kurenai « WordPress.com Tag Feed

Kure-nai 23+1

Aono Tsukune — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:31:44 +0000

E ai está o capítulo 24 de Kure-nai ui xD
Ahem! deixando isso de lado, amanhã eu trago mais um capítulo
de um mangá que ficou um tempinho parado, não vou contar
qual é porque é segredo. xD

Adicionado o mirror do Ifile do capítulo 05 de Kämpfer.
Adicionado o mirror do Ifile do capítulo 23 de Karin.
Adicionado o mirror do Ifile do capítulo 03 de Onii-chan Control.

The 2008 Year in Anime by the Numbers and Breaking Down Why It’s Hard To Be a Fan of Anime Without Resorting to Fansubs

steelbound — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:38:31 +0000

Bamboo Blade

One of the great resources in anime fandom of late has been this guy. His charts have become almost indispensable when trying to figure out what to watch in the upcoming anime seasons. Recently, he’s started to compile these charts for previous years and the information that can be gleaned from these charts are extremely interesting and a real eye opener.

Last year, 2008, was the first year of this blog and as a result I watched many shows I probably won’t have otherwise and tried to make sure that I discovered all the “good” anime of a season so I could help other people discover these anime shows. So one of the first things I wanted to figure out was how much of the 2008 anime did I watch in the end.

Percentage of Shows Watched

This is the chart in question that I’m using; you can find it and more here. It lists 130 total anime shows that begun airing in 2008 and looking over these shows I realize there is a handful of shows that are aimed at very young viewers and these shows are never fansubbed, talked about, or licensed so the first step I’m going to do is remove these shows from consideration. I then tabulated how many shows I’ve watched, dropped and completed and I’ll summarize them here.

114 total shows (19 from Winter 07/08, 34 from Spring 08, 21 from Summer 08, 37 from Fall 08, 3 from Winter 08/09)
50 shows watched (5, 15, 9, 18, 3)
19 shows dropped (0, 9, 3, 5, 2)
31 shows completed (5, 6, 6, 13, 1)

I should note that the Winter 07/08 season was a season that I essentially took off. I needed the break and the only new show I watched that season while it was airing was Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei s.2. Yes, It is strange that I decided to start a blog during a season I wasn’t actively watching but that just how I like to do things. Because of this, the only shows I watched from this season where ones that I really wanted to see at a later time. This skews some of the results I’ll highlight below.

Overall watched percentage by season – 26.3% of Winter 07/08, 44.1% of Spring 08, 42.9% of Summer 08, 48.7% of Autumn 08, 100% of Winter 08/09
Overall watched percentage of 2008 – 43.8%
Percentage of watched shows that were dropped by season – 0.0%, 60.0%, 33.3%, 28.8%, 66.7%)
Percentage of watched shows that were dropped in 2008 – 38.0%

While going over the list of shows, I’ve noted that there were a few shows that I still have some interest in catching and could see myself watching at some point in the future, time willing.

Possible unwatched shows that may be watched in the future by season – 2 from Winter 07/08, 2 from Spring 08, 0 from Summer 08, 4 from Fall 08, 0 from Winter 08/09
Total unwatched but still interested in shows for 2008 – 8
2008 Total of shows watched and possible shows watched in the future – 58 or 50.9% of all 2008 anime shows

This leaves 49.1% of the entire 2008 year of shows as shows that I have not watched nor am I interested in doing so. Just looking at the raw number, it seems like I’m leaving a huge percentage of shows unwatched but looking over the shows the I’ve missed – I don’t think I’m missing much. I wonder how this compares to other anime fans.

Soul Eater

Excellent Shows and Strong Seasons

Next, I compiled a list of shows that I consider being the best of 2008 – the titles that I would recommend to other people and would be worthy series to own on DVDs, if possible. I was curious to see how these shows were distributed and if the general thinking about the spring and fall seasons being the strong seasons seemed justified.

Excellent shows from Winter 07/08 – Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei S.2 and Spice & Wolf – (2)
Excellent shows from Spring 08 – Wagaya no Oinarisama, Library Wars, Kaiba, Soul Eater, Kurenai (5)
Excellent shows from Summer 08 – Natsume Yuujin-chou, Birdy the Mighty Decode, Somedays Dreamer’s S.2, Ryouko’s Case Files (4)
Excellent shows from Fall 08 – Toradora, Clannad S.2, Shikabane Hime:Aka, Ga-Rei:Zero, Mouryou Hako, Kurozuka, Michiko to Hatchin (7)
Excellents shows from 2008 – 18

Looking at the pure number totals, it appears that the fall season was the strongest season and that’s definitely on way to look at it but I wanted to see it from another perspective.

Percentage of overall shows that were excellent by season – 10.5% of Winter 07/08, 14.7% of Spring 08, 19.1% of Summer 08, 18.9% of Autumn 08, 0% of Winter 08/09
Percentage of overall shows that were excellent for 2008 – 15.8%
Percentage of watched shows that were excellent by season – 40.0%, 33.3%, 44.4%, 38.9%, 0.0%
Percentage of watched shows that were excellent for 2008 – 36.0%

Looking at the number of excellent shows in the context of the rest of the season shows, it turns out that the Summer season squeaks in front of the fall season as having the highest percentage of excellent shows. If the saying about how only 10% of anything is worth fighting for and the rest is garbage then one can’t complain about the quality of anime from 2008 since it beat that by a bit.

Kaiba

Why It’s Hard To Be a Fan of Anime Without Resorting to Fansubs

I want to say up front that I’m not writing this to defend fansubs per se nor am I trying to pick a fight – it’s been my observation for a while that oftentimes when an anime is announced as being licensed, I’m disappointed because it’s not one that I felt deserved to get licensed and I want to see if this observation is backed up by the data.

The first thing that needed done was to compile a list of what shows where licensed from 2008. I started with the list that animesuki keeps of shows that are licensed and thus they no longer list and then I checked out the various licensing articles from anime news network and finally I checked crunchyroll. I might have missed a couple but they won’t be enough to change the conclusions that I discovered. Onto some data.

Total number of anime shows licensed from 2008 – 32
Total number of licensed shows that I watched from 2008 – 13
Total number of licensed shows that I completed from 2008 – 9
Total number of licensed shows that I consider excellent shows from 2008 – 5
Total number of excellent licensed shows that will come out on DVD – 3
Total number of excellent licensed shows that will be dubbed on DVD – 2

I’ll note here that of the 19 licensed shows that I have not watched, none are on my list of shows that I might be interested in watching so those figures are final. Without running the exact numbers it’s pretty apparent what can be concluded but let’s run the numbers for completeness sake.

Percentage of total anime shows that were licensed from 2008 – 28.1%
Percentage of total anime shows that were not licensed from 2008 – 71.9%
Percentage of licensed shows that I watched – 40.6%
Percentage of licensed shows that I completed – 28.1%
Percentage of licensed shows that I consider excellent – 15.6%
Percentage of excellent licensed shows that will be released on DVD – 9.4%
Percentage of excellent licensed shows that will be dubbed and released on DVD – 6.25%

The one glaring conclusion that I have to conclude is that the “anime fan” that the North American companies are going after is not me. If they were, I’d expect to see almost all of my excellent shows as having been licensed. (Afterall they should be picking the best titles to maximize the number of DVDs bought.) That’s not the case, though, and looking over the shows that did get licensed I find a lot of shounen/fighting shows, fan-service shows, and shoujo shows. I can’t help but feel that one of the results of a licensing pattern like this is that once an anime fan has been sated with enough shounen, fan-service, and/or shoujo shows that these fans discover they are no longer anime fans because anime has become either too childish or repetitive.

The reason I took the category down to excellent licensed shows that will dubbed and put on DVD even when I’m not the biggest dub fan is because there’s a segment of anime fandom that are people who like anime but don’t want to read subtitles and also want to watch on a TV. My one sister is like this and in the end she buys almost exclusively manga because she can find so little anime that interests her. When I was starting up my blog she told me that she’d read my site to find shows to buy but she quickly realized that this was not possible. I don’t blame her, of all the shows that I’ve watched and blogged about in 2008 there is a total of two shows – Soul Eater and Spice & Wolf that I could possibly recommend to her to buy and I don’t think she’d like Soul Eater. That leaves Spice & Wolf as the only anime out of the 114 anime that started airing in Japan during 2008 that I could recommend her to buy.

I feel like I should repeat that; for the entire 2008 year of anime, there is only one anime that I could recommend to my sister as being good enough that it’s worth buying on DVD. And these companies complain about the fans – maybe it’s not the fan’s fault.

I realize that 2009 saw a large increase of shows getting quasi-licensed on crunchyroll so by now it’s possible that my title about having to almost having to resort to fansubs may not hold as much water but I’ll leave that to a follow-up article in the future to see how the numbers work out. I want to hold off for a while to see how many of the 2009 shows get physically licensed and which ones will get dubs. Also left for a later article is my thoughts on how exactly to get the North American anime scene going in the right direction; here’s a hint, I don’t think there will be many people who will become fans of anime from having crunchyroll stream subtitled anime.

-
As an aside, if you happen to be looking to buy a good anime series on DVD (maybe for a Christmas present) and want a quality show that will get rewatched more than once, let me point out that Bamboo Blade is coming out soon. And there’s Spice & Wolf as well but it’s coming out the week of Christmas.

Ousama no Lesson

kkpodesky — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:13:10 +0000

Sui is a brand new student at a boarding school. His dorm master is a sexy, studly college student c

Colaboracion de kamekos

patycosplay — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:06:27 +0000

En las últimas actualizaciones en la sección de conventiones, patycosplay.com ha recibido colaboraciones de varias personas en el medio otaku. Entre las cuales podemos mencionar a Carolina Torres (Meimi), José Alanis , Alina, Ricardo Llamas, Manuel Aceves, Kurenai, Anime Holic e Iván Lara (Ivanovich). Este último, residente de la capital mexicana, ha colaborado con cuatro galerías mostrándonos el cosplay de Veracruz, Toluca y el DF.

Iván Lara

Este sitio se conforma de fans del cosplay que fomentan su difusión en todo el país y el mundo. Cualquier colaboración con este mismo fin es bienvenida. Gracias por su aportación.

Y hablando de fotógrafos, quiero mostrarles una foto que tomo Cato, fotógrafo y webmaster de Kosupure:

patycosplay.com por Cato

Cato por Iván

preview - Kurenai's ONEDAY

cavienchien — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 15:37:39 +0000

Hê hê, hôm nay đi chụp hình one day cho Kurenai Phải nói là 1 ngày chụp nhẹ nhàng nhất về ý tưởng, c

Nobody to watch over me Oscar 2010

darkarch — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 19:01:30 +0000

The movie Nobody to watch over me or Dare mo mamotte kurenai has been selected to represent japan as the foreign language film at the 2010 Oscar awards.The nominations for best foreign film will be announced on 2 february and the best foreign film will be selected on 7 march.

Eyes of the Broken Soul chapter : 7

Tenrai Senshi — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:22:18 +0000

Eyes of the Broken Soul Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with Narut

Eyes of the Broken Soul : Chapter 6 - Seeing Eye to Eye

Tenrai Senshi — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 20:20:51 +0000

Eyes of the Broken Soul Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with Naruto.

A Mount of a Different Color

Wilhelm2451 — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 19:06:55 +0000

I am generally not one for faction grinds in WoW or any other game.

Once in a while though I can combine something else with such a grind to make it tolerable. Getting to exalted with the Kalu’ak for example gave me decent experience running their daily quests and I really wanted that fishing pole.

So when Ula decided over the past weekend to take on the tailor role in our little guild, I jumped in to help gather netherweave cloth for the effort. I already knew where I could get some.

I had been working, very slowly on faction with the Kurenai in Nagrand. By killing ogres in Nagrand you get a small boost to Kurenai faction, plus you have a chance to get warbead drops which can been handed over in stacks of 10 for 500 faction with the Kurenai.

I was already at revered with the Kurenai, but I was having a problem motivating myself for that 21K faction point climb to get to exalted.

But as a side benefit from killing the ogres, you end up with a lot of netherweave cloth. So there was the hook and away I went.

By the time Ula was done with netherweave I was past the 16K faction mark and I had a pile of warbeads on me, so I went to turn them in.

The main benefit from Kurenai faction for me was the ability to purchase talbuk mounts from them. So I picked out a nice cobalt blue riding talbuk.

Talbuk in the Snow

I showed this new mount to my daughter. She liked it. It is a bit different. But then she wanted to know when I was going to get a dragon mount to fly around on. That is another faction grind.

I actually bought a couple of the talbuk mounts, which got me another achievement.

Stable Keeper is the achievement for having 10 mounts. At 50 mounts you get the achievement Leading the Cavalry which also comes with an Albino Drake as a reward. I will have to go study the Warcraft Mounts web site to see what it would take me to get there.

Of course, as a paladin and an engineer, Vikund gets a pretty easy four mount boost. Still, 40 mounts to go. I’d probably best start with faction from the original alliance factions first. If I can stand the grind.

kurenai ED1 - "crossing days" by Ryoko Shintani

miothe0ne — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:16:25 +0000

紅 -kurenai- ED1 – 『crossingdays』 – 歌: 新谷良子

BPM: 145.0
Difficulties: 1 / 4 / 6 / 9

This was going into OD6, but it barely missed the 7.5/10 pass average and I can’t be bothered to significantly change the chart (besides stream-ify the chorus since trying to mix vocals and chorus failed).

What I DID change though, is make this file a “proof of concept”. Proving what you ask?
1) How effectively (or not) StepMania caches/loads files called upon by sims.
2) It is feasible to replace ending (and opening) animations with too many stills, with 19 “transition” files and 20 still images.

Enjoy.

Download:
Bemanistyle
Mediafire
Z-i-V (no video)

Contents:
Vorbis audio (cut from single, with ~1.5 measures of DVD audio spliced in)
BG animations (videos and stills, encoded from textless DVD raw)
PNG banner
Lyrics
kurenai CDTitle

History:
2009.08.13 – Public release.

Eyes of the Broken Soul --Chapter 5 – A New Leaf

Tenrai Senshi — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:48:27 +0000

Eyes of the Broken Soul Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I affiliated in any way with Naruto.

Kure-nai

ryukyo06 — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:02:00 +0000

Kurenai
Genre Comedy, Drama, Slice of life, Romance

Plot

Sixteen-year-old Shinkurō Kurenai, a specialist in settling squabbles between people, is one day approached by his employer with the daughter of a powerful plutocratic family asking him to be her bodyguard.

Characters

Shinkurō Kurenai (紅真九郎, Kurenai Shinkurō^?): Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro; The main protagonist of the series. Despite his looks he is a capable and strong worker who works for Benika doing many types of jobs including being the bodyguard of Murasaki. He is trained in martial arts as well as being physically strong and will take any job for Benika, whom he looks up to.

Murasaki Kuhōin (九鳳院紫, Kuhōin Murasaki^?): Voiced by: Aoi Yūki; Murasaki is the seven year old daughter of Souju and Renjo Kuhouin. She is the one being protected by Shinkuro. At first very stubborn and snobbish, she soon lightens up and trusts Shinkuro. She lives with him for protection against her family that has a rule of keeping her in the Inner Sanctuary of their home at all times and never experiencing the outside world until Benika took her. Later in the show she comes to love Shinkuro.

Benika Jūzawa (柔沢紅香, Jūzawa Benika^?): Voiced by: Sawa Ishige; She is Shinkuro’s employer for which he would do anything for out of gratitude for her help when he was young and because he respects her completely. She is a calm and collected person who goes with her intuition. On behalf of Murasaki’s mother last wish she took Murasaki out of the Inner Sanctuary and placed her in the care of Shinkuro who she believes is similar to her.

Yayoi Inuzuka (犬塚弥生, Inuzuka Yayoi^?): Voiced by: Aiko Ōkubo; She works for Benika as one of her subordinates and has a tendency to overstep her bounds with complaints about Shinkuro. She believes that an important job like protecting Murasaki would better be left in more capable and experienced hands.

Ginko Murakami (村上銀子, Murakami Ginko^?): Voiced by: Nozomi Masu; She is a friend of Shinkuro’s who also looks up information for him on the Internet to help. She has been his friend for a long time and also seems to have a crush on him as well as she worries about him when he does jobs for Benika. Ginko is insanely jealous whenever Yuuno is around him.

Yūno Hōzuki (崩月夕乃, Hōzuki Yūno^?): Voiced by: Ryoko Shintani; A girl who Shinkuro lived with when he was young and also his sparring partner. She comes from a family that used to be assassins but still practice the martial arts. Her soft demeanor hides the fact that she is a strong fighter. She also seems to have a crush on Shinkuro and likes to spend time with him. Yuuno has a younger sister named Chizuru, who is five. Their grandfather expects Yuuno and Chizuru to carry on the Houzuki family martial arts skills.

Tamaki Mutō (武藤環, Mutō Tamaki^?): Voiced by: Asami Sanada; She is a university student who lives in the same building as Shinkuro. She can be described as a very flirtatious person, especially towards Shinkuro. She says she is very knowledgeable in the ways of love but doesn’t include her own experiences as she has a hard time keeping a boyfriend. She tends to voluntarily watch Murasaki during the day while Shinkuro is at school.

Yamie (闇絵, Yamie^?): Voiced by: Haruka Kimura; She is yet another tenant of the building Shinkuro lives in. She always wears black and calls herself a very sinful woman. She likes cats and usually keeps to herself except when it comes to Shinkuro and Tamaki. Her attitude can be considered sarcastic most times.

PIC

FIC: Dog Days (12): Sensei

lovesrainscent — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 01:39:08 +0000

Sensei

Relationships aren’t forbidden.

Relationships aren’t discouraged.

But relationships can’t be encouraged.

That’s what the So You’re a New Team Leader rule book said about members dating.

She remembered finding that book particularly useless.

It was overly specific on mundane things – precise times to train on each block and hold.

And completely uninformative on really important things like’”How to handle a kunoichi’s first menses when you’re on an overnight with the girl and two blockhead teammates who want to know ‘what’s wrong?’”

Yes. That book. A complete load of crap.

She’s going to encourage the hell out of this relationship.

Kurenai Chapter 20

alexis152 — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:35:58 +0000

here’s an another release…We’ll continue the series (although I’m the only o

Senses

krizzlybear — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:26:51 +0000

Repost from fanfiction.net. We constantly read in self-help books that writing descriptively meant attending to all five senses, instead of the sights and sounds we are normally inclined to exclusively use. This fic was an exercise in that regard. As always, Shino is the star of the fic!

Shino tried to wiggle his big toe, but couldn’t. For the first 22 hours in his hospital bed, all he could do was breathe and blink. When he had finally made some progress with his recovery some time afterwards, his improvement was limited to speaking and simply moving his head. At least now he could turn to look out the window, but without his sunglasses, his sensitive vision made him an unwelcome spectator of the sunny scenery outside of his room. With no other options, Shino was left to his own devices. All he could do now was wait.

He then turned to the clock that hung on the wall above the door exiting to the hallway. It was 4:15 in the afternoon, and in an exercise in futility, he kept his focus on the minute hand in an attempt to follow it as it slowly moved past each successive number on the timepiece in front of him. Shino failed miserably, as the long arm of the clock was barely halfway between the 3 and the 4 when he refused to subjugate himself to the utter boredom of such a test in patience. Had Rock Lee been his position, he probably would have promised himself to do a thousand push-ups once he had recovered, but Shino was different; he didn’t take such trivial matters so seriously and merely scoffed at his own predicament of absolute vulnerability. This realization demoralized and exhausted him, and he fell into a deep sleep.

–

In his dream, Shino relived the events that resulted in his incapacitation. It was an information-gathering mission near Rain Country, to determine the whereabouts of a hidden Akatsuki base. He was teamed with his fellow Chunins, Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka, and his respected leader, Kurenai Yuuhi. They stopped at a hot springs on the outskirts of the Rain Country, to not only recover from their travels, but to also look for possible leads in regards to the Akatsuki. The sun had recently lowered into the horizon, and team eight began to have their evening meal.

“I’ll taste the food first to check if there’s poison.” Shino said.

The others were not surprised at this remark. Shino’s destruction bugs, or kikai, were capable of purging poisons from their master’s body. This was a gesture of selflessness on Shino’s behalf, since his bugs weren’t 100 percent effective in removing lethal toxins, but sometimes, it was also a sign of gluttony, since he would even offer to “test” his teammates’ food on trivial occasions when they weren’t on missions. It was one of Shino’s subtle, yet likable quirks, and it gradually became a ritual during meals that had brought his team closer together over the years that they had been with each other.

“Hurry up, Shino! I’m starving, and so is Akamaru!”

Kiba stared defiantly at Shino, waiting for his teammate to go through the motions of stealing a bit of his meal. He was always impatient with Shino’s gestures, but he would simply accept the circumstances because he was Shino’s best friend. Akamaru, who was already almost the same size as Kiba, sat on the floor to the left of his master, drooling at the sight of various barbecued meats and fish fillets on the table. The dog had a carnal hunger, and was moments from letting his basic instincts take over.

Hinata smiled politely as she waited with respect for Shino to have a bite of her food. She looked up to him like a big brother, and as an inspiration to become a better kunoichi. He was always there for her when her confidence wavered, and always reminded her that she should strive to be more able to protect those she cared most about, particularly the blonde haired loudmouth who she had just recently seen for the first time in years.

Kurenai eyed the fried pork rolls with an unusually selfish intensity. She had a curious craving for pork that night, and as she realized this, she held her hand against her womb. She secretly spent the night with Asuma the night before her team departed the Leaf Village for their mission. It was one of many discreet encounters between the two, and somehow her most recent encounter left her with the strangest feeling. She did not think much about it at the time, but she decided to err on the side of caution and not have any sake that night. Besides, not only was she possibly carrying a child, but she preferred the taste of domestic brand sake back home, Godaime’s Choice, a local beverage that was not served anywhere else. Regardless, she shifted her focus on Shino as he began to sample his own dish, which consisted of white rice, green vegetables and glazed chicken.

Shino swallowed a morsel of food that contained a bit of the 3 items on his plate. He paused for a moment to observe his bodily reactions as well as the reactions of the insects that lived inside him. At first, he felt no disturbance to his biological functions, yet after a few minutes, he noticed an increased restlessness of the kikai within. He took this as a sign of something ominous, and he attempted to inform his teammates of something amiss.

“Beware! Something is wrong wi-”

He couldn’t muster the words to finish his sentence, as the muscles in his body stiffened, freezing him in his alerted pose. The insects scrambled furiously beneath his skin, trying to purge the poison from his blood vessels as it continued to spread throughout his body. To no avail, the kikai failed to purge the poison, as they were also affected by this unusual chemical composition. One by one, the kikai who intended to consume the substance fell ill to the paralyzing effects. Eventually, even the individuals who did not attempt to rid the toxins were affected, as the poison eventually covered Shino’s entire circulatory system. Motionless, Shino failed to balance his center of gravity, and fell onto the floor, limp and unable to shift his view.

The only things that Shino could see from this point on were the legs of the chairs and table where his team sat. Fortunately, he did not lose his vital senses, and tried to visualize the scene above him based on the sounds he heard.

Shino!

Shino-kun!

It was poison! Hinata! Attend to him! Kiba, protect Hinata!

Right!

Hinata appeared by Shino’s side, and rolled him over to examine his body. She carefully removed his glasses, and cautiously examined his pupils. She placed one side of her head on Shino’s chest and listened to his lungs for passing air, but could only hear short, yet labored breaths.

He’s breathing, but barely! He needs to be tak-

Watch out Hinata!

Shino heard a projectile rip through the air, and the clang of that projectile colliding with another. He felt thuds through the floor as they reached his back. He estimated maybe 10, or possibly 15 individuals suddenly enter their room. He could only hope that they were just goons, and that his team would settle the matter quickly.

As he predicted, they were no match at all against his team. He immediately heard a dogs growl, followed by a sharp snarl and an individual screaming in agony. Then came sounds of numerous blows landing, as well as the various chants of jutsus performed by his comrades. Shino felt 3 or 4 hard thuds through the floor.

Byakugan!

The following noises of impacts were softer, but each was followed by even groans of pain more intense than those caused by the dog. More thuds were felt through the floor, maybe another 4 or 5. That meant that only a few remained.

Shino heard sharp clapping noises, probably from someone forming seals, then heard Kurenai’s voice.

Ninja arts! Fire Prison Jutsu!

There were cries of writhing agony.

OH GOD!

IT BURNS!

MY SKIN IS MELTING!

Shino did not feel any noticeable change in air temperature, and concluded that the remaining enemies were caught in a genjutsu. Hard steps pounded through the floor, and one individual dove across Shino’s field of view, landing on the floor to the left of his range of vision. He saw through the corner of his eye the act of a man rolling across the floor, as if he had caught on fire. Then a vision of Kurenai’s legs passed by him, one of them raising high up outside of his frame of sight and then reappearing on the poor victim’s chest.

The sight of the man on the floor was his last, as his world began to darken. The lack of air from his labored breathing began to take its toll on his consciousness, and he soon blacked out. He could hear echoes from around him as soon as he felt as if he were fading away.

Shino!

He heard his name yelled many times, but at this point it was probably too late to acknowledge their cries.

–

“Shino, you loser! Quit napping!”

The voices saying his name became familiar to him.

“Sh-Shino-kun! Wake up! It’s us!”

“Yes, Shino. We’ve come to visit.”

Shino opened his eyes as he faced the lone window in the room. He was not discomforted, as it was already evening. He turned his head around and saw the faces of his friends. Shino smiled.

“Wipe that stupid grin, you idiot! You had us worried!”

Arf!

Shino’s removed his smile momentarily as soon as he remembered he couldn’t move his body. Hinata and Kurenai helped prop up his torso so that Shino was sitting straight up and at eye level with everyone else. Shino inwardly appreciated that, as he temporarily felt that he wasn’t being looked down upon.

“I’m…sorry, everyone,” Shino said quietly, “for worrying you all.”

He was easily forgiven.

“Don’t worry about it Shino.” Kurenai said, running her hand through his hair. Shino’s cheeks flushed slightly, such that only Kurenai noticed. She smiled. “All that matters is that we came out of that place alive.”

They stayed in his room for the duration of the evening. Hinata rubbed some balm on his legs, trying to alleviate the bedsores that Shino would eventually be able to feel. Kiba told a few jokes about the goons that he beat up at the springs, and Kurenai gladly watched over her pupils as they spent some time together, time that they rarely had ever since they became Chunin. She waved her hands over her flattened stomach again, hoping that her child would be part of a special friendship as her students had.

The short arm of the clock was at the 2, and Akamaru’s yawn signaled the visitors to leave Shino alone to rest. They said their goodbyes and left. Kiba was the last to leave, as he parted with some kind words to Shino.

“Yo Shino. The nurses here are totally hot. The one who was watching over you is even our age!” He started snickering like a dirty old man. “I told her that you single-handedly took down 15 people. She started getting all starry-eyed. You should totally ask her out in the morning!”

With those words he left. Shino was once again left alone to his own musings. OK, he said to himself. Wiggle your big toe. He couldn’t. He smiled. He would have to wait a bit longer before he could leave the hospital. He closed his eyes.

Shino fell asleep, dreaming about cute nurses.

ExpoCosplxy 7

eledgxrillo — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:41:05 +0000

Holx Cxbrones y Cxbroncillxs xD

Yx hxce rxto k no escribix un post pxrx ustedes, pero pues estx es unx ocxsion especixl, xpenxs el pxsxdo sxbxdo se celebro lx 7a edicion de lx convencion expocosplxy. Lx verdxd hubo muchx expectxtivx de mi pxrte con respecto x lx convencion y me desxnimo el hecho de que no nos dejxrxn vender pero bueno, no es que esten obligxdos x hxcerlo.

Por otro lxdo si dire que lx convencion no me convencio del todo O_O, lx gente estxbx un poco desxnimxdx, el invitxdo especixl, lx voz de seiyx , no tuvo mucho tiempo en el escenxrio y lx gente no pxrticipo como debix, txlvez pork muchos xsistentes erxn jovenes y no estxn txn xdentrxdos en el mundo se Sxint seiyx como los mxyores xD

Lx bxndx Rockeo como pudo, pero solo logro xrrxncxr unos xplxusos de los xsistentes que pocx xtencion les dieron, en lo personxl dirix que lx musicx fue buenx, hubierx sido bueno que tocxrxn uno o dos temxs de xnime entre cxnciones propixs puesto que, quierxnlo o no estxbxn en unx convencion xD.

Yx pxrx terminxr, lx orgxnizxcion del evento en generxl tuvo ciertxs cxrencixs, no estxbx muy bien definido el orden de los grupxles, ni que concuso ivx primero y cuxl despues, el problemx de lxs luces (Seguro Tere se xcuerdx xD) y etc….unx listx lxrgx de detxlles que no vxle lx penx mencionxr.

En conclusion opino que Txntos cosplxys xl xño estxn mermxndo txnto el entusixsmo de los Orgxnizxdores como de los xsistentes. Deberixmos preocupxrnos mxs por lx Cxlidxd que por lx Cxntidxd. Orgxnizxdores: deberixn escuchxr mxs lx opinion de sus xsistentes, los mismos concursos y conceptos cxnsxn, en especixl cuxndo hxcen vxrios cosplxys xl xño, muchxs personxs tienen buenxs idexs pxrx mejorxr nuestrxs convenciones, serix bueno rexlizxr encuestxs, sondeos ,etc etc.

Y sin mxs que xgregxr xqui estxn lxs fotos que vinieron x buscxr xD, porfxvor contesten lxs encuestxs xl finxl del post

[Edgxr]

Promo!

Keita: Kurenai

Wed, 27 May 2009 15:54:12 +0000

Just jumped over to Mesarion+ to look for some inspiration and I saw this. The master just never fail to amaze even after all these years. We all know how great his work is so I don’t have to state the obvious xD. Damn… I would love to learn from this guy even for just a day…

More photos over at his site. Keita is also auctioning off this model and while it started off at a modest ~$50 (5000 yen), it has now skyrocketed to insane amounts…

Happy New Year, Shino

krizzlybear — Mon, 11 May 2009 12:38:56 +0000

Author’s note: ffnet repost. I wrote this back in 2006. To this day, it’s one of my absolute favorites. Enjoy!

Shino paced furiously back and forth in front of the Yuhi residence. It was New Year’s Eve, and Kurenai was unable to attend the annual New Year’s Eve festival on because of the flu. Winter was unusually harsh this at time of the year, and Kurenai was one of its unfortunate victims. Determined, Shino stopped and stood by the gates that surrounded the house, and wondered if she was ever going to step out, even for the shortest moment.

It was cold outside, and the midwinter chill crept through Shino’s thick hooded top, and proceeded under his skin, causing the normally unflinching Team 8 prodigy to shiver briefly. He had already waited for several hours in anticipation of her arrival. Like the surroundings, Shino was silent, and was intent on meeting her tonight. He would visit her house to keep her company until midnight, just so she wouldn’t be alone.

The lights inside the house flickered on, and the unbolting of locks on the front door broke the silence, as well as Shino’s moment of self-reflection. A vulnerable, defeated Kurenai appeared through the front door in a purple kimono that had a simple, yet elegant floral pattern above the obi, and snowflakes below it.

“I’m so sorry!” Kurenai shouted, battling a sore throat and sinus, “how long have you been waiting outside? Please, come in.”

Shino nodded, and hopped over the outer gate into her front yard. He casually walked towards the door, and paused midway to observe her kimono. This was attire that Shino was not used to seeing, because unlike her Jonin uniform, it revealed the subtlety of his sensei’s womanly curves. He continued onwards, towards the interior of the Genjutsu-specialist’s home.

Shino had not yet spoken a word, as he first stepped inside, he was inwardly compelled by the simplicity of Kurenai’s house. It was a rickety bungalow that stood alone atop a hill by the old training grounds where she used to practice her techniques. It had fallen apart since then, and provided no more than a nostalgic backdrop for the building. The interior was small and homely, and had an above-adequate view of the rest of the village, well suited for a single woman in her early thirties.

Kurenai invited him to sit down on the lone couch that lay by the main wall of the living room. As Shino positioned himself in the middle of the sofa that seated three, his teacher walked barefoot towards the adjacent kitchen.

“I’m sorry, Shino-kun,” She said regretfully, “but I don’t have any drinks to offer besides shochu. Are you ok with that?”

Shino nodded. He was 17, and from past experiences with his rambunctious father, Shibi, he was familiar with the tastes of hard sake. He couldn’t comprehend how people could stand the throaty sting of alcohol, but accepting Kurenai’s offer was more out of his sympathy towards her delicate state of illness.

Kurenai conspicuously made her way towards the couch with two glasses and a bottle of Godaime’s Choice, a specialty brand of liquor endorsed by Tsunade-sama herself. She settled down beside Shino, and placed the bottle and glasses on the mahogany coffee table in front of them. She proceeded to gently pour the shochu into their respective glasses, and offered one to Shino.

Shino accepted, and took a swig of the spirit. He didn’t particularly like the taste, but he silently enjoyed being around Kurenai, and he wasn’t going to let a dislike of alcohol get in the way of this rare moment.

“Oh,” Shino added, finally breaking his silence, “this is for you.”

He placed his free hand into his pocket, and revealed a small canister. He then put it on the coffee table, next to the shochu bottle.

“It’s from Hinata,” Shino explained, “I told her you were sick, so she made this for you.”

“I see,” Kurenai observed, “give her my thanks next time you meet her.”

“I don’t know,” Shino sighed remorsefully after taking another sip, “She’ll be in Sunagakure by next week.”

It was a shocking decree that hauntingly echoed throughout Konoha a month earlier. The Hyuuga clan, in an attempt to solidify its bloodline, arranged a marriage between their heiress and the Kazekage, Sabaku no Gaara. They had succeeded in negotiating a potent union, at the cost of Hinata and Gaara’s romantic freedom. She would live in the sand village for the rest of her life, away from her family, friends, and most of all, Team 8.

The two sat in silence, finishing their respective glasses, reminiscing of better days with Hinata, Kiba, and Akamaru. After numerous Chunin exam failures, Kiba decided to become a veterinarian. With that, and Hinata’s forceful engagement and moving away, all that was left of the quartet was the two sharing a drink with each other, silently waiting for midnight.

Shino reached for the shochu bottle, and poured another round for Kurenai and himself. The texture of the glass-stained bottle was rough, save for a smooth section where the brand name label was applied. As he filled a glass, a sharp sneezing noise rang his ear. He turned around and noticed a helpless Kurenai wiping her nose in an attempt to clear away her unyielding sinuses.

“It’s winter,” Kurenai admitted weakly, “and kimonos like these don’t do a good job of insulating, despite their comfort.”

Shino concurred. “Yes. Maybe you’d prefer your liquor oyu-wari to keep your body warm. I’ll go get some hot water.”

Kurenai nodded in agreement. She waited patiently, as Shino took his time filling a small pitcher with water from a teakettle that she used earlier for cold medicine. She was impressed with his outward appearance. Shino was always stoic around his friends, probably more than even Sasuke or Neji. She held such great pride that her most talented student grew to be a fearsome warrior, with his ability matched only by his youthful looks.

Shino returned to the couch with hot water in a plastic pitcher. He poured the contents of the pitcher and shochu bottle into a glass, carefully monitoring the relative proportions of each.

Kurenai observed as he poured, and couldn’t resist noticing the intensity behind his darkened specs.

“You’re so intense,” She eagerly admitted, “you’re even stoic when pouring a drink.”

Shino took this as a compliment, and responded with a grin that uncharacteristically revealed a small part of his bleached-white teeth. He finished the first glass, and served it to Kurenai. While he was pouring the same for himself, he noticed a mid-sized picture frame on a nearby lamp table. It was a picture of Kurenai from her earlier years, probably the same age as himself. He couldn’t identify the boy standing next to her, but he could only assume that it was Asuma.

“Is that Asuma in that picture?” Shino asked, as he finished pouring his own glass. He took a sip awaiting a response.

Kurenai hesitated for a moment. She reached for the framed portrait and stared contently.

“Yes. We went to the same Jonin-preparation school when we were teenagers. This picture was taken in the summer, when we…”

Tears began to well up in her eyes. Shino immediately regretted asking a sensitive question like that. It had been several years since the Akatsuki killed Asuma in combat.

“Were you two ever romantically involved?” he asked her.

Kurenai took a sip of her shochu. The smoothness of her drink spread through her mouth and down her throat. Despite holding back her tears, the taste stung sharply as she began to cry. Trying to save face in front of Shino, she took a deep breath and responded.

“We were.” She explained. “We dated for a long time, when we were in the academy. But when we were promoted to Jonin, we decided to just become friends, because of the associated risks of having a relationship at that level.”

It all started to make sense for Shino. Many years worth of speculation suddenly vanished, and he felt like the mysterious aura surrounding her just dissipated. He could even relate with her history, having previously been romantically involved, only to stop after being a Jonin himself.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Shino replied, finished his second drink. He preferred the warm style of serving shochu, since it helped him forget about the bitter cold of winter’s night. It hardly snowed in Konoha, but the starkly low temperatures reminded its inhabitants that seasons were always changing, and the way things were one day would never be the same the next.

“It’s okay,” Kurenai weakly acknowledged, “it’s all in the past now, and I’ve come to terms with myself and his passing on.”

Silence hung sharply in the air, only to be broken by the eerie chime of eleven o’clock. As this would be the last moment together this year, they would later intend on making it count.

“Now’s not the time to dwell on the past,” Shino sagely remarked, “but rather celebrate it.”

Kurenai, inspired by his words, perked up without hesitation. She took her glass, half-filled, and raised it in the air towards Shino. The kikaichu-user responded in kind, lifting his drink towards hers.

“Kanpai.”The clang of colliding glasses emitted a soothing tone to the shinobis’ ears. They brought their glasses to their mouths and finished the remains of their spirits. They did the same for another round of shochu, and then another.

Shino was the first of the two to reach his limits of tolerance. He tried not to embarrass himself in front of his sensei, but failed to see the figure next to him sharply. He adjusted his shades, and by failing to improve his visual focus, he gave up, and removed his glasses, placing them gingerly on the coffee table.

This was the first time he had taken off his darkened specs in front of anyone. Kurenai stared intently into Shino’s orbits, and was amazed at what she saw.

“Shino-kun,” She said, with a tinge of inebriation, “I’ve never seen your eyes before. They’re quite remarkable.”

Shino, slightly shaken by her comments, felt a slight flush in his cheeks; however, the combination of Kurenai’s slightly intoxicated vision and his hood casting a shadow over his face hid his atypical blush.

A “thanks” was all that Shino could muster as a response. His eyes were definitely unique. They were a hue of darkened navy blue, highlighted by slight whisper of sapphire around his pupils. As Kurenai stared, she was entranced in its deepness.

Shino inwardly sighed as he thought about numerous instances where he would be lost in her eyes, but would get caught. As Kurenai leaned towards him in awe, Shino didn’t seem to mind as she was having her sweet, sweet revenge.

After a long, deliberated look, Kurenai chuckled internally while the vessels in her cheeks began to swell, forming a slightly cherry colour. Unlike Shino, she had no hood to hide her blush. In his mind, however, he concluded that her now-rouged cheeks were a perfect shade of red to complement the lavender of her kimono.

It was 11:20. The simple pleasures of keeping company was intensely felt between the two as they downed further rounds, eventually emptying the remains of the shared bottle. Shino, well known for his quiet demeanour, was a more social individual when he drank. He wasn’t fully consumed by intoxication, yet was willing to vocally share with his drinking partner thoughts normally kept to himself while sober.

“Hey, Kurenai-sensei,” Shino slurred, “do you, um, remember the time when Naruto farted in Kiba’s face at the first Chunin exam?”

The thought quickly came to Kurenai’s mind. She was unable to respond, as she broke out into hysterical laughter as she reminisced.

“HA! Yes! I do!” Kurenai replied, eyes teary from amusement.

Shino was beaming. He realized he enjoyed recalling the “good old days” of his former team, and continued to bombard his teacher with recollections of better times. As the clock ticked towards its final minutes of the year, the two shared their fondest moments.

At 11:58, their sobriety returned. They only had a few moments to reflect on the days to come, and by returning to reality, they began to realize the difficult obstacles that they were to overcome, as they would say goodbye to the year, now behind them.

Not a sound was made between them, as they both inwardly sighed.

“Shino,” Kurenai spoke first, “when did you become so strong?”

“I don’t know.” Shino said calmly, and succinctly. “It’s probably the way you trained us.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Kurenai replied, disappointingly. “The world around you is changing so drastically, and yet you are able to mature at your own pace. That’s what I love the most about you.”

“Oh.”

Shino was allowed a few moments to absorb Kurenai’s remarks. He was at first confused about the intentions behind her words, but began to carefully and deliberately plan out the words with which he would eventually respond.

Shino stood up. Kurenai attentively watched him pace back and forth throughout the room with the same intensity earlier that night when she first saw him outside the house. Their moment of mutual tension was conveniently interrupted by loud bangs coming from outside. Shino curiously crept towards the door, and stepped outside onto the porch overlooking the festivities. Kurenai hastily followed suit.

Fireworks were flaring into the empty night sky from the festival below. Shino lazily leaned on the porch railing, as he stared intently into the scene before him. Kurenai stood in a spot right next to him, allowing the smallest possible distance between them. She remembered her flu, and felt defeated and vulnerable once again as she harshly sneezed.

Shino was quick to notice. He removed his hooded top, and gently laid it over his sensei’s delicate shoulders. Kurenai gripped his offering close, accidentally touching his hand with hers. They paused. Without any thought, Shino kept his hand over her shoulder as he held her tight. It was midnight, and Shino could not think of himself being any happier than he was at that moment. No memory of Team 8 could ever compare to the sensation he suddenly felt as he turned towards his special person. Despite being a warrior renowned for his thought and cunning, he found the words in his heart instead.

“Kurenai,” he said softly, “No matter what happens, we’ll always be a team.”

She blushed, and responded by pressing her lips against his warm cheek.

“Happy New Year, Shino-kun.”

Kurenai TV-Com

Lightmaker — Fri, 01 May 2009 04:54:21 +0000

Heute gibt’s einen kleinen Nachschlag von Kurenai:

Kurenai – Special “TV-Commercials”

Ich habe mir von Kurenai mal das Special mit den TV-Commercials rausgepickt, weil die wirklich ganz witzig gemacht sind. Leider gibt es noch keinerlei Sub davon, also habe ich versucht, mich selbst an die Übersetzung zu machen. Da mein Japanisch aber noch in den Kinderschuhen steckt, hat Yoru sich freundlicherweise angeboten mir dabei zu helfen, denn sein Japanisch ist wohl doch ein gutes Stück besser als meines. Vielen Dank dafür, Yoru. Und jetzt viel Spaß mit den TV-Commercials !

- Duschen auf japanisch -

Download per Torrent:

- Kurenai Special TV-Commercials - Torrent -

Download per XDCC:

- Noushisubs IRC Channel -

Komplette Info:

- Alles über Kurenai -

PS: Zunächst mal gibt’s das Ganze nur über Torrent,
etwas später dann auch über Bot und vielleicht DDL.

SRDX Sayaka Kurenai by Yujin

Roy — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 04:53:54 +0000

So yah couple of notes before starting the review. In case you haven’t noticed yet,BP’s theme changed. I felt the other,more simple theme was getting kinda boring since almost everyone is upgrading to more better and cooler looking blogs nowadays and the fact that my header was really small. So I changed it ^^ just wanted to let you know if your like “WTF,what happened here,this isn’t blueplains!” Also I have finished building the Zwei ^^ and he is awesome! Should be reviewing him around Wednesday or Thursday. I thought he came with a stand,but he didn’t…so had to order one,so that’s why I’m waiting to review him to get some good poses ^^ OK enough of me rambling,on to the review ;D

So yah don’t know much about this figure except for the fact that she is some magical girl and her name is Sayaka Kurenai :/ I don’t know if she’s from an anime or a manga or just made up so sorry for knowing complete nothingness about her

She is kinda cute and her detail is a little better then Kamichu’s. Shes got seem lines jogging down her leg but not too bad as they don’t really show in the pictures. Her cloak can be removed to view a more maid like look I guess. She comes with two other face expressions making three in total. Ones smiling,ones sorta sad or bored,and the other is more angry or passionate. I much prefer the smiling one though ^^ She also comes with two hands,one for holding the weird cradle or rattler and the other one,well,the other one looks like shes rocking out XD

Oh,and about the pictures,decided to go with a more natural look instead of messing with the settings all the time,it’s less time consuming and provides a more plain look. Also sorry for the bad lighting and the occasional flash,it was cloudy out so it wasn’t bright in the room and didn’t have a lamp or anything and I was about to go somewhere so I took the pictures in a rush :/

Anyways on to the pictures

She’s a Rockstar!!

Well that about sums it up,again sorry for bad lighting and blurry pictures. Next will be my lovely Throne Zwei so here’s something to keep you waiting for ;D

Piece!

Tomomi's Escapades

Endou — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 01:56:58 +0000

Yeeeeeah today everyone at lunch was high. We were being extremely gay. And I mean that in both ways

Kurenai Review

sudeki — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 09:51:45 +0000

Animation Production – Brains Base

Director - Kou Matsuo

Based on a light novel series this show is about Kurenai Shinkurou a 16 year old high school student in a modern day japan. Shinkuro has been trained in martial arts and works as a mediator sent to resolve disputes. The series revolves around 1 job where he is to protect a young girl of an influential family. Director Kou Matsuo is most notable for directing the Rozen Maiden series.

This show was not what I had expected, it is very much a comedy as it is an action drama. The twelve episodes keep the story flowing and highly compelling. It deals with the concept of growing up on two fronts with the two main characters which result in both humorous and dramatic outcomes.

I very much enjoyed the comedic moments of the show which encompass the issues that arise from a person that has been highly sheltered now forced to live in a relatively poor environment. The side characters are excellent providing variety in the comedic approaches. The show does a good job of characterization which allows it to be serious when it wants to.

This is very much an underrated show that would appeal to a wide range of anime fans. But be warned people who have no heart will not enjoy this show at all.

Rating – A

Genre – Drama, Action, School, Coming of Age, Comedy Length – 12 Episode Series Year – 2008

Currently not licensed in the US. Originally light novel, adapted into manga then anime

Animes de abril: Conclusión (slowpoke)

nuuk — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 11:19:04 +0000

Empecemos:

-Code Geass R2: Pues fue la serie que me esperaba, llena de Plot Twists y lulz, el final sin duda lo mejor de la serie.

-Soul Eater: Después de ver cuarenta episodios no me he cansado xD, a ver cómo acaba y hago una perryreview.

-RD Sennou Chousashitsu: Se ganó un drop a los ¿3? capítulos.

-Macross F: Otra de las fuertes de la temporada con un principio de serie bestial.

-Nabari no Ou: Demasiado gay el protagonista.

-Chi’s sweet home: Drop a los 7 capítulos (14 min en total : P).

-Kurenai: Como cabia esperar, una serie sencilla, agradable y con buenos personajes.

-Ikkitousen: Great Guardians: Epic Fanservice, serious business.

-Zero no Tsukaima: Princess no Rondo: Risas aseguradas, con una excelsa versión hecha por DvF :silba:.

-Gundam 00: Aunque los personajes tengan -7 de carisma, la serie se deja ver y los gundams siempre molan.

-Nijuu-Mensou no Musume: Como Macross, empieza muy bien la serie, pero con el paso de los capítulos decae, de momento sólo he visto 21 pero espero que el final no defraude. Versión Recomendada.

Si os habéis leído todo eso, hay premio.