PairPuri
Random thought while translating PairPuri last night--Sanada went to China at age 14 for a month!! THIS IS THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE HIM MEET SOMEONE FROM CHINAPURI. like himself PairPuri has produced lots of rabid plunnies so far. (Sanada in music class!! A must see!)

I'm especially ecstatic that Yagyuu and Sanada interact so much. They're in the same class, and Yagyuu claims that he's the closest to Sanada out of all their classmates. (Not hard given they're both on the tennis team together, but still~). They're also on the discipline committee together. Yagyuu also seems to like messing with Sanada, even telling him his hat isn't allowed.

Here's a masterlist of the translations. I hope to finish this soon!

Fic!
Mm, so I'm participating in yaoi_challenge even though what I write is usually never even close to pairing fic. But that aside, I've gotten some interesting requests and was able to submit requests to others for pretty minor pairings that I like. I hope someone takes on at least one of those requests!! *____* The reveal isn't until February, so that's quite some time.

yuletide has come around again. This will be my second time participating. I was a pinch hitter since 2006 though~. I really loved waiting for the fics to go live last year. Reveals were also fantastically fun. I can't wait to see what requests I'll get matched with. Yuletide is really full of holiday cheer and warm fuzzy feelings (and love for minor fandoms!). ♥ I should write my Dear Yuletide Writer letter soon.

...I should be starting drive_a, shouldn't I? Juu, when are you available for plotting?

NaNoWriMo
So, I haven't even considered NaNoWriMo this year. Nor do I think I'll be writing fic with the same number of words. But, I'll be setting a translating goal for myself since I really want to finish some things. First on the list is PairPuri vol 1 and Kimi to Boku vol 4!

Look, Kinky! Ikuto does have that outfit that shows his stomach. XDDD I cannot believe KENN is wearing this.

I took caps as I watched. XD;; The musical had some short introductions in the beginning and then jumped right into the Black Diamond arc with Utau and the onidare CDs, ending with a bunch of character nari, so we get to see everyone in their transformed outfits. The musical is cute. The fight scenes aren't very impressive, but it's not like the fights in the original were all that drawn out in the first place. XD;;

( bunch of pics under this cut, spoilers included )

( backstage pics, featuring mostly KENN )

Download:
598 screencaps
[ MF ]

Awesomeness, the DVD for the Shugo Chara musical is out~. I wanted to attend this when I went to Japan in August, but that thought was easily shot down by the group since none of them are interested in musicals. =P I haven't finished watching the Shugo Chara musical yet (must sleep...) but YAY for KENN with cat ears. I don't like Ikuto, the character he portrays, but maybe KENN will make me like him more. XD; KENN is...one of the oldest in the cast. Man, everyone else is so young. And so high pitched. The shugo chara are all...puppets. Kind of amusing. Amu takes a while to change into her Amulet Heart outfit, so everyone has to get beaten by the X characters, which sound like how they sound in the anime. Will watch the rest tomorrow, hopefully. I think by the end everyone will have their character transformation. Frilly clothes for Tadase...pirate outfit for Ikuto? Do want to see KENN in that.

( one more pic of KENN )

Second part of my trading logs for twistserve_tcg.

My main post is over here!

( logs )

I'm done with 100 icons of Kimi to Boku for iconfiend100. :D This last batch includes a lot of manga coloring. I also tried animating snow and rain. :3

Teasers:


Post is over this way!

I got an LJ comment a few weeks ago that approved my claim for Hikaru no Go for the icon challenge. I don't even remember making the claim anymore!! Hm, but the new Hikaru no Go covers and the images from the Heian game would make great icons.

Kampfer got me thinking of gender bender series I actually enjoy. I'm a huge fan of shoujo gender bender series because I just adore when characters keep secrets or have a secret identity. This secret identity thing extends to non crossdressing situations too, such as Lelouch as Zero and Kaitou as Kaitou Kid and all that. My biggest complaint for most shoujo gender bender series is that the secret generally comes out too quickly, though for manga, it makes sense that the secret is out quickly when you're trying to grab everyone's attention with the first few chapters. If it's not a secret identity thing, I generally...don't like the series even if it's gender bender unless it has something to do with power relationships. Most gender bender I enjoy seem to be manga only instead of anime. Which is sad, because I really want a gender bender series animated so I can hear a seiyuu attempt voices as both a guy and a girl.


(I can't find the corresponding scanlation of this panel, so this will have to do...basically says the school council president = the female idol)
A lot of mangaka seem to like combining crossdressing with the idol world. I'm guilty of doing that too (I've been writing an AU fic with such a situation). I was ecstatic when I came upon Charming Junkie where the idol Umi is crossdressing. He looks hot as a guy and cute as a girl. I like his character design. The series is reasonably long and manages to flesh out the characters more by the end of the series. Naka, the main female protagonist, has a scary face like Sawako. It's interesting seeing her overcome that. Naka and Umi are very adorable together. People who liked Never Give Up will most likely enjoy this one, since Umi ends up wanting to crossdress in order to protect his job with Naka.

( gender bender in showbiz )

( gender bender with guys dressing up as girls )

( gender bender with girls dressing up as guys )

( gender bender with mistaken gender )

( other gender bender, such as transformations, reincarnation, body-swapping, etc )

( gender bender in anime )

I probably missed some that I don't remember. There's this volleyball series with a guy dressed as a girl but I can't remember the name at the moment. I haven't listed series with traps since trap characters are generally not the focus of the series (and I don't want to spoil the series for anyone). XD; But if you have any recommendations or know of any other gender bender series you enjoy, let me know! I'm still trying to look for entertaining gender bender series...a lot are not very well fleshed out. I'm going to be adding to this list in the future.

I'm actually keeping up with some series. Scratch some. A LOT OF SERIES. This isn't going to last at all. XD; I tried watching some series from summer and spring, but they haven't kept my interest. There's something about following series as they come out that makes them more appealing.

Tegami Bachi 1-3

I'm enjoying this one so far. Don't like the 3D monsters too much, but I like the main two (three?) characters and the atmosphere and the fact that this is a series about postmen. I was surprised by who the main character turned out to be though.

( more on Tegami Bachi )

Kampfer 1

Boy transforms into a girl and is forced to participate in Kampfer fights, which is limited to girls. This would be interesting if he kept changing back and forth between a guy and a girl, but it looks like he's going to be stuck in girl form for the rest of the series. This is turning out to be like all the other boy turned into girl or dressed as a girl series where the boy just looks and acts entirely like a girl. Really, what's the point.

Kobato 1-3

Very peaceful anime so far about Kobato's trials in healing people's hearts and collecting candy in her jar from that. She has a mean stuffed dog called Ioryogi, who provides much of the comedy. Kiyokazu, the guy on the right, works at a kindergarten and has been mean to Kobato so far. I like the cute designs from this CLAMP series.

( more on Kobato )

( Miracle Train 2-3 )

( Inuyasha Kanketsu hen 2-3 )

( Kimi ni Todoke 2-3 )

( Nyankoi! 2-3 )

Aoi Bungaku 1

This series is disturbing. Very dark. I think 6 (or was it four?) Japanese novels are going to be animated for this 12 episode series, so that's...2-3 episodes per story, I suppose. The character designs for this first one, Ningen Shikkaku, was done by Obata Takeshi. I'm looking forward to seeing Konomi Takeshi and Kubo Tite's designs for the other stories. The only novel I've read is Natsume Souseki's Kokoro. I'll be looking forward to that one.

Fairy Tail 1-2

I started reading the manga for this after Fanime when one of the people I hung out with dressed up as Gray. The manga hasn't interested me all that much yet. The start of Akaboshi Ibun Suikoden reminds me a lot of Fairy Tail, which is another series I couldn't get into. I think it has something to do with how Lucy joins an already established organization with so many characters. Hm, I guess the same thing could be said of D.Gray-man...

( more on Fairy Tail )

Oh man, out of all these, I'm probably only dropping Kampfer. Still planning on checking out other series too, though I'm not sure what else there is now. XDD

Finally finished watching Moyashimon...I only had three episodes left. It's such a peaceful series. Sawaki is a lot like Natsume too, except he sees cute microbes instead of spirits. XDDDD You just know there has to be a part where he loses his power in a series like this!

I seriously did not expect Kei's part of the story to turn out like it did. Now I'm curious if it's expanded on more in the manga...since the anime sort of just ends. Oo, his seiyuu, Saiga Mitsuki, does the voices of Teito, Yoite, Kairi, and Rossiu! Does she ever do female voices...?

...I was wondering what the bacteria plushies I saw at the art museum on Sunday was reminding me of. XDD

I watched Code Geass last week while I was stuck in bed. This was when I was getting better. Lelouch is damn pretty with a sharp mind, and I can see why people would compare him with Light from Death Note, but Lelouch stirs my sympathy a lot more. Especially with the last part in R2. That totally reminds me of Strauss from The Record of a Fallen Vampire, and I just love characters like that. Anyway, I was charmed, and I seriously had a craving for pizza while watching this. I appreciated the silly episodes with the school council. I laughed my head off.

Now, does anyone have any good fic recommendations? I am especially in the mood for post R2 fics.

I'm also trying to write for 31_days...had plans to write some Natsume Yuujinchou for that this month, but that never happened! Have some...random Code Geass fic instead, written when I should have been researching for my thesis instead. I have no idea what's going on in this fic. I'm just playing with the characters at the moment.

( Writing on the Wall )

Every year's DC movie shows in theaters during Golden Week and the DVDs come out around autumn. I used to follow the movies mostly because it was the only animated DC I could get my hands on by buying importing the DVDs from Taiwan. Anyway, it's become sort of a tradition for me, but my favorites will always be the first two movies (both of which I've rewatched a lot)...movies after that are a bit hazy for me.

As movies go, movie 13 was interesting enough. There are two major plots going on at once--one is trying to find the serial murderer who's been leaving hints with mahjong tiles, and the other has to do with watching out for the Black organization. Oh, and the Detective Boys do their own little thing too, so you could say there are three plots going on~. The murder plot kind of takes a backseat in this movie. There's not much a sense of emergency in comparison with what's happening with the BO. Oh, and guess what? This is DC's turn to damage Tokyo Tower. XD;


I thought this was cute. :D

( some screencaps )

Eeeeek. There were lots of beetles in the movie (the kids were capturing beetles). NOW THERE'S ONE ON MY DESK. A small one but where did it come from??

Eeee, it's out! ♥



The original manga this is based off of is very sweet, and so far the anime has the same atmosphere. Kuronuma Sawako comes off as a gloomy person (people call her Sadako and thinks she's really scary) but in reality, she just wants to make friends and be true to herself. She admires Kazehaya for how cheerful and refreshing he is. He encourages her and helps her break some misunderstandings. I find that I like really like series like these...must be why I like Aozora Yell too. That manga is very similar too with how the girl and the boy encourage each other.

( 8 more screencaps, not very spoilerish )

I usually end up following only one or two series on a weekly basis each season and go back a long time later to series I missed. Spring was Eden of the East...huh, I didn't follow anything for summer season. I did just watch Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 though. Made me cry so much. ;___;

Mm, checking out new series is always fun.

Miracle Train



This anime has me snickering. People refer to it as...a cross between Hetalia (because the train stations are now human) and Ouran (lots of bishounen, I guess). It's also directed by Kasai Kenichi who's famous for series like Honey and Clover and Nodame. Just, what the heck? The first episode was actually pretty serious, though I don't think the series can get me attached to any of the characters. Roppongi on the right is voiced by KENN, haha. I would keep on watching this series if it had been about the Chou line, the line I took everyday in Japan. I wanted to see Kichijoji! But alas, this is about the Oedo line, which I don't know much about. You do get...random bits of train trivia from this.

( Nyan Koi (such cute kitties!) and Inuyasha (if only they'd do this for some other series too) )

So, while reading Bakuman ch.56, I was very impressed with Takagi's drawings. They seriously tell you all you need. I can't even do that! This was an idea (which I won't be doing and never really considered very far because I can't draw well) I had for drive_a. It took me forever just to do this. The idea was a bunch of 4koma, not the actual content I drew in this one. XD;

This 4koma is totally inspired by the Tenipuri game, Form the Strongest Team. Because Atobe speaks these lines in there.

Happy birthday, Atobe! He's far from my favorite character, but without him, Tenipuri would be a lot less fun. Sorry if this isn't all that amusing. XD

( world domination, anyone? )

I made a new moodtheme for myself. ♥ It's a mix of Rikkai and Hyoutei from the new Tenipuri OVAs, but it's predominantly Rikkai and a bunch of Shishido. Shishido has a lot of different, angry expressions! Unlike other people who are always looking "cool" but never fit under any mood. *eyes Yukimura* You might not agree with me on a lot of these, but well, it's hard with only two episodes to work with. XD; Images are 80x45, so feel free to replace any weird moods with your own. Hyoutei got the short end because I did Rikkai first and used up all the good moods with them.



Download:
[ MU ] [ MF ]

Instructions:
[ MU ] [ MF ]

Breakdown:

Rikkai x 87
Hyoutei x 42
Kirihara's challenge letter x 1
Kirihara's failed test x 1
Seigaku x 1 (young Tezuka, haha)

Commenting is awesome. Credit lucathia_rykatu if you're using this. :)

Good thing there are deadlines, or else this fic wouldn't have gone anywhere!

Memories of the Future
A Namiki-centric fic for 30_kisses.

Disclaimer: Mekakushi no Kuni belongs to Tsukuba Sakura. I'm making no profit from writing this piece of fanwork.
archive: lj | ffnet
word count: ~1800

( chapter 18: invincible, unrivaled )

I am on such a Tenipuri phase right now.

...actually, this phase started back in March. Now, it's just even stronger than usual because of the new OVAs. XD;

Another story 3 is what I wish Shin Tenipuri focused on!!! New captains, fears about the future, what happens now that the third years are leaving? etc. I would rather have seen more of this than a bunch of rivals grouped together for one panel cameos. Still, I think of Shin Tenipuri as an extra...treat. No idea where it's heading at the moment. My favorite parts are still the parts where the senpai are instructing their kouhai, leaving the team to them. It's just not very prominent.

( a few ova 3 pics )

Kirihara's English test scores, haha.

Watching episode 4 about young Rikkai has convinced me that it would have been awesome if Rikkai were the main school. XD; I really enjoyed this glimpse into their past! Of course, that would have been an entirely different series then. XDD

( some pics! )


I absolutely adored this ova and could not stop smiling. People who like Rikkai should definitely watch this. =P

The deadline for 30_kisses has rolled around once again. I'll be writing furiously tomorrow!! Such a difficult story to write...

Seriously, I wish Konami would release another tennis game for Prince of Tennis. Form the Strongest team was such a cool game. I want to be able to train Shitenhouji and Higa players too!!

Here are some videos that showcase the game's awesomeness. (Seems like it's actually a pretty popular game even now! It's already so old.)

♥ Special voices for other people's techniques. In the game, you can teach your players other people's special moves. All characters have unique sayings when they learn Kikumaru beam, Rondo, Akutsu's smash, and the Laser Beam. I particularly love Yagyuu's rendition of all the moves! He uses polite speech. Akutsu says, "Gyaku da, kozou," which Atobe renders as, "Gyaku da, bouya" and Yagyuu renders as "Gyaku desu, shounen." Shounen!! He uses "lady" for the female version.
♥ Everyone's puns! You know Davide with his puns? Well, everyone has their own puns here! Hiyoshi's is particularly funny. Something like..."Jiji ni nattemo wakashi." "Even when I turn into an old guy, I'm still Wakashi (his name, which also means young.)
♥ All the team leader specials. Every single player is available for you to choose as the team leader. Everyone has their own special at the bench. Gakuto's makes everyone do flips.
♥ Self vs. Self. The characters say different things depending on who they're playing against. They say hilarious things when fighting against themselves!
♥ Self vs. Self part 2.
♥ Dropping people off the regulars and their shocked expressions.

♥ Form the Weakest Team! This person recorded the entire process of training the weakest players in the game. Watchers' comments are hilarious. Somehow, Sakuno is paired with Higashikata and Michiru is the ace of the team. Apparently there's a huge following of this undertaking.
♥ I cannot believe someone made a Haruhi parody based off the team that the above person made.

( some more for my own reference )

While browsing nicovideo.jp today, I came across someone's playthrough of this game. The entire game! All the voiced scenes! This game is way too hilarious...it's like an official fanfic where everyone's living in the Heian era. There are youkai running about. Youkai who want to play GO. Everyone plays go for some reason. Hikaru is Sai's guard. Akira is an onmyouji. Waya and Tsutsui and a bunch of other people are nobles. And so forth. Mind breaking stuff. I wish I had this game. The voices and images were great.

I took a bunch of screencaps because some of these are so pretty. <3

( pics and more of the story )

Post one-to-two sentences of every unfinished piece of writing you have, fic or not; maybe it will motivate you to finish.

The further down the list...the more unlikely I will ever finish the fic. .___. These don't include the fics I've entirely abandoned.

1. He considered buying a pair of gloves, but wearing them would make him too conspicuous when he wanted to see the future. (Mekakushi no Kuni)

2. He raised one eyebrow. "Surely I must have mentioned him before?" he said, playing at being forgetful. (Ace Attorney)

4. In his mind, he keeps seeing Mr. Edgeworth's glasses sliding down his nose, and Mr. Wright playing around with the string from his hood dangling above the left of his chest. (Ace Attorney)

5. The way the prosecutor tries to connect everything the Gavinners do to law enforcement is almost cute. Almost. (Ace Attorney)

6. She felt Ha-chan step past her from the barest brush of her silky black skirt. (Shaman King)

3. Walking through Dogenzaka is like walking through pages of history. Neku's not poetic--that's more along Rhyme's expertise--but Dogenzaka intrigues him, perhaps because the place has connections to a temple and a famous bandit. He's not quite sure where he learned that from, but it's stuck in his mind and he can't forget. (TWEWY)

7. Later in life, Ike does not remember much of his early life in Gallia. (Fire Emblem: PoR)

8. "Fujiwara-san...Sai...it's time to go," came Botan's soft voice. (Hikaru no Go/Yu Yu Hakusho)

9. The first person Sakuno thought of was, of course, Ryoma. If Ryoma-kun would join her team, she was sure that somehow things would work out. (Prince of Tennis)