RANDOM, wacky, surreal, funny, great, POINTLESS, hilarious, simple, adorable, SEA SLUGS!, lovable, enjoyable, crazy, cute, CORNY, amusing, light, funny, cool, strange, flatout WEIRD… osaka?

Those are the words I would use to describe Azumanga Daioh. I didn’t think it was possible, but there is a girl anime with no drama, no fanservice, and pure comedy. I had heard a few things here and there about Azumanga Daioh, but never really gotten around to watching it until now.

Azumanga Daioh has no actual plot, but simply follows the lives of 5 very different types of girls making their way through high school. Each girl has her own funny and distinct personality and it’s hard to not like all of them in some way or another. (Although Osaka is my favorite!) It was originally 130 short 5 minute episodes that were strung together to make a nice 26 episode season. Since there is no plot, it’s a very simple anime. If you’re tired of watching all those mind twisting, melting in your seat, kind of anime, you should watch Azumanga Daioh. It’s light, funny and absolutely RANDOM. I can’t say random enough. xD

How can something with no plot and no character development be so good? Who knows. You just have to watch it. I can’t say I’m addicted to it (like many other people) or anything, but it’s very enjoyable and very different from the usual anime. Give it a try. If you like it, you like it. If not, well too bad.

I was a little skeptical about something titled “mai hime”. But then again, I watched “prince of tennis”. So I suppose I can’t talk. Mai HiME turned out to be pretty good. HiME doesn’t mean princess but stands for “Highly-advanced Meterializing Equipment”.

Basically, the story follows a girl named Mai and her cute but sickly little brother to Fuuka Gakuen Academy. Here she finds that not only is there something weird about the school, but that she, along with other girls, are HiME’s and possess a special elemental power and can summon their “child” to fight with them. It sounds a bit corney but I felt it was done well. Many of the characters and “childs” are based on Japanese folklore and mythology. Mai finds herself dragged into the cruel destiny of HiME’s and naturally, fights this destiny, while at the same time, struggles to be a 16 year old girl and care for her little brother.

There’s a huge cast of characters, so many that I still can’t remember all their names, but they managed to develop all of them fairly well. With such a variety, you’re bound to like someone. There was of course, some very annoying people, but the cool ones made up for it. And no girl-filled anime is complete without the infamous “panty-theif”. But in this case, I found it all very amusing and didn’t cringe like I normally do.

Small things there and there made even the most mundane moments quite enjoyable. Things like, using the church as punishment, referrences to Power Rangers, and cracks at lesbians and sister-complexes. Good fun! Hahha. Overall, I enjoyed Mai HiME.

There’s suppose to be a sequel out called Mai MAiD, and if I wasn’t skeptical about the “Mai HiME”, I really am now. o.o But I suppose I’ll watch it all the same.

So after playing oodles of online games, I figured I would put my favorite ones together on one page, in a nice organized, comprehensive way. And so, I give you my newly created (and still growing) games page.

For my sake, I hope there’s some on there that you’ve never heard of. Because it would take all the fun out of it for me if there wasn’t =). It’s quite self-explanitory so feel free to visit it whenever you feel like playing something.

I’ll be adding more as I as find time to. If you’ve played a particularly fun or addicting game, send it my way! xD

(Prince of Tennis Tribute – Ignore if you don’t care or don’t want spoilers)

I finally got tired of waiting for a-o to sub all the PoTs so I went ahead and got AR and Shinsen’s (stay away from w-deamers!). PoT ends at episode 178, and I was very sad to see it over. It was a good ending (sorta) but I really wish it went on to show him at the U.S Open, Seigaku in the Nationals, or even half of the matches that were planned. T.T I thought I’d throw together some screenshots from the final PoTs. I hope I’m not spoiling too much.

1- Ryoma making fun of Sakuno’s “bad planning” when she makes it to the aiport late. 2- The awesome Fuji vs. Tezuka match. 3- Ryoma in New York

Anyhow, Prince of Tennis was the 2nd or 3rd anime I’ve ever seen (after Naruto and Trigun), and I suppose its about time for it to end, but it makes me sad all the same. Luckily theres the PoT Movie to look forward to!

1- Kevin and Ryoma talking. 2- Tezuka and Yukimura before the Nationals begin. 3- Kevin cheering for Ryoma

I suppose it was too much to hope that we’d get to see him beat his dad, but the Tezuka vs. Echizen makes up for it. Sorta. It ended without romance, and I’m quite relieved. They made a few jokes about Sakuno and Echizen, but that’s about it. Many a good anime have been ruined because of some silly love story they just had to throw in. And I don’t care what you say Duc, PoT rocks. Sayonara Oujisama!

I think I’ve fallen back into the habit of making updates just so I can change the layout. hahah. oh well. It’s a nice autumny feeling yeah? I just liked the colors. I called it “aki” without knowing what it meant. No matter how I looked at it, it was “aki” to me. Turns out aki means autumn or fall. How cool is that?

Anyhow, not much has been up with me. I went to the Viet Baptist Convention in Seattle. Afterwards we went to Canada to sight see. (David has pics) I haven’t been to Seattle and B.C. for 15 years, and seeing as 15 years ago I wasn’t fit to remember anything, it was like going there for the first time. Very cool! The weather was like Texas October. It felt great– minus the rain. It rains so much up there, I wonder how these people keep their spirits up. So very gloomy, and lots of trees! Might I add, I love Japanese Maples.

Since hardly anyone I knew went to convention this year, I spent alot of time meeting new people who for the most part were pretty cool, with the exception of a guy who came up and asked me what my everglow was, and the guy who kept insisting to me (when I encouraged him to come to the Dallas convention next year) that the end of the world would come before next year (this guy was serious). o.0 Anyhow, he said something about a Bible Code that had been deciphered and I was too thrown outta whack by his random comments to disagree and I just muttered something about that being creepy.

All in all, a pretty good convention. Next year will be in Dallas so everyone better try to come at least one of the days! hehe

oh! And how could I forget? Not too long ago was the much anticipated (by me, neway) release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Of course I wouldn’t be caught dead at a midnight potter party (I’m actually considering going to one for the 7th book release. hee!) so I pre-ordered mine and waited anxiously (in a manner very much like tina did) saturday for my copy to come in. I was on the verge of assaulting the poor UPS delivery man for taking so long, but I checked my mail and there it was! I read it straight through only pausing for food and pee breaks. Good stuff. And now to wait for the 4th movie…