As you probably know, I have a thing for magical girls, possibly because most classic magical girls are so different from myself. ^^; My old all-time favorite is Pretty Soldier Sailormoon (I also like the original Sailor V series!), my newest obsession is Umi Monogatari and right now I'm downloading Kamichama Karin and Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch. What a title, guys. What a title. ^^;;; Now that I'm done with the super-dramatic Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 - which, by the way, is really damn amazing! - my brain needs something cute and light-hearted. Well, to be fair, stories about magical girls can also be dramatic, but at least they can rely on magic... Hmm. I also need to re-read Sailor V. I like Minako.

I've finished Umi Monogatari! And I think I can safely call it my #2 favorite summer anime after Aoi Hana (and it's second only because Aoi Hana has full-blown canon yuri, while Umi Monogatari doesn't REALLY take it beyond deep friendship; though Marin x Kanon is still my OTP, of course ♥). It's very beautiful and surprisingly deep: I mean, it's not the most unique story ever and it follows many common conventions of the magical girl genre, but it's also quite moving, and I like the main message of the story. ( SPOILERS ) And now I'll go and search for some fanart. I SINCERELY HOPE that I'm not the only one who adores Kanon x Marin - or Marin x Kanon, or whatever, as long as they are together. Their relationship is perfect and awesome and completely non-hierarchical.

I saw several episodes of Hakaba Kitaro and Umi Monogatari today. Sadly, Veoh doesn't seem to have episodes 4-11 of Hakaba Kitaro... My friend has them on CDs, but as usual, the file size is just too large and I can't watch them on my computer. >.<;;; Does anybody know any other good video streaming sites? ;-; I love this anime so much, I must watch it up to the end... somehow. It's not even that long, and it's such a bizarre little mixture of folklore and ordinary life. I'd gladly read the manga, too, but I haven't found any scanlations or even raw scans yet. Perhaps I'll buy it via Amazon the next time we make a group order. I'm seriously hooked. o.o;;; I don't even know why. But it's a cult classic in Japan, and I think I understand them. My situation with Umi Monogatari is slightly better though, it's available at Veoh and I'll finish it soon. ^^ It's getting better and better... and the delicious yuri subtext is still there!

Alright, I suppose I'll enjoy Kimi ni Todoke after all. It seems that I simply need to be in the right mood in order to understand the better parts of this manga. That's nice to know. I'm a shoujo fan, and I don't want to miss a good shoujo anime or manga. Besides! As far as I know, Sawako will be played by Mamiko Noto-san in the anime, and I adore Noto-san's voice. What else... oh, yesterday I also read volume 8 of Natsume Yuujinchou (in Japanese only ;-; but I still managed to spot some nice Tanuma + Natsume scenes! Tanuma is always so pretty ^^), chapters 141-145 of Cross Game and a couple of stories by Yukari Kawachi-sensei - Wasurerarenai and Ningyo no Namida. Kawachi-sensei's style is very good, it's the kind of shoujo style that I like a lot. Her plots are slightly melodramatic, but I guess that's okay. ^^ About Cross Game: ( SPOILER ) Hmm. I think I also need to catch up with Umi Monogatari, now that my Internet connection is BETTER AND FASTER~♥ and I can download stuff quickly.

So... is anybody going to translate Umineko no Naku Koro ni? 'ω';;; I'm afraid I won't understand it too well without subtitles. I haven't finished Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (YET), but it seems that Umineko no Naku Koro ni is an AU story, and it features a different cast of characters, right? I want to check it out at least, it might be interesting, although I'm slightly worried about the possible amount of violence due to... certain events in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. But oh well, I'm still curious. I'm also waiting for Taisho Yakyuu Musume and episode 2 of Umi Monogatari.

I saw episode 1 of Umi Monogatari today and enjoyed it quite a bit. Perhaps I'll follow this series - it's not extraordinarily deep, but it's funny and well-drawn, and Kanon, the human protagonist, is very cynical and sarcastic unlike most normal shoujo heroines (Marin, the mermaid, is more like an ordinary shoujo character); she also appears to be depressed due to her failed relationship with a boy. Urin, Marin's younger sister, also provides many comic moments and lines. Anyway, it seems like a watchable magical girl series, even though Kanon doesn't get to use any supernatural powers in episode 1 - I guess episode 2 will be more action-packed, and judging by the preview, an antagonist will be introduced. Oh, and I like the ED, which is based on The Little Mermaid. ^^

In case you're curious about the upcoming summer anime season, Pyro and her friends have a very nice preview here - thanks for the info, guys! ♥ The season itself doesn't sound terribly exciting to me though, but I'll probably try Aoi Hana, since it appears to be a slice-of-life yuri series, and I'm very fond of both genres; I also like the summary of Geijutsuka Art Design Class because it's about, well, art. The only drawback is that it's a comedy, and I want my art-centric anime to be more dramatic... but then again, Baku-man has heaps of humorous content and I certainly don't mind it at all (though I suppose I just like Ohba-sensei's warped sense of humor). So I guess I need to check it out at least. I'll also watch the first episodes of Umi Monogatari, Taisho Yakyuu Musume and Kanamemo - anything that involves pretty girls and does not belong to the shounen harem genre deserves my attention. ^^ Many people have doubts about Umi Monogatari since it's a magical girl anime based on a pachinko game (of all things), but I have no problems with this genre as a long-time Pretty Soldier Sailormoon fan. ^^; Now I'll go and read the manga version of Aoi Hana. Oh, and this is not exactly related to the summer season, but... Kuroshitsuji is going to get a second part. I am... deeply puzzled by this. I'm a manga-only fan, but I do know something about the finale of the anime and... how on earth are they planning to make Season II WORK? @.@; Oh... well.