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イリヤの空、UFOの夏 (Sky of Iriya, Summer of UFO) Vol. 2Title: イリヤの空、UFOの夏 (Sky of Iriya, Summer of UFO) Vol. 2
Author: 秋山瑞人 (Mizuhito Akiyama)
Illustrator: 駒都え〜じ (Eiji Komatsu)
Book Size/Pages: A-6, 325pp.
Volume: 2/4
Original Serialization: Dengeki hp 10/01-12/01
First Printing: 11/25/01

After the first chapter of this volume, things got really boring until the bonus chapter. It's not that the story was bad, but after Iriya's narration, I really wanted more. Unfortunately, Iriya only makes a few very brief appearance after the first chapter. The focus is more on Akiho's relationship with Asaba. I really hope that the animation portrays Iriya's story about her past as well as I imagined it while reading. It's a very beautiful and sad monologue and I would hate it if the animation doesn't do it justice (but it's an OVA, so it should be better, right?).

There's a lot more insight into Yuuko's and Akiho's personality. My opinion of the those two supporting females has changed in this volume accordingly. The one drawback is that the story jumps around a lot. The author might write about a situation and then at the climax, go back in time to explain how the situation arose. It can be a little confusing at times.

Bonus includes the movie poster-like table of contents similar to the previous volume. The pullout is nice drawing of Akiho and Iriya. There's also a message from the author in the back.

4. 正しい原チャリの盗み方(後編) (How to Properly Steal a Mini-bike, Last Part): After the movie ends prematurely, Iriya and Asaba go to some food. Suizenji and Yuuko follow and stay close by so that he can hear Asaba's conversation. Iriya realizes that Asaba is bugged and has him go into the bathroom where she makes him strip. Iriya then hot-wires a scooter and tries to leave, but Suizenji and Yuuko follow them on their bike. Iriya manages to outmaneuver her pursuers and send them off the road into the river.

As they sit on the riverside, Suizenji and Yuuko start talking. Yuuko doesn't like Suizenji because she thinks he's the cause of her brother's trouble, especially with that incident with Iriya during the air-raid drill. Word had gotten around at school that Asaba was found on top of a naked and unconcious Iriya in the shelter and everything thinks Asaba is a perv. Suizenji calms her down by telling that those are just rumors about Asaba's motives and explains to her what he thinks really happened (and his intuition is pretty good).

Meanwhile, Iriya dumps her stolen scooter and walk away. Asaba assures her that no one is following them anymore and they decide to call it a day. They go to a bus stop and wait for Iriya's bus, which will be coming in half an hour. In the meantime, Asaba decides that rather than waiting at the stop, they can go to the park nearby. There, Iriya confesses that a fellow comrade died during training.

She used to be the youngest of 5 test pilots training in the Nevada deserts. The next youngest was a boy named Jamie Zachary, an ace pilot, but someone who would always pick on Iriya. One day, during training, his plane crashed for some unknown reason. The remaining four pilots decided to go to the crash site and sneak out of the base. After some hitchhiking and some tension among the members, they reach the location. But what they saw out there in the middle of the desert wasn't a scene of an accident, but rather, a newly constructed park, much like the one they're waiting at. That's when she realized that she and her comrades was alone in the world, children that no one wanted.

5. 十八時四十七分三十二秒(前編) (6:47:32pm, First Part): At the beginning of the school year, Akiho came into the second year, class #4. One of her classmates, Kiyomi, seemed very down and withdrawn and Akiho finds out that it's because her dog, Jubei, had passed away. She becomes more open, and one morning, she comes to class explaining to Akiho how the spirit of her dog visited her in her sleep. Their teacher though, scolds Kiyomi saying that there are no such things as ghosts. Asaba then interjects saying that the teacher might be right, but it's none of his business, much to the surprise of everyone in the class.

It's several days before the school festival, a big deal in such a small town. Suizenji has the idea that their club do a scale map of the base, complete with the secret planes they have there. Akiho doesn't like the fact that Suizenji did this without consulting the other members. She tells Asaba that they should do their own reporting on the events as their activity.

Iriya has been missing classes more frequently. She gets phone calls at school and leaves soon after. However, Asaba gets to talk to her about the festival and she says she'll do what he does. Asaba shows him Suizenji's models and she finds a dead locust. She weeps.

One night, when Asaba is going back to the club's room to work on their project, he sees Enomoto waiting for him. They go on the roof and have some ramen. Enomoto tells him that Iriya might not make it to the festival, but if she does, he wants Asaba to dance with her around the bonfire. As Asaba is about to leave, Enomoto tells him to wait 30 seconds and then look at the sky. Asaba sees a faint figure flying in the night sky. When he looks around him, Enomoto has disappeared.

6. 十八時四十七分三十二秒(後編) (6:47:32pm, Last Part): Asaba's parents close their store and attend the festival. They visit Yuuko's play (which she told them specifically not to watch) as well as go to the newspaper's club room. The father and Suizenji start talking about the happenings on the base. Suizenji asks if his father as seen the picture in the photograph he took of the mysterious people at the theater (Enomoto). The father hasn't. As the parents are later resting, a girl comes up to them and introduces herself as Akiho, Asaba's classmate and clubmate.

On the night of the festival, it's revealed that Suizenji has been videotaping everyone coming in and out of the club room. Without Iriya, Asaba decides to accompany Akiho to the bonfire after a conversation about practicing dancing as children. However, she gets herself (even more) drunk and tells him about how grateful she was that he stood up to their teacher for scolding her about believing in ghosts. Asaba is pretty sure that it was Kiyomi, not Akiho.

At one point in the night, there's a new report about escalating tensions (with Korea? It mentions 38th parallel) and suddently, all the pagers of military personnel at the festival go off. Asaba soon gets a page from the office telling him he has a phone call. It's from Iriya telling him to go to the training grounds at exactly 8:45pm. He rushes over there as soon as humanly possible. He reaches there one minute late, but looks up to see planes flying by. One in particular breaks formation and does some maneuvers before disappearing. He looks down and notices that his watch is stopped at 6:47:32pm.

Bonus. 死体を洗え (Wash the Corpses): In a girl's dorm on the base, a girl, Chumi is calling a friend of hers to tell her about a strange guy who asked her out on a date. She has to use the public phone because they're not allowed to have room phones for security reasons. It's easier to monitor calls with one phone.

Chumi explains that the guy took her out to dinner and told her a story about his "friend" Kimura (an alias) during his second year in college. Kimura supposedly had the ability to see ghosts and apparitions. He didn't get along with others, but this guy and Kimura became friends. One day, Kimura comes to him saying that he's found a good job at the base, treating corpses. Since the guy is almost broke, he takes the offer and works with Kimura at the base.

They are taken there in a windowless van. There are hundreds upon hundreds of containers that contains the bodies of the dead with the story that they were spies that had been killed on duty. However, all the bodies are Caucasian. As they worked day in and day out, Kimura starts becoming strange until one day at work, he breaks and starts going crazy screaming that the bodies are aliens. The two of them get whisked away and he doesn't hear from Kimura again.

After the story, there's some static on the line. Chimi asks her friend to answer a simple yes/no question about their past, but the receiving end hands up the phone without answering.

まぶらほ (Maburaho) Vol. 10 LETitle: まぶらほ (Maburaho) Vol. 10 LE
Volume: 10/12
Catalog No.: BIBA-4210
Release Date: 10/22/04
Rating: 2/4

What a disappointment. I'm not a big fan of summary episodes and that's exactly what episode 20 was.

The first episode was okay. I really wished that Chihaya had a more meaningful role rather than becoming one of Kazuki's women. Her original departure was one of my favorites, so this episode didn't really do a good follow-up job.

Limited edition comes with another (final) keyholder holder, more cards, another keyholder (Kasumi), and a holographic card (cover of box).

19. かえちゃった…どすえ (I Returned, spoken Kyoto Style
20. とどけちゃった (I Sent It)

十兵衛ちゃん2 (Jubei-chan 2) DVD Box 2Title: 十兵衛ちゃん2〜シベリア柳生の逆襲〜 (Jyubei-chan 2~The Counterattack of Siberia Yagyu) DVD Box 2
Original Creator: 大地丙太郎 (Akitarou Daichi)
Volume: 2/2
Catalog No.: KIBA-91016~7
Release Date: 7/7/04
Rating: 4/4

Finishing up on of my older DVDs in the backlog (not the oldest though). Despite some misgivings about the use of slapstick humor in certain situations, the series as a whole was very complete with a good ending. They really didn't need the open-ended epilogue though. Please end it, I can't imagine how this story can be extended some more. If anything, I want more Kuromi-chan.

I found Ritsuko Okazaki's song in these episodes to be very appropriate. The song is the epitome of Ritsuko, soft and sweet, a little melancholy sung with her gentle voice. I haven't listened to any of my Ritsuko vocals after her death as I still feel it's strange listening to someone who has just recently passed away, especially since I feel particularly close to her works from Love Hina.

Bonus includes the second part of Yui Horie's challenge where she tackles the intricacies of the Japanese tea festival. The second disc has a making of j2 from initial design to dubbing. It has some insight into how some of the gags for the show came about. The liner notes has some interviews and short 4 panel comics.

7. 斬られて落ちて消えていた (Having Been Slashed, She Fell and Disappeared)
8. 負けてほほ笑み浮かんでた (Having Lost, She Smiled)
9. いつか交えた剣だった (It Was the Sword That Had Transformed Someday)
10. あの日のワタシに戻ってた (Returned to the "Me" of That Day)
11. 真路を決めるときだった (It Was the Time I Will Decide on My True Path)
12. ココロが留守なだけだった (My Heart Was Just Absent)
13. スペードハートでマルだった (It Was Round With a Spade and Heart)

恋風 (Koi Kaze) Vol. 3Title: 恋風 (Koi Kaze) Vol. 3
Original Creator: 吉田基己 (Motoi Yoshida)
Volume: 3/5
Catalog No.: GNBA-1043
Release Date: 9/23/04
Rating: 3/4

Having finished the manga series already, I don't think there's going to be any real surprises for me until the very end as the anime finished before the manga so there's a possibility for a different ending.

The 3 episodes included this disc are pretty much as I imagined. Nothing that deviates from the original material. Koshiro and Nanoka continuing to try and understand their feelings for each other.

First edition comes with a postcard of Nanoka eating bread and a couple of stickers where Nanoka tells his brother to not eat so much. Video bonuses include a little skit by the two teddybears which I believe do a recap of all 13 episodes.

5. 遠雷 (Distant Thunder)
6. 秋思 (Autumn Sadness)
7. 初嵐 (First Storm)

songs from ageTitle: songs from age
Vocals: 栗林みな実 (Minami Kuribayashi), 宮内タカユキ (Takayuki Miyauchi), 福山芳樹 (Yoshiki Fukuyama), MEGUMI (rino)
Release Date: 7/24/03
Catalog No.: LACA-5190
Rating: 3/4

One of my CDs from Anime Jungle, hence the slighly blemished cover. The disc is perfect though, and that's what matters.

This CD has a collection of songs from age's games pre-Muvluv. While it has pictures of Sumika and Meiya, there aren't any Muvluv songs included.

There's 5 songs sung by Minami, 3 of which I already have elsewhere. The two other songs are equally good, but I haven't heard them enough to really appreciate them. As for the other songs that feature male vocals (song from Akane Maniax and Age Maniax) are upbeat and sound neat, but I don't think it's something that I'll play very much.

The CD also has the Hakuryo High's school anthem, which is a nice bonus as age's games all happen there.

少年マガジン (Shonen Magazine), '05 Vol 10Title: 少年マガジン (Shonen Magazine) Vol. 10
Issue Date: 2/16/05
Publisher: Kodansha
Pages: 458

Cover girl is 23-year-old Yoko Kumada.

This week kicks off a series of interviews with with Kouji Seo to give potential new manga artists some information before they partipate in Kodansha's search for a new manga author.

Negima: 82時間目 本屋DEデート (Date with Nodoka): With the time turned back, Negi can have his "date" with Nodoka. As she's waiting, she looks in her magical book to find that it has predicted that the two of them will lock lips and do a french kiss. She becomes flustered. As they're walking along, two fellow magicians who are on patrol for potential "confessors" decide that Nodoka is a threat. Before they can take her aside, Negi dashes off with her and arrive at an isolated location. Apparently under the influence of the tree, Nodoka asks Negi to kiss her.

Hamanaka Ai: 069先生の副業 (Tutor's Side Job): In addition to being a tutor, Ai also works as a waitress at a cafe. This gets leaked out and her students, along with Nakamura come for a visit. While bringing them drinks, she spills some milk on herself, but before she can fully clean herself up, new guests come. They see her with white substance dripping down her legs.

Suzuka: #47彼氏 (Boyfriend): At the karaoke bar, Yamato and Suzuka happen to pick the same song. Miki says they can sing together, but when he looks at his girlfriend, Yamato decides not to. After the party, Nana and Yamato walk Honoka home. When Honoka leaves, Nana and Yamato start talking about his relationship and she makes him aware that he's only thinking of himself. He doesn't even know her birthday (which she tells him, 9/16, a couple of days away).

Changing Now: #38敗北!?ドーグファイター (Loser!?, Dog Fighter): Velvet Rose tells Machina about his past, that he's her brother and that he killed their father. Rose then orders a retreat and the fake Dog Fighter, who had been winning the fight with Dog Fighter, decides to flee too.

Toto: 8.5: Shopan, a person sent from headquarters, comes and kills off the solders as they have failed to retrieve Toto. He's no ordinary person though, and looks to be part beast. He leaves Kakashi and Dorothy alone since his orders were just to eliminate the incompetent, not to retrieve the bracelet. As the leader is dying, Kakashi asks what the bracelet is. The response is that he doesn't know, but there are 12 of them and the army will be following him as long as he has it.

Student Council: #10十人委員会 (10 Member Committee): Mami shows him the door to the student council, but Musashi tells him that he doesn't want to participate anymore and goes back home. Mami enters and meets the other members of the student council who vote on whether they should accept Musashi or not. It's a split and the dissenting members decide to test him out. Akane waits for Musashi at home and makes him dinner. Later, he accidentally walks in on her as she's taking a bath, but she tells him it's okay if they bathe together.

King's Sword: 22劉備と曹操 (Ryubi and Sousou): Chohi laments over the death of Meishien, but strives to fight on. Ryubi informs Sousou, a leader in another division about the situation with the bandits.

少年マガジン (Shonen Magazine), '05 Vol 11Title: 少年マガジン (Shonen Magazine) Vol. 11
Issue Date: 2/23/05
Publisher: Kodansha
Pages: 476

Tsubasa is finally back, and they provide a few more extra pages explaining the story so far. Suzuka has two chapters this week, one that follows the story line and a bonus chapter with Miho. Miho's chapter explains about Miho's ravings about her cousin Yamato and how a guy, who had a crush on her, imagines this super-cool cousin to be. It also has the second interview with the author.

The 4 week special of Kagetora finishes this week too. I think I'll start reading that manga as it seems to be my style. There's already 6 volumes for it.

Negima: 84時間目 キスマシーン・ネギ!? (Kiss Machine Negi!?): After Nodoka's request, she realizes what she said, but it's too late. Negi becomes possessed by some force and is able to fend off Setsuna and even his fellow magicians patrollers.

Tsubasa: 67神の始まり (A God's Beginning): Ashura dies as the castle crumbles and she requests to Yuuko that he start a new living a life without regrets.

Hamanaka Ai: 070白いバレンタイン (White Valentine): Misaki gives Masahiko some home made chocolates with milky centers. The milk is supposed to have hardened, but when Masahiko bites down, it squirts all over Misaki's face. Ai walks in and has a taste of the white stuff on Misaki's face and comments "I didn't know it's this sweet!"

Suzuka: #48相談 (Discussion): Honoka wants to spend some time with Yamato, but he says he's busy. In fact, he'll be busy looking for her birthday present. He asks around the girls at the apartment as well as Yasunobu, but none of them are any help. He then goes to the store and looks through some women's magazine. Suzuka sees him there and offers to help him out. She tells him to meet her the next day at the train station in Shinjuku.

King's Sword: 23曹操軍団旗上げ (Sousou's Division Raises Their Flag): Switch to Sousou's division where during battle, his cousin gets caught and he has to make the decision between the cousin's life or his sword. He says that he's willing to sacrifice his relative. They're able to take advantage of that moment and manage to slay the bandits and free his cousin.

Toto: 9「機関車の街1」 (Locomotive City, Part 1): Kakashi and Dorothy arrive at a city with trains, much to his delight. However, he finds out that they're being destory and the metal is being melted for ammunition. He meets an older girl who saves him by pretending he's a little brother. A strange young man is also introduced who doesn't seem to mind the destruction.

Changing Now: #39戦慄!!死の特訓 (Shudder!! Fierce Training): Crimson Bunny, after being ousted by Velvet Rose, is now a singer and dancer and performs to her co-workers surprise at their New Year's Party.

Student Council: #11心の中の獣 (The Beast Within): In the bathroom, Musashi suddenly gets possessed by his animalistic personality and forcefully takes Akane. He then comes to his senses and stops. The next day, Nagare tells him that he's always there for him. Soon after, he's met up by the other memebers of the student council coming to test his skills. Nagare then shows up beside Mami as they witness the start of battle.

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