Summer vacation is over... and what have I been doing?
I realised that I haven't been posting here for a while. I've been distracted by various things like the summer vacation and men and stupid things like shopping and reading One Piece.
Yes, I have fallen into the abyss that is One Piece and the endless manga. I've spent a good chunk of my summer reading it, mainly because its bloody popular here in Japan and almost everyone has read it to some extent. So I've invested time to reading it. To be fair, it's not exactly taxing to read... just a bit dull at times with the endless fighting. Some of the characters are quite interesting but after their initial introduction and back story revelations they're almost just shoved to the side to make way for even more characters. Now I get that this is a Shonen manga and therefore probably won't have lots of emotional development (especially since Luffy doesn't make it far past "Meat!", "Don't hurt my friends!" and "We'll help!" after 500+ chapters) but there is just a sheer influx of characters that I get no attachment to so when they eventually roll around again I have to think about who they are and what the heck they did in the story before. I've nearly caught up with it though, less than 100 chapters to go till I'm up to date with the scans.
In other news I have been watching "No.6" which is something I found completely by chance. It's about a city called No.6 which houses the privileged and the elite who's every move is monitored by the government - no one is allowed to have negative thoughts towards the government (at least not openly). Sion, a naive boy from the city saves a runaway, Nezumi, which turns his life into one of mediocrity instead of one that led to even more privileged. Skip forward several years and Sion encounters a deadly infection by parasitic bees which leaves its victims to age rapidly to the point of death. Sion's co-worker is one of the victims and Sion is arrested on suspicion of murder. Whilst Sion is being transported to the Correctional Institute, Nezumi appears and rescues him. Sion begins to find out the hidden truth behind the Ideal City No.6. There are very strong undercurrents of boy love in every episode but except for one scene (which was very minor) nothing happens between the characters unless you count all the emotional angst. It's interesting and has some lovely animation (yes, I'm a sucker for good animation and art). The story has a tendency to go at a slow pace and then rush through certain events but it's working out okay. And it looks like it will be a relatively short series, maybe only 12 episodes long. I am interested to see what will happen next if that is the case as we're already at episode 8.
I didn't draw this summer as much as I'd intended to. I honestly thought that once I had my art stuff and a scanner I'd be getting back into it all but it just didn't happen. I've sketched one or two things but other than that not much. I'm hoping that by getting into reading manga and watching some anime again I'll get some inspiration.
Happy to have caught up with D. Gray-Man. It had been years since I read any of the manga and I'm pretty pleased with how it's progressing. We've had some interesting back stories, some actual plot progression and the art is as pretty as ever (I love those black and red uniforms). I still adore Lavi xD Even after all these years.
One thing that I'm a bit annoyed with myself over is the simple fact that I didn't study at all this summer. I didn't even get the textbooks off the shelf. Hopefully once I'm back at school and back into a routine I'll pick it up every so often, maybe I should set a day of the week after school to just study. I need to study more that's for sure. This summer just drove home how little I know of Japanese.
Oh, and the Ouran High School Host Club Live Action Drama is both pretty and funny~ I have qualms with only two of the characters - Tamaki for not being as pretty as he should and Hunni for not being as small and high pitched as he should be (why couldn't someone convince Chinen to be Huni? He's small and cute and has an adorable childish voice.) But I will say this, the actors have got the characters spot on. Tamaki might not be supremely pretty but my gosh is he the duplicate of the moron in the manga complete with arm flailing and flowery monologues in the background.
Once last thing. TAKOYAKI MACHINE~~
Yus, I have a takoyaki machine. It also comes with a flat hot plate so I can make okonomiyaki!
Yes, I have fallen into the abyss that is One Piece and the endless manga. I've spent a good chunk of my summer reading it, mainly because its bloody popular here in Japan and almost everyone has read it to some extent. So I've invested time to reading it. To be fair, it's not exactly taxing to read... just a bit dull at times with the endless fighting. Some of the characters are quite interesting but after their initial introduction and back story revelations they're almost just shoved to the side to make way for even more characters. Now I get that this is a Shonen manga and therefore probably won't have lots of emotional development (especially since Luffy doesn't make it far past "Meat!", "Don't hurt my friends!" and "We'll help!" after 500+ chapters) but there is just a sheer influx of characters that I get no attachment to so when they eventually roll around again I have to think about who they are and what the heck they did in the story before. I've nearly caught up with it though, less than 100 chapters to go till I'm up to date with the scans.
In other news I have been watching "No.6" which is something I found completely by chance. It's about a city called No.6 which houses the privileged and the elite who's every move is monitored by the government - no one is allowed to have negative thoughts towards the government (at least not openly). Sion, a naive boy from the city saves a runaway, Nezumi, which turns his life into one of mediocrity instead of one that led to even more privileged. Skip forward several years and Sion encounters a deadly infection by parasitic bees which leaves its victims to age rapidly to the point of death. Sion's co-worker is one of the victims and Sion is arrested on suspicion of murder. Whilst Sion is being transported to the Correctional Institute, Nezumi appears and rescues him. Sion begins to find out the hidden truth behind the Ideal City No.6. There are very strong undercurrents of boy love in every episode but except for one scene (which was very minor) nothing happens between the characters unless you count all the emotional angst. It's interesting and has some lovely animation (yes, I'm a sucker for good animation and art). The story has a tendency to go at a slow pace and then rush through certain events but it's working out okay. And it looks like it will be a relatively short series, maybe only 12 episodes long. I am interested to see what will happen next if that is the case as we're already at episode 8.
I didn't draw this summer as much as I'd intended to. I honestly thought that once I had my art stuff and a scanner I'd be getting back into it all but it just didn't happen. I've sketched one or two things but other than that not much. I'm hoping that by getting into reading manga and watching some anime again I'll get some inspiration.
Happy to have caught up with D. Gray-Man. It had been years since I read any of the manga and I'm pretty pleased with how it's progressing. We've had some interesting back stories, some actual plot progression and the art is as pretty as ever (I love those black and red uniforms). I still adore Lavi xD Even after all these years.
One thing that I'm a bit annoyed with myself over is the simple fact that I didn't study at all this summer. I didn't even get the textbooks off the shelf. Hopefully once I'm back at school and back into a routine I'll pick it up every so often, maybe I should set a day of the week after school to just study. I need to study more that's for sure. This summer just drove home how little I know of Japanese.
Oh, and the Ouran High School Host Club Live Action Drama is both pretty and funny~ I have qualms with only two of the characters - Tamaki for not being as pretty as he should and Hunni for not being as small and high pitched as he should be (why couldn't someone convince Chinen to be Huni? He's small and cute and has an adorable childish voice.) But I will say this, the actors have got the characters spot on. Tamaki might not be supremely pretty but my gosh is he the duplicate of the moron in the manga complete with arm flailing and flowery monologues in the background.
Once last thing. TAKOYAKI MACHINE~~
Yus, I have a takoyaki machine. It also comes with a flat hot plate so I can make okonomiyaki!