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I only have high 7th grade level Japanese so far. As you can see, I still don't know 1,945 Chinese characters yet. I'm getting there though, to high school level that is as I read the original Wild Arms 2 script.

In Mandarin, you would have to memorize 3,000 Chinese characters by the time you get to college. Cantonese is a whole other animal and is very niche. It is said that China once had 120,000 characters thousands of years ago. Only half of those characters got taken to Japan during the Yamato period. That is, Japan's early days and before hiragana was invented. Also invented for women's rights centuries ago before languages got simplified and before Hepburn set foot in Japan encouraging people there to import 25,000 English words.

Yes, Yamato and Asuka period Japanese kids never studied hiragana because it didn't exist yet.

I would say that my Mandarin is between 3rd and 4th grade level so far so still basic, but junior high level is achievable.

I also find it interesting that Nihongodera can "translate" kanji to romanized Korean. I'm also thinking about other languages to put in my to do list. See if I could actually achieve Batman level intelligence. So yes, Nihongodera does a great job of classifying roughly two thirds of Mandarin.

Having replayed Wild Arms 2, I understand that haiku a bipedal lizard character was trying to recite fairly better. Some underling working for a criminal gang as their scientist and we know that scientists are crazy. His poetry that he's been reciting easily ruined the Sony translation.

Aside from replaying Wild Arms 2 in Japanese, I also need to go back to the Silent Möbius sequel manga which never got translated.

It has been a long time since last watched Kaleido Star or any Gonzo anime.

Speaking of Japanese, I've been studying the language for seven months. I haven't gotten sixth grade level Mandarin, that is, full kanji yet, but I'm getting there with the help of an Oxford and Wild Arms 2 which old-school JRPG fans say has lazy translation by Sony.

Just playing the Japanese version instead of waiting for a retranslation. Now I got a plethora of screenshots of Japanese dialogue ready to be converted to text. Not sure if GIMP can convert pictures to text (lots of features that I don't know about yet), but I do know that Nihongodera is on my side as long as I have internet.

Thanks for responding by the way.

ごきげんよう、貴婦人!

So what do you think of Japanese and what do you love most about Kaleido Star?

I knew that Kotono Mitsuishi would reprise her role in the recent Gundam SEED movie a tomboy told me about years ago. A semitomboy your age with a Chinese husband would totally watch that movie. Without subs because she studied Japanese decades ago.

Smart sure is sexy.

Nice Clannad review! ^^"
Even though I don't agree with some things you said, it's a interesting point of view.
I wouldn't say Clannad was a shameless copy of Kanon. Okay, Kanon was published in 99' and Clannad just in 2004 but they were both "somewhat-erogue" games! So it's expected that they would have the same harem setting and characters. But don't you think Clannad characters were way better developed than Kanon? It's character-driven indeed, but Clannad have a solid story behind it and a meaning to it. It's filled with symbolism and tries to show that it's not a average "get-a-girl" series...

oh btw, seriously, can't you even remember Roaming Tides? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&list=PL19828797AD463DEC&v=MfZ1IgjWG_I)
Or Spring Wind? I found the OST awesome...
Anyway, it's just my opinion.
ty~ ^^

I really liked your Clannad review ^^
I agree with somethings. I also didn't like Fuko's story arches. I assume you're going to watch After Story, I would like to see your review about it. (if you plan to do)
I loved your Mawaru Penguindrum review. although that i really enjoyed the anime even didnt liking the characters. And I'll give Utena a try.

ps: Ash Gray wednesday is one of my favorite songs

Like I have said before, clannad's first season is what it is because after-story exists.

I don't think after-story would move people nearly as much if you didn't get to know the characters that well. and that's the purpose of this first season.

I know it's based on a visual novel btw.

Your welcome you would be good at story telling I bet :p

Hello i found your about me very interesting and thought i should let you know this =P

Yeah, Himari's purpose was to be cute and suffer. I think that the penguin hat possessed Himari only showcased half of Momoka's personality. It makes sense that, if Momoka was split into two, the two hats would contain only part of her personality. From what we saw of Momoka, she was very kind. She might have had a darker side, however. In one of the last episodes, she tells Sanetoshi that she will "blast him into eternal darkness" or something similar to that.

I haven't seen the Utena movie, so I can't comment on that. Masako has to be the the character in Penguindrum that I'm the most indifferent towards, but I did enjoy her episode. Yuri and Tabuki could be considered villains to some extent, so Yuri's actions aren't meant to be justified, in my opinion. Ringo, on the other hand, was fairly creepy to me in the beginning, but I honestly sympathized with the fact that she felt she had to become Momoka instead of her own self. In the end, I thought that she redeemed herself.

Kanba is is different case. If you haven't already, I'd encourage you to read or watch Night on The Galactic Railroad. The influence of that book can be seen in both Utena and Penguindrum. Like both anime, NotGR deals heavily with self-sacrifice. Shouma and Kanba are even based of the story's two main characters, Giovanni and Campanella. After reading NotGR, I was able to see how Kanba repeatedly sacrificed himself for his family over and over again. In the last episode, we see that he gave Shouma half of his life before the story even began. In the first episode, he gives Himari one of the remaining fourths. Later, he tries to give her even more and even dies in the end because he has given everything to his family. Even if his relationship with Himari was strange to say the least, I found his love to be very pure.

But I'm rambling.

I also love the characters of Utena. If Utena isn't the best anime I have ever seen, it is definitely the most thought provoking. It also manages to be surreal without becoming a show made up entirely of symbolism like Penguindrum. I also relate to the messages and themes present in Utena more than in Penguindrum. That being said, I think the enjoyment factor is just a tad bit higher than Utena for some reason. This could be because it's newer, but Utena remains my favorite anime classic. I really hope that Ikuhara does another original project in the future because, if nothing else, it will be interesting.

By the way, would you recommend the Utena movie?

u r welcome

Nice "Mawaru Penguindrum" review, kyu!

I pretty much agree with what you said in you Mawaru Penguindrum review. I felt that the show should be good, but just couldn't like it because of the characters. I really disliked pretty much everyone, except for Himari. I too, kept thinking of Revolutionary Girl Utena, and couldn't help but feel that Penguindrum was trying to attempt something similiar, but failed to do so.

After reading your Penguindrum review, I have to ask why you didn't like the characters. The characters in Utena were also pretty fucked up. The only admirable ones in Utena were Utena, Juri, and Miki. Everyone else was just as weird or twisted as in Penguindrum.

In Penguindrum, I'm guessing that the two characters you liked were Shouma and Himari. Ringo could be annoying in the beginning, but she ended up being likable in the end. Same for Kanba. He was never really being incestuous with Himari since they weren't related by blood. He even sacrificed himself for the sake of his family.

So anyway, I was just wondering what it was about Utena's characters that you like more. Your review was fair and well written so I had to ask.