Spotlight Review Wednesday: Manga 11~25~2015

Spotlight Review

Cuticle Tantei Inaba

(Cuticle Detective Inaba)

Manga

Synopsis

In a world where half-human, half-animal chimeras live and work alongside normal people, there are sure to be a few bad apples in the bunch. Unfortunately, half-human criminals means non-human clues that often leave the police stumped. That's where lone wolf detectives like Hiroshi Inaba come in. He's literally part wolf and has the amazing ability to extract critical information just by examining or tasting a sample of someone's hair! Of course, that ability has also resulted in Inaba having a little bit of a hair fetish, but that doesn't seem to be a problem for his two assistants. (Well, at least the cross-dressing one isn't complaining much.) And it's nothing compared to the strange tastes of Inaba's nemesis, the omnivorous (and half goat) crime boss Don Valentino, who has an appetite for green legal tender instead of tender young greens! Inaba's sworn to cut Valentino out of the criminal flock before the Don can wolf down more ill-gotten dough, but he's going to have to chew his way through a lot of evidence to get his goat. Can sheer dogged detective work put the baaaaad guys behind bars?

Now for my review!!!

The Manga this week was read on Crunchyroll's Manga area... I also have the manga reader for apple devices on my iPad... so reading this one was easy. From what I can see there are 17 chapters... At least that is how many I saw. I didn't look to see if there were more somewhere else or not.

Here we see the whole crew...

I will introduce a few of them one at a time... First up... The main character.. the detective!

Hiroshi Inaba: Before transformation.

Hiroshi Inaba: After transformation.

Next we will present his "Partner" or Ex-Partner... depending on which one you ask lol.

Kuniharu Ogino

The rest of the characters will be introduced to you when you read or watch this... I have seen that it is also an Anime but I didn't check if that was true or not. I'm assuming it it true since there were moving pics of a few of the characters.

Now to rate it.

On a scale of 1 to 10 with ten being a "perfect-must read" rating I give this..

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6
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This Manga got such a low rating because the chapters seem to be disconnected. I don't mind that in an Anime but for me a Manga needs to feel connected. If they had somehow managed that it would have gotten a higher rating for sheer oddness! It is a good read if you don't mind each chapter seeming like it's own story. 

Well... That's all for now!

Hope you all enjoyed this Manga Spotlight Review!!!

Have a great day!!!

Oh... Don't forget to leave me a comment about what Manga you want me to review next! I think they finally fixed it so I can see them all the time now!

Schedule Change...(Combo)

NEW IDEA!!!

Monday I brought up the idea of posting a post on the same topic every Monday... 

And the topic was...

RANDOM VIDEO REVIEW

I asked around on my Facebook Twitter and google+ accounts about this and the response was positive! Looks like Monday is now going to be showcasing a random video I find over the weekend from one of our YouTube family members!

I will probably use Tuesday to announce any new members to our YouTube family or new authors and some Thursday posts will be guest posts... Tuesday and Thursday will be random posts from me if I don't have a new member to announce or a guest bloggers' post to put up.

Lastly... The last Thursday of every month will be a post containing a link to all the reviews done for a previous month... However I'm not sure when this will start. It hasn't really been long enough from when I started doing the reviews to have a review of the reviews...

Now say that 10 times fast! hehe

Well.... That's all the updates about my blog... for now anyway!

As always.. Thanx for reading this post!

Have a great day!!!!!

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11~26~2015
It has been confirmed!

We have our first guest author!!!

At the beginning of the month I posted this blog...

Possible new author

As of last night I figured out most of the stuff I brought up in that post!

This means a few things for the blog... And for me... The first thing is that for at least one post out of the month I get to have the fun of reading it right along with you... And the second thing is I'm going to have to start signing my posts so you know I was the one who wrote it!

This is the first post I will sign!!!

As for how things will work with our new author... To start her off I am going to give her a few ideas but she can pick what and how she wants to write about those ideas. As she gets more comfortable with writing she will have free range of anything to write  about! I'm gonna assign the days to publish the articles on but other than that she is free to write however her mood takes her! This way I can let you all know when to look for her posts!

So now

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Everyone please welcome

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DanniGirl!

I can't wait for you to see what she writes about first!

As a side note.... I have never done the guest author thing before so we will probably blunder quite a bit as we get used to it. I hope you are looking forward to seeing her first post at the end of December!

Thank you very much for your patience and understanding as we figure this out!

And... As always... Thanx for reading this post!

Hope you have a wonderful day!!!

@>~~Mistique Robin~~~

Invisible Illnesses... You don't see it all....

Today I though I'd do away with the fun topics and talk about something important to me... Invisible illnesses.

When people hear invisible illness they think of things like early stage cancer or asthma... But those aren't really invisible are they. There are signs... Though they are hard to spot it's true. 

When I hear invisible illness... I think of the things that don't have signs you can spot easy... The ones that may never have symptoms that are easy to spot... Like Fibromyalgia, PTSD, or Lupus...

I suffer from Fibromyalgia so I understand first hand just how invisible it can be. I know I could give in and show just how I feel but that would change my quality of life... Even so it hurts when people don't understand...

Picture this... Life became complicated... I might make plans to do stuff but then the day comes and I can't manage to hide how I feel anymore... When I say I'm to worn out... People look at me and think "why?" and I can't explain it because they have never felt it.

When my children run up for hugs and it feels like every inch of skin they are putting pressure on is being stabbed by millions of needles I hide the pain... I smile and hug them back but inside I'm crying. It hurts!

Some days it hurts to get out of bed.. to do simple things people don't even realize take effort can be so hard for me... And because I don't look disabled people think I am "Playing it up"... If I could give go back to a normal life I would!

So the reason for this rant is simple... I want you to think twice before you tell someone to stop pretending they are not ok... or to think about how someone might be hiding how awful they really feel so that you don't look down on them. Think and then maybe just maybe offer help or do something less intense so they can still hang out with you.

Invisible illnesses take a HUGE toll on the person with them... and they need all the help they can get even if they don't seem like they do.

Ok... seriousness over... Thanx for taking the time to read this post... 

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!!

Spotlight Review Wednesday: Anime 11~18~2015

Spotlight Review

Mushi-shi: The Cure Lies in the Curse

"蟲師"

Synopsis

"Mushi": the most basic forms of life in the world. They exist without any goals or purposes aside from simply "being." They are beyond the shackles of the words "good" and "evil." Mushi can exist in countless forms and are capable of mimicking things from the natural world such as plants, diseases, and even phenomena like rainbows.

This is, however, just a vague definition of these entities that inhabit the vibrant world of Mushishi, as to even call them a form of life would be an oversimplification. Detailed information on Mushi is scarce because the majority of humans are unaware of their existence.

So what are Mushi and why do they exist? This is the question that a "Mushi-shi," Ginko, ponders constantly. Mushi-shi are those who research Mushi in hopes of understanding their place in the world's hierarchy of life.

Ginko chases rumors of occurrences that could be tied to Mushi, all for the sake of finding an answer.

It could, after all, lead to the meaning of life itself..

Now for my review!!!

This Anime can be watched on FUNimation Starting with Season 1 and on Netflix starting with Season 2. Here is what each place has to say for a description.

NETFLIX

This award-winning Anime series brings the viewer into a dream like world where ghostly organisms called Mushi hover on the borders of perseption.

It's kinda vague... lets see what FUNimation has to say...

FUNimation

There’s no effective way to describe the mushi – They simply are. They simply have been since life first began. As with many other things, man has forgotten how to see. And just as it’s difficult to describe the feel or texture of an object to someone who’s never held it in his own hands, to one who’s never seen the mushi…

Between this world and the next, there is a point where it becomes impossible to distinguish between plant and animal, between life and death. It is a place man was never meant to tread… This is where you will find the mushi. Neither good nor evil, they are life in its purest form. An unseen river reshaping the path of man, through their very presence we are changed.

Vulgar and strange, they have inspired fear in humans since the dawn of time and have, over the ages, come to be known as “mushi.”

Between these three descriptions we can get a pretty good idea of what the Anime is all about. What it doesn't say is that, though each episode could be considered a show all it's own, they are connected by one constant factor... though you need to check out the Anime to find out what it is!

With all the info in the descriptions it would kill the desire to check it out if I just told you! Just be sure to know the Mushi are beautiful beings...

Now to rate it!!!

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On a scale of 1 to 10 with ten being a "perfect-must see" rating I give this...

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9

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I really liked this Anime but for me there was just something missing.... It has great artwork and a good story for each episode so I was very happy with it! The fact each episode can be watched by itself leaves you with the option of watching one or more than one episode at a time. The episodes aren't too short either so it isn't like a tease.

I would definitely recommend you watch this one.

Well... That's all for this Anime review! Don't forget to leave me a comment with what Anime or Manga you would like to see me rate...

The next one I rate is going to be a Manga.

As always... Thanx for reading and I hope you enjoyed this rating! Have a great day!!!

Uh-Oh I don't have time to post... what do I do?!?!?!

This is not a topic most people ever think about...However... When you are someone who does this for a living it's a safe bet that you have thought about this at least once during your career! 

Unless you run a SUPER busy life it isn't too hard to sit down and write a blog post... Most of the time. Lets be real though.... Life happens and we can't always sit and write out even a short post! There are two options to deal with this that I can think of...


1) Have draft posts ready to be put up to fill in gaps at a moments notice..
2) Schedule posts ahead of time..


Lets look at the Pro/Con list one at a time for each of these and figure out just how good they are!


Option 1: Pre-Draft Writting

Pro's

There are a few posts ready at all times to chose from for any given day when you need a quick post.

You can write or Vlog about anything even if you don't want to post it just yet.

After a long day you don't have to sit and write or frantically edit a video to have a post of something ready for the next day. (This is really helpful for Vlogs or videos I'd bet!)

You can take your time Editing to make sure it is just the way you want it!!!

It's a great option if your "Life Happens" is only going to last for a short time... Especially if you only post a few things in a week.

If "Random Content" best describes you Blog or Vlog then it is perfect!


Con's

You have to spend time to figure out which draft you want to post.

You may end up with a lot of posts about random things you don't know if you ever really want to post. (Hay they seemed like great ideas when you make/wrote them)

You are not always able to get on the internet to make sure you hit "Publish" at the right time of day. This is really bad if your Blog or Vlog goes out at the same time every time! (For example... mine goes out at 8:30am EST every weekday)

If you wrote about something that was mentioned in the Draft you are about to post you have to make sure you haven't contradicted yourself! (This can take as much time as just writing a post!!!)

Posting too many days of random stuff can get confusing... What if you have things that you post about every week... If your "Life Happens" lasts past that day are you going to have a draft of that topic to post on the right day??? (Think of the people who come on just for that weekly post!!!)

Option 2: Scheduling Your Posts

Pro's

After a long day you don't have to sit and write or frantically edit a video to have a post of something ready for the next day. (This is really helpful for Vlogs or videos I'd bet!)

You can take your time Editing to make sure it is just the way you want it!!!

You can schedule days worth of posts to free up time for a more time consuming project by already having the post for the days you need all set to go out! Maybe you have to travel for the footage you need for that crazy Video or Vlog. Or you might have to read, watch, eat or test out something before you can review it! This option is perfect for those things!

The worst can happen in anyone's life... What if it takes a very long time for you to get back on your feet??? No problem cause you can schedule as many posts ahead of time as you need to!

Having Vacation from Blogging, Blogging, or posting any type of video or article is a real possibility! Going out of the country??? No big deal... Just set up the schedule so that your posts go out on time for the days you're gone!  Then just pick up where you left off when your back!

You can use random topics for your post and arrange the release so they make sense!

If you Posts go out really early in the day and you have scheduled any amount of posts already you don't have to worry about oversleeping!!! Your posts are already out when you open your eyes and see it's an hour past the time they go out!!!

Con's

You have to think up more than one topic at a time to schedule the posts you need! This could be as few as 1 but as many as 31 in any given month depending on how often your posts go out!!! 

Scheduling posts can make for one or more LONG days! If you already have a long day from editing Video footage then this can turn into weeks of preparation to be able to schedule the posts you need! If you do both Videos and writing posts then it can be a LOT of work!

Scheduling posts isn't always perfect... Sometimes the Host messes up and your post doesn't go out on time. This can be a real problem if you don't have internet to check on them. 

Your host messing up can also mean writing a "Sorry it's late" message at the beginning of a post if you had told people ahead of time that this specific post would go out at a specific time.

These are the Pro's and Con's I could think of right now... I'm sure there are more.

As you can see both options are good and bad... I personally use a combination of them as well as just posting things I write in the morning before the dreaded "School Run" where I become a headless chicken trying to get my three kids to school on time!

If I had something scheduled on a day where I am posting what I write in the morning, it's easy to cancel the scheduled post. I just change the scheduled day. Or I might just post more than one thing in a day... Though that doesn't happen often.

Well that's all for now! Let me know what you thought of this post and if you want to see more like this int he comments section!

As always... Thanx for reading this post!!!

Have a great day!!!

Spotlight Review Wednesday: Manga 11~11~2015

Spotlight Review

Skip Beat!

Manga

Synopsis

The story revolves around a young girl named Kyouko who went with her childhood friend, Shou, to Tokyo to pursue his dream of becoming an idol. Despite her supporting him, she overhears him dismissing her as a boring wallflower. Furious, Kyouko vows to get her revenge by defeating him in the entertainment world.

Now for my review!!!

The Manga this week was read on my tablet at MangaHere (this is the mobile link)... It's a bit slow at first... I usually only read chapters 1-5 for a review... But with this one I needed to go a bit farther into it, Since It seemed to move kinda slow int he first 5 chapters I figured I would read to chapter 10 and  then write this... but things picked up the pace after Kyouko got into LME as a "Love Me Section" member...

Kyouko in her Love me uniform with pics from her adventures behind her.

Yup she gets in because the president can't stop thinking about if he should just let her disappear... He ends up creating this section just for her and later adds talent that is missing that special something every person in this industry needs to have... They tell you what that is so I'm gonna leave that to them..... They explain it great!

I've introduced Kyouko to you so now lets introduce her original love that she gave up everything to follow to Tokyo... Here is Sho...

That's right... This rockin bad boy had Kyouko's heart for a long time... too bad he loses it!

Then along comes Sho's biggest rival... Ren Tsuruga. Will he catch her broken heart?

Right now it's hard to say since he is nothing but a ball of confusing reactions to Kyouko... But she does see good things and good sides to him later on...

I ended up reading to chapter 25 and plan to keep going... This Manga is very captivating once it starts going.. Kyouko is somewhat of a mystery herself and as we go we learn more and more about her and her life with Sho... we also learn a few secrets about Ren too...

There are many other charecters that Kyouko meets and that are important to the story but you have to read it to find out more... here is a link to the books at Barnes & Noble

 Skip Beat! (3-in-1 Edition), Volume 1

Personally I recommend getting the 3-in-1 edition and if you have a nook book you can save even more money on the sets! I haven't looked to see if it is available on kindle yet but I plan to! I'm lovin this series!!! I read that it is also an Anime... Maybe that will turn up as a review sometime too!

Now to rate it.

On a scale of 1 to 10 with ten being a "perfect-must read" rating I give this..

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10

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That's right!!! The elusive 10!!! This manga has everything I want.. Romance... Fights... Emotions that get confusing... And best of all... It's LOADED with secrets we get to  find out over time!!! It's engaging and funny at times... and so emotional at other... There is just nothing I can think to say bad about it!!! So it is definitely a must read!!!

Hope you all enjoyed this Manga Spotlight Review!!!

Have a great day!!!

Oh... Don't forget to leave me a comment about what Manga you want me to review next!

Spotlight Review Wednesday:Anime 11~4~2015

Spotlight Review

     AIR: The 1000th Summer

Synopsis

Yukito Kunisaki is on a journey in search of the Winged Maiden who was bound to the sky centuries ago, after hearing an old childhood tale from his mother. As Yukito shows his puppet show to people in an attempt to make some money, he finds himself in a small town in which he did not expect to stay very long. However, when he meets an unusual girl named Misuzu, things take a drastic turn as he is invited to stay with her.

By staying in the quaint town, Yukito soon becomes friends with the locals. As he gets to know them better, he learns of their problems and decides to help, putting his search for the Winged Maiden on hold. With his search on hold, and his growing attachment to Misuzu and the small town, will Yukito ever find the Winged Maiden, or is she closer than he thought?

Now for my review!!!

FUNimation had this on their site and that is where I chose to watch it. I was a little disappointed that there were only 12 of the 13 episodes available there. It did run well though so I guess that makes up for it... Here is what FUNimation has to say about the story...

Story

Yukito is a travelling performer. He moves through this world with only the clothes on his back, driven onward by the stories of “The Girl in the Sky”. Not knowing when or if he will find her, Yukito wanders, clinging to fleeting hope.

Destitute and near starvation, Yukito's life changes after the eccentric Misuzu offers him food and shelter. This fragile beauty shares his dreams of a life lived amongst the clouds, and Yukito listens closely out of a gratitude which quickly gives way to curiosity.

The unlikely pair grows close, but Yukito cannot escape his destiny, or his past. His need to find "her" is much too strong. Who is the girl in the sky? Does she even exist? The answers twist in the breeze, and the questions float aimlessly through the air.

They give us a little more information than MyAnimeList does but still leave a bit of mystery! Now to watch!!!
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Yukito is a HUGE mystery throughout most of the show...

Yup that's Yukito


We learn bits and pieces of his past as we go along... He has quite the family history!!! And his present is a little odd too... He seems to have a habit of making friends with some interesting girls..






From left to right... Potato (the dog), Kano, Minagi, and Misuzu




These are some of the girls he meets... Though not all of them... He helps two of them out with problems they are having and becomes good friends with one of them while the other seems to fade out of the story... However his friendship with Misuzu is what the story mostly revolves around... Misuzu has a much bigger problem than we could have ever guessed in the beginning... This is because she comes off as just a carefree klutz but there is much more to her than meets the eye.




You will have to watch it to find out what though!!! The two of them have some interesting adventures and by the end I was in tears! There is a really HUGE emotional twist to this show! But...I'm not telling you what it is... Trust me though it's a good one!!!


Now to rate it!!!
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On a scale of 1 to 10 with ten being a "perfect-must see" rating I give this...
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9
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The facts are that I just could not stop gettin all emotional when I finished this Anime... So if you are looking for an Anime that will hit you right in the "Feels" then this is perfect! The story was so well thought out and the way they blended the episodes was perfect. The reason it's not a 10 is because there was a "cliffhanger" and they never made another episode.

To be fair the cliffhanger might have just been showing you something about the story and they hadn't intended for it to be an actual cliffhanger... News flash to the creators... IT SO WAS A CLIFFHANGER!!!

Well... That's all for this Anime review! Don't forget to leave me a comment with what Anime or Manga you would like to see me rate...

The next one I rate is going to be a Manga.

As always... Thanx for reading and I hope you enjoyed this rating! Have a great day!!!

The Hard Truth... Nontraditional Jobs...

I was looking at Texan in Tokyo's blog the other day and I read a post that really hit home with me. I didn't think to much on it at first but the more I do think about it the more I agree with her.

In her article she writes about Jobs that are considered Nontraditional... like being a YouTube personality or a Blogger. She tells about how she has to prove it's a real job!

Here is a link to the article if you want to read it...

Actually YouTube IS a real job: The struggle of working as a Content Creator/Creative

Yup... Prove it or I don't believe it seems to be the theme to people's attitude toward all the nontraditional jobs out there. I don't actually make any money off this blog as of right now but that may change at some point... After all I am just starting out in this path. Its sad to think I may have to do the very same thing she had to. 

I can't imagine how many times Texan in Tokyo had to do this for both her Blog and her YouTube Channel... Or for that matter... How many times did Sharla in Japan or Rachel & Jun have to do this that they just haven't told us about???

Why should people have to prove their job is a real job to anyone anyway?!?!?

I mean.. Lets Think about this... Look at a Vlogger or Blogger... 

Even though they don't go to a building and sit at a desk they do sit at a desk to write or edit videos... sometimes for longer hours than a traditional job since they do it all themselves!

A movie production takes the same jobs and uses a craptastic amount of people but since it is visible to the world no one thinks anything of it... 

The bloggers sits and writes articles like a reporter or script writer... and the Vlogger shoots short movies.. Just because it's not in a theater or being seen by some producer and turned into a movie... That doesn't make it any easier to figure out what to write about or what to film. 

In fact... It makes it harder... They have to make a small number of people... Their followers... HAPPY.... Do you have any idea how hard it is to figure out what a small group of people would like to read about or watch?!?!?! 

Yup it's JUST like that!!! Like you want to kill someone!!!

So I guess this rant is almost over... I'll end it with asking you all a favor... 

Please,,, If you hear someone you know say the dreaded words "That isn't a real job"... can you tell them maybe they should find out what goes into the job they think isn't real. It may turn out to be a harder job than they ever expected and I know the person who is being told they don't have a real job will really appreciate it! If it was me I would!!!

I'll end here lol... Thanx for reading this post even though it isn't what I traditionally write about!

Have a great day!!!

Possible new author...

I was looking at my blog and thinking how can I make this even better... That is the ever persistent challenge of any blogger right? Then I was reading a blog post by Texan in Tokyo and it hit me! I can have guest authors on here... Maybe... It isn't like I can have some famous person write on a blog that isn't famous right? So then I was all upset thinking it was not possible when....

yup... I was talkin to my niece about this and she is also a person who loves writing! She said she would love to write an article here or there... So I thought maybe that would help her too! She is suffering a LONG spell of writers block! Writing a blog helps me when I have a block going so maybe writing a bit will help her too... Now I just need to figure out if she is gonna write about stuff I "assign" to her or am I letting her have free run of her posts...

Do I wanna essentially be her editor and publisher or do I just want to be a place she can blog and have fun writing??? Sooooo much to think about!!!

Not to mention that before I can actually add her as a contributing author I need to figure out how that whole thing works!!! I also need to figure out if I want to move to the new hosting site too!

So in the end it will be a bit before you see a post from her... BUT... I would love to know if you would like to see posts from someone new or would you rather I just write here?

Let me know in the comments section and we can pray Blogger has fixed it and I see them!

As always... Thanx for reading!!!

Have a great day!!!