Incredible Nothing!

Probably the only anime reference I’m putting in this post.

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Not to be confused with this one.

So to explain my absence from the posting scheme of things, here’s a ridiculously non-anime related picture heavy post on my 2 day study trip a few days back (Unfortunately, I had to spend the days after the trip doing everything but posting on this blog, including spamming Anime Nano with some of my recent posts that I chose to republish – major apology for that one, wasn’t intended – and failing further still in beautifying this place. Well whatever, live with it for now, I know I’ll have to -_-”)

Oh and I lied about the non-anime related part in case you suddenly became uninterested (not that I can blame you)

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Well, this is embarrassing… Even before I’ve properly settled down with this new blog (and I still haven’t really) (Thanks Randall!), people have already found their way here – so to all of you here’s a belated WELCOME and an apology for having you set your eyes on tondemonothing.dasaku.net in all its as of yet unbeautified glory (and if anyone happens to have an awesome Animal Yokocho image of better resolution than my sad header right now, contact me ASAP!)! For those who are new here (myself kinda included), WELCOME, and also sorry for the current unbeautified state of this place… ORZ

There’s still a lot I’ve yet to tinker about here, but time I’m kind of short on time at the moment. That includes adding old and new links and checking out plugins etc… All that and more posting on this brand spanking new domain will also have to wait till I come back from this study trip to the neighbouring prefectures in the following few days (Incidentally I have to memorize all of Japan’s 47 prefectures soon… bloody curriculum).

Oh and to itsubun – thanks for indirectly pimping my previous post on the round-robin, though I apologize for not being as savvy as I should be about the current fiasco being brought up against it since I’m a bit tangled up with Wordpress the site atm (and adventurer_killy’s post was on the tl;dr side. I’ll be catching up to the rest of the blogosphere only when I come back promise to swallow a thousand needles if I don’t and whatnot)

And again, a big thanks to Randall for making this possible! Here’s to our ongoing rabu rabu hate hate relationship and to this blog living up to the dasaku name!

Brawn Before Brains XD

There’s a lot to like about this episode (unless you’re just into the gun-toting aspects of this show), most notedly how everyone chipped in to help Iku distract her parents from the dangerous aspects of her job without her having to ask them (well, Shibasaki had to be offered a good meal, but I would have done the same. What are friends for? ) Guess it once more shows us the ‘princely’ of the guys on the show (And yes, I did notice that Iku’s dad drinks that Prince beer this time around)

Shibasaki to the rescue (again)! The scene made me think of Mint and her costume fetish XD

“Call me ‘otousan‘ ” *winks*

Also, it just happens to be that second Sunday of May, so here’s a shout-out to my dearest mom back home – HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! (Then again, I’ll probably have to be as desperate as Iku to hide the existence of this blog from my own parents, so I’ll just have to send that message through other means, lol) This goes out to all moms out there too, especially those who watch anime (Is there such a demographic?) And not forgetting those in anime as well, who are always wishing the best for their offspring like their real life counterparts (though the means by which they go round displaying it is by far more entertaining – think Itazura na Kiss and Kyouran Kazoku Nikki)

Iku’s mom is the rather over-concerned type, the kind that fusses over their children choosing less orthodox and sometimes risky paths in life. It doesn’t gel too well with Iku’s somewhat brash and headstrong personality and her insistence in joining the Library Task Force, but I guess it’s some sort of stereotype for daughters not to have the best relationships with their moms (or conversely, have ridiculously good ‘BFF’-like ones). Though Iku’s mom was later than her dad (never underestimate a man who drinks PRINCE!) in fully realizing the scope of their daughter’s wishes and accepting them, to her credit we do see by the end of the ep that the romantic streak of Iku’s is something she shared by mother and daughter – just see her instant delight upon hearing of her daughter’s Prince Charming story ;P In the end Iku realizes that opening up to her parents earlier on would have been the right thing to do, as they turned out to be more understanding of their child than what she gives them credit for – which is often the case in real life.

It kinda reminds me of the time I ‘dropped the bombshell’ on my own parents about my wanting to study in Japan (“Of all places???” was what their reaction was along the lines of) – something they never saw coming despite knowing well enough that I waste most of my life away spend a lot of my time watching anime XD. Though they were rather against it at first, mostly because it seemed to them like one of my infamously spur of the moment impulse driven decisions – and concerning that ‘all important’ education no less – so I did have to show that I did actually put some thought into this (ZOMG SRSLY??). The rest is, as they say, history

(I’ll probably have even more trouble convincing readers of this blog that it’s NOT* because of anime that I’m actually here, so I won’t even try =P

*Okay fine, not SOLELY… ;P I still have a personal wish to watch Mizuki Nana perform live to fulfill! A little too late for that this year though… Or is it…?)

Perhaps I should find it ironic that I’ve spent my first week in a supposedly technologically advanced country without an internet connection. Thankfully those days are gone and it’s back to my hikikomori-ing I go!… Or so I would like, only I now have to walk out of my room to another building to get that coveted wireless connection… Well beggars can’t be choosers they say.

My first week here in the Osaka University Minoh Campus (just to make things clear that I’m not here on some otaku pilgrimage, it’s actually SRS BSNSS and studying for me here… oh who am I kidding ) has been memorable for the oddest of things – from the expected language barrier problems (it’s not called moonspeak for nothing… Most locals I’ve met so far are rather reluctant to speak English if at all and would rather bear my broken phrases and wild hand gestures. The most fluent English I’ve heard so far is from the cafeteria lady in our dorm, lol) to the unexpected unsavouries of dorm life (let’s just say you might want to consider it a while before you clean under you’re the bed in your new room…). Many thanks goes to our Malaysian senpais for guiding us through those first few days and giving us the head start we needed in experiencing this very new Japanese university life (quite different from what’s portrayed n Moyashimon, fortunately or not). The hanami (flower viewing) at Banpaku-kinen-kouen is of particular note, it would be rather futile on my part to try to put the whole first time seeing a sakura-lined street experience into words, so here’s a couple of choice pics to compensate for that (bear with these though, I’m the kind of shutterbug who knows naught about light exposure and camera settings and whatnot -_-“)

Pink Supervisor?

Okay, after a while they all start looking the same… Photography just isn’t my thing -_-”

On the anime front (This being an anime blog after all and this being the land it all comes from), suffice to say a second-hand television (the reception is actually affected whenever I move within the room -_-“) has been a small salvation from the lack of anime from the usual sources. Though I would like to remember my first time watching an actual anime broadcast on Japanese television to be something other than gawking confusedly at the first episode of Macross F which just appeared on screen suddenly as I flipped channels one late night… In the end I spent less time trying to figure out what was going on than the time trying to guess what show I was watching that involved green-haired loli and a woman singing in space. Having never seen anything from the Macross franchise, this wasn’t something I was planning on watching, but again, beggars can’t choose. I told myself the same thing as I watched the premiere of Kirarin Revolution’s third season -_-“ (I can’t believe it’s outlasting Full Moon wo Sagashite!). Also on the new season front, managed to catch Soul Eater which turned out to be a mashup of every shounen anime I’ve ever come in contact with, only with BONES giving it a little Ouran flair (Watch out for them arrows!). I’m crossing my fingers that I don’t miss Toshokan Sensou this week =P As for everything else I’ve missed, thank god for the internet again!

Well that’s all for now, a week’s worth of anime and blog posts on the Nano aren’t going to watch or read themselves. And there’s the whole fully settling down absorbing the local culture to do as well…

As the date shifts and February (which got that special extra day this year) gives way to March, today marks the first month of my GIVING IT ALL I’VE GOT on this blog… A small achievement really, but still one worth celebrating (If you notice, this blogger is prone to celebrating just about anything on this blog =P). So here’s to the first official month of Tondemo Nothing! a venture I hope to continue for, well, many more months to come! On behalf of this blog, I’d like to thank anyone who’s come through this blog to take a peek at the 20-odd articles up so far, and a special thanks goes to usagijen over at scrumptious who posted the first ever comment on Tondemo Nothing! *claps*

Oh, but that’s not all there is to celebrate today…

Well if the pic doesn’t just give it away… Not only am I celebrating this blog turning 1 month old today, but as of today this little blogger’s turning one year older ^^ (Okay, maybe I’m not as ‘little’ as I like to be and I’m certainly much older than the cake suggests…) That’s right, it’s also a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to issa-sa today!!! *solitary applause from the self-absorbed panda that I am =P*

(The real Issa only celebrates his in November btw)

Since my last post had to do with anime character birthdays, it only made sense to check up which character(s) I shared a birthday with. The result…

March 1: Misaka Kaori (Kanon)

Not exactly my favourite Kanon girl (Oh, what a killjoy I am), but you can’t exactly pick the day you were born, can you? So to Kaori-chan, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! おたんじょうび　おめでとう!!!

(This is strangely looking very much like the recent birthday post by Kurogane… who happens to be my senpai by a year and a month btw, unless either of us is lying about our age =P)

Also born on March 1st : Street Fighter’s Chun Li (LOL!) and apparently someone named Gouda Yuu from Full Metal Panic! (someone enlighten me on this one since I can’t seem to remember anyone by this name in the series). On the seiyuu front, it’s also おたんじょうび　おめでとうございます to Nogawa Sakura and Kashiwakura Tsutomu. (Yay!!)

Nogawa Sakura is recognizable as Nemu from Da Capo, Hinaichigo from Rozen Maiden, and more recently as Seto no Hanayome’s Luna and Frog girl A on Kimikiss Personally my favourite role from Nogawa-san is Ayumi from the wildly hilarious Magikano ^^

Kashiwakura Tsutomu is credited as as the sound director for the Ai Yori Aoshi series (which I should remind myself to watch one of these days). As to his seiyuu performances, most of his roles don’t seem too familiar to me, but I will remember him for his Barabaraman-sensei on Akazukin Chacha.

To anyone else whose birthday is today, here’s wishing you a Happy Birthday (too!), and to everyone else, enjoy this 1st of March for what it’s worth =D

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Heck, it’s a day that comes only once every four years, it deserves to be celebrated, no? And it gives me an excuse to do one of these image heavy posts than having to wrack my brains out typing out a serious one At any rate, if celebrating this 29th of February for the sake of celebrating it isn’t your thing, then you can join me in commemorating the rare birthdays of one rose bride and one CLAMP bishounen.

So here’s wishing a once in four years Happy Birthday to Himemiya Anthy, the Rose Bride from that wonderfully enigmatic yet strangely absorbing series which was Revolutionary Girl Utena. It’s a series with an interesting mix of unconventional imagery and original story-telling which makes it an instant classic, and one of the biggest mysteries surrounding the show is the that of the Rose Bride Anthy – what sinister secrets does her complacent doormat-ish veneer really hide…?

Those who have watched the series should remember the somewhat artificial innocence which surrounds Anthy’s persona, whereas those who’ve seen her in the Adolescence Apocalypse movie (which is a compelte retelling of the series, mind you) will see her as more feisty flirty creature… But to those who aren’t familiar with either, Anthy is still famed for being a classic Yuri icon in anime together with the ‘princely’ Utena, if you’re at all into that sort of thing ^^

Anthy and ChuuChuu at the end of the series. I have to say that the ending of Utena felt very inconclusive yet extremely satisfactory at the same time. *Spoiler: Watching Himemiya finally breaking free from her brother’s shackles and walking out of the school to search for Utena (wherever she may be) while Rose & Release played in the background (which is basically Masami Okui ~La la la~ing to the OP song – a must listen) turned out to be one of the most strangely satisfying and fitting endings to an anime I’ve ever had the chance to watch. *

Indeed, Himemiya Anthy is not-so-innocent as she first seems… The biggest mystery that comes to mind when I see her though is how she manages all that hair whenever she appears in public!

Also celebrating his hard to come by birthday is Kinomoto Touya from Cardcaptor Sakura. おたんじょうび　おめでとう! Touya’s claim to fame as Sakura’s teasing brother comes from being part job-hopping sister-stalking siscon, and part sister’s-crush-stealing BL icon. (Hmm, this post is turning out to be more yuri/yaoi-centric than I expected) And of course, how can I not mention that he’s voiced by awesome Seki Tomokazu ^^?

Touya is the typical older sibling who enjoys tormenting his younger sister (being an older sibling myself, I’ll just say it’s one of those unwritten rules of family life =P) while ’secretly’ looking out for her in the not-very-rare case that the Cardcaptor gets into a pinch. This he does while working at his 101 (and perhaps more) part-time jobs :S Talk about industriousness. Sakura of course, being the oblivious little moe magical girl that she is never really notices this (and many other things throughout the course of the series) as she’s too busy capturing stray Clow cards while hiding the magical aspect of her life from her onii-chan.

There’s snow! And bunnies! How could I resist??? ^^

Those who’ve watched Cardcaptor Sakura can fully attest to the legitimacy of the Touya X Yukito pairing which for once is not just the product of collective fangirls’ imagination, unless you’re willing to turn a big blind eye towards the proceedings in the later episodes. Spoiler: Yukito openly turns down poor Sakura for her brother, lol. No surprise really, CCS being a CLAMP work after all, slash inevitably works its way in like it or not =P

Well, to these two classic characters, here’s wishing you a Happy Leap Year-Day Birthday from Tondemo Nothing!

(And if anyone gives a hoot about me using images I obviously wantonly took from the net, feel free to voice yourself and I will most graciously remove the offending image and replace it with some other image I borrowed from some other source which I’ve failed to credit)