cian006

 Alright. I know I'm like 3 weeks late, but I've still managed to get this out! Even if it is 3 weeks late... I watched the 1st episode of all potential shows that appealed to me when I read a synopsis of their plot. Also, all of these anime are listed in order of which shows I'm most looking forward to each week, 1 being the most anticipated. Be wary of possible spoilers.

1. Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka
Holy amazing. Not what I was expecting at all. With no idea of what to expect, I was imagining either a really ecchi show or something very serious. However, this show is funny, has some great action, and has a super hot loli masou shoujo. Also, I must say, that opening scene... Genius. I wasn't expecting it at all. He's about to get hit by a truck and he turns and smiles and says "Ah, I'm a zombie." I was laughing pretty hard.

2. Onii-chan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne!!
Love it. I love this show. Never before have I seen such an extremely ecchi imouto. Something about the way the hands are drawn kinda freaks me out; they just look like they're over sized. But beside that, I actually enjoy the fresh style.

3. Infinite Stratos
I decided to watch this because our resident blogger Spornax is blogging about it. He recommended it to me. I wasn't expecting much, but it is actually really cool. Houki is super awesome character. I don't really like the 3d integration of the flying things, but what are you gonna do. It doesn't take away from the overall impact of the show. And it really is quite enjoyable.

4. GOSICK
Strange. Is the name supposed to be Gothic? Because that's what it sounds like in Japanese... But, maybe they made it Gosick just to be cool. I don't know. Anyway, I'm already liking the oldish feel of the atmosphere in this anime. And you know me, being a sucker for detective anime, I'm really looking forward to watching more of this.

5. Level E
Another Great show this season. I love the main characters and the old timey feel of the show. The first episode was used to establish that this guy is indeed an alien. I'm looking forward to what happens. Maybe some alien hunting or something. Also, this looks like a nice break from the loli stuff I've been watching non-stop lately. Anticipation is great!

6. Beelzebub
A naked baby with pikachu powers and a crazy daddy complex. Another show that shattered my expectations for the better. I found it to be quite hilarious.

7. Haiyoru! Nyaru-Ani
I had the original of this anime on my laptop for about a year before I actually watched it, and when I did I really liked it. So far, I'm actually not liking the art on this version. It seems less chibified, and less authentic for some reason. Still, I enjoy this show and I'm looking forward to some awesome fork stabbing action!

8. Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
What a strange show. Not what I was expecting at all. I really like the future theme. Not too sure about the glass walls in the school though; that's way too distracting. The art in this show is very very similar to Hidamari Sketch. For instance, the face shapes and the random crazy backgrounds.

9. Yumekui Merry
A cool concept. Hopefully it goes down a road of action and destruction rather than focusing on Merry's wish to return home. Merry is the character with the coolest clothes this season, hands down. Her hat is... Awesome. Those two hangy cloth things... Awesome. Also, I've gotta say, the quality of this episode was superb. Very nice detail.

10. Cardfight!! Vanguard
Honestly, this show is really good. Sure, the main character's voice is WAY too high pitched, but that's not enough to ruin something good. I love a good card game show. Well, actually... I've never watched a card game show besides the original Yu-Gi-Oh! And I can remember how much I liked that show.


Favorite Opening:
Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka


Favorite Ending:
Onii-chan no Koto nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne!!

(Also, note that I'm still following Bakuman and Index II.)

As per requested from my buddy Bluewolf963 from Tondemonai Fansubs, I have translated chapter 5 of Touhou Sangetsusei: Oriental Sacred Place. This was a much easier project in some ways and yet  a much harder project in others.

The things that made it easy? Well, it was already rotated and leveled which pretty much cut the work in half. Unfortunately I have no idea who did the rotating and leveling.

What made it hard? The dialogue in this manga was pretty vague and random. It's pretty hard to translate stuff when you don't have enough context to figure out why someone is saying something.

Anyway, I'll be continuing this manga. I should be able to get them done quite quickly. I say this, but we all know I'm super lazy haha. I'm still looking for raws of Ashita no Familia. If anyone has any information on that, I'd like to know. Well then, on to the download link!

 Touhou Sangetsusei: Oriental Sacred Place Chapter 5 Download

UPDATE: The promised link to Touhou Sangetsusei: Oriental Sacred Place Chapter 5 at Manga Fox!

NEW! Check out this page! It'll hold all of my releases from now on. :P

As always, check it out and give me some comments about how you think I can improve or how you think I did. Thanks!

Hohzuki Island is a Horror suspense story about these kids trapped on an island. They are all abandoned or abused children, and they are there to attend school. However, the kids are soon under the impression that the teachers only brought them there to kill them and collect life insurance money.

Another good suspense/thriller/mystery manga. I found it quite enjoyable, but not quite that good. The story was fun and it keeps you guessing all the way up to the reveal at the end, but it wasn't as engrossing as something like Mirai Nikki.

The art could be considered nice, and it is. Butsometimes, the lady teacher was drawn with a super stressed hourglass figure. So she had a super skinny waist and hips that looked way too big, but other than that, it's really good stuff.

The characters all have their own solid personalities. Futoshi is a compulsive eater and he starts to go insane when he doesn't get something to eat. The older girl was abused and is now mute as a result. The younger girl is blind, but she does have exceptional hearing. I can't really remember anyone's names which is weird, but I guess this can be considered a case of me not really being particularly moved by any of them.

For those of you looking for some ecchiness, there were some super random scenes involving the older girl in the ocean. Not to mention that she was panty-less for probably more than half of the series O__O. There were also instances where the threat of rape was involved, but nothing ever happened.


My Rating: 7/10

I would still recommend this manga to people, but only after I offered up some other options. If you're looking for a horror series, this can be a nice, quick read being only 27 chapters.

It's not what you think. Or is it? Well, no matter what, I'm sure we've all seen a scene like this a million times. However! This one left an impression on me. The faces are undeniably cute and effective. The sounds are funny and spot-on. And Hotaru's reaction is legendary. Also, there's a youtube video of it at the end of the post, so be sure to check that out!!

Mikan and Natsume are trapped in a section of a haunted house attraction after a power outage.

Natsume makes a comment about Mikan's strawberry panties. A funny moment.

Luca and Hotaru have entered the haunted house to find Mikan and Natsume.

They find the wall that Mikan and Natsume are trapped behind and Luca knocks it doen. But what they find behind it is not what they expect!

Bum bum bum!! Natsume and Mikan getting friendly.


Now here's the best part. They switch the camera between a far out view and close ups of everyones' faces. It really worth checking out.



Hotaru's face is definitely the best. It's probably the reason I posted this honorable mention in the first place.


Here's a video clip that I found on youtube. The subs are in Spanish, but it's the only clip I could find that worked. Just click play and it will jump right to the scene automatically. You really get the full effect of the scene here because of the sound and stuff. Enjoy!

Yay! After a few weeks of hard work, I have finally finished translating chapter 1 of Ashita no Familia. Ashita no Familia is a manga about a boy named Ashita who has lost his parents in an accident two years ago. Because of their death, Ashita takes over the business of managing the family hotel. Just when Ashita figures it's time to allow guests to start re-applying to stay at the hotel, Noi, a vampire turns Ashita's whole world upside down.

   Ashita no Familia looked like something fun to translate, so I went ahead with it, Spornax taught me a lot about scanlating, and I did my best so that I could show him how much I've learned.

    I'd like to continue translating this manga, however I am unable to find any more scanned chapters. So if anyone has the manga or knows where scans of it can be found, I'd love to know.

   Well anyway, after 3 days of trying to upload the manga to mangafox, they have finally added the manga to the website. Now I just have to get the chapter that I uploaded to be checked by a moderator and I'll be able to post a link to it on this post, so check back later. For now, all I have for you is a media fire link.

Ashita no Familia Chapter 1 Download

UPDATE: The promised link to Ashita no Familia at Manga Fox!

Check it out and give me some comments about how you think I can improve or how you think I did. Thanks!

    Mirai Nikki is a tale following the lives of the future diary holders who compete to become God. Deus, the current god of time, is slowly dying. To choose a proper replacement for him, he holds a competition between 12 different people. To each person, he gives a future diary, each with it's own distinct methods of future prediction. The last living future diary holder gains the right to succeed Deus.

    The two main characters are Yukki and Yuno. Yukki can best be described as a crybaby; he is constantly getting teary eyed, but I really fell in love with him for that reason. He constantly had to rely on Yuno, his crazy stalker, throughout the story to save him from tough situations. Yuno, as I just mentioned, is a crazy stalker. She also happens to be super yandere and psychotic.

   The manga starts out very innocent. Yukki is going about his life. He comments about how he has no friends and how there is a God named Deus that exists within his mind. Because he is always alone, he has taken up a hobby of recording everything that happens aroind him into his cell phone diary. Normal stuff. Well, one day, he finds that his cell phone has become a future diary and he is suddenly thrown into a battle to become God. As the story progresses, it gets very dark, with more and more blood and gore being shown and crazy plot twists to keep the story interesting and addicting.

   My opinion of this manga? It is fantastic! I really don't have any complaints at all. The pacing was smooth, the characters were interesting and lovable, and it was overall the most in depth manga I've read to date.

   My favorite character is Uryuu Minene. From the first moment when she appeared in that whack dress and announced herself as a terrorist bomber, I could tell she was destined for awesomeness. I mean, did you see her teeth? She has teeth like a psycho shark. It's awesome! But, this girl sure did take a lot of damage throughout the story; from being stabbed in the eye to getting her arm blown clean off. And after all of this, she never gives up. She keeps moving with that crazy smile. I found her to be the nicest and most sensible character in the whole manga.

My Rating: 10/10

    Yes, ten out of ten. It really is a great read. It should not be passed up. Take some time to read it and then come back here and comment. I'll be waiting.
  

It all started with konpeito. I wanted to try it. I thought about ordering it online, but the shipping is annoying. So, I searched for maybe possibly some stores where I live that might sell it. Well, guess what? Just a 30 minute drive from my house is a store called Mitsuwa. Their website advertises them as the largest Japanese Supermarket in the United States. And on top of that, the store closest to me is in fact the largest one in their chain! Not only was there a supermarket filled with amazing amounts of Japanese food and snacks, but there was also a whole food court inside the building! There was ramen stall, and a bakery among other things.


   But this is not the end of my story! The best part is the bookstore that is adjacent to the food building. This bookstore is fantastic. There was 2 whole aisles of magazines, and about 6 aisles of manga. And the best part is that about 90% of everything in that store was in Japanese. I really went crazy in here, and I bought a whole bunch of stuff, as you can see in the pictures. I was going to take pictures inside the store, but I chickened out.


    I walked away with Volume 5 of The World God Only Knows manga, 2011 Vol 1 Megami Magazine, 2011 Vol 1 Newtype Magazine, 2010 Vol 13 Nyantype Magazine, 2011 Vol 1 G's Magazine, 2010 Vol 11 Shounen Ace, and one final magazine whose name I can not read... (It's full of text, but it had index on the cover, so I bought it xD) This magazine also came with a disc that has something like a card maker... I think... Like New Years Cards, and Birthday cards and such. It comes with images as well to decorate the cards. G's Magazine came with a nice mini figure of chibi Kiririn. And last but not least, all of the posters! Too many to count. I'll be taping these to my ceiling later, and I'll follow up with a post about that haha.

Excuse the crappy pictures D:

   In the end, after searching for the konpeito for 15 minutes, I still hadn't found it. So, I bought some pocky and some other candies and that was that. It's a great place to visit. It's like being in Japan for a while, and I was smiling the whole time. When I brought that load of books up to the cash register, I'm sure the cashier was thinking some weird thoughts, but oh well! I was surrounded by Japanese books, there was no shipping fee, so it was time to go all-out, or go home with nothing!

Over the years, I've gradually been making these Motivation cards for myself, or Ganbatte Cards, as I call them. I usually make them when I want to start something new, or when I need some extra motivation to continue doing my best with something. Just yesterday I made this He is My Master motivation card to get me fired up to start drawing again. I jsut thought I'd post these cause they can be pretty motivating! Just one look and you're all fired up! Feel free to print them out or make your own or whatever. I have all of them printed out and I hooked them onto a lanyard and I wear them when I'm in a serious mood! Good luck! (Bonus points to anyone who can point out the one card with a mistake that I never bothered to fix!)

Well, everyone, the theme change is now pretty much complete. We're just waiting on Atvrcr to provide the final touch in the next few days. For this theme, Atvrcr proposed we went for more of a sleek look, and I tried my best to reflect that in the buttons and the simple yet calming background of falling snow. I've also added in a freaking awesome footer pic. Just scroll all the way down to see it. :D

We hope you enjoy the new Winter theme!

The old fall theme, we will never for get you!!

As you may have noticed, I like my trading cards. And if you've been stalking me, then you'll probably know that I like to make a lot of my own cards. Well, I'm always experimenting with new styles, systems, and graphics. Just this past fall I made 2 new trading card sets, both of which failed. I can tell that they failed because I got bored with them fairly quickly. So I'm just going to post the 2 card games because I feel like honoring their failure.

Firstly, Tenekusu! Funny story, I was sitting in a math class and the teacher was repeatedly saying 10x for some reason. As he said it over and over, I suddenly realized that it could make an awesome name for a card game. So I scribbled down the name Tenekusu in my notebook and went to work that night. I wanted to do something different for this card game. So I decided to take my existing template and I cut the width in half. I thought it would give the game a cool, fresh contrast to what I usually do. This card game didn't fail as horribly as the second, but it never really got anywhere. I printed some demos, but then I dropped the project for some reason... Here are some pictures.


The second card game is the bigger failure of the two. For this card game, I wanted to go for something more practical. I wanted to use screen shots from actual anime episodes and put them right in the card. I'd then try to use the situation of the episodes to give the cards descriptions and such. Well, this game died pretty much immediately. I made a total of either 2 or 3 incomplete cards. It was pretty much because of the horrible graphics I used and because I hadn't thought of any solid system. More pictures.


Yes, so, I think for my next card game, I'll try and reuse the concept I had from the 2nd failure. Except this time, I'll be starting at the beginning of the anime season, so I may be able to work out some sort of nice system for making the cards. It'll also be much nicer if I can somehow make my own graphics for the backgrounds and borders. Hopefully it turns out well!