’t the kind of relationship he dreams of – going out with his right hand.  At first he was really harsh with Midori, especially because he couldn’t use his ‘devil’s right hand’ anymore, but as the story progresses, he develops a kind of attraction for her.  While the miniature Midori was in Seiji’s right hand, her real body is in state of coma at her house.

Seiji Sawamura

Other characters include Takako Ayase (voiced by Reiko Takagi in Japanese, and Mollie Weaver in English) a girl who originally hates Seiji because of his offenses, but later on falls in love with him, Rin Sawamura (voiced by Atsuko Yuya – Zoe Martin), 21-year old sister of Seiji who happens to be a former leader of a street gang, Kota Shingyoji (voiced by Rie Kugimiya – Sebastian Arcelus), Midori’s friend since childhood who has strong feelings for her, but in the later part of the series, he develops feelings for Seiji, Miyahara Osamu (voiced by Hirofumi Nojima – Sean Elias-Reyes), underclassman of Seiji who looks up to Seiji, and who ends up being rescued by Seiji himself, Shiuchi Takamizawa (Yuji Ueda – Joshua Popenoe) a doll maniac who envies Seiji because of the doll-like Midori, and Shiori Tsukishima (Yukari Tamura – Michelle Medlin), a 10-year neighbor who’s in love with Seiji, etc.

There is an anime adaptation of the famous manga written by Kazurou Inoue, in which the original 85 manga chapters are squeezed in the 13-episode-anime.  Lots of scenes and characters are lost in the anime though, but I still think that the anime version can still stand on its own.

The manga is published by SS Comics, the same publisher as Inuyasha, but my copy is scanlated by the Snoopy Cool Scans and I want to thank

the scanners snoopy and xabin;

the editors burgundyteens, mangalurker, and casmos

and the translator nihongoman.  Great job, great stuff!

Blood+!

Blood+

Blood+ is one of my favorite shows in Animax. This one’s an amazing anime because of the superb special effects and the theme songs – they go so well with the plot’s atmosphere and the whole ideology (sort of) of the anime. I sometimes watch the encore run in Animax (since the semester’s not yet over I missed episodes in between) but I already watched the whole series when it was first premiered on Animax here in the Philippines. In 2006, the anime is ranked no. 41 in TV Asahi’s Top 100 Favorite Anime Series. Cool eh?

The Blood+ anime is directed by Junichi Fujisaku, and was based on the 2000 anime film entitled Blood: The Last Vampire. I still haven’t watch that anime film yet, I could have compared it to the anime series – I only manage to take a glimpse of the female character and I prejudging-ly say that I prefer the anime. Laughs.

Diva and Saya

I’ve also read that there are three manga series inspired from the same anime, but I haven’t got the chance to read them. Well, if you know any site that scanlates manga or a site that provides you free reading of the manga online – please please let me know. I want to compare and contrast the two, and see them as a whole. There are also two Japanese light novel adaptation of the same anime.

The 50-episode anime series was produced by Production IG (like Fullmetal Alchemist) and Aniplex (like Girl From Hell) and the anime is widely distributed through Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI). Here in the Philippines(South East Asia), it was aired through Animax, Sony’s anime satellite channel.

One of the best points of the anime series – the theme songs. For one thing, the entire musical score and few of the soundtracks of the anime were made by the celebrated music geniuses Hans Zimmer and Mark Mancina. These includes Haji Plays J.S. Bach, you know, that scene when Haji plays that cello piece, and the hair-raising Diva’s voice that intensifies the mood of the anime. The anime’s opening and ending themes are all produced by Sony Music, and very excellent too, because all the anime theme songs are totally fit for the episodes. The opening theme songs are Aozora no Namida by Hitomi Takahashi, Season’s Call by Hyde (totally hot!), Colors of the Heart by UVERworld, and Raion by Jinn while the ending theme songs are the following – Kataritsugu Koto by Chitose Hajime, Cry No More by Nika Nakashima, This Love by Angela Aki (my personal favorite!) and Brand New Map by K (I find this guy so appealing!). I managed to download all these theme songs (thank God!) and I posted most of the lyrics here in my blog (some of them with corresponding translations).

The story centers about Saya Otonashii, a high school girl with amnesia and an anemic one. She is just your typical and ordinary girl, but she holds a very terrible past that she forgot, and little by little it all comes back to her. It gets worse when she is attacked by a chiropteran (monsters that feeds on human blood) wherein the same horrible creatures kills her stepfather. She finds that her blood is the only thing that defeats them, and she is ultimately the only one who can all these nonsense murders. This is where Saya decides that she is going to embark in a journey with her sword and her faithful chevalier, Haji.

Along the way, she rediscovers her real identity, and she faces lots of challenges. The anime also incorporates artistic elements such as flashbacks, allusions of war, and the science-morality dichotomy.

Helping Saya in her quest to fight these bloodsucking creatures are her stepbrothers Kai and Riku. Kai is very cute, I like his character – you know- the typical guy-next-door but a totally compassionate guy. You can’t deny she’s in love with Saya, but because of the battle he has to postpone his feelings and just prefers to stick behind her to support her emotionally. Riku is the younger stepbrother of both Kai and Saya – very carefree and emphatic young boy. But he is killed by Diva in the middle of the anime series. All three of them are adopted by their stepfather George Miyagusuku, who dies in the earlier part of the anime series because a chiropteran attacks him. George Miyagusuku is also part of the organization, the Red Shield, and David is her personal protector of the same organization. Her chevalier, Haji, always goes with her no matter where she goes. Saya’s chevaliers are Haji and Riku.

Diva

The main antagonist is Diva, along with her chevaliers, Amschel, Solomon, Karl, James and Nathan. Among these chevaliers I like Solomon most. Aside from the fact that he is so hoooot, he is soft-spoken and she falls in love with Saya. Their human allies is the Cinq Fleches Group, headed by Van Argiano (that guy who always eat sweets in a hair-raising sexy way). The Schiff also works alongside with them, but then later, this group breaks away and sides with Saya’s group.

In the whole anime series, my favorite characters are Kai Miyagusuku, Saya Otonashii and Diva’s chevalier Solomon. There are the must-see characters that makes you go ga-ga. They are the reasons why before, I go home every weekends. I just could get enough of them, you see.