Friday, September 23, 2005

   [FANGIRL// irresistible deliciousness!]

hello guys~ how have you been lately?? well, i'm very grateful that, except for a few thunderstorms, the weather has been pretty tame & quiet here around the Great Lakes; and i hope you're all safe from the ravaging storms as well. i'm very sorry for not updating for such a long time (has it really been a month?!!). *bows deeply* now that summer's officially over, i've no more excuses to keep indulging in my laziness and will work on updating at least once a week again. let's see how that goes. ^_^; oh, btw, if you like, you're welcomed to visit my other blog on Xanga, where i tend to blab about life & other non-animanga things. since i use my real name on Xanga (just so i don't confuse my friends with my secret alter ego), don't be surprised to learn my first name on that page! :D it has been more than two weeks since v.18 of RuroKen was released, yet i'm still waiting for my copy to arrive. isn't it hard to believe that even after hunting through every bookstore at the mall for two weeks, not even a single copy of that book is to be found??! *breaks into tears* i need my Kenshin. bad. NOW. >_< adding fuel to my frustration: i ordered six items through Rightstuf in the beginning of the month, and ALL six items are still back-ordered. what's the coincidence, right? =_=; i don't know whether i should be frustrated or amused at the situation. heck, i don't even know what's going on with my order any more. on a positive note, i've recently stumbled upon a new manga series and, knowing nothing about it, purchased the 1st volume on impulse, then surprisingly found it a very engaging read. the series is ANTIQUE BAKERY by FUMI YOSHINAGA. :) have you read/heard of it? reasons of purchase were: 1) the beautiful & nostaglic cover art; 2) the scratch-n-sniff cover (a bit faded on my copy, but you can still smell the strawberries!); 3) it's about bakeries & pastries & sweets & pastries... *stares in a famished daze*; and 4) it's shrink-wrapped!! XD) winner of the prestigious "Kodansha Manga Award", Antique Bakery consists of charming slice-of-life stories about the people who work in the "Antique" bakery & the customers who visit the store. of the three men who run the store, one of them -- the genius pastry chef -- is gay. allusions to his off-the-page relationships are, i believe, the reasons why the manga comes shrink-wrapped. ^_^; even tho Fumi Yoshinaga is more known for her yaoi works (i found this out later), Antique Bakery is NOT graphic in this respect at all. flipping through the entire 1st volume, there're merely two frames depicting sex. on top of that, you can only tell what the characters are doing by the SFX and the positions of their heads & shoulders. very subtle. lol, there's by far more nudity in Love Hina and i've seen Sailor Moon fanart being more graphic than this! ^o^ so, even if its manga-ka is conventionally labeled as a "yaoi artist", it's still no reason to give up on Antique Bakery. i've yet to see how the plot develops, but the clean artwork, uncluttered pages, and the humorous dialogue, characterizations & observations of life found in v.1 already make Antique Bakery worthy enough of a place on my wishlist! ^^ completed at just four volumes, i'd recommend Antique Bakery to all who enjoy delightful, realistic stories and won't mind just a touch of spice. ^_^ ...besides, the beautiful drawings of the various French pastries & antique-wares in the manga are enough to make me drool! follow this link to view the DMP manga's ad for Antique Bakery. and here's the cover for v.1 of the manga. enjoy! uh oh. gotta go get ready for work now. guess i'll come around and visit your sites either tonight or over the weekend (gomen!). ttyl! :)

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