Updated my manga madness section on the left. Hatenkouyuugi is surprisingly addictive, and volumes 2 and 3 are already out in Chinese. BTW, is Issaisha (aka Zero-Sum publishers) re-releasing the Enix issues of Saiyuuki under its own banner with new cover pics? I know that they've already done so with Hatenkouyuugi.

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 02:32 p.m.(Wednesday, November 27, 2002)

Nen Type: Flying leather coat

Just caught The Returner with her. It may not be The Matrix or James Bond, but it is all rather fun and enjoyable in a manga-ish way. Kaneshiro Takeshi even dresses like Sakurazukamori Subaru, black gloves included. I was half expecting him to pull out some ofudas during battle. On the other hand, like I've pointed out to Xandra, if this had been a manga, Milly would have been a teenage boy who resembles Kamui. She even had the hair.

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 12:18 a.m.(Tuesday, November 26, 2002)

Nen Type: Fic rant

You've heard me rant about some of these yesterday, but I just have to put them down again. Elements that irks me in anime/manga fanfics:

• Mary-Sues (as mentioned previously)
• Japanese kids listening to Nine-Inch-Nails (or any western alternative band)
• Japanese kids watching Buffy on TV
• Thanksgiving fics (Hello! This is Japan!! There are no Pilgrims, Native Americans and Mayflower here!!!)
• Changing the gender of canon characters to make a fic het (HxH fics suffer seriously from this treatment), or more rarely, to make a fic yaoi
• Writers who have obviously neither read the manga nor watched the anime

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 11:55 p.m.(Friday, November 22, 2002)

Nen Type: Taint

That's the title of my new Tokyo Babylon fic. Happy birthday, Sei-chan. I actually resisted doing something on the eyeball.

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 11:35 p.m.(Friday, November 22, 2002)

Nen Type: X thoughts

Perhaps, but this is the first time that Kakyou ever suggested that Fuuma was not being the "Kamui". So far, we have never even seen the old Fuuma surfacing in any manner. Maybe it is all in the uniform.

Some time ago, I did ponder (probably on my Sakura Board) on the possibility that both Seishirou and Nataku had switched sides through their deaths.

As to Fuuma's wish regarding Kamui, I take a very Buddhist view that "life is suffering". The old Fuuma's wish was to protect Kamui as long as Kamui protected Kotori. Kotori had gone mad after having suffered the shock of remembering her mother's gruesome death. Killing her was probably doing her a great favour in the Dark Kamui's opinion, and so he did exactly what the other Kamui failed to do, i.e. deliver her from her suffering. It is not improbable to suggest that Fuuma is really usurping Kamui's "power of God" (aka hunting the power of God) in order to do the things that Kamui should be doing (in his opinion) but is not. Killing Kamui would, in a twisted way, fulfill Fuuma's promise to protect Kamui since Kamui is obviously suffering (deaths of close friends and relatives, dejection in love, impotence in protecting Tokyo etc).

In less grave matters of RL, my move went well.

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 03:16 p.m.(Friday, November 22, 2002)

Nen Type: Asuka!

The Asuka updates for January 2003 are ready! Somehow, Fuuma managed to dig out his old school uniform, and it still fits. At least the two Kamuis are starting the battle on equal footing sartorially.

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 12:38 a.m.(Friday, November 22, 2002)

Nen Type: The Returner!

Ahhh!! The Returner is being screened at our local cinemas! I want to watch this. The goodness of Kaneshiro Takeshi. *swoon* Now who can I drag along?

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 02:34 p.m.(Wednesday, November 13, 2002)

Nen Type: Curse of Mary-Sues

Xandra, I tried reading that fic, but could not get beyond the pain of the first couple of lines. The "reviews" were much funnier and interesting.

However, I don't think the girl is entirely to be blamed. Instead, the Uber-Villain for the proliferation of stupid Mary-Sues permeating all corners of anime fanfiction from X to Yami no Matsuei to Saiyuuki to Hunter x Hunter has to be Watase Yu. Fans of Watase Yu are free to feel insulted for that is my intention. My Mary-Sue-Lover Alarm sets off in 100 decibel wails everytime I see an X-fan claiming to love Fushigi Yuugi and/or Ayashi no Ceres. Is it any wonder that 99.9% of the guys in Mary-Sue fics act like Watase's dumb bishounens?

Incidentally, Kusanagi almost always fall into the 0.1% because he's not bishy enough to attract the Mary-Sue writers. Thank Kami-sama for small favours.

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 10:52 a.m.(Thursday, November 7, 2002)

Nen Type: X calendar

Just checked with Kino Singapore. The calendars have arrived, and they're in the midst of processing the orders. The calendars should be ready for collection from tomorrow morning (if not tonight). Wheee!!

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 10:34 a.m.(Thursday, November 7, 2002)

Nen Type: Star signs

Thus Seishirou's birthday is officially November 22. Depending on the system, that makes him either the last Scorpio or the first Sagittarius. Subaru is also on a borderline date, either the last Aquarius or the first Pisces. Perhaps that is Clamp's way of indicating that they have dual personalities. But I don't want to share a star sign with Sei-chan. *pouts*

In other news, the serialisation of Chobits has finally ended. Anybody with spoilers to share?

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 12:59 p.m.(Friday, November 1, 2002)

Nen Type: Blame game

Yes, and who's fault was it for planting strange scenarios in my brain involving Seishirou, Kamui, a laundromat and lots of crayons?

Anyhow, if the Sakurazukamori had truly struck, nobody would have known about it as everyone would have presumed that the guy had died of a heart attack...save for the suspicious petals floating around.

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 12:11 a.m.(Sunday, October 27, 2002)

Nen Type: Yoroshiku

Xandra, I've added you to my links. I really enjoyed our afternoon "date". (I hope she's getting jealous. Serves her right for abandoning me.) It's really fun to be able to gush about X with another fan in RL. Anyhow, the TB volumes are in Chinese. What more help do you need? *thwaps her with a dictionary* Aye, we shall have a TB reading session one of these days.

In the meantime, I shall have yummy dreams about a certain Shadow Gatekeeper tonight.

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 12:01 a.m.(Tuesday, October 22, 2002)

Nen Type: SA-BISU

Data 5 is out.

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 04:36 p.m.(Monday, October 21, 2002)

Nen Type: Owari!

Exams are finally over, and hopefully I can get back to my fics soon. BTW, thanks, Ammie. I'm certainly going to need a lot of luck with that paper.

On the manga front, Tongli is continuing with its translation of Judal's Vampire Game. Yatta! Nobody does cats/cat-creatures quite like Judal. And her shounen-ai relationships are always so tantalisingly cute.

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 10:22 p.m.(Tuesday, October 15, 2002)

Nen Type: Isogashii

Exams are just around the corner. Which means that I won't be blogging much. Nor will I be attending to my emails as promptly. If I owe anyone an email, I'm sorry, and I'll try to get around to it after next Monday.

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 05:08 p.m.(Tuesday, October 8, 2002)

Nen Type: Reload

Saiyuuki Reload is out in Chinese. Apparently, even the Chinese publishers have changed, from Tongli to Changhong.

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 12:03 a.m.(Wednesday, October 2, 2002)

Nen Type: Pudgy Seishirou

Rachel, the pudgy Seishirou TB wallpaper was a limited period download, i.e., it was clearly stated to be available for only one short measly week, as compared to the other wallpapers which were available for at least a month. I still think there's something suspicious about Setsuka disappearing like that. A real pity coz' the Sakurazuka incest pic was really sensual and beautiful.

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 11:07 a.m.(Tuesday, September 24, 2002)

Nen Type: Squick?

Back to the X wallpapers, why was the Seishirou/Setsuka wallpaper replaced by this version of Seishirou alone? Subaru and Nataku were available for download before Seishirou, and they remained. Did its disappearance have something to do with the long suspension of the site recently? Was the suggestion of incest too squicky even by liberal Japanese anime/manga standards? Hmmm...

Tsk tsk. First, they took out all the shounen-ai in the anime. And now, they've removed Sei-Set goodness from the wallpapers. I suppose that leaves us with only Yuzuriha and her dog.

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 09:12 p.m.(Monday, September 23, 2002)

Nen Type: X Wallpapers are back!

Lookie! Aoki, Karen, Kakyou, Yuzu, Hinoto etc are all there. And Seishirou has a new one featuring his pet bird! Grab them quick, before they disappear on October 18.

Ammie, you'll be pleased to know that Daisuke is blushing cutely in the presence of the Tentacled One.

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 06:05 p.m.(Saturday, September 21, 2002)

Nen Type: Mid-Autumn

Tomorrow night is the mid-Autumn festival celebrations. I've been stuffing myself with mooncakes all week. Loved the Green Tea Paste in Snowkin variety. But my personal fave would still have to be the Pumpkin & Yam Paste in Crispy Skin variety, especially the one from Crown Prince Hotel. Great stuff.

Thankfully, the mooncakes are only widely available just a few weeks before the festival. I would not be able to survive a year-round binge fest.

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 04:48 p.m.(Friday, September 20, 2002)

Nen Type: X Spines

I have to agree with a certain someone who suggested that X19 would feature a full face of Fuuma while X20 would feature the other half face of Kamui. This would make the spine a full circle. And the interpretation would also fit. See Sun and Judgement.

Of course, this would mean that Kamui gets two tarot cards to himself, but I'm not complaining. He is the pretty lead after all.

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 01:36 p.m.(Thursday, September 19, 2002)

Nen Type: Bend it

Was on a train today. Plastered across the windows were adverts for the British comedy, "Bend It Like Beckham". However, due to the unfortunate choice of fonts, it read like "Bend It Uke Beckham". Makes one wonder.

For the uninformed, (David) Beckham is the captain of the England soccer team and prized midfielder of Manchester United FC. The phrase was coined to describe his deadly curling free kicks in front of goal. Anyhow, he is also the husband of Victoria "Posh Spice" of the Spice Girls. Rumour has it that he enjoys wearing his wife's knickers to bed.

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 01:09 p.m.(Thursday, September 19, 2002)

Nen Type: Mis-labeling

People are nice, and there's a DNAngel yaoi smut fic in FF.net labelled [PG-13] but with a [NC-17] warning in the summary. I would have put it under [G] without warning. Like I said, people are nice.

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 11:13 a.m.(Wednesday, September 18, 2002)

Nen Type: Kareshi

Rachel, I've seen that omake, but my favourite line belongs to Yuuto in the third panel here. "Arashi-kun no kareshi nara boku no kareshi mo douzen" (Rough trans: Arashi's boyfriend is the same as being my boyfriend). Yuuto x Sorata fangirls alert!

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 05:15 p.m.(Tuesday, September 17, 2002)

Nen Type: Clarity

Downloaded the new XP driver for my Samsung LCD monitor. The colours are so much stronger now. No more washout colours.

Lika dearie, do you think I'm going to volunteer to sacrifice my artbooks? You don't know me so well it seems. *pouts* But I'm happy you like this layout. Yes, Kurapika looks really feminine here, but when doesn't he? ^_^ Besides, I thought this illustration captured the shadows in his soul very well.

Meanwhile, I'm really enjoying the FF.net tragi-comedy. I mean, what's there to stop a horde of pissed-off smut writers from bombarding the site with tonnes of hardcore, graphic, s/m, bondage, non-consensual pwp m/m/m/f/f/f/alien/monster/dessert smutfics, and rating them "G"? Then the entire site gets taken down. Everyone else is now deprived and unhappy. Except the smut writers who've already been exiled, and therefore they don't give a damn if everyone is equally deprived and unhappy. But at least they got their revenge. And no, I'm not advocating such an action. I don't even post my most harmless nursery rhymes there.

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 10:01 p.m.(Saturday, September 14, 2002)

Nen Type: North & South

Got both North Side and South Side (the new Clamp artbooks, in case you're still wondering). I love North Side. There's the cute illustrations featuring Kamui and TB Subaru in zany situations, usually involving Ashura. Then there's the gorgeous Clover artworks, together with the beautiful pieces from Souryuden and Shin Shunkaden. And I so love that picture of Emeraude and Eagle Vision for the MKR OVA. Good stuff.

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 12:23 a.m.(Thursday, September 12, 2002)

Nen Type: New layout

I love Subaru and Kamui, but it's about time for a new layout. Megan, Quoll (aka Kuroro) has freaky eyes because they're big and expressionless, just like a doll's. Ever had goosebumps staring at those porcelain dolls? There's no soul behind those eyes.

-- Kurapika chained Quoll at 11:29 p.m.(Wednesday, September 11, 2002)