Reverse Harem Garden

By ayreesa "Shugo Chara" is reportedly up for a second year. It will be formally announced on August 2 in Kodansha' Nakayoshi magazine. The anime is currently airing since fall of 2007 and runs for 51 episodes.

By ayreesa Act 2: Sudden Melody Matthias has come into an agreement with Eren. Eren will research on a chip while Matthias will help in Dr. Yorgo's acquittal. Jet becomes Matthias' guard. At last, Angelique wakes up as the sun shines for the first time in six months. She dreams about Nyx asking for her help. Angelique and the 3 remaining orb hunters travels to Sacred Capital while Bernard and Roche looks for answers about Nyx. Spoilers: Boring episode. Jet looks infatuated with Angelique and Matthias is kinda becoming like a villain. I wondered who bathed and changed Angelique for six months. They took turns? Lol! I thought her traumatic experience with fire is just a minor detail in the story. But the writers make it as a trigger for the heroine's slumber. It wasn't explained if she dreamed anything or what exactly did Erwin do. Of course, her new costume under the cloak will be officially shown on the next episode and I'm guessing her ponytail is courtesy of Nyx...

"Hana Yori Dango Final" opened at #1 and earned over 1 billion yen or US$9,631,782 on 400 cinemas on it's weekend run in Japan. Over 2 million people watched the film on it's first nine days. The final manga volume that was also released in the same week also peaked at #1 on the weekly comic rankings. source: ANN Updates: The movie has stayed on the no.1 spot for three straight weeks. On its' second week it took 756 million yen (about US$7.3 million) for a gross total of 2.622 billion yen (US$25.1 million). It took in another 580 million yen (US$5.5 million) on its' third weekend (Jul 12-13) bringing it to a running gross total of 3.79 billion yen (US$36 million). Yasuhara Ishii's flick slipped to no. 3 on its' 4th week after the opening of two animes: "Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl: Giratina to Sora no Hanataba Shaymin" (no.2) and "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea" (no.1). On the fourth spot in it's fifth weekend, it becam...

By ayreesa Act 1: The Lost Light It's been six months since Silent Sun burned to the ground. While its inhabitants have been missing, the Tanatos had overran Arcadia. Bernard and Rene are trying to get leads about Angelique and the rest. Mathias and Rene are preparing for the succession. Erenfried with Jet is trying to get Yorgo out of the mess. Spoilers: Each scene for the opening credits is very intriguing. They could have given a clue about Erwin or we're just missing it. Angelique has a new costume and hairstyle. I can't decide which is better. Angelique is in a cocoon-like stage and when she wakes up she'll morph into an action-type heroine.

By ayreesa "Taranta Ranta" ("Let's Go Happy Happy Girl" or "Looking for Happiness") 2 volumes by Youko Maki Hikaru is optimistic to start her highschool with happiness. But on the first day she bumps into a guy who looks exactly like her dead brother. It's a signal of a tumultuous freshmen year. It's like a oneshot stretched into 12 chapters. There are a lot of issues that didn't mature. The plot is anything goes. There are a lot of interesting characters that are not developed. Nothing happened, nothing was resolved. The manga needs a sequel to tie up the loose ends. But I was mesmerized by the beautiful art. The art reminds me of "Rockin Heaven". The reverse harem theme is not that defined but what the heck.

By ayreesa Auditions for the Korean version of "Hana Yori Dango" (No official translation yet) began last April. There had been talks of casting of SS501's boy band leader, Kim Hyun Joong for the role of Hanazawa Rui. The complete cast of F4 and the heroine will be announced by end of July. The 24-episode drama will air in fall of 2009. Source: smurf

"Himitsu no Hanazono" ("The Secret Garden" / "Hanazono's Secret") 11 episodes Tsukiyama is having the worst longest day of her life and to top it all, it's also her 28th birthday. But her monotonous single life will be soon be broken when she meets the four weird brothers who are behind the successful female mangaka, Hanazono. I found no connection at all with the drama at first. The girl is such a pushover and the guys are just too weird. The opening credits feels like it was from the seventies and the song is..again weird. The subtitles are terrible. But as I've watched it I began to enjoy and laugh at HNH. I also liked the fact that it's about mangakas and we get to see how they create mangas. Editors are commonly depicted as people who pressures the artists with deadline. But if we notice in some of mangaka's talk page, their editors advises them with ideas and supports them in research or whatever. The drama was only at t...

By ayreesa "Neo Angelique Abyss" 13 episodes Arkadia is constantly under the attack of Tanatos. Only a few men have purfiying capabilities. Angelique learns that she too has the power to purify Tanatos and not only that she can also heal the victims of Tanatos. Together with the Orb Hunters and friends she tries to fulfill her destiny as the Queen's Egg. This is based on spin off game of the series. It's an entirely different story with a new 'Angelique' heroine and obligatory bishonens. "Angelique" is reborn with a modern version after more than 10 years since it first came out. By standards of "Angelique", it has evolved into an anime fit to take the throne of the "Angelique" lore. Though it's reminiscent of it's predecessors, they had lessened the cheesy lines, added more action, more fanservice and mecha too. The original character art is designed by Yuri Kairi who also designed all of "Saiunkoku Monog...

By ayreesa Phase 13: Return, And The Consortium is able to amplify the Queen's Egg powers as the guardians fights off numerous Tanatos. After the long battle they return back to Silent Sun. Then suddenly fire spreads out and Tanatos appears. As hope runs out, one of their comrades suddenly transforms... Spoilers: I don't want to give away all the details in the summary so I'm going to rave about it here. This is a great way to end the season. I got carried away during the battle in the first part. Tanatos popping up here and there... Angelique enduring the hours-long fight... And then JD destroying one of Consortium's specially-prepared antenna. XD I was half-expecting that the rest of the bishies will appear. Tada! But that didn't happen. Hmmp! They're probably reserving that for the second season. The second climatic part is of course Nyx turning evil which is sad and Erwin turning into someone! Whoa!

By ayreesa Happy Fourth of July to Americans. It's also a time of fireworks and festivals in Japan. And of course, a new season of animes. Sadly there's no brand new series but we'll still have "Neo Angelique Abyss: Second Age" and the ongoing "Shugo Chara".

By ayreesa "Vampire Knight" 13 episdoes, 9 volumes-ongoing by Matsuri Hino Cross Academy is separated into day and night class. The night class are actually vampires headed by Kuran. Yuki and Zero are the guardians who maintain the distance between the two classes. The anime and manga doesn't feel like a reverse harem. It's more like Kuran's harem. But just because of this picture and a wishful thinking, I'll be indulging myself. This is the first time that I've read a manga before watching the anime. The manga is intoxicating and I felt the anime failed to relive that experience. I also prefer the delicate manga art over the anime. It took me about a couple of episodes before I became used to the animation especially how the eyes were animated. The colors and the soundtrack gave "Vampire Knight" a more gothic atmosphere. As expected the sequences and scenarios are slightly altered but it remained faithful to the storyline. The anime serves like ...