I'm a bit late but...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY incorrupts and 2baki!

I hope you guys have a wonderful day. ♥

Today is also the birthday of the Swedish crown princess, btw (/random fact). And tomorrow's my father's birthday. I wish I could have gone home to celebrate him, but that'll have to wait, I suppose. My mother's turning 50 next month, perhaps I can make a short trip home then. Not that we usually celebrate birthdays that much in our family, but still, 50 is a rather special occasion. I have no idea what to buy for her though.

Ugh, I've been drinking far too much coffee today. I'm telling myself that there are worse things to be addicted to, but that doesn't make me feel much better about it. Now I'm trying to decide on how to use the rest of this day - right now I'm torn between (a) getting started with some CLAMP fanart, (b) writing on my story or (c) making Amatsuki icons. If I know myself correctly I'll just end up spending the whole evening trying to pick one of these alternatives though, and when I finally make up my mind I'll be too tired to start with anything.

( ramblings about writing )

So, a few updates on various things:

- This weekend just kind of ... disappeared, it seems. Yesterday I'd been planning to write a lot on the story I'm working on, but instead I ended up doing pretty much nothing (or at least nothing productive), for various reasons. And today I've been working, since some people at my job needed someone who could help them carrying out some extra stuff. I have a feeling that I need to get better at saying no when people ask me about things like that, otherwise I'm probably going to end up working every weekend this summer.

- I still haven't found any new anime show that really interests me among the ones that started airing this season. On the other hand, right now I feel like I'll rather spend the upcoming weeks reading manga and writing than watching anime, so I'm probably not in the right mood for checking out new shows. I'm currently following about 3 anime series on a weekly basis, and that's enough for now, I think.

- I liked Pandora Hearts ep 15 a lot. The animation was not as good as in ep 14, but definitely not as bad as in ep 13 either. Also, speaking of PH, I've been listening a lot to the anime soundtrack the last few days. My favorite songs from it are probably Contractor and Will, but I really like almost all of them.

Hm, what else? I still haven't started making anything for the CLAMP fanbook project, even though the deadline's pretty soon now. In worst case I guess I'll just submit one of my old pictures, but it would be more fun to make something new especially for the anniversary.

( last, a meme )

( rl talk... )

Thoughts and comments on various anime and manga series:

TRC 224: I... don't have very much to say about this chapter, but adorable Syaoran Jr is adorable. Sakura is very beautiful, too.

Kobato drop 15: I need to read the translations for this chapter, but page 9 made me so happy. I don't think I'll ever get tired of CLAMP crossovers. 8)

Last weekend I finished watching Sengoku Basara and Eden of the East. Both were really great shows, even though I enjoyed Basara the most. Now I'm looking forward to the sequels!

Pandora Hearts: I feel like I'm saying this all the time, but I think I love this manga more and more for every new chapter. Also, I downloaded the soundtrack today and it's very good. Some songs remind a lot of the music from Tsubasa Chronicle (for natural reasons), but I don't mind that since I like those songs very much too. Kajiura Yuki is definitely one of my favorite anime music composers.

I've been thinking of checking out some of the new season's anime as well, mostly out of curiosity. So far I've watched the first episodes of Taishou Yakyuu Musume and Umi Monogatari, but I don't know if I'll continue to follow them. Taishou Yakyuu Musume didn't really catch my interest and Umi Monogatari... well, it's very pretty and might turn out interesting, but the first episode felt a bit too cute and fanservicey for my taste (I suppose I shouldn't be surprised about the latter since the series's based on a pachinko game, but still). I'll probably watch a few more episodes of both series before I decide, though. Other shows that I'm planning to check out are Bakemonogatari, Canaan and Umineko no Naku Koro ni, but that will have to wait until the weekend.

Oh, and I hear rumors that the DGM manga is coming back. Finally! :D

About xxxHolic ch 183:

( spoilers )

Speaking of CLAMP-related stuff, chibiyuuto's and kei_san77's reports, videos and pictures from Japan Expo have made me wish that I was in Paris right now sooo badly. Seeing CLAMP appear in public like that almost feels a bit unreal. I'm also impressed by how extremely nice and polite the seem to be, and how kindly they treat their fans. I'm so happy for everyone who got the chance to see them, that much be an amazing experience.

Yesterday I finally decided to start reading the 07-Ghost manga. Um, and to summarize: everyone who said that it's much better than the anime was right. I was surprised to find out how much the anime has dragged things out; the whole arc with Mikage was over unexpectedly fast in the manga. On the whole, the manga story feels much more straightforward and free from unnecessary scenes. I'll most likely continue to follow it from now on.

I also watched Pandora Hearts ep 14 yesterday. The animation was back to usual again, which made me happy since I didn't like the animation style in ep 13 very much. Overall I think they made a very good work with this episode; Jack looks truly amazing and the part where Oz finds Alice in the tower was almost exactly as I'd imagined it. Can't wait until the next episode!

First, for Myst: ( ... )

Hm, I had a lot that I was planning to write about, but it's pretty late now and I have to get up early tomorrow, so I'll just make a short summary:

- The second Holic OAD: I loved it. My favorite parts was the scene with Doumeki, Himawari and Watanuki talking and the one with Watanuki and Yuuko though all the fanservice scenes were nice too. I'm really looking forward to the sequel now.

- Speaking of Holic, there's a new chapter coming out next week, right? About time, I say.

- I've finally started to read the FMA manga. It's really good, I like it much more than the old anime. As for the new anime, I've put it on hiatus so I can start watching it again when I've caught up with the manga chapters.

- It's still very hot here. :| I hope the weather changes soon.

- To those of you who are going to Japan Expo: I hope you have a great time! I'm a little jealous of you.

Anyway, I'm going away (again) to do some field work for a couple of days now, but I'll be back on Friday or Saturday. I'm very glad that I don't have to work over the weekend again, I have so many things that I need to catch up with at the moment.

First, it was decided today that I'll be going on a fieldwork excursion for the rest of the week, so starting from tomorrow I'll be away from the Internet for some days. I'll be staying at some kind of camping ground together with other people from my work, and it's uncertain how long I'll be away, but I probably won't come back until next week. Until then, take care, all of you! ♥ Also, Myst and Vale, don't think I'm forgetting your birthdays. I'll get back to you later, ok? 8)

Second, a new Holic OAD has ben announced! Great news, I was so happy to see that.

Third, a Kobato pic that I colored yesterday. I was making a very basic coloring tutorial for a person in a forum I'm in, and this was what I ended up with. Taking screencaps every second minute or so made me tired though, so I finished it very quickly once I had all the pics I needed (hence the sloppy shading and weird coloring of the hair).



Aand last, a meme (taken from lots of people on my f-list).

( a bunch of questions )

First, Happy Midsummer/Glad Midsommar to those of you who celebrate it! I wasn't planning to do anything special today at first, because (a) I don't really know anyone at the place where I'm staying yet, (b) all my friends from uni are far away and (c) visiting my parents just over the weekend wouldn't be worth it considering that it takes one day to drive to their place and one day to drive back. However, yesterday some of the people at my work invited me to have dinner with them and some of their friends, so I'm going to their place later today. I think they found the thought of me celebrating Midsummer alone a bit sad, haha. They're so nice.


Anyway, I thought I'd post some Dogs: B&C icons that I colored yesterday. I wanted to try some of the tips given in this tutorial (which I found thanks to outou, who also makes awesome tutorials) - especially the part about shadows being the inverse colors of light, etc. I don't know if it turned out that well (my mouse still sucks for coloring stuff with so I mainly used the touchpad for making them ;;) but still, it was pretty fun.





Oh, and the new Nabari no ou chapter made me so nervous. No more tragedies, please, Kamatani-sensei. Gah, why is it so long until the next chapter comes out?

Nevermind me, just fangirling a little. ♥

( TRC ch 223 spoilers )

On a different note, I caught up with the Pandora Hearts scanlations yesterday. They've been coming out so fast lately, so I haven't been able to keep up. Hm, and all I can say is that the story just keeps getting more and more interesting. Break is starting to become my favorite character, I think. Also, I wish the scans used in the scanlations were in better quality, because the artwork is sooo pretty.

I also watched ep 8-10 of 07-Ghost last night. I'm still watching it mainly for amusement purpose (and for the prettiness); I'm planning to catch up with the manga very soon since I've heard that it's way better but right now I'm just enjoying the show, despite its flaws. Teito is so adorable.

ETA: Oh, and second season of Sengoku Basara confirmed? AWESOME.

Today I had some problems with my car again. It didn't want to start this morning and I couldn't find out what was wrong with it, so I had to call some people from my work so they could help me tow it to a garage where it could be fixed. Turned out it was nothing serious, but it still cost me 750 SEK. :| I'm glad I got my tax refund last week, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to pay. Cars are fun, really.

Apart from that, and apart from the fact that the rain has been pouring down since yesterday, this day has been fairly good. I met an old classmate at work; it was fun even though we didn't have time to talk that much. The people at my workplace are really nice, I feel like I'm going to enjoy being there this summer.

As for fandom-related things, I was a bit disappointed to see that the next xxxHolic chapter has been delayed, since I really had been looking forward to its return. On the other hand I don't mind that much now that there's so little left of the series; I'll just be happy if it lasts longer. And the last OAD is coming out next week, that's always something to look forward to.

I'm not sure what to think of the announcement about second Kuroshitsuji anime season. I never finished watching the first one, but I've heard what happened in the end and... well, I'm curious to see how they will continue from there, really. On the other hand, I definitely won't complain about it if it means that they're animating more manga material.

Oh, and I was so happy to see that the Amatsuki scanlations had been picked up again. I've been trying to read raws and separate translations for the later chapters, but they tend to be pretty confusing, so new scanlations are very, very welcome. ♥

Anyway, I've seen this on my f-list a billion times but never done it myself, so...

( meme )

So, apparently Bonnier Carlsen (a large Swedish book publishing company) will stop their manga publishing during 2009. According to this site, xxxHolic vol 13 will be the last volume of the series that is translated to Swedish. DNAngel, NGE, Bleach, FMA and several other series will be cancelled as well (OP and Naruto will be continued, though).

This makes me a little sad. I don't personally buy manga that has been translated to Swedish since I prefer the English editions, but many younger fans do - my little sister, for instance. On the other hand I never was that fond of Bonnier's ways of marketing manga to begin with. Sometimes I got the impression that they were just jumping on the bandwagon without knowing very much about the series they were publishing. For instance, they've translated xxxHolic up to vol 13, but it's not said anywhere in their editions that the series crosses over with TRC (which hasn't been translated to Swedish at all). At least they could have made a small note or something about it.

In any case, I suppose less people buy manga these days (there's the financial crisis; plus the fact that more and more people get their manga from the net), so being a manga publisher in a relatively small country like this one can't be very easy.

( cut for some doodles )

Talking of CLAMP-related stuff: the spoilers for TRC chapter 223 made me so happy. ♥ I can't wait to see the actual chapter. Also, the new Kobato chapter is lovely. I need a proper translation for it though.

Oh, and the new Gundam 00 drama CD is... crack. It made me laugh a lot though. A-and it kind of made me ship Graham/Ribbons ;_;

First, TRC ch 222: So much love for this chapter, I don't even know what to say. That last page, so beautiful. ♥

Second, the EU election is over and I'm mildly amused by this. Definitely not surprised, though.

( cut for some rl rambling )

Spoilers for TRC ch 222:

♥♥♥

*wants chapter so badly*

Um, and just to add something more to this post: ( meme )

Ugh, if there's anything more boring than packing, then it's unpacking. I'm done with most of it now though, luckily, and I've been spending most of this day catching up with various series - Eden of the East (which I still like I lot), Sengoku Basara (still awesome), Pandora Hearts and Naruto, to mention a few.

About Naruto... ( ...spoilers for the recent chapters )

I also finally got around reading the Karneval manga, which has been lying around on my hard drive for some time now. I liked it; the artwork's really pretty and the story seems interesting too, even though I had to read some chapters twice to understand what really happened. I hope there will be more chapters of this manga scanlated soon; only eight are out so far.

I was planning to catch up with Basquash today too, but I think I'll let that wait a little. For some reason I lost a bit of my interest for this series after watching the first two or three episodes, so I'll probably continue it later instead. I'll also let the FMA anime wait until I've read the manga, which I'm planning to do very soon. First of all I'm going to read the Gintama manga though, I've been wanting to do that for ages.

Btw, I don't know how it happened, but I managed to leave my computer mouse at my parents' place when I was moving. Or maybe my sister took it with her by mistake when she went to Norway some days ago (she'll be working there this summer), idk. In any case I'm now stuck with my old mouse which is terrible for making graphics with. The cursor just jumps around uncontrollably on the screen most of the time, so coloring stuff with it takes twice as long and is twice as hard as when I'm using the other mouse. I'll probably have to buy a new one.

Oh, and today's the Swedish national day. Not that I did anything special to celebrate it, but still. We are really bad at celebrating this day here, we should learn how to do it properly from the Norwegians. :P

So, I went to have my car inspected yesterday, again. And it didn't pass the inspection. Again. This time it was only a small detail that was broken, so it won't be that hard to fix it. But still. Frustrating.

I'm currently having a cold too. Having a cold in late spring, when the weather is super warm and sunny, feels rather strange. I usually only get colds during autumn and winter. I really hope I'll get better soon; because I'm moving tomorrow and 12 hours of driving + fever is not a good combination. In worst case I’ll move on Tuesday instead, but I really hope that I can go tomorrow.

On a brighter note, I'm looking forward to moving very much. I'll be on the university on Wednesday (officially the last day of my education, yay!), and on Thursday I'll start working. I'll get Internet to my apartment next week, but I'm not sure of what day, so I probably won't be able to be online during the beginning of the week.

As soon as I have my own Internet connection again I'm going to have a major catch-up on all the series I'm following. I've been falling behind in most of them while I've been at my parents' place, as I knew I would, so I have a lot to download and read/watch.

Anyway, some thoughts on the latest Nabari no ou chapter:

( spoilers for ch 58 )

Also, random but CLAMP, why such a long break in Holic? Perhaps the most recent chapter was the last of vol 15, after all. On the other hand, there's the OAD to look forward to.

I know I haven't been talking very much about Dogs: B&C here, but to those of you who didn't know, I really like this manga. That's why I've been looking forward to the two OADs that are being made this year. The first one was released a few days ago, and here are a few thoughts on it (I probably should watch this with subtitles before I make any kind of review about it, but I didn't feel like waiting for that, so...).

( spoilers, perhaps )

There was another thing that made me slightly disappointed today, but I won't go into details about that. Let's just say that is has to do with a certain person making me surprised in a very negative way. But oh well, no point in wasting more energy on that.

On a different note, I've now fixed almost all the things I need for next week: An apartment, electricity and a new Internet connection. The apartment is located very closely to the place where I'll be working, that's good. And it has a balcony! ♥ I missed that so much while I was living in my previous apartment. Now I just have to get myself some furniture - most acutely, some kind of bed... Oh, and I still have to fix my car. I have a feeling that I'll be completely broke by the end of this month, sigh. I really can't wait to start working and get myself some money; I'm so tired of never being able to afford the things I want to buy.