Shooting Blanks with Early Reigns

The train en route to Sunshine Hill holds six very deadly and beautiful women. On this particular day, these fine women find themselves on a train escorting a man named Spencer through frontier territories. Among his many enemies ride a fearsome gang of notorious bandits, and they're fixin' to take his head along with the train's cache of gold, but that won't happen if these pretty ladies have their way!

This DVD has great animation from the characters to the CG train, but I have to say the story was very short and lack of depth. Maybe with the evolution of the characters with some flashbacks of the past with all the girls, a major “bad guy” in the background and the cooperation of the girls to face all the outcome of the Wild West, plus it doesn’t hurt to make this into a 26 episode TV series.

Right now, Early Reigns is a late drizzle on the DVD Shelf.

Anime Holiday wishes

Happy holidays! I want to share some of my favorite show that celebrates the season.

Maison Ikkoku had some great moments for Christmas between Kyoko, Godai and the tenants and they all spend their party at the Chachamaru. The first Christmas was a few months after Kyoko became their manager and it was a social gathering. Godai brought the manager a brooch but did not get a chance to give it to her. The next Christmas, Godai’s present was a pair of earrings, but when Kozue gave him a hand knitted hat he handed her the earrings. When Kyoko gave Godai a hand knitted scarf, as well as the tennis coach and the tenants, he went to his room and found the brooch from last year. Godai was penniless as Christmas came again and got a part time work at a department store. He heard about her story about having a Christmas star. He gave her the star as well as the streamer that was hooked to it.

Love Hina celebrate the holidays it more of an adventure. When Kentaro was a little bit confident that he would pass his mock exam for Tokyo University or he goes home. He did not pass the mock exam and he was going to sneak home without telling the girls. He tries to infiltrate the house but was caught by Shinobu and that brought everyone out to attack the burglar. Only Naru knew that was Keitaro and found him at Tokyo U to conviced him to stay and study. To go into Love Hina Christmas Special would be too long, but I can tell you it is worth watching.

Ranma ½ Tendo Family Christmas Scramble is part of the OAV series set. It brings all the characters of the manga and anime together to celebrate the holiday and to see if Ranma would survive the beating of Akane, sing karaoke, being Nabiki’s money bank and to give Akane his gift to her. But mostly I think this story revolves around Kasumi and her Santa Claus dream.

Finally, Oh My Goddess episode 5, Keichi has found out the system bugs was coming to the human world by a vortex between himself and Belldandy and was forced not to be around each other. Plus Belldandy was called back to heaven to fix the problem. Little by little he is getting a memory that was suppressed a long time ago which made him want to give her a ring. The rest of the story goes into this, but at the end of the show they were celebrating Christmas.

There are many holiday stories I can look for but these were the one that stood out for me. I would like to give my wishes to everyone.

Princess Nine Hits a Home Run!

Ryo Hayakawa has loved baseball ever since she was little. Not only that, she seems to have inherited her father's superior pitching skills as well. A great opportunity is presented to Ryo when Keiko Himuro, chairperson of the Kisaragi Girls High School, approaches Ryo with a scholarship offer in exchange for becoming a member of the would-be Kisaragi Girls High baseball team. It's like a dream come true, but it's up to Ryo and the other team members to make it through the hardship of the committee to make their dream a reality.

When I heard about Princess Nine from magazines and internet rumors, I was thinking more of the term of white castles and bronze knights with fantasy. Then I found out it about a all girl baseball team, a desire to achieve at Koshien, memory of a father greatness through his daughter. From a want-be model, former softball stars and even a sumo wrestler, these misfits came out and prove to the high school world that girls can play baseball, also.

The DVD has a good presentation, talked about the history of Japanese baseball and even how to make oden. The story show the rise and hardship of the girls’ baseball team, a love triangle between two girls and the star hitter for the boys team, a father secret and Koshien. The animation for this TV series was above average, the story was well written for baseball fans as well for the anime otaku. This is a series I would recommend to watch, but that is my opinion,

For more information, check out http://www.advfilms.com/favorites/princessnine/index.html

Wallpaper3- Simple Keitaro and Naru pic

Today’s wallpaper, I wanted just to be simple with Keitaro and Naru in a very awkward position. Maybe the next wallpaper, I get a little more creative. Please enjoy this work and please send any comments.

Love Hina Overview

What happen when you made a promise to live happily ever after if you attend Tokyo University to only find out you still trying to get in? Plus, your living in a crazy women’s dormitory as the manager. You are immersed in the story called Love Hina.

The story between the manga and the anime are very close but the different is more characters and alternate side stories not staying with the timeline of the manga. The manga consists of fourteen volumes and the anime has 25 TV episodes, 1 bonus episode, 2 movies and 3 episode OAV series.

Keitaro Urashima, bounded by a fairy tale dream to meet his promised girl from the sandlot by entering Tokyo University, goes to his grandmother’s hot spring hotel to stay over to study for his entrance exams. Finding out that his grandmother went on a trip around the world, the resort has been turned into a girls’ dormitory, who don’t want him there and then his grandmother has appointed him the manager of the dorm.

He first met Naru Narusegawa, a brilliant high school girl that have a nerdish look when she has her glasses but she is a glamorous and most of the time with Keitaro, she can be violent with her punches and kicks.
Then there is Mitsune Konno, nicknamed Kitsune as in sly fox, love to play pranks and try to make a fast buck by betting on horses and extortion. In the manga, her job was a novelist and author but all we see her doing is loafing and drinking.
Motoko Aoyama, also know as “Kendo Girl” by Keitaro, had no interests in men and been studying her sword techniques. At the beginning, she hated Keitaro but later she liked him. The only things she fears are turtles and her older sister.
Kaolla Su, the only foreigner in the dorm, is a firecracker that is always exploding. Despite her age, she is always wants to play and knocking Keitaro around. No one would guess she is a genius.
Finally there is Shinobu Maehara, a very quiet and shy girl that has a crush on Keitaro but she sometimes run away when she sees him in a awkward positions. In the manga, she was already a resident of the dorm but in the anime, Keitaro helped her to get into the resident. Her family owns a restaurant in Hinata; she became a great cook for the resident.
To check out more information, you can go to http://lovehina.bandai-ent.com to check out the trailer and more info about the anime series and the extra cast of characters.

Despite there are panty shots and partial nudity, the story is great but there are stories from the manga that did not make it to the anime. Overall this is something I would watch most of the time.

DNA Squared is nothing to puke at!

Junta has a problem; he’s a girl-allergic loser! All this changes with the arrival of Karin, a gorgeous time-traveler and by accident transforms him into the Mega-Playboy, the suavest girl-magnet around. Suddenly, all the prettiest girls in school have fallen in love with him and with so many adoring fans, mayhem is sure to follow!

This is something you must have in your collection. You just can not miss a volume of this DVD. The story is something I would expect from Masakazu Katsura and the character design by Kumiko Takahashi. A short TV series and a follow up OAV series, together it adds up to fifteen episodes. Once again, this series can be extended to show the hardships of Junta control of the Mega-Playboy and his condition, Karin falling in love with Junta and the girls in Junta's school who fall under the charms of the Mega-Playboy.

Another thing was the DVD packaging for the series. One DVD contained only three episodes, artwork ans sketches from the series and some DVDs have an interactive games, karaoke sing-a-long and other stuff. With the double layered DVD, the whole series with the interactive menu could have fitted on three DVD instead of five.

I have not hear about the manga version of the show but, I would anticipate Dark Horse or Viz Media to pick this series for their manga magazine. Now the only question I have for the artist; when would Shadow Lady become a anime?

Wallpaper 2- Beach time with Nobuko

The next wallpaper I made is Nobuko from Video Girl Ai. A victim in a very complicated love battle needs some time alone to think. It took me some time to figure what kind of background to put her in and this beach background was perfect.

I hoped you enjoy this wallpaper.

Wallpaper 1

As I wrote on Computer Critters, I try to honor my skills on making personalized wallpaper from anime, manga and even for family and friends who visit my blogs.
When I do wallpapers, I will have the opportunity to describe why I did it and you can make part of your desktop. Drop some comments to me so I would know that you like it or you don’t. Pass the word.

My first wallpaper is on Ichigo Morino from Please Teacher and Please Twins. Having the rare “standstill” disease, this little girl happen to be 23 years old (she was 21 years old in Please Teacher and two years past in Please Twins.) She was the first pick because of cunning and surveillance work to know all the students. The fact that she is the only woman to not go through the dress code and get suspended is really takes the school system to stride. If you need a matchmaker, just call Ichigo.

Please Twins Overview

Maiku Kamishiro grew up in an orphanage with no history of his family or of his past. Left with only a childhood picture of himself and another person in front of a house, he believes that the other person in the picture is his long lost twin sister. Upon discovering his old home, two young girls, Kana Onodera and Mina Minafugi show up on his doorstep one day both claiming to be his long lost sister. With school and work on his mind, who is his twin sister and who is a stranger?

Continuing where Please Teacher left off, Please Twins don’t have the special sci-fi love story but some of the characters come in and make special appearances. The animation is still excellent. The voice acting is also up to standard. The storyline filled the timeline from the previous video.

This video is something to watch. The DVD consists of twelve episodes and a bonus “omake theater” episode. Because the rating for this is 16 and up, there is some nudity in it.

I like the video set and when you add Please Teacher and Please Twins together, it goes together like peanut butter and jelly. Please Twins have a manga book and two volumes novels that tell the same story in a alternate world.

I hope I would see more anime and manga of Please!

Please Teacher Overview

Kei Kusanagi isn’t your typical 15 year old high school student. He’s actually an 18 year old with a rare disorder that puts him into what he calls, a “standstill”. When he was younger, this disorder left him in a deep coma which stunted his growth for the next three years! Mizuho Kazami isn’t your typical teacher either. She’s actually an alien sent by the Galaxy Federation to observe the Earth! As the sole human being with knowledge of Ms. Kazumi’s secret, Kei must…marry the alien?!

When I first saw the box in the store, I was very cautious of purchasing it. But when I saw it on sale in the video store and nothing else was out, I decided to pick it up. The animation was rich and crisp. The music moved you through the story. The voice actors were good and it matches the characters to the letter. I was amazed that this was not acknowledged more in the anime and manga world.

It has some sci-fi pieces in the story but it is mostly a funny love story. There are twelve episodes, one bonus episode and an omake short story. This is a video collection that teens and adults can watch.

Besides the anime, the two volume manga is also out. It follows the path of the anime, but it seems that they twist and change the conclusions. They also have many other things for this series. Check your anime stores, comic book retailer or go to some of the online stores for more information.

Demon Fighter Kocho... K.O

Ancient spirits begin terrorizing a school and it is left up to the sexy student Kocho Enoki to use her attractive body and magical powers to defeat the attackers. Teamed with her sister and Kosaku, their human decoys, they attempt to free the school from the spirits. The only thing that was good for this anime was the design. The story was lame, it was a cheap imitation of Devil Hunter Yohko, which I will evaluate later. Plus there was no character development and the story only lasted 30 min, the 5 minutes was for the video introduction.

I can tell you five things I was doing for the time Demon Fighter Kohco was on;

1. I was plucking my toenails
2. Rearranging my anime CDs in alphabetical order
3. Called up my family and friends and told them how lame this video was.
4. Looking for Devil Hunter Yohko to watch
5. Writing this blog to explain how lame this video is.

If you want to pick this video up, by all means watch and you will decide for yourself. As for me, Give me Yohko!

Video Girl Ai Overview

Yota is a nice young man who happens to be in love with his close friend Moemi. The problem is, the one Moemi loves is the popular and handsome Takashi. A depressed Yota ends up taking home a video from a mysterious shop, only to have a beautiful girl come out of his TV screen shortly after it plays. She introduces herself as a video girl named Ai Amano, and she'll be around to help and cheer up Yota for as long as he needs her. Pretty soon, Ai ends up falling for Yota... which complicates things because video girls aren't supposed to fall in love, and to top it off Ai only has a running time of thirty days!

This is like a Pinocchio story with so many twist and turn in regarding relationship. Yota loves Moemi but she is in love with Takashi. Takashi is trying to help Yota to get Moemi. Ai entered to help Yota to get with Moemi, but ended up starting feel love for him. The anime just stop after six episodes or, by manga standing, up to three volumes. The manga goes into more details with the perplexing relationship and hardship between them. More supporting are added in the manga including another video girl out to destroy Ai.

I hoping now that the makers of Video Girl Ai can sit down and do a remake of this classic anime OAV. Continuing the manga where the anime have left off. Even after finshing the manga, I had many questions that needed to be answered. Maybe as a bonus feature on the DVD they might fill in those gaps at the end.

Then again, I only a fanatic with a vivid imaganation.

Maison Ikkoku Relations 2 - Akemi

There was one relationship that happen that could cause some misunderstanding that moved the story but Akemi, from Maison Ikkoku apartment, made the biggest turn of event of all. She had a crush on Mitaka and she would cling on him but he wasn’t interested in her. The first incident was when she was dump by a man for another woman. She came home drunk and slumped in the front door. Kyoko and Godai moved her to her room and set her to her bed. Akemi, drunk under the influenced of alcohol, thought Godai was her boyfriend and kissed him in front of Kyoko. Even when Akemi apologize, it made Kyoko to think about her heart with Godai.

The most important change came when Kyoko left Maison Ikkoku because of a misunderstanding between the relationship of Godai and Kozue. Kozue was proposed for marriage by a co-worker and did not give him an answer but came to Ikkoku to tell Godai that she will be with him. Leaving Godai a smack on his face and Kyoko moved out. Akemi called Godai at a love hotel to help her out to pay for the room. When they left out the hotel, Kozue and her friends saw them walk out and took it the wrong way. Kyoko, after a few weeks at her parents’ home and on her way back to Ikkoku, heard from Kozue about the incident and stormed away.

Akemi confronted Kyoko about her jealously and told her she should realize that she was not interested in him. Later, Godai explained about the mix-up and she apologizes about everything. Kozue, on the other hand, gave her co-worker her answer for marriage. Godai even told her that he is in love with someone else. Kozue still do not know that Godai is in love with the manager, Kyoko.

Akemi managed to get married. Her boss proposed to her and she accepted. She was the factor that changed the relationship story by using misunderstanding.

maison ikkoku relations 1

Mutual Relationship – Godai and Otanashi –Relationship between Yusaku and Kyoko is an unusual mutual relationship. Kyoko has just come after the loss of her husband and Yusaku is trying to enter a university. Kyoko will hide some of her emotions from everyone, except stubbornness, anger and jealously.

Triangle 1 – Mitaka, Godai and Otanashi – Mitaka is the tennis coach for a housewives and college girls. His family has a wealthy business so he has the fancy things in life. All of this poses a threat to Godai for the manager’s heart. Even when he entered college and graduated, he feels that money is the factor than love. In Kyoko’s case, she is intimidated by his wealth and stature. That is why she would think of Mitaka as a friend than someone to marry. Not to say that she was tempted to be with Mitaka, she just feel more dedicated to her late husband for now and when the time comes, she would make a decision.

Triangle 2 – Nano, Godai and Otanashi – In this case, ignorance is bliss. Kozue is a young girl that worked in the liquor store while he was doing their delivery. He just gave a “alcoholic confession” to Kyoko days ago and that’s when Mitaka entered their lives. He was going to take the manager out to the movies. When he saw her, she was going out with Mitaka on a dinner date. Trying to pawn his ticket to his friend, Kozue met with him and at that moment they went to the movie. Before they went to the movie, they met Mitaka and Kyoko. Jealously rears it ugly head over Kyoko as she found her rival for Godai (when she ready to show her love to him). Kozue knows that Mitaka and Kyoko are lovers not that there is a love triangle with Godai.

Triangle 3 – Yagami, Godai and Otanashi – When Godai took a student teaching job at Kyoko's old high school, he met a persistant student named Ibuki Yagami. Yagami was not interested in him until she saw him in the AV library crying over a scrapbook (he was really looking at a old yearbook of the school with Kyoko and because he up all night with the tenants bothering him, he did not get a wink of sleep.) Even if this is one sided love on Yagami part, she sparked a fire in Kyoko that she never had in her when she met her husband, Sorichiro... she had no rivals.

Triangle 4 – Kujo, Mitaka and Otanashi – Mitaka had been persistant to be with Kyoko for almost two years, he had not great success on winning her heart. When Mitaka's uncle setup a arranged marriage with Asuna Kujo, it went downhill for Mitaka. First, she loves dogs and that is what he feared. Second, when he tries to break up with her, his uncle would block his plans. Finally, a case of misunderstanding. Mitaka cured his fear of dogs by buying a dog. Later, after being drunk with Godai, he staggered to his door and saw Asuna. As he fell over, he kissed her. As Asuna helped him into his apartment, her dog met Mitaka dog and days later when Mitaka was trying to get his head together about that night, she came to the tennis court and said that she pregnant( she was talking about her dog and not about herself when she said the news.) He gave up on Kyoko and set his site on Asuna and married her. When he found about the dog being pregnant, he felt very low but later he accepted her as his wife.

Triangle 5 – Sorichiro, Godai and Otanashi – Before moving to Masion Ikkoku, Kyoko was married to Sorichiro, not the dog. He passed away at the prime of their marriage. Her love and feelings are still in Kyoko's heart but Godai knows that. At the family plot, Godai spoke to the tomestone while Kyoko was hiding not far from there. He accepted his heart in Kyoko as his own to still be with Kyoko. When she out of hiding, she was finally letting her past go.

Maison Ikkoku - My Overview

Maison Ikkoku is a romantic comedy made in Japan by Rumiko Takahashi and is a touching love story revolving around the lives of the hapless student Yusaku Godai, the beautiful manager of his apartment Kyoko Otanashi, and the crazed tenants of Maison Ikkoku.

The manga ran for 14 graphic novels and it was a up and down relationship between a manager and a tenant, an older woman and a young man (even if they are only two years apart) and the neighbors who butts in.

What stood out in the anime and manga was the story was written in a "real time" scenerio.Everything was written and shown in a modern city. The slapstick between the residents makes the story run smooth. The manga will give you the story how it was drawn and the anime will fill in all the details.

Mathimatical Relationship

When I read my manga books or look at my anime, it seems that there are conflicts and love interests between characters. There are certain relationships that can happen in a story:

1. Mutual Love - two characters relationship directed and received by each toward the other.


2. The Rival(s) - One who attempts to equal or surpass another, or who pursues the same object as another; a competitor.


3. One - Sided Love - Favoring one side or group; partial or biased in the relationship


4. Student - Teacher Relationship - This relationship is more of respect than love. Some love interests sometimes comes from a student to a teacher.

When the relationship is established and the obstacles or rivals come in to view, a geometrical figure would be form. There are many shapes to be made but the three shapes that are popular are:

1. The triangle - the most popular of all shapes because of it simplicity to see all aspect of the relationships.


2. The square - the second popular shape in relationship because in the middle of that shape can be one or more points in the center.


3. -gon (polygon, hexagon, octagon) - It is the same as a square but you can have multiple relationship.

Now with flow charts and organization charts, a relationship can be done with more detail but, I always want to look back where everything has started.