Death

 Shoju posted on: October 14, 2006 4:25 A.M. (PST)

Misc thoughts:

First and foremost, I'd like to say what's already been said:  Steve Irwin was a great guy and will be missed.  I would also like to take the same feelings and mourn for Ritsuko Okazaki.  She past away a little over two years ago.  She too had left the world much too early.  Both of them were great people, and I'll always be sad that they won't be able to offer their passions to the world ever again.
*saLUEtes*

I bought and played through Dirge of Cerberus.  I was able to manage about five minutes before I reloaded the game with cheats and just played through for the story.  Game play was craptacular, but the story was nice.

I've been working graveyard shifts for the past weeks.  What free time I had was spent playing WoW.  Something inside me snapped on the day Snakes on a Plane came out.  I could no longer resist the urge to play.  I have never had a 60 character, and I am now on my way to achieving that goal.  And with my launch character no less.  >_>

Finally, after so many weeks.  A cam version of the Death Note live action was released upon the internet.  It was awesome.  It was only the first half of the movie, but it was still great nonetheless.

Anime thoughts:

Death Note - The first episode was mind blowing.  It was everything I had hoped for, and the transition to anime has been smooth.  I have just finished watching the second episode, and it has earned a place on my favorites list.  The animation, the pace, and the music are all perfect.

Kanon - The remake is a lot better than I expected.  I loved the original and was expecting some improvements here and there, but this remake is really remarkable.  I especially like the fact that new anime fans are getting a chance to love Ayu much like I did with the first anime.  With this remake, I have decided to stop trying interim gods and have re-instated Ayu as the form of my god.  May she reign forever.  ^_^

One Piece - The burning of the World Government flag was animated well.  It could have used some cliché different angled shots when Sogeking was releasing the shot.

Gundam Seed Stargazer - What an awesome series.  If only the main continuity could be like this. i.e.: No Kira!

Comic thoughts:

Civil War - Sue Storm is hot when Steve Mcniven pencils her.  I'm glad she and Peter have switched over.  Here's hoping they keep on schedule.

Cassandra Cain rumor - Part of the Titans East.  Oh I do wish that she won't be the one secretly funding this team, and/or tries to use them as pawns to get closer with Robin.  Don't ruin my girl anymore DC!!! ;_;

Manga thoughts:

One Piece - Merry is given its proper burial.  Burned and sunken.  Now then...GIVE OUT THE NEW BOUNTIES!!!!!!!

Naruto - Ino.  Needs more Ino.  Ino should just kill Hidan.  Ino is awesome....Ino.  >_>

Bleach - Lisa.  Where is Lisa?  Lisa needs to show up.  She'll give out her h-doujins to everyone and then make out with Inoue.

School Rumble - Go for it Eri!  This is the moment.  Let "flag" rise up and make the decisions final!

Suzuka - I love Suzuka, but why am I suddenly cheering on Honoka?  It would turn out better if Miki jumped in and decimated everyone else.  >.<

Tenjho Tenge - Everyone is finally reunited, except for Maya.  She's in the hospital. ;_; Nagi and Bob's interaction is nice, and hopefully Bob has decided not to join Mitsuomi's side.  Lead the charge in the captain's stead Masataka!

Current favorite song:  Stargazer - Negishi Satori

Anime thoughts:

One Piece 273-274 - Well done, incredibly well done.  Luffy yelling for Robin.  CP9 and Strawhat crew standing face off.  Both were animated well beyond anything I was expecting.  I can't wait for the "declaration of war" scene.  A+

Comic thoughts:

Annihilation 1 - Galactus fell.  Motherfucking Galactus was owned!  Holy shit.  A+

Ultimate Spider-Man Annual 2 - Spider-Man, Daredevil, Punisher, and Moon Knight cross paths when they all go after Kangaroo.  Punisher kills Kingpin's dirty cop.  Kingpin is sad.  Ha ha fatty.  A-

Green Arrow 65 - Some filler fighting with Hal coming in as the deus ex machina.  Deathstroke is then shown meeting Drakon to find out what Ollie has been doing in the past year.  Average issue.  B-

Martian Manhunter 1 - Jon goes nuts, and I can't wait to see his rampage come to pass.  A-

Current favorite song:  Nakushita Kotoba - No Regret Life (Naruto 9th ED)

So much to cover.  Let's see.  I'll start with comics.

Comic thoughts:

52 - Poor poor Ralph.  Batwoman is meh.  Isis is a bit interesting.  Question needs more lines.  B-

Robin - The first arc kicking off One Year Later sucked balls.  The new arc, however, feels very awesome.  Owen trying to make peace with him is really fun to read.  A

Justice League 0 - I didn't get even half of the references, but it was still a good read.  A+

Detective Comics - Dini's run was about average until 822.  When Riddler got involved, it seemed to pick up a lot.  Still waiting to see him write Harley.  B-

Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man 11 - Great to see Mysterio(s).  It's also cool to see Peter interact with his normal life in his Spider persona.  B+

Amazing Spider-Man 534 - Peter continues his inner struggle with justifying the Registration Act.  Has a nice fight with Cap.  It felt like it could have been a lot better though.  C+

Daredevil 87 - Iron Fist.  Saw it coming, but still a cool reveal.  Mind blowing reveal at the end though.  A+

Birds of Prey 96 - Batgirl is back...fucking bitch.  I miss Cassandra. ;_; F for fuck you Barbara.

Ultimate Spider-Man 98 - Gwen is back, just as they said she would at Comic-Con.  An average issue, but it's still better than the last one.  C+

Black Panther 18 - Nice to see the interactions on a neutral ground.  Doom's appearance at the end was nice.  Watcher's appearance mid-issue felt way out of place.  B

New Avengers 22 - Oh hell yeah.  That was simply an issue of awesomeness.  A+

Fantastic Four 539 - The Thing makes up his mind to leave the country.  I absolutely love where they're going with the breakup of the Fantastic Four.  A-

Civil War X-men/Runaways and Young Avengers - Both were an okay start.  Nothing too exciting, and nothing to get ready to be excited about.  B- for both.

Manga thoughts:

One Piece - Gear 3 ended up being just too damn funny to be as badass as Gear 2.  Right now, the thing I'm anticipating the most is how much Luffy's bounty is going to increase, and if all the crew members will be getting a bounty.  A+

Naruto - Just like a lot of people, I get the feeling Asuma is being set up to be killed.  Hope he got in some action with Kurenai.  B-

Bleach - INOUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!  Dumb whore.  ;_;  When Byakuya and Kenpachi appeared, it just sucked.  I hope this is where Isshin or Urahara steps in to help Ichigo.  A-

Suzuka - Holy shit.  Yui...she...oh god.  Respect for Yui +4444.  *crying nice guy pose*  Then Yamato willingly throws away all the money he earned for Suzuka.  He is reminiscing about his times with Suzuka and then fucking surprise:  Honoka reappears!  A+

School Rumble - On the opposite end of the awesomeness of the above manga.  School Rumble has been sucking horribly for the last few chapters.  Where is the fallout of actor-Harima and Eri?  Hell, even some Rice chapters would have been better than these last few chapters.  F-

Fairytale - New manga from manga-ka of Rave Master.  Looks incredibly interesting.  Needs translation ASAP.

Misc. thoughts:

Ultimate Avengers 2 - Another great Marvel cartoon.  Exceeded expectations when Tony suited up in the motherfucking WAR MACHINE!!!!  A+

The stupid have been hotlinking, and I've been goatse-ing and tubgirl-ing a ton of Naruto images.  It's awesome when I get to see the reactions.  A certain Xanga bitch decided to hotlink a Jiraiya pic and I appropriately goatse-ed it.  I look forward to more morons I can gross out.  ^_^

Bleach dub cast was announced and Johnny Yong Bosch is going to play Ichigo.  Many are welcoming him into the role.  I, however, see this as a humongous let down.  Bosch will have to do a lot to impress me.  I just can't see how he can voice Ichigo well.  I'm going into the dub with extremely low expectations.  Almost as low as 4Kids's One Piece.  Being the only Jump anime to be on Adult Swim, it still has a long way to go before I'll welcome this dub.

Otakon news - Funimation has licensed all School Rumble anime.  Fucking win.  Funi, I can't wait for your dub.

October 3 2006 - Death Note anime begins.  That reminds me...off to look for a Chinese bootleg of the live action movie.  >_>

Current favorite song:  Nakushita Kotoba - No Regret Life (Naruto 9th ED)

Civil War 7 spoilers here and here.  >_>
Really, though, I bought both of these today for just over half of what I paid for Yoruichi.  Both are just as detailed and are posable.  

Anime thought:

Gundam Seed Stargazer - Wow.  Death, a babe, and variant versions of Gundams from Seed.  Verde Buster looks especially sweet.  Best of all, no Kira.  Grade: A+

GameFAQs thoughts:

Contest - 16/18 and I'll be 18/20 if Metroid continues it's hold over Pokémon.  This match and RE vs. SF are the only two I'm worried about for the second round.  I have RE over SF.

LL - LLama is genius.

Comic thoughts:

Green Arrow 64 - SPEEDY!  Issue was completely meh, until she showed up.  Grade: A-

Silver Surfer Annihilation 1-4 - Surfer becoming the Herald of Galactus again?  Fucking awesome.  Grade B+

Ultimate Spider-Man 97 - Kitty's being a bitch about MJ, but I don't like Peter being consoled by MJ.  So I like that Kitty is taking it too seriously, but I also don't like it.  The clone reveal was meh.  Grade: C-

Current favorite song:  Nakushita Kotoba - No Regret Life (Naruto 9th ED)

Maddox was entertaining.  There was one asshole wearing a super pimp t-shirt.  He was loud and obnoxious while we waited for Maddox.  Other than him, everyone else seemed cool.  Learned (and possibly re-learned) a few things.  Maddox is Armenian.  His mother really said the quote on the back of his book.  His robe cost about $400.  Possibly made of baby seal fur.  He's a huge fan of Nintendo and Sega.  Considers Sony and Microsoft to be just hopping on the bandwagon and making cookie cutter products.  Enjoys Castlevania series.  When asked about NASA's return to the moon project, he replied he is for it because he has a lot of ideas for blowing up the planet.  His next book may possibly be about how many ways to blow up the planet.  Didn't get my copy of the book signed(didn't care to), and it was still worth the drive and half-tank of gas wasted to get to and from there.  >_>

Manga thought:

Suzuka 114 - Yamato makes a last minute decision to see Suzuka when he realizes he forgot her birthday.  He re-confesses and objects to them breaking up.  Suzuka leaves.  Fucking idiot.  Grade: B

Current favorite song:  Anata ga Ita Mori - Jyukai (Fate/Stay Night ED)

I finally built the Destiny I bought, from AX, last night.  The details already molded in are really amazing.  Destiny is definitely the nicest of all of the models I have.  Only my EVA Unit 00 can compare.

Anime thoughts:

Naruto 192 - After hearing that this episode involved Naruto peeing on Ino, I just had to see it.  It was pretty entertaining for a filler.  It also helped that it was a self-contained episode.  Grade: C+

Manga thoughts:

Naruto 315 - Kakashi begins Naruto's training.  Naruto is found to have an affiliation with the element of wind.  Not really surprising as others might of found it.  Lack of Sakura/Ino is the only thing missing.  Grade: C-

Bleach 235 - Urahara and Rukia owning.  Grade: A+

One Piece 419 - Soge King snipes Spandem and a few marines from hundreds of feet away.  Robin runs.  More marines show up and shoot at her.  Franky shows up and takes all the hits protecting her.  Zoro and Sanji are on the scene too.  This was a really nice chapter.  When Robin gets freed, she's going to tear some shit up.  Grade: A+

Comic thoughts:

Civil War Frontline 3 - When I was first introduced to Speedball, he seemed like a punk I would've hated.  In this issue, he proved me wrong.  I really have to commend him on standing his ground and not admitting he did any wrong.  Grade: B+

On a random moment, I decided to wiki Witchblade.  It lead me to wiki Darkness and Tomb Raider.  I'm now on a hunt for Witchblade, Darkness, and Tomb Raider comics.  >_>

Tomorrow, I plan on seeing Maddox in LA.  Hope it's not too packed.

Current favorite song:  Anata ga Ita Mori - Jyukai (Fate/Stay Night ED)

Having been on LiveJournal for over a year, I have come to like the identifying icons.  I have to come to dislike having to come up with titles for each of my posts.  Titled posts will now be used only when I feel like it.  Another thing I'm changing is how I archive my posts.  Since, I normally post once every two weeks, I will now archive in years instead of months.  Except this year's will be mashed together with whatever wasn't already archived of 2005.  I tried to copy my posts on LiveJournal here, but the latter of my posts there were not copied.  The only thing I'll copy over is my new anime series review system:

"I've decided to switch over to a lettered rating system.

S - Epic anime that has a phenomenal story, superb characters, and/or awesome fights.
A - Legendary anime. Has the above, but are one level below epic.
B - Great anime to watch at least once through.
C - Anime that have only one single reason to watch, and could possibly be dropped.
D - Anime that I can only watch one episode and not bother watching a second.
F - Anime that I've absolutely no interest in watching.

Grades do not always reflect the series as a whole.

Example: Rurouni Kenshin grade: A-

The Kyoto Arc made this a legendary anime. The filler, while was shitty, does not affect the greatness of the fights and character development in the Kyoto Arc."

The first post on July 8 was not actually completed.  It was started about a year ago (give or take), and like many other of my long term projects, I stopped working on it and just decided to put out what I had done.

My Yoruichi figure is awesome.  Her orange top comes off.  <3
My shotgun, however, sucks.  It's already broken.  -_-'

Well, maybe I'll copy over one more thing to end this post:

"My favorite moments from anime/manga in no particular order:

Masataka beating Madoka. (Tenjho Tenge)
Setsuna sprouting out her wings. (Negima)
Nishino waking up Manaka in his room. (Ichigo 100%)
Nishino confessing to Manaka with a pull-up. (Ichigo 100%)
Ikki finding Simica nude in his bed. (Air Gear)
Sakura jumping into Syaoran's arms. (Cardcaptor Sakura)
Kitetsu's curse versus Zoro's luck. (One Piece)
Smoker telling World Government council to eat shit. (One Piece)
Sakura cutting her hair. (Naruto)
Kei and Mizuho's second kiss. (Onegai Teacher)
Jiraiya threatening to kill Tsunade if she betrays Konoha. (Naruto)
Shin defeating Kira. (Gundam Seed Destiny)
Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari showing up to help Lee, Kiba, and Shikamaru. (Naruto)
Youko reveals herself as the Empress of Kei. (12 Kingdoms)
Harima wins the class race for Eri. (School Rumble)
Miyazawa and Arima first hold hands. (Kare Kano)
Yumi sacrificing herself to give Shishio an opening. (Rurouni Kenshin)
Tohru crying in front of her mother's grave. - anime only (Fruits Basket)
Onizuka teaching Urumi a lesson. (Great Teacher Onizuka)
First time Suzuka kisses Yamato on her own. (Suzuka)
Zoro's pledge to never lose again after getting diced up by Mihawk.  (One Piece)
Nami finally asking for Luffy's help against Arlong.  (One Piece)
Luffy defeating Crocodile.  (One Piece)
The beating Luffy and Zoro took on Jaya.  (One Piece)
Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, and Chopper destroying the Franky house. (One Piece)
Luffy commanding Soge King to burn the World Government flag to declare war on them for the sake of friendship.  Soge King does it without hesitation. (One Piece)

Favorite fights:

Rock Lee vs. Gaara (Naruto)
Princess Serenity vs. Queen Beryl (Sailor Moon)
SSJ 2 Gohan vs. Perfect Cell (Dragon Ball Z)
Luffy vs. Usopp (One Piece)
Recca vs. Tendou Jigoku (Flame of Recca)
Kenshin vs. Saitou (Rurouni Kenshin)
Luffy vs. Arlong (One Piece)
Chouji vs. Jiroubu (Naruto)
Domon vs. Sekiou (Flame of Recca)
Recca vs. Kurei - Mansion Fight (Flame of Recca)
Ichigo vs. Byakuya (Bleach)
Naruto vs. Neji (Naruto)
Shishio vs. Sanosuke, Saito, Aoshi, and Kenshin (Rurouni Kenshin)

Favorite deaths:

Akemi (SaiKano)
Spike (Cowboy Bebop)
L (Death Note)
Belle-Mère (One Piece)
Archer (Fate/Stay Night)
Mwu (Gundam Seed)
Stellar (Gundam Seed Destiny)"

Current favorite song:  Sakura Theme - Naruto OST

The graveyard is back!

AX Report:

Day 0 - Lines weren't bad.  When badges started being handed out, it was real quick.  Checked into hotel.  Crappy view.  Got my reserved block seating ticket for the Masquerade.

Day 1 - Opening ceremonies was rather blah.  The voice school that usually comes, didn't.  Laura Bailey is hot.  The spin tradition, that began at last year's opening ceremony, continued this year.  Got creator's AMV ticket. Went in line for CLAMP panel.  CLAMP panel was pretty bleh.  It was nice to see and hear them in person, but all the questions sucked.  Only one that was interesting was a question about Fay and Kuro indicating a want to see some yaoi between them.  Went to exhibit hall afterwards and bought a bunch of figures as I made a quick run through the vendors.  Went to AMVs.  Having creator's tickets, I didn't have to wait in any lines at all and was allowed to go take a seat right away.  A Mac crashed and ended up holding up the start of the AMVs for a little while.  The marital art school that comes every year did an exhibition while we waited.  Signal to Noise was my favorite and it ended up being voted as Best of Show.  Naruto Ball Z, while it was good, should have been in comedy.  Comedy wasn't as good as last year.  The Ultimate Anime Showdown was my favorite.  AMtv was also mediocre.  The one that used Count of Monte Cristo got my vote.  The video shown after the contest was also pretty good.

Day 2 - Wandered around exhibit hall, bought stuff.  Went to AX Idol.  This year, Idol was "Hollywood"-ed to the extreme.  The normal judges from Bang Zoom! were joined this year by staff members from American Idol and the Simpsons.  Lance Henriksen(The main character of Millennium. Also the voice of Kerchak from Tarzan.) also showed up as a special guest.  There was also a clip of the auditions.  The voice actors actually did dubbing on stage for their portion of the contest, which was a poor decision in my opinion.  I actually liked the monologues.  They were a lot more fun to watch.  Afterwards, watched a little Basilisk to waste some time until the debut of the Cromartie High School live action.  Originally, I was going to attend the Yocuza concert, but once I found that Cromartie was showing, I went there instead.

Day 3 - Met up with friends that had to wait for Masquerade tickets and got to personally take a pic of a very nice Yoruichi cosplayer.  Went to the Atsuko Nakajima panel and then went back to the line to wait with friends.  They ended up getting red tickets, and I got 2 of them just so I could give them away later.  Wandered around after and then went to wait in line for seating.  While waiting I turned on my DS and offered my tickets to the first person to find me.  Later, my cousin and friends joined me and got a hold of two more tickets.  Both of those ended going to a guy named aaron.  Masquerade actually started three whole minutes early.  The two favorites of the night were the Yatta guys and the True Power of the Clow.  The Yatta skit started with two huge Pocky boxes coming onto the stage.  That itself got a huge pop, but the pop became even greater when they revealed themselves and the Yatta song started.  The True Power of the Clow started with Clow Reed and the four element cards coming onto the stage.  After the set up, the punchline came and the SUMMONING OF CAPTAIN PLANET began.  Clow disrobed and revealed a Captain Planet costume underneath.  Seeing one of my favorite internet memes acted out was awesome.  Ninendon'ts, the Final Fantasy VI skit, and the Resident Evil skit get honorable mentions.  The one thing I thought sucked was that they didn't tell us who played who after each group finished.

Day 4 - Checked out.  Wandered around and bought stuff.  After the exhibit hall closed, went to the charity auction.  AX had it's own water this year, and most of the GoHs signed a couple bottles.  These bottles sold for about $40-50.  The auctioneer's own water, which was more than two-thirds gone, was also auctioned off because of the heckling crowd.  The bottle was signed by the auctioneer before he let it go for the final sale.  I bid and lost on two items.  An AX VIP package and a Maya(Tenjho Tenge) color sketch.  First one out the door on both, and was completely and utterly squashed by other bidders.  After, they set up for the awards, and they were just quickly read off.  They then began set up for the Closing Ceremonies.  They were delayed from starting because they were waiting for one of the GoH, but ultimately they couldn't make it.  Closing ceremonies started and finished without anything worth mentioning.  Well, except maybe that attendance was somewhere around 41,000.  About $20,000 was raised for the new charity, quite small compared to last year's $67,000 for City of Hope.

Anime Expo loot:

Gundam Seed -  1/100 Model Destiny
Naruto - Sakura DX figure
Ah! My Goddess - Peorth figure
Bleach - Matsumoto and Yoruichi figures + Kenpachi and Byakuya plushies
Mario - Yoshi plushie
Trading figures - Phoenix Wright, Maya Fey, some Star Ocean girl, and a Batmobile(yes really, a fucking small Batmobile that doesnt even have real wheels)
Weapon - Airsoft shotgun
Art - trace table
Hentai doujinshi - 4 Final Fantasy, 1 Fate/Stay Night, 1 Bleach, 1 Fruits Basket, 1 Naruto, 1 Onegai Teacher, and 1 Grenadier/Lone Wolf and Cub(My favorite of the ones I bought.  Crossovers are awesome.)
 

Prediction:  AX 07 will fail.  Fail hard.  So hard, AX 08 could possibly not happen at all.  Long Beach will be a disaster.  I can feel it.  See you there.  >_>

Best female cosplayer:  Yoruichi - Hot.

Best male cosplayer:  Barret - My friend. *creepy smirk* (Really, though, nice job.)

Funny thing was, both of these were taken by me.  I actually took a handful of picture myself this year.  Though, the bulk of it is still is taken by Mr. Domo Photographer.  All photos were taken in high resolution(not high quality though...) on a Fuji FinePix A345 this year.

Pictures

Manga thoughts:

Suzuka - NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Why break up?!

School Rumble - NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Where is Harima at a critical point like this?!

Bleach - Go Inoue!

Naruto - Asuma = Sandaime's son...needs more Sakura!

Speaking of Sakura.  The first wave of American Naruto toys have come out.  There are two versions of Naruto and Sasuke.  Then one each for Haku, Zabuza, Orochimaru, and Rock Lee.  Personally, I'm pissed about Sakura, but surprised that they would opt to leave Kakashi out of the first wave of figures.  The figures look great, but they're not very posable.  I'm really glad they didn't really go all out on gimmicks like the One Piece figures are.  I hope their Shikamaru, Ino, Temari, Tayuya, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Neji, and Gai figures are just as nice when/if they come out.

Comic thoughts:

Teen Titans - Robin kissing Wonder Girl was so stupidly good.  >_>

Daredevil - Frank and Matt are gonna tear some shit up.

Young Avengers - I like "arrow" people.  New Hawkeye FTW.

Current favorite song:  Sakura Theme - Naruto OST

One day, Nishino comes picks Manaka up after work to walk home together.  While walking home, Manaka says that the days are getting shorter and Nishino should go home early.  Nishino is a bit surprised that Manaka would be so concerned for her.  Manaka trips over a railing at the remark and sees Nishino's cuteness again.  He prays then and there that she'll personally give him chocolate for Valentines Day.

On Valentines Day, he receives chocolate from Chinami, Toujou, Yui, and Satsuki.  The day is almost over and Manaka decides to go over to her shop to check on her.  He finds her busily working.  He finds Toujou as he heads home and instead offers to walk her home to thank her for her chocolate.  When he gets home, Yui tells him that Nishino called and he quickly dashes to her house.  He only finds her mom there and checks her shop.  She's not there either so he heads back home.  He finds her waiting on some swings in a nearby park.  He runs over and gets tackled by Nishino as she jumps off her swing.  She then presents Manaka his chocolate and asks him to taste them now.  He takes a bite and says they're amazing.  She then tells him that she plans on study abroad in Paris.  It's snowing harder and they sit inside a tunnel.  Nishino makes Manaka take another bite to make sure he really likes the taste.  Nishino's dad would probably be against the idea of her studying in Paris so she wants to convince him with the same chocolate.  Manaka says she'll definitely convince him because her chocolate is really good, and he also offers to write a statement to confirm that Nishino is the one who really made them.  Nishino is happy Manaka is on her side and gives him a hug.  Manaka thinks that this moment might be a good chance to kiss her, but he instead pushes her away and gets out of the tunnel.  Nishino follows and seems mad for a moment, but she then starts a snowball fight with him with a smile on her face.

Later some stuff happens and Manaka, his friend, Nishino, and Yui all go on a date at the amusement park.  After separating and spending most of the day with Yui, Manaka finally gets some alone time with Nishino on the ferris wheel.  Something happens and the ferris wheel comes to an emergency stop when they reach the top.  Manaka takes this chance and finally embraces Nishino for once.  She's happy but wants him to let go so she could talk with him some more.  She thanks him for everything he's done for her.  Manaka sees this has Nishino saying goodbye to him.

On White Day, Manaka gives a return chocolate to Satsuki.  He can't find the right time to give Toujou hers.  He follows her after school to a cram school.  There, a girl falls on him and he decides to give Nishino her chocolate first.  He gets to his work and his boss ends up eating her chocolates.  Nishino comes by and finds Manaka's present empty.  He explains and she says it's fine as long as he gets her a present before the end of the month.  On his way home, he finds Toujou and gives her the chocolate.

Part FourA End

Current favorite song:  Home Town - Little by Little

Anime thoughts:

Bleach/Naruto - Dropped until fillers end.

Fate/Stay Night - Awesome as always.

School Rumble Second Season Ep 1- An okay (re)start. Next episode should get things back on track with the start of the Battle Royale.

One Piece - Water7 is smoothly being animated. Soge King's filler song with OP animation was hands down the best filler ever made. Hopefully, the anime won't run into any trouble with Oda sick right now.

Shakugan no Shana - It was fun while it lasted. Yuji should of kissed Shana at least once. Meh ending.

April sweeps I'll be watching - Ah! My Goddess 2nd Season, Black Lagoon, and Air Gear.

Comic thoughts:

DC - One year later has been so-so so far. Nightwing was complete crap. Green Arrow, Outsiders, and Robin looks interesting. The regular Batman and Superman titles have been best so far.

Marvel 616 - I'm getting used to Spider-man's new costume. The road to civil war has been fun so far. The Illuminati one-shot especially.

Marvel Ultimate - Deadpool has been mediocre so far. I'll give them one more issue to bring some badassness to the character before I give up.

Manga thoughts:

Naruto - I want to see, so badly, Sasuke and Sai getting their asses handed to them by Naruto and Sakura.

Bleach - Lisa Yadoumaru. A Vizard. She wields a soul cutter, and reads porno magazines. She is quite possibly the most awesome character to ever be created yet. She is at the level of Masataka, Kaoru Konoe, or Marone Bluecarno. Not even Saber is at that level of my favorite characters.
Now as far as how things are going on, Ichigo's power up doesn't look as impressive as his past power ups have. I'm looking forward to Chad's power up, and of course, more of Lisa.

One Piece - Poor Sanji. I really hope Nami vs. Kalifa is done with no interruptions from anyone, except maybe Sanji.

Suzuka - I absolutely do not like Asahina going to America. The new girl is cute, but Yamato is going to fuck up somehow.

Air Gear - Simica returns!

Death Note - Light, I hope you got a trap card hidden somewhere.

Video Game thoughts:

Kingdom Hearts II - Bought last Thursday, finished earlier today. Mena Suvari's Aerith was hard to listen to at first, but I got used to it. Mandy's Aerith is still better. Listening to Tifa, Cloud, and Sephiroth made me really excited for Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children's dub. Roxas and Namine scenes were actually some of the best parts of the entire game. My second favorite part was probably the revist to Hollow Bastion with the hundreds of Heartless. While I finally got to beat up on Scar and Jafar in one game, I think I still like the original Kingdom Hearts more than this one. 10/10 anyways.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children - I went to the one-time US premiere yesterday. Two hour wait for guaranteed entry wristband and hour or so wait for actual ticket. Screen was amazing. I noticed a number of things I never did before throughout the movie. Biggest surprises were Tetsuya Nomura, Mena Suvari, and Rachael Leigh Cook actually appearing at the premiere. I'm kicking myself in the nuts for not bringing my copy of Kingdom Hearts II for them to sign. Before the movie started, they showed KH2 and Dirge of Cerberus trailers. Both of them were amazing to see on such a huge screen. The movie was only dubbed so there are plenty of places where you can see the lips not matching the words. The voices were all fine. Cait Sith being Scottish and Nanaki being British were odd and yet just perfect. Steve Blum's Vincent was exceptionally great, as was George Newbern's Sephiroth. Mena's Aerith was the worse voice, but it wasn't awful. It was hilarious that they let Denzel say "son of a bitch." They translated the weird "zurururuzurururu" as "dilly dally, shilly shally." They're both awkward and looks like a fine translation in my eyes. At the end they brought down the director and producers that flew in from Japan and the voice actors of Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith. As typical Americans, neither Steve Burton nor Mena seemed to know what the movie meant to those fans in attendance. Rachael tried to sound like she was as big a fan as the rest of the audience, but she could have been just saying it. I love her for trying though. <3

Current favorite song:  Anata ga Ita Mori - Jyukai (Fate/Stay Night ED)

Anime thoughts:

Fate/Stay Night 4 - Soon after writing my last post, I came to the realization that Saber is made of win and sex.  Fate/Stay Night also has a very strong lead into going onto my favorites list of anime.  As for the actual review, Shirou letting Saber come and eat dinner with them was a nice scene.   8/10

Shakugan no Shana 17 - Finally done with Shana's origin, we get to start on a new arc.  A new Flame Haze appears and tells Yoshida about torches, tomogara, etc.  Shana's attempt at cooking was amusing.  8.3/10

Manga thoughts:

Naruto 293 - Naruto's fourth tail appears.  Meh.  5/10

Bleach 213 - Inoue heals up Rukia.  Ichigo's worry for her can be seen by Inoue.  Grimjaw appears before Aizen, Tousen cuts his arm off, and an appearance by Gin.  7.6/10

One Piece 398 - Robin's flashback finishes up.  Luffy says he understands Robin's problem and has Soge King burn the flag of the World Government.  Luffy declares war.  Robin finally gives in and accepts Luffy's help.  The drawbridge that holds them back is finally lowered and the Strawhat crew is fired up.  My favorite part of this chapter was when Soge King just shot his flaming attack at the World Government flag on command and without flinching a bit.  10/10

Air Gear 1-46 - I've had 1-25 for a while.  I had only read a third of it.  I recently re-read it and it's a good manga.  While not as erotic as Tenjho Tenge can get, it's still pretty good in the fan service department.  The story is a staple shonen cliché, but it's still a good read.  9.4/10

1/31/06 - The store I work at, got robbed around 8:00 P.M. by some guy in a mask with a gun.  Didn't see the gun, but the co-workers were following his orders.  Guy got away with about $4600.  No one was harmed.  It was a less thrilling experience than expected.  >_>

Current favorite song:  Melodies Of Life (The Layers Of Harmony) - Emiko Shiratori, Final Fantasy IX

Anime thoughts:

Fate/Stay Night 1-3 - A very promising new anime.  A weak magician is thrown into a dangerous game where seven magicians and their seven servants fight it out until one is proven worthy of taking the Holy Grail.  8/10

Full Metal Alchemist Conqueror of Shambala - It was great to see the characters in action again.  The ending should have been happier.  Winry should have at least ended up with Ed. 8.9/10

Manga thoughts:

Naruto 291 - Naruto's power ups are judged by the amount of tails he has when kyubi-fied. Jiraiya reveals that Naruto is in control when he has up to three tails, but four and up, he goes berserk.  Jiraiya also says when he witnessed Naruto's fourth tail, it was the second time in his life where he almost lost his.  Naruto goes up to three tails immediately as he is about to confront Orochimaru head on.  I'm looking forward to seeing Sakura's reaction to seeing this Naruto in action.  7.8/10

Bleach 211 - Hitsugaya and Renji are both at their limits.  Ichigo is able to hang on against the arrancar.  Tousen then shows up at the end.  8/10

Comic thoughts:

Infinite Crisis 4 - Superboy Prime confronts Superboy and ends up taking on the Teen Titans and JSA.  Superboy Prime kills some heroes and then the Flashes come and take him somewhere.  Alex returns Earth 2 at the end.  9/10

Birds of Prey 90 - Incredibly cheesy end.  8/10

Nightwing 116 - So much hard work, and it all goes up in a puff of nuclear smoke.  10/10

Gaming thoughts:

Dirge of Cerberus - The latest commercial is simply orgasmic.  June is such a long wait.  Hopefully Kingdom Hearts II and Twilight Princess can tide me over until then.

Phoenix Wright - An internet cult favorite.  I succumbed to the rumors that this is a great game with a good story, and I went on a day long hunt for the game.  I found it and was hooked from the beginning.  10/10 

Current favorite songs:  Tooi Hi no Kizuato and Suzuka Main Theme - Takumi Masanori (Suzuka OST), For Fruits Basket - Ritsuko Okazaki

Anime thoughts:

Gundam Seed Destiny Final Plus - Last episode with some minor retcons and an epilouge.  Vestige was used as the opening instead of the god-awful Wings of Words.  After Messiah goes down, Justice goes down and offers Shin and Luna a lift.  The two most important things that happen in the epilouge are Lacus becomes chairman of Zaft, and Shin meets face to face with Kira again. 9/10
Rumor has it that Gundam Seed has been green-lit for a 3rd season.  =)

Shakugan no Shana 12 - After some events, Yoshida comes to the decision to tell Yuji that she loves him before Shana does.  Shana starts to argue, but gets interrupted by the incest bro and sis.  8/10

Manga thoughts:

Bleach 209 - We find out the arrancar that is fighting Ichigo is the one of the top ten strongest of all arrancar.  Matsumoto gets clearance from Soul Society to remove the limit on their powers. 7.5/10

Naruto 289 - "Kabuto" and "Orochimaru" show up. Meh/10

Koorihime Kitan - Looked real nice.  I hope someone translates it soon.

Comic thoughts:

Infinite Crisis 3 - Earth-2 Superman tries to convince Batman to help bring back Earth-2.  He fails.  Powergirl discovers a tower built with the corpse of the Anti-Monitor.  The end reveals Alexander Luthor and Earth-Prime Superboy to be villains. 9/10

Birds of Prey 89 - Barbara reveals the Oracle part of her life to Gordon.  We also find out that he's always known about her being Batgirl.  Batman and Deathstroke make their appearances at the end.  8.5/10

Gaming thoughts:

Kingdom Hearts II - 03/01/06.  It's going to be a long, long wait.  ;_;

Final Fantasy IV Advance - After hearing about it's release just under a week before it shipped, buying a GBA and this game was near the top of my list of things to buy.  A few days after the release, I found out that FFV and FFVI were also slated for release in the future along with Tales of Phantasia.  This led to the immediate purchase of a DS and this game.  10/10

Current favorite songs:  Passion - Utada Hikaru

Anime thoughts:

Shakugan no Shana 10 - Shana and what's his face have a nice moment at the end. Next episode looks good.

Gun X Sword 12-13 - The clawed man is finally shown. I must say, it's nice to see a villain that I truly want to see dead.

Suzuka 22 - Getting closer and closer to Yamato officially hooking up with Suzuka.

Manga thoughts:

Bleach - Ikkaku's fight ended nicely. The revelation that he was a ban kai user was interesting. Renji's fight got off to a nice start with Ururu's bit of intervention.

One Piece - Luffy and company stand before CP9 and they finally go into Robin's past. The last flashback wasn't very interesting to me, but since this is Robin, I'm very interested in what has happened to her that has her all scared for her crew mates.

Del Ray - First they license School Rumble, now they announce they have Suzuka too! <3 Del Ray!

Gaming thought:

Radiata Stories - A nice solid game. A bit short, but it was fun. I hope Square decides to expand this universe in the near future.  8.4/10

Comic thoughts:

Spider-Man: The Other - Stopped reading after Peter "dies."

Ultimate Spider-Man 1-87 - Picked this up after 616 version got dull. It was way better than I expected. Only low point was Gwen Stacy's death. I would have expected a more spectacular/meaningful death.

Ultimate X-Men 1-65 - Picked this up after catching up with all the current Ultimate Spider-Man issues to see how and where Kitty came from. It was also way better than I expected. I'm not even a fan of the 616 X-Men, but Ultimate X-Men is great. Beast's death, Gambit's death, and pairings such as Beast/Storm and Wolverine/Storm were quite nice changes from 616 universe.

Current favorite songs: Tooi Hi no Kizuato and Suzuka Main Theme - Takumi Masanori (Suzuka OST)

Anime thought:

Shakugan no Shana: Five episodes in and the first villain is already killed. Shana is a real cutie, and has charmed me like no other since Sakura from Card Captor Sakura. I'll be keeping up with this one 'till the end for sure.

Manga thoughts:

One Piece - Luffy has figured out how to use Soru, and thus Luffy has reached Super Saiyan. >_> Joking aside, I can't wait to see if Luffy is going to be able to take on all of CP9. Defeating Blueno so quickly, after getting in "gear," was awesome.

Naruto - Sai could possibly make me wish Sasuke never left. Seriously, my first impression of him is just as bad as my first impression of Sasuke. Chouji also has one of best post-time jump designs next to Sakura and Neji.

Bleach - Once again, there is another multiple fights at the same time deal again. Ichigo hurts Chad's pride when he tells him to step back and let him handle it. Rukia, in turn, tells Ichigo to step back and let her handle it. Rukia then shows off what her soul cutter can do. Kubo is currently doing Ikkaku's fight, and I'm a bit bored.

School Rumble - Of all the people, it was damn hilarious that only Tenma recognized that it was Harima with a different hair style. Eri happens to walk in and see and immediately dropkicks him.

Suzuka - Yamato finally gets the nerve to hold Suzuka his arms, but is slapped when he tries to kiss her. Poor Yamato.

Comic thoughts:

Infinite Crisis 2 - Earth-2 Supes wants to make Earth-1 disappear and have Earth-2 come back as the true Earth. I really like where this is going. 9/10

Teen Titans 29 - After the last two god-awful issues, anything would have been awesome, but this issue was a flashbang of greatness. The art returned to normal, and the writing was brilliant. Jason ripping off his clothes to reveal his Robin costume underneath was a great scene, as was the Robin vs. Robin fight. 10/10

House of M 8 - An amazing revelation. Mutants all over the globe have been de-powered. Among those de-powered are Iceman, Jubilee, Quicksilver, and the great Magneto himself. Spider-Man getting mad because he remembers the events of the House of M was also a very moving scene. The last page isn't so great because it looks like the Phoenix is re-appearing. That isn't something that I'd like to see happen again. Hopefully, that big red fire thing is something else. 10/10

Wrestling thought:

Eddie Guerrero was a great performer. My favorite matches of his were the ones where he tagged teamed with RVD. I always liked the one where he and RVD frog splashed both of their opponents at the same time.

 

Before getting into the topic title, anime thoughts:

Hell Girl 1 - Freaking awesome first episode.  The novelty might wear off soon if the episodic nature becomes stale, but if/when a plot develops, it should be fun.  8.8/10

Shakugan no Shana 1 - Average quality.  Story isn't really that compelling, but I'll watch it some more because Shana is my kind of demon-slaying girl.  7.8/10

Backlog: Blood+ 1, Trinity Blood ??-??, Full Metal Panic 1-24 + 2nd Raid 1-??.

Manga thoughts:

Naruto 280 - Gaara is alive.  Sakura was the main focus for a long while.  This arc gets a thumbs up from me.  10/10

Bleach 199 - Matsumoto + Inoue yuri moment.  Ends with the arankaru going off to kill anyone with spirit power.  10/10

School Rumble 151  - Eri and Harima on a bike together.  It's really nice to see them like this.  Some stuff with some man-maid kidnapping Tenma also happens.  9.2/10

Comic thoughts:

House of M 7 - Holy fucking shit.  Pietro was the one who convinced Wanda to create the new world.  Magneto had nothing to do with it.  When Layla gives him back his memories, he is fucking pissed.  10/10

Villains United 6 - Mockingbird turns out to be the real Luthor and the Luthor of the villains happens to be some other Luthor.  Deathstroke killing Chesire was amusing, but it was a disappointment to see that her unborn child would become nothing more.  8.3/10

Supergirl 2 - I liked the chemistry between her and Superboy.  Hopefully she won't be fighting anymore heroes in the next issue.  8.0/10

Infinite Crisis 1 - Awesome.  The big 3 meet on the moon at what's left of the watchtower.  They exchange words while Mongul watches from the shadows.  He reveals himself when he hears enough to confirm that the Justice League has collapsed.  During the fight, Diana tries to kill him, but is stopped by Superman.  Mongul escapes and the 3 exchange their last words before leaving.  It's been said too many times by now, but Batman's line here was just amazing.  10/10

Current favorite songs:  The Promised Land - Nobuo Uematsu (FFVII: Advent Children), Fields of Hope - Rie Tanaka

A little over a day late, but I still wish a happy birthday to Ayumi Hamasaki.

Anime thoughts:

Gundam Seed Destiny 50 (End) - A let down, but not that big of a let down.  Messiah falls and Dullindal is killed by Rey.  Kira, Athrun, and Mwu all make it out alive.  Orb is safe and no real closure is done.  Shin and Luna only watch as Messiah is falling.  Not enough Dearka and definitely no where near enough closure for Shin.

My Wife is a Magical Girl 13 (End) - Cruje ends up keeping Wonderland as is and everybody gets a happy ending.  A nice end to a great series.

Suzuka 13 - Honoka makes her move and she wins Yamato's heart.  They did an awesome job animating this part from the manga.

Current favorite songs:  The Promised Land - Nobuo Uematsu (FFVII: Advent Children)

Anime thoughts:

Naruto dub - Sakura's voice actress came off a whole lot better than my first impression.  Chouji's voice actor was a strange pick, but I think he'll get better by the time it's time for him to shine in his fight against Jiroubou.  Hinata's voice actor could also be improved over time.  The "big" edit for this episode was the kiss between Naruto and Sasuke happened off screen instead of showing it.  It's not a big deal, and I can't see why the dub haters would use it as an excuse for lame editing.  The kiss still happened, they just didn't show it.  Big friggin' whup.  In a funny turn of events, the character I hate most is the only one saying "Naruto" almost correctly.  Sasuke is the only one in the whole series so far to pronounce "Naruto" the closest to the "right" way.  While I am forgiving in the areas of editing and voice acting, pronunciation of names will always bug me.  This goes to the Japanese as well.  Naruto should be pronounced the Japanese way as Bob should be pronounced the American way.  "Bobu" (Tenjho Tenge) annoyed me as much as "Nar-uto".

Gundam Seed Destiny 48 - Blah episode.  Quite a disappointing episode considering it's so close to the end.  If in one of the final two episodes, Miriallia and Dearka have a single moment to acknowledge each other, I'll be happy.  Of course, Kira dieing would also be awesome, but that's probably not going to happen.  >_>

Final Fantasy VII: Last Order - This is pretty much the Nibelheim flashback scene animated in a Quentin Tarantino-esque fashion.

Naruto 151 - The only episode I fully sat through of this arc.  I said that character development for Shino and Hinata should be good, and I was pleased with the end of this arc.  It actually made me into a Hinata fan.  She's actually respectable now and uses her own technique.

Manga thoughts:

Naruto 276 - It's confirmed, the new eye-sharingan is none other than Kakashi's own mangekyou sharingan.  Naruto also gives Deidara a nice punch in the face.  Team Gai, show up already!

One Piece 382 - After fighting tons of fodder, Luffy finally meets a CP9 member (Blueno) at the end of this chapter.

Bleach 195 - Yoruichi fan service.  After missing a few days, Inoue and Ichigo go back to school with wounds still healing.  Ichigo and Inoue both feel weak after losing badly, but suddenly they are surprised when friends arrive at their school.  It's Renji, Hitsugaya, Matsumoto, Ikkaku, Yumichika, and Rukia.  They have come to support Ichigo and the others for the coming war.  Best chapter of the week.  I would've liked Hinamori too, but one(Matsumoto) out of two isn't bad.

Gaming thoughts:

GameFAQs Summer Contest - Current score is 130.  The only division I predicted perfectly was Chaos.  Even if Mario does keep his lead into the evening today, my score won't be a bad as I thought it would be.

Resident Evil 4 - Great game.  Needed more Ada.

Current favorite songs:  Fairyland - Ayumi Hamasaki

It was leaked this morning.  Full review time!  Warning:  I am a fanboy.  =P

Story:  8.9/10 - Rufus makes the Turks retrieve the left overs of Jenova from the North Crater.  Kadaj, Lodz, and Yazoo then go after the remains for the rest of the movie.  Kadaj gets it in the end and drinks the remains to transform into Sephiroth.

Music: 9.0/10 - Some new and a lot of old songs from the game.  All of it was used well.  Lodz having the "Victory" song as a ring tone was amusing.

Fights: 10/10 - Holy crap, there was a whole lot of fighting in this movie.  All the action was fast paced with a couple of bullet-time breaks.  Reno and Rude also had their own fight scene.  Reno's slapstick actions were funny throughout all the scenes he's in.  Materia is used sparingly through the movie.  The way they animated the Omnislash was extremely awesome.  While all the fight scenes were great, I would have liked some more action shown with Elena or Yuffie.

Ending: 9.2/10 - Aerith's face was being hidden throughout the movie until the end.  They completely show her face when they're all in the church.  Geostigma is also cured.  Happy ending for all.

Overall score: 10/10 - It's been a long 2 years since news first broke about this movie.  It's lived up to the hype and the legacy that is Final Fantasy VII.  This is what the Final Fantasy movie should've been.

Notes:  If this movie needed anything more, it would be more Yuffie and more Elena.  Elena was dead gorgeous when first appeared to suddenly save Rufus.  It's a shame that she didn't get to fight along with Reno and Rude.  The movie also confirms two long standing rumors.  Rufus survived being attacked by Weapon, and Tseng didn't die in the Ancient Temple.  I want the art book for this movie now.  ;_;

</end fanboy>

Current favorite songs:  Aerith Theme - Nobuo Uematsu

Comic thoughts:

House of M 6 - They finally confront the House of Magnus head on.  Storm, and maybe Dr. Doom, get their memories restored by Rogue.  Emma, Leyla, and the transporter find Xavier's grave, but his body isn't buried there.  A better cliff hanger would have been one of Magneto's children's neck being snapped by Wolverine/Spider-Man.  >_>

Fantastic Four House of M 3 - Doom achieves the unthinkable, he manages to over throw the House of Magnus.  The It demands that he now be treated with respect and no longer wants to be caged.  The It takes this chance and betrays the Fearsome Four.  It cost Doom all his family.  Doom is left alive to go back to Latveria, all alone and defeated.

Anime thoughts:

Naruto dub - The opening is crappy, but at least it's not over the top crap like One Piece's American opening.  Aside from the opening and ending songs, all the original bgms seem to be intact.  With only minor editing of blood and some expanded clouds over Naruto's sexy jutsu, the editing wasn't anything to cry over.

A whole lot of Japanese text is left un-translated, like the ramen shop where Naruto and Iruka eat.  While I smirked when I saw this, this is something that should've been edited into English for the benefit of the mass audience.

Another thing I was happy to hear, was that the show used their own translations for the jutsus.  Non of that crappy "Art of the Doppleganger."  The "-sensei" title was also left in, and for the first time in a very long time, "kill" was used in a kid cartoon.

Voice acting was all decent.  The pronunciation of the names is still a common annoyance among all dubs, but the voices all seem to fit the characters in my view.  Sakura is the only one that I felt was a little off, but I won't be able to make a final judgment until next week when she has a lot more lines.

Naruto speaks in a kiddy way in Japanese by adding "-te bayo" to end most of his sentences.  It seems like they've decided to translate this by making Naruto say "believe it" in his sentences.  I thought this was extremely clever because it's just as annoying to an American as "-te bayo" is to a Japanese.

Overall, I'm giving Viz a 7.2/10 for the job so far.  I'm quite pleased.  It will be interesting to see what they do with Haku.

Short post. I'll end with a pic that's been a tradition for me to post on this date.

Current favorite songs:  Kohaku - Shimokawa Mikuni (Grenadier OP)

Anime thoughts:

Da Capo S.S. 5-6 - Episode 5 was actually pretty funny.  Episode 6 already got spoiled for me on GameFAQs, but it was still a "holy shit!" moment when Nemu appeared.  Kotori's been demoted for now, and I can't wait to see if she's going to fight back.  If we go by harem laws however, Nemu is the winner by default.  This series has been bumped up and is now competing with Suzuka for second best anime of the July season.

Da Capo S.S. 7 - Whee.  Nemu and Jun'ichi relationship looks like it's going to deteriorate and allow Kotori to have a chance.

Suzuka 7 - Yamato was rejected last episode.  Drunk girl helps Yamato make his decision and keep going after Asahina.  He decides to join the track team in the end.  I'm eagerly awaiting for Honoka's moments with Yamato.

Suzuka 8-9 - Yamato works hard and finds out that track is really hard.  Asahina also still acts coldly towards him even though he's working hard.  Honoka joins the team as a manager.  Episode 9, Yamato learns about Kazuki and sees the picture of him and Asahina.  He chases after her when she goes to visit him on their day off from track club.

My Wife is a Magical Girl 7 - Cruje(adult form) goes out on a date with Tatsumi at the beach.  Ureshiko is jealous and follows them around until she is interrupted by some other magical girls.  Cruje learns first hand about Ureshiko's pain of not being able to kiss and runs off.  Being pissed she can't kiss, she decides to take it out on the magical girls fighting Ureshiko.  After the battle, Ureshiko falls to the sea because she's sick.  Cruje(kid form) gets Tatsumi to save her.  She's out of the water and breathing, but still unconscious. 

My Wife is a Magical Girl 8-9 - Episode 8 gives some backstory about Yuki.  She sides with Cruje and tries to get the ring from Ureshiko so Cruje can erase Yuki's past.  Ureshiko's husband also confronts Tatsumi about allegations of forcing himself onto his mistress/editor.  Episode 9 continues with the confrontation that ends when Ureshiko shows up and pleas for him to stop.  Later, Cruje(adult form) clears up the moment where she almost kisses Tatsumi.  Cruje tells him to tell his feelings to the person he likes.  He tells Ureshiko and she finally decides its time.  She takes of the ring and almost kisses him, but the ring shines and she must go out and do her job to preserve the city.  Still the best anime of the season.

Gun X Sword 6 - Wonderful parody of Pulp Fiction in the beginning.  Ends with Van finding out that the guy with the claw was only a couple of feet away from him moments ago.

Backlog: Trinity Blood ??-??, Mahou Sensei Negima 21, Tide-Line Blue 2-4, Law of Ueki ??-15, Full Metal Panic 1-24 + 2nd Raid 1-5, Ah! My Goddess 24.

Comic thoughts:

Batgirl 67 - Cheesecake!  Batgirl and Oracle bury the hatchet and are on good terms again.  Black Canary also tells Cassandra a secret.  Shiva wants her to be her apprentice.  Shiva finally appears next issue.

Birds of Prey 85 - Surgery goes fine and Oracle can wiggle her toes now.  Still don't see why they didn't take this chance to make things right between Oracle and Batman.

Batman 644 - The end result of War Crimes?  Leslie Thompkins withheld treatment and thus killed Stephanie.  Holy crap, I'm really amazed that they let a writer change her character like that.

House of M 5 - Emma and the little girl give back the memories to more heroes.  First one they decide to do after Cyclops is Spider-Man.  Ends with Magneto looking over Xavier's grave.  Spider-Man is probably the one who deserves the right to end the House of M with his bare hands.  With only three issues left, I hope there's going to be flash bangs of awesome packed into these last issues.

Gaming thoughts:

At the beginning of the current generation of consoles, I praised the X-Box the most and trashed the Gamecube.  I've become less of an elitist now and have seen the error of my ways.  Today, I now own a Gamecube.  Heh.

Current favorite songs:  Kimi wa Boku ni Niteriru - See-Saw

Anime thoughts:

Digimon Adventure - Yea, that's right.  I got my hands on torrents for the raws for the Myotismon arc and the Dark Masters arc.  I'm surprised to say that Bandai did a fairly awesome job on the dub after watching the raws.  Most of the scenes were left uncut in the American version.  The only bad thing I can say about the dub is the re-scoring of the music.  The original bgms were immensely better than the American ones.

My Wife is a Magical Girl 5-6 - Ecchi has mostly gone away.  Cruje gets closer to Tatsumi by changing herself into an adult.  Ureshiko gets jealous when she finds out what Cruje is using the magic for.  End of episode 6 was so extremely corny, and yet it still left a heart-warming feeling.  >_>

Naruto 147-148 - 147 finally ends the terrible Mizuki filler, and 148 begins a new Naruto + Team 8 filler arc.  Hinata looks like she got a power up.  Shino is appointed the leader for this mission.  The Mizuki arc looked like it could be interesting in the beginning, but crapped out in the end.  Hopefully this arc won't be the same.  Some character development for Shino and Hinata should be fun...should be...

Backlog: My Wife is a Magical Girl 7, Trinity Blood ??-??, Mahou Sensei Negima 21, Tide-Line Blue 2-4, Loveless ??-End, Law of Ueki ??-15, Futakoi Alternative ??-??, Full Metal Panic 1-24 + 2nd Raid 1-5, Ah! My Goddess 24.

Comic thoughts:

Nightwing 111 - Dick is on the road to the dark side.  A Deathstroke appearance is always a nice thing to see.

Supergirl 1 - Cheesecake(The American equivalent of fan service.).  Conner telling Kara to get away from the Kent's farm was weird.  I hope he enjoys the ass kicking she's going to give him.

Batman 643 + Detective Comics 810 - War Crimes part 2 and 3.  Black Mask is dressing up as Batman and killing everyone involved with Spoiler.  Cluemaster is revealed.  Joker shoots Black Mask and tells him he's the only person who kills "Robin."

Green Arrow 53 - A one-shot with Solomon Grundy.  It was okay, but did they have to print this in between the Dr. Light arc.  -_-'

Manga thoughts:

Suzuka 72 - Finally, Asahina makes peace with her track sempai and becomes a couple with Yamato.

Naruto 272 - Sakura grabs onto the rope and pulls Sasori in her direction before he can get to Chiyo.  She punches him and he breaks into pieces, but he reforms.  Chiyo takes a scroll out and masses some puppets.  Sasori takes one of three scrolls on his back, and masses his own puppet army.  Fight...drags on.  Kick some more ass Sakura, show them some slug action.  ^_^

One Piece 378 - Luffy, the Franky family, and the Water 7 shipwrights continue kicking the asses of nameless marines.  The way is almost clear for Rocket Man to charge in.

Bleach 191 - Two hollow-shinigami's land in the real world and Ichigo, Chad, and Inoue head out.  Chad and Inoue get there first to protect Tatsuki.  Chad goes up against them and gets his arm separated from his body.  Motherfucking ouch.

Death Note 1-73 - Holy shit.  I'm still smacking myself for not reading this earlier.  I probably have a bias for anti-hero type characters, but Light Yagami may be the best male character ever.

Current favorite songs:  D/N/A - Do As Infinity, Start Line - Coach (Suzuka OP)

Anime thoughts:

My Wife is a Magical Girl 3 - Some advancement in the relationship of Ureshiko and Tatsumi.

My Wife is a Magical Girl 4 - Episode starts off with Ureshiko finding Tatsumi reading one of her husband's books.  She goes to his house later and we find out that they are estranged because Ureshiko wouldn't let him kiss her even though they were married.  Kruje also tries to get closer to Tatsumi, but later when Ureshiko is sulking in the rain by herself, Tatsumi comes by and cheers her up to the displeasure of Kruje.  #2 show of the season so far.

Gun X Sword 2-4 - It really feels like I'm watching an alternate reality of Cowboy Bebop or King of Bandits Jing.  Episode 3 was especially great for the sentai throwback and for Van not taking the glory away from the old timers.  Wendy finally got a little closer to Van in Episode 4, when he finally caves in and calls her by name.

Bleach 43 - Great setup for the fight between Ishida and Mayuri.  Poor Nemu.  She reminds me of Yumi, but at least Shishio cared for Yumi.  Mayuri is just a bastard.

Da Capo S.S. 4 - Aishia is really annoying and there wasn't nearly enough Kotori to make up for it.

Backlog:  Trinity Blood ??-??, Mahou Sensei Negima 21, Tide-Line Blue 2, Loveless ??-End, Law of Ueki ??-15, Futakoi Alternative ??-??, Full Metal Panic 1-24 + 2nd Raid 1-3, Ah! My Goddess 24.

Manga thoughts:

One Piece 377 - Luffy beats up more nameless Marines while the Franky Family open up the gates to Enies Lobby.  Franky is featured on the special color cover art for the chapter, along with Robin and Sogeking.  Looks like Franky is most likely to join the Straw-hat Pirates now.

Bleach 190 - Hiyori introduces herself to Inoue and Chad.  She then says she's going to kill them, but Hirako quickly apologizes for her remark, grabs Hiyori, and runs out of there.  Chad realizes the power difference between them and knows they would have been killed if they had tried to fight them.  Ichigo gets home, and Kon is over-reacting trying to keep from exposing Isshin's secret.  Karin notices Ichigo is acting weird and wants to know why.  She also says she knows that Ichigo is a shinigami. 

Naruto 271 - The fight is finally showing signs that it's almost over.  Sakura is getting low on chakra and Sasori's last line of defense is shown.  Sasori's own body is a puppet.  Naruto and Kakashi are also shown.  Kakashi calms Naruto down long enough to tell him he has a plan to defeat Deidara and save Gaara.  The chapter ends with Sakura getting impaled by Sasori's rope-spear thing and going to make the killing blow on Chiyo.  Team Gai showing up is most likely, but hopefully Lee will make the save and deliver the knockout punch himself.

Comic thoughts:

Detective Comics 809 - Someone gets their hands on Stephanie's personal files and releases it to the Gotham media.  After following the leads, he winds up in front of Aaron Black.  Joker interrupts their encounter and says he knows who Batman really is.  A great start to the War Crimes arc.

Iron Man House of M 2 - Some nice interaction between Tony and Johnny Storm.  The end was interesting with Henry Pym setting of some kind of mutant bomb and revealing those bombs were everywhere in the city.

Fantastic 4 House of M 2 - Magneto calls upon Doom to find a dimension where he can imprison his enemies.  Doom takes this as the perfect chance to trap Magnus and finds a dimension where Magneto's mutant power would be nullified.  After the Fearsome Four do some clean up, they're ready to show it to Magneto.  Quicksilver quickly suspects that it could be a trap, but Magneto says Doom isn't stupid enough to do something like that.  Doom then offers Magneto to pass through the portal to the dimension first.  Aside from the main House of M comic, this one is my favorite of the House of M series.

Return of Donna Troy 3 - Blah.  It's been really boring from the start and it looks like it'll finish boring too.  She might get interesting when she gets back to Earth and sees Kyle.

Superman 220 - Clark and Conner have a talk about their recent mind controlled events and Conner finally tells Clark about having Luthor's DNA.  They both head to the old Fortress of Solitude to answer a distress call.  They find John Henry and the Eradicator.  An OMAC shows up and puts Eradicator out of commision.

JSA 76 - Metamorpho and Fire let Powergirl know that Blue Beetle has been killed.  An OMAC appears and takes out most of the JSA until Atom Smasher stomps on it.  Amanda Waller shows up to Smasher's cell and wants to have a talk.

New Avengers 8 - This one is all over the place.  They show a flashback to Wolverine's invitation to join the New Avengers.  They beat up some guy and Spider-Woman reveals she releases a pheromone that makes anyone around her attracted to her.  Ends with Namor, the Fantastic Four, New Avengers, X-Men, Dr. Strange, and the Inhumans confronting the Sentry.

Justice 1 - Certain villains are all having the same painful dream where the Justice League fails to save the world.  They want to start something so this dream never comes to pass.  Black Manta takes on Aquaman and defeats him.  He brings his unconscious body in front of Luthor.  This looks like it's going to be great series.  Alex Ross is a great artist and the writing is superb.

Current favorite songs:  Gotta Knock a Little Harder - Yoko Kanno, Himegoto - SiLC (Vandread ED)

Anime thoughts:

My Wife is a Magical Girl 1-2 -  A guy named Tatsumi moves in with Ureshiko, who is actually a magical girl.  Kruje is a the new young girl who is supposed to replace Ureshiko, who is getting a bit too old for the job.  Character designs are much better than My Wife is a High School Student, and there is way more ecchi.  The actual scenes of "magic" are over-the-top and contain ecchi that makes even me cringe.  The first episode had way too much of the exaggerated "magic" and ecchi, but had a very serious end to the episode.  Ureshiko revealed to Tatsumi that she's married and they can never kiss.  The second episode was a lot more balanced, but the seriousness of the story really took over.  I don't know why the fan subbers aren't picking this series up; it is clearly a great show.

Backlog:  Gun X Sword 2-3, Trinity Blood ??-??, Mahou Sensei Negima 21, Tide-Line Blue 2, Loveless ??-End, Law of Ueki ??-15, Futakoi Alternative ??-??, Full Metal Panic 1-24 + 2nd Raid 1-3, Ah! My Goddess 24.

Manga thoughts:

Negima 104 - Colonel Sanders beats Kotaru easily.  Some nice moments for Chisame too.

Suzuka 1-71 - I'd like to thank whoever it was that torrented this.  Stuff happens and Yamato confesses to Asahina.  She rejects him.  Later he confesses again with the same results.  Honoka confronts Asahina and accidently confesses to Yamato about her feelings for him.  They soon start a relationship.  They break up later when she realizes he still likes Asahina.  Yamato finds out about Asahina's old track senpai.  He confronts Asahina about him and later kisses her.  He gets slapped each time.  Yamato's a bastard, Asahina's a bitch, and Honoka's a pure soul.  At the end of chapter 71, it looks like Asahina might be able to start letting go of the past, and hopefully look to a future with Yamato.

Current favorite songs:  Memories of the Future - Yuka (Kiddy Grade OP), Fairyland - Ayumi Hamasaki, Trust - Vandread OP

Anime thoughts:

Suzuka 4 -  Yamato tries to impress Asahina and fails miserably during the gym tests.  He does succeed in getting her attention when he races in the 50 meter.  She immediately is reminded of her old track senpai as Yamato runs.  At the end of the episode, Asahina and Yamato have an awkward moment together in the rain.  Another great episode.

Da Capo S.S. 3 - Aisia turned into a completely different person and is quite annoying.  With Aisia as the second female harem lead, it's going to take a combined effort with Kotori, Moe, and Mako to keep it interesting.

Backlog:  Gun X Sword 2-3, Trinity Blood ??-??, Mahou Sensei Negima 21, Tide-Line Blue 2, Loveless ??-End, Law of Ueki ??-15, Futakoi Alternative ??-??, Full Metal Panic 1-24 + 2nd Raid 1-3.

Comic thoughts:

House of M 4 - Things are starting to speed up.  Wolverine gets Luke Cage and his crew on his side.  They then give Emma's memories back and she's furious.  She wants to kill Magneto and all his kids.  Wolverine says that's fine, but they'll need a lot more people.  It's already half over, with only four more issuses left, and they only have two X-Men and a New Avenger with their memories.  It'll be interesting to see what the old Avengers think of the House of Magnus, and if they'll agree to kill them off.

Wonder Woman 219 - Diana does what no one else will, and kills Max Lord to free Superman's mind.

OMAC Project 4 - With Max dead, Brother Eye goes solo and runs the OMACs by itself.

Green Arrow 52 - With Ollies home blown to bits, they take refuge in an abandoned luxury condominium.  Ollie has Zatanna secretly follow Mia around school for her own good.  Ollie thinks Doctor Light is responsible for blowing up his home and calls in Black Lightning to help him finish business with Doctor Light.

Manga thoughts:

One Piece 376 - Sogeking "meets" with Luffy and the others.  They get to Enies Lobby and beat up some random Marines.

Bleach 189 - Hirako returns the next to school to Ichigo's surprise.  A new shinigami/hollow person/thing shows up named Hiyori.  Inoue and Chad meet up with Hirako and Hiyori.  Ishida goes to his dad and gives him his answer.  He won't involve himself with the shinigami so he'll get back his Quincy powers.

Naruto 270 - Kankuro and Temari head out with some sand ninjas to help the Konoha teams.  Kakashi and Naruto's fight with Deidara is now in the forest with Deidara running.  Chiyo and Sakura's fight with Sasori drags on even more.  Up until now, all Sakura has shown off is that she can now punch hard.  In this chapter, she shows that she can plan too.  She does a feint and manages to destroy the Sandaime Kazekage puppet.  Most people dislike that this fight is the only on being focused on, but I'm loving it.  Sakura is making up for lost time and I couldn't be happier(actually, I will be).

Ichigo 100% 167 - FINAL CHAPTER!  It's been 4 years since graduation.  Toujou has won another literature award and they're having a party in Satsuki's Inn in Kyoto.  Everyone from the film club has arrived except for Toujou and Manaka.  Toujou arrives soon after, followed immediately by Manaka.  Everyone is surprised at how much Manaka has grown.  The next day, Manaka is in a park.  He is going to meet someone there.  His video camera's battery is almost gone and he starts to film the scenery there.  He points it at the top the stairs and he sees the person he's meeting.  Tsukasa Nishino.  He asks if she will date him again.  She asks if he will excite her again.  Manaka drops his camera and picks Nishino off her feet.

It's over.  It's really over, and the girl has finally been chosen.  With this, the mold has been broken in harems.  For the first time, the girl that the male lead ends up with is not the first girl introduced.  The chapter itself is not being well received by the Toujou fans and the general fans.  It was an abrupt end after an emotional break up between Manaka and Nishino.  Many thought it was going to continue, but it just ends with Manaka getting back with Nishino.  Most of the Tsukasa fans are as happy with it as I am.  There is going to be an epilogue chapter on August 15.  I hope the mangaka shows off the new character designs a lot more in it. 

Current favorite songs:  Memories of the Future - Yuka (Kiddy Grade OP), Fairyland - Ayumi Hamasaki

Anime thoughts:

Gundam Seed Destiny 40 - Cagalli finally takes hold of Orb and debuts the Akatsuki Gundam.  Yuna also finally gets punched.  Meyrin is able to walk around, though, she still has to drag an IV around.  Great episode.  Destiny vs. Akatsuki should be a good fight.

Suzuka 3 - The second female harem lead is properly introduced.  Honoka is soft spoken and shy, but she starts with a strong conviction to get closer with Yamato before Asahina does.  Suzuka impresses me again with another awesome character.  Sometimes I wonder how I even liked Shinobu right from the start when I've disliked so many other shy female characters that started with no will.  Suzuka has taken the lead for best new anime this season, for now.

Wrestling thoughts:

Screw UPN for being such pussies.  Banning Muhammad Hassan from Smackdown was a stupid thing to do.  Professional wrestling is staged and pre-determined.  Hassan was just an actor playing his part.  Hassan was a great heel and his character shouldn't be "killed" off.  Daivari's character was annoying; so I wouldn't mind him disappearing.

Current favorite songs:  Moon Revenge - Sailor Moon, Poison - Takashi Sorimachi (GTO: Live Action OP)

Comic thoughts:

Birds of Prey 84 - Nice issue.  Barbara trying to patch things up with Huntress was nice.  It will be awesome to have Babs back on the front lines if the thing inside her does indeed make her be able to walk again.

Batgirl 66 - This was god-awful.  The romance with some loser raver and the appearance of some man-pig thing was just terrible.  The only remotely good thing to happen in this issue was a surprise appearance of an OMAC.

Gotham Knights 67 - Pretty good issue.  A porn cameraman accidentally films Bruce Wayne fighting Hush and makes the connection that Bruce is Batman.  He tries to blackmail Bruce.  In the end Alfred handles it and it looks like he shoots the guy dead.

Spider-Man House of M 2 - Jameson gets his hands on Parker's secret journal.  In the end he reveals to the world that Parker isn't a mutant and only has powers because he was involved in a laboratory accident.  Parker's world is now turned upside-down.

Superman: Sacrifice Part 3 - Holy shit.  Max Lord has somehow permanently altered Superman's mind and caused him to beat Batman to near-death.  Just before the JLA can imprison him, Superman beats everyone and gets away.  Wonder Woman goes after Max, but when she stands before him, Superman appears from the shadows and holds her at bay.

Teen Titans/Outsiders Crossover - Finally, after dozens and dozens of "REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE!!" Superboy finally regains his mind and stops Lex himself.  Indigo also regains control of her body and asks Shift to kill her before Braniac regains control.  Shift tells her he loved her and then proceeds to make her insides into flesh.  She dies because the flesh isn't able to come alive.  After the fight ends, Nightwing decides to quit the Outsiders.

Manga thoughts:

Naruto 269 - Chiyo and Sakura continue on with their fight with Sasori.

One Piece 375 - Robin and Franky arrive at Enies Lobby and Luffy catches up to Sanji and Sogeking.

Bleach 188 - Urahara shows up and has a talk with Ishin.  Ends with glimpses of the captains having a meeting.

Ichigo 100% - Manaka and company have their graduation.  Looks like a time skip at the end.  Manaka is a construction worker.

So it's another "meh" week for the Weekly Jump chapters.  The new Negima chapter will hopefully be interesting.

Game thoughts:

The soccer moms have done it again.  They slapped an Adult Only rating on GTA: San Andreas, and you know what?  I'm not mad at them for doing it.  On the contrary, I don't care at all.  Rockstar knew that sex mini-game was there and if they really wanted to keep a Mature rating, they would have made it completely inaccessible by removing the source code for it.  I don't understand, however, why there's a major difference between a M-rated and AO-rated game besides a one year difference in age.  I also don't understand why stores would refuse to sell AO-rated games, but would sell M-rated games.  If parents want to make it so that only places like porn stores have the game, it's fine by me.  I'll just have more reasons to stop on by the local porn store.  >=)

In the end, this is just about people who are unqualified to be parents.  They want everything done by someone else so they can slack off and do other things besides raising their own children.  Of course, there are even worse people like Jack Thompson who thinks it's his duty to keep every dirty game away from children.  Jack Thompson is going after The Sims 2 because he believes that The Sims 2 contains detailed genitalia under the game's censor blur.  That of course is complete bullshit.  This man deserves to be "boxed" just as that woman who sued some girls for leaving cookies at her door deserved her "boxing."  LUE, LL, and many other gamers have already began, and I hope they do more.

Current favorite songs:  Terra - Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy VI), Memories of the Future - Yuka (Kiddy Grade OP), GO!!! - Flow (Naruto 4th OP)

When Manaka gets home from the filming trip, he is brought to Yui's home under forced circumstances.  After helping Yui out, Manaka returns and gets back to his job at the movie theatre.  The old man is mad at Manaka for not working for so long and demands compensation.  He wants to see Nishino in a swim suit and wants Manaka to invite her for a swim at a private pool.  Nishino accepts the invitation to Manaka's dismay.  After they get there and get changed, Nishino pushes Manaka into the pool unknowing that Manaka doesn't know how to swim.  Nishino then teaches Manaka how to swim for the rest of day.  Manaka is able to get the basics of swimming and thanks Nishino.

Nishino invites Manaka over one day to taste some cake.  Hesitant at first, he eventually ends up in her room again.  Nishino puts on some music, and the song that plays happens to be the song that was playing when she broke up with Manaka.  Nishino quickly fumbles to change the song, but falls over Manaka instead.  The door rings and Nishino quickly goes down to answer it.  At the door is her cook-senpai, Higure.  Higure helped Manaka earlier to get money from under a vending machine.  Manaka feels vibes Nishino and Higure have, and he suddenly feels depressed.  He starts thinking that Nishino is in love with him and goes to spy on them in the kitchen.  He sees Nishino clinging onto Higure and decides to leave right away.  He runs out of the house and far away from it.  He then bumps into Toujou, who then brightens up his day again.

Nishino calls Manaka that night and asks why he had to leave.  Manaka just says that he remembered he had to do something.  Nishino doesn't believe him, but she doesn't pry for an answer.  The next day, when Manaka passes by the cake shop, to work, he sees Nishino.  She knows Manaka has something to say and wants to know what it is.  Manaka tells her, but she says that there's nothing between her and Higure.  She was only clinging onto Higure because she thought she saw a cockroach.  She hates cockroaches more than anything.  She also tells him that she wasn't embracing Higure, and then she shows Manaka what an embrace is and holds onto him.  She let's go and goes back to work.  Before she leaves, Manaka tells her to keep her schedule open on September 16.  He didn't give her anything for her birthday last year, and he wants to spend the entire day with her this year.  Nishino says she will and goes back to her work.  Before entering the building she takes a moment to enjoy her happiness at that moment.

The next day at school, Satsuki jumps Manaka and presents him with concert ticket for a band they both like on September 15.  Later, Toujou invites Manaka for a barbeque on September 15.  He says he'll come and stay until night time.  The concert is at night so he could attend the barbeque too.  His schedule is perfect until Nishino says that she wants to change their date to the 15th.  The 16th is a regular day, but the 15th is a holiday; so she wants to spend the whole day with him instead of just part of the day.  Later, a film club member realizes that they haven't shot their promotional video for their movie yet and wants to do it on the 15th.  Manaka gets an excuse and is able to say that the film club wants to throw Nishino a party and is able to get out of all his obligations.

After an eventful day, they all start to head home.  Manaka doubles back and finds Nishino all alone.  She was waiting until it was midnight so it would be officially her birthday before she started to head home.  Nishino then decides she wants to spend the day with Manaka starting now.  She leads him to their middle school.  They jump the fence and look around.  Manaka sees the pull-up bars and is reminded of when he confessed to her.  He then asks why Nishino agreed to go out with him even though he wasn't special at all.  Nishino tells him about a story during the summer before their 3rd year.  Komiyama was caught with an ecch