For me it has been confirmed: Honey and Clover II is the best anime that came out this year. Although NHK ni Youkoso! is similarly well made, it has not finished yet: I will reserve my judgment for later. It may have taken me quite a while to watch the final episodes (and the one-week blackout, DotA addiction as well as stacking exams didn’t help to alleviate the loss of momentum I had with watching anime in general), but now that I’ve done so – I have no regrets. This is what people should watch, and avid fans of literature will probably enjoy this show because of its sheer realism and depth that isn’t pretentious. (more…)

Persistence really does pay off. After an anal amount of patience despite being constantly and consistently disappointed by Haruhiists and Haruhism, I finally managed to finish The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya – and what can I say – it was pretty good. (more…)

I finally found myself a great Rei picture that has her smiling and having fun. Oh, if only Rei were like this – but at least there’s something to expect with Rebuild, right?

This is the problem when you lack disk space. Eventually, because of the lack of things one watches, one writes sparsely and without volume. Although a lot of people who have commented told me that I could obtain extra HD space or new HDs for a cheap price, you may have underestimated our poverty and our dearth of resources right now. Our family just has enough for its bare necessities; my parents pay for my Internet, however, because they no longer pay for my schooling – they only pay for my food, lodging, and Internet. We’re by no means rich, however, so obtaining a new HD is out of the question. I guess the only thing left for me to do is to purge my computer clean of everything: that is, I may delete all the anime I’ve been storing in my computer, just as what scottfrye does with his laptop. There are still good news, however: my new DVD writer has arrived from US given as a gift from my aunt, but my mom’s reluctant to send it here for fear of disrupting the fragile internal components of that technological innovation. What do I have now, then? (more…)

Yi Yuan noted that I should write more. To accede to his request, here I am with another post of mine. Recently, I’d been fragmented with my posts and didn’t really manage to talk about a single topic consistently and constantly: that’s because most of my mind was into what we call here the hell week, a week in which all major requirements and exams compound and entrench you. I had to alienate and remove myself from the computer to the extent of not being able to watch H&C II ep9 just yet (and you guys know how much I love H&C II). That aside, I’ve been reading manga recently, in particular Ogure Ito’s (Oh! Great!) works, like Silky Whip and Naked Star and had already finished those two. I also read the NHK manga, where, although highly depressing and depraved, forges an atmosphere of a pensive melancholy (and intense thought) that is highly satisfying to the manga-reader who seeks something deeper. That’s why I posted on them before – NHK is, indeed, something Dostoevskian and something wonderful to read. (more…)

After coming from a difficult exam, wondering what to do with my life, I walked around our dormitory’s supposed parking-space and watched the starless night sky in the heavens juxtapose and seemingly absorb a mountain of leaves hanging from a tree. The sky was a dark hue of violet and blue, and its soft contrast with the now-black leaves forming seemingly a mountain placated my quiet self that was in turmoil within. I guess that no matter how I told my parents that I wanted to shift, deep inside I was still the same: I was still turmoiled; my thoughts were constantly in upheaval, and I was just like Shuu (of Honey and Clover): I was drifting. Unlike Takemoto, however, I couldn’t even try searching for myself, so I just looked at the night sky and hoped that the inner peace that it gave me would last more than an evanescence or something fleeting. (more…)

I’m so tired of having takes on Honey and Clover II. It always just ends up to be another pathos-invoking and tear-jerking episode. It always just ends up to be another episode nothing short of a masterpiece. I don’t want to write any more on its class, its beauty, its masterful story and plot, because I’d just be reiterating myself (as I always do). (more…)

I moved to this new blog to avoid fanboying Honey and Clover, or to do so with at least intelligible, coherent statements. As much as I try to avoid giving praise to this series (even though it really deserves it), Umino Chika has simply given me another reason to do so. As you may know, the final chapter of the Honey and Clover manga was released just recently. I didn’t expect much: most manga endings are weak and mediocre, and are often the problem of mangakas. Yet again, however, Honey and Clover delivered. This is the first time I’ve sniffled over only a cascade of related pictures (and that without even understanding the content!). I may have really cried if I understood how it read, but that’s simply the effect of Honey and Clover to me: even static pictures seem to have lives of their own and evoke strong emotions. (more…)

I’ve written this entry on paper before I transferred it to OpenOffice, and I’ve also written it on different parts of the day, so forgive the disjointedness if ever reading the entry doesn’t seem natural to you. (more…)