Anatolia Story - Golden Classic.

I am quite a manga fanatic. No surprise there, eh? Truth to be told, ever since I entered the world of mangas, I have quite been neglecting my regency romances and chick lit lately. I used to read at least 8 books per week (no kidding) and now I can hardly find time to enjoy my Christine Feehan's and Sophie Kinsella's best sellers. I still read them, occasionally, but not that often anymore. Besides, it's even harder to find a decent library in Malaysia here. Manga rental shops, however, are another story. ^_^


And the purpose of my post today, is to introduce you to the greatest manga of all times. (Yiyou, if you happen to be reading this, do ask uncle for this series. I think - no, I know you will love it. Oh yes, you will.) Anatolia Story, otherwise known as Red River (天は赤い河のほとり, Sora wa Akai Kawa no Hotori: "Heaven by the Red River"), is a shoujo manga series made by Chie Shinohara (篠原千絵). Even at a total of 28 volumes, I still couldn't get enough of the manga series, and of course, especially of Yuri and Kail.

Set in the 14th century, Red River is about a fifteen-year old Japanese girl named Yuri Suzuki, who is magically transported to Hattusa, the capital of the Hittite Empire in Anatolia. She was summoned by Queen Nakia who means to use Yuri as a human sacrifice. Yuri's blood is the key element needed in placing a curse upon the princes of the land so that they will perish, leaving Nakia's son as the sole heir to the throne.

The story takes place during the reign of King Suppiluliuma I, at a time when the Hittite Empire was near its peak of power, rivaled only by Egypt, which was then ruled by the young Pharaoh Tutankhamen. Many of the people and events in the story are drawn from actual history, from Princes Kail Mursili, Sari Arnuwanda, and Zannanza, to battles with the neighboring Mitanni kingdom around the town of Kizzuwatna.

The best part of the story is it not only deals with lots and lots of romance, the adventures Yuri and Kail are also not to be missed as well - from conquering countries to fighting lions. Unlike your everyday heroine, Yuri is a strong minded girl who takes everything into her hands and hates to be reliant on others. I hate whiney female characters (Yiyou, I know you hate them too. With a vengence. Think: Miaka.) Kail, on the other hand, is every girl's dream and of course, Drop. Dead. Gorgeous. ^_^

I would love to go on more about how much I love this series but I would hate to spoil you for the story. If you want to know hoe good this series is, it's best to go rent the mangas and experience it first-hand yourself.

Here's a little video I found when digging around for information.

Anatolia Story, satisfaction guaranteed. *winks*

Anime Oldies - They are better than you think.

Post will be up later. Sleep first. School has been crazy these few days. *shudders just thinking about it*

I have to confess, I'm too lazy to blog. Really lazy. But anyway, I finally got down to blogging, after procrastinating for another month. I know. I'm lazy.

Spent my holiday digging out old classic anime to watch. Believe it a not, I actually decided to give Conan a try. The detective series is the longest anime I've ever come across - and it's still ongoing (500 episodes and up). The best part about Conan is when Shinichi is dealing with the black organisation and trying to figure ways to get his body back to normal (In case you don't know, Shinichi is the main character of the story. He was forced to drink some kind of poison which turned his body to that of a 7-year-old.) ALso, not to forget, I like any episodes that has t o deal with Shinichi and Hattori (another high school genius detective) competing against each other. And of course, being the romantic I am, the ShinichixRan moments. Boy, were they cute. Other than that, the rest are basically filler episodes. But if you guys have plenty of time to spare and nothing to do in mind, you might want to give Conan a try. It's not the best anime out there but it's good enough when you've got time to kill.

Another anime I watched during my holidays were Glass Mask and Marmalade Boy. Glass mask was good. I never thought i would enjoy an anime that was adapted from a manga drawn in the 1970s. That was like 30 years before I was born. I watched the 2005 remake version of the anime - most of them are in RAWs though. No english fansubbing group has completed that series, a pity if you ask me. It came as a surprise to me that I would like Glass Mask not only because of its age but also of its genre. Glass mask is about how a girl struggles to fight her way to the stage and the world of acting. Sounds kinda boring to me in the first place and I watched the first episode with no expectations whatsoever. Before I know it, I was already halfway through the series. It was that addicting (Hayami and Maya forever!). However, the down part of this anime was that it was never finished - just like many other anime. The anime stopped halfway through the manga, just like that. And when I searched for the manga to continue my pursuit of the story, it just turned out that the author of the story halted the story as well - at volume 42. It was said that Suzue Miuchi (that's the author) wanted to do some changes to the story and modernise the plot as back in the 1970s, there's no such thing as computers and handphones. It's just stupid, really stupid. She just have to go enrage and lose her fans like this. It's like we're dying to know the end to the series and she's taking what, 7,8 years to finish ONE manga volume? It really pisses me off. It took me some time to actually get over this.

Marmalade Boy was not for my age. I'm 17 turning 18 and Marmalade Boy proves to be a little to childish for me. The story centers around Miki and Yuu, who came to know each other when their parent decide to "switch partners". It's basically a romance anime and a rather predictable one at that. I started to watch this series for no other reason than I'm bored and I ran out of anime to watch. Like I said, the story's quite predictable, which makes it rather bland. There are not many surprising elements in the story and I have to force myself to finish the anime just because I started watching it. In that sense, it's still not that bad as I could still cope with having to finish the series. There are some anime which I stopped watching at the first episode.

There now, I finish my February post. Finally.

HK Trip - plus the photos.

I'm just on time before the clock strikes 12 and the last day of January in 2008 is over. Anyway, i'm so lazy lately i'll just copy and paste the whole segment of the speech i did in class talking about the time i spent in HK.

There you go.

It all started one early morning when I was still lying comfy in my bed cocoon when my phone rang. It was my mum. She was calling me early in the morning to ask when am I having my holidays. Since still half-asleep, I answered half-heartedly until her last response stop me short before she cut the line off.

Early in the morning of one of those usual, boring, never-ending days which was supposed to go normal, she told us we were going to Hong Kong.

Now, you must realize, that was big news indeed to me. It was like waking up to find a handsome prince by your side and you’re actually the long lost princess of Atlantic. In other words, it sounded too good to be true. It sounded phony.

The last time I boarded a plane and actually flew to another country besides Singapore was when I’m 5 – when I can hardly remember anything at that age. Ever since then, my mother just make me empty promises every year about how we will go to The states in year 2000 and go Japan in year 2001 and go Hong Kong in year 2002, yada yada.

So after the shock subsided, I continued lying in the warmth of my bed cocoons and stare blank at the ceilings. Then I think, yeah right, Hong Kong, and went back to sleep again.

Forwarded to the day 18th December 2007, I found myself checking in at the airport with my family. Since it’s still an hour away before we could actually board the plane, I went exploring around and snapping at everything with a newly camera I just bought not long ago.

This picture is taken in a chocolate shop in the airport. Prices here really skyrocket and you can’t do any bargaining. One pack of merci chocolates which could be bought at about 7 ringgit here is sold for 21 ringgit there. Just impossible. And ridiculous.

The following are more shots of Malaysia’s airport. After my brothers and I are tired from all those exploring, I gave in to the impulse and bought some ridiculously expensive chips for our journey.




…boarded the plane and before we knew it, we’re in hk.


…captured some more shots of the airport in hk and then think, airports are about all the same anywhere, and then think again, not that I’ve been to many airports.

…took a train to the island of hk.


…we live our 2 weeks to the fullest by indulging ourselves with shopping and all the yummies of hong kong.

…visited my aunt’s restaurant and spoil myself with the food she served.

…famed peak of hong kong which is supposed to cover all of hk land when you looked down. Too bad we couldn’t see anything because it was too foggy.




…tong luo wan – the equivalent of orchard road in sg. All the major and happening shops and malls are there, sogo, times square, blah blah.




…Another thing to note about hk is that wherever you go, whenever you are, you always find yourself surrounded in a crowd. Before you can get anything you want, there’s always this queue in front of you.



…went seeing the lights on Christmas day. As usual, it was very packed and you literally have to squirm through everyone to go anywhere.


…went to ocean park. More people than usual. Hate it when you have to wait 2 hours just for a 2 minutes ride.

…see pandas. Those cute, fluffy, furry creatures.


...more shopping and eating. Were indulging ourselves with dim sum.

…took pictures of the famous bridge of hk when you see in the movies on the tri back home. Brr, was it cold that day. It was around 10 degree celcius that morning.


...took pictures of clouds and scenery.




...landed home and took more pictures of planes and the K.L. airport.

See, I'm so lazy, I'd just "..." everything for my speech. But who cares anyway. I'll upload my photos later and it should make up for everything. Probably. And then I feel lazy again when I think I've yet to post on the Anime Winter 2007 season. Crap, blame my lazy bones.

Urgh, exams are tomorrow and I can't believe i'm updating my blog. Really gotta ciao. Till then, people.

25th Dec 2007.

Brrr... It's like friggin' cold this evening, around 14 degree celcius (If my memory does not fail me when I saw the news this morning).

Went around the streets in Hong Kong and bought some clothes, shoes, books, etc. I wanted to buy manga. Wanted. Desired. Too bad I can't find any decent manga shop around. Urgh. And I thought Hong Kong is the closest country to Japan (close, as in, not measured by distance. Close in spirit, atmosphere, people. Blah blah.)

Haven't done much walking lately in Malaysia since I knew how to drive. Heck, haven't done much walking ever since I've moved to Malaysia. My mum practically drives me everywhere. God bless her. And now, I've been doing so much walking I feel should be able to make up for the last few months of inactivity. My legs feel like they're made out of wobbly jelly as of current. Besides shopping, I even went climbing hills and find myself going to Ocean Park (one of those many attractions in Hong Kong), waiting and queueing up HOURS for a few minutes' ride.

By the way, did I ever mention that food over here is simply mouth-watering? Oh my god. I'm willing to risk putting on a few Kilos to have a moment's taste of heaven. Then, I'll regret and lament about it later when I come back to home K.L.

I'll put up the pictures I've taken during my time here when I got back to Malaysia. It's the 25th, so 6 more days to go.

But anywayz ppl, Merry Christmas!!! See you ppl when school starts. Next year. ^_^