When viewing a long anime series, the recap episode or what others would call filler episodes would often act as a break in the series to give viewers a rundown of what has happened so far in the story. Sometimes recaps don’t come in the form of a full-fledged episode, but a five minute recount of the events that has happened in a previous episode.
Depending on how most people feel about recaps, sometimes they can be a helpful refresher of what happened in the series thus far or it can be an irritating break from the main story when all you want to do is keep watching until the end.
When reading manga, I noticed a common personality trait for a lot of male love interests is the idea of a jerk who treats the main character like crap only to find out later that the guy is truly a kind, caring, and decent person. The male love interest reveals to the reader as well as the character herself that he isn’t as horrible and mean spirited as you first thought. These guys have to hide who they truly are because of circumstances, personal views, bad experiences, and other scenarios you can think of. What makes these men who are seemingly jerks in the beginning end up hiding the side of themselves most girls would want to uncover?
I’m playing around with a column idea I thought about while reading manga the other day. I noticed how a lot of stuff I read tend to have some comedy blended seamlessly within the serious stuff going on in a volume or series. I always liked how most mangakas manage to give readers a break from all the heaviness going on in a series or scene by throwing in some unexpected but fitting comedic moments. What better way to kick start this column off by picking a scene from Ceres: Celestial Legend, Volume 12 by Yuu Watase. Watase is the queen of tension breakers with comedy in all of her series.
In this scene I snapped, Toya and Yuhi are breaking into the Mikage Corporation building to save Chidori and her brother Shota who have been captured by the Mikages. Toya finds a ladder leading up into the building. If you have ever read this series, Toya is very much the serious, brooding type of guy while Yuhi is more light hearted and carefree. In typical fashion, Toya is very focused and is trying to take on the task at hand on his own. While Toya is ready to hoist himself up the ladder as he tells Yuhi to wait for him here, Yuhi swoops in and covers Toya’s head with his shirt before Toya can even grab the ladder. The rest of the scene shows Yuhi chastising Toya about his habit for wanting to do things on his own without relying on some help.
Yuhi chastises Toya for not properly thinking things through
I really enjoyed this scene. Volume 12 gets too serious and tragic fast, and it was nice to see moments like this one. It gives the reader a chance to laugh a bit before everything else in the volume becomes no laughing matter. It’s also amusing to watch Toya’s cool, mysterious air get broken in this scene when Yuhi attacks him with his shirt. Yuhi rages on, and on the shirt itself you see Toya sweatdropping as he listens to him. Watase really could have drawn the scene where Yuhi reprimands Toya in a much more serious way, but opts for this funny moment instead. The scene kind of reminds me of a comedy duo doing their sketch on stage. It certainly has that feel to it.
I hope you enjoyed my scene selection. If you like this idea for a frequent column on my blog, then I’ll be sure to continue it in the future. I can think of many more scenes to highlight in later posts.
Mass Effect 3 has no doubt been talked to death in the video game world, mainly because of its controversial endings to what should have been the most epic conclusion of a well constructed science fiction RPG ever made. There’s a lot of feelings running through my mind long after I have finished my own first playthrough of the game last weekend. A lot has to do with the endings and the rest has to do with my emotional responses to the characters and plot. I’m pretty sure this post will be massive and full of spoilers, but I’ll put the appropriate spoiler tags for those who haven’t played or finished the game yet. Although, it’s been hard not to encounter spoilers for this game since the Internet is practically burning with them since its release back in March.
As promised, here is my anime review for the second half of the Clannad series which is Clannad After Story. After Story picks up where the first season left off. A bunch of episodes focus on other characters that haven’t really been focused on in the first season such as Youhei’s relationship with his younger sister, Youhei’s dorm room headmistress Misae Sagara––to name a few. Like the first season, the secondary characters who get their own episode arcs also have issues that need to be dealt with or settled for them to move on with their life. As usual, Tomoya is at the center of these characters’ issues and helps them confront whatever is holding them back in order for them to move forward.
The anime Clannad and Clannad After Story are the types of anime you would categorize as a slice of life high school story. It can also be seen as the usual harem genre anime where you have one guy surrounded by various gorgeous women to choose from. One guy amidst pretty girls with different types of personalities to potentially have a relationship with is a common plot device found in anime. Except when you watch both seasons of Clannad and Clannad After Story in its entirety you realize that this series goes much deeper than what is first presented on the surface. I’m going to review the first season of Clannad in this post and in a later post I will review Clannad After Story and give my entire opinion of the series as a whole in the later post.
This past weekend I redeemed my Google Offer deal to buy some manga at my local comic book store. I forgot how good it feels to enter a comic book store, knowing what you want to get and then leaving the store with what you wanted.
Spring is in the air and just around the corner is summer. The temperatures are getting warmer and with that we can air out the skirts, summer dresses, and shorts that have been in storage and tuck away the winter layers and sweaters. Going to department stores or flipping through magazines, I have noticed the color trend for this season is going bright and neon. Lemon yellow, tangerine orange, lime green––these colors are eye popping. Wearing colors like these will certainly draw people’s attention. It’s hard to ignore someone wearing super bright colors. I can see how neon colors would be the current fun and flirty colors of the season to wear and to add to your current wardrobe, but I’m not a huge fan of bright colors.
Stop traffic with this bright summer dress
The neon color trend is too bright and loud for my taste. These colors are an attention grabber when you walk down the street, but I prefer not to draw attention to myself. These colors are for women who are bold, confident and don’t shy away from attention. They embrace it, live it, and work it. I am confident, but I prefer to not stop traffic when I think I’m wearing the equivalent of an orange street cone.
I’m much more the neutral, soft pastel colors kind of girl. The neon colors is too hardcore for my reserved nature. I also wonder if my reluctance to embrace this new color trend has something to do with the New Yorker in me?
I have observed on the train how so few New Yorkers really wear bright colors. Usually I would be riding the train with other commuters amidst a sea of black and white. I suppose a lot of us prefer to blend with the crowd and not stand out. I’m usually amazed when there is a splash of color lurking in all the neutrals I see in my morning commute to work. I’m pretty sure there are fashionistas out there rocking the bright colors somewhere within the city, but I just haven’t encountered them yet.
I think the neon colors suit summer more than spring. In my opinion, spring colors should be softer like rose pink or lavender purple. These make me think more of the tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths in bloom during the spring season. Neon is more like how I see the summer season––bright and hotter.
I may not enjoy this season’s colors or even be likely to wear them, but I guess this season is about stepping out and shining in the spotlight. If you want to feel bold and daring then going neon with your wardrobe colors may be just want you want to do. I, on the other hand, will enjoy blending in with the masses with my softer color tones.
What do you think of the neon trend? Are you tired of the same dull neutrals and pastels and think going bold and bright is what fashion needs? Or is bright just too bright for your tastes?
A few days ago, Paprika-no-Yume nominated me for the Versatile Blogger Award. It was such a nice surprise and I’m truly honored to be recognized for it. Thanks so much Paprika! You are an awesome person and blogger. The award has rules just like the Liebster Blog Award so I’m going to do my best to follow them. Here goes!
The Rules:
Thank the award giver and link back to their blog in your post.
Share 7 things about yourself.
Pass this award along to 15 blogs.
Contact your chosen bloggers to let them know about the award.
I addressed number one so here’s seven random things about myself:
1. I have an obsessive love of flowers. I see flowers and I float towards them. Imagine me as an anime character doing something outrageous like that!
2. I’m actually a quiet person in real life. Someone would really have to make the effort to draw me out and get me to talk more. Once I feel comfortable, I open up more with the person and my talkative, dorky self comes out.
3. My music taste is quite varied. I’ll listen to anything that sounds good. As a result, I have no particular favorite artist.
4. I love the smell of paper.
5. I keep a personal journal to record anything significant in my life. I like the idea of having a collection of “books” so to speak about my life. Once the journals are finished, I store them away safely. I look back on them when I feel nostalgic. I’m quite surprised how much I may or may not have changed when I look back on what I have written in the past.
6. I yell at my TV while I play video games. I’ve developed gamer rage ever since I became one.
7. I’m an organized person. I really can’t stand clutter in my home and work life. My spaces need to be neat and tidy.
Now for my 15 nominees. Unfortunately, I know I won’t be able to list exactly 15 but it will have to do. Here are my nominees for the award in no particular order:
I really need to find more blogs to read, but these are my choices. Definitely not 15, but these blogs deserve it. Either way, it’s a wonderful thing to be nominated for a blog award by other great bloggers!
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