I don’t even know where to begin in this episode. I feel like fangirling all over this post, but I will try to refrain until I get to my thoughts.

The episode opens up with Sawako trying to greet her two new friends, Yano and Yoshida, with a cheerful look. Of course, since this is Sawako, it backfires and doesn’t look so cheerful. They explain to her that she should smile when she’s happy… of course Sawako’s main version of a smile is quite creepy.

Kazehaya barely makes it in time for the last bell and then he brings up to Sawako how he hasn’t named the dog yet and wants her opinion. Unfortunately for both of them, someone barks ‘Pedro Martinez!’

That someone, happens to be the assistant teacher, Arai Kazuichi(aka Pin), who is subbing for their normal homeroom teacher. Kazuichi is, obviously, slightly younger than their normal homeroom teacher and tends to be a little… energetic. Even going so far as to try and stare at Sawako for a long period of time (I believe in the manga it was longer than 3-5 seconds) and survive/not be cursed. He exclaims on how great he is…

and then Kazehaya tries… and ends up blushing and can’t keep eye contact with her (ah, young blossoming love).

Pin tells everyone that he is going to pick out someone to stay behind and write down the class attendance log, which Sawako offers, which in turn has Kazehaya saying he would too… and then everyone begins jumping in… but it seems like only Sawako does it… until Kazehaya escapes from Pin.

A cute moment passes for Kazehaya and Sawako as they sit together in an empty classroom, writing down each other’s name. Then Kazehaya gets called back to Pin and these two girls come in… Hirano and Endou… and once again, Sawako opens her heart to others.

They share another moment on the stairs, where Kazehaya confesses that the one who moves him most is Sawako. And of course mysterious girl A is watching in the shadows.

Then when we cut to the next day, another cute moment occurs… Kazehaya passes a note to Sawako… who thinks she needs to pass it along to either Yano or Sanada… she chooses Sanada, in which Kazehaya quickly slaps his hand on Sanada’s desk and snatches the note. Sawako feels she had done wrong on her first “mission”… well, Kazehaya writes on the note that it’s for her… and cutely points to her when she points to her self. ‘Ku~ro~na~ma~’

And the note is asking her if she’d like to take Maru(Pedro Martinez shortened of course) out for a walk. Of course she does! So they take the puppy for a walk(where Sawako brought “bait” to get Maru to run at her) Kazehaya asks her what she does in Study hall… and when she replies with “study” “daydream” (something along those lines) she explains it to him and then the next day she helps him in his studies… but then everyone joins in… and once again, Sawako opens her heart. And then… in front of everyone, Sawako smiles beautifully. Everyone is effected and some aren’t even sure she even smiled.

And then… at the end… apparently these girls tell Yano and Yoshida(after Yoshida forces them) that Sawako is the one spreading rumors. Aaand end of episode. I left out some things, but that’s okay!

My Thoughts
NNNNNNNN~~ This anime keeps getting cuter! I love it. First off, I’m pretty sure Pin’s voice actor is Itou Kentarou. It sounds like him and to be honest, that’s who I kind of pictured for him (most of the voice actors have been very spot on!) and then… just… just this whole episode! Bubbles flying everywhere, happiness everywhere. Aaah~ It was cuteness overload.

A perfect ending for the drama that is to come.

Right from the start, it sounds kind of goofy. And at the start, it is goofy. Real goofy. The manga in the beginning seems to be nothing more than silly hi-jinks. It’s full of useless stuff that happens for almost no reason whatsoever. The only legitimate reason for most of the nonsense is- a) introducing characters and b) showing off the power of the “Dying Will Bullet”.

But what happens after we see most of what the dying will bullet does? When most, if not all, the main characters are introduced?

Despite the manga going off into this goofiness(for like, 50 chapters or so), it does remind you that this is about a mafia. The mafia that Tsuna is being forced of being the 10th boss of. And after the 50 chapter goofiness and weirdness, it’s time to get serious. Tsuna and his “family”, which are revealed within the chapters after the weird, light-hearted chapters, are thrown into this fight against a group called the Varia… who want these “Vongola rings”.

I won’t spoil anything, but after that, things turn even more serious.

Aside from the plot advancement. Character development is a weird thing in Reborn! Some characters, you can tell that their character has grown– especially Tsuna. Tsuna, while still finicky and unsure of himself… does what’s right now more than just crumpling at the sight of something fearful until Reborn hits him with a dying will bullet. Tsuna has become more and capable of not only fighting for himself, but fighting for and defending his “family”.

Other characters, don’t really show true character development, imo. They show strength progress. For example, Yamamoto is very much the same person he started out as, but he has mastered his sword… he started out as some kid who only knew how to use a baseball bat to using a four sword style.

But in the world of shounen manga, strength progress = character development. So one must look at that with the bat of an eye.

The art of Reborn! isn’t too bad… it definitely has changed from the first chapters until now-

Tsuna from the 1st chapter.

Tsuna from the 262nd chapter.

As you can tell by these pictures (kind of)… the beginning art is more grainy… lines are “softer”. The newer art looks delicate in a sharp way. The lines are more defined and the art is more clear… it has also become more “beautiful”.

My Thoughts
Reborn! is your typical manga. It’s full of the usual “fight, growth” formula that all shounen manga follows. And like many shounen manga(not all), the females are few and far between and they do lack in being good females. Bianchi and La Mirch are good examples of strong women in the Reborn world… La Mirch especially, but it is a male dominated world in Reborn! But what shounen manga isn’t?

All in all, the characters are what make Reborn! fun to read. And I recommend this manga to anyone who can stand long chapter shounen series… and can dig the yaoi fandom in it. (you know how that goes with a lot of shounen manga [example- Naruto])

Now, once again, this series isn’t too serious that you need to follow it episode by episode. But it would be best to get exactly what’s going. After all, they don’t explain the curse every episode and characters do change within an episode, so it is best to go and watch the first two episodes before reading this blog if you haven’t done so already!

None-the-less…
The third episode introduces us to College Sophomore Mochizuki Chizuru, who is working as a mail woman. After Junpei meets her, he realizes her sense of direction is so poor that she got lost trying to find her way to the priest’s temple when their is only one way in. So, he decides to help her out. Unfortunately, along the way he is roped into helping cats as well. He had to get a meal for one, get something away from a yard(with an angry dog in it), and even write a birthday card for a cat’s owner. All the while helping Chizuru find all of her destinations.

Normal hi-jinks insue! The lovely game of hide and seek comes into play as Junpei keeps seeing people he wouldn’t want seeing him with a beautiful college student like Chizuru. In the end, three people see him with her… and one of them happens to be the girl he likes, Mizuno Kaede.

After he finishes helping Chizuru he, for some reason, has this flash back of when he first met Kaede… she was just as crazy then as now, and after that, he tries to explain to Kaede why he was with Chizuru. Kaede says it doesn’t matter because he’s with Kana (Junpei’s old friend). Kana appears and drags him off, leaving forlorn Kaede until a new face appears saying they have started running on the track…. parting words from new face- “That guy pisses me off”

My Thoughts
I liked this episode. It didn’t drag along at all and I felt happy watching it. Though I can see elements of the harem beginning to form. We have the girl the main guy likes, the older hottie who likes him, and the best friend that pines for him. Now this new face looks like she’ll be the slightly-lesbian tomboy that will eventually warm up to him. I’ll be shocked if it doesn’t follow that formula.

But so far, it hasn’t gotten too bad to where I won’t follow it! I just hope to keep seeing good things and hope that I see more Chizuru! She’s funny and I like her.

I didn’t have this blog when I started Kimi ni Todoke, but it actually doesn’t matter too much with this anime. In brief- Kimi ni Todoke is about a young woman named Kuronama Sawako. Despite her humble attitude and graciousness, everyone fears her because she looks a lot like The Ring‘s Sadako… so much that people call her that and think she has supernatural powers and if anyone dares to sit near her or even talk to her, they’d be cursed.

Lucky for the outcast Sawako, there is a ray of light. That ray of light is Kazehaya Shota. Kazehaya is loved by all of his classmates. The huddle around him and all want his attention. But for some reason, Kazehaya is drawn to Sawako. He seems to try to talk to her and eventually gets her to open her heart to him.

Now. When I first saw that, I automatically though Kazehaya was actually being sympathetic to Sawako. Which I do not like. But as time goes by, especially in this 2nd episode, you realize just how genuine Kazehaya really is about Sawako.

This second episode is named ‘Changing Seats’. It starts off with Sawako walking to school in the rain, reminiscing of what Kazehaya had told her, when stumbles upon a stray dog. The dog instantly hates her and growls at her and freaks out. Sawako is unaffected and puts an umbrella over the dog and wishes that someone would eventually take him home. She goes to school soaking wet, the usually “Sadako” stuff happens and then enter Kazahaya– A wet Kazehaya.

Kazehaya was toweling off when he notices an equally wet Sawako. He gets one of Sawako’s classmates, Yoshida, to give her a replacement uniform to wear instead. Despite the uniform smelling like mold, Sawako is so grateful she is near tears. Kazehaya gives her his towel, apologizing on how it’s a little damp from him using it as well.

Then comes the changing of seats issue. No one wants to sit by Sawako… upon learning Sawako has the number 3, everyone hurries to find out who sits beside her, hoping it’s not them. Many students jeer “beware seat 19!”

In which, Kazehaya trades with 19, to sit right beside Sawako… and then Yano and Yoshida refuse to grab a number, sitting directly in front of Sawako and Kazehaya… and now a mysterious new person, Sanada Ryuu, sits right behind Sawako. He says he likes the very back seat near the window though.

But once again, Sawako is so happy that she is near tears, exclaiming how happy she is to have this seat.

My Thoughts
Well, to be perfectly honest, it was as I expected it to be. I couldn’t stop smiling while watching this episode. My heart was pumping so merrily at watching it. Sawako is so cute. And Kazehaya showed a very cute side today in this episode, with his blushing and all. Yano and Yoshida are slowly showing their own sides and now we have Sanada in the mix.

Sawako is slowly gaining friends, without really realizing it, and opening her heart. ;w;

Kobato Episode 2

Like Kimi ni Todoke, Kobato is very light hearted. It’s a feel good series that you almost find impossible not to smile at. The story so far, as I know it, is-
Hanato Kobato is on a mission. She wants to get to somewhere, but can only do so when she finds this bottle and fills it with “scarred hearts”. Her stuffed dog, Iroyogi, is there to help her along her way.

So we start our journey with Kobato and Iroyogi-san! When Kobato gets the bottle, it’s out of pure luck. The actual scarred heart took time… which resulted in this episode being Kobato trying her hardest to help people, but not really know what a “scarred heart” really is. She played kick the can with some kids and then looked confidently at the bottle, only to be disheartened to see it still empty! She passed out pocket tissue… still empty.

After she bumps into this one man she met before, Fujimoto Kiyokazu, she follows him, wanting to thank him and find a nursery…. where she volunteers to help, hoping she would be enough help to fill the bottle. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work either!

It was when she finally opened her heart to a young little boy, telling him his mother is a wonderfuly, hard working mom, did she receive a “scarred heart”

My Thoughts
Like Kimi ni Todoke, there isn’t much to this anime yet. It seems it will be one of those “collecting things” anime… but it’s CLAMP, and though I’m not the biggest CLAMP fan, I do like most of their works and this one looks like it will be in lieu with CardCaptor Sakura and be adorable. I anxiously await the next episode.

Within this blog, I will discuss a lot of things. I will primarily focus on newer anime, but I will review older ones. I will be making a post around December that will be a look back to the series I’ve watched for the 09 season.

I will try to keep my opinions middle line. Though I can easily admit that I am a fangirl of sorts, I do not agree with being too fangirly.

So enjoy your stay. I will be making an actual post as soon as possible.