Otaku Champloo

Tag: year in review

  • 2008 was all about Morning

    2008 was all about Morning

    Kami no Shizuku welcomes the New Year

    Hrmm… a little late, but it’s better late than never! \o/

    This year, rather than talking about the animes I’ve seen and loved this year, I’d share to you one of the best things I’ve had for a year.

    I’ve always been hesitant to buy manga magazines. I think for the longest time, I’ve been pondering over subscribing to Shounen Sunday or Shounen Jump. For a while, I even pondered about subscribing to Kiss. Somehow, I never really had the chance to subscribe even if I was actually interested in it. Until last year, when a little trip to the grocery store got me wondering if I could actually get a subscription locally.

    When 2008 started, I realized that a local Japanese Grocery store ((For Metro Manila residents, this is Yamazaki, the Japanese Grocery store near Makati Cinema Square)) carried the magazine, Morning. Now, I’ve been eternally curious about Morning since Ed from Mangacast spoke highly of it. More so, a couple of titles I’ve been interested in were running there, such as Kami no Shizuku and Kinou Nani Tabeta. It wasn’t my usual cup of tea (really, I was more interested in Shounen Jump), but I thought I’d give it a shot. So I bought a copy. The next thing I know, I was already asking the manager if I can get a subscription.

    Sure, Morning doesn’t have the most popular titles among kids but it does have a great array of reads that I did not expect. It ranges from the unexpectedly cute with Chi’s Sweet Home to the intense Zipang.  As I flip through the pages, I fell in love more and more with the magazine, unexpectedly drawn to read stories that I’d probably wouldn’t give a second look if I was browsing a shelf. And for this I’m grateful for the magazine. Morning has nice stories to tell and if I hadn’t read the magazine, I wouldn’t know how wonderful these stories are.

    In a year, I found myself enjoying a couple of titles. Here’s a rundown of my favorites currently running in the magazine.

    • Kami no Shiziku (The wine manga we’ve all been dying to get translated!)
    • Kinou Nani Tabeta (The Yoshinaga Fumi foodie manga we long to read about.)
    • Piano no Mori (A story of a young boy who found love for music in the middle of a forest)
    • Uchuu Kyoudai (A story of brothers gunning to take over space)
    • Shima Shima (Can’t sleep? Then let the boys of Strip Sheep cuddle you to bed)
    • Chi’s Sweet Home (Ah~ Cute little Chi~! Who can’t resist this kitty!?)
    • Himawari (The dreams of a small town OL to become a mangaka ((Don’t know much about this, but I caught Himawari during this said arc)))
    • Billy Bat (Urasawa’s Morning contribution. It’s becoming more trippy by the chapter! I love it!)

    See, I didn’t expect to actually end up reading more than the 2 titles I actually bought Morning for.  Last year, they even published a New Year’s St. Oniisan chapter in Morning and I owe it to that chapter for introducing me to St. Oniisan.

    If there’s one thing I love about Morning, it’s how their catch phrase is not a lie. On every cover of Morning, there’s a catch phrase that says “読むと元気になる” (When you read this, you’ll feel great). And certainly my mornings feel great, thanks to Morning.

  • 2007 looked good. :3

    2007 looked good. :3

    And so I round things up, just like before, about the fun things and the good things that I read and played with in 2007. I managed to read a lot of good new manga and reconnected with the old. :3 I did a couple of recommendations for mangacast already so we’ll just stick to the fun titles that I had fun with this year.

    This year was all about Moe for me. Moe and otaku culture got me strong this year so pardon mates if these are fan-frenzied choices. :3 Maybe it’s all that toy collecting. Or maybe I’ve been reading Heisei Democracy and Ace too much. :3

    this-year

    Lucky Star. A story about nothing and everything. This totally got my heart ablaze especially with Konata’s Otakon (Otaku Spirit). The humor is simple although you do need some otaku knowledge to get past Konata’s jokes. I cannot stress enough how much i enjoyed watching this and how this has changed my karaoke habits forever. Must I add that I love it so much I preordered the nendoroid konata? Oh yeah. love.

    Darker than Black. Bones struck gold with this one for me. It was a good well paced story with enough action to keep the fanboys going. I personally loved Hei’s team and how they stick together to the end. This really isn’t a Moe selection, but Mao’s got enough Moe for all of us. :3

    Moyashimon. Bacterias talking and fermenting. I’ve been hooked on fermented items this year so to see the bacterias behind just makes my heart flutter so. I cannot resist Oryzae and for 3 months, I was wishing I had that talent to see them. But sadly I can’t. But thank god for Moyashimon. :3 Love the manga too. The covers rock.

    Kekkaishi. I’ve been loving the manga for some while and now that the anime is out, I’m totally hooked every week. I love the story, the kinship between the brothers and the families that nurture and protect them. The story is well paced and I see that there’s no rush to follow to the manga (Oh yeah! No filler arcs… yet.) And if you played the DS game, oh darn it’s wicked!!

    Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei. I actually started following Shonen magazine because of this. But yeah, a manic-depressive suicidal teacher and a plethora of lovely students to his call and beckon is worth getting desperate over. I enjoy this series in the sick and twisted humor way.

    Lovely Complex. Ah~ High School Manzai Love. <3 <3  Seto no Hanayome. Yakuza mermaids. What more can I ask for? :3
    Nodame Cantabile. Because I’m a fangirl.

    Gintama. Oi. This came out last year, so why am I pimping it? Because it deserves pimping. yo. And I’m using that as a lame excuse to place this image in my website.

    All in all. It was a great year. :3 A very fun year, I might add. :3  There wasn’t enough drama but there was lots of comedies this year. Or maybe I was really just choosing the comedies. :3 I hope next year would be just as fun! I look forward to next year! :3

  • The year in review. (^w^)/

    The year in review. (^w^)/

    Every year, I do a little list of the fun things I’ve read and seen during the year. And in the spirit of doing lists, I thought I’d make a list of all the things that made my hobby go further down the drain this year. These are anime and mangas I’ve read throughout the year which have made an impact in my life and will definitely be my ruin for the next few years until their series finish. lol. So, let’s look how this dear otaku’s life went down the drain this year. ;A; Drat.

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