What’s your blood type? Saya Otonashi

Anime: Blood+

Name: Saya Otonashi

Race: Chiroptera

Birthdate: August 4

Age: 173 years old (appears 16 years old)

Hair: Black

Eyes: Brown (normally), Red (when fighting)

Height: 5′2″ (157 cm)

Weight: 89 lbs (40.4 kg)

Status: Chiroptera assasin

Seiyuu: Eri Kitamura

*****

Evil beware…

Armed with a sword uniquely powered by the wielder’s own blood, Saya scours the area looking for chiropterans, creatures born from the blood of a Queen.

Saya herself is a Queen, but it is her twin sister Diva who plans to turn the world into a place filled with chiropterans.

Saya was born out of a dead chiropteran in a time too long to recall. She has since then been taken care of by the man who took her in. But she was not alone as she soon found out. In a tower in the same place was her twin sister Diva.

When she invited Diva to sing for her brother’s birthday, she never thought her own sister would be evil enough to kill the guests, turning them into creatures called chiropterans and Saya having to destroy them. Thus began her mission…

But as Queens went, Saya had to go in a hibernation cycle for a long time. Going forward to the 21st century, Saya lived as a high school girl with no recollection of her past.

She met Hagi and found out something odd about herself when her wounds healed instantly but neither Hagi nor David of the Red Shield gave her a hint of her past. All she knew was that she had a mission to fight and destroy the chiropterans.

In the end, she had to destroy the very being closest to her. As her blood is poison to Diva, she used it to finally end the evil Queen. Then she thought of destroying herself together together with her twin’s babies. But does she really want to disappear forever?

*****JHAJR*****

Keeping things in check: The Bernardelli Agents

Anime: Trigun
_____

Name: Meryl Stryfe

Alias: Derringer Meryl

Age: 22 years

Hair: Black

Eyes: Gray

Status: Employee (Bernardelli Insurance Society)

Weapon: Deringger pistol (around 50 pieces)

Seiyuu: Hiromi Tsuru

_____

Name: Milly Thompson

Alias: Stungun Milly

Age: 23 years

Hair: Brown

Eyes: Blue

Status: Employee (Bernardelli Insurance Society)

Weapon: “Stun gun” (multi-barrel riot gun)

Seiyuu: Satsuki Yukino

*****

Transcript of an interview with a humanoid being who reluctantly refused to be called “humanoid thypoon”.

Interviewer: Please go ahead and say what you know about the two insurance agents.

Humanoid:

They’re like polar opposites. One is around as tall as I am (she towers over everybody) while the other is so short I could fit her on the palm of my—no, I’m just kidding. D’ya have any doughnut??

These two are hot on my trail—I mean, on this man called Vash the Stampede. I hear the guy’s extremely good-looking and popular with the girls. But I digress.

The short one—I think her name is Meryl—has this really cool set of derringer style pistols under her coat. The first time she showed them, I thought she would be wearing nothing under the coat. I think she’s rather cute.

I can’t put up with her hotheaded nature though. I think she needs to relax and not be too logical. I bet she had this impression that Vash would be this terrifying-looking man.

Interviewer: Is he not?

Humanoid: Do I look menacing to you?!—I mean, you haven’t seen Vash? (chuckles nervously)

Anyway, the other girl—the taller one—her name is Milly. Now, for someone who look like a giant Amazon woman, Milly is actually the gentle and mild one (maybe also the loving one, because I hear she has lots of siblings).

She’s naïve, optimistic and I like that. But she has a huge gun that looks scary although I hear is nonlethal. D’ya have more doughnuts??

Interviewer: Do you think these two will ever catch Vash the Stampede?

Humanoid: Well, I don’t think they’re out to catch me…they just don’t want me to cause more damage. Wait, did I say “me”? I mean Vash the Stampede. (chuckles nervously)

*****JHAJR*****

Please Save My Earth (?): Arjuna

Anime: Earth Girl Arjuna

Name: Juna Ariyoshi

Age: 16 years old

Hair Color: Purple

Eye Color: Violet

Grade: Tenth

Title: Avatar of Time

Seiyuu: Mami Higashiyama

*****

Juna was just an ordinary student until she and her boyfriend met an accident on the road. She died. Or at least that’s according to the medical facilities. Her soul actually lingered and met a young man who made a deal with her to work with him in exchange for her life.

Now alive and kicking enemy butts, Juna works as the Avatar of Time, an entity she herself had never imagined. As the Avatar of Time, Juna has the mission to fight creatures called “Rajaa” that seems to wreck havoc on earth.

But Chris Hawken, the man whom she made the deal with, never approve of her actions as the Avatar of Time. He constantly hounded her with questions that sure made her confused about her mission.

As an Earth maiden, Juna begins to live a life with deeper understanding of the Earth’s processes and how everything in this world are linked together, forming a greater whole. But even the Rajaa?

Soon, Juna becomes entangled in a mission to save Earth from its own inhabitants and as she gains better understanding of how this small world works, she begins to fully understand what her mission is.

Becoming one with the target, Juna learns that the Rajaa are not the enemy. So who is?

****JHAJR*****

Devil in White Robe (?): Misa Amane

Anime: Death Note

Alias: Second Kira

Birthdate: December 25, 1984

Age: 19 years old

Hair: Blonde

Eyes: Blue

Blood Type: Type AB

Height: 5’0” (152 cm)

Weight: 79.4 lbs (36 kg)

Body measurement: 30-20-28

Occupation: Model/Actress

Seiyuu: Aya Hirano

*****

Sure, Misa is the Second Kira, eliminating people off at just a brush of her pen on the Death Note. But could it also be possible to think of Misa Amane as a nice person? A hero? Or an…angel? It may sound absurd but evidenced by some accounts in her life, let us take a Shinigami-eye closer look to see how Misa may be one of the nicest persons in the world of Death Note.

Misa as actress and model

It isn’t a surprise that as a model and actress, Misa has a number of followers who love her. And it’s obvious why. Misa has the personality of a sociable and likeable person. She loves the crowd. But she can also be very polite to people she just met. Do not fooled by the gothic clothing and her Shinigami eyes, this blonde chick could be an angel deep inside.

Misa and Shinigami love

Jealous, a Shinigami fell in love with Misa and rescued her from death by writing her killer’s name on his notebook. And although Rem, the Shinigami who came to her, did not swear her love for her at first, in the end the Shinigami also sacrificed herself in order to save Misa. See, it’s not just people. Even otherwordly beings like Misa Amane.

Misa and Light / Kira

Misa fell blindly in love with the original Kira and Light Yagami. She followed his every order and shared the blame for his sins. She even went as far as getting a Shinigami eye, reducing her lifespan. Isn’t she so nice? She would give up everything for unrequited love.

So whadoyousay? Can’t we look at Misa Amane differently?

-short article originally written by Tota Matsuda with additional information by Kanzo Mogi

*****JHAJR*****

Remember those Celestial Scouts?

Once upon a time there was a cat that can talk. No, this isn’t Puss in Boots. The cat had a band-aid on her forhead and was laughed at by a group of kids.

Then, there came a princess. Well, she wasn’t aware of her immense status yet. But as soon as she helps the poor cat, her first step to find out the truth about herself began.

Thus started her mission to punish wrongdoers in the name of…the moon.

It was no doubt that Sailormoon was one of the most popular anime in Japan. And since its first airing locally in this country, that truth was felt by Filipinos.

Sailormoon rivaled the popularity of shonen titles like Yu Yu Hakusho, Slam Dunk, and Dragonball Z which were also exteremely watched at the time.

Hmmm…now why was that?

In Japan, Sailormoon was the first shoujo manga (and anime) that placed the heroines in tougher, more life-threatening situations and serious plots such as world destruction. Here in the Philippines where not a lot of shoujo anime have been shown prior to Sailormoon, it was taken as more like an action-filled show featuring female characters (as opposed to the other titles mentioned above).

Regardless of the weekly repetitive episodes (monster of the week theme), its popularity did not wane. Children gathered in front of the television week after week, seeing the development of Sailormoon and the gathering of the other Sailor Scouts. Grown ups probably watched it for the variety of scantily clad girls.

Sailormoon had the elements of both shoujo and shonen titles, which pretty much explains why it has become so popular. Every episode is packed with good laughs, fun action, and good lessonsof friendship and love.

But perhaps the best thing about the local version of this wonderful series was the voice acting. There is no denying that Filipino dubbing anime is as good as the original Japanese version and the local version of Sailormoon was no exception. Usagi’s voice was perfect and sounded immature; Amy’s sounded calm and kind; Rei’s had the strength and temper; Makoto’s voice showed toughness; and Minako’s was cheery and flirty.

In this country, Sailormon was one of the few animes of the 90’s. Or at least until we learned that those Literature stories ran by a local channel back then were actually animes as well. Yet it was definitely one of those few intended for teens.

Sailormoon ran here from mid 90’s to early 00’s and surprisingly by only one station (ABC 5). Perhaps it was a testament to the anime’s strength which was not seen in other titles at the time (as most were shown with complete episodes after transferring to a different channel).

Now, with the emergence of Japanese live-action adaptations in this country, when will the Sailormoon live-action make its way to our shores?

*****JHAJR*****

The Melancholy Of Haruhi Fujioka!?

Anime: Ouran High School Host Club

Birthday: February 4th

Age: 16 years old

Hair: Brown

Eyes: Brown

Height: 5’ 11” (155 cm)

Blood Type: Type O

Status: Ouran Scholarship Student, Ouran Host Club member

Favorite Subject: Classic Japanese, English, World History

Host Type: Natural

Seiyuu: Maaya Sakamoto

*****

Was it good fate that had lead Haruhi Fujioka to the halls of Ouran High School and through the walls of the famous Ouran High School Host Club? Nah! Probably the lack of it.

As soon as Haruhi made it inside the Ouran High Club HQ, things started to crumble and fall down for and on this petite lady.

Such a situation is a cause of melancholy. Poor young scholar… And to think she only wanted a quiet place to read.

For if not for the host club members’ insistence to make her stay and enjoy their company, she would have avoided the one accident that started her high school life swirling like a violent whirlpool. That wretch*** vase would have been in perfect shape and condition.

Hence, she would have avoided having the biggest debt she could ever have in her entire life.

If not for the wretc*** vase, she would have lived a simple life as a student and not have to work for the Ouran Host Club. She would never have to put up with dressing as a boy and mingling with ladies from her school.

Heck, she wouldn’t have to put up with the antics of the Host Club president Tamaki Suoh.

If not for the Host Club, she wouldn’t have to contend with the ladies of Lobelia Academy and their antic equal or even worse than that of Tamaki’s.

If not for Tamaki, her biggest fear would never have been discovered.

And yet…

If not for Tamaki, no one else would have been there to comfort her as she faces her fear of thunder; if not for Lobelia Academy, only the boys from the Host Club would ever know her true gender; she would also never witness Tamaki flare up in complete jealousy though he would never admit it.

If not for the wretch*** vase, she would never have found a group of unique individuals from the Host Club; and if not for the Host Club, she would never have found a happiness and comfort that most girls from her school would pay to have.

So perhaps, it was good fate all along that brought her to Ouran High School and into the heart of the Ouran High School Host Club.

*****JHAJR*****