THAT Animeblog

Hi all random THAT anime blog readers,

My nick is Impz and I currently reside in a place known as the abyss of bloggers. You know, the place where retired bloggers think about how cool they used to be and brag about their former glories. Obviously, I cannot even say that I have ever been popular, what with no one possibly remembering me. Self-pity is probably my greatest trait right now, so bite me. I want my random attention from random online people! With that out of the way, I can proudly announce the arrival of the newest afk blogger in THAT Anime Blog.

Nonsense aside, it has been a long while since I step into this blog. It’s really strange how I suddenly decided to pick up my keyboard, and decided to type some random things on this space. I thought I have gone past the hill and over the mountain when it comes to doing any form of blogging. A few days ago, Crusader messaged me and said that I have not blogged for three anime seasons. It suddenly dawned on me that it really has been a while since I last dealt with anything anime-ish. That is, if you exclude the obsessive reading of Skip Beat (DARN YOU, DICKTARO!) AND the rampant kyaa-ing for Kaichou wa Maid-sama manga. I also finally transited from a lazy student to a working adult in the Ministry of Education. It’s definitely a huge change. You will never appreciate weekends that much until you start on your first real job.

Anyway, fast forward 9 months to the present (I love totally terrible attempts at Segue). This season came with a bag of surprises. Kimi ni Todoke was hilarious, with Sawako an extremely adorable lead. I mean, who doesn’t like leads that are adorable without trying so hard to be the cute-kawaii anime girl? I am sick of anime girls who are pandering to anime fans simply through extreme crazy forms of cuteness. In addition, it has been a while since side characters become side characters instead of decorations. Come on, you have to admit that most side characters in shoujo series are like generic stereotypes that can be easily substituted with a dog… or a cheesecake. In addition, how can a shoujo fanboy find shoujo fare boring?

Yumeiro Patissiere is another shoujo, albeit more of a food series. It is hardly a form of artistic excellence by any measure; in fact you can even consider it rather childish. The main lead, Ichigo, is a very standard shoujo female lead. When I mean standard, I mean stupid, clumsy and generally a typical damsel in distress that needs her food knights to save her from getting fat screwing up all her baking and cooking. Yet, I find myself enjoying the silly childish antics. I might eventually grow to dislike the show, but currently I am lapping it all up.

Amusingly, I also found myself enjoying Kobato. Perhaps it is the light-hearted approach of the show. Perhaps, Kobato has that innocence that manages to penetrate this old cynical man. I cannot even accurately pinpoint what is right about the show. Is it the beautiful lush animation? Is it the fact that I enjoy Clamp works (I disliked Tsubasa Chronicles though)? I do not know, maybe you have an answer?

If you ask me if I will actually start blogging (or if anyone still cares to hear what I like to say), I don’t know. Still, it’s good to be back. If only for one post. That’s what all semi-retired unpopular bloggers like to say when they make a comeback, don’t they?

p/s: I also succumbed to the greatest sin of all anime bloggers: Watching Bleach with my girlfriend and actually liking it. It’s depressing, I know.

Chapter 4 is finally done after a pretty busy week for me. It’s a background story about Vito and his wife that is mentioned in Episode 3 (at least I think it is). It’s quite nice to be honest, and there are some interesting themes for such a short chapter. Anyway, you can read it for yourself.

Cheers! As usual, this is based on the Chinese scans.

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The usual statement

If you want to share this around, go ahead. Just make sure you give credit where it’s due, and do link to THAT anime blog. In addition, I am not sure how fast I will translate the manga. I am going to take my time with this, but you should see a chapter every week or so. If you wish to make more mirrors, please go ahead and post a comment. Cheers! I will try to remember to update the post, or any admin can do that ^^.

I must admit that my knowledge of Cao Cao before the Romance of the Three Kingdoms era is very low (which means the later period of Eastern Han and its fall). I would probably need some help from nice readers to enlighten me on some issues that I will be discussing here. Obviously, rather than talking about the story, I prefer to highlight how the anime portrays and shapes the Cao Cao in a light that is largely different compared to the stereotypical vicious villain in most drama/anime series. Also, for those who are interested in historical anime, this is a series that you should watch EVEN IF you do not know much about that time period.

Anyway, Episode 3 spoke of Cao Cao’s posting as the captain of the North gate in the city of Luoyang. For those who do not know about Luoyang, Luoyang is considered to be one of the ancient centers for China civilization. In other words, it is the capital where the emperor stays. Cao Cao is still trying his best despite his tender age (he is twenty at this period of his life) to change the corrupt government. What is the next move for this young Cao Cao who would one day be a legend of China history?

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Chapter 3 took much longer because there is a lot of dialogue compared to the first 2 chapters. It’s a very interesting chapter to say the very least. I urge you to read it. Oh, and I decided to be shameless and make a credit page for myself. Don’t kill me for it!

Cheers! As usual, this is based on the Chinese scans.

Megaupload: Click here
Sendspace: Click here
Badango: Click here
Zshare: Click here
Filefactory: Click here
Uploaded.to: Click here

The usual statement

If you want to share this around, go ahead. Just make sure you give credit where it’s due, and do link to THAT anime blog. In addition, I am not sure how fast I will translate the manga. I am going to take my time with this, but you should see a chapter every week or so.

The question in my mind: Why is a show about old men, food and some romance so darn good?

There are some shows out there that are great, and you know why they are great. FLCL is great because it has an insane level of energy and craziness that makes your heart pounding for more. On the other hand, Simoun is wonderful because it has a very intrinsic plot that never becomes predictable and the character development is intense. Saiunkoku Monogatari’s strong and interesting plot twists are perhaps the series’ biggest strength, and makes me want to watch it.

Now, here comes a very different series, Ristorante Paradiso. I am not going to say that this series will ever reach the giddy heights of those great anime. However, from the first three episodes, it has managed to evoke a feeling that only Aria could do to me: that tranquil feeling that calms you down. That says something about this anime.

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Well, it seems for some reason that Modicus causes a total 500 internal server error when we try to revert to it, so you have an old-school styled theme, aka fspring, (when we first started) for the blog. Obviously, it might not be as awesome as our last theme, but I am quite sure that this intermittent blog theme will please everyone before we work on the current theme to make it look awesome.

Of course, we might take into a certain blogger’s suggestion for a new blog theme, but for now, we will work with the tons of constructive criticism for our “new” theme. Thanks! Now, I will get back to doing the translation for Gente 3 because my girlfriend is annoying me about more Gente chapters!

You can probably tell that we have made a major change from our previous blog template. So, the most important for us right now is to get your feedback, because we always want to see if there are any plausible changes we can make to improve your blog reading experience. We do have to admit that we might not be able to incorporate everything that you mention, but we try our best to see if it makes sense!

Anyway, give your feedback please!

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