I already know about that saying, but I never took it seriously...

...Until now.

Last Saturday, I went to SMX Convention Center for the Mangaholix Manga Mania II. My alibi was that I was going to attend an art exhibit. I was even so modest about the details (German Expressionism stuff) that's why I was permitted to go.

And so I spent my Saturday frolicking around the venue, meeting and reuniting with cosplay friends (Gibs, Pat, Sachi, Jose, Iji, Sachi, Chasa, Loon, Luna, Jyoan, Kuro, Weebz, Nadine, Jit, Jeff, et. al.) while at the same time taking pictures with them. I also had a chat with Sir Choi the Voicemaster about their next VoiceWorx schedules. (Kung magkakapera ako, pramis mag-e-enrol ako sa inyo. XD)

I even enjoyed myself playing the EyeToy, though it made my arm muscles sore. There were also Kala and Urbandub to perform for rockers out there. Although I wasn't really able to listen hard enough to their music because I was too busy taking pictures. And luckily, I got to save enough money to go home not all broke.

All was well until the night came and I was about to go home. My mom texted me the bad news: four of our computers were infected by viruses! And when I did arrive home, I found out that the infestation was specifically due to Trojans. And what it did was to mess up almost all executable programs on all four computers, including some essential ones (like Adobe Photoshop) and the games I play (Yu-Gi-Oh Power of Chaos trilogy).

So yesterday I tried to fix the problem by installing an updated antivirus program (AVG 8.0), however, for some odd reason, I couldn't install it on this computer! I had to install a different brand instead, and this time, the problem with it is that I couldn't update it.

Anyway, it's about time that I reformat the computers. But I still couldn't do so because I still have to make a backup of my important files (MP3s, PSD files, artworks and installers). I haven't bought blank DVDs for that yet, and I also don't have the installers for the games the customers play here.

Oh well, there really goes that saying. That's a lesson learned for me.

(Well actually, nu'ng Sabado ng gabi lang nag-actualize lahat ng virus problems na yan, pero meron na talaga bago pa'ko pumunta ng M3. Ayun.)

IO isn't just any other romance manga that incorporates comedy and ecchi. It also offers an engaging story that taps on the supernatural. Using the sport of scuba diving as the base line, it develops into a touching love story that also teaches the value of family ties.

IO chronicles the story of Taiyo Nakahara, a high school student from Tokyo, who went to Okinawa to look for the the ocean where his father disappeared 10 years ago and dive in it. Upon arrival on the airport, when he tries to hit on a girl, it turns out to be Shibuki, his childhood friend who accuses him of killing his mother. Taiyo, on the other hand, doesn't know what she's talking about, but it was revealed that it was amnesia. Only by meeting Shibuki's elder sister Nagisa and younger sister Mio (who initially has a mysterious aura surrounding her character), and staying at their inn will he recover his lost memories.

And gradually he did recover his lost memories, so is his relationship with the sisters. While this is so, something larger than life threatens to surface out to haunt Taiyo once again. And this story develops from the quest to find the ruins that caused his family grief to an interesting sibling rivalry for our main character's love to an ultimate revelation that will shatter it deeply.

Oceans, whales, hot girls in skimpy bikinis...what can a man ask for? :P

I give Minato Koio's IO a 5/5 rating, because he has excellently created a manga that perfectly blended supernaturalism, romance and sexy comedy in one story. I don't know what to say next, but I know I can relay them using my vernacular. :D

Highlights of Shohoku vs. Sannoh in the Inter-High Torunament from the manga Slam Dunk. Background music, appropriately included at that, is Sekai ga Owaru Made wa by WANDS.

Start:	Apr 5, '08
End:	Apr 6, '08
Location:	SM Megamall Megatrade Hall 2 (venue subject to change daw)

http://www.otakuzine-mag.com/

Just click the link for details. Nakakatamad mag-copy-paste. XD

Hay, sana makapunta ako. Tsk tsk tsk...

Full Moon wo Sagashite revolves around the story of Mitsuki Koyama, a 12-year old girl with a talent for singing. However, she couldn't fulfill her dream due to her throat cancer, which is only curable by surgery and at the expense of her voice. The tumor in her throat doesn't allow her to sing loudly and it affects her breathing; also, her grandmother hates music of all things. Until one day she meets two shinigami, Takuto and Meroko, who accidentally reveal to her that she has only one year left to live. Takuto makes a proposal to Mitsuki, that if she goes quietly when her time is up, he will help her fulfill her dream of becoming a singer.

FullMoon, as its North America publication title, is a shoujo manga written by Arina Tanemura. Shueisha published the manga in the magazine Ribon and was compiled into seven tankobon volumes. Nihon Ad Systems produced an anime version of the series even before the manga was completed (that's probably why bitin ako sa anime).

The songs in the anime were provided by the band Changin' My Life (CML), most sung by lead vocalist myco, who also provided the voice for Mitsuki.

Wait, I'm reviewing the manga; why am I talking about the anime? LOL

Anyway, FullMoon is a must read, especially for fans who love cheese. There are a lot of unexpected twists and turns, and miracles of love, if you will. Hehehe

Blue Dragon RalΩGrad is an action-comedy-ecchi-fantasy manga by authored by Tsuneo Takano and illustrated by Death Note artist Takeshi Obata. The plot of this 29-"tale" manga revolves around a 15-year-old boy named Ral and his symbiotic relationship with the "shadow" of a giant blue dragon, Grad.

In a world where demonic creatures named shadows enter our realm through their very namesakes, little is safe. However, when a young boy by the name of Ral becomes friends with the shadow inside him, he may be the last hope in saving the world. Ral lives on the island of Sphaein, in the kingdom of Sphaelite. There he has been enlisted to protect the kingdom from evil shadows that wish to destroy it. With the aid of his shadow, a large blue dragon named Grad, and his teacher, Mio, Ral can take on any challenger.

As previously mentioned, Ral has a symbiotic relationship with Grad, as they had been locked up in a dark prison for 15 years. Since he had no knowledge of the outside world, Mio, a very beautiful and educated woman who served as his teacher while he was still locked up, gradually taught him more. And the first thing that Ral learned was about women's breasts, as it was Mio's initial motivational tactic to make Ral get the job done. That soon became Ral's goal in defeating enemy shadows; to protect the women and their breasts; it was then he called himself "Ral the Boob Groper". Despite his immoral habit he has a pure heart where he sees the reason men fight shadows "to protect their beloved women", and loves the vibrant beauty of the world.

As always, I am raving about this manga because it is ecchi. LOL But mind you, I'm not only into these stuff but into romantic ones as well. Just you wait until I review Full Moon. Hehehe

Pretty Face (プリティフェイス, Puriti Feisu) is a story involving many different types of characters which takes place mostly at the school the main characters attend, Seika high school. The main protagonist is Randou Masashi, a highschool student and a karate expert who harbors an unconfessed love for a fellow student, Rina Kurimi. One day on route back from a karate tournament in Hokkaidō, he is caught in a tragic school bus accident and burned beyond recognition.

Randou awakes from a coma one year later to find that he's been in the care of a doctor named John Manabe talented enough to reconstruct his body, though ends up using the closest thing to an identification found on his body as a basis to reconstruct his face - a photo of Rina.

Afterwards, Randou finds out that during his year long coma, he was mistakenly pronounced deceased, his parents moved away, and even his house was demolished. Once he has realized his old life is now gone and has broken down on the sidewalk in front of his former household, he runs into Rina by chance, and is mistaken for her missing twin sister, Yuna. After Rina takes him back to her house and presents him as Yuna, he proclaims to have amnesia in order to not arouse any sudden suspicions. Later, after seeing Rina in so much pain with having her sister gone, Randou decides to impersonate Yuna for the time being until he can find the real Yuna and reunite her with Rina and her family.

Pretty Face is a manga series written and illustrated by Japanese author Yasuhiro Kano revolving around a high school boy attempting to impersonate a girl. A common theme in the series is the loving relationships the characters share for each other, whether they be between siblings, friends, or lovers.

The Pretty Face manga was first serialized in the manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump, with the first bound volume released on October 4, 2002. The series ended in Japan in 2003 with the final, sixth volume in the series released on November 4 of that year. There is a fair amount of fan service associated with the story, but never to the point to be considered hentai. The manga series has a rather abrupt ending, finishing with fifty-two chapters. It was intended to run longer, but was canceled for unknown reasons. The last chapter featured additional information and alternate endings, as well as some original storyboard art. A running gag in the series is that the eyes of the characters will pop out of their sockets when something shocking happens.

Lilim Kiss (りりむキッス, Ririmu Kissu) is a shonen manga created by Mizuki Kawashita, about a boy whose life is disrupted by a lilim who feeds on people's energy by kissing them (in this case, the protagonist).

The manga spans 2 volumes, and is of the romance/comedy genre.

The story is about Takaya Saiki, a tough, but surprisingly vain guy who's practically invincible, as he couldn't be beaten by anyone at school, both physically and intellectually. That started to change when a pendant was dropped on his head by a crow at random, and he sets a lilim free after opening it. He names her Lilim, after her species, since she has no name of her own. He makes a bargain with Lilim to be her sole provider of life energy (i.e. Lilim would kiss only him), so she won't need to take other men's life energies.

After finding out that Takaya's energy is much different than others, Lilim agrees to kiss only him. Takaya convinces his parents to let Lilim stay at their house and eventually falls in love with her, his personality mellowing greatly in the process. She soon reveals that the reason Takaya's life energy nourishes her better than that of most men, is because they have moles in similar places. This could be theorized to indicate a mystic similarity between the two of them.

She was trapped inside a pendant until Takaya set her free. Once sealed in the pendant, she loses all of her memories. Eventually, Lilim is re-sealed in her bottle by Yukihiko Souma, her previous owner, who intends to reclaim her after the sealing has wiped her memory. But it didn't come according to his plan, as Takaya's desire to be reunited with Lilim is the only thing capable of breaking the seal placed on her by Yukihiko.

Although she has lost her memory, she feels a strong desire to be with Takaya and no other. It is most likely that she returns his feelings; that romantic attraction to Takaya has become an integral part of her subconscious, as opposed to her erasable conscious.

Another romantic manga with an nosebleed-inducing ecchi twist, recommended for people like me. :D

Suzuka (涼風, Suzuka) is a Japanese manga authored by Kouji Seo. The series is a character-driven romance story that uses the athletics of track and field as a subplot. The story primarily follows the life of the teenager Yamato Akitsuki, who moved to Tokyo to change himself, and his main love interest Suzuka Asahina, a talented and highly scouted high jumper who lives in Yamato's aunt's dormitory and attends his new high school.

Suzuka was serialized in the Japanese magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine published by Kodansha. It was adapted into a twenty-six episode anime series and aired on TV Tokyo in Japan between 6 July 2005 and 28 December 2005. Both versions of the series have been licensed for release in North America by two different companies. The manga has been licensed for publication by Del Rey Manga under their mature line. The anime series has been licensed and is being released by FUNimation Entertainment.



The anime series practically left me hanging after 26 episodes. But when I found out from Wikipedia that the anime only covers half of the story, I had to see the continuation for myself. Thanks to my online buddy (You know who you are :D), I finally got to continue to where I left off after watching Suzuka: it practically took me a quarter of a year to finally find this manga!

Anyway, Suzuka is a romantic sports-based drama, as stated above, that offers some comic relief and graphic fan service (i.e. bathhouse scenes), but there are no explicit content at all; the nudity is just for artistic shots, in my opinion. (Nosebleed FTW XD) Overall, the plot seriously dwells on the two main characters' arguments, struggles and challenges that test the strength of their relationship, and how they go through them all.

This is a must read, for manga readers who love romance and some ecchi fan service.

My must-not-forget chapters (Hehehehe):
#115: Yukata
#147: Body Heat

Click here for some cover images.

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