Picture Perfect Paranoia

Opening Theme

Start Line by COACH☆

Ending Theme

Aoi FIELD” by COACH☆
Kimi no Koto by COACH☆

[screenshots pending]

I admit it. I’m not a romance buff. Being exposed to various televised novels of struggle involving lovers - affectionately called telenovelas here in the Philippines - I was not pleased with how cliches on love, such as “love conquers all” and “love prevails”, were used to ensure a happy ending for the “love team”. Clearly, there is a demarcated line between the fated lovers and the eternal rivals of the “love team”.

Even in the realm of anime, that is, until the anime boom of the 1990’s, the situation is no different. The proliferation of so many series of the harem genre further strengthened my bias on the field. We see the common staples: flying managers, weak males sought after by girls with stereotypic qualities, magical girlfriends, and the like.

And then came Suzuka, the latest romance anime to grace the TV screen in 2005. At first glance, you would infer it to be a harem anime of standard fare, with the occurence of a boy living under one roof with many women of varying personalities, from the icy Suzuka, to the consoling cousin Miho, to the drunk Yuka, to the busty Megumi, to best friend Yasunobu, and finally to kind girl Honoka. Everyone will be playing their respective roles in this series.

The only striking difference of this series from the others in last year’s line-up of romantic shows is the lack of any fanservice from the first episode. What’s more, the pacing of the story is what you would expect in a soap opera, only it’s animated.

If you’re both a romance buff, like I am now, loves to watch soap operas, and wants a change from the overused cliche of romance in anime, watch this.

I downloaded a new video file from Eclipse Fansubs. Stangely, it is titled “Shakugan no Shana-tan”. Why is it titled as such? It is then that I decided to find out for myself.

As I was watching the clip, I suddenly felt a few years of my life wasting away. Damn.

This is another example of capitalizing on the main character’s charisma and turning it topsy-turvy. That is, towards uber-cuteness.

J.C. Staff earned an OK sign from me. Damn it! Making Shana too cute for words.

uru-chai! uru-chai! uru-chai! uru-chai! uru-chai! Hahaha! Indeed, I was living a life a minute shorter.

credit due to Basugasubakuhatsu Anime Blog for the pic.

Sorry for the late update, folks. These past few weeks at Uni are taking its toll on my anime blogging activities that I find it difficult to whip up a “first impressions” post that’ll fill at least a quarter of a page of this blog. Heck, it’s even harder, I must admit, to write - and often blog - a series, or particular episodes in a series, that rouse my interest.

Still, I must move on. There’s no reason for me to slack off, now that I’ve started this blog. I may have stumbled twice, but the fact of the matter is, I’m not done yet.

Looks like Anime Blog Toshokan has been “replaced” by its offspring, Blogsuki. A vast improvement over its predecessor, both in aesthetics and functionality, it’s a favorite hub for anime bloggers all over the globe. Unfortunately, at the moment it isn’t accepting new feeds until the “older feeds are working right”.

And I thought Jeff Lawson has announced his retirement in anime blogging, together with Kawaii, David and Moyism, but it looks like he’s back on track. Glad to see another pillar of the anime blogging network standing up again!

In a few moments, I have a review of the latest romance anime series success “Suzuka”. Just have to get my mind back on track, processing the review.