Theme Spotlight: Lacrimosa

'Lacrimosa' by Kalafina from the ever-popular Black Butler is well known for a reason. Taking the existing loveliness of symphonic/gothic/melodic pop, FictionJunction Wakana and Keiko along with Hikaru Misai bring it to everyone's favorite Victorian thriller and send it shivering down our spines after all of the jaw dropping episodes in the second half of the show's first season. Just listen to those voices! The quality of their tones perfectly suits a world where angels and demons roam on a quest for purity and delicious souls. The ladies also have some excellent studio albums, one of which is available for a free listen on Spotify. Give it a listen if you're a fan of this track!

The secret's out, Sebastian: This is one hell of a song!

Theme Spotlight: We Were Lovers

Not all excellent anime music has to be in Japanese or sung by a Japanese singer. Case in point: the two themes of the Count of Monte Cristo inspired anime Gankutsuou. French singer Jean-Jacques Burnel takes on both tracks, singing in English from the perspective of the leading count, E-D-M-O-N-D Dantes. Great decision on the producers' part! Both songs fit in perfectly with the atmosphere of the story, and 'We Were Lovers' in particular provides a nostalgic glimpse into the Count's lingering feelings for his former flame, Mercedes de Morcerf. I can't help but feel a bit of a pang at the lines 'Nothing can go wrong...,' because as all Alexandre Dumas fans know, everything does go wrong.

Want to know who 'We Were Lovers' is about, Albert? YOUR MOM!

   

Theme Spotlight: Ningyo Hime

The relationship between Chii and Hideki in CLAMP's Chobits is generally light hearted, but when it comes to finding her "person just for me," Chii has more at stake than she even knows. This is why out of all the cheerful anthems of Chobits, 'Ningyo Hime' ("Mermaid Princess") is a stellar emotional standout. Chii's own voice actress Rie Tanaka brings to life the more bittersweet side of Chii's affection, exploring how she wishes to hold on to the person she loves, even if it means feeling pain inside if that person goes away or doesn't return her adoration. The tone of this song is heart wrenching, but anyone who has had an intense relationship knows that love comes along with this sorrowful side. To quote The Academy Is...: "Take the pain out of love, and then love won't exist".

She may be the cutest of the cute, but even her mind can be filled with troubling thoughts.

Warriors, Ogami, and Teddy Bears! Oh My!

Mechas, charming theater performances, teddy bears named Jean-Paul, and resurrecting demons in an alternate 1900s steam-powered Japan? Oh heck to the yes!

As I mentioned before, Sakura Wars (Sakura Taisen in Japan) the animated series is a different fish from the original video game. Granted, I haven't played the first Sakura Wars given my lack of prowess in Japanese (unless the dialogue goes along the lines of “Good morning, my name is Sakura. It is a pleasure to meet you.” “Is that so?” “Yes. Thank you for the meal,” I probably won't be able to follow along) but to my knowledge, it's supposed to be very similar to the So Long, My Love title I discussed earlier. Sakura Wars features young, straight laced cutie Ogami as the assistant commander of the Japanese 'Flower Division,' which take on baddies such as mecha like machines called 'Wakiji' and demons called 'Kouma'. As far as I know, the dating sim elements are still in place, and the mecha battles are in the turn based strategy style.

Please, Ogami! Show me the way!

Having played a Sakura Wars video game first, I was expecting the anime to feature Ogami as the commander of the Flower Division as well as the harem of pretty she-warriors. However, all of the dating sim elements are notably absent from the animated series. Rather than Ogami, the newest member of the combat revue, Sakura Shinguji, is the primary protagonist, and the anime documents her challenges in becoming a fully accepted member of the combat division while coming to terms with her family's past. Romance is surprisingly not emphasized. If the ladies want to get into Ogami's sexy white Navy pants, they don't really show it.

Our beautiful protagonist, Sakura Shinguji

Sakura makes a very likable protagonist. She reminds me quite a bit of Tohru Honda of Fruits Basket fame in the sense that she's as tough as nails when it comes to protecting others, but a bit weak in situations when she needs to stand up for herself. Like Shinjiro, she goes through a phase where everyone in the combat revue wants to kick her out, but even after most of the team begins to accept her, she still allows resident bully Sumire to constantly tell her she's worthless (which she isn't; her spiritual pressure is even greater than Sumire's). All in all, she is a fairly able leading lady. She may not have the cool decisiveness ad natural bravery of some of her teammates, but she fights with compassion and takes care of everyone, even the older and more experienced members of the Division.

Alongside Sakura is the rest of the female cast, who I didn't quite like as much as their So Long, My Love counterparts, although they definitely have their strengths. Maria, who takes on the role of vice commander/Ogami's assistant, is a cool headed and stoic Russian, and is slightly androgynous like Subaru, although it is made completely clear that she's all woman. She is a more neutral member of the party; she can be supportive and apathetic in equal measure, and only goes berserk when reminded of the death of a superior in the past. Sumire, as I've mentioned earlier, is the bully. She's the star actress of the theater troupe, and she hates it whenever someone outshines are on the stage or the battlefield, especially Sakura. Kanna is the gung-ho tomboy, Kohran the lovable geek in charge of repairing the mechas and telling everyone to become one with their machines, and Iris the mentally troubled French tyke with special powers and a teddy bear named Jean-Paul. Together they make a rather dysfunctional family, but one that comes together when it matters. Each member of the team has their own character development episode, naturally, with Iris' being my favorite.

Our supporting cast: Maria, Sumire, Kanna, Kohran, and Iris

Ogami plays a smaller role as the team's commander and cheerleader. He fights well in battle and issues orders, but mostly does his best to keep everyone relating to each other positively. He is part of the glue that holds everyone together, but since Sakura also fills that role, he doesn't do as much as I was expecting him to. Which is a crying shame, in my opinion. Ogami is a nice and strong willed good boy (totally my type, in case I haven't made that clear), but he doesn't get the kind of love he would probably receive in the game. His meeting with Sakura has the aura of a meet-cute, and Sumire at one point gives him an awe-struck, happy look, but that's about the extent of it.

As for the plot and styling of the anime, there were things I liked and things I didn't. For now, let's start with the good:

1. The Bonding Dynamic: Like So Long, My Love, Sakura Wars focuses on the friendships of the Flower Division, and takes a group of distant individuals and makes them a fluid team that works through their weaknesses and helps each other discover their strengths. They aren't perfect, and they still bicker like children, but the way the characters become like family to one another is particularly endearing.
2. A Baddie With Emotional Scars: The Big Bad of the series, Aoi Satan, isn't just a hulking mass of pure evil. In fact, he has a pretty tragic back story, and was once the close friend of the members of Flower Division's mission control team, as well as Sakura's father. Unfortunately, circumstances led him to snap and lose his sanity, but you can tell from his former friends' reactions to him that they dearly remember the man he once was.
3. Mechas: Mechas are a staple in a lot of anime, but I'm a big fan of how Sakura Wars utilizes them. They aren't just machines to the girls (and Ogami); they are dependent beings that rely on the strength and trust of their user to fully function. At one point, Kohran even meets the 'spirit' of her mecha, and her interactions with it give her a reason to fight and believe in herself when she loses hope. The fact that the mechas were invented by the Big Bad before he snapped make them that much more interesting.
4. Tough Females: Ogami kicks butt, but for the most part it's the ladies maneuvering the difficult battles. Sakura is particularly adept at taking down the enemy while at the same time making sure her companions don't get hurt in the process. Even without the assistance of mechas, characters like Kanna, Sakura, and Maria can do some pretty serious damage based on their own strength.
5. Japanese Voice Acting: The vocal talent was strong across the board, and none of the characters ever really bothered me in that department. However, I flipped the English dub on at one point just to give it a whirl, and it was... a bit lacking, to say the least. If you're planning on watching this series, stick to the subtitles and just enjoy the original language. It does not disappoint.
6. Ogami: Ogami in his Naval uniform especially. And in his vest. I just liked him in general. He was the heart of the Flower Division, even though he wasn't the strongest out of the warriors.

And among the weaknesses:

1. Sumire: As the bully and vain superstar of the team, it's only natural that Sumire is the one picking on Sakura when everyone else grows out of it. And that's not the problem; in fact, her hostility towards her competition often makes Sakura a stronger fighter because it helps her grow out of her self-doubt and occasionally half-hearted approach to the task at hand. However, Sumire's path of character development was a bit grating, and was never fully realized in the way it could have been. Most episodes featuring her begin with her getting upset because Sakura is in some way stealing her spotlight, and continues with her berating Sakura, calling her worthless, and storming out when Sakura fails to deliver as well as Sumire thinks she herself can. After Sakura works through her difficulties and at last delivers, Sumire goes through a moment where she's impressed by Sakura's efforts and realizes that she does contribute quite a bit to the team. And then by the next episode she starts back at square one. Over and over again! Come on, Sumire! Get over yourself!
2. Video game fights vs anime fights: One of the things I loved about So Long, My Love was the amount of strategy that went into defeating the bosses. The Flower Division does utilize a variety of strategies (which usually end up with them half-dead in their mechas while the bad guys get away), but none of them were all that interesting or effective. The fighting could have used more spice, and less of the mechas getting completely destroyed each time the Division deploys.
3. The bosses that will not die: The Big Bad happens to have the power to use summoning to bring back the minions that have been killed by the Flower Division, namely Crimson Miroku. Rasetsu, and Setsuna. That's nice for him, but I feel the Flower Division's pain whenever they enter into battle with baddies they have already fought several times before. At least the baddies change forms slightly when they are resurrected, but I was still getting a bit sick of seeing their ugly mugs.
4. Not enough Ogami: 'Nuff said.

Luckily many of these issues were rectified by the... DUN DUN DUN DA DUN... Sakura Taisen manga! Yup, as soon as I finished up the anime, I came across the manga series at a downtown library. It follows a similar storyline to the anime with the battle between Aoi Satan and his wakiji vs. the Flower Division, but harkens back to the style of the video game by having Ogami as the central protagonist (aw, hell yes!) and bringing back the romance (Iris calls Ogami her boyfriend, Sakura has obvious hots for him, and everyone else flirts with him from time to time). The strategies were much better portrayed in the manga, and there was also a greater focus on the theater troupe aspect of the division, which was lacking somewhat in the anime. But what I loved most were the spots of humor, such as when Sakura goes into jealous mode, Sumire and Kanna butt heads, and Ogami decides upon his special attack name. As always, I think the manga left a stronger impression on me then the anime, but both get the job done in the end.

Everything is better with a good manga version.

Overall, I recommend Sakura Wars. The characters are interesting, and the premise is unique and well done. It's not the animated series isn't exactly the most exciting thing you'll come across, and I definitely wasn't at the edge of my seat like I was for shows such as Tiger & Bunny and Black Butler. I also missed the romance element from the games in the anime, although I suppose in situations where the player is in charge of who the lucky girl is, it isn't really fair to make a canon pairing and fuel ship wars (I have a feeling Sakura would have been the canon option, but then again, I haven't played the game). The main result of both the anime and manga on me was that I really, really wanted to play the original video game. I was left with so many questions! If Ogami is the protagonist of the Sakura Wars game featuring the Parisian Combat Revue as well, does he form a harem with the Paris team, too, even if he had a romance option in the first game? Does Sumire ever stop berating Sakura? What do the Flower Division special attacks look like? Would Ogami date me if I were an in-game character?

Alas, I may never know unless I expand my Japanese out of the realm of polite niceties or find an English translation patch and find the time to play the game (I think there's a Let's Play out there, so I'll have to look into it). But even if these things never happen, I am happy with my experiences with the So Long, My Love Wii game and the Sakura Wars animated series and manga. And next time you see a play by a theater troupe, be warned: they are probably mecha warriors defending the city on the side from Aoi Satans and resurrecting minions!

Thanks to anyone who has read my blog so far as I get my start :) Next up will be a look at the moe-economics of Spice & Wolf!

Theme Spotlight: Sonicboom

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle has one of my favorite soundtracks of all time. The score is breathtaking and perfectly suited the atmosphere of the story and the various settings of the arcs (just listen to track like 'break the sword of justice' and 'song of storm and fire' for proof). The themes of each season are also noteworthy (featuring the vocal talents of Kotani Kinya, who provided the majority of the tracks used in Gravitation), but this track by Maaya Sakamoto from the Spring Thunder (Shunraiki) OVA really stood out. After the emotionally devastating events of the Acid Tokyo arc and a certain action Kurogane takes in the Spring Thunder intro, this track is appropriately tender and powerful, capturing all the emotions I love best about Tsubsa.

Tender moments and tender music go well with Nihon Country's beautiful sakura blossoms.

Theme Spotlight: In My World

The Aoi no Exorcist (Blue Exorcist) anime brought us a lot of great music including UVERworld's new single 'CORE PRIDE,' but my personal favorite is ROOKiEZ is PUNK'D's offering for the second opening theme, 'In My World'. ROOKiEZ is PUNK'D is behind other excellent anime tunes such as 'Song For...' from Bleach and 'Complication' from Durarara!, but this song in particular is a stand out j-rock anthem, and an excellent companion to an excellent show.

Rin is dazed by the awesomeness of this track. Better lend a hand, Yukio.

Theme Spotlight: Silky Heart

Yui Horie, voice actress of Toradora!'s Minori, sings just about as sweetly as she acts in Toradora's second opening theme, 'Silky Heart'. After lending her pipes to both primary opening and closing themes, 'Pre-Parade' and 'Vanilla Salt,' the seiyuu really shines in the season's second half's intro. Just try not dancing or squeeing inside to this upbeat track!

This track has received Minori's seal of approval.

New York: Sunny with a chance of Mechas

As someone who has fallen in love with almost every JRPG I've ever touched, I'm always looking out for new titles to expand my obsession. Unfortunately I'm limited to only three different platforms- Gameboy Advance, PC, and Wii- and it seems that many of the things I want, such as the Tales of games and the newest additions to the Fire Emblem series, are coming out exclusively on DS or the Playstation systems. That aside, this year I came across a Wii game that I hadn't tackled yet called Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love. The cover looked promising, and the description on the back which detailed a young Japanese samurai joining a capital defense division of woman-warriors manning mechas and masquerading as a New York theater troupe during an early 1900s steam-powered era seemed both entertaining and fascinating. I was eager to see how the Japanese creators interpreted American life and transitioned the Japanese male hero into the female-run New York Combat Revue.

What would a young samurai do surrounded by hot women in an AU New York? Play to find out!

In the end, I thoroughly enjoyed the premise of the Sakura Wars line. Although the harem and dating sim elements (the main character, Shinjiro Taiga, can date any of the females in the revue, and each one of them thinks he's the bee's knees after their initial period of dislike) were probably not geared toward female players like me, I loved the strategy needed to pull off the mecha battles, as well as the development each of the leading females had to undergo in order to operate as part of the team. Finding a way to navigate the constant conversations also clues the player into how to really understand what is important to a person and how to deal with their personal times of trouble, although the old adage of 'you can't please everyone' is strictly held. If Shinjiro tries to impress cool and logical Subaru Kujo, he may end up offending bright and dynamic Rosita Aries, but the game offers plenty of opportunities to redeem friendships that might be flagging based on dialogue choices.

The man of the hour: Shinjiro Taiga. Boys wanna be him, girls wanna do him.

The six Star Division fighters were all enjoyable characters, in spite of their often flawed judgment. Shinjiro, the protagonist (voiced by the notorious Johnny Yong Bosch), occasionally lacks self-confidence and is a bit of a doof around women depending on how you play him, but all in all he is your typical little engine that could of a warrior. Despite having the entire combat revue dislike him at first, he proves himself to everyone and ends up reaching out to each one of his companions in order to give them the means to make themselves better and stronger. The most enforced love interest option is Gemini Sunrise, a spicy Texan cowgirl trained under a Japanese swordsmaster (and no, I am not making that up) who has a secret double life that even she is unaware of. I liked her well enough as a character, but I didn't fall for the fact that she was supposed to be the number one romance pick. Even as a straight girl, if I have to choose from a harem of ladies, I'm at least going to aim for someone who is kind of my type!

"But Shiny, the game wants you to date me!"

Next up of the female cast is the aforementioned Subaru Kujo, although the word 'female' might not be the best way to describe this character. Subaru is rather androgynous, and there is no real way to tell if (s)he is a feminine man or a masculine woman. (S)he uses feminine pronouns to describe herself, and the fact that she has the mark indicating that she belongs in the female-run Star Division makes her most likely a woman, but she makes it perfectly clear that gender is not a concept that matters to her, and if Shinjiro is interested in getting together to her, he better not care if she is a man or a woman. Subaru makes a good choice if you enjoy an air of mystery, and if you don't mind defrosting the cynic and putting up with a few verbal barbs.

Man or woman? Subaru is Subaru, no more, no less.

Cheiron Archer is the older woman option, and damn is she hot stuff! Like Subaru, she prefers to wear men's suits, but when she changes her image and lets her hair down, she clearly becomes the option for those who want their girls to have business going on up top. Cheiron is large and in charge, a Harlem-born African American lawyer who is in love with justice to the point where very little else matters to her. Her blind obsession with justice over compassion is her character developing issue, and she is one of the earlier characters in the game to open up to Shinjiro, even after the crazy hard time she gives you in the beginning. All the same, she leaves you wondering. The early 1900s were a time of rampant inequality for both women and blacks, and I'm curious if the creators of the game chose to ignore this for plot purposes, or if they really thought America was a haven for female lawyers, even though women wouldn't have even had the right to vote during this time.

"This is the law of the land! You! Are! Guilty!"

Another interesting diversity option is Rosita Aries, a Mexican bounty hunter who is also the local lolicon. She doesn't dress up in tart clothing or anything, but she can't be much older than elementary school age. Shinjiro doesn't date her, per se (at least I hope not!), but he can develop an older brother type relationship with her, which might have the potential to grow and change when she gets older. Her conflicts center around her dislike of failure and loss of her family, and her little sister-like relationship with Shinjiro and the rest of the Star Division is pretty adorable, as long as her thing with Shin doesn't slide into the romantic realm (until she's older). She also has a pretty amusing obsession with eating; her pet ferret Niccolo is actually kept around in case she has no other food options available!

Cartoon depictions of Mexicans have come a long way, haven't they?

The last option was my personal choice, sickly girl Diana Caprice. When you meet her, she is set to die of an illness, and is cursed with the crappy ability to sense when the people/animals around her are dying and how long they have left. Due to this, she has trouble finding meaning in life, for herself and for others, even though she has a caring and nurturing personality, and serves as the team's primary healer. As a writer and helpless sap, I most likely ended up picking her because she was the one to comfort Shinjiro after an occasion when the entire combat revue told him they pretty much wanted him to go back to Japan and send over his cousin, the more experienced veteran commander from the earlier Sakura Wars games released in Japan. I'm a sucker for couples that help each other believe in themselves, so I probably latched onto that from the very beginning. I ended up being pleased with their (totally cheesy) relationship, although I'm probably going to go for Subaru in my next play through. I like her air of gender ambiguity; it gives you the best of both worlds, to borrow a phrase from Hannah Montana.

I apparently make passes at girls in glasses

All the mecha elements were interesting as well. You weren't just tanking the baddies; like my favorite series, Fire Emblem, you actually had to come up with effective strategies to take down the enemy's vulnerable points. Most of the battles presented a challenge, and I actually had to go back in replay some of them multiple times because I ended up getting my troops obliterated by some of the more difficult bosses. The fighting sections of the game were tough, but not so difficult that I ended up throwing my controller across the room, as I have been sometimes known to do on occasion (Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess, I'm thinking of you).

In any case, my enjoyment of the Sakura Wars game for Wii led me to do a little research to discover that there was an anime series based on the original Sakura Wars title, where the combat revue was set in Japan and commanded by Shinjiro's hot young uncle Ogami. The game was never translated for North America, but I was still interested in seeing what it was like, so I picked up the series collection at the Colossalcon convention in my home state, Ohio. I recently finished watching it, and my next post will feature the animated interpretation, which was actually in many ways different from its console counterpart. For now, enjoy the opening video of the game, which features the female cast and Shinjiro, as well as some of the secondary characters including Mr. Sunnyside (he runs the behind the scenes operations of the revue), Cherry and Anri (the young ladies in charge of deploying the mechas before battle), and Ratchet (the former vice commander and an additional romance option for the second playthrough).  

Well, here we go...

Hello there!

Welcome to the blog of Quickand2thePointless, a twenty-something American chick with an affinity for writing, snarking, and all things anime! For those of you who don't know me from my fanfiction or the crazy thing we call the real world, please let me introduce myself. My name is Julie. Did I mention I like to write? Must be because of the whole English major thing, but honestly, it's been a hobby for pretty much my entire life. My first short story was entitled 'Ship Surprise,' and I wrote it when I was about six years old. It's about two best friends hanging out, and one surprises the other with the fact that she owns a ship. It's still in my closet, in one of my old school notebooks. I'm still convinced that one day it will become the next great American classic, so I'm going to hold onto it until it does.

As far as the anime thing goes, that came later in life. I've been a fan of JRPGs since seventh grade thanks to my random purchase of a Gameboy game called Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (I picked it up because I liked the cover, so never say you can't judge a book by its cover; you totally can). From there I added a handful of new games to my collection, including all the other FE games I could get my hands on (Blazing Sword, Path of Radiance, Radiant Dawn) as well as titles like Golden Sun and Tales of Symphonia. I was obsessed with the plots and the artwork, but I didn't think to enter the world of anime and manga as the next logical conclusion. I'm a little slow like that sometimes.

The sexiness of the Renais twins... what started it all :)

I ended up making the leap a few years ago when I was camped out in my university's computer lab in order to avoid my roommate from hell. I was sitting in front of the computer with nothing to do, waiting patiently for one in the morning to roll around so the devil sharing my room would be asleep and we wouldn't have to awkwardly ignore one another when I came back. During this time, I somehow ended up on Youtube with 'Tales of Symphonia' typed into the search bar. I had just recently replayed the game, and I was in one of those moods where all I wanted to do was obsess over it while it was still on my mind.

A few Let's Play videos popped up, but what immediately caught my eye was a video called Tales of Symphonia: The Animation. I almost died of joy. Here I was with hours to kill, and one of my favorite video games had its very own TV show? I settled down to watch, and suddenly one in the morning flew by, and I still was in the computer lab, eyes glued to the screen.

Kratos stepped on screen, and the deal was sealed.

The rest, as the saying goes, is history. From Tales of Symphonia, I moved on to shows like Bleach, xxxHolic, and Vampire Knight, and along with my stacks of literary novels, I started picking up FAKE, Chobits, and Fruits Basket from the local library. Once I popped, I sure as hell couldn't stop.

My collection has increased quite a bit since then, and I've bonded with a lot of people who share my hobby, so I've become more and more comfortable talking about it over the years. And thus the idea of this blog was born. I like to keep track of what I watch, as well as what I liked and what I didn't about certain series when I'm deciding what to rewatch or share with my friends. Since I'm planning on tackling a crap load of series over the upcoming months, and I'll be revisiting some of my old favorites with a friend next semester, what better time to start than now?

Of course this could just end up as me talking out into the void, but in case someone actually cares about this, I want to put a few things out there for whoever may be reading. Since anime/manga/JRPGs fall under a wide spectrum filled with tons upon tons of subcategories and genres, I'd like to first give viewers an idea of what kind of things I will be talking about. Here is a brief profile of my tastes, to give you an idea:

THE EVER AMAZING TASTES OF QUICKAND2THEPOINTLESS:

Favorite Manga: Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, xxxHolic, FAKE, Chobits, Saiyuki, Bleach, and Rurouni Kenshin.

Favorite Anime: xxxHolic, Tiger & Bunny, Black Butler, Hetalia, CLANNAD, Tales of Symphonia, X, and Sekaiichi Hatsukoi.

Favorite Games: Tales of Symphonia, Tales of Vesperia, Fire Emblem, Golden Sun, Dragon Age, and Pokemon.

Things I Love in General: School life stories, slice of life, fantasy elements, large groups of bishounens, characters who kick butt with swords, complex plotlines, questioning human nature/values, challenging gender roles, and complicated relationship dynamics.

Favorite Mangaka: CLAMP. Wait, that wasn't obvious?

If that sounds like something you might like, stick around! I'll probably end up blabbing about it longer than you can stand!

Of course, a few warnings/notices probably must be issued considering that this is the internet, where there always exists someone out for blood:

1. There will be spoilers. I will try to mark them. I'm going to be talking about things I've read/seen/played all the way through, or else up to the current installment. I just don't want to give an overview of the premise, but to bring up my opinions on the ending/plot twists/arcs for those who have also gone through them as well. I will try to keep the spoilers at the end of my posts, and indicate when I'm heading into that territory. For things that are less plot driven, this will be much less of a concern.
   
   
2. I support shounen-ai and shoujo-ai pairings. I think all mutual love is beautiful. I get giddy and sappy over a good love scene regardless if it is shounen-ai (boy on boy) or shoujo-ai (girl on girl). Heck, I even support humans hooking up with artificial life/spiritual beings if the mangaka can make a good case for it. However, I only support pairings that have enough text and subtext to prove that feelings do exist (I also follow this rule with het pairings) so don't expect me to ship every pair of best friends I come across (some people really are just friends!). But if I'm being completely honest, about 85% of what I watch seems to have homoerotic subtext of some variety, especially since I love CLAMP so much and anything that features large amounts of bishounens. In any case, if you would like to tell me why homosexuality is wrong, feel free to, but it's really not going to change my mind. Ever since I figured out what it meant (when I was like eleven or so; I told you, I'm a little bit slow), I couldn't figure out why everyone was so freaked out by it. So if I wasn't able to be convinced as a straight laced goody goody Catholic school girl, there's no way I'm going to change my mind as an opinionated, free thinking young woman. Say what you want, but you'll be wasting your time.

   

   Heather and Nephenee: How is this not totally adorable?

   
   
3. I will happily accept recommendations! I already have a huge to-watch list, but I'm open to adding more. However, when I first began my anime watching adventure, I decided I would only tackle one massive series at a time. Out of the biggies (One Piece, Bleach, Naruto, Fairy Tail, etc) I chose Bleach, so I will not even be thinking about the others until I get Ichigo and co. out of the way (which shouldn't be too much longer at this point). When the time comes, I'll choose another one to dedicate time to.
   
   
4. I will swear and get sexual. A little.  I am in my twenties, after all, but I will try to keep it tasteful. There are plenty of words I think are too vulgar to use, even in something like this, but tamer expressions are all right by me.
   
   
5. I like a lot of genres, but there are some things I will not watch. Like Hentai, for example. I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but when I'm not at school, I live with my parents (at least for one more year or so). I like to watch my stuff on the big screen downstairs, and there's no way I'm watching anything suspicious when they are in the same household as me. Implied/censored sex is all right, but anything explicit is not going to be appearing on my TV screen any time soon. Also, any show where the entire plot seems to be “here are a ton of girls with big boobs doing things that make said big boobs bounce and jiggle” is not something I'm interested in. If I want to look at big boobs, I can just sit in front of the mirror all day, which to me sounds like more fun.

   

   This is about as far as I'll go on my TV screen. If my parents walk in, I can just pretend they're practicing for a wrestling meet.

   
   
6. I'm fine with people disagreeing with me. So please do! I love open discussions about the things I love, as long as its respectful and coherent. But as an English major, if you want to win an argument with me, you gotta be armed with evidence and persuasive skills. But if you want to make an argument along the lines of “xxxHolic is stuped, Watanooki is so gay,” I'm not going to rise to the occasion. If you want to argue like a little kid, find a little kid to argue with. It'll probably be more entertaining for you, in the end.
   
   
7. There will be typos. English major does not equal good typist. I also have the hobby of thinking faster than I type, which often leads to amusing errors (such as my personal favorite, 'stumbling into his perv' when I meant to say 'stumbling into his arms'. What the hell was going on in my brain?). But I will try to proofread! And if I'm consistently butchering a name so badly that it doesn't even look like a variation of the correct spelling, please let me know!

I think that about covers it. I hope I can provide someone out there some entertainment, but if not, at least I have indulged in my ramblings, which is always fun. First up will be a recent JRPG pick I've been enjoying, Sakura Wars: So Long My Love, and I hope you enjoy! I certainly plan to!