2004-2005 Emails

Email announcements from school year 2004-2005

← 2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-2006 →

Fall 2004

Minna No Anime first meeting 9/25/04

Hello anime fans,
Welcome to Minna No Anime, Cal Poly.s Japanese animation club.
As for what the club is and does, it is very simple.  You are all invited
to join the officers and everyone else, from Cal Poly and elsewhere, in
their enjoyment of the Japanese cartoon style. The club is a social club
not affiliated with any particular college with no other purpose than to
band together and enjoy a different type of entertainment than the normal
fare of American television.

Now to the very crux of the matter, the Schedule:

5:00 . Fansub O. the Week (a different episode form a different series each week)
5:25 . Slayers Next . Episode 1

5:50 . 5 minute break . mingle, sit-in-awe, rant, complain, but be back in a few

5:55 . Patlabor
6:20 . Inu Yasha . Some ungodly season like 4 or 5

6:45 . more mingling, screaming, yelling or general lethargy (whatever suits you)

6:50 . Scrapped Princess . Episode 1
7:15 . RahXephon . Episode 1

7:40 . Dinner Break (30 minutes) . dart out and scrounge up munchies or
stay for the interim entertainment . by-the-by the entertainment, assuming
there is any, is always a mystery.

8:10 . Last Exile . Episode 1
8:35 . Kino.s Journeys (Kino no Tabi) . Episode 1

9:00 . recover from the screaming, mingling and stuff and prepare.

9:05 . Texhnolyze . Rogue (aka Episode) 1: Stranger
9:30 . Banner of the Stars II . Episode 1

9:55 - .and we.re done.  You are now free to carry on your lives as you
best see fit and we hope to see you next week.





Now on to the meat of the weekly newsletter.
I have to admit that I went through a great deal of internal monologues as
to what I would say in the first newsletter.maybe something bitter with
lots of venom and hate.maybe something reassuring about life and Cal Poly
for the new ones...maybe a story either fictional or true.or maybe I would
just let my ego flow and talk about myself.  But no, I have decided to go
for a more simplistic approach this week.an introduction of sorts.  Please
allow me to introduce you to the officers that are attempting to ward off
chaos to make the club what it is.

President . Matt . He will be doing a lot of talking and will be the focal
point of the club and ultimately is the final say on what happens and is
shown.  Essentially, every thing that happens in the club and is shown is
his responsibility.  The perks of being in power. Let.s hope he can live
up to the billing.

Vice-President . Annaliese . Her duties are vague sinTreasurer . Erin .
She will be our money launderer, er, handler.  She gets to buy new anime
titles for the library and deal with all the internal finances of the
club.  You would be surprised to see how much business a club like this
can generate.

Secretary . Me

Librarian . Robert . For all of you who are eager to explore other titles
than the ones presented on the big screen, feel free to bother him.  He is
in charge of our massive . and I do mean massive . VHS and DVD anime
collection.  He can even help you pick out titles you might be interested
in and, in some cases, fill in back story for some shows.  Now how do you
check out shows?  I shall leave that up to him but a precursor question
should be just what shows we have available for your viewing pleasure.or
torture which brings us to our.

Webmaster . Stephen . Our website, http://www.calpoly.edu/~minnclub, comes
with a link that lets you, the member, browse our collection of titles of
anime from the comfort and security of your personal computer.  If you
find broken links or various problems with the site, feel free to let him
know.  Also, if you think that the site would be better served by 
additions or subtra
As for me.at present, I will remain anonymous to the new people.  You may
hear rumors of stories and me but be careful what you hear.  I will let
you all in on a secret.  I will be largely absent from the viewings this
year it appears.  Why?  This week is not the time to worry about it.  Odds
are you will hear more from me from my weekly rant (this section of the
newsletter) than from real life. We.ll see how that works.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the line up and continue to come and please
feel free to invite others that might be interested to come.  After all,
we don.t charge to watch and we have never had a seating problem.
Enjoy the year.

Minna no Manga, 09/30

Hey All! If you didn't see my frantic messages on the Yahoo Group, the
room for MnM has been changed to Building 20, room 140. That's the
Engineering East building. We will be there from 6pm-10pm.

Eh, I've never really done one of these mass e-mails before, but I'll try
to make it mildly interesting. Hopefully. So, allow me to attempt to
entertain you with a "Manga of the week" sort of thing.

Shounen Manga of the Week- Devil Devil(or Devil and Devil)

Devil Devil is a 15-volume series that ran from the late 90's to... not so
long ago. It focuses on a demon, Sword, and his nemesis, the angel Ios.
During their 101st battle, the two are mortally wounded and retreat to
earth, where they possess two humans, Souma and Kanna. Not only is Sword
horrified to be in such a weak body it turns out that Kanna, whom Ios has
possesed is Souma's twin brother! *gasp!* Now they have to deal with the
pain of their new bodies and with each other until they can regain their
true forms.

I found the second volume of this series in French, and I have a thing for
demons, so I quickly became interested in the story. I don't love the art,
but it's pretty dang good. The story goes all over the place, and deals
with Archangels, Satan, and a little bit oflove. I recommend this series
if you have some time. It's definately worth it.

Scanlations are available at Dual
Translations(http://www.dualtranslations.org), and they have scanlated the
entire series.

Shoujo Manga of the Week-Mekakushi no Kuni

Introduction(taken from the first volume):
'When Otsuka Kanade touches someone, it's like a "blindfold" falling, and
she's able to see the person's "future." she tires her best to change her
friend's future, but Arou, the person who sees the "past," doesn't agree
with her. what is Arou thinking---? Tomorrow never knows?'

MnK is a series I found randomly on some IRC channel. It's very cute, and
is stocked with wonderful bishounen. Although the story is a bit fuzzy at
times, it's easy to understand and the author does a good job allowing the
reader to understand how the characters are feeling.

Scanlations are available from  AnimeWaves(http://animewaves.net), and are
on their IRC channel, #animewaves@irc.rizon.net. they have scnalated
Through volume 2, chapter 6.


Hope that wasn't too boring! I hope to see you Thursday @6pm in 20-140!
^_^

~Annaliese

MNA 10/2/04

Hello anime fans,
Welcome to Minna No Anime, Cal Poly.s Japanese animation club.
As for what the club is and does, it is very simple.  You are all invited
to join the officers and everyone else, from Cal Poly and elsewhere, in
their enjoyment of the Japanese cartoon style. The club is a social club
not affiliated with any particular college with no other purpose than to
band together and enjoy a different type of entertainment than the normal
fare of American television.

Now to the very crux of the matter, the Schedule:

5:00 . Fansub O. the Week (a different episode form a different series each week)
5:25 . Slayers Next . Episode 2

5:50 . 5 minute break . Wait for the greatness of Patlabor

5:55 . Patlabor . another fun-filled episode
6:20 . Inu Yasha . Monster of the week anime

6:45 . Marvel at the singing voices of mecha in Rahxephon

6:50 . Scrapped Princess . Episode 2
7:15 . RahXephon . Episode 2

7:40 . Dinner Break (30 minutes) . mmm.time for dinner.if you wee
wondering I was the one that came and wondered around aimlessly during
this time last week and then left when the shows resumed.

8:10 . Last Exile . Episode 2
8:35 . Kino.s Journeys (Kino no Tabi) . Episode 2

9:00 . Wince from the pain of multilation in Texhnolyze and no, it does
not get less graphic.

9:05 . Texhnolyze . Rogue 2: Forfeiture
9:30 . Banner of the Stars II . Episode 2

9:55 - .Whew.  We.re done.  Another weekend spent feeling the agony,
amusement, torture, pity, pleasure and pain that our favorite characters
feel every week.  Thank god none of us live some of these lives but then
we do cosplay as them, don.t we?





What to write this week..always difficult.

I have decided to wait a while longer until I really start in on the hate
mongering.  After all, many of you don.t have a clue who I am or what I
like.  Well, if it is any indication, I saw one show last week.  Any guess
which one it is?  No, it was not Inu Yasha or Scrapped Princess.  It was
Texhnolyze.  After that I left for the evening.  I came from work after
picking up burgers to eat there.  Actually, I timed it so I would miss all
the previous shows and arrive just in time to hit the social period.  I
See, after one episode of Texhnolyze (which I saw during Fansub O.), I was
hooked.  I was not concerned with the ending or anything else.  I simply
had to have the rest of it and such is the case.  As it comes out, I
acquire the newest disk.  Let me tell you that Episode 10 has been the
best, and most surprising, episode for me to date.  I can only imagine how
great it gets later on although I hope that somI feel you.the audience.
should know what we are not showing.  We are not showing Ghost in the
Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Excel Saga, Those Who Hunt Elves and a slew of
others that were in contention until the very end.  As a matter of fact, I
had no idea what was being shown until, I think, Wednesday before club
began.  I gave up on making any decisions and I regret it greatly.  I
guess I should have buste
Did I mention I like to write?  See back in college (I graduated from the
oh-so-well to do Orfalea College of Business way back when the world was
young and idealism was something to be cherished) I had this great idea to
write a book.  Truth is, I am on page 18.  Yes, it has been very slow
going.  Sorry, I had to deal with psycho roommates and mental breakdowns
that rather hampered the long-term creative p
Currently, I sit here typing this trying to keep my comments from being to
hateful or dwelling too deeply on anything.  Oh yeah, I mentioned work
before I came to club last weekend.  I actually have two jobs.
Unfortunately I am not at liberty to discuss my primary job but on the
weekends, and during club, I work at the City of Pismo Beach in their
finance office doing some of the accountant duties.  I used to work there
up until June 18 when I accepted this other job but I returned as a
part-time employeeagain when they needed the help.  I feel this is a much
better use of my time than watching most of the anime that is being
shown.that and wandering the hills of Cal Poly with a friend of mine
looking for whatever catches the eye.  Yep, some officer I am.  I don.t
even show up for the shows but somehow I am an officer.  Isn.t voting
wonderful? Look at what happens when we vote..which reminds me.Being an
offiHmm, I think I.ll hold off on more politics and stuff until later.  I
have written more than enough for this week so I will leave for the week
to ponder my feelings for the club.  And I thought this year would be
great too.

Minna no Manga, 10/07

Hey all you manga fans! It's time for your weekly Minna no Manga reminder!

Minna no Manga is this Thursday in building 20(Engineering East), room
140, from 6:00-10:00. Well, that's what our papers say. There will be a
class in the room until 6:30, but I know I'll be there around 6. Oh come
on, don't everyone get excited at once!

bShounen Manga of the Week- Bleach by Kubo Tite

Plot- Main character Ichigo can see/talk to/ touch ghosts. Enter the
Shinigami Rukia. Ichigo and Rukia bicker. A Hollow, a very evil spirit
attacks Ichigo's family. Stuff happens, and the only way to save his
famliy and Rukia is to stab himself with Rukia's sword and absorb half her
shinigami power. He accidently takes it all and there is great ass-kicking
and rejoicing. Since Rukia's powers have been taken, Ichigo takes over her
job. And then the series gets a +1million awesomeness level-up.

Bleach is definitely one of my favorite series. Kubo Tite's style is
beautiful and the story really keeps you hooked. For girls, it's got
Ichigo and the ultra-bishounen Ishida. For guys(and girls who like it),
it's got big swords, blood, some of the best action I think I've ever seen
in a manga. Kubo Tite is a god, and his manga is something to be
worshipped. He puts the tiniest details that really add a lot to the
series(like foreshadowing character appearances by having them in the
background at random points for several chapters before they are actually
introduced).

Bleach is licensed by VIZ and they have released the first three volumes
and each is extremely worth the $7.95 they charge. Unfortunately, there
are some interesting translations, like 'Soul Reaper' for Shinigami.
Comparing what they did to what they could have done, it's a pretty good
job.

In Japan, Bleach is published weekly in Weekly Shounen Jump and the
graphic novels are published by Jump Comics. They have recently released
the fourteenth graphic novel and in W.S.J. they just released chapter 152.

The Bleach anime premiered in Japan on the 5th. It's worth checking out,
but I think the manga is much better.

Shoujo Manga of the Week- Gravitation by Maki Murakami
Plot- Shuichi wants to be a rock star. One day he runs into this creepy
guy who makes fun of his lyrics. Shuichi tracks this guy down and becomes
obsessed with him. The guy, the famous novelist Yuki Eiri, doesn't like
this much.

... I know what you are thinking... But really, Gravi is great stuff!
Yeah, you got the bedroom scene here and there... and here again, but you
will not be disappointed if you stick with the series. I seriously doubt
I've laughed at a manga so much. And! if you like music, I think you'll
love this series.

Gravitation has been licensed by Tokyopop and they have released through
volume 7(?).

In Japan, the series is published monthly by ... I dunno. The graphic
novels are published by Gentosha comics Inc. I believe they have released
through 12 or 13, and I am unsure if the series is still being released.

The Gravitation anime(available subbed and ear-bleedingly dubbed from
Right Stuf) is ok, but you should really check out the music from the
series. It's excellent.

If you're a Maki Murakami fan, you may want to check out Gamerz Heaven,
her other series. It will be released soon by ADV Manga, and is published
by Blade Comics in Japan. If Gravi is a bit too... eh... for you, check
out Gamerz Heaven. It's about gamers. Obviously.

____________

Er... wow, I can't write. Sorry. I kind of went off on tangents there.
-_-;; Laziness + Braindead= crappy e-mail!

Read Bleach!
Watch Bleach!
Love Bleach!

~Annaliese
-Something Wicked This Was Comes!-

MNA 10/9/04

Hello anime fans,
Welcome to Minna No Anime, Cal Poly.s Japanese animation club.
As for what the club is and does, it is very simple.  You sit around for
most of the night watching Japanese animation occasionally talking and
moving.  Otherwise the officers have your souls as your eyes are
transfixed to the big screen in front of you with its bright and colorful
images.  Isn.t television wonderful?

Now to the good stuff, the Schedule:

5:00 . Fansub O. the Week (a different episode form a different series each week)
5:25 . Slayers Next . Episode 3

5:50 . 5 minute break . I.m so tired this week.

5:55 . Patlabor . More of what we love.mechas
6:20 . Inu Yasha . What will Inu Yasha kill this week?

6:45 . Another wonderful 5 minute break.so, so tired.

6:50 . Scrapped Princess . Episode 3
7:15 . RahXephon . Episode 3

7:40 . Dinner Break (30 minutes) . Did I mention that in addition to being
tired I am also feeling very lazy and I want to go to sleep?

8:10 . Last Exile . Episode 3
8:35 . Kino.s Journeys (Kino no Tabi) . Episode 3

9:00 . Another 5 minute stretch.if you can stand that is.

9:05 . Texhnolyze . Rogue 3: Texhnophile
9:30 . Banner of the Stars II . Episode 3

9:55 - .Time to disperse and go to sleep in your nice, comfy beds or go to
a party, get drunk, and maybe pass out in a gutter.  Whatever floats your
boat.









You know, I realize that the last line there was pretty mean, wasn.t it?
I should warn you now that I have a bad feeling that this whole newsletter
is going to be filled with horrible and mean content.  I felt you should
all know and I am not in a bad mood either.

We don.t do parties, do we?   After all, we are anime people.  That and
some of you may be too young to experience the horrors of alcohol.  Let me
tell you about them and no, this is not a public service announcement.
After all, if any of you kill yourselves drinking or doing other stupid
things then that is one less person I need to worry about taking a job
from me or competing for other precious, precious
I recommend that any of you that consider drinking to reconsider it.  I
see no point in it.  Most of the people I have drank with make lousy
drinking partners and are no fun for the rest of the evening.  It is
expensive if you supply the booze or go to a bar and can land a person in
a load of unnecessary trouble.  Sure, I guess one could always argue that
it makes a person manlier to consume copious amountsnking proves anything.
The only reason I have drunk, and this is a poor reason, is curiosity.  I
wondered what my threshold was and what different beverages tasted like.
Let me tell you that Albertson.s brand charcoal filtered vodka is akin to
acid.  A little bit of it burnt all the way down but boy was mouth,
throat, and stomach sanitized.  Drinking serves no point and I can think
of nothing worthwhile toIn other news, I am going to tell you what I did
last Saturday instead of watching anime with all of you fine people (no,
really.you are probably more of a decent person than I am).  I left my
house around 3pm and headed for the Arroyo Grande movie theatre.  I saw no
movie since everything playing just doesn.t excite me or is utter crap, in
my humble opinion.  No,  I went to wait for a friend to arrive so thol II
(Limited Edition) at Best Buy.  No, I did not buy it.yet.  We then left
SLO and headed back to Arroyo Grande where we got a cup of coffee and
talked for a while.  A quite enjoyable evening actually.  Definitely worth
missing anime club for, I think.

So, I missed another club meeting and I likely will this week to.  It
depends entirely on how long I feel like working alone at Pismo Beach and
if I can find other people to do things with.  The interesting thing is
that I still enjoy anime I just can not stand most of the shows being
showed.  Thus, I just do not bother going.  Anime club has become
something of a last resort on a really slow Saturday night.
Here is some history you might find enjoyable. A number of years ago,
Minna no Anime showed the series Black Heaven.  In retrospect, the show
was mediocre but it had a great opening and some of the songs in it were
excellent.  As a matter of fact, the opening was so great that I
head-banged the opening.  At this time, I had long, straight blond hair
about half way down my back that just added to the whole head banging
experience.  It was a glorious time and on the last episode I stood down
at the front of he stage, faced the audience, pretended I could play the
guitar, and head banged as hard as I could.  I made a fool out of myself
but, god, was it fun and I think the audience enjoyed the spectacle as
well as I enjoyed doing it.  If anything, I hope this goes to show that I
do not hate everything.only about 95% of everything.  Why do I dislike so
much stuff you ask?  For simplicity.s sake, lets just say thatSo that is
all I have to say.  I have work tomorrow and have been sleepy for the last
two hours so I think I will send this to all of you eager anime fans and
get some sleep after watching the Rock .n. Roll Excel Saga episode.  I
like that episode mainly because of the opening part of Key.s song but to
each their own.

Minn no Manga 10/14/04!

Let's All Bake Bread!

Minna no Manga 10/14/04
18:30-22:00, Bldg 20, room 140

Did you know that it is really a nice feeling to fall asleep on a lawn in
some dappled shade while listening to Frou Frou? It is very relaxing(until
you wake up and realize it's nearly class time!).

~Shounen Manga of the Week- Yakitate!! Japan(Freshly Baked!! Japan) by
Takashi Hashiguchi~

Do you like bread? I sure do. This may be because of my extended time
tending to the Great Bread and Donut King, Cubby*, but it cannot change
the fact that most people love bread. Azuma Kazuma(Oh, how I love fun
names) loves bread. He travels from his hometown to Tokyo to compete for a
job at Pantasia's main store. How do they compete? By making bread of
course!

Kazuma's great goal in life is to make JaPan**. France has a bread that
represents their nation, as well as Germany and England(among several
others), but Japan does not. Kazuma's wants to make a bread to represent
Japan.

Yakitate!! Japan is one of those series you start to read because it's
just so out there, you have to see it. When I found out there was a manga
about bread, I just knew I had to read it, and I have not been
disappointed yet. Not only am I constantly amused by the antics of the
main characters, I am always learning new things about bread, and tips and
techniques to help bake better.

This series is also full of fun cameos(one character is dressed as Lum at
one point, Gash of Konjiki no Gash Bell is in a good four pages in one
volume), but it is also full of fun puns. Everybody loves puns.

Yakitate!! Japan runs in Weekly Shounen Sunday and nlated by Aku-Tenshi's
doujin department, Impending Doujinshi. It is a 19 page one-shot. Enjoy!

_________________________

I guess I feel bad. For the few weeks I've written this, I've always had a
shounen series in mind, but I always have to go through my bookshelf or my
scanlations to find a shoujo series. I do really like shoujo stuff, but
I'm just more partial to shounen series. I like watching stuff blow up, I
guess. ^_^

Thank-you for putting up with my poor writing skills for another week!
~Annaliese

If you want me to write about a series(or if you'd like to say something
about a series), e-mail me at dragynstorm@<removed for spam reasons>. Please put
something about Minna no Manga in the title. thanks!

Minna no Manga 10/14 part 2

Wow, somehow my 'Shoujo Manga of the Week' just didn't send. Odd, very
odd. Maybe it's telling me something. ^_^



~Shoujo Manga of the Week- Carnival II, 2002(Harry Potter doujinshi)
produced by Ronru Pearl~

Yeah, so it's a doujin. Big deal. Yeah, it's Harry Potter. Big deal.

Many people know I have very bad luck with doujinshi. I always look at the
covers and are attracted by the pretty artwork, while inside something
dirty and generally wrong awaits me! Noooo! I really lucked out with this
one. While there is a guyxguy pairing, it is clean. Wo-hoo!

Carnival is actually a series of some 15-odd one- or two-page comics about
Ron and Harry(most take place around book 3). While most deal with Ron's
unrequited love for Harry, a pairing I'm not too fond of, I was nearly on
the floor laughing the entire time. The story is funny, the art is pretty,
and you really couldn't ask for something better to lighten your day. Now,
I say this as a big HP fan, so I am biased.

If you want to check out Carnival, it is scanlated by Aku-Tenshi's doujin
department, Impending Doujinshi. It is a 19 page one-shot. Enjoy!


hmmm... this makes me wonder, did the Shoujo Manga of the Week from
previous weeks send?

Sorry about the problem!

~Annaliese

MNA 10/16/04

Hello anime fans,
Welcome to Minna No Anime, Cal Poly's Japanese animation club.
News...and actual content...no hatred from me this week.  I guess the
world is ending.

Current Halloween Schedule:
Silo: Noon to Midnight Anime, anime, anime and an occasional contest (but mainly anime).
Room 1:  Guilty Gear X Fighting Tournament and then free gaming - Beginning
at 2pm and going until your fingers bleed or Cal Poly turns the power off (midnight).
Room 2:  DDR Competition and free dance - Beginning at noon and going until
your legs give out or the room monitors of Cal Poly tell us to pack up and go home (midnight)\par
Room 3: Everyone's favorite game:  The anime trivia contest.  Test your
mental acuity against that of your friend and see who really does know more
anime trivia - yolike that can haunt people...but hey, dress up as you like.  It is bound to
be fun regardless.
Pumpkin Carving: 10:30pm - For those artistic types out there, time to
transform that ugly orange blob of a Jack-O-lantern into a beautiful
portrayal of anime greatness.

Dinner, AMV's, Cosplay, and the pumpkin carving contest will be in the Silo
at the aforementioned times*.
*Times subject to change.

Now to the good stuff, the Schedule:

5:00 - Fansub O' the Week (a different episode from a different series each week)
5:25 - Slayers Next - Episode 4: An Ancient Pledge! He Who Seeks Immortality!

5:50 - 5 minute break - I'm thinking of attending the WHOLE session this week...

5:55 - Patlabor - I hope to have titles for this next week since I don't
what ep we are on.
6:20 - Inu Yasha - Episode 78: Aiming for Sango, Only you

6:45 - Another wonderful 5 minute break...maybe I'll be here at this time...

6:50 - Scrapped Princess - Episode 4: The Concerto of Acquaintance and Parting
7:15 - RahXephon - Episode 4: My Clock-Watch the Year Hand

7:40 - Dinner Break (30 minutes) - I should almost positively be there by
now, shouldn't I?

8:10 - Last Exile - Episode 4: Zugzwang
8:35 - Kino's Journeys - Episode 4: The Land of Adults

9:00 - Another 5 minute stretch...I should still be here assuming I arrived
earlier, that is...

9:05 - Texhnolyze - Rogue 4: Synapse
9:30 - Banner of the Stars II - Episode 4: The Hunters

9:55 - Again, time to depart...or you can stay a little longer and watch,
yes, here it comes...MORE ANIME, Ithink...











CHICKENS!

Did you know that I have chickens where I live?  Yes, I do.  Way too many
for my tastes.  I just don't have enough BBQ sauce for all of them and
killing, cleaning, and gutting them takes so much time and effort.  No,
seriously though, I do have live chickens where I live.  Mind you they are
not mine but my brother's but still, chickens live on the same plot of land
that I live on.  Let me tell you something else.  These chickens smell.
They smell bad in normal weather but they smell truly rank in hot weather or
after a rain.  Now, in the interest of being nice, I will not go into why
they stink so much more horrendously onfrom the fact that they are filthy
animals.

Yep, that is part of the reason why I am so late in writing the newsletter
this week.  I had to put the smelly (did I mention that they are sticky from
time to time as well) creatures away for the night because we have WILD
ANIMALS here as well.  Mountain lions, foxes, turkeys, crows, vultures,
gophers, snakes and a whole plethora of other critters.  Oh. Oh, I forgot.
We also have cute, adorable, sex-craved TENTACLE MONSTERS at my house. Just
kidding.  We have no tentacle monsters or Cthulu-esque type demons either.
We do, however, have a number of RABBIITS with their sharp, pointy teeth.

Yes, I have just randomly capitalized nouns because I felt like it.  No
other reason than that.  Forgot to mention the zombies...I mean killer
tomatoes...er, random assortment of totally harmless, healthy fruits and
vegetables that also grow out here where I live.  A veritable smorgasbord of
salad ingredients just outside my door and what do you think I eat a lot of?
 You guessed it.  Uh oh...capital word coming on...Prepare yourself...
...
.. MEEE----AAAT.  Boy, do I like meat.  Speaking of meat, I think I will
have some jerky right now to help wash down the hamburger I found in the
fridge with my name on it.  I miss my hamburger.  Actually it was a double
cheeseburger made even better with two, count them, TWO, types of cheese on
it.  And now VNV Nation's Dark Angel is playing.  So far it has been a good
dinner and with my parents and brother mysteriously gone (hence the reason
for putting the chickens in their coops), this night is turning out to be
pretty good.

Last night was pretty good as well come to think of it.  After getting home,
I found out that Mr. Cohen was having a get-together and I just could not
say no to that.  True, it was not a raging party but it was subdued and
friendly with good conversation and friends.  I only wish that more of you
had come and thus we could have conversed together and I could have met more
of you.  Fortunately, we had INVADER ZIM on DVD to keep us occupied when
conversation went flat.  I remembered why I liked that show (besides Jhonen
Vasquez's work on the show).  It is insanely over-the-top and disturbing
(re: disgusting) in some parts.  I submit the episode Rise of the Zitboy as
an example of its horrific-ness...and then the giant zit does something
(sorry, but if I said any more it would be a spoiler and that would be mean
of me as well) and the results are disgusting but hilarious as well.  What
entertainment.

Speaking of entertainment, I was planning on writing something with more of
a political bend to it since national elections are almost upon us but I
decided against it since I have been rather harsh the last few weeks. That
and I still have a week or two to write that particular blurb.  I was also
considering writing about my job but I realized how short that might be
since I am not at liberty to talk to you about my work.  Whatever anyone
else may tell you about my employment are all LIES.  They seek to deceive
you and sway you to the dark side of the force...oops, I forgot.  I am the
DARK side.  So evil am I, at least that is what people around me tell me.
It's not like I ever killed anyone or anything.  Sheesh, just because I
graduated in four years as a business major and for my last few quarters
only had classes on Tuesdays and Thursday after noon, this makes me evil.
Oh well...

Do not forget that actual CONTENT exists in this newsletter.  I hope to have
more every week.  This week is info on the MINNA NO ANIME HALLOWEEN
EXTRAVAGANZA OF AMUSING GAMES AND DARK AND CREEPY ANIME.  Too long of a
title but you get the point.  Let's not forget about those of us that have
no shame and partake in the greatest (re: geekiest) of all contests...THE
COSPLAY CONTEST.  I intend to be in costume.  Can you guess who or what I
am?

Anyway, I need to be off to do STUFF.  I'll say something else (maybe
without capitalized words all the time) next week.  Until then, enjoy the
shows and the activities.

MnM 10/21

Florists by day, Assassins by night!

Minna no Manga is this Thursday, 10/21, from 6:30pm-10:00pm in Building
20, Room 140!

To get things started, I'd like to remind everyone that if you'd like to
be in the AMV contest, you have to get your AMV to me BEFORE the Halloween
party. I don't care if you drop it off 3am the morning of, but I need it
before the party. If you have any questions or want to meet me someplace
to give me your AMV next week or something, e-mail me at ensuing@<removed for spam reasons>
or talk to me at Minna no Manga or Minna no Anime.


Shounen Manga of the Week- Bichi by Atsushi Ookubo

Bichi is a poor poor manga that no one knows about. Until now!

I first encountered Bichi when buying some issues of Shounen GanGan last
year(for the sweet sweet Fullmetal Alchemist chapters in them).
Unfortunately, the one issue that contained Bichi had the last chapter of
the series. Oooh Boy. Well, a number of months later, I happened to be in
a lot of emotional pain because of Kinokuniya's lack of FMA to satisfy my
fangirl cravings. But suddenly, as if a manga god had seen my suffering, I
happened to notice the first two volumes of Bichi begging to be bought.
And bought they were.

Shut up, Annaliese, and what the hell is this series about? Bichi is about
a boy, Showtaro, who can gain characteristics of different types of
animals from biting on one of their bones. So, with a bird bone he can
fly, a snake bone his body becomes very flexible, and on and on. From what
I gather, most people are afraid of him and others with odd powers(think
the mutants and humans from X-Men). But, he meets a girl(Mana) and for
some reason or another they start traveling together, and run into all
sorts of trouble. Meanwhile, Showtaro's childhood friend, Enime, has
become an extremely powerful individual working for the bad guys. Dun dun
dun!!

Now, there is most likely more to this story, but this is all I can tell
you from my own pathetic attempts at translating it. You don't have to
fully understand the story to love the series. The art is playful yet
awkward, and sometimes even creepy. The characters are very fun and
enjoyable to watch as they go on their misadventures. The mangaka really
makes Bichi a complete story with the detail of the characters, vehicles,
accessories, and cities(my favorite being Toykyo). If you like the style
of King of Bandits Jing, I think you'll like Bichi.

Ooh, ooh.... This took me six months to figure out. The title is B(as in
the letter) Ichi(kanji). B-ichi. Ichi can mean one. B-One. Take out the
hyphen and it becomes Bone. Showtaro uses... bones! Hey, I thought it was
cool.

Bichi is not availably in english yet, but Manga-Rain plans on starting it
soon. You can get it at Kinokuniya in it's lovely Japanese format. All
four volumes have been released. If you are interested, Manga-Rain is
scanlating  Soul Eater, Atsushi Ookubo's new series, which is awesome.


Shoujo Manga of the Week-Weiss Kruez

Four young men are florists during the day and assassins at night! These
are the tales of their missions!

Okay, so you got four pretty boys- Aya; the quiet mean one, Ken; the cool
older-brother type, Youji; the playa, and Omi; the young and insecure one.
They kill people. But they are also florists. And maaaannnn... the yaoi
fan fiction for this series is through the ro-... mmm... nevermind...

Sorry. Truthfully, I can't say much about this series, because I haven't
really read much. I just love the fact that they are assassins AND
florists. It cracks me up. I will say the art is beautiful, the boys are
pretty, and from the little bit that I have read, it is really good.

I really don't know how many volumes or side stories there are of this
series, but the entire anime series is out(warning-it's really
depressing), and the sequel, Weiss  Kruez Gluhen(aka Let's Masacre
Character Designs!) is being released now. The english title for both is
Knight Hunters... which is lame.

Enter Rant

I really think these things just go downhill every week. Sorry. I don't
think it's good to write this at very odd hours of the day. But, I keep
ending up doing it, so meh.

As October slowly turns into November, I am reminded that Fullmetal
Alchemist will be starting on Adult Swim shortly(the count down clock on
FUNimation's site says about 16 days now). Now, if it hasn't been
blatantly obvious, I am a FMA fangirl. Fullmetal Alchemist is the best
series. Ever. Of course, this is all just my opinion, but I have met few
people who can say they dislike it. With the dub being broadcasted to the
masses, I am afraid of a DBZ-ish fandom taking over. I am also worried
about some poorly done job, where Ed is somehow made Anthony, and he
actually is the younger brother. These things can keep a fangirl up at
night, sadly enough.

FUNimation, the license holder, has done some real crap. But they also did
Fruits Basket, which I thought was done wonderfully. So, we have two
possibilities. It's a coin toss. Lucky for us fans, the company seems to
love the series as much as we do, and generally seem to want to do a good
job on it. The cast list has been announced, and things looks a-okay.

For the voice of Ed you have Vic Mignogna. You may remember him as Kurz
Weber from Full Metal Panic or Gawl from Generator Gawl. Though I have not
seen FMP dubbed, Vic did a great job as Gawl, and from clips I've seen,
he's going to try to put the same energy into Ed. Now no one can surpass
Paku Romi-sama's voice for Ed, but Vic may be the closest you can come. I
give him two thumbs up!

Al doesn't sound cute enough. I don't know what his VA is thinking.

Roy is voiced by Travis Willingham, a guy that is so bishie himself, some
Roy Fangirls are becoming Travis Fangirls.

Hughes has Krillin(DBZ-BLEH)'s voice. Oooh, I get shudders thinking about
it.

Hawkeye's VA's voice has the last name Clinkenbeard. tee-hee. She's also
the co-director.

Last but not least(no way I'm going through the entire cast list)-Let's
talk about ailey. Who else did Laura Bailey do? The first thing that comes
to mind is... TOHRU FROM FRUITS BASKET. I hope you can see where I'm going
here. Tohru is sweet and innocent, while Lust is well... she's evil! She's
a sin! She's Lusty! Nevertheless, I can't wait to hear her.

So, the cast doesn't look too bad. Now what I'm really worried about are
the directors... This is on an interview I have seen:

What is Fullmetal Alchemist?
"A super awesome action adventure show" <- Alright... That's kind of a
retarded way of saying it.

What makes Fullmetal Alchemist so cool?
"Well, they're Alchemists!" <-Oh wow! really? I thought they were
economists!

Did you actually read that entire thing? If so, wow, thanks, I feel
honored. If not, well, I don't really blame you. I now leave this ranting
e-mail for the moment. You'll probably hear more about FMA later. MMMM
Boy.

~Annaliese

Did I mention Vic is a total fanboy? Sweeeet.

MNA 10/23/04

Hello anime fans,
Welcome to Minna No Anime, Cal Poly's Japanese animation club.
News...and actual content...part II.  I noticed some parts were missing from
last weeks newsletter.

Current Halloween Schedule:
Silo: Noon to Midnight - Anime, anime, anime and an occasional contest (but
mainly anime).
Room 1: Guilty Gear X Fighting Tournament and then free gaming - Beginning
at 2pm and going until your fingers bleed or Cal Poly turns the power off
(midnight).
Room 2: DDR Competition and free dance - Beginning at noon and going until
your legs give out or the room monitors of Cal Poly tell us to pack up and
go home (midnight).
Room 3: Everyone's favorite game: The anime trivia contest.  Test your
mental acuity against that of your friend and see who really does know more
anime trivia - you...or the other guy sitting on your other side! Beginning
at 4pm and going until 8pm roughly (includes the Finals).

Other events of great popularity:
Dinner: 6 pm - Pizza (need I say more?).
AMV's: 9pm - Our first AMV contest.
COSPLAY: 10pm - And guys, a word to the wise...unless you want to go down in
infamy, DO NOT dress up like a girl.  Cameras will be present and photos
like that can haunt people...but hey, dress up as you like.  It is bound to
be fun regardless.
Pumpkin Carving: 10:30pm - For those artistic types out there, time to
transform that ugly orange blob of a Jack-O-lantern into a beautiful
portrayal of anime greatness.

Dinner, AMV's, Cosplay, and the pumpkin carving contest will be in tweek, I hope)
5:25 - Slayers Next - Episode 33: Follow! The Phantom Dragon

5:50 - 5 minute break - Give your eyes a chance to blink...

5:55 - Patlabor - Episode 23: Kanuka's Report
6:20 - Inu Yasha - Episode 79: Jaken's Tetsusaiga ,snatching Operation

6:45 - Another 5 minute break...It sure is bright all of a sudden...

6:50 - Scrapped Princess - Episode 5: Lullaby of the Minstrel
7:15 - RahXephon - Episode 5: Nirai Kanai-On Earth as it is in Heaven

7:40 - Dinner Break (30 minutes) - So much light and more stuff to
watch...with light too...

8:10 - Last Exile - Episode 5: Positional Play
8:35 - Kino's Journeys - Episode 5: Three Men Along the Rails

9:00 - The last 5 minute break...The light - It burns my eyes, it does...

9:05 - Texhnolyze - Rogue 5: Loiter
9:30 - Banner of the Stars II - Episode 5: Rebellion

9:55 - Ah...another night, and more wonderfully inexpensive entertainment.











Politics...ah, how I enjoy ploitics..the biggest joke on the planet.

See, I am an apathetic voter and an anarchist to boot.  I do not believe an
all-powerful, encompassing government is the solution to society's woes. I
am also not naive enough to believe that true anarchy will ever flourish in
America in my life.  See, in order for my vision of anarchy to exist,
humanity has to become better than they are and have to be willing to accept
that they can not have everything and that they do not even need most
things.  If anarchy were to happen today, it would result in sheer chaos and
I can not support that.  After all, I am also relatively non-violent
person--just do not push me too hard.  The closest I can get to controlled
anarchy is libertarianism so instead of the normal choices for president I
will throw my vote away, according to everyone else, and vote libertarian.
The sad thing is that, at heart, I am a republican but Bush has steadily
been pissing me off and Kerry is no better.

On to the local issues...
Damn we have a lot of propositions to vote on this year in California. Let
me tell you some more personal history...
I voted for the recall but against Schwarzenegger.  I voted for the schmuck
that wanted to bring about armageddon.  A perfectly adequate platform for
such a ridiculous election as that was.  After all, I was only interested in
voting Davis out.  I also voted for the $15 billion bond refinancing since
the state did need it but I also said I would vote against all other bond
measures for the next handful or so of years.  I do not like the concept of
debt financing for eternity.  It has to fail eventually.  The bonds have to
be paid off eventually and the bond holders will want payment eventually.
Thus, this election my motto is: "If the Proposition asks for money, vote
no.  If it doesn't, something is likely wrong, vote no."  And yes, I have
read the Propositions and know that I should not base my vote on if they
don't ask for money.  IF they do, I will vote no.  NO NEW DEBT!! Unlike the
federal government, CA is not authorized to print its own currency unless it
succeeded from the country and went its own way...

So, you are wondering, how am I going to vote?  Well, let's see...I'll only
do a few...
Prop 59: Yes - Reason...I used to work for a government, still do as a
matter of fact, and thus if any member of that government is stupid enough
to write or say something in general assembly that they do not want any one
outside to see, we should know and let them know what we think.

Prop 61, 63, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72:  All of these are likely t obe a no
vote.  First of all they want money or rasie taxes and I do not like that
idea.  If the state ever wants to cut the budget and actually bring spending
under control, we, the populace, need to hold them in check.  Do not let
them take more money or borrow more with no increased revenue streams.
Also, the Indians (Native Americans) are not normal citizens like some of us
so why are we forcing them to pay the same as us?  Lucky  them that they
were forced out of their original land (much like California's treatment of
the Japanese as they were interned during World War II).  California is
steamrolling some of these measures down people's throats.  To tell you the
all the truth, Grover Beach has a casino.  Hell, gambling outside of
reservations is nothing new.  These are established businesses...just not as
big and gawdy as the Indian casinos.  Some of these propositions pose
unfortunate problems for me.  I am not against human cloning or stem cell
research but I am against government paying for the research.  I am also
opposed to having my DNA on record (if I cais on record.  This reminds me
of Gattaca only without the spaceships and
genetically-engineered upper class.  What is Gattaca you ask?  It's a movie
from about 1997, I think.  I liked it anyway.

Honestly, if I had more faith in government (some of my distrust comes from
dealing directly with governments), I would likely allow them more leniency.
 Unfortunately, bureaucracy needs funding and we need to stop giving it to
them.  They can only expand as far as we wish them to.  True, some services
do get cut back.  My response is why do you think fire, parks, police and
the like are the ones that suffer first?  They tend to expand faster than
other services but they are also necessary.  Also, cuts in these areas are
always made out to be unfortunate and political.  The real reason is that
these services are not special interest groups and they are union
controlled.  Yes, I have a problem with unions as well.  They have outlived
most of their usefulness and, in many cases I would like to say, are a
hindrance.  This, however, is a rant best left for another time.

I encourage all of you who are going to vote, to vote for the candidate who
will do the most good for the country.  May the best ideal win.

Minna no Manga 10/28!

Something wicked this way comes...

Minna no Manga is this Thursday, 10/28, from 6:30pm-10:00pm in Building
20, Room 140!

Once Again, because I mean it:
To get things started, I'd like to remind everyone that if you'd like to
be in the AMV contest, you have to get your AMV to me BEFORE the Halloween
party. I don't care if you drop it off 3am the morning of, but I need it
before the party. If you have any questions or want to meet me someplace
to give me your AMV next week or something, e-mail me at ensuing@<removed for spam reasons>
or talk to me at Minna no Manga or Minna no Anime.

Shoujo Manga of the Week- Harlem Beat wa Yoake Made by Kazusa Takashima

" Prince Kaito of the Kingdom of Hell has leaped the Gate to

  the Human World in order to escape the burdens of royalty.

  Three minions, a clueless zombie, a skirt-chasing vampire,

  and a harrassed werewolf, are sent to give chase and bring

  the Prince back to his domain.  Meanwhile, Kaito and the

  cat Levun find themselves newly incarnated into new and

  strange bodies; Kaito pursues a new life as a high schooler

  while Levun watches over him as the new school doctor.

  Wacky hijinks as the supernatural meets the trials and

  tribulations of high school life.

                                                    -cibo(of Shi-Ran)"

What can I say about HBwYM... This series is probably my favorite Shoujo
series. I like demons and the such, so this is right up my alley, the art
is breathtaking, so score another point for the series, and the story is
fun, so why not check it out!

The main character is really cute. Not exactly your usual bishounen, more
like... a puppy. Seriously. He's a puppy. It's cavity- educingly cute.

My only problem with the series is the lack of it. It rarely comes out, so
you have to wait months for the next installment. And! When you want to
see some of the mangaka's work, you find that the only scanlated things
she has done is yaoi. Not exactly what I want hanging around on the family
computer in the middle of the summer. Oh no.

All in all, this series is awesome. Please check it out. The first three
chapters are available from Shi-Ran, and the fourth is available from
Sweet-Lunacy.

Shounen Manga of the Week- Death Note-story by Tsugumi Ohba, art by
Takeshi Obata

As I attempt to keep with a Halloween-ish theme(betcha couldn't tell!
^_^), the first good Halloween-ish Shounen manga that comes to mind is
Death Note.

Death Note is the story of a shinigami who drops his Death Note(a notebook
where you write the names of people. And they die.) in the human world for
fun. After a short while, he goes to the person who has found it. Raito,
the new owner of this Death Note has taken it upon himself to exterminate
the criminals of the world. The story quickly evolves into an in-depth cat
and mouse game between the investigator "L" and "Kira," Raito's killing
name.

Never have I read such an incredibly advanced manga. The story is so
involved, you can never tell what will happen next. If the story isn't
enough, the artwork is incredible. It has gone past the point of 'manga
art' and has entered into the realm of something new. It is more realistic
than usually seen, but still retains some of the manga feel.

The first 40 chapters are available from Orange Tangerine, and the first 4
chapters(plus a very interesting one-shot) are available from Toriyama
World.  If the art looks a little familiar, it may be because the artist
also did the art for Ayatsuri Sakon and Hikaru no Go.


Enter Rant

Man, midterms really drain you. And if midterms were not enough, a few
professors decided to also assign huge projects and presentations. *joy*
Thank goodness Halloween is knocking at our door!

My beloved computer, MackeyII(named after my bonsai who I nearly killed
who was named after Mackey from Bubblegum Crisis 2040), has gotten a few
upgrades recently that make me a happy camper. My brother gave me his old
DVD drive and his old sound system. I haven't hooked up the drive yet, but
the sound system makes me a happy happy music lover. The subwoofer makes
my desk vibrate and acts like a good massage-thing for my feet. And the
sound!  The sound! I can hear things clearly now! My music is no longer
pretty sounds but actual music! I am a very happy camper.

~Annaliese
Off to go blast Shining Collection on these...

MNA Halloween 10/30/04

Hello anime fans,
Welcome to Minna No Anime, Cal Poly's Japanese animation club.
News and only content but a lot of repetition.

Current Halloween Schedule:
Silo: Noon to Midnight - Anime, anime, anime and an occasional contest (but
mainly anime).
Room 1: Guilty Gear X Fighting Tournament and then free gaming - Beginning
at 2pm and going until your fingers bleed or Cal Poly turns the power off (midnight).
Room 2: DDR Competition and free dance - Beginning at noon and going until
your legs give out or the room monitors of Cal Poly tell us to pack up and
go home (midnight).
Room 3: Everyone's favorite game: The anime trivia contest.  Test your
mental acuity against that of your friend and see who really does know more
anime trivia - you...or the other guy sitting on your other side! Beginning
at 4pm and going until 8pm roughly (includes the Finals).

Other events of great popularity:
Dinner: 6 pm - Pizza (need I say more?).
AMV's: 9pm - Our first AMV contest.  I thought of a great AMV idea but I
don't have the time, ources, or equipment to do it.  So sad.
COSPLAY: 10pm - And guys, a word to the wise...unless you want to go down in
infamy, DO NOT dress up like a girl.  Cameras will be present and photos
like that can haunt people...but hey, dress up as you like.  It is bound to
be fun regardless.
Pumpkin Carving: 10:30pm - For those artistic types out there, time to
transform that ugly orange blob of a Jack-O-lantern into a beautiful
portrayal of anime greatness.

Dinner, AMV's, Cosplay, and the pumpkin carving contest will be in the Silo
at the aforementioned times*.

*Times subject to change.

One other note - In order to win prizes, you MUST be a Minna No Anime
member.  You are more than welcome to compete in any of the contests
otherwise but in order to win, you must be a member.  Membership is only $5
for the whole year.
One other important note - In order to win the Anime Expo tickets, you must
at least participate in the COSPLAY contest.  Winning it helps ut is not
absolutely necessary in order to win the tickets.

Now to the good stuff, the Schedule:

Oh no..where's the schedule!?  There is no schedule.  This is what we like
to call free viewing.  We watch what people bring and thus what you want to
watch.  Be reasonable people.  I know all of your stuff is great but others
would like a chance to watch their great stuff as well.
Anyway, you are more than welcome to bring shows in that are Halloween
related and see if any one else wants to watch it as well so sit back and
enjoy the show(s) or be one of the shows.









You know, the biggest problem about doing this newsletter in Notepad
(technical reasons relating to posting the newsletter in Cal Poly's email
system) is that I have no spell checker.  Now I try to not to make mistakes
but I have a tendency to think three sentences ahead of where I am and my
typing does not keep up so I misspell a word or two.

Otherwise, I have a massive headache right now.  See, at my job...yes, I
have an 8-5 job and then a second part-time job on the weekends when I am
not communing with you wonder folks (no, really) or galavanting around with
other people I know... has become very interesting in the last month.

My project lead has been hospitalized after having an anuerism and a few
other complications.  She is recovering nicely though as we speak.  When
this happened I was thrust into a role I wanted - a project lead.  I get to
make decisions all day and report to all the people in charge and answer the
questions they have.  I then get to make decisions that afffect the smooth
operation of the organization without trying to make too many people
irritated.  Trust me when I say that the last part is no easy task for me.
I have to keep quiet about a lot of things I may not particularly agree
with.  So, recently all of this jobs stress, existing problems, and new ones
are mine to deal with and so far I think I have managed well.  The thing is
that I have heard rumors that I am going to be getting some temporary help.
If they are placed above me, I will be greatly dismayed since I like making
decisions, especially after being on the job for approximately four months.
If someone comes in beneath me, I will not know what to do with them. Since
I was always the fallback person when people higher up screwed up, I got
used to cleaning up messes and never turning an assignment down. Delegation
is entirely foreign to me and I would not know what to give them to do that
I think I could do just as easily.

Another thing is that I might leave this job for greener pastures closer to
home in Arroyo Grande and a higher paying job with more security and
management responsibilities.  The only problem with this is that I am not
gauranteed this job although I am the front runner at this point.
Essentially they want me and I feel I want to go back but they need to go
through a formal application process and that introduces the chance that I
will not get the job again.

Coupled with this is the idea (and that is all it is at this point) that I
might try to move out of this house soon.  By soon I mean around the end of
February I might actually considering getting a condo in Santa Maria.  The
thought of me living on my own in all respects sends shivers down my spine
like never before.  The prospect actually scares me.

All these factors, and me not eating consistently, are giving me a monster
headache.  One I have had from time to time for the last week.  So much
authority, so many decisions, so little experience...I hope I don't get
someone in trouble or miss a really important deadline.  Oh well, I am off
to sleep and watch Disk two of my brothers Platinum Evangelion collection.

Nighty-nite...

Minna no Manga, 11/04

Minna no Manga is in Bldg 20, room 140, thursdays, 6:30-10:00


Ahh, after a good run of rolling in Katamari Damacy, I drifted off to
sleep with thoughts of,  "GAH! MnM e-mail!" So, sorry for the late e-mail.

Shounen Manga o' the week: Black Cat by Yabuki Kentaro

Train and his partner Sven are cleaners, a type of bounty hunter. They are
doing their usual work when they get a job offer from a thief to capture a
mafia-type leader. They accept, and the whole story is thrown into action.
The tale jumps from their personal work to the fate of the world, blah,
blah, blah. So how do two guys, a thief, and a little girl(who enters
shortly into the series) save the world? Let's just say that it is a good
thing Sven has an 'eye of premonition'(please pardon my bad translation),
Eve(the little girl) was built with nano technology, and Train is actually
the legendary sweeper, the Black Cat.

What is so good about the thief? Nothing much. She gets them good info,
but she's pretty worthless. ^_^

I am a huge cat lover, so it was very hard to pass on a series titled
Black Cat. The story is a little odd, and I am not a fan of the artist's
coloring style, but the art is good, the characters are charming, and it
is a fun read.

You can get the series pretty easily from Chronos Time Guardians,
Akatsuki-Manga, and Toriyama World. The furthest group has released up
through chapter 130ish. In Japan, the series runs in Weekly Shounen Jump.

Shoujo Manga o' the week: Vampire Vampire by Yukako Iisaka

Vampire Vampire is a short(3 chapter) series. It focuses on a shy girl and
the boy she likes, who becomes possessed by a kind vampire. Her mission is
clear! She must separate the two! But wait, now a vampire hunter comes
into the picture? What is this madness?

VV was just something I happened to see online and decided to check out.
It's a good thing that I did, because instead of the horror story I
thought it's be, it's a cute feel-good story. The art style seems a little
old, but there is nothing wrong with that. As the whole story(at least to
my knowledge) is three chapters long, it will not hurt to take half an
hour out of your day to check it out.

All three chapters of Vampire Vampire are available from ShoujoMagic

Enter Rant

On rainy days such as this, I like nothing better than being nice and warm
inside. It feels very nice to be able to relax and watch as the world is
purified in in the cold rain. Of course, it sucks when you are out there,
getting drenched.

Katamari Damacy is an excellent game. I can roll up people now. >=D

~Annaliese

MNA 11/06/04

Hello anime fans,
Welcome to Minna No Anime, Cal Poly's Japanese animation club.
NEWS FLASH!!! Mark your Calendars.

December 5, 2004 at 7pm - Fall Quarter Tsurugi's Restaurant outing.
Thereservations have been made for the tatami room at Tsurugi's.  The tatami
room can technically only fit 16 people but we have fudged that number
before although I would guess Tsurugi's personnel would rather we not cram
too many people in it so I advise all interested to sign up as soon as the
sign up sheet is available.  Trust me, craziness is likely to ensue.


Now to the good stuff, the Schedule:

5:00 - Fansub O' the Week (a different episode from a different series each
week, I hope)
5:25 - Slayers Next - Episode 34: Be Eternal!  The Day Prince Phil Died

5:50 - 5 minute break - Give your eyes a chance to blink...

5:55 - Patlabor - Episode 24: Farewell Kanuka
6:20 - Inu Yasha - Episode 80: Sesshomaru and the abducted Rin

6:45 - Another 5 minute break...It sure is bright all of a sudden...

6:50 - Scrapped Princess - Episode 6: Perplexed Song of the Knights
7:15 - RahXephon - Episode 6: Obliterated Cities-Lost Songs Forgotten Memories

7:40 - Dinner Break (30 minutes) - So much luminescence and more stuff to
watch...with the lights on too...

8:10 - Last Exile - Episode 6: Arbiter Attack
8:35 - Kino's Journeys - Episode 6: Coliseum Part 1

9:00 - The last 5 minute break...The light - It burns my eyes, it does...

9:05 - Texhnolyze - Rogue 6: Repetition
9:30 - Banner of the Stars II - Episode 6: Abh Hell

9:55 - Ah...another night, and more wonderfully inexpensive entertainment.










Fate...  many of the shows we view have ties to this concept but it is all a
matter of perception.  As such free will and fate/destiny/predetermination
(whatever you call it) are rather meaningless concepts since, we, as mere
humans, cannot see beyond the veil of the present...at least not that I know
of.  We can not know if our actions are governed by our own will and we do
what we do unto each other out of some sense of conviction or if what
happens is just supposed to happen.  Is right and wrong really a concept if
fate exists?  The actions that these people did were supposed to happen then
and, devoid of human sentimentality and rationalizations, therefore the
actions can not be moral or amoral.

See, this brings me to a problem that has been bothering me for a very long
time...roughly four years now (since I was in Cal Poly).  Ethics.  How do we
define what is right and wrong?  If we shoot a person on the street for
money to survive and they should die from blood loss (they were shot in the
leg but were a hemophiliac and thus bled to death), the shooter, assuming
they are caught will likely go to jail for murder and other crimes.  Now, if
a person is shot in the street in the middle of a war zone (be they enemy
soldier or civilian), why is the shooter not tried for murder?  Another
problem is that the shooter (let's assume a soldier did the shooting) is not
entirely allowed to determine who they shoot at.  Generally, someone else
gives them a target and the soldier then pulls the trigger.  So why are both
parties (the soldier and the person telling the soldier what to do) not held
accountable?

When people go about slaughtering each other, how can one mandate that
certain rules are followed?  I find "Rules of Engagement" and "Rules of War"
to be flawed.  Both sides are out to protect something equally precious in
their minds as well as their own lives (suicide bombers being an exception
to the last part sincethe theory is that something more precious in value is
placed over theri own life).  If you were on the losing end of a dispute,
would it not be conceivable that you might consider fighting dirty?
Sabotage? Snipering? Terror?  Any means necessary to fight back and win or
return things to the way they were before?  How can a war truly be fought if
both sides refuse to fight 'fairly'?  How heinous is any act committed in a
war when someone's lives are on the line?  This does not include the
opportunist (a different entity in a Machiavellian world) that takes
advantage of a situation merely to exploit it to their own ends.  A lot of
the problems in execution (not reasons behind the dispute) arise from one
sides leaders not being able to stoop as low as someone else.  There is some
truth in the saying that "desperate times call for desperate measures." And
why not? Odds are you have nothing more to lose than your life.

Let's bring this back to fate and free will.  If we have the conscience
ability to decide every action (except for autonomous actions like breathing
unless in the process of committing suicide where one tries to stop one's
own autonomous functions in some way aka death), then how can we not find
soldiers as deplorable as the random mugger/killer?  On a side note, I feel
that self-preservation trumps someone else's right to life.  If a life is
being threatened, I feel one can take steps to end the threat even if those
steps end another life.  Such a situation should not have arisen in the
first place.  In short, when shot at, shoot back.  These people (unless they
themselves, through no fault of their own, are in the wrong place at the
wrong time) should be held accountable for what they do.  Another question
is just how responsible is the person that might be responsible for sending
them into such a situation where they have to defend themselves?  Not at
all...some...as much...more?  I don't know but some responsibility should
rest with them.

On the other hand assuming our actions are destined to lead to some point,
then murder, violence, the horrible things we have laws against to
supposedly protect us from everything, are irrelevent.  The killers are
suposed to kill and the victims are supposed to be victimized.  That would
be the order of the universe.  My problem is that I can not bring myself to
accept either possibility or neither or hold both together in the same
thought as both being simultaneously possible.  Now why do I dwelof all
things?  That is hard to answer.  At times I get this feeling that I
am almost, if you will, destined for great yet horrible things.  They are
only horrible in that society views them as such but maybe they are
necessary at the time.  Again, what the feeling pertains to I do not know
nor do I have any idea what might happen.  All I know is that I seem to be
drawn to problems and they keep getting larger it seems.  Going into them
would take a long time to explain and I have rambled enough as it is.  So I
leave with wondering if we are random instants within time or are we here to
end up at some point regardless of our actions.  I sort of wish I could get
a convincing answer to this and then again, what would I think about in the
dark and cold and lonely expanses of night?

If any one was wondering, I am not so much as opposed to war as I am to
violence in general, possibly.  If violence is a conscious decision (one
might argue insanity and the lack of discernment to know right from wrong
but then if one were to argue fate controlled actions, the insanity argument
is also irrelevent), then that in itself (unless defending oneself from
violence) is deplorable and I am against that.  Violence should not have to
be a resort.  Yes, it is an ideal.  Yes, it is wholly unrealistic for the
world to get along.  Still, the question remains, is right right and wrong
wrong or is it a matter of opinion and perception?  If everything is
destined to culminate at some point, then I can not be against violence in
any form because it the order of things.  I personally don't like that
philosophy because it is very fatalistic.  On the other hand, free will
should encompass the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do
unto you.  So if you cut someone off, you should expect that theyreturn and
do the same.  What makes a person so superior to others that it gives them
the right to treat someone rudely and then not expect reciprocation?
Unfortunately, I am not yet able to even come up with a satisfactory
rationalization for myself, let alone any of you.

No Minna no Manga 11/11

Unfortunately for the club but fortunately for our weary minds, there will
be no Minna no Manga this week. ASI will not allow us to have a meeting on
a national holiday. Meh to them.

Manga o' the week: Imouto wa Shinshunki by Ujiie Tozen

This is a series 4-panel comics. Think Azumanga Daioh on more crack than
usual blended with hentai thoughts. Yeah, it's a messed up series. Imouto
wa Shinshunki is a tale about Shinji, your average high school guy, and
his  odd sister, Kanami. Kanami enjoys... making moves... on her older
brother, watching hentai with him, and generally doing dirty things.

I told you, it's messed up. ...but it is really funny. I must have broken
a rib or two reading it this summer. And of course, being nearly stranded
in a house full of people who could care less about manga or anime, there
was no one to share my glee with. So now you all suffer.

Furinkazan is working on this project, and as far as I know, they have
released the first 19 chapters. Unfortunately, these chapters are
extremely short, I think the longest is 8 pages(so, 16 comics).

Enter Rant

Eh, because I'm a generally lazy person, and there really isn't any
meeting this Thursday, I only did one manga series this week. I really
don't know if anyone reads it, and my writing is so bad, I don't blame
those who do not.

I beat Katamari Damacy Sunday with a 767m Katamari. I don;t know if there
is anything more satisfying than rolling up thunder gods and islands....

~Annaliese

MNA 11/13/04

e to Minna No Anime, Cal Poly's Japanese animation club.
NEWS FLASH!!! Mark your Calendars.

December 5, 2004 at 7pm - Fall Quarter Tsurugi's Restaurant outing.
The reservations have been made for the tatami room at Tsurugi's.  The
only way to witness the Wasabi Challenge, be it as a bystander or
participant, is to attend.  Remember seating is technically limited.
Limited to 16...


Now to the good stuff, the Schedule:

5:00 - Fansub O' the Week (a different episode from a different series each week)
5:25 - Slayers Next - Episode 35: Hidden Ambitions! The Shocking
Confession?

5:50 - 5 minute break. Grab yourself a drink.

5:55 - Patlabor - Episode 25: Storm of Spring
6:20 - Inu Yasha - Episode 81: Finally Broken Naraku's Mystery

6:45 - Another 5 minute break. Get up and stretch.

6:50 - Scrapped Princess - Episode 7: The Waltz of the Cast Away Dog Girl
7:15 - RahXephon - Episode 7: Day of Assembly-Phantom in the Clouds

7:40 - Dinner Break (30 minutes) Get some dinner. Replenish your fuel reserves.

8:10 - Last Exile - Episode 7: Interesting Claus
8:35 - Kino's Journeys - Episode 7:










Work.
I work for many hours during the week.
I am virtual zombie.
I get money to go without sleep.
I get money to deal with other people's incompetence.
I have more work to do because people are incompetent.
I have better things to do at work.
I no longer have a task lead at my full-time job.
They had an anuerism.
They had a stroke during the anuerism surgery.
They caught pneumonia after the surgeries.
They got better.
They are in physical rehabilitation now.
My supervisor is in Colorado.
I work in an office all alone.
I am a solitary person.
I work alone on the weekends, normally.
I have two jobs.
I work for two government entities.
I have health coverage and two retirement plans - Don't ask.
I have literally been working seven days a week.
I am thinking of leaving my current job.
I am trying to get a higher paying job with health coverage.
I am a workaholic.
I tend to avoid the world.
I have little interaction with people outside of work.
I am isolated.
I like isolation.
I am able to work in peace on problems others have created.
I am supposed to create peace for those I work with by fixing problems.
I am not at peace.
I am not eating properly.
I go a day or so without food occasionally.
I sleep irregularly.
I am unused to natural light.
I seldom see the daylight except through my front windshield.
I am a corporate slave, a vampire.
Nice to meet you and thank you for your soul.
Welcome to the real world.

MnM 11/18

Minna no Manga 11/18, 6:30pm-10pm, bldg 20, rm140

There will be no meeting next week. Then again, I really hope you didn't
think there would be one, it being Thanksgiving and all.

->Manga o' the Week: Psychometer Eiji written by Yuma Ando and drawn by
Masashi Asaki

Psychometry is the ability to divine information about people or events
from an associated object/person by merely touching it/them.

Psychometer Eiji is about a young rebel who is a psychometer(and is named
Eiji, if you are too dense to figure it out). He teams up with a detective
and together they solve gripping mysteries.

I downloaded this on a whim, and I was generally pleased with what I have
read. If you don't like detective stories, chances are, you won't be
changing your mind just because of this series. But, for the detective
fan, this will be quite enjoyable. The art took me a little while to get
used to, but the quality improves as the series progresses, as would be
assumed. The writing is really what draws me to this series. It has the
ability to grasp you and hold you for insane amounts of time, like any
good novel. The story will change from silly to scary... one case had me
checking my window  several times a day, just in case someone was hiding
there.

My one complaint is the number of similar characters. There are a few
sub-characters that look too much alike for me to tell apart easily. In
fact, when I bought volume 25(yes, the one volume I own... I didn't know
it was the last volume... >_<) , the art had changed a bit, and I could
not tell Eiji's sister from Shima, the detective. @_@

Psychometer Eiji was released by Shounen Comics and ran for twenty-five
volumes. It is being scanlated by Omanga and every chapter through volume
11 chapter 8 has been released.

->Enter Rant

Man, it has just been one of those weeks... two projects, two
presentations, a midterm, a quiz, homework, Ensuing, stress, stress,
stress... Bleh.  Just four more days of class and then a break!

I splurged and bought Tactics volume 1 last Sunday. Oh... it is very, very
good. Tengu + Rice Bowl + Lots of Sake= Amusement

~Annaliese
... my flintstones vitamins have a warning label on them. this disturbs
me.

MnM 12/02

Minna no Manga is 6:30-10:00pm in bldg20, room 140 nearly every Thursday!

There will be not meeting during finals week. If you are really desperate
for a meeting, you can come chill with me in my dorm room in Cerro Vista.
It'll be a rockin' party.

Just a side note... we were lucky enough to get the same room for next
quarter. yay to that! Also, Sorezore no Hisou from Peacemaker Kurogane
sounds like it was ripped straight off of ER.

-> Manga o' the Week: Jigoku Sensei Nube(Hell Teacher Nube) by Okano
Takeshi

Trust me, I was definitely one happy fangirl when I found this series. I
had been looking around for it for about a year, and just happened to
stumble upon it quite recently.

Nube is a little old, as it began in 1994. This causes all sorts of
problems when you want to start reading it, and they never have volume one
because it is out of print. DAMN YOU, PEOPLE YOU DECIDE THOSE THINGS! even
if you do begin the series, you'll spend half your life trying to get the
rest of the out-of-print volumes. Yeah, all 31 of them.

Sorry, sorry, I'll talk more about the actual series. JSN stars a young
teacher with paranormal abilities. He works as both a teacher and an
exorcist. One day, he fights an Oni which he then seals into his left
hand. As a teacher, he is constantly made fun of for his odd ways, but his
students that have seen his true work really respect him. He passes each
chapter with defeating demons that harm or posses his students.

Poor Nube! Always looking like an idiot, especially to the woman he has a
crush on. You can't help but feel sorry for this awesome loser. But Nube
won't let that get him down(too much)! The story for this series is fun,
the art is playful, and the series is worth your time.

Jigoku Sensei Nube is from Weekly Shounen Jump and ran for 31 volumes. The
first three are available from Nensha. There was also an anime made, but I
have not been able to locate any information regarding the location of
episodes.

-> Enter RANT!

I don't know what is worse than going into finals week sick. Well,
nevermind, I bet I could come up with a great number of things, but this
is pretty bad. How do you remedy this? Good anime, good manga, sanity, and
ramune. That's right, ramune.

What is ramune? It's that marble drink. You know, the one they often have
in RahXephon(and several other series). It's some good stuff. Imagine
Sprite Remix tasting awesome. That's about what ramune tastes like. The
stuff is not just a great drink, it's also fun to drink! you have that
annoying little marble that always comes unhooked when you try to get
those precious last drops, that fun shape, the ummm.... coolness of it
all... It's really great stuff.

Good Luck on Finals! Have a great break everyone! Happy Holidays!
~Annaliese

MNA 12/04/04

Hello anime fans,
Welcome to Minna No Anime, Cal Poly's Japanese animation club.
An ending...well, Fall Quarter is over.

December 5, 2004 at 7pm - Fall Quarter Tsurugi's Restaurant outing.

More News...
Until further notice, I will not be doing a newsletter for the next
several weeks due to Winter Break...yay, time away from school and classes
unlike me where I shall continue to work...and work...and work...
Also, we will be showing the Slayers Movie this week so the schedule is
different than usual and may differ even from this...

Now to the good stuff, the Schedule:

5:00 - Slayers Next - Episode 37: Voices from the Darkness! Slash 'em to
Bits, Laguna Blade!
5:25 - Patlabor - Episode 27: A Calling Voice in the Dark

5:50 - 5 minute break.  Time to say...

5:55 - RahXephon - Episode 9: Small Shrine of Time Sanctuary
6:20 - Last Exile - Episode 9: Calculate Alex

6:45 - Another 5 minute break.  ...goodbye...

6:50 - Kino's Journeys - Episode 9: Land of Book
7:15 - Texhnolyze - Rogue 9: Wiggle

7:40 - Dinner Break (30 minutes)  ...to graduating friends and
classmates...

8:10 - Slayers Movie

9:55 - Until next quarter...














I thought I would share some holiday cheer this week.  Well, at least what
passes for cheer in my life of misery, pain, and endless torment...

MOVIES!!

I can think of four movies that really get me in the mood for Christmas.
Maybe you will see why but I doubt it since you may not have even seen
some of them.  My favorite four Christmas movies are "Edward
Scissorhands", "Addams Family", "A Nightmare Before Christmas" and "How
the Grinch Stole Christmas" (the animated, Dr. Seuss version - not Jim
Carrey's attempt).  See I apparently have a streak that runs in me where I
gete ending occurs on either Christmas eve or very close to but what an
ending it is...death and unrequited love.  Next we have the "Addams
Family".  At the beginning of the movie Christmas Carolers are singing on
the front porch of the Addams Family house and perched above them is the
Addams Family with a pot of boiling tar waiting for the carolers'
unsuspecting heads.  Absolutely great.  True, the rest of the
The above sure make "It's a Wonderful Life" look sickly sweet...especially
"Edward Scissorhands"...no happy ending in sight.  Yes, I know I'm not
supposed to take parts out of the movie and I am supposed to take it as a
whole so fortunately, despite happy endings for three of them, I like them
all in there entirety.

As for Christmas itself, I find it way to capitalistic for my tastes.  A
few people I know are compelled to ask for gifts (myself included) not
because I really care to get a lot of the stuff (some of the things on my
list I actually do need though) but because people giving the gifts feel
obligated to get people gifts.  I have gone so far as too explain my point
to my parents about how I dislike trinkets an for it but I would prefer to
just sit and watch my family open each other's presents while not
fighting, making snide comments, or complaining in some fashion about each
other.  That would be fine for me.  A compulsion exists though to get me
stuff so I make a list of stuff I either need or want.

Now, please don't misunderstand.  I am not against family togetherness and
comaraderie and good cheer but I do ast 5 credit cards and carry a balance
for a few months on at least one if not two.  I mean what the hell
happened to fiscal responsibility!?  I just assumed this guy was a
crackpot but unfortunately he is likely right, which infuriates me.

Sorry for being such a humbug there but this season always brings it out
in me more than others it seems.  I hope you all have a safe, happy, and
good Christmas/Winter break and New Year and that you all come back
refreshed and ready for more animated entertainment.  Who knows?  Maybe we
will finally achieve world peace this year...

Winter 2005

Minna no Manga 01/06

Hope you all had a great break!

Minna no Manga is Thursdays from 6pm-10pm in building 20(engineering
east), room 140. Usually, only cool people come, so if you want to join
the cool kids, I'd better see you there.

Manga Series of the Week:

Ah, I had such a good break manga-wise, it was hard to choose what to fill
your inbox with.

D-Grayman by Katsura Hoshino

D-Grayman is the story of exorcists and akumas. The main character is the
young Allen Walker who has an Anti-Akuma weapon; his arm can transform
into a large white clawed hand in order to destroy akuma. Allen's left eye
also helps him in his line of work, it allows him to see the suffering
soul of the akuma. Akuma are not evil creatures, they are lonely souls
transformed into hideous things b the real bad guy, the Earl of
Millennium.

It's true that I get into series extremely easy, and can fall out of
series just as easily. But this is not your average cool series. This
series is AWESOME. The art is too good for someone's first series(although
I have read that this mangaka has not done any others), and the characters
are lovable. Allen is strong and pretty good at what he does, but he is
also a kid. A human kid. A lot of things scare him and he knows he has a
lot of growing to do in order to defeat the evil of the world. It also
helps the story that Allen is extremely cute and has a really cool scar
over his left eye. Also, there are shades of other series casted here and
there, which makes it interesting. In one scene, someone calls Allen a
bean sprout to which Allen gets angry, a la Fullmetal Alchemist.

D-Grayman is being scanlated by Yanime and Tincampi. Yanime has released
through chapter 3, and Tincampi has just released chapter 7. I prefer
Tincampi's version, which is scanned from Weekly Shounen Jump, because the
Jump version has a slightly different look to Allen's scar(which makes it
look even cooler than it already was). Plus, Tincampi is pretty quick.

Volume 1 of D-Grayman was released(raw) in October, and I believe volume
two is coming out in February/March.

Enter Rant

Besides the absolute lack of money, I love not working. Not working this
break allowed not only enough time to get almost a quarter's worth of
pencilled Ensuing comics done, but it also allowed me to read a ton of new
manga.

For many years, I didn't dare touch shoujo series. They were too
sugared-down and similar to each other to be worth reading. Fairly
recently, with the help of many friends, I have plunged into back into
shoujo to find an entire world of wondrous series I had been missing over
the years. While I feel ashamed for ignoring this 'other world,' it also
makes me happy. Now I have lots to catch up on. =3

New(er) recommended shoujo:
Mugen Spiral
Demon Sacred
Metamo Kiss
Hiyakoya Store
Yoru ni mo Makezu!(St. Lunatic High School)
Gatapishi!
Trinity Blood

Hope to see you all Thursday evening!
~Annaliese

MNA 1/08/05

Hello anime fans,
Welcome to Minna No Anime, Cal Poly's Japanese animation club.
A beginning...a new quarter and a new year.

News...
Yes, I have information to impart unto you.
January 15, 2005...Time to pick the T-Shirt design that will symbolize MNA
for the next year.  The rules are available on the web site so go there if
you don't know the requirements.  I won't bore you with them here.

Now to the good stuff, the Schedule:

5:00 - Fansub Of the Week
5:25 - Slayers Next - Episode 38: The Unexpected End? The Shocking Truth!

5:50 - 5 minute break.  Yes,

5:55 - Patlabor - Episode 28: Suspicious Duo
6:20 - Inu Yasha - Episode 83: Girl Yorojok and the Great Promise

6:45 - Another 5 minute break.  ...club...

6:50 - Scrapped Princess - Episode 9: Requiem for the Heretics
7:15 - RahXephon - Episode 10: War in the Remembrance-Sonata of
Reminiscence

7:40 - Dinner Break (30 minutes)  ...is...

8:10 - Last Exile - Episode 10: Swindle
8:35 - Kino's Journeys - Episode 10: A Tale of Mechanical Dolls

9:00 - The last 5 minute break.  ...happening.

9:05 - Texhnolyze - Rogue 10: Conclusion (God, this is a great ep)
9:30 - Banner of the Stars II - Episode 9: The Time to Put the Bows Down
(one ep after this..then what?)

9:55 - So tired...must go home...but might miss great after hours show...











I'll keep it short...shorter than usual anyway.

I need to apologize for being so late in releasing this.  I have been very
lethargic this week.  I guess I am still recovering from the holidays and
then work decides to ramp up again after being so mellow almost all of
December.

Speaking of that, I interviewed for another job during the break.  Yep, six
months at my current job and I am already looking for other work.  I figure
at this rate I can jump from job to job with no real experience but making
be making an awesome sum of money in a few years.

I am so tired...physically and mentally.  I just have not been able to get
my self motivated to do anything other than work, eat (sometimes I don't
even bother) and sleep (the easiest thing to do).  On the subject of food,
let me say it is amazing what one can pick up at Trader Joe's.  I had
teriyaki chicken on rice and miso soup for dinner tonight...not gourmet but
quite filling.

Driving was a pain today.  Not because of the rain per se but because my
windshield wiper kept overextending its arch and would wipe off of the side
of my window.  Stupid older car with its little problems.  Had to pull over
twice to reset the danged thing abd snapped a covering off it in the process.

At least I no longer get sore after working out anymore.  The first two
weeks were pretty miserable.  I was very sore.  What,  didn't I mention that
the place where I work has a gym in it?  Oh, I didn't...well, it does.
Unfortunately, it won't be coming with us when we move to a new building.

The thing is that no matter how much I work out, I can't get too ripped. If
you've seen me, then you know I am a scarecrow.  Simply put, I lack the body
mass necessary to get ripped.

Also while working out, I was watching Monty Python's Flying Circus and let
me say that there is some random yet amusing stuff.  Nowhere near as
horrible as Monkey Dust (I think) which is animated horror...sorry, you need
to see it to believe it what with the socialites turning into werewolves and
the human brain eating and other stuff.  I also decided I will own the whole
Monty Python Flying Circus collection someday...someday...yeah, and someday
I might move out of my parents house.

Mmm, I like my new leather reclining computer chair.  Beats sitting on the
cold, hard ground.  So comfortable...anyway, I'll leave you for this week
and hopefully I'll be quicker to get this out next week.

Minna no Manga 1/13

Hey Minna! Minna no Manga is 6-10pm, Thursdays in building 20, room 140.


Manga of the Week> RahXephon and Outlaw Star by people I don't know


Do you think RahXephon lacks fan service? I mean, I think the show is
great, but I often hear that a bit more fan service would make is awesome.
First, you guys are crazy. Second, apparently you haven't read the manga.
The RahXephon manga is a odd attempt to appease the fanboys yearning for
that common panty shot and embarrassing moment. Every chapter, Ayato
manages to get into a position where girls take off nearly all their
clothes. Rwar, I guess. Unfortunately for fangirls like myself, Ayato is
not cute, so when you also looses his clothes, it's not cool. He should
think about keeping those things ON.

Beyond fanservice, the manga kinda sucks. I am a huge RahXephon fan, and
this is almost a mockery of the series. It does have one redeeming factor,
though... A RahXephon-in-a-sailor-outfit-panty-shot. Now that is awesome.

Outlaw Star... I liked the series, watched it three or four
times(unfortunately all from Cartoon Network), thought casters ruled, etc,
etc. So, like any other fan, I wanted to find the manga.

HO-LEE CRAP.

Ever wonder what would happen is Outlaw Star became a hentai(I really hope
you didn't)? Check out the manga. Gene is with a new girl everynight, and
brags about it explicitly. Granted, it could be dirtier, but What happened
to my nice little images of the characters? SMASHED! I think Gene's true
goal in life is to get with every girl in the city. I think he gets about
halfway there by the time the first few chapters are done. Oh, my poor
poor mind...

Well, meh, this is really just me complaining. Sorry. RahXephon 1 and 2
are out from Viz, and 3 is supposed to be coming out shortly. Outlaw Star
was licensed a number of months ago, but I do not know when it will be
coming out.

Enter Rant

Shinzo is on ABC family again starting Saturday. I think it is 7:30am
Sat/Sun. It's a pretty cool and underappreciated show.

Don't forget to bring your T-Shirt designs to Minna no Anime this
Saturday! We will be voting! =3

~Annaliese

MnM 01/20

Minna no Manga is Thursdays, 6pm-10pm, BLDG 20, room 140.

(Not really a) Manga of the Week...?

In Which Annaliese Talks About Howl's Moving Castle:

So, if you have ever even attempted to keep up with anime news in the past
few years, you probably know that the newest Miyazaki masterpiece is
Howl's Moving Castle, based off of Diana Wynne Jones' book.

In Which the Characters are Made Known:

Sophie- the oldest of three sisters, who knows her life is not going to be
very successful, for the eldest never is. She is a smart, hard-working
girl who is turned into an old woman by angering the Witch of the Waste

Howl- Teh sexiness. The evil and lecherous wizard who is said to kidnap
young girls and devour their souls in his moving castle.

Michael- Howl's young apprentice.

Calcifer-the fire demon who makes the castle move.

The Witch of the Waste- The evil witch who turns Sophie into an old woman.
She does not like Howl.

In Which the Plot is Mentioned:

So, if you read about the characters, it is not hard to imagine the plot.
After being turned into an old woman, Sophie leaves her home and
eventually  breaks into the moving castle(hey, old ladies need to rest in
warm places, and if that's all that is around...). She tells Howl,
Calcifer, and Michael that she will be their maid, and they don't have the
will to make her leave, so she stays with them, all the while trying to
find out more about this evil wizard and the life he leads.

In Which There is Much Fangirling:

Not only is the book very amusing, Miyazaki has managed to breathe so much
life into the characters, if the plot doesn't intrest you, the characters
will not let you stop watching. Howl's moods vary wildly within each
scene, and watching him can really bring a smile to anyone's face.

The movie varies quite a bit from the book. Sophie seems to only have one
sister, Michael is at least five years younger, and the main conflicts are
totally different. But all the important things still play out, and if
anything, the movie is just as enjoyable(if not more enjoyable) than the
book. This also means if you read the book, the ending of the movie is not
spoiled, and vice versa.

In Which Annaliese Complains About Availability:

HMC came out in Japan on 11/20/04, so it is relatively new. Disney has the
rights, and it is said that it will be in theaters this June. ...And for
those who cannot wait, a raw, sometimes blurry, sometimes out-of-focus,
never on the full screen, pirated version is available from an obscure
chinese torrent site. It's nearly a gig of goodness.


...I shouldn't type things when I'm tired....
~Annaliese

howl=love

MnM 1/27

Minna no Manga is Thursdays, 6-10pm, bldg 20, rm 140

Manga of the Week: W-Juliet

W-Juliet is the story about a tomboy, Ito, who is always assigned the male
parts in her drama club. One day a beautiful girl, Makoto, joins, and the
two quickly become friends. After a rain storm drives the two into Ito's
home, Makoto accidently reveals her big secret... She is a he!

Makoto and Ito quickly grow close. They must protect Makoto's secret from
the remainder of high school, or Makoto's father will not let him become
an actor, which is his dream.

W-Juliet is a fun, comedic series that is well worth the time put into
reading it. The first volume is available from Tokyopop(?).

Enter Rant:

-_- I've become way too obsessed with Howl's Moving Castle. It is just too
good. Unfortunately loving it as much as I do has greatly taken away from
my studying time, and with midterms on the horizon, life has not been
fun...

~Annaliese
i love howl =3

MNA 1/29/05

Hello anime fans,
Welcome to Minna No Anime, Cal Poly's Japanese animation club.

News...
No more news from me.  Apparently, what I thought was happening, happened
previously plus, as a non-attendee, I have no desire to give out false
information so I will refrain from any further news and hope that you all
attend club to hear the upcoming events in person.  Sorry for any trouble
caused by bad or late news.

Now to the good stuff, the Schedule:

5:00 - Fansub Of the Week
5:25 - Slayers Next - Episode 41: A Big Crash? The Battle of Artemay Tower!

5:50 - 5 minute break.  Hope...

5:55 - Patlabor - Episode 31: Tragedy in Rain
6:20 - Inu Yasha - Episode 86: The secret of the Emblem Lady

6:45 - Another 5 minute break.  ...everyone...

6:50 - Scrapped Princess - Episode 12: Fight Song of the Two Princesses
7:15 - RahXephon - Episode 13: Human Speciman 1-Sleeping Beauty

7:40 - Dinner/Randomness Break (30 minutes)  ...enjoys...

8:10 - Last Exile - Episode 13: Isolated Pawn
8:35 - Kino's Journeys - Episode 13: A Kind Land (Another ending)

9:00 - The last 5 min. break
9:05 - Texhnolyze - Rogue 13: Vista
9:30 - Requiem from the Darkness - Episode 02: Willow Woman

9:55 - I am being proactive this time.  This was all written Sunday (just
not posted immediately).












Ah, to be a vagabond, a drifter, a hobo, a nomad (call it what you will).
Yes, secretly, this is my desire.  Just like the Metallica song Wherever I
May Roam.  Not power.  Not persuasion.  Nothing actually.  Just to drift
from one place to another, from nowhere to nowhere forgetting everything
about me..the past, the present, and future.

I know, not the typical aspiration of a person that currently has a rather
bright future in dealing with government problems, but then I have never
considered myself typical.  Long hair, trench coats, seething hatred
towards all and an overwhelming feeling of apathy are somewhat common but
generally not in one person.  Anyway, Kino's Journeys reminded me of this
longing (albeit I would wander without the talking motorcycle and I would
not be in search of anything).  See, for me, like Kino, I feel trapped
bNow (and this is the fanciful part), if I was immortal (like a
highlander), then I would have set out with nothing on me - no ID, no
money, no ideas, and no directions.  I would just wander under my own
power for the sheer joy of being free from everything.  I apologize for
being unable to better articulate the frustration I feel with our modern
times and way of life and the desire to forget it all and just leave.

I have talked with some people about this (idly, mind you) and the
reaction has been interesting.  One person actually did not want me to do
it or consider leaving everything behind.  They would miss me a bit.
Others assumed such a disappearing act was a sure sign of depression and
suicide and were fearful for my well-being.  The thing is that I am quite
inconsiderate.  I have no problem leaving everything and everyone behind
without considering the effect it might have on others.  After all, that is the p
And no, I am not running from anything.  After all, things in my life are
looking up after two years of part time employment and other things.  I am
just tired and sick of everything.  I feel I can do no right by anyone but
myself and that, by dealing with others, I merely cause more problems (an
inefficient system exists).  Apathy only takes me so far.  I may not care
but others do and when others complicate things unnecessarily for me, it
bothers me (inefficiency and being unable to comprehend others'
Now, how do I wrap it all up?  I don't know.  I have wandered into my own
mind and soul and revealed more of myself to you like I normally do.  I
guess all I can say is that we all have to live as we see fit and maybe
your dreams will happen.  Oh, I know how to end this rant.  May the world
come to an uncontrollable state of chaos and thus, I can disappear with
society and be free.

MnM 02/03

Minna no Manga is Thursdays, 6pm-10pm in bldg20, room 140.

->Manga o' the Week: Eyeshield 21 by Ichirou Inagakiri and Yuusuke Morata

Sena has just made it into high school. On his first day, he is singled
out to be bullied by Hiruma, the worst guy around. This just puts one more
bully to pick on him on his long list. Sena is an easy target, small and
too kind to try to fight back. Things happen and Hiruma notices Sena's
incredible sprinting speed. He recruits Sena to be the star running back
and secret weapon of the Deimon Devilbat's American football team!

Yeah, yeah, it is a sports manga. Whoop-de-doo. No, no, no! This isn't
some random run-of-the-mill series. The art is fun, the story is fun, and
watching Hiruma torture pretty much everybody in the series is quite
amusing. Granted, it's not the best series ever, but this is worth
checking out. Of course, I wouldn't write about a series I didn't think
would be worth reading.

Eyeshield 21 has been recently licensed by Viz and will be released this
summer. The anime will be beginning in Japan in April!

->Enter Rant

Man, I hate midterms. I'm the type of person who has a hard time sticking
to one thing for a while, so studying is a major challenge for me. It is
really annoying when you find you've been sitting at your desk for three
hours, determining the method your textbook was printed with. Not cool.
Thank goodness for anime and manga to keep me sane!

I randomly bought Boktai2 this week with some of my food money(aka Campus
Express, yay). I was going to get Minish Cap because I am a huge Legend of
Zelda fan, but I figured it would take too much away from studying. Never
have I ever tried to buy a game that isn't that intetesting. So, Boktai2
has been interesting. A lot more engaging than I thought it'd be. I have
to use actual sunlight to charge up my energy, so it is hard to play,
especially at night. But it provides a nice break from studying about
River Empires and the Stoics. Go, Solar Boy Django, Go!

~Solar Girl Annaliese

MnM 02/17

Minna no Manga meets Thursdays, 6pm-10pm in bldg20, rm140. Join us and
experience the power of awesome.

~>Manga...ness...
Kekkaishi is pretty cool. It's about capturing evil spirits and stuff.
Snoopycool was scanlating it before Viz licensed it. They may still have
the chapters on their site.

~> Enter Rant
Sometimes you don't feel like doing anything. Today is one of those days.
~ACE

MnM 2/24

Minna no Manga meets Thursdays, bldg 20, room 140, 6pm-10pm

~Manga o' the Week: Zetman by Katsura Masakazu(Studio K2R)

Once upon a time, the creator of Video Girl Ai, DNA^2, I"s(among others)
wanted to create an American-Style superhero comic. So, he tried. And
failed. Life went on. Eventually, he was given another chance to realize
this dream. Thus, Zetman was created.

Zetman opens on "Zetman" injured and held at gun point by an unknown
character, dialogue is exchanged and then.... fade to black. The story
opens again, several years prior to the first few pages. It tells of a
young boy and his guardian and their life. Interesting? Doesn't sound like
it, but it is. Eventually bad stuff happens, and the story begins to
develop as a superhero tale.

Gah! This series drives me mad! Some how, every chapter ends on a
cliffhanger. It's some crazy talent, I tell you, when you can end a
chapter about earning money and eating soup with a cliffhanger. While
"Zetman" is shown in the first couple pages, he does not show up again
until the end of volume two, and it only really around for two or three
chapters.

In addition to all the normal things I gush about, like the amazing art,
engaging story, blah blah blah, something that really impresses me with
this book is the incredible quality of the book itself. The two volumes I
own average about 250 pages each, so they are nice and thick. The pages
are higher quality paper than average manga volumes, and each volume has a
few beautiful color pages in the beginning. The book jackets are
extraordinary; the type is raised and the images have raised sections. The
entire thing is  absolutely wonderful.

Zetman is available from Young Jump. The first four volumes are out, and
the first four chapters have been scanlated by ToriyamaWorld. Chapters
5-17 have been scanlated by Evil Genius.

~Enter Rant

The quarter is almost done... wooo....

~Annaliese

MNA 02/26/05

Hello anime fans,
Welcome to Minna No Anime, Cal Poly's Japanese animation club.

The Texhnolyze courier will be absent this week, so something else may need
to be shown...unless someone else also has Texhnolyze.

The good stuff, the Schedule:

5:00 - Fansub Of the Week
5:25 - Slayers Next - Episode 44: The Temple of Sand! The Secret of the Giga
Slave!
5:50 - 5 minute break.  Flying...

5:55 - Patlabor - Episode 34: The Battle of the Gate
6:20 - Inu Yasha - Episode 89: The Visitation-Confrontation Between "That
Guy" and "Him"!

6:45 - Another 5 minute break.  Flying...

6:50 - Scrapped Princess - Episode 15: Opera of Power and Plot
7:15 - RahXephon - Episode 16: Island of Others-The Moon Princess

7:40 - Dinner/Randomness Break (30 minutes)  Eastward we go...

8:10 - Last Exile - Episode 16: Breakthrough
8:35 - Generator Gawl - Episode 3: Curiosity

9:00 - The last 5 minute break.  To the cold, frozen wastes...

9:05 - Texhnolyze - Rogue 16: Strain ???TENTATIVE
9:30 - Requiem from the Darkness - Episode 5: Shio no Chouji

9:55 - Don't worrplane crashes...











More News bashing.

One day while I was working out, I was passively listening to the news
program that smeone had turned to.  Bill O'Reilly was talking as usual but
this time about a gang bust in Oklahoma (if memory serves).  He is of the
theory that gangster rap music makes these kids become gang members and live
such a life.  The police oficer he was talking was more reluctant to draw
such a connection between rap and gangs.  All of sudden something was said
along the lines that gangs are a direct result of parents not rasing kids
right and that it was a new problem found in places like LA mainly.

This statement made me smile.  First of all, street gangs are nothing new.
Gangs have been a part of the American urban life for a very long time.
Immigrants would form enclaves and rally around a comonality like religion
or location or even turf.  The older gangs fought each other as modern ones
do today.

Gangs go even farther back if one takes the side of the losing party.  One
could probably classify Viking raiding parties as gangs - hoodlums and
criminals in the eyes of the people they bullied.  The main difference in
what is considered a gang is that the generally accepted modern gang tends
to prey on other gangs and not, if you will, the general citizenry as the
Vikings did.  Even the definition of gang is vague...a group of associated
people or a group of hoodlums and criminals.  A gang is not necessarily a
bad thing.  As a case in point, the anime club is a gang, banded around a
common interest and goal but it does not mean that gangster rap is
responsible for the clubs behavior.  On a side note, I wonder how many of
you actually listen to that gangster rap?  I, for one, prefer heavy metal,
techno, industrial and the like.  I generally dislike rap and counrty.
Enough of that though...

Essentially, violent gangs have been around for a very long time...before
gangster rap.  Since the existence of violent gangs predates the advent of
gangster rap, it is impossible to conclude that gangster rap has anything to
do with it.  It may make a convenient excusebut it is not the cause.
Violence has existed well before rap.  Gangs have existed well before rap.
Violent gangs have existed before it too.

The question then is what causes gangs, especially violent ones, to form? I
am willing to say that it not because of rap music unless someone wants to
argue that violent gangster rap accompanied marauders as they pillaged and
plundered and gave them the ideas to massacre the people theytheir
violence seems, to me, to be a a sure sign that any one saying
something like that is even less qualified to ponder it than I am.

One other possiblilty surfaces though.  While gangster rap is not the cause
of gangs, does it help to perpetuate them or influence their activities?
Part of that would assume that the gang members are too unimaginative to
divine that violence is one possibility of a gamusic and it seems that rap
music does not necessarily cause people to be
violent in groups either.  In short, I think Mr. O'Reilly should consider
restating his opinion on a link between gangster rap and violent gangs.

I shall leave you now as I head for colder climates.

MnM 03/03

Minna no Manga meets Thrusdays, 6-10pm, bldg20, room 140

Blarg. Finals are coming up, so I'm going to play the busy/lazy card. Go
read Togari, it is the coolest thing since.... last Sunday. No, really, it
kicks serious tail. It makes me want to play with my bouken more.

GIVE ME ALL YOUR SINS!
~Annaliese
P.S. Trust me, read it, the whole thing is out and available via direct
download from Manga Scanners and Blackout.

[MnA] 03/05

Sorry about that!  I forgot to put a subject on this the first time I sent
it.  Please don't kill me.  Or mock me.  I'm very sensitive.

Minna no Anime Episode Schedule: March 5, 2005

5:00 - Fansub o' the Week
5:25 - Slayers Next: Episode 17: They're Talking About a Girl Named Zelgadis?!
5:50 - Break (Something tells me I'm better off not thinking about that
title until I actually see the episode.)
5:55 - Patlabor: Episode 38: Underground Labyrinth Case
6:20 - Inuyasha: Episode 90: Sota's Brave Confession of Love
6:45 - Break (Sota's so cute!  And we get to see more of Inuyasha's Clark
Kent powers in this one.  If you don't get the joke, feel free to ask.)
6:50 - RahXephon: Seventeenth Movement: Return to the Labyrinth / Ground Zero
7:15 - Scrapped Princess: Episodes 15 and 16: Opera of Power and Plot //
Duet Near the River
7:55(ish) - Dinner Break (Yes, Rah and Scrapped Princess are switched this
week.  Read on to find out why.)
8:10 - Last Exile: Move 17: Making Material
8:35 - Generator Gawl: Episode 4: Future Memory
9:00 - Break (You know you love both those shows.)
9:05 - Texhnolyze: Episode 17: Dependence
9:30 - Requiem from the Darkness: Episode 6: Shibaemon Tanuki

Well, I promised I'd explain about the RahXephon/Scrapped Princess switch.
You might remember that SP had a bit of difficulty last week.  So we're
playing the last half of that episode and all of the next episode.
Therefore, SP is going to extend about 10 or 15 minutes into the dinner
break.  Matt will announce more on this at the meeting.


[random babbling]
Hello there.  My name is Jenn.  I am not your regularly-scheduled email
writer.  Well, as "regularly-scheduled" as it's been recently.  Anyway, I
was asked to do this week's email (and possibly future ones if no one
lynches me, who knows?).  I was trying to think of cool and interesting
things to talk about here, but of course, my brain fails me when push
comes to shove.

So maybe I should tell you a little about me, eh?  As I already stated, my
name is Jenn.  Here's an interesting tidbit for you: Sunday is my
birthday.  I'm going to be 20 years old.  Yes, I know I'm young.  Younger
than a lot of my friends, which is strange because in high school, I had
mostly younger friends.

The scary part is that I feel OLD.  Honestly, have you ever sat down and
thought about how fast your life is going by?  We don't even notice it
most of the time.  We're too busy getting things done to realize that days
are turning into weeks, with are turning into months, which in turn become
years.  You don't notice it until you consciously think about it, or it
comes along to slap you upside the head.  Then you sit there and think,
"Where the hell did the last couple years go?"

Three days after I turn 20, my little brother is turning 17.  I remember
being in Iceland (yeah, military family) and holding him a few days after
he was born.  That, my friends, is a crazy, freaky feeling.  The kind of
feeling that sort of makes you sit back, don the old Keanu Reeves voice
and say, "Whoa."

I can't help but wonder how this is going to feel when I AM old.  When I'm
70 (if I live that long), how am I going to feel?  I can't even begin to
imagine the kind of vertigo a person that old feels.

Well, there's a little food for thought.  Do with it what you will; I'll
see you all tomorrow!
[/random babbling]

MnM 03/10

Minna no Manga meets Thrusdays, 6pm-10pm, in bldg20 room 140! Be there
or... don't!

~Manga of the Week: Ouran Koukou Host Club by Bisco Hatori

Host Club is the story of Haruhi Fujioka who accidently stumbles into a
random music room while looking for a quiet place to study. Instead of
instruments and musicians, Haruhi finds the famous Host Club. As a
scholarship student who otherwise would not have the money to pay for
tution at this 'pedigree first, money second' school, Haruhi feels very
out of place. In an attempt to leave the Club's room, a eighty-miler Rant

Oy... My mind has been clouded with facst and figures, and it's getting
hard to think straight! I just want break to be here now!

Hope everyone has a fun and safe spring break! See you all next quarter,
same time, same place!

~Annaliese

MnM 3/10 Fixed

BLARG!!!! The internet didn't like me last night, and messed up the
e-mail. Here's the (hopefully) full version, whoopdeedoo....

Minna no Manga meets Thrusdays, 6pm-10pm, in bldg20 room 140! Be there
or... don't!

~Manga of the Week: Ouran Koukou Host Club by Bisco Hatori

Host Club is the story of Haruhi Fujioka who accidently stumbles into a
random music room while looking for a quiet place to study. Instead of
instruments and musicians, Haruhi finds the famous Host Club. As a
scholarship student who otherwise would not have the money to pay for
tution at this 'pedigree first, money second' school, Haruhi feels very
out of place. In an attempt to leave the Club's room, a eighty-million yen
vase is broken, and someone gets to be the Host Club's dog to pay it back.
Shortly into this sentence, The King of the Club, Tamaki(aka Tono),
notices Haruhi's good looks, and so Haruhi is quickly cleaned up and made
into the seventh member of the Host Club. Fun ensues until the truth is
revealed; Haruhi is really a girl!

Now the Host Club must keep this fact a secret so their newest member can
continue to be with them. Unfortunately for them, Haruhi doesn't really
care one way or the other!

Host Club is a recent find for me, I must thank Rebecca for getting me
into the series. I really love everything about this series, the art, the
characters, the story... And it doesn't hurt that all the Host Club guys
are cute! ^.^

Host Club was being scanlated by Aku-Tenshi, but was recently licensed by
VIZ. In Japan, it runs in LaLa, and the 5th book is out(I think).

~Enter Rant

Oy... My mind has been clouded with facst and figures, and it's getting
hard to think straight! I just want break to be here now!

Hope everyone has a fun and safe spring break! See you all next quarter,
same time, same place!

~Annaliese

MnA 3/12

5:00 - Slayers Next: Episode 18: The Temple of Sand!  The Secret of the
Giga Slave!
5:25 - Scrapped Princess: Episode 17: Brief Chanson
5:50 - Break (Anybody know what a "chanson" is?)
5:55 - RahXephon: Eighteenth Movement: Bond of the Blue Blood / The Memory
of the Lost City
6:20 - Last Exile: Move 18: Promotion Sophia
6:45 - Break (Nothing witty to say here.)
6:50 - Generator Gawl: Episode 5: The Best of Both Worlds
7:15 - Texhnolyze: Rogue 18: Throne
7:40 - Uber-Long Dinner Break of Doom (aka Big-Ass Break)
8:30 - Inuyasha Movie 3: The Sword of World Conquest

Club News: Elections are going to take place during the second meeting of
spring quarter!  Remember: if you want to run for office, you have to be a
Cal Poly student.


[random babbling]
So, how is everyone?  Surviving dead week, I hope?  Hang in there!  Only
one more week and it's all over (for better or worse...hopefully the
former).  Personally, I'm trying to be optimistic (in other words, I'm
purposely ignoring software engineering in favor of other classes).

Anyway, the birthday went well.  Thanks go to Steebu, Mike, Des, and Joe
for forcing me to leave my room and go out to eat.  You guys are the
greatest.  Oh, and happy birthday wishes should go to Annaliese, too,
because her birthday was yesterday.

Anyway, partially because I'm at Minna no Manga and partially because I
have a lot of homework to do (still not thinking of software
engineering...), I'm going to cut this email short.  See you all on
Saturday!
[/random babbling]

Spring 2005

MnA 4/2

This week's schedule:

5:00 - Fansub o' the Week
5:25 - Slayers Next: Episode 19: Disclosure at Last?!  Xellos' True Form!
5:50 - Break
5:55 - Patlabor: Episode 39: Economy Model Plans
6:20 - Inuyasha: Episode 91: The Suspiscious Faith Healer and the Black
Kirara
6:45 - Break
6:50 - Scrapped Princess: Episode 18: Elegy of the Back Alley
7:15 - RahXephon: Nineteenth Movement: Blue Friend / Ticket to Nowhere
7:40 - Dinner Break
8:10 - Last Exile: Move 19: Sicilian Defense
8:35 - Generator Gawl: Episode 6: Hiding Ability
9:00 - Break
9:05 - Texhnolyze: Rogue 19: Heavenward
9:30 - Requiem from the Darkness: Episode 7: Katabiragatsuji

Reminders:
  - elections next week
  - bring t-shirt money if you plan on buying one

[random babbling]
How has your week been?  Mine wasn't so bad.  My dad brought me back on
Sunday and I dragged him and my brother up to Poly Canyon to look around
and stretch their legs after the three-hour car trip.  We went out to eat
and then they left, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

It's not that I dislike my family or anything.  I generally get along with
them a lot better than some of my friends get along with theirs.  It's
just that, every time I go home, I learn to like living on my own a little
bit more.  I like seeing them, but living with my parents is really rather
stifling.  Of course, I'm sure most of you have figured this out for
yourselves already, so moving on.

I've been having some really weird dreams this week.  If you've ever met
me and had the topic wander to dreams (for reasons beyond comprehension),
you likely think I'm either on drugs or insane.  As I am neither (though
the latter is debatable, I suppose), even I'm amazed by some of the
things that pop into my head at night.  I wonder what Freud would have
made of my dreams.  ...on second thought, nevermind.  I can guess.

In other news, classes don't seem like they'll be terrible this quarter.
CSC300 looks like it'll be a helluva lot of writing, but I can live with
that.  Here's my quarterly class female count.  CSC300: one other girl.
CPE229: two other girls.  CPE269: no other girls.  JPNS103: one other
girl.  Something's screwed up when even my GE class contains only one
other female.  I almost feel sorry for you male CSC majors.
[/random babbling]

MnM 04/07

Minna no Manga meets Thursdays, 6pm-10pm, bldg20 room 140. Be There!

Announcements:
-We're voting for officers this week at MnA, so be there to run or at
least vote!
-Open House is the 16th! We need volunteers! Work a couple hours, get free
food. It's really good food too.
-Did I lend anyone Bleach volume 15? My copy seems to be missing.

~>Manga o' the Week: Eatman by Akihito Yoshitomi

Eatman is the story of Bolt Crank, an unusual man who eats nearly
everything except regular food. Besides his unusual eating habits, he has
a special power; he can recall anything he has eaten to be used later!

Eatman is an interesting read. I don't love it, don't hate it, but it's a
good way to pass the time. The art style is very nice, I really like the
artist's depiction of Bolt's world. The story is very episodic. I think in
one volume, it is said that this is supposed to be a series where you can
read one story a night and be happy. I must agree. I've been getting
through the series a couple volumes a day, and it satisfies me.

The series is 17+ volumes long(I'm not completely sure, I only have
through 17 though). It is licensed by Viz, but I haven't seen a new volume
in years, so who knows if they've dropped it or not. You can find the
volumes online fairly easily(I didn't tell you that).

Erg, sorry about the lame review. Eatman is just what I happened to be
reading when I decided to write the e-mail.

~>Enter Rant

I consume manga like Bolt eats. Seriously. I like reading at least a
couple hundred pages a day. It's like a drug, keeps me happy and all... I
admit, I have a problem....

~Annaliese

MnA 04/09

This week's schedule:

5:00 - Fansub o' the Week
5:25 - Slayers Next: Episode 20: No Other Choice! Set Course for Dragon
Valley!
5:50 - Break
5:55 - Patlabor: Episode 40: Shore Watch Out Order
6:20 - Inuyasha: Episode 92: Plot of the Walking Dead
6:45 - Break
6:50 - Scrapped Princess: Episode 19: Mother's Sad Aria
7:15 - RahXephon: Twentieth Movement: The Battle of the One Who Controls /
Interested Parties
7:40 - Dinner Break
8:10 - Last Exile: Move 20: Grand Stream
8:35 - Generator Gawl: Episode 7: Secrets & Lies
9:00 - Break
9:05 - Texhnolyze: Rogue 20: Hades
9:30 - Requiem from the Darkness: Episode 8: Nodeppou

Announcements:
- Elections this week!
- We still need volunteers for Open House on the 16th.  Work a couple
hours and get free food!
- There will be no meeting Open House weekend.

[random babbling]
Wow, is it just me, or did last week depress anyone else?  Specifically
RahXephon and Scrapped Princess.  Maybe it's just me, but character death
is really depressing.  Brought a tear to my eye, it did.

Hm.  Anyway, I've been reading a lot of manga recently.  Specifically
D.Grayman and Trinity Blood.  If you pay any attention at all to
Annaliese's Minna no Manga emails, you've probably heard about both of
them before.  And of course, the reason I've read them is because
Annaliese is really, really good at pushing them.  So I end up sitting
down, starting to read, and looking up four hours later with a dazed
expression on my face.  Typically.

I've also been writing a lot more recently than I have in the past few
months.  I've just been more inspired recently.  I think the manga might
actually have a lot to do with that.  ...of course, this means bad, bad
things for my schoolwork.

Honestly, I don't have much else to say.  Have a good rest-of-the-week,
everyone.  I'll see you at club!
[/random babbling]

No MnM 4/14

Minna no Manga does not meet this week! Instead, we are having a rockin'
Chicken Practice Party at Matt's place. Matt lives at Kris Kar apartments on Grand
Ave. His apartment is #20. It is pink. Chicken fun starts at 5pm Thursday,
so BE THERE!

Open house is this weekend! Come and visit, or better yet, come and
volunteer! We'll be setting up the booth Friday 4pmish-sometime later than
4pmish, and working at the booth Saturday 7amish-5pmish. Come anytime you
are available. Work two hours and get free food!

Now I'm off to sleep. It's been a long day.
~Annaliese

MnM 4/21

Minna no Manga meets Thursdays, 6pm-10pm, in bldg20, room 140.

~Manga o' the Week-> A Thousand Years of Snow(Sennen no Yuki) by Hatori
Bisco

"One nigt, Chiyuki, who was born with heart trouble that stays with her
the rest of her life, meets with Touyo, a vampire who hates blood. Because
of this, Touya has decided to live his entire life alone without a
partner. His real intents are...!? And then, Chiyuki's decision!! This is
the story of an "instantaneous romance" when your childhood friend turns
out to be a changed person." ~From the back of the first volume

A Thousand Years of Snow is a cute story with a fun style. The actual
story is a little odd, like it was not fully thought out, but it still
makes for a good read. Hatori Bisco is better known for her current work,
Host Club, which runs in LaLa. A Thousand Years of Snow has the same
playfulness as Host Club, but with a bit less comedy and a bit more drama.
Plus, this manga has a vampire, and a werewolf! OOOO!

Chapters 1-3 are available from Impossibility and Shoujo Magic. The series
is two volumes long, and printed by HanatoYume comics.

~Enter Rant->

Karma sucks. I was have a great couple of weeks, and then WHAM! It all
comes back to me like a boomerang. Bah! Now if the Fanime panel people
would e-mail me back and Speed Grapher 2 would come out subbed, life would
be good again.

~Annaliese

P.S. If you are a crazy Kino fan like me, or just like pretty wallpapers,
check out desktopanime.com. There are some of the prettiest anime
wallpapers I have seen! be sure to check out the Kino section, there are
tons of pretty papers there!

MnM 04/28

Minna no Manga meets Thursdays, 6pm-10pm in bldg20, room 140.

~Manga o' the Week: Midori no Hibi by Kazurou Inoue

I know way too many people who have written this series of because of what
is IMPLIED. Jeez people, what is your problem?

Midori no Hibi is a very cute story about a guy who cannot get a
girlfriend and the girl with a crush who secretly watches him from afar.
One day, he wakes up to find that she is on his right hand! OMG. His right
hand. SOOOO dirty. Pah. Whatever. This series is only eight volumes, but
each one is filled with tons of comedy and just a tiny bit of drama. It's
cleanly drawn with a playful style. I HIGHLY recommend it.

It has been licensed by Viz(I think), and will be coming out this summer.
The anime(12 eps) is being brought out by Media Blasters(again, I think),
and the first disc is out and available with a box and a t-shirt.

~Enter Rant:

Trinity Blood comes out this week! Yay! Bah, but before I can indulge in
the watching of it, I need to makes sure all my housing stuff is okay,
study for a horrid government test, send in my cover letter and resume to
Viz, work on comics, write about a Scientific American article, and read
two chapters about paper. It's going to be a fun week.

~Annaliese

MnA 4/30

This week's schedule:

5:00 - Fansub o' the Week
5:25 - Slayers Next: Episode 21: The Thousand Year Old Truth! The
Traitorous Chaos Dragon
5:50 - Break
5:55 - Patlabor: Episode 42: Return of the Men
6:20 - Inuyasha: Episode 94: The Sacred Jewel Maker Part I
6:45 - Break
6:50 - Scrapped Princess: Episode 20: Overture of Holy Destruction
7:15 - RahXephon: Twenty-First Movement: Mark of Xephon / Goodbye My
Friend
7:40 - Dinner Break
8:10 - Last Exile: Move 22: Queen Delphine
8:35 - Generator Gawl: Episode 9: Skin Deep
9:00 - Break
9:05 - Texhnolyze: Rogue 21: Encephalopathy
9:30 - Requiem from the Darkness: Episode 11: Funayuurei

[random babbling]
First of all, yes, I did forget the email last week.  In my defense, it's
Steebu's fault.

Or maybe it's my fault for being more interested in making money and not
letting my boss down.  If any of you are in CSC236, you have no right to
complain.  If you want your grades, hush.  >.>

Anyway, what a week.  It actually went kind of fast.  I attribute that to
the fact that I actually didn't hate any of my classes this week.  This is
very odd, considering that I had midterms in both Japanese and
Professional Responsibilities and got back a midterm from Digital Design.
I think I'm numb to my grades at this point.  Back in the day (aka last
year), a 70% on a midterm would have made me freak out and study more.
Nowadays, it just makes me shrug and go back to watching Naruto.

Great student, aren't I?  Feh.  I've a 3.2 GPA.  I don't have to watch out
for AP just yet.  I can afford a little laziness.  ...  I'm SUCH an
American, huh?

By the way, if you don't come to Minna no Manga, I mock you.  Who wouldn't
want to hang out with a half-dozen geeks on a Thursday night and talk
about silly, pointless things for four hours straight?  Honestly, we
shouldn't call it "Minna no Manga".  We should call it "Get Together and
Watch All the Silly Crap Jenn Has on Her Laptop on a Given Night".  'Cause
seriously, my computer seems to be the club's Most Valuable Member.
Creepy.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm babbling a bit more than I usually do.  I
blame the fact that I got absolutely nothing useful done today, and so my
brain must make up for this useful email-sending act by reducing it to
little more than a mental doggy-bag.  Congratulations, you're getting my
neural scraps.  You'd better appreciate them.  There are people drooling
in Texas.

I'm also being a bit meaner than usual.  I blame THAT on the fact that I
was in a good mood all day and must now fill my Asshole Quota in record
time.  I guess just embarrassing my brother without his knowledge in front
of people he doesn't even know exist just doesn't do it anymore.  If you
don't go to MnM, you won't get that joke, but I'll be nice and give you a
hint.  It involves him recording himself lipsynching and then being
foolish enough to actually send me the file.  *cough*

Anyway, I'm going to wrap this up before I end up offending someone (if I
haven't already) and getting my ass chewed off on Saturday.

See you all then.
[/random babbling]

MnM 05/05-Cinco de Mayo~!

Minna no Manga is the coolest group of manga fans this side of Japan. We
meet Thursdays, 6pm-10pm, in bldg20, room 140. Come, join us. ^_^

~Manga o' the Week: Moonlight Spice by Saitou Ken

Moonlight Spice is the story of Blank Panther, the 'lord of the jungle.'
Since he is a panther, he is violent, hold a monopoly over his land, and
feared by all the tribes around him. One day, Alice the Rabbit crosses
into his territory. He ties her up and brings her to his home, but doesn't
have the heart to eat her. He's not really a bad guy, he just has a bad
reputation. As the days pass, he becomes more and more hungry, so he asks
the witch of the forest to make it so he can eat anything, and will not
have to eat Alice...

This is a very cute one-shot I was able to come across last year. The art
is cute and the story warms your heart. The characters grow on you
quickly, and you'll find yourself loving Black Panther within a few pages.

Moonlight Spice(aka Gekkou Supaisu) is about 45 pages long and available
from Sweet Lunacy. It is not licensed.

~Enter Rant:

Okay, so I felt a little bad after the negative response from Law of Ueki,
so I decided to punish myself by watching a couple more episodes. Did I
say punish? Well, maybe, but I was curious too. First and foremost, I
blame 85% of the confusion on the translation. Episodes 2-4(from Shinsen
Subs and Animeseal) were very straightforward(I was confused at one part,
but it was explained in the next episode). The style of the animation and
the character designs remind me strongly of Konjiki no Gash Bell, which I
personally enjoy quite a bit. The story continues to be ridiculous, but I
believe it is supposed to be that way. In that fashion, the story is able
to maintain a sense of lightness, even in times of despair for our main
characters.

All in all, I really enjoyed episodes 2-4 of Ueki, and am eagerly awaiting
more. I must know about the arm guard shown in the opening, and all the
attacks he uses in the first scene of the first episode. I guess this case
is similar to the saying, "don't judge a book by its cover." Don't judge a
series by its first episode. ^_^

~Annaliese

MnA 5/7

This week's schedule:

5:00 - Fansub o' the Week
5:25 - Slayers Next: Episode 23: The Menacing Swordsman! A Journey of
Reunion!
5:50 - Break
5:55 - Patlabor: Episode 43: Working Ladies
6:20 - Inuyasha: Episode 95: The Sacred Jewel Maker Part II
6:45 - Break
6:50 - Scrapped Princess: Episode 22: Time Exceeding Waltz
7:15 - RahXephon: Twenty-Second Movement: Mission to Annihilate Jupiter /
Downfall
7:40 - Dinner Break
8:10 - Last Exile: Move 23: Castling Lucciola
8:35 - Generator Gawl: Episode 10: The Janus
9:00 - Break
9:05 - Texhnolyze: Rogue 22: Myth
9:30 - Requiem from the Darkness: Episode 12: Shinigami, or rather the
Shichinin Misaki Part 1

[random babbling]
So.  I'm supposed to write something interesting here, huh?  ...  This
could be difficult.

Recently, it seems like my brain has been blue-screening a lot.  One
minute, I'll be completely normal; maybe even (gasp!) witty.  The next
minute, BAM!  Braindead.  It's quite disturbing.  Not to mention bad for
my schoolwork.  Case in point: I should be grading right now, since he
wants the scores by early tomorrow morning and the thought of waking up at
6am to write a C++ grading script makes me want to cry.

Does anyone else have this problem where they sit in front of their work
and say, "I really should be doing this.  I've run out of ways to goof
off.  I'm really bored, because I honestly have no more ways to waste my
time.  So why can't I make myself start my work?"  I mean, honestly.  This
is getting ridiculous.  I'm starting to wonder if I'm not getting the
proper nutrition or something.  Can that result in a complete
unwillingness to do one's work?

...rain makes me happy.  I've had this weird urge to just go out and stand
in it lately.  No umbrella.  No jacket.  Not to dance in it or anything
silly like that.  Just the urge to go stand in the middle of the rain and
soak for a while.  Very strange.  Then again, I think I had the same urges
last year.  Must be that "I've always lived in deserts and this strange
water-falling-from-the-sky event must be experienced because it might
never happen again!" thing.  I guess continually living in places with
almost 0% humidity will do that to a person.  Unless you count Iceland.
But I only remember a few things really vividly from that time, since I
was only 2 or 3 years old when we were stationed there.

Hm.  Like I said, I'm pretty braindead right now.  Hopefully I'll be able
to get my act together sometime soon and do this grading so I don't have
to be miserable in the morning.  See you all on Saturday!
[/random babbling]

MnM 05/12

Minna no Manga is the best thing since Paku Romi-sama did Hip-hop. We meet
Thursdays, 6-10pm, bldg 20, room 140.

If ya liked Trinity Blood, I'm bringing a number of volumes of Asuka,
which Trinity Blood runs in. ^_~

~Manga o' the Week: Akumetsu written by Aki Tabatayoshi, drawn by Yuuki
Yogo

Akumetsu is the story of a young man who decides to destroy the corrupt
parts of the Japanese government. He likes to do this by excessive amounts
of violence. One day, we breaks into a building where one of his roommates
is selling her body to a politician. She recogizes him and is shocked by
what he is doing, but is even more shocked when she sees his head blow
up!! She goes to school the next day, and sees him there in class! What's
going on?

Akumetsu is a series I stumbled on a few weeks ago. The art is pretty cool
and the story is interesting. If you want to see a cool mask and a lot of
badass expressions, check this series out.

Akumetsu is being scanlated by Mahou. The first three chapters are out.

~Enter Rant:

In the latest Low of Ueki, Ueki does hip-hop. It must be the most amusing
thing since Azumanga Daioh.

The year is winding down! Thank Tezuka! This means Fanime approaches
quickly! I'm currently working on re-drawing a number of comics for the
con. I'm going to print them as bookmarks to give out to promote Ensuing.
These stupid drawings are drawing me MAD. Simply mad! Since I've been
taking a class on paper and ink, I'm worried about getting them printed
right as well. It sounds dumb, but I've been losing sleep over the paper
selection. So, if I seem a little crazier than usual, you know what to
blame.  ^_~

~Annaliese

MnA 5/14

This week's schedule:

5:00 - Fansub o' the Week
5:25 - Slayers Next: Episode 24: Sinister Trap! The Mysterious City of
Ghosts!
5:50 - Break
5:55 - Patlabor OAV: Episode 2: Longshot
6:20 - Inuyasha: Episode 96: Jaken Falls Ill
6:45 - Break
6:50 - Scrapped Princess: Episode 23: Limited Ones' Oratorio
7:15 - RahXephon: Twenty-Fourth Movement: Door to Tuning / Twin Music
7:40 - Dinner Break
8:10 - Last Exile: Move 24: Sealed Move
8:35 - Generator Gawl: Episode 11: Rage
9:00 - Break
9:05 - Alien 9: Episode 1: Daikyu Elementary Anti-Alien Squad
9:30 - Requiem from the Darkness: Episode 13: Shinigami, or rather the
Shichinin Misaki Part 2

[random babbling]
I imagine I'm not the only one hoping that some of the shows we're
watching are going to cheer up a bit before they end.  Personally, I think
that the last thing I need is to be horribly depressed during finals time.
That time is depressing enough.

Anyway, guess where I am!  Believe it or not, I'm in the middle of a
class.  Yep, I'm sitting in the back of the class, laptop open, writing
the club email instead of paying attention.  Sometimes I wonder why I even
bother coming.  If I'm not on my laptop, I'm playing with my PDA, looking
things up on the Japanese-English dictionary I have on there or doodling
random crap all over my notes.  Ah, education.

Huh.  The guy in front of me and to the right has an anime wallpaper.  I
don't recognize him from club, though.  Ah, well.  I guess not every anime
fan on the campus is going to be interested in Minna.

You know, I spent at least ten hours of my life this week grading.  This
isn't necessarily a bad thing, I suppose, since I got to turn my timesheet
in today and I've apparently earned a little over $200 this past month.  I
knew I had a fair bit of money coming, so I splurged a bit on food these
past couple weeks.  I feel a bit bad for buying more than I strictly need,
but I figure everyone has to treat themselves some of the time, no?

Anyway, I'll see you all on Saturday!  Oh, and Steebu, bring the cards,
huh?  I want to beat you some more.  ^_^
[/random babbling]

MnM 05/19

Minna no Manga meets Thursdays, 6pm-10pm, BLDG20, room 140.

~Announcements: We'll be having our quarterly Tsurugi's dinner the weekend
before Finals Week, so make sure you sign up if you plan on joining in the
fun. =3

~Manga of the Week: WāqWāq by Fujisaki Ryu

WāqWāq is the newest manga by the same person behind Houshin Engi and the
Sukisho manga. If you disliked the style in those two, WāqWāq should be more 
to your liking. The proportions aren't as crazy, but the
same wonderful feeling is there. The story ended quickly, with only 40+
chapters, but contains beautiful art and bewtiching storytelling.

WāqWāq is the story of a future where the people have black blood. The only
person who has red blood is their god. People are forced to live in
clusters of communities to protect themselves from the attacking machines.
The machines summon a high school girl from a time much like ours to help
them win over the people. As someone from a time like our own, she has red
blood and thus is the god of the black-blooded people. Enter Shio, our
cute little hero. His dad was a Sakimori, some one who can bond with a
special machine to become a protective soldier. When his dad passes away,
it is Shio's duty to take over. He must protect their newfound god from
the machines!

WāqWāq is available from Aku-Tenshi.

~Enter Rant:
Bishies love me because they know that I can rock.

~Annaliese

MnA 5/21

This week's schedule:

5:00 - Fansub o' the Week
5:25 - Slayers Next: Episode 25: The Souls of the Dead! Lina's Final
Decision!
5:50 - Break
5:55 - Patlabor OAV: Episode 3: The 450 Million-Year-Old Trap
6:20 - Inuyasha: Episode 97: Kirara Come Home!
6:45 - Break
6:50 - Scrapped Princess: Episode 24: Protectors' Symphony
7:15 - RahXephon: Twenty-Fifth Movement: The Uncertain Sound of God / Deus
Ex Machina
7:40 - Dinner Break
8:10 - Last Exile: Move 25: Quiet Move
8:35 - Generator Gawl: Episode 12: Out of Time
9:00 - Break
9:05 - Alien 9: Episode 2: Boredom, Spaceship and Overgrowth
9:30 - Alien 9: Episode 3: Summer vacation, Borg and Death

[random babbling]
Well, you can definitely tell the year is winding down.  Requiem from the
Darkness ended last week, so we're going to show two episodes of Alien 9
this week.  Also, this week we're watching the last episodes of Scrapped
Princess and Generator Gawl.  Ahhh...so much good stuff.

Speaking of good stuff, how many of you have seen the new Advent Children
trailer?  You know, the one that actually has a RELEASE DATE
(omgwtfFINALLY).  Apparently, my friends, we are due a simultaneously
release with Japan in mid-September.  Now, I don't know if this is set in
stone or not (they said it was gonna be out way before then, originally),
but I really, really hope it is.  I also really hope this isn't just for
the PSP.  I don't think it is, but I haven't heard a call on that one way
or the other.  If you have and can point me to any sources, I will...okay,
maybe not love you, but you will get Like Points, at least.  >.>

Anyway, I should probably get back to work on my term paper at this point.
I need to get a good chunk done by bedtime and I keep letting myself get
distracted.  Not long now...
[/random babbling]

MnM 5/26

Minna no Rocking Manga meets every fantabulously-rocking Thursday for a
stupendacular-rocking four hours starting at 6pm in a somewhat-rocking
room(140) in an electrically-rocking building(20). It rocks.

~Announcments:
-Remember it will be BYOA week for MnA. So bring your anime and fight for
it to be shown! And please take pictures of the fighting. ^_^
-Sunday before finals will be our Tsurugi's dinner! Please sign up or post
on the yahoo group if you plan on coming!

~Manga o' the Week: Global Garden by Saki Hiwatari

Global Garden is the story of a girl, Rukia, who was involved in an
accident with her brother. Her brother was killed in it and she was badly
injured. In order to cope with the loss of her brother, she was given her
brother's favorite hat. When she goes to visit her mother, her mother
believes her son has come back to her and is overjoyed. Rukia spends her
time living as her brother, and it begins to effect her body. One day, a
young man named Hikaru comes before her and says that she is the person he
has always dreamed of, the one to create Einstein's dream, the Global
Garden. Did I mention that Hikaru is actually 60, but is kept young by a
pill given to him by Einstein and has some telepathic-like abilities?

In one word, this series is ohsopretty. I had seen some of the final
chapters in the Hana to Yume phonebooks Rebecca lent me, but I never
thought the series could be so engaging. Yes, the plot is a little screwy,
but it's so fun and the character interactions make this fangirl eee and
squee. No, gentlemen, it's not yaoi. It's pure wonderous shoujo. The story
has the power to send me into alternating fits of adoration and anger. I
think Rukia has a horrible mother, but Hikaru and Robin(a REALLY cute mute
kid) make up for her.

Global Garden ran in Hana to Yume but ended its run in late 2004. Shoujo
Magic is scanlating the series and has at least 15 chapters out.

~Enter Rant:

FANIMEFANIMEFANIMEFANIMEWOOOOOOOOOO. Two days left...

Saki Hiwatari... makes me think of Satoshi Hiwatari from DNAngel. Teehee.

~Annaliese

MnA 5/28

This week's schedule:
Who knows?  BYOA night.  That's right.  Bring your own anime.  Tons of
people (including most of the officers) are off at Fanime, which means the
rest of us get to watch whatever we like.  There will be blood and tears.
I may bring a camera, since Annaliese seems to like the thought of me
taking pictures of the biting/clawing/hair pulling/jan-ken-po-ing/etc.

[random babbling]
So...have you ever noticed that ADV is evil?  I know this, because they
have massive sales for every occasion imagineable.  And these sales are
far, far too tempting for my health.  The urge to just buy all of Gawl for
$20...or the RahXephon movie boxset for only $14...ah, but I know that if
I bought one thing, I'd buy others.  ADV knows it, too, I think.  They
know it, and they wait for my poor, thin soul to collapse and give in.

Speaking of evil, grading is evil.  Specifically, grading people whose
code is full of seg faults and incorrect exception-throwing is evil.  For
those of you less computer-savvy club members out there, both of those
things I just mentioned are enough to send me off into fits of gibbering
after they keep popping up over and over again as I slowly manage to grade
eight people in five hours.  I still have four people left to go.  ...I
really don't get paid enough.

Hm.  So this message is a wee bit later than usual, in case you hadn't
noticed.  I blame the addictive drug that is Tsubasa Chronicle.  Oddly
enough, I keep rewatching the show just for the music.  I'm definitely
getting my hands on that OST as soon as possible.  ...am I the only person
who noticed that the names of the characters in TC actually correspond
directly to the names of Card Captor Sakura characters?  No?  Good.  I
wonder if CLAMP just isn't very inventive when it comes to names or if
they did that for a real reason.

Anyway, it's 2am and I'm tired.  Remember to bring your own anime tomorrow
(er, today?), and try to make it something we'll all enjoy.  For example,
you won't see me bringing Yami no Matsuei, so please follow my lead and
don't bring something that will make us all groan and then drag you
outside and gangstomp you.  It's for your own good.
[/random babbling]

MnM 06/02

Minna no Manga fills people with love and joy, with just a touch of evil.
To be a part of this enlightening gathering, please visit us on Thursdays
from 6pm-10pm in room 140 of building 20.



~Manga o' the Week: Soul Eater by Ohkubo Atsushi

Meet Maka and Soul. Their goal? To get 99 human souls and 1 witch soul!
what will they do with them? Eat them, of course! sorry, let me back up.
Maka is a weapon technician, and Soul is her weapon, a scythe that can the
form of a human. If Soul eats his 99 human and 1  work. Personally, I like
it a lot better, and I loved Bichi. Soul is always going on and on about
how he is/wants to be cool, Black Star(a ninja) is a complete show off
always looking for the spotlight, and Death the Kid(the head honcho's son)
is obsessed to the point of insanity with the symmetry of items. If you
like weapons, odd characters, and an awesome art style, Soul Eater is for
you.

Soul Eater rus in Shounen GanGan and the third volume has recently been
released. Manga Rain has scanlated the first two volumes.

Listen to the Beat of the Soul!!

~Enter Rant:

Sorry about the late e-mail this week! Suddenly it was 8pm Wednesday and I
had a comic to scan and color, a paper to write, and an e-mail to send.
Not cool.

I had a great time at Fanime last weekend, I think everyone who went did.
I am disappointed to hear there was no fighting at MnA last Saturday. I
wanted pictures. We took lots and lots of pictures of the con. ^_^

This will be our last MnM meeting of the year, but we shall be back with a
vengeance next year!

~Annaliese
My wallet is sad. :(

MnA 6/4

This week's schedule:

5:00 - Slayers Next: Episode 26: Go to NEXT! And Then Again...
5:25 - Patlabor OAV: Episode 4: L's tragedy
5:50 - Break
5:55 - Inuyasha: Episode 98: Kikyo and Kagome: Alone in the Cave
6:20 - RahXephon: Final Movement: Into Infinity / Time Enough For Love
6:45 - Break
6:50 - Last Exile: Move 26: Resign
7:15 - Alien 9: Episode 4: The end of the beginning
7:40 - Dinner Break
8:10(ish) - Spring Quarter Movie: Beyond the Clouds

[random babbling - migraine edition]
So, yeah.  School's coming to a close.  Good stuff there.

.hack//SIGN music is still to die for.  It's been keeping me good and sane
the past few weeks.  Actually, it's been one of the only things that
HASN'T been contributing to my impending insanity.

Migraines suck.  Ibuprofen doesn't.  Go drugs, go.

Obviously, I'm not-quite-all-here.  So to spare you more of my crazy, I
think I'll scoot off to bed now.  See you all tomorrow.
[/random babbling]