·:[ Dorothy’s BlogBlog ]:·
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Ah, I’ll write the rest of the AX days later ^^~. I’ll write what happened today~.

Let’s see… I had REALLY weird, and insanely vivid dreams today. I mean, seriously. It’s been a while since I’ve had such colorful and pronounced dreams - and I was half asleep, even! It wasn’t even a really deep sleep! I had… two very vivid and dark-themed dreams, if I can remember correctly. The first dream sort of made sense why I dreamt it XD. It was a… Reborn dream - sort of. That makes sense, since Kathy had read a lot of Reborn yesterday (to the point where she finished the first arc with Mukuro and went on to the Varia rings arc). It was set in a really vast, dark warehouse (except, there were some really bright garage-style lights like these):

It was a really gritty kind of atmosphere. There was a lot of mafia people in suits assembled there (like, bad people). I mean, a LOT of people. It was a huge warehouse, but it was still pretty filled (not totally filled mind you, but… you know what I mean). There was a pretty tall swing attached to the top of the warehouse, though the swing itself did not actually extend all the way down to near the bottom, but… it still extended quite far down. (For the swing, instead of having rope, it had wire attached to a metal black swing seat thing.) On the swing thing was Rokudo Mukuro 0__0;. He was looking down at first, but then he closed his eyes. Then the lights in the warehouse went out. So everything became reaaally dark. The mafia people were panicking or something (don’t ask me why they didn’t notice Mukuro on the swing - I guess they didn’t look up? OTL), and then a really freaky monster (I only really remember its claw) slashed all the mafia people into bloody pieces with, like, one strike @___@;;;. And then the lights went back on in the warehouse, and Mukuro was standing on the swing now, and he was, like, smirking or something. And then I sort of woke up from hearing mom say something XD;;. Reaaaally weird. And sorta scary. Except… for some odd reason, I wasn’t really as scared, because… it wasn’t like I was in the role of one of the mafia people who got killed. It was kind of an… impersonal dream, if that makes sense.

My second dream was… even weirder, if you can believe it.  It was about, like, three girls from a school who are friends. One girl is, like, the goody-two-shoes person I think I was originally supposed to identify with and care about I guess? (LOL I KNOW, IT’S MY OWN DREAM AND I STILL DON’T QUITE UNDERSTAND WHAT IT WAS TRYING TO GET ME TO FEEL XD.) And the other two girls were better friends with each other, and they were kind of mean to the other girl. And then… it turns out that an epidemic thing made it so people were turning into scary caterpillars? Or something like that?!! I’m not… sure… it was all very hazy and unclear when it came to what was actually going on. And apparently, there was some evil Queen Caterpillar that must be defeated. And with that Queen Caterpillar was a bunch of small, minion caterpillars =__=;. And… for some odd reason, there was some way that the caterpillars marked humans so they could… “smell them” and “sense their presence” or some weird thing like that o__O;. And only the goody-two-shoes girl wasn’t marked, so she was the only one who could go undetected by the caterpillars and kill them? Except… the other two still came along and managed to kill caterpillars, but they needed the goody-two-shoes girl to scout ahead first and make sure they could get the caterpillars before they slithered away? IDK, it was all very confusing OTL. And eventually, they decided to split up, and… it turns out that the goody-two-shoes girl, despite having a “poor me” attitude and stuff ended up not being so nice? Or something like that? Like… I kind of remember she abandoned the girl who was a bit meaner to her somehow. And so then, my dream started following the perspective of that girl who was a bit meaner to the goody-two-shoes girl XD. It was kind of unexpected, because it turns out that she’s the one that took the path and found the Queen Caterpillar (who, like, had the upper half body to be some pretty-ish lady, and the bottom half be a caterpillar? X__X;; ). And so then, she fights the Queen Caterpillar all brave-like (with a sharp piece of wood / long sharp stick thing she tore off from somewhere), and is like, “I definitely won’t let you succeed in taking over!” which was… very odd, since I expected this to be said and done by the goody-two-shoes girl? Oh well… ROFL. And so then she succeeded in killing the Queen Caterpillar. But then, later, it turns out that… OH NO! She got stung and didn’t manage to dodge one of the attacks, so she’ll turn into a caterpillar monster Queen thing? I guess? So she kills herself for the good of humanity? And… somehow, everyone was sad? I was like… WTF?! When I woke up XD;;… It was… really odd. So yeah. Don’t ask me why I have such violent and crazy weird dreams. The only possible explanation for the Caterpillar thing is… possibly from Reborn, when he had those caterpillar messenger things? I dunno… OTL.

Anyhow… oh, Kathy finished reading up to the latest Reborn chapters now~! I’m glad she managed to get up to Volume 8, where the story actually begins… ROFL. She was like… “OMG WTH I’M ON VOLUME 7 AND I’M STILL ON FILLERS?!!” and I was like, “I swear! It gets better!! OTL OTL” Hahaha, I’m glad she managed to get through it though! Now she’ll know what people are talking about when they talk about Reborn *__*~! I like how she noticed that all of Tsuna’s strongest guardians don’t really care about him… ROFL. I mean, you have Yamamoto, who, although he’s Tsuna’s friend, just really isn’t nearly as loyal XD. And then… you have Hibari, who really… doesn’t like Tsuna THAT much. And of course, there’s Mukuro. He’s, like, the least loyal out of all of them. Kathy said that his relationship with them is pretty much this: Chrome is loyal to Tsuna and protects him and does things for him. Chrome gets in trouble while on a mission - so Mukuro has to come out and save her (for both the sake of his survival, and for his like of Chrome) . So in other words, Chrome is a hostage to make sure Mukuro uses his power to help Tsuna ROFL XD. Anyhow, Kathy and I both wish that Gokudera was a lot stronger and much less pathetic - I mean, it’s so sweet that he loves Tsuna so much, but… AGH!! GET STRONGER T__T!! Well, both Kathy and I like Spanner, too. ROFL WE BOTH THINK HE’S A PEDOPHILE XD. His… perverted expressions and chaining Tsuna up half naked have convinced us of this. LOL.

Wow, I got more done than I expected! <3

Unfortunately, I didn’t bother touching up that sketch of Shu yet, but… I did create a new DA account *__*! <3 My new username is now Potatobuns XD. Hopefully that’ll be much more catchy than Penguindorothy =__=;. Well, it seems to be off to a pretty good start - already three watchers and nine faves on my only deviation (the picture of Shu in the tree)! We’ll see after a while if it’s just because I’m new and they’re trying to be encouraging, or if I really do have hope of getting this many faves most of the time *__*~. I hope so… XD.

But wah~! I’m in such a good mood to draw… there’s just so many ideas and concepts I wanna draw out >w<!!! I can’t wait to just draw them all out… Oh, I’ve been working on the Reborn fanart of Tsuna… it’s been going really fast, and it’s coming out pretty good 0__0! It’s coming along MUCH faster than the one of Shu, that’s for sure XD. Though I guess I shouldn’t say too much until I actually finish it… this one’s background is going to probably be MUCH harder for me. I’m not good at building-type backgrounds T__T.

Oooh, and am I the only one that thinks Rokudo Mukuro is really hot? XD *Is shot* I mean, I know his abilities and stuff are a cheap rip-off of Sasuke and Itachi’s (and all the other Uchiha peoplez) sharingan, but… he’s much hotter than either of them XD.

Well, I’ve been working on the artbook of my OCs >w<~! <3 So far, I’ve got two pics I’m working on for it… Here are the WIPs:

Picture with perspective (looking down on Shu)~. He’s sitting on a Tree with butterflies fluttering about~. Boy, I haven’t drawn things in perspective much - it’s so hard! T_T

Group of three pic of Michi, Shu, and Taika~. They’re lying in the grass relaxing *__*.

So yeah, been making okay progress with them *__*. Especially with the Shu one though XD.

Poor Kathy is working on her report paper thing about her group presentation T__T. She has to turn it in today. And her stupid partners forced her to have to do it in a much more detailed way (a full paper) than what she wanted to do (the instructor said that just a list of bullet points and stuff like that is okay). Of course they don’t care - they don’t have to do most of it. =__=; They’re such inconsiderate buttheads.

Okay, don’t ask me why I even bothered to read this. I should have probably expected it to turn out this way just by reading the title =__=;. Someone on a certain forum mentioned that this was even better than Mirai Nikki, and made it actually sound pretty good. They specifically said that the later chapters were great. So I read chapters 1 and 2, then skipped to volume 2. Why didn’t I just stop after the first chapter? Why? T___T

Art: I don’t like it. Truthfully, the style of the characters’ eyes and the way they cross really really gets on my nerves and annoys me =__=;. I really really don’t like this style. I know that compared to a lot of other mangas, the art is actually more skilled… but… ugh. For some reason, when I look at the characters, I feel like punching them to death @__@;. Normally, a certain art style doesn’t irritate me to this point, but this is a special case. Also, none of the character designs strike me as being any good ^^.

AAAARGH!! *PUNCH PUNCH PUNCH PUNCH*

Story: Currently, it has no real story or plot. It’s pretty much just a bunch of oneshots about Fran messing people’s lives up >__>;. Truth be told, I think the whole thing is really asinine. The whole manga seems to just be a bunch of gore for the sake of gore, with no real point. I mean, even though I am a bit uncomfortable with excessive gore, if the story and characters are really good, I can still like the manga. It’s when it doesn’t even have those that I have a problem with it. The setup of the oneshots is this: Fran was made by some mad professor scientist person (who still hasn’t actually appeared as far as I know), and she’s sort of like his apprentice. Stupid people come by and pay her to perform operations (mostly involving raising the dead), which normally ends with everyone’s lives terribly ruined. Oh, and she has a sarcastic sidekick that is composed of a human man’s head and a dog body. Woohoo.

Characters: Umm… there’s pretty much just Fran and her dog friend, both of which I hate. Oh well 9__9;. I mean, offbeat characters are all well and good, but they have to be in a likable way. Fran is way too… self-righteous. I mean, she gets paid by people to perform certain operations, and she ends up destroying them. And then afterwards she’s seen relaxing, saying that she did a good deed o__O;. In one of the later chapters, a doctor refused to allow Fran to perform an operation on a patient due to her reputation for ruining everything and creating monsters. I completely agreed with him, actually XD. But they were making him out to be some sort of heartless guy, not willing to let a little girl’s brother survive with Fran’s help. Seriously, how exactly are we supposed to trust that Fran would save anyone? =___=; And as for the dog guy, his sole purpose in the manga seems to be just lying around saying at the end of the oneshots that the customers are probably not as happy as Fran thinks. Or something like that. Right.

Well, here’s another rather offbeat manga XD. Though, unlike all the previous ones, this one is definitely shoujo. It’s… reasonable. Just kinda average. Currently finished up to volume 5. When they release more chapters, I’ll probably read them.

Art: The art is… pleasant. I like the art. It definitely can’t compete with a lot of shounen series’ art, but it’s definitely much better than the art found in your average shoujo manga. The expressions are pretty good, and the characters look handsome / pretty. I especially like how the eyes aren’t only gigantic and cute-cute with hardly any expression (like most shoujo mangas). I kind of recognize the art style… I’m pretty sure I saw some other mangas by the same mangaka. It seems like she’s really really improved though - her other older mangas had really ugly art XD. So all in all, I like it - it definitely has some nice eyecandy.

Story: Hmm… it really isn’t… a very deep or complicated story that shows promise of a lot of plot twists or anything XD. Mashiro, a student at some weird school, is having problems deciding what gender he is. He has always gone around as a boy, but according to the manga, “from the waist up, he’s a man. From the waist down, he’s a female.” In other words, he’s a flat-chested woman. And so this weird school has some sort of weird dream test thing, where the students have to resolve their psychological dilemmas and problems in it, and once they figure it out, they graduate. All the students take on weird shapes and forms that reflect on their inner turmoil (for Mashiro, it’s him wearing a skirt ^^;). When they graduate, they leave the school and forget everything and everyone involved with the school. And so, the entire story pretty much consists of Mashiro wavering between liking Kureha (a girl that’s normally afraid of men, but is okay with Mashiro due to his being a woman) and Suo (a cold playboy who has a sister complex). It’s an okay story… nothing that really makes you think a lot XD. I kinda wish that it would go a bit faster when it comes to Mashiro’s decision of whether he lives as a girl or a boy, but… eh. XD The main mystery of this, other than what Mashiro’s final choice will be, seems to be why Suo appears as a knight in black armor in the dream world. It’s kind of funny though, since that really shouldn’t be the main mystery… I mean, wouldn’t it make more sense if the main mystery was finding out what sick organization is taking over the school, forcing innocent students to enter these scary nightmares to graduate? See, if that were the main mystery, it would make for a much deeper plot, and have more potential for some major plot twists XD. As it is, it doesn’t even seem to address this.

Characters: Mashiro is kind of annoying ^^;. I dislike how indecisive he is about such a simple kind of thing. Not to sound insensitive, but… I don’t really see what the big deal is. I mean, he’s pretty much a girl with little or no boobs o__O;. If it bothers him that much, he should just go get an operation. I know I sound awful, but he’s seriously a bit too whiny for my taste XD. And come on, just because he want to live as a guy doesn’t mean he has to go out with a girl he doesn’t really like. But I guess I can tolerate Mashiro. The one thing I do like about him is that he isn’t falling for Suo really fast. I kind of like how the “cold and unfeeling” Suo is floundering around trying to get Mashiro’s attention, and Mashiro just kind of thinks Suo is annoying ^^. I find it funny how Suo’s inner turmoil seems to involve him choosing between having a normal life with Mashiro as his girlfriend and staying with his obsessed sister, when Mashiro doesn’t even really like him right now. As for Kureha… I didn’t really mind her before (’cause no matter what, the more people who are in love with the main character, the better), but with how indecisive Mashiro is, she’s becoming an annoyance.

Meh, I’m in the mood to review mangas right now XD. I might as well review this one. I’m up to Chapter 11 right now~. It’s… not very good. Something to pass time with. Definitely not 1/100th as good as Mirai Nikki, but it’s alright to read once. I guess it’s less of a waste of time than a lot of shoujo mangas @__@;.

Art: The art isn’t very good. The way people are drawn are very static and stiff, and the mangaka isn’t very good at drawing different expressions. The girls and guys looked pretty similar, and none of them had outstanding character designs.

Look at how different the characters look!

It didn’t help the ambiance and feel of such a “creepy” manga. I noticed that there are two types of art that really help create a horror-ish kind of feel in a manga: 1. The typical serious and scary kind - the “dark” style. 2. Overly-kawaii art with huge eyes that can turn really freaky. The only drawings in this manga that were freaky were the ones of the rabbits (in the beginning) and the ones where the people were wearing those rabbit hat mask things. At first, when I saw the cover (with all the characters wearing those scary rabbit masks), I was like… “Okay, this is probably going to be really creepy…” and then I saw the beginning with the “wolf” tearing the rabbits apart, and I was like… “@___@;; Definitely creepy…” and then I start reading the first few chapters, and I’m like… “This is boring :/. They all look bland and none of them have a sort of menacing feel at all!” So yeah.

Story: Eh, kinda cliche story =3=;. I know I normally really like the whole survival competition stories, but this one is typical and WAY too simplistic, with no real plot twist or interesting aspect to it. You have a group of people. They’re playing a game that they thought would not be dangerous (though I don’t see how they couldn’t - I mean, the game’s mascot is of a creepy bunny being hanged for god’s sake). And what do you know, the game is dangerous. They’re kidnapped and confined in some sort of prison place, and the only way to open the doors is to use the barcodes that were tattooed onto them. They can only use one person’s barcode once. And while that’s going on, they have to figure out which one among them is the “wolf” - the one who’s slowly picking them off, one by one. The only kind of interesting thing about it so far is the mystery of why the main character (Yuu) doesn’t have a barcode. Of course, if it turns out that it was Yuu who was the wolf all along and that’s why he doesn’t have a barcode, then it’ll be the stupidest plot twist on earth ^^;. But anyhow… the pacing of the story is bad. I feel that with a story like this… the mangaka should draw it out more. Allow us readers to get to know the characters better, so there’ll be much more suspense and shock value. As it is, we’re going through the story at lightning speed, with the characters dropping like flies before we even care about them. It feels as though the story is nearing the end, even though there really hasn’t been foreshadowing of deeper events. It’s only chapter 11, yet there are only three people from our original group that are left alive o__O;. This is a mystery / horror manga, and it’s supposed to capture your attention and make you be intrigued and wonder who is the killer. I find myself not really caring so much.

Characters: COMPLETE AND TOTAL FAILURE. I guess a lot of this was due to the bad pacing of the story. The mangaka attempted to get us to identify and bond with the characters in the beginning, before the game started, by showing them all meeting up and having fun singing at a karaoke place. So a lot of time was spent with them giggling and having heartfelt conversations that were insanely boring. None of the characters stood out as having a really interesting and defining personality. None of them gave any foreshadowing of their role in Rabbit Doubt (like “OMG, so-and-so is batshit crazy! If s/he acts like this already, imagine when the game starts!”). I know they tried to make Eiji seem all rude and violent, but… they did a really bad job of it =__=;. It didn’t give me any sort of creepy or ominous feeling. None of the characters seemed psycho enough to be the “wolf”… and I don’t mean that in a good way. I think all the characters should have something kind of… odd or mysterious about them, so that way ALL of them can be suspects. The characters don’t have complex personalities, and they’re all pretty simplistic. I know that getting into the minds of mentally imbalanced characters isn’t really my cup of tea, and I do hate it when they overdo it and overanalyze a crazy character… but seriously. I think this is a bit over to the other extreme side ^^;.

So, after reading up to the very current chapter (chapter 27) of Mirai Nikki again with Kathy, I’ve decided to make a review of it *__*~. Honestly, it’s very hard to pinpoint my exact feelings about Mirai Nikki. It’s exciting, the art is good, the story is interesting enough, and it leaves me interested and wanting to know more. But at the same time… it creeps me out. Sort of. Except not. Almost every chapter leaves me with a sort of “WTH O__O;;…” kind of feeling.

Art: The art is good. Definitely not the absolute best I’ve seen for a manga, but it’s definitely much much better than average ^__^. It has a more generic style, and doesn’t really have a very unique and characteristic style that the best shounen series have. But it’s still good. I think the art style definitely fits its purpose. With the big pretty eyes and abundance of cute-cute characters, the illustrations fooled me into thinking that the series was more childish, with cliche hyper characters. But boy, even with this kind of art style, the artist can still make some of the characters (namely Yuno) look frightening XD. Certain parts of the manga art were kind of unclear during some action scenes (like when the teachers and students betrayed Yuki and tried to capture him so that the school wouldn’t be bombed, and Yuno, going berserk, ended up running, causing the bombs to go off XD), but after taking a double look, it can be figured out.

Story: The story is definitely interesting enough. I’ve always liked the whole survival game mangas, where people are forced to compete in dangerous competitions/tournaments. It would’ve been nice if they could have explained a bit more about the rules of the cellphone diaries, since some of it was kind of confusing (for example, how in the world can their future diary entries record how they got killed? Were they writing in their diaries while they were bleeding to death? o__O;) But I guess that isn’t a big deal - I eventually just kinda assumed it’s like being able to tell the future, except with limitations. The story has also been progressing at a nice pace. It reveals enough new information to keep you interested, but also manages to retain many mysteries (like what exactly can the last survivor do when they become “God,” who else is Yuki going to face, will Yuki kill Yuno in the end, etc. etc.). I wouldn’t classify the story as being “horror,” because… it’s not really that scary - it gives off a more “weird” sort of feeling o__O;. It’s like… a light fluff version of horror? I think that putting it under the category of “psychological” is more accurate.

Characters: Okay, I think this is the aspect of the manga that creates my confused feeling. I’m not sure exactly what to think of the characters in this manga. I don’t worship or adore any of the characters in this manga… and yet they still really intrigue me O.O. Normally, characters are one of the most important aspects of a manga to me. If the story of a manga is just kinda “meh,” I could still adore the manga if the characters are kickass. And normally what makes me adore the characters is if they’re incredibly strong/smart, cool, and funny - characters that I can/want to relate to. In Mirai Nikki… I don’t think I can really relate to any of the characters. Yukiteru is so pathetic and weak, he’s pretty much a damsel in distress. Akise is… really nosy, and kind of smart?… but other than that, I don’t really know that much about him. Hinata and Mao are like… lesbian or something? And I suppose Kosaka is the closest thing to being normal in the entire group. He’s the only one that doesn’t really want to get involved, but all the other people keep pressuring him to XD. And then there’s Yuno. I think it’s a no-brainer to say that Yuno isn’t normal. She is pretty much the most frightening person in the whole manga. A very unpredictable and scary person. It’s kind of funny - I can’t understand Yuno, and am in a way repulsed by how scary she can be… yet she’s also a large reason why I’m continuing to read this manga XD XD. I think Yuno is what really makes this manga unique. I mean, where do you find a main female love interest who openly stalks the main character, attacks “love rivals” with a hatchet, and thinks of using her “tools of persuasion” (knives) if the main character’s mom doesn’t approve of their relationship? She definitely creeps me out… but she’s very entertaining and interesting. By far the character with the most personality in the entire series.

All in all, I think this is a pretty good series. It’s already reasonably big, with quite a few people talking about it. I think once it gets more chapters, it will most definitely be made into an anime. The whole style and feel of it makes it seem like the exact kind of story that companies would love to license and make into one (especially the art - definitely a style that the animators will probably have a much easier time imitating).

Yuno’s Creepiness

Well, since I was too tired to bother writing what happened yesterday, I’m writing it this morning instead ^__^~. <3

Let's see, I worked on my $15 chibi commission, and managed to finish up to all the base colors. Unfortunately, Painter started acting up, making it so that when it has low opacity, it looks weird o__O;. Hopefully it'll work now that I've rebooted =__=. I also managed to get commissioned for a chibi couple for $30 *___*~. I must finish both of these commissions faster, so I can get teh monies OTL. Kathy finished her presentation for her project! She said it went alright... but that a lot of people had good presentations T__T;;. Eeeep, good luck Kathy! The instructor had better give you a really good grade, you worked so hard >:O!! She also said she was so tired… and that it was dangerous when she was driving back, because she kept zoning out 0__0!! So scary.

Well, when she came home, I finally showed her some of the manga I had been reading… (all of Mirai Nikki and one volume of Detective Conan). She had the same sort of confused feeling about Mirai Nikki that I did XD XD. The feeling that it’s good, and interesting… but also inexplicably weird. Yuno scared her ROFL. But I think Yuno scares everyone. As for Detective Conan… she came up with a good point. If, for 64 volumes, no one manages to find out that Conan is Shinchi, then… none of them really care enough to try to find him XD. So truuuue. I also forgot that one of the first mysteries was the one where Ran and Shinchi ride the rollercoaster, and the lady cut off the guy’s head 0__0. So bloody. Kathy was like… “@___@;;… I hope this doesn’t happen every time they go on dates!” ROFL. It’s like…

Ran: “Shinchi, how could you?! And I was looking forward to going on this date with you! T__T *Weeeeps*”
Shinchi: “I’m sorry, Ran, I’m excited too! Let’s go on the rollercoaster!”
*Headless person on rollercoaster spurting blood everywhere*
Ran: “Darnit, and I was hoping this time would be different! >:O”

And then there was the mystery about the guy who made it look like suicide by jumping on his back onto a knife (which was inside a block of ice) XD. That definitely… wasn’t the best Detective Conan mystery. It was more like something from Mind Trap OTL. Where no one would be able to figure it out, given all the suspects XD. Oh well, I forgot that the first volume’s mysteries weren’t exactly the best.

Writing that long review of Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro, I started thinking I might as well make a comparison of it and another quite similar series ^^~. <3

The exact reason why Neuro rules and Tsuzuki doesn’t.

For some odd reason, the feeling of the way the mysteries were executed in Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro felt a tad like Yami no Matsuei (which is my officially most hated manga about shinigami), except… Nougami Neuro was WAY better. But really, think about it: Both of them involve the group of main characters that must solve mysteries that end up having a sort of supernatural-ish twist, both of them have non-human, “immortal” main characters accompanied by a blond girly sidekick (Yako and Hisoka), and both of them have a recurring villain that has gray hair and is obsessed with dissecting the main character due to his being non-human (Sai and Muraki). However, the ONLY thing that prevents Nougami Neuro from going down to the bottom with Yami no Matsuei is… well, Neuro. Because Neuro > Tsuzuki. Face it: Neuro is a MUCH stronger character than Tsuzuki. He knows exactly what he wants, and he’s not afraid of using his powers to accomplish his goals. Neuro would NEVER put up with Muraki’s crap, or ever be intimidated by him. Proof of this is found in his interactions with Sai (who is, in many ways, very similar to psycho Dr. Muraki XD).

It’s kind of funny: Tsuzuki, who is always so “kind” and “protective” of people close to him, ends up suffering so much because the people he tries so hard to protect keep getting abducted by Muraki and tortured to death. Neuro, on the other hand, openly abuses Yako and Godai, treating them like crap and ordering them around, and yet neither of them get nearly as harmed. It actually makes sense though: If Tsuzuki was constantly calling Hisoka and his other friends “maggots” and strangling them, I don’t think Muraki would even think to bother abducting them and using them as hostages XD.

Another peeve of mine about Yami no Matsuei is… the outcome of the mysteries. Who makes it so that the VILLAIN is the one that reveals that he was the one that was behind it all?! o__O;; That’s just really really sad and pathetic. I mean, even if the main character can’t explain all the details behind why the criminal murdered so-and-so, don’t you think that he should at least be able to, in the end, point out who did it?! I can’t believe that the Shinigami still have their jobs with how lousy they are XD.

As for the comparison between Yako and Hisoka… I have to admit that Hisoka does have more personality than Yako. However, it doesn’t really help, because Hisoka is annoying as hell XD. He’s pretty much the same as all the other whiny heroines in other mangas. He beats up and screams at the main character, and always seems to have PMS. And even though he’s close to being immortal and is a god of death, he’s actually more pathetic than Yako when it comes to helping =__=;.

Now then… Sai and Muraki. Sai had the potential to be annoying like Muraki (constantly pwning the main character and then laughing at his anguish). He wasn’t because… Neuro was never really pwned by him XD. The main reason why Muraki was so annoying was because he was always pwning Tsuzuki left and right (and not even in extremely clever, admirable ways >__<!!). The reason why Sai wasn’t so annoying was because he was pwned by Neuro. I’m sure I would’ve loved Muraki and Tsuzuki’s interactions if Tsuzuki acted like Neuro, looking down on Muraki and not paying him much mind. Gods, that would’ve been so hilarious.

So anywho, to sum it up, Yami no Matsuei totally failed compared to Nougami Neuro because the main character was a pathetic idiot who couldn’t do anything right. Unfortunately, it has a much larger fanbase due mainly to the idiotic shounen ai. I’m sorry, but to me, Shounen ai is most definitely not something that can save a horrible series >__>;.

It’s a hard decision: would you want to be Neuro’s friend, or Tsuzuki’s?

Okies, after that long rant, I guess I’ll be talking about the happier highlights of these past few weeks XD. I’ve been reading lots of manga lately~. Also watched the anime for Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro~.

I have mixed feelings about the anime for Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro. It’s really odd. There are parts of it I don’t like, and there are parts of it I really like. But normally one outweighs the other. However, in this case, it actually reaches a complete equilibrium 0__0. I mean, seriously. When I think about it, it’s just kind of… blank. Maybe somewhat positive, but still… just kind of… even. It’s a really really weird feeling. Here’s my very long review of it:

Music: The opening themesong is awful ^^;. It doesn’t make me crazy or obsessed about it, and it really has no well-defined and catchy rhythm or tune. I have a feeling that if the opening themesong made me as obsessed as “DIVE TO WORLD” managed to, I would have a much more positive feeling towards this anime. (That themesong “DIVE TO WORLD” from Katekyou Hitman Reborn actually made me like the series a whole lot more than I normally would. I kept playing the opening animation over and over and over XD.) The ending themesong was just kind of… there. A typical slow anime ending song that I don’t really care for. The background music… some of them were REALLY cool. Track #18, “Nazo wa Sudeni Wagahai no Shita no Ue ni Aru,” was my absolute favorite of them. I absolutely adored it when it was playing in the background during episode 3. It really helped the ambiance of the entire thing; when Neuro got shot in the face and seemingly died, then got up to everyone’s surprise and then turned the bullet into a poisonous bug thing, the music fit in perfectly, and made Neuro seem SO DARN COOL *___*. I kept replaying that part over and over and over. I got a crush on Neuro because of that >///<~ <3. It also played during Neuro’s fight with Sai (aka “X”), and it totally made that scene also XD. That scene furthered my crush on Neuro, actually XD. The way Neuro totally pwned Sai during that scene went perfectly with that song (though the scene was kind of ruined when Sai later managed to cut his hand off, darnit - but I’m glad that Neuro didn’t care that much and still managed to kick his ass XD). One other background music I liked (though not as much as the previous) is track #25, Neuro no Shouri.

Animation: The animation was good. OMG, it was MUCH better art than the manga XD. In the manga, I could see HUGE potential for Neuro to be hawt, but the mangaka was just so bad at drawing that Neuro just didn’t have a chance T__T. In the anime, he was hawt. It looks like they put in a lot of effort to make Neuro cool-looking and evil (in a sexay way XD). Their efforts paid off - a bunch of people who were watching the anime kept commenting on how handsome he is, and were obsessing over him. I especially love how they drew Neuro’s swirly eyes *__*. They hypnotize. Another huge improvement was Godai (AKA Slave #2 XD). He was so scary and ugly-looking in the manga, but in the anime, he looked so hawt (though not as much as Neuro) and cute >w<~. Definitely a great improvement. As for Yako… she pretty much looked the same as in the manga. Not much improvement really - she still looked stiff and not really pretty XD. But who cares about her~. They tried to make Sai look cute (like the manga intended), but… eh, I never really liked him. Definitely loads better than in the manga, where his anatomy was completely incorrect o__O;. I kept seeing people commenting about how Sai is so hawt every time he appears in one of the episodes, but… really, I could never get into him. As for the animation animation, the most notable scenes in it are these:

1. The scene in episode 1, when that muscled, drugged cook attacked Neuro, and Neuro was telling him how his cooking was crap, and managed to effortlessly grab both his arms.
2. Of course, the scene where Neuro got shot in the eye in episode 3, then got up and changed the bullet into the demonic bug.
3. The scene in episode 11, where Neuro K.O.ed Godai with his knee when Godai asked for Aya to shake his hand XD.
4. The fight scene between Neuro and Sai in episode 13, up until when Sai chopped his hand off.
5. In episode 19, the scene where Neuro was laughing maniacally and ran crashing through the door XD

Voices: The voices… let’s see, I’m a bit torn when it comes to Neuro’s ^^;. I really really like his EXTREMELY dark voice (i.e., when he’s threatening and sounding REALLY demonic and scary). I LOVED his maniacal laugh - I don’t think I could’ve imagined better XD. I couldn’t help but smile and laugh when I heard it during episode 19. But when it comes to when he was normally talking… it was a bit too low. In the manga, I was under the impression that most of the time, other than when he’s talking to Yako or Godai, he had a pleasant, somewhat higher voice. They showed him with a kind of higher voice when he was pretending to be sweet, but it wasn’t nearly sweet / high enough. It sounded like a man with a low voice trying very hard to have a high, pleasant voice. It didn’t work out as well as I would’ve hoped. I think they should’ve hired two separate voice actors - one for his sweet personality voice, and one for when he’s demonic/serious. But I guess that would’ve been too expensive XD. As for Yako’s… WAY TOO HIGH. Gods, it was grating >__<;. AWFUL. Godai’s was good - perfect yakuza guy voice XD. Ishigaki’s voice… was bad. They made him look REALLY young, yet he had this really old voice o__O;. Totally didn’t match. As for Sai… his voice sounded way too much like Allen Walker’s XD. It was too sweet and main-character like… I understand they’re doing it on purpose to pronounce the fact that Sai is such a young and innocent-looking kid, yet he’s a serial killer, but still… it didn’t seem quite right ^^.

Story: Now on to the meat of the entire thing XD. The premise of the story is excellent and very promising: Girl meets demon who comes from another world. Demon is a genius when it comes to solving mysteries. Demon decides to use girl as a cover so that he can solve lots of mysteries. Demon abuses girl all the while, putting her in funny situations XD. It’s a very cool plot. The saddest and largest letdown, unfortunately, is the mysteries. They’re just not good enough. If they were even half as good as Detective Konan’s mysteries, I would like this series a whole lot more. Unfortunately, they’re not. I could guess the murderers for almost all of them with a glance =__=. It’s really a shame. Another problem is the villains: other than Sai and Aya, all the other villains, once exposed, turn into stupid-looking creatures o__O;. It’s extremely hard to take this series seriously when you have, for example, a woman criminal who all of a sudden turns into a yelping dog woman thing. And no one seems to notice or care or be like, “OMFG WHAT THE HELL?!! DID SHE JUST GROW DOG EARS AND A DOG NOSE AND START DROOLING AND BARKING?!! @__@;;” And it’s never addressed or explained - I mean, I could at least accept it if Neuro explained to Yako that no one else except them could see the criminals turn into that stuff (though I guess it wouldn’t make it look any less silly).

Characters: This is what I think saves this series. The characters - namely, Neuro. Neuro is a very unique and quirky main character. I very rarely see a main character like him, if ever XD. And I really like him. I love how two-faced he is, and how terribly he abuses both Yako and Godai. Normally, I HATE characters that are so mean and horrible to undeserving characters for no reason, but he is an exception. His abuse is hilarious. I also love how he acknowledges that there is something called “love,” but he doesn’t make any deep effort to try and understand it or anything - feeding is always his #1 priority. In so many series, if there is a demon that comes to the human world and doesn’t understand “love,” that demon will eventually obsess over it, and eventually learn the true meaning of it or something o__O;. He has a rather care-free attitude when it comes to deep things like that. Meh, you know the main character is awesome when he can be so laid-back even when someone (lolsai) is hellbent on dissecting him and looking at his insides. I adore how Sai, someone everyone is terrified of, is obsessing over catching and killing him, and Neuro just doesn’t care. Another thing awesome about him: 99% of the time, when a male demon comes into the human world and starts hanging around the female lead, he gets beaten up and abused for being a “pervert,” even when he saves her. Boy, Neuro could never be so different. It’s amazing that Yako puts up with all the torture he puts her through. Somehow, although she initially protests about the mistreatment, she gives off the feeling that she actually doesn’t mind that much, which makes me believe she is a closet masochist =3=;. Poor Godai, on the other hand, is forced to endure the torture. Yako is quite a cliche character, honestly - her main defining point, when she isn’t with other characters, is that she eats. However, when she is interacting with Neuro, she’s suddenly not so cliche. I personally like their relationship: not terribly cheesy romantic, and not horribly hating each other. As the series goes on, Neuro does start liking her more, but he doesn’t just all of a sudden start spouting romantic poetry to her and send bouquets of love. (In fact, I can’t imagine Neuro ever doing that XD.) It’s, in a way, a kind of subtle relationship (if you ignore the abuse). As for Godai - he’s very funny and cute. However, I would’ve liked it more if his relationship with Neuro and Yako would’ve improved more over the course of the story. I know that he does worry about them, and I’m sure he didn’t get stabbed for Yako’s sake only because Neuro told him to protect her, but… it still didn’t feel like he got attached to them as much as I would’ve liked. At least in the anime XD. The manga is still going on~.

Now, some eyecandy *___*. Boy, that was a long review XD XD.