Why I love GinTama so much.

I have had an horrific realisation.
I love GinTama because I really identify with the main character, Hasegawa.
Just kidding, I mean Gintoki, obviously.
I don;t love the manga for any other weird reasons.
Not because I think the creator, Soraichi Hideaki is attractive.
Even though he kind of is.
In a 'He's actually my age for once, no more crushes on younger men anymore' kind of way.

Also, he writes in such a darkly humorous way that I laugh with genuine amusement.
I have a wry sense of humour.

I wrote a big long entry about how much I'm like Gin but let's ignore it because I accidentally deleted it and I can't be bothered writing it all out again, it's a pain.

Long story short: I love the Gintama manga (and anime) and if you haven't read it yet, look it up on Manga Fox (manga) and Crunchyroll (anime) they are both free to read and watch online (at the time of writing this).

Avengers Age of Ultron obviously spoilers

Spoiler Alert ok?

So

Yeah my impressions...

Underwhelmed?

Too much fighting, they had to do slow mo to show Black Widow in with the guys, kicking butt etc. Because she doesn't look flashy like Iron Man and has no magic powers, whoops sorry, super powers. And no cool bow and arrows like Hawkeye. Awkward interview, btw, Renner and Evans! But I shrugged it off. It wasn't serious and also the interviewer led you into it by saying, "Both of you".

But back to the movie.
It felt forced and dull sometimes.
The whole thing with Stark's reasoning about why he should mess around with the infinity stone etc felt insincere. I mean it was like RDJr was trying to explain Stark's motivation to whoever was there, usually a boring and depressed Ruffalo. Most of RDJr's scenes felt like a practice runthrough of the script.
Also I don't like how Banner hasn't changed at all during the time the Avengers have been a team. Still mopey dope.
Thor seemed ok, actually. He kept it lighter than it could have been. Hawkeye's secret family felt awkward, tbh. It was like, huh...  oh, who actually cares.
And Captn USA was weird with his whole, "I'm suddenly ok with my frankly, lousy life" thing at the end.
And where was Clark Gregg's character? Coulson is alive damnit! Reunion please!
Cobie Smulders was there and once again underused.
Uh what else? Hate the Hulk Black Widow thing. Hate how Banner is such a pushover and supposedly brilliant but never seems to be used at all except by Stark as his butt monkey. Hate what they did to BW. All the previous movies she was a consistently strong, excellently scheming and mercenary character, loyal but not clingy, tough but not butch. Now she's all weird. Can't have babies, so now suddenly wants to throw herself at Bruce Banner???? How does that make any sense? And why doesn't he mention his true love Betty at all? Or was that whole backstory retconned?
Ummm who else?
Oh yes, I liked Ultron a lot but felt his death lacked something. It was an anticlimactic confrontation with The Vision, btw I must have missed when they named him. Suddenly referring to him by his name without actually telling the audience, good thing I watched some stuff to give me backstory before the movie or I would've been like huh?
Is that all? Um, Scarlet Witch good but her powers improperly explained, and hand-waved as "she's weird" which is inaccurate and mean! Also why did they kill off Quicksilver so quickly? I liked him. He was shaping up to be cool. Anyway I waited til the end of the credits and those sneaky mongrels only had one credits scene this time. The Avengers Will Return! Haha, everyone who stayed deliberately to see a sneak preview as we have all come to expect, we all laughed. They got us.

Btw I am just not impressed by that purple guy. Forgot his name.
He has been waiting for years to do anything now suddenly picks up the (I'm guessing the name here) Infinity Gauntlet and says "I'll do it myself" or something like that.
I know he's meant to be really awful or something but whatever. I'm not into the Avengers anymore, tbh. I'm over them now.
I don't even know if I will watch their next movie. Esp if BW and Hulk are a couple for reals. Weird.

More Pokemon observations

Well, I realised that three Pokemon I like have one thing in common. Can you guess what it is?
Let me list them first, Sandshrew, Aron and Joltik.

Ok, so you probably already guessed it but; the thing about each of them that I think makes their design particularly attractive, is their blue eyes.
I only realised that after playing for years.... Ah well, that's Pokemon. Always more to like.
Ah, I just realised I never reviewed X and Y properly. Will do that soon.

Just another note, I have a lot of Pokemon in my pcs in all my games from over the years that I have never used.
So I have finally started to transfer 'em around, either to the PBank or my Alpha game.
I wanted to play AS differently to how I played OR so I am using a lot of diff gen starters on my team, and my Flying type is Skarmory.
I wanted to use Tropius but I always liked Skarmory's design and yet I prefer Aron for my Steel type so after a bit, Skarmory will inevitably end up in my box again, game after game.
So! I am going to try hard to use it this time. Unless I can unearth that Mew my mate traded me.
In that case, hell yeah, Mew!
Wheeeee....flyin' around the world with Mew
Incidentally, or, while we are on the topic of Mew, it is a pain in the Ash (haha, c wat I did there) in Pokepark 1.
I mean, I got it in the end but MAN!!!
There was one point in the game where it was just being a right little mongrel.
Annnyyywwwaaayyyyy....
I better finish my X and Y review and post it.

Different games, different feelings.

I will admit it, I am picky.
There are certain Pokemon I have not liked from when they were first revealed.
To list some, Loudred, Grovyle, Wigglytuff, Bidoof, Sunflora, Spinda (to name but a few).
BUT!
Since playing the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games, I have warmed to them.
Turns out they just needed a bit of backstory or cute dialogue and I realised how great they were. Clever Nintendo!
Very clever.
Well-played, one might even say.
I just wish they wouldn't keep typecasting Dark, Ghost and Poison types as villains.
They keep saying there are no bad Pokemon, but then they also keep making certain types bad guys all the time.
Make a villainous Skitty or something.
*So cute... A scheming Skitty... Rubbing it's paws together and laughing in an evil squeak...*
I would love that...

Realisations

I have realised two things.
One, I was afraid since childhood that becoming an adult means embracing mediocrity. I was right.
I used to draw and paint and sing and write. I am now no longer really able to do those things. I used to strive to be original. But I don't need to anymore either.

Two, I was afraid that I would no longer want to do those things, that I would be accepting of my creative decline. That has occured also. I no longer thirst for anything creative. My job sucks all my mental and spiritual energy. I don't know what to do. It bothers me that it doesn't bother me much at all. I wonder if I should care that all the things I loved to make and do and dream of are dying.

I also wonder if this is just a season, and that I will one day be creative again, and my ideas will burn inside me again.
Wondering...
Did I give up my own originality for a minimum wage job at reduced hours? Just for money, and not much of it at that?
I used to care so much.
I used to suffer a lot more too, though.
But my ideas were my own. Nobody put them down, not like now.
I wrote so many stories, invented hundreds of characters. Not many hundreds, but still a lot. Ever since I started school I can remember feeling excited about new ideas for a story to draw or write.
I don't know if I can be bothered to care anymore. Work is stressful. I can't do anything after work, my mind gets tied up and tired.
But maybe I am going to wake up again. Maybe that's what this blog post is about.
I need to make a big decision, I think. I can sense that change is needed.
I wonder what I will do. I hope that whatever I decide, it is authentic and not fearful.
I took this job out of desperation. But staying in it for the rest of my working life is not what I want. Hmmmm.... It's going to be a tough one, this.
I need to find a job that suits my temperament.
Maybe it's time to look for something new.

Bug type Pokemon gym leader

I agree with Tamashii Hiroka that Bugsy is a tough gym leader at the point in the game where you fight him. And yes, he is more of a challenge than Burgh. Ugh I hate Burgh. But I also hate Tate and Liza, and Roxie. So TH's faves are not mine at all. Except for Cheren... *sigh* she is so right about Cheren being excellent. Wattson is a pain in the such and such.... So tough. He seems like a nice friendly old guy but he doesn't go easy on you at all. I cursed him often. To continue the Tamashii Hiroka theme, I liked Drayden too, and I liked the BnW 1 and 2 games. They were just so great. Ok well I just wanted to note this for my future self.

Food, a small incomplete list.

My favourite things to eat :
Cauliflower and broccoli with cheese sauce.
Vegetarian pizza with asparagus, feta and olives and capers and capsicum, mozzarella, cheddar, onion, garlic paste, herbs and a good tomato sauce.
Macaroni with cheese sauce and a crusty baked cheese and breadcrumb topping.
Also with the cheese sause and topping - potato au gratin.
Broccoli and edamame with soy sauce and roasted sesame seeds.
Cheese straws.
French onion soup.
Tomato soup.
Vegetarian minestrone soup.
Pasta with lotsa herby, garlicky tomato sauce and cheddar cheese, mushrooms, olives and capsicum.
Pumpkin soup.
Hot chips.
Potato chips, especially ready salted or nori seaweed flavour.
Soft baked pita bread with cheese melted on it.
Cheesey mashed or chopped potato.
Port salut cheese with very good wholegrain crackers and some grapes.
A poached egg with buttered toast soldiers.
Herb and cheese scrambled eggs.
Spring onion pancake, Chinese style.
Vegetarian steamed buns or fried dumplings.
Custard buns are good too.
Chocolate taiyaki.
Ichigo daifuku.
Any of the Yukimi daifuku icecreams except red bean.
Aloo paratha. Wonderful.
Bombay aloo is also good.
Masala chicken.
Vegetarian samosas, home-made is best.
Mango lassi.
Cardamom semifreddo. I forgot the Hindi name.
Feta (plain or with cumin seeds in it) with bread and garlic olive oil.
Bread with basil pesto, olive tapenade and tomato paste for dipping.
Apple pie with vanilla icecream.
Jelly and icecream.
Jelly and runny cream is also delicious.
Apple shortcake with proper thick custard.
Or just spiced stewed apple with or without custard.
Lemon self-saucing pudding with vanilla icecream.
Cherry pie.
Blueberries.
Apricots.
Bananas.
Passionfruit.
Mangoes freshly picked when ripe.
Mandarins.
Strawberries.
Cherries.
Watermelon.
Good raspberries, esp with cream.
Proper layered trifle.
Passionfruit yoghurt icecream.
Fruit salad icecream.
Strawberry yoghurt icecream.
Hawaiian fruit salad (the one with coconut cream and marshmallows etc).
Ambrosia, a proper one.
Flan.
Pineapple muffins.
Louise cake.
Fruit tart (done properly with chocolate to line the pastry case so it doesn't get soggy from the custard, strawberries and jelly).
Proper gingerbread, loaf or biscuit form, either way with lotsa ginger and def not moist. Dry and low crumb.
Fish fingers.
There are other things but this makes me sleepy. So I had better stop.
Last thing : real fruit icecream.
Strange, I seem to not have chocolate as a favourite. I never noticed until now.
I do like chocolate spiced tea, or moccachinos though. And my own recipe for chocolate spiced muffins or choc chip spice cookies. And I can only tolerate banana cake if it has choc chips in it.
But generally not a big choc lover. Huh.

Sketchbook anime... yay!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deBkKq3duFA
This is a link to the first episode (or part of it) with english subs.
I think the four panel (yonkoma?) manga is hard to make into a good anime but it can be done.
I'm still deciding if I like the anime yet.

One reason why I like Sketchbook by Kobako Totan : Negishi. He is one great character.

Here is Negishi talking to the main character, Sora Kajiwara. 

She is very shy and hardly ever talks. REALLY SHY.

But Negishi is great. So is everyone else! But Negishi is great.

Btw from this panel I thought his name was Suzuki but the grammatical translation here is a mistake. Neither of these characters are named Suzuki, so Negishi should say; 'I've never met anyone named Suzuki.' instead of 'I've never met another person named Suzuki.'

More manga opinions or reviews; if you want to call what is purely my opinion with lack of expertise, a review.

Natsume Yuujinchou is a very interesting manga, I also liked xxxHolic.
Less than enthusiastic about the crossover with Tsubasa though. In fact, I never read Tsubasa.
I think I bought vol 1 but then I became rapidly disinterested.
The plot seemed like it would get very complicated. I also disliked Fai and Kurogane, as a couple. That is, it seemed as if they might become a couple and the interplay between them irritated me.
It's a typical CLAMP pairing, one person more mature, experienced and sarcastic, mocking the more pure, naive and grumpy one. I just feel sick of that particular pairing.

Back to what I was saying, I read the synopsis of Tsubasa in order to see if it really did affect xxxHolic but to be honest, reading the synopsis was enough. I loved the art style from xxxHolic and the stories were interesting. It was a bit dark but then it was basically a dark manga anyway. I loved the little fox character, and the pipe spirit. Which was also a fox? Watanuki was neat, but I disliked the ending.
*spoiler alert* for xxxHolic and Tsubasa, below.

It seemed to me that the manga ending implied that Yuuko would try to be reborn to return to see Watanuki one day, however it was extremely vague. You could just as easily say that she would never return. Apparently in Tsubasa it is heavily implied that she will not return because she died as a price for Sakura's clone to become human? However she was a witch so she could return somehow. She was very powerful in her own field. I personally hope that she will be able to come back to Watanuki's world since he now can never leave the shop, nor age.
It's sad how he started to act like her. ALthough it is possible that the reason he acts like Yuuko is either A: He misses her so much that acting like her gives him a sense of comfort.
or B: He is acting like her because living int he shop makes every shop proprietor act like that.
There is also C: He is actually totally unaware that he is turning into a male version of her.
There was a complicated thing about Watanuki being some alternate version of Shaoran, so does that mean he doesn't exist without Shaoran or that he isn't 'real'? If that is the case, it may explain why his personality changed over time.

Anyway -

Spoilers over I guess.

I would like to go back to my discussion of Natsume Yuujinchou.
I loved the art, and I actually feel the anime does the manga justice.
UNLIKE the butchering of Ouran High School Host Club!
So upset at the terrible job the producers of the anime did. Too short! Last episodes were TERRIBLE! Obviously a rush to finish the story and man, did it feel rushed and contrived. Ruined the series.

Also, Suoh is not a blonde! The manga says his hair is BROWN. He is a mixed blood Japanese and French! His mother may be blonde but he is unlikely to be according to genetics!
I know several Eurasian people and none are blonde. One girl has black hair with a cocoa-soft sheen to it which makes it look like a beautiful colour job (but it's real) but all the others just have black or brown hair. None have blue eyes. Hazel, brown, even green, but none of the kids with blonde blue-eyed parents look European at all. They all look more Asian than anything.
SO my point is!
Don't colour Suoh like that!!!!!!!
He is still attractive! Princely characters don't have to be blonde and blue (or in his case, lavender?) eyed! And Hunny sempai should also have hair more the colour that the twins have.
Hunny should not be blonde either!
Actually, I'm fussing over nothing. In anime, weird hair and eye colours are the norm.
I will just get over it.
This anime sucks anyway.
Gonna buy ALL the manga and read it over and over til the horrible memory of the anime is all gone.

Ahem...oh! Natsume Yuujinchou!
Loved the anime. Music wonderful, voices perfect, style like the manga. It worked very well.
I love the manga, I am interested in the Japanese understanding of the supernatural, particularly Youkai. The spirit world is different for every country, I think.
Anyway I wish I could buy this series on the Kindle, but sadly, it is as if it never existed.
:(
*sob sob*
I will go and read it at Mangafox.
It's still ongoing, I think.
:)

Magic Knight Rayearth on Kindle Paperwhite yay!

I had forgotten how charming CLAMP's earlier work is. Or was?
No, it has lost none of that refreshing charm.
Although Hikaru is permanently etched into my memory forever as the symbol of MKR (and rightfully so, *spoiler alert* oh...too late, sorry!), I still love Fuu's character the most.
She is so amusing and sensible, logical to the point of ridiculous. I know it's a bit obvious for a person with glasses like myself to like the megane character the most, I still can't shrug it off.
I used to dislike Umi but now I like them all as they are all excellent contrasts to each other. They were all very well designed.

Anyway, speaking of megane characters, I also love Kyoya from Ouran High School Host Club.
My fave volume so far is vol 7. The Kyoya story and getting to meet Mori and Hunny's brothers was delightful. I also like Kasanoda.
Seeing Haruhi able to relate to him easily was a nice break from the Host Club boys and their usual cloying over-attention and madcap antics. I read the whole series a while ago. I loved it, and to be able to buy it on the Kindle is also great for me.

I was disappointed in the lack of manga available on Kindle though. Naruto, Bleach, Dragonball and DBZ are there, a bit of Fairy Tail. One Piece is there too.
But not a lot of the slice of life manga I tend to favour lately ( Yotsuba&, Azumanga Daioh, Sketchbook, Strawberry Marshmallow, not a bit of any of 'em. No Lucky Star either).
No Ranma or Sailor Moon or Slam Dunk either. Aah My Goddess is there though, thank goodness. Wonderful series.

Oh, no Pokemon manga either! Again, surprised and disappointed.
As well as that, some books by authors I love are not available but others are.
So I can't have a complete Gerald Durrell or Laura Childs collection. If they are going to put an author's books on Kindle, they should put them ALL. Not just a few.

Oh, Honey and Clover is another manga series I want which isn't available. They do have some of CLAMP's work, so I am going to get whatever I can and try to be grateful.
I guess I just feel annoyed that I can read and even download scanlation manga for free, and everything I could want is there. But because I want to purchase legally, I miss out on a lot that isn't on Kindle yet.

I don't know if they will ever release Sketchbook, for example. It's kind of an obscure title I found (although calling it obscure without any real consensus about it's worldwide status is thoughtless I suppose. I meant obscure in comparison to mainstream popular shonen and shoujo manga, I guess). I liked it a lot, it was funny as heck in a mild way. The author's pen name is Totan Kobako. Actually, the manga has an entry on Wikipedia. You can read it at Mangafox. I recommend it to people who like slice of life, amusing stuff with slow plot and quirky characters.

Narnia series

Out of the C.S. Lewis books, I like The Magician's Nephew best, then The Silver Chair. Then The Voyage of The Dawn Treader, then The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Next I like The Last Battle, then Prince Caspian. The Horse and His Boy is my least fave. Dunno why. Maybe because I didn't like the main characters. But all the stories are better than a lot of the dull stuff you get these days. Not all books for younger people are dull, but there are an awful lot just about everyday life. Who wants to read about that? Maybe some do, or the books wouldn't sell.

Regular Show review and more besides

I actually like The Regular Show. I say actually because at first I hated it. The characters were interesting but I disliked their world. But then I got hooked anyway. Imho Pops is the best character. Just saying. I think besides the episode with the baby ducks, the one with the Tants and the one with Pops' poetry are my faves. A lot of the charm of the show comes from the great voice acting. And ironically, I think that Rigby is very cute when he isn't talking. Wow, that's mean. Aha haha, too bad. It's true! I like The Amazing World of Gumball too, but it's slightly too shallow. I like Gumball and his mom Nicole and sister Anaise (Anais?), but not really Darwin or Richard. I also dislike most of Gumball's classmates. Having said that, it's still quite amusing and again the voice acting is great. I prefer Gumball's animation style to Regular Show's, but there's too many characters introduced to keep up with. As well as the shallow stories, it's not entirely original because it's just another 'loser at school' premise. With Regular Show, they're adults at least, even if they're immature. I guess I relate to the 'adult slice of life' premise a bit more. And after watching so much high school anime and Disney tween shows, I am entirely over seeing 'school life' as a basis for a show. That's also why I eventually started watching Adventure Time. I disliked that at first (made no sense at first, lazy animation style), but now I'm hooked on it too. I have so many fave characters on that show. Probably besides Finn and Jake, I would say I also like BMO best. And Ice King. Most of the male characters actually. I have already mentioned in a previous post about my disappointment in the princesses in this show. Well, that's enough talk. Going to go watch Nigella Bites. Man, she was SO young haha! Great show though.

Mai tai - the first one I have tried

Had my first and LAST Mai Tai - felt extremely ill, ended up puking in the toilets at the train station. Not happy. No more Mai Tais. Maybe should avoid rum full stop...?