Wrap Up | Manga Madness (Round 3)

I’m sorry to start off on such a sour note but I just can’t, for the life of me, get into reading manga. I will if I have to, like for this readathon, but if Erza Scarlet threatened to use her katana to shred my favorite notebooks, I’d have to say I prefer anime. (just don’t force me into a sub vs dub debate) I adore the vibrant colors, I always wish for the manga to be colored as beautifully as the cover art but it’s never so. Or I’m just an animation nut in general. I understand it’s for faster publication but I’m not a fan…unless I just color the pages myself…or is that illegal in the manga world? Regardless, onword with the wrap-up!

Dreamin’ Sun -1-

Goodreads | MyAnimeList

“Shimana Kameko lives in a home where she feels she doesn’t belong. Her mother is dead, her father has remarried, and her six-month-old baby brother takes up everyone’s attention. Kameko skips school and runs away to a nearby park, where she literally stumbles over a mysterious man in a kimono. The stranger, Fujiwara Taiga, offers Kameko a place to stay — on three conditions. The first condition is that Kameko tells him why she ran away from home. The second is that she fetch the stranger’s lost apartment key (he is locked out!). The third condition is… to have a dream. Kameko meets the conditions, moves in, and begins a journey of romance and self-discovery.” – (Synopsis via Goodreads)

This first volume was sweet and funny, classic harem set-up, with more guys coming into the picture in future volumes. (this is a unique character intro at the end) But everyone is still likable, usually, I find the main girl to be annoyingly naive but she’s nice, just wanting to belong somewhere. I’ve heard of Orange, there is an anime, I just haven’t picked it up yet. I know TheFlamingShark has done a reaction series to it, I’ll get to it eventually.

Filed Under:
YAGN 741.5973 T

Liselotte and the Witches’ Forest -1-

Goodreads | MyAnimeList

“Despite being completely hopeless at endeavors like farming and cooking, Liselotte, a young lady of noble birth and guardian to twins Alto and Anna, picks up and moves to a remote land. At the easternmost reaches of her new home lies a forest where it’s said witches roam. When Lise one day finds herself at the receiving end of an attack by one such witch, she’s saved by the sudden appearance of a young man named Engetsu. Though they’re strangers, Engetsu is remarkably similar to someone she already knows…?” (Synopsis via Goodreads)

This was an adorable introduction to a peaceful and mysterious fantasy world. Slice-of-life, fantasy, mystery, a little action, and a hint of a sweet romance – just about everything I love in a story. An intriguing series I hope comes off hiatus soon!

Filed Under:
YAGN 741.5973 T

Tsubasa Chronicle -1-

Goodreads | MyAnimeList

“Sakura is the princess of Clow – and possessor of a mysterious, misunderstood power that promises to change the world. Syaoran is her childhood friend and leader of the archaeological dig that took his father’s life. They reside in an alternate reality…where whatever you least expect can happen – and does. When Sakura ventures to the dig site to declare her love for Syaoran, a puzzling symbol is uncovered – which triggers a remarkable quest. Now Syaoran embarks upon a desperate journey through other worlds – all in the name of saving Sakura.” (Synopsis via Goodreads)

Aaandd this manga comes with a little story time! Yay! So back around early-to-mid 2000s (I can’t remember exactly, it was around the time I watched Princess Tutu as well) I found the anime and freakin’ loved it! For those who don’t know, I am a crazy but benevolent shipper, if the evidence is stacked against them and they won’t admit it, I’ll just be shipping even harder and when you open on a shot like this:

and then the chorus comes in and the beat picks up while she sprouts wings
and it’s just MMMMMMM, whatisgoingonimustknownow!

This was as accurate a fangirling as I could find:

The series was a-m-a-z-i-n-g and then the OVAs just twisted everything like a pretzel! (Most didn’t like all the plot twists, I thought they were great!) We’ve got this crazy epic mythical adventure quest with a samurai warrior, the aloft yet skilled prince, a lovable pokemon-esque companion, a fierce slow-burning romance, first setting in Clow country with everyone dressed in beautiful eastern garb then suddenly ending up in an industrial city, with car racing or a world with planets instead of moons and magical libraries, oh my! I was introduced to the confusing universe of CLAMP and people still can’t figure out the timeline of all their works. The anime was canceled but at least the manga is still running.

yes, I’m still upset about it

Filed Under:
YAGN 741.5973 C

Wandering Island -1-

Goodreads | MyAnimeList

This was the start of a cool story. Would make a great movie, Miyazaki would love it – being about planes and all. It has some good elements of Porco Rosso, a few bits of a mystery involving an island, with a touch of Kiki’s Delivery Service in it. The only similarity with Kiki being she has a sea-plane delivery service she started with her grandfather. (I mean, she also has a black cat too, by all intents and purposes, she could be one of those practical witches. hehe) It’s a slow-paced story, filled with quite a few wordless pages of just magnificent artwork of planes, oceans, and a kitty. It might’ve just been the edition I picked up from work but the first few pages were colored! I was so excited haha, regardless, the art was wonderfully detailed and will definitely be finishing with volume 2.

Filed Under:
GN 741.5973 W

Dreamin’ Sun -2-

Goodreads | MyAnimeList

More drama, Zen still loves pandas, and some nice lessons on confidence, making important memories and just having fun so you don’t look back in regret on the things you wish you had done or said.

Filed Under:
YAGN 741.5973 T

So what series is on the top of my priority list to finish?

Dreamin’ Sun by Ichigo Takano: No, but I will definitely have fun collecting the series. The covers are super cute. :3

Wandering Island by Kenji Tsuruta: If it were longer than two volumes, maybe, so it’s a no – but it did end on a pretty nice cliffhanger, might get back to it soon.

Tsubasa Chronicle by CLAMP: This would be my number one to finish if it didn’t feel like I was cheating, I already know most of the story, it’s following the manga faithfully so far (or I guess the anime is following the manga…) and it’s just a fact of waiting until I get to that cut off point where the anime stopped also there’s the sequel manga, World Chronicle – then I can start fangirling again.

For the sake of authenticity, in which I mean, I’m more excited to finish a brand new story that I discovered this week in my readings then something I already know I will be eager to finish – my number one pick is Liselotte and the Witch Forest. Like I said, it has a little of everything I love. It could never go wrong to remind me of Snow White with the Red Hair with a touch more magic in it. Gives me them good Kiki feels as well. :-3

Now for the Anime!

Unfortunately, I really can’t say much here without going into spoilerland. Once again I gotta mention the Potato Lord himself, TheFlamingShark (I don’t know him personally or anything, I just love his genuine reactions) I had taken a pause in watching this show until the last arc of the series (excluding Zero) cause I wanted to watch along with him (AKA me watching the set number of episodes in his reaction for the week, then watching his reaction video) It really helps me watch anime in durable spurts instead of bingeing and feeling too mentally exhausted to explain all the feels I just went through. No, I don’t consider it creepy. This week was episodes 249-253 of the Tartaros Arc and Oh My God were they amazing!! I can confidently say Grey’s whole character arc (or at least a big piece of it) coming to a close in this set was worth it and it makes even more heartfelt cryfests with Juvia having such an important role in it as well. It was just so well acted and composed, I have no idea what the rest of the arc will have in store for little fragile ol’ me.

Who likes torturing themselves? Me apparently! This is one of these ‘most beautiful film that you can only watch once’ and it’s my second viewing. Ironically this is #6 in the Studio Ghibli-Fest 2018 lineup, with Pom Poko actually being this week but I didn’t get around to it and I felt compelled to watch this again after seeing Big Joel’s video on it and I had also wondered if my brother had seen this movie yet. As difficult as it is to watch, I think it’s an important one, you should at least watch it once. War is devastating and this film gives you one of the most intimate aspects of it – how it affected the lives of the children. On a selfish note, it helps me appreciate my life and the time that I live in and how I’ll probably never have to worry about how I’m going to get my next meal. It’s definitely depressing, my brother’s words. He also asked why didn’t he just go back to his aunt and stay with her? I had told him that was just the choice that he made and that’s what it cost him. Joel’s video talks on this very topic but I also believe it nudges on the power of choice in general. How Seita’s choice to leave a comfortable home with a temporarily disdainful environment for a fleeing descent into the permanent tragedy of losing his baby sister. With the unfortunate circumstance being that it’s during a war and you can’t afford those kinds of choices. So yeah, I was feeling rightful just… drained as the credits rolled and my brother as always was trying to make me laugh by pointing out how the Japanese symbols looked like random things like a stick man with no head or that one side smiley face: ツ Anywho, it’s a good discussion piece – if you haven’t seen this movie, give it a chance – just make sure to be with a friend when you do, it’s pretty heavy.