They told me they were 17!

It probably wouldn’t appear to be so to many people, but Petite Princess Yucie deals with quite a bit of psychological analysis. What else do we expect from Gainax? Of course, the pedophilic content was tantalizing, but underneath that sweet sweet succulent surface is a fairly complex mesh of relationships that could very well send Carl Jung looking for phallic symbols to smoke.

First is Yucie. Our token heroine, who is unique as she lacks the beorgois attitude that seems to plague all the other girls with proper upbringing. The only exception would be Cocoloo, but she’s got issues of her own. As many of you know, Yucie was raised in the countryside by a single father, a former knight, who’s protective nature burdens our young heroine with a sense of duty and initiative. With no mother figure to compete against for her father’s love, she ultimately finds no attraction to the womenly arts like sewing, magic and tea parties. During her princess training, her only skills involve physical labor. Her first love interest: The prince, Arc. A warrior like her father.

Next is Glenda. She is the demon princess, and a skilled magic-user. In her case, the role of father and mother had been reversed. Her father, the demon king, is pathetically sensitive and unmanly. During her upbringing, her mom has always worn the pants in the relationship. Glenda ultimately comes to respect her mom, who has become not only her role model but the first hurdle in winning the monopoly on her father’s affection. To catch up to her mother she always erects a tough front and tries very hard to impress, which leads to hilarious antics and ends poorly in her favor. Deep down inside, she knows this is her weakness, but she will never admit it, lest it be known that she takes after her father. Her first love interest: The frog prince. A frail girly man.

Elmina of the Celestial Realm has spent her entire life ‘being’ the best, because anything less than perfection would seemingly disgrace her old and stern father. Watching Yucie’s father being proud of his daughter for just ‘trying’ her best shatters the walls of strictness that she imposes upon herself. A bit of reality check is late in coming; but eventually helps her stand up to the source of her depreciating self-worth: her father. Her first love interest: The old and stern Lord of Rockwell Manor. He even comes with white hair and a beard, like her… father. Noticing something?

Cocoloo had a strange life. She is from the ghost realm, so she tends to see and talk to things that aren’t there. As transparent as this will sound, Cocoloo tries not to stand out in crowds much like a ghost. She’s come to develop a shy and introverted personality from her quiet nature. Her first love interest: Yucie, the only girl outside of the ghost realm to acknowledge her, whereas she would be a passing shadow to others.

Beth joined the show late and therefore has little character development. It’s pretty clear that she’s distrustful of others, close-minded, and possesses a self-destructive personality. She sports a lone-wolf behavior most of the time, and only reveals bits of emotions when she’s with her love interest: Cocoloo — she is the only character in the show who can quietly listen to someone. Yes, Beth is a hippie with anger issues. Her father’s a tree for God’s sake.

You can tell they put a lot of thought into each character’s background and resultant personality traits. So what are you waiting for, I advice you buy it today.

As always, my opinions are available uncensored on the net, because children don’t know how to use the Interweb. I do believe that is a proper noun, so I’ve capitalized it.

During the bright sunny days of winter, I like to stroll through the meadows of my childhood, and pluck flowers from the desert wasteland dirt I once called home. I then press it between the sheets of the latest John Grisham novel and adorn them on my oak bookshelf so the aroma can waft throughout the house as the flower rots. Like most Americans, I live the American dream. I wake up early to a day of gratifying hard work and meager pay, then come home to my red-brick white-picket fenced house, and sit on my tire swing until I grow wary of the smell of smog. I have running water and a toilet that flushes, what more could I ask for? Manga.

There are only two things more important to me than manga: family and food; and I’m not completely certain of the latter. I like to involve myself in politics for shits and giggles, but when an issue severely affects my way of life; or more importantly, my manga… then I get mad. If SOPA really will hinder me from downloading manga, then people must die. I like to start from the top.

Couple days ago my pre-order of Lon’s best of CD came. Lon is a singer on Japanese video site Nico Nico Douga who does Vocaloid songs and many collaborations with other Nico Nico artists. Many of her songs are Kagamine Len and Rin with her ability to smoothly switch between them. She’s known for her little boy voice and many of her hits get millions of views. Her works include Remote Control, Hanging Garden, and GHOST which are also on the disc. A preview can be found on Nico Nico Douga along with Lon’s video list that has some of the included songs.

Bonus features include a strap for sticking on a keychain or apparel and a small mousepad both with designs of Lon’s character. Insert has lyrics and credit pages as expected. Releases such as these that have some of the songs with Vocaloid origins show human vocals can be as good if not better than the original.

EhNani here helped introduce me to this music quite a while back…all your fault. Thanks.

It can be bought on Amazon or many sites that sell similar music.

It’s so easy to leave manga around wherever, run out of space from having too many, or just not enough room among other personal belongings. Storing on a wall can add more space and create creative ways to show off or to make a more pleasant environment. The one above in the image can be found here on a site called Etsy. Browsing the site will lead to many other designed goods and many sellers at the site even offer custom work.

Give the appearance of manga on the wall without something holding it there with the Conceal or Z Shelf wall shelves by Miron Lior. The designer’s site is Flash based, so the items can’t be linked to directly but one can select the times in the shop tab to find where to buy. Conceal is the small and inexpensive one that doesn’t show the shelving and Z Shelf has a zig zag design that holds the books on their side. Slip the cover around the metal bit and there are small parts that hold the cover from opening. Always remember to find the studs in the wall to make sure the shelving is held tightly to the wall.

Bed readers can enjoy bedside lighting with easy access to their reading with the Lili Light. One half of it stores while the other half has the light that turns on and off if there is a book laying above it. Works as a bookmark without having to stick something inside your manga and has a manual switch if you don’t want to lay a book there for extended periods of time.

If looking for something custom or homemade, try out this tutorial on how to make your own upside down shelf. There’s five steps and the tutorial author even suggests glueing toys or small things to finish off the illusion.

by Miwa Shirow

I hate Vocaloid, and its many abnormal hair colored incarnations. I hate it so much that I could puke. So explain to me… why nearly eight gigabytes of my iPod is occupied by Hatsune Miku and her Nazi friends? Why more than 240$ of my hard-earned paychecks has gone to purchase of synthetic vocal collections? Why I waste many hours out of my week scanning Nico Nico Douga for new songs and videos of that little virtual cunt? But more importantly, why do I cry myself to sleep every night…?

I have a German friend, whom I will refer to as “ribbon”. Now ribbon and I see eye to eye on an intellectual level. We have long engaging talks through the night on topics ranging from the health of the American economy to which child star we would like to bang. However, he revealed to me on one such night a certain anime series he was looking forward to for the New Year, and now we are no longer friends.

But that’s not what I wanted to write. Yesterday, I told ribbon to watch an ONA called “Ontama” since I thought the show was fairly entertaining and cute. He looked it up on youtube and told me that it was a children’s show and that the girl was too young. I was taken aback by the statement “too young” because as far as I know, I don’t watch anime to get a stiffy. He explained to me that is the only reason he watches anime. And also why he loves K-on.

Now, how do these two off-tangent blurbs tie together? Well, the anime he was looking forward to for January 2010 is none other than So-Ra-No-Wo-To. I took it to be nothing more than K-on! with less tea-time and more hay rides. Ribbon sees it as more K-on with less music. Well, at least we agree that it’s going to be another K-on! On the other hand, perhaps we’re both wrong and it is actually something worth watching. Whatever.

You guys suck.

More importantly, one of my good friends from way back is going to jail for child porn. Let’s wish him luck, wherever the court trials lead him. If you liked K-on, then you’ll probably be joining him in a few years. Say hi for me, you sheeps.

Oh yes, by the way, I’ve done gone and bought me one of them fancy television sets. I now have a use for the PS3 sitting in my closet.

Yes, my room is that dark.