Kurogane’s Anime Blog

Well, this chapter pretty much confirms all the hints about Asuna’s past that have been thrown about, although many details still remain to be revealed. I’m just glad we got a nice insight in to Asuna’s origins and her past with the Ala Rubra.

Based on this though, it seems that Asuna will be a prime target for the “enemies” that the Ala Rubra were fighting, considering her natural abilities, so it’s pretty lucky Asuna’s gotten some training from Evangeline. Of course, there’s also Negi’s Magia Erebea. I wonder where he is now on Rakan’s power chart after the upgrade.

Not forgetting the fanservice though. Knight Yue is LOL.

Anyways, next week, Akamatsu takes another “material-gathering” break. I bet Kanon’s got a photoshoot or smth, LOL.

KYAAAAAAA KAWAIII!!!!! Seeing Isumi in a skirt is definitely gonna be a once-in-a-blue-moon thing I guess. Although I love kimonos, but having this once in a while is pretty good too.

And this is why Hayate no Gotoku remains one of my favourite manga’s being published nowadays. Kenjiro Hata REALLY knows how to lay on the fanservice and the humor. LOL at Sakuya’s attempt at making Isumi do Shishio cosplay, hahaha.

Fucking hell yeah! Negi gains +50 GAR points this chapter, with his “fight first, talk later” rules of engagement he has now adopted. No more bullshit. No more delaying talk. No more lame attempts at persuasion. “Peace through Power!”… fuck, yeah.

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Shit, this was a fucking awesome chapter.

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Another manga completed. I’m on a reading spree lately, due to the lack of interesting shows to follow. Correspondingly, the scanlation scene also seems to be quite more active lately too.

Anyways, Watashi no Messiah-sama was a title I picked solely on the basis of it’s interesting title name and also because Manga-Heaven’s scanlating it. I’m actually quite a fan of M-H, so… :).

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Seems like a lot of awesome series have finished their scanlation run lately, and after Mahoraba, it’s now Shin Angyo Onshi’s turn.

It has been a truly epic series, coupled off with a truly epic end, and Shin Angyo Onshi will remain as one of the best manhwa titles I’ve ever had the chance to read. True, the end was already forecast a while back, but it still hit quite hard when it did, and man, Munsu’s death is probably one of the GAR-est I’ve seen in a while lately. Despite the fact he didn’t land the final blow, but the way it ended… it surely hit more harder than if he did do so. Truly, a man amongst men.

Throughout this tragedy-filled series, it’s been really sad to see Munsu’s life journey, most especially during the Mandrake dream arc, where we finally got to know Kye Wol Hyang, Munsu’s lover and their tragic love story, horribly twisted and turned upside down by the intervention of one of the most evilest villains in a manga/manhwa series ever. Aji Tae has definitely been one of the more memorable villains ever, with his sheer power coupled together with a personality that chills anyone to the bones. Single handedly messing up a whole country and the lives of the main characters, this causation-defying villain was truly a memorable one.

To be honest, unlike the satisfying end of Mahoraba, I still find SAO’s ending volume was rather confusing, since I don’t know if it’s a lost-in-translation thing or elsewise, but I the whole mystery surrounding Aji Tae remained rather unclear even at the end, despite a number of explanations given. What was he really? A true demon? Satan incarnate? I guess it’ll remain ambiguous, but it’s surely enough to know that he is definitely not human. It was also compounded by the last minute mystery of Chun-Hyang’s true identity, as it was hinted that she wasn’t human as well.

Nevertheless, with a epic story, awesome action and memorable characters, Shin Angyo Onshi is truly a must-read for manga fans. Lastly, I would like to give my wholehearted thanks to the team of ETC for bringing this wonderful series in to English for us all. Thank you for your efforts!

I wonder how many people still remember this series…

Anyways, after a long, long wait, I’ve finally finished reading the Mahoraba manga, and I’m happy with it yet at the same time, my heart feels a bit torn now that it’s ended. In short, it is a totally awesome manga that I hope everyone would give it a try.

It’s definitely gonna be hard to finally part with the residents of Narutaki-sou, as they’ve each been grown so dear to me, the further I read this series. Kojima Akira-sensei treads a fine balance at humor, plot depth and character development with this series and it’s easy for readers to connect to each of the characters in this manga as it runs.

It’s also further testament to the manga-ka’s skill that each and every other minor character also got some attention of their own, to the point that I’ll miss them all as well, from the crazy antics of “Buchou” to the deadly-looking but a total girl at heart maid, Tachibana, amongst the ones who stand out the most to me.

Here, I’d also like to congratulate and thank Hiyoko no GAO for taking up and finishing this project, and generally keeping the spirit of Mahoraba alive, despite the series having ended for over 2 years already.

Everyone, please do give this manga a try! I have 99.9% confidence that you will enjoy it as much as I did.

To all my Malaysian readers, I’m selling off a bunch of my manga, due to a serious lack of space on my bookshelves and money as well. I’m looking to sell them for about RM 10 - 15 per book and RM 40-50 for that Full Metal Alchemist artbook, and if you buy a lot, I can sell for a cheaper price. If you would like to buy all of them, it’s RM 275. The list of titles is as follows.

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Ah, it’s not really been long, but Shinshi Doumei Cross finally ended. I nearly fainted when the opening page of the chapter had Haine declaring “I will marry both Shizumasa and Takanari!” ^^;;. I think that’s gonna be really hard on both of them, Haine-chan.

In the end, Takanari gets Haine, and everything gets nicely resolved \o/. I’m happy for both of them, and it’s been really fun reading this manga throughout its run.

While I felt the ending arc was a bit rushed, and you could already see things coming a mile ahead, I’m glad to see the conclusion was nicely done, and everyone in the series gets a fair share of happiness. I especially felt happy for Ushio, and it was good to see Kusame and Komaki getting along, though I wished to see more of Kusame. Yes, it’s because both of them have long, beautiful hair :D.

Ah, I’ll end it here before I spoil the whole chapter. Looking forward to Arina-sensei’s next work after this.

Manga creator Arina Tanemura (Full Moon wo Sagashite) will end The Gentlemen’s Alliance Cross manga in the July issue (on sale on June 3) of Shueisha’s Ribon magazine — and start a new manga called Mistress Fortune in the same issue. The announcement was made in the current monthly issue, which was released on May 1. The magazine says this is the first time that an artist has ended a series and started a new one in the same issue. Mistress Fortune will launch with a 52-page installment, including a color insert at the beginning. There will need to be at least 10 volumes to finish The Gentlemen’s Alliance Cross in Japanese, and Viz Media will publish the sixth volume in English next month. Viz Media has also published or licensed Tanemura’s I.O.N., Full Moon wo Sagashite, Short-Tempered Melancholy, and Time Stranger Kyoko, while CMX published Kamikaze Kaitō Jeanne.

Source: Anime News Network

So it’s finally ending. To be honest, I’ve been a big fan of the series ever since I tried reading the first chapter on a whim quite a while back. The combination of awesome art, likable cast of characters and insanely dramatic turns of story have kept me hooked all this while, and the series is one of the rare ones that I actually buy the English releases of.

Honestly speaking, though, reading till the latest chapters, I do feel the ending is gonna be quite the cop-out, being already clear as day as to how it will end. Yet still, it’s been an awesome read, and I hope it will end satisfactorily.

I eagerly await Arina-sensei’s new series, and it seems like she’s going back to her fantasy roots again, with Mistress Fortune.

In the meantime, I still need to collect the rest of Full Moon wo Sagashite… orz.