[*Whatever By The Books*]

As always, Clannad is unexpectedly touching. I had tears in my eyes at the end of both episodes. -sighs- And while I did say I would solidly blog Toradora this week, I’ve realised -everyone’s- doing it! So I’m gonna go do Earl and Fairy or something. XD Or maybe -finally- finish watching Junjou Romantica, then go on to watch JR2…hmm. All this will have to wait until this week is over, since I have to translate two chapters as well as make/finish mom’s present by Wednesday. -wry-

In this ep, Tomoya and Nagisa get an invite from Misae to attend the autumn festival because she’d heard that Tomoya’d neglected taking Nagisa out. XD Tsk tsk, Tomoya. The rest of episode five (half of it) involves Misae when she was younger and alumni in the same school, and a guy called Shima Katsuki. It seems she was taking care of people ever since she was younger, in a kind of rough love way. Story continues to ep six, so I thought I might as well make a double.

My first thought when I saw the intro to this ep was, “She’s building a balista!?” It’s interesting to see the story of the girl and the…uh…construct (?) continue, though; I thought we’d seen the end with the first season, and it wasn’t a bad end either. I found it hilarious that trap!Shima talks to Misae outside of the student council room and asks her to be with him forever. XD As a cute girl! Turns out Shima was a cat, whose owner Misae comforted before he died. In Clannad fantasy form (remember Fuko?), he morphs into a human and comforts Misae, finally leaving her after she wishes he’ll love her forever.

I wonder about that, though. Shima -wasn’t- with Misae until a few days ago, wasn’t it? Where was he in the meantime? Limbo? (Don’t cats get old? XD He does look a bit bigger than originally..)

Click on da moar for a small bit on the smell thing. Picasa gallery is here , slideshow below.

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Today, instead of an anime review, I bring you a manga kinda-preview. I’ve seen only four chapters so it’s really more of a preview than a review. Oh, you wanna see the chapters too? Hop on to JE Scanlations What, you want an anime too?! Geez, so demanding! Wait a month or so, it’s screening in January.

Characters: Characters can still be pretty 3D, despite the overall silliness of this manga. There are touching points, there are two-faced characters. (Not like Ami-chan, though.) There are also some random 2D bitches who sit around being jealous. We don’t care about those. XD It’s too early for any serious backstory, though.

Kanako reminds me a little of Gakuen Alice’s Mikan; maybe it’s the way she’s a survivor, and frank. But the similarities probably end there. For one, Kanako is tall. :D (Jk, that’s not a point.) I’d be very interested in seeing where Maria’s character is taken; why did he crossdress? What is his relationship with ChocoCoronet (read chap 4 to understand this reference)?

Art: Art is very nice. I like the mangaka’s style; it’s polished and pretty, and the characters are able to display a wide range of emotions. (Maria is always so cute~~) I’m a bit scared of her chibi, though, but not as scared as I was by the SD in Skip Beat anime. XD

Scanlation stuff: Editing difficulty: middling. Some sfx were a PitA to wipe (Necroseer knows this XD), but it’s still easier than GA, I reckon. Less text. Readable text. (Easy to translate!) But long chapter 4. Booooo.

Plot: Girl meets boy…in girls’ school? Girl falls in love with boy…boy threatens her oblivion if she reveals his identity. Hmm. Not quite your usual Mills and Boons, or schoolyard romance at that. While not quite Ryuuji and Taiga either (here there’s at least some tension from Kanako, and it’s not like they’re pursuing other people), I’m not sure whether the complications in this one are complex enough. Did that make sense? Doubtful. XDAh well. We’ll have to see how it goes.

In chapter one to four, Kanako has transferred into Ame no Kisaki high school (second year); just a year below her, Maria has recently graduated to high school as well. Kanako catches Maria undressed, and finds out his secret; Maria pulls strings to dorm in the same room as Kanako, ostensibly to ’supervise’ her (so she doesn’t reveal his secret). Meanwhile, Kanako’s association with village hottie (I mean, yuri fantasy) Ishima Ryuuken-sama gets the other girls in the school jealous…..Click on continue for a whole rant about Kanako’s Man Allergy. Continue Reading »

Oho. Much as the preview from ep 4 promises, ep 5 brings the arrival of Ami, a pretty (though she looks normal to me) but supposedly-ditzy girl who is…-dundundun- Kitamura’s osanananajimi. Osananajimi! The power of this word! Thankfully, she’s quite a bitch, and proves to be one as soon as the guys turn away.

Honestly, though, while I can see the allure of osananajimi (I’m jealous of people who have had these, too -wry-); do they truly work out in real life? Wouldn’t it be a classic case of Westermarck Syndrome; in which children raised together feel less romantically attracted to each other? What do you think? Osananajimi as partners in real life: yea or nay?

It also seems Taiga goes into scary mode at least once every ep. Curious to see whether it’ll continue to be like this. XD

Also, anyone wonders why Minorin, of all people, would have a cute-girl-detecting radar? Then again I suppose no other character would do that..XD But she’s adorable, as always! (Look at that letter from her. -chuckles-) Last note: Ryuuji’s mom rests her boobs on the table. -wry-

Slideshow of screenshots below, visit the gallery to see them all at once. And yes…gonna solidly blog Toradora this week, so I can catch up with latest episode by next week. ^^ Refer to next post. XD

Overall, this was a nice episode with good pacing; rather touching too.

Taiga is so cute. ‘Rice is dripping out of Ryuuji’s ears’?! And Ryuuji is a real homebody; beautiful breakfasts, helping to clean up…oho, even if he does find Taiga’s photo album featuring shaky stalker pics of Kitamura. XD He even makes cute bento. Though the mold-exterminating tendencies are a bit..uhh. “Takasu Mold-killing Buster!”

Also, English in Toradora…”It has been stopped in the airport though he tried to take the unusual one home from the foreign country. The unusual one was called in the world that meant t tiger in the country. After all, the wish did not have to be fulfilled…” etc etc.

At this point I’m still a bit puzzled. I keep wondering whether Taiga and Ryuuji will end up together even though they like other people, since they -are- the main characters. XD Maybe I’m just trying to put too much of a romance spin on it. ^^ Have you ever been in a situation like Taiga’s, where someone confessed to you and was rejected, but you found you liked that person afterwards?

Slideshow below, enter the gallery if you can’t see the slideshow flashness.

Hmm, if this episode taught me anything at all, it’s that guys are even weirder than I thought. I watched this ep earlier today with niisama (though of course I wasn’t taking screenshots then), while having soba for lunch. Soba was quite nice, I thought! Eh anyway. I don’t quite get the dynamics between guy and guy…I mean Sunohara and Tomoya.

There’s a Chinese saying — bu4 da3 bu4 xiang1 shi2; meaning that it is through fights that people get to know each other. Seems doubly true for these two, who’re all black and blue by the end of the episode. The good news, though, is that Sunohara finally gets told Sanae is Nagisa’s mom…and it seemed the reason he ‘let’ Mei date Tomoya was cos he thought it’d be alright. I expected much the same, but it’s the way he behaved that seemed atypical. Ah well. So all’s well that ends well! ^^ With some tearful crying on the part of the girls and manly bruises for the guys.

Watch the screenshot slideshow below, or visit the gallery.

Touma meets another magician, this time a bishoujo rather than a bishounen! She wields blades of air, it seems (or wires?), and kicks Touma’s ass. (This part was really boring. -_- Though honestly, ‘Shichiten Shichitou’ is such a mouthful, even if it -can- kill someone seven times over.

Instead of surrending to defeat, he goes emotional on the girl and manages to make her guilty, and she admits she is from the same Church order (Necessarius) as Index, and seeks only to secure and make Index safe. Her story is that Index has her memory erased every year, just like a computer; because the grimoires take up so much space (85% of her brain), she doesn’t have enough hard disk space to function properly, unless they constantly delete stuff. Touma rages for a while more, then he faints. Strangely enough.

There’s a passing nod to Railgun, who spots Index in a crowd before the latter goes back to Touma’s house, where he’s been brought (by loli teacher? I’m so out of touch with this series, sigh). Three days later, the Church (?) guys come knocking at their door…what would Index do?

Screenshot slideshow below, or visit the gallery directly.

On the way to school, Taiga and Ryuuji hear this strange homerun song coming from a court. They investigate, to find it’s Minori playing ball — Ryuuji rhapsodises over her. (Zomg even her sweat sparkles!) Aside from being a softball player, we find out Kushieda is truly multitalented, working as a cellphone decorator, waitress, and @ convenience stores, karaoke clubs, and shabu-shabu places! What casual jobs have you worked?

Aside from the arubaito revelation, we wonder whether Kushieda really is that happy all the time. Later in the ep, Ryuuji drags Taiga along to work at one of Kushieda’s jobs — predictably, he gets locked up with Kushieda in a cellar just as soon as she cheerfully remarks it would be troublesome if that happened. Watch it to see what happens. :P

On a sidenote, I bought a set of Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit gum, and ate three while I watched this episode…-_-

Screenshot slideshow below, or visit the gallery.