A little late, but at least it's up.






Title: 幻奏歌, Gensouka, Illusion Song (not sure what it means, but I'm going by what I think it means)
Producer: フェイP
Genre: Not sure what I'd call it.
Vocaloid: GUMI

Kenn's Comment: The instruments really make the song. The combination of the violin and piano really give it that special touch.

The channel I follow for a lot of my Vocaloid fix put up this summary of the song and it's PV:

The PV of the song explains the song in it's entirety. A story of a village girl intrigued with music and a kind soul who finally teaches her the piano to his last breath." -melo

It's a wonderful song and totally deserves the #1 spot it did last week.

And here's a cover of it by のぶなが (Nobunaga)



And another one by Φ串Φ (Kushi)

Title: アオハライド, Ao Haraido, Ao Haru Raido, Blue Spring Ride
Author: Sakisaka Io
Genre: Shoujo, Comedy, Drama, Romance, Slice of Life
Serialized in: Shueisha Betsuma
Total Volume Count: 4 (ongoing)

Series Summary from MangaUpdates:

Yoshioka Futaba has a few reasons why she wants to "reset" her image and life as a new high-school student. Because she's cute, she was ostracized by her female friends in junior high, and because of a misunderstanding, she couldn't get her feeling across to the one boy she has always liked, Tanaka-kun.

Now in high school, she is determined to be as unladylike as possible so that her friends won't be jealous of her. While living her life this way contentedly, she meets Tanaka-kun again, but he now goes under the name of Mabuchi Kou. He tells her that he felt the same way as she did when they were younger, but now things can never be the same again. Will Futaba be able to continue her love that never even started from three years ago? 

Kenn's Comment: If you didn't notice, the title is missing a character, which really threw me off.

Anywho, this one's a really good school based story. Futaba's quite the character, and I'm sure she's pretty easy to relate to in terms of her efforts to fit in with the other girls. She's a nice middle-ground between the typical shoujo characters who are either extremely girly (usually to the point of stereotypical) or very headstrong. Kou is pretty cool too. He's not exactly an original character, as there are a good number of other characters like him out there, but the way he supports Futaba really just gives you a feel-good-feel.

The romance is a bit slow, and Futaba has a bit too much tsun  and not enough dere, which often causes her to snap the flags that she raises. It's nothing that's exactly new though, as this kind of thing is usually expected. ^^; It's not too often that you have a protagonist who's honest with his/her feelings.

All in all, I'd say it's a good read. If you have the time, give this one a spin.

Missed yesterday's Song of the Week (and Thursday's weekly feature) due to exams.






Title: 風待ちハローワールド,  Kazemachi (Waiting for the Wind) Hello World
Producer: add9 (ヘリP)
Lyrics: かなき
PV: 大鳥

Kenn's Comment: I still have to get used to reading titles. 風待ち (Kazemachi), to be grammatically correct requires a particle in between, as that gives the verb, 待ち, a subject to act on. Not used to not seeing particles before verbs ~=~.

Anywho, this lovely song ranked #3 on the Rankings last week (though I liked it better than both #1 and 2). It has a light...old feel to it. You know? The way the guitar and piano work together gives it a sound that's almost Late 90's - early 2000's sound. The piano has a nice melody it's working on too, which is always a welcome sound.

The PV is awesome too; it's faux cut-out animation and endearing rabbit character really augment the song.

Title:　進撃の巨人, Shingeki no Kyojin, Advance of the Giants
Author: Isayama Hajime
Genre: Shounen, Action, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
Serialized in: Kodansha Bessatsu Shounen Magazine
Total Volume Count: 7 (ongoing)

Series Summary from MangaUpdates:

Several hundred years ago, humans were nearly exterminated by giants. Giants are typically several stories tall, seem to have no intelligence, devour human beings and, worst of all, seem to do it for the pleasure rather than as a food source. A small percentage of humanity survived by walling themselves in a city protected by extremely high walls, even taller than the biggest of giants.

Flash forward to the present and the city has not seen a giant in over 100 years. Teenage boy Eren and his foster sister Mikasa witness something horrific as the city walls are destroyed by a super giant that appears out of thin air. As the smaller giants flood the city, the two kids watch in horror as their mother is eaten alive. Eren vows that he will murder every single giant and take revenge for all of mankind.

Kenn's Comment: This one won the 35th Kodansha Manga Award (Best Shounen) and was nominated for the 4th Manga Taisho Award.

This one is pretty intense. Fans of action series will really like this one, because action is one this one exudes with absolute confidence. It's very much a series where most fights have the main character and his group of humanity constantly on the losing side. The battles aren't a bore either; the 3D gear sends the characters rappelling like Spiderman or Lost Planet, for those who know what I'm talking about, and they're almost entirely reliant on tactics to win any of their battles.

If you're looking for fanservice, I'd advise you find something else: the most you'll find is a female giant. Even so, the female characters have a good chunk of art of them on Pixiv, for those who are familiar with it.

Anywho, like I said, this one's definitely not for the kiddies; copious amounts of blood and death make this one to really keep away from them.

Late because I'm still suffering from the worst hangover in years.

I don't understand the title. Can someone help translate it?





Title:  日本橋高架下R計画, Nihonbashi Kouka shita R Keikaku, (literally) Under the Elevated Japanese Bridge R Plan, "R"
Producer: じん (自然の敵P)
PV: Hosagane Takuya
Genre: Pop
Vocaloid: IA

Kenn's Comment: A nice, light and cute song by IA, coupled with a vibrant, and very imaginative video by Hosagane. He's a rather amazing director, and I believe the ED sequence of Tatami Galaxy is credited to him.

Regardless, the song is rather short, and the PV, for most people, is probably one of the biggest drawing points of it (haha, no pun intended). You can watch the "making of "video by clicking here. It takes us in and behind the animation process of something like this. It's really quite impressive.

Ryu Yamada is a second year student at Suzaku High. Ryu is always late for school, naps in class and gets abysmal grades. His life is a dead bore. The beautiful Urara Shiraishi, on the other hand, is Suzaku High's brightest student. One day, without explanation, their bodies are swapped! Ryu ends up in Urara's body, and Urara in Ryu's. 

Kenn's Comment: Yoshikawa's back with a new series, and it's just as much fun as her last one was. It's an interesting story, though I can see some people not liking the concept because of shipping concerns (and by that I don't mean getting it imported). She can really take this in a whole lot of ways, which is a good thing in stories like these, or you'll end up in a situation like Kano's 鏡の国の針栖川, where the manga was a bit of a one-trick pony.

Anywho, I haven't read too much of it, but I'm hoping this one goes a long way like Yanki-kun did. Those who do decide to read it, don't take the kissing too seriously. You'll enjoy it more that way.

Also, tsundere male lead. Hahaha xD

That's a good thing I learned what 事情 means a while back!






Title: コノハの世界事情, Konoha no Sekai Jijou, Konoha's World Circumstances
Producer: じん（自然の敵P）
PV: しづ, わんにゃんぷー
Genre: Pop
Vocaloid: 初音ミク、IA

Kenn's Comment: It's pretty hectic sounding song; it's brisk syllabic tempo coupled with the high pitched voices of both IA and Miku really amplify it's feel. It's not noticeable in the chorus (hooks), when the words really pick up.

Anywho, this one's been sitting comfortably at Number 1 on the rankings, and has enjoyed a whole whack load of covers. I can't say I'm a really big fan of how high the voices are, but it's a good song.

The PV is really cool too. If the art looks familiar, it's because the same artist also did the PV for Imagination Forest, which I featured back in February.

A lovely shoujo series.



Title: Love So Life, ラブ ソー ライフ
Author: Kouichi Kaede
Genre: Shoujo, Comedy, Romance, Slice of Life
Serialized in: Hakusensha 花とゆめ (Flower and Dream)
Total Volume Count: 9 (ongoing)

Series Summary from Which Scanlations:

Shiharu is a high school student who loves kids, lives in an orphanage, and works at a daycare... Until the handsome uncle of two-year-old twins offers her a raise if she'll be their babysitter. Often relying on memories of her mother's actions for guidance, Shiharu quickly finds herself falling in love with her new makeshift family. 

Kenn's Comment: So...cute..!!!

What I love most about this series is how simple it is. The romance moves quite slowly, but not at an agonizingly slow rate. I'd say it's going at a rather natural pace, considering there's been about as much drama in it as there is in よつば&!.

It's free of complex character relationships, something that can't really be said of most other series (I'm looking at you, Suzuka and KnIM), and the story revolving pretty much around Shiharu and the twins gives a very warm, relaxing feel. The constant flashbacks to Shiharu's fond memories of her own childhood also add to this atmosphere, sometimes making it almost nostalgic in a sense.

The art is really great too. The children are all adorable, and the reaction faces are a real riot.

Childcare is a central theme in this, but I can't say I'd recommend it for those looking for tips on childcare though. Please refer to something a little bit more...scholarly.