Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou

Natsume Yuujinchou Second Season of Brains Base Even better than the first season! This is as awesome as Mushishi just with more youthful crack and regular characters! Haha! Rating: A EPIC AWESOME! So addicting I cannot get enough! Favoritism: 9.5 hearts out of 10

Continuing on from the first season, Zoku Natsume Yuujinchou follows the story of Natsume, a boy who has been able to see ghosts since he was little. Unfortunately, humans shun him, and there is not much fondness between him and ghosts either. One day, he inherits a Yūjin-Chō ("Book of Friends") from his grandmother. The book is actually full of contracts that his grandmother made to trap ghosts. As one ghost after another shows up, Natsume tries to release or help them — even while many of them seek vengeance on him. (Anime News Network)

Gundam 00 season 2

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season of Sunrise and Bandai Entertainment It's better than the previous season! What an awesome Gundam series since Gundam Wing's reign! Rating: B+ WOW! I am VERY impressed! Favoritism: 8.5 hearts out of 10

Four years have passed since the final battle between Celestial Being and the UN Forces. Humanity, having established the Earth Sphere Federation, forms an independent security preservation force, A-Laws, separate from the formal Federation army to further unify nations and the will of mankind. But the reality was the inhumane oppression of misuse of powers, doctrines, and ideologies in the name of unity.
(MyAnimeList)

Kuroshitsuji

Kuroshitsuji aka Black Butler of A-1 Pictures One awesome gothic crack series! Story had potential but turned out to suck pretty badly. At least the main character made up for many of the flaws. He's indeed one hell of a butler! Rating: C OKAY! Not that great but isn't bad either! Favoritism: 7.5 hearts out of 10

Yana Toboso draws the original Kuroshitsuji manga about Sebastian Michaelis, an impeccable butler who can carry out practically any task his master requires of him — partly because he is a demon. His current master is Ciel, the Phantomhive family head who is smart, business-savvy, and all of 12 years old. (ANN)

Sora wo Miageru Shoujo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai

Sora wo Miageru Shoujo no Hitomi ni Utsuru Sekai aka The World Reflected in the Eyes of a Girl Looking Up at the Heavens of KyoAni The typical fantasy story that actually had potential to be good but just had to copy the lameness of the others. Rating: C- SO-SO! Very average and typical whatever! Favoritism: 5 hearts out of 10

Akuto, the main source of energy is running low and the Heavens, a world of islands, hidden beyond time, floating above ours, has united against the Magical Kingdom whom uses the most energy. To save both the Magical Kingdom and the Heavens and restore the flow of akuto, the Magical King Munto must follow a vision and find the girl Yumemi in the lower world. Yumemi herself is just a normal girl except that she is the only one who can see the islands of the Heavens floating above. When Munto appears before her she starts thinking about hers and others responsibility to the world. (ANN)

Withern Rise Trilogy: A Crack in the Line

A Crack in the Line (Withern Rise) by Michael Loawrence An interesting story of a boy and a girl who are the same person but live in different realities. It didn't meet my expectations but it's still nice. Rating: C OKAY! Not that great but isn’t bad either! Favoritism: 5 hearts out of 10

Alaric and Naia, both 16, have nearly identical lives in parallel worlds. Their parents, their house, and their circumstances are the same, with one major difference. Alaric's mother was killed in a train wreck, while Naia's mother survived. This story of alternate realities raises questions about how one's life might be changed forever by a certain turn of events.(School Library Journal)

Xam'd Lost Memories

Xam'd Lost Memories aka Bounen no Xamdou of Bones and Aniplex One of the most epic awesome shounen series in anime history! Rating: A- OH MY GOD! Amazing, fantastic, oh really wonderful! Favoritism: 8.5 hearts out of 10

Sentan Island is a small island surrounded by the Yuden Sea. It exists in a state of dreamlike tranquility, cut off from the war between the Northern Government and the Southern Continent Free Zone. Our hero, Akiyuki Takehara, lives on Sentain Island along with his mother Fusa. He is currently separated from his father, the town doctor Ryuzo, but the bond between father and son remains. One day, after taking Ryuzo the lunch that Fusa has made for him as usual, Akiyuki arrives at school, where he is caught up in an explosion along with his friends, Haru and Furuichi. The explosion produces a mysterious light, which enters Akiyuki's arm, causing him excruciating pain. He's given no time to understand it, however, as the white-haired girl who rode on the bus with him guides him to a power unlike anything he's ever known. (MyAnimeList)

The Rule of Four

The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason A religious fiction novel with a mix of college life and relationships. Not exactly better than Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, but to me it's certainly more fun and entertaining. Rating: B- NICE! It had been really fun! Favoritism: 7 hearts out of 10

The book is set on the Princeton campus during the weekend of Good Friday, 1999. The story involves four Princeton seniors, friends and roommates, getting ready for graduation: Tom, Paul, Charlie and Gil. Two of the students, Tom and Paul, are trying to solve the mystery contained within an extremely rare, beautifully decorated and very mysterious (real) book— the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. (Wikipedia)

Watchmen

I am always interested in movies that are based on comic books, and Watchmen is no exception. When my friend and I bought movie tickets today, it took us a while to choose between this and The Race to Witch Mountain because we are curious on both. But since Watchmen was already in theaters weeks ago and the other one was just out recently, we decided to pick Watchmen since Race to Witch Mountain will definitely still be in theaters in later weeks. In other words, we can still watch The Race to Witch Mountain in theaters later while with Watchment we can't.

What I like best in this movie are the visual effects and the action scenes. That part with the broken glass slowly shattering in such detail was terrific! Fight scenes are so bloody awesome, haha! However, though the slow-motion fighting scenes are cool, overusing that effect is kinda lame.

I actually have several complains in this movie, and my biggest complains: romance and sex scenes. Two-timing bitches to me are whores. The romance development for me was so BLAH. And are sex scenes actually necessary in a movie? There was like 30 minutes of it and I almost thought I was watching a porn movie! It's wasting decent screentime. Can't they f*ck off screen or something instead?! It gives me headaches!

I don't consider the story excellent but I do think it's very good. What I like best about this is that it's not your typical superhero movie. The heroes aren't the ideal ones, they've got bad sides too but not exactly evil either. The villain isn't someone that one would expect to be a villain either, even that character's purpose was such a twist. So many irony in this story, mostly on The Comedian, who does things that aren't really funny but what he's been doing in his life is one big joke. So yes, I'm very impressed with the story, even if the events didn't excite me that much.

Not all characters had appealed to me, except for several. At first impression I liked Dr. Manhattan for . . . being blue and shiny. Yes, it has something to do with my favorite color bias. Haha! It amuses me. And he has a pretty cool power.
I find Ozymandias handsome. I have a thing for wealthy guys who have a mutated beast for a pet, which in his case is a beautiful white tiger with tall horns. How lovely!
I also liked Nite Owl II, simply because I also have a thing for guys that are pretty techy and much nicer compare to their allies.
But my favorite is his partner: Rorschach. They are an interesting duo, and Rorschach entertains me a lot. Haha! He seems to be the antisocial type but he's nice to his comrades. He's very mean and brutal to his enemies, but it pains him deeply when innocent people get hurt. Also, he keeps a diary! So cute~ I find this guy ADORABLE! Hahaha!

I don't think I'll be considering this as one of my favorites shows of all times but it had been good, and it had amazed and amused me. It also reminded me two of my current obsessions: Supernatural and Axis Powers Hetalia. Seeing Jeffrey Dean Morgan makes me think "I can't believe Dean and Sam's dad doing those things?!". And those events involving United States of Amerrica, and the Soviet Union, reminded me so much of Hetalia's Alfred and Ivan. Hahaha! Oh Hetalia fans sure can't think of countries the same way anymore, haha!

[ STRENGTHS ] special effects, some action scenes, some characters, story twists and uniqueness, characterization
[ WEAKNESSES ] some characters, overusing/repetition, unecessary stuff, length some story parts

Rating: 8.0 out of 10
Favoritism: 6.5 out of 10

Live Action: Detroit Metal City

Soichi Negishi moved to Tokyo to chase his dream of becoming a musician playing stylish, Swedish-style pop. Instead, he finds himself leading the death metal band Detroit Metal City, or DMC, as the costumed and grotesquely made-up "demon emperor" Johannes Krauser II. Although he hates the role and the things he has to do as a member of the band, he has a definite talent for it. Adapted from the hit Japanese comic book by Kiminori Wakasugi, the movie follows Negishi's antics as he tries to reconcile the two very different sides of his life and find out what it really means to achieve his dream. (source from IMDB)

I love metal music! Not really because I can relate to the music and worship the musicians and stuff, but I like the tune and sometimes it humors me! Haha! When I've heard about the anime Detroit Metal City having that kind of music, I got interested of course. I didn't expect it to be so funny though. Wahahaha! I love the crack, and I like the story! The main character having split personalities is a big plus for me too! Oh I loved this series so much and of course I've completed the whole anime OVA series. ALRIGHT!

So when I found out that it's going to have a live-action movie, I wanted to see it so badly! Sadly the subs haven't been out until recently. I couldn't download it at once when the subs were out either because they were in .srt files, not hardsubbed. For some reason, I can't play those. Luckily, an online friend was able to hardsub it and uploaded it for me. Oh I love you! <3

So YAY! I was finally able to watch it. I had followed the anime storyline, but of course there are several changes and additions here and there. My favorite scene here is the one when he scared the people at the restaurant unintentionally. It wasn't in the anime so it took me by surprised and oh my stomach had hurt from laughing! Haha! The songs played are the same, but the music's a little different (perhaps it's because they're sang by different artists?). I like the movie's version more. The story, for me, is better in the movie as well. There was more drama and it had more happy/positive ideas compared to the anime. There had been better plot and character development too! Speaking of the characters, the characters in the movie are likable too. Negishi's running and other dorky acts never fail to amuse me! And Aikawa was really really cute and not as naive as her anime version. The other characters seem better too, even Negishi's mom! Wow . . . in other words, movie>anime! HELL YEAH!!!!

Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Favoritism: 8.0 out of 10

Oh yeah, I know of the manga version of course. But if it's a musical story, I prefer to watch it on screen. There are a few exceptions of course (like Nodame Cantabile) but . . .still . . .I prefer hearing the music too. Hehe.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

It is often recommended by my friends on the internet. They say that it's a very awesome book. I did a little research on it and I often see high ratings and many positive remarks and reviews. Of course that got me very interested! Even if the book wasn't that popular, it would still have gotten my attention. Stories set during the world war and talk about nontypical stuff (like in this case, it's about a book thief) are my kind of thing. I had been looking for it with an online friend, and she had found it for me. I was so happy to have bought the book in a cheaper (even if it was just a little cheaper compare to National Bookstore, it's still cheaper) price. I read it as soon as I can when the Filipinos Group at GoodReads have selected this novel for a Book Discussion this month.

Many people say that it was fantastic, and they are right! For me, one of its greatest qualities is its narration style. It was a wise choice of a narrator. He or It wasn't exactly interacting with the characters directly, but he/it was very much involved alright. This novel had a wonderful set of characters! They are so dynamic and have been great and lovable in their own way. I am so happy that the leading character didn't just steal all the spotlight. Other main and supporting characters had the chance to shine and they were given importance. I like it that the leading girl did not annoy me (because most leading ladies no matter what media piss the hell out of me for being irritating damsels in distress), I actually admire and love her even.

I have loved so many characters in this story, but my favorite has to be Death. These are my favorite lines of his:

"By the way -- I like this human idea of the grim reaper. I like the scythe. It amuses me.
. . . . .
Forget the scythe, Goddamnit, I need a broom or a mop. And I needed a vacation."

pages 75 and 307 of The Book Thief

Wahaha! He never fails to delight and entertain me! I totally love this character! (I just noticed that I usually like characters that signify/symbolize/represent Death, like Death from the Sandman series. Haha!)

Speaking of entertainment, this book certainly entertained me a lot. People often caught me laughing by myself while reading the book. Rudy and, of course, Death, made me chuckle the most. I often exclaim "Aaaaww" too, especially during Liesel's moments with her loved ones, especially with Hans and Max. I'm a shipper, and I think Rudy's a darling. His love was so cute. This novel made me cry by myself too, especially those sad events in the end. I admire books that had affected me this much.

I consider this one of the best young adult historical novels I have ever read. It didn't only make me amused and impressed, but it had also educated me as well. Those German words/phrases/sentences encouraged me to learn more of the German language. It also made me do a little research on the wars when the story took place. Wow! I love this book! I recommend it to everyone who likes history and reading, and doesn't mind some swearing, haha!

Rating: 9.5 out of 10
Favoritism: 10 out of 10

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

I believe that many are familiar with Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince. Some portions of the book are even included in English Literature/Reading books used in school (well, at least I remember them during my elementary days) or examples in Reading Comprehension and many more. I remember liking this story back in childhood, but I no longer remember much of it, aside from the fact that the prince is an alien and he loved a certain flower. So when I saw a copy of it on bargain, I did not have second thoughts in buying it. I've thought of reading it again, after such a long time, recently because I wanted to read something really short at the moment.

Story was mainly about a young boy who lives in a small planet that had travelled to different planets and different kinds of people/creatures. He's a very curious child that never lets his questions left unanswered. His encounters make us realize different things, like what we should and should not give importance to, and what things matter, and so on.
It was a very popular book, and I don't wonder about that because it was indeed fascinating. I like how it was narrated . . . it was unique. It may seem to be a simple children's book but the messages in its story make's one have some reflections. Overall I consider it really wonderful!
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Unicorns! edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois

I love almost all kinds of animals, and that includes magical and mythical beasts. One of my favorites is the unicorn, and I love reading literature that involve such a wonderful creature. It's not that often for me to encounter books that focus on them, so I was very happy when an online friend lent me her copy of Unicorns!

It consists of more than 10 tales related to unicorns written by different authors. Unicorns aren't portrayed the same way. Settings of the stories and even the ethnicity of the characters there differ as well. Each narrative in this book have been good and bad in a way.
To be honest, the stories here weren't as impressive as I expected them to be. My greatest disappointment was the first one which seems to be an essay. It almost made me give up on the book if I didn't continue and had enjoyed the succeeding stories.
If I have to mention specific stories, my favorites include The Silken Swift by Theodore Sturgeon, which is a sad but wonderful love story, and Mythological Beast by Stephen R. Donaldson, which is about a man transforming into a unicorn in a futuristic utopia. I also like The Unicorn by Frank Owen, because it's very similar to Chinese tales I've heard or read about in the past. The Women the Unicorn Loved by Gene Wolfe was pretty nice. I like the idea of the leading character being part of some Mythic Conversationists group in modern times. I find that really cool! Hehe.
Overall, this anthology wasn't as great as expected it to be, but it had been pretty good. I had enjoyed reading it, at least most of it. Even without my bias to unicorns, I believe I would still have liked this book.
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