Izumi Kawachi – Digital Manga Publishing – 2009 – 19+ volumes

Hmm.  There haven’t been any new volumes of this since February.  We can probably assume that it doesn’t bode well for the future of this series in America.  Can’t say I’m all that surprised, given the fact I hardly ever see the series discussed and don’t think it did too well, but I have a soft spot for it.

I’m kind of torn about what’s going on here, because what I liked initially about this series (the magical systems and the enchanter/demon system used to make magical implements) has fallen by the wayside in favor of character development.  While the series does have a tendency to introduce a lot of random characters and not come back to them, they always wind up interacting with Eukanaria and Haruhiko, so those two always wind up getting developed at least a little while the side stories focus on the other characters.  In this volume, we get introduced to yet another new character and his sister.  The new boy interacts with Eukanaria quite a bit while he searches for Mercurio, and by the end, he’s decided to take the offer of another demon to become her Enchanter.  But while all this is going on, we see more of the childlike joy Eukanaria seems to take in everything, and we see Haruhiko interact with her, and Yuka, and start to try and figure out why it is he does what he does.  Interesting stuff.

Admittedly, there are far better series for character development, and this still has quite a bit of t&a in it.  It’s pretty manic, and keeping up with the manic energy of all the characters, as well as keeping track of all the side characters, tires me out.  There is an overarching plot, but the stories rarely return to it.  And the storytelling is a little disorganized in general.  But there’s something kinda fun about it, too, and I think it’s just that I’ve grown attached to Haruhiko and Eukanaria after all this time and would love to see how they end up.

Some readers have picked up the message on my Nonsuch Blog about the ‘one more fantasy book and that’s it’ entry. I thought I’d explain a bit more about it here.

Karen Brooks, another Australian fantasy author and yet another who has been battling her own cancer (she wrote about it in the Courier Mail, so I feel I can mention it here!) sent me a lovely anecdote about a woman who had been fighting cancer. Some time after this woman had finished treatment, her friends noticed that for several weeks she was no longer answering her telephone. Growing concerned, they were just about to send in the police to break down her door when the following message popped up on her voicemail. “My friends. As you know, I have been going through a personal crisis recently. As a result I have been making some profound changes in my life. If I have not returned your call in the past two weeks, then, my friend, I am sorry, but you are part of that change. Goodbye.” Click.

I got a good belly laugh out of that one, but it has deep meaning for anyone who has battled a life-threatening cancer. Most everyone makes some profound changes in their lives. I am not ‘out of the woods’, nor will I ever be, this is a killer cancer and I just don’t know when it will strike again, as it assuredly will.

So there have been some big changes in my life. One of these is fantasy writing. There is every chance I will move on. In the meantime, there is one more book to come in the DarkGlass Mountain trilogy (this was finished before I became so ill, but the cancer treatment interfered with its editing process). That book, The Infinity Gate, should be out in May next year.

After that, there will be one more fantasy book, The Devil’s Diadem. I signed HarperCollin’s offer memo for this last week (really Stephanie, it is in the post!). There’s always been a fantasy book I really, really wanted to write … and for various reasons I never got around to it. The Devil’s Diadem is it. So this book will be one for me, no holds barred, full on fun, everything I always wanted to put into a fantasy novel but never did as I was too busy second guessing myself as to what everyone else wanted. I am loving writing it. Should be out in 2011.

So that’s the news. As to where I am off after this, well, that’s for me to know and everyone else to wonder. (Read: I am not actually all that sure, but I am having fun exploring various possibilities.) If you want to keep track of me then keep up on the Nonsuch Blog, which I am also really loving, and where I discuss most everything: http://nonsuchkitchengardens.com/wordpress/

You can read more about The Devil’s Diadem at Sara’s website. Sara Douglass is the award-winning and bestselling author of seventeen fantasy novels published by Voyager, including the Aurealis-winning Battleaxe. Her next book, The Infinity Gate, will be out in May next year.

This introduction is created to help new players understand the character leveling system created by NCSoft in their game Aion, focusing on class traits after ascension.

Aion is unique in its design of character leveling and selection.  The four primary classes are Warrior, Scout, Mage, and Priest.  Each of the five classes have two ascension paths, obtained at level ten: Gladiator-/-Templar, Assassin-/-Ranger, Spirit Master-/-Sorcerer, and Cleric-/-Enchanter, respectively.

Until level ten, a player levels using the primary class abilities, after ascension at level ten, every class goes through a significant change.  This change allows the player to select one of two paths, a quick example is that of the scout;  Scouts start off as melee based -daggers, close range combat, dual wield- while the ascended form, Ranger, turns away from melee based combat and goes into ranged based combat – bows, traps, and kiting.  The two styles are completely different, and may throw some players off.  Because of this pre-ascension and post-ascension design, all reviews will take place after ascension.

The next significant change is at level 25.  Specifically, this is when all classes can enter the Abyss, changing the game from a player versus environment (PvE), to a player versus player versus environment (PvPvE) setting.  My reviews will focus on what happens during the levels 10 through 25, and how the game shifts into the Abyss post 25.  This should help players trying to decide which class is right for them to have a better understanding of the ascended classes and their roles within the game, as well as a basic grasp of abilities available to them.

Images are available for each of the five primary pre-ascension classes below, please note the images include the user interface (UI).  The basic layout may vary.

In Daniel, chapter 2, king Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. As even he knew, his wise men were prone to interpret dreams and visions with a positive slant for fear of offending the king, without ever really hearing what God was saying. So this time the king asked them to tell him the dream first and then he would know they could interpret it correctly, or else all the wise men would be “cut into pieces and your houses turned into piles of rubble“. Daniel, with revelation from God, was able to do both and saved all the wise men’s lives.

There is something special about someone calling you by name. It is affirmation that they know you and they want to recognize you as a person.You know you want to be like Norm on the tv show “Cheers”. Whenever he walked in the bar everyone would yell “Norm”! So maybe you don’t want to be known in a bar, but nonetheless, we want to be known.

Even a king like Nebuchadnezzar was tired of hearing that God interacted with man and never once feeling that he mattered one bit to God. Maybe you have felt the same way. This king wanted to be known. The most powerful man around. The most recognized man near and far- wanted to be known. Eventually, being known by man, even lots of men, just isn’t enough.

Tell me accurately what God said or I will have you “cut into pieces and your houses turned into rubble!” If this were the standard for preaching today, I don’t think it would be quite as hard to get together a Thursday night prayer meeting at the church. I believe they may even do away with the list of ready made online sermons. But let us be in agreement that cutting preachers into pieces is not a part of the story we need to emulate.

What we do need to consider is are we pursuing this same place of desperation? Nebuchadnezzar was wise enough, or maybe desperate enough, to call the bluff. “There is not a man on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer.  What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men.” (verses 10-11) Are we asking God for things that “no man can do”? Are we living in such a way that only He can sustain us?

Oh, and by the way, He does live among men! And if you put God to the test like Nebuchadnezzar did, you will find out just what he did- God knows you.

“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you” Jeremiah 1:5

Status: Member

Professions: Enchanter

Quick info: None

Location: Germany / Europe

Update mengenai Trader : http://eco.gate00.net/wiki/Trader
Update mengenai Sage : http://eco.gate00.net/wiki/Sage
Update mengenai Enchanter : http://eco.gate00.net/wiki/Enchanter
Update List Quest yang ada di Cafe : http://eco.gate00.net/wiki/Cafe_Quest

Sekian dulu~

Thanks to : Tomoe, Grahf, Ran2 and Ldlv

Un extrait du récent roman d’Isabelle Desesquelles : Quelques heures de fièvre (Editions Flammarion), constitue une belle leçon de vie et d’émerveillement :

“Vous avez enchanté mon enfance. Grâce à vous, tout devenait gourmandise : la floraison des camé­lias, le passage des hirondelles, un orage d’été, les bogues éclatées des marronniers en automne.“

Oh, wow!  The story went somewhere this time!  I was quite pleased that the entire volume dealt with the problem of Mercurio and how her situation reflects Haruhiko’s.  Even better, the volume went into some surprising depth about what Haruhiko thought about it.

Most of the first part here was the fight between human Mercurio and Haruhiko.  Human Mercurio is kind of ruthless, but Haruhiko is actually equally so, since he seems to insist on the fact that demon Mercurio is the one that should be allowed to inhabit the body simply because she liked him.  It’s an interesting fight.  Demon Mercurio kind of takes a backseat during this part, coming forward towards the end to say her piece.

Mercurio’s circumstances are then explained via flashback, from exactly how demon Mercurio came to inhabit human Mercurio’s body and the parts the various magical bigwigs had to play in it, including Paracelsus and a new master builder-kind of character named Cagliostro (which only makes me think of Lupin III, but your mileage may vary).  Haruhiko is not happy with the way things have to happen.

This actually leads him to realize that he mostly enjoys doing things for other people rather than himself.  Simple chats with Yuka and Eukanaria make him see this, but how this may affect him remains to be seen.

Cagliostro looks like he might be an interesting addition to the cast.  Apparently he does things that nobody else can invention-wise, and I’m curious to see what happens when Haruhiko starts analyzing his work.

Well.  This series just got interesting again.

Also… so Izumi Kawachi is a woman?  That’s, uh… yeah.  Unexpected.

All the World’s a Stage: So you want to be an Enchanter

Enchanting cries out to be roleplayed. It could be a kind of magician’s engineering, or a more refined cousin of alchemy.

Now… this is one of those cheesecake shounen series with magic.  The cheese factor in this one isn’t nearly as high as in, say, Pastel, but this is slightly more shameless.  Possibly because Eukanaria, the one at the center of most of the fanservice, doesn’t really care one way or another what you think of her.  And that’s fine.  As long as she doesn’t change behind the front door of the house, then beat up Haruhiko for “peeking” when he happens to walk in.

Actually, this series takes a step in the other direction.  Haruhiko wakes up with Eukanaria in his bed, and rather than her getting mad and beating him up, Haruhiko points out that, if their genders were reversed, it would have been a crime.  It was a proud moment in manga.

I still feel like there’s something missing from this series whenever the inventions/demon magic stuff isn’t talked about.  That hasn’t been the focus of the series for quite some time, which is a shame, because I liked that Haruhiko was good at building demon weapons.  Plus, there was a real variety in the types of inventions.  There’s a lot of potential there, but… that’s just not what the series is about.

The Mercurio storyline continues, and she begins to have problems concealing her split personality from Haruhiko.  It turns out that the balance in her body is similar to the problem that Haruhiko would face in letting Fulcanelli inhabit his body, so some questions are raised towards the end about who should get to keep a body in the case of two souls inhabiting it.

The other conflict in this volume is about the invention that Haruhiko is trying to make in order to communicate with Fulcanelli inside his demon stone.  Complications arise, and Haruhiko takes a lot of time to consider how Eukanaria will feel about what’s going on.  The amount of attention paid to Eukanaria’s actual feelings (rather than just the over-the-top jokes about her having sex with Haruhiko) was almost touching.  It’s been a long time since Eukanaria has been treated like a real person with feelings, and it’s interesting to see her taken seriously.

There are actually a handful of funny moments in here, which was unexpected since this type of humor (vague sex and gender jokes, over-the-top misunderstandings, occasional physical gags) isn’t my thing.

This isn’t a really great series, but it’s got a lot of interesting stuff going on, and the humor and character relationships aren’t so far over-the-top to make it an annoying read.  I always think of Sorcerer Hunters when I read it, even though Sorcerer Hunters had a lot more to do with magic and this is more about high school romance (of a sort, I guess a lot of the characters are demons, but still).  I’ve got a couple more volumes of it here, but I’m pretty sure my opinion of it really isn’t going to change reading the volumes back-to-back.  It’s been maintaining status quo for the past several volumes.

Congrats to jeffro on beating Infocom’s Enchanter! (OK, that’s a really old post, but sometimes I get way behind on my blog reading.) I played the Zork trilogy like crazy back in junior high and high school, but for some reason I never picked up any of the Enchanter trilogy. It’s too bad, because playing it now I think I might actually have enjoyed Enchanter even more than I liked the Zork games—the Zorks are essentially gonzo Gygaxian dungeon crawls, whereas Enchanter seems a bit more traditional and plot-oriented, and in general I prefer the latter to the former.

I played Enchanter for the first time ten or so years back after acquiring a copy of the wonderful Infocom Classics collection. I got maybe two-thirds of the way through before getting stuck and then distracted by school, but I’ve always intended to revisit it. The puzzles that I recall were a little less… random than those in Zork, and I didn’t encounter any that exhibited the sheer nasty near-unsolvability that some of the Zork puzzles did. (Jeffro mentions Zork III, which was the game that finally made me break down and consult InvisiClues for help: that stupid maze with the movable walls still makes me angry just thinking about it.) I really like Enchanter’s central gimmick—you’re a magician who knows a handful of low-powered but useful spells, which must be put to unorthodox uses to solve puzzles. Some of the puzzles made really clever use of the spells.

Ahhh, now I’m in the mood to dig out Enchanter and see if I can solve it this time. It’s strangely comforting to know that should I ever want to dig into Infocom games again, I’ve got an entire unplayed trilogy to explore.

Sandrine Sananès, praticienne en éducation créatrice, installe son atelier à Charenton.

Il s’agit de (se) révéler et non pas d’ imiter! Sage et belle méthode!

Cation: Spoiler will be written below! I read volume four over several days.

About the manga: Volume 4 takes us to Hawaii as the school trip arrives. This volume is full of comic relief and bikini babes. However, it does to work to build the story as it introduces and builds several new characters which adds more trouble to Haruhiko’s life. Eukanaria also gets to make friends with normal humans!

Characters:

Mana is a younger girl that goes to school with Haruhiko, but she is in a different class. She has a crush on Haruhiko, but worries that her bust isn’t big enough to compare to Yuka. Her parents own a bike shop so she grew up tinkering with things.

Mysterious man in black shows up as he wants to take Mana as his enchanter. Haruhiko fights to save Mana from him. Mana has been taking care of a crow and it turns out that this man is one and the same.

Summary:

The story continues and Haruhiko and Eukanaria prepare for the school trip after exams which Haruhiko did well in science but not much else. Mana enters the story as her crush on Haruhiko is revealed. Eukanaria is seen on the school trip so Haruhiko has no choice but to explain this to his friends. Meanwhile, Mana continues to try and get Haruhiko all to herself. I thought this was very cute because Mana although she is confident enough to make moves, gets easily embarrassed especially with Haruhiko. While Haruhiko spend time with her, his friends are trying to put the moves on Eukanaria. They give both Haruhiko and Eukanarai the advice to try and make the other fall in love with them.

The comedy and romance is broken by the sudden intrusion of a man in black. He seeks mana as his own enchanter. Which could have been expected from her bicycle tinkering skills. Haruhiko defends her from this sudden interest and runs back to get his new weapon. The man tries to capture Mana as Haruhiko works to explain to Mana’s friends that Yuka hasn’t been with him. It seems that Haruhiko will never get a break. The strange man reveals that he has been the crow that Mana took care of. He also shows a perverted side by having her bra and pulling down his pants. The battle is about to begin as we enter volume 5! I am excited to see what this new weapon will do!

Questions:

What will this new weapon do? Will Mana become an enchanter? What will happen to Eukanaria and Hakuhiko’s love life? Who is the main bad guy going to be? How many new characters will there be? Will we ever see anyone naked in a 16+ manga? What new adventures are ahead? When will the mystery about the md player be solved? It seems as though I may not be correct with my ideas. Will Mana end up with Hakuhiko or fall for the man in black?

Well I finished volume 3 a while ago, but haven’t had time to write as I have been trying to change my sleep cycle back to normal. Beware of spoilers below!

About the manga: The manga moves back to a few chapters of jokes and information in this volume, but ends with a few scenes of action. We also meet a few enchanters in this volume and Yuka seems to gain some more interest once more.

Characters:

Hilbrecht is know as the appraiser. He appear to be good at identifying items and accesses the powers of the items in question. His workshop is next door to another enchanter and there is also a library between these two workshops. He finds Yuka’s md player especially interesting. He seems rather clam and thoughtful.

Yamato is the another enchanter with a workshop across from Hilbrecht. He is an enchanter with a specialty of materials. He appears to remove impurities from metals to make them much better tools for enchantment. He seems to be giving Adolph lessons as well. He has a cold outward appearence and isn’t overly helpful until Eukanaria asks him. Hibrecht says he is protective of his materials and wanted someone to vouch for Haruhiko.

Okada is Haruhiko’s friend from school. He has had some strange encounters with Haruhiko and Eukanaria who he thinks is Yuka. He gains some importance as he is sent to the workshop to get Haruhiko. He even fights in this volume.

Summary:

The second volume takes us into some comical moments when Yuka is told that Haruhiko is sick. She comes over to care for him, but just ends up seeing Eukanaria and having her memory erased. Eukanaria goes to school and accidentally ends up teaching a class which she turns into a dodge ball game. Student’s scores are sure to be lower now. Haruhiko and Eukanaria travel to the workshops of Hibrecht and Yamato to continue with their knife making mission.

Eukanaria gains much more depth as she shows that she wants to do anything to get Haruhiko’s body. However, she shows sadness as she has not been able to talk to her love and wonders why he does nothing. Despite her cold feelings, she hasn’t forced out Haruhiko’s soul yet. While this is happening, Haruhiko gains knowledge of the hard work of enchanting. He learns more skills and makes new friends.

This is all cut short by Okada who enters the scene tanks to AI who is protecting Yuka from a huge spider demon. He joins Haruhiko in the fight to save Yuka. This scene seems rather important as the md player and Yuka regain importance that has gone downhill since volume 1. Answers to secrets are being hinted at in this volume.

Questions:

Why is Fulcanelli protecting Yuka with the md player? I think it is because he wants to enter the world again as the child of Yuka and Haruhiko. The spider demon wanted to plant his seed in Yuka. So if a pure woman, Haruhiko, and the soul of a famous enchanter are combined, what will happen? Will Eukanaria show her darker side or has she been changed by Fulcanelli? Who is going to be the main bad guy? How many new characters will there be? When will Haruhiko accidentally walk in on Yuka or Eukaanaria naked? Will Okada fight with Haruhiko or have his memory erased? Will Haruhiko be able to pass his tests?

As always there may be spoilers written below. I moved onto volume 2 almost as soon as I finished volume 1. I was eager to see the direction the story would take.

About the manga: The manga still is still very much a light adventure story as our main characters continue to develop their powers and gain friends. Light comic ecchi relief continues to pop up and the notion of romance between almost any of the characters is still possible.

Characters:

Lavoix seems to have a very hot personality. The first glimpse of her is rushing to get medicine. This personality is later reflected in her rash actions. She is always trying to get surpass Eukanaria. Lavoix seems to have a fondness for Fulcanelli and may still in fact care for him. She is at the moment working with another enchanter and seems to care for him as well. In contrast to these loving relationships, she hates Eukanaria with all her passion.

Adolph appears to be another enchanter just like Haruhiko. He has recently discovered his ability after being approached by Lavoix. Haruhiko and Adolph share many common characteristics. They are both less out spoken than their female counterparts, both are good with machines, and both had a normal life until these women entered their lives. Adolph does seem to be a bit more at ease with being a enchanter but lacks the raw power that Haruhiko has.

Summary: The second volume of enchanter is much like the first as new information is revealed and new characters are met. Haruhiko struggles to get used to living with Eukanaria, but he fails horribly. In comparison with his home life, Haruhiko begins to struggle in school from missing so many classes and lack of sleep. Some important information does come from all this comic relief. There are four ways to remove a soul. They are by a contract, when someone dies, when the soul no longer wants to go on with life, and of course at one point during sex. Armed with this new knowledge, can Haruhiko prevail against Eukanaria’s attempts.

The second volume also takes us into our first crystal caves which seem very important to enchanters. Valuable resources and treasures can be found. However, our heroes enter unprepared and learn a valuable new lesson about adventuring and their abilities. Important things to note are Lavoix and Adolph who enter the story. Also Lavoix raises questions about Eukanaria’s unknown past. However, it could be an exaggeration as Adolph seem to expect a monster after hearing Lavoix’s story. Eukanaria admits that you she has changed since meeting Fulcanelli.

There are still many questions to be answered in the next volume. Will Lavoix and Adolph remain allies or turn into rivals for treasure and power? Will Haruhiko be able to pass his exams which seems doubtful. Who will Haruhiko ultimately fall in love with as more characters enter the story. Can Eukanaria really be trusted? Also when will the main bad guy show his face? Will Yuka fade out as an important character in the manga and just become our ecchi comic relief? Our fun adventure will continue in volume 3.

This is manga that I have had for a while. I have put off reading it as I have been very busy and I have had many choices of thing to watch, read, and do.

Caution that spoilers will be written below. The introduction does not ruin the first volume if you are thinking about reading Enchanter and are curious to see how the story starts.

Introduction:

The story seems revolves around a young seventeen your old student named Haruhiko. Haruhiko lives a normal life and even has a crush on a teacher in his school that happens to live nearby. The teachers name is Yuka ans she asks him if he can do a personal favor. Haruhiko is very eager to help his teacher and this looks like it will be one of the on going jokes in manga. It turns out that she wants him to fix her MD player. Little does Haruhiko know that is life is about to change.

Characters:

Haruhiko is your normal lead male character. He is young and inexperience in many ways. He has a crush on a teacher in his school named Yuka. He does not seem to have any special powers. His one talent is an ability to fix many machines. He has learned to do this so that he may help Yuka who is technologically challenged.

Yuka is a shy but friendly neighbor to Haruhiko. It tends out that she is also a teacher at his school. Yuka does not appear to be the brightest character in the book. She has a small fox looking creature on her neck and one points and thinks nothing of it. She also tends to end up in the middle of a battle which forces Haruhiko to worry about her. She provides a drama and ecchi link in these situations as she loses clothing or is in danger of being of hurt. Perhaps there is more to her than meets the eye. The demon stone in her md player, the fox that stays with her after the first fight, and the resemblance to Eukanaria.

My second favorite character is Eukanaria and she looks just like Yuka, but with a much different personality. It turns out that she is followed the scent of a very famous enchanter to Haruhiko. However explanations are cut short as something is about to follow Eukanaria through the portal she came out of. The battle scene is very short as the only weapon is a small dagger/knife. Eukanaria is extremely loyal to Fulcanelli, the famous enchanter. She is willing to spend one night with Haruhiko. The only catch is that he must give his body to the soul of Fulcanelli. She continues to temp him through out the manga which is one of my favorite jokes. However, she does seem to grow an attachment to Haruhiko as she decides she will sleep with him despite having her own futon and room.

Ai seems very similar to Eukanaria in the fact that they both seem to serve an enchanter. Ai works for Paracelsus. The similarities end there however. Ai has no chest while Eukanaria is found out to be f cup. Ai also seems to be more like a machine or robot. She has not spoken and seems to merely nod and preform orders of her master. I wonder if there is more to her?

Paracelsus may be my favorite character so far. He provides some ecchi comic relief as well as providing information. He turns out to be a medical enchanter and explains the basics of it to Haruhiko. He then claims some time alone with Eukanaria who resists him the whole way. I also need to mention that his normal form is that of a skeleton. I don’t think this will be the last time that we see Paracelsus as his abilities may become very useful.

Summary:

This manga appears as it will be light hearted and fun. Most of the characters have a strong niche to provide in the story. Volume 1 lays the foundation for the story as Haruhiko learns the basics skills that he will need in the future as people continue to look for him and Eukanaria. Relationships have begun to form and my big question is who will Haruhiko fall in love with. He has two girls that look exactly the same but with very different personalities. Is it even a choice as Eukanaria seems to love Fulcanelli. Who will be the next enemy to surface? Only low level demons have been seen so far. Will Haruhiko ever be able to go to afternoon classes again? The story has only begun to unfold and I sure that the next volume will be filled with even more demons, enchanters, crazy inventions, and fan service.