About Natsuki Takaya

Natsuki Takaya

If you are a certified manga addict, then perhaps you would know her.  Natsuki Takaya is the Japanese manga artist of the famous manga Fruits Basket (you probably have seen the anime adaptation) J.  That’s her pen name – she is born as Naka Hatake, on July 7, under the star sign Cancer.

 

I love her manga really – oh, I also love the 26-episode anime adaptation.  Because of the famous Fruits Basket manga, she received the Kodansha Manga Award for shojo in 2001.

 

My favorite Fruits Basket character is Kyou, the cat – hmmm, I can’t deny he’s really appealing, and I also like the character of the wacky Shigure-san.

 

I’m currently reading her manga Boku ga Utau to Kimi wa Warau Kara, though I’m really slow in terms of reading it because the semester is going to be over soon and lots and lots and lots of things are to be done.  whew!

 

Paradise Kiss

If you have read Ai Yazawa’s manga Gokinjo Monogatari and you happen to love it, then probably you would also enjoy the semi-sequel of this work – Paradise Kiss.  Paradise Kiss, or ParaKiss, is an original 5-volume manga written by Yazawa, and has been adapted into a 12-episode anime produced by Aniplex and Studio Madhouse.  I’ve seen the anime in Animax, who broadcast the series and widely distributed it and it was so amazing.

The protagonist of the story is Yukari Hayazaka, also nicknamed Caroline, a highschool student who is already bored with her life driven by routines, thus, when she meets the Parakiss crew, she models for them and decides to stop her review for the university entrance examinations.  She matures little by little through her relationship with George Koizumi, a chic and handsome university student, and a fashion designer.  George designs Yukari’s outfit when she models for them, or for anybody else.  Along with the Parakiss crew are Miwako Sakarada a cute and childlike university student who fondly calls Yukari ‘Caroline’ a lot and Arashi Nagase, the punk, rock and hardcore guy who is a band member and Miwako’s girlfriend.  The mother figure of the Parakiss crew is none other than Daisuke “Isabella” Yamamoto, but she is actually a crossdresser.

But one character that I will not forget in this anime is Hiroyuki Tokumori, Yukari’s classmate – a handsome, appealing, silent and intelligent young man, who always looks out for Yukari and concern for her studies. In the first part of the anime, Hiroyuki is the object of Yukari’s affection, but her emotions shifts to George when she meets him.  I like Hiroyuki because his character reminds me of my highschool crush (and I still like that guy) – both are intelligent in the first place.  *giggles

Oh yeah, too much for digressions.

Not to forget the theme songs of the anime – Lonely in Gorgeous performed by Tommy February6 is the opening theme, and Do You Want To by Franz Ferdinand is the ending theme.

If you really love fashion, you’ll fall in love with this anime. J

 

Emma: A Victorian Romance

Emma

It was a pity that I didn’t have the chance to finish watching a Cinderella-like story of Emma: A Victorian Romance in Animax.  It was first aired on the channel when I was still in high school, and because the evening schedule wasn’t just fit for my schedule, I didn’t have the chance to watch the later episodes.  The storyline was great though, very heartwarming but still, it’s no good to think that still I haven’t had the chance to watch it.  I only watched a few good earlier episodes.  I also watched the continuation of the anime via YouTube but I was too broke at that time.  In short, I just don’t have the chance.

Now that I’m starting downloading a few manga copies of my own choice I stumbled upon the manga version of Emma and I was perfectly happy to download and finally finished the whole story! I was so delighted, it was a very good story, mind you, and sometimes I think about the romantic story in my serious, so-called reflection moments.  Ha! I just like the character of William Jounes and I also like Hakim too! I think Hakim is much more appealing to me, though his ‘girls’ are kind of disturbing.  Then again, I think I’ll prefer Will.

The story was about the maid Emma, who came to work with the retired live-in governess and widowed Kelly Stowner. One day, William Jounes, who was Kelly Stowner’s former student, visited her.  There he bumped into Emma, and fell in love with her.  But William is the oldest son of the noble family of Jounes, and her father Richard already decided that his son would marry Eleanor Campbell, who was a daughter of a viscount.  And then, the conflict starts here.

But I’m not spilling out the whole story here though, I would like you to read it yourself because it’s a very nice manga.

Probably by far, the most dramatic page in the manga.

The manga series was written by Kaoru Mori.  I would like to thank Iihan Translation Group for coming up with a good manga release such as this and Stoptazmo as well for the distribution.  I’m so happy and would like to thank personally the people who were involved with this manga project especially to

the translators whispers and mogura;

to by_request for a good editing job;

to squeeks and jedi_vader20 for the distribution;

to the quality checker boke;

to !waha.06×36 for providing the raw volumes;

and to the scanners winny and anonymous!  I saw your names in the manga copy that I have.  Thanks a lot guys, you rock!

The manga has a total of 52 chapters in 7 volumes, so its not really painstaking to read it.  Besides, it’s all worth it.

 

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!

 

Again

By Yui

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

Opening Song

Edward Elric

Last night, I watched the premiere of the new Fullmetal Alchemist franchise entitled Fullmetal Alchemist – Brotherhood and it was amazing! I was so astounded with the effects, and as usual, I’m delighted for Col. Roy Mustang presence, as ever.

The opening song for this most anticipated anime is entitled Again, and this was performed by Yui. I posted here both the romaji lyrics and the English translation.

This is the lyrics guys. If you have any suggestions, just email me at kyrillevin@gmail.com. Cheers!

Japanese/Romaji lyrics

Kono omoi o keshite shimau ni wa

Mada jinsei nagai desho

Yarinokoshiteru koto

Yarinaoshite mitai kara

Yume no tsuzuki

Oikakete ita hazu na no

Magarikunetta hosoi

michi hito ni tsumazuku

Ano koro mitai ni tte

modoritai wake ja nai no

Nakushite kita sora o sagashiteru

Wakatte kuremasu you ni

Gisei ni natta you na

Kanashii kao wa yamete yo

Tsumi no saigo wa

namida ja nai yo

zutto kurushiku seottekun da

deguchi mienai kanjou meiro ni

Dare o matteru no

Shiroi nooto ni tsuzutta you ni

Motto sunao ni hakidashitai yo

Nani kara nogaretain da

Genjitsu tte yatsu

Kanaeru tame ni ikiterundatte

Sakebitaku naru yo kikoete imasu ka

Munan ni nante yatterarenai kara

Kaeru basho mo nai no

Yasashisa ni wa itsumo kanshashiteru

Dakara tsuyoku naritai

(I’m on the way)

Natsukashiku naru

Konna itami no kangeijan

The Elric Brothers

English Translation

Isn’t my life still too long

for erasing these thoughts?

I have things left to do

Because I want to try doing them again.

Even though I must have been pursuing

the continuation of my dream

I stumble over other people

on a narrow, winding road.

It’s not that I want to return

to how it was like back then

I’m searching for the sky that I’ve lost

I wish that you’ll understand me

Stop making that sad face like

you’ve been sacrificed

There aren’t tears at the end of sins

I’ve painfully bore them all this time

In the labyrinth of emotions

where I can’t see the exit

Who am I waiting for?

As if having written it in a white notebook

I want to divulge myself more honestly

What do I want to flee from?

…something known as reality?

I’m alive so that I can fulfill myself

I feel like shouting so;

Can you hear me?

Because I can’t be doing it safe and sound

There’s no place for me to return to

either I’m always grateful for kindness

So I want to become strong

(I’m on my way)

I even welcome such a pain

that turns nostalgic.

 

Fullmetal Alchemist – Brotherhood

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

Now that summer has just started, I am totally updated with the goings-on on Animax. Laughs. You could say, it’s really weird, but part of summer is watching lots of anime shows and downloading manga. Yep, just like what I did before.

Speaking of, I am totally excited of the upcoming fullmetal alchemist series, entitled Fullmetal Alchemist – Brotherhood that will be premiering for the month of April. Nothing is much happier knowing that I can surely keep track of the episodes because it’s summertime! It’s kinda exciting this time because this is Animax Asia’s world’s first anime simulcast in the same week, as the anime will be premiering a week earlier in Japan. So FMA fans need not to wait for too long to catch up with the episodes, or wait for someone else to download them in YouTube.

Edward Elric

The manga is originally written and conceptualized by Hiromu Arakawa, and the Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is the third FMA franchise – the first one is the Fullmetal Alchemist anime adaptation and the second one is the movie Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa. Like the previous FMA shows, the long awaited Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is produced by the anime studio Bones. It is directed by Yasuhiro Irie.

I’m totally excited of this third FMA shows, and I hope that my onscreen anime crush Roy Mustang (The Flame Alchemist!) would still be there. Well anyway, let’s keep our fingers crossed. If he’s not there, at least, the cute pip squeak Ed would do me a little show.

The most anticipated anime will be premiering in the same week broadcast, April 10, 2009, 8:30 pm. The anime has a staggering 51 episodes. Don’t worry, if you can’t catch up with the primetime show, I’ve read that Animax will have a recap marathon of a month’s worth of episodes on the last Saturday and Sunday of the month.

Fullmetal Alchemist

 

Falco

lyrics: BOUNCEBACK
composition: Watanabe Kazunori
arrangement: Maejima Yasuaki
vocals: Shimatani Hitomi

The Law of Ueki

Kimi wa nani wo nozomu no?

Dare no tame ni kizu tsuki
Yume wa ukabu kuuhaku

Hitomi wo tojita

SAFURAN saita kokoro ni

Suna arashi ga yamanai
Sabaku yori mo hatenaki

Toki wo samayou

 

True Light

DNAngel

Opening Theme of D.N.Angel
lyrics : Sakai Mikio
music : Yamasaki Masumi
arrangement : Nagai Rui
vocal : Miyamoto Shunichi

kanashii hodo hikari dashita
shiroi yami kirisaku tsubasa ni nare

tsumetai taiyou ni terasare teta
kainara sareta jiyuu ga atta
kagami ni utsutta kiseki no yoru
MASUKU o hazushi hajime ta My Soul

kuzure te yuku abe no mukou wa
zetsubou mo kibou mo onaji kao suru
mita sare nai kokoro aru nara
tobi tateru shuumatsu no PUROROOGU e

yaiba no you na kaze fuku sekai
mamoru beki mono wa nan nano ka?
hitotsu hitotsu itami o shiru tabi
hontou no jibun e to chikazuku

kie yuku Fake Light
umare yuku True Light
kono te ni…

shiroku somaru yami tsuki nukete
atarashii jidai o kizami tsuzukero
toki wa nashita kokoro no mama ni
hateshi naku tsuzui teku byaku ya o tobe

English Translation :

a sad light shone
turning into wings that cuts the white darkness

shone upon by

 

We Were There

Yano and Nana

I could still recall the time when I first saw an episode of the anime Bokura ga Ita, and I could say that I really got hooked to it. It is a shoujo manga, dealing with young teenage love and relationship, and how it develops into a much more mature love when the characters Yano and Nana reach the adult stage.

It’s a romance manga written by Yuuki Obata, and it was serialized in Betsucomi released in 2002. Then, an anime adaptation of the famous manga was released. The anime version follows the plot of the manga until Yano leaves Nana. But don’t worry, to all Bokura Ga Ita fans, the manga is still ongoing, and mind you, the plot is getting interesting I could hardly wait what would happen next.

The story starts of with Nana, a 15 year old high school girl who told herself that she would never fall in love with the campus crush Yano like two-thirds of the class. For me, she is very fragile girl because she always ends up being confused with her own feelings, but nevertheless, she is cute as much as Yano is concerned. Later, as the story progresses, she begins to get curious on Yano, to the point of knowing more about him (Yano’s past, and Yano’s ex-girlfriend, also named Nana) and eventually falling in love with him. Yano, a popular and the typical highschool heartthrob, falls in love Nana too, starts dating her, and affectionately calls her Nana-chan. Not to mention, he is the usual flirt that mostly occurs in appealing guys.

Nanami Takahashi

At the surface, we know Yano as extremely sociable to all kinds of people, especially to girls, but deep inside, he had a hard time dealing and trusting them because of his traumatic experience with his first girlfriend. This is the reason why that when he’s still dating Nana, he is too possessive with her. At some point, Yano is caught between either the present girlfriend Nana or the memory of his ex-girlfriend who died in a car accident. Yano’s ex-girlfriend, also called Nana, died in a car accident with her ex-boyfriend, and the thought of this, made Yano (unknowingly) emotionally bruised. This in turn affects the relationship that he has with the present Nana.

Yano Motoharu

Yano’s close friend, Takeuchi, is the kind of guy that you can hold on to in times of trouble. He is much kinder and more emphatic than Yano, and most of the time, when Nana is having problems with her relationship with Yano, Takeuchi is there to console her. This is the reason why Takeuchi falls in love with Nana too, starting at that time when Nana is dating Yano, until the present series. But as a close friend in the background, he doesn’t messes up with the relationship of his beloved Nana and his bestfriend Yano. Instead, he warns Yano that he hurts Nana she wouldn’t have any second thoughts to sort of ‘snatch’ her away from him. True enough, that’s what happened later on the manga series.

Another character in the story is Yuri Yamamoto. She is a classmate of both Yano and Nana-chan. She is the younger sister of Nana Yamamoto, who is Yano’s ex-girlfriend. Nana Yamamoto is older than Yano when she starts dating her. Yuri, her younger sister, (and very unlike her sister) is so passive and extremely unsociable. She falls in love with Yano even before Yano is dating her older sister. A week after the tragic incident of Yano’s ex-girlfriend, it is revealed that Yuri actually slept with Yano. That event made Yuri develop an extreme hate to Yano, because she felt that she was ‘used’. She becomes a love obstacle between the relationship of Nana-chan and Yano.

Bokura Ga Ita

In the manga version, the story continues until the characters enter their respective choices of university. Yano and Nana both parted ways because they attended to different universities, and both promised to keep in contact with the other. But what happen is that Yano fails to contact her almost all the time when he is staying in Tokyo. He completely cuts off all the communication with her. Nana, who is naturally emotionally unstable, feels heartbroken and confused. Unknown to Nana, Yano encounters lots of problems in the busy skirts of Tokyo: financial crisis and his mother’s death. Because of the loss of communication, Nana decides to leave her feelings out for Yano and starts moving on with her painful experience. She starts dating Takeuchi. At the present manga release, they are 21 years old. Later on, it is revealed that Yano is now actually living with Yuri Yamamoto.

Yano and Nana-chan

Actually there is more to the manga than what is written here, so be sure you’d get to read it. But I couldn’t deny the fact that the anime version is the perfect rendition of the emotional gravities that one should felt in the story. This is one tragic story filled with love, unexpressed emotions, mixed confusion that leaves everyone victims of their own feelings. Totally complicated, if you ask me, but this one is worth your time.

I love the theme songs of the anime. The opening song is Kimi Dake Wo (Only You) by Mi, and the notable ending songs that I like are: Aishiteru (I Love You) by Mi, Kotoba (Words) and Suki Dakara (Because I Love You) by Izumi Katou, Koko ni Ite (I’m here) by Kaori Asou and Futari no Kisetsu Ga by Nozomi Sasaki.