Geten no Hana sketches

Yes, I do intend on drawing all the guys... actually don't hold me to that.

Clavis and my Hades crush

"What are you saying?  You'd really give up being queen?"

Confessing your love

^ The code for these pictures are so messed up and tangled I can't even... So I got Clavis's ending on Angelique Special.  wow, what a sweet ending.  I love that it's all about the hands.  It just makes me go "Dawwwwwww".  Holy crap this guy is tall.  Like I said, I was just going to go for him really quick because he was the most compatible with my blood type and birthday but I really fell for this character.  It still really bugs me that you can't have a Queen and a King of a universe.  They even compare it to being a mother and father in one of the OVAs. (Hhhhhhnnng!)  I think that Clavis was the start of my whole Hades crush realization too.  Now I go through manga looking for these long back haired characters.  Most of them end up being villains or half demon somethings though and those are not really what I'm looking for.  I really like the sweet, shy, quiet guys that just look really intimidating.  So what counts as a Hades crush?  First off you have to know about the Original Hades in Greek mythology without any christian influences.  I'm trying to remember if he was the oldest brother?  I just know that he was in line to become ruler of the gods but drew the worst lot.  Zeus getting the Heavens, Poseidon getting the Seas and Hades getting the Earth.  Hades is usually described as being a very handsome and passive sort of man.  While he's intimidating at first and his line of work may be dark if not a bit morbid, he is not evil in the slightest.  It bothers me so much when he's the villain in western adaptions

Hades Crushes usually have

• Black or cool colored hair
• Small, scowl like eyes
• The hair has to be long (it really depends on the styling) covering his face
• Thought to be the villain or rude at first.
• Quiet if not intimidating disposition
• Snark may be included but more on the side of quick snide remarks or jokes
• Mysterious or somewhat misunderstood pastime activity
• End up just being really shy and fall deeply in love.
• Usually have a cute fault or an unexpected, secret obsession.

Masato Hijirikawa from Uta no Prince Sama is so on this list.  First because they introduced him as the snooty rich kid that doesn't like people (he acts a bit differently in the game though.)  By episode 3 he's playing twinkle twinkle little star and by the second season he admits he's afraid of hugging.  He's not past punching Ren in the face though.  He's also very serious about everything.  You might think that he's a stretch because of his hair and because he's more traditional Japanese than anything.  He counts because he was introduced as a character for you to dislike at first.  He's not mean, just very stand offish.  It's weird because I'll put him on this list but I don't consider Yorihisa from Harutoki a Hades Crush.  Maybe if I saw him with his hair down?  Now that I'm thinking about it, maybe Yorihisa would count?  mmmm.  I can't quite put my finger on it, but he doesn't.

Oh man, Lord Zagato is on this list.  When I was going through my Magic Knight Rayearth phase in Jr High, I didn't like him.  My sights were set on Clef.  I'd only seen a bit of the anime though and it wasn't until highschool when my friends passed around the manga that I found out that he wasn't a "villain," he was just in love. WHAT A TWIST!  I wish we could have gotten to know this character more because he's absolutely interesting.  Just look at that little sad face.  dawww...

So here's a weird thought.  Magic Knight Rayearth and Angelique came out about the same time.  The manga for Rayearth came out 1993 while Angelique came out 1994.  The character designs and fantasy style are very similar.  I wonder if some one was influenced or if it was a coincidence?

Like I said above, Clavis is on this list for all of these reasons.  His little quirk is that he likes to watch the guys play sports and his favorite foods are a little silly.  It's just funny to think that these guys have a favorite food.  It's funny thinking they eat at all.  It's funny thinking they have to do anything normal people do.  While it was really the games that drew me to him was the TV anime with his whole "I need you" thing.  Second is his little grumpy chibi form in the manga that I just laugh whenever I see him.  Finally the snark in the OVAs.  It's weird.  At first it doesn't seem like he has much of a personality but I really love the guy.  

Ah, how could I forget Hades himself from Kamigami no Asobi.  Whats odd is that he had very christian undertones to him but not in the way that you think. Saying that he wants to take on people's misery and whatnot.  It's very odd considering what we do to him in the west.  He's just such a gloomy little sweetheart.

Let's Fix Blue Sky: The car crash scene

Reiji was given two character traumas in the show.  Both of them feel a bit off to me but they really have the potential to be deep and moving.  Some of the drama in the show could have worked really well if they would rely less on dialog and more on visuals and sound.  For example, the car crash scene where Reiji loses his parents and his sister almost dies of hypothermia could have been very dramatic and moving but ended up being just... embarrassing.  Lets take a look at what's wrong with the scene.

 While this is a powerful image, I'm pretty sure if they were dead, they wouldn't be holding on to the wheel like that still.  After that kind of impact, they would be slumped up against the wheel... heck where are the airbags?  I swear.  We don't even need to show the parents

 This shot is good.  They didn't even need to do a pan to it.  They could have just left it a still with snow falling.

 All right, I'm pretty sure that this wouldn't be working still... also I don't know why but this is the most embarrassing part.  Sure you Reiji to associate the song with this trauma but this... isn't the way to do it.

 look kid, you should be screaming right now.

Aw geez, are you freaking kidding me.

look kid, get out of the dang car and flag down people.






I don't know what it is that bothers me so much about this scene.  It's just so... gah.  Here's how I would have done the scene.

 First off I would have the parents talking with the kids in the back, laughing, having fun, the music casually playing in the background.  It would be a blizzard, and you would only be able to see a bit of the road

 Suddenly a car looses control and collides with them head on.  There would be no sound, maybe a quick gasp from the mom.  The song on the other hand would be the only thing you hear.

 Instead of hearing or seeing the collision, the screen would go black and suddenly be silent.





I would then show a pan of the wreckage over to Reiji who has gotten out of the car with his sister to find help.  I would have the two cars end up at the bottom of a hill.  Here is where his sister would say "it's so cold..."  We could even not have any words at all, just Reiji screaming into the sky while holding his sister.  No music, just the wind howling and him screaming as it pans to him.

Here I could either have him start climbing the hill with his sister in his arms, saying "We wont die, we wont die." as the song starts and gets louder as he climbs.  Or this could be a zoom pan on his face just screaming and holding his sister and the closer the zoom gets, the louder the music gets like a memory.  Knowing trauma like this first hand, I know that music would often go through my mind as if I was actually hearing it.  It's a very real and strange sensation.

See, much more effective and realistic.  If we break this strong character and show that he really did experience some sort of trauma, we get attached to them easier.  With how the show did it, he's a little too strong for such a young kid.  This is when his heart hardens and his attitude towards life changes.  We wouldn't know if the the parents had died or not but we don't really need to know that.  Perhaps we could reveal that he's an orphan in the end when he says why he's so mad at Kanade.  Maybe he's mad because Kanade treated him like an orphan charity case.
gah, this show is a mess.

Trying to watch La Corda Blue Sky each week

It's physically painful to me how poorly directed this show is.  Why am I getting so much second hand embarrassment from this?  Why do all the serious moments end up just being funny to me.  This show is not meant to be funny.  Crap, it's over and no fanservice with Toki.  What a complete and utter waste of my time.  I don't even know if I want to review it.

Utapri: finished season one. lets see how I did

I was way off the mark with Ren.  In fact, episode 4 is my favorite because of the scene with him whistling his mother's song.  The sound design and direction of this show really gets to me.  The overlap of the echoed clapping and then a sudden cut to silence.  it's really powerful.  This whole scene just makes my cry every time I watch it.  What's interesting about the flashback is the coloring.  It looks so much like the 90's to me.  Movies like Home Alone or Homeward bound.  Maybe it's the shot of the park just reminding me of 90's movies that show central park.  Maybe it's the plaid shirt he's wearing or the tape that he found.  It just oozes nostalgia.  While I didn't like how stuck up Ren was in the last few episodes, I really did get attached to him from this one scene.

 It's a little scary how close I was to guessing this guy's problem.  No dead family members but I did compare his problem to a bomb and said that he would snap.  Heck, I thought him nearly killing people was a stretch but when I saw episode... 6 was it? I was like "I knew it.  The magane's always have hidden anger problems."  He's more comedic Bipolar though.  I really don't like bipolar characters though because it's always treated like a joke or really romanticized.  I'll give myself this one because I saw it coming.  I knew this guy was a mess the moment I saw him.

Turns out Otoya is just a happy, safe, boring, neutral character.

HA HA!  Gotcha Toikya.  I did get him being a jerk till the end and Haruka choosing him wrong though but I count this as being mostly right.  They worked hard to make him likable and even had him apologize.  It wasn't as big of a character change as princess tutu was with vakir but still it was satisfying.

Syo has a problem with heights but I don't count that as a huge problem so I guess I was right and wrong at the same time?  eeeehhhh.  I won't count this one.









I can't count Masato because I saw episode 3 before starting this.  I was wrong about him being my favorite in the end though.  Surprisingly, I really ended up liking Syo and Ren.  Ren mostly.  I just have such feelings for him.

STARTING SEASON 2!  look what I have to look forward to!

there's so much glorious booty

That animation... IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL! 

Uta no Prince Sama first impression and predictions

Every thing is so beautiful!  THE ANIMATION!  whooooooOOOOOOOOO!
THE GUYS!  Help I'm dying.  First off, you should all know by now that I have a thing for animated hands.  Going through my sketchbooks you'll see pages of just hands.  This show, with it's wonderful animation, has some of the best hands ever.  The dance sequences and hands might be rotoscoped but you know how much I care about that?  0%  In fact, I wish more anime would rotoscope because I hate watching horrible walk cycles. I know for sure that the company that made this is the same as Kamiaso (and I'm guessing Hakuouki and Amnesia as well) because of the character designer.  The way they draw noses and the little line under the eyes.  I need to track down that artist's other work because I'm starting to pick up stuff from that style.  I'm just loving all the guys even though it's following typical otome guy tropes.  I'm wondering if there's any way out of that.  Lets see if I can do some predictions.  I'm on episode 3 right now.
Everything will be cute and happy till episode 6 or 7 when one of the main guys will heel face turn and try to rape Haruka.  I bet you anything it's Mr Ren himself.  He's got a lot of power, money, and women fawning over him.  She'll be able to escape but he'll try to get her expelled because of the no romance rule.
I really liked him at first because he's pretty much a ginger tomomasa but I have little hope in him being a good relationship knowing these other otome companies.  Whatever problem he has is going to be huge and I just know I'm going to be hating the guts out of this guy by the end of episode 5.





Our Magane of the series, Natsuki, I can see from here that he's got deep family problems.  Some one in his family is dead and I'm thinking it might be a little sister.  that could be why he likes cute things so much.  He's great for humor but just you watch, episode 7 or 8, he'll reveal a family issue bomb like you wouldn't believe.  I wouldn't even put him past accidentally killing some one or pretending to be cute and innocent in order to use the main character.  He's going to snap, I just know it.

Otoya is a little too happy for his own good.  I'm thinking he's hiding beneath that smile a sad childhood.  Single parent home perhaps?  Parent passing away or taking their own life?  I know, MISSING FATHER.  All I know is that the happier the person, the harder they are trying to hide sadness.  Somewhere along the way he learned to smile through rough things.  Just you watch.

Masato.  I had this guy pinned the moment I saw him.  Make the audience think he's a jerk then reveal that he's just a shy awkward sweetheart.  I just wasn't expecting it by episode 3.  That was fast.  Oh he's a cutie.  His hair, I just cant get over that fantastic hair and his little beauty mark.  3 episodes in and I'm completely attached to this character.  Oh, there's the Hades crush kicking in.

hmmm  Tokiya.  Where should I put you?  You're the main love interest that the show is pushing for besides Otoya.  Will you change your attitude though?  will you be a complete jerk till the end?  Please don't fall for the jerk.  Oh, I just know he's still going to be a jerk and she'll fall for him.  Also, I think the whole "him having a twin" thing is a lie.  He's Hayato and that's just a act that  he has to put on that he hates.  that wont be till episode 11 or 12.

Here to fill the Shota Quota is ... syo.  That's kind of a weird way of romanizing his name.  It's pronounced sho.  Meh, whatever.  He's also the Tsundere of the group.  He doesn't have any problems besides his anger over how short he is.  I'll be a bit shocked if there's more to his story.  He is a fun character design though, that's for sure.





Well then, that should be every one.  I hate how every one in the class and shcool are encouraged to be mean to each other.  One of the guys will nearly rape Haruka, she'll be threatened to be kicked out, one of the guys will only pretend to like her and use her for her talent and She'll end up with Tokiya the jerk.

Lets see how many of these I got right.