Category: Anime/Manga

Boogiepop Phantom

Monday, 2 July, 2007 at 11:35 pm

I finished watching Boogiepop Phantom … sometime during the summer. I got the series for Christmas … 2005, was it? Started watching spring 2006, might have watched an episode or two last summer, watched some more episodes this spring, and finished the series a week or two ago.

In the beginning the series confused me. It seemed to me it was just trying to make it seem all intricate and convoluted and it wasn’t really going anywhere. Like it was trying to be deep, but really it was just … pointless.

When the last DVD ended, I again thought, ‘What?’ It made no sense to me! I thought, well maybe I missed something, maybe watching the series in lumps over the course of a year wasn’t a good way to watch it (duh, I wouldn’t watch Serial Experiments Lain that way, unless I wanted to break my brain), maybe I should rewatch it.

There were some notes from … someone (director? producer?) involved with the English translation that were included on the last DVD, which I read initially … then skimmed. This guy (I assume the person is a male, I don’t think the name was female, but what do I know?) was just gushing over the series … how else can I put it? He thought it was the best series in recent years, he said there was so much depth to it, that some people wouldn’t get it, that people would have to look at it again, that it’s probably best seen on a weekly basis on tv.

So I thought, okay, I guess I did miss something, I guess I should rewatch the series before I dismiss it.

But, having just read the Wikipedia Boogiepop Phantom article, what I thought was the whole plotline in the series ended up being exactly what was outlined on Wikipedia! Well okay, the timeline was a lot more jumbled than I’d realized. But basically, yeah, the series really was all about what was in the series. I didn’t miss anything. Except for the backstory that was written in a book, which was lightly touched on in the series but not enough to actually say, yeah this is what happened.

The Wikipedia article says, “[the series] has also received criticism for not addressing certain areas of the back-story,[18]leaving the viewer ‘with more questions than answers’.” You got that right! >_< But I think I want to read the book now. :) Then I’ll have to rewatch the series. XD; Yeah. Just add that on to the two series I started but never finished (Escaflowne, got halfway through, and Fushigi Yuugi, stopped two tapes from the end of the first box set) and should really rewatch.

Christmas

Tuesday, 26 December, 2006 at 2:45 pm

A computer-less weekend! Oh my!

Let’s start on Saturday. Mum wanted me to help her make the cookies, so I did that. We made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (or chocolate chip oatmeal cookies?) with some coconut thrown in ’cause Mum likes that, and “holiday nuggets.” I dunno what they are. ._. They’ve got lots of shortening and butter and sifted powdered sugar and chopped nuts, and they’re covered in powdered sugar. Very good. heehee.

Since Mum was doing other stuff (I forget what), and my elbows are I am so frickin weak, we got Mickey to hold the bowl for me while I stirred everything into dough. ehehe. And since Mickey was sacrificing his time, I thought we should put on some Christmas videos so he wouldn’t be so bored.

We watched Timmy’s Gift (Precious Moments), then It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown (saw the first and last Christmas specials on TV last week), then Care Bear’s Nutcracker Suite, I Love Lucy Christmas special, Madeline’s Christmas (that tape’s going bad ;.;), then Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol (and an added short that’s on the DVD), then Mickey’s Christmas Carol, then Brand Spanking New Doug Christmas special.

Grandpa’s birthday was the Monday (or Tuesday?) before, so he and Grandma came over for Chinese take-out to celebrate. My great aunt had them over for dinner earlier that week, too. Uncle R couldn’t come Saturday ’cause he had to work. XD So we had good eats. Then Little Women, the 1933 version with Katherine Hepburn, was on, so we watched that. Grandma could name practically all the actors. o.o But then again, I just remembered that she asked me only once where Hidek was. Hmm. It was Grandpa who asked about a dozen times during the movie, “Is that Katherine Hepburn?” *blink*

They left a little while before the movie ended, to pick up Uncle R? So Mickey popped in another tape and he, Mum, Daddy and I watched the Hey Arnold and old Doug and Edith Ann Christmas specials.

At nine Meet Me in St. Louis was on, so Mum and I watched that until 11. ^^ One of my favorite movies, wheee!

Sunday I wrapped my presents to everybody (except Mickey and Hidek ’cause Mum did that for helping her with the cookies), then made the brownies. Mum watched The Homecoming while she made the yams. I like that movie all right, but I guess at my age it just moves too slowly for me. When I’m older I’ll probably enjoy it more. I didn’t watch the whole thing. I left around the time John Boy went to the church. Oh, I guess I went on the computer over the weekend. I talked to Adam, then went to bed at midnight.

Christmas day Mum woke me up at 8:30. I got dressed, opened my Santa present ($15), then we were actually on time and left at 9. *shock* The streets were so empty. XD One of my favorite parts of Christmas. L.A. is so dead! We got to Auntie G’s, unpacked, hung around for breakfast that Tadash and Noelle and Auntie made. Mickey and I washed the dishes and Mum dried and put things away. Then we watched Hidek beat my cousin’s husband at Texas hold’em and win $5. XD; Then we opened presents. Noelle liked her present from us. :D It was a $20-bill folded into a ring and it was in a ring box. XDD Noelle Tadash and SM00 gave me a Dooney & Bourke wristlet that SM00 picked out. I like it, it’s cute and not ugly like lots of purses out there nowadays, and it’s definitely classy.

Tadash got the Axis & Allies boardgame, so the boys and aforementioned cousin’s husband and Uncle G played that. I did the money. Muahahaha, that is my role in (boardgame) life. I finally learned how to play the game. o.o My brothers had played with my dad’s game since elementary school, then Tadash has been borrowing it lately, and we never really knew how to play. ahaha. It’s a role-playing game. o.O Gotta roll dice, always roll dice, more and more dice… I’m okay. I’ve just never seen so many dice in one place outside of a game store. I think they got through three rounds of turns.

Technically the Axis (cous’ hus and Uncle G) was winning when we had to clean up for dinner. Uncle G gained a lot of land, and he had a huge army. Mickey had land, but his resources were thin. Hidek had pretty much the same as at the beginning (oh, plus 6 tanks and no transport XD) and I think Tadash had about the same as well. He called me a Nazi ’cause I thought the Axis looked like it would win. booo.

Noelle’s family left after/during dinner (after theirs, during ours, hehe). Hidek had me and Mickey play Big 3 then Egyptian War during/after dinner. Afterwards, I read League of Extraordinary Gentlemen vol. II some then had dessert and sat around listening to grownups talk while Hidek, Mickey, and second-oldest cousin did the dishes. We left soon after that, ’cause Mickey had to work today, and they were starting up The Devil Wears Prada. ;.; I missed it! I uh, also left my laptop and The Secret Garden there. *furtive glance* I was tired and just wanted to leave. ^^;; Mum picked them up from my second-oldest cousin’s husband today though.

Today I just watched my Monk season 3 DVDs (Mr. Monk and the Blackout, I couldn’t remember who the suspect was ¬.¬) and read volume 7 of Gokinjo Monogatari. Wahh, it’s over! But I really liked the extra chapter! Miwako!! XDDD Although I think I might like Mikako more than Miwako now. >.> Probably just because Mikako was the main character and you could go into her character more, as opposed to Miwako who was just a side character and didn’t get much development compared to Mikako or Yukari. :(

many nights go by…

Tuesday, 19 December, 2006 at 10:45 pm

Haven’t updated for a while. Haven’t really had anything update-worthy. I think my brain took a vacation and I haven’t really thought of any post-worthy opinions.

Saturday … uhm … I think I didn’t do anything special. Sunday I went with Daddy to the mall. He went to buy cards for New York relatives and cookies for the neighbors. I went to get 30% off a Nana manga, but Borders Express didn’t have the Nana I want. *tear* They only had 1 and 2. I finished 3 a little while ago, and there’s a bit of a cliffhanger there, so blagh I wanna read the next one really soon.

I bought Hot Gimmick volume 10 instead. I read that last night, and I just kept getting confused. Who are these characters? What’s going on? What happened? Blah. I have to reread the whole series. -.-

Monday … was nothing interesting, really. Mum stayed home because she felt a little sick, and went in to work today. Afterwards we went to the market.

Wow, I’m talking about going grocery shopping as the highlight of my day. No wonder I don’t update outside of school. *makes a face*

What else can I talk about … Oh, on my validate-all-websites’-XHTML project, I got a little further along. With [Blue Book (link to quotes site)] I switched from using html documents to php documents for the pages, just so it’s easier to update the layout. Specifically the navigation. The reason I stuck with frames for that site so long is ’cause I didn’t want to have to update the navi for every single page. I’m happier with the site now! I might actually update more often! I still have to clean out the quotes, get rid of ones I don’t like any longer.

But I suppose that’s only interesting to me. Maybe Noelle.

Um, on Christmas presents I’ve bought or put together everyone’s but SM00’s. I’m gonna go get that tomorrow. The sad thing is that both Hidek and Mickey paid up everything they owe for all the presents (I usually buy stuff and we split roughly three ways), and I’ve got only $21 cash for SM00’s present, and I want to check Borders tomorrow to see if they have Monk season 3 (40% off DVD boxsets) and Nana volume 4. Technically I have only $80 in my checking account (just because the property managers haven’t cashed the rent check yet doesn’t mean I count the $1300 that’s in there), and maybe I can ask Mum for $70 tomorrow for inputting Grandpa’s stuff into Quicken that I can deposit in the bank, and then I’ll feel better about using debit to pay for Borders stuff.

Two sentences that were toooo long. I need to get to bed.

rest your head

Monday, 27 November, 2006 at 10:18 pm

Thanksgiving was nice. Everyone but AJ and UG was there. Well, also Bachan. Sorry to drag the summary down. *furtive glance* It really was a nice day, I had a great time. I just had this thought early, before dinner when I saw Jichan, that Bachan wasn’t there. Silly, because she hasn’t been there for a couple Thanksgivings past. Oh well.

I was thinking of taking a picture of the (pool) table with all the food on it, but people were about to start lining up and I didn’t want to run to my room then stand there getting the picture while everyone else waited on me. :o

Oh yeah, a pic of my Japan Expo loot. Shall have to procrastinate on that.

Friday I just sat on the sofa with Mum and ate chips and dip while watching tv. XD Great fun.

Saturday went with Mum to Borders by Santa Monica Blvd. to buy stuff. I wanted to buy Monk season 2 for $20 but it turns out the sale was only for season 1. *shakes fist at Borders* In the e-mail they sent me, they had something covering the bottom of the pic of the Monk box, and they didn’t mention specifically season 1 so I thought it was for all seasons. :( Oh well. Mum got Sylvia Browne’s book on Jesus and I got Othello volume 5. I was going to get Nana volume 4 but they only had 1–3. grr.

O, I didn’t mention, that Tuesday before we came home I went to Borders and used a Personal Shopping Day to buy Inuyasha books and Nana 3. From maybe $48 to $43, ooh I really saved a lot. (End sarcasm.) But anyway. Cliffhanger in Nana 3! *cries* I want 4!!

Saturday night I talked on aim, then when Noelle and her fam came over (after a birthday party, waiting for traffic to lighten) I ate dinner (mmm, turkey soup! *grin*) and watched tv with them.

Sunday, went to Michael’s looking for paper for my art journal. Wouldn’t you know, they’re practically all sold out of any type of black paper. Went to Target with Mickey and Hidek. They took down the sign for the Wii (“Due to high demand blah blah blah we don’t have what you’re looking for.”) but they still didn’t have it.

Howl’s standstill castle

Wednesday, 3 May, 2006 at 11:10 pm

(First, I’d like to mention that I talked to my mom today, and she said she was looking at our city’s sanitation website where she found out that we can recycle plastics. Did you hear that? No specifications [I think it was something like 1, 2, 6 when I was a kid, lately it was 1–5], nothing, just that all-encompassing word, plastics. I can now recycle styrofoam, folks, do you realize how excited this makes me? My mom said she’s throwing out only one bag of trash every week, the trash can is so empty, and the recycling bin is practically overflowing. Oh my heart, it races.)

(On to the real interesting post.)

I finished Howl’s Moving Castle on Sunday. When I closed the book, I was grinning, the story made me so happy and thoroughly satisfied. It’s even better than the movie. Although the movie’s still good. It’s just, you know, a shortened and simplified and prettified version. And it’s a bit different than the book. I don’t know if it’s bad. It’s Miyazaki, so I’m biased. I like both the book and the movie. But I’d choose the book over the movie.

The problem I have now is, well, I finished the book! No more moving castle to read about, no Sophie and Howl to join while they go about pretending the other isn’t important. I miss the book. :( (I can’t tell if it’s sad or a sign of a good reader and a good book that I miss these characters so much.)

I just had a thought. I should go buy Castle in the Air. It’s sort of a sequel. Howl and Sophie are in it, but they’re not main characters, I don’t think. ^^’ That makes me a little happy.

I kind of wanted to point out all the differences between the book and the movie … just because. But I figure that no one would want to read it (unless they don’t mind being spoiled, or they’ve already read the book, the latter being highly unlikely). Also, I’m typing this entry up rather late, and seeing as my sleep schedule recently is already messed up enough … I shall skip the contrasting.

For now. muahahaha …