Chasing After Rainbows

It's New Year's eve. There's simply too many things to do. The review of 2009 anime I mentioned about in the previous post (or was it a tweet?) is incomplete and it has not progressed between the time I started writing this post (31 Dec) and since I started on Sunday (27 Dec). I don't have the " must complete this by the midnight of New Year's day " urgency, but I don't want it to be done as late as February either. I know it's late, but I'm very busy with more important things (like work) at the moment. So busy that I can't even go online (My tweets come from mobile phone, as tagged by " from txt " on them), which is why you have seen me drop a lot of anime or did not pick up. I've seen the trailers for the Winter 2010 anime. Although not much, it's enough to immediately spot anime that I would like. One of them is Durarara (top image), replacing Darker than Black: Comet of Gemini 's timeslot. (The scene where a ...

There's been a lot of things happening to me these days that's hard for me to manage without sacrificing one for an another. Yes, what I mentioned back in April still applies now. Anime Lists I'm aware that some 12-episode Autumn 2009 like 乃木坂春香の秘密 ぴゅあれっつぁ♪ ( Haruka Nogizaka's Secret: Pleasure ), 空中ブランコ ( Sky Jump ), and DARKER THAN BLACK -流星の双子 ( Darker than Black: Gemini of the Meteor ) has ended recently. Due to my lack of time mentioned earlier, I've completely committed anime whose storyline goes around nowhere or awfully slow. I would like to write a review of the 2009 anime (including 24-episode Autumn 2008 anime) quite soon. Hate to say this, but I've only watched a small fraction to know what the anime is about and even fewer that I didn't drop mid-way. There are odd cases where I like an anime I dropped earlier (Spring 2006 broadcast of Haruhi ) and dropped more than once and/or after the entire series/season has ended ( Setokai no Ichizon, White...

2005年私立○○小学校4年英語作文学期末試験 名前（漢字）: 宮沢泉美 名前（ひらがな）： みやざわ　いづみ 表記（日本語）： 私の冬休み My older sister has been unusually happy in recent days with that guy I saw at her birthday party. She's 16 and I'm only 10, but my youngest sister is only 4. A 12 year gap between the youngest and the oldest. I'm in between my two brothers by 2 years. When at home after school, I would play around with Kuniko and my brothers with toys shouting and screaming around. If they were to bully me and mom and dad are not around, Kotomi-oneechan would protect me from them because she is big and is like my third parent. Her room seems to be locked most of the time and she does not want to play with us. It's the only room in the entire house we don't get to play in. It cold outside, so everyone doesn't feel like heading out. I like to go into the kotatsu while watching TV and eating some snacks at the same time with my younger brother. My older brother is preparing for middle school, so I...

I have been working at the current workplace long enough to know their names, their habits, and the things they do at work that they wouldn't want others to know, especially the boss. I wasn't expecting something unpredictable to happen when I asked Itsuki and Saeko to help clear the things in my late cousin's bedroom I'm currently staying at when i started to work: not only did those two remote the unwanted stuff quickly, they even designed the entire house (except the rooms Nanami and my great-grandmother sleep in) to look as though a professional interior designer had done it. Also, Nanami and Saeko told me individually that they had met each other when my cousin came home early when the cleaning up was going no. Saeko admitted that she was the upperclassman at the computer club room as the club's president when Nanami went there to meet up with a club member, who is in the same year as Saeko, last year. Nanami saw through her change of uniform and hairstyle, a...

At the end of the day though, I seemed to be one of the first few to leave as no matter how late it ended. The club president and my seniors who are in the same year as him, seem to have some kind of meeting right after I left. I tried to listen what they were discussing about, but they would somehow know that I'm trying to listen in no matter how discreet and well hidden I am that they would refuse to start unless I am very far away from them. They even know my various means to try to watch their meeting. Their excuse while chasing me away? " Hisakawa-san has fans that follows her around. Those people following her intrude on the club's peace and privacy if she were to be around! " I don't mind them going away, but why me instead? Either way, my seniors seem to have a liking of me and made me the "guaranteed" club president from my second year onwards. What was their criteria for picking me over everyone else? This however, was only known among my senio...

Person A: "We have only heard of your name as our founder and that you are at the Hatsuya Institute most of the time. That's all we know of you. No one here, including our employer and direct superiors, has seen you before. That particular design of your pass is only carried by important people in the company." Is he serious? Me: "How do you even know if I am the person you think I am? There aren't any photos of me in your company history, and you guys have never seen me before." Person A: "Around the first time I saw you coming here, I saw lights and a silhouette of you against the window of the landlord's office facing the outside. That room is usually dark, and access to that room is only allowed with a thumbprint that nobody here has. On top of that, the pass is impossible to counterfeit despite how simple the pass looks. Yours is the real deal with a picture of you in it." I should have turned off the lights. Then again, I don...

Time seem to fly by rather quickly for me lately. 2006 seemed not too long ago, "Clannad: After" seemed recent, " K-On! ep1 " seemed like yesterday. I still can recall what I did in primary school and what places looked like back then. I mean, looking back, time seem to pass by very quickly. I thought we are still in November 2008 . Well, the lack of significant events and doing things that pass time does make it seem fast. Last night, I had the intent to head to bed at 11pm, but did not actually do so until 3am, a full 4 hours later. I did take a nap of some hours earlier though. I'm doing so many things, I'm loosing track of what I'm doing. I may revert back to the previous version for the anime watchlist (without episode titles) since finding the titles itself is time consuming. My room is noticeably messy, no appetite to eat... Speaking of not doing much, I did do some vectoring, but they aren't complete. On the left (v0079) is something you migh...

It wasn't that far from the hospital to my former house by car. The house still remained at its run-down state. I never talked about my parents because they have been away for so long and regularly that I don't really know them other than me looking like the both of them. Itsuki: "Mom? Dad? I've brought someone with me." A couple whose faces resembles some of me appeared. Yes, they are my parents, but, strangely, I still don't know their names after all these years since I only called them mom or dad. Other people would call them Hisakawa's wife/husband or just Hisakawa-san. Mom: "Oh? A guest? Is she your girlfriend? I thought you already have another of the same age." She was talking about Kotomi. It seems that Itsuki has brought her here with my parents around before. As for dad, he looked as though there's something about me. Dad: "But she does look a lot like you..." Itsuki: "You see, this girl was me right ...

Now that I'm back from my university graduation trip, I have called Itsuki over to pick me up in that large car the last he picked me up. This time, I have carried all my stuff from the dormitory, the things I had bought and received since my first year there, and some souvenir for my friends and family in several luggage. It was a struggle just bringing it to the check-in counter from my friend's car back in California, and again from the luggage collection point here. So, taking the long train ride with all of these by myself is out of the question, and my family does not have a car. My uncle is obviously too busy with his work. When I called him to pick me up before I boarded my plane, Itsuki sounded rather reluctant to do it. He did, however, tell me to wait at the back end (following the flow of traffic there) of the airport's pick-up point. His car should already be there, or less than an hour, after my plane landed. I headed to the specified pick-up point. I do s...

Barely an hour ago, I replied to someone about Win7 RC being still usable until mid-2010 who commented on a screenshot I put up earlier when not too long later, there are some odd replies highlighted in red. Spambots obviously, they're worse than followbots. (I know TwitterFox is now called echofon , but that screenshot was taken in Firefox 3.0.15 for Ubuntu 9.04. I hardly use it (or Win7 RC) lately. I sometimes log into Ubuntu to do my vectors as it detects the scroll feature at the side of the trackpad that mysteriously stopped working when I applied SP1 on the primary OS (Vista).)

We arrived at Hatsuya General Hospital (筏谷総合病院), where Kotomi was working at and headed to the director's office. It was easier to get to from the basement parking lot than to the main entrance. I have been here before: I was brought here after the hit-and-run incident, and one of my classmates at the Miharu Academy was hospitalized here between February and May 2005 in the other dimension due to a coma. I don't know what she was like before she was hospitalized, but I was told that she is my childhood friend and between the time she was discharged and shortly before the summer holidays began, her behaviour has been odd as she doesn't seem to know who she is, let alone know other people. She still knows all the subjects that were being taught, except National History. Before I knocked on the door, I heard the director's voice from inside indicating us to enter. How did he know that I'm right outside? Director: "Those guys at the Gunma branch told me all ab...

I don't know what have I been doing lately that is making me sleepy and tired. I haven't been doing anything mentally or physically stressful to the point that I can't really think. Even if I could, I would be too sleepy by then and forgotten all about it by the time I woke up. Haven't been posting much lately too. For the anime reviews, Railgun 6 is posted right after Railgun 5 . As at the time of typing, Railgun 8 should be airing in a few hours, but I haven't even started Railgun 7. I've lost track of what anime episode I had watched that I don't know how far behind it is, on top of anime like Kobato having some long break between episode 4 & 5. (Above image is from Sasamaki Koto ep7) I know IE9 is being officially planned, Google releasing some official info about the Chrome OS, Microsoft bans hundreds of thousands of modded Xbox 360s, Danny Choo now up to something , YouTube planning to release 1080p videos, and it's just too many things ...

The day of the festival has arrived. I've brought my siblings along just to see what they could do there, or at least have fun there. To tell you the truth, I hardly know anything about them despite living in the same house and having the same set of parents. I wonder what do they see me as? Thinking back, the weird school principal who called me back on my birthday last year seem to be telling the truth. I didn't believe him back then as the time-traveling part seemed too hard to believe. However, he also added that there is some hidden truth about myself that I should know nothing of, but will soon find out anyway. What does he mean by that? I don't find anything odd about myself... As I was heading about with my duties as the organizing committee and as a student council member, I decided to drop by the computer lab. Sure enough, I heard my siblings' voices. Izumi: "You mean that it will happen?"

A little info about Takuya's background: he is older than Nanami by two years. In his first year, he was in the art club as a natural choice since he was in one during his middle school days. He paints beautiful paintings, some with the aid of his seniors. However, since the club did not meet the minimum amount of members after the seniors graduated, the art club had to be disbanded. As a replacement for his 2nd and 3rd year, he joined the computer club as he sees programming in one of their activities as an art too by knowing how things would turn out, and how a small mistake can affect the whole thing. There was also a popular female student who is in the same year. She was kind, patient, beautiful and smart. She was so smart, she seemed as though she should have been in a prestigious school, like the Mihara Academy in a neighboring prefecture (it's well known across the country) or a university instead. She is also keeps her cool down in situations where people would nor...

I know I had went back to Japan just to attend a funeral of a family of relatives, but Mamiko showing up to pick me up from the airport was really unexpected. The shocker is that she revealed that her mind is the original Itsuki from before the dimensional change. The current Itsuki is what would have happened if that event never took place, but he recognizes Mamiko as the original owner who was forced out. What I'm puzzled about the most is the place where had she kept the luggage I had brought along back then. I left them with Mamiko, but I don't see her carrying it and it mysteriously reappeared when I needed something from it. Also, where did she acquire such huge amounts of money she gave to Nanami (the only living family member mentioned earlier)? That is an amount that only my uncle, Kenjiro, would be able to earn at his current job (without including expenses for family and taxes) in a few short months. I hope she didn't rob a bank or something. I'll ask her...

I recently bought the manga, I don't mind the chronological order being mixed up, but switching characters is very glaringly obvious. Especially episode 6. Some unknown judgment girl has been switched with Komari during the searching scene. They are also searching at a bridge instead of a tree. I can understand a tree, but why a bridge?

Just after New Year's day in January 2007, I received some odd news from my company. I don't know if it's a good or bad news, but here it goes: It was found out that Kotomi I had known had returned to the original dimension since after the school festival in 2005. Although I am actually 17 and a half years old, my body never grew a day older since around that summer holiday . That means my body says that I'm still 16. What? Because of point 2, I can still learn and absorb new things better than my peers who are born in the same year as me in the latter years. That means that I would still appear, behave, and learn like a 16-year old even though I might actually be 70. Which also means, mentally, I can't be as mature as an adult. Ugh. I am highly likely to repeat high school for the rest of my endless life (I can't die even if a Hydrogen Bomb were to explode in front of me) The dimensional viewer range limit is now at infinite from the 1-hour range and, if...

I haven't been seeing much of Kotomi for almost a year. I went to her house most of the time and none of he family members know where she went to. Her mobile phone has not been contactable too. I wonder what is going on in her mind? I'm worried. Oh, and when I talked to her mother, she appears to be hiding something from me when I asked, but she really doesn't know where she went. Wonder if it's something to do with what she mentioned some time ago about her having a secret that she herself doesn't know about. What is it then? But then again, some secrets are best not to know about. Still, I don't know anyone else that I could get along with. The college entrance exams are approaching, Everyone is studying for it, with the criteria ranging from entering one of the best schools, to just being in the same university as their friends. Although people have high expectations of Kotomi and actually has a scholarship into one of the popular universities in America, w...

I know I haven't been vectoring much for almost half a year now due to me having the lack of time to do them. Some of them include: My job (it's a mental torture out there) Typing my stories here and an organized (not necessarily corrected) version of it at Wordpress Some updates here and there Twitter ing (though mostly when I'm out) Some game at Facebook Accumulated unwatched anime because of no. 1 Organizing (and playing) music and video files Traveling, because of no.1 and where idiots colleagues, friends, and family drag me to ニホンゴノウリョクシケン (no really) Eating and sleeping. Although I eat at the computer or while doing other things, I don't know why I my body needs 9 hours of (uninterrupted) sleep even though I'm almost an adult. And that feeling from the lack of sleep (or continuing on when my body wants to sleep) is a torture. not in the mood too freaking complicated and might give up mid-way Finding a suitable theme for no.2. I like the current one with...

Well, this thing would be useful if I could check further back/towards the past/future than one hour from the present time, like 10 years. Even so, there's nothing I can do currently to help Kotomi with her situation, as though it will happen the exact same way regardless of what she tries to do to prevent it. Kotomi is too depressed to talk to anyone right now. She did try to tell her family about it, but they think that she's just having a nightmare or something. I was playing with this thing on my way home to spot anything interesting. So far: nothing, except that I would be in an area of the house I rarely go to within an hour. You can say that my house is huge, but I have only been to the area around the entrance, which forms a small percentage of the total area and have never explored the rest since acquiring it. Hold on... does that mean that I will be doing the exact same thing later? If i were to be thinking of doing something else, will that future change? Lik...

Those drinks... they look familiar... where have I seen them before? Let's have a closer look at the drink. Curry Soup? Soup of the bear? Well, I don't remember the name, but I know it had that design. Ah! It's one of the drinks that came out that had earlier swallowed Touma's 2000 yen note in Index . The covers appear to be based on actual magazines, but let's focus on the bottom of where Mikoto is standing at. Wait?! "Denki Daioh" with the cover of Shana??? About the Shakugan no Shana S OVA that just came out this month??? Speaking of Shana, this scene in the same episode reminds me of the Shana Anime when the Fuzetsu is activated. These two images are of the same place, with the 1st image being chronologically later than the 2nd. However, there is no closet in the first image. (Note: Kuruko is on Mikoto's bed) Let's zoom in at the study desk behind Kuruko's bed. Railgun makes the place look smaller than Index . The fridge is still there bu...

Mamiko seem to know what I was thinking about and pointed at her hips. Huh? What is that supposed to mean? This car is an MPV and not a sedan, so I can see the load by just looking behind the back seat, but there's nothing there. And where on earth are the wires connected to the notebook PC on Mamiko's lap connected to? Certainly not the cigar lighter receptacle I see over there.

When was my last non-story/anime post here? 2 weeks ago. There are so many things that I have been wanting to do, but didn't. Singing, playing the orchestra, meet up with friends, traveling to far-away places, etc., are to name a few. My parents are mostly absent during my growing-up years, so I don't know things well or in a one-sided view and therefore mature quite slowly compared to my peers. In fact, I never bought things on a regular basis by myself, but through my parents (and their money), until just 3-4 years ago. Quite embarrassing to say considering my age now. In addition to the missed opportunities mentioned above, they are also those caused by an another person: directly or indirectly. Whatever those missed opportunities are, I will never know, as it didn't happen on top of the many possibilities that can/could have happen. I was not mature enough to know cause and effect of things as they are not mention in the description directly and not know how to tell. Wh...

It looks like I'm back in the original dimension I belonged to: Hisakawa-san has turned back (sort of) into a guy and that clone following around like a servant, invading our privacy, is gone too. Seeing that my colleagues, including Itsuki, recalled things differently, it seems as though the nightmare I had been through is over. Shin'ichi doesn't recall that earthquake-like feeling everyone there had been through. This means one thing: they are still stuck at that dimention and the ones here are like on auto-pilot, unless they never changed dimensions. But still, will I die this December?

(continued from part 18 ) (Related: Alternate Dimension Part 31 ) After reaching the place and dealing with that weird man in charge of the place, I examine closely at Mamiko: she doesn't have a belly button (huh?) and is wearing a black competition swimsuit that doesn't seem removable or be able to cut open, as though it's now part of her body. She says that she has been wearing it since my siblings went overseas during the summer vacation (WHAT? That long ago?) and somehow still appear brand new despite not bathing at all. How's that possible? It's glued to her body (wouldn't that be uncomfortable?), been wearing it for weeks, running around in the summer weather with clothes on top of it, not taking a bath, and is still oddly free from sweat, dirt and odor as though she goes through thorough cleaning everyday. (She also added that she has not eaten, drank, or had been to a toilet in that same duration too. How is that possible and still appear energetic...

Related: Summer/Spring review , Spring 2009 preview , Spring 2009 Review Forgive me for having this out quite late. (Kämpfer ep2 would be airing in a few hours.) Let's just get it started as this is a continuation of the previous Spring/Summer anime review post. ( Note: Screenshots may not feature the main character or suggestive scenes in the anime.) "This library is the best place to fight" Kämpfer けんぷファー Rating: Medium-High Description: Senou Natsuru is your normal, everyday high school student. However he´s been chosen to be a Kampfer, who´s objective consists on fighting other Kampfer with either guns, swords or magic, however, there´s catch; first you can´t chose if you´re a Kampfer or not, and second, you must have the body of a girl to use your powers. Comments: Haven't seen a Male-to-Female transformation for quite a long time. When was the last one? Simoun ? Kashimashi ? Ether way, it was a long time ago.

Kotomi seem to know how the device I made better than I know it myself. How is that possible? Well, she was forced into this dimension and know she was about to die by something she can't control... I feel sad for her. It's like no matter what different things she tries to do, the end result is the same. At work, I'm working with a branch at Gunma prefecture to further develop the device. I do the programming and a bit of research, while they do the testing and further research. The reason my supervisor gave me was that I'm "too valuable" and that the bad guys do not have a presence outside my city. "Too valuable"? What does he mean by that? Either way, it has already caused a lot of trouble for the rest of my life than anyone has even been through and not want to go through it again. I hardly get a hold or hear of the device lately. It belonged to the company in the first place to begin with. Around the end of November, the people contacted me a...

Related Links: Winter 2009 review , Spring 2009 preview Hmm... I forgot what I had watched since I didn't write a review for Spring or preview for Summer despite Autumn just started. Where did I put it.... Oh here it is. I would like to put images from the episodes, but I don't have them. Umineko is the only exception among the dropped anime with screenshot since I just dropped it at the time of typing. Oh, I did hear that anime that I had highlighted in bold is quite good, including those that I did not watch. Anime I didn't watch at all Well these were anime that were stated to air for both Spring and Summer seasons, but didn't watch them mainly due to lack of interest.

When the time comes to heading to sleep around midnight (午前0時/12am) there's thers's the feeling of fear when the thought of sleeping itself gives me the fear evem though I know I should take a rest and wake up early the followimg morning. It's also one of the reasons why I stay up quite late. Despite this, my body is forcing me to sleep even though I don't want to.. It's like during a long ride in the train or car (as a passenger) where if a person were to be looking at me, I would appear to be sleeping and letting the motion of the vehicle move me around (and maybe having my head on the person next to me from time to time) aimlessly. Since I might be mentally awake, I can actually hear and remember clearly what people around me are saying. Makes me feel odd when they say that I'm sleeping but had trouble moving myself. If I'm lucky, I would be able to say what I want to, but in a sleeping tone, giving the impression that I'm sleep-talking. There are al...

I'm cleaning up my bedroom as I'm typing this. There are so many things in my room filling up every corner and even more scattered all over the house. Since I could somehow find something to do, the time when I would actually have absolutely nothing to do seems hard to come by. I could also be distracted or very busy when the mood does actually comes. This mood also seems to come when it's time to sleep, so I'm stuck between heading to bed or do some cleaning. I would normally go ahead with the former option, so there's very little cleaning done. Hate to admit it but I do eat and drink in my bedroom. Not only snacks, but also lunch and dinner from time to time with all that stomach-full amount of food. It's a wonder why I have yet to see any flies or ants around at all. I do throw food wrappers and drink cans/cartons/bottles away, but this somehow does not apply to wrappers of the things I bought and stuff that I know are of no use with signs of the passage of t...

Nanami did not feel that her grandmother's presence intruding, but rather comforting: she is her late mother's mother after all. There are, however, things that Nanami explain to, or rely on. As for her childhood friends, Yuichi and Misae, she doesn't remember how she had met them, but it seem to have happened either during or before primary school as she recalls doing activities she can't do now. She would have treated them differently if she had only first met them at the start of high school. "Senpai! I haven't seen you in a while. What are you doing here?", Nanami said out in surprise.

( cross-posted from the anime blog ) There was the original Summer 2006 14-episode and the renewed Spring 2009 28-episode of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱), along with The Melancholy of Haruhi-chan Suzumiya (涼宮ハルヒちゃんの憂鬱) on YouTube shortly before the 2009 renewal. At the time the renewal was announced, people thought that it was a repeat broadcast. However, people noted that it was aired in chronological order with some networks airing The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina Episode 00 (朝比奈ミクルの冒険 Episode00) or The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 1 (涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱I) first, along with extended scenes from the DVD. Even then, people still ignored it. It wasn't until 8 episodes later when Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody (笹の葉ラプソディ), a new episode with a new ending theme (there was no OP in that episode), that people started to pay close attention to it. (People were expecting, The Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya (涼宮ハルヒの消失). I have earlier put up a table timeline based on the novel...

(Note: This is not a scheduled post.) If you have read several of my stories I have written and published on this blog, you might have noticed that the timeline have overlapped each other at some point or even different versions of the same period of time. (Eg." Why is it in story 4 that Kotomi still alive when, in story 2, she had died earlier? ") I have made a visual representation of when stuff happens. (click to enlarge) Some points that I can't mention in the stories directly: Kotomi Miyazawa and Nanami Fujibayashi are cousins. Nanami may be younger than Kotomi, but she is of the same generation as Kotomi's parents. I've completely forgotten about the doll mentioned in the 1st story. Describing from Saeko and Mamiko point of view (POV) in alternate parts is confusing. I have quietly stuck to Mamiko's POV in recent parts. Story 4 is the hardest to write as it takes place in a different place & time and nothing in common with the earlier ...

(written on 29 August 2009) I'm now back. You can ignore most of what was said on the previous (424th) post. I posted that because I don't know how it will turn out since I've never experienced it before and expected the worse. It wasn't easy, but I managed to survive it.

(written on 23 August 2009) I don't know if I will be around by the time you are reading this. I seem to be having a lot of deja vu lately and none involve my adult life as though something wrong will happen to me quite soon. Like I would meet an unforeseeable danger. If you had seen "Alternate Dimension (Part 31)" appearing on 10 Sep 2009 that is completed or another post dated after this (follow the earlier date if there's more than one), that means I'm still around and might have forgotten about this post: I don't check back on old posts, but I would be informed if someone leaves a comment. I would also plan to draw a diagram of the different dimensions for all of the stories I had typed here in the near future since it's getting confusing. (Hint: 2nd, 3rd and 4th stories are on completely different dimensions, but started at the same dimension. The 1st is on the same dimension as the latter part of the 2nd story. Storyline of 4th is a lot later on than...

Kotomi brought me to my workplace to do something with my cloned body to do some modifications to it. Why my workplace? Well, she is the niece of the director, but does she know that I'm stuck in it and can't return to my original body? Well, sure she could tell us apart without saying anything, but she seem to ignore me (Mamiko) and paid more attention to the other (Saeko). Her reaction and recent behaviour tells me that she wants to turn me back into a guy, but I prefer the way I am now: as a girl. I'm sorry, I would like to be your partner and be with me forever, but the both of us now being of the same gender means that we could only remain as best friends. Knowing her, I don't think she would like it if I had said that to her. Kotomi: "We're here." Seemed to be wanting to say that with excitement, but her tone of voice says otherwise. My supervisor saw the three of us as we approached. Supervisor: "Oh! Miyazawa-ojousama! What are you do...