I’ve been subjected to such incredible injustice today. It’s just so frustrating to be treated in an unfair way, unequal to the others. Had a hard time holding back the tears, I was that disappointed. Oh well. A coffee, a good friend to talk to (she’s the best!), and Bloc Party afterward made me put everything into perspective. I don’t give a shit anymore, really.

(Now that was abstract.)

A short recap of the past few weeks: Christmas was lovely, New Year’s Eve was rather quiet, my presentation last Tuesday went pretty well too (Prof liked it loads, whee *^-^*). So yes. All’s fine. Except… oh well.

Did all of you see Match Point? I have to admit I’m not that much of a Woody Allen fan and I mostly went to see it because of Mr Rhys-Meyers and Miss Johansson but who cares what made me want to watch it in the first place? All that matters is I saw it. And loved it. Every minute of it. It was so real, so intense, so complex, so absolutely convincing ♥

I’m also trying to watch a bit of anime. The new season features so many good series, it’s really hard to keep up with all of them. Mushishi has to be one of my favourites of the season; it’s neo-japanesque (o_O), atmospheric, almost melancholic and natsukashii; and the sceneries are so beautiful, absolutely amazing. I’m still trying to find out whose subs are the best, I think I’m going to stick with the releases by AF-F. (The downside of not actually needing subtitles because your Japanese is rather good is you become picky about subs that leave out bits of information or even get whole sentences wrong.)
I’m also watching Monster (until the subbers finally finish it), Garasu no kamen, Eureka seveN (for my dose of recycled mecha action drama, it’s quite sad how every single element of that show has already been used in other titles of the genre; but I’m still addicted…), Noein and ParaKisu.

On the manga front, I’ve been reading lots of shoujo classics and newer works by older artists (Kuramochi Fusako, Ikuemi Ryou). I’m still subscribed to Betsuma and Hana to yume so that makes for a nice stack of low quality paper in my apartment and hours of fun for an avid manga reader.
All my novel-reading ambitions had to be cancelled though because I figured I really need to catch up with Korean history first or else I will most definitely not pass my class. (Like all my fellow students of Japanese, who absolutely have to take this Korean History course for the BA – for whatever reasons, probably will -_-)

Time passes way too quickly for me at the moment; the first week of May is already over! Which means it’s high time I started writing something about the new anime series that started in April. So here’s my impression of Hachimitsu to Clover, the new anime series I’ve been looking forward to the most this season.

The original manga series by Umino Chica is one of my favourite manga at the moment. I’m so in love with it! It’s been running in Shueisha’s Young You for slightly more than 3 and a half years now and it received the Kodansha manga award in 2003. The manga succeeds in combining light-hearted and often downright hilarious comedy depicting the everyday life of a group of art school students and some of their teachers with philosophical moments of bittersweet melancholy and romance that can move the reader to tears. Primarily, it is a manga for young women but it speaks a universal language that transcends boundaries of age and gender and thus appeals to both female and male readers from young teenagers to adults.

So last night, I watched the first two episodes of the Hachikuro anime TV series that is currently shown on Fuji TV. I was half-expecting something stylish but I was by no means prepared for something this perfect *_* Mind you, the first chapters of the manga were published in Cutie (before Young You picked it up), a fashion magazine for young women (and one of my favourite mags, too ♥), which means the series always had a artsy, fashion, lifestyle and music-related sort of background. So it’s no wonder that the anime adaptation is supported by fashion labels such as adidas, we and Levi’s. And the opening sequence is directed by Noda Nagi, an art&video director responsible for ad campaigns for a variety of fashion labels and music videos; it’s the weirdest anime OP I’ve ever seen. In a good sense :)
I don’t like the opening song too much because I’ve never been a fan of (ex-Judy and Mary no) YUKI’s voice, in fact I find it quite annoying ^^; But it fits the quirky, indie pop inspired atmosphere of the anime just perfectly.

The show itself is beautifully animated, the character designs are splendid and the voice acting is superb (though I don’t like the voice of Takemoto at all -_-). I’m really fond of the colours, they work very well together with the general atmosphere of the anime :)
The story follows the manga quite closely, though there are a few extra scenes and variations here and there.
They’ve preserved the hilarious slapstick scenes (oh my God, I LOVE Morita!!!) and even Hagu’s annoying-ness is just as bearable as in the manga. They could’ve made me hate her by giving her an overly cutesy voice actress but the voice she now has is quite alright. I’m also glad they introduced Yamada Ayumi right in the first episode and gave her a few extra scenes because she’s my favourite character (go Ayu!) and I think she’s the one most fans of the manga can identify with most easily.

And then, right in the first episode… a melancholic moment… a song starts playing – and it’s Hachimitsu by Spitz. ;__; (‹– Yuuya’s face during that scene)

That was the moment I decided this is my anime.

The ending theme song by Suneo Hair is much better than the OP, and the ‘insert song’ of the second episode by Suga Shikao came at just the right moment, just like the Spitz song.
The background music reminds me a lot of the Chobits BGM, with easy listening tunes that aren’t anything special but match the tone of the story really well.

The only weakness of the anime is the typical problem of books turned into movies. Things that are explained in the manga by a universal narrator who, unfortunately, isn’t present in the anime. Each episode of the manga ends with a philosophical little note that often foreshadows things to come. There is no such thing in the anime. So for example, when Takemoto’s stomach suddenly aches when he thinks of Hagu while carrying Morita on his back, it is left to the viewer to realise that this pain isn’t caused by hunger but by love, something which the narrator tells us in the manga (in a very sweet way).
But so far, this is the only negative thing I can note about the anime…

[One additional negative note which has nothing to do with the anime itself: The contrast of the subs released by ANBU&Solar is way too bright; sometimes you can't even make out the outlines of bright objects moving in front of a bright background >_< It's really annoying.]

I’m so glad they’ve preserved the atmosphere of the manga and even enhanced it with elements such as beautiful colour schemes and (not so) indie guitar pop songs. If no American or European company licenses it, I’ll definitely buy the Japanese DVDs. This might sound like financial suicide but it’s well worth it :)

…are made to be broken. Had to go out several times every day of the weekend ;_; And it just won’t stop snowing. We’ve been getting new snow every day for almost a week now. Driving poses an almost fatal danger in this sort of weather so I don’t know if I’ll make it to Frankfurt alive tomorrow (Feeder!).

I’ve become a pathetic blogger. I keep leaving out important details of my life. Is it laziness? Is it lack of time? Or paranoia? Maybe it’s all three things or maybe it’s something completely different but either way, I’m no longer raving about things as much as I used to in this place even though there is so much to rave about!
-Idlewild have a wonderful new single out and their new album is released next week!
-Starship Operators is the best serious SciFi anime since… mhhhh… Mugen no Ryvius.
-I got my copy of HanaYume 6 with the first installment of Yuki Kaori’s Yousei Hyouhon – Fairy Cube - yesterday. There’s death and gore on the first and the last page. What’s new pussycat? (But yes, it’s a really cool manga so far. More info to follow?)
So much for life-changing things, ha.

It’s Friday afternoon and here’s my resolution for the weekend: I’ll stay inside till Monday. I really love winter (well actually, there’s no season I don’t like) and I especially like lots of snow. But whoever up there’s in charge of the weather needs to learn where to draw the line, seriously. There’s simply too much snow, slush and mud to make being outside even remotely bearable. Not even the catboy is going outside anymore and he usually takes any chance he can get.

I’ll probably watch anime all weekend. Haven’t done that in some time, hence the huge backlog of Monster episodes. I still need to watch Haruka naru toki no naka de. I’ve been really looking forward to its release because the manga version that’s running in LaLa is pretty decent but I haven’t had the time to download any episodes yet. And there’s also the Peach Girl anime I need to check out. Yay, shoujo anime!