Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween! Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween!....*passes out*

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Hello Kitty has an outfit for every occasion. She LIVES for Halloween!

Must.....eat candy....must have energy...



Yes I promised a Kobato post for the past three days (or at least in my head I said I was going to post). Yet there is none. And not because of my usual laziness but because of work.

Did you know the highest pizza selling days are the days near Halloween? And that Halloween was on Saturday, one of our busiest days ANYWAY? And that most school had early dismissal parties on Friday and they all wanted pizzas? And that there was a super big football game?

Did you know that I LOST MY MIND?!

These past three days at work have been horrible to say the least. I am sure my boss made tons of money but at some points during this week I wanted to seriously drop kick people. Poor planning, lazy employees, and general chaos describe my week to a T.

So...it has been hard to actually sit down and concentrate on anime and blog. That and anime should be watched when I am happy and in a good mood. Not when I am bone tired and hating the world.

But I hope everyone who had our pizza had a good time both at their parties and at their festivals. Some people have to work on holidays to make it fun for other people. XD Just remember to be kind to the workers because inside they are GOING INSANE!

Be safe if you are still out there having fun. And no egging people's houses!

And I promise to get back on track anime blogging soon. Perhaps after I stop seeing pizza boxes and blue trays in my dreams. XD



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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Hello Kitty Online: WOW with snuggles!

We interrupt this regularly scheduled Kobato post to bring you an important announcement!

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A new way for me to waste hours of time!

Hello Kitty Online has taken over my life!




Before anyone gets on my case....yeah it's a Hello Kitty game. Hello Kitty games in general have a habit of being shall I say....childish? Hello Kitty childish SAY IT AIN'T SO?! But no, I love Hello Kitty and hate all her games. But this game...doesn't suck.

Or doesn't suck so far. It is still in Beta (Open Beta) as you can see. And no it isn't WOW or anything bloody. It is cuteness. You should know what you are getting into. If I would compare it to anything I would say Mabinogi with a hint of Maple Story.

It is like Mabinogi in the sense you do more than simple killing enemies and level up. You have the ability to farm, cook, harvest, and forge. It's more like a real life type setting that fantasy world. Or as real life as a land with Hello Kitty characters talking to you.

It is like Maple Story with the number of quests you are able to do and the cuteness of the monsters. Only the monsters do not die....they go to sleep. Nothing dies in Hello Kitty. They even blocked out the world "kill". It's pretty humorous. But yes it is Maple Story like with the whole NPC's giving you quests and the way the system is set up.

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Behold my quests! (Why yes my name is Tenchi XD)

The quest system is really quite simple. Instead of just keeping track of what you have acquired/needed for a quest it also lists where you can find the items and sometimes from what! Dude yes! No more searching for guides and getting on the wrong maps. Perhaps this game is a little "simpler" for a younger audience but I ain't complaining. Yay for me!

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Oh look, a quest for me to do! XD

There have been tons of quests so far. Many of the items you need like basic equips and clothing are rewards for completing this quests which helps out a newbie player. XD Fun for all.


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Hello Me!

This is my character (or was until I bought some new equips XD). I like the most human aspect of her instead of being a blob. So far it seems you have your basic items/weapons/clothing and if you get "special clothing" (the event items) they cover the normal/uglier clothing. Only for some item it seems. The hats don't change out but the weapons do. Which is great since there are tons of cute weapons to go over the plain wand. But you can see your ATT and DEF on this page. As long as your blood type. Because that is important ya'll.


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Say cheese!

Needless to say there are tons of Hello Kitty characters walking around in this game as well as being cute scenery. I could take a million screenies but that would be bit too much. That and I think these might be too small to begin with thus not doing the game justice. Just know there are tons of details in this game.

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Penguin love!



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Woot for leveling up!

The one thing I am not liking about this game is the lack of exp you get when you kill....I mean put asleep monsters. You don't get any! Or maybe you need to be close to the monster's level....which is impossible as how the game is set up. But in any event I have not gotten any exp from monsters. Which means all your exp comes from farming, gathering, and creating. Very interesting concept.


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Tenchi the farmer.

Being as the game just came out (or I just started playing it) I am not too familiar on the farming process. Just that I suck at it. XD But you can grow your own food which you need to make other types of food that can replenish your HP. Maybe one day I will get good at it. My only suggestion is just start off small. Don't plant 57867 plants your first run. That would be a disaster.


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Hungry pet is eating!

What's an online game without a pet as a sidekick. When I started playing a few days ago only a few people had pets. The only way to get them so far is to get them as a rare drop. I didn't get my pet card until after I turned level 10 which is when the first pet level is. As in you can't have a pet until level 10 so maybe you can't find the drops until then. She is a cute little pet but I have my eyes on a few different ones. It's all about luck.

Pets can increase your HP and ATT. They also make you fertilizer! How nice for a farmer. XD


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Doesn't it look like a Pinata?!


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Our very impressive damage.


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Someone come help us?!

As you all know Hello Kitty's birthday is coming up (....want to be in C.A.....) and this game is rather new. So in celebration of the new game and her birthday the game has tons of events going on! I am actually really impressed with all the events. There is a Halloween quest and a planned event. The main event is preparations for HK's birthday. Several quests revolve around making her a parade float.

But what I seem to be obsessed with are the Pinatas. These little suckers drop random things like special merchandise, a pet, HP foods, or coins. COINS! Coins you can take to the special party NPC to trade in for limited time items. It has become my goal to get all these items before the end of the event. XD

Like anything worth having it is a bit hard to get coins. First off if a pinata dies you are not guaranteed anything. Hello Kitty has an awesome system that when a monster is killed the items come directly to you and that seems to be the case with a Boss monster. But it's random. Several times I have gotten nothing. Then there is the factor that if you are low level monsters higher than you are around this Pinata (that doesn't attack at all) can mob and kill you. But now that I am a higher level I try to slay the monsters to keep everyone alive. It was tough at first though. Then there is the fact we were all low level and did....1 to them all. It took quite a long time. But now as we are getting higher some of us can do over 85 damage a hit so all is well. XD And it's addictive.

So...yeah. No Kobato. Because I am obsessed with the new Hello Kitty Online game. I tend to get addicted to things like this rather fast. Just glad I found out about this game before all the events were over.

The game is open beta now! So come on over and play with us. XD Just don't become obsessed like me. The world has enough crazy people in it.

I love you Kobato! Tomorrow I promise! I know, I suck. But tomorrow!


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Sunday, October 25, 2009

To Aru Kagaku no Railgun Episode 4

Today I wished I lived in C.A. I don’t often wish that (or to live anywhere else for that matter). But today I am jealous of all who live in/near LA. They had the opportunity to go to go to the Three Apples Hello Kitty event. They get an exclusive look at special Hello Kitty fan art, take part in many cool Hello Kitty events, and have access to special 35th anniversary Hello Kitty merchandise.

I AM JEALOUS!

What does this have to do with To Aru Kagaku no Railgun? Well I tried to make my own Hello Kitty kind of day by going to a shop that sells a lot of Sanrio products (always at least 25 percent off too) and go on a little spree. I put off watching this episode because I wanted to go shopping and really I didn’t have a lot of faith in it based on the last three meh episodes.

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HELLLLLLLL KITTY!!!!!!!!

I was wrong. I should have watched this episode first. Because it rocked! It is back to the show I thought it was going to be. I am sorry I had such little faith and put my desire of spending cash on useless but awesome stuff first. Next week I will actually watch this episode as soon as possible instead of finding something else to do.

Now on to fangirling and general happiness.





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Dramatic moment is special...and dramatic.

The episode starts off with the girls hiding under a blanket in a café. They are attempting to tell scary stories to each other but apparently Saten missed the memo on what a scary story is. She tells the girls about the urban legend of….The Undressing Woman! She is convinced that this is a great scary story but the other girls aren’t so sure. :( My poor Saten. I get what you were trying to sell. Sometimes scary isn’t Jigsaw (MOG I will not see that movie!) or a random psychopath in a mask carrying a knife. Sometimes scary is someone you think is normal doing something freaky. You get points for trying my misunderstood silly.

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Only powers that make sense can exit DUH!

Uiharu tries to defend her friend by pulling up the urban legend website. Kuroko thinks they are above all this nonsense since they are in Academy City and should know what is real from fake. Like obviously something that would increase your ability is fake right? I mean having an ability makes total sense but something that can increase said ability is crazy talk. Oh and someone having an ability that stops every other ability is INSANE. Total nonsense. Right everyone?

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Could this be true....let me ponder that on close up!

Cue Misaka making a FACE. She tells the girls that haha, having an ability that stops other abilities is just crazy talk. Controlling electricity and teleport make sense but not stopping electricity and teleporting! But the next day Misaka is browsing in a store and she spots an urban legend magazine. She then has a flashback. And this time the flashback is actually welcomed and makes sense to the plot!

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How dare you try to save me!

We get to see why Misaka hates Touma so much! This is the moment I have dreamed of. Okay that is a little bit dramatic but I always wanted to know why she has such hatred towards him. Now it all makes sense. At least Misaka sense. You see she was being harassed by a group of thugs (MOG thugs!!!). There were a few passer byers but none of them stopped to help and Misaka understood why they couldn’t help her. Enter Touma to come rescue what he thinks is an innocent and helpless girl. XD Yay for Touma.

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You ain't even worth attacking man!

I really loved Touma’s rescue approach. He really isn’t a confrontational person. He rather slip in and not cause a scene. He had his “I know you and let me take you out of this situation” smooth technique. But Misaka was unimpressed by his hero technique. I love how she called him out on being the wanna be cool guy and I love how he got all bent out of shape over her inability to accept help.

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I must be embarrassed when you are not suffering!

So Misaka is more upset at her would be rescue than her would be sexual harassers. Interesting logical. She decides to unleash her powers upon all the men as she declares them scum. Only Touma uses his ability and is left unharmed. Thus a love hate relationship is born. Yay for answers! XD

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Touma is always wrong. He needs to learn this already.

Misaka still tries to convince herself that Touma is not the urban legend boy with the magical ability. No, he must have some other ability that makes perfect sense. Cue Misaka running into Touma and an older lady. Misaka starts yelling but Touma manages to keep his cool and pawn off the older lady into Misaka’s care. Not before the woman starts taking off her clothes (are we seeing a pattern with the urban legends).

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What? Were you saying something important?

Touma runs off before he is labeled a pervert. A little bit too late and Misaka is twice as mad at Touma now. She is suckered with helping this lady find her car. She turns out to be a hot shot researcher but she can’t seem to locate her own car. How special is that. Oh and her research is on the AIM fields that the ability users sorta leek out of their system. Misaka is more concerned with the choice of drinks than the conversation at hand. Which you know might have been important and all but that would be crazy thinking that people should focus on such topics.

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Good thing no one is overreacting!

Elsewhere Saten, Kuroko, and Uiharu are having another little get together and call up Misaka to have her join in on the fun. When Misaka informs the group she is with a crazy person who strips the girls think she is with The Undressing Woman. And Kuroko goes insane and has a mental meltdown. It is a good episode.

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Don't say that word! NO LABELS!

Back to Misaka and her not listening to the important AIM stuff the woman is talking about. No she rather talk about the Imagine Breaker and how it is too absurd to be true. The woman tries to make sense of what his ability could be but then there is some random ice cream accident and she is force to strip again. Both stripping events might be slightly perverted but I am not bent out of shape about them. XD Classy perverted behavior I guess.

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The man just lost his eggs, show a little compassion!

Misaka takes the woman to a bathroom so she can clean her skirt in privacy. There the woman says that Misaka is acting like she likes this boy. Misaka turns all red and must deny the entire thing. She ends up finding the woman’s car and goes on her way. And by on her way I mean she runs into Touma who has dropped his precious eggs. The woman’s words keep repeating in her mind and in an effort to deny she has feelings for Touma she decides she wants to fight him. Yes, beat the love out of him!

This epic fight takes place in a field to minimize damage. Good thinking Touma. Misaka certainly pulls out all the stops on her attacks. She doesn’t use just her electrical attacks. No she makes a weapon out of sand. She created a whirlwind out of this rock like dirt. She is really serious about proving she doesn’t like Touma.

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WTF is this?!

Only none of her attacks work which make her more and more upset as the battle rages on. Near the end Touma raises her hand against her and she flinches. X_X Starts to cry. Seriously Misaka? You were just sad because you were losing right? You weren’t really scared about being slapped right? But in any event Touma pretends to be injured so Misaka won’t cry. Only that makes Misaka RAGE and try to blow him up harder. Ah true love.

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At least Touma tries to acknowledge he will always be wrong...

There is a random scene with Kuroko trying to cure Misaka with a pair of underwear. Cure her from catching the Undressing Woman disease. I try to ignore Kuroko so let’s move on.

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Misaka should wear a name tag...

The spacey woman is hard at work being a researcher (shocker). Turns out she knew who Misaka was all along and is very interested in her. Ah snap are things about to get real?!

So there we have it…an actual episode that made me happy. YAY FOR HAPPINESS! XD Hopefully it keeps up this pace and adds a bit of seriousness to the series. Not that there was much seriousness in this episode but it laid the ground work for some not so nice times. And while I love that there was a lot of Touma in this episode he doesn’t have to be in every episode. I want Misaka to shine with minor glimpses of Touma suffering. As it should be. So….yeah. Next week should be awesome. Because I said so.





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Saturday, October 24, 2009

My top 10 favorite CLAMP characters

I was going to do a post about some new XXXholic chapters. But they suck.

Okay that is slightly harsh. But just slightly. With Tsubasa ending I thought XXXholic would step it up and give us more answers. Instead the special visitor promised to us isn't very special and our boys are talking about cat virginity. Yeah. Not the stuff dreams are made of.

SOOOOOO I shall ignore the massive fail that is the current XXXholic chapters and focus on something more positive. I bring you Tenchi's top CLAMP characters! *insert cheering here*

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CLAMP characters are one big happily family...one way or another. XD


I had time to think about my favorite character's today as I drove all around town delivering pizzas. It was hard to pick just ten since there are so many characters to choose from! Why must they all be so wonderful?

But I have chosen so here we go. And yes there are some major spoilers ahead for most of CLAMP's series. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. Like serious spoilers people! Lots of spoilers! If you hate spoilers this post is not for you! But if you have read every single CLAMP series out here you should be okay. But there are spoilers in case you missed it the first time. XD





10. Kobato (Kobato)

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Say hello to the new girl!

Kobato is beautiful, clueless, and loving. So why isn’t she higher on my list? Honestly it is because she is the new girl on the block. The other characters have been around for quite a while and my love for Kobato is a new one. Perhaps in a few years she will work her way up on the list. For now she has made the list because she does seem awesome despite the small amount of time I have gotten to know her.

Kobato is from a lighter manga (or thus far anyway) so her dying isn’t that big on my worry list. That and she may already be dead. It’s easier to love characters when you don’t fear then dying all the time. XD But Kobato has tons of cute outfits which I love. She is full of innocents which CLAMP loves. And she is determined in everything she does because that is what pure hearted people do. Everyone love Kobato right now!

9. Subaru Sumeragi (X/1999)

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Destined to save the world despite having nothing to live for.

I love my angsty little Dragon of Heaven. Or according to the last manga (Or the last published manga CLAMP!!!) Dragon of Earth. Subaru doesn’t have a lot of fun in any mangas he is featured in. He loses his twin sister to his “boyfriend” in Tokyo Babylon. Said boyfriend has a cursed place on him due to his actions in Tokyo Babylon and Subaru is forced to kill the evil boyfriend and become a killer/Dragon of Earth. In Tsubasa he is a vampire being hunted by Seishirō and his twin brother Kamui is all pissy about their situation. In XXXholics Yuko alludes to the fact that Subaru hasn’t accepted her offer to grant his wish as he might not have one. Or he is truly that unhappy.

So yeah…Subaru has gotten the short end of the stick in every single series. But I love him. And want him to end up with Kamui. But since X/1999 is (was) turning out to be the second bloodiest/highest body count series under CLAMP’s belt I doubt it. But I can dream and read lovely fanfics about it. I also can be amazed that Subaru was able to function most of the time. And when he did have break downs they were real. He represented what a real man should be like, with all the strengths and weaknesses that come with being human.

8. Eagle Vision (Magic Knights Rayearth)

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Eagle Vision is too cool to dress himself.

Eagle was the bad guy who never was really that bad. He has his reasons for trying to attack Cephiro and becoming the pillar. That and you can’t really consider someone a bad guy when they were going to sacrifice themselves to protect the country they were attacking and their home world. He was more like the misunderstood savior!

I like to pretend the anime version of Magic Knights Rayearth doesn’t exist (actually I do that a lot with CLAMP anime series…). Eagle is still alive and since Hikaru is the Pillar/not Pillar he will wake up one day and all will be well. As in Eagle and Lantis become a couple. I guess I pretend to forget about that pesky manga scene where Lantis tells Hikaru he loves him. At the very least I am sure most friends can agree that Eagle loved Lantis. I am not that crazy of a yaoi fan girl.

7. Chi (Chobits)

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Are you the one for me?

I am not sure why I love Chi so much. She is just adorable and everyone has to love her. Plus she has some of the most gorgeous clothes/art work of any CLAMP character. She even rivals Sakura who appears in two manga series and have tons of outfits! Chi has an innocence about her you have to snuggle. The whole having sex with a robot is weird anyway so I am not crying any tears that Chi and her special person can’t have sex.

But it is a bit more complex because Chi is a robot. What part is her personality is program and what part is her? Chi is Chi at the end of the day and you have to love her. The end.

6. Ashura (RG Veda)

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The original MY LIFE SUCKS HARD poster boy.

So he might have accidentally killed some of his traveling companions. So he had a curse placed on him before he was even born. So he is really not a he and he has no gender and lacks naughty bits. All of these horrible things mean we must love him more. He needs our love because quite frankly his life is crap. I would say that he has one of the most tragic pasts of any CLAMP character…but he is a CLAMP character. Either you are having a great life or every single person you know is dead and it’s all your fault. So…we will just agree that it sucks to be Ashura.

Even though Ashura is a character from CLAMP’s bloodiest manga…he lives! WITH HIS PARTNER. I mean surrogate dad. Yeah we will go with that…..Even though they are the only two to make it out alive it’s still a miracle! And slightly bitter sweet and sad. But CLAMP makes up for in Tsubasa where both he and Yasha are both screwed. But hey, they get to be worshiped as gods so it can’t be sad right?

5. Sakura (Card Captor Sakura and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle)

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It's tiring changing outfits every five minutes!

You can’t have a top CLAMP character list and not have Sakura on this list. XD Some might argue she should be higher on the list. XD But this is my list! But there is a whole lot to love about Sakura. Her whole I can do this attitude when in fact…things are pretty bad and you are a powerless 10/16 year old girl.

But Sakura has never been really powerless. In both version (and possible three Sakuras) she has been portrayed as one of the strongest characters in her series. And she has gone up against some pretty powerful people. But Sakura has the power to destroy the fabric of time and space with her MEMORIES. Dude who else can say something like that? No one that’s who!

Most of the time Sakura ends up with a happier ending. Maybe not the clone Sakura but I have faith that Syaoran and company will bring back the clones. So yay for Sakura getting a happier ending than most CLAMP characters. Also I think I love every single outfit any Sakura wore. The possibilities for cosplays are endless with Sakura.

4. Kazahaya Kudo (Legal Drug)

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It's hard being so sexy...but he does it for us. Thank him.

If you are asking who Kazahaya is….I hate you. But I should hate CLAMP more for making Legal Drug forgettable. And not finishing it like X/1999. But I shall save my ranting for later. XD The point is that even though Legal Drug is only 3 volumes I think Kazahaya is adorable and needs a hug. Not much is known about his side story. There aren’t dead bodies lining in Legal Drug though so I think his past would be more manageable than say Ashura’s.

But I love Kazahaya’s interesting hair and the way that Rikuo picks on him and the way he has an ability that is interesting and not…that bad. XD Just thinking about Kazahaya makes me think of Fai and Kurogane…only the exact opposite. Kazahaya also has a bit of Watanuki in him with the spazzing over the crazy stuff in his life and I approve of that. XD

3. Hikaru Shidou (Magic Knight Rayearth)

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Mokona loved her first!

Ah Hikaru. The original girl who carried around Mokona and saved it/her from being smashed by a bully. She was a shortie with attitude. She thought she was playing the hero but instead of saving the princess she killed her. How fluffy is that? Then Hikaru tries to redeem herself in the second part of the series but ends up becoming the pillar, the person she killed. But since Hikaru is innocent and only uses the happy side of her brain she figures out a solution that saves everyone and she is free to be Hikaru still YAY!

Hikaru spends a lot of time doubting herself and her ability. Fuu and Umi also feel bad about the whole killing the princess thing but Hikaru is more sensitive to the entire situation. That and she is drawn to Lantis, the brother of said dead princess. In the anime her doubt manifest itself into one of the main villains of season two. That's is how bad she feels! X_X Hikaru is a bit of a cock blocker for Eagle but I love her anyway. She is a very earnest girl who tries hard at everything she does (just like every CLAMP heroine). She may be old school but that is how I roll!

2. Kamui Shirō (X/1999)

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He eats emo for breakfast then cries about it later.

Kamui. My dear little broken stabbed Kamui. I know you are moody and hard to love at times but deep down you are a wounded butterfly who is being molested and flung around by your best friend. Clearly you are not in the best frame of mind most of the time as shown by your propensity to hold people’s dead heads. Everyone Kamui has ever talked to is dead or in danger of dying. He lacks people skills because of that fact and probably because he never really had a father figure and his mother was too busy being on the run to let her kid be a kid.

Kamui is the definition of the reluctant hero. His fate was decided before his mother even had sex. X_X Can you imagine something so creepy? He has to leave the only two friends he has in the world so their mother can explode into a million pieces and allow his mom to live until he is 15. So she can die in a horrible blaze to protect the world for global warming. He gets back to town and acts distant to his two friends because he knows his track record when it comes to people. Then his friend’s dad and aunt both go splat. So Kamui tries to change up this plan and love his friends again and protect the world. He is rewarded with his bestest friend cutting off his other bestest friend’s head. Yay for Kamui’s life?

My poor sad Kamui. The pain just keeps going on and on. His best friend is trying to kill him and his decision to save the people of Earth means the Earth will eventually die. But not before most of his friends will go squish. And Kamui is not really emotionally strong enough to handle all this pressure. No human being should be. Who knows how Kamui would have saved the world HAD THE SERIES FINISHED! But I think he was doing the best he could do given the fact he was boned from the start.

I tend to pair Kamui with Subaru instead of Fuma. I think Kamui is so much like younger Subaru it is scary. I don’t think that if Fuma lives he will be able to put aside all the horrible things he did. Kamui might be able to but not Fuma himself. Subaru is the more stable choice and hasn’t tried to kill Kamui 68778 times. So yeah…yay for that pairing and WTF to them being twins in Tsubasa!

And now…for my number one pick…someone completely out of left field……

1. Fai D. Flourite (Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle)

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Best character EVER!

Was there any doubt? Surly there wasn’t doubt right people?

Like most CLAMP characters my beloved Fai has a very sad back story. He was born and was automatically blamed for anything that ever happened in his country. All because he was a twin. Instead of just killing the twins they were locked in a tower system where they wouldn’t age/age slower and were separated. Oh and this tower was placed outside the country’s walls where the graveyard was. Fai got to experience every single person in his country being flung over the wall. What a lovely sight it must have been. Only not.

Then my lovely Fai thought he was the cause of his brother’s death and made a pact with the devil to bring back said brother. Only he was a confused child at the time and didn’t realize he was being played by Fei Wong Reed. He was taken to a safe place only for that to become a death trap as well. He had several awesome curses on him and eventually went down the path that Fei Wong reed set for him: joining up with the Tsubasa crew and attempting to bring back his brother.

Since my lovely Fai had a wonderful childhood he tried to keep himself distant from his traveling companions. Meaning he put on happy fake smiles and never talked about himself. It was pretty obvious what he was doing but only Kurogane had the balls to say something to Fai from day one. Sakura mentioned a few times that she wanted Fai to be really happy but Kurogane always demanded more from Fai. It was almost like Kurogane wanted Fai to be himself. XD Because they are in LOOOOOVE.

Out of all the characters in Tsubasa Fai changed the most. He changed from tag along but actual “inside” character to group mommy to indispensable group member/lover. Yes Fai had a better idea of what was going on the entire series that even Syaoran himself. But everyone was able to convince Fai he was a victim in all this craziness and he was not to blame.

That and Fai lived! I think that is the best part about the entire series. I really thought Kurogane and Fai were going to die to save the kids. But they got to live and the kids died WOOHOO. Okay not really woohoo but still. Kurogane and Fai lived and they are going to bring the original kids. Fai didn’t get to bring back his brother but deep down I think he knew that was impossible. Fai learned he wasn’t responsible for his brother’s death and survived losing an eye/becoming a vampire/fighting Fei Wong Reed. That and he gets to live with Kurogane! It can’t get much happier than that!

Fai is such an interesting character. There are many layers to his lies and reasoning behind things. He tries to pretend he doesn’t care that much about his fellow travelers but he is the one who bonded to them the fastest. He tried to lighten the mood when things got rough and he pretty dependable despite his lack of magic using skills. He teased Kurogane to keep him from finding out the truth about his past. But soon it became more than that and Kurogane and Fai are the best of friends now…if not lovers.

Sometimes I thought Fai’s outfits were more awesome than Sakuras. Yeah I said it! But he had fun with his costumes and seemed suited for traveling around places. The multiple outfit changes worked on him. XD

Fai and his fluffy coat touched my heart from the moment he landed in front of Yuko. He was a bit different than most CLAMP characters and didn’t fall into one stereotype. He wanted to save someone but he needed saving. He had magic powers that rivaled most characters in the series but for the most part he was unable to use them and had to become useful in different things. He was the liar of the group but he wanted to tell the truth more than anyone. He wanted to die but was saved all the time.

In short…it is hard to put into words what I love about Fai. Or what I love the most about Fai. Probably everything. He was a tragedy waiting to happen and got saved by someone who despised his type. He ended up risking his life to save the kids he was meant to betray. He provided most of the humor for the entire series and was at the center of the most sadness. He was the most realistic character in my mind.

I love Fai. He wins no matter what! If you want more of an explanation read the series for yourself and experience the wonderfulness that is Fai.

So that is my list. Yes there are tons more characters that deserve special mention but I had to narrow down the list to just 10. Most CLAMP characters have something to love about them (except the obvious bad guys like Fei Wong Reed who might turn on to not be a bad guy so…) so it is hard to just choose ten. But these are my ten and I am sticking to them.

Thank you CLAMP for making such wonderful characters for me to love and feel bad for. I would love you more if….well you know. But you are good at making memorable characters that we want to the see at the END of a series. Thank you. Now get back to work!





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Friday, October 23, 2009

SAW Six: To see or not to see. Make your choice.

No. Just no.

Someone remind me of last year's failtastic SAW movie. Please. Before I do something stupid and see the movie on Monday. Luckily I am not special enough to waste 10 dollars on a movie that will probably fail. But I might still have enough stupid in me to waste 5 dollars.

How do I know all this?

Because I've played before.


Beyond this point may lie spoilers from previous SAW movies. Do you risk spoiling the past 5 movies or do you ignore this post and the rantings of a crazy person? Make your choice.

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Is finding out the meaning behind the movie poster a reason to see the movie?


Reasons to see SAW VI:

-To see if Hoffman gets tested. At the end of SAW 4 or the beginning/end of SAW 5 Hoffman gets a tape from the now dead John. It said that he would be tested. We have yet to see this test and Hoffman gets to dance around killing people and not following the rules. Hoffman needs to die. Everyone else did.

-To see if Gordon is still alive. Yes I am clinging to this hopeless idea. Leave me be.

-Perhaps Jill will actually follow the rules (if she is the one testing). This is a stretch but I would like to see a return to the SAW rules.

-The games look a lot more complicated.

-To see how many more cops are left on the force to finish this case.

Reasons to avoid SAW VI:

-Is a 6th movie of anything good? Seriously?

-It looks like Jill plays a big part in this movie. And Jill sucks. And I am tired of John running around and having 586786 apprentices. It was better when it was just Amanda.

-Too many "test subjects". Saw II had a lot of test subjects but most of them got a decent amount of screen time. SAW V had 5 and I can't tell you anything about them. That's because Hoffman and Strahm spent most of the movie trying to dodge/get the other. It took away from the game.

-If John is dead I doubt the rules will be followed. Because Hoffman sucks.

-It might end with the promise of a SAW VII which truly would be too much.

-How do you have a movie about a main character who is dead and not magically going to come back to life?

-I think this series is flashbacked out. I mean, are we going to see cut scenes of John going to the store and buying power drills and nail guns next? It's almost like every second of his life has been on the screen and yet there are still more flashbacks!

So....yeah. I am conflicted. To see or not to see? The choice might be already made for me as no one has asked to see it with me yet. I don't do going to the movies alone. Perhaps everyone around me is smart enough to bail on this series. So do I become the nagging friend/relative or do I read the spoilers and move on with my life?

What would Jigsaw do?


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Thursday, October 22, 2009

Convention Memories: The good, the hilarious, and the stupid

Despite AWA being over for a month now I am still suffering from post con depression. Perhaps if work wasn’t so…….SPECIAL I wouldn’t have to dream about running back to those four wonderful days without work. But it is and I am. Woe is me.

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Reporting for cheer up duty!

In an attempt to bring some anime convention fun back into my life I have decided to sit down and write down some of my funny convention moments. Just thinking back to random/crazy times is enough to put a smile on my face. Plus memories are free!

So come join me in my magical walk down memory lane. Personally I find it fun to read people’s convention experiences. I can either laugh at their fun moments and sympathize with their WTF moments. But I will try to keep the WTF moments to a minimum as this is supposed to be a lift Tenchi up post. That and funny stories are more amusing that sad MOG rage stories.





-Seeing the hotel from the highway but not knowing how to get from the main streets to the hotel. This has happened at multiple conventions to multiple people who all had maps!

-The fire that wasn’t at one AFO. It was a smoke machine that set it off. The fire was not the funny part. It was when we found out the safety measures the Wyndham has in place in case of a fire: they seal off the fire affected portion of the hotel with a metal gate. It was funny at the time and really funny now but yeah…that is so dangerous. But no one was hurt and everyone ended up outside in front of the hotel with the main street all staring at us and the entire crew from Rainbow Bright.

-I know I just said this one recently but the missing sandwich at AWA. Someone on our floor ordered room service as we saw the dirty room service tray outside their room. It had three uneaten sandwiches on it. I went up to the room twice and both times the sandwiches were still on the tray. Hours later I went up to the room a third time and the tray was there but not the sandwiches.

-Scraping Green Tea Pocky on my sleeping friend’s teeth. That stuff is nasty. We bought it because we thought it was mint. It wasn’t. Me and another friend took a huge bite of not mint pocky. Other friend laughed. Thus her teeth got scrapped and she woke up to the most awful taste in her mouth. Sleep with one eye open at conventions. Or maybe this is why people don’t sleep at conventions….

-At one convention we were near the ice machine AND the elevator. Such fail. In the middle of the night we heard a lot of banging and people screaming. Being the awesome mature 18/19 year olds we were we started banging back on the wall and screaming “stop having sex!!!!”. This went on for quite a while and we were amused. The next morning we found out that there were people trapped between floors on the elevator. And they were calling for help. So we were screaming at people trapped in an elevator. We are awesome. Or scum bags.

-When we went to one of very first conventions we decided to play it safe (or dorky) and bought walkie talkies. This in theory sounded like a cool idea. Until I went to use the walkie talkie in my group and I could hear myself….in my friend’s bag that I offered to carry back to the hotel. Did I mention we are awesome?

-One of my friends has a birthday that usually falls on AFO. This year I decided we needed cake to celebrate her birthday. It could be said I was more excited for cake than the birthday girl. So we set off in our search and it is decided that we would go right. Because going left would be the end of the world (which might not be an exaggeration if you have knowledge of Orlando traffic). We went EVERYWHERE looking for a store looking for some damn cake. It got to the point where I was going to just go across the street to the big McDonalds and put candles in some ice cream. We head back to the hotel (never turning left as it was a big loop) and right next to our hotel…was a grocery. The entire time the cake was right there….

-Kids. Drinking alcohol underage is BAD. If you are going to do so, do it in a place that is like 10 minutes away from your parents they can take care of you when things inevitable go really wrong. That being said…I had my very first taste of vodka at an anime convention. From a stranger. And afterwards I could see through walls. Sure it was only one sip but still. WALLS PEOPLE!

-When you room with 9 people (ah to be young again) there is barely room to stand let alone privacy. I felt the urge to change my clothes one day but someone was in the shower and I was feeling impatient. I decided to go change in the closet. No jokes people! So I get my clothes, go in the closet, and start undressing. Until I step on a hand. A human hand. On the floor of the closet. There was a male friend in the room at the time. The expression on his face when I came flying out of the closet and screaming bloody murder was probably priceless. I say probably as I was busy LOSING MY MIND. Turns out it was the 9th person who had come late to the con and was sleeping in the only available space…which was the closet. So the lesson you shall take away from this story is every inch of convention space is occupied by someone. Always.

-At our very first anime convention my then crush..I mean male friend couldn’t attend. That and my best friend’s dad was footing the bill so I could see him not wanting to bring along a teenage guy that might left unattended with three teenage girls. So we were in a suite with the dad in one room, a living room/kitchen area, and then our room. We had two beds. I had a bright idea to push the beds together and claim the crack. Later that night we pretended that our friend (my now husband) was hiding in the closet. We had a conversation with closet friend about tons of inappropriate topics like how he wanted us to strip for him and how there was weird stuff all over his hands (keep in mind we were 16//17 thus this immature behavior makes a bit more sense). Anyway we talked about tons of “naughty stuff”. Comes to find out that my friend’s dad shared the vent with our room. And heard every single damn sentence.

There are no words to describe my shame. No words.

-During on Jacon my friends decided they wanted to sleep. Silly them. I on the other hand was taking joy on saying random things to keep them on their toes. But suddenly something random I said turned into a semi serious conversation. “What was Adam thinking when he was naming animals? Cat, dog…..chinchilla? Seriously what was he on? Was he just trying to make fun of the poor chinchillas? And platypus? Yeah God was probably regretting his decision to let Adam pick the names. And instead of ignoring my random thoughts all of my friends decided to participate in this fun conversation at three in the morning. That is the time of day when great thoughts flow freely.

-Don’t sit on the furniture! Yes that was screamed at us by a zealous hotel worker. We were minding our business at AFO, trying to take up as little space as possible. We were sitting under the fake fireplace like thingy thing. The thing is made of wood. Granted it is not built to be sat on but it isn’t some glass structure. Home girl comes by and told us to NOT sit on the furniture and GLARED. Like mom glaring. We dramatically moved two inches so we were no longer sitting on the structure. And when home girl left we got right back on the furniture. It probably wouldn’t have been so funny if she hadn’t used the word furniture. Because furniture is made for sitting on. This year at AFO we saw some young attendees sitting on the same structure. Hopefully they made it out alive.

-Take your meds. Or else you might be swinging around a Hiraikotsu in the hotel room. While your friends were sleeping. Or were. XD But looking back now that scene was rather funny. Surprising but funny.

These are just a few of my convention memories. I see I mostly focused on the non anime aspects of conventions which is weird. But that just goes to show you a convention is only as fun as you make it. So never go to a convention alone. You will be missing out on the best part of the convention: having a great time with your fellow anime friends. XD





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Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Kobato Episode 3

This post would have been up sooner but I was at the mall spending my birthday money. Yeah that’s right be jealous at my ability to locate every single piece of Hello Kitty merchandise in my local mall. I guess the only upside with people thinking I look 16 is I can buy all the Hello Kitty stuff I want and no one blinks an eye. But yeah, it was a very Hello Kitty birthday and shopping day. Yay me for not buying reasonable stuff with my money.

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Rain rain go away....

But here is the post. Which I might add will be posted earlier than normal despite my shopping trip. But next week I am not sure what will happen. There is a rumor that I might have to wake up early (as in actual early and not 11 am like I think early is) so I might have to actually get sleep. So I will either have to motivate myself to do the blog really early so I can go to bed…or wait until Friday after I am done being a zombie. But I plan on Wednesday like usual. Then be a zombie for the next 3 days.

But that is next week! I should be talking about this week and Kobato. So on we go to my sad attempt to not talk about the manga . Really I did try.





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Why I am always in trouble?!

Kobato is happy looking at her bottle…and nearly drops it. She saves the bottle but Ioryogi ends up in the mud (where he spends most of the episode). Suddenly Sayaka is there and she takes Kobato to her new home? She introduces Kobato to her friend Chitose who runs a small apartment complex. Kobato is thrilled to meet such a nice lady and live in such an awesome 10x10 room with nothing but a suitcase and an angry plushie. Kobato spends time dodging rain drops, borrowing umbrellas from everyone in town, and getting made fun of by Fujimoto. Fujimoto spends most of his time telling Sayaka not to trust Kobato, that Sayaka will just get hurt again. During one of her lost umbrella adventures Kobato meets up with a girl named Mutsuki. Mutsuki likes sweets, giving out umbrellas, and her clueless classmate. Kobato spends more time getting wet in the rain, getting picked on by Fujimoto, and running into Mutsuki way too many times to be natural.

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Why do you need so many umbrellas?!

One day Mutsuki witnesses her classmate walking home with a girl and she gets upset. Kobato is confused on why her new friend is upset. She receives a mattress from Chitose’s twin Chobits kids and uses it to plot out her attack plan to get Mutsuki’s candy. She comes up with…cornering said kid and demanding he walk under an umbrella with Mutsuki. Mutsuki and the boy turn red and boy confesses he doesn’t have a girlfriend. Then the most romantic umbrella sharing scene happens in the history of anime. Kobato doesn’t think it’s that romantic but Ioryogi tells her this is how humans doing their mating ritual. Kobato repays Ioryogi for his information by dropping him in another puddle. Across the street a certain angel senses something when Kobato walks by. By angel I mean the main character from Wish and their love interest. But who cares about that random fact when Kobato has earned another piece of candy. THE END!

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Why hello there minor CLAMP crossover character. You get no introduction! The end.

This episode was our first taste into filler land in regards to Kobato. But only a partial filler. They also tried to cram as many random events from the manga into the anime. At times the pacing was making me dizzy and it felt a bit disconnected. And yet this all this information they added in…I think they left out the most important “side story” that needs to be mentioned.

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I wouldn't want to be a complainer like Fujimoto....

Yeah I am a complainer. :( But since they are changing the events in the manga to better suit the anime perhaps the very important side story will be mentioned next episode. And the sorta important side story that is kinda fueling the manga right now. But the VERY important side story needs to be mentioned sooner. By next episode or else!

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How did you know I was homeless......

So Kobato is no longer living in a tube. Much rejoicing. How she came about not living in the tube anymore was meh. Sayaka just went lalala let’s go to your new place that my friend owns. ER…just no. I might have selective memory as Ioryogi and Kobato just showed up at Chitose’s apartments (MMM Crossovers anyone?). So in the end does it matter if they randomly showed up on their own or Sayaka used her magic ball to realize that Kobato is living in a park tube? Probably not. It will take away from the GASP Chitose and Sayaka are friends thing but meh. That wasn’t really important to get all wiggy about.

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She is content with what she has which is positive. Silly but positive!

But yes Kobato now has a place to live. With her suitcase, stuffed animal, and magical bottle not filled with candy (I seriously can’t believe they are really going to call it candy X_X). Her suitcase is magical as it will hold about 15 different outfits and hats for Kobato to wear. When I look around my house and see all the stuff I own….yeah. It’s hard to imagine only owning enough stuff for a suitcase and a bag. Of course I am not a magical being…..

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Umbrellas for all!

This episode revolved around umbrellas. And people giving Kobato free things. I think that Ioryogi hit the nail on the head when he said that Kobato was here to heal others, not get healed herself. Even though Ms. Kobato has her OWN UMBRELLA she kept leaving the house without one. In the course of this 22 minute episode she got three umbrellas, a mattress, and two bags of treat. Dude someone teach me how to look nice and innocent, I want free stuff. But yeah…the umbrella stuff was a little bit too much for me. It was almost like the episode was a commercial for the national weather system than Kobato. XD

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I must fix this situation that I don't understand!

So ignoring the parade of umbrellas this episode introduced us to the first filler friend of the week. Say hello to Mutsuki, the girl who runs in the rain and has a crush on her best friend. She’s a little bit like Yuzuriha from X/1999 in personality and appearance. She is full of energy and wants to do it herself. However she does not have a cute spirit dog and the boy she likes is actually her age.

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Call me a cynic but sharing an umbrella is not romantic. Sometimes it can be dangerous.

Her issue is a small one (which I think all of the healed hearts will belong to small issues as Kobato can’t handle….BIG THINGS). She likes a guy. She doesn’t tell the guy she likes him and he walks home with another girl. Clearly her heart is broken. I kinda….feel bad for the guy. He is painted almost like the bad guy when really he was never told anything. Which he needs to get use to since he has a penis, that he is always wrong. XD

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All is well! Nothing more to see here folks.

So how does Kobato heal Mutsuki’s heart? She totally misunderstands why Mutsuki is sad and almost drop kicks the boy into spending time with Mutsuki. Kobato and her confused self thought that Mutsuki was sad that the boy wasn’t walking under the umbrella with her when everyone else on the planet knows that Mutsuki was jealous. And since the boy liked Mutsuki back things worked out (because if he said WTF I am out of here it might have ruined the episode). Now….I can see why Kobato thought that is what Mutsuki wanted. If we view Kobato as an alien with no knowledge of how humans interact on Earth her conclusion actually makes sense. That and Kobato is lalala innocent and carefree and thinks only about the small issues. Yes Kobato managed to heal her heart…but she still doesn’t know why. XD I guess it would be more serious, that Kobato really isn’t learning about human behavior and she will get lucky each time she heals a heart. But since this series should be fluffier than most CLAMP series I will accept Kobato and her random guesses and how cute she looks when she gets it right. I mean, at least her heart is in the right place. XD

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We will blind you from these interesting tidbits by throwing two cute crossover characters you way. Have a futon instead.

I would just like to briefly mention something to the viewers who do not read the manga. Mutsuki gave Kobato a few treats when she runs into her again (because she is running out of umbrellas ya’ll). But did Kobato eat those treats? No she didn’t. Kobato has been offered food before in the manga and hasn’t accepted it/eaten it. It has always been Ioryogi. Just bringing that to your attention.

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Stop squishing me!

There was minimum Fujimoto in this episode. They left out his rude futon comment from the manga which painted him in a bad light. But since they took directly from the manga the cheek pinching scene I am fine with that. XD

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Will they all be different colors? Like Skittles? Taste the rainbow!

So our episode ends with Kobato in awe that she earns another piece of candy (seriously…..) and Ioryogi getting dropped into another puddle. Kobato gets a little yelled at and a bad mark….and there is someone in the distance. Someone who thinks the air feels different because Kobato is around. Why it’s Kohaku from Wish.

Yeah……that was a bit early. And more importance was placed on Kohaku sensing Kobato than anything that has happened in the manga thus far. So…is the anime going to focus more on combining both Kobato and Wish? Or am I speaking too soon as the manga is going AS SLOW AS MUD. Well if it’s going slow as mud they really wouldn’t know what is going on with Kohaku and her(his) more proportional man Shuichiro in the manga.

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Someone sensing something in CLAMP? SAY IT AIN'T SO!!!

But….it was nice seeing Kohaku again. Even if she(he) is less ambiguous now Kohaku is still cute. And Shuichiro is less scary and more…modern looking. That is bound to happen since the manga came out over 10 years ago. Art styles change and I think this time it’s for the better. But Kohaku and company better not overshadow Kobato and her awesomeness.

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Beware the demon dog!

So that’s about it for this lovely random episode. Perhaps we will get into some of the bigger plot points next episode. And maybe Kobato won’t be blasted through the air as much. See ya next Wednesday (if I don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn for work….).





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