Anime Relations: Toradora!

Recently caught my attention, the character Aisaka Taiga is receiving much love in different MAL clubs. She’s from the anime Toradora!, which is recently getting its build-up hype anime countdown come to October – that’s just in about 2 months! Prior to adding her to my holy character mural in my profile, I asked around, “Just who is she?” Took a look closer... then realized she does resemble certain character archetype. She’s cute, a chibi, as well as tsunderekko klutz around the size of... say, Shana and Louise! Coincidence?

Now that she’s taken my liking, I’d like to promote Taiga to even more people, mainly to fans of Shakugan no Shana or Zero no Tsukaima. Let ‘em aware and be prepapred. To do it fashionably, gotta mention the fact that Kugimiya Rie is doing her role in the anime, which is also produced by J.C. Staff. She’s not partnered with Hino Satoshi like in Shakugan no Shana or Zero no Tsukaima unfortunately, but it’s already a solid setup for a promising show. Though some people have already tasted Toradora! through the translated novel, thanks to dedicated people. In any case, it’s best not to set our hopes too high for the anime. Better be surprised than disappointed. Bottom line is that some fans deduce her as the potential fourth Kugimiya loli tsundere “Power Girls” next to Shana, Louise, and Nagi.

All Taiga goodness are accumulated at MAL’s own Aisaka Taiga Fanclub. Check out those drool-worthy moe pics in the thread and Club Pictures. Sink in the tsundereness and let Taiga come to your world. >:D

Anime Relations: Strike Witches

Whaddya know? To my surprise, so far Strike Witches is my “Anime of the Summer 2008” surpassing the long awaited Zero no Tsukaima ~Princesses no Rondo~. While Louise is one of my flagship characters, Strike Witches stole the show and created bigger hype in underground anime communities as well as my daily ramblings and IM chats. About 6 weeks ago, information and new Strike Witches images were practically nonexistent. These days, you go to danbooru (NSFW) and type in “strike_witches”, you get over 400 results popping up. Moreover, it’s impressive to see a well-made fanart from a scene that just aired 3 days ago.

So why do I enjoy abundant fanservice anime starring little girls with no pants holding big guns a lot? While it’s true that most casual anime peeps accuse Strike Witches fans mindless drones who love service, frankly I appreciate the story, art, and stuff other than just crotch-shots fanservice. Ever since Sky Girls, I was fascinated with lighthearted theme anime with mild suspense and action comedy. The first two episodes, the beginning, featuring Yoshika and Mio sold me out already. It was fun to watch and seiyuu Saeko Chiba and partner Fukuen Misato (who I’m less familiar with) does really awesome work together. I’m talking about episode 2 when they yelled “TONDEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!” and then cue cinematic scene of Yoshika flying. Mio’s peculiar masculine accent was great too and especially when she laugh “Ah! Ah-ah-ah-ahh-!” In episode 3, Lynne stole the show with her moe-inducing aura, which made her my favorite Witch out of the bunch so far. Once upon a time, I complimented Gonzo to their art work and animation and now Strike Witches reminds me why: one can tell the significant difference between the 6-minute OVA (introduced last year) and the new TV series.

I’m also enjoying the opening theme song “STRIKE WITCHES ~Watashi ni Dekiru Koto~”, performed by Yoko Ishida. Catchy up-beat tune all throughout with lyrics that is fun to sing along. Same goes for the ending “Bookmark Ahead”, performed by various duets corresponding to the episodes where they’re in major roles. I just in love with these OP-ED songs, which got me fixated enough to create a small streaming page.

One question still roaming around my head, though. Not sure why Gonzo/Bost-TV decided to partner up and released this anime for western/English-speaking anime fans since lots of culture outside Japan doesn’t welcome lolicious service. In any case, I hope lots of people actually have good opinion on the show and support it in whatever method so we get to see more of Strike Witches after the end of its TV broadcast hopefully.

So you like Strike Witches too? If so, join the Strike Witches Fanclub if you haven't already!

For fun, I posted a blog at IGN advertising MAL. Apparently an editor caught it and put it in the spotlight on their anime channel.



Yeah this is one of those shameless plug entry but feel free to check it out lol. I hope it helps the MAL Wiki article creation thing kei-clone started months ago.

Permalink to blog: http://blogs.ign.com/ChiBKey/2008/07/01/94548/

Yatta! I’m so happy now that my profile is finished. ^^

It’s Louise-themed, so the colors are mostly pink. This is to welcome the return of Zero no Tsukaima, where my #1 favorite tsundere, the beautilicous pink-haired mage appears. Regardless of the expectations in season 3 “Princesses no Rondo”, I will still watch and enjoy it for Louise. :3

As far as the character mural section in my profile, it hasn’t changed since last time unfortunately. After ads were introduced to MAL, the profile space got shrunk and some people didn’t like it at all. All of my boxes were affected by it. Luckily, I still have the PSD file with all 64 characters in it, so I figured an easy way to fix them. All I did was resize the canvas from the old 94x94 px box to 92x92 px and re-save them. Now it can fit 6 boxes in a row again like it used to. Yeah, I have more characters in mind but I’m not in the mood for screencap hunting for now.

Also, I’ve made a new avatar and signature for the summer season which can be seen here.

I’m also hoping to do a new Anime List page design before the season starts but just thinking about it is hard.....(; >_>)

Anime Relations: Aishiteruze Baby

And so are you! Corm is delicious and so does Oni- oni... giri- giri... oooonigiri!

Aishiteruze Baby, the anime that started one of the least famous internet meme but pretty well known among anime fans. It’s about a young man named Kippei who’s given the responsibility to take care of his abandoned 5-year-old female cousin, Yuzuyu. Correct me if I’m wrong... In episode 22, Yuzu eat a mouthful of corns and say she likes it, so the fansub did an intentional mispronunciation.


Earlier I went to check out this series and loved it already. Kippei is a playboy in his school; girls always play around with him. After given the task to look after Yuzu, his heart was moved by her innocence and always-loving approach. In Yuzu’s preschool, she was excluded by some of her classmates because her lunch was “different” and not as fancy and because she doesn’t have a mom at the moment. Knowing that, Kippei began to play the role of Yuzu’s mother and it’s becoming apparent to his female classmates that he’s serious about relationship. And that’s basically how it started.

In another note, lately I find myself loving shoujo animu. They’re kawaii, funny, and raburabu. Aishiteruze Baby is a really fine anime but it gives the feeling of heartwarming in various scenes. I definitely recommend it if you like shoujo and drama stuff.