heavenly_pearl: (Default)
I actually haven't finished this season yet, but I've watched enough to say that I really liked everything I watched...with one notable exception.

Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card - This was my most-anticipated show this season, and it absolutely lived up to the hype for me! Love, love, love it! The animation may be a little slicker and the guys may no longer have those ridiculously broad shoulders that were so popular in the 90s, but otherwise it doesn't feel like any real time has passed between this sequel and the original series. They even got most (maybe all?) of the original cast back and reused a lot of the same background music from the first series. My only real complaints so far are that the actual cardcapturing hasn't been very exciting and I have no idea if the second movie is supposed to be canon or not. (The show itself can't even seem to make up it's mind!) Those are pretty minor things, though.
School Babysitters - Oh, my, word, this series was seriously the CUTEST! I could have lived without the older brother who hits his little brother, slap-stick-style, and the kinda-creepy teenage boy who gets nosebleeds because he thinks babies and toddlers are just so cute, but if you ignore those two problematic things, this show is just full of the WAFF-y goodness.
IDOLiSH7 - I've watched a few idol shows over the past couple of years. They were usually pretty good, but nothing memorable. This show, however, I could actually see myself buying to rewatch if it continues to be this good. It's genuinely funny and touching, the music is great, and the guys' personalities are developed enough that I can actually remember their names (most of the time)!
The Ancient Magus' Bride - I don't think this second half was quite as strong as the first half, but I still really liked it...with the caveat that I have yet to watch the final episode. I've heard that a lot of people feel like the ending was rushed since the anime caught up with the manga and they had to do an anime-original ending. Unless it's, like, Kare Kano bad, though, I don't think it'll ruin how I feel about the rest of the series, which was great.
March comes in like a lion - March's pacing has always been a little disjointed, but I think the fact that the show went on break for a couple of weeks while the Olympics were airing made it feel more disjointed than usual. Still good, though.
DARLING in the FRANXX - This was not on my original to-watch list, but it sounded kinda interesting when I checked out ANN's Preview Guide, especially since mecha series aren't very popular nowadays. It's pretty good so far, but I don't see it becoming, like, Evangelion/Rah-Xephon/Full Metal Panic-good. We'll see.
Maerchen Maedchen - This series... Well, I'm not sure what really happened. The production was apparently very troubled, leading them to take two weeks off to improve the quality of episode 9. That meant they had to end with episode 10, even though it was meant to be a twelve-episode series. I haven't actually watched those two episodes yet, but just knowing what happened, that can't be good. It wasn't even that great in the first place, despite having quite an interesting premise (magical girls based on fairy/folk tales). What a shame.

As for next season, I have sooooo much I want to watch, I'm not sure I can fit everything in my schedule! I'll definitely be watching the continuations of CCS: Clear Card, IDOLiSH7, and FRANXX, as well as new seasons of My Hero Academia and Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory (*squee* finally more FMP!). Brand new shows I might check out if available for free streaming are: Tada Never Falls in Love, Comic Girls, Devils' Line, Piano no Mori and Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku. I want to watch Lupin the Third: Part 5 and Sword Art Online: Alternative Gun Gale Online, but I think I may wait and see if they're picked up by Toonami first since Toonami aired previous seasons of those shows. I'm on the fence on Steins;Gate Zero... I liked the original series well enough, I guess, but I'm not in any rush to watch more. I'll probably save it to watch at a later date.
One series I WON'T be watching, despite my usual compulsion to complete a series, is Tokyo Ghoul:re. I forced myself to watch the first two seasons that aired on Toonami and hated almost every minute of it, so, nope, not going to torture myself any longer. Gonna cut my losses and stay far, far away!
heavenly_pearl: (Default)
First off, a reminder that those Petit Chara Sailor Moon and Mercury figures are still available for sale, although if I don't get any takers here by the end of the month, I'm thinking about putting them up for sale on eBay. I should also point out that the two extra Moons I have for sale are actually slightly different than the put-together one that I'm keeping in that the ones for sale have both their eyes opened (like the pic on the box). Same for Mercury: one is the same as the put-together one I'm keeping, but the other has both her eyes closed, with blush stickers on her cheeks.

Now, onto this 30 Day Anime Challenge I found on Tumblr, which is a little different than the one I did previous. Gonna do it all at once, though, just 'cause.

ExpandMeme! )
heavenly_pearl: (Default)
Inspired by The Mike Toole Show column at Anime News Network, I thought it would be fun to make my own "Anime Alphabet", listing the titles of my favorite series I've watched for each letter of the alphabet. Feel free to make your own list if you'd like!

A Aria
B Black Butler (I briefly considered going with Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon instead, but since I had a few B English titles to choose from, it seemed unfair to go with a Japanese title for this letter.)
C Card Captor Sakura
D Death Note
E Evangelion
F Fruits Basket
G Ghost Hunt (I debated about putting Ginban Kaleidoscope here instead, but I decided to stick with licensed series.)
H Hare + Guu
I I My Me! Strawberry Eggs
J Jigoku Shoujo (a.k.a Hell Girl -- I had to cheat a little with this one and use the Japanese title to find one that started with a J.)
K Kaleido Star
L Le Chevalier D'eon
M Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit
N NANA
O Ouran High School Host Club
P Princess Nine
Q ... Yeah, I've got nothing. If I included manga, I could use Queen of Ragtonia... Oh, apparently when you translate the Japanese title of Excel Saga (Heppoko Jikken Animation Excel Saga), you get Quack Experimental Animation Excel Saga, so that'll work for Q in a convoluted way!
R Rah-Xephon
S Super GALS
T Tiger & Bunny
U Ultramaniac
V Vampire Knight
W Witch Hunter Robin
X X (as in the CLAMP series)
Y Yamada's First Time (but I also considered Yona of the Dawn, only excluding it because it's not complete at this moment)
Z Zero no Tsukaima (a.k.a Familiar of Zero -- Again, as with J, I had to look at the Japanese titles to find one that started with Z.)
heavenly_pearl: (Default)
Right Stuf is having their annual fabulous holiday sale, and of course I'm finding tons of things I want to buy. One bargain particularly caught my eye today: all four boxsets of Yu Yu Hakusho on sale for $11.99 each. That would be just $47.96 for 112 episodes! ($59.95 if I also buy the movie/OVA set, which I'm not all that interested in at the moment.) Awesome deal, right? I have watched the first 28 episodes (the first boxset) through Netflix and liked what I saw, but I'm not sure if I like it enough to want to risk blind-buying the rest of the series, no matter how great the price is. If you have watched the entire series before, what did you think of it? Does it get better as the series goes along? Stay about the same? Go sharply downhill after a certain point? Is the ending complete as is, or one of those series where you have to read the manga to get the real ending? (That's probably a dealbreaker for me. If I'm going to buy and watch 112 episodes, it better have at least a decent ending.) Would you recommend it for me, based on what you know of my tastes? I'm not a huge shounen fan, but some shounen series I've really liked in the past are Death Note, Fullmetal Alchemist (both series), Rah-Xephon, Evangelion, Trigun, Code Geass, Full Metal Panic, Slayers, Soul Eater, Blue Exorcist, and Rurouni Kenshin. (Speaking of Fullmetal Alchemist, I have to squeal over the deal I got on the manga boxset earlier this week: $110 for twenty-seven volumes of manga, plus an bonus light novel! Too bad it was only that price for a week. EDIT: It's no longer that price at Right Stuf, but it turns out that Barnes & Noble is also holding a 50% off select Viz manga boxsets sale where you can get the FMA boxset for the same price I paid. It only lasts until Wednesday, though, so if you want to take advantage, do it fast. That really is a ridiculously good price.)

The sale continues until Dec. 28th, so I do have plenty of time to think it over, but I would like some opinions to help me make up my mind. Thanks!
heavenly_pearl: (Default)
25. The best manga oneshot/anime movie

If by one-shot, the question refers to a short story, then my favorite would probably be "Casablanca Memories", a Sailor Moon side story focusing on Rei, which explores the reason why she distrusts men. If it means a one-volume manga, though, then I would have to say Angel's Coffin by You Higuri is the best I've read. It's so wonderfully tragic!

Anime movie? My favorite is Sailor Moon R, with End of Evangelion and Kiki's Delivery Service really close behind.

26. The last manga you read/anime you watched

Manga - I've just started yet another reread of Fruits Basket -- seriously, never get tired of it! -- but the last two series I completed were Doubt!! and Othello.

Anime - Currently in the middle of watching Magical Shopping Arcade Abenoboshi, but I also watched The Secret World of Arriety last week. I recently rented Princess Resurrection and Licensed by Royalty from Netflix as well.
heavenly_pearl: (Default)
Quick fanfiction update: Chapter 18 of Melting Ice is finally posted at the usual places.

13. The most epic scene ever

Oh, man, I've been dreading this question! My gut is telling me to say the last three episodes of Sailor Moon, but that's definitely more than a scene! (Still epic, though!) Hmm, Gurren Lagann has a pretty amazing battles, and so does Evangelion... Oh, the start of Instrumentality in the End of Evangelion movie, with the giant Rei! You really can't get more epic than the end of the world, can you? Yeah, let's go with that. I'm not sure if it's really the most epic scene I've ever seen, but I think it's at least one of the top five.



ExpandDays To Come )
heavenly_pearl: (Default)
04. A character you feel you are most like (or wish you were)

Man, this is a tough question. If it asked what Sailor Moon character I'm most like, I would say Ami. For Fruits Basket, either Shigure and Kisa. (I know, they're nothing alike, yet they're both like me in different ways.) But asking me to choose the character most like me out of every anime and manga I've seen or read... So, I'm just going to list a bunch of characters I feel I'm like, in no particular order.

Ami (Sailor Moon)
Shigure (Fruits Basket)
Kisa (Fruits Basket)
Vash the Stampede (Trigun)
Sawako (Kimi ni Todoke)
Alice (Alice 19th)
Nodoka (Negima)
Shinji (Evangelion)
Mao (Princess Nine)
Miu (NANA)
Mia (Kaleido Star)

Which character I wish I was? Hmm, maybe Sora from Kaleido Star? Or Layla. They're both pretty awesome.

A review

Sep. 25th, 2010 10:03 am
heavenly_pearl: (Default)

I got a review for the latest installment of To Be By Your Side, comparing the dream sequence in that chapter to Evangelion, of all things. O.o It's flattering, I guess, because I was definitely going for a creepy vibe, but I don't think that scene is anywhere near being a Mind Rape, as the reviewer claims. In fact, I think it's fairly straight forward, considering it is a dream sequence. *shrugs* Ah, well, I'm just happy that that scene managed to freak at least few people out. I don't think I've ever tried writing anything like that before, so I'm glad it was effective.
heavenly_pearl: (Default)
Well, the outing was successful this time, but I have to say that it ended up being a rather disappointing day all around. I blame hormones. They put me in a bad mood all day long.

First off, when we got to the mall, we went to Barnes and Noble like we usually do. I wanted to get the new Someday's Dreamers manga, but they didn't have it. *sigh* I ended up buying a gift card instead to order it -- along with the upcoming  Fruits Basket and Absolute Boyfriend volumes -- online, and Mom bought me the sixth Harry Potter book that finally come out in paperback a couple of days ago.

After that, we headed to the food court, where we had lunch before going to the movies. Mom really wanted to see Lady in the Water, but since I thought it looked stupid, we decided to see The Devil Wears Prada instead. While I really enjoyed it, Mom got bored halfway through, which made me feel bad since this was supposed to be kind of a birthday celebration. (Her birthday's this Saturday.) Anyway, afterwards, we went to a few other stores, but we couldn't find anything we wanted, so we headed to Best Buy.

To be honest, going to Best Buy was the thing I most looked forward to. I planned to buy the first season of Kaleido Star (what else?), but, again, they didn't have it. Nor did they have my second choice, the second season of Wedding Peach. (They did have the first season, which I almost got, but I really wanted the second, since I haven't seen all of it.) Luckily, they did have my third choice, the Evangelion movie boxset. I ended up getting that, but, because of the aforementioned stupid hormones, I was actually trying to keep from crying that they didn't have the Kaleido Star boxset. 

Yeah, I was tearing up because they didn't have a boxset. *rolls eyes* Definitely hormones.

The rest of the day pretty much just went downhill from there. Not even The Mary Tyler Moore Show managed to cheer me up, and that show always cheers me up. I'm better now, but still... Sucky day.

There was one moment of brightness, though. Dad just gave Mom her birthday present, and it''s a new flat screen TV, which means I can rid of my little TV and switch to the old living room TV. Whee! Along with my reclaimed DVD player, I can now watch subtitled anime in the comfort of my own bedroom.

At least something good happened today.

Yay!

Apr. 10th, 2006 10:37 pm
heavenly_pearl: (Default)
I finally got the Evangelion boxset I wanted! Granted, I can't watch it at the moment because I gave up anime for Lent this year, but at least there's only a few more days left. I can wait that long...

*glances over at the boxset with longing*

Anyway, I also got some new manga -- Vol. 13 of Fruits Basket and... 

*drumroll*

...the final volume of Fushigi Yugi!

It's about time. It feels like I've been collecting it forever. I still say that Part 2, while somewhat interesting, was completely unnecessary, though.

 
In writing news, Helios-muse is annoying me. He refuses to work on Ch. 4, instead wanting to work on Ch. 21 for some reason. Grr.
heavenly_pearl: (Default)
Man, they didn't have the Evangelion boxset I wanted in stock at Best Buy. That's the whole reason I had Mom take me shopping today, so I could buy it. All they had were the movie boxsets and single discs (which are surprisingly only about $12, but even as cheap as they are, I'm holding out for the boxset). Oh, well, at least the trip wasn't a total waste. I managed to find a hard-to-find Celine Dion French album I've been wanting, and at Barnes & Noble, I picked up Vol. 12 of Fruits Basket and Vol. 2 and 3 of the RahXephon manga. I also picked up a couple of $50 B&N gift cards so I would have them on hand whenever I had the urge to shop online. Almost finished with the first one -- I just ordered Vol. 9 of Fruits Basket, Vol. 1 of RahXephon, and an impossible to find Sarah Brightman CD -- but the other one will probably be saved until the Someday's Dreamers manga comes out.

Stolen from [livejournal.com profile] sophiap

Tell me of a fandom you know I know of and I'll tell you :

1. The first character I first fell in love with
2. The character I never expected to love/like as much as I do now
3. The character everyone else loves that I don't
4. The character I love that everyone else hates
5. The character I used to love but don't any longer
6. The character I used to dislike but don't any longer
7. The character I would shag anytime
8. The character I'd want to be like
9. The character I'd slap
10. A pairing that I love
11. A pairing that I despise
heavenly_pearl: (Default)
Christmas shopping is officially done.

Our first stop was Best Buy, where Mom proceeded to go DVD-crazy. ^_^ Seriously, I think she bought like five or six DVDs, plus a cheap Dean Martin Christmas CD she wanted for one song. I also picked out the Pretear boxset for one of my gifts, which was amazingly cheap. Remember a vent I made at ASMR a couple of months ago talking about how it would be cheaper to go ahead and buy the boxset instead of buying the two more DVDs I need as singles (which go for about $27 each)? Well, the boxset I found at Best Buy ended up cheaper than one single DVD. Twenty-three dollars! Twenty-three dollars for thirteen episodes! How much of a deal is that? Over at B&N's website, the same boxset (or so I assume) is $35, and I thought that was a deal. I wonder why there's so much of a difference in prices...

Speaking of boxsets, Pretear wasn't the only good deal I found at Best Buy, although I only got the one set since Mom only had sixty dollars set aside to spend on my presents. :( The Angelic Layer and Neon Genesis Evangelion Platinum Collection boxsets were also way under their listed B&N prices. Over at the B&N website, they go for around $45 and $80 respectively. Their Best Buy prices? About thirty-eight dollars for Angelic Layer and fifty-eight dollars for Evangelion. O.o With those prices, I might go ahead and buy them myself (at least Evangelion; I really like Angelic Layer, but it's not one of my absolute favorites).

Remind me to always check Best Buy first before I order any more anime from B&N.

Our next stop was Deerbrook Mall, namely Barnes & Noble. Mom bought Laura a couple of sweaters and a Hershey's Kiss pillow from J.C. Penney, but I spent most of my time in the manga section of B&N. ^_^ Unfortunately, they only had the second and third volumes of RahXephon in stock, so I didn't get to buy anything for myself. I did, however, pick out the newest volumes of Ayashi no Ceres and Fushigi Yugi, as well of two volumes of Fruits Basket, for Christmas, so I'll be almost caught up on my series. ^_^ I just need to find Vol. 9 of Fruits Basket, but since I've read the scanlations, I'm not in that big of a rush.

After we finished up at the mall, we then went to Wal-mart for groceries and I got presents for Crystle and Hunter. (Family gifts were already taken care of.) I think they're really going to like them. For Crystle, I got her a matching scarf and hat set, along with a pair of really cute frog-covered (she likes frogs ^_^) toe socks that say "Kiss Me," and for Hunter, I bought a Mr. Potato Head and Spud Buds set. Every kid needs a Mr. Potato Head, right? (Funnily enough, I don't think I ever did. Maybe that's why the moment I saw it, I was like, "Okay, Hunter has to have this.") I just hope they get them in time for Christmas. Mom says she probably won't have time to go to the post office to send them until Thursday when she's off. *sigh* This is what I get for waiting too long to pick something out.

Oh, yeah, and Mom bought some more DVDs. ^_^

The sucky thing, though, is that I didn't know that Numb3rs was going to be a new episode tonight, so by the time we finally got home, it was almost over. I only caught the last fifteen minutes. *pouts* I was willing to miss Ghost Whisperer, but if I knew Numb3rs was going to be new and we weren't going to make it home in time, I wouldn't have gone. Oh, well, I guess I'll just have to hope to catch it in reruns.
heavenly_pearl: (Default)
Heh, does that subject line bring to mind The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe? The commercials must have seeped into my subconscious. *laughs*

I was originally planning to talk about the RahXephon movie, which I watched yesterday, but I just realized that I never posted my thoughts about the series finale or my ideas for a theory I like to call "The RahXephon System as Applied to the Sailor Moon Anime Time Line," so forgive the extra long entry. Spoilers, of course, abound, although I'll try to keep them to a minimum when talking about the theory.

ExpandThe Series )

ExpandThe Movie )

Now, moving on to the theory I had about applying a simplified RahXephon System to the SM world, I think it's important to point out that this only works for the anime. It might be possible to adapt it to the manga timeline, but I still prefer my "Free Will" theory (see http://www.moonromance.net/portal_postview.php?fid=3&pid=1585986 for explanation) for the manga.

Basically, we can equate the Silver Millennium with the Mu, with the ginzuishou acting as a Xephon and its wielder as the Ollin (or instrumentalist). Just ignore the Ixtli factor; it's not really important. It's possible there might be an Ixtli, but I don't know what it could be. Perhaps the wielder's daughter?

Anyway, using the theory, we can say that when Beryl attacks the Moon Kingdom, Queen Serenity (Ollin) "tunes" with with ginzuishou (Xephon), but because of her grief, accidentally creates two worlds -- one in which Silver Millennium is destroyed and the other where Earth continues to exist, with no memory of the Silver Millennium ever existing except in legends. In the first season episode where the senshi travel to the moon, they actually go to this Silver Millennium dimension, which explains how the Moon Kingdom's ruins can still be on the moon when nobody else has ever seen them. I also theorize that Elysion is located in this other dimension as well, all that remains of the former Golden Kingdom of Earth.

Like in RahXephon, this system is obviously unstable. This is why the Great Freeze happens. You could say that the Great Freeze is comparable to the creation of Tokyo-Jupiter. However, instead of slowing time down, it actually speeds time up. Why?

Well, it has to do with Chibi-Usa's conception. While everybody is frozen under ice, I theorize that Usagi and Mamoru (as well as the senshi) are not and that before Usagi can unfreeze Earth and create Crystal Tokyo, she needs to conceive a child of both the Earth and the Moon. (Think of Usagi as Quon and Chibi-Usa as Ayato.) Of course, this doesn't take a thousand years (unless they have some major fertility problems), but like the citizens of Tokyo-Jupiter, the frozen Earthlings' sense of time is warped and they believe it's been a thousand years when in reality, it's only been a couple of months or years (depending on how long it takes for Usagi and Mamoru to conceive). Once Chibi-Usa is conceived, Usagi then has the power to tune the world and create Crystal Tokyo. ^_^

There are probably some flaws in this theory, but I think it's a rather interesting take on the time line. ^_^
heavenly_pearl: (Default)

Stole this from Kerry, who took it from Kate, who got it from somebody else...

(BTW, this is totally random, no specific fandom. Some are about fandoms I'm not even active in, but oh, well.)

ExpandMy Unpopular Opinions )

That's it for now. Might add some stuff in the morning. 

Profile

heavenly_pearl: (Default)
heavenly_pearl

July 2025

S M T W T F S
  1234 5
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

Expand All Cut TagsCollapse All Cut Tags
Page generated Aug. 18th, 2025 12:25 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios