A life description about the mangaka Aito Yuuki and his assistant Ashisu Sahoto.
Aito-san doesn't understand the feelings of the characters on his stories. So he asks Ashisu to help him. Ashisu would do everything for the work. She would even grope her own breast so he will know how it feels like?!

The Habit?! The Pervert?! Can we understand them? That's the comedy of a mangaka life.

The manga alternates between the standard style and the 4koma.

Kenn's Comment: If you recognize the art style, then good on ye lassie/laddie. Hiroyuki also the author of Doujin Work, which got animated some many moons ago. I've also featured a 東方 doujin of his many moons ago as well, which you can find here.

Anywho, it's a fun read. Aito's antics and unbarred honesty and desires really make this series what it is. The characters all have their little quirks, which really makes them a loveable bunch. Aito and his panty obsession, Aishu and her love of odd-looking 'cute' mascots, as well as Mihari's love-hate relationship with the main man (and her backfiring plans) . Many more colourful characters join the cast as the story goes on, giving this light-on-story, character driven story more fun people to play with.

This one is from a week or two ago.






Title: Bad ∞ End ∞ Night
Producer: ひとしずくP，やま△
Art: 鈴ノ助
PV: TSO
Genre: Not even sure...pop?
Vocaloid: 初音ミク，鏡音リン・レン，巡音ルカ，GUMI, ガクポ, KAITO, MEIKO

Kenn's Comment:  Using 8 of the Vocaloid in one song is impressive in it's own right, though there are some of the 8 that are only used in the choruses. For the most part, it's maybe...3-4? Miku, Rin and Ren are the ones I hear coming up most often. Not that it's a bad thing or anything, just not...what 8 could be.

Anywho, the song's melody reminds me a lot of something MachigarritaP might do (I spelt his name wrong). It gives it a bit of a creepy-feel to it. The PV is pretty amazing and the art (character art) is wonderful.

Beat has always dreamed of being the Golden Hero of Totia. He made a pact with his best friend Ricercare (Rice for short) to join forces to annihilate the demon king in order to achieve this aim. Yet a twist of fate causes him to abandon his goals and fight alongside Rice to protect the demons. Just how will they fare against the entire nation of Totia? And can Beat protect Rice from the hero of Totia before it's too late? Cute and heart-warming, this amusing five-volume series also includes interesting side stories rich with magic and beautiful art.

Weej's 4 Reasons Why You Should be Reading This:

1. It has a nice, uncomplicated, heartwarming story.
2. The mini-dragons are adorable *kya*
3. The art is absolutely gorgeous.
4. The characters occupy archetypical roles, but each have their own quirks and is effectively used. There isn't, however, a great deal of back story that's put into the series.

She also makes a little mention of it in this post, though it's more or less regurgitated here.

This post is Weej Approved.

*weej says: haha i approve

It's only been like a year since I last posted one of these. I've been taking photos around recently, but I've constantly been forgetting to put them up and take them off the phone.




This one is taken at the Vancouver Waterfront side of the Seabus terminals. Winter isn't so much fun because of the cold but it also means that the sun rises pretty late. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are all early morning classes for me, so this was often my view while waiting for the boat. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch a photo of the actual sunrise, so this one will do.


Recently snowed a bit in Metro-Vancouver. I say Metro-Vancouver being the main city; suburbs like Surrey, Coquitlam, Abbotsford and Chiliwack got much, much more snow. That and the photo is taken in North Vancouver, which is it's own city, apart from Metro-Vancouver. Anywho, the weather's already started to warm up a bit from the -10C that we were having last week, and most of the snow has been cleared by the rain which has been walling non-stop since Friday.

Photo taken at Capilano University.


During a walk, I noticed that there was considerably more snow at the top of the hill than at the bottom. Perhaps it's because this area is almost completely shaded from the sun. When the snow melts away, this area usually still has their snow for another day or two.


Photo of the street I used to live on. It hasn't changed much in the 5-6 years since I moved. Unlike the top of the hill in the previous photo, the snow melts away very quickly here as there's no shade from the sun.


Street sign photographed while on my walk. Many people have mistaken Commercial Street with Commercial Drive. They're in very different parts of the city and have led many people astray.


These Tamarind candies are delicious. I'm almost certain I've put them on the blog before, but they're good enough that I'll put them up every year. I like the sweet ones a heck of a lot more as they're more likely to have the seed already taken out. These ones are 50/50, though the light heat that they pack is quite nice. ^^; I think I might have finished 2-3 of these by myself in the last two weeks.


Around Chinese New Years, the family gets all sorts of dried Chinese foods; some for offering to ancestors (it's a prayer thing), others for snacking on during the holiday. Pictured is a dried persimmon. Doesn't really taste like a fresh persimmon...or really look like one either. It's got a bit of a smoky taste to it, and is fairly dense. They taste great with tea too.


Picked this up yesterday. I've been looking for these ever since I read Shigatake's 「ハバネロたん」 series and finally found them at an Asian specialty store yesterday. These are Habanero flavoured chips, and aren't actually as spicy as they packaging makes them to be. They've got a bit of heat, but also have a bit of the habanero's burn which hits the back of the throat. A few of these won't hurt a bit, but the whole bag might leave you running for a glass of milk.


Also picked up yesteday. This jade...figure I suppose is of a goat, my Chinese astrological Zodiac. I've got it now, but I really don't know where to put it. For those who aren't familiar with the Chinese zodiacs, here's the article on Wikipedia. Unlike the Western Zodiacs which are assigned by birth-month and day, the Chinese zodiacs are assigned by year and rotate cyclically each year in units of 12 (the total number of Zodiacs).


For those who don't know, the Chinese Lunar New Year is tomorrow (Monday, 23rd), so we've broken out all the decorations. This should be a lion, coloured red for good luck, though I'm not sure that something this size will scare away any spirits... Last year's Chinese New Year post is here for more on the Lion Dance. Please ignore the fact that it's numbered 92 while this one is 102. ^^; 10 posts of these posts in a year isn't very impressive.


This year is the year of the Dragon, possibly the most prosperous of all the Zodiacs. Kids born in the year of the Dragon are said to be fated to great fortune and prosperity, though I suppose getting there requires some elbow-grease of your own. I heard somewhere that this year is specifically the year of the Black Water Dragon, linked here. I'm not familiar with the whole element things, so I haven't a clue about what this means. If you do, leave a comment to explain!

This one was simply too cute to not put up.






Title: ドレミファロンド, Do Re Mi Fa Rondo
Producer: 40mP
PV: たま
Genre: Pop
Vocaloid: 初音ミク

Kenn's Comment: The song and PV are ridiculously cute. Great Scott. It's also very good, though that's to be expected coming from 40mP. The music is pretty darn catchy...and the animals are awesome. Watch the PV to the end. You'll see references to other 40mP songs that I probably have put up a very long time ago.

Being a smarty pants, I get the feeling that the song is closer to a march than it is to a rondo.

I'm going to need a translation of the lyrics to really figure out why this song is called what it is...






Title: Pelagic Fish
Producer: 無力P (Mouryoku P)
Genre: Pop
Vocaloid: 巡音ルカ

Kenn's Comment: That opening alone is amazing. So very ambient and easy on the ears. The rest of the song is pretty good, but I think that opening really stands out to me. The instrumental is pretty cool too, and are done well as they're not boring, but aren't overly active.

I'm not entirely sure why it's titled 'pelagic fish' though. For those who don't know, a pelagic fish is any fish that lives near the surface of the ocean, like sardines and most commercially harvested fish. This is as opposed to deep water fish (should be self explanatory) and reef fish, which live in and around the coral reefs.

Long-time readers may recognize this song from many moons ago.





Title: GALLOWS BEL
Artist: buzzG ft. Nano
PV: ke-sanβ
Genre: Cover, Pop-Rock
Single: N/A
Album: N/A

Kenn's Comment: I know, I know. This is a vocaloid 歌い手 cover (normally tagged as 歌ってみた I believe). The song itself has been featured on my blog way back in July..many, many years ago. Find it here.

There are probably lots of covers of this one out there, but this one stands out above the rest. I'm not giving it special treatment because Nano's English is impeccably perfect, but rather because it's done so very, very well. Her singing and voice are wonderful; her fairly low and controlled voice really make her a joy to listen to. The English lyrics (made by Nano herself) really flow well, something I feel that needs to be looked at a little bit more than creating an overly accurate translation. I guess that's one of the perks to being fluent in both English and Japanese, knowledge of both means you can make the best translation and not have to rely on someone else's.

For more of Nano's covers, you can head on over to her YouTube channel, here. Most of the covers are in English, though she has a few in Japanese. Most of those are duets (the PONPONPON cover with VIN is awesome). There's also one I've been stuck on for a while now, where she's with Neko in a punky duet, linked here. Quite fond of it, and Neko's (who's English is pretty darn good too) punky rocky voice really works in this one. It's easier to hear with headphones. Be sure to turn down your volume before you plug yourself in. I'm starting to go off topic. Kenn over and out.

Young boy named Yugo Hachiken apparently aspire to live separated from his family. So he took the chance by enrolling to an agriculture school, one which required its students to live at dormitory. He thinks, with his talent in studying, no problem will arise no matter what kind of school he goes to. But he's proven wrong. Grown up as all-easy-to-get city boy, he is forced to uncover not-too-convenient truth about agricultural life. Enjoy the story of Hachiken, as he trying to keep up with his friends, farmers' heirs who are already accustomed to hardworking farm life.  

Kenn's Comment: I'm a big fan of the series. Not only because it's by the same author as FMA, but because it's really good. It really puts life back into perspective for me; being a city kid all my life, you often forget about farm life.

Before anyone says anything, I'd just like to tell you that there isn't any action or alchemy in this. I've seen a few comments about this not having any action or fantasy compared to FMA and I'm not too pleased to see that. If you compare this to Ohba and Obata's Death Note and Bakuman transition, I've enjoyed the FMA - Gin no Saji much, much more. Bakuman feels too action packed and dramatized, or in my words too 'shounen'. Gin no Saji could easily pass off as a seinen on first glance.

Anywho, it's a great read and you really should take a look at it. I'm wondering if 荒川先生 is familiar with this kind of a life, coming from Hokkaido.

A little bit late today; was watching the first episode of 偽物語 and trying to finish Atelier Rorona. Still.






Title: Cat's Dance
Producer: まらしい
Illus: 金たロウ
PV: Parmy
Genre: Pop
Vocaloid: 初音ミク

Kenn's Comment: I'm not sure whether the producer is the Piano whiz of ニコニコ動画, but the heavy presence of the piano seems to certainly suggest that it is. I believe his YouTube channel marasy8.

It's a great sounding song. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it draws from a certain kind of music. Sound wise. Latin...perhaps?The way the chorus flows. Regardless it's a great sounding song. The guitar and piano are one of the big keys for me. Really makes it a bit classier than it would be if it had been all electronic.

That's all from me for today. See you all tomorrow!

Mato Kuroi just got into junior high school, and on the first day, someone catches her eye; her classmate Yomi Takanashi. The two meet.The innocent and naive Mato. The mature Yomi. Seemingly opposites, but the time they spend together only strengthens a growing friendship. But as they go into their second year at the school, they get placed in separate classes, and they begin to grow apart. But somewhere simultaneously... In another world, a young girl, blue fire residing in her eyes, Black Rock Shooter faces another young girl; this one holding a jet-black scythe, Dead Master, and a battle to the death begins to unfold. 

Kenn's Comment: I...really don't know much about this one. The PV looked pretty good. Looks like they'll lean more into the action than they did with the OVA, which honestly wasn't that great. What worries me is that, for some reason, I'm seeing all the Shooter scenes as being almost all CG'd. CG worries me a bit, because there's good CG...and it doesn't happen as often as you'd like it to. There's not-so-great CG and then there's overused CG. It just stands out from the rest of the picture.

Can't really say too much because of how little I know about this. Other than that, the main voice cast is rather enticing, Asumi Kana, Hanazawa Kana, Sawashiro Miyuki, Kitamura Eri, Noto Mamiko and Numakura Manami. You may not have heard of Numakura Manami, but it's not like she's super new. She voices Ganaha Hibiki in the IDOLM@STER games as well as reprising that role in the anime.

PV:

Title: あの夏で待ってる, Ano Natsu de Matteru, Waiting for that Summer
Animation Production: J.C. Staff
Genre: N/A
Airs: 01/09 25:30 TV Aichi/KBS Kyoto
Website: http://www.ichika-ichika.com/

Series Summary: N/A

Kenn's Comment: Still no Synopsis on this one, meaning that the only things we have to go on is the staff listing, which looks quite impressive. Director is behind あの花, screenplay is done by a man with a rather impressive list under his belt, and the voice cast is pretty impressive too. The Original character designs are the same person who did them for おねがい☆ティーチャー and R.O.D, among other works. I really can't say much about it because of how little I know about it, but from the PV's that are out so far, I'm going to guess it has something to do with the main characters being part of the Film club. And maybe some aliens involved? I'm not too sure, but I'll go out on a limb for that.

PV:

In a certain kingdom, a prophecy was made about a child born with a birthmark on his back. It was said that he would bring an end to the kingdom, and that his death would bring about its destruction. When the twin prince and princess were born, Len and Rin, Len was discovered to have the birthmark. He was banished to a lonely tower, and Rin was raised as the only princess. However, it ended up being impossible to keep the siblings apart, and soon they formed a deep friendship. Although circumstances may pull them apart, nothing can break the bond they have with each other. They struggle together to survive the treacherous and dangerous world they were born into.  

Kenn's Comment: If you haven't realized it yet, 悪ノ召使 is based on the Saga of Evil, by Mothy. I'm sure I've had it once on the blog. It's gorgeous and quite sad too.

Mothy's Saga of Evil always struck me as something that could totally turn into a novel of sorts, so this isn't...completely unexpected. Still very surprising though.

I haven't read much, if any of it at all, but rather than following the song to a dot, Mothy has gone into the past of the story, and the history of the Yellow Kingdom. I'm not whether he'll go into Regret Message and Re_Birthday, but the ending will definitely coincide with Servant of Evil's.

The art has been great from what I've seen, and with Mothy at the helm of the story, I can't see it going wrong.  That's all from me. Happy New Year! I've added an earlier video of 悪ノ召使 below.