Top 5

Finally, my very own top 5! Anyway, this list is a compilation of 5 of my most favorite scenes in an anime series. Why scenes, and not characters? As the old adage goes, a picture paints a thousand words; likewise, a particular scene can catapult a series to iconic fame. A character presents only one side of the story; a scene encompasses everything: the mood, the interaction and dynamics, and, at some point, the story itself.

I only have 5 scenes, mainly because I have only seen a modest number of anime series. At present, I would peg the number of anime series I have watched at around 15. And not all of them are good.

A lot of hardwork went in to this post, from the initial tally to the screenshots themselves. Before I go to my list, a few credits (and links) to where credit is due:

Jev, for the idea of the top 5
Janice, Cyril, Jilly and Jo, the first two for introducing me to anime, and latter two for kindly lending me their own anime goodies
AND
Autumn Rain Screenshots Archive, basically the source of all my pictures here.

RIGHT-O!

My TOP 5 BEST ANIME SCENES!

#5 Ayumi's Confession

Anime: Honey and Clover
Episode: ??

I'm a sucker for romantic animus. Honey and Clover has large quantities of sweet, pastel-colored romance, especially the tension between Mayama and Ayumi. While the pontifications of both Ayumi and Mayama are a bit exhausting, their interactions and growth, however, are excellent. Definitely one of the better anime under the slice of life genre.

The scene above is my favorite Honey and Clover scene: Ayumi gets drunk, and Mayama carries her home (Piggyback!! The most romantic ride of all!!). On the way, Mayama talks about how he cares for Ayumi, in that special friendly way. Ayumi then starts crying and mumbles, "Mayama, I love you" over and over again, to which Mayama simply replies with a monosyllabic "Yeah."

I love this scene to pieces. It's poignant, bittersweet and romantic at the same time. The music, sparse conversation and the animation captures all of the aforementioned three perfectly.

#4 "I was born to smother you with flowers.."

Anime: Monster
Episode: 6

Okay, that's a screenshot of an email inbox. Pretty plain at first sight, but when Nina reads the email from the unknown sender, swoon! Yes, you guessed it..."I was born to smother you with flowers.." How poetic is that??

Anyway, the email turns out to be from Nina's twin brother, Johann, bad-ass psycho killer, who returned to take his little sister away.

Monster is a great show, even if it's highly underrated. Great story, well-developed characters...a psychological series any mystery and horror buff will enjoy.

If someone said those lines to me, I'd really lose it. Seriously.

#3 Departure

Anime: Full Metal Alchemist
Episode: 25

I love Maes Hughes. He's the ultimate Kodak guy: loves his little girl, loves his wife, carries lots of pictures of his family, blackmails people into buying giant teddies for his daughter..the quintessential father and husband.

So when Hughes dies, I was naturally devastated. This scene, together with beautiful music, has him waving at Edward at the train station. Unknown to Ed, Hughes was already dead at that time, after discovering vital information about the Philosopher's stone. This picture became my wallpaper for weeks. It speaks of so many emotions: sorrow, pain, joy. Oh, Hughes-sama, I do miss you!

I'm partial to Hughes, but even if I weren't, this scene would still be the best scene in FMA!

#2 Spike and Julia

Anime: Cowboy Bebop
Episode: 26

Ah, the scene/picture that made me take a second look at Cowboy Bebop. That's Julia and Spike in bed, and it made me realize, "Whoa! Spike is a man!". And that's all that matters!

Spike's manliness aside, Cowboy Bebop is perhaps one of the most famous anime series ever. And for good reason. This series has got everything, with hardly a flaw in it. The music, the animation..just perfect. I highly recommend this one, if not for the picture above then for this:

The runner up for my favorite Cowboy Bebop scenes. This is Spike, after his duel with Vicious. Before falling down, he simply ends it all with one word: "Bang."

And finally, the number 1 scene...

#1 Hybrid Rainbow

Anime: FLCL/Fooly Cooly
Episode: 6

My most favorite scene in the whole, effing world! Naota with his guitar, gazing up to the skies, atop a rubble. I can't even begin to describe what I see in this picture: pride, youth, potential, ambitions...ah, I can go on forever.

Another thing: this scene is played out with the background music of 'Hybrid Rainbow', courtesy of the Pillows, making this one of the most iconic scenes I have ever seen. I mean, you don't need words to end this 6-part OVA; the picture tells it all.

"Can you feel, can you feel that hybrid rainbow..."

Scribble. Save. Junk. Recycle!

Yar. I suddenly got this zen to arrange my blog. Switch on, log on and whoa! 4 pending drafts!! I've been lazy. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Anyway, since I've got nothing to update, Ima cheat and condense all 4 drafts into one, shiny, fluffy and spanking-new entry. Woot!

First entry: A rant against neighbors coming over at my place to get their BPs taken...at 8 in the morning! That's literally dawn!! Everytime this happens, I have to wake up, groggily take blood pressures, listen to the litany of excuses my clients (?!) make up for NOT taking their medicine, dispensing health lessons (yikes!), yada, yada.

I try my hardest to explain that: 1. Anemia is not related to BP, 2. Sometimes, all you need to do is lie down and rest to get rid of the woozy, dizzy feeling, 3. Yes, your BP will shoot up if you miss your maintenance meds, 4. No, you shouldn't alter your medical regime to fit your needs/whims; your doctor does that for you and 5. Can you please drop by at a later time next time, say, 9:30 am, to have your BP taken, where, by that time, I will be wide awake and more than happy to serve humanity.

Second and third entries: Half-hearted attempt to document my anime viewing watchlist and habits, starting with Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, True Tears and Shigofumi.

I. am. watching. ^^^. And I am loving them to death.

Yeah, and here I am, supposedly literate.

Fourth entry: My most recent, ehm, office rant, was about the lovely office printer and the people who exploit it.

I bought a new ink toner, installed it and became everyone's output slave. Literally, everyone in the office wanted me to print this, print that, 2 copies please, when, in reality, they all had their own office printers waiting for some action. I just think it's unfair to leech off my department's resources; I mean, they don't offer me the use of their printers when I run out of ink, that's for sure.

To make sure that the printer ink lasts long, I toggled the printer settings to EconoMode. Fwe, bland printouts all the time, unless I'm in the office to personally handle the matter. Fooooo!

Anyhow, yesterday, I invited JC to check out my blog over at blogspot. I felt weird when he said he didn't get it, which then made me think about the merits of blogging. Should I really do it? What for, anyway, when no one reads it? Now I'm being overly emo. So what if no one reads my, uhm, crap?? Doing my blog makes me look like I'm working at the office, and I actually like it, even if I don't make sense half the time :o

Who knows, I may just post something useful. Eventually.

Right-o. Meh thinks I'd stop cross-posting from now on. Or not.

Later, later, later.

Animated Gifs by ME!

Random SZS images thrown in together to make my first gif animated image. Whee!

It's a pretty simple image, not that creative. You have to click on the photo to see it move.

*Off to practice some more on the animator program*

EDIT:

And, immediately after the first comes my second try, this time, featuring Toph the Earthbender. Again, clicky on the image to see the animation.

:o

Updates!

Another office update (it's all going to be office updates from here on, seeing as nothing exciting ever happens to me anyways), so here, here!

First of all, added a notch on my achievement list, after I scored a coup with the closing of another sponsorship deal! Nothing major, nothing REALLY big, but I did secure some sponsorship money to cover a few expenses here and there. I feel, like, really good about it. No, good is underrated; I'm euphoric! Seriously, after months of calls and follow-ups, getting that approval is a fantastic feeling XD High five for the NOOBIE, jiggedy jig!!

This month, I've got LOTS to do. It can't be helped, since I'm reporting to three bosses these days. One, I've got to compile a portfolio of sorts for the Task Force Siembrada, then I've got to arrange a PowerPoint presentation to go along with it (People at the office seem to think I'm a computer whiz or something :3).

Then there's the Hip Hop Dance Competition coming in. It seems to be going well; last meeting, we had a substantial amount of people who attended. Still, I have to chase a few more people, get things done and moving, and of course, the staple exercise of drafting and sending letters.

Another thing: I'm installing anti-virus thingies on the laptop. After a few installation go's, nothing still happens. So, yeah, that's another cargo which refuses to leave my head. Serious OCD issues are arising, me thinks.

Anyhow, my nerves have been really frayed ever since I started functioning as an executive secretary. I've been asked to go on Saturdays (my friggin' rest day!!) to type a seven-page document in an hour (I should have had a secretarial elective). Most important still, I can't absent myself from work; I never know when the boss' is going to saunter in and pop me some files to save and print. So, there goes my lovely schedule.

This is an update, to be subtitled later as a work rant.

Hunh, I've been having frequent headaches lately. Must be from all the hours spent in front of the monitor. Also, I haven't been able to sleep comfortably lately; my itty-bitty head is full of deadlines and dates.

As if I wasn't busy or anything, I enrolled myself for the IELTS review, with my sights poised for the blessed horizon of New Zealand. So, aside from my work schedule, I've got 5pm-8pm review sessions, which I attend all alone. Then, this coming week, lectures on a transcriptionist course (Whoo, how to spell transcriptionist?? Thank God for the spell checker!) will also begin, also at a 5pm-8pm schedule. I'm crazy. But these things will break the monotony of office work nicely.

Finally, (unless I remember something rant-worthy) I visited Brent Hospital this afternoon, my first exposure to the medical culture since I graduated. Anyways, I was ordered there by my boss to deliver something for a confined relative of his. I'm not suppose to be admitting this or anything, but I felt really happy to be in the hospital.

I dunno, everything was so familiar and cozy; I was confident enough to use the exit door as an entrance door. Anyhow, it made me realize how much I want to start working as a nurse, to actually practice what I've been taught and trained to do for four bloody years. At least I'd know what I'm doing (Marathon read later: Medical Surgical textbook! Woot!)

Oy vey. Just now, my boss told me to arrange the org website. It went like this (Thoughts and curses are in italics):

Boss (B): "You know a website?"
Me (M): "Which one?" (I know dozens; even yaoi and yuri sites, which have manga scan--er, where was I?)
B: "The org's site."
M: "Ive seen it" (It's rotting in domain hell)
B: "Know how to fix it?"
M: "Er, no." (Shit! I'm a nurse for crying out loud!)
B: "Okay, so you're gonna manage it from now on."
M: "But.." (*Sweatdrop*)
B: "We're gonna add some stuff, update it."
M: "I suppose I could ask Kuya Chris to teach me." (Oh effing, bloody, shit!)
B: "Can we add the [insert department name] newsletter in the website?"
M: "I suppose so. I'm gonna ask Kuya--" (Kuya Chrriiiiis!!)
B: "Good. Do it."
M: "Yeah. Sure" (Slam dunk, Jas.)

I am so going to demand a major pay raise for this.

Venting it all on Veoh

For the nth time, I am trying my hardest to finish Episodes 11 and 12 of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Judging from the buffering state of the episode window, this day is NOT the day.

Now, this is why I hate using Veoh.

It's too damned slow.

Fridays and Promotions

I do look forward to Fridays.

Heck, it's my favorite day of the week. Not an entirely original choice, though, as I know at least 10 people of the same opinion. Not only do I get closer to ending my 6-month contract, Fridays are also my splurge-days; senseless shopping and eating sprees, designed to make my pocket lighter.

My latest Friday splurge involved treating Ate Teresa to KFC, buying some DVDs for weekend viewing and finally, purchasing the Neil Gaiman book that I had been crushing on since the Christmas season.

Update-roo! I have been promoted! From an unknown position, I have been elevated to the status of executive secretary, on the merits that I type an average of 42 words per minute (according to the latest Typer Shark Deluxe trial) and that I am always hanging around the office anyway. I took this as my boss' way of saying, "I'm giving you something to do since you're always on your ass for the whole friggin' day."

The whole promotion thing began when my boss looked for a computer where he could type his many memos. The main PC in my jurisdiction was fried, because of my many, erm, miscellaneous activities and the computer in the President's office was down as well (Accordingly, it's down due to some technical glitch; I think it's down because it's connected to my main PC and some of the "things" I've dloaded found its way there, and the rest, is history. But I didn't tell them that :3).

That left my laptop as the only available option. Problem is, laptop's are rly hard to use; small keyboard spaces, no mouse attached, etc. and etc... And so, I ended up typing the whole thing, with the boss behind me dictating his thoughts and corrections.

Right-o. So far, I have typed memos and minutes, erased whiteboards, refilled some whiteboard pens, took more minutes, printed articles and even MORE minutes, that really, it should be called HOURS already. Lame joke, I know.

Anyways, despite the constant danger of suffering a major coronary, being a secretary with a lurker boss has its own rewards. One major and important point: I don't dare open a yuri site with my boss around ;/ The laptop has this uncanny tendency to conk out everytime it loads a page.

My conscience is pretty much spotless. :o

2008

Happy 2008! Happy New Year!

From Kayeh:
Optimists stay up until midnight to see the new year in. Pessimists stay up to make sure the old year leaves.

I will miss 2007.

New Year's Eve was a blast. Literally. We went to church for New Year mass. Heavenly, and indeed God is great.

We had a family get together after church in my childhood home of Canelar. Major pigging out session occured. Anyway, I think I lost it all when I played nanny to the kiddies. Man, was it hot! Blame it all on global warming and cheap fireworks.

New Year's Eve = Kill Bill and slugging it out in dodgeball.

Another additional plus! I got myself a doggie! My auntie gave me one of her dog's many pups as a late Christmas present.

Now, the best thing about having a pet, is naming it. My doggie was no exception. After my catastrophic blunder of naming my 2 dogs, Poldo and Bigik, I was determined not to shame this one with a name not worthy of an epiteth upon death. My mom was all for naming her "Chada". Dear God. My cousins gave their choices, from "Shekinah" to "J-Lo". Over my dead body.

Anyhow, as the certified owner of the pup, I declared that this dog shall have a Japanese name. I narrowed the field to three, them being: Yuri (after my short-lived preoccupation with yuri manga); Yuki, a variation of yuri and Shiro, which means white.

We settled on Shiro. So, my doggie is Shiro! One problem solved. Now, if only I can get her to stop pooping inside the house.

Moving on, moving on. I knew the TV stations were going to dole out crappy shows during New Year's Eve, so I prepared myself by scouring for DVDs to occupy my time. I went over to Yubenco, where anime DVDs, pirated at that, were sold for only 45 pesos. Ah, what a veritable feast. Except for the weird translations (Note to self: Next time, look for DVDs that have fansubbed translations!!), purchase of said pirated products were worth it.

Genshiken - Php 45
GTO - Php 45
Total - Php 90

Great. I'm all set.

If being an adult sucks during Christmas, it sucks even more when New Year comes. When everyone lined up for the annual New Year giveaways, my right to receive free monetary stuff was denied. All that 20 peso bills! Accordingly, working adults cannot avail of free money anymore. Not fair.

I am relieved however, that despite this, I am still entitled to receive a huge bar of chocolate in compensation.

Happy 2008.

After discovering the GTO refuses to play on the laptop:

I will not buy pirated DVDs anymore. I will not buy pirated DVDs anymore. I will not buy pirated DVDs anymore...*sob*

Zara 03: the gathering

In case my nursing career goes down the drain from the sheer lack of attention I lavish upon it, I may find a future as an event organizer. If bringing together the kiddies of RSHS Zara batch 2003 is not worthy of a line in my resume, I don't know what is.

I dispense myself from the usual narrative of event replays. That is so 1990's. And it requires effort ;3

Roll Call:

Beach party/Pig out session:
Rendevouz points: (Planned) 9 am; (Actual) 12 noon
Early Birds: meh, Xtian, Gene, She, Rhea (1st honors!), JC
Present Roster: Cyril, Janice, Bing (Jang's imoto=resourceful), Marion, Gian, Mikki, Ramon (Red Car!), Neysa, Penny, Dion ('roid rage), Mello

Note: Did I forget anyone?

Noteworthy topic: Avatar the last airbender

Pictures:
Available as soon as I can grab them from the groups.

Jasmine's visibility: Zero. But I take credit for 70% of the pictures taken. Rawr.

Mikki's residence:

Rendevouz points: (Planned) 5 pm; (Actual) 30 minutes after??
Early Birds: meh, Cyril (1st time!), Janice, Dion, Gian, Mikki
Present Roster: Marion, JC, She, Penny, Jenna (!)

Noteworthy topic: Avatar the last airbender ;3

Pictures:
Ditto.

Jasmine's visibility: Around 20%. Camwhores.

Halo KTV course:

Rendevouz points: (Planned) It wasn't; (Actual) 9 to 10 PM. And onwards.
Early Birds/Present: meh, Cyril (100!), Janice, Dion, Gian, Mikki, Marion, JC, She, Penny, Jenna

Noteworthy activity: Mobile TV on Jenna's phone. New year crap on all stations. And Avatar, the last airbender.

Pictures:
Available as soon as I can grab... Oh crap.

Jasmine's visibility: Before: 35%. Now: 0% as Marion fried the pictures.

Success rate: 100%

Nobody watched Avatar.

You fiends.