@Kanami
xxxHOLiC only began to get confusing around volume 11 or 12 when Watanuki started questioning reality and he kept going in and out of the world of dreams. It seems to have solved itself now, though, and it's back on track. It can get a bit wordy and philosophical (for CLAMP, anyway) at times, but overall, I don't find it too bad ^^

I only ever read the first volume of X/1999 and yeah, it was pretty confusing! I remember my friend reading it, too, and he was like, "Um...did the world just blow up twice?" LOL I never did buy any volumes of X/1999 after that because it was just too confusing.

Can't comment on Tokyo Babylon, though ^^; I've never read it.

RE: Clow and Watanuki -- I wouldn't be surprised if they're the same >.> At the very least, they're of the same bloodline. However, there seem to be a lot of hints pointing in the direction of Watanuki being some reincarnation of some sort of Clow's - a magical bloodline, his relationship with Yuuko (nothing is coincidence, right?), and the glasses/overall appearance.

As for Kaichou wa Maid-sama, I've read the first volume and seen the just-aired first episode of the anime. It's a romantic-comedy about the class president of a male-dominated school who takes a strict and overbearing stance on the chauvinistic attitudes of her male classmates. But due to her family's difficult financial situation, she has to work a part-time job...at a maid cafe, a secret which is discovered by her school's heartthrob bishounen.

I remember enjoying what I managed to read of the manga a lot. I got lots of laughs out of it. The first episode of the anime was all right - it has its strengths and its weaknesses, so it'll be interesting to see if it goes well or if it falls flat on its face ><

@KTC
Have you ever watched Cat Soup? For me, that takes the prize for weirdness and convoluted-ness, LOL

@aeternus: not yet. but you watch utena and I'll watch cat soup. and we can compare after. XD

@Kanami: Because i forgot to answer your question about Asian nations cosplayers. I spotted one Taiwan, 2 Hong Kong, 3 China, and 2 Japan. Sadly, there wasn't a Korea around... There's also one Vietnam, I think, but I couldn't be too sure. It could've been yet another China for all I care.

No, watching RomaHeta didn't inspire me to make a Hetalia-based RPG because I never really had an aspiration to be a game-maker/designer/programmer. It did, however, give me some idea blurbs for the epic-wannabe Aveyond AU that I'm currently working on.

The pirate? I think the ones who were canonically said to be pirates are England and Spain. I'm not sure where all the Captain Kirkland fanarts stemmed from. I don't recall seeing any Pirate England official art. There HAD to be a basis for that somewhere, either a fan joke comment, or one random official art. I mean, Prussia's bird came from that one time April Fool's joke and now most fans think that Prussia is not Prussia without the bird. And Russia's pipe. There's only ONE official art that shows Russia holding that pipe-thing of his and fans somehow thinks that Russia is not Russia without the pipe (most official art show him holding SUNFLOWERS, not the pipe).

Yes, I draw Hetalia for the Collegium. I post most of my art here in Amaranthia. I still draw Hetalia sometimes, but not as much as I used to. I'm kinda focused on my Aveyond AU and my daevas right now. I actually have some more Hetalia stuff among my submissions. Go to my submissions and... go to page 11 and beyond. If you wanna look at them, that is...

finished watching saki and Oh. My. God.

Why did I not finish this earlier? Ignoring all the majong lingo that goes straight over my head, its awesome with fleshed out characters. Yuri Subtext? Its as close as yuri MAINtext as you can get without love confessions/kissing/etc.

hugging?
having this 6th sense you're gf needs help and rushing over?
blushing when talking to each other?
absolutely no interest in the male character?
holding hands/interlocking fingers constantly?
sleeping next to/on each other?
able to notice small changes in your gf?
only eyes for each other?
always pep talking each other?
protecting each other?
calling each other by their first names? (japanese culture dudes!)
promising to be together forever?

yesssss, we're in yuri mainsubtextland. Enjoy your visit. *fanboys*

okay, now i'm done gushing over the yuri galore going on in saki, its other strengths is a surprisingly good storyline (was expecting something like yugioh) and even if I can't follow the actual majong moves I get when something is really bad or good in terms of moves. Quite a bit of fanservice, but I never found them annoying so *shrugs*

A bit too many repetitive flashbacks here and there, but they mostly help flesh out the characters and why they play and why they care for each other so much.

no 2nd season= major sulking though.

@KTC: What anime is that?
------------
I don't really like same-gender pairings and stuff, but I don't really freak out if i encounter any... I can stand both yaoi and yuri pictures, but I seem to tolerate yuri pics better than yaoi. It's the opposite with fics. I can tolerate yaoi fics better than yuri fics. If nothing happens (beyond kissing) I can stand both type of fics...

@agas: It's Saki Amusingly, the anime is more yuri-fied than the manga which is unusual as its usually the reverse (manga >> anime in yuri department)

I'm a big fan of yuri and tolerant of Yaoi. Good yuri stuff is so hard to find though. >_<!

@KTC: Uh, sometimes anime does that... The anime of Saiyuki is riddled with so many yaoi hints that people started thinking weird stuff because of it.

@agas: I know, but its unusual as generally manga is more extreme in yuri, violence, general craziness,etc. Or the ones I've read anyway.

Of the ones I remember: Strawberry panic, sasameki koto, azumanga daioh, hellsing, ouran host club, berserk, ghost in the shell, and another I forgot the name mangas were way more extreme than the anime made from them.

Anime: They had to censor it for the kids

@KTC
Quote:
LOL Hey, no fair! Cat Soup is a short movie, less than an hour long. How about you watch Cat Soup and Paranoia Agent while I watch Utena? xD

@all
Just watched episode 51 of Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood today and....aksdjfalkdjfa prime nightmare material right here:



For the record, the subtitle is the officer trying to give them orders. You can probably guess that it doesn't go over very well.....

@aeternus: lol! oh fine XP

(And i mean the utena anime series! not the movie even if that's confusing too.)

*puts paranoia agent on to-watch list*

@KTC
Excellent! We have a deal xD

I actually watched the first two episodes of Utena on YouTube - I managed to find the remastered version, thank goodness, because I found some truly awful quality videos elsewhere (could barely read the subtitles D: )

Say, I just started watching RomaHeta online... Basically it looks like a recording of someone playing an RPG... I think the "animator" actually made a game with RPG maker and recorded himself/herself playing the game.

The game system's weird... I mean, the invisible player adds China to the party, and then you can still see China standing in the room selling you stuff. So... party member doubling as seller too? Wow... China's the potion seller and Russia's the arms dealer (weapons, armour, shield, etc).

And then they're going to Italy's house and when the "player" go the wrong way England and France pops up and tells player that they're going the wrong way. Since I spoiled it anyway.... Our invisible player is really Japan and the Japan in the game is a fake created by the virus or something like that...

Yeah, and France is also a party member but also plays as the inn keeper, and I'm pretty certain that the same goes with Russia if he's a party member (which, unfortunately, he is not).

He's corrupted by virus!!! LOL. Too bad I only found 5 subbed episodes. Since it's RPG, the story relies heavily on the conversation and if we can't read them it's pointless. I do know that the two Italys will later "upgrade" into some kind of super "holy mode" and they dress like priests in Vatican or something like that...

@daevas_agas
Considering about the game's weird system, I think the creator wanted to make the game 'smooth'. China is a supplies' merchant since he is often portrayed as a merchant. See Hetalia Fantasia. For Russia. well... you know him...Being dangerous. I also think England and France pop at the end of area if they are going the wrong way to make the game restricted to the plot of the game. Please mind me if I have sounded strange.

I once saw England wearing a pirate outfit in one of the manga strip considering about a missing Santa Claus. And an artwork which it is offically done by Hidekaz Himaruya. It was shown to have England and Spain in their pirate outfits and small Romano behind Spain. I read England being a pirate from a website. I think Hidekaz Himaruya wanted to portray his characters through what did the countries' (Not the characters, the real countries) experience such as Japan being a ninja (When Russia was visiting Germany's place, he dressed as a ninja to put traps in Germany's place, but was found out. Haha.) , Prussia as a knight (Prussia's younger years) and England as a pirate.
Spoiler
The Italy twins are also affected by the virus. And they could beat Germany, Prussia, Austria and Spain who are the characters that battled with them. They are powerful when they go 'holy mode' due to the virus. Strange, why they did not go 'holy mode' when they go out...

@Aeternus
xxxHolic can give us some philsophical advices? I found that some 'advices' Yuko said are some sort of true. Get what I mean? By the way, which part of X/1999 do you do not understand?

I watched the first episode of Maid Sama. And I really like it though I don't get the ending song of it.

What do you think of Naruto lately?

Ok...wow. I recently finished a series entitled Kuchu Buranku (a.k.a. Trapeze) and it was...interesting...to say the least. The series follows various patients of eccentric psychiatrist Irabu Ichiro. It's episodic and each episode in and of itself is pretty straightforward - a patient comes to Irabu with a mental illness, Irabu works with the patient for over about a week, and the case is more or less solved by the end - but the animation and art is the trippiest I've ever come across.

No, really, look...



The show blends typical animation (with LOTS of bright colours and patterns) and a kind of 2-D live action. Then, you have the ever-changing appearance of Irabu himself - he switches from a strange teddy bear/man combination to a relatively normal young adult to a little kid, and the heads of the patients themselves will spontaneously appear as that of an animal representing their mental illness. Crowds of people (or "extras" ) appear as cardboard cut-outs.

It's just weird. The series itself was pretty good, though, but not for those who like their anime more straight-forward and linear. There's lots of symbolism in this series that gives it the depth that's needed for it to be truly enjoyable.

@Kanami
I agree that Yuuko's advice is quite philosophical and has a grain of truth to it xD However, I'm sorry but I can't for the life of me remember what I found confusing about X/1999. It's probably been a good two or three years since I read the first volume ^^;

I haven't been keeping up with Naruto enough to comment properly on it ^^; I need to catch up...

I just caught up with Naruto. Not as interesting as it used to be though. Ah well.

Has any one here read Maid-sama? It is soooo cute and hilarious at the same time. They jsust started an anime for it too.

Which came first? Manga or anime? I am talking about mangas and animes of certain names such as Fullmetal Alchemist, To Aru Majustsu no Index, Higurashi Series? I noticed that the animes appeared to be faster than the mangas. It seemed very strange as orginally, mangas came before animes. Apart from some animes as some of them are based on games with the same names, apparently.

Naruto is still popular regardless of the strange twist in the plot now. Many fans of Hetalia and Naruto now thinks that Madara is Russia due to when he said "All will be one with me." Ignore the name. It is just a joke. (Refering to the person with M letter in front, ignore me..)

Found the official pirate picture of England and Spain.

someone watched Lucky star or Death note or maybe Fate Stay Night? this is good anime ^^ But the best is Code geass *.*