Sora To Hara

空と原 [Sora to Hara] by Asumiko Nakamura
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Why...Why...oh why I waited this long to read this manga. Well, maybe because I was not too fascinated with the art style. But then, Nakamura Asumiko sensei's art is not the typical art you see in a Yaoi manga. The line drawing style, the not so perfect faces or the blank expressions...yeah at first glance they will not fascinate you. But as you start reading, you get immersed in the story and the characters and you feel that the drawing style suits the story perfectly.

Story- 4.5 For all those who have read the Classmates [Doukyuusei] series, this is the continuation story of the oh so cute Hara sensei and his journey to find his love.

Art-3.5 As mentioned before, the art style is way different from the usual style you have seen in the Boys Love (BL) /Yaoi mangas. But, I think you can get used to it once you start reading the story. The art blends well with the story and its characters. I'm not sure how much I can like the flowing line drawing style, but the face and expressions were clear and good. Shounen-ai's do focus more on the dramatic aspect of the story and you can see that in their art.

Character-4 Well, for those of you who have read previous series, Hara sen has been a constant character and I always wanted to see his "happy ending". I'm glad that we get to see a side of Hara sen that previous mangas did not portray, his "desperately and idiotically in love" side ^.^ Sorano is a refreshing change from a typical Uke, although I wanted to see many more moments of his with Hara sen, that's why I felt his character development lacked something. Maybe pulling in other characters help in understanding Hara sen's past relationships, but Sorano and Hara sen's ending up together to me looked a little rushed.

Enjoyment-4 Enjoyment is definitely there, especially the conversations between Hara sen and Sorano. I love the way Hara sen gets flustered in front of Sorano whenever he tries to act like an adult, but not so convincingly ^o^

Overall-4
The story is a good continuation and conclusion of a wonderful series. Of course, it leaves a lot to be desired from the Yaoi part, but if you are into Drama CD's, I highly recommend listening to it. The voice acting / seiyuu cast is awesome ♥♥♥ - Fukuyama Jun (Aoto Sorano), & Ishikawa Hideo (Hara Manabu).

View all my reviews

Skip Beat - an enchanting blend of romance & comedy

Argggh…winter is here and I also saw the first snowstorm of this season. I’m so disappointed with the cold weather that has suddenly shrouded down the beautiful colors of fall. Well its going to be like this atleast till March so I am looking forward to have a good pleasant long weekend outing with “M” in Jan and watch my fave past time of some cool Japanese animation series (although there are certain other pending tasks that I need to concentrate on...umm...will talk about it some other time).

Recently I have also gotten into this addiction of reading graphic novels, to be specific the famous comic rage from Japan "MANGA". This Manga reading addiction of mine started after watching one of the best romantic-anime comedies (that came out in fall of 2008) among the Japanese animation series – SKIP BEAT. The first season ended in the summer 2009 and has taken many animation lovers (including me :-D) by surprise. I'm right now (and all Skip Beat fans) are praying for the second season of this anime to be out.

~ The Plot

At first glance, Skip Beat may even look like just another Shoujo Manga-based anime (such as “La Corda D'oro Primo Passo") but that is where the relation with a typical romantic anime ends. Even if romance plays a major part in this series (there is a love triangle also) still, there are certain “bizarre” but “catchy” elements that will make any ardent anime fan crave for more. Here are the things to check out in this anime. The story focuses on the main protoganist Kyoko Mogami, a 16 year old girl whose life, love and everything imaginable centers around just one guy Sho Fuwa. Just like any romantic girl she also dreams about fairytales, life living like a "Cindrella" with her "Ojisama" alias Prince Sho. But life had something else enstored for her when she discovers that her "dear heart" and childhood friend only keeps her around to act as a maid and useful caretaker who can pay for his living expenses, like paying rent of their expensive apartment. Sho is a selfish brute, a self-centered person who is adamant on working his way up to become Japan's top pop idol. Furious and heartbroken, Kyoko vows to get revenge by beating him in show business. How she manages to do that and what new adventures, encounters she faces in the world of Showbiz (including a love interest) is what this anime is all about.

~ Main Characters

The main protagonist Kyoko Mogami is already entitled to a unique character representation “Kyoko devils”. But in the anime its not just her mood swings but her “sheer gusto” that will make you fall in love with her character. Her experiences in the showbiz have a very realistic edge, for instance, how she handles her first hand showbiz experiences in the “talent auditions” of the L.M.E. agency; her confrontations first with famous actor star from her agency Ren Tsuruga and then with rival turned best friend Kotonami Kanae/ Moko. The author has beautifully churned out Kyoko’s character of a cute, joyful and full-of-purpose girl who has also got shades of crazy, unexpected behavior. Skip Beat is Kyoko’s journey from a rookie to an upcoming talented actress, her trials & tribulations in show business and the recognition of her own true value and talent.

Next comes the second main character of Ren Tsuruga, who on outside appearance is a “very nice guy” and polite actor, but his true self only comes out when he is with Kyoko. At first, Ren’s reason for showing dislike to Kyoko was her "revenge plot on Fuwa Sho". IN the start you will see that Ren is carrying this prejudice in his mind and in his own way tries to sabotage Kyoko's showbiz journey. With his teasing/taunting behavious towards Kyoko, Ren tries to make her realize that her reason to be in showbiz and pursue a career in it are totally wrong. But as the story progresses, and one of the flashbacks of Kyoko’s past is revealed - where Ren is the “fairy prince - Corn”, Ren starts to look at her in a new light. But the present Kyoko is too dense to connect the dots of her "Corn" with the present Ren (alias Kuon/Corn) and the feelings of love that he harbor for her. In someways Ren reminded me of "Darcy from Pride and Prejudice" and his personality has some shades of Darcy in it too, and I guess that's what makes him so awesomely scrumptious character of the animation world.

Last but not the least the man who completes this anime love triangle - Fuwa Sho/Shoutaro - the selfish ex-boyfriend who breaks Kyoko's heart and awakens her desire to standup for herself. Sho keeps his real name hidden because he considers it old-fashioned. No one in showbiz knows the real background of Sho (except Kyoko).He does not regret anything about using Kyoko for his own self interest and has got even less regrets when Kyoko discovers the truth about him. Later on in the series, when he encounters the newly transformed Kyoko and her being a part of his rival talent agency L.M.E., Sho starts to understand Kyoko's perseverance to be successful in showbiz and to take revenge on him. He also starts to realize his feelings for her.

The supporting characters of SB are also well matched with the main cast.

Kotonami Kanae the rival turned friend of Kyoko was at first all set to kill Kyoko's confidence to be successful in her first audition in L.M.E. But as most of female characters in the Shoujo series Kanae also starts softening towards Kyoko and becomes her first true friend. Although Kanae tries to show a very strong front in front of others but actually she is very self conscious of her self and does not get along with children. She is also the second member of "Love Me" with Kyoko.

Lory Takarada, the L.M.E president is the most flamboyant character in the series. He loves to show-off but he is also a very good judge of character. He is one of those first few people who sees a great promise in Kyoko of being an outstanding "star" in showbiz, and because of Kyoko's lack of understanding the "love" emotion creates the section "Love Me". He also has a grand-daughter, Maria, who admires Kyoko.

Maria Takarada, is a bit pampered yet adorable grand daughter of Lory, but facing the ghosts of her tragic past. When she was five she lost her mom in a plane crash and the ironic thing is that Maria was the one who asked her mother to be with her on her birthday. Her mom Rina was a famous Japanese model and when she died almost everyone blamed Maria for her mom's death including her own father. Only her granddad was her supporter who also confronted his son to stop blaming his daughter for something that is just a cruel joke of fate. Even if a kid, Maria is very instinctive and observant of adult behavior, that's why she understands all the people around her with their pretentious attitude (I say she's quiet a smart nine-year-old kid). Because of her cisrcumstances she develops a rebellious attitude, much to the regret of her granddad Lory. The only person who can tame the rebel Maria is Ren (she has a huge crush on him), but the one who actually understands her emotions and heals the pain in her heart is Kyoko (who herself has a history of a sad & painful childhood). And that's why Maria idolizes Kyoko and calls her "oneesan".

Yukihito Yashiro, is Ren's manager who at first looks like a very capable person in balancing Ren's busy work life, but in the later half of the anime he provides quiet good comic relief too. As the anime progresses, Yashiro's character develops with the development in Ren and Kyoko's relationship. Infact Yashiro is the one who plays cupid between Ren and Kyoko, by constantly pestering Ren about his dealings with Kyoko and how his behavior is changing gradually with Kyoko from dislike to love. As a person, Yashiro has a very genteel personality (in the Manga its explained that Yashiro is a very dedicated and strict manager one of the reason why Ren is never late on a job) but he's very bad with electric gadgets that's why he always wears plastic gloves while using a cellphone and he doesn not know how to drive.

~ Devil Kyoko's/Grudge Kyoko

Devil and Angel characters aren’t new in animations but the major difference in SB and others is again a new presentation technique, which is Kyoko’s imaginative world (which is similar to a fairytale or Alice in wonderland). The Kyoko devils first appear as a part of a “Pandora box” that gets open when Sho dumps Kyoko. The plotting of “Kyoko Devils” is cleverly done by the author and brings out some of the most hilarious scenes whenever Kyoko is in an angry/scary/depressed mood. Sometimes you'll also even see the “Kyoko Angels” appearing, which our heartbroken heroine mercillesly kills with her imagination. The moments where Kyoko gets a reminder of her past, about Sho or her Senpai Tsuruga Ren are the some of the best anime scenarios I have recently seen in any anime series.

~ Background score/soundtrack
Music or background score often goes unnoticed in an anime. But then that way one can focus more on the story and how the character development is done in it. Skip Beat isnt having any traits of peppy music, but the score still stands out and its impresses in every way. I basically loved the main theme of the anime, but then the ending song "Namida by 2BACKAA" is one of my fave.

Although I can mention many other elements of Skip Beat that are really hard to miss, but then there are many who havent seen this anime and I'm not the one whose going to spoil anyone's fun factor. As mentioned before, don't take this anime series as just another romantic comedy, it has got some well crafted romantic moments and gives a good insight of the entertainment world. It also shows a very unique and different perspective of love/friendship/relationships from the eyes of every character. Last but not the least, my recommendation is to watch this anime with English subs as there's no substitute of the voice actors who have done a marvelous job by giving their voice to these characters.

P.S. Skip Beat is available online for "free" at crunchyroll.com

All iszzzzz wellllllll!

Happy New Year everyone :). Welcome 2010... I hope to keep one resolution this year and that is, to regularly update my blog/s.

Now, this will be a brief blog but it's something that I can't contain any longer. Finally, M and I managed to watch the movie that has created quite a rage in India and if the current place we live in is to be considered- America as well (I'm sure my fellow Indians living all across the world are also quiet enamored by it). I'm talking about the movie 3 Idiots. Well, I heard about this movie from M only and he was the one who was more excited to watch this movie more than me, maybe because he also read the book by Chetan Bhagat ("Five point someone" from which the movie screenplay was adapted). Anyway, from the past 2 weeks I have been hearing great reviews about the movie from almost every (Indian) one I knew. Ofcourse having Aamir Khan (the "thinking" actor of Bollywood industry) as the main lead makes a lot of difference as well. But, after watching the movie today I can say that not just Aamir, but the way the movie has been written and crafted makes it a great crowd puller.

~ PLOT:

a story about students with aspirations who want to make a difference in their lives by getting an Engineering degree from the prestigious college they are a part of. The problem is that they all are in tremendous pressure to show everyone that they deserve to be in that college and that they are indeed born as winners. Now out of the whole lot of new comers there is one who is different, Rancho aka Ranchoddass Shyamaldas Chanchad (Aamir). He never lives by the rules and is passionately in love with machines, but he does not like the way the (education system in his college/India) works. From here starts the exciting journey of Rancho and his two roomies Farhan Qureshi (Madhavan) and Raju Rastogi (Sharman Joshi) - the simple yet smart guys who were called "Idiots" just because they wanted to be known as educated person in real sense, not just because they had a degree to prove that they have graduated from an engineering college.

~ Why this movie is a must watch? Because...

- it's about how dreams and aspirations mold student life
- it's about what you want to be and not what others want you to be
- it's about achievements/ struggles/hardships seen from the eyes of

  a student, explained by a student
- it's a harmonious & hilarious amalgamation of love, friendship & education. :D

~ Acting wise I'll give it a 10 out of 10 as no one can be more convincing actor than Aamir and the way all other cast members Sharman Joshi, Madhavan, Boman Irani & Kareena Kapoor complimented his acting that made this movie a superb watch. As for Rajkumar Hirani, he deserves this hat trick as a director (after the Munnabhai saga).

3 Idiots - ****rating

Marriage... is it a new beginning???

Ohio!!! Sigh!!! I wasn’t suppose to start this blog entry with a sigh… but somehow I just cant ignore to write about the everyday moments, the instances where I am so much over whelmed by this emotion called “love”…

In my previous blog I forgot to mention my introduction to my fellow readers and bloggers… I am Sku… well that’s what I would like to keep as my pen name for now… a female who has recently entered the bandwagon of “holy matrimony”. Everyone talked about marriage around me (its still considered to be a very hot debatable topic in my country India). If a girl isn’t married, she’s somehow considered to be “locco”. I mean I was perfectly content with my single life, going through each day as it comes, enjoying the company of good friends and had a perfectly good career. In my language that is what is called “settled in life”. But…there was something missing…an emotion that I hadn’t felt for quiet some years now…a feeling that makes everyone frustrated, angry, happy, giddy, dizzy and so on ( I can mention plethora emotions here… but never mind!!!). Arranged Marriage trend is also something which is (surprisingly) very successful in India… and that’s how I also formed a marital bond with a person I barely knew for 3 months. Here I am talking to him on the phone… exchanging emails and ofcourse photographs…having a good laugh every now and then… and after a few days he was their infront me… for a lunch date. Yet, after the meeting I felt a bit giddy… but at that time I thought maybe I am thinking too much. He is just another guy who has come to meet me for marriage purpose and there are many prospective brides for him (afterall he was working in the U.S. for the past couple of years and was planning to settle down there). SETTLED IN THE U.S. was a BIGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG “NO…NO” for me. I was never interested in settling down outside India…and here I was considering a marriage proposal of a guy working in U.S. It wasn’t appealing… but then “M” was not the sort of guys I met before. Plainly speaking he was just different… and the best quality about him was that he wasn’t pretentious about anything. Our conversations never had any awkward pauses…you know a brink point in conversation where you feel you’ve ran out of ideas or topics to discuss. We always use to talk like we know what we want to share with each other. I still sometimes wonder about that…but then a good conversation has always been an appealing factor to me.

So the conversation and meeting led to a second meeting with “M” and his family and my family and it was all fixed. Within a span of 5 hours I was engaged to “M”… call it whirlwind romance if you want to, but that ‘s how it all started. We met a couple of times after the engagement before M was suppose to go back to his hometown and from their to States. Rest of the months (I wont say flew by…) somehow just passed on. I resigned from my job; said goodbye to my “rosy” career… got married and came to U.S. It somehow sounds like a fairytale…but then I haven’t known any girl who does not desire a fairytale wedding. Deep down I did… and this romance of mine with “M” is going pretty well… (its been 9 blissful months of marriage and still going strong).

Every person wants to be “so much in love” with his or her boyfriends/girlfriends, lovers, husbands/wives…but no one has been able to exactly define that emotion. Someone wise once said…. “Love is an emotion that you have to experience yourself before you tell others to understand it”… This emotion is still indescribable to me…but all the new and fascinating experiences that I am having with “M”, I cannot thank him enough for that. And everyday my belief in the existence of love becomes stronger.

I don’t know what surprises god has in stored for both of us. But we pledged before god that we are in this together and we will take everyday as it comes “together”. That’s a promise!!!

Ohio!!!

Ohio gosimus...!!! (guess I spelled it correctly...I mean after all that is how you greet in Japanese...) 

hmmmm... I was dodging the idea of writing this blog for quiet some time now. I mean who doesn’t like to be associated with romance and I can call myself a romantic person... but let's take a moment here and think...isn’t romanticism as a quality a bit exaggerated... We see the shades of this quality almost everywhere... be it movies, novels, soap operas, songs, dance, travel and entertainment. Even serious issues of Law and Politics are not untouched by this word. But I'll get into the romantic exaggeration of the serious portions a little later. 

For now let's touch upon something nice to look at. Recently, I have gotten "fixated" towards the bishies *wink* alias Bishonen. WHO ARE THEY? Actually it’s a Japanese term whose literal meaning is "a beautiful boy or a beautiful youth". Why the Bishies? (short term usage) I am a sucker for anime... Oh no!!! I am not an animator...I just love watching anime:).

Disney is and will always be my fave animation creator but somehow these Japanese anime are taking over my interest these days (well…ahem!!! It has fascinated for a few years now). Not getting into the details of how my actual anime craze started, let's focus on the romance part in these animations that caught my interest in the first place *wink* .We can always relate music with romance and the anime that I am going to talk about right now is about a romantic musical...anime ishtyle. The anime name is La Corda d'Oro. he keyword here is "Violin romance" and its a story of a girl, the main protagonist - Hino Kahoko who is a general ED student of quiet a prestigious "Sieso Academy", a school fore mostly known for its music department. It all starts when Hino tricked (emotionally blackmailed) by a fairy called "Lili" (a Thumbalina size he-male with wings and blond hair) into a music competition known as the "Concurs". Now Hino not only lacks confidence, she's also not cut out to be a musician (a fact she knows very well...) even if she's got a magic violin and an adamant he-male fairy for help (talk about having a bad day). So this girl Hino ends up being a part of a "tough as nails" music competition (point to be noted -its a Western classical music competition, where the best music students of the school are going to compete on one stage). Huh!!! Guess we got the picture...that how a typical romance story is going to progress. Right!!! WRONG... here's the twist or should I say eye candy ;)... the Bishies...all of them. Hino is surrounded by the most good looking Bishies one can ever imagine ;) and somehow they are all interested in her (almost). Besides the Bishies factor, you will encounter some of the best played classical music compositions… (I know there are some of them I have never heard.)

Then there is a beautiful combination of colors…(even with bad hair color) its amazing. The dubbing isn’t half bad and yes the romantic atmosphere is always there to keep your interest from dithering away. Whether the girl ends with any of the Bishies… well for that watch this anime and find out for yourself… Maybe you’ll find some of the exaggerations that I have wrote in this first write-up of my blog are not exaggerated after all (You can always check the links in this blog for more info). Until I encounter the next exaggerated moment…. Sayonara and enjoy some lovely music from this anime:

P.S. I will ramble on the characters and the second season of this anime and some other cool bishie animes in my upcoming posts…