Mare’s Soul

It took awhile (roughly 4 years) but I have finally done it. I have spent about (and the keyword is about) $1,000 on manga as of today. That’s right, I have finally bought the coveted 100th manga in my collection. What better manga to earn that right than Fruits Basket volume 19? If it weren’t for Fruits Basket, I may never have found manga to be so addicting in the first place.

I think the picture quality is good enough to tell what most of the series I have are, but for those of you who can’t make it out I’ll list the series! (That and the fact I have no life )

1. Ragnarok 1-10
2. Fruits Basket 1-19
3. The Legend of Chun Hyang (one shot)
4. The Wallflower 1-12
5. Angel Diary 1-5
6. Fullmetal Alchemist 1-15
7. Princess Ai 1-3
8. Mar 1-10
9. Nana 1-9
10. Vampire Knight 1-3
11. Death Note 1-4
12. Lovely Complex 1-5
13. Line (one shot)
14. Welcome to the N.H.K. 1-3

Most of them are exceptional titles. Mar is a bit too kiddish for my tastes, and The Wallflower has deteriorated into a gag manga. But everything else is fair game for anyone looking for a brand new title to read. Thought I must warn you that parental advisory notices are on Nana and Welcome to the N.H.K. due to the nature of their stories and some scenes may not be suitable for younger audiences.

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I was looking through my blog’s pages and I realized that I haven’t updated the writing page in quite some time. So, because a lot of the flash fiction and short stories I have aren’t quite polished up (I continue to procrastinate on that) I decided to post some of my old fanfiction! I was looking through one of them, and it’s just absolutely corny, but you have to start somewhere, right? I checked the publication date of my first fanfiction, and it was March 24, 2004. I published 4 fanfiction, but because 1 of them is like…uber terrible, I decided to unveil 3 of them. However if you’re actually really curious about the terrible one, it isn’t too hard to find if you know how to search. So, if you’re bored and want to be humored by my somewhat ridiculous attempt at fanfiction, check out the writing!

I went through and fixed the header and navigation problems with this layout. It works fine in IE7 now, though it still looks better in Firefox. I haven’t checked the site in IE6 yet, but I probably won’t. IE6 continues to elude me. It’s quite mysterious. So, for everyone with a Wordpress blog, if you’re patient, this layout just might be up for download soon enough! I need to come up with a snazzy title (I’ll probably go Latin on this) and I’ll place it for download sometime by the end of the month. Exciting, no?

Oh! I just finished the recent volume of Love*Com and let me tell you, it threw me off guard completely! This manga moves fast. Almost like light. It’s the end of the fourth volume, and the characters are already in their second year of highschool and on their class trip. I don’t read many highschool drama manga, actually, the only other highschool dramas I have read are W Juliet, Fruits Basket (it’s close enough to a highschool drama), and Vampire Knight (yet again, close enough). I don’t own W Juliet and I don’t remember all the details, but comparing Love*Com to Fruits Basket timeline…Love*Com seems to go by in a blink of an eye! The class trip in Fruits Basket happened in volume 13!! *takes deep breath* But, going back to how adorable Love*Com is. There are a lot of cliches in the story, but it’s given in a way that makes it seem fresh. By the end of the first chapter, you already know who’s going to get together, the only frustration for the reader is when are they going to get together. The art is done in a cute way, and although the panels aren’t exquisitely detailed and colored like NANA or Fruits Basket, the story is engaging enough to make your eyes divert away from some of the blankness that can appear on some of the pages. I checked the Shojo Beat website, and I’m happy to know that I don’t have to wait for long for the next volume, which comes out in March!!

I just realized that although I have a nice long weekend, I really didn’t do anything for Beautiful Addiction. I was going to make the calendar for it, but I think I got sidetracked and I still haven’t made the thumbnails for the screenshots. Maybe that’s just the magic of Labor Day weekend - being lazy and not working.

I did, on the other hand, manage to open up my graphic program. If not for site related activities, then for my own personal amusement. I found this nice little tutorial on creating moody pieces by a well established web designer, so I thought I’d see what I’d create.

It was fun to make and I’m quite pleased with the turnout. I used a lot of outside resources for the piece, but I’m hoping I won’t be so dependent anymore on those. I’m going to try to create my own brushes so I can become a better designer. I think it was my first time using the mask tool, but after a couple of trials, I managed to get the hang of using it. I still need to work on using the pen tool, since the two of us aren’t friends at all. It’s actually my mortal enemy.

During the weekend I purchased a new series, Vampire Knight. I’ve always admired Matsuri Hino’s artwork, so reading a more serious series from her was nice. The first two volumes are the only ones out in the U.S. by the Shojo Beat Manga section from VIZ, but they’re quite enjoyable. I think anyone who likes vampire anime/manga would really like this take on them. Though, be warned, unlike other vampire genres, this one takes place in a school and isn’t done in the cutesy manner like Karin. It’s just good wholesome vampire/human issues mixed with a healthy dose of romance and teenage angst. :D