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Yes, that is a picture of a unicorn pulling a lettuce carriage through outer space. And yes, that screencap is pretty indicative of the coherency of the entire episode. Quick summary: Main is an "adorable" little girl who's trying to become an idol. Except she has zero self confidence and overwhelming stage fright. Her manager tells her to think of lettuce during her idol competition, and she winds up changing the lyrics to her song to be all about lettuce. Some bizarre producer sees it and decides to invite her to the "Cooking Idol" competition. Meanwhile, a strange race of cooking aliens (or something) send off their best chefs to find human partners on earth. One little alien dude gets sent along accidentally, but not before the alien chief presents him with a very important cookbook that will help him find his destined cooking partner on earth. The little alien dude falls into a truck of lettuce and predictably winds up with Main as his partner. Then there's a weird magical sequences where they spin around together and stuff. The end.
Amu is dreaming happily about Tadase's confession, but when she wakes up, her happy mood is ruined by the fact that Ikuto is still sleeping in bed with her. At the Guardian meeting, Yaya and Rima notice that Amu and Tadase are being a little "rabu rabu," and the grill Amu about what's going on. After Amu escapes the interrogation, Nagihiko explains that last night he heard a mysterious note that put a lot of people into a trance. After school, Amu and Tadase hear the note again. Amu wonders if it's a guitar, but Tadase immediately recognizes it as a violin. Amu is worried that it might be Ikuto, but she finds him still in her room when she returns home. At night, Ikuto wakes up in a trance and does a chara transformation without Yoru. At the park, Ikuto is calling out more X Eggs with the power of his violin, but Tadase confronts him and the two get into a fight with Yoru watching the whole thing. The next day, Amu notices that Ikuto and Tadase both have wounds on them for some reason. Tadase informs the guardians that the cause of the strange note is Ikuto, and that the two of them even fought last night. Amu says it's not possible, but she can't bring herself to say that Ikuto is living in her room. Amu later tells Nagihiko she has a strange request, asking him to dress up as Nadeshiko for her. Apparently she wants someone to confide in, but it's too weird if it's a guy. Yoru approaches Amu's charas to ask for help, but Kiseki interrupts him and they beat him up before he can actually ask for help. Yoru runs away, and Amu's charas corner him so that he won't lead Kiseki to Amu's house. Amu asks Nagihiko what to do if she's keeping a secret from someone important. He tells her that she has to be prepared to live with the consequences. Amu tries to tell Tadase that Ikuto is staying with her, but she can't manage to do so. Instead, she winds up defending Ikuto, but Tadase tells her that Ikuto only brings misfortune to anyone who crosses his path.Having the plot move along is delightful. It's a little slow, but I won't complain, seeing as we could be saddled with some Lulu-created monster of the week instead. Yoru gets no love. The poor guy is doing his best, and he just keeps getting chased and thrown around and beaten up by the very people he's asking for help from. Amu's in a real predicament now, but it's pretty much her fault. I wouldn't let some guy stay in my room, especially not an older guy who harrasses me physically on a semi-regular basis. Sheesh. And although Ikuto may hold the bow at the proper end now, he's still playing too high on the fingerboard (yeah, yeah, I nitpick the most pointless things). Amu has the strangest tastes. If I needed a girl friend to talk to, I wouldn't go to the guy who looks like her. That's just weird. Oh well. Next week, the cat is let out of the bag (I made a joke!), as Tadase discovers Amu's house guest. High strung emotions guaranteed. Don't miss it!--Ou-bento
We continue to advance the plot, Doki style. Utau shows up at Amu's house searching for Ikuto. Amu's afraid the jig is up and that Utau knows Ikuto is in her closet, but Utau is actually just asking for Amu's help to find him. Utau takes her to a ramen stand so they can talk. While there, Utau orders rice, and some kid named Conan Maruyama insults her taste, saying that she doesn't know how to enjoy ramen properly (there's a traditional way of eating it right, but most people don't care anymore). Utau says it doesn't matter because it tastes good, and poor Maruyama gets all confused inside. Apparently he's some ramen expert who only eats the finest ramen and he does it RIGHT. After they eat, Amu and Utau run into Tadase and Kukai. Amu and Tadase are still blushy from Tadase's confession in the last episode. Kukai decides to give them some "alone time" so he challenges Utau to a ramen-eating contest. She readily agrees. Amu and Tadase talk for awhile, and he states very plainly that she is the one he loves. In the meantime Maruyama has a visit from Lulu who gives him a jewel so he can go all riddle egg. He transforms into some ramen delivery boy (I forget the name - not important), and starts dishing out (haha, get it?) his ramen justice on people who aren't enjoying it right (like drinking water between bites or eating two pieces of meat in a row). Amu, Tadase, Utau, and Kukai show up to battle, but Kukai can't transform because he feels ill from eating too much. Amu gains a new weapon that appears to be a sparkly soy sauce (available in stores soon!), and they manage to bring Maruyama back to his normal self. Now he realizes that it doesn't matter how you enjoy ramen as long as you're enjoying it. Awww. Meanwhile, late at night a mysterious violin-playing figure is drawing out a very large amount of X-eggs. What will happen now?It's nice to see the plot advance, even if it has little Lulu interruptions throughout. I wonder if she'll be at the climax fight when they all go to [spoiler]. Utau is once again wonderful. It's nice to see Lunatic Charm again after so long. It's a pity the animation in this episode was so inconsistent. Her head and eyes kept being different sizes (but her hair was lovely). MAN, I am so craving ramen right now. Anyway. Next episode is Ikuto vs. Tadase. Hopefully we're moving along with the manga now with no interruptions. I'm really impatient for Nagihiko's chara transformation(s).--Ou-bento
I've been anticipating this release for awhile, as it fulfills my desire for Amu character songs and (more importantly) a full version of Heartful Song. And it has "Best!" in the title, so surely it's a great release. I'm not really a musical genius or reviewer, but that doesn't stop me from having opinions. In fact, here are some opinions now:Nijiro Chara Change! - Amu's character song with guest vocals by Ran, Miki, and Su. It's really, really upbeat. The energy and cute factor have all the high energy of the Buono! songs, which is a good thing. There's nothing more sugary sweet than hearing cute vocals saying "Yay yay happy day!" Unfortunately, Kanae (Amu's voice) sounds like she's having a little bit of trouble on the high notes. I don't really think it's her inability to sing as much as it is the difficulty of maintaining the character voice while she does. There's also the problem of the song being a little bit forgettable. It doesn't have a catchy enough melody line for me to be able to distinguish it from the myriad of other peppy Japanese songs. Still, it's a fitting Amu song in terms of energy and lyrics.Meikyuu Butterfly - Utau's first insert song. This brings back memories. This song has already had its own release, but it couldn't hurt to put it out again, I guess. Admittedly, this is my least favorite of Utau's songs. I think the melody line is a bit weak, but the lyrics are pretty creepy, so at least that makes up for it.Happy Xmas - Amu's very pleasant insert song from the Christmas episode. When I first heard the song, I was incredibly happy. I had been wanting an Amu song for awhile, and it was so pleasant and innocent. The full version doesn't disappoint. It's a nice quiet song that I'll probably find myself humming at all times of the year. Backup vocals from Miki, Ran, and Su complete the optimistically innocent song.Ii Koto Ari Sou - A character song for the three charas. Worth it for the bouncy line and hearing the three charas sing about...well, not much. Cute, but forgettable. It's nice that they got their own song, though. The dialogue in the middle where they play around and do nothing is actually pretty cute.Kimi no Birthday - Another Amu song that's sadly forgettable. Nothing against the upbeat melody or anything, but there's not much to make it stand out. This would probably make a really nice insert song in some birthday episode, possibly involving giving an adorable gift to Tadase or something.Blue Moon - Utau's song. Already released. I'm a bit disappointed that this never showed up in the anime. It was released during her "dark" phase, and it was surprisingly sweet and honest compared to her other two. I didn't actually like her until she turned "light," but something like this might have changed my mind earlier.Black Diamond - My prefered of her "dark" songs. I'm disappointed it didn't get more airtime in the series, but you can't win them all, na? This version is the main release. I prefer the indie version, but that doesn't keep it from being a good song.Saikyou Love Power - And then inexplicably we got back to a ridiculously bouncy Amu (and friends) song. It's a little bit jarring after listening to Black Diamond (who came up with the order for this thing?), but that's hardly a complaint against the song itself. This song is a little more catchy than Amu's previous ones, and it's even a little bit inspiring (good insert song material). There are a couple high notes that sounded a little difficult, but I still prefer this over Nijiro Chara Change!Heartful Song - I don't know how long I've been waiting for this to come out, but I'm pretty sure it's been a while. And I am not disappointed. This is hands down my favorite Utau song and the song that basically made me actually start liking her. Nana's powerful voice, the sweet melody, the openly honest lyrics. Everything about this song is beautiful.Yume no Tsubomi - Another Utau song, and another one that I've been waiting for for awhile. This one is sung by "young" Utau, and it's really really really cute. It's not exactly memorable, but it's pretty sweet (especially in the flashback).In summary, there's really nothing here by Utau that we haven't heard before, but Heartful Song basically steals the show. Amu's songs are cute, but a little forgettable (save for Happy Xmas). Shugo Chara fans will probably be delighted by this release. Now if only we could get character songs for the rest of the cast (I'm gunning for a Nadeshiko-Nagihiko duet), I'd be such a happy bento. After all, who doesn't want to hear Ikuto sing about how terrible his life is?--Ou-bento
Spoilers lie within: Kyoko continues her conversation from the last chapter. Chiori says that it's weird for Kyoko to thank her for such a performance, and Kyoko says it's not the performance - it's what she did off stage. Chiori's actions like tearing up her Kyoko's nameplate or pushing her down the stairs helped to create Kyoko's "Natsu" character. Without Chiori's bullying, Kyoko wouldn't have been able to find her character. She also says that she still feels bound by her previous "Mio" character, just like Chiori is bound by her "Akari" character. She's glad that Chiori was finally able to put everything she has into acting her new character. Chiori admits that she wasn't acting her best because she was afraid of being consumed by her character again. Later on, Kyoko and Hikaru are chatting and Kyoko says that everything turned out really well - Chiori put in an excellent performance. As they're chatting, she notices someone in the crowd wearing a Love Me uniform. She runs after her, thinking it's Moko only to find that it's Chiori! Dun dun duuuun.Well, that was an interesting turn of events. Unfortunately, it's a very slow turn that is coming a little too late for me to care. This arc, while not as painfully slow as the one with Vie Ghoul, still feels like it's dragging a bit. Most of this chapter was all talking heads with a few words in each panel. Full thoughts were dragged out over a couple pages, which really makes reading a little tedious. I think the exposition and flashbacks could have taken much less time, but I assume the manga-ka was dragging it out so that she could save the surprise for the end. The fact that Chiori is in Love Me now, is definitely an interesting turn of events. She's obviously a character who needs the "Love Me spirit," but such a late introduction (and how exactly did she get in, anyway?) seems a little off. I'm sure the next chapter will explain what happened (if we're lucky, maybe we'll get to see Lory again), but at this point I was really hoping to close Chiori's chapter and move on. While she's definitely interesting enough to warrant more of her down the line, I'm really not interested in her right now. Like Kyoko, I'm in tears over the fact that I haven't seen Moko for awhile. And I've been saying this for months now, but I seriously need more Ren.--Ou-bento
Relationships are sticky business - even moreso when the internet is involved. On the popular community site F.I.L. Gate, users Kakeru and HAL are the most adorable rabu rabu couple imaginable. However, their real world counterparts Shinjou and Haruka are rough, short-tempered, and violent. Their relationship is rocky at best unless they are busy emailing or texting each other adorable hearts and silly emoticons. Another F.I.L. user saves up money to buy a "girlfriend," but accidentally bids on the wrong one and finds himself saddled with a girl he has no feelings for. What happens when he's given the chance to date the girl he really wanted for free? Bringing all these people together are the secret "moderators" of F.I.L. Gate, the pilots. Pilots hunt down scammers and keep F.I.L. Gate running smoothly. But even with help from the pilots, not all relationships can work out.
People are confusing enough already, but throw in internet relationships and things can really go nuts. People portray themselves differently online, not always intentionally. It's easier for scammers to pick up weak prey, and the anonymity can lead to some very uncomfortable situations. Mel Kano depicts these relationships well: characters with dichotomous personalities, unmet expectations, and the struggle between any couple to keep a relationship together. The lead character, Shinjou is easily identified with. Between a rough personality in real life and a gentle one online, it's hard to tell which is the real version - maybe it's both. His feelings are genuine, and his struggles are painfully real. Unfortunately, he's the only character with any sort of depth. Other characters are sadly two dimensional in nature, and serve only as basic stereotypes to move the story along. Not that there's anything wrong with a light-hearted romp through romance land, but with the complicated emotions that Shinjou has, it's hard to accept that everyone else is so flat.
If you're looking for a shounen-seinen romance with just a splash of Densha Otoko flavor and some clean artwork, check out Mel Kano. If you hate frustratingly slow romantic relationships, guys who seem to wait too long to make hard choices, and cliched characters who just happen to be blackbelts or geniuses for no good reason, you might want to pass on this one.--Ou-bento
I have a Shugo Chara backlog, but from the looks of it, not much happens to the plot until 74, so I'm skipping ahead for now. Ladies, this is what (half of) you have been waiting for. Tadase finally confesses to Amu, like for reals. Not just his little crush on Amulet Heart or being friends. He asks outright if it's okay is he likes Amu and just Amu. And of course, Ikuto is hiding in her closet listening to the whole thing. Because where would we be without some romantic tension? Amu's father is, of course, a complete spaz. I wonder what he'd do if he knew she was keeping a catboy in her closet and sleeping with him. D:Next episode, we actually get to see what Kukai and Utau do during their time off while Amu and Tadase float along in new-couple bliss. The episode has Utau and ramen. Nothing can go wrong. Except for maybe a ramen-themed monster of the week, courtesy Lulu.--Ou-bento
Time for another exciting edition of "things I will probably be watching come Spring." FMA is on the list only because I won't be able to understand a thing all those kids at those conventions are talking about otherwise. As for the rest of the list, it's a little shorter this season. I have a job now. Go figure.
Pandora HeartsAlice's Adventures in Wonderland is my favorite book of all time, so I will give anything Alice-themed a shot no matter how terrible the premise seems (see: Kagihime). From the site, I can't tell if the boy is supposed to be "Alice" or if the girl named Arisu is supposed to be "Alice." Either way, I like how she looks. The animation and the music in the PV are really to my liking, so I'm approaching this one with cautious optimism.
Ristorante ParadisoCooking is my hobby, so I have a penchant for cooking-themed series. I only saw food three times in the PV, so I'm worried that perhaps I might have to deal with watching people as well. However, I'm willing to take that risk.
Cookin' Idol Ai! Mai! Main!I don't even understand the title, but it will teach me how to cook, so I will watch it because I enjoy cooking. Actually, I'm expecting something like Moegaku*5, which means I won't really be learning much except how to say English words incorrectly.
K-ONI was promised ninjas with guitars, but cute girls will do as well. Especially since I see cake in the PV (yes, I am that shallow). Since it's KyoAni, maybe the girls will even get their own adorable dance sequence that will be reproduced at conventions worldwide!--Ou-bento
I've already written about Liar Game, but it's been thirty chapters since I did, and now the story is really going places. Places that you want to be. Why? Because Akiyama is smarter and cooler than Light, Lelouch and that one Hiyama guy combined. Yes. I said it. And do you want to know why this is the case? Because he's not completely insane. That's right. A manipulative genius who doesn't want to rule the world and isn't completely centered on himself. Novel. Oh, and the annoyingly chipper female lead who's a complete idiot? She actually becomes NOT a complete idiot as the story goes on. Incredible.Characters aside, the story itself is pretty brilliant as well. Liar Game focuses on a series of "games" that people are forced to play in which they do their best to lie, cheat, and swindle as much money as they can from the other opponents. The games themselves are simple to understand, and extremely fascinating. I would love to conduct such games someday. My budget doesn't afford me to do something on such a grand scale, but maybe if I hand out candy or something...(that's not going to work). The undeniable weakness of Liar Game lies in the artwork. Everything is very plain, and proportions and perspective are off. That said, it's easy to tell what's going on, and the characters are easy enough to differentiate from each other, so I suppose the artwork is like the exact opposite of shoujo manga. Not nearly as pretty, but at least I know what's going on.If you like mind games, puzzles and a story full of plot twists, then read Liar game now. Seriously.These are some of the kind people who are currently scanning Liar Game:NullProject Liar Game--Ou-bento
The battle rages on. And by that, I mean that the flashback continues. Lots of angsty scenes and sad memories, because Ikuto is a sad, sad catboy. But that's okay. Because even though they don't get to see important stuff, we at least learn a little more about why he's moody (but not why he's interested in little girls). Dia decides to hatch again for some reason, and Amu transforms into Amulet Diamond. Fighting occurs. Skip to the important part at the end. Dia combines with Ran, Miki, and Su, and they all transform with Amu at once to create Amulet Fortune. And then for some reason Ikuto transforms into a pirate. Yes. A pirate. Seven Seas Treasure. With an eyepatch. Nyarr. A more complete and useful summary can be found here.A bride? Really? Amu's super cool transformation is a wedding dress? I suppose it's rather Japanese...and the girliest thing in the world really is to be a blushing bride. But it's still random. And...a pirate? Really? I was kinda hoping for a ninja, but I guess you can't win them all. The cat hat is cute, at least. Amu's transformation leads to some interesting possibilities, though. If all four charas can combine, can there be combinations of two or more of her various charas? Like a Ran/Miki combination (Amulet...uh...Spart) where she flies through the air and shoots musical notes at the same time? And since she can chara nari with various other charas (like Il and El), is there possibility for an Amulet Angelic Heart and Amulet Demon Heart? I wonder if all permuations of chara combinations are possible. Wouldn't that be fun?Probably not.--Ou-bento
I love food. I love it dearly. I especially adore cute foods (bento, sweets, snacks). So naturally a series with a name like "Choco Parfait" caught my attention. And to my delight, it was, in fact, about food and not some inane shoujo romance. Choco Parfait is a 4koma about two girls. One is the daughter of pâtissiers, the other the daughter of Japanese sweets makers. They have mini adventures making (and consuming) sweets, as well as doing traditional Japanese things like visiting the shrine on New Year's. And it's cute. Super cute. Practically moe (although I don't really spring for that). Check it out if you enjoy 4koma about little girls doing adorably normal things.--Ou-bento
One of the things that has been keeping me busy as of late is my work on an original comic. I'm loathe to call it "manga" as my circle isn't Japanese at all, and while our style is obviously inspired by Japanese art, it certainly isn't manga. We finished our first page today, and I am very delighted by that fact. So I'm using this blog to show it off. I hope that you find our art enjoyable, and if you so desire, please visit our deviantART account.--Ou-bento
Yes, that is a picture of a unicorn pulling a lettuce carriage through outer space. And yes, that screencap is pretty indicative of the coherency of the entire episode. Quick summary: Main is an "adorable" little girl who's trying to become an idol. Except she has zero self confidence and overwhelming stage fright. Her manager tells her to think of lettuce during her idol competition, and she winds up changing the lyrics to her song to be all about lettuce. Some bizarre producer sees it and decides to invite her to the "Cooking Idol" competition. Meanwhile, a strange race of cooking aliens (or something) send off their best chefs to find human partners on earth. One little alien dude gets sent along accidentally, but not before the alien chief presents him with a very important cookbook that will help him find his destined cooking partner on earth. The little alien dude falls into a truck of lettuce and predictably winds up with Main as his partner. Then there's a weird magical sequences where they spin around together and stuff. The end.
