[Manga] Lovely Complex PLUS: lovely ending to a not so complex series~

Wahhh~ Didn't get enough of Lovely Complex? No worries! There's the Lovely Complex Plus special edition series talking about what Otani and Koizumi was like in middle school~

In the Plus series, because the main characters have not met yet... to tie the story together a new character was introduced! Yoshi, is a basketball playing, UmiBouza-loving guy who transfers through many schools due to his parents' jobs. And so in first year middle school he attended the school that Otani and Nakaochii was in and was part of the basketball club together... but then he had to move to another place before the year is up and ended up transferring to Koizumi's school in second year~ ;) he is also the reason why both Otani and Koizumi love UmiBouza~ (nice tie in author! *thumbs up*)

Yuki, the transfer student~ (O.O;) at the T-shirt....

The second part of the Plus special, talked about how Otani and Koizumi serendipitously met up at a UmiBouza concert without knowing each other yet~ a very cute story plot here~ <3

And the last part takes us back to the present and 4 months after their graduation from high school~ Having a reunion during summer holidays~ and pointing out how every seems the same as they were in high school but has also changed a little (well.. it's only 4 months... not THAT long~) nice chapter here too~

Quite sad to see the real end to this manga~ Q.Q I don't think I've so enthusiastically gone through a whole manga series like this for a long time now~ (except Usagi Drop... but different to Lovely complex... I felt utterly disappointed there... >:() Anyways, might check out the anime for this~ just to listen to their Kansai accent~ XD and the live action movie also looks interesting too~ (^-<)y

Lovely complex manga scores: 3.5 sabi stars

[Video game] F.E.A.R.3 (F.3.A.R.): first impressions of ghosts, guts and co-op fun!

I haven't always been a fan of first-person shooting games.. and that is mainly due to the lack of skills on my part making it into a game of death for me.... :T despite the lack of skills, in the past couple of years I did manage (somehow!?) to get through some shooting games in Co-op mode with hubby~ :3 However! F.E.A.R.3 (or F.3.A.R) is my first encounter with the F.E.A.R franchise... having only watched hubby play single player mode in F.E.A.R.2 (which he didn't complete due to motion sickness in the game... :T) we were quite amused that this game had Co-op story play with a twist! :3

Mommy watches over the boys~

To my (pleasant) surprise the second player gets to be Fettel, a man glowing red with telekinetic powers whom also apparently was an antagonist in the previous installment (not so sure about this as I didn't play 1 or 2...) The game play as Fettel was soooo fun! I could not believe I was enjoying a first person shooting game so much! You get to "suspend" things or people, execute the force (though this is not so powerful when facing enemy with armor on... :T) AND you get to "possess" people (which in turn lets you shoot your original comrades... if that makes sense~)! How fun is that! :D Okay... the only downside is having to wait for your "possess" power to recharge before you can possess someone else again... and it is during this period that I often let our team down by dying awfully quickly.... sorry hubby... (^^;)

Another reason that I really preferred playing Fettel than the shooter soldier Point Man is that Fettel looked really creepy on screen.... and hubby often got more scared by me (as Fettel) sneaking behind him... than the other gouls and ghosts in the actual storyline... (^^;) haha~

Talking about horror... I personally found the setting and pace of the game to my liking... with horror movie like insertions of long hair ghost child standing strategically at a corner or shadowy creeping figures running past the corner of your eye... had me scream out loud a few times (which in turn scared hubby! lol~) I also found the plot quite intriguing... and that even though I didn't play the first two games... I understood what's going on generally and that there were still some mystic behind the game.... (not sure how I would've taken it if I had already know the more detailed plot...)

So far we've maybe played through 4 stages... and I'm having a GREAT time! :D I'm not sure if it's just that I'm a bit rusty with first person game or that all the possessing that Fettel gets to do (plus on top of that, I never know when hubby's going to press the bullet-time button... (=.=;)) I started feeling a bit of motion sickness after a while... and I guess the increasing blood and gore in each stage did not help make me less nauseated. (though according to hubby this is already a lot better than the shaky camera action in F.E.A.R.2). If I was to give the game a score right now... I'd give it a 4.25 sabi stars out of 5!! *thumbs up* Shall update again once we finish the game~ X3

[Manga] Lovely complex: thoughts after completion

Love this tall girl, short guy couple story~ (o^-^o) for once I could see myself in a shoujo manga story~ XD

However at some point the arcs in the storyline was getting quite predictable...
- The rival arc: Mimi the tall girl ---> Kohori the short guy
- The rescue arc: Save Koizumi (from the hostess) --> Save Otani (from Hazuka's girlfriends)

Why did it always have to complement each other? O.O;

Anyways, apparently there's also the "lovely complex PLUS" chapters~ shall catch up on that soon too~ XD muwahahahaha~

Otani and Koizumi~ <3

More detailed thoughts and rants (after the jump~)

[Video game] Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 3rd Story: Get the gifts your prince gives you IN REAL LIFE!

Tokimemo GS series has always sold merchandize of the series, and has made many girls 2D dream come true by making birthday jewelry that the main characters in the series gives you available with a few mouse clicks on the internet... (Click here if you would like to make YOUR 2D dream come true too~ X3).

And without fail the game maker also made Ruka (left; double ring) and Kou's (right) cherry blossom rings available for purchase December 2010 after the game came out~ 

NOW~ you can also get the gifts from the other 4 princes! Lucky you~  XD

The Arashi and Niina's pendant necklace and rose necklaces comes out September 29, 2011~ 

while the senpai group's Konno bracelet and Seiji's anklet will come out Novemeber 24, 2011. (apparently the first lot sold out already... @-@;)

This is high quality jewelry made by LAZY SUSAN and does not come cheap~ :T but they are very close replicates of the ones (pictures) in the games~ Live out your 2D dream in real life~ hahaha~ X3

Who is/are you favorite prince(s)?? (^^*)/

[Cover] Pray: Tommy Heavenly6 (Gintama OP1)

I really liked Gintama's 1st opening song Pray, sung by Tommy Heavenly6. It is really upbeat and makes me feel like I should be all fired up and go do something! XD

I made a cover of this~ I'm not a pro singer... this is just for fun~ Enjoy~ :3

Please feel free to leave any comments and advice~ Thanks! :3

[Cosplay] Monkey D Luffy: DIY Luffy's red vest

Okay~ so after some discussion with hubby... we kinda forfeited the cosplay couple for Halloween idea and decided it'd be way too much effort to try and get/make both costumes... and being a beginner in sewing... for me to try and make any costumes with elaborate details will just end in failure... :T so in the end, we've decided that he would play detective Conan and I'll play Luffy from One Piece~ X3 (we did think of me dressing as Lan from Conan... but I'd have to get the high school skirt and another blue blazer... which would just end up costing too much... :S) This is the first time that I'm actually attempting to make a costume and actually "cosplaying" an anime character! X3 (my first steps into becoming a real otaku~ <3 haha~) though I have played more classic comic characters like Popeye's girlfriend Olive Oyl (with great success too... someone came up to me and said that I look exactly like Olive... not sure if I should be happy about that or not though... :T)

Real Luffy! 

[Video Game] Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 3rd Story: Falling in love again like a high school girl~ Review and some tips~

Can't call myself a real otaku without doing a real video game review entry~ (^-<)/ Well... I don't play nearly as much video games as I use to.... but recently I did get extremely addicted to the otome game (love simulation games aimed at girls~ therefore lots of eye candy guys to chase) Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 3rd Story~ <3

Konami's official website for Tokimemo GS3
and the Tokimemo GS series on all this that~

fanart of Bambi and the princes \(^/////^)/ ~<3

This game first came out October 2010 on the NDS (Japanese edition only though...)~ so has been around for a while already (recently annouced that it's also coming out on the PSP platform in a premium edition Spring 2012! Q.Q me wants PSP....) If you're familiar with the Tokimemo GS franchise (with the famous/ infamous? skinship mode on NDS o^-^o), there's been a heck lot of improvements to this latest series compared to the old Tokimemo GS 1 and 2~ Not only can you date the prince that your heart desire... you can date two of them at the same time! X3 AHHHH~ (known as 3P mode or "W prince" mode, W= "double"...). Also your "girl" friends in this series are real genuine 2D friends... helping you out with guys info or fashion and no longer turn into b*tches if you happen to like the guy they like... Also there's an upgrade to the type of fashion that you can combine to come up with~

Anyways, I actually pick up this game late last year (or early this year.. can't remember now...) where I had only played through Arashi and Kou's routes (and the first attempt where I didn't get any prince endings at all... Q.Q... then I looked up the wiki's). And then during my more recent addiction phase I managed to finish playing all the individual prince's routes as well as accidentally triggering 3P- Arashi/Niina mode... (^///^)q

My preference of the routes:

Kou > Ruka > Arashi > Niina > Konno > Seiji

Honestly, I didn't really dislike any of them~ *shy* but I guess the first play-throughs  really had the best impressions... the later routes were more about seeing the CG's and dates rather than actually feeling Toki-toki at all... :3 I'll go through my impressions of each character after the jump~

[Movie] The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Hollywood remake trailer~

Okay~ something not so otaku, but I'd like to share the new trailer of the Hollywood take of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, 'coz I'm a fan of Stieg Larsson's The Millennium series~ (*twirls around*)

The books were great and we had also watched the Swedish film of the first installment... frankly... the film was not so great... :T hubby who did not read the books could not follow the story line and I had to keep pausing the DVD and explaining to him what they missed out (without giving away too many spoilers...)

Swedish vs. Hollywood

I remember complaining to hubby that  Mikael Blomkvist's character would have been really suited for Daniel Craig..... and Lisbeth's character (although pretty well caste in the Swedish film) could have been a bit smaller boned and skinnier as implied in the book (not blaming the Swedish actress though... cannot change her body that way...) So when I found out today that in the Hollywood version coming out December 21, 2011 WILL have Daniel Craig, I was jumping for joy~ (*claps hand like a little girl*) On top of that, Lisbeth will be played by Mara Rooney who looks like a malnourished teenage model! (PERFECT! :D) The Hollywood trailer looks great! most parts had the look that I had in mind while reading the book.... (even Erica looks way hotter here than the Swedish lady~) *thumbs up* to the director (David Fincher) and others involved~ :) 

looking good Lisbeth~ (^-^)b

[Video game] Final Fantasy XIII-2: New Trailers and Adult Hope! O.O

I'm a BIG fan of the Final Fantasy series and had totally fell in love with the protagonist Lightning from the latest installment FFXIII~ (*sparkly eyes*) She's the strong and cool female character that is the opposite of many RPG female characters (usually the healer... or magician...). So when I found out few months back there there will be a second game I got really excited~ X3

Lightning and her new boyfriend??

Lightning in cool new armor, Sara out of school girl gear

FFXIII-2 (official website) is said to take place 3 years after the original... and the main character this time round is Sara, Lightning's sister (now.. she's a more typical female RPG character... at least her weapon of choice is a bow... :T). Sara is joined by this "mysterious" boy call Noel... whom suspiciously wears the same tribal gear that Fang did in FFXIII.... (perhaps they are related.... or he had been a younger version of the original design for Fang who was suppose to be a male character....) From the new trailers (one of them linked below) it seems that this time round the story will be very convoluted with time travel involved... (reminds me of the classic Chrono Trigger~) hope they do a good job with the time travel... and not leave serious loopholes in space-time continuum story... X3 

[Anime] 2011 Summer Season Anime: Recommendations and rants

A summary of the summer season animes that I've been watching~ (^^*)/

The main series that I have been following this season were (will write separate blog entries for these later):


- Natsume Yuu-Jin Chou: Story of a boy and his interactions with the yukan (ghost) world.... Love it! brings warm fuzzy feeling to the heart~ \(^////^)/

- Hanasaku Iroha: Tokyo girl ends up living in a countryside traditional Japanese hotel as a waitress~ Love this also~ was surprised that this was not based on a manga... but have mangas based on it~

- Ao no Exorcist: Story of the satan's son (who gives off blue flames) wanting to become an exorcist~ Started off really good~ even cried through one episode (the one with the cat demon... Q.Q poor kitty)... but then the story kinda turned mediocre... :T still follow it in hopes that it'll go back to how it was~

Natsume, Ohana and Rin from the above series~ <3