Demon Slayer

       I'm back! It's been two months since I last posted on this blog. A lot has happened, my baby daughter held her first birthday last month, and I and my husband just celebrated my birthday this week. After binge watching Japanese mystery drama, 'Your Turn To Kill.' I was so disappointed with what happened to the female lead. After that I tried watching Japanese romantic drama, but I cannot find one which suited my taste at the time being. Before that, I finished a Japanese mystery drama, entitled 'Mystery to Iu Nakare'. Then, I tried watching this anime on Netflix, entitled Demon Slayer-Kimetsu No Yaiba. 

It is about a boy named Tanjiro and his family was massacred by a demon (more like a vampire blood sucking, man eating creature). His younger sister became a demon but she is not as violent as the other demons. Anyway, I will not be a spoiler here. Demon Slayer is my new favorite anime. I bought some Demon Slayer themes, like action figures, manga (comics from Fully Booked), and sword of my favorite Hashira, Demon Slayer, Shinobu Kocho, the costume is coming soon. I love the design of her sword. It has a sort of flower design on the handle and colored orange.

This anime is on Netflix now. So if you haven't seen it. You should! It is regarded as the best anime series of all time. It has all the elements you will ever want in an anime, action, mystery, family relationship, friendship and even funny moments. I also bought a few action figures. I didn't buy all the characters only the lead characters, and the ones that I liked. So that's all for now. Enjoy watching!

Detective Conan

           I'm back! After 6 years I'm posting again. It is my "theme" time once again. Before getting pregnant I am into Agatha Christie novels. I even bought a classic costume with a summer hat, and posing for a photo with a few of her books. After that when I became pregnant with baby Ysabella, I was fond of painting and doing art. After being fascinated with India's culture and food. I am coming back again to Japanese culture. I suddenly became interested with mystery novels again, with the likes of suspense, mystery and thriller author, Mary Higgins Clark, Patricia Cornwell and of course the anime and live action of Detective Conan. When I was a kid I love reading and solving mysteries even if I often failed to solve it. I remember I have this book entitled, 2 Minute Mysteries.

This week was hard for us because our nanny got sick and was infected with Covid-19, also our family and our baby Ysabella. Thank God she is out of the woods. Anyway to all of you anime lovers out there I am sure you are very familiar with this popular anime. It is about a high-school student who is good with his deductive skills that he is able to solve crimes, his name is Shinichi Kudo, also known as Conan Edogawa. This is the name that he adopted when he became a little boy because of the pills that he swallowed from criminals he met at Tropical Island.

I am such a fan now of this anime. I even ordered an action figure which I put on top of my office printer. The live action movie and series, together with the anime has made me sane and busy this isolation period of ours. I also bought Sherlock cap and trench coat, with Detective Conan items ranging from id lace, notebook, plush toy, cellphone case, keychain, ballpen and couple action figure of Sinichi and Ran. I also bought a notebook, mug and other Detective Conan items. 

(P.S. Today, our baby turned 11 months old!)

Zettai Kareshi (Ideal Boyfriend)

    I'm watching Zettai Kareshi now. This Japanese series is based on anime and manga if I'm not mistaken. It is about a woman, who's an ordinary office worker who was approached by a tech company who is in the process of a project. A robot who will meet a woman or maybe a man's ideal lover. This drama has also a Taiwanese version, entitled Absolute Boyfriend. I also like the closing theme of this drama, sung by my favorite Japanese singer named Ayaka, the title of the song is Okaeri meaning 'I'm home'.

    I really can relate to this drama. Reko (or Riko), The main protagonist in the series is not that lucky and love, and if she meets someone she likes, she doesn't get anywhere, and most often gets rejected. So the people in-charge of the Ideal Boyfriend project sees her as the potential owner of this boyfriend robot whom she named Knight (maybe her knight in shining armor). Most of us especially the single ladies/women, wishes for an ideal man. Someone who can understand us, who will go an extra-mile for us without complaining, who will love us unconditionally, and will never ever get tired, loyal and devoted to us only. In my social network page, I posted that if ever this robot will soon materialize, I'll definitely sign-up if they need someone to try it out. Japan has already an existing robot assistant like Asimo. I'm on Episode 3 now, and its just getting better and better. In the end, we all just want to be loved and be needed. I'm still hopeful (even if there's also a time when I get discouraged) that I'll find my very own Knight someday...soon!

My Art Books

  We all like anime, and we everyone likes to draw cute things. Thus, almost everyone's enamored with Japanese cartoons or anime. Especially the Western world. I got my first book about drawing chibi's or a Japanese slang word for a short person. The author is an American comic book artist named Christopher Hart, he also released a lot of drawing books with regards in drawing anime. You can check out his work on facebook, and he really replies to some posts.  
 I got another 'How to Draw' book who's author is a popular Japanese artist, named Sachiko Umoto, I got 3 of her books from a local bookstore. It has good reviews online. It is Illustration School Series. Her book is entitled Illustration School Let's Draw Cute Animals, Illustration School Let's Draw Plants and Small Creatures, Illustration School Let's Draw Happy People.

You can visit her website by clicking on this -> Umoto Sachiko Website

Oh! Anime!

        Anime  (アニメ), or Japanese cartoons are popular all over the world. One of the popular studio animation is Toei. Japanese animation started in the 20th century. Some of the popular animation that I have seen while growing up, the most notable was Candy, Candy. It is the story of an orphan girl. I really like this anime because it shows the realities of life, and of course Candy has a love interest here, whom she calls her 'prince'. It is a really good anime, complete with villains, and allies of the main character. If you haven't seen this anime you should definitely check it out.

     Japanese animation, has also adapted some popular English novels into cartoons, one of the popular classics that was shown in a local channel here, and dubbed in Filipino was Princess Sarah it is the retelling of the well-loved English classic written by Frances Hodgson Burnett. While the anime is not really faithful to the novel, there are additional scenes that were included that makes the story even more interesting and it doesn't deviate from the original story. This anime was very popular in my country that a live movie was made, that movie became a box-office. The next anime that we came to love was A Dog of Flanders, a novel by an English author named, Marie Louise de la Ramée. There were lots of movies made. This anime was really a tearjerker, and it is another must see. Other notable animes that you need to check-out are, Cedie, Trapp Family Story, and Heidi, Girl of the Alps. You can also check-out fairy tales anime, like Cinderella Monotogari which is an Italian-Japanese anime. 

    Other action animes that were personal favorites of mine are. Sailormoon, which I used to watch during my teen years. I really love their 'make-up' transformation, and the Usagi's love interest, Mamoru. I used to collect Sailormoon cards before, the original were really expensive and the fake ones, aren't really  that good to collect. But I did own a Sailormoon mini-original album case. Sailormoon toys were also popular at that time, and they were really expensive. I dream of having the crescent-moon stick. There was even a live-action series made. Fans of Sailormoon should also see the live-action series. I also forgot to mention Cooking Master Boy, my brother and I were hooked in this anime, that we recorded every episode before. This is about a young genius chef named Mao, whose late  mother is the fairy cook, or a well-know chef in their hometown. The story takes place in China. This anime reminds me of Master's Chef turned anime.

   Other serious animes, (full of fighting scenes), are Ghostfighter, and Flame or Recca. I really like

Flame of Recca over Ghostfighter. It is the story of Recca Hanabishi who came from a line of ninjas, and where he has to battle his half-brother Kurei. Both were flame wielders who can shoot out flames from their arms/hands. Like Ghostfighter anime, Recca had allies too, and they battle into a tournament for the girl that they love. Both the female love interest from both animes have a special ability, Jenny, the love interest of Eugene (I just remembered the English names, and not the Japanese) can produce a pearl from her tears, while Yanagi, has a healing power, she has the power of healing anyone who's wounded or hurt. I also like, Fushigi Yugi or the Mysterious Play. The story is about two middle-school students, being sucked into a book, and they enter into another world. This is more dramatic, and also has a romance plot involve, Miaka and Tamahome. Other notables animes that I have seen were Magic Knight Ray Earth, Card Captor Sakura, and Pokemon, which has a phone app now that's really very popular called Pokemon Go!   

    Japanese animes, have really grown in each and everyone of us. This is one of the reason why the Japanese modern pop-culture is really popular especially among the youth, and adults. In this past-faced world, we can forget for awhile the bustle-and-hustle of life, and enter in the amazing world of anime. Everyone loves anime!, oh! anime!

Why Japanese Culture?

         Hello everyone! For my first blog post. I'm going to enumerate why I am interested in knowing more about the Japanese culture. Here's why:

1. I grew up watching Japanese Super Heroes or what they call sentai, (スーパー戦隊シリーズ Sūpā Sentai Shirīzu). I fondly remember Bioman (超電子バイオマン Chōdenshi Baioman, lit. Super-Electron Bioman), Shaider (宇宙刑事シャイダー Uchū Keiji Shaidā) , and Maskman 光戦隊マスクマン Hikari Sentai Masukuman.) They are the sentai series that I cannot forget. Please watch out for my upcoming blog post about each of the sentai series.

2. Aside from the live action heroes, people from all over the globe love watching Japanese cartoons, or we simply know it as anime. One anime that is close to my heart is Candy, Candy (キャンディ・キャンディ Kyandi Kyandi). I like this one because its closer to reality, and it has a love story. Candy is always waiting for her 'prince'. Other animes that I have liked through the years are namely, Flame of Recca, and Ghostfighter. I almost forgot mentioning Sailormoon which I have watched during my teen years.

3. I am drawn to East Asian cultures, (China, Korea, and Japan).  

4. I am into paper art, I do paper cuts, and also I appreciate the art of paper folding which is called, Origami. 折り紙. 

5. I have learned a lot while I was growing up by watching Japan Video Topics, very educational videos, aired in a local channel that talks about Japanese culture/lifestyle, technology, food, and arts. 

6. I also appreciate Japanese music. The first Japanese song I heard was Sweet Soul Revue by Pizzicato Five, a Japanese pop-band, Utada Hikaru's, First Love song, and I like the rendition of La, La, La, Love Song by a Korean singer who can sing, and speak Japanese by the name of Boa. I also like the upbeat and groovy, song Feel Like Dance by Japanese group called Globe. My favorite Japanese singer is Ayaka Iida 飯田 絢香 , because her voice is soulful. 

7. I also love to watch Japanese movies. My favorite Japanese movie is Kimi No Todoke, it is originally an anime. Also, I like the manga made live action Parasyte movie. Also, another Japanese movie that is close to my heart is Red Bean あん, which stars Kirin Kiki, a very good Japanese actress well-loved for her grandmother roles. 

8. Last but not the least, I have ties with the Japanese since I have nieces who are Japanese citizen.So that's all for now, and there are still many reasons why I, and everyone likes Japanese culture.