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Your taste is unbelievably awesome and this Valkyria Chronicles fanboy says high five!

Yes! I grew up with Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell.

Happy belated birthday milady.

HI SAM!!! *:ﾟ*｡⋆ฺ(´◡`*)

(I actually can't actually remember what made me like it so much but I think it was mostly them finding comfort in each other that helped me get over the ((imo)) weird/uncharacteristic ending!! It's worth completing I think!)

eeep i don't even realize you wrote something on my profile ;;
(there aren't any notifications here eh?)

yes, honey&clover is one of my favorite. season 2 ripped my heart to pieces tho 8'D

btw i really miss Nana. When will Yazawa Ai update it I wonder....

HEY THEREEEEE <3 <3 <3

hello hello ^^
Just to let you know I tried Gokinjo Monogatari but I didn't like it :(
It's not bad, just a little too silly (light-hearted) for my tastes... idk I think I might have enjoyed it if the characters weren't soooo similar to Paradise Kiss which I read not too long ago.

I'll try another of your rec soon and keep you posted :)
Meanwhile I wold recommend Dengeki Daisy for you. It's light hearted but the protagonist is loveable beyond belief. I think you might like it :)

Thanks for the recs :)

I tried Nodame and loved it but then got bored of the repititive characters that didn't evolve much and ended-up dropping it :/
I LOVE nana!! :D I have a thing for drama :3

I probably should have mentionned I read manga but I don't do animes anymore :(
So I'll try out Sakamichi no Apollon & Gokino Monogatari; thanks a bunch :)

Thanks for waiting for my reply. I feel so, so bad for waiting so long ;--; I've been utterly overrun with school work and so many things, trying to get my grades up and stuff. But now I have more time to myself since my marking period and that bad math class are finally over, thank God. I sent you and Jac a message on her account about how much I completely LOVE the tote bag, and the bookmarks and little mementos you both made for me. I appreciate it so much. Thank you for thinking of me enough to give me such a lovely, personalized gift <3 I'm using it all the time, and I promise I am going to take a picture of myself with it soon too! I really loved the notes you included in there as well. I always marvel at how cool your handwriting is, haha :'D And I hope my package for you got there safely!! I was a little worried about it.

Thanks!! I'm really excited to be getting the results soon but nervous as well. I'm hoping that I'll be able to get a scholarship as a result of it. I've actually had some 'psychic' dreams about finding the results and seeing I was moving onto the national competition… maybe it'll actually come true. I hope so. Usually when I have a positive dream like that, followed by other symbolic dreams they actually come true in some sense or another. Some of my other family members are like that too. Weird but cool, I guess. The results should be coming in sometime in Feb. or March. I'm just so anxious to see them!

School does suck. I've commented that school is a large reason for my growing unhappiness over time. I never fit in with the regular school environment and it got to the point where, as I've said before, I was starting to get a panic disorder because of the general chaos and the lack of structure. I'm surprisingly a structured person who can't deal with a lot of disorder… even though I don't have special places for things or an obsession with neatness, I still have those perfectionistic problems as we've discussed, so they showed up concerning school my whole life. I was always unhappy with my progress and what I was doing. I was unhappy with group assignments because no one listened to my rather… forceful opinions, LOL. So yeah, as you can see I was always pretty competitive too, by default. I just wanted to be in charge and the best quite often in the beginning, but I was hurt when people didn't accept me as the best. I think by middle school I started getting pretty bad with school concerning the anxiety thing, and as you said, not caring as much about being number one concerning grades. But to my credit I have never actually failed a class, though I have failed tests before, in ENGLISH too :'0 Can you believe it? How incredibly ironic, right? It was a test about a Ray Bradbury reading assignment I hated, and I never ended up reading it, and we got tested literally the next day after getting the homework. It was really difficult too, and I was freaking out, haha. I think that's the only English test I've failed besides one or two about grammar.

Thanks for having confidence in me. It's funny that at the time we were exchanging comments I was in the red with the math class, but now I've passed it with an A and it's OVER! Haha… I'm just so relieved, you don't even know. I really pushed through like you said I could :) And I'm very happy with myself for trying to do my best. I was worried about my GPA falling a lot. The idea of having my high GPA fall because of a stupid math class woke me up from my depressive state of putting it all off. Calculating my GPA if I had gotten a D on the computer was an effective wake up call to say the least…

Me too 8'( I've actually been watching it a little bit when I have the chance to watch TV, all of the English dubbed episodes which aren't too bad concerning the voice acting. I actually like the voice for Nana Osaki in the English dub and it fits with her character pretty well. It's the only reason I ever watch the English version. I feel the exact same way when I watch the show and especially when I read the manga. I always feel like crying! It's a little ridiculous but it's so easy to identify with the struggles and heartaches of the characters. I have a lot of empathy for them in general and it's heart breaking whenever I read the volumes where Ren begins to descend into drug abuse, and Nana begins to have panic attacks too.

It's absolutely disheartening but I have to agree there's a good chance of Ai Yazawa giving up Nana forever. I think I even read somewhere online that the publisher of the manga has actually dropped the license for the series… that's a bad sign. It seems she's not going to continue for some time, or ever again. The idea of Ai Yazawa giving up Nana makes me incredibly depressed though.

I'm glad you put Sand Chronicles on your to-read list. :) You'll probably enjoy it since it has a lot of realistic drama and situations about love and betrayal in it. It's not like a typical bad shoujo manga, which was a pleasant surprise for me when I picked it up. I'll definitely do research on the best seinen and josei series to read. I definitely think that if I like josei like Nana I'll appreciate seinen series as well. I agree that Nana is not typical shoujo and the content throughout definitely makes it more josei. I've heard of Solanin before! I've seen it on Tumblr quite a few times and it actually looked excellent to me right away, very angst-y and almost introspective. I've heard of 'A Girl By The Sea' and I've seen caps of that on Tumblr too, I think they're by the same author. Solanin is more based around music, right? I know A Girl By The Sea seemed more oriented around a sexual relationship but it seems interesting nonetheless and realistic above all, which is what I crave. I'll start reading Solanin soon! :) I've had it on my to-read list actually.

I feel the same way. For some reason I just don't have a ton of respect for girl who are extremely fixated on romance. It just irks me and saddens me at the same time. I have a dislike for co-dependency, and a lack of independence in general. I've always felt that romance should not be extremely smothering and that a relationship does not have to be exclusive and so fixed - like through marriage - to work out well. I have Venus, my planet of love, in a harmonic aspect to Saturn, the planet of sobriety and rationality, so it just goes to show that when I do manage to have romantic feelings I don't like the idea of material stuff, lovey-dovey displays of affection or really short relationships that mean nothing. The last part might sound contradictory to what I said before but it actually isn't. I just meant that you can be together long-term but marriage isn't absolutely required to be a 'normal' couple… yet it's also bad to constantly jump from guy to guy over the years. In my eyes the best relationship would be a long-term one with meaning but without a ton of restrictions to hold me down.

It kills me to see girls who base everything around finding love and being with guys. My mom is a lot like that, so maybe that's why I feel so strongly about the topic. She's always been weirdly obsessed with romance and has delusional ideas about what love should be like… stuff that is just so unbelievable and unrealistic and often material based. It disgusts me honestly. And worse, she's not the only person in my family and otherwise that I've known to have been that way. That's why whenever I read books where women are too dependent on their partners or base their lives around their partners I scorn the author. I just can't help but have contempt for such an idea and dislike for such a person who promotes an idea like that.

"I guess in the end, what matters is to stay true to yourself." You're so right. This is exactly what I have been aiming for my entire life. To learn how to be true to myself without caring about the opinions of others… and I can honestly say that by this point in my life I am just about there. I don't care about what other people think of my appearance anymore or my ideals. Accept me as I am entirely, or reject me. It sounds extreme but I think it's necessary for me to be happy and feel safe with other people, especially concerning romance and friendships. The older I get the more wild and original I get with myself, and it disturbs some people I think. People who are more conservative who are not used to seeing a girl act out against social norms and stuff… by dressing like a guy sometimes, or wearing a gothic diva dress sometimes, or looking like a punk sometimes, haha. But I can't tie myself down to JUST ONE image anymore - that's been the problem all along. And why should I, right? I don't have to fit to conform myself to just one image. I can be both a tomboy and a feminine person at the same time. I think before I figured being a badass meant you had to just dress and act masculinely without a lot of feminine anything… but I know that's wrong now. You can be masculine and feminine if you want to be, and even dress femininely without losing the hardcore attitude you love. Coming to accept this has taken a long time but it has felt good for me to do so.

I've been thinking about how to incorporate this all into my career somehow… like writing a series of poems or taking a series of photographs about a more feminine man (who is heterosexual) but gets rejected from society because he recognized the yin energies in himself, something really abstract. Do I sound like I'm on drugs right now? LOL. I'm a little scattered because I have so much to say. I've thought about using feminine men and masculine women in the literature I write or the art I make for a long time. I've actually started a short novel about a punk girl who likes those rougher, darker things society only sees fit for boys to like, and how it ends up getting her thrown in military school. It's actually a lot better than it sounds.

I read Never Let Me Go by the other Japanese author Ishiguro and I can see what you mean, about many Japanese authors having that straight forward yet very impacting writing style. Sometimes it's nice to have a book that's profound but to the point and not cluttered with a lot of boring details that just annoy you. I like how Murakami seems to build his characters that way, with many of his protagonists having similar overall traits. I actually have done that myself in a way - with the screenplays and the books I write, the lead is almost always a female with some quirk or strange traits that set her apart from everyone else, and with badass characteristics. I definitely think it's not a bad thing to build characters off of other characters you have written as long as you keep variety in your stories, which he naturally does.

About the thyroid situation as of right now… in a few weeks thank GOD I am FINALLY going to see an endocrinologist. It's taken forever to get an appointment and it's gotten worse with time, so I'm anxious to get tests run and see what's going on now. Hopefully the endo will be helpful and actually get something accomplished for me. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

They all have huge boobs? "My back aches when I look at them" - LOL! I'D That unfortunately seems to be a reoccurring element with many shonen series. But if the series overall is good, then I wouldn't mind at all checking it out. I'll add the manga on my to-read list today! :) If it's anything like Naruto I'll probably enjoy it a lot. It's true that I've been missing the series for a while and the quality of the manga has definitely gone down ever since the zombie ninja arc or whatever. Kishimoto has really been drawing everything out far too much and is falling victim to the 'quality not quantity' factor with writing in general. Writing and drawing far too much and lowering the quality as a result. I liked his manga from before when it was way more to the point with fights and arcs, at least that's what it seemed like to me. Oh well.

Fairy Tail sounds good to me already, especially since the protagonist is female and the author views the male and female characters equally. I'll try to find some new cool series for you to watch or read. The only one I can rec you again at the moment is Death Note if you haven't started watching it or reading it yet. I know I've told you about this one before, but I'm re-watching it now and it's the first thing that came to mind to talk about again. To be honest, if you're going to get into the series - which you definitely should, even though the lead characters are male and not female! - you should probably start out by watching a few episodes and then reading the manga if you want to. The manga at first bored me a little bit and didn't catch my interest as much as the beginning of the anime did. When the plot starts to get more involved the manga becomes a lot more interesting thankfully. :) Besides that, I also have been reading the horror manga 'Uzumaki'... kind of famous I guess, but it's been really good and very scary!

Anyway, I hope to hear from you soon! And I'm sorry to give you information overload here, haha. ;') I just had so much to say since the last time we talked.

Hi Daisy! ^^ It's alright, I procrastinate quite a bit with replying to comments and things as well. It requires quite a bit of effort, hehe~ *lazy*

Yeah, apparently when you watch the show with the directors' commentary (?), they said that Zuko was designed as a love interest for Katara, and the show headed that way pretty much to the very end. But then they basically felt sorry for Aang... and let him have Katara. >< I could never ship Katara/Aang; I mean, Aang's a cute kid and I really like him, and he does mature a lot over the series... but still, Katara's more like a mother to him. Why couldn't they just do a Yuki/Tohru, and make Aang shove off by saying that Katara was a mother to him, or something like that?! *annoyed* Aang can find someone else later; like you said, since it's a "kids' show" the ending doesn't HAVE to show Aang getting together with someone. Oh well, there's always fanfiction... there's some really good ones, if you'd like me to recommend some! :3 I don't feel it's worth me getting too worked up over... I'm sad Zuko and Katara didn't end up together, but I'm not all hardcore about it like some people are, haha (:

Oh, I definitely see what you mean about the female characters. I guess the reason I haven't liked many of them is for that reason... they were always weak and too girly and squeaky, so they pretty much all felt the same. But I definitely like female characters who are strong and don't just conform to the typical anime-girl image. That's why I liked Sawako ^^ She wasn't at all like the usual short-skirted, shiny-eyed, giggly girl... and I really supported her and felt her struggle with trying to communicate with others, etc. :D Wow, my favourite characters list is all boys, except for Sawako! :O Yeahhhh, I wish there was more space in the favourite manga list!

Yes, Kaname and Yuuki are siblings. >< It's pretty complicated, and it's explained later on in the manga... but I guess you didn't read that far. Kaname's "body" was born as the brother of Yuuki. Kaname is the first ancestor of the Kurans (one of original vampires), and his spirit is brought into the body of Yuuki's brother. Also, pure-blood vampires are allowed to marry within their families, to preserve the bloodline I guess. So Yuuki's parents, Haruka and Juuri, were also brother and sister... but for some reason, it didn't seem to matter to me. They had been together for hundreds of years, and loved each other, and I found their relationship beautiful... I didn't even think of them as brother and sister. :S Haha, it's hard to explain... usually when I think about the brother/sister thing, I feel a bit uncomfortable because I just can't imagine thinking "that" way about a brother; there's just something special about the relationship between an older brother and younger sister, and how he protects her, watches out for her, being able to be close without feeling "icky" feelings about him >___< Ruining the sanctity of a relationship like that, it just feels so wrong to me! How did I get to this topic again? Oh yeah, Kaname and Yuuki... but don't let me bother you with this, haha, since you don't like Vampire Knight. ^^

Haha, yeah it was Clarissa who explained it all to me, and she actually got me really interested in trying out the game! (: I never got around to it though. But the characters certainly sound and look really good; Clarissa was pushing me towards Vanille, haha ^^ I love how there's so much depth of character and background, even though it's a game! AND YES, even without any prior knowledge of any of this, I loved Cloud the minute I saw him, haha! I will totally start playing Final Fantasy, once I figure out how. ._. I was really sad when Clarissa disappeared, but I guess I couldn't expect her to be around forever ;_; I hope she comes back someday!

I'll take a look at Naruto as well, you've got me pretty interested... and I read up on it a little bit, it seems pretty interesting! But the number of chapters and the fact that it's still ongoing is a bit terrifying! Well, one step at a time... or one chapter at a time, really... right? :3 haha~ I really am finding myself teetering towards shounen now, but I haven't been able to find very many good ones. I started Monochrome Myst and was really hooked... but then they stopped scanlating it, and no one else has picked it up yet, so I'm dying waiting to see what happens next. It seems really interesting, you should look it up... but I think I remember you saying you don't like to start anything that hasn't been completed yet. :/

Katsuya and Kyoko's story was definitely the most emotional part in all of Fruits Basket, I think! I also realised... all my favourite couples have a younger female with a-bit-older male. Kureno/Arisa, Katsuya/Kyoko, Shishou (Kazuma)/Saki... and also Akito/Shigure, even though they aren't one of my favourite couples! I don't know why I felt the need to point that out, haha!

HAHAHA ^^ I haven't gotten very far with Honey and Clover, but I find it so mellow and calming, and I love the way the characters are drawn, and the soft colours! It's so pretty! I suppose I'll get into it a bit more once I watch a few more episodes; it's slow-building, like Kimi ni Todoke, but with a more serious undertone (: My favourite character... I'm not very sure of that yet. I don't even know why Shuuji is on my favourites list, haha! I don't really have sensible reasons for why I like characters... I just found him so cute in the episodes where he's away for a research project, and how he's always crying "HAGUUUUU", hahaha :"D I definitely ship Shuuji/Hagu, haha ^^ I'll bet most people would ship Morita/Hagu though. Morita's really cute too, haha... I love him in chibi-form (?), he's adorable! I suppose as it goes on, I may start to ship Morita/Hagu as well... but I like Shuuji/Hagu best so far :) Now that you mention it, I really like Ayumi too, she's a great female character ^^ I like her a lot more than Hagu, but once again, I guess I have to watch a few more episodes before I can make up my mind, hehe~

I added Gokinjo Monogatari to my plan-to-reads when I saw that it was sort of related to Paradise Kiss. ^^ The art in ParaKiss was beautiful too, so I'm looking forward to reading this! Also after seeing Mikako and Tsutomu in Paradise Kiss, I actually really wanted to know more about them! :3

Finally, I think you may like Ciel... the art is soooo pretty, and I'm REALLY liking it so far. ^^ Yvienne is definitely no Mary Sue, haha; and she's so pretty *-* I think she's the prettiest female character I have ever seen... there's plenty of strong females in this, but not to the extent that it's overpowering? It's about magic/fantasy/etc, and it's really good :D

Ohhh, and remember the description of me that you wrote for my LJ profile? ^^ I've put it up :3

Yeah, I'm really sad about Zuko and Katara not ending up together ;_; The producers said Zuko had initially been designed as a love interest for Katara, hence all the hints throughout the series... and then right towards the end, they decided that since it was a kids' show, it might not be very well received if Aang lost the girl he had loved since... forever. D: So they ended up shoving Zuko back to Mai... I don't really mind Mai, she became a lot nicer later on in the show, although I found it really awkward seeing her smile, for some reason. o_o But I still felt like she didn't have this... warmth and fiery personality that Zuko and Katara share. But then again, I can't think of anyone who could have been with Aang, and I would have been really sad if he had ended up alone at the end of all that. ;____; BUT OH MY GOSH, that scene after the battle with Azula, where Katara heals Zuko... SCENES LIKE THAT IMPLY LOVE, I am not just reading too much into things. ;_; They shouldn't have gotten our hopes up like that... I'll stop ranting now. >< hehe~

Nah, I see why you wouldn't like Kimi ni Todoke that much. It's not angsty or dramatic, and doesn't REALLY have a strong plotline... but I just found myself becoming really emotional watching the anime. I just really liked Sawako, and her inability to get her feelings across, and the misunderstandings that resulted because of it, and the really tender moments every now and then... I am a huge softie, so I was touched, haha ^^ I don't know, the feelings and characters were very easy to relate to... it didn't have a deep, romantic, profound story or anything... but they were very common, teenage problems, minus sexual tension and stuff, which I really liked. ^^ It's very innocent and pure, haha~ Sawako is also the first female character I've ever REALLY liked :3

Ahh, I'm not offended, Yuuki Kuran annoys me too. ><" I love the art, and basically I just read it because I liked Kaname, haha ._. Yeah, I never liked Yuuki and Zero's relationship either, and like I'm said, I'm usually torn in love triangles, but in this one, I'm definitely for Kaname. Although to be honest, Kaname really deserves much better; Yuuki's always causing him pain, when he's already suffered so much already. So I wouldn't be offended if you hated Vampire Knight, haha o.o I thought some of the side characters were nice though, like Aidou Hanabusa is cute :3 And the couple who are always eating Pocki (?) are nice too, haha ^^ I also liked the story of Juri and Haruka Kuran (Yuuki and Kaname's parents); I felt like they really loved each other, from the way they spoke to each other. But that seems to be about it really :S

I've seen lots of Sasuke/Sakura pictures on Tumblr, and I thought their pairing sounded really nice, despite all the angst. ^^ But I've never read Naruto, so I had no idea what it was all about. I also remember seeing a music video of one of my favourite songs with clips from Final Fantasy in it, and I thought Cloud/Tifa looked really nice too. ^^ I thought Final Fantasy was a movie and I really wanted to watch it, then I found out it was a game ._.

I just finished Fruits Basket a few days ago :) I didn't like Tohru either... but as I usually do with characters I don't like, I tend to ignore them when reading. I didn't really notice her much to be honest; I think I was more focussed on the relationships going on along the sidelines. ^^ I really liked Arisa/Kureno (even though I was a bit annoyed about him sleeping with Akito, haha ><), Hatori/Mayuko, Rin/Hatsuharu... and I think that's all, can't remember what else right now. :S I definitely really liked Hatori too, I think he was the best male character too!

I didn't mind the girl Yuki ended up with... Machi? She was nice :) But I felt like she was just brought along to get Yuki out of the picture. Same with the "finding a mother in Tohru" thing... Tohru was motherly towards Yuki for sure, but like you said, it felt like something just brought along to get rid of Yuki. Plus they kept repeating it, you know, they kept making Yuki say "I found a mother in you", "I was looking for a mother in her" blah blah >< It became a bit much, it felt like they were trying to stress the point and it was a bit annoying; dude, we get it already, Tohru is like a mother to Yuki, hence they cannot be together, I GET IT.

But you're right too, Kyo/Tohru would definitely work out better than Yuki/Tohru would... and even though I didn't like Tohru too much, I liked her and Kyo together... if you know what I mean. :S I really liked the scenes where Kyo would smile when he's with Tohru, and you could just see that he loved her... so I liked Tohru for "healing" Kyo and making him happy. ^^

OMGGG I loved Katsuya and Kyoko's story as well! :"""""D I was so happy when they got together, and I felt like dying when he died ;______; I really did feel like crying when I read that part. They are actually my favourite couple in the whole manga! :']

I've heard of stamping communities, but I don't know what exactly they are. :S

That's okay, I took so long to reply to your last comment as well, I'm sorry :( I'm doing alright, thank you! ^^ Hope everything's going well for you too, Daisy!

Thanks for the link to the parody! As you know, I do love parodies.

I watched it and it was really quite funny and... so ridiculous, LOL I'D I liked the ending, hehe.

I just want to say, I am SO sorry I forgot to reply to this. I had it in my head for some reason that I already did, LOL... talk about ditzy :'I I seriously contribute it to the health thing, though. It's making me extremely unfocused in all areas, and really forgetful.

I've pretty much had to put all my fun stuff on hold - watching shows, reading books, etc. etc. I've been working a lot on my poetry anthology I'm submitting tomorrow (wish me luck! I really want to win on the national level) and also with catching up in school. It's really frustrating that I just can't get interested in math. It's even WORSE now than it used to be :( We're doing quadratics and parabolas and stuff that's just very difficult to grasp in general. I'm really unmotivated with it and all I care about is my art, which is sort of bad. Sigh.

Anyway, I haven't ever read CLANNAD before. I see it on tumblr occasionally - it seems to be moderately popular. I'll probably look it up after this. I basically gave up trying to find a really amazing shoujo series after discovering NANA. I really can't ever find another series that compares to it! As we've said on twitter, it really breaks my heart that the series is still at a standstill. I wonder if it's because she's just not inspired to write it anymore. Or maybe she's doing all of it till the end and then publishing it when she's finally finished altogether? Who knows. But it makes me sad. It's so rare to find an amazing shoujo series. The only thing that came close for me was this series Sand Chronicles/Sunadokei, which was pretty great, in its own way. Actually, you'd probably really like it since the drawing style is similar to Honey & Clover! :)

LOL I can't believe you saw the Absolute Boyfriend drama series ID I'm thinking for some reason it would be a little less awful than the manga was. But yeah, the manga was just so bad, and corny... it cracked me up quite frequently because the concept is downright terrible, and silly for that matter. It's really annoying how a lot of authors imply that a girl needs a boyfriend to be complete :I I've said that before, haven't I XD Haha.

I've heard of that Maid-Sama series before, actually. I think I read like 2 chapter, then gave up on it. I didn't really like the art style compared to others series I was reading at the time. I'm so picky with art styles, haha. And I know what you mean. I'm also very conflicted with that - being masculine versus being feminine. I went through a period this past year where I was really masculine, and had really short hair. It was a cleansing period for me. I eventually got over it. Now I have long hair, and want long hair, and find that I can still be a badass personality with a feminine exterior >;) I really think that people should accept that girls can have wicked and 'masculine' attitudes and still look pretty on the outside. You don't need to look like a biker chick to be tough! But I have to admit I do tend to dress on the rougher side, but to an extent. Like, I don't have to wear bright colors or dresses or cute accessories to feel like a girl. It's all very complicated, the gender thing. I always thought that men are like the 'norm' and women are like the 'other'... like we're the ones who are sort of in the way, always second, etc. It's something I think about sometimes.

LOL I'm glad you found my descriptions funny :'D I really can't stand poor writing, so I'm passionate about picking apart the different types of mary-sues people make up somehow... God, some are just so ridiculous, they're laugh out loud-worthy. The other forgotten clan member isn't nearly as bad as some others I've seen - Naruto's long lost sister with the power to unlock the ultimate rasengan, who has purple and pink and brown streaks in her similarly spiky long blonde hair....Seriously. I') Yeah, it just gets worse every time I poke around for bad fanfiction, probably written by 12 or 13 year old kids, haha.

Speaking of book shopping, I have an amazing book for you two that I know you'll absolutely love! I couldn't contain myself. I can't wait till you get it. I'm picking it up tomorrow from the store and I'll mail it with your other presents ASAP! I'm excited for you to read this one, since it really changed my life :') I have some other really cool things I picked out for you and Jac too. I tried to find stuff that was more out of the ordinary this time. Also, I promise I'll try to check out Murakami's new book. I just finished Sputnik Sweetheart and found that to be an interesting, short read. I really liked the plot to that one, and the twist at the end was quite melancholic. He really has a way with making sad stories very straightforward and easy to absorb, versus taking it too far and making it too esoteric or fatalistic. I like that about his writing a lot.

I wish I wasn't so busy. If I had more time, I'd write more fanfics. Also, since I've been exploring so many other fandoms I seem to be writing for my newer ones more than my originals, like Naruto for example. I feel bad! I've betrayed my original fandom :'0 LOL...

I had a lot of high hopes for Never Let Me Go in general. It has some great aspects to it, but the lack of sci-fi and some explanations, like why some kids didn't just run away and start a new life when they grew up, irked me. Oh well.

As I said on words with friends, I just got my ultrasound tonight... and it really hurt. It was painful to an extent, and I felt a lot of pain on my right side. I really, really hope that this will give me some clear answers as to what's wrong. I think that they're just reading my blood work wrong, personally. I'm calling the office tomorrow and asking what my TH levels are, and posting them on an online thyroid forum for advice. Hopefully that will help too.

I hope you're doing well! I'll try to be more up to date with messaging now :')

Yes definitely! ^^ I really really loved reading it too, I was so hooked... I don't think I've read a manga with as much intensity on my part, for a while now! It had its cliches, but they weren't... glaringly obvious, like they didn't leave you thinking "oh this is lame, this has been done so many times before"... they really worked for the story! ^^

Yeaaah, whenever twins are incorporated into a story, you just know there's going to be something... dark happening! Like there's always the "bad" twin... and somehow even though Rei was initially shown as the bad one, you knew right away he wasn't... he could be violent and stuff, but it wasn't like a dark, evil badness? o.o That was evident... so then of course, the suspicion moves to Sei, who's always been portrayed as the good, kind, timid twin (who easily cries ><)... that definitely has to be a facade! D: So in a way, it wasn't REALLY a surprise... I may have been expecting it slightly, but yeah!

Kira and Rei are one of my absolute favourite couples now! There was actually so much more depth in their relationship than I've seen in any manga or anime so far, except maybe Watashitachi no Shiawase na Jikan, huh? :) But I really must say I liked Mars more, because it was a happy ending... even if the story wasn't maybe as profound. I KNOW, I was in shock for a while when Kira and Rei broke up... I was like "OMFG you idiot, Rei, don't leave her just when she needs you the most!" I can understand why he would be frustrated, how she could be so foolish and trusting as to live in the same house as that awful "father" of hers again, no matter what the reason! I guess as a highschooler, she was still dependent on her mother and stuff... BUT STILL, OMG >< I was actually really annoyed at her too, but mostly her stupid, weak, disgrace to womankind mother! >____< Do anythingggg, go to the workhouse, beg on the streets... just don't frkn go back to the man who raped your daughter. HOW COULD YOU JUST FORGET SOMETHING LIKE THAT FOR THE SAKE OF COMFORT?! I'll stop ranting now... literally fuming now >: [

But yesss, Rei will always come back to rescue her :) It was obvious how much she changed him and how special their relationship was; there's no way he could just forget her and leave her like that! ^____^ *touched*

Yes, I finished reading with a massive smile on my face, hehe ^^ They married really young, but from what we saw of them and how much they went through together... I really think they will be together forever. I mean, if they survived everything that happened... married life should be a cinch :) They just... work together! SO HAPPY :"D Ahhh, well Hadashi de Bara wo Fume is not like Mars, haha... it doesn't really have all that much depth or anything >< To be honest, after reading something like Mars, you kind of think... oh, this is kind of pointless. But the art is cute, and there's a love triangle, and lots of drama, mystery, beautiful clothes and characters and scenery. So now it's more of a guilty pleasure to me, but you really want to know what's going to happen next! It also has some really sad/emotional parts, where the characters' expressions are so well drawn, you feel it too T___T

But yeah, now that I know more about what kind of manga you read, I feel it may be a little shallow. D: On the other hand, when I was reading Mars, I was sort of reminded of Eden no Hana! I think I would recommend that to you, it has like the forbidden love feel because the girl thinks the guy is her brother... but it's okay because they're not really siblings? There's a bit of angst and sometimes it's painful to read because the characters have gone through so much, and every time there's relief and things seem like they may turn out well, something happens to tear them apart again >< But definitely look it up :3 I reaaaally love the guy/not-real-brother, Tokio ♥ He has to be the most amazing guy ever in existence!

DAISYYYYY ^______^ I LOVE MARS, I ABSOLUTELY ADORE IT ♥ It's definitely one of my favourite manga now too! It was very dramatic and soap opera-y, but I loved the whole mystery and everything surrounding Rei's family... there were so many shocks in there too, it really did delve into human nature and what people really are like on the inside, even though they appear completely different on the outside. SEI WAS SUCH A HUGE SHOCK! :O It never really occurred to me that he had that dark side to him... somehow I always thought of him as just weak. He's just like Masao in that way, I guess... asdfghjkl that stupid little psycho. ARGH, I don't see why they didn't just give him a death sentence, or just accidentally shoot him or something! T____T

And I was so ticked off when Kira's mother got back with that horrible man, I can't believe anyone would do that! I WAS LIKE WHATTHEHELLWHATTHEHELL, who in their right mind gets back with the man who did something so awful to their daughter?!

But I'm so happy it was a good ending too! I love the relationship between Rei and Kira, it was really touching. ^^ I'm sorry if most of this message is incoherent ;_;

Yeah, I just started watching it and it seems really cute and likable to me! :D I love how they're all in art school, and I think I see the character you told me about who likes to do pottery in the first episode. I like how there's a real serenity to the show or something, and how it has an almost philosophical possibility, like the part where the main character talks about wanting to ride his bike to somewhere as far away as possible or something. I'll probably end up liking this series a lot ;) I'll try to watch episodes 2 and 3 tomorrow. I LOVE series that strike a chord in you, like you said. If you felt that way about this show, like how we both feel about Nana, then I probably will too! I love feeling like something has just affected you so deeply and made you so impossibly happy that you re-watch, re-read or just never want to forget about it so that feeling remains. I feel that way about Nana especially. I just want it to come back. I've even complained in a sad way to people who have no idea what anime is about how depressing it is that such an amazing series is on hiatus because of the author's unexpected illness and they were like, That's so terrible! and seemed genuine :'I Haha... it almost surprised me that they'd get it or care.

Aww, you don't sound cheesy, LOL! :D You're perfectly fine. It makes me happy that you want to put a lot of thought into your writings to me. It's OK, take as long as you need to write back. I really don't mind :)

I think you hit the nail on the head. I really love slice-of-life for that REALISM that you just don't get that often with plain shoujo series. I'm glad you get what I mean too. I think that because you, Jac and I are all very intellectual and prefer profound stories over sappy, superficial ones, we're all very attuned to those horrible cliches that pop up in animanga for girls :'/ I just gave up on a lot of shoujo series out there. I actually read this terribly ridiculous shoujo once that made me so angry, because it sort of implied that your life sucks if you don't have a boyfriend - it's called 'Absolute Boyfriend' and the girl is SO desperate for a boyfriend, she actually orders a boyfriend via this romance company or something. It's just so outrageous. Stories like that give shoujo a bad rep.

I gave Lovely Complex a try once actually, and I didn't end up liking it so much. I just kind of got lost because the story itself didn't really hold my interest. I'm so unsentimental and not really into 'easy' romances, LOL. I just like angst-ridden messed up relationships so usually stories like that just don't do it for me.

Thanks for giving me the rec! I will check out her work asap :)) I briefly read about her published works, and they seem like something I'd appreciate.

People and their concepts of Mary-Sues these days... *shakes head in shame* LOL, what do people seriously think a Mary-Sue is? How can they say *Sakura Haruno* is Mary-Sue? She has quite a few realistic faults that make her the unique character she is, and is pretty damn realistic and relatable to a lot of the female readers who have ever dealt with heartbreak and being torn in separate directions, the need to hide vulnerability and get stronger. To me, a M-S is a girl who possesses a ridiculous amount of positive and/or 'cool' traits, and basically zero negative traits. She can be amazingly good looking, have a wonderful upbringing, lot of money, awesome boyfriend, magical powers, perfect grades, and not be a mean bitch at the same time ID Basically that, if we're talking about a realistic series. Fantasy series-wise, a M-S to me is someone who's the long lost sister/brother/cousin of the main character, the 'forgotten other Uchiha clan member besides Sasuke and Itachi' (LOL, if only you knew how many sucky fics with this as the major plot exist out there...), or someone who has this great super power and is automatically the coolest/best/strongest even above the really strong characters.

I wonder about Sasuke too. Not to sound self-important or arrogant, but I *kind* of think I understand his thought process. I've felt something similar to that before - losing something wonderful and precious to you so suddenly, and suddenly needing to be emotionless to protect yourself from your own emotions because of how strong they are. I think that ordeal in itself did a number on his psyche. And then, finding out something so utterly devastating, that because of his own home village's selfishness his entirely placid life was destroyed, that it all could have been avoided if they hadn't been so cruel to his brother - I think he basically had a nervous breakdown. And when you have that breakdown, you're just... living in the shell. You're stuck in that tiny, psychotic realm or deeply disturbed place you'd tried your whole life so hard to be strong enough to avoid, and the scary part is, you don't mind being there after all. But the bad thing is, it's completely dark, and you can't see past the ideals you've somehow put up around you like walls. In the real world, it could be anything like - I'm horrible, I should die, they're against me, I'm against the world, I hate everyone. To Sasuke those walls are like, I'm lost, I hate what they've done to me, They've ruined my family and my happiness, I want my happiness back somehow, Killing is the only way. It's so messed up. I thought long and hard about it and came up with this :') I hope it makes sense somehow and doesn't seem to jumbled! I should seriously try to write a canon fic about them soon. I just haven't had time to write fanfiction in months... it makes me sad :(

I saw Singapore featured on Martha Stewart's show (haha, I wish I was kidding but I'm not!) and it just seemed so futuristic to me. It seemed like a futuristic paradise - sleek modern buildings, but palm trees everywhere, parks and a beautiful environment. I just automatically assumed the thinking and stuff would be so futuristic too I') I think it would be so much fun if we could go to NY, or maybe LA!

LOL I seriously thought of Tohru when I first saw 'Toru' in the book X'D I think that the darker part of me, the weaker part of me, could definitely be compared to Naoko. I honestly think the darker and weaker part of me is the way more feminine side of my personality I actually try to keep on the back burner, sort of hidden from others. I like to come off as strong or controlled or witty and masculine. But there's always that somewhere beneath :'/ I think a lot of girls feel that way sometimes though. Maybe. LOL. I don't know. I think Midori is cute in an eccentric, quirky way. I'm so glad you gave me the book too! :)

Yeah, that's definitely what the cover looks like. I thought of how cool it was when I first had a glimpse of it :)) How much was the book? I know hard cover books can be incredibly expensive. I do love reading, but I just... cannot let myself buy a book if the price is above 19 or 20 dollars. Some hard cover books I've seen have sold for over 30 dollars :'0 Was yours that much?

Sure! I'll have to type them up in brief summaries, and send them to you in a LiveJournal PM or a message here :D I'm looking forward to doing that these next few days! Oh, you saw it - did you enjoy the movie? I pretty much liked the book. But I felt the plot was lacking sci-fi elements somehow. It was like a 7/10 for me.

Lots of love to you too, Sam! I love chatting with you and Jac, it brightens my day ;))

Yeaaah! ^^ I actually saw them your profile and thought, if they're Daisy's favourites, they must be really really good! :D