Yuzuyu & Kippei of Aishiteruze Baby

Aishiteruze Baby is about a 17-year-old boy by the name of Kippei Katakura who is an irresponsible, womanizing, slacker teen who coasts through life chasing after girls and taking life lightly. His carefree life as a teen is put to an abrupt halt when he meets his 5-year-old cousin Yuzuyu. She ends up staying with the Katakuras for a while after her mother disappears. Thinking Kippei needs some stability other than adding girls to his conquest list, his older sister charges him with the responsibility and care of Yuzuyu.

What makes this manga series appealing is how the entire plot centers around Kippei’s relationship to his little cousin. Each volume finds Kippei maturing and becoming less selfish. He becomes more aware of how his actions affect others. By taking care of Yuzuyu and seeing how much she heavily relies on him for comfort and support while her mother isn’t around, Kippei finds himself more sensitive to the feelings of other girls. He stops being the school playboy and he tries harder to be the kind of stable and loving adult Yuzuyu needs in her life. It’s a very family centric manga series, which also covers difficult topics such as child abandonment and child abuse. Yoko Maki does a wonderful job broaching these sensitive topics in her series.

Aside from watching Yuzuyu steadily get over the trauma of being left behind by her mother at a critical stage in her life, there are other supporting characters in the manga who have their own emotional traumas and issues to deal with. The cause for these emotional traumas end up coming back to the home. Interestingly enough, the characters who mainly need to cope with their problems are girls who Kippei encounters throughout the series. He is not only protector of Yuzuyu, but also a protector of these girls who are broken in some way by parents who have failed them at some point in their lives and are trying to deal with the aftermath.

I don’t believe I have ever encountered a series like Aishiteruze Baby where the main protagonist is a teen boy who acts as a surrogate parent to a young kid. The driving point for this series is the importance of family and being lucky enough to have the kind of love and emotional support system to make growing up much easier. Kippei’s encounters with people who have their own demons to sort out and to a certain extent Yuzuyu’s own encounters with kids her age who are being raised in a less than stellar home environment shows the contrast of their family life compared to these other characters. Most of the time you will see in the manga how the supporting characters would rather be anywhere but at home. Kippei and Yuzuyu, on the other hand, are lucky to have family who care and will always be there for them no matter what.

I do enjoy watching Kippei reach his potential as a man. It is particularly sweet to see Kippei become attached to Yuzuyu. If there is some reluctance to be charged as “babysitter” to Yuzuyu by Kippei’s older sister and without any objection from the rest of his family, that reluctance is no longer there when he makes the effort to fix Yuzuyu’s school lunches in the morning and picks her up from school in the afternoon. There is, of course, the looming inevitability of Yuzuyu having to go back to her mother eventually. How this affects Kippei and Yuzuyu when the time finally comes in the series’ conclusion is something I look forward to reading.

When you live in an apartment with limited space arrangements it does become quite tricky to find every available spot possible to store your books in. I have to make do with what I’ve got and then worry about space issues at a later time as they arise.

The current tower of manga volumes I have arranged

This is just the front section of manga books I currently have. I also have books behind these batch as well.

My collection stacked to the side

This hardly reflects all of my manga collection. I have others stored in a wide, clear plastic bin below this stack. Not surprisingly, that bin is currently full.

I think when you start out becoming a fan/collector in anything, whether it’s manga or comics in general, I don’t think we end up foreseeing the issues being a collector will entail. That issue is having a place to put all your stuff. As a collector, you just watch the space you used to have continue to get smaller and smaller until there is no space left. It has become very difficult to want to rearrange things to accommodate the new volumes of manga I get over time. A manga collector’s best friend is shelf space. If any of us is lucky, we would have a place of our own with one room to turn into an at home library or study to put our manga collection in. It is definitely a big dream of mine. For now, I’ll have to be creative with my limited space when I keep acquiring more manga.

How about you? Does anyone have the limited space issue when it comes to storing your treasured collections? How have you managed?

Let’s start with what the game is about. You play as the character Hawke who you can make as a male or female. Unlike DA:O, which allows you to choose which race you get to play (elf, dwarf, or human), you are only able to play as a human Hawke. Classes are still picked (mage, warrior, or rogue) as well as customizing the look and name of your Hawke. The class you choose for Hawke becomes kind of important to the story as it dictates the fate of one of the characters you are acquainted with at the opening of the game. If you played DA:O and have a saved game, you can import the saved game into DA2 to shape the background of the story. The actions of your Warden is acknowledged in the game and even opens up certain quests depending on how you played DA:O. Once the player’s selection has been made then the story begins.

DA2 charts the struggles and rise of Hawke from being a near poverty-stricken individual trying to make it in the city of Kirkwall after fleeing with his/her family from the Blight in Ferelden to the Champion of Kirkwall, a well respected noble and Hero/Heroine of the city. As Hawke, the player gets to decide if the rise to power has been taken through diplomatic or ruthless means. There is also a brewing conflict between mages and templars which gets aggravated over time as the story progresses. Unlike DA:O where your Grey Warden character is a silent protagonist, DA2 has a male/female Hawke who actually talks and interacts with people. How you interact with people like in DA:O will determine how people view you.

Like DA:O, Hawke encounters a number of supporting characters who can aid him/her on this journey. Bethany and Carver are Hawke’s siblings. Bethany and Carver are twins, one with the gift for magic and the other a warrior respectively. Aveline is a former soldier of the Ferelden army and another fellow refugee who escaped the Blight with Hawke and family. Varric is a dwarf with the gift for storytelling and who is skilled at the crossbow he lovingly calls “Bianca.” Anders is a renegade healer mage who is possessed by a spirit called Justice. Fenris is an escaped elven slave from the mage city of Tevinter who is out for revenge against his former master. Merrill is the shunned Dalish elf who wields the power of blood magic. Isabela is the sexy and skilled pirate duelist who gets shipwrecked in Kirkwall. And finally, if you download the Exiled Prince for DA2 you get the extra playable character Sebastian, a religious prince from Starkhaven who has devoted himself to the Chantry and its teachings.

A lot has been said about this game. Opinions about the game are quite split down the middle. Some love it and others hate it. And then there are those who fall somewhere in the middle. I belong in the “somewhere in the middle” camp.

In my opinion, I don’t think this game is the best it could be. I agree with the complaints people have about this game, which I’ll outline in a little bit. What I don’t agree with is the opinion concerning DA2 being the worst game ever made. There are some good moments in the game, and I still had fun during the many hours I plugged into it on my 360.

Let me start with what I don’t like about the game:

1. Recycled environments. This is one of the biggest complaints about the game I’ve read about in official reviews, blogs, and game forums. It does get annoying to have to lead Hawke through every replica cave, corridor, and room. It really embodies the feeling of deja vu. It’s hard to believe the developers are that lazy to bother with creating new and different environments to explore. The purpose of RPGs is the ability to explore and to uncover the world at your leisure. Running in and out of places that looks like everything else is not fun.

At least Bioware has a sense of humor since they write in a joke concerning a sense of deja vu in their other DA2 DLC Mark of the Assassin. Depending on which characters you take with you for that quest, there is a point in the game where one of them remarks, “Have we been here before? Why does every room look the same?” Clearly, this is in reference to people’s complaints about the recycled caves and dungeons in the main game of DA2.

2. Insignificant Quests. I don’t enjoy the side quests where my Hawke would happen to loot a treasure chest and all of a sudden I get an active side quest telling me I have just found an object that may belong to this person. Go here and return said object. Once I get to the place and click on the person who has a designated quest marker above their head, I receive a quest complete notification, some money, and a short word of thanks from the owner of the lost object Hawke gives back.

I can see the advantage in getting extra money on the side when you find these lost and found objects, but other than that the whole fetch this and return that becomes pointless. I prefer optional side quests to have a bit of backstory added in. It would be nice to have connected with these strangers even briefly to know why this item is treasured or why even bother to bring it back. Or if that’s too much trouble, why have these lost and found quests thrown in? It would have been better to just leave them out of the game entirely. The amount of money you get for each returned object isn’t really worthwhile.

3. Lack of interaction with your companions. I don’t understand why Bioware takes this out of DA2. Part of what makes DA:O an amazing game to play is the ability to click on a character and be able to have a conversation when you want to. It adds to the RPG experience and you get to know your traveling partners really well. In DA2, Hawke is only allowed to really talk to his/her companions when their is an active companion quest in your journal telling you that you have to go to this person’s house or this tavern to speak with so and so because they have something they need to discuss.

I’m still very attached to all the characters in DA:O because I really feel as if I know them. DA2 makes it hard to feel too emotionally attached to any of them. A lot of the interactions you get in DA2 feels like you are only scratching the surface of who they are. For a game that takes place over a period of several years while DA:O is only in the span of a year, you would think you would know each and every companion down to their pet peeves and what they like to eat. Most of the time, the companions in DA2 still feel like strangers despite the amount of time that passes in the game.

4. Inability to change companion character(s) armor. Bioware takes away the ability to customize the armor of your companions in DA2. The most you can do is change the weapon your companion is using and upgrade their current armor and that’s about it. In DA:O I had a lot of fun changing the look of my companions when a better armor set became available to them. Players have said the developers took away some of what makes an RPG an RPG, and not being able to change the armor along with the weapons your companion is using is horribly cheap.

5. Wave after wave of enemies that spring up out of no where. This is another huge complaint players have about DA2, and I agree with this one. I’m all for a challenge, but it becomes tedious when after killing one batch of enemies another wave reappears out of thin air. It becomes a case of, “Where the hell did you come from?!” Conserving inventories of health potions, lyrium, and stamina draughts become nearly impossible when you are dealing with crazy waves of enemies. Most of the time they are low level type of enemies that should be easy to defeat but becomes harder to do when your party is still trying to recover from the first wave. And a second. And a third.

6. Flirty Hawke. I only played as female Hawke so I can’t judge male Hawke yet. On my first playthrough I romanced Anders since my Hawke was a mage. Every time I selected the heart option to flirt with him, the voice acting for flirty Hawke was insanely horrible. Players had issues with the voice actors for male/female Hawke being terribly acted, but I didn’t think it was too bad. My main problem was the tone of voice Hawke had when she started getting flirty with Anders. I dreaded selecting the heart icon because I would cringe every time she delivered a romantic line to woo Anders. Maybe it was the cheesy, flirty dialogue written for Hawke that made it bad. Maybe it was how it was voice acted. Whatever it was it almost made me wish Hawke was the silent protagonist in those moments.

7. The dialogue wheel. I don’t like how the conversation options gets dumbed down for the player. Pretty much there are icons that tell you how each line of dialogue is going to be delivered: a green leafy branch to indicate a diplomatic option, a purple comedy mask to indicate a comedic response, or a red two swords crossed option to indicate an aggressive, gruff response. The icons change slightly to indicate more helpful, charming, or aggressive responses, but the player gets an idea of how you plan to shape the personality of your Hawke. And of course, if you plan on romancing any character in the game it is indicated with a heart icon.

I just don’t like having these dialogue indicators in the wheel. I prefer the dialogue system set up in DA:O, where based on how the line of dialogue is written you as the player can decide if you are going for nice, funny, or evil. The surprise is how your companion reacts to your choices without really knowing if certain lines are supposed to be delivered as they seem in the dialogue options. Occasionally in DA:O, some lines of dialogue are labeled as “Persuade” or “Intimidate” when you need to get a character to do or tell you something. DA:O’s dialogue system actually makes you think carefully about what response you choose.

The new dialogue system in DA2 takes the guesswork out of the conversation. You already know what to expect by choosing a certain option to get a desired result. Too much hand holding in my opinion. I know in DA:O I have chosen lines of dialogue which I think is meant to be funny only to find out my companion is highly offended by what my character just said. I want little surprises like that.

8. The decisions you make don’t really matter. DA:O makes everything you do and say matter greatly throughout the game. Sometimes certain things you do end up carrying certain consequences later in the game. Whether it’s good or bad remains to be seen until the end of the game when you get the text epilogue of the results. Decisions carry so much weight in DA:O you have to think carefully before proceeding.

DA2 doesn’t really make you sweat much when deciding to do this action over that action. The end result will pretty much be the same. The decisions you make in this game are not much of anything, or they are subtle in terms of whether or not you will see the character again in a later act or if it opens up a follow up quest later in the game.

This is why I love DA:O. You can keep playing the game over and over again to get a slightly different retelling of the same story. Should I put Anora or Alistair on the throne? Should I side with the elves or werewolves? Should I choose to do Morrigan’s Dark Ritual? There are different possibilities in this game. What doesn’t change is the need to kill the Archdemon and rally enough allies to help you in your cause, but each playthrough will be slightly different from the last. DA2 won’t give you too much control over how the story will turn out. You can’t prevent one person from doing the unspeakable, which brings me to number 9 on the list.

9. The ending. I’m not complaining so much about Anders turns terrorist and blows up the Chantry like a lot of people seem to have an issue with. I’m talking about how abruptly it ends after Hawke fights and defeats Meredith, the Knight Commander of the Templars in Kirkwall. You get the final cut scenes of the game followed by some cliff hanger ending where Leliana of DA:O has a few words exchanged with Chantry Seeker Cassandra who has been interrogating Varric about Hawke and the events leading up to the full scale war between templars and mages. Leliana mentions how the disappearance of both Hawke and the Grey Warden can’t be a coincidence and then it just ends. Roll credits.

I would have liked to have had at least a text epilogue like in DA:O where you find out what all the companions have done since parting ways with the Champion of Kirkwall. The most you get is, “Yeah, this happened. Everyone except Hawke’s chosen love interest separates from Hawke due to life getting in the way. There is a war. Hawke disappears. No one knows where to find him/her. The end.”

DA2 is a story meant to end on a somber note with no real resolution or sweeping sense of victory like in DA:O, but the developers could have done a better job at wrapping the story up. From what I’ve read on the Internet, players feel as if the writers ran out of ideas and just tacked on that ending. Or because the development stage for this game was too short compared to DA:O, the writers didn’t have enough time to fully flesh out the story. I also believe a lot of the characters and their romances weren’t fully developed, but I’ll save my gripes about the game’s romances for another post.

DA2 does have its faults, but the game isn’t an entire train wreck like a lot of gamers who played the game make it seem. Here’s what I do enjoy about the game:

1. Combat System. Combat is infinitely better in DA2 than DA:O. As people have described, the combat is more real time rather than pressing a button and seeing what happens like in DA:O. Mages in DA2 aren’t too much of the weakling fighters that they are in DA:O, and can actually hold their own in battle. The upgraded look of the different mage staffs you can equip throughout the game are much cooler than the ones you get in DA:O. It gives the mages in the game a more bad ass look to them.

2. Items marked as trash. This is definitely useful. Whenever I picked up an item in a chest or crate in DA:O I used to struggle with whether or not I should throw something away or sell it. Most of the time, you are never sure if a certain item may be valuable or important later in the game. DA2 eases the player’s worries by marking certain items you pick up as “trash”. It’s up to you to wipe out the junk from your inventory or sell it in a store for extra money.

3. Intimate storyline. I find DA2′s storyline weak compared to DA:O’s, but I liked the idea of a more intimate story setting. There are some arguments about DA2 not being much of an RPG game, but DA2 is really a small scale RPG story if you can call it that. Your exploration of the world is confined to the city of Kirkwall. There is no traveling to distant lands. The map is considerably smaller compared to the amount of exploration you get in DA:O.

DA2 doesn’t have a sense of urgency to save an entire world like DA:O does. Hawke is a refugee from Ferelden who escapes the Blight. Post-Blight, Hawke and family are trying to survive and start a new life in a new city where refugees like them aren’t particularly welcome in Kirkwall. The player watches as Hawke does what he/she can to make a name for himself/herself while trying to solve the problems of the city and its people in the process. At the very least, I like watching how Hawke and her companions try to live their own separate lives in Kirkwall. Stories don’t always have to be about saving the world on a grand scale. Stories about every day life and saving lives on a smaller scale can be just as interesting. I only wish Bioware had more time to really make the story much stronger.

4. The introduction of Varric. Out of all the new characters they have introduced to the Dragon Age universe in DA2, Varric is one of my favorites. It’s not surprising because Varric is a big fan favorite from DA2. In fact, both male and female players were a little disappointed to not have this charming dwarf as an available romance option. Oghren of DA:O has his own kind of charm in a drunken, potty mouth sort of way. With the introduction of Varric, though, I’d take the charming, storytelling, smooth talking dwarf over the boozy, crass Oghren any day. If there is one character I would love to see come back again in Dragon Age 3 (aside from Alistair of course) it would definitely be Varric. He’s a much sexier dwarf than Oghren.

5. DA:O cameos. Seeing characters you love from a previous game come back as a cameo, although brief, is always a treat. DA2 delivers on that. It’s fun to have Hawke interact with Zevran or meet King Alistair (as I put both him and my Warden on the throne in DA:O). Leliana also shows up, but she shows up regardless of what you do in DA:O I think. I could have had the chance to see Nathaniel from the Awakening expansion in my DA2 game, but the quest bugged out on me. I’m incredibly annoyed with this bug when Nathaniel is not dead in my Awakening save and I made him become a Grey Warden. I’ll just have to do another import save and watch the reunion between Nathaniel and Anders another time.

6. The graphics. The graphics in DA2 is an improvement from DA:O, but I have no real complaints over the graphics in DA:O anyway. This probably shouldn’t be under the “like” list, but for some odd reason the character design for Zevran and Alistair don’t quite translate well in the new graphics system for DA2. A lot of players noticed this too. Somehow characters like Zevran and Alistair who are easy on the eyes in DA:O become kind of ugly in DA2. Very unfortunate. Leliana is perfectly fine in the transfer, but who knows what happened to Zevran and Alistair in the DA2 transfer.

I think that about covers everything I liked or disliked about the game. When I started playing this game, I expected much worse from DA2. Instead, I found myself enjoying the game in spite of its flaws. I believe if the developers didn’t have to rush the completion of this game, DA2 could have turned out to be spectacular. I think the idea of a main protagonist stuck in a Catch-22 kind of situation is a good story. The writers just needed more time make it as complex and fulfilling as DA:O was.

Fans who loved DA:O had a feeling of being left wanting more. I’m also of that opinion too. I didn’t expect a happy ending from this game. DA2 was a prelude for the mages vs. templars war, which will become a huge part of the story in Dragon Age 3. What I wanted from the game was some kind of satisfactory conclusion or at least a better cliff hanger that leads into the third installment of the game. I think by the end of DA2, I was left scratching my head with more questions than answers.

This game may not be for everyone. Many don’t think it’s worth replaying and others do. My final thoughts on the game are this, play the game and don’t expect a sweeping epic like DA:O. Just enjoy the attempt Bioware made with this second installment. I came in with low expectations and ended up enjoying the game. I’m still a huge Dragon Age fan, and I hope Dragon Age 3 will get a more thoughtful and well-planned development stage than the second had.

Reviewer Rating: 7/10

A sweet moment under the cherry blossoms

Sakura and Syaoran of CCS are one of my favorite couples in anime/manga. Watching their relationship go from rivals to friends and eventually to love is one of the best things to watch in the anime/manga.

In the anime, Syaoran has finally admitted to himself that he has fallen for Sakura and has taken the time to make a stuffed bear for her. I haven’t been able to watch the full Japanese episodes of CCS but my knowledge of the bear exchange comes from the heavily edited North American airing of CCS. There are a lot of cute moments when Syaoran is trying to admit his true feelings for Sakura and finding the right time to give her the bear too. Unfortunately, each opportunity is interrupted and Syaoran is forced to try and express his feelings another day. I love how Syaoran blushes every time Sakura is around him or Tomoyo calls Syaoran out on his feelings for Sakura. It’s so sweet it’s enough to give you a toothache.

How cute is his expression here? Adorable!

I was so happy when Sakura races to see Syaoran off at the airport before he flies back home to Hong Kong. It’s in that moment that he is able to finally give her the bear he has been carrying around with him in the final half of the series. Sakura accepts Syaoran’s handmade bear and the image you see in the anime is the gentle exchange of the bear giver’s hands passing the bear into the hands of its new owner. Focusing on the hands with the bear being passed on is a simple image you see in that particular episode. It’s very touching and poignant when I saw the episode a long time ago.

The manga does it a little differently. Anime Sakura never gives a bear to Syaoran, but in the manga you have Sakura and Syaoran with their own handmade bears to give to each other. I remember in the manga how Sakura would work extra hard at making her bear for Syaoran. The bear became a labor of love because I think I remember seeing stitches on Sakura’s hands from all the needle pricking it took to make her bear for Syaoran. There is also the added sense of urgency to finish the bear just before Syaoran leaves to go back to Hong Kong to settle last minute things there.

Reunited at last

I liked the idea of Sakura and Syaoran having a little piece of each other which is symbolized through the bears. Time passes, and by the end of the manga you see a high school aged Sakura being met by a high school aged Syaoran. They are both in uniform and Syaoran is seen holding the bear Sakura gave to him all those years ago. Syaoran is back in Japan and here to stay for Sakura.

My heart swelled and I was grinning like a goofball when I reached the end of the manga series. It was a wonderful way to end such a magical series.

Sakura and Syaoran are such a sweet and innocent couple. Like Tomoyo, you really can’t help but gush every time you see them. No matter how hard they try, there is nothing they can do to make themselves any less adorable. Syaoran in love is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. CLAMP does a really good job on drawing his expressions. The way he would blush and get shy around Sakura is for lack of a better word––kawaii!

I dedicate this Valentine’s Day to the sweetest anime/manga couple I know. Love doesn’t have to be dramatic, sexy, or tragic. It can be simple, innocent, and cute with a smile and a subtle expression of the emotion with something like a bear exchange. Who needs roses when you have stuffed, handmade bears?

1. Mamoru of Sailor Moon. Ah, my first anime crush. Those were the days. The first time I ever watched Sailor Moon and I laid my eyes on Mamoru I felt really giddy. Tall with jet black hair, intelligent, sophisticated, wry sense of humor, and hard to pin point who this guy is when the series started. Friend or foe? Known as Darien in the anime, many may think he’s more of a cold, aloof jerk than his manga counterpart but it kind of worked well in the anime series based on what is given to us. I always saw Darien’s personality as more of a defense mechanism for being a loner in general until Serena or Usagi klutzes her way into his life. The Odangoed one is really the only person in his life to break down his barrier and allows him to open up more. Mamoru makes being mysterious almost too easy.

2. Toya of Ayashi no Ceres. Toya is mysterious for being kind of a blank slate when you first meet him in the series. He has no memories of his past and he is tortured by having no real identity to speak of. At the start of the series he is a dog to the whims of the Mikages, and he doesn’t really question why he does the things he does until he meets Aya. At times even Aya herself can’t figure Toya out. On one hand he acts like her protector and on the other he acts like her enemy. Frustrating but also alluring at the same time. He’s the guy you want to get close to, but he is fighting to keep his distance. And not really doing a good job of it I might add when it comes to Aya. Toya has the angsty mysterious hero well played throughout the series.

3. Kaname of Vampire Knight. The sexy vampire of the Night Class, Kaname is an enigma in and of itself. He’s a character who always keeps the reader on their toes, wondering what he will do next. Kaname is very good at not revealing all his cards and for being a step ahead of his enemies with his calculating ways. Yuki who sees Kaname as the gentle boy of her childhood isn’t aware of the side of him who will go very far to do something if it serves his purpose and protects his precious thing––Yuki herself. His methods are questionable and maybe downright horrible, but he is a means to an end kind of guy. Kaname’s entire aura exudes a cloak and dagger type of personality. Heck, I have yet to figure out if he would be considered a villain or the good guy.

4. Rui of Boys Over Flowers. Rui is similar to Darien because he is cold, aloof, and a loner too. At least on the surface. He’s the much quieter one of the F4. Where Tsukasa is loud and domineering, Rui is silent and keeps to himself. Many girls swoon over Rui’s seemingly quiet and reflective persona. Rui is another mysterious guy who places walls in between himself and others he isn’t really close to. Tsukushi being the bold girl she is makes every attempt to get to know him. At times Rui tries to rebuff her attempts to do so, but he finds himself able to confide in her. She is also the only other person aside from the F4 and Shizuka who really gets to know what kind of person he is behind the seemingly shy and quiet face he puts on while in Eitoku Academy. He even becomes Tsukasa’s rival for Tsukushi’s heart in the series.

5. Kyoya of Ouran High School Host Club. Kyoya is the brains behind the Host Club and its financial officer. He is shrewd when it comes to money and has very good business sense when thinking up ways to keep the Host Club running. Happy girls = more money to be poured into their lucrative school club. Kyoya is another calculating guy who doesn’t seem to care about much other than the dollar signs, but that’s why he is a mysterious bishonen pick for me––he hides his real personality behind all of that. It’s hard to believe that Kyoya who has a scary way of anticipating things before they even happen (even his fellow Host Clubbers are in awe and fear of his super genius skills) and only cares about money can actually care about others other than his bottom line. For example, Kyoya tries to prove a point to Haruhi in the anime and manga about how stupid her actions were when she decides to take on a gang of boys on a beach side cliff alone in order to protect the Host Club’s female clients. He gets Haruhi alone in his room and pretends to about to have his way with her. While Haruhi may be masquerading as a boy at school, Kyoya shows how vulnerable Haruhi still is and at the end of the day she is still a girl. If those boys discovered Haruhi is a girl, the situation could have been a lot worse. Haruhi sees Kyoya’s point, and points out that despite his uncaring attitude for anything but money he does care for his friends and looks out for them.

Mystery is alluring and all five of these men show different shades of mystery. They also know how to be highly sexy and attractive while doing it too. It’s hard to resist the pull of wanting to know someone who isn’t an all out open book for the rest of the world to see. Does anyone have a favorite mysterious character guy or girl in anime/manga? Does he or she leave you captivated like the main characters feel captivated by them?

1. Pikachu of Pokemon. This was a tough one because there are so many cute pokemon to choose from. Out of all them I think Pikachu will always have my heart. The first time he meets his master Ash to the moment he utters a “Pika Pika” is enough to make your heart burst from all the sweetness. Pikachu is so small and huggable…when he isn’t out to electrocute you of course. I love this small, yellow pokemon so much that I got a plushie of Pikachu so many years ago. I can hug him to my heart’s content.

2. Kero-chan of Cardcaptor Sakura. The guardian of the Clow Cards Cerberus, nicknamed Kero-chan, is a small little animal with wings who helps Sakura in her quest to collect all the cards that have escaped from the Clow Book. He hates being called a stuffed animal by Syaoran, but it is a workable disguise when he has to hide the fact that he can talk from others who don’t know about him or the Clow Cards. Kero-chan is a lover of sweets and video games. The way this character gets excited over life’s simplest pleasures is endearing. It goes to show that Kero-chan has a sense of humor and can be fun outside of the usual Cardcaptor business, and he is a loyal and caring friend to Sakura. What’s not to love about him?

3. Mokona of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle. Mokona acts as guide for Syaoran and the gang in Syaoran’s quest to look for Sakura’s missing feathers. Mokona is a cheerful and playful white “pork bun” as Kurogane likes to call Mokona. Mokona likes to mention itself in the third person and loves to tease Kurogane when there is an opportunity to get the tough and intense swordsman to lose his cool. Nothing seems to bring this little white poof down, and Mokona serves as comic relief amidst the direness of the quest Syaoran is on to save Sakura’s life.

4. Nyozeka of Alice 19th. Nyozeka is a cute bunny who transforms into a seemingly cosplaying little girl. She finds the main character Alice who ends up being one of the chosen ones to become a Lotis Master. Nyozeka uses her bunny form to remain with Alice as her house pet. She is the epitome of kawaii when she goes from being serious about the situation at hand to completely distracted and blissfully happy when Alice sets food in front of Nyozeka. What makes her even cuter is a scene where Nyozeka tells Alice to contact one of the characters in the manga using her “cell foam.” She says it so confidently and without batting an eye that it becomes insanely hysterical when Alice corrects her and tells her it’s “cell phone” and not “cell foam.” Gotta love Watase’s knack for humor.

5. Tama the cat of Fushigi Yugi. This little cutie belongs to Mitsukake, one of the Suzaku Warriors in the anime/manga. Tama not only knows how to be cute by just being Tama, but he tries to be helpful in comical ways. I know there is a scene where Tama is play acting how a certain situation went down to Tamahome I think (don’t quote me on that) for him to realize the truth. Unfortunately, Tamahome doesn’t understand Tama’s kitty charade and the effort is completely wasted. Poor Tama.

These are my picks for lovable characters that make you go, “Aww!” Aside from wanting to give them a huge hug these characters are entertaining and makes watching the anime or reading the manga just more enjoyable. Who are your favorites?

I’ve actually seen the shorts and tights combo being very popular with Japanese girls when I visited Tokyo a few years ago. It was the first time I’ve seen such a thing. Then I later see it on the streets of New York. I couldn’t help but wonder when this became a good idea on the fashion scene. It looks plain silly. Shorts are meant to be worn in the summer and not in the winter. I guess the idea is to extend your ability to wear summer clothes into the winter months, but no girl can really have bare legs when it’s near 20 degrees or below so the solution is to slap on thick tights before pulling on your favorite summer shorts.

A model sporting the shorts and tights look

I guess it depends on how you wear this particular look. A lightweight fabric type of shorts with tights isn’t too bad, but I’ve seen the denim shorts with tights being a popular look to sport on every day women when I happen to see a girl on the street wear it.

I think tights should be worn with a dress or skirt by default. Dresses and skirts are versatile for any season. When the temperature drops and you want to be able to feel pretty and girly, you can still wear your favorite dress or skirt but keep the legs warm with tights or leggings. Shorts, on the other hand, doesn’t have the same versatility in my opinion. It’s only meant to be worn in warmer months. Has the skirt/dress with tights combo really become bland and boring? Maybe to do something different they slap on tights to revamp the summer shorts look, but insisting this look can work for girls in the winter too.

The ugliest version of the shorts and tights combination is the denim shorts with tights. It’s the same way I view women wearing leggings as pants––just no. When I think of denim shorts I envision wearing them on a day at the beach as you dip your feet in the water or brushing the sand off them after sitting on the shore under the warm sun. Wearing denim shorts with tights in the winter––something doesn’t look right. Whoever thought this was a good idea should really go back and rethink this one.

Are you a lover of this fashion look or do you hate it and wish it never existed?

I enjoyed the several volumes of Fruits Basket I was able to read and have in my possession. It had an intriguing story with a wealth of interesting characters with back stories to explore. Collecting several series at once is not only time consuming but financially taxing. My logic was to collect the oldest and longest series to be published in the U.S. first before deciding to collect the “newer” series or series still coming out with volumes in the U.S. market. I ended up prioritizing titles like Fushigi Yugi, Ceres, and Boys Over Flowers as my main manga titles to collect on the off chance that all these series started going out of print. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought Tokyopop would become defunct.

Trying to find these out of print mangas becomes the equivalent of going on a treasure hunt. The same goes for halted manufacturing of anime DVDs. It becomes difficult at times to find the volumes you are missing and at an affordable price. I have bought slightly used books and DVDs on Amazon from the Marketplace sellers. For the most part you can find the used goods at a decent price. Other times you have those sellers who exploit the fact that a product is out of print or no longer being manufactured by raising the price sky high. As much as I want to collect things that are no longer being produced, I’m not willing to spend my entire life savings on it either. Seeking out of print goods for a good price is treasure hunting at its finest. You are lucky to find what you want without breaking the bank.

If it were a case of an entire series no longer being printed and I never got the chance to buy a single volume of it in the past, it doesn’t bother me half as much. Am I disappointed that I didn’t get to collect and read the series? Absolutely, but I’m not missing much if I don’t own it anyway. It’s much more irritating to be a manga/anime fan and knowing you have volumes or DVDs missing of a series in your personal collection.

This happened to me when I was buying the anime DVD set for Ceres: Celestial Legend late in the game. For some odd reason, the first season of the series was available as brand new and being sold directly from Amazon. I bought it when I had the money. Then I waited until I had enough money to get the second and final half of the series. When I went to look for it on Amazon, the second season was considered no longer being manufactured but available with other sellers. I don’t get why this became the case. Why continue manufacturing one DVD set and not the other when they are part of the same series? I hate when I discover that. In any case, I was lucky to find the other half of the series through the Marketplace at a reasonable price as used but in very good condition.

The euphoria of being able to hold an item considered rare is overwhelming. Bonus points if you didn’t spend a lot for it. Others may think you are silly for being happy to own a hard to find item, but as a fan it is your treasure. It’s like your reward for searching endlessly for something only to be victorious in the end and clutching the precious thing in your arms. I don’t know if I’ll be able to collect everything that is no longer in print or being manufactured, but I do my best. I suppose when you are an anime/manga collector there is the completionist in you that wants nothing missing from your collection.

Does anyone have the same problem like me? Do you find yourself acting as treasure/bargain hunter for those things you didn’t get to collect when they were still in print or being manufactured?

I found myself seeing RPGs as good escapist fun like reading manga or watching anime can be. The fantasy aspect of RPGs are very much appealing to me. I love fantasy stories. I will almost always watch or read good fantasies when I encounter one. Writers who write a great story full of massive amounts of lore and history for a fantasy world makes the immersion into the world easy to slip on like a fine leather glove. Even better when game developers give gamers the opportunity to shape the outcome of a story. Dragon Age: Origins is a great example of this. They have an open world to explore where you can get lost in for hours and certain dialogues or actions will affect how companions, people, and the final end game turns out. A game like this one puts the gamer in control of their character’s fate and the lives of others’ fates as well.

Kingdom Hearts

Then you have more linear games like Kingdom Hearts where you already have an established main character like Sora, the situation the character is presented with, and journeying with the character to get to a point of resolution while also learning more about what’s going on and watching characters develop as certain circumstances crop up.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get the full appreciation of these games because I don’t own a Playstation console. The only means I can enjoy the KH games are through the side stories coming out for the main game and released on Nintendo DS or PSP. Even though I may not know the full story I do enjoy the gameplay of what I am able to get my hands on. The graphics in this game is beautiful to look at and it’s a game that combines Disney characters and Square Enix characters together in one game. How can one refuse to play any form of these games?

I think I’m such an RPG lover because at the core of most RPGs is the story. A great combat system and the ability to explore the world is important too, but I think that is just one slice of the pie. You play an RPG to escape into the story and not be a casual bystander that just goes from Point A to Point B to shoot stuff. I’m not saying shooting stuff as your main objective in the game is a bad thing. I like just shooting stuff too, especially when I play Halo: Reach with my friends.

There are times when you want something more than just the ability to shoot things and make stuff explode. I love it when I find a great game, play everything I can through the end, feel moved by what the character(s) has gone through during the game, and then have it stick with me after I’m finished with the game. Again, Dragon Age: Origins is that game for me as well as the PSP game Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII.

Zack of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII

Crisis Core is considered the prequel to the main Final Fantasy VII game where you get to play as Zack. It is unfortunate that I am not able to play FFVII, but I enjoyed playing as Zack where events in that game shape the things that go on in FFVII. It was amazing to watch Zack be the optimistic guy who is fighting for what he believes to be a good cause only to have to question what’s true and have his optimism tested greatly by a whole lot of curve balls thrown his way. It was an emotionally satisfying game for me once I got to the end. I found myself holding my breath the entire time I played this game and Dragon Age: Origins only to finally be able to breathe after the credits started rolling.

I am the kind of person who can be fiercely engrossed in something once the story and characters suck me in. It has always been this way with manga/anime and now it extends to the video games I play. I think the other reason why I am addicted to RPGs is because a lot of the times I end up wanting to analyze the character during or after the game. I enjoy thinking about what makes a character tick, why is someone motivated to do this, can I sympathize with this character, etc. This is my main reason for starting my blog––I will discuss or analyze characters or stories to death and I always seek out the opinions of others to get a similar or different perspective.

I can proudly say I am an RPG addict and it’s not stopping anytime soon. It’s probably a good thing because next month a new game from Electronic Arts called Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is geared to come out. I’ve played the demo on Xbox Live and it is looking to be an epic RPG game. Pretty soon I’m going to add another game to my collection of games to play. And when it’s an RPG, expect to be playing it for months or even longer if there is a high replay value.

Someone has to enlighten me on this one because I don’t get it. When the snow falls on the first day, it is understandably soft and powdery under the feet. The chances of slipping in it may be very slim. Once the snow stops and the temperature starts to drop, then the snow becomes ice. Heck, ice may be lurking underneath the powdery white snow. The point is, how can women not be scared to walk the streets with their high heels on and with snow underneath said heels?

I'll take wearing these rubber boots over high heeled shoes in the snow any day!

I am not one of those women who will chance wearing my lovely high heeled boots when there is snow on the ground. I immediately switch over to warm snow boots with a grip or heavy duty rubber boots to get me through trudging in the slush and ice. If the sidewalks are not clear of the white stuff and black ice, wearing any high heeled boots or shoes is not happening for me.

I see a good number of women wearing stiletto heeled boots or shoes in the snow, and this is the day after a snowfall when it typically would be hazardous to walk the sidewalks in them. It’s patches of ice galore! The city of course is always ready to salt the streets and sidewalks during and after a snowfall, but the snow can’t all melt that quickly. Nope. What you are left with is hardened snow and patches of ice spotting the sidewalks in some shape or form. Streets become narrow to walk in when only a small path is carved for people to walk in and on either side of you is the hardened snow. At some point, someone will have to actually walk on the snow and ice itself.

I’ve observed women who miraculously are able to walk on the ice with stiletto heels without slipping and I’ve seen women either slip or try to balance precariously over the ice as they make their way down the street. I always roll my eyes at the women who have to walk super slow on the sidewalks because they decided they want to look good in the snow by wearing shoes with no grip! If you are so worried about falling on your butt, then why aren’t you wearing shoes with better traction? Common sense people. I’d like to meet someone who has managed to walk in high heeled shoes for all NYC snow winters and not once slipped and fell on their butts. If I made an attempt to wear high heeled shoes or shoes in general with no grip at the bottom, I wouldn’t make it down the block. I doubt I would be able to avoid ending up at the hospital to treat a sprain or broken arm.

I always want to look good when I go outside, but if the elements such as snow makes it impossible for me to wear cute shoes then I will dress according to the weather. Snow and ice on the ground? Bring on the snow boots! High heeled boots that look good with skinny jeans? They shall stay home until the sidewalks are clear and safe to walk in them again.

Can you tell this is a pet peeve of mine? Why must women suffer for fashion? Why? It’s not like we are walking down a runway every time we go to school or work. We need to be practical I think.