japanese people are really good at keeping busy. i say this as one of my japanese friends that i manage to keep in contact with came online for the first time in many, many months on monday (hi mao :p). he quit his job in preparation for yet another trip to add to his travel portfolio – this time to work at a hotel in china. pretty amazing stuff.

anyways, he was kind enough to inform me that i missed a drama this season that i should be watching. hell, when someone tells me something like this i can’t really hold back. i queued all 10 episodes of the series up and woke up that morning 9gb short of my already strained quota.

「14才の母」, translating simply to “(A) 14 year-old Mother” is a story about… well yeah, a very young mother. after just 30 minutes into the drama i realised this was not one i could let linger over the next week or two. i had to watch it through, ASAP!

what can i say? i watched 5 episodes for two days (only just managed this with work and stuffs) and realised on the second day there was an 11th episode. which got released only today! pretty good timing really.

while the progression of the story was quite predictable (yeah well), it really is one of those must-watch dramas, in a way that it makes you think about things may have never thought of before. the casting is really quite good too – lots of familiar faces acting in familiar roles, but if there’s one advantage to this -
they really know how to act their part. might help to have a box of tissues handy, though.

goddamn i feel so tired lately… really looking forward to a break from work.

after a long run of watching next to no anime, there were quite a few series that people have recommended, and i guess a time has to come where i catch up.  unfortunately, this is not that time, but i have been watching a few series here and there when the time presents itself.

enter Bokura ga Ita.  this is a series which redefines shoujo anime.  if you don’t like bright pinkish-white scenes every other frame, you should turn back while you still have the chance.  it revolves around the relationship of two high school students – Yano, an over-emotional guy who was betrayed by a girl who died two years ago in a car accident, and Nana, a girl who enjoys confessing her love and crying occasionally.  what perfect characters for an anime in this genre!

who am i to talk though – the artwork is really interesting, and while many people disapprove of it, i find scenes which lack character’s eyes being drawn in quite effective at conveying those moments which oversized eyes would not do justice.  the storyline develops slowly, allowing a lot of detail to be put into the characters’ personalities, but at times i wish it would happen a bit faster.  this is one of the few series for which i skip the OP/ED only because i am so anxious to see what happens next, (if anything ^^;).

if you enjoy this kind of anime, go catch up to the latest episode.  it will probably be worth your while if you were interested enough to read this far.

goddamn its hot.  i could say that in so many more words too…  *considers a 7-day holiday to japan over christmas*

wtf? i never actually posted this — its been on private for like 9 months ^^;. oh well, ill just post now.

today’s balls.. i mean photos

we finally got around to meeting up with tencho. odaiba sure is a nice place compared to others around the tokyo area – there are benches, there are rubbish bins. its kind of like a heaven in the middle of…. japan?

[thumb:332:i][thumb:333:i][thumb:334:i]

anyways, we went up テレビ東京’s observation tower and that was quite a good sight (albeit an expensive one), and explored the many department stores in the surrounding area. we were searching for the honey & clover cafe for a long time, then found it right at the end when we already stopped looking >< .

[thumb:339:i][thumb:348:i][thumb:349:i]

[thumb:368:l][thumb:362:l][thumb:361:l]

we took a really cool sky-rail train to get there from shinbashi, and returned by ferry. what a fun day it was!

full of balls... lol