1. I have a lot of pre-college stuff to take care of.

2. I’m figuring out all my AnimeBlogger stuff.

That’s right! Pretty soon I’ll be on Anime Blogger!

*awaits applause*

Hopefully this could be my big boost in traffic and such, plus, I actually have my own site now, and I must say, I’m excited.

For a few more days, I’ll be moving all my posts and such manually over to the new blog. I can’t import, so I have to backdate and everything to make sure it’s the same. When the new blog is up, I’ll keep this one up for a while so you all can change your bookmarks and such. Thank you all who have been supporting me by reading my blog so far, lets hope I can actually update more often now that I’ll have a site.

Watashi Wa Ganbare Masu!

Strawberry Shake Sweet as it’s now called, is the mangaka by Hayashiya Shizuru. Shizuru has done other shoujo-ai esc mangaka before, but this is by far my favorite one. Strawberry Shake is about a girl named Julia Tachibana who is training to become an “idol.” (A star or model. One who’s always in magazines and TV dramas and such in Japan.) Right off the bat though, she has to train another upcoming idol named Ran Arisaka. Who of course, Julia almost falls in love with instantly.

I can’t say how much I love Ran’s character. If I was in Julia’s shoes, I’d probably fall head over heels over her too.

In the first chapter, Julia is quite reluctant to train her, and show Ran the ways of the upcoming idol. Ran however is completely dense to all of this, and just assumes Julia’s personality and aggressive behavior is just another form of ‘tough love.’

Julia however is clearly attracted toward Ran, (Ran has no idea) and manager Saeki has to deal with it all. Saeki is clearly annoyed by Julia’s over the top actions, and tries her hardest to repel Julia away from Ran. To no cigar though.

Now then, this right here gives us the clear knowledge of who’s the main protagonist, the “villain” to some extent, and the love interest. Although I can hardly claim Saeki a villain, since she’s just trying to make a living. We all know she’ll turn around and let the love bloom eventually.

Julia however has no idea what this “fluttery” feeling she’s getting about “Ran Ran” is though, and she’s left confused and quite oblivious until Saeki accidentally tells her it’s love, and her loving another girl could start a scandal. Julia however realizes “Could this be love?” and is happy she finally knows what his feeling is. She thus attempts to make a move on Ran, only to trip on a cord, and twist her ankle. Ran picks her up, asking if she’s okay and that she shouldn’t be on her foot. Julia becomes all flabbergasted, and then picks Ran up instead, saying its more sad that way.

Strawberry Shake Sweet has everything you need, humor, drama, romance, it’s all there, and is certainly something you should check out, even if you’re not a shoujo-ai fan. There are currently five chapters over at Lililicious, and you should download it, along with many other of their scanalations.

And so I don’t get my otaku butt sued, they’re the ones who own all these translations and such, I’m just cropping and using the pics as example. it seems there are so many small loopholes and things you can get in trouble over the net for now.

For a while, I was never one to per-say hatefillers. There’s some in every anime, and unless the anime has nothing to do with anything, then I’ll watch them without complaining. But after watching a series like…lets say Bleach, fillers get annoying QUICK.

I was a big fan of Bleach until the 70th episode or so. I knew there would be filler after the whole Soul Society arc, but when I realized the filler was just going to keep on, I gave up, and I haven’t even watched Bleach since.

I only minded filler when I was tired of a serious plot. The random fillers in the SS arc of Bleach were fine because they were only a couple episodes that consisted thereof. But when it gets to a point where they will go a totally different direction from where the manga goes, then I lose interest.

But then I realize, I give acceptions to some anime, and still enjoy the fillers that attack them. Sailor Moon has a ton of filler episodes. Either if it’s the camping trip where the inners get attacked by a mud monster or the episode where the inners, outers, and the Starlights all are stuck in Usagi’s considerably small kitchen, I loved them all, and some even became my favorite episodes, but then why give Sailor Moon a chance, and not Bleach?

I can say the same for Naruto. Although I’m not much of a fan as some “Narutards” are, I skip past the filler episodes. I just don’t see a need to watch them, since most of the time, they have nothing to add to the plot whatsoever.

But then, like I mentioned, there are anime that has no plot really whatsoever. Azumanga Daioh could be seen as a whole series of filler, but I’m still a pretty big Tomo-Fangirl. But then you think, are all the episodes that don’t really have to do with much, (since there are usually many little stories in each episode) could they be seen as filler? Since the biggest plot is in the last few episodes when they’re all trying to get into college?

I was on this all day, trying to cement how I actually feel about these “fanfic-esc” episodes, and I couldn’t figure it out. What are most of your thoughts on Filler? For those of you who actually read my blog….

The nice thing about this anime, is the fact that the producers KNOW they can’t fool around with the series. Henceforth, all the fillers are in the first few episodes, and then it gets down and dirty with the start of the more serious plot at episode four.

Episode 2 started off well enough. We now know that Ichino and Akari are close friends, (I’ll leave you to judge whether they’re more then friends or not, but then that’s a whole another post by itself.) They sleep in the same bed, (Or Akari more so likes to sleep with Ichino) and have a cute relationship. Something that is brought out more so in the future of the series.

Also, it seems as if whenever they sleep together, Ichino gets kicked in the face when Akari wakes up. Unintentional I’m sure, but Ichino gets plenty pissed, and tells Akari that she can’t sleep with her anymore.Akari, defeated, trudges off to her room, where she then finds a surprise on her door.

Of course, in the first episode, Akari failed the Mid-Term, in last place to be exact, And on her door, to much of her and Ichino’s dismay, is a note for a Make-up exam. She isn’t the only one however. Since Ling-Pha had cheated in the mid-term, she also has to take a make up test, starting off the episode to some humorous extent.

As a note, this is also the first time we see her “Akari House.” A cardboard box Akari hides under when upset. It’s way to cute, and it’s a running gag they keep throughout the whole series.

Since Ling-Pha is a jerk pretty much, she uses her ancient 2000 year Chinese family to hack into the computers, and change the make up test to something called “Bike Hard.” A trial where you have to pedal along a roller coaster track with your bike. Coincidentally, the test was banned, but since Ling-Pha has been biking since before she could crawl, she assures her victory is in the bag.

Ichino, Akari’s everlasting best friend, bets Ling-Pha that Akari can beat her in the Bike Hard race, saying who ever loses has to run 100 laps with something embarrassing on their head. (A bald wig of course) Ling-Pha “graciously” accepts, and Akari’s training with a bike starts.

Akari sucks at a lot of things…like riding a bike. Ichino tires her hardest to teach Akari how to ride a bike successfully, but Akari is too much of a oaf to do it. After the day is over, Akari goes back to Ichino’s room, asking if she could sleep with her again. Ichino relents, and they’re back where they belong.

Can you tell? I’m a major IchinoXAkari shipper, there need to be more.

Jumping forward, The next day Akari and Ichino are out riding bikes before the make-up test starts. (Ichino clad with a Headband that says “win” and a large footprint on her face) They both stop eventually, and rest out a certain palm tree, which holds a lot between their friendship, and the series itself. Ichino sees a shuttle heading off into space, and gives a heartfelt confession on how she will make sure she goes to the place the Shuttle is going. (The University Satellite by the way, It’s what all the girls are there for in the first place) Ichino then asks Akari to make a promise they will both go there, but Akari was asleep, leaving Ichino annoyed at her Akari’s inability to pay attention.

Soon enough, it’s time for the test, and Akari and Ling-Pha are at the starting line. Before them though, are hoards of injured girls and bikes…all who failed to finish the test successfully. This make Akari more nervous, and Ling-Pha even more confident she’ll win.

The familiar woman on the P.A. system starts the race, and Ling-Pha rockets forward in the lead. Akari however is not too far behind, not even realizing her current position. All that’s on her mind is that she wants the race to finish.

Ling-Pha figures maybe she could lose this, and to be “better safe than sorry,” she lights of a firecracker, giving the signal to her lackeys to start hacking the track, making it unstable, and wobble all over the place, causing Akari to just be shot up in the air repeatedly.

Ichino is watching from the sidelines, and has no idea what’s going on. Ayla suddenly appears, and mentions that it seems to be a system malfunction, and that somebody is probably behind the scenes intentionally messing up the race. Ichino gets it, then runs off, to find out who it is.

As quickly as Ichino left, Jesse appears, and she watches the race, and the somewhat tense atmosphere between her and Ayla is obvious.

Ichino gets to the control room, sees Ling-Pha’s lackey, and proceeds to beat them up, her herself destroying the room, causing the track to be even more unstable, And Ling-Pha is also in the peril of being thrown around. Jesse gets annoyed at how unlike a real race this is, and leaves. Ayla stays however.

Akari and Ling-Pha are thrown unto different areas of the track, Akari is on a straightaway, and Ling-Pha is now on a giant hill, unknown to her, that it is a lead-off to a giant cliff.

Akari sees this however, and yells out in vain that there’s a cliff up ahead. Ling-Pha thinks it’s a trick however, and then proceeds to realize, once in midair of course, that Akari was in fact telling the truth.

Now falling to her death, Ling-Pha pulls out money in hopes that a wad of cash will save her. Finding it to be null, Ling-Pha freaks out, realizing she now will die. Akari however, in fear that her friend will be seriously injured, jumps from where she is, to the hill that Ling-Pha fell off of, showing her true strength. Akari pedals down the giant cliff, and tries to catch the falling Ling-Pha.

Ayla and Ichino who are both watching this, are both surprised. Ayla however is really into the fight. Surprised at Akari’s sudden strength, and where it could have possibly been pulled from.

Akari races down the cliffside to save Ling-Pha. Just before the bottom of the cliff comes up, Akari finds that last burst of speed, and grabs Ling-Pha’s hand, pulling her up onto the seat. Akari brakes the bike, and stops on the side of the cliff, right at the bottom, saving herself and Ling-Pha. (It couldn’t happen, but hey, its anime.)

Akari is now pedalling with Ling-Pha on the back. Ling-Pha asks why Akari would help a girl who was so mean to her before, and Akari responds in that cute way, that she would do anything for a friend in trouble. Ling-Pha gets teary eyed, and says she’s lucky to have a friend like her.

Right at the finish line, Ling-Pha pulls the eject seat, sending Akari into the sky, and Ling-Pha crosses the finish line. Ichino who was touched by the new-found friendship that seemed to be sparked between Akari and Ling-Pha, gets enraged and asks what was up with all the crap that Ling-Pha said about friendship and all that. Ling-Pha says she meant it, but such is adolescence, and then begins to laugh.

Akari is now laying on the ground, unsure of what happened.

Now that the make-up exam is over, A bulletin says that the make up exam didn’t count, and would have to be taken again. Ichino and Akari are running laps of course, Bald wigs and all. Akari is hiding in her Akari house, wimpering.

This is one of my favorte episodes of the series, just becasue it’s so extreme. and that was too long of a post. I need a break.

For some reason, it seems as if for the past week or so, my brain has not been on anime…to some extent. Sure, I finished Noir and Peacemaker Kurogane in that time, but I haven’t been able to figure out howI should go at reviewing them. Shall I take the lazy route and do one big review of the series, or should I be a good otaku and review every episode like a man…WOman…

I suppose the only way to go is to do one big review, and then singular reviews for either one…although Noir was by far my favorite out of the two, I should go ahead and do so when my mind is off video games and the occasional game of Kickball which I love so much. Work, life, getting ready for college, it;s taken mt over, making me most insane in the mainframe, but I will survive, and knock on wood to get this review done….tommorow….

Sorry….lazy Otaku equals no fun.

Therefore, I have quite an impression of anime music, and below is the list of the most catchiest to me, or the songs that have like a 60+ playcount on Itunes.

5. GetBackers – Yuragu Kotonai Ai

This was one of those songs I didn’t like the first time, then really got into after I started to watch the anime. Of course the ED is just as great, but I really like Naomi Tamura. This song although, seemed to fit perfectly with the anime at that certain point. I mean it’s the inspirational stuff you see in every other anime, yet it still retains that unique, rock-pop sound to it. not much else to say about the song besides the fact it kicks major butt.

4. AIR – Tori No Shi

AIR is a beautiful anime, and the same could be said about the OP. This OP reminds me of anime like Scrapped Princess and Slayers for some reason. This kind of OP I think would have worked for any of those anime, but since it didn’t, we all have to live with the greatness that is Lia.

The song has that certain qualm to it where it’s calming, but it oddly sounds a lot like some old school Japanese disco song. It’s all jumpy and everything, but once you read the lyrics, and figure out what she’s saying, then you’re all like “Ohh…that’s a nice song.”

It’s also funny, because the current RPG I’m roleplaying in, my friends character theme song is Tori No Uta…which strangly fits perfectly, but you have to know the character, so there’s no point to even talk about it.

3. Noein – Idea

I was at SakuraCon when I first saw this anime. It’s one of the best I’ve seen, and I’ll be reviewing the anime eventually. But what even helped me enjoy the anime more was the amazing soundtrack. As soon as I got home from the convention, I looked everywhere on the net to download buy it. After I had, it had a constant play on my Itunes, and I didn’t stop listening to it for about three hours.

Besides the fact that this song is playing right now, it even has it’s own fanlisting, which just shows you how great it is. Everyone should get the OST to this anime, it’s certainly worth the time.

2. Bleach – -~Asterisk~

Orange Range = Awesome

1. CardCaptor Sakura – Catch You, Catch Me

Anything is better than WB’s “The Secret of the clow, was all a mystery….” CCS has ben one of the only shoujo anime I can stand. I’m not too big of a fan of cute shoujo type anime, but eventually, it wore down on me, and I became a fan.

Funny thing is, Everyone likes this song, regardless if they enjoy the anime or not. It’s too cute, catchy, and you find yourself singing “Catch You, Catch You, Catch Me, Catme Me, Matte!” all the time. Like I did when I first heard it. It was stuck in my head for about a week.

~~~~

Although this list is much my basic one, there are many songs that didn’t make the list, but would have had a VERY close run for one of the places. Songs that didn’t make it but should have are:

AirMaster – Retsu No Matataki

Naruto – Seishun Kyosokyoku

Slayers – Give A Reason

Inuyasha – Grip

Full Metal Alchemist – Melissa

Ouran High School Host Club – Sakura Kiss

Kino No Tabi – All The Way

Battle Athletes Daiundokai – Wings

I’ll do a Anime ED eventually, athough that will be hard to figure out, since I have so many favorites. And another anime review will come tommorow, I promise…I’ve been to busy to get screencaps on the computer from the DVD….

I wanted to be a part of Anime Blogger although ever since I came across the site. To imagine me; being on a list of great anime bloggers! Right up there with those Sea Slug guys and Matthew! So at first, yes, that is why I joined the forum. Get to know everyone on a personal basis. Get feedback from the people who have some of the most successful sites. And since mine is the exact opposite from all those “latest anime sites,” I could use it more so.
Cool thing is, Maestro, of Maesro’s Anime Blog, said he would gladly host my blog if I want. Now I wish I had known this of course before I made all the adjustments to this one here on WP, but live and learn. Eventually, when I’m able to move this WordPress account into the WP you can download and upload to wherever you want, then I’ll probably change my address, but for now, since I can’t do that until WP 2.1 comes out, I’ll have to be happy here, which isn’t that big of a problem.

So yeah, it may take a while, and I may only have one reader of this blog, but you’ll see my name on that list one day! And then I’ll laugh! Laugh like Naga does constantly! And always at the wrong time! A Ho Ho Ho Ho….

And just for the heck of it, Naga laughing.

One of the shows however has always made me laugh. And the fact that at first it wasn’t even meant for kids makes it better. The Powerpuff Girls is mature, childish, and it’s type of humor is something else. (Anyone see that “Freedom Beef episode?)

So when I heard that there was going to be an anime based on the series, I was surprised, since PPG was already popular in Japan.

The first impressions I got from watching the first episode, was that they were going to keep it almost exaclty the same, I mean…if you take out all the commentary, adult humor, and Hanna-Barbera refrences.

It’s become a guilty pleasure though. The extreme a-la Sailor Moon transformation may be cute at first, but end up getting annoying, especially since they seem to go on forever. their personalities are kept in tact though, and Akatsutsumi Momoko (Blossom), Gotokuji Miyako (Bubbles), and Mastubara Kaoru (Buttercup) all have the same appeal as they had in the CN version.

Mojo, (The monkey) is surely something left to be desired though. His ‘crazy-monkey’ traits are still there, but he is now just a hulking, candy-stealing, clumsy oaf. Mojo is one of my favorite villians in the CN version, so this disapointed me a lot.

All the other characters are there, The Mayor, Ms. Bellum (With a clipboard constantly over her face), Prof. Utonium, Along with Son, All the villians that are in the CN version, and a new, “Kon-Pikachu-Kero-esc” Cybernetic Dog, Peach.

The art style is a little too much. There’s always so much goin on, you don’t knw where to concentrate on. And for the record, it’s EXTREMLY shoujo. (Hearts, cute bishie boys all included). The fight scenes could be a lot smoother. Fights between Mojo and the girls are all “A punches, B blocks, B punches, A blocks) and it’s all just kiddie fights, no real action is going on. Although they do destroy the city all the time, so I’m okay with that.

Even thoughthis could be a better anime, it will still be a little guilty pleasure of mine. I do like the over the top attack names, transformation scenes, and the wide variety of colorful characters and situations. I’ll probably be reviewing the anime as the site goes on, so watch out for that. I’m 50/50 on how popular this anime will be, and if it will possibly ever be brought to America, all I can do is keep watching. Although with all due respect, I like the American voices a lot better than the Japanese ones. Bubbles sounds too much like a grown woman.

P.S. The anime OP and ED are enjoyable too. We have Nana Kitade with the song Kibou No Kakera for the OP, and Mayonaka no DOOR by Liu Yi Fei for the ED. Both are the “rockish-Girl pop” type of songs, and remind me a lot of the Super Gals music. Except I still enjoy Aitsu! a lot more. It’s still worth a download though.

But the thing is, there are a lot of fans, but not a lot know about it. I don’t like to think f it as a more “underground” anime, but it seems that way. This anime needs to be reviewed more, and even though it came out in the 90’s, it still has that certain charm.

First of all, the great thing about this episode is that it tells you the setting, plot, and gives all the characters personalities right off the bat. You don’t have to wait five episodes for a character to show up, all the main and supporting characters arrive, and you can sense what kind of person they are, from just a few words.

Although of course, Battle Athletes has its cute shoujo aspect. Since the whole cast is mostly girls, you already can tell is a cross between shoujo-ai and shounen. (Why with the action and all).

The year is 4999, so its safe to assume is at it’s technological peak. It’s mid-term time at the Antarctica Training School, and hoards of girls are all racing in a giant desert to get in first place of the test, all with Steamroller wheels in tow.

The point? To eventually win one of three seats to go to the famous University Satellite. It’s the place where all the females of the universe go to compete for the title of Cosmo Beauty. Some reason, winning the title of Cosmo Beauty shows that you are the best athlete, for that year at least.

Our main “bunny eared” protagonist, Akari Kanzaki is in last place. This doesn’t come off as much as a surprise to everyone else, but the Headmaster of the school, seems to take some strange interest in her place…I wonder why?

Akari’s personality comes off like she’s a sweet person, but has no courage or faith in herself whatsoever. She looks to a locket that she carries with her in the episode once, and goes in the noglastic voice, “Okasan…” Hinting that there is some kind of relationship between her and what the hell she’s doing in the school.

Eventually, the whole episode is pretty much just showing how bad Akari is, and how much of a rivalry between “Golden Jesse and Silver Ayla” there is. The rest is comedic filler. (But it’s good comedic filler) In the end of the episode, Ayla, the girl from Russia comes in first, only to have Jesse, the girl from America come in behind her. Akari comes in last place, (Akari gets blown up by one of the mid-terms traps…a mine field…and flies into the Chinese girl’s giant balloon head.)

The episode has a pretty open ending. It doesn’t really tie up much, but it still giving you an idea of what’s going on. Although you’ll be tricked I bet, since I keep thinking the scene is going to go to something else besides the ending.

The characters all seem to have their personalities set right off the bat. Although I may be reading into it too much, the stereotypical viewpoints are annoying.

I mean, if nobody find it weird that they portray girls from Africa to be cat-like girls with horrible grammar. Chinese girls who are so full of themselves, women from Russia are all about power and cold hearted, and girls from America and all just pompous bitches. But as always, the underdog…the one everyone hates…is the one from Japan.

Although once you get pass all that, the first episode is fairly enjoyable. Although most of it is anime cliché anime humor, you find yourself laughing to all the girls over the top reactions to everything.

And even though you would assume, there’s not a lot of fanservice in this anime. Disappointing yes, but it’s still good. Well…there are a few crotch shots, but no boobs flying out, or torn clothes that shows the girl isn’t wearing any underwear or a bra.

*Snaps fingers* Damn!….