As a person who appreciates any form of art and enjoys watching romantic comedy, picking up Honey & Clover seems like an appropriate thing to do. Little did I know that this series spanning over two seasons have so much heartache. I started watching the first season sometime in the middle of last year, but it took me ages to complete the 24 episodes of it. It’s not that it’s boring. Well, the pace is a bit slow. Besides, I can’t bear to watch all the heartaches the characters were going through. Second season fares much better in terms of pacing, but still gosh…my heart breaks.

Before I go on any further, here’s a quick look at what Honey & Clover is about.

Yūta Takemoto, Takumi Mayama and Shinobu Morita are three young men who live in the same apartment complex and are students at an art college in Tokyo.

One day, they are introduced to Hagumi Hanamoto, the daughter of a cousin of Shūji Hanamoto, an art professor, who has come to live with Hanamoto and has become a first year art student at the art school that everyone attends. Yuta and Shinobu both fall in love with Hagu, but Yuta hides his feelings and tries to be a friend to Hagu while Shinobu expresses his love in ways that seem only to scare Hagu, such as calling her “Mousey” and constantly photographing her. Hagu herself, though initially timid and afraid of company, gradually warms up to the three.

The group comes to include Ayumi Yamada, a master of pottery who is well-known by her nickname “Tetsujin” (Iron Lady), who becomes very close to Hagu. When not at school, she helps run the family liquor store. While Ayumi is popular with many young men, she falls in love with Takumi, who does not recipocrate her feelings and considers her a very dear friend. Instead, Takumi pursues an older woman, Rika Harada, a widowed friend of Professor Hanamoto who runs an architecture studio she founded with her late husband.

The story follows these five characters in their love triangles, unrequited love, graduating from college, finding jobs, and learning more about themselves.

- Wikipedia

When I say heartbreaks, I don’t only mean in romantic relationships. But of course, the major heartbreaks in Honey & Clover are related to a series of unrequited love. There are so many love triangles that I lost count. Yamada’s case was the most heart-wrenching story of all.  She knows she has no future with Mayama as he has been very clear about his feelings for Rika. In spite of that, she continues to follow him, stays close to him. She’s even willing to work with Rika. Her emotional wounds were only cut deeper everytime she sees Mayama showing affections towards Rika. I don’t understand how she’s able to bear the disappointments and hurt, but there she is – forever chasing after Mayama.

And that is only one of the many love triangles in Honey & Clover.

As I’ve said, Honey & Clover isn’t sad only because of the many romantic relationship failures. I also felt the sorrow Kaoru’s going through. Growing up feeling neglected by his father who favored his little brother, Morita, he lived wondering about his own usefulness, his own talent. That one episode about his childhood and how he became so filled with vengeance is especially heartfelt. I kept thinking – if only. If only his father has been a little bit more attentive towards him. If only his father hasn’t been betrayed by a friend. If only. If only. If only. That’s life.

Yamada’s pain and Kaoru’s despair can’t even be compared to Hagu’s grief. All her life, the one thing she treasured the most is slipping through her fingers – her love and ability to draw. As an extremely talented and highly sought-after artist student, the injury to her dominant arm is a nightmare. The sense of loss, not knowing if she’s ever going to recover was painful to watch. However, I’m impressed by the fact she’s put up a brave front as an encouragement to herself and as not to burden those around her. You see, Hagu is a girl small in stature and is an introvert. She looks vulnerable and every part of her silently screams for protection from others. She is constantly shielded by those around her. It’s rare to see Hagu doing things on her own, except drawing. So to watch her go through the ordeal was a bit too much to bear.

Throughout the two seasons, Honey & Clover excels in arousing the emotions. I think I can feel the characters’ pain so much because they were well written and they are easy to relate to. All the characters in Honey & Clover felt real. I mean, they are these bunch of people who are going through the ups and downs in life I know most of us are going or have gone through. We question about our future, our relationships, the meaning and purpose of life. Life isn’t a bed of roses. Honey & Clover showed us just that.

Nendoroid Aisaka Taiga is finally here! While many received her many weeks ago, I only got her like two days ago. But you know what? It’s okay so long she’s already here. For those who are wondering who in the world is Aisaka Taiga – she is the lovely lead character from the popular romantic comedy series, Toradora!. And that palmtop tiger you see later on represents the nickname given to her.

Now let’s just bury ourselves in some Taiga cuteness!

A teeny, tiny bit of defect on her hair.

Love the base.

Quite a lot of figure-related posts from me recently huh? Tell you what, this is going to be last post on figure for quite a while. Reason being nothing’s released until like maybe April or May. Wanna guess what figure is next?

I don’t know why but this year I was really anticipating the coming of this event. Maybe I finally got used to how things work in figure industry so I know this event is coming? But whatever the reason is, one thing’s for sure. I was stalking every figure sites imaginable to see if they’ve uploaded any new updates for this poor girl from afar to see.

While waiting for Nekomagic to update its site on this event, I stumbled upon other sites that have equally comprehensive coverage on this event:

• Dengeki Online [1] [2] [3] [4]
• Famitsu

Not disappointed, there are few figures I’m interested in and would love to buy them when they’re released. >.<

Heiwajima Shizuo from Durarara!! – a favorite character of mine from the series. His pose looks very cool here.

Figma Saber & Motored Cuirassier  from Fate/Zero – That bike is to die for, really.

In addition to the list above (it’s not a long list because I’m still strictly following the criteria I set for myself), the list below are few other figures I find are stunning beauties but wouldn’t buy because well, they don’t match my criteria.

Megurine Luka from Vocaloid – She simply looks so hot here.

Yuzuriha Inori from Guilty Crown – I like the way her clothes flowing behind.

Ultimate Madoka from Puella Magi Madoka Magica – I’m sure this will turn out a real beauty. I mean, look at her dress, the wings.

So, ladies and gentlemen, what figures from Wonder Festival 2012 (Winter) tickles your fancy?

P.S Happy Valentines Day, everyone!

This post is written as part of a project organized by Kai. Gotta say, Kai’s invitation’s timing is just right because this is something I’ve been thinking about lately.

Compared to last year, I’ve less free time on hand, which also means less time for anime and other related hobbies. Okay, before I go any further into how I manage my time when it comes to anime and the likes, I shall roughly talk about my usually fixed schedule. I have a day job as software engineer, working only on weekdays, eight to five. After work, I will go for a quick jog or just work out on my stationary bike or do some strength exercises for about 30 minutes. When all that plus more is done, thanks to short commute time in my city, it will be about 7.30 to 8pm. As for weekends, I’ll go for a two-hour badminton session with colleagues on Saturday and doing absolutely nothing on Sunday. I need my rest. This is my usually fixed schedule.

But sometimes, things don’t always go as planned. There are times when I have deadlines to meet, and that’s when I find myself working overtime trying to complete the tasks on time. And then sometimes, I’ll go for dinners, special events, birthday parties, movies, shopping trips for days in a row. And then sometimes, I travel. That’s when I’ll fall behind. Furthermore, I’ve accepted a few side projects this year to do after working hours.

Now, how do I manage my time when it comes to watching anime, reading manga, playing games and such? Well, it’s hard. I’ve dropped a few series I intended to follow at the start of the season due to lack of time. On top of that, I’m falling behind long running series such as One Piece, Naruto, Fairy Tai, and Hunter X Hunter (2011). But because I want to keep up with the latest anime, the discussions and blogging, this is how I do it – I prioritize. I’ll use this season (Winter 2012) as an example to illustrate how. Another, Nisemonogatari and AnoNatsu are three anime that I make sure I’ll watch on the day they’re available in my time. Shounen series such as Naruto, One Piece, Fairy Tail and Hunter X Hunter (2011) are usually put on hold until I have the time so I might accumulate up to 10 episodes or more before I finally get to them. Persona 4, Guilty Crown, RinLag, NichiBros will be watched during the week, just not on the day it’s released. Maybe a few days later, depending on my schedule. You see, when you put it one anime episode per night, it isn’t too bad. Before bedtime is good time to slot in 20 minutes worth of anime. As for Bakuman 2 and Chihayafuru, I’ve decided to watch it marathon-style after they’re completed. I usually marathon anime during weekends, night time. Weekends daytime is reserved for chores, music, books among other things. Oh, if I have long holidays like CNY break and stuff, I will try to marathon a completed series.

Sometimes when I travel, I’ll load a few anime episodes into my iPad2 so I can watch them at the hotel when I’m free. The viewing experience is not as good though. I read blogs and tweets via iPad2 or Galaxy S2 too if I’m on the move. I used to bring PSP with me, but I’m running out of games to play on it and I have no plans of buying PS Vita….yet.

Like most anime fans, I have a few on-going manga that I’m reading, just not that many. Including the new addition, Nisekoi, to my list, I have five. Well, if I include irregular readings of K-ON, Vampire Knight, Switch Girl and Maid-sama, there’s more. Please don’t ask me why I’m still reading about the K-ON girls in college. Besides the regular five, I sometimes pick up completed series to read like Hatsukoi Limited and a few other manga. It’s not hard to fit manga into my schedule. It’s usually Wednesday or Thursday for the shounen series and once a month or two for shoujo manga. Plus, it takes only a few minutes. And occasionally, when I can’t sleep I’ll browse the sites aimlessly for completed manga to read. They’re usually one-shots or super short series. So, I don’t really have problem with manga since it’s less time-consuming compared to anime. One episode of anime, I can read a few chapters. Right?

Another one of my hobbies is playing video games. I own a PS3 and a PSP, but more often than not, they’re left to collect dust. I’ll be honest here, while I play games, I suck at managing my time for it. It’s like there’s no more room in my schedule for games except during holidays. I’ve made a tweet a few weeks ago, announcing that I’ve finally completed God of War I on my PS3. After a year! That doesn’t look good. My goal is to complete all the God of War series. I’ve completed all the PSP versions, God of War I (yay!) and I’ve started God of War II. I am planning to buy God of War III soon. And I think God of War IV is coming out this year or next?! Gosh, going on the rate that I am, I’ll never catch up. There’s GTA V coming out as well, I heard….So anyway, I try not to feel like I’m being forced to play games (although some of my friends like to ask how’s my progress and it’s embarrassing to tell them I’m still where I was five months ago) so I’ll get to it whenever I can.

P.S I have one question for iPad owners, do you guys browse and read manga on it? How is it for you guys? Because I’m having horrible experience reading manga online via iPad.

Looking at my watch list this season, interestingly there are two anime I have been faithfully following without that feeling of anticipation. You know, the happy feeling one has when a subbed episode is released. They aren’t particularly distasteful, but they aren’t thrilling either. Lukewarm is the word best describe how I feel about Persona 4: The Animation and Guilty Crown.

Persona 4: The Animation is what I consider a show with cool vibes. The colors, the style, the characters. It helps a lot that the anime is never short of comedic moments. Nonetheless, with so many episodes aired, I’m still wondering what this story is all about. In my opinion, I have trouble understanding Persona 4 because I have not played the game and therefore, I don’t really know what to expect. I haven’t read any other materials about it other than the normal episodic blog posts because I want to keep that element of surprise. I believe I made the right choice because I sure was surprised to learn the hidden secret of Naoto. So what is Persona 4 about? Is it really just a group of friends hanging out, catching bad guys or is there more than meets the eye? I really don’t know. It feels like Power Rangers for some part, Famous Five for the most part.

As for the other half of the two, I’ll admit that I’m absolutely blown away by the first episode. I was captivated by the beautiful artwork and that song – Euterpe. If I’m asked to rate “The Best First Episode”, Guilty Crown will definitely make the list. Unfortunately, after that awesome first episode, the rest failed to impress. In fact, Guilty Crown has gained a lot negative comments from the anime community. As I reflect on my thoughts on this anime, I came to the conclusion that I don’t hate nor am I disappointed with the series. Sure, the story is far from unique and didn’t live up to my expectation thus far and most likely never will but I can’t argue that the animation, artwork and music have been wonderfully kind to my eyes and ears.

Having written this post, I realize I have higher tolerance than I thought. Usually, when I don’t know what an anime’s trying to do I drop them. But then again, maybe Persona 4 and Guilty Crown aren’t that bad, which is why I stick around for as long as I did.

I took these pictures a looooong time ago. I remember posting it in Figure.fm couple years ago but maybe under a different username or something. I was going through my folders in my trusty lappie when I stumbled upon this. I figured since I’ve never actually posted the pictures on this blog, I might as well do it now.

Oh, how can I forget to introduce this figure? It’s MegaHouse’s Excellent Model Portrait of Pirates “Strong Edition” Roronoa Zoro Version 2. Phew, that’s a long name. Without further ado, here are the rest of pictures of this lovely figure.

Zoro is one of my favorite characters in One Piece and Strong World is the best One Piece movie I ever saw. Just thought this figure is really cool, which is why I made the purchase. Like the gun…

And the swords…I can actually take them out from the sheath.

Hmmm….I couldn’t find any pictures showing what this figure looks like from behind…Bummer.

Allow me to introduce you a super short film called Life No Color, directed by Tazawa Ushio which apparently has won the Visual Award in the 14th DoGA CG Animation Contest. Probably you have heard of it, probably you have not. I just want to say how incredible this video is and how it is able to convey some kind of a message without any dialogues.

Yes, no dialogues and I should probably say when I say super short, I really mean it – it’s only 4 minutes long. Some said it’s like a music video but the music only has soft lyrics. I can barely make them out. Instead, what it has is colors and facial expressions. I love how these two simple elements when combined can tell a story.

I assume this clip is about discrimination in societies and how some characters desire and support for a society free of discrimination.  Those in blue clothes symbolizes people from high class society, you know like the blue blood, or at least they’re of powerful and rich background. And then, the ones dressed in red are from the lower class society, which is why they get all the teasing from the blue ones.

Or something like that. I have not found the exact interpretation of this clip so if you’ve found it, please let me know.

In the mean time, enjoy =).

We’ve seen Kurosaki Ichigo from Bleach went through all kinds of transformation during his stint as erm…multiple things. Our beloved Uzumaki Naruto from the popular shounen manga series Naruto isn’t too far behind Ichigo in this aspect. It only seemed like yesterday when Naruto mastered Sage Techniques. That was perhaps the first technique that comes with the most visible appearance change. Oh, I just remembered – Naruto even briefly transformed into this form here. Isn’t he the cutest that way?

For a long while, Naruto had been working with B, the jinchūriki of Eight-Tails to perfect his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode. Since then, he became stronger and stronger as I’ve shown here in a previous post. After going through many hurdles and some heart-to-heart talk with Kurama the Nine-Tails (yes, he has a name! Unbelievable right?), Naruto finally gained a newfound strength.

*Drumrolls*

(Clear throat) Allow me the unveil the Bijuu Transformation Technique. Correct me if I got the name wrong.

Naruto looks a bit weird with the horn-like hairstyle. I know it meant to be the “ears of the fox”, but still it made him look like a devil or something >.<. The outfit, on the other hand, looks pretty cool. Wanna guess what color it might be? Lol.

Let’s see him in action in this new form.

Gathering energy for this attack below!

Take that, Tobi!

It’s pouring really hard out there right now, which is a welcoming change to the hot, humid weather my city had for the last few days. On top of that, I’ve been sick the whole week, lost my voice, struggled for air and felt like there’s a 20kg stone constantly on my head. Let’s just say it hadn’t been a blissful week for me.

But it is raining now. The temperature is just right. I’m sitting by the window, enjoying the breeze and fresh air….and with my laptop on, re-watching Skip Beat!. The perfect setting and atmosphere for me to enjoy my anime. I don’t know about you, but me – I’m very particular about having everything in perfect order in order for me to truly enjoy my anime. And it’s not just having cool weather.

99% of the time I watch anime at night. If the weather gets too hot, I like to switch off the lights, cool down the room temperature. If it’s early in the morning, I like to have a cup of hot, rich coffee to accompany me. For some reason, I only like to have coffee with me and I want it rich and strong. Seldom do I seek for popcorns, chips and stuff, but on occasions, they are the treats of choice. And for some reason, I don’t like to stare into my laptop screen when the weather gets too hot or the sun too bright. I never considered moving my laptop elsewhere, don’t ask me why.

Oh, and I always put on my closed-back headphones when I watch Nodame Cantabile. With beautiful classical music accompaniment, I just want to watch that series with as much noise reduced as possible. Not just Nodame Cantabile, but can’t for the life of me think of other anime right now. That goes without saying, this habit doesn’t apply to all anime, just a selective few.

I’d like to believe some of us are as fussy as I am in order to have that perfect enjoyment of our dose of anime >.<. Or at least some of us, if not all of us, desire for that certain something that would enhance our viewing experience. Maybe a set of good speakers? Or maybe a huge full HD monitor? Or maybe a home theater that mimics the cinematic feeling?

Care to share?

Kimi ni Todoke is no stranger to a lot of shoujo anime and manga fans out there. It has established itself as one of the best shoujo material there is at the moment. Sweet, fluffy and filled with heartwarming stories, Kimi ni Todoke has earned itself a good place in hearts of many fans including myself. If you haven’t heard of this title, please allow me to briefly tell what Kimi ni Todoke is about.

(Turn the copy of my manga to the back and began to type…)

Sawako Kuronuma is the perfert heroine…for a horror movie. With striking similarities to a haunting movie character – jet-black hair, sinister smile and silent demeanor - she’s mistakenly called Sadako by those around her. But behind her scary facade is a very misunderstood teenager. Too shy to fit in, all she wants to do is mkae some friends. But then the most poplar boy in class befriends her, she’s sure to make more than just that – she’s about to make some enemies too!

Now, the first volume of Kimi ni Todoke focused on the budding friendships between Kuronuma Sawako and her classmates and also her relationship with Kazehaya Shouta. It started with quick explanation of Sawako’s early days at her high school, being labelled as an outcast, scary girl with supernatural powers. Once the explanation is done, the story of how she made a few friends here and there began. A story of an outcast wouldn’t be complete if the main character didn’t end up with a friend or two right?

Gradually throughout the chapters in this volume, Sawako was able to speak her mind rather confidently with strong encouragement from Kazehaya. He served as a huge support system for Sawako as she struggles in her social life. It is said though that Kazehaya simply wanted everyone in the class to fit in, but the early chapters already clearly indicated his attention to Sawako is a different kind – he likes her. Romantically. Whatever his intentions are, Kazehaya did indeed help Sawako to open up more to her classmates such as Yoshida Chizuru and Yano Ayane. He created chances for her to interact with the class. He stood up for her in her moment of need. Because of his actions, her other classmates like Yano and Yoshida were a bit more brave in embracing Sawako. I think it’s safe to say, without him Sawako may not be able to make friends throughout her high school.

 The first volume of Kimi ni Todoke manga laid down the foundation for the whole series I’d say. It introduced all the major characters quickly over four chapters and with solid introduction on the two main characters, Sawako and Kazehaya. I believe the moments shared between the two characters played a role in allowing readers to understand each of their personal thoughts. Like the walk by the river. It’s a perfect setting for both characters to exchange their inner thoughts, their dreams and mostly provided readers insights into the behavior of Sawako.

Just as Sawako was beginning to enjoy a taste of friendships, this volume ended with Yoshida and Yano being told that Sawako spread rumors about them. It’s a kind of cliffhanger I hate because it kept me guessing what’s going to happen next. But true to the summary above, she had made a few enemies along the way.

After reading this first volume, I realized that it is Kazehaya who had driven Sawako to become more open to people around her. I mean I know Kazehaya was there, but I also thought Yano and Yoshida were there too. After re-reading the chapters, I realized that it has always been only Kazehaya all along. Yano said that if Kazehaya hadn’t been the first to sit next to Sawako, she wouldn’t be able to do it. That alone is something.