Ummm
I can't remember who from LJ I have or haven't added here yet. But yeah, I'm here, same name. 
shimizu_hitomi, have been mirroring journal entries since forever but have yet to set up regular comment importing. Let me know, I'll add back, etc.
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inkstone recced Haruka 17 as essentially the seinen version of Skip Beat (which y'all know I love). i.e. there's a lot of the same stuff about discovering your inner charisma but it also tackles the shadier aspects of Japanese show business/entertainment industry... with a wonderful heroine (frumpy college grad who fell into showbiz world via rather realistically depicted accident/desperation and now has to pretend she's 17, hence the title). I love it because it does not at all shy away from the sleaziness and corruption and often horrible status of women in the industry, but never does so in an exploitative way. And the main cast is bright and refreshing.
I went on to read the other two series by the same mangaka scanlated on mangafox:
Shima Shima: Recently divorced woman hires out young men as platonic sleeping companions for insomniac women. Despite that description :P, surprisingly sweet and intelligent so far (only a few chapters out D:). Interesting psychological examination of loneliness and companionship.
Telepathic Wanderers/Nanase: an old Tokyopop release. Adaptation of a classic SF novel by the Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo/Paprika author. I'm generally not too fond of psychic/ESP-themed stuff, and this one actually isn't all that original either, but I enjoyed it anyway because 1) the heroine is awesome, 2) she strikes up this really amazing friendship with another woman towards the end of the series, 3) major black character who is not horribly depicted. Alas, I should have taken the tragedy label seriously... though I have no idea how closely it follows the original novel (Nanase Futatabi, second of a trilogy, has also been adapted into dramas several times and I think most recently a movie).
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Latest Fairy Tail chapter is hilariously evil. lol. That said, it features one of the few canon-ish pairings* I'm into, so...
(I do so love Meredy/Ultear as well, so any chapter with those two is a bonus.)
* Honestly, having read Rave Master, I know Mashima can pull off decent romances -- esp. for a shounen writer -- so I actually kinda suspect the delightful ambiguity re: various character relationships in this series is an indication that he himself isn't sure which way to swing it either. That said, rules of shounen almost certainly mean it's going to end Natsu/Lucy if anything... which I guess I don't mind. I just like Loke/Lucy better. :P
(I feel most ambivalent towards Gray/Juvia. *still kinda has a soft spot for Gray/Erza/Natsu OT3, LOL*)
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Finally caught up with Soul Eater recently. IMO the plot since the Baba Yaga arc has kinda sucked, but the sheer crack of this apparently final arc may very well make up for it.
(Soul Eater Not! is actually better atm. XD)
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Happy Solstice. :) (yum yum tangyuan)
shimizu_hitomi, have been mirroring journal entries since forever but have yet to set up regular comment importing. Let me know, I'll add back, etc.
- - -
inkstone recced Haruka 17 as essentially the seinen version of Skip Beat (which y'all know I love). i.e. there's a lot of the same stuff about discovering your inner charisma but it also tackles the shadier aspects of Japanese show business/entertainment industry... with a wonderful heroine (frumpy college grad who fell into showbiz world via rather realistically depicted accident/desperation and now has to pretend she's 17, hence the title). I love it because it does not at all shy away from the sleaziness and corruption and often horrible status of women in the industry, but never does so in an exploitative way. And the main cast is bright and refreshing.
I went on to read the other two series by the same mangaka scanlated on mangafox:
Shima Shima: Recently divorced woman hires out young men as platonic sleeping companions for insomniac women. Despite that description :P, surprisingly sweet and intelligent so far (only a few chapters out D:). Interesting psychological examination of loneliness and companionship.
Telepathic Wanderers/Nanase: an old Tokyopop release. Adaptation of a classic SF novel by the Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo/Paprika author. I'm generally not too fond of psychic/ESP-themed stuff, and this one actually isn't all that original either, but I enjoyed it anyway because 1) the heroine is awesome, 2) she strikes up this really amazing friendship with another woman towards the end of the series, 3) major black character who is not horribly depicted. Alas, I should have taken the tragedy label seriously... though I have no idea how closely it follows the original novel (Nanase Futatabi, second of a trilogy, has also been adapted into dramas several times and I think most recently a movie).
- - -
Latest Fairy Tail chapter is hilariously evil. lol. That said, it features one of the few canon-ish pairings* I'm into, so...
(I do so love Meredy/Ultear as well, so any chapter with those two is a bonus.)
* Honestly, having read Rave Master, I know Mashima can pull off decent romances -- esp. for a shounen writer -- so I actually kinda suspect the delightful ambiguity re: various character relationships in this series is an indication that he himself isn't sure which way to swing it either. That said, rules of shounen almost certainly mean it's going to end Natsu/Lucy if anything... which I guess I don't mind. I just like Loke/Lucy better. :P
(I feel most ambivalent towards Gray/Juvia. *still kinda has a soft spot for Gray/Erza/Natsu OT3, LOL*)
- - -
Finally caught up with Soul Eater recently. IMO the plot since the Baba Yaga arc has kinda sucked, but the sheer crack of this apparently final arc may very well make up for it.
(Soul Eater Not! is actually better atm. XD)
- - -
Happy Solstice. :) (yum yum tangyuan)