Quick Updates...

So things have been a little awkward lately, with moving house to my mom's and also the fact that my grandmother that I always lived with is very, very unwell. She's currently in the hospital because of her battle with cancer; she had a really bad morning a while ago there, almost four weeks ago now I'd say, where she wouldn't wake up. We were shaking her and talking to her in bed and everything, and she just let out a noise every so often and didnt hardly open her eyes. The doctors were eventually called in, and we also called the nurses, but those morons didn't show up until the next day. Scratch that; they didn't PHONE until the next day, technically, they never bloody well showed up at all. >>

So my gran was left in hospital, and we visit her from two o'clock to three o'clock and from seven o'clock to eight o'clock at night whenever we possibly can. She did dramatically improve while in hospital, despite the fact that I feel myself that the NHS is still an absolute shambles and a complete crock of shit that needs to be flushed, and completely started up again from scratch. I had a lot of complaints when it came to the care of my grandpa while he was in the hospital, and I'll most definately have complaints with this one as well with my gran, simply because in about five years, I dont feel the NHS and its hospitals has improved in the least. I honestly wonder exactly what the fuck people pay taxes for, if not for decent hospitals. *Coughintothepoliticiansbackpocketsuncough* So yeah, the fact is, having been up to see her in the last few weeks, although she's improved, she is beginning to falter again, and her hand-eye coordination has definately went out of the window in the last few days that I've been up to see her, because she can't seem to pick anything up and you have to put everything into her hands and stuff now. We dont really want many visitors, but we've been quite happy with the number of lovely people that've been wishing her well. Thanks also to my friends at DaeLuin that've given great support, and also everyone else who has put in a bit of time to it. It's sad, but none of us feel that she'll be back home again, ever, and it really breaks my heart because I've lived with her since I was a little kid. I've always lived with my grandparents, and this is all something a bit new to me to be honest. I always hope for the best for her; infact, I'll be going to visit her in less than an hour at the hospital, as a matter of fact.

Anyway, other than that, although its not the biggest of my worries, I have to also add that most of my stuff is now packed away, and that I hope to try and move off in about a week or two from right now to my moms house, and once I'm settled there, work will begin again on IKNK Volume Three and the finalising of the Wishing Heart book as well. Things've been really hectic, as you can imagine. Anyway, nothing much else to report; but perhaps another Manga critique at some point for the readers. Some more Pointless Manga coming up soon as well. <3

Stephens Monthly Manga 0001

Zettai Kareshi - Absolute Boyfriend
By Yuu Watase

Absolute Boyfriend (絶対彼氏, Zettai Kareshi) is a six volume manga series by Yuu Watase, first serialized in Shōjo Comic. Chuang Yi licensed it for an English language release in Singapore, with the first volume released in March of 2005. Viz Media licensed the series for an English release in North America, serializing the series in its Shojo Beat manga anthology as well as releasing the volumes. The manga series is being adapted into a live-action drama series. Romance/Sci-Manga.

Plot (Spoilers!)

Riiko Izawa has never had a boyfriend and she has been rejected by every boy she has ever had a crush on. When she returns a lost cell phone to an oddly dressed salesman, she mentions wanting a boyfriend so to thank her, he directs her to his company's website. When she visits the site, Riiko finds it's a site to create your own lover. Thinking its a game, she customizes and accidentally orders one. The next day, her new lover arrives. Following the instruction manual, she kisses him to wake him up and configure him to be in love with only her. She names him "Night." Three days later, she is shocked to learn that she only had him for a free trial. The salesman, Gaku Namikiri, tells her that she must now pay 100,000,000 yen for Night, or they will waive the fee if she helps them to collect data about how women think and feel to help perfect future models.

Riiko must keep Night's true nature of not being human a secret from everyone around her. She also finds herself in a love triangle between Night and her childhood friend Soushi, who declares his love for her out of fear he will lose her. As the series progresses, Night begins to develop real human emotions, enabling him to truly love Riiko but also resulting in system malfunctions. When Riiko almost loses Night due to the malfunctions, she realizes that he is the one she really loves. She apologizes to Soushi, who moves to Spain with his brother. As the series ends, Night begins to grow sleepier and sleepier. The problems developed by his exceeding his abilities eventually causes his machinery to stop working, resulting in his "dying." Before he died, he writes a letter to Soushi to tell him whats happening
and asking him to take care of Riiko. Soushi gives Rikko time to grieve, then returns to Japan to be at her side again.

Characters

- Riiko Izawa (井沢 リイコ, Izawa Riiko)
Riiko doesn't seem to have any luck with boys until she meets a strange salesman and ends up accidentally ordering a boyfriend: Night Tenjou. Riiko is rather naïve, clumsy, and simple-minded, but kindhearted and hardworking. She seems to have feelings for Soushi and Night, which becomes the primary conflict of the story.
- Night Tenjou (天城ナイト, Tenjou Naito)
Night is the perfect boyfriend: charming, dependable, intelligent, athletic, good-looking, sensitive, devoted, and completely loyal. Because he is unaware of certain social 'conventions', he often seems over-the-top and attracts a lot of attention. Although he is a doll, albeit of a high-caliber design, he seems to have genuine emotions and to want to become more human and be a better boyfriend to Riiko. He wears a mood ring that indicates Riiko's emotions. He later crushes this ring, claiming real boyfriends didn't need it, so he didn't either. His developing genuine emotions eventually causes his system to shut down, essentially resulting in his death. Before he died, he asked Soushi to take care of Riiko in a letter which he intrusted to Gaku to deliver.
- Soushi Asamoto (浅元ソウシ, Asamoto Soushi)
Soushi has had a crush on Riiko since they were both children, though he has never found the nerve to confess his real feelings and instead teases her. His father is a photographer who travels around the world, so Soushi lives alone with his younger brother, Masaki. Since Riiko lives alone at the beginning of the series as well, Soushi has promised her mother to protect her. He is a very good cook and usually gives Riiko food when he suspects she needs it. Near the end of the series, he moves to Spain with his brother, but six months after he left, he returns to take care of Riiko after Night's death.
- Gaku Namikiri (ガク・ナミキリ, Gaku Namikiri)
Gaku is a salesman for a company known as Kronos Heaven which specializes in making highly realistic robots, or "figures," for various purposes. Though usually businesslike and down-to-earth, Gaku is sometimes mistaken for a cosplayer because of his odd manner of dress. When Riiko cannot return Night nor pay the bill for him, Gaku allows her to keep him so Night can collect data on how to become a better lover for use in future models. Whenever there is a problem with Night, Gaku is the one to fix him. After Kronos Heaven attempts to take back Night and wants to dismantle him, Gaku decides to quit the company and opens his own business. Before his death, Night entrusts Gaku to deliver a letter to Soushi.

- Sourced from Wikipedia.

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Review

I recently got through the full serialization of Absolute Boyfriend, and although I had some mixed feelings about it, I think it was a very decent storyline and the characters really shone out in the end. As compared with movies like 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' and 'House of Flying Daggers', the typical japanese sad ending always leaves some feeling a little iffy, whereas others really love the outcome, and think its sweet. Although it was a realistic and fair ending, I'm still a fence-sitter on the last volume, to be honest. The style of illustration was very nicely done, and I noticed that some of the faces of the characters seemed more defined and expressive in some areas of the manga as compared with others later on or earlier before, leading me to believe that certain parts of the work may have been worked on before other parts rather than in chronological order, but this is just a suspicion. It still works out fine.

Although six volumes is an acceptable length for a serialization, I do feel that this could have been shortened to five, as a few chapters didn't seem to really go anywhere and weren't really needed. The character much later in the story with the burns on her back was a nice and poignant touch, she was one of my more favourite characters, but although her character was explored, she failed to find a true place in the actual storyline - she was too much of a secondary character. Also, I would have liked to have seen more into the relationship between Riiko and her ex-best friend, who she had the fight with, and maybe a little less into the Chronos company, for added mysticism. Night and Soushi and all of the guys seemed really well designed, but although this was a really good point and although this serialization was a shoujo manga, I feel that Riiko and a few of the girls should have been developed a bit more. We found out that a few of the people in Riiko's highschool viewed her as a 'slut' or 'untrustworthy', but other than the initial incident with having her unrequited love to a fellow classmate in the opening book, not much more is read into this. Also, I would have liked to see more hairstyles, and changes of clothing for Riiko and the other girls. Again, this is a Shoujo manga, and it seems the attention is mostly played out on the males, which is perfectly fine for the industry, but not for those secretive males who read Shoujo for the girls in it and the romantic points. XD

I found that I slowly disliked parts of Soushi's personality as the story went on. One could understand his characters concern and annoyance with all that was going on, but I think he seemed very uptight and a little too conservative for my taste; he really didn't feel like the type of person that a girl like Riiko would truly go for, in my opinion. On the other hand, Nights comical escapades and his warmheartedness really showed through, and the contrast between the perfect Night and the imperfect Soushi becomes quite striking. Other than that, I'd say one or two too many interuptions to Riiko and Night's romance, and I didn't feel that the two of them finally becoming lovers by the sixth volume was good enough - I think it should have happened in the fifth. As well as being something the fans waited for for five volumes, the actual two or three pages where they actually got together was a bit of an anti-climax, sadly. It was a really under-rated part of the story, and I think it felt rushed a little into the last volume.

Riiko and Night's relationship is a confusing and sad one, but its warm hearted and full of hope, despite in many ways being totally hopeless. I think a few more twists in the general storyline would have peppered it up a little more in the middle volumes, but overall, it was a very good illustrated story and I really liked many of the characters. I think overall, the characters that will stay with me the most will be Night and Riiko themselves, and you can expect a fanart from me sometime soon on my Deviantart gallery. : D

Kudos to Watase-san for a well done addition to the special couple genre!

Volumes 1-6 (Complete)
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5
Volume 6

Preview the mangascans at http://www.mangafox.com/.

Rawr stuffs! : D

Still feeling pretty awful. : ( I think I'll have to go to the doctors at some point. Decided to try and do a page of Wishing Heart today before I have to go to work. Also, I'll have to remember to buy in new disco maggots for the newts upstairs later on tomorrow if I'm feeling okay to drive. Ever get one of those times that you just feel really icky and you cant put your finger on whats wrong? : ( My necks sore, my heads a little sore (it isnt a migraine for once.), my chest is sore, I'm tired, my eyes keep twitching, everything sounds really loud and annoying and sometimes when I'm getting up in the morning the room does a little spin or the walls look like their moving. ><>.<>

End of the Week Post

Been pretty bad this week in accordance with updating Wishing Heart. I caught a really bad bug on Tuesday and I was feeling icky all of the day, but after the evening I really went downhill and got nothing done. : ( Since then, I did nothing on Wednesday or Thursday, and I'm sitting here right now, close to nine o'clock on Friday and I still havent put pen to paper yet. I might just try to start afresh next week, but I dont like wasting time - I promised myself to have IKNK v2 and v3 and the volume of Wishing Heart complete by the end of this year. -Sigh- At the same time, I dont want to push myself and sicken myself on it, and.. bleh, ah well. I've updated quite a bit this week, and I've uploaded a lot of my works that have been hanging around my desktop for a while now. ^_^Updated my Bebo and my MySpace, and joined hi5 as well, doing a bit of networking. XD

Other than that, not much else to report this week in accordance with production, simply by the fact that I've been unwell - sorry about that. : ( Lets hope for a better week next week, mm?

Some Introduction! ^_^

Well, I suppose I’d better introduce myself for the first post! : D As you might guess, my names Stephen. I live in the bonnie highlands of Scotland, in the United Kingdom. I’m a semi-professional Manga-Ka and Indie comic artist. I also study herpetology regularly, this is the study of reptiles and amphibians, and to a lesser extent, the more exotic pets available in the market, which I love to keep, breed or study. : D Right now in the house I have three Horsfields Tortoises (Testudo Horsfieldii), two Red-earred Terrapins (Trachemys Scripta Elegans), seven Palmate Newts (Triturus Helveticus) and various british and french snails, common and rare.

Manga and comics in general aren’t very common in my town, so I take a lot of my work online. Most of the manga I buy tends to come from places like ‘Forbidden Planet’ and ‘A-1 Comics’ in Glasgow city, or I tend to order them in via the internet as well. I’ll go ahead and brag – I’ve also probably got the largest manga library in all of Inverclyde. : D

Also, no, I don’t speak Japanese. At least not fluently, but in the future, when I have more time, I do certainly intend to learn. There’s an awful lot I have to do in a day! I’d most certainly move to Japan when I’m older. One of my dreams is to work with a big company, especially Square Enix and Studio Ghibli, both of whom I am a really big fan of.

Manga is my subject of interest, definitely much more than anime, although for a good manga that’s being translated into a show, I tend to watch it if I like it. : 3

My own manga works that I've created include currently;


The entire ‘Aerth’ Project;
Aerth – Isshuu Kara No Kuroneko: Night of the Black Cat (IKNK for short) – Scheduled finish on end of ’09.
Aerth – Setterwynn – Ongoing main project.
Wishing Heart – Finished middle of ’08.
Tales from Aerth – Ongoing collection of small projects.

Various Fanmanga Projects;
The Ginger Snaps Fanmanga – Finished beginning of ’07.
The Harry Potter Fanmanga – Finished end of ’06.
Pokemon: Shadows Fanmanga - Finished end of '06.

Theres others going into the works as things go forward, and you'll hear more about them as I write more into the Blogronomicon. ^^


I'll pop a few different things on random posts to the Blogronomicon whenever I next post, but for now, heres an idea of all of the types of musicians and bands that I listen to on my Ipod or on download from my laptop. : 3


MUSIC!
The type of music I like is vastly mixed. To get an idea, here’s what I have saved to my hard drive, my IPod and my Sony Walkman and basically everywhere else that I tend to store all of my MP3’s;

Lisa Loeb, Alanis Morisette, Hayley Westenra, Damien Rice, And Then I Turned Seven, Aqua, Babylon Zoo, The Corrs, Sigur Rós, 10000 Maniacs, The Flaming Lips, Belinda Carlisle, The Fray, Shadows Fall, Betty Curse, Sinch, Skip James, Bellefire, Spice Girls, Cascada, Spunge, Cradle of Filth, Sugababes, Daphne and Celeste, System of a Down, The Prodigy, Daft Punk, The Sundays, Desree, Utada Hikaru, UB40, Vanessa Williams, Tatu, Westlife, Donna Lewis, White Rose Movement, Eiffel 65, Within Temptation, Wyclef Jean, Splendora, Air Supply Linkin Park, Evanescence, Lacuna Coil, Nightwish, Feeder, Incubus, Limp Bizkit, The Calling, Marilyn Manson Offspring, Natalie Imbruglia, P!nk, The Googoo Dolls, Nelly Furtado, Green Day, Papa Roach, Eminem, Bon Jovi, Gabrielle, Staind, Lisa Loeb, Michelle Branch, Mark Wills, New Radicals, Vanessa Carlton, Savage Garden, Enya, Avril Lavigne, The Bangles, Foo Fighters, Oasis, P.O.D, Puddle of Mudd, Oakenfold, Lighthouse Family, Fragma, Gorillaz, The Prodigy, Cradle of Filth, And Then I Turned Seven, Aiden, Blink 182, Good Charlotte, Maroon 5, My Chemical Romance, The Used, Spineshank, Sum 41, Korn, Tenacious D, Slipknot, Alexisonfire, Paramore, The Close-ups, Winter Kids, Morning After Girls, The Doors, The All-American Rejects and Wheatus. : D

Don't mind me. I'd just like to de-flower my Blog. : D

Hello and Konnichi-wa to all out there who just happen to be reading this. You are now witnessing a major moment in history. XD Stephen has a BLOG!! Like, omfg and stuffs.