Chapter 60 made me extremely happy because my beloved Aiko Iwase reappeared in it and had a short talk with Aoki-san. ♥ I'm super glad to know that she's doing fine, and that she's an award-winning young writer and a Literature major. Ha! Take that, Akito! It's also interesting how she resembles Kiyomi from Death Note - their appearances and dressing styles are very similar, both are students at the Tokyo University... and some guys seem to believe that Aiko should be Miss Touou. I totally agree. Again, like Kiyomi. Well, to be fair, Aiko isn't interested in this title (...or so she says), but that's another question. The point is that there are many parallels between her and Kiyomi's lives. It's as if Kiyomi is alive again, in a different world... ;o; ♥ I can dream, can't I? Although I do like Aiko as an independent character, too. So does Ohba-sensei, apparently. Ha. Of course. I'm also curious about Akito's possible future relationship with Aoki-san. This will make Miyoshi jealous, and a jealous Miyoshi can be dangerous. @.@; Last but not least, I'm kinda happy that Aoki-san doesn't really want to talk to Nakai - it doesn't look like she's secretly in love with him or anything. Not yet. She's just honestly focused on her work. Understandably enough, she isn't too fond of Yamahisa either.

I love the new Death Note nendoroid photos so much. ;o; TERU, YOU ARE TOO CUTE. メガネ萌え~ ♥

I've finally found a way to convert large MKV videos into small AVI files! Now I can watch Hakaba Kitaro and many other anime that are not available in certain formats. The only problem is that subtitles get lost when I use Any Video Converter to create the AVIs, and I don't really know how to fix that, but oh well... I can always look for text subs somewhere online. Or just watch everything in Japanese. ^^; I won't start studying it properly anytime soon, but at least I can practice it a little by watching untranslated anime. It's okay as long as the video file itself is actually watchable and my old computer doesn't hate it. Anyway, I love Hakaba Kitaro! It's... really not for everyone, it's very grotesque, bizarre and full of dark (or just dirty) humor, and Nezumi-otoko is easily one of the most disgusting and amoral anime characters out there (WORSE THAN KYOUSUKE HIGUCHI HIMSELF), but I like it a lot. My tastes are pretty diverse in general - sometimes I enjoy cute, sweet stuff such as Kobato or Kimi ni Todoke, but deep inside, I will always be a fan of ghosts and various monstrous folklore creatures. I'll try to draw some Hakaba Kitaro fanart someday - I have a couple of funny ideas about the main characters. Besides, I ship Kitaro x Neko-chan quite hard, and that needs to be reflected in my fanworks, even if nobody else cares about them. And yeah, I know that I don't post fanart often enough. ;;; Sorry. But right now I'm busy with something else, and that something is related to art, in fact. I'll explain it later.

This chapter had so many great moments with Eiji! ♥ ♥ ♥ Damn. This boy is amazing (and he's also the most hilarious manga judge in the world!). Saiko and Shujin are truly lucky to have him as their rival and friend. He's just so... gah, I don't know where to start. But he's my second favorite manga character after Teru Mikami. I guess that says a lot. >.>;

My doujinshi package has finally arrived! ♥ \*o*/ ♥ Thank you so much, Silvia, the books are in excellent condition and the posters are fantastic as well. I'm so excited, I don't know where to start. *.* GUYS. I'm so honored to have my comic featured in this anthology along with your amazing works, under this gorgeous cover. Hmm, my doujinshi... doesn't look too bad on paper! ^^;;; No, really, the print quality is very nice, and while I'm not entirely happy with some parts of my work (AS ALWAYS ;;;), it's my problem and not anybody else's. Next time I'll try my absolute best to make a longer story, with better art. Though you can probably expect the same pairing since I have a one-track mind... ^^;;; I'll comment on everyone's stories and art later (the book is pretty big, I need time to digest it!), but right now I just want to thank you all. Even though it's a non-commercial fan project, I see it as a huge artistic accomplishment for all of us as it's truly a labor of love. And my very special thanks go to Silvia, again, for her great and invaluable work. ♥ Also... you know what really made me laugh? My father flipped through the book, pointed at my picture of Kiyomi and ASKED IF THAT WAS MY SELF-PORTRAIT. @.@;;; Well, yeah, my usual hairstyle is similar to Kiyomi's (although it's actually shorter at the moment... more like, I dunno, Matsuda's), but... I-I swear that I never use her as my Mary Sue and I ship her with Teru for entirely different reasons. If you're really that curious, my Mary Sue is Teru's secretary. You know, the one who appears in one panel and never does anything even remotely notable. Yeah. Anyway, I'm so happy.

I... didn't really do anything useful today. Um, well, I wrote a very silly Death Note fanfic for my favorite contest community. I also saw the finale of Aoi Hana and loved it immensely, even more than the corresponding parts of the manga. And that was my day. Tomorrow's going to be tough for me. My Fridays tend to suck. >.>;;; Only Friday evenings are okay because you can really feel that you're done with your work... at least for a while. ^^;;; Ah well. I need to stop complaining, most of my friends work so much more than I do. ;;;

Okay, Kure-nai is just fabulous. It has some harem elements, but they're done in a subtle way and are not annoying, and Shinkurou is quite different from most harem protagonists that I know - he's unique and complex, and I personally find him attractive. At the same time, he's flawed in an interesting way (see episode 3), which is also good from the storytelling point of view. Basically, I really like this anime: I've just finished episode 6 and I'll probably watch the second half sometime this week. Unfortunately, the original light novels don't seem to be available in English; that's sad because apparently, the anime only covers the first book. ;-; What I like best about Kure-nai is Murasaki's personality, I guess: she can be bratty, but that's understandable if you consider her upbringing and family history, and even so, she's seriously awesome for someone who's only 7 years old. Kinda reckless, yes, but so brave. Just see episode 3, it shows that Murasaki is about as courageous as little!Teru, and, well, you know how I feel about Teru. I'm not saying that children need to be so, uh, unreasonably heroic (I mean... something is very wrong if the only person who attempts to defend an elderly woman from a bunch of thugs is an elementary school girl), yet I do like strong-willed kids. I'm... a potential Shinkurou x Murasaki shipper, I suppose: of course I don't see them as a couple right now since Murasaki is too young, but I think it's possible for them to develop a very good and deep relationship someday. Although I also like Shinkurou x Ginko and Shinkurou x Yuuno almost equally. ^^ But Shinkurou x Murasaki is still my future!OTP.

Today I went to Kito's district for a walk. I don't go there often enough, but it's a pretty great place, in my opinion. We fed the ducks in a small park-like place! I loved them so much! ♥ They were so cute, they were quacking and racing around the pond and trying to snatch the bits of bread away from each other. ♥ ♥ ♥ It's a shame that we don't have ducks at our place (though we have squirrels). We also visited an anime souvenir market - our other friend's acquaintances organized it and we decided to take a look. I got myself a Rem keychain (sadly, they had no Teru pics) and my friend also bought me a Vampire Knight keychain. All in all, it was really fun.

I'm slightly drunk (today we had a small party at our department... I took one sip of red wine and my mind went completely blank in less than a minute @.@;;; I'm not a drinker at all, and I don't even act funny when I'm drunk, I just become sleepy and apathetic like a brick), but I still want to talk about Baku-man! The newest spoilers are behind the cut because they're pretty big. ( SPOILERS ) Man, do I love rambling about this series. Death Note is my top favorite because I'm fiercely loyal to Teru (that's why I torture him so much, OBVIOUSLY), but Baku-man just... has nearly everything I'm interested in, and it's realistic. I want my volume 4 to arrive soon. *.* Unless I'm mistaken, it contains the chapter where Aoki appears for the first time, among other things. ♥

Kito and I made up a truly fantastic Teru x Azuki story today. Damn, I love our wacky crossovers.

This is completely random, but our doujinshi project fills me with happiness whenever I look at the main site or at the list of buyers. *.* Seriously, this book is more successful than some of our university department's publications. ^^;;;

Here's yet another long Death Note meme! ( SURVEY )

Happy birthday, Gevanni! I'm a bit busy, but here's a little fanfic. Warning: it's a crack AU (in which Teru and Gevanni get their happy ending... sort of). Really. If you're looking for a serious AU, please ignore this. ^^;;;

September 1 is: 1) the first day of school and university year in Russia and 2) Gevanni's birthday! I'll post a silly birthday drabble for him tomorrow. ♥ My fanon!Gevanni is always a bit of a hopeless lovesick fool (and you can probably guess the name of his crush...), but I do that to him because I like him. Speaking of love... I'm reading the raws of Kimi ni Todoke! This is how much I love this manga, haha. ^^;;; I don't even understand most of the lines, but it's not entirely impossible for me to figure the plot out, I think. I'm glad to know that Sawako and Shouta's relationship is actually moving somewhere. I'd also love to read Yumeiro Pâtissière (which is getting animated as well), but it doesn't seem to be available anywhere. Its premise reminds me of La Corda d'Oro, only it's not about music but about... sweets and bakery and such. Must be cute. ♥ Also, this is completely off-topic, but we're having an epic thunderstorm. ;;; I'm not afraid of thunderstorms at all, but it's so noisy and somewhat annoying. I can't even listen to music or watch anime because the sound of rain is too friggin' loud. Eh. What a great way to end a COLD AND RAINY SUMMER. =.=;;;

Happy birthday, Near! My gift is a... strangely angsty and dramatic little drabble. @.@; It mentions Mello and Near's pasts (they're entirely fanon, so don't take them very seriously) and... it also has some very subtle Near -> Mello content somewhere around the end, I think? Oh, and I suppose it also counts as a SUPER LATE birthday gift for a certain friend. You know who you are, and if you don't, I'll PM you later. ^^; I'm sorry, I can be slow like that.

Okay, I'm completely in love with Ayanami x Hyuuga. ^^; This obsession... probably won't last forever, actually, because I'm kinda fickle about such things, and my primary porny fixation is Kiyomi Gevanni Higuchi Ryuk everyone x Teru, but right now, Hyuuga and Aya-tan are really fun for me to think about, especially thanks to the hilarious CD drama about their trip to the onsen! ♥ Haha, Hyuuga loves Aya-tan so much, yet Aya-tan is so harsh and TSUN-TSUN =×=;;; all the time. Hyuuga doesn't seem to mind it though. Or maybe he doesn't want to show his feelings. Aw. Poor Hyu-tan. ♥ Hah... why do I keep falling for minor and UTTERLY HOPELESS villain pairings? Is that a form of fannish masochism or something? Thankfully, there ARE some fanfics about these two and people seem to like them, but... Frau x Teito and Mikage x Teito are vastly more popular. Not that I have anything against them, but. Eh. I prefer my evil military OTP. And I just really like all Black Hawks, even the failtastic Shuri Oak. ^^;

I really want to draw another doujinshi. ^^; I don't feel like doing my own comic though because I find group art projects more fun (which is odd, I'm not especially fond of group work in general)... but I'd like to draw something for a Baku-man book or a Vampire Knight book. Sadly, Baku-man is a small fandom, and Vampire Knight just doesn't seem to be very... doujinshi-oriented. And of course I'd LOVE to do another Death Note doujinshi because, well, you know.

I'm reading Ayatsuri Sakon, a detective manga drawn by Obata-sensei in collaboration with Marou Sharaku-sensei. It's one of Obata-sensei's older works, so it's not insanely detailed like Death Note or Baku-man, but it's still very pretty: just look at Sakon, the protagonist... Sharaku-sensei's plot is interesting, too - I really like Sakon's split personality; well, I mean, Ukon IS supposed to be Sakon's other self and not a supernatural talking doll, right? In any case, it's very cool. I'm actually slightly familiar with the anime version of the story, but I've never seen the original manga before. The story seems to be somewhat episodic, but I don't mind that. Hmm... I'd like to read a Death Note + Ayatsuri Sakon crossover. I love mixing universes drawn by Obata-sensei. ^^;

I saw the first episode of Hakaba Kitaro (the newest anime version of Gegege no Kitaro) yesterday. It was absolutely terrific, creepy and funny at the same time. And I almost died when Kitaro said something like Humans... are interesting! in the very last scene of the episode! In other words, he pretty much quoted Death Note's Ryuk (well, the phrase was probably not exactly the same, but still extremely similar to Ryuk's infamous line)! ^^;;; Man, this is great. Death Note itself is thought to be loosely connected to Shigeru Mizuki-sensei's old work, while Hakaba Kitaro, an adaptation of Mizuki-sensei's manga, contains a line from Death Note! Haha, the circle is complete now. Kitaro himself is evil enough to be Ryuk's relative. ^^;;; He doesn't really harm humans directly, but they always get into trouble when he's around. Well, okay, I still haven't seen the rest of the episodes (I'll try to watch them!), and besides, it's not necessarily the most accurate adaptation of the manga... but yeah, so far, Kitaro seems like a scary little brat. Anyway, it's an awesome series, with stylish animation and cool music. I love Asian horror and folklore so much. *.*

Okay, here's that long shipping survey! Warning: may contain spoilers for all tagged series. ( MEME )