A very long wishlist...

Miki: You are a lot like marmalade with a lot of bitter rinds inside but all people see are the sweetness on the surface. (*~v~*)
Yuu: & U are a Mustard Girl! Always spicy & sour! (>o<)
Miki: (>x<")

Came across the comic in Lib on thu. I've heard of Mamalade Boy before (not e taiwanese series version by our local gal & Zhu Xiao Tian... NOoooo... luckily I din watch that!! It'll ruin the atmosphere for my manga!!) . Erhmm.. niwae, back to the comic. I think it was really popular during the times of err.. Sailor Moon & Fushigi Yuugi?? There were so many Shojo then I din bother to ever pick up this one. After so many years & @ my age (oh bother!), I can't believe that the feeling of bitter sweetness can come back!! Experience is just like a teenage gal with those teen luv? Hahha.. I tot I'm too old for that. Turns out I'm one of the many obasan who found themselves mesmerized by Yuu (~o~) e main male lead.. Yup his gentle smile with a tinge of sorrow, easy demeanor.. Haha.. Niwae, so I borrowed the 3 books available & ended up running around the entire weekend to buy + rent the rest. Luckily there's only 8. Contemplating whether to buy the set.

Niwae, the story's about Miki (female lead) meeting her stepbrother Yuu (male lead) after their parents met each other @ Hawaii & decided to exchange partners. So begin a series of madness in a chaotic household peppered with relationship development b/w e 2. Nice to see the transition of Yuu from someone uses funny gimmicks to cover their nervousness to being more frank. Well, e only thing he's forthright about is telling Miki he likes her. Or rather, he was nonchalant about everything or pretending to be? Frankly speaking, his first luv confession was so snip-shot I doubt any gal can believe him, much less Miki who initially hated him for being obnoxious to her. Niwae, there's oso Ginta who liked Miki (but rejected her before due to stupid misunderstanding) & Arimi who loved Yuu & tried to break up Miki & Yuu. And the mature Meiko, Miki's closest friend. Finally finished the set with a big satisfied smile & it's weird how my weekend went. Sometimes, it seems a sin to do nothing on weekend but doing nothing, is a wonderful, wonderful luxury.
I miss being a kid.

 

Manga: Gunslinger Girl - 相田裕 Yu Aida (Read: Vol 1- 4)

Brainwashed girls who do not have any relatives or any place to go are being trained as professional assassins and given mechanical bodies by a so called non-profit welfare organization. They have lost their consciences and do not hesitate to kill at all. They spend their lives smoke stained, covered in gunpowder and blood.

It's a sad story about suffering girls who have lost their past but who still cling to life. After they are brainwashed, they can kill with an innocent face and without any hesitation. They don't think about their deeds nor feel any pity. However, behind their cute disguises, they are destroying themselves and refusing to grow up.

Henrietta - The sole survivor of her family's mass homicide. Jose wanted to "save" her and chose her as his partner.

Rico - Before coming to the Social Welfare Corporation, Rico was a very sick girl. Her limbs apparently didn't work properly. We're still not sure what happened to bring her to the SWC, but she is grateful to have a strong body which does what she wants.

Triela - Triela takes on the persona of the older sister. She was captured and mutilated by the

Claes - One of the pioneer of her kind. After her trainer died, Claes do not have a partner and was used for research purposes.

Angelica - Bankrupt, her parents tried to run her over to claim insurance.

Manga: 梦想一世情 (Read: Vol 1- 5 end)：By the author of Fruits Basket, this manga seems like the fusion of Tokyo Babylon, Angel Sanctuary, X & so on... Poor kid's destiny is to save the world, to rid the tribe that grows the seeds of hatred in the human heart. In e end, bad guy turn out to be good & vice versa & everything falls into place so happy ending :p
Somehow, its seems that it is not that easy to break the chain of destiny that has been existing for so long. Eg, a parent made a bad practise, kid hate it, know it's bad, but continues to implement same thing for next generation cos that's the only way poor kid knows & people are scared of changes.
Talking about destiny, it's weird dat in G Seed Destiny dat while Rey has to live as a clone with the sole purpose to testing & developing the ultimate  human Kira Yamato (& obviously he hate his "destiny" with such a lame purpose), he lived his life as such & even helped Chairman Durandel to conceive & implement the Destiny plan. This is contradictory to his belief to putting a stop to all these nonsense about the creator bounding a person. Even though he wanted the freedom to Dream & to find his own life, he's now binding others. Weird stupid guy. No wonder the Key element in the show is always Kira since he pilots the Freedom which embroider strength to thwart dictators that wanna dictate the entire world to their single ideal and demolish all meanings of freedom.

Manga: 吸血鬼骑士 (Read: vol 1-4待序): Matsuri Hino draws wonderfully. Her works hinges magical elements. The name may sound tacky but the bishounens are real cute. Story's ok. I like her drawing style. :)

Manga: 东凯尔-°羊角村 (Read: vol 1-2end) by  紫堂恭子 (Kyoko Shitou). It's a Kadokawa Girl Comics Series.. kinda funny story.. e drawing is the manga style in the 90s.. :p Borrowed from lib

Manga: 未完之月Crescent Moon (Read: vol 1-6end) by Haruko Ida 饭田晴子 (after you got used to the big-eyed drawing & numerous words, it's actually ok.
Normal looking guys actually transformed to 天狗, 妖狐, werewolf & vampire. The story's based on a folklore of a princess who made a promise to a 鬼to marry him 10 years later. However, the lord refused. 鬼 tried to kidnap the princess & lord sent troops to exterminate the 鬼之一族 (which is y they hated humans). This race love to dance (which is why the descendents went into pub biz) (^-^) and are said to worship the moon while humans worship the sun. Previously, the 2 could get together during e festivals (which is y nihon has so many fests) but e dispute over the princess incident spoil the relationship. In any case, the princess & 鬼 were actually in love so though they can't be together in their lifetime, guess they will be in their next or their love story will be communed through their descendents.

Manga: 新暗行御史 (Read: vol 1-11待序) It's a very cool Korean manga. Story's intriguing & Drawing's good (prob cos storyline & artwork done by 2 people. I noticed that those with a separate author & artist tend to produce great work! like Clamp or Hikaru no Go). if it's in anime (other than e short movie), it'll be way cool!! Story's loosely tie in characters from the myths & folklores of Korea so it's really interesting. Though sometimes I find a resemblance in plot to somewhere (well all manga/anime are influenced by others) but there's a sadness that I can empathize with... so I like it :)

Manga: 极乐清春曲棍球社 (Read:1-5待序)- by my all-time fav Ai Morinaga, another funny manga about an only gal who loved eating and sleeping more than anything else in an all-boys hockey club made up of rich bishounens, most of whom appear to be less masculine than this gal  :)

Anime: Escaflowne (Watched:1-24end)
 Once you got over the pictures, this is an epic watch. The story revolves around Hitomi, a tarot reader & gal who can see the future. Hitomi was brought into another dimensional world : Gaea by Van, the impulsive young king of Fanella, whose country vanished before him and he swore to seek revenge. But he need to discover his true destiny before revenge ruin him. Together with other comrades, they must seek the truth behind the reason of waging wars and Zacbard invasions and find their own future in e ravages ahead. Gaea itself is a strange land with 2 moons, new tech, but yet old customs strive and the world rage in the fire of conquests. The plot's great, CG spectacular GC, not to mention e wonderful implications and meanings behind e stories.. For example, the names and the plot relates to the world history. Gaea resembles earth's old name Gaia.

Anime: Record of Lodoss World (Watched: Season 1 & 2)
 This is the anime which brought me forever into the realm of fantasies and dreams. Introduced by my brother and cousin on 1am every mon-tue night, this anime kept me awake studying with a purpose. What struck us then were the majestic dragons, the beautiful elves, the heroic dashing hero and of course, the epitomic story which it span. Lodoss is the accursed land of war where basic mythical creatures such as elves, dwarfs, knights, dragons fought for a common clause against the evil Sorcerer who wanted to conquer the entire Lodoss. Personally, I prefer season 1.

Anime: Intial D
 Takumi was a 18 years old teen with excellent driving skill.steering Toyota AE86 (a turned Tofu delivery car) to victory in every AKINA mountain downhill racing. This is the only racing anime which I watched till mid-way in 4th stage where Takumi has joined Project D as their Ace downhill racer and was replaced by Bleach. The racing scenes are awesome and the soundtrack, upbeat. Includes stage 1, 2, extra stage. Currently at Fourth Stage series. .
 

Anime: Inuyasha - Rumiko Takahashi
 Dive into the medieval world of demons, ghosts, half demons (Inuyasha), priestess (Kikyo), incarnations (Kagome). Kagome is an ordinary high school girl who's house equates a shrine. Falling into the ancient well one day, she found herself in the warlord period & chanced upon Inuyasha. After accidentally turning the sacred jewel into shards scattered all over the world, Kagome & Inuyasha were later joined by Shippo (the kawai baby fox), Miroku (the lecher priest), Sango (Last of a race of demon slayers) and Kirara (her pet) sought to retrieve all shards of the sacred jewels PLUS journeying at the same time to remove their arch enemy: the illusive & manipulative Naraku. Light hearted, from the author of Ranma 1/2 Rumiko Takahashi's, u'll always be amazed by her outrageous new ideas. As usual, humor with a tinge of triangular love between Inuyasha, Kagome n her previous incarnate Kikyo. 

Anime: FullMetal Alchemist
After losing their mother, Edward and Alfonse Elrich broke the forbidden boundary & practiced human alchemy in a bid to bring their mother back. They ended up losing Edward's leg & Alfonse's body. To secure Al's soul in an amour, Ed sacrificed his arm. Feeling bad for inducing his bro to lose his body, Ed went on to become the national alchemist (aka, military dog) so that he can source for the Philosopher Stone to recover their original bodies. Jeered by those who hated the government, Ed & Al went through numerous struggles to become full-fledged alchemists. The story comes with numerous twists. Help differs in the eyes of different people. The main idea behind the story:  Touka Koukan. There is a price for everything. For things that we desire to change, we have to pay an equal price. Of course, there can be nothing on earth of equal value to Ed's mum in spiritual, emotional & whatever intangible sense so of coz, their plan to bring her back backfired. This is one of my all-time favorite. This is of course, one of my favorite anime. You can practically weep with all the journeys that the brothers went through to discover that their dream is not a dream but a nightmare and they have to spend their entire life suffering and atoning for trying to meet that dream.   

Anime: Angelic Layer - Clamp
Hikaru left for Tokyo to enter the world of Angelic Layer, the newest Game in town. A battle b/w dolls whose movements were dictated by the fighter. The doll and fighter must work together in order to win each battle to advance to the final battle. the one with the warrior Queen.
The ending is really Disappointing after climax in the story. This is another wk by CLAMP. Their other works include XxxHolic, Tsubasa Chronicle, the epic RgVeda, Tokyo Babylon, Magic Knight Rayearth, X (dark wks), or more funny wks such as Clamp Detective, to Chobits (a fantasy foreplay of wat the future will b in a world monopolized by robots as humans pale in comparison to their new counterparts.

Anime: Gundam Wing
 An epic classic. with a plot so complicated and meanings so deep it aroused the hearts of many. The sophisticated robots brought CG to a new era to the totally awesome cool 5 (i LUV DUO!!!). To me, this is the master of all Gundam series which led to new Gundam legend such as Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny. G Wing has thick plot that weave you masterfully through the character development. Not to mention the awesome graphics for the cool machines and the fantastic battle scenes. The music's ok though I prefer G Seed's.

Manga: His & Her circumstances
 She: The gal always put on the facade of perfection and yearns for the worship of all.
He: The boy who challenged the gal's ambition to be the most popular/smartest student in school.
Together, they a weaved a tale of how they finally got over a life of pretence to being themselves. However, scars from the past continued to haunt him, making him insecure n fearful of losing her. Now it is a battle within him to fight from being over-possessive n to retain his sanity.
This manga started as funny but continued with sadness. The product of child abuse, he never ceased to stop doubting his very own existence n the worst thing is, he never tell anyone of his insecurities. While his dark side threatened to empower him, it'll b up to him to realize that, loving someone also means Sharing your fears. 

Manga: Hikaru no Go
Hikaru's destiny with Go (weiqi) was entwined when he met the spirit Sai. Sai's aim to reach the ultimate perfection of Go and Hikaru's encounter with many Go experts (especially his nemesis the talented young Go player Akira), led him to discover his destiny n continue Sai's goal for excellence for himself, when the latter disappeared. The manga which took the world by storm and brought Go into the world of the young again. With a light, humorous touch, the manga have many inspiring moments as you join Hikaru while he developed from a punk who doesn't know go to a fanantic who could stand on his own. In his never ending quest for excellence, you would learn NEVER to give up no matter how reality challenge your dream. The manga's better than the anime because of the talented art of Takeshi Obata. Manga series ended at book 23.

Manga: Fushigi Yuugi- Watase Yuu
Miyaki was destined to stay into the book n met up with e 7 constellations of the Red Pheonix. Together, she had to fight against her best friend YUi and the 7 Green Dragon constellations in order to prevent the world frm being taken over by the dark side. Watase Yuu has lotsa new works. But this remain the purest, n e best. IT's hopeful, funny, n dreamy typical of shouja manga, giving girls an envision of hope for great true love like Miyaka n Tamahome. The manga's better than the anime (because the anime's so slow). Ended in 18books. There is a new prequel Fushigi Yuugi Genbukaiden to Fushigi Yuugi. Other new works include Zettai Kareshi, Imadoki & Alice 19th (ended at bk 7).

Manga: Ahiruno Oujisama - Al Morinaga
He was a loser. With absolutely no looks/styles n a weird fetish for cartoons. Now with e help of some amateur's (in the form of the dog of his lover) magic, he was transformed into a charming guy. A Book that +vely proved that charms lie skin-deep if u never TRY hard to grow up. As usual, the author of RichBoyTaro (currently a Taiwanese show starred by Vic Zhou), brought great laughter by her usual knack of humor n absurdity. Good for relaxation. Ends in 6 bks

Manga: Planet Ladder - Yuri Narushima
Black hair, green-eyed, the gal who always pick up a blank last card out of tarots will decide survival of only 1 of the 7 worlds on Armageddon. The 2nd world, a planet almost of non-existence after a vicious virus destroyed all the people leaving only its prince alive. The 3rd world: Earth, where convicts were deemed to have escape to in e past. The 7th world. The current warring planet that monopolize the other planets n sought to capture her in order to save their world. Sad story with New twists n plots, e author Yuri Narushima is someone who thinks outa the box, challenge e convention n present new ideas. Morbid and sad for some parts, for example, on the story of the 2nd world, but it really touched me. In fact, for the rest of the books, the first 3 were the best.
 

Anime: Please Save the Earth
A story on reincarnations, the twisted fate of the few who went to the moon but died mysteriously one after another, only to continue their entwined destiny together in their next life on earth. This is a story with many twisted plots n confusing that left u guessing till the end what the end might be. Not for relaxation but its an interesting play.

Anime: Fruit Basket
Tohru-chan's mum died. 1 day she chanced upon the world of the prince of her school Yuki. From den on, her destiny was tied with the Sohma family (people who turned into animals of chinese zodiac) as she strived to find her own place in this world n to change the lives of the people she now loved. What seemed to be a silly, air-headed Shouja anime turned out to be deeply moving, inspirational, simple, but meaningful. Anime's better & ended in 25 episodes. The manga's still ongoing with Tohru trying to find the means to end the Sohma curse in order to save Kyo from his prison fate. I luv Tohru. Simple but Wise. not smart, but alwaz trying. ("p) and I like the subplot on The Travellers Story
There was a traveller who was cheated of his possessions. Finally deprived of his last clothing to another cheat, he fled into a forest in shame. In there, the monsters deluded him n lied to him. When he gave up his final torso, e monster gave him a letter: STUPID.
With his last breath, he smiled n cried: Thank you!! i've nvr received anything b4!! THANK U!! Wif dat, he died in peace.
Life can be pretty. One disaster may be an antidote to another. Try believing n hoping n smiling, n things may juz turn out Rite.

The bottomline is to give is because you feel Happy giving.1