So I wasn't gonna post it for ages yet, but because I posted the first part on Juu's birthday, I kinda had to post something for Shun's as well.

So yeah. There it be:

Meifu's Gate: Third Chronicle.


( Synopsis under cut )

Currently posted - 2 chapters. I've almost 23 plus prologue written...but I'm not sure how long this one will be yet or if it will be broken into two...

As for the Omake for the Juu-chibis - I'm still working on it nominally, but it's going to have to wait a while longer...

*scuttles away*

Ok, I promise. I'll post something else other than Bleach soon. However.

363.

Where to start. Hrm. Good question. SPOILERS are below cuts.

( Da Joo )

 

( Da Shun )

 

( Da rest )

 

It got kinda long, so more spamness. Gomen, minna. (bows). Gomen, doubly, for the non-bleach f-list people. (more bowing). Although for any SotsuM f-list people, is anyone interested in proofreading some manga translation...?

Aaanyhow...yes...back to 362 again. This from the raw of the chapter...and other stuff.


( Everything and then some more, because I'm like that... )
Ok. Done now. Back to other stuff. *flits*

I may have to confess absolute love of Kubo-sensei after having read the latest spoiler additions.

Although I don't envy the scanlators in trying to make sense of it all...
( Fangirl spoilerness and Kanjiness )

Hurry up, Friday. I need to see this for myself.

*fangirls off*

 

So yeah, I finally saw the raws for 361. And a few things caught my amusement.
( Yakko-san )


( Los Lobos )

( One Bankai or Two? )

 

( 100 more years... )

 

Okay, that's my Japanese geeking for the day. Am leaving this post unlocked - feel free to link it out to anyone else fangirlish enough to care about the intricacies of the JuuShun Epic...

( Pictures and prices )

Please post or PM enquiries. Offers also will be considered and shipping combined. Paypal only please. Shipping from the UK to worldwide. References available under 'reide' on ebay.

Well, the special aired. And I've not downloaded it yet, but I have seen it.

So far as it goes, it's what I expected really. A 2 part series is not enough to introduce 3 new characters adequately and still keep the quality of the existing ones.

( What I liked... )

( What I didn't like )

Overall, though - pretty much as expected :) We'll see what happens in part 2.

I feel I have to say something about this, because I dug out my PSP and decided I was going to finish this game if it killed me (slight exaggeration there). I bought it originally because I didn't know if I'd ever have a chance to play with the 1 characters and it was something of a compromise. But I don't want to just bypass the 2 characters without giving them a chance. So I started over again from scratch a couple of weeks ago - and I'm giving each of them their chance to prove they're not clones.

This time I started from the Chi/Mikado side rather than the Ten/In side, just because I still have my meanderings from Yoritada's beginning from well over a year and a half ago that I might decide to finish at some point.

The first thing I'll say is that I think I like the Chi better than the Ten for the most part so far. Also, obviously, because I've begun from the Chi side, and I can't remember everything from playing the Ten side last time, I'm going to have more to say about some characters than others. And especially Yasutsugu, since I'm playing his path ;)
( So, beginning with the Chi. )



( And now the Ten... )

...Yorihisa had to kill a Nue.

That's so wrong.

And yet so right all at the same time.

After the struggle I had to find the kanji for Nue, mind you, I was amused to see it written in hiragana in the game battle *lol*

That there probably won't be a Nnoitra and Nel BBC.

Although even so I'm slightly interested by this one, considering the distinct creepiness it promises if there happens to be a duet...

Bleach Beat Collection 4th Session 05

((If you can't read the Japanese, it's Mayuri and Nemu.))

I still wanted Kanna to sing though. Meh.

Mind you. I also really want Urahara and Yoruichi to have one with the Pendulum coming up, but I imagine it would take locking MikiShin in the recording booth and refusing to let him go until he'd sung something, knowing how reluctant he is to record tracks these days...

Vraie

Thanks to that game, I've been rewatching HaruToki's anime. I want to reread the manga but at the moment my Japanese classmate is still borrowing volume one, so I've satisfied myself by using the Nue chapter of volume 2 for my class homework story review assignment and gone back to watching the series over again.

I don't often watch the episode with Takamichi because he bores me hasn't ever really made a huge impression on me.

But it made me think yet again what the chances are of a Shirin/Takamichi pairing in the final manga outcome.

( Takamichi and Shirin )

I also rather like Tomomasa/FujiHime...though I realise how wrong that sounds, I do mean when she gets a bit older :p FujiHime's sister is quite an interesting girl, so I can see FujiHime turning into the kind of woman who could handle Tomomasa in the future ;)

Mind you, Ran also likes Tomomasa, doesn't she?

And then there's something else that's been bothering me ever since I saw Kurenai no Tsuki.

( Farfetched ideas about Rizvaan's ancestry... )

Please god Mizuno-sensei make Takamichi interesting, for the sake of my Neoroma fangirl sanity...

Vraie

P.S - it's starting to disturb me but there's a really, REALLY strong character resemblance between Tomomasa and Kyouraku Shunsui from Bleach. There's the floral coat. The teasing games. The intelligence that's cloaked in apparent laziness. The fondness for sake and nice things. The flirting. The older guy thing. Their entire manner of speaking. The respect they command from higher up despite all of the aforementioned bad habits. It's really quite spooky how they could swap series and no one would ever notice...

So I killed Ichigo again.

But this time he did get as far as the school and trying to rescue Orihime from the Hollows. And this time I DID save it beforehand, so I don't have to go all the way back to the beginning again.

Erm yes. Spending precious free time playing PS2 games...? Me? Guilty :S

It did amuse me though that when Ichigo GOT to the school with Rukia (apparently in his backpack) and Chad (on his shoulders..? God knows where he was hiding) ISHIDA was already there. PROTECTING Orihime. Oh I try not to get too involved in Bleach shipping because it's made of insanity but I do like Ishida x Orihime because of the SS arc. And that was just...I dunno, but it made this fangirl happy :D

Though she'd be happier if Ukitake and Shunsui were in this game somewhere. Oh well.

I don't often make MLP posts these days, and have no idea if this has been discussed on any of the forums or whatever but...

Cherries Jubilee is so in the Virgin Atlantic advert.

I thought I saw her the first time. Second time I was watching real carefully and the little girl definitely is clutching Cherries Jubilee by the tail.

I knew I liked that advert...

This may already have been posted in several places, considering I've had this CD at least a week and I'm sure others had theirs before me, but I read the inside advertising on the Aozora Tone (YUNOKI! AHEM) Drama CD case and it seems a lot is going on in Koruda-world...

The breakdown:

February 2009
Kiniro no Koruda 2 "Forte" Game is released on PSP. It includes the newest character Etou as well as the stalkerKaji.
I probably won't be buying it, since I have to budget on the exchange rate, but I'm happy another PSP game for Koruda is out, since I still haven't forgiven Koei for sticking all the good universal HaruToki stuff on the DS.

2nd February 2009
~New song collection CD "Sweet Twinkle" featuring:
-new songs for Tsuchiura, Shimizu, Hihara, Yunoki (At least I think it's probably new songS and not a group song but all it says is 'shinkyoku' which doesn't help overly)
-Solo for new character Etou Kiriya
-Soccer Club Trio song (!?!)

22nd February 2009
~Staff concert (I'm guessing this is the instrumentalists, since...)

14, 15 March 2009
~Neoromance Festa: Kiniro no Koruda Seisou Gakuinsai 2
(Must check website to see if/who is confirmed. I won't be going, but I have about six or seven months notice now to save up for the DVD :P)

Projected For Spring 2009
~"Secundo Passo" Anime. I'm still not sure whether this means a series or a special, because what it says here is:
"A special anime (not Anime Special, Special Anime) introducing new character Etou Kiriya! Kaji and Kira also have their first anime appearances. (Meh. Kaji. Blah). Look forward to seeing the animated versions of the guys!"

(actually it says "Look forward to seeing these guys moving", but that sounds a liiitle creepy to me).

Synopsis
The Concours has ended and the participants are starting to walk a new path. Transfer student Kaji Aoi and the enigmatic violinist Etou Kiriya appear before Hino Kahoko as she continues to study the violin at her own pace.

(That does sound like more than one episode, though, doesn't it? It'll be a bit crowded otherwise).

So...there it is. Koruda up till Spring.

I believe Volume 12 of the manga -which will have the chapter I'm waiting for with Yunoki and Hihara in - also is due out in the Spring.

My initial impressions of Etou Kiriya (based only on his brief appearance in this drama CD) are better than my ones of Kaji, fortunately - so hopefully he's going to be a fun character, although I think the violinist thing has been majorly overdone and I am worried the original characters may get sidelined in order to promote the new ones. Hopefully it'll follow the manga at least somewhat in that regard. Mind you in the anime so far, she was taking lessons at some random place, rather than having Ousaki teach her - I wonder if they'd change that, because otherwise keeping Ousaki in the plot is a bit of a problem.

Though he seems to know Kiriya from the past somewhere, so that might be it instead.

Here ends the Koruda bulletin ;)

Vraie

P.S - I'm worrying myself slightly by the fact I'm still listening to Kaji's newest song. Even though he seems to be having fits of the giggles throughout it, it's surprisingly catchy.

P.P.S - back to work proper tomorrow. Meh. It was nice while it lasted...

So, after Unicorn and I had a conversation on MSN last night in which we both mentioned how we hardly get involved with MLP stuff/collecting/community/anything any more...

And after the conversation on a bleach comm about real or fake MLP...

Today on my way back from Birmingham I found a pony in a charity shop in town.

It's Flowerburst, one of the Sweetheart Sisters. Yes, a PROPER pony. Not a G3 pink-and-sickly repeat job :P

She's had a bit of a hair snip but I'm going to clean her up anyhow. She has her earring, so someone might want her, and I couldn't just leave her there.

New year, new pony - someone giving me a subtle message...?

Vraie

..This is what happens when my sister and I find time to kill on Christmas day...

( Click here )

Hope everyone had a good one :D I did!

My parents are still slightly net-buying-phobic, but there's hope for them yet since they got me season 3 of Forever Knight and they MUST have got that from the US, since it's not out over here.

Maybe Japanese stuff can be slipped into next year's :P I guess my birthday is probably too soon though :S

Also watched Elizabeth, the Golden Age this evening. It's a slightly different representation of the history I remember studying...but I guess it's not a bad film ;) Think I still prefer the first one, though. It glued together better.

Vraie

Just because I had to share the ice skating...more pictures from the DX 4Komi.

I have to celebrate finishing work for Christmas some way, right?

( HaruToki at the ice rink )

( Busy Oni-tachi )

Vraie

Since I can't get it into my scanner without breaking the DX spine volume, I've tackled it with the digicam instead (with moderate to good success, I hasten to add).

So without further ado...

( Akuram gets ready for Christmas... )

Warning - the image is quite big :)

On another note: Today is Ukitake's birthday. How geekish am I...?

In semi-celebration (well, I was gonna post it anyway, but whatever), I've begun uploading my story about Ukitake and Kyouraku's childhoods to the FFnet server.

Meifu's Gate: Prequel

Today's also my last day at work before Christmas. Meh. :s

Vraie

Happy Holidays to anyone who's finished for Christmas. I have one more day to do (tomorrow afternoon) and then I'm off till the 29th, which also happens to be payday XD. Tomorrow is also Ukitake;s birthday ^_^ so I have something geekishly ff-ish planned for it. Rain Dragon is uploaded and complete on the FFnet server, so there's room to move forward.

Speaking of Bleach...
The latest manga chapter. As I've said already, I'm split down the middle on this one.

( The breakdown )

And on to other things...

Harukanaru Toki no Naka De...

I'm getting shamefully oblivious/confused with the HaruToki manga. It's because I'm missing a chapter somewhere, and so I've lost the plot of what's going on :S I need to reread some of the DX stuff but with the exchange rate as it is, I can't afford to track down the missing volume so I'll have to wait for the proper book. It's okay though. Though I'm always in a HaruToki fangirl mood, I'm not always in a HaruToki manga mood. I was actually more amused by the little four-square scenes this time around than the new chapter I glanced at. Particularly Akuram getting ready for Christmas (writing to Santa, putting up his stocking...) and then being told by Ikutidaru that Santa only brings presents to good boys ^_^.

There's also something advertised for HaruToki4 but I haven't been bothered to read it properly yet.

My DX subscription runs out after the next issue, though, so that'll be that for now.

The PS2 Etoile Report: #2
~Etoile's shameless Shuugosei contacts are falling over one another to give her their mail addresses now she;s come back for her second lot of Sacrea. Zephel also seems rather too helpful of late. Randy Randy seems to have backtracked on his early affection, however, and has absconded from the palace whenever Etoile comes looking for Sacrea. It's a pain, because it's his she needs.

~Marcel's birthday happened, and unfortunately Etoile had no present to give him. Fortunately he's easily satisfied with a song. I guess that means he's fifteen now. too young for seventeen year old Etoile even so...

~Lumiale...really looks like a girl. And I'm starting to think he sounds like one in this, too...

~NeNe's forecast indicates there's good chemistry between Etoile and Clavis. Though for a couple of coins I think she might say that for any of them...they got a lot of pink love hearts.

~For someone playing hard to get, Clavis is a remarkably forward young man. After refusing Etoile's invite out, he was only too glad to accompany her to Celestia when she issued the invite in person. Not only that, but at the end of the day he came back to her bedroom with her.
...tut tut, Clavis, time to keep those hormones in check :P

~At the end of Etoile's Week One repairing Shinjuu, everything is going according to plan and Rachel seems suitably happy :)

Vraie

So I really need to get a change of Ange icon, since this has nothing to do with NeoAnge at all. But anyhow. This PC has no scanner attached, so for the time being Bernard will have to do.

I've had a very Angelique week this week.

I don't know whether it's because of all the crackness on the angemedia group of late, or if it's just a random consequence of having finished watching NeoAnge at long last. But I went back to the beginning and started watching the Ange anime stuff from the start.

Firstly, I'd forgotten that my version of the first OVA has subtitles. I was actually irritated by that fact :S That sounds stupid, but I first watched Ange without subtitles. Even when I wasn't competent enough at Japanese to understand more than 50% of the plot, I still rather liked trying to work out what they were doing and saying.

The other irritating thing about the first OVA is that it starts in the middle of Arios' story. (We can't all play the game, Koei :P)

Of course, the original OVA also contains Clavis's original seiyuu, the late Shiowaza Kaneto. Also known to this SotsuM fanatic as Kawazoe Haruka.

( Brief moment of silence here in memory of Shiowaza-san )



Fortunately the rest of my Ange anime is without subs.

I think it's because when I started watching Ange, noone had bothered subbing any of it. I don't think that the Seichi yori OVA or the twin collections have been subbed even now, actually - though I believe the Etoile series either has or is in the process of being done.

Though I usually do watch subbed versions when available to save my braincells having to work properly, I can't imagine watching Ange in that way. Its a series I don't want to read other people's interpretations of so much as interpret it myself - if that makes sense??

( Ange babble )

I also like Randy and Marcel more in the manga than the anime.

Though actually for the first time I'm becoming quite actively fond of several of the characters in one way or another. Thanks to sableblanc and the angemedia group, no doubt...

Vraie