Random Thoughts

Mood: Happy


Rather happy this week in personal life as well as in anime & manga, not mentioning work load of course. Haven't been writing random thoughts for several weeks.


Manga:
Suzuka 164: I like chapter 164 very much. As I have mentioned in the post, I think the way to conclude Suzuka with current scenario is acceptable and pleasing to the fans. Since Yamato and Suzuka cannot afford a wedding so maybe we'll see a chapter of Yamato working and the birth of the baby as finale. 2 more chapters till finale!
Air Gear 176: Don't know what's going to happen to Kururu after meeting the cunning Hako. Kogarasumaru having a duel with the "kamen rider" gang, with Kogarasumaru losing 0-10. Kanon's helping the opposition team.
Cross Game 94: The opposition team got a home run and now tie with Seishu High School.
Prince of Tennis 357: I must really commend Takeshi for making such a twist on Kaidou. After being beaten 0-4, Kaidou returned with an invincible move. And he shot a ball straight onto Akaya's face. What a great feeling!
Tsubasa 165: Finally, Ashura's finished. Last 2 chapters were great as Yui and Kurogane fought Ashura. Fai disintegrated after giving the feather back to Sakura body. The second curse will not be activated if Yui killed Ashura but it was Kurogane who killed Ashura. Syaoran told everyone to leave Celes quickly. After so many chapters (11) we're still clueless on the second curse. Gee....
AMG 228: Previously, everyone (Keiichi, Belldandy, Skuld, Urd and Megumi) lost their memory due to the overload of Skuld device. Welsper was wondering what happended to the house and inactive banpei kun. He/it realized that the rest of the people had amnesia and decided to have fun. He/it tricked that Urd and Keiichi are lovers. Skuld is his/its maid and Belldandy is his fiance. Welsper then want Belldandy to addres him a beloved one. However, Belldandy replied that she can't.
ARIA 56:Akira talked with a puppetmaster who has two puppet. One was white with a cheerful smile while the other one's black with sorrow. I hope next week we'll see the story after Alice became a Prima and how does that affect Aika and Akari.

Anime:
Romeo x Juliet 21: I haven't been watching RxJ since EP 18. Will catch up to it. RxJ has been switched to Tuesdays air slot. Cornelia and Benvolio married. Romeo was determined to act against his father. Juliet has the seed of Escalus has been planted inside her and she hasn't told Romeo about it.
Zero no Tsukaima II 9 : Colbert was the Flame Serpent as expected. I didn't expect him to die though. Menville was killed by Agnes and she tried to avenge on Colbert but he died before she could act. Saito received a letter from Colbert and he cried. Louise hugged him and cried as well. Finally, one episode that ended with Loiuse and Saito without an explosion.
ARIA OVA~Arietta: It's nice to see that ARIA OVA was aired before the DVD release. The background setting and the animation are both excellent and impressive. However, as I pointed out to Adun, they changed the eyes slightly and in some far-away shot, the character face was slightly of concern. Nevertheless, close-up shots are still near perfect. I like the story plot since it focuses a lot of Alicia (my favourite).

Purchase:
Placed an order for ARIA Desktop calendar at HLJ. But I do have another plan in mind. I'm thinking of an order at AJ with 2 CDs, ARIA desktop and Suzuka guidebook (coming soon). ARIA Solid Collection has been shipped. Received my brother's SD Stargazer this morning, very nice.

Suzuka 164 Graduation

Suzuka 164 卒業 そつぎょう

Yamato and his classmates attended the graduation ceremony. At the school compound, Suzuka, Yamato, Yasonobu and Miki were strolling. Yasonobu remarked that Miki got emotional and he saw her in tears. He then boasted that his sleeve buttons were all taken by his junior female students. Yamato replied that he had all his button taken as well but Yasonobu teased by saying that they were all taken by male students. (In Japan, they have a tradition of taking someone's button to cherish a memory with a person) Miki commented to Suzuka that her stomach is growing. Suzuka replied that it already 6 months. Miki then asked her the feeling of being pregnant. Yasonobu told Miki that if she was interested he would be happy to get her pregnant. Miki then hit him with her school bag as Yasonobu told her it was just a joke. Kobayakawa confirmed with Yamato that he had been employed by Sasaoka company. Yamato replied yes. Kobayakawa told Yamato that Arima sent him a message challenging him to the Olympic selection. Yamato was stunned and asked what's Arima thinking. Kobayakawa replied that he was just the messenger. Kobayakawa also told Yamato that by then Yamato may not even beat him, let alone Arima.

Honoka caught up from behind and asked them to wait. Yasonobu commented that he thought she had left for work. Honoka replied that she was given a day leave to attend her graduation. Miki approached her and told Honoka that she saw her on TV the other day. Honoka thanked her for watching the show. Honoka looked at Suzuka with Suzuka feeling a bit awkward. She said that she heard about Yamato and Suzuka's matter. Honoka then smiled and congratulated them on their marriage. Suzuka thanked her but Yamato replied that they have not registered yet. Kobayakawa tried to greet Honoka (Obviously he still like her) but Yasonobu asked about Honoka and her boyfriend. Kobayakawa was stunned. Honoka replied that she had been busy and they could only exchange mail and talk on the phone.

Yasonobu then remarked that it's bit sad that they would probably not meet each other like then after graduating. Suzuka agreed and said that everyone would be doing different thing and have different schedules. Miki told everyone that she had a camera and suggested that they tool a picture of their batch of track team. Yamato agreed and said that Honoka was the manager for the team before. They then took the photo.

On the way back, Yasonobu asked Suzuka and Yamato if they had any plans. They replied no and Yasonobu told Yamato to follow him and Miki. Yasonobu also invited Honoka. Yamato and Suzuka were puzzled but they followed Yasonobu. They reached the destination and were surprised to see their friends inside the Karaoke room. There were Saotome, Megumi, Kinugasa, Miyamoto, Tsuyoshi and Miho. Yasonobu said that Yamato had told him that they couldn't affort a wedding so he thought that they should at least have a celebration for them. Megumi commented that it was not easy since Saotome was bad at keeping secret. Yui appeared from behind and congratulated Yamato and Suzuka. Yamato was stunned. Suzuka was delighted to see her and Yui invited Suzuka to sit down as she was pregnant. Yasonobu told Yamato that he invited her and she wanted to celebrate as well. Yasonobu told Yamato not to worry and said that Yui was not the kind of girl who dwell in the past. Everyone sat down and Tsuyoshi asked Suzuka about her scheduled delivery date. Suzuka told them it would be around middle of July. Megumi got drunk and remarked that she wanted to get married as well. Yasonobu winked at Miki and asked if it was the time. Miki replied yes and yasonobu took the mike calling for a marriage kiss from Yamato and Suzuka. Kinugasa who was drunk remarked that he wanted to see Yamato taking things seriously for once as well. Yasonobu told them to hurry up. Both Yamato and Suzuka were embarassed. Suzuka asked if they should. Saotome got her phone camera ready and Miki got her camera ready. Yamato turned to Suzuka but he was so embarassed. Honoka pushed him and told him to get to it. Out of balance, Yamato fell and kissed Suzuka on the mouth.

Yasonobu and Saotome were both stunned. They couldn't believe that Yamato and Suzuka kissed. Yamato replied that they were the one who kept pestering them. Miki told Suzuka that she would give one to her after she make copies of the photo. Miho said that she wanted one as well. Yasonobu asked why Yamato's feeling embarassed since he had done something more embarassing. Miki told Yasonobu that he's even worse to have said that. Suzuka looked at Yamato shyly while Yamato felt speechless. The gang then asked Yamato to sing a song.


P/S: 2 more chapters to go. After reading 164, I sort of feel that it's time to end the series. Unless he wants to take it to university which obviously he can't with Suzuka pregnancy plot. Thus, it actually make more sense to conclude the series given the current scenario. I predict that maybe next week, we'll see Yamato working followed by the birth of the child as the finale. (I retracted the prediction on wedding since Yamato can't afford a wedding currently) It may not be sastifying but after some thought I believe the way to conclude the series is acceptable.


Note: Support Kouji Seo and Suzuka by purchasing the manga. CH available at Yesasia and JP available at Yesasia and Amazon JP. EN is available at Amazon

ARIA Excellence 3

I was reading ARIA Navigation 56 and it didn't seem interesting to me as it's about Akari and a puppetmaster. Guess Kozue don't want to rush things. I'm very interested to see the development now that Alice is a Prima undine. Page 17 surprised me and I quickly search HLJ and pre-ordered the Desktop calendar.

ARIA Publication Bonanza!!!

CHECK 1:
ARIA 2008 CALENDAR
Release Date: 30th November 2007
A. Wall Calendar
Price: Wall (left): 2000Yen
Available at Amazon JP
B. Desktop Calendar
Price: Desktop (Right): 1400 Yen
Estimated cost:
Available at Amazon JP or HLJ

CHECK 2:
ARIA PREMIUM POSTER BOOK 3
Release Date: 22nd December 2007
Price: 3000 Yen or ~US$25.6
Note: The premium poster book 1 & 2 has been a hit. The poster book features several different A2 size illustrations, about 420 x 594 mm.


CHECK 3:
ARIA Novel 2
Release Date: 10th January 2008

CHECK 4:
ARIA Undine Magazine scheduled for Spring release.

P/S: I pre-ordered the ARIA 2008 desktop calendar. It's going to run out very fast so act now if you want it. Though HLJ only has the desktop for the time being. If you want both calendar, Amazon advertises it for 3400 Yen. As usual the poster and the wall calendar are both very tempting but both items are large in size and shipping will be expensive. The 2006 publications can be viewed here.

Note to Adun: I hope you're getting both calendars and the posters! Hope there's more new illustration this time. :)

ARIA The Origination

Isn't this a WONDERFUL news???

Just learn this from Adun that there will be a new season of ARIA as mentioned in Mag Garden Comic Blade October edition. Mag-garden has release the news in a PDF document (May require JP fonts installation). No air date has been set.

With the word origination, I was thinking if they would have more plots that are not in the manga since it would be "orignal" that way. But the word Orignation doesn't really define anything, it could be just another "captivating" title.

So Happy!!!! Yeah!

By the way, there's a promo trailer for ARIA OVA ~ Arietta on the official website. I'm glad that the OVA would have a focus on Alicia (my favourite). The OVA would show the story of Alicia in her young age and the time Grandma left ARIA company to her. It also potrays the friendship of the three water fairies when they were young. However, from the trailer, I noted that the character animation quality was not as good as I have expected (Some are very slightly deformed). However, the graphics on gondola and the background setting are all good.

P/S: My Aria Solid Works Collection ordered at HLJ is ready for shipping. The Gashapon cost ¥6650 (Early bird) and the shipping cost ¥1080.