Sweet Dreams

16. A manga/an anime that isn't licensed but SHOULD be.

Oh, now here's an easy question: Ginban Kaleidoscope! I want this anime to be licensed so, so much, but I doubt it'll ever happen. It's kinda old (from around 2005 or 2006, I think), and it's a sports (figure skating) anime, which doesn't seem to do very well over here for some reason. Then again, I never thought the second season of Someday's Dreamers would ever make it here either, yet somehow it finally got picked up (thank you, Sentai Filmworks!), so maybe I shouldn't abandon all hope for GK. (Oh, that reminds me that the second season of Story of Saiunkoku would also be a nice licensing pick as well.)

As for manga, my top choice would probably be Naoko Takeuchi's The Cherry Project, which also happens to be about a figure skater. Hey, Codename: Sailor V and the reprint of Sailor Moon are both big hits, so why not license another one of Takeuchi's titles, even if it is old and features a sport? Second choice goes to Kagen no Tsuki by Ai Yazawa of NANA and Paradise Kiss fame. I still don't understand why it hasn't been licensed, especially since the live-action movie based on it was. It's only three volumes long and by a fairly popular mangaka, so it doesn't seem like much of a risk to me. My third pick is either Appare Jipangu or Epotoransu! Mai, both by my favorite mangaka Yuu Watase. The majority of her series have made it over here, but not these two. Again, they're both short -- three and two volumes, respectively -- and by a popular artist, so why not, Viz?  (Okay, Epotoransu! Mai isn't all that great, admittedly, but one of the male love interests is a Sailor Moon otaku, and that's cool. :P And it's still pretty decent, just not as amazing as some of her other series.)

Getting a little behind on this thing...

06. Your favorite character

Helios from Sailor Moon, obviously. Did anybody expect me to say otherwise? :P But that's kind of a boring answer to this question, so how about naming my top five male (excluding Helios) and female characters from anime and manga? (In no particular order)

Male Characters
Shigure (Fruits Basket)
Yasu (NANA)
Touya (Card Captor Sakura)
Harima (School Rumble)
Matsuda (Death Note)

Female Characters
Sora (Kaleido Star)
Ran (Super GALS)
Shurei (Story of Saiunkoku)
Yuko (xxxHolic/Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle)
Balsa (Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit)

1. Leave a comment to this post!
2. I will give you a letter.
3. Post the names of five fictional characters whose names begin with that letter, and your thoughts on each. The characters can be from books, movies, or TV shows.

The letter she gave me was H.

Helios (Sailor Moon) - Of course he was the first one to come to mind! In case you've never met me before, I LOVE HELIOS. Enough said. 

Hatori Sohma (Fruits Basket) - Who doesn’t love Hatori, right? I think he’s probably the most handsome of the adult characters, and I adore his friendship with the other two members of the Mabudachi Trio (Shigure and Ayame), playing the straight man to their goofy antics. His past is also one of the more tragic of the cursed Sohmas, which just makes me want to give him a hug. (But then he’d turn into a seahorse…)

Kenji Harima (School Rumble) - Um, last names count, right? Almost all the characters call him Harima, anyway, so it's okay. Anyway, he gives off the image of being this cool, tough delinquent, but underneath it all, he's actually...well, kind of a dork. *laughs* But that what makes him so loveable. (I love me some adorkable guys. ^_^) I love his earnest pursuit of Tenma's love, even though it's hopeless -- she's in love with another guy -- and the fact that he's an aspiring mangaka who loves to draw self-insert stories in which he ends up with her in the end. It's just so pathetic that it's cute!

Hachi a.k.a Nana Komatsu (NANA) - Nicknames count too, yes? When I first started reading NANA, I actually preferred the other Nana (Osaki), who was super cool and driven to achieve her dream of becoming a singer. In comparison, Hachi was just a little too flaky and irresponsible, and she sometimes kind of annoyed me. But due to certain spoiler-y events, Hachi was forced to grow up, while Nana fell to pieces. Now I adore Hachi for her strength and perseverance.

Shurei Hong (Story of Saiunkoku) - I’m almost finished renting the first season of Saiunkoku from Netflix, and I’m bitterly disappointed that the second season was never licensed in the U.S. (I definitely plan to check out the manga, though.) Shurei is a great female lead. She’s the daughter of a impoverished noble family who dreams of being allowed to take the Imperial Exams (barred for women) and becoming a government official in order to help the citizens of the country. Not only is she book-smart, but she’s pretty wise to the ways of the world, and doesn't let her hormones distract her from her goals even though several beautiful men are in love with her (including the Emperor) . She’s really just one hundred kinds of awesome.