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The End of the Year
Well folks, Christmas is over. So I suppose I'll do a rundown of things I have and things I'm planning on having. First, let's start with the nerd stuff. I'll use a * rating to indicate enjoyment. 5 out of 5 *'s is a great rating >D and then you know, 4 is above average, 3 is average, etc etc.
This was a very anime-fan Christmas! My husband and I bought the complete XXX HoLic series. which is amazing but I don't really think it can be called "complete", in all honesty. This is because a lot of things from the manga just disappeared and I'm not sure why. I mean, what about the book worm? Or Watanuki's missing eye? It ends in much the way that the Ranma 1/2 anime ends as well. Which is...not really an ending at all. However, the art is spot-on to the manga, and it was nice to see Yuko animated. So I'll give it a rating of ****
Then my husband bought me the series Last Exile. I have to say, I love this series. I saw it once streaming on Winamp about 3 - 4 years ago, and I've been waiting for the chance to own it ever since. The story, the characters, the setting and the art are all fantastic. And if there's a manga too, someone point me to it because I want to own whatever I can of this amazing series. It's a Steampunk series revolving around flying machines called Vanships, and their part in a war that's going on in that land at the time. Somewhere drifting about in the sky is a mysterious machine called Exile, so of course everyone wants to be the first one to get at it just in case it's the thing that will tip the scales and win the war. Well...it's a lot more complicated than that actually but I'm horrible at describing things. So my advice is to watch it for yourself and make your own decision about if you love it or not. My favorite characters in this epic are Alex Ross and Dio. If you pick this up, be sure to look for them! They're great. Still just as good after 3 years, it gets a rating of *****
From my Mother in Law (who asked me for a list :9) I received the complete 1st season of Full Metal Alchemist. I've seen this series for the most part on Adult Swim, but I have to say it's going to be a much better experience I think to see them all in a row, instead of whenever I'm up late enough on Saturday night to catch an episode. I'm planning on getting the rest of the collection over time next year. That's season 2, the OvAs, and the Movie. Since I've seen and liked most of the episodes on AS, I'm giving it a rating of **** (subject to change after I view them all in order).
The next thing I got from my dearest hubby is the manga series Clover. Clover is an older manga by CLAMP, and was out of print over here for a long time. It was by sheer luck that we came across exactly ONE copy of...I think it's called an Omnibus? Basically they collected the entire manga series into one big book. I'd been dying to read it so he got it for me. I was not disappointed. The series is beautiful and sad and completely enthralling. If you see it at Borders or Barnes & Noble, or look it up on amazon.com, I recommend it fully. Rating: *****
And along the same lines, I he gave me the book Utahime: The Songstress. It's a self-contained one volume Manga and a very good read. It's kind of a tragic tale but I really liked it. The story is about a place where every village has a woman called a songstress, and every night the songstress' sing to form a protective barrier around the kingdom they live in. The songstress' are basically prisoners and many of them hate their lives and the townsfolk who depend on them so heavily. There's a lot more to it than that but I don't want to basically give away the whole story. So I'll just rate it **** and leave it at that.
Next up on the manga chopping block is the First volume of X-men: Misfits. Yeah that's right. Manga. X-men. Aside from the core principles of the series (there's a school, the powers are granted genetically), this series seems like it does a complete 360 from the X-men that we're all familiar with. The characters are there, but most of them are unlike anything I'm used to. The focus of the manga is Kitty Pryde, who I have to say has never looked so adorable as she does as a manga character. Many of the other favorites are there as well. Iceman, Magneto, Professor X, Storm (with mohawk! >D) and Gambit to name a few. When I picked it up I was unsure, but once I started reading I couldn't let it go. And now I can't wait for the next volume. Because of the completely different setting and in some cases, character personalities and appearances, and the complete readability of this, I'm giving it a rating of *****
Okay, not really a Christmas gift, but I got volume 2 of Please Save My Earth earlier this month. And this manga series is so good it just bears mentioning. The moon dreams are intensifying as Alice and her friends begin to learn more about their past lives. I know I've read it all before (thanks to .rar, Utorrent, and CDisplay), but it's still exciting. And the difference between the fan translation and the official one make it seem almost like I'm reading it for the first time again! I hope to have the entire collection by the end of next year. <3 The rating? Of course it's *****. (and if I could I'd even give it bonus stars.)
On kind of a downer, I have to say that I attempted reading the novelization of The Meloncholly of Haruhi Suzumia this month, and was sorely disappointed. They try to make the character seem weird and mysterious, but all she appears to be in my view is a spoiled attention seeker. Everything she does seems to be for the sole purpose of getting people to pay attention to her. It was all rather annoying. And so I took those books back and won't be picking them up again. I doubt I'll watch the anime either now. Rating: *
I got one game this year. Animal Crossing: City Folk. It's definitely an Animal Crossing game. I can say that for it. That's not a bad thing though if you liked the other two games for the GC and DS respectively. I played the heck out of the first game, and it looks like I'll be doing the same for this one, despite some initial problems with the change in controls from the GC to the Wii. The thing I miss most from the first game? My Tropical Island. I hope they remake this feature, even for just downloadable content. by the way, if you have this game, and want to visit me, my character's name is Jett, and my friends code is: 0560-7618-9815. Since it's pretty much the same level of fun as the other Animal Crossing games, I'll rate it at ***.
Now, from my parents, I got something that I've been wanting for a while now. Copic Markers.
Specifically they got me the Sepia travel wallet sketch set. And a pad of Copic bleedproff paper too <3 This is fantastic. I love these pens and I really hope I can do them justice. Though I think the sketches I've done so far have been spot-on. The only thing though is that it makes me wish I had a scanner so I could post them on my Gallery. But I feel like I shouldn't dwell to much on that because I don't want to seem like a showoff.
After that, it was all about the candy. Quinoa bars and sees lollipops from my Mom, and Giant Pocky from husband Sker. If you've never seen or heard of Giant Pocky, here's a handy picture:
GIANT Pocky
Good stuff there. Plus I got about 5 boxes of Botan Rice Candy, and a tin of Pirouette Chocolate Hazelnut rolled wafers along with those Ferarro Rochette Chocolate Hazelnut bonbons. Chocolate + Hazelnut = my favorite chocolate combination. Candy get's ***** >D
Oh yeah, and I suppose I should mention, I also got a Batman: TAS Catwoman Tshirt, and a travel pen for my Molskine notepad.
So the holidays have been good to me. And I suppose the rest of the year was alright as well. There were a lot of problems, and we lost my Cousin Kelly, which broke my Moms heart because they were very close (She was closer to my Mom's age because my Aunt Connie is much older than my Mom). And Mom and Darryl lost their dog Tucker, who'd been part of our family since I was around 14. But they gained about 5 cats. So I suppose it balances out? heh.
MDC went into Hibernation, and I had to close Emerald Blues. But some good work was done on the Eifel D20 system, and more work will be done in the coming months. I'm going to try and reopen Emerald Blues if I can. It's the best testing ground for Eifel and I just love role playing with my friends. New additions will have to be made though, like possibly a separate OOC community for the rp. Plus I'm going to have to go and update the Eifel Wiki soon too. So much to do so much to do.
Here's to a busy 2010 everyone. I hope you had a great year, and I hope that next year will be even better!
~Jett
This was a very anime-fan Christmas! My husband and I bought the complete XXX HoLic series. which is amazing but I don't really think it can be called "complete", in all honesty. This is because a lot of things from the manga just disappeared and I'm not sure why. I mean, what about the book worm? Or Watanuki's missing eye? It ends in much the way that the Ranma 1/2 anime ends as well. Which is...not really an ending at all. However, the art is spot-on to the manga, and it was nice to see Yuko animated. So I'll give it a rating of ****
Then my husband bought me the series Last Exile. I have to say, I love this series. I saw it once streaming on Winamp about 3 - 4 years ago, and I've been waiting for the chance to own it ever since. The story, the characters, the setting and the art are all fantastic. And if there's a manga too, someone point me to it because I want to own whatever I can of this amazing series. It's a Steampunk series revolving around flying machines called Vanships, and their part in a war that's going on in that land at the time. Somewhere drifting about in the sky is a mysterious machine called Exile, so of course everyone wants to be the first one to get at it just in case it's the thing that will tip the scales and win the war. Well...it's a lot more complicated than that actually but I'm horrible at describing things. So my advice is to watch it for yourself and make your own decision about if you love it or not. My favorite characters in this epic are Alex Ross and Dio. If you pick this up, be sure to look for them! They're great. Still just as good after 3 years, it gets a rating of *****
From my Mother in Law (who asked me for a list :9) I received the complete 1st season of Full Metal Alchemist. I've seen this series for the most part on Adult Swim, but I have to say it's going to be a much better experience I think to see them all in a row, instead of whenever I'm up late enough on Saturday night to catch an episode. I'm planning on getting the rest of the collection over time next year. That's season 2, the OvAs, and the Movie. Since I've seen and liked most of the episodes on AS, I'm giving it a rating of **** (subject to change after I view them all in order).
The next thing I got from my dearest hubby is the manga series Clover. Clover is an older manga by CLAMP, and was out of print over here for a long time. It was by sheer luck that we came across exactly ONE copy of...I think it's called an Omnibus? Basically they collected the entire manga series into one big book. I'd been dying to read it so he got it for me. I was not disappointed. The series is beautiful and sad and completely enthralling. If you see it at Borders or Barnes & Noble, or look it up on amazon.com, I recommend it fully. Rating: *****
And along the same lines, I he gave me the book Utahime: The Songstress. It's a self-contained one volume Manga and a very good read. It's kind of a tragic tale but I really liked it. The story is about a place where every village has a woman called a songstress, and every night the songstress' sing to form a protective barrier around the kingdom they live in. The songstress' are basically prisoners and many of them hate their lives and the townsfolk who depend on them so heavily. There's a lot more to it than that but I don't want to basically give away the whole story. So I'll just rate it **** and leave it at that.
Next up on the manga chopping block is the First volume of X-men: Misfits. Yeah that's right. Manga. X-men. Aside from the core principles of the series (there's a school, the powers are granted genetically), this series seems like it does a complete 360 from the X-men that we're all familiar with. The characters are there, but most of them are unlike anything I'm used to. The focus of the manga is Kitty Pryde, who I have to say has never looked so adorable as she does as a manga character. Many of the other favorites are there as well. Iceman, Magneto, Professor X, Storm (with mohawk! >D) and Gambit to name a few. When I picked it up I was unsure, but once I started reading I couldn't let it go. And now I can't wait for the next volume. Because of the completely different setting and in some cases, character personalities and appearances, and the complete readability of this, I'm giving it a rating of *****
Okay, not really a Christmas gift, but I got volume 2 of Please Save My Earth earlier this month. And this manga series is so good it just bears mentioning. The moon dreams are intensifying as Alice and her friends begin to learn more about their past lives. I know I've read it all before (thanks to .rar, Utorrent, and CDisplay), but it's still exciting. And the difference between the fan translation and the official one make it seem almost like I'm reading it for the first time again! I hope to have the entire collection by the end of next year. <3 The rating? Of course it's *****. (and if I could I'd even give it bonus stars.)
On kind of a downer, I have to say that I attempted reading the novelization of The Meloncholly of Haruhi Suzumia this month, and was sorely disappointed. They try to make the character seem weird and mysterious, but all she appears to be in my view is a spoiled attention seeker. Everything she does seems to be for the sole purpose of getting people to pay attention to her. It was all rather annoying. And so I took those books back and won't be picking them up again. I doubt I'll watch the anime either now. Rating: *
I got one game this year. Animal Crossing: City Folk. It's definitely an Animal Crossing game. I can say that for it. That's not a bad thing though if you liked the other two games for the GC and DS respectively. I played the heck out of the first game, and it looks like I'll be doing the same for this one, despite some initial problems with the change in controls from the GC to the Wii. The thing I miss most from the first game? My Tropical Island. I hope they remake this feature, even for just downloadable content. by the way, if you have this game, and want to visit me, my character's name is Jett, and my friends code is: 0560-7618-9815. Since it's pretty much the same level of fun as the other Animal Crossing games, I'll rate it at ***.
Now, from my parents, I got something that I've been wanting for a while now. Copic Markers.
Specifically they got me the Sepia travel wallet sketch set. And a pad of Copic bleedproff paper too <3 This is fantastic. I love these pens and I really hope I can do them justice. Though I think the sketches I've done so far have been spot-on. The only thing though is that it makes me wish I had a scanner so I could post them on my Gallery. But I feel like I shouldn't dwell to much on that because I don't want to seem like a showoff.
After that, it was all about the candy. Quinoa bars and sees lollipops from my Mom, and Giant Pocky from husband Sker. If you've never seen or heard of Giant Pocky, here's a handy picture:
GIANT Pocky
Good stuff there. Plus I got about 5 boxes of Botan Rice Candy, and a tin of Pirouette Chocolate Hazelnut rolled wafers along with those Ferarro Rochette Chocolate Hazelnut bonbons. Chocolate + Hazelnut = my favorite chocolate combination. Candy get's ***** >D
Oh yeah, and I suppose I should mention, I also got a Batman: TAS Catwoman Tshirt, and a travel pen for my Molskine notepad.
So the holidays have been good to me. And I suppose the rest of the year was alright as well. There were a lot of problems, and we lost my Cousin Kelly, which broke my Moms heart because they were very close (She was closer to my Mom's age because my Aunt Connie is much older than my Mom). And Mom and Darryl lost their dog Tucker, who'd been part of our family since I was around 14. But they gained about 5 cats. So I suppose it balances out? heh.
MDC went into Hibernation, and I had to close Emerald Blues. But some good work was done on the Eifel D20 system, and more work will be done in the coming months. I'm going to try and reopen Emerald Blues if I can. It's the best testing ground for Eifel and I just love role playing with my friends. New additions will have to be made though, like possibly a separate OOC community for the rp. Plus I'm going to have to go and update the Eifel Wiki soon too. So much to do so much to do.
Here's to a busy 2010 everyone. I hope you had a great year, and I hope that next year will be even better!
~Jett
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XXX HoLic series
I haven't seen much of the series, but the art does seem to be really good and like the manga. I did love the manga though.
Clover
Yes it is called an Omnibus from what I've seen from other series.
I'm glad you got it I remember hearing about it from you before :D
The Meloncholly of Haruhi Suzumia
I tried to watch that one... it was weird. The episodes are all numbered out of chronological order and I can't quite make sense of the plot... although that may have been the point, I'm not sure
Giant Pocky
I have seen the boxes, but I've never been able to buy any T.T
Eifel
If you manage to open it again you know I'll be there *grins*
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Was sooooooo freaking weird.
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