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.

( Meme! )

Three exciting pieces of news!

1. Fushigi Yugi Gets New Manga About Priestess of Byakko

Yay, so excited about this news! It was pretty inevitable that Yuu Watase would finish things off with the Byakko arc, but I wasn't expecting her to start on it so soon after Genbu. (She didn't start Genbu until about seven years after the original series.) I'm really looking forward to it. From the small amount we learned in the original series, the main couple's love story is tragic, but really sweet, and I liked the two elderly Byakko warriors that Miaka and the Suzaku warriors met in the original series. I'm curious to see what the rest of the group will be like!

EDIT: An article posted after this explains that it's not going to be a full-fledged series, just something called a yomikiri, which is a short story of a few chapters or less. *sigh* Too bad, although I guess it's possible that it could be expanded into a full series if it does well in the reader polls. At the very least, I hope it is long enough to fill out at least one volume of manga, because otherwise I don't think we'll get an official English translation of it. Something like that would usually only be included as a bonus story, and the only series of hers currently being published in the U.S. is Arata: The Legend, which is published in a different magazine (and is shonen, rather than shoujo), so I doubt that has any hope of happening.

2. 3rd Sailor Moon Stage Musical To Run This Year

I've loved the first two revival musicals, so I'm so happy that we're getting a third, especially since that means there's a good chance we'll get a possible fourth (a.k.a. based on the Dream arc). Really can't wait to see this!

3. Last, but not least, last weekend was the U.S. Figure Skating Nationals, and it was AWESOME. Such a great competition, and I'm thrilled that most of my favorites did really well, especially Ashley Wagner, who earned back her national title with one of the most amazing skates I've ever had the pleasure of watching. I doubt anybody reading this is really interested in this, but I'm going to post a link to a Youtube video of her free program, anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uTgLmLW4nQ

Serious chills.

If she skates like that at Worlds, she should definitely at least make the podium, if not outright win the gold.

I've decided to try something that I've been wanting to do for years (but couldn't because we were stuck with dial-up) -- actually follow a season of anime as it is airing! I have watched a few shows as they came out -- Sailor Moon Crystal, obviously, Arata the Legend from a few seasons ago, Free! (thanks to mellowcandle), Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun (thanks to Tumblr), Space Dandy (thanks to cable, which we finally have) -- but I've never experienced the fun of just looking through the entire seasonal line-up and picking a bunch of shows that look interesting to check out. Even with Free!, Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, and Space Dandy, I only started watching mid-season, so I already knew that they had a good buzz around them. Granted, I only have a free account at Crunchyroll and have no interest in upgrading to premium, so I likely will be watching episodes a week after they actually air, but close enough.

The current plan is to check out at least the first episode of all these series that caught my eye. If the series seems promising, I'll continue watching it as it airs. If it doesn't really catch my interest, I'll just wait to watch the rest at a later date. (The completionist in me won't let me even entertain the idea of dropping it altogether, although I have already dropped The Fruit of Grisaia and Trinity Seven before even checking them out due to bad reviews over at ANN.) I may do quick weekly reviews here at LJ over the weekend, but I reserve the right to quit or skip weeks at any time. Here's the list:

Karen Senki - The only show I've checked out so far. It seems a bit like a Japanese RWBY, in that episodes are short (only ten minutes), the animation is non-traditional, and it has a bunch of awesomely choreographed fight scenes. It was a bit too brief to get a real reading on how I'll like the show, but I'm putting it on my "watch as airs" list anyway, since it won't take up a lot of time to watch anyway if the episodes keep to the same general length.

Your lie in April - This is probably my most anticipated series. A romance between a pianist and a violinist? (Those happen to be my two favorite instruments, by the way.) Yes, please!

Akatsuki no Yona - My second-most anticipated title. The reviewers over at ANN seem to think "girl in a Chinese-based fantasy world surrounded by hot bishies" series are a bit passe nowadays, but, bah, I still enjoy watching Fushigi Yuugi, so I'm pretty sure I'll like Akatsuki no Yona as well. It sounds pretty awesome to me.

When Supernatural Battles Become Commonplace - I was a kinda on the fence about adding this to my queue -- that title certainly doesn't help inspire confidence that it'll be all that interesting -- but enthusiastic reviews of the first episode make me want to give it a shot.

I Can't Understand What My Husband Is Saying - Another terrible title, but an anime series about the life of a married couple (wife is an office lady, husband is an otaku) isn't something you see much of, so I'm definitely interested.

Wolf Girl and Black Prince - Gotta be honest, the main reason it's on this list is because it's shoujo, and there isn't enough shoujo anime anymore. Otherwise, the summary makes me suspect that it's not the kind of shoujo I normally like -- more Hot Gimmick than Fruits Basket -- but, eh, maybe it'll surprise me. (The male lead can't possibly be as horrible as Ryoki, can he?)

Parasyte - the maxim - - Way, way, way back in the day, when the Sailor Moon manga was first published in English, it was in a manga anthology called Mixxzine. Parasyte was another title featured in that magazine, so I read the first few chapters. I liked it okay, but never enough to seek out the rest of the manga when Mixxzine ended. (This was before I insisted on finishing everything I started, obviously. I couldn't afford to!) So, this anime is letting me give it a second shot.

Celestial Method - Like WSBBC, this is another title I was iffy about until I read some reviews that got me interested.

DENKI-GAI - I think this series has the potential to be either downright hilarious...or hilariously awful. It doesn't have great reviews so far, but comedy is so subjective, I just need to check it out for myself.

So nine series in all -- ten if you count the ongoing Sailor Moon Crystal, and eleven if you consider RWBY as anime. That seems reasonable enough. Anybody else interested in any of these shows as well? Is there another series that isn't on the list that you think I may like?

Man, I had completely forgotten how much the ending of Pretear always makes me cry like a baby! 

I started rewatching it for the first time in a long time a couple of nights ago, after I finished Kaleido Star. At first, I was wondering why I had the show listed so high on my list of all-time favorite anime (#5). I mean, I still really enjoyed it, but I was thinking that it probably shouldn't be listed above such fantastic shows as Fushigi Yugi, Card Captor Sakura, Sailor Moon, and Fullmetal Alchemist, and was considering dropping it down a few spots.

But then I got to the last disc, and boom! I remembered why I held it in such high regard.

I had a touch of insomnia last night, so I decided to get up and inventory all my anime, manga, and related merchandise. This is the result.

( The Inventory )

Actually, the real meme, which I took from a variety of people, is "10 Characters I'd Have Sex With," but I'm not that kind of girl, so we'll just stick to making out. ~_^ 

And for this, I'm just sticking with anime/manga characters to make it easier on me to decide, although we all know that otherwise, Charlie Eppes from Numb3rs would be on the top of the list. *drools over David Krumholtz*

Okay, when I first put the Fushigi Yugi series they have at Netflix in my queue, I was under the impression that it was one of the OAVs. According to their summary, it was supposed to take place a few years after the end of the series, when Miaka is married and expecting Taka's child, and feature another girl who travels to the Universe of the Four Gods to become the new Priestess of Suzaku.

Well, I got the first disc in today, and you can just imagine my surprise when I discover it's actually the TV series! Granted, I'm not exactly disappointed. The TV series was what I originally wanted to see, and I was a bit bummed when I thought Netflix didn't have it, but, man, did they screw up. -_-;

Oh, well, at least I get to see the TV series! Yay!

...absolutely hilarious!

If the rest of the series is as good as the first volume, then I think I might have a new favorite manga on my hands. ^_^

For those who don't know what it is about, the best way I can think of to describe it is very Chobits-like. (I don't think it's a coincidence that Chobits  is currently tied with Ayashi no Ceres and Fruits Basket as my favorite manga.) The heroine is Izawa Riiko (the Aya clone), who doesn't have much luck when it comes to men. One day, she comes across the lost cell phone of a strange-looking salesman from a company called Kronos Heaven. To thank her for returning it, he offers her a discount on anything from the company's catalogue. Riiko's a bit hesitant, since she doesn't have the best luck when it comes to mail-order items (the first scene shows her measuring her bust size after trying out something she ordered through the mail), and tells him that the only thing she wants is a boyfriend. As it turns out, however, you can order one of those too. They're called Nightly Lovers, and basically, they're humanized robots. Riiko decides to try the three-day trial, and the next day, a naked man is delivered to her apartment!

I love Night, which is what Riiko names her new "boyfriend." He has a tendency to take off all his clothes and offer to have sex with Riiko -- she did specify him to be "horny" after all  -- which means tons of fanservice for the girls for once. ^_^ And boy is he hot! Tooya might actually have a little competition. *fans self* Soshi, the other male lead who appears to have a crush on Riiko, is pretty cute as well. Love guys in glasses. *drools*

I want the next volume right now. *pouts*

I also read my new Fushigi Yugi volume as well, which was pretty good. I liked that it focused quite a bit on Chichiri, since he and Hotohori are my favorites of the Suzaku warriors. Hotohori got plenty of screentime, but Chichiri was usually in the background most of the time.

I'll type up a longer update later, but I wanted to go ahead and type up my list of presents while they're still fresh in my mind. (My family always opens up presents on Christmas Eve.)

Pretear boxset
Ah, My Goddess! DVD
Vol. 13 of Ayashi no Ceres
Vol. 16 of Fushigi Yugi
Vol. 10 and 11 of Fruits Basket (one which came with a free mini-calender)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Mariah Carey - The Emancipation of Mimi CD
Sarah Brightman - Love Changes Everything CD
Il Divo - Il Divo CD
Blue CD case
Black skirt
Teal satin blouse
Purple sweater with white collar
A couple of picture frames
Candy
A "Scorpio" journal and a couple of pens
A "Mystic Fountain" from my sister (Basically, a fountain that creates steam)
$190 (Twenty from Mom and Dad, twenty from Uncle Stan and Aunt Valeta, and the rest from "Santa")

I think that's about it. ^_^