Girls of The Wild

              I rarely talk about mangas but this one is really one of a kind. first of all, it's a manhwa and i've never really liked a manhwa before. It just gives off a different feeling from the standard manga. What got me interested in this manga is the cover, it looked attractive and since it's a harem, i'll just give it a try. Just so you know, there were only a few chapters when i first read this manga.

               My first impression was, a mixed feeling, the art is just too good, just because of the fact that it's fully coloured and because of this, i was expecting the plot to be bad or something. It's really depressing actually, the story that is. It's just so full of drama. first of all, the main character, Song Jae Gu is just so pitiful. his father died, his mother left him and his 2 other younger siblings so he has to work to support them, to make it worse, he's constantly being bullied and stuff. He enters an all girl's school and meets several girls. Queen, and 2 other girls who are extremely strong. I guess thats it, i won't go into the details but, up to chapter 50, the summary is like this, he enters a martial arts tournament,  gets motivated, trains real hard with the help of the girls, fights the bullies.

                I think this manga is really slow,already 50 chapters, but i think if they turn this into an anime, it could be as short as 6 episodes, but....yes BUT, it's really worth the read. Whats good about this manhwa is that at the end of each chapter, you will feel so tense with the story and would want to know what's going to happen next. you see, he's really really pitiful, at one point, he's lost it with the bullies, he tried to hit them with the fire extinguisher and you would think that he'd hit them, but no, he fails and gets beaten instead.

                 The characters, for now are still well balanced, i especially like the redhead bully. he's the most douchebag character ever. he doesn't give up making Jae gu's life miserable which is already freaking miserable to begin with. He even gave Jae Gu's siblings food poisoning. he really needs to get a life.

                 Conclusion, Girls of  The Wild is more of a martial arts rather than a harem but i can see that this is just the beginning and i don't know what to expect in the coming chapters. It gives off a depressing mood actually so i don't recommend this to those who likes comedy and hates depression because the title of this manwha would confuse you to think that it's your typical highschool romance genre. I'm still following the chapters without fail every week and I hope that it can amaze me with interesting plots and dialogue like it did in the beginning.

my rating: (8.5/10)
               

CLICHEs #1, Childhood Friend

Man, college is just so much different from high school, I've changed a lot really. i'll get to that later but for now, i'm so bored and i miss animes so much, i'll write about the cliche in manga/animes

#1,          If you are a a fan of harem/romance genre, one of the most obvious cliche is childhood friend, i'd say, almost 20~40% of harem have them. I don't really mind childhood friends, in fact, i usully support them over the other girls, because i think that they've liked the main protagonist longer than the others.

                the thing i'm getting sick of is their entrance, one of the most cliche things is, you see a part of their face in the beginning, like a teaser, then, they would usually appear during the start of the class as a transfer student, im getting sick of this.

                the childhhod friend would usually be a babe, most guys then ask questions and stuff, then she would say she's living with the protagonist/ his childhood friend and the boys get jealous. after that, there will be a bath scene where the protagonist unintentionally walks into the bathroom and sees the girl naked. hmm..... who would be careless enough to not lock the doors when using a bathroom in another person's house? -.-

                One of the anime with both girls who are fighting for the main character is Futakoi, very low profile anime that not many people know about, but for me, it has that classic feel to it. Not epic, but good enough for me to watch twice, story about a boy, who came back to his old home where he made a promise with a twin. and there's some other twin as well. give it a try~
               

             

Maple Story(SEA)- Then and Now

           
                  Maple Story is one of the first sidescroller mmorpg to hit the net. I remembered seeing the advertisements in my local booksotre when Maple Sea launched. i was still 9 at that time and didn't really use the computer that much. It was at the age of 13, a friend of mine asked me to play Maple Story.

                   Few months after that, i downloaded the game, simply because i didn't have anything to do except for drawing, this was during the age before I got addicted to animes and manga. With my slow internet speed, I managed to download the game in around 6 hours. Registered Asiasoft, maple, and i'm all set, it's time to play my first online game.

                    My first impression of Maple Story is just what I expecdted, a simple 2d side scroller with 5 main jobs that has 2 choice of job advancement each. the game was very simple, and at the beginning, levelling up was really easy, you coud get to level 10 in about 1 hour. and after that you're done with the first island(Maple Island) and move on to the next(Victoria Island), except that is, if you want to become a magician, you can go to victoria island at level 8. after the first job advancement, you get your 1st job skills which are quite lame since you have to stick with it for another 20 levels. some jobs will use this 1st job skill up to lvl 70, but with upgrades.
 
                     My first character got to level 30 in 4 days. 10~25, Quests. 26~30, Kerning PQ(friend thought me how to do a Pq, just type 'I want PQ' at Kerning PQ entrance. I was a thief, so i had to choose between a bandit and an assasin for my job advancement, asked my friend's oppinion, chose assasin.  2nd job, Yay!, but still, use the same skill but, with an upgrade, which is, a critical rate.

                     31~50, took around 3 weeks, with school and stuff. Did mostly Monster Carnival and Ludibrium PQ. afetr lvl 50, lvling got slow. and I wasn't funded so, getting good equipments were hard. did Orbis PQ till level 53, which then i realized my damage was really low compared to even the everage assasin. So, i quit.

                     It took me approximately 1 year to begin mapling again, this time, i became a bandit, the other option of job advancement for a thief, since shadowers have really cool skills, but dam was that a mistake, since bandits, are were the hardest job to train, got to lvl 67, and quit. couldn't stand being a bandit.
So, it goes on, i play, quit, play, quit, play quit,... this kind of thing is normal in maple, during the first/2nd week of mapling, you get addicted to level up, but after leveling up gets slower, u lose the motivation and quit. I really, can't imagine the play time of those who reached level 200(cap lvl) before the bigbang, even after all the potentials, PQs, and stuff, b4 the big bang, without 2x exp. my lvl 90 DK, needs to train 4 hours almost non-stop to gain 1 lvl. that just sux.

                      I had a 5 months of break after a major exam so I played a mechanic and just quit maple like 1 week ago, this was my first char after Big Bang and there's just so many significant changes that it just doesn't feel like it's maple anymore. I'm now at level 147 and have lost the motivation to play after soloing scar at lvl138.

Map:

                      In my oppinion, Big Bang has its pros and cons. the first thing you'd realize, is the map, which is Victoria Island. i'd still prefer the old map, even though, last time, you need to go to different towns to go to another major map(kerning>singapore),(ellinia>Orbis). Now all those transport means, are put into 1 screen, in the middle of the map. it's just too easy. Above is the pre-Big Bang map of victoria island

 EXP rate:
                    Another thing is the exp rate.leveling up is so much easier before big bang came out. i'd say, 5x easier. thats just too much difference. I already said that i need to train 4 hours to level up at lvl90 during pre Big Bang. But after Big Bang, at lvl 140, i could level up, in 3 hours.

Jobs:

                    last time, there were only 5 main jobs, now theres just so many. Aran, Evan, Dual Blade, Mechanic, Wild Hunter, Battle Mage, Night Walker, Wind Breaker, Flame Wizard, Soul Master.


KOC:

               maple screwed up with 1 job category, the Knights of Cygnus(Night Walker, Wind Breaker, Flame Wizard, Soul Master) when Big Bang lauched. people became KOC because it's stronger than the adventurer(the original 5 jobs) but its cap lvl is 120. People who became a KOC, usually know they won't be able to reach, more than 120, but with the new exp rates, no one wanted to become a KOC because you could reach lvl 120 in 3 weeks.

                So, NEXON made the 'Ultimate Adventurer' to encourage people to go for KOC. it Ain't worth it, trust me, except if you're really a hardcore mapler, or you already currently have a KOC character. Basically, you need to get a KOC to lvl 120, just to create a slightly stronger Adventurer.

Dual Blade:

                 Really overpowerring job that looks the coolest, a combination of an assasin and a bandit. With this job, no one wanted to become a thief, this has the best of bost world(bandit/assasin). why would anyone become either of those, well, the skill books, uses cash. So, if you don't want to spend, on @cash, don't become this job. sux

Job Revamp:
                 When all those other new jobs came out, aran, evan, etc.. Adventurers, seem weak compared to those jobs. even their skills doesn't look appealing enough. So Nexon made a revamp on the Adventurer's. It took a few years, but they finally updated the skills. Now, the damage gap for these jobs are closer.

                 
PQs:    

                 After the Big Bang, less people do PQs because the reward exp isn't that high, and purely training can make you level up faster. It's empty. almost no one does PQs, especially the low level ones, because you level up so fast when you train, PQs are not required.

                 After a very long time, only then Nexon made a PQ revamp. The difference here is that PQs give reward exp according to level instead of a fixed amount of reward pq. The higher your level, the higher the reward exp you'll get. the mobs also becomes stronger as the everage level of maplers increase.

                  Now, there's a mirror in most town which could teleport you to any PQ entrance with ease. This is both a bad thing and a good thing.

Potentials:

                  Nexon introduced potentials in Maple Sea, which would later prove to be a big affect towards the damage of all maplerly the hardcore maplers. I would say hardcore maplers arethose guys who really wants their damage to be as high as possible. They would pay alot of messo for good equipments, even 1 stat makes a difference for them.
         
                   Potentials came out, now the most important thing in an equipment is its potential, because potentials can make a lot of difference in damage, at my level, 14X, a 3% potential, i would gain 300+ damage. Hardcore maplers usually have 200% of their stats or more.

Enhancement:

                    If an equipment has been fully scrolled, you can enhance the equipment by using equip enhancement scrolls. The number of times it has been enhanced can be seen with the number of stars on the equipment. The greater number of stars, the greater the chance for it to get destroyed when enhance again.

                    People usually enhance weapons which has been scrolled decently to further increase the weapon attack/magic attack of the weapon, but Hardcore maplers would want all of their equipments enhanced. Enhancing is a risky job, I wouldn't enhance any of my equipments more than 3 stars by myself -.-

PVP:
                    Pvp is okay, but I just hate that you can't see the amout of damage you're doing. I mean, If your damage increased when you are wearing a new,better equipment, there's no way to tell, except through experience, where you just have that feeling that you're dealing a greater damage by killing maplers easier.

                    The BP is the whole point of PvP, especially for the unfunded. The special BP equipments, is really something they should have since it gives awesome bonus stats, when you have the full set.

Conclusion:

                  There's just so many things to talk about, too many changes. Some I don't mind but, Big Bang really changed the whole Maple. It's just not ample anymore, I'm not saying it's bad or anything, but the feeling of maple has disappeared.

                   The major change I think, was caused by the exp rates. last time, You need to work hard to gain a level, and usually, It's best done in a party. So you would make friends easier through PQs and teamwork. Maple before Big Bang was a place where gamers chat, make friends, hangout and stuff. You could call it, the Facebook of no-life-gamers. An example of hangout spot is the hunting ground in Henesys. Pros, (3rd jobers or above), would usually hangout over there with oher pros, showing off their skills and level.

                     Now, you can't show off your skills, because even an everage gamer can become a 3rd jober in just 1 week. So, a 3rd jobber isn't considered as a pro anymore.
   
                      Besides that, it's hard to differentiate between the real pros and the nubs/everage people. So many high level maplers, everyone has a scarlion helmet. Last time, any1 who had a scarlion/zakum/targa helmet can be considered a pro because to get a zakum helmet, you either need to join the zakum expedition or buy it in the free market, which would be very pricey. Anyone with a scarlion/targa helmet needs to be a lvl 90, which would have been considered a high level at that time. Now I Differentiate with the accessories they wear, usually, the obvious ones, like Angelic Blessing and androids.

Some screens of my Character

My Girlfriend is a Nine-tailed-fox

       

             So, after watching so many animes with romance,comedy genre, i decided to try and watch a korean drama. I wasn't really a k-pop fan at that time so i didn't know any korean actors or actress. though i knew a few boy/girl bands like S.J. and SNSD etc. K-pop was booming in Malaysia, even if you're not into them, you would at least knew a few songs like sorry2, or gee or nobody2. back to the drama, the reason this was my first k-drama was because, a new channel was introduced into ASTRO targeting k-pop fans (ONE HD). I didn't really bother at first, but the commercials kept on promoting this channel and showed scenes from this drama. there were only 2 scenes, but it managed to attract me anyways, 1. a beautiful girl in white smiling, 2. the girl showed her nine tails. she's gorgeous, what would you expect, i googled her =.=

                 My first impression of the first episode was, damn, why didn't i watch this earlier? It was awesome, the actors/actress were good looking, the story was kinda corny but i don't mind and the comedy was quite well done. I was like, no wonder the ratings were so high! that was what i thought back then. but now, i think it's  overrated. Maybe it's because i'm a guy( k-drama mostly target female audience).  It's not bad, but it's not as astounding as the score.


Plot- 3/10

                  I'd say, the plot is the main weakness of this drama, first few episodes and you're so hooked to it, but it gets boring later on. first/second episode, Dae Woong runs away from his grandfather and was tricked by Mi Ho(the ninne-tailed-fox). he later suffers injuries and the only way to save him is by using Mi Ho's bead which has the power to heal..............in the end, Dae Woong was forced to take care of the bead(and Mi Ho) while the bead is still healing his badly injured body. truthfully, these were the best part of the series, and with Lee Seung Gi acting, dam, it was funny.

                   The episodes after that, it was all about Mi Ho trying to win Dae Woong's heart and prevent him from being afraid of her( successful later on ). at the same time, Woong's love interest tries to win him from Mi Ho. Mi Ho on the other hand was supposed to have been forced to return to the painting she was trapped in(for hundreds of years) by another male character named Park Dong Ju(half goblin). Just because she resembles a girl he knew in the past, he let her go and even helped her to become a human. Actually, he gave Mi Ho 2 choices, he encourages her to return to the painting or, with the help of Dae Woong, become a human. But you would definitely know what the outcome is going to be right? haizzz  so predictable.

                    no more explaining needed, this is basically the whole plot. Dae Woong falls for her, protect her, Hye in tries to win him back..... blabla, its just to predictable. after episode 9 or so, i realize that the drama repeats over and over, it gets old. i didn't even managed to finish the entire drama(stopped at ep11) because i could basically predict the ending already. everywhere, people are saying that it has such a happy ending,best happy ending, etc... I tried watching for a 2nd time, but still couldn't force my self to watch towards the end.

                    A thing i liked was the sub plot about the romance between the Director and Dae Woong's aunt. each episode has around 5 minutes of this sub plot. good stuff



Characters- 6/10


Dae Woong(Lee Seung Gi)-

                   I watched this before i was into kpop, so I didn't know how famous this dude was, I think he did a good job portraying a rich spoiled kid. He really is like one. Maybe, he's the reason why the ratings so high. everyone is just crazy about him. He's a natural. Based on my thoughts b4 i knew how famous he was, no complaints. D:

                   I get the feeling that I've seen this face somewhere, , hmmm, he's like Ronald Weasly! His face, expressions and the way he talks. so, he's like a cuter, Asian version of Ron.


Mi Ho(Shin Min Ah)-

                    The main reason i watched this drama. Her face in HD, is too beautiful. but i have to say, she looks more beautiful from certain angles, maybe its the shape of her face.

                     In this drama, she acts like an immature kid who came from an unknown world. She doesn't know many things about the current human world and acts foolishly without adult manners. at first, I accepted the way she acts, because she's been traped for a long time, but when i think about it, she's been to the human world in the past, and she has observed how people act in the shrine she was trapped in. She doesn't have to act so ridiculously. My point is, it gets a little annoying after a while, but it's not that bad, depends on how you view her character.
                 

Park Dong Ju(No Min Woo)-

                       The character i have problems with. He's just trying too hard to be cool, owh my goodness. The way he acts(has an expressionless face), talks, the clothes that he wears. maybe all goblins are like that.

                        He tries to help Mi Ho to become a human, why go through all the hassle? I don't know, he gets all sentimental when he remembers about his past. just an annoying character tht makes you want to punch. I'm not sure whether he should be classified as a good guy, or a bad guy. He tries to help Mi Ho become human, without telling her that Dae Woong would die during the process. You decide~

Eun Hye In(Park Soo Jin)-

                      The Antagonist of the series. Park Soo Jin was great acting as a hypocrite. She puts on an angelic mask in front of other characters especially Dae woong who she also has feelings for but treats Mi Ho  like trash. Even though she knows about Mi Ho's supernatural powers, she still treats her like trash, even threatening Mi Ho. Either she's obsessed with Dae Woong, or she's just has mental problems.




                    These are the 4 main characters of the story, but there were some other characters worth mentioning, first is Dae Woong's grandfather and second, the director. Both delivers great comedy leaving you laughing your buts off. Conclusion, some characters were great and some weren't.

                     
                     

Music-9/10
               
                    All the music are just so good, my favourite, losing my mind by Lee Seung Gi, really lifts my mood. all the other osts are also good, even the sub plot has its own ost.

heres a bonus, Director/Dae Woong's aunt's ost~

Overall Enjoyment- 7/10

                     first few episodes were really awesome, after that, it starts to get boring, maybe this is not the type of drama you should watch in a hurry, i think it should be watched slowly...and for the romance, not the plot. Not my type of drama, but still, it was a good watch that introduced me to other korean dramas.




heres a bonus, Director/Dae Woong's aunt's ost~





   
                                           


           

Seto no Hanayome

                Seto no Hanayome is a story about Nagasumi who was forced to marry Seto San after discovering that she was a mermaid. According to the mermaid law, if any human saw a mermaid in their 'mermaid form',  the mermaid has to be killed or they have to get married. even by reading you know that it's comedy, it's hardcore comedy to the core ==.

Story:8/10
                 For its genre, i'd say Seto no hanayome is one of the best. The story isn't complex and most of the episodes are just for comedic purpose so few were involved in the actual plot. all this doesn't matter because the comedy will leave you laughing and wanting for more.

                 even though it's hardcore comedy, we still get to see the growth of the relationships between the characters. Most of the female characters shows interest in Nagasumi but not to the extent where i would call this a romance anime. The only real romance only goes around between San and Nagasumi.

                  I liked how in Seto no Hanayome how episode 12/13 is a major part of the story. It makes you feel like this anime is seperated to two parts because after this they introduce a new character(Shiranui) plays an important role towards the story and ending.

                    episode 12/13 will end with San saving Nagasumi and in the end(episode 25/26), Nagasumi returns the favour by saving San from a perverted fish. these parts of the anime is just awesome, especially the ending. When you read the manga, you'll see that the anime ending doesn't really happen but the ending really feels like a movie, awesome music + action and there's still comedy even  in the serious moments of battle.

Art: 8/10
                    The art is very sharp and cute, gives you the impression of a comedy anime

Sound: 9/10
                     the op was funny to begin with. Jokes were made funnier with the sound effects.

Characters:
                      Nagasumi isn't that special. He's the type of protagonist is forced to accept everything and life. Nagasumi doesn't make most of the comedy, he's more of a medium to channel the comedy. however, you'll get to see him rock in the end.

                      San's the cute heroine of the story, from appearance to her voice, everything about San is perfect.She resembles the type of good wife any guy would want.  

                        most of the supporting characters are just damn funny specifically - Edomae, Hideyoshi and the fish trio. you have to watch for yourselves to experience the comedy.

Overall: 10/10.
                       Being a purely comedy anime, I think Seto no Hanayome is the best from all the animes i have watched. every episode was funny and the ending was satisfying. I just can't ask for more.


Anime Vs. manga:
                       The disappointing part is the manga. When I found out Seto no hanayome's manga is still ongoing, I almost jumped in excitement. First page, and I already lost interest, the art is just too simple. that's not the only bad part, all the new characters in the manga which are not shown in the anime are female and........ lesbians. They seem to show interest only towards San and will do anything to get close to her like a yandere character would. Because of all this, i stick with the anime and stopped reading the manga.
Have fun watching! :)

try watching the op, comedy fans will know this is an awesome anime with just this.

Thailand

               Went on a short trip to Thailand. I'd usually won't follow my parents when they travel to a place nearby but this time, because of some circumstances, i had no choice. As expected, Thailand really knows how to treat a tourist by feeding them with top notch entertainment and unique attractions since tourism is a major industry.

                Even though i've went to other severl countries' zoos, Songkla Zoo was still kind of fascinating. with just 100bath/person, you get to enter and see all the shows the zoo has to offer. tiger feeding show was just awesome. They feed the tigers with chickens but tease them with the chicken bait to entertain the tourists.
The tigers jump, climb, swim and do all sorts of stuff to get the chicken.

                  2nd day went to Klong Hae, a place like a night market(starts in the evening till night) but with people selling food in boats by the riverbanks so you could say it's a mini floating market. the price of any food here is cheap, mostly 20 baht and you'd sometimes get a clay pot or cup when you buy certain foods like ice cream or drinks.

                 
                 stuffs I can't help to realising in this part of Thailand :
-vehicle: there's just so many Toyota Hilux and other truck like vehicle
-hair: Every female student has the same hair, a short bob cut showing the back of the neck
-the looks: some of the people looks somewhat similar to Nickhun from 2pm

         

Mayo Chiki

                                                                                  

         




             Mayo Chiki, a story about a guy who discovers the secret the butler of his school idol, Suzutsuki. the secret was, the butler, konoe is actually a girl. not a pretty-boy like everyone imagined. the reason i watched this anime was because the manga(up to chapter 15) was really good and funny. i planned on reading the manga for a second time but i found out its anime just finished airing so i watched it instead, only to be disappointed by its quality. 

Story: 5/10
             the story starts off quite well, to prevent Kinjirou from spreading the secret of konoe, Suzutsuki made a solution where she will help Kinjirou get rid of his gynephobia(fear of women) in return for him to shut his mouth about the secret. the characters later on become closer to each other because each of them have their own secret.

              like i said, i watched this anime because the manga was good. it turns out the final chapter i read(15) was episode 7 of the anime and also the final episode where i can say it's good. after that, i'll give this anime just a pitiful 4/10 for its story. theres not much to say. all the episodes are like stand alone episodes that has nothing to do with the anime. even if you skipped the whole thing and got to episode 11&12, i doubt i'll affect your understanding towards the the story because all the other episodes has no plot or whatsoever.

               for your info, the final episode is the 13th episode is the final episode, and again, this really is just ridiculous. this is the episode on the 'taned-megane' girl. what i'm saying is, episode 11&12 is the real ending. from my point of view, why can't they just make episode 13 into episode 11 and make the ending episode 12&13 instead? or they could even just make it into an ova instead? 

                 saying all that, the comedy isn't that bad. the ending was alright. i just hate to see 12/13 episode animes having ridiculous episodes that could have been replaced with something related to the story line. 

Art/Sound: 6/10
                 nothing special. op was enough to get my attention for two episodes, so i guess it's mediocre.

Character: 8/10
                 if it weren't for the characters, i wouldv'e given mayo chiki a 5/10. the protagonist wasn't that great. it's your usual rom-com protagonist who's a natural playboy. the character i liked the most is Konoe. when you first watch her, your impression of Konoe will definitely be a tsundere as she was really mad when Kinjirou discovered her secret. it turns out she was just a lonely fellow with no friends. Kinjirou becomes her first friend and crush so she tries to protect their friendship at all costs but at the same time wanting her relationship with him to go beyond friends. 

                 Konoe greatly resembles Koaru(Ladies Versus Butlers) and Chalotte(Infinite Stratos). these kind of character tend to have a double personality due to the fact being forced to cross dress. they show a poised,cool figure to the people other than the one who knows their secret.

                  Another interesting character is Kanade, a yandere character is a perfect contrast for a gynephobic person. She  uses Kinjirou to return her relationship with Konoe to what it originally was. 

Overall: 6/10
                   i'd only give it a 6/10. it's disappointing to see such a good story that could've been way better gone to waste. it's like good coffee with no sugar in it. -.-

Mayo Chiki OP