Onion's Weekly Art Gallery 17

Yep! Since it's finally Summer Vacation, I've started drawing like crazy. In fact, I've even started a blog to log my progress. Find it here. But for now, on to the reason why you're all here. My weekly gallery! I'll try and keep it going throughout the next 100 days or so.Golly, I hope I get lots of comments. Let's start this thing!!!

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Another Trip to Sanseido

Yep, I went back. This was my third trip to Mitsuwa and Sanseido. I'm kinda ashamed because of how much crap I end up walking away with, but at the same time, I'm satisfied. So then, let's take a look at what we got here...

World Only God Knows Volumes 7, 8, and 9: This will pair well with my 4 and 5 volumes. God Only Knows is a great manga to read anywhere because it's got the furigana alongside kanji and because there are pretty much no ecchi scenes. Family friendly goodness.

Minami-ke Volume 1: Bought this on a whim. Bad idea I guess, because when I opened it up after I got home... No furigana! Oh well... When I level up my kanji skills some more I'll be able to read it.

Super Dreadnought Girl Volume 1: Bought this on a whim as well. It does have furigana, so I'll read it when I have some free time.

And my favorite purchase,
He is My Master Volumes 3 and 4!!!: When I saw them I grabbed them immediately. Unfortunately, volumes 3 and 4 were the only ones in stock. I love He is My Master so much, and if you know me at all, I'm sure you've alread heard me say 1000 times how much I love Mitsuki.

Unfortunately, the manga I wanted most, Yumekui Merry, was nowhere to be found. I asked the clerk and he said they didn't have it. So that was a dissapointment, but finding the He is My Master manga made me happy.

Lastly, I bought the April issue of Megami magazine. I wasn't planning on buying any magazines this time because I only buy them for the picture and the posters, but the Madoka cover caught my eye.

Kekkaishi [Anime Ended/Manga Ongoing]

This Manga, Kekkaishi is about a Junior High Student called Yoshimori Sumimura, and is known as a "Kekkaishi"; Demon-Hunters that excel in creating barriers around the demons, then destroying, or capturing them. At Night, Yoshimori has to take on his task as a Kekkaishi defeat/exterminate those demons crowding around his school. During the day, he has his own demons to battle, which is his grumpy grandfather and his addiction to sweets. His neighbour, and childhood friend Tokine Yukimura, which is another practitioner of the way of the Kekkai. Their two families are battling over who are the true practitioners.

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Deadman Wonderland [Ongoing Manga/ Anime coming out this season]

Deadman Wonderland is a manga that is about a boy called Ganta, one day all of his classmates are killed with him being the sole survivor. Suspicious enough as it is, since he is the sole survivor he is convicted of the crime of murdering all his classmates, thus sentenced to the bizarre prison known as 'Deadman Wonderland'. In this prison, the prisoners are set out to fight for survival, while this happens Ganta needs to find out the identity of the murderer that murdered his classmates. Will Ganta be able to survive in this prison..? Or will he succumb to the prisons methods?

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Chiikaku 01 - Voting!

 And Chiikaku 01 ends in a tie!

The time has come everyone. ChiiKaku 01 has ended. Two entries were made. Read the rest of this post to view the entries and vote for your favorite.

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Ao no Exorcist [Ongoing Manga] [Review]

Ao no Exorcist (Blue Exorcist) is set in the world Assiah, in which all humans live in. The dimension that they live in has another seperate world, Gehanna, in which all the demons live in. Normally, contact between the two is impossible, and also travelling between the two is not possible. However, the demons are able to pass through to the world Assiah by possessing anything already inside Assiah. Satan, the god of all demons, has only one thing he doesn't have, a human container that can hold him inside. For this purpose in search for a container, Satan has a human wife, in which he had a son, called Okumura Rin born to be his container. But will his son, Okumura Rin give into the desires of Satan? Or will he choose a seperate path and go against his father, Satan?

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Nurarihyon no Mago [Anime/Manga] Review

Nurarihyon no Mago, is a manga, about a boy, called Nura Rikuo. He is a quarter demon (yokai) and half human, Rikuo has the ability to change into his demon form only after the sun has set, this is because he is a quarter demon. He lives in a house filled with spirits,demons along with his grandfather. He tries desperately to escape from his duties as a demon, and trying not to fulfill the duties his grandfather wanted to place upon him, which is taking over the Nura clan.

However, Rikuo is a different type of demon, not only because he is a quarter demon, but the fact that he helps humans. Eventually he had come to accepting his demon blood, thus taking up the title of Young head of the Nura clan. Now Rikuo has to gather his Hyakki Yakko (Night parade of One hundred demons) to follow him, as he defends the Nura clan from various attacks from different clans.

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Mx0 (エムｘゼロ) manga [Review]

Mx0 or known as エムｘゼロ is a manga that revolves around a boy, called Kuzumi Taiga. He is a hot tempered boy, and also is strong in fights. When interviewed for joining Seinagi Private High School, he is asked a question, "If you could use magic, what would you use it for?" He replied "Conquer the World."


This made the other applicants burst out in laughter, then a girl, Hiiragi Aika, a cute girl that was sitting beside him, realized how rude it was of her to laugh at him thus apologizes to him with his hands in hers. He desperately tries to get into Seinagi Private High School to have a change to talk with this girl. But little did he know that Seinagi Private High School was a school focusing on teaching magic, and that he had no magic capabilities....

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Ichigo Mashimaro Volume 5

Yeah, I know it's been out for a while, but I just got around to purchasing it. Years ago when I got around to buying and reading up to volume 4, bookstores stopped selling Ichigo mashimaro in-store. I've no idea why, since it's the best manga in the world. The other day I decided reread the series for what, the 4th time(?), so I went ahead and bought volume 5 on amazon. Hopefully Tokyopop releases volume 6 soon.

Subete ni Iya Girl Review

Subete ni Iya Girl! Take a look at the cover. Are you scared away because of the art? Hopefully you're not like that. It's a bad habit that I admit I have myself. But that's beside the point! Look at the cover! Yes, that's an arrow in that girl's head. Nope, it's not fake. This is what drew me in in the first place. If not for the arrow, I probably would've walked away. But I sure am glad I didn't.

    This is a great manga and there are some things I really loved about it. It can be serious at times when it needs to be serious. And yet when it's meant to be funny you may catch yourself laughing out loud. Each chapter is relatively short so you really feel like you get a lot done when you start flying through chapters; but don't worry, there's no shortage of content. Subete ni Iya Girl is 86 chapters long.

The characters, huh? Yeah. This manga doesn't have the greatest art, but I don't really think the art was meant to look perfect. The drawing style fits perfectly to the atmosphere of the manga. Nearly all of the characters besides the select few main characters are drawn in really extreme ways. And when I say extreme, I mean... ugly? I guess... But not really ugly because it can be quite funny. I really like the quirkiness of the drawings to be honest. I can still picture Asumi's squinting face in my head. And it's making me smile O__O.

A lot of the stories in Subete ni Iya Girl are based on situational comedy. One character will be under the impression that the other is talking about something totally different than what they're actually talking about. And the author always makes sure to put in thought bubbles that give us direct insight as to what each character is thinking when things are said; it's a really great way to get some laughs flowing.

In conclusion, Subete ni Iya Girl is one of those manga that you totally expect to just be boring but actually turns out to be a masterpiece that you'll want to re-read as soon as you finish it. The 8 page chapters are awesome for quick reads. The characters are hilarious. And for those of you looking for plot, there is some in there! And the ending is really great.


My Rating: 10/ 10

No doubt. Ten out of ten. I was really addicted to this while reading it. If you're on the fence about whether you want to read it or not and are thinking about doing one of those "I'll try one chapter and decide if I'll follow through" things then you've got to go straight to chapter 37. It was one of the funniest chapters. So, everyone get out there and start reading Subete ni Iya Girl right now!

Finally Got a Bookcase

Yep, finally got a bookcase! My manga and other books won't be laying about on my floor anymore. I thought I'd do a before and after to show the transformation. The before shots:

 Excuse the crap everywhere. But the stuff to the left and right of that garbage can are my manga stacks. Everything else is random crap.

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Way to go Barnes and Noble

So recently I have fallen somewhat behind on buying manga, I decided I had to go and buy the volumes of Spiral I am missing while I have the money.

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Touhou Sangetsusei: Oriental Sacred Place Chapter 5 Released

As per requested from my buddy Bluewolf963 from Tondemonai Fansubs, I have translated chapter 5 of Touhou Sangetsusei: Oriental Sacred Place. This was a much easier project in some ways and yet  a much harder project in others.

The things that made it easy? Well, it was already rotated and leveled which pretty much cut the work in half. Unfortunately I have no idea who did the rotating and leveling.

What made it hard? The dialogue in this manga was pretty vague and random. It's pretty hard to translate stuff when you don't have enough context to figure out why someone is saying something.

Anyway, I'll be continuing this manga. I should be able to get them done quite quickly. I say this, but we all know I'm super lazy haha. I'm still looking for raws of Ashita no Familia. If anyone has any information on that, I'd like to know. Well then, on to the download link!

 Touhou Sangetsusei: Oriental Sacred Place Chapter 5 Download

UPDATE: The promised link to Touhou Sangetsusei: Oriental Sacred Place Chapter 5 at Manga Fox!

NEW! Check out this page! It'll hold all of my releases from now on. :P

As always, check it out and give me some comments about how you think I can improve or how you think I did. Thanks!

Hohzuki Island Review

Hohzuki Island is a Horror suspense story about these kids trapped on an island. They are all abandoned or abused children, and they are there to attend school. However, the kids are soon under the impression that the teachers only brought them there to kill them and collect life insurance money.

Another good suspense/thriller/mystery manga. I found it quite enjoyable, but not quite that good. The story was fun and it keeps you guessing all the way up to the reveal at the end, but it wasn't as engrossing as something like Mirai Nikki.

The art could be considered nice, and it is. Butsometimes, the lady teacher was drawn with a super stressed hourglass figure. So she had a super skinny waist and hips that looked way too big, but other than that, it's really good stuff.

The characters all have their own solid personalities. Futoshi is a compulsive eater and he starts to go insane when he doesn't get something to eat. The older girl was abused and is now mute as a result. The younger girl is blind, but she does have exceptional hearing. I can't really remember anyone's names which is weird, but I guess this can be considered a case of me not really being particularly moved by any of them.

For those of you looking for some ecchiness, there were some super random scenes involving the older girl in the ocean. Not to mention that she was panty-less for probably more than half of the series O__O. There were also instances where the threat of rape was involved, but nothing ever happened.


My Rating: 7/10

I would still recommend this manga to people, but only after I offered up some other options. If you're looking for a horror series, this can be a nice, quick read being only 27 chapters.

Ashita no Familia Chapter 1 Released

Yay! After a few weeks of hard work, I have finally finished translating chapter 1 of Ashita no Familia. Ashita no Familia is a manga about a boy named Ashita who has lost his parents in an accident two years ago. Because of their death, Ashita takes over the business of managing the family hotel. Just when Ashita figures it's time to allow guests to start re-applying to stay at the hotel, Noi, a vampire turns Ashita's whole world upside down.

   Ashita no Familia looked like something fun to translate, so I went ahead with it, Spornax taught me a lot about scanlating, and I did my best so that I could show him how much I've learned.

    I'd like to continue translating this manga, however I am unable to find any more scanned chapters. So if anyone has the manga or knows where scans of it can be found, I'd love to know.

   Well anyway, after 3 days of trying to upload the manga to mangafox, they have finally added the manga to the website. Now I just have to get the chapter that I uploaded to be checked by a moderator and I'll be able to post a link to it on this post, so check back later. For now, all I have for you is a media fire link.

Ashita no Familia Chapter 1 Download

UPDATE: The promised link to Ashita no Familia at Manga Fox!

Check it out and give me some comments about how you think I can improve or how you think I did. Thanks!

Mirai Nikki Review

    Mirai Nikki is a tale following the lives of the future diary holders who compete to become God. Deus, the current god of time, is slowly dying. To choose a proper replacement for him, he holds a competition between 12 different people. To each person, he gives a future diary, each with it's own distinct methods of future prediction. The last living future diary holder gains the right to succeed Deus.

    The two main characters are Yukki and Yuno. Yukki can best be described as a crybaby; he is constantly getting teary eyed, but I really fell in love with him for that reason. He constantly had to rely on Yuno, his crazy stalker, throughout the story to save him from tough situations. Yuno, as I just mentioned, is a crazy stalker. She also happens to be super yandere and psychotic.

   The manga starts out very innocent. Yukki is going about his life. He comments about how he has no friends and how there is a God named Deus that exists within his mind. Because he is always alone, he has taken up a hobby of recording everything that happens aroind him into his cell phone diary. Normal stuff. Well, one day, he finds that his cell phone has become a future diary and he is suddenly thrown into a battle to become God. As the story progresses, it gets very dark, with more and more blood and gore being shown and crazy plot twists to keep the story interesting and addicting.

   My opinion of this manga? It is fantastic! I really don't have any complaints at all. The pacing was smooth, the characters were interesting and lovable, and it was overall the most in depth manga I've read to date.

   My favorite character is Uryuu Minene. From the first moment when she appeared in that whack dress and announced herself as a terrorist bomber, I could tell she was destined for awesomeness. I mean, did you see her teeth? She has teeth like a psycho shark. It's awesome! But, this girl sure did take a lot of damage throughout the story; from being stabbed in the eye to getting her arm blown clean off. And after all of this, she never gives up. She keeps moving with that crazy smile. I found her to be the nicest and most sensible character in the whole manga.

My Rating: 10/10

    Yes, ten out of ten. It really is a great read. It should not be passed up. Take some time to read it and then come back here and comment. I'll be waiting.
  

Quite a Haul - Onion's Happy Day

It all started with konpeito. I wanted to try it. I thought about ordering it online, but the shipping is annoying. So, I searched for maybe possibly some stores where I live that might sell it. Well, guess what? Just a 30 minute drive from my house is a store called Mitsuwa. Their website advertises them as the largest Japanese Supermarket in the United States. And on top of that, the store closest to me is in fact the largest one in their chain! Not only was there a supermarket filled with amazing amounts of Japanese food and snacks, but there was also a whole food court inside the building! There was ramen stall, and a bakery among other things.

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Onion's Journal #3

      So lately I've been making an rpg with RPG Maker VX. I like to have rpg battles every now and again with my sister where we both make an rpg in about a week and then we present them at the end and pick a winner. Well, this time I was pretty much completely inspired by the Panty and Stocking OST. It's such a great OST, so if you haven't already grabbed it, then get to it!

   Let's see... Yes, I was on the fence today about whether or not I should buy the Twinkle Crusaders GoGo! Limited Edition from Play Asia because it is on sale for $114. I've had my eye on the game for a while, and now that it's discounted I was going to grab it. But, that's still a steep price. Not to mention the $25 shipping charge and the fact that I can't find a valid Play Asia coupon anywhere. For now, I'm still deciding whether or not to buy it.

    Spornax and I have decided to translate Chapter 1 of Ashita no Familia. Sporn really taught me a lot and I'm trying to put it to work. Hopefully I'll get this done soon. I really want to get it done but that dang RPG I'm making has kept me busy literally all of my wakign hours for the past three days. Well, if we do finish the translation, you can definitely expect a release posted here.

   Lately I've lost all interest in fan subbing. Tondemonai Fansubs has been active lately, but I plan to Finish translating Yutori-chan before Winter break ends. I think Bluewolf963 will order his lolis to kill me if I don't get something done soon xD.

   Oh yes, about 5 days ago, I had a stomach virus that had me lying in my basement all day staring at the ceiling. If I tried to sleep, I'd get sick I couldn't watch TV or I'd get dizzy... It was just horrible. Anyway, my brother was sick with what I had for a few hours the next day, and today my mom has been pretty sick with a stomach virus too T__T.

   Now, on to the anime and the manga! As for anime, I'm just about all caught up with my fall stuff. Just 3 more episodes of Tantei Opera Milky Holmes, and 1 more Oreimo episode and then I'll be ready for "Onion's Day of Final Episodes." That's right. I save the final episodes of all the anime I'm watching and then watch them all in the same day. As for stuff I'm starting, Pandadice recommended Tatami Galaxy. The first episode was interesting, and I want to continue, bu the subs are acting up... Otaku Supreme recommended Gakuen Alice, so I'm going to be watching that as well starting later today most likely. As for manga, I recently just started Mirai Nikki, and I've gotta say, it's super awesome. And Yuno is a killer yandere psycho. Actually, most of the characters are mentally unstable, and that's a very goo thing. Still reading Shugo Chara, Aiko Deshou, and Sora n Otoshimono.

   Well, I figure that's enough rambling for now. Thanks for reading!! :3 Nyaaa~~

Hanako to Guuwa no Tera Review

    Hanako to Guuwa no Tera is a fantastic manga about a man named Asou Daisuke who is nicknamed the Folklore Detective. Asou has his own detective Agency, and he works alongside his partner Hanako.

    The story focuses heavily on things called allegories. Allegories I guess can be defined as things that are only real if you believe in them. Each chapter usually focuses on it's own allegory, but there were a few cases that spilt over into multi-chapter format.

   Definitely my favorite character is Hanako. There are many reasons, so I guess I should list them here. She is a loli, she has awesome Rika-like hair, her eyebrows are killer, she's a super tech, and she has a giant part in the story that I was able to really enjoy.

    The manga is a great mix of action and drama and it's a great deal of fun to read. Stuff like this is my favorite. I like stories that are scary, but not so scary that I'll have crazy nightmares. I enjoyed the fresh storyline and the focus on allegories, mostly because I'd never heard the word allegory until I started reading this manga; I'll always associate the two together from now on. I also like learning about Japanese scary stories, such as the Mary doll story or the "red paper, blue paper" story.

   My one and only complaint about this manga is the fact that(*spoilers*)  after the first few chapters, nothing more is mentioned about Asou's belief that if he has 100 consecutive hiccups he will die. From the moment I read the overview, I was expecting at least one extremely high tension moment where he reaches up to 99 hiccups, but it just didn't happen.

My Rating: 10/10

    If you haven't read this yet, then go and get to it. It's only 18 chapters, and it's not something to be missed. Nice art, fresh storyline, loveable characters, and cool settings make this an awesome manga for me.

No Bra Review

    No Bra follows the life of Masato! He's living on his own, and he's in either high school or University; I couldn't quite figure out which. Anyway, one day, a cute and irresistibly charming girl named Yuki shows up at Masato's apartment and claims to know Masato. Yuki ends up moving in with Masato. Just one problem: Yuki is a guy! The antics ensue in a very entertainable fashion. :D

    One of my favorite things about this manga is that the story does develop quickly. This isn't your typical "last forever back and forth harem". Masato frequently makes choices, and consequences follow and this makes the manga have a nice pace and doesn't leave the reader frustrated at all. So for those of you looking for something that has development instead of just endless harem madness, this can be a good choice for you. And at only 31 chapters, it's not an extraordinary investment.

    Of course, my favorite character is Yuki. He is so cute and just as all the other characters in the manga say, "his charm is irresistable." I also loved Hidepon. Not because of his personality or anything, but because of his immense size. It's rare to see such a fat character in manga, and I loved this guy. The Sensei is a bit crazy and just a totally unrealistic character, but that's what gives her her charm, I guess.

    The art is at a normal level. Somewhat more detailed than Lucu Lucu, yet not as detailed as something like Clear Qualia or Shibariya Komachi, but still very enjoyable. The only complaint I have has to do with Masato. Sometimes I jsut found him to be drawn strange, as well as his hair having absolutely no volume at all.

    In conclusion, yes, I would recommend this manga. The story progresses at a desirable pace, and the plot is funny at times, and tense at others; a very nice combination. I only have one warning for those who are thinking about checking this out: As you may have guessed, this manga does contain lot's of boy on boy action. Nothing explicit, but nonetheless, it is there. So if you don't like that stuff, you may want to stay away, but I really enjoyed the manga, but, well... I guess it's because I don't have a problem with the boy on boy stuff.

My Rating: 8 / 10

   I thought it was a great manga, and if I could erase my memory of it, I'd probably go and read it again. I know that makes no sense, but just make believe it did...