Octave ch15 オクターヴ

Octave put my heart through a blender again.

Over dinner, Setsuko confronts Yukino about her lies. When Yukino dodges the question, Setsuko concludes that Yukino’s got a boyfriend. She’s devastated. As Setsuko breaks down, Yukino finds out what Setsuko really meant when she said it was okay for Yukino to experiment with men…

Setsuko cried so much in this chapter, I can’t stand it. >_< Yukino really is an idiot. But at least she’s sorry about what she did…

Setsuko’s character development in this chapter was really great! She admitted that she was jealous, so00 cute! I’m glad all those of you who thought Setsuko was ‘cold’ and ‘indifferent’ towards Yukino are completely wrong. So there.

Love of Siam

On my brother’s recommendation, I caught this movie a few days ago. Love of Siam is a multi-faceted look at love in Thailand, running the gamut from friendship to romantic and familial love. The Siam in the name originates from Siam Square, a popular shopping area where many of the important events in the movie play out.

Aoi Hana Ep 3 青い花

Left to explore Fujigaya by herself, Fumi is amazed by the beauty and the facilities of the Fujigaya school grounds. Here, she inadvertently comes upon Kyouko, who is coming out of the drama club’s club room.

Aoi Hana Ep 2 青い花

Fumi still hasn’t gotten over Chizu, so Akira reprises her role of being Fumi’s ‘protector’, comforting her when she cries and bringing her out when she’s feeling down. But despite suggestive pics like these:

Aoi Hana Ep 1 青い花

I finally got around to watching Aoi Hana today! And now I regret taking so long to get to it, because just about everything in this episode is great!

Manga no Tsukurikata v1 まんがの作り方

Kawaguchi Asuka published her first manga when she was just 13. Six years later, she wants to make her second debut but has no idea what to draw. “When in doubt, just follow the crowd!” Recognizing the current popularity of BL and yuri, Kawaguchi takes this adage to heart and decides to jump on the girls’ love bandwagon. Meanwhile, her junior Morishita who clearly has a crush on her, asks her out. Thinking that actually dating another girl will provide good fodder for her manga, Kawaguchi agrees…

Sasameki Koto ささめきこと

Sasameki Koto is definitely a series to look out for, not least because a TV anime adaptation is currently in production. But apart from the prospect of eventually seeing the manga characters animated in full colour, Sasameki Koto also has many other attributes that make it well worth reading.

The Swedish Residence Permit

I promised someone I’d set up a blog to chronicle my experiences of going to Sweden on exchange, so I thought this would be a good place to start, seeing as I just got my residence permit approved.

The first and most important thing is to apply for the permit early. According to the Swedish Embassy of Singapore, you should hand in your application 6 to 8 weeks before your departure in order to be sure of obtaining your permit in time. In reality mine took only slightly less than a month, but you’ll probably want to do it ASAP just in case your application gets rejected and you need to re-apply.

Octave v1-2 オクターヴ

If you’re a yuri fan who hasn’t heard of Octave, which rock have you been hiding under these past few months?! Apart from Morinaga Milk’s Girl Friends, Octave is arguably the yuri manga with the highest visibility and fanbase currently, winning platitudes for its maturity and realism. True enough, there are no blushing confessions of love here, nor the theatrical angst found in tamer tales.

Instead, Octave focuses on thornier issues like sexual identity, jealousy, low self-esteem and coming out of the closet.

Gokujou Drops v1 極上ドロップス

Maezono Komari is so desperate to live on her own, she resorts to visiting the Paraiso Yakata – a girls’ dorm famous for housing the most elite students in school – when she finds out there are no rooms available anywhere else. Just as she gets rejected, clumsy Komari slips, falls and promptly passes out. When she awakes, she comes face-to-face with Himemiya Yukio, who agrees to let Komari stay in her room… on the condition that Komari be her servant!