Got the first (state), and lesser tax refund. Quite a nice chunk of money. I'm probably going to spend most of this tax refund on stuff and will save my federal tax refund for a rainy day. I think it's fair since my state refund is only about 35% of my total refund.

There's never enough time! It's already 10:30pm. What have I been doing all day? I've actually finished a few things on the left panel there, but haven't come around to writing them up yet.

Title: 少年マガジン (Shonen Magazine) Vol. 13
Issue Date: 3/10/2004
Publisher: Kodansha
Pages: 528

No Young Magazine this week as XXXholic is off and there's nothing too interesting. Next week however, is the debut of みなみけ (Minami-ke). Wonder if it's not too sickening.

This week's Shonen has a special 19 page one-chapter story titled UMA (Unbelievable Mountain Angel). It's quite short and follows the story about a girl and guy going into the mountains in search of a the mythical Tsuchinoko snake in order to claim a reward. They meet big foot and an UFO, with the ending being that it was made up story for a homework assignment. No Tsubasa this week, I guess CLAMP is on break from both magazines.

Suzuka: ＃２服部 (#2 Hattori): After breakfast, Yamato returns to his room to find 服部安信 (Yasunobu Hattori) in his room reading his magazines. Yamato has a long history with Hattori, and his aunt thinks they're friends. Yasunobu is quite the smooth character and is able to flatter and get any girl, even if it's at Yamato's expense. Yasunobu asks whose this Suzuka person living next to him, he response that it's an old man to prevent Yasunobu from getting any ideas, but Suzuka is right behind him and hears him. After dinner, Yasunobu shows up again in his room. This time, Yuuka and Megumi show up and Yasunobu uses his charm on them. At Yuuka's request, Yasunobu drags Yamato out to buy some persimmons. There, they see Suzuka dragging a new microwave back home. Yasunobu offers to help, but Yamato don't want him to influence her, so he offers to help. Yamato tries to flatter Suzuka, but he doesn't have Yasunobu's magic. After being criticized some more by her, he blurts out that his first impression of her was so much different than how she really is. He thought she was pretty cool when he saw her in the rain, but she's different in real life. Suzuka takes the first comment to heart.

Futatsuki: ６口目/予選開始 (Sixth Taste/The Preliminaries): Tsukasa, Hina, and Futatsuki are at the ramen competition along with a horde of other contestants. In order to narrow down the field, they are first quizzed on very arcane ramen knowledge like how long is an instant noodle, among other strange things. For all the questions, Tsukasa and Hina answer all the questions for the group. The last question is to determine the ingredients of a soup with only a sheet of paper that was dipped in it. Hina thinks she has the right answer, but Futatsuki says she's missing one ingredient.

Negima: ４４時間目　総本山へおこしやす　(44th Hour, To Souhon Mountain): Setsuna and the other classmates arrive to where Negi, Nokoda, and Asuna are and arrive at the headquarters of the Western Magic Faction. Asuna thinks this is the base of the enemy, but in fact, it's Konoka's home and the leader of the magicians is her father. Negi passes the note from the president of his school, the leader of the Eastern Magicians to him, and he declares truce. Afterwards, Setsuna and Asuna are taking a bath and get interrupted by Nodoka's father and Negi coming in for a bath. The girls hide and the guys start talking about Konoka's super magical powers that she doesn't know about and a bit about Negi's dad. Then, the other school girls come in and so the guy's hide. As they're hiding, Negi runs into Asuna and lands in a very suspicious position and is witnessed by the other schoolgirls.

Hamanaka Ai: ０２４　少女敵進化論 (024, The Ways of Femininity): Misaki has been acting very strange lately, tired and cranky. At the tutoring session, Rin, Nakamura, and Ai start talking about mensturation, in front of the oblivious Masahiko. They try to explain it to him using circumlocution, but to no avail.

Title: 少年マガジン (Shonen Magazine) Vol. 12
Issue Date: 3/3/2004
Publisher: Kodansha
Pages: 538

A new manga that I'm looking forward to! The title is 涼風 (Suzuka), and it's a serialization of the one-chapter manga that appeared in issue 51 last year. When I first read that chapter last year, I was thinking "this looks like the next Love Hina." It has almost the same type of story, and similar cast of characters. Since it's only one chapter, I'll do a wrap up of it.

The story revolves around a high school boy, 秋月大和 (Yamato Akizuki), who goes to live with his aunt, 藤川綾乃 (Ayano Fujikawa) and her daughter, 藤川美穂 (Miho Fujikawa). Ayano owns an girl's only apartment with a public bath and in exchange for living at the apartment for free, Yamato has to clean the place. There are three other female residents there, 早乙女優花 (Yuuka Saotome) the ecchi one, 松本恵美 (Megumi Matsumoto), the glasses-wearing gullible one (think Taeko from Ai yori), and finally, 朝比奈涼風 (Suzuka Asahina), the main female in the story.

On the way to Tokyo where Yamato is going to attend high school, he visits his future school and sees a beautiful girl practicing the high jump in the rain. He arrives at the apartment and meet the 4 residents. There's a little accident in the bath and Yamato gets in an awkward situation when he meets the girl again. Her name is Suzuka and is also a resident, much to his surprise. She attends the same high school as he will, but unlike him who just barely made it in, she got recruited for her jumping skills. As he is unpacking, he notices there's a hole in the wall of his room. He investigates and accidentally bursts through the entire wall; Suzuka's room is on the other side. Being the athlete that she is, she immediately dislikes the loser that is Yamato. As Yamato is cleaning up, she goes to the bath (which was postphoned because of Yamato's accident earlier). There, we find out that Suzuka has a lot of pressures trying to satisfy everyone and hopefully representing Japan in the Olympics (I guess). She passes out in the sauna and Yamato rescues her. She explains her problems with him, and so he helps her train. The next morning, they go practice. Yamato sets the bar at 165cm (her record is 169). She jumps it, but barely touches it. With this, her self-esteem goes lower until she sees that Yamato placed the bar incorrect, and she had actually cleared 173cm. Despite what happened previously, she seems to feel better.

Whew. It was a pretty long chapter, as most 1-chapter manga are. Can't wait for more!

Suzuka: ＃１大和 (#1 Yamoto) It's soon going to be their first day of school and Ayano wants to make something good for Suzuka and Yamato. However, she needs them to get the ingredients. So the next day, Suzuka and Yamato go out. After purchasing the items, Yamato wants to take Suzuka to an eatery that he used to like, except that it's now some sketchy parlor. He points out that one of the girls has the same name, Suzuka. Upon hearing this, Suzuka runs off and Yamato takes chase. However, seeing that the guy is carrying everything, he stumbles. He later takes up up to a Shrine where he prays and then opens up some packaged Croquette he got from the convenient store. He shares them with Suzuka and tells her that when he was a kid, he used to always come here, enjoy the atomsphere, and eat croquette. Suzuka admits to him that she's starting to like him just a little. After they go home, Ayano makes her treat and the other girls tell Yamato to lay off on Suzuka.

Negima: ４３時間目　魅せます！!八美少女優団！!　(43rd Hour, Charmed!! The 8 girls!!): The eight girls are eight of the Negi's students all who are witnessing the battle between Setsuna and this mysterious girl. They, as well as the bystanders, think this is all a show. The fight starts and all seven girls are involved in the battle because magic was cast and they all have something to fight, even if it's a stuffed animal. Meanwhile, Setsuna transforms paper-doll Negi into a ninja Negi and he takes Konoka, the eight girl to safety. However, the place he chooses has　another member of the faction waiting for him, along with Kotarou. With a beast by her side and with a bow drawn, the she asks Negi to hand over Konoka. Negi doesn't know what to do, but Konoka tells him that Setsuna will rescue them. A gust of wind comes and the arrow is released accidentally. At the last moment, Setsuna jumps in front and gets hit. As she falls off the building, Konoka magically leaps down to save her and heals her wounds. However, when she comes to, she can't remember what she just did.

Futatsuki: ５口目/３人目の仲間 (Fifth Taste/3 Companions): The rules of the competition are that they have to be in a team of three. Fortunately, the Hanamaru shop has 3 people, himself, the boss, and the boss's daughter. However, the boss suddenly collapses and the doctor tells them that he's in no condition to compete. So they try to find a third person, but to no avail. Until Hina appears, and in an twist of fate, she decides to help them win the competition.

Tsubasa: ３５　戻らない対価 (35,　The Trade that Won't Be Returned): So Kusanagi and Yuziriha aren't bad guys and are also monster hunters like Kuro and Shaoran. They enjoy a meal at Fye's new cafe and Yuzuriha explains the level of difficult of the monsters. Afterwards, Inuki senses another one near by so they leave to fight it. Meanwhile, Sakura tries to apologize to Shaoran for not remembering him. However, as she is doing so, she suddenly passes out. The contract that he has with Yuuko is that Sakura won't remember him, so that's what's at work. As soon as Sakura remembers him, she'll forget again.

Hamanaka Ai: ０２３　休日の人生相談 (023, Talking About Life on a Holiday): Masahiko and Misaki bump into their tutors, Ai and Nakamura. The tutors treat their pupils, and during their feasting, they talk about college life and that it's not all about studying.

Title: ヤングマガジン (Young Magazine) Vol. 12
Issue Date: 3/1/2004
Publisher: Kodansha
Pages: 474

More more Waka Inoue. Can't they get someone else? There's also a Morning Musume feature with the Sakura and Otome Groups of the MM.

XXXholic: 40: The start of a new arc. Kimihiro receives chocolates from Himawari on Valentine's Day. In return, he goes shopping for chocolates with Yuuko. At the supermarket, Yuuko sees a strange pair of twins. The next day, he sees one of the twins looking for her contact lens on the ground. They can't find it, and when Kimihiro tells Yuuna about it, she mentions to him that he wasn't bound to find it.