Wish for a Star: The New Trials

Happy New Year!!!

2012-01-01T05:51:00.000-08:00

It's already 2012. Time flies by so quickly that it frightens me. This year has been a busy year, very work-focused. Truthfully, it wasn't the best year at all, and I spent a good portion of it with a horrible cold, but that's that. This coming year is the "Year of the Black Dragon."

I was very excited when I heard that CLAMP designed a wedding dress for the Tokyo Bridal Collection, unveiled Christmas Eve. I think it fits the Card Captor Sakura image very well, though I had envisioned something a bit more elaborate, but I think it's just given that paper does not always translate well to real life. I prefer it modeled than on display. I wish I can see a close up of CLAMP's new CCS artwork.

Anyhow, when I heard about CLAMP designing the wedding dress, I couldn't help thinking CLAMP and I are in sync. It'll make more sense with Chapter 68 of New Trials. As for any New Year's resolution? Finish the new chapters of New Trials of Card Captor Sakura in a timely manner. In fact, the immediate goal: finish Chapter 68. It' getting there!

Happy New Year 2012!!!

I'll leave you with one of my favorite songs from Kokia, Time to Say Goodbye. It has that bittersweet tone befitting the end of one year and starting a new one.

See lyrics here.

Merry Christmas 2011!

2011-12-24T08:57:00.000-08:00

Sakura and Syaoran Snowman by ~wishluv on deviantART
I was doodling another Christmas chibi picture as a continuation of last year's doodle but changed my mind last minute because I wanted to draw something more snowy. Luckily, it took very little time.

Merry Christmas 2011!

I love Trans-Siberian Orchestra for Christmas (and in the middle of summer too). While I like both versions of Christmas Canon, I like the children's choir version slightly more than the Christmas Canon Rock version, just because the choir version sounds so angelic.

Happy Halloween! Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?

2011-10-31T07:52:00.000-07:00

Two steps forward and one step back. It's strange how time passes by and you feel like you're getting nowhere, yet I realize I am closer to my dream than I have ever been been before.

To explain my delay in updates, it's because I've been working six days a week, sometimes seven, 11 hours a day. Somehow, I'm doing what I love best, writing, though journalism is not exactly the kind of writing I wanted to do though it is interesting and a bit mind-boggling. Yes, I think I've wanted to write since I was age eight, and I wanted to write fiction. Journalism writing is quite different from fiction writing, but there's still a lot to learn. This makes me feel a little guilty because I know people whose dream is journalism but hey, life doesn't always take you where you plan. Either way, I've gotten a precious opportunity cultivate my writing skills for a change, and I feel like I'm getting a little bit closer to my ultimate dream. Or not. Who knows.

Chapter 68 is probably 70% complete. Maybe more; there are times when I get really stuck on chapters, but this chapter, it's been so much fun to write, but I'm just too tired to write at the end of the day. I hope Chapter 68 will be fun because I think all the main characters will have a storyline for a change.

The fanart is just a doodle I drew last year when I thought, "I want to draw Syaoran as the big bad wolf." And Sakura's Little Red Riding Hood. It's not really finished though. Anyhow, I thought it fit the Halloween theme.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2011!

Here is an awesome Card Captor Sakura and New Trials AMV to Avril Lavigne's I'm With You made and sung by Hazuki Goldair, with rewritten lyrics to match New Trials! Thank you very much, Hazuki-chan! Check out Syaoran the Waiter Boy if you haven't already, also sung by Hazuki Goldair.

New Trials Manga Doujinshi by Asocialcat

2011-08-02T06:46:00.000-07:00

One of the greatest joys in me writing the New Trials of Card Captor Sakura over the years was undeniably the awesome fanwork that I have seen inspired, even in the tiniest bit, by my writing (which in itself is a fanwork inspired by CLAMP). I have seen spin-off fanfiction, fanart and many other creative projects and am always eager to see all the creativity out there. I got a request to make New Trials into a doujinshi many years ago from a reader in Asia, but I never really heard back about the results. Some time last December, Asocialcat (from the Yahoo Group) asked if she could make a manga out of New Trials. I said definitely yes. And as you know, I went in MIA for a while. Somehow, half a year or so has passed by, and Asocialcat-sama has completed the first chapter!

It's a whopping 74 pages. 74 pages!!! It's as many chapters drawn as the average New Trials Chapter, and I know how painstaking it is to draw even a page. Truthfully speaking, I haven't looked back at the first chapter in a long time, and it was so fun reading the chapter in manga-format. It was fun reading it, and I felt like I was reading everything for the first time just because it's in a different medium. I told Asocialcat to take whatever liberality she wants to take with the story, but overall, the first chapter is very faithful to Chapter 1: A New Beginning. I love how you can see how much thought she put into each panel and page, and truthfully am a bit overwhelmed at thinking how much time the project took her. I had so much fun reading the doujinshi, so please go ahead and check it out! here: http://www.butterflyspell.com/ntmanga/

This is a message from our humble Vanessa-sensei (aka Asocialcat): "I apologize for the inconsistent character designs and sketchy artwork. I promise that it'll get better as I get more comfortable. Also, I am planning on getting as far as I can into the series, but don't expect it to be an exact replica of Wish-chan's work. After all, I'm making a sequel to the manga and not the anime, whereas Wish-chan tends to follow the anime more often than the manga."

She is just being overly humble, and she is a very talented artist, writer, singer and pianist, a little bit like our Tomoyo-chan. ^_^ She is a very talented young lady, and do check out her site at: http://www.asocialcat.butterflyspell.com/ and give her feedback either via the New Trials Yahoo Group or at the New Trials Facebook Group (and please join either group if you have not already done so!)

Happy Birthday Li Syaoran 2011!

2011-07-13T07:57:00.000-07:00

Syaoran's Birthday Omake by ~wishluv on deviant ART

I'm pretty sure I've celebrated Syaoran's birthday far more frequently than I have Sakura's at this point, though I've probably missed it quite a few times since I have become a fan of Card Captor Sakura. Syaoran's just luckier that his birthday falls in a less busy time of the year, smack in the middle of summer.

Shockingly enough, I wrote Syaoran's Birthday Special, "Small Wolf's Most Precious Birthday" a decade ago, and to celebrate its ten year anniversary, I finally edited it and reformatted the funky script that kept appearing on the chapter. I'm sorry it took so long to do that. I didn't realize how bad it was! Anyhow, I could really tell the one-shot was a one-shot, because apparently, I didn't even edit it before publishing it. I kept editing minimal, in spirit of keeping the high schooler Wish-chan's writing alive. I think rereading my own writing, I was impressed at how carefree things were back in the golden era of Arc 2 and also somehow I kept foreshadowing things back then. I wonder if the fifteen year old me knew that I would still be writing the same story ten years later. Probably not.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LI SYAORAN JULY 13, 2011!

Character Spotlight: Daidouji Tomoyo

2011-07-09T07:11:00.000-07:00

Cendrillon - Tomoyo and Eriol by ~wishluv on deviant ART

Tomoyo versus Eriol. Who would win in a duel of wits? I would say Tomoyo because she has the higher EQ of the two. Daidouji Tomoyo of Card Captor Sakura fame is one of the most beloved shoujo best friends of all time. She is a talented seamstress, budding filmmaker, amazing songstress and beautiful and kindhearted to boot. Not only that but she's the daughter of the president of a huge toy-making company and has six female bodyguards who escorts her all the time and a personal chauffeur. Who came beat her awesomeness?

Writing an older Tomoyo in my fanfiction, the New Trials of Card Captor Sakura was challenging and immensely enjoyable as well. Tomoyo was voted by readers as the number one character they were most similar to. Unsurprisingly, out of the large cast of characters, I would also liken myself to Tomoyo; not in terms of visual or her many hobbies, but because of her personality type as the observer. Of course, it is very difficult to be as selfless and nice as Tomoyo, but I feel like Tomoyo's numerous hobbies and obsession with Sakura in its own way veils a deep insecurity within herself as well.

There are many Tomoyo+Eriol shippers out there, and while I am not completely convinced about a romantic relationship between the two, I am fascinated by the relationship they do have. The reason why Tomoyo's relationship with Eriol is special is not because of romantic ones but because Eriol is the only character in CCS (and consequently in New Trials) who can probably see through the poise. She is also the only person he seems to recognize as an equal as opposed to his playthings (with the exception of Mizuki Kaho, of course, though we are shown very minimal interaction between the two in the manga). I really enjoy writing scenes between the two because I think they really have a different dynamic than any of the other characters in New Trials. I haven't been able to include much Tomoyo in Arc 4 of New Trials yet, but hopefully Chapter 68 will be time for more Tomoyo awesomeness.

Today's music spotlight is Kokia. I think if Maaya Sakamoto was not associated with Tomoyo already, Kokia's voice is one I would equate to for and older Tomoyo's singing voice. Kokia is an artist I have liked for years now, and I believe she is rather underrated. She is a talented singer and composer and the clarity and beauty of her voice I think makes her stand out amongst the other J-Pop artists. She was trained in opera as well, and some of her later songs show the true range of her voice. "Ningen tte sonna mono ne" has a long title that is rather difficult to remember, but it roughly translates to "Humans are like that." It's a song that's hard to translate because it doesn't use the personal pronoun, but it's uplifting yet mellow. Something about the timbre of the song reminds me of Tomoyo.

If you haven't checked out the new Valentine's Day Special, check it out on my website! 4 more days till Syaoran's birthday!

Song: Ningen tte sonna mono ne - "Humans Are Like That, Aren't They?"
Singer: Kokia

Translation: Translated by Wish-chan from Korean with reference to here

Kokia - 人間ってそんなものね

kanpeki na risou ni naritakatta no?
dareka wo maneteta dake deshou?
donna tobikata datte yokatta no yo?
tobitatsu yuuki ga daiji nan deshou?
“mou dame da nante” ittari mo suru kedo

Did you want to become your perfect ideal?

You were only trying to imitate someone, weren't you?
Any way of flying was all right, wasn't it?
The most important thing is the courage to take flight, isn't it?
“It's no use,” we are used to saying, but...

naite waratte nayande okite
kanjiru subete ga jibun ni natteku
ikiru tte jibun de iru tte
atarimae no shiawase ga ureshii
shinjiru tte ganbaru tte
sono tabi nandomo yarinaoshite
ningen tte sonna mono ne
yurushiaeru tte subarashii

Crying, laughing, worrying, waking up,
Feeling everything, I become who I am
Living, being myself,
Such simple happiness makes me happy
Believing, trying my best,

Each time, being able to start over again and again
Humans are like that, aren’t they?
The way we can forgive each other is wonderful

kakkotsukeru no wa tsukareta desho?
angai daremo ki ni shite nai yo
meiwaku wo kakeru no wa iya da nante
hitori de aruite kita tsumori na no?
ningen tte…

Aren't you tired of trying to look good?
Unexpectedly, nobody really cares

Not wanting to cause others trouble,
Did you make up your mind to walk alone?
Humans are…

tasukeatte kata kashiatte
sukoshi susunde wa tachidomatte
iki wo suite shinkokyuu shite
tama ni wa tameiki tsuitari shinagara
naite waratte nayande okite
kanjiru subete ga jibun ni natteku
ningen tte sonna mono ne
yurushiaeru tte subarashii

Helping each other, lending each other a shoulder,

Advancing a little then taking a stop,
Breathing in, taking a deep breath,
Sometimes sighing as well
Crying, laughing, worrying, waking up
Feeling everything, I become who I am
Humans are like that, aren’t they?
The way we can forgive each other is wonderful

shiawase na toki wa dareka to
wakachiau nara
sorenara kurushii toki ni mo
hitori ja nai
dareka to kyouyuu dekiru yorokobi

If you share the happy times with someone
If that’s the case, even in painful times
you are not alone
That's the joy of being able to share with someone

tasukeatte kata kashiatte
sukoshi susunde wa tachidomatte
iki wo suite shinkokyuu shite
tama ni wa tameiki tsuitari shinagara
naite waratte nayande okite
kanjiru subete ga jibun ni natteku
ningen tte sonna mono ne
yurushiaeru tte subarashii

Helping each other, lending a shoulder to each other
Advancing a little, stopping
Breathing in, taking a deep breath
Sometimes with a sigh attached
Crying, laughing, worrying, getting up
Feeling everything, we become ourselves
Humans are like that, aren’t they?
Sharing with each other is wonderful

tasukeatte kata kashiatte
sukoshi susunde wa tachidomatte
iki wo suite shinkokyuu shite
tama ni wa tameiki tsuitari shinagara
naite waratte nayande okite
kanjiru subete ga jibun ni natteku
ningen tte sonna mono ne
yurushiaeru tte subarashii

Advancing a little then stopping,
Breathing in, taking a deep breath
Sometimes sighing as well
Crying, laughing, worrying, waking up
Feeling everything, I become who I am
Humans are like that, aren’t they?
The way we can forgive each other is wonderful

hadaka no watashitachi wa daremo ga
yowasa ya sabishisa no naka ni
atataka na nukumori wo sagashite
dou ni ka susumou to shiteru…

We who are naked,
amid weakness and loneliness
are somehow trying to move forward to search for a little warmth...

New Trials Update: Valentine's Day Special - The Ring

2011-07-07T08:01:00.000-07:00

Waiter Syaoran and Sakura by ~wishluv on deviant ART

I never realized that the downside of having a blog is having a clear reminder of the how long you have been absent. Is it an oxymoron to say didn't realize I have been absent for so long, but at the same time, I was constantly thinking of how long it's been since I have updated? Many apologies for my long absence (work and sickness-induced). Though I would say the sickness was just a three-month long common cold/ bronchitis which resulted in over-the-counter medication hence constant drowsiness in the evenings when I got home from work, since I've been working pretty much 11 hour days for the past four months. I really don't know what is the greater evil: college applications, senior thesis (hundred and fifty pages galore) or work. Or an island without internet connection. All of which I have been at one point before in my decade of fanfiction writing, which consequently induced periods of being MIA.

A longer apology is included with the Valentine's Day Special: The Ring. It's a complete fluff chapter, but it is semi-plot relevant. Nah, not really. I just enjoy writing Nadeshiko and Ryuuren scenes where I can squeeze them in.

Well, it's July 7, so should we officially start the countdown till Syaoran's birthday? Yup, it's only Syaoran's birthday, not even Sakura's, that can draw me out of seclusion. Just kidding. Many apologies for missing Sakura's birthday. It just falls at the horrible time of the year. I think I've missed Sakura's birthday many more times than I have missed Syaoran's. Well, six more days to go!

Update: I just logged into the Yahoo Group after long months of absence, and sorry!!! I am not dead, and luckily, I wasn't in Japan during the time of the earthquake either, though I had originally been planning a Japan-trip around that time of the year before work to precedence over everything. I was simply brain-dead over the past couple months, that's all. Perhaps deprivation of oxygen and phlegmy coughing-induced exhaustion, from wake up, work, eat, stare at TV or computer screen then fall asleep from cold medicine (and I used to be a firm believer of cold medicines being just placebo effects). >.<

Music Spotlight: Chihiro Onitsuka

2011-02-28T05:53:00.000-08:00

Chihiro Onitsuka belongs in my top three list of favorite Japanese female artists (though I admit it changes from time to
time.) I was first introduced to her during the "Watashi to Waltz o" era, which was the theme song to the third season of the popular Japanese drama "Trick," starring the beautiful Nakama Yukie and Hiroshi Abe. The song was immensely popular with my Korean friends who were not necessarily J-Pop gurus and can be arguable one of her catchiest songs. "Infection" and "Watashi to Waltz o" were repeated on my playlist during Arc 3 era of New Trials. In fact, Chihiro Onitsuka's albums have been consistently been on my playlist for the past 5-6 years while writing New Trials. There are songs that I get addicted to because they are new and trendy at the moment, and there are songs that I will always return to listen to years later and find them just as amazing as when I first heard them. That's the kind of artist Chihiro Onitsuka is. I read some time ago in a CLAMP interview for Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle that Ohkawa Ageha-sensei listens to Chihiro Onitsuka as well. She mentioned that when she was writing the wing scene for Sakura, Chihiro Onitsuka's "Sign" was constantly on replay, so I dug up the lyrics and really found how the lyrics could relate to that scene and Sakura. (Ohkawa-sensei also said she listened to Da Pump's Wadachi while drawing Kurogane's past, and likewise, I hunted up the song and it was on my workout playlist for a while; the song's great, it's "oriental-inpsired" with a cool beat and masculine lyrics befitting our favorite ninja. Somehow, when I read about Ohkawa-sensei's music sense, it made me feel closer to understanding her (she who insists on gouging eyes and severing limbs). After all, music is such a big inspiration for me when writing, and it makes me feel like I'm on the right track with New Trials when my music taste seems to coincide with CLAMP's (aka Maaya Sakamoto and Yoko Kanno)!

Chihiro Onitsuka's songs to me bear a level of heart-rendering poignancy that I think is difficult to find in artists anywhere in the world. She is an artist whose songs and lyrics seem to come from a burden in her soul, and when she sings, she seems to urgently transmit this immense energy unimaginable coming from such a small, frail body. Many of her songs seem to convey a quiet sort of desperation that seems to build up and up and explode with her chorus. She holds the complete package: composition, lyrics AND voice. Not to mention she's a beautiful woman as well, though there are times when she has been dangerously skinny due to an ongoing battle against an eating disorder amongst other events troubling her life.

Shine (Album Version). Shine was Chihiro Onitsuka's debut single. I prefer the Album Version to the Single Version because the Album Ver. is more stripped down and raw with just a piano accompaniment, whereas the Single Ver. is almost deceivingly upbeat; the beat sounds very Nineties J-pop and a bit jazzy to me. The song is perhaps her most depressing songs and very resounding. Chihiro Onitsuka's forte is piano ballads, and I really don't think I've heard anything like this and this song grew on me the more I listened to it over the years. She displays the full extent of her alto, slightly husky powerful voice. Again, I don't know how such a deep, strong voice comes from a tiny woman.

Infection. This might be my favorite Chihiro Onitsuka song because it was one of the first ones I ever listened to and it's very haunting, the way the song starts out softly, quietly and just seems to grow and grow and explode into her full vocals in the chorus. The piano and soft strings accompaniment is all that is needed and simply highlights Chihiro Onitsuka's voice. The lyrics are full of poignant imagery, especially in the chorus:

An explosion has ripped apart the shattered fragments of my heart
And although now all I see are glittering lights all around me
When, I wonder, did I become this weak?

Chihiro Onitsuka as a child is said to have started writing poetry before she got into music-writing, and you can tell. She is one of the rare musicians who has mastered artistry in the triple-field: vocal, music composition and lyric composition. She doesn't sing your cookie-cutter love songs. Her songs carry strong imagery and symbolism and are "poetry" that have meanings as opposed to random compilations of words used to match the music. I do appreciate songs that use such such subtle mechanisms as opposed to in your face lyrics or catch-phrases popular in the industry today. And the beauty is, you don't have to understand the language or the meaning to be able to understand her song; she conveys it simply with the strength of her voice and music alone, but it's a bonus when you understand the lyrics as well. She received a lyric prize for "Memai," a subtley uplifting song that is needed to cheer you up after you listen to some of her darker songs. Onitsuka Chihiro's songs

"Gekkou" or "Moonlight" is the song that catapulted Chihiro Onitsuka to fame and is her best-selling single to date. Here, you can see Onitsuka's Christian roots with the religious imagery in the lyrics "I am God's child, set down upon this decayed Earth/ How do I live on such a field?/ This isn’t why I was born..." This was the theme song to the first season of the subsequently popular "Trick" franchise, and it's a poignant song. I am not sure if I prefer the Album Version or the Single Version. I do like the simple piano and soft guitar accompaniment of the Single Ver., but the Album Ver. starts out with a beautiful acapella vocal accompaniment. She sounds even more awesome in the live version, where she starts off acapella, and the intensity of her voice just blows you away.

"Watashi wo Walz o" is the song that introduced me to Chihiro Onitsuka and made me wonder "who is this woman with such a powerful voice." The song reminds me of a surreal foggy bluish ballroom in a swirling Cinderella-esque scene. It's the theme song to the third season to "Trick." I thought "Gekkou" was very befitting to the drama's theme, but I personally haven't figured out how this song relates to the theme of "Trick." When I first heard the song, I thought it was from a different decade, from an older, veteran artist. Onitsuka definitely does not have a typical "J-pop" voice. Her "Gekkou" lives are more powerful, but the instrumentals in this live version was awesome.

I have to admit, Chihiro Onitsuka's pre-hiatus (circa 2003) songs are a bit stronger. Since then, she went through a throat surgery, changed record labels and recovered from an eating disorder and went through a two-year hiatus until she made a comeback in 2007. She has mentioned that "Everyhome" is a song she believes will remain through time as her representative work. Truthfully, it didn't make much of an impact on me the first time I heard it, especially since some of her earlier songs were so powerful, but this is a song that grows on you with listening and becomes really resonant. The lyrics rather remind me of Kai. It's sad that Chihiro Onitsuka's voice doesn't have the same level of control from before surgery, but it's still powerful and beautiful (albeit not autotune, computerized artificial-perfection). I love my standard pop and rock but Chihiro Onitsuka seems to bare her heart in her songs, especially if you listen to her live performances, and I know I will be listening to her songs for many years in the future. I hope her the best in her future works!

New Trials Fanwork

2011-02-16T03:15:00.000-08:00

Reunion of Hearts by *selenityshiroi on deviant ART

The artwork is by our talented Selenity Shiroi who has illustrated a scene from the latest New Trials chapter. I'm so excited she drew it, because it's a scene I wanted to be drawn!

As you all know, the readers of New Trials of CCS are a very talented bunch. Artwork, songs, spin-off fics; there have been numerous artwork (in a very liberal sense of the term) inspired off of Card Captor Sakura and also as a response to New Trials. I think Chapter 67: Sacrifice has had a very good response in terms fan response. Ever since I began writing New Trials. I love, love, loved all the fanart, fanfics, spin-offs, projects, etc. that people have emailed me about. Some of the compiled artwork can be found in the New Trials Devianart group http://newtrials.deviantart.com/ kindly put together by Amethyst Beloved; if you type in "New Trials of Card Captor Sakura" into deviantart, you'll find a plethora of awesome New Trials related artwork. Below is my favorite Meilin + Kai fanart, also by Selenity Shiroi

Meilin And Kai Sunset Ch 53 by *selenityshiroi on deviant ART

Similiarly, there have been quite a few New Trials AMV made on youtube. I should probably make a New Trials youtube channel to compile all the videos. Check out Winxc1ub's version of Jinyu dancing the infamous internet meme "Caramelldansen." It's oh so hilarious and wrong, yet so right. I can never look at Jinyu the same way again.

Kirei Blossom posted up her awesome Tomoyo’s Video Diary: New Trials Edition: ~*The Sniffing Chronicles*~

on the New Trials Yahoo Group today. It's hilarious, check it out! And finally, the Yahoo Group itself is a grounds where numerous people have shared their talents, ranging from singing, (check out Hazuki Goldair's "Syaoran the Waiter Boy" if you haven't already), artwork, found in the Files section, to professional photoshoots such as those of the lovely Melanie Mackey inspired from the Veil Card artwork I did of Syaoran and Blindfolded Sakura. I absolutely adore how the photo shoot turned out, and Melanie made a cameo in New Trials Chapter 63: The Joining of the Circle as the model "Malanie." I just wish I did a better job of compiling and documenting everything from the beginning. But I'm horrible at computer organization. But sometimes I just have fun googling "New Trials of Card Captor Sakura" and seeing all the fun stuff that pops up.

Anyhow, thank you to all you talented artists, writers, musicians, singers and readers. You all are inspiration to me!

Happy Valentine's Day: "Syaoran the Waiter Boy" AMV

2011-02-13T07:52:00.000-08:00

Everybody knows how much I like Broadway. Hazuki Goldair from the Yahoo Group posted up her rendition of Kristin Chenoweth's "Taylor the Latte Boy" aka "Syaoran the Waiter Boy," lyrics written, sung and recorded by herself. First off, I've loved Kristin Chenoweth since Wicked, and I love cabaret-style songs. Kristin Chenoweth oozes awesomeness, and I just love her versatile voice and sense of humor. Hazuki Goldair's rendition of "Syaoran the Waiter Boy" is brilliant as well; the lyrics are witty and hilarious, yet sweet because it's Sakura's POV, a perfect parody of "Taylor the Latte Boy," and it's amazing how well the lyrics fit in with New Trials (I especially love the reference to Chapter 49.5: The Words We Couldn't Say with the white chiffon cake. And I can't shower enough praises on how well Hazuki Goldair sang the song; her voice is beautiful with enough nuance of humor as well for the song. I like it better than the original version, though I guess I'm Syaoran-biased. Sorry Taylor!

After finishing Chapter 67, I had been working on a New Trials Valentine's Day Special Chapter because I realized that I haven't done a Valentine's Day special yet (not a good reason, I know.) Either way, "Syaoran the Waiter Boy" fit in so perfectly with Chapter 67 and the not yet completed Special, and I was inspired to make an AMV out of it, with the permission of our singing math whiz Hazuki Goldair. I swear there are so many talented people on the Yahoo New Trials Group. The lyrics, courtesy Hazuki Goldair, are below. Coincidentally, her birthday is also on Valentine's Day. Happy Birthday!

"Syaoran the Waiter Boy"
Lyrics and song by: Hazuki Goldair from the Yahoo New Trials Group
http://mathgeeksanonymous.blogspot.com/

Inspired from Kristin Chenoweth's: "Taylor the Latte Boy"
Composed by: Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich

"Syaoran the Waiter Boy" Lyrics

There’s a boy who works at La Seine
Who is very inspirational
He is very inspirational because of many things.

I come in at 4:11, and he smiles and says, “How are you?”
When he smiles and says, “How are you?”
I could swear my heart grows wings!

So today at 4:11
I decided I should meet him
I decided I should meet him
In a proper formal way.

So today at 4:11 when he smiled and said, “How are you?”
I said, “Fine, and my name’s Sakura.”
And he softly answered, “Hey.”
And I said, “My name is Sakura, and thank you for the extra soy…”

And he said his name was Syaoran,
Which provides the inspiration for this poem.

Syaoran, the waiter boy
Bring me stir-fry, bring me joy
Syaoran, the waiter boy
I love him, I love him, I love him…

So I’d like to get my nerve up
To recite my poem musical.
He would like the fact it’s musical
Cuz he plays violin.
So today at 4:11, Syaoran told me he was playing
Tokyo’s symphonic orchestra; he could probably sneak me in.

And he brought out something extra, saying, “Compliments of your chef.”
But I knew he’d made it for me, and he didn’t think I knew.
But I saw him decorate it with pink spun sugar blossoms
And I knew that white chiffon cake meant that Syaoran loved me too!
I said, “What time are you playing? And thank you for this tasty cake…”
He said, “8 PM tomorrow,” and I saw him blush before he ran away.

Syaoran, the waiter boy
Bring me stir-fry, bring me joy
Oh Syaoran, the waiter boy
I love him, I love him, I love him…

I used to be the kind of girl who’d run when love rushed toward her.
But suddenly a voice whispered, “Love can be yours if you sit down at the table and order!”

Syaoran, the waiter boy
Bring me stir-fry, bring me joy
Syaoran, the waiter boy
I love him, I love him, I love him…

So many years my heart has waited,
Who’d have thought that love could be so complicated?
Syaoran, the waiter boy
I love him, I love him, I love him.
I love him, I love him, I love him.

I had fun making this AMV; it's much easier to make a narrative AMV, because I knew pretty much which clips I wanted to use. "Syaoran the Waiter Boy" has been stuck in my head ever since I first heard it, and I'm sure all of you will find it very addicting. Originally, I intended on just using original art, but knowing BOTH CCS and TRC had "waiter" theme episodes, I couldn't resist using them. I wanted to make a story within a story within a story. Well, three parallel existences of Sakura x Syaoran FTW.

I also had fun drawing the Valentine's Day fanart for the ending theme to the AMV to the Card Captor Sakura Season 3 ending theme, "Fruits Candy" sung by Kojima Megumi. I always thought "Fruits Candy" was a very catchy song, and it fit the theme du jour quite well. I never saw the lyrics translation before, and hey, it fit perfectly with the waiter theme! Bad news is, I didn't finish writing the Valentine's Day Special. I didn't expect myself to, because two weeks to write even a short chapter was too ambitious for even me. Maybe by White Day...

Check out the original version of Kristin Chenoweth's "Taylor the Latte Boy." The Rebuttal Song is also hilarious as well. Thanks to Ellie (lunalove101) from the Yahoo Group for pointing it out!

xxxHOLiC Rou Final Chapter: Chapter 213... The End?

2011-02-10T06:01:00.000-08:00

Well, following the route of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, xxxHolic seems to an abrupt end. I wasn't expecting it at all. I actually haven't been following xxxHolic that faithfully these past 8 years though I think it might be one of CLAMP's most unique works. I finally caught up with the last couple chapters. Spoiler warning...

So, I think that xxxHoliic ended along the lines of what I expected. The last chapter was very symbolic with minimal dialogue. The artwork was beautiful as usual, with great use and of black and white space, and I think I never found Yuuko more beautiful before. I am glad we are able to see her again, even in a dream state. Truthfully, I was pretty sure Yuuko will never come back. Watanuki would have been able to come to a new level of growth if he was able to "let go," but I think it's poignant how he shoes not to let go and continue caging his heart up. I was wondering who Yuuko reminded me of this chapter, and I realized it was Ruby Moon, especially with the butterfly obi tied in the back and the hime-haircut. Also, Watanuki looked strangely more like Eriol this last chapter, especially with the Western clothes in the dream, the Clow magic circle and the strangely more round glasses.

I think xxxHolic Rou has tragic yet somehow poignant in that Watanuki is stuck in the same spot as the world around him changes. I was a bit shocked when I heard that Himawari has married. And the most shocking part about this chapter was the fact that a century had lapsed and Doumeki is not Doumeki. I had been counting on xxxHolic to tie up the loose ends of TRC, but so much for that. Time flows differently in the TRC-verse, and since Watanuki is finally released from being bound to the store, I wonder whether Tsubasa!Syaoran can finally return to Tsubasa!Sakura. Or maybe they're all dead already as well. The last time we heard of the TRC crew, it had been 520 days since Tsu!Syaoran had returned back to Tsu!Sakura in xxxHolic Chapter 204.5 whereas over a decade has passed for Watanuki. So almost two years to every ten, if time is constant, which I doubt it is. Twenty years to get back to Sakura, if he ever did make it back. Poor Syaoran. Poor Watanuki, watching all his loved ones grow old and die, leaving only him behind. And he's still stuck in an infinite loop; it's the makings of a great sorcerer *coughClowReedcough*

I followed Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle and xxxHolic less for the plot and more for the characters, and as with TRC, xxxHolic was a good study of Clow Reed for me. Why Clow Reed? I know that Clow doesn't equal Watanuki as many people theorized earlier on, but I do believe that the analogy between Clow Reed's wish/obsession to keep Yuuko alive with Watanuki's desire to see Yuuko again is pretty blatant. It's sort of the trinity of Tsubasa!Syaoran, Clone!Syaoran and Watanuki with the trinity of Clow Reed, Fei Wong Reed and Watanuki, with Watanuki Kimihiro being the intermediary force between the two entities. He's sort of like the Void Card of the Card Captor Sakura Movie 2, the null between space and time dimensions. And I think he is the loneliest of all CLAMP-dom characters. He's not even angsty or angry at his fate; he just is. Doumeki-Watanuki shippers shouldn't despair though; I see their relationship sort of in a Shuichiro-san Kohaku sort of way. Obviously, in the CLAMP world, if you reproduce, your offspring is a clone of you. And Himawari turned out to be just about the most insignificant CLAMP heroine ever. Anyhow, it's obvious that after Watanuki finally dies, they'll all be reincarnated into Horistuba Gakuen. Or maybe Horitsuba Gakuen is heaven.

Fanart is a quick doodle I did of Yuuko after I finished reading Chapter 213. If xxxHolic had a happy ending a la Card Captor Sakura...

Happy Lunar New Year! Happy 7th Anniversay Yahoo Group!

2011-02-03T00:38:00.000-08:00

Cheerleader Kinomoto Sakura by ~wishluv on deviant ART

Happy 7th Anniversary Yahoo New Trials Fan Community! The New Trials Ring was launched on February 4, 2004 by the amazing Kirei Blossom and is the biggest active Card Captor Sakura fanfiction Yahoo Group (yes, very specific) on the internet (I think). (And did I count right? I get confused sometimes.) This fanart is dedicated to all of you awesome members of the Group who have provided me endless entertainment, awe and inspiration for the past seven years. It's a shoujo love triangle, and oddly enough, my first "published" fanart of Sakura, Syaoran and Eron together in a fanart. It's about time, right?

Also, Happy 2nd Anniversary wishluv.blogspot.com started on February 3, 2009! I guess February's a pretty eventful month in the New Trials-sphere.

Happy Lunar New Year 2011!!! Can you guess who this it? It's the Black Dragon. Li Jinyu looks brooding and solemn as usual. I'm sure Jinyu's not the best person to celebrate Lunar New Year with, but I made a really rough colored doodle of him the other day. I do have a bunch of concept sketches that I should post up eventually.

New Trials Update: Chapter 67: The Sacrifice

2011-01-25T06:23:00.000-08:00

Sakura Syaoran in the Rain by ~wishluv on deviant ART

Yes, it's finally done! Thank you everyone for being so patient. I miss the days when I could edit a chapter in one sitting. Unfortunately, this chapter is in its beta stage (actually, I view the entire New Trials Project as being in its beta stage), but I figured at this rate, I could not keep the "before February" promise. It's been an emotionally draining chapter to write, and the longest one to date, but I am glad it's finally here. I would have liked to spend another month or so on this chapter, but I didn't think readers would be too happy about that. ^_^;

Without further ado, here's Chapter 67: The Sacrifice.

I do enjoy my pop once in a while, and the remix version is awesome. And face it, who doesn't love Glee?

Happy New Year 2011!

2011-01-01T20:39:00.000-08:00

On New Year's Eve, I was at a dinner party with a fortunetelling decor, and each table was laid out with Tarot Cards. I was amused to find the Tarot Cards on my table to be: Sacrifice, Heartache & Loss, Patience and Transformation. Talk about no such thing as coincidence. I'm personally not a very superstitious person, but how can there be a more in-the-face reminder to go finish up New Trials Chapter 67 when the Tarot Card decorations on my dinner table is pretty much spelling out the current chapter's title and themes? Speaking of which, I am in editing process now for the chapter. It's the longest chapter in Arc 4, I think. I couldn't resist taking a photo of the Tarot Cards with a chuckle to myself.

It's 1/1/11! Somehow, time seems to fly by. Happy New Year 2011 and thank you so much for reading my blog and supporting the New Trials of Sakura. I will continue to try my hardest to bring you the best quality chapters!

Song of the day is Ingrid Michaelson's "Parachute," original version of X-Factor's Cheryl Cole's "Parachute." I like both versions, but this one probably is less known. When I write, I usually divide up my playlist into three sections: instrumental (when I can't have lyrics as distractions), mood-setters (songs that get me into the emotion or mood of what I want to write) and contemporary (what ever song is "in" at the moment, songs with good beats. I've been listening to "Parachute" a lot lately since it has a catchy beat, and I do love the imagery of the lyrics as well. Besides, I didn't think I can start off the New Year with an angsty or melancholy song. The tango choreography in Chery Cole's PV is well worth checking out as well, though I admit I'm biased since I've liked Derek Hough since Dancing With the Stars.

Merry Christmas!!! and New Trials updates...

2010-12-25T06:22:00.000-08:00

First off, many apologies for being MIA for the past month. Those of you who have stuck by New Trials for years probably know that Christmastime is usually eventful for New Trials updates. The only thing that can keep me from writing New Trials besides dire emergency in real life is exams or being stranded on a tropical island without internet access. This time, surprisingly, it was the latter. I took an unexpectedly early vacation trip to a tropical island in the Pacific ocean, hence the delay in Chapter 67 of New Trials. I have not been able to check emails, blog or anything. So, I start off Christmas with the apology. >.< I estimated the chapter to be done by end of November, but I forgot how crazy end of the year is with various events and whatnot, so I am feeling very sheepish and humble right now and don't want to give any false dates for when the chapter will be ready. But one thing I came to know for sure is, I'm not going to finish the chapter by today (my original goal). Lol. I've been writing like crazy for the past week ever since I came back from the trip, (I have been sitting on the beach, stressing about Chapter 67 even there) but the problem is, I am knit-picky and there's an aspect towards the end of the chapter that needs reworking and I can't release a chapter that I am not satisfied with. Either way, the chapter is 98% done and shall enter final editing stage soon. It's a long chapter, and it's getting longer if that is any solace. Sorry for the wait! I'll try my best so that Chapter 67 doesn't disappoint.

There is something very jarring sitting on a beach, soaking in the sunlight, listening to Christmas carols being belted out from the hotel. Sort of like being in a twilight zone. The place I was staying at was full of Japanese tourists and lots of cute, young couples, newlyweds and adorable children. I also saw for the first time what was presumably a gravure photoshoot. There were two Japanese models (very pretty) and they were posing on the beach all day long. You can't really make them out in the picture above, but it's the models, staff and cameraman. It's tough work, being a model, posing all day long in the same spot. The sunset was beautiful though. There were also lots of wedding photoshoots happening there as well. There was a poor bride that was doing a photoshoot by the beach side when it suddenly began to pour. She had to crouch underneath a parasol in her wedding dress and veil and wait for the rain to pass. But there was a huge rainbow after the rain passed. I saw it because the cutest little kid cried out, "Papa... Niji da yo! Niji!" The adults on the beach were to busy doing whatever day were doing, flirting, drinking beer, sunbathing, to look up at the sky, but the little boy pointed it out first. Children can see the world better than adults sometimes.

Here is a little preview of the New Trials of Card Captor Sakura Chapter 67: The Sacrifice:

******

“Kaijou, you’re going to be late for school!” Kinomoto Touya pounded on the door. Very graciously, he stated, “I’ll drive you and the Brat to school on my way to work.”

There was not answer. Touya glared at Li Syaoran, currently a guest at his house, as if it was his fault. “What’s wrong with her?”

Li Syaoran, hands shoveled in his sky-blue uniform jacket, loathing the fact that he had to be the news bearer, grimaced and mumbled, “Chang Eron broke up with her, it seems.” Yesterday, he had found Sakura in King Penguin Park, in tears because things had ended with Eron. Maybe he was too optimistic in thinking that Sakura would have been cheered up by today. And he felt an ugly resentment whelming within his stomach.

“You mean she’s hung up over some guy?” Touya scowled with renewed viciousness. “Why are we Kinomoto’s so unlucky when it comes to relationships?” He pounded on the door again. “Kaijou, you come out this second or else I’m going to come in and drag you out of bed.”

“I’m not going to school!” retorted Sakura, voice muffled by her pillow.

“That’s it. Where is this Chang Eron?” Touya growled, rolling up his sleeve.

“Stop it, ‘nii-chan. Just go away and leave me alone!” Sakura exclaimed from under her blankets.

Touya’s jaw dropped. His precious little sister had just called him a nuisance. Again he glared at Syaoran then smacked him on the head.

“Ow! What did you do that for?” demanded Syaoran, clasping the back of his skull. “Don’t you have the wrong guy here?”

“I don’t know. I just felt like hitting you for some reason,” said Touya. “Ugh, just looking at you makes my stomach curdle.”

“It’s not my fault!” exclaimed Syaoran.

“Yeah, sure.” Touya whacked Syaoran on the head one more time. “If Sakura is not out of her room, smiling and brightly calling out ‘onii-chan’ by the time I come home again, you’re getting more than a whack on the head. Understand?”

******

Sakura's Christmas Gift by ~wishluv on deviant ART

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle AMV: Yuzurenai Negai

2010-10-30T10:37:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween! I unfortunately was not able to complete Chapter 67 of New Trials, but here is just a little something to pass time. Edit; I reuploaded the video for higher quality (Youtube butchers video quality these days) and added translation annotations to the AMV.

AMV: Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle - Syaoran's Unyielding Wish

Medium: Sony Vegas Pro 8

Song: 「ゆずれない願い」 "Yuzurenai Negai" - "Unyielding Wish" (Magic Knight Rayearth Opening Theme 1)

Singer: 田村直美 Masaaki Endoh (Jam Project)

Album: Enson2 ~ Cover Songs Collection Vol. 2

Composer/ Original Singer: 田村直美 Naomi Tamura

Romaji: Takayama Miyuki at animelyrics.com

English Translation: Takayama Miyuki, Wish-chan. I wanted to create the "best translation" though I don't know if this is that. The original translations by Takayama Miyuki from animelyrics.com were very good, and I referenced that heavily, but there were some lines that I cross-referred to Korean translations for.

tomaranai mirai wo mezashite

yuzurenai negai wo dakishimete

Aiming for the unstoppable future

and embracing the unyielding wish

umi no iro ga akaku somatte-yuku

mujuuryoku joutai

kono mama kaze ni sarawaretai

The color of the sea is being dyed crimson

In a state of free-fall... [No gravity condition]

I want to be swept away by the wind like this.

itsumo tobenai HA-DORU wo

makenai kimochi de

KURIAshite-kita kedo

dashikirenai jitsuryoku wa

dare no sei?

I've always cleared impossible hurdles

by this feeling of not wanting to lose, but

whose fault is it if it's still not the best I can do?

tomaranai mirai wo mezashite

yuzurenai negai wo dakishimete

iroasenai kokoro no chizu

hikari ni kazasou

Aiming for the unstoppable future

and embracing the unyielding wish,

I'll hold the unfading map of my heart up to the light.

dore dake nakeba asa ni deaeru no?

kodoku na yoru

hajimete genkai wo kanjita hi

How long do I have to cry before we meet in the morning?

The lonely night...

The day I first felt my limitations.

kitto, koi ni ochiru no wa

mabataki mitai na

isshun no jounetsu dakedo

ai ni tsudzuku sakamichi de

tsuyosa oboetai

Surely, falling in love

is a momentary passion like a blink of an eye, but

on the uphill path that leads to love,

I want to remember my strength.

tomaranai mirai wo yume mite

kuchi wo tozashi hitomi wo hikarasete-kita keredo

motto ooki na

yasashisa ga mieta

Dreaming of an unstoppable future,

My mouth was shut and light shone in my eyes, but

I was able to see an even greater kindness.

tobenai HA-DORU wo

makenai kimochi de

KURIAshite-kita kedo

SUTA-TO RAIN ni tatsu tabi ni

obiete-ita

I've always cleared impossible hurdles

by this feeling of not wanting to lose, but

whenever I stood at the start-line

I got scared.

tomaranai mirai wo egaite

ude wo nobashi kokoro wo hiraite

Sketching out the unstoppable future,

stretching my arms out and opening my heart

tomaranai mirai wo mezashite

yuzurenai negai wo dakishimete

iroasenai kokoro no chizu

hikari ni kazasou

Aiming for the unstoppable future

and embracing the unyielding wish,

I'll hold the unfading map of my heart up to the light.

I worked on this AMV on and off for the past month as it's been about a year since I made my last TRC AMV, Saga~This is My Raod. I initially was making another AMV, but somehow I ended up with this one instead. "Yuzurenai Negai" or "Unyielding Wish" aka "A Wish that Cannot be Yielded," was the opening theme song of the first CLAMP anime I ever saw, Magic Knight Rayearth, and till this day probably remains in my top 5 favorite opening themes of all time. I first saw this anime back in 1996; Magic Knight Rayearth was one of this anime that I knew immediately, simply from watching a 10-second trailer, from the first notes of the opening theme song, that I knew I was going to love. Fantasy, drama, romance, mecha, pretty girls, a bishounen male cast, beautiful music; this anime packaged everything I loved. Sometimes, the theme song completely represents the anime, and "Yuzurenai Negai" is a song that does that.

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle initially seemed to follow the format of Magic Knight Rayearth, three individuals (well, plus an unconscious Sakura) journey to different dimensions for a mission, especially when the three mashin from Rayearth are used as Syaoran, Fai and Kuragone's kudan. I like this version of "Yuzurenai Negai" by Masaaki Endoh even better because his voice really compliments the guitar riffs and captures the exhilarating vigor of the song, whereas Naomi Tamura's original version captures more of the wistful tone (check out the acapella version; it's very beautiful as well). I thought the lyrics really suited Syaoran. Masaaki Endoh is from the Jam Project, a group of talented musicians who often participate in anime projects. Part 2 of the video is a trailer with Yoko Kanno's "Prologue F," my favorite bgm from Macross F. I was going for a "movie trailer" effect, or TRC (what everyone thought it would be) in 1 minute. And of course, I couldn't resist putting the orchestrated version of "Yuzurenai Negai" for the credits. A sign that a theme song is a good theme song is when the orchestrated version is even more beautiful. I remember hearing the "Yuzurenai Negai" strings version on one of the latter episodes of MKR Season 1, at an age when I wasn't really aware of the function of background music, and that tune to me was the most poignant thing about the whole anime. I was thrilled to find the MKR OST years later. I think I sometimes enjoy making the credits sequence more than the actual AMV.

The most difficult part was gathering all the different episodes sub-free or cutting out the subtitles (the process took up much memory on my hard drive). But besides that part, making AMVs is very enjoyable process to me and I usually end up being much more appreciate of the production and thought that went into creating each frame of an anime, and I end up picking up a lot more details than I would just passively watching that episode. For example, I didn't really notice how much emphasis was put on "holding hands" in the anime. Having somewhat of a hand fetish, it was interesting compiling all these clips. When I make an AMV, I try to tell a story rather than just paste together a random assortment of clips to music. The last TRC AMV I made, Saga, was intended to relay sort of the epic nature of TRC, which is why I focused more on the OVAs which is post-Clone!Syaoran revelation. I wanted to make another AMV which focused more on the prototypical adventure-theme aspect of TRC, which represents the earlier half of TRC, back when everything was jovial, spirited and happy, aka before the Record Arc. Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle is a manga which I think really has two parts and the atmosphere and tone of the manga drastically changes from the Tokyo arc onwards. I bet I wasn't the only one who felt cheated upon learning that the "Syaoran" that we all grew fond of through the course of the manga and anime was a "clone." It's been a year since the manga ended, and I am still grappling to really understand the totality of the manga and waiting for xxxHolic to perhaps tie up some more loose ends. Somewhere along the way, TRC switched from the typical shounen adventure to a twisted Jungian philosophical study of character archetypes where are hero pulls a Jekyll and Hyde. I still hold my belief that though CLAMP tricks us in the end of the TRC manga with a pseudo-happy ending for "real" Sakura and Syaoran," aka the Tsubasas, it doesn't change the fact that Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle is the chronicles of "Clone!Syaoran" or to me, the original Syaoran, the hero (or anti-hero) of this story. Anyhow, I hope this AMV helps recall happier times.

I also included the English lyric translations on my other TRC AMV, Saga~This is My Road. The two AMVs are meant to be viewed together, "Yuzurenai Negai" as Part 1, "Saga" as Part 2, as they sort of counterbalance each other and represent the two faces of TRC for me.

The New Home of New Trials: The History of Wish For a Star: A CCS Shrine

2010-10-28T08:16:00.000-07:00

Many apologies for the fiasco last week when revolutionhosting.net officially closed down after 7 years of business, leaving the website inaccessible for a couple days. Luckily, I was able to get in touch with Robert Arrowsmith, formerly from the revolutionhosting.net team, who speedily responded and has very kindly agreed to continue hosting Wish For a Star: A Card Captor Sakura Shrine on his newly opened web hosting business at http://www.robswebsites.com. The good news is, the website remains as http://wishluv.revolutiohosting.net, less confusion that way. Thank you very much for all of you who have expressed concerned and offered help; I was very touched by the support, and this whole business was a very educational experience. Robert kindly moved all my files to the new server and has set up an account for me at robswebsites, making a very smooth transition, and I am very excited for a new beginning, a new decade more of New Trials!

So once more, many thanks to Robert and http://www.robswebsites.com for hosting The New Trials of Card Captor Sakura!!!

This whole experience has been a spring-cleaning reminder for me, and I thought it would be interesting to draw up the history of New Trials on the web.

The History of New Trials Website Timeline

Fall 1999 - As a 13 year old, I began writing the New Trials of Card Captor Sakura, Syaoran and Friends. The first couple chapters of New Trials was sent to three or four Card Captor Sakura fanfiction sites that could be found on anipike.com, all of which our no longer in existence to my knowledge.

Fall 2000 - I first created Wish For a Star: A CCS Shrine, a site dedicated to Card Captor Sakura and my fanfiction at the now defunct as of 2010 geocities.com. Old-timers will remember the days of exceeding bandwidth and geocities being down to much of our chagrin. Kirei Blossom pointed out to me that an archive of the site can be found at http://www.oocities.com/wishluv/index2.htm.

October 2000 - Digidynasty created an account for New Trials at fanfiction.net and maintained the account till 2006-ish, followed up by Amethyst Beloved who maintained the ff.net account until late 2009, when I took over uploading chapters. The 26th marked "Wish-chan's" 10 year-anniversary on http://www.fanfiction.net/u/23409/Wish_Chan.

August 2003 - Bilal from revolutionhosting.net kindly offered to host Wish For a Star: A CCS Shrine and thus created the account of http://wishluv.revolutionhosting.net. For 7 years, I had wonderful hosting at Revolutionhosting.

February 4, 2004 - Kirei Blossom opened up the Yahoo Group: The New Trials Ring, home of all discussions relating to Card Captor Sakura, CLAMP, fanfiction and New Trials at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newtrialsring and remains administrator of the group with Selenityshiroi.

January 2008 - Began posting fanart up at http://wishluv.deviantart.com.

February 2009 - I started a blog at http://wishluv.blogspot.com to post New Trials updates and other various information, reviews and commentaries.

October 17, 2010 - Revolutionhosting.net officially shut down without notice, throwing me into a state of panic. I looked into many different server options and everybody had been very helpful via Yahoo Group, this blog, email and Facebook. I got in touch with Robert Arrowsmith who was a part of the Revolutionhosting team. He had opened up a new web hosting service site at http://www.robswebsites.com and kindly offered to continue to host wishluv.revolutionhosting.net with the same conditions as I had at revolutionhosting.net, even retaining the same domain name. Robert is the awesome hero who moved all my files over to the new server and even preserved my old stats from revolutionhosting and deserves a holler of thanks.

October 27, 2010 - An FTP account has been created for me by Robert at http://www.robswebsites.com and the move is complete. The website address remains at http://wishluv.revolutionhosting.net and is now hosted at robswebsites.

Looking back, it seems like fall-time has generally been an eventful period for New Trials. Because of the impermanence of the web, I think I've learned that it's important to have multiple back-ups of everything. It's bittersweet thinking that New Trials has been reborn three times already in the past ten years. First as a nomad fanfiction being hosted on other CCS fanfic sites. Sadly, I don't even remember what they were called because they no longer exist. Then the first home at Geocities, which disappeared earlier this year. Revolutionhosting also is gone. Now, New Trials is in its fourth home, fourth arc, and I am very excited and dedicated to bringing about the finale of New Trials!

Music Spotlight du jour is another oldie from the nineties (which doesn't seem so long ago to me). This whole experience has been about planning ahead, but ended up being a trip down the memory lane. You know those songs that seem to transport you back in time to a certain period? This song was the theme song at my junior high Semi-Formal (and probably was the theme song for every other school dance party in the late nineties). It played over and over again that night, and throughout 1998, on the radios, on TV, in stores, to the point where I never wanted to listen to it again. Yet, all these years later, it is still a beautiful song and no one can deny that it's a nineties love song classic which probably will be remembered for decades to come. This was a song that was ironically constantly on my playlist as I wrote Chapter 66: The Truth in the Heart. Savage Garden ever-so-popular almost to the point of cliche song, "Truly, Madly, Deeply." Yes, cheesy nineties pop songs are healing to the soul and brings out the wide-eyed, teenage romantic in all of us.

Bye-bye revolutionhosting.net

2010-10-17T06:23:00.000-07:00

Before anyone starts to panic, yes wishluv.revolutionhosting.net is down, forever, it seems. I have gratefully had free webhosting thanks to Bilal from revolutionhosting.net for 7 years, since 2003. Unfortunately, revolutionhosting.net has closed down. I was ready to continue working on the next chapter of New Trials, when I checked the site and it was gone without a trace, though it was up this morning. Since I have not received any sort of notice it was closing down, I am not even sure if I have all the website information saved, but I'm pretty sure I have all the chapters at least.

Even more unfortunately, the backup location, wishluv.geocities.com is also down because Geocities officially closed down earlier this year. At this point, I am too tired to think of how much work there is to be done trying to find a new server. I have mentioned numerous times I am very computer-illiterate, and it's amazing to me that I've been managing a website for a good ten years (Geocities since 2000-ish, wishluv.revolutionhosting.net since 2003-ish). Anyhow, many thanks to Bilal-san for introducing me to revolutionhosting.net and providing me with such wonderful (free) webhosting service for these past 7 years. I probably have not expressed that gratitude enough but I, also unfortunately, lost all my hotmail emails circa 2007 when hotmail decided to dump all my emails (yes, I hold a 3-year grudge).

Currently, (well, it's been less than an hour since I have found out about the *destruction* of revolutionhosting.net) I am searching for a new webhosting site. Please feel free to give me suggestions for the new home of "New Trials of Card Captor Sakura." The face of the internet seems to have changed greatly over the years, and I would like to find hosting that is reliable, without advertising, hopefully free (do they even have those anymore?) and can survive the next 10 years or so. And really, I do want everyone's input because I want to put reader-priority foremost, and I don't want to go through this kind of fiasco again, where both my websites are down without any notice.

Ah, the impermanence of websites. Somehow, it seems like New Trials has just disappeared without a trace off the internet. It's a bittersweet feeling; I feel like I am parting with a long-time friend, but at the same time, here heralds the mark of a new decade of an updated *Wish For A Star: The New Trials.*

Many apologies for the inconvenience, but on a brighter note, you can still read "The New Trials of Card Captor Sakura" as always at http://www.fanfiction.net/s/197453/1/The_New_Trials_of_Card_Captor_Sakura_and_Friends

I will continue to communicate through this blog (I guess it was a good idea to make one, after all ^_^), and most of my recent artwork is up at http://wishluv.deviantart.com and I will continue to communicate through http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newtrialsring/messages

Update: Kirei Blossom from the Yahoo Group has informed me that a Geocities back-up can be found here: http://oocities.com/wishluv It has my old website and chapters till mid-Arc three posted up there. So, between that and ff.net, you can still read New Trials till Chapter 67 comes out. ^_^

Update 2: The amazing Selenityshiroi-sama from the Yahoo Group has kindly posted up a backup for most of the New Trials chapters till Arc 3 here: http://newtrials.dreamwidth.org/

RIP wishluv.revolutionhosting.net 2003-2010.

Tokyo Trip Part 5: The Quirks and Final Thoughts

2010-09-19T03:46:00.000-07:00

Tokyo Tower

I am always eager to see how the world looks through the eyes of another person and how that person chooses to express his or her vision. There was once a very poignant line from perhaps the most soul-touching anime/manga that I have ever seen, when the protagonist Takemoto Yuuto wishes "How I wonder what it is like to see the world through Hagu's (his main love interest and fellow artist) eyes." That is why I love animation so much, because it is one medium that is a direction interpretation of the director's vision and needs to be planned out panel by panel; nothing is left to chance whereas in say a movie, each actor, set conditions, etc. all bring in their vision and interpretation into how a certain scene will unfold. In animation, there is really nothing left to chance, every little movement, every blink of eye, every little bird and critters in the backdrop, are all planned (save the limitations caused by budget restrictions). A friend once commented that the ingenuity of Japanese animators and mangaka is that they have taken a landscape that is very ordinary to the Japanese people and made them great symbols and landmarks. Miyazaki Hayao can take the idyllic country side or something so simple like a girl going up stairs and somehow reinterpret the mundane into something charming and new, or the way Makoto Shinkai uses light filtered into the classroom or trains takes the everyday and transforms it into a surreal, brilliant world which makes your heart ache a little bit because its so beautiful. Whenever I see a Ferris wheel, I cannot help being reminded of Honey & Clover (the circularity of life being a major theme), and when I saw Tokyo Tower and Rainbow Bridge, I couldn't help being reminded of CLAMP (and destruction).

And life goes on... Odaiba Ferris Wheel

Fuji TV in Odaiba

I had so much fun in Tokyo, and this trip really was just an overview trip, where I could see, do and eat as much as I can in a limited time, hence it was like a preview trip. Now that I got a good preview, I would love to return and see all the places I didn't get to see and delve into places in detail. Though it's really hard to choose what my favorite place was, I think Odaiba was the most impressionable to me. There's something strangely surreal, a bit futuristic about Odaiba, which is an artificial island made in the Tokyo Bay. It was tourist friendly with shopping, dining, onsen and great scenery, and yet, it was still more quirky than commercial. There was a cat cafe (the Japanese love cats), the strangely eerie (in my opinion) Fuji Television building with the globe, the Urikamome monorail which gives you an awesome view of the Bay area, the Ferris Wheel, supposedly one of the largest in the world, and the great view of Rainbow Bridge, Tokyo Tower and the Statue of Liberty's mini-me. There was even an onsen called Oedo Onsen Monogatori, which is designed in 1800 Edo-style, where we got to wear a yukata and soak our poor, tired feet. There are many cute shops in there as well.

Cat Cafe in Odaiba... Reminded me of the Nekobasu in Totoro ^^

Urikamome Train Station

Oeda Onsen Monogatori

I actually understood a lot more Japanese than I thought I would (thanks to all the anime and drama I watched), but I think this trip really taught me the more practical languages used when shopping or ordering food. After all, being able to say "You are my most important person" or "the hurt in my heart could be heard like the sound of rain" or something nonsensical like that is of of no practical use. The single most useful word I found was "sumimasen" which an translate to "I'm sorry" or "excuse me" depending on the situation, whether you are calling a waiter, or you are pushing through a crowd of people up the stairs in the subway, or you are about to ask a question. On the first day we arrived in Tokyo, my friend and I were walking down the street late at night and a man, a bit drunk, started up a conversation with us, first asking us (the tourists) directions, then tried to invite us to karaoke. We said "sumimasen" and we excused ourselves. After many failed prior attempts to take a good shot, I was able to snap that full shot of the Ferris wheel dangerously sticking my head out of the taxi window on my way to the airport. "Sumimasen," I told the taxi driver and he chuckled.

CLAMP Manga Galore in Shibuya


Wall of mangaka in Shibuya... I didn't see the no photo sign until after I took the photo. Can you spot a mangaka you know?

Cosplay store in Harajuku...

The problem is, I can utter enough of the language to minimally get by, but that's it. And then, they begin speaking so rapidly that I lose track. On my way back, at Haneda Airport, I was checking in my bags and the man assisting me rapidly began listing off all these questions, to which I just replied, "Hai, hai." I did understand the first couple, but then, I completely lost track of what he was saying. Either way, when I arrived back in Seoul, my luggage was the third one out because it was labeled with a "Priority" sticker. I have no idea why, but I can assume it must be thanks to my lack of language skills.

Maneki Neko... (Lucky Cats) everywhere!!! I wasn't supposed to take photos in this certain store in Asakusa.

Lastly, on our way back, I was unluckily in the center aisle seat, but I was able to catch the timing to see Mt. Fuji. The seat belt signs hadn't gone off yet, and the flight attendant initially told me I couldn't go over to the window area, but I went "Sashin o kudasai" which was the only words that I could think of. And the flight attendant understood right away and went, "Ah, Fuji-san..." And so, I was able to snap this beautiful shot of Mt. Fuji up from the sky.

Mt. Fuji submersed in clouds...

I don't know why, but still, the best part of a trip is coming home. "There is no place like home."

Tokyo Trip Part 1:The Places
Tokyo Trip Part 2: The Shopping
Tokyo Trip Part 3: CLAMP x Blythe Dolls
Tokyo Trip Part 4: Food
Tokyo Trip Part 5: Final Thoughts

New Trials CD Drama

2010-09-17T08:37:00.000-07:00

Exciting news, winxc1ub from the New Trials Yahoo Group is holding auditions for a New Trials CD Drama! Discussion is going on at the Yahoo Group. If you are interested in lending your voice to the characters of Card Captor Sakura and New Trials, then contact her. Check out her lovely New Trials AMVs on her channel and her CCS fanfic and fanart on her deviantart account.

Tokyo Trip Part 4: The Food

2010-09-14T01:55:00.000-07:00

Harajuku Crepes

The Savory

There is literally so much good food to each in Japan. It's hard to choose, but I would saw the shabu-shabu was the best food I had in Japan. Shabu-shabu is basicially a thinly sliced beef and vegetable hotpot. We went to a very traditional place and was served in a tatami room, which was expensive but worth experiencing once. The beef literally melts in your mouth and everything is very traditional and formal. I especially enjoyed the konnyaku with was moist and chewy.

Japanese pasta is delicious as well, different from the typical Italian style because they often put their own twist like adding fish roe or the likes. The second night, my friends and I were so weary and hungry we stumbled into any restaurant in Odaiba. It was a chance find, but it's a place I would definitely go back again. The night view of the harbor was gorgeous, and I ordered a salmon and spinach cream sauce pasta which was heavenly--abundant salmon. Usually, cream sauce makes me queasy after a while, but this was not too heavy, and I finished the entire dish. Plus, the staff was super friendly and seeing that we were tourists, they let us enter the back portion of the restaurant which was closed off, and let us take pictures of the gorgeous backdrop of Rainbow Bridge, seen below.

Odaiba

Of course, more casual eating can be done at local izakayas. I especially love gyoza, pan-fried meat-filled dumplings, which can be found in China and Korea too, but I still love all variants of dumplings. I wanted to to go Tsukiji Fish Market known for their fresh sashimi, but there was no way I was waking up before 5AM and eating raw fish first thing in the morning. But all the sushi I did have was delicious--melted in my mouth. I didn't get a chance to go to a proper donkatsu or ramen place, but hopefully next time.

The Sweets

Japan is known for its sweets. Their delicious puddings and mochi and crepes and cakes. If I had more time, I would have tried everything, but the room in my stomach was limited. I tried sweet potato soft-serve ice cream in Asakusa which was delicious. I'm an ice cream mania. I've even tried wasabi-flavored ice cream before. The best soft-serve ice-cream I've ever tried was during the Hokkaido Fair at Mitsuwa, New Jersey, a Japanese market in New Jersey. I had milk-flavored and pear-flavored swirled together, and I swear, it was the softest, silkiest ice cream I had ever had. (Hokkaido is known for its milk-flavored stuff), and I loved the rich, round, milky taste left in my mouth afterwords. I do love anko (red-bean) and black sesame and kinako (soy) and green tea flavored ice cream out of the Japanese flavors, but not so much wasabi.

Of course in Harajuku, we had the crepes filled with strawberry, vanilla custard and whipped cream. It was pretty huge, so three of us shared it. In Japan, be sure to try out the royal milk tea (one of my favorite drinks). They also so have interesting ice cream floats, like the melon float (putridly Shrek-green, but delicious).

Basically, everything I put in my mouth was delicious. Even the airplane food, and I hate airplane food. I rode All Nippon Airways, a Japanese airlines competitive with JAL, and on my way back, I had for early dinner a little bento-style box complete with vanilla pudding for dessert. I unfortunately did not get to try nearly every that I wanted to try, but hopefully next time, I can try everything I didn't get to this time. Because we walked around so much, I think we burned off all the calories pretty quickly. Of course, I brought back home half a trunk full of snacks ranging from castella (kasutera), mochi (rice cakes filled with sweet red bean and white bean filling), yokan, a traditional Japanese dessert consisting of sweet jellied azuki beans (I got the ones embedded with chestnuts), Hokkaido Shiroi Koibito, white chocolate sandwiched between two cookies that simply melts in your mouth, hiyoko, savory manju shaped like little chicks filled with sweet white beans (a favorite of mine as a child). If it isn't obvious, food is one of my favorite subjects to talk and write about.

Tokyo Trip Part 1:The Places
Tokyo Trip Part 2: The Shopping
Tokyo Trip Part 3: CLAMP x Blythe Dolls
Tokyo Trip Part 4: Food
Tokyo Trip Part 5: Final Thoughts

Tokyo Trip Part 3: CLAMP x Blythe Dolls Collaboration

2010-09-13T02:37:00.000-07:00


Venus Forte

I've always loved dolls. Perhaps I'm a girly-girl or perhaps I love the idea of make-believe or perhaps I see dolls as works of art. Or I just like pretty things. I have an affinity for inanimate objects, it seems, and as a child, I used to believe that my stuffed animals and dolls had souls. It was a very burdensome belief, because I used to feel sorry for a doll when I liked it a little less than the another doll. But surely I'm not the only one who cried a bucket of tears when watching Toy Story 3. Truthfully, I was not a big fan of ever-so-popular Blythe dolls because I personally prefer dainty Victorian-style porcelain dolls, and as Mokono-sensei put it very well in the CLAMP interview from Me & My Blythe "To be honest she appeared very scary at first."

Perchance, I was at Odaiba Venus Forte on my second day in Tokyo (actually, it was not perchance, it was a girl's shopping quest), when I saw the huge banners advertising Blythe Doll's 9th Anniversary Charity Exhibition Manga Girls Inspiration. I first heard of the CLAMP x Blythe collaboration at Chibi Yuuto Chronicles and thought of course our adorable Sakura-chan should be made into a doll. (Tomoyo would approve 100%.) I've always been fascinated by the Sakura-doll in Sakura-chan's room in the CCS anime, that Tomoyo made for her. Admittedly, there is something deliciously creepy about Blythe dolls which surprisingly works with Sakura! I love the original CLAMP design (many thanks for the image to Chibiyuuto) for Kinomoto Sakura, which looks like an evil chibi-Sakura. I've never seen her drawn with that kind of expression before. When I saw the design, I couldn't help thinking, why does that face look so familiar? And then I realized it reminded me of a fanart I drew of chibi-Syaoran many years back for Kirei Blossom (creator of the New Trial Yahoo Group).

I was traveling with two illustration majors who luckily share my penchant for pretty things, hence I pointed to the big poster and asked, "Oh my gosh, is this here?" And we preceded to hunt down the location. The exhibit was originally held in the Omotesando Hills in June, and I did not know it was moved to Venus Forte. And thus, perhaps a quarter of an hour before closing time, we stumbled upon doll's galore on the first floor of the shopping complex. Mind you, these are not just ordinary play-dolls. They are works of art. The costume, the hair, the concept. This exhibition was themed "Manga Girls Inspiration" hence there were many familiar character designs everywhere. And I knew that Sakura-ninkyo would be somewhere, so it was quite a fun search. Unfortunately, the Watanuki-doll seems to not have made it to this exhibit.

Below, I have provided plentiful pictures of the whole exhibit, though they do not do justice to the actual dolls. They were indeed a pain to put together, but please enjoy. You can see the little placates for the dolls that were manga-inspired. I wish I read some Japanese. My favorites included the Kiki from Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service and some of the elaborate Goth looking dolls. It was nostalgic to see Magical Princess Minky Momo, probably the first mahou shoujo series that I ever learned of at age 5 or 6. I used to have a Mink coloring book and hairpin.

Seeing the CLAMP x Blythe Collaboration Sakura-doll was all the more serendipitous because I hadn't planned on seeing this exhibit, hadn't even been thinking about it, and yet stumbled upon because I wanted to ride the Yurikamome (the elevated trains where you can see the awesome night view of Tokyo Bay area and Rainbow Bridge). Hence, at that moment, I thought, ah synchronicity. My trip to Tokyo had been very last minute and was very short, hence it was centered around food/touring/shopping. I didn't get to go to Akihabara and manga/anime stuff was (unfortunately) not a priority at this time. And even so, I was brought to Kinomoto Sakura.

Click on image below to enlarge.

Tokyo Trip Part 1:The Places
Tokyo Trip Part 2: The Shopping
Tokyo Trip Part 3: CLAMP x Blythe Dolls
Tokyo Trip Part 4: Food
Tokyo Trip Part 5: Final Thoughts

Tokyo Trip Part 2: The Shopping

2010-09-11T23:51:00.000-07:00

Harajuku (原宿)
As a fan of Japanese street fashion, I definitely had been looking forward to going to Harajuku. Harajuku is definite fun and vibrant and different. On weekends, I heard many cosplayers gather. Unfortunately, it wasn't the weekend. However, there were still many people with very distinctive fashion styles walking down the streets ranging from street-wear sweet lolita to indeed some very strange garbs that I cannot quite describe. I remember receiving a comment on deviantart regarding why I draw the girls' skirts so short. In case anyone was wondering, yes, school girls do wear their uniform skirts that short. Another fashion quirk. During my time in Tokyo, I swear I have never seen more black parasols in my life. Japanese women take very good care of their complexion, hence black parasols and fingerless gloves that come up to their upper arm in the sweltering 36 degrees Celsius heat. It was one of the hottest heat spells in Japan this year while I was there, and I am surprised I did not melt away.

I saw a hoodie with bunny ears and a tail just like the one I drew for Sakura. It was adorable; I was half tempted to buy it. There were many stores where you could buy some quality cosplay outfits. If you go to Harajuku, you must try the delicious crepes. Takeshita Street has a lot of fun stores as well, including a very bling pet store with the most adorable accessories! There are so many teddy bears in Japan. It made me happy.

Omotesando (表参道)
A posh shopping area. Pricey and full of brand names. But if you just walk down the street for 5-10 minutes, you stumble into Harajuku. Omotesando Hills is a shopping complex that was designed by Tadao Ando, Pritzker Architecture Award recipient. Apparently you're not allowed to take pictures in the building.

Ginza (銀座)
Can be considered the "Fifth Avenue" of Tokyo and a luxurious shopping district with several notable departments stores (including Matsuya and Mitsukoshi, under renovations while I was there). It is generally very pricey to shop in the area but the building designs and decorations are worth looking at. On Saturdays, the main road is blocked for the shoppers. The Swarovski building is very pretty and there was a pretty cherry blossom design crystal ornament. Apparently, you're not allowed to take pictures there either.

Roppongi (六本木)
Roppongi is probably best known for its nightlife and Mori Tower. Unfortunately, I didn't get to spend much time in the area and was too pooped in the nighttime and my feet were ready to fall off. The Galleria had many pretty stores and the Suntory Museum of Art. Apparently, the store full of pretty nick-knacks below doesn't allow pictures.

I learned that in Tokyo, there are a lot of places that you are supposed not allowed to take pictures of. I already mentioned Shibuya in Part 1 as a fun shopping area, but I personally preferred the Omotesando/Harajuku area because I think there is a broader range of styles available. I got the cutest floral print lacy sundress for 1900 yen in Harajuku after taking purikura with my friends--and boy these purikura machines make you look like an anime-character. My friend told me that the fabric in Japan is usually very good and durable and lasts for years. There were so many pretty, lacy clothes I was in absolute heaven. Warning, everything runs small in Japan; I'm a US Size 4/small and I'm a "Large" there. There are a lot of "free-size" clothes in Japan, meaning one-size. My feet are somewhere between 6.5 and 7 in US size, but there, I'm 24 "Large." I did manage to find the cutest pumps at the Ginza Marui department store on my last day which were on sale for less than 5000 yen... A good find.

Tokyo Trip Part 1:The Places
Tokyo Trip Part 2: The Shopping
Tokyo Trip Part 3: CLAMP x Blythe Dolls
Tokyo Trip Part 4: Food
Tokyo Trip Part 5: Final Thoughts

Tokyo Trip Part 1: The Sights

2010-09-11T10:35:00.000-07:00

Asakusa Nakamise Shopping Arcade

I have finally managed to upload and organize my photos and have been pondering the best way to relate my trip. This was my first time in Tokyo and I was staying for such a short time, I wanted to do and see as much as I can, and I don't know how it was possible, but it literally felt like I went for a month. The food was absolutely delicious (there's going to be a separate post on that). The trip itself was decided within two weeks and very sudden for various reasons. And miraculously, it came through. I remember five years ago, I really wanted to go to Hong Kong. Part of the reason was for the tourist in me, but another part was because I definitely needed to see Hong Kong, breathe the air, in order to write the New Trials of CCS Arc 3 season finale. Writing requires research, nee? Hence, going to Tokyo was also important for the writer in me. Who am I kidding though. I'm a girl and when three girls travel, it means shopping, food, and more shopping. And lots of walking. I took over 500 photos in that limited time, so I will just share with you the highlights.

Asakusa (浅草)
I had to take a picture of the konpeitou because it reminded me of Kobato. I used to love these little confectionery treats when I was little. The colors are so pretty and I would take a handful of them and crunch on them behind the sofa. These were sold in the Nakamise shopping arcade in Asakusa leading to the Sensoji, the largest Buddhist Temple in Tokyo. You enter through the Thunder Gate (kaminarimon). There is an incense burner (that people breathe in for purification and healing purposes) and there is also a fortune-telling stall and a wooden box to throw in a coin and make wish at the top of the temple. You can also buy lucky charms from stalls.

Shibuya (渋谷区)
In contrast to the traditional ambiance of Asakusa, Shibuya is young, vibrant and modern. If you watch a Japanese drama or movie, the streets of Shibuya are most often shown in representing Tokyo. The streets are bustling with fashionable people who looked like they stepped out of a girl's fashion magazine. Shibuya 109 (Ichi-maru-kyu) is a 9-story building full of cheap, pretty stuff, a shopping haven if you have the energy for it (which frankly I didn't). Shopping advise when traveling: if you let it go, you'll never find it again. Don't think "maybe I'll come back later." Buy it. If it doesn't fit/ you find something else, one less present to find for your sister/friend/mother. Below is the view of the streets of Shibuya, people waiting for the green light to cross, and then green light.

Odaiba (お台場)
The view from Odaiba is truly beautiful, especially in the nighttime. Odaiba is an artificial island linked through Rainbow Bridge (remember X?). I didn't expect to find a mini-Statue of Liberty there. Somehow standing on the harbor of Aqua City, staring at the Statue of Liberty crossed with the Rainbow Bridge with Tokyo Tower in the backdrop made me smile. Tokyo Tower and Rainbow Bridge are two landmarks that will always make me think of CLAMP, and then jarringly from the Tokyo Bay juts out the Statue of Liberty, the emblem of New York (though this replica is supposedly a shout out to the French-Japanese relationship). The surreal vision somehow made me think of a photoshopped picture or an interpretive pop art. And it made me somehow think of the New York arc of New Trials, and I thought, ah, of course the CCS crew were destined to go to NYC. It was all decided here, in Tokyo.

Much more to follow tomorrow with a little CCS surprise!

Tokyo Trip Part 1:The Places
Tokyo Trip Part 2: The Shopping
Tokyo Trip Part 3: CLAMP x Blythe Dolls
Tokyo Trip Part 4: Food
Tokyo Trip Part 5: Final Thoughts

Tokyo Calling! Fujita Maiko - Unmei no Hito English Translation

2010-08-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

I am finally going to Japan in about a weeks time! I've only been to Japan once before, when I was around 11, and only to Nagasaki and Fukuoka, and truthfully, I don't remember much except for going to Huis Ten Bosch, a Dutch-style theme park in Kyushu. Yeah, go figure. This time, I'm (finally) going to Tokyo. The whole trip got planned so suddenly, so it hasn't quite sunk into me yet, but I'm excited. I'll be taking lots of pictures, eating yummy food and hopefully doing lots of touristy stuff. I bust out my Berlitz Japanese phrase book and then gave up trying to cram Japanese in one week. I can say "Where is the bathroom?" and "Help!" so I'm set. I'm just going to have to rely on my friend who's fluent in Japanese. Well, I'm pretty sure I picked up enough random Japanese phrases from watching anime and J-dorama, so I guess I'll see how applicable that is in functioning in Japan.

I'm not staying for long, but if any of you have any recommendations of places I should visit/ things I should do, please leave a comment! Oh, just a little request, I do love reading everyone's comments but so many are anonymous ones--no need to sign in to any account, but if you can leave behind just a little s/n or nickname after the post to help me identify who you are, that would be great. Because I usually do recognize familiar names of people who emailed/ post on Yahoo or ff.net, and I like putting names to... words.

I was introduced to Fujita Maiko, a talented albeit rather underrated singer-songwriter by Selenity Shiroi and promised her that I would translated "Unmei no Hito" when I finished Chapter 66 of New Trials. I didn't realize it would take so long. You can find the romanization on her livejournal account. I translated mostly from Korean which is syntactically very similar to Japanese, but as always, a lot of the poetic syntax is lost when translated into English, so this is a working translation. Please feel free to suggest any changes; I just tried to stay true to the initial gist of the lyrics, which are very beautiful indeed but somehow doesn't sound quite right in English. I thought they especially related well to Chapter 66 and Card Captor Sakura in general. Thanks to Selenity for introducing me to this song.

運命の人 - Unmei no Hito
Fujita Maiko – Fated Person
romanization by Selenity Shiroi
English Translation by Wish-chan

daijoubu itsumo chanto waratteru yo
demo dare to itemo nani ka tarinai

It’s all right, I’m fine, always smiling a lot
But even if I’m with someone, something is missing

ima anata ga koko ni kuruwakenai no ni
aketa mado kara mieta mangetsu
suzumushi no koe ga sabishisa sasou kara
osaeta kimochi mata sawagi dasu

Even though there is no reason for you to come here
The full moon that can be seen through the open window
The cry of the crickets call out their loneliness
Suppressed feelings start to waver again

anata ni aitakute kurushiku naru yoru wa
harisaki sou dayo
dare ka wo omoutte konna kimochi nanda
soba ni ite hoshii

On a night when I want to see you and become anguished
I feel like I am going to burst.
So, to think of somebody is this kind of feeling
Please stay by my side.

chigau sonna koto ga iitainjanai
sunao ni narezu ni kuyashiku naru
hontou wa sabishii dake da to kitsuite
tsuyogari sugite umaku ikanai

No, I didn’t want to say those kind of things
It’s frustrating that I couldn’t become more honest
Truthfully, I realized it was just loneliness,
Pretending to be so strong and stubborn didn’t work out too well

tatta hitori unmei no hito ga iru nara anata ga ii no ni
anata hodo suki ninareta hito wa inai no
nee minuite hoshii

If there is just one fated person, I would like it to be you
There is no one that I like as much as you
Please, notice.

anata ga issho ni itai no wa dare desu ka
sabishige na senaka wo omoi dasu to setsunakute

Who is the person that you want to be with...?
I feel regretful recalling your lonely back...

anata ni aitakute kurushiku naru yoru wa
harisaki sou dayo
dare ka wo omoutte konna kimochi nanda
soba ni ite hoshii
anata hodo suki ni nareta hito wa inai no
donna mirai da to shitemo anata wa watashi no unmei no hito

On a night when I want to see you and become anguished
I feel like I am going to burst.
So, to think of somebody is this kind of feeling
Please stay by my side.
There is no one that I like as much as you...
No matter what the future holds, you are my fated person.

New Trials Chapter 66: The Truth in the Heart

2010-08-14T11:19:00.000-07:00

I wonder if it's just me, but in the summer time, the heat makes my brain function twice as slowly. Chapter 66 of New Trials is up for real this time, a month later than I intended, but it's a long one so hopefully it would be worth the wait. I was supposed to post it up yesterday, but I fell asleep before I finished editing. Truthfully, I'm still not quite satisfied, but I felt bad keeping everyone waiting any longer.

Without further ado: Chapter 66: The Truth in the Heart

Spoilerish but not really: It's a chapter where a lot of people act like idiots and a lot of characters appear. I am starting to wish Sakura only had 5 points in her star circle. Lol. But I do enjoy writing about all the characters, especially expanding more on Jinyu and Kara. I remember I posted a character design for Kara back in 2003-ish, and everybody was speculating who she actually was. There was even a poll, and I was impressed many people guessed correctly simply based on her dress. Who knew it would take so many years to be able to write about her. I'm glad to give Jinyu more "screentime" as well. He was supposed to be a silent character, but while it can work in visual works aka anime/ manga/ movies, it's pretty impossible to do that in writing. And I never planned on Leiyun being an otaku, either. He was such a cool character, I don't know what happened to him. In a sense, this chapter signifies a new semi-arc, and I am pretty excited about writing the following chapters, much as I had difficult writing this one.

When I grow sick of all the songs on my playlist, I usually end up returning to the classics. U2's is always a song that always finds its way back onto my playlist, which I think is an indication it's a timeless song. Not that U2 needs anymore publicity. But I think it's a song that fits well with the theme of Chapter 66.

Happy Friday the 13th!!!

2010-08-13T07:37:00.001-07:00

: )

New Trials Plagiarism Drama: Part Deux

2010-07-18T07:03:00.000-07:00

In case anyone of you were wondering what happened to the New Trials plagiarism issue involving a fanfiction.net author who decided to copy and paste New Trials under her account and claim it as her own, there was some drama, some histrionic name-calling, and then the erasing of evidence. Well, this was her response to my (in my opinion very civil and polite) message to her on fanfiction.net. PG-13 because of language (not that it's particularly intelligible):

If you know me, I wasn't insulted by the uncouth response. I AM insulted that it was just a copy and paste message from her profile page (seen screencaptured below with name erased) and didn't reply to my message at all. Sigh. Some people just never learn. I would have loved to get a personalized message, you know? As I mentioned previously, I vehemently hate the world "plagiarism" and its variants because it is misused and overused, but in this situation, because the plagiarizer herself stated that she has stolen and doesn't care she has, then I guess that is what she is.
Yeah. She decided to rename "New Trials of CCS" to "New Trials." What makes me sad about this affair is that the individual did not really seem to learn anything from this experience (perhaps other than "don't mess with CCS fangirls,") which was NOT the message anybody was trying to relay to her. I think somebody reported her since then (thank you whoever did), and currently New Trials seems to be permanently removed from her profile.

Truthfully, the individual in me wants to reach out to this girl and try to figure out what is wrong. The realist thinks ignoring is the best measure. As we all know, it happens all the time on the internet and will continue to happen. However, the writer in me just heaves a long sigh. This could have happened to anyone, and one way or another, I might have expected it to happen to me at one point. The person shows no sign of logical coherency, therefore I am not going to think that New Trials was particularly targeted for any reason of logical coherence or devise. New Trials is the variable, the interchangeable factor, and the constant is that individual who could have substituted New Trials for any number of anime fanfiction out there. That is why I am writing this post, because writers ARE helpless in this situation. All we can do is spread awareness. I am grateful to all those who cared enough to point out the plagiarist's wrongdoing, because it is all of you who do bring about relative "justice," but at the same time, I feel bad that you all had to waste time on someone like her and probably woke up to having such an unpleasant copy-and-paste message waiting in your inbox. And I also regret that the plagiarizer herself probably came out of this mess feeling like the victim, that she was flamed and she was wronged.

I went through bemusement at the situation to befuddlement then disappointment. I get disappointed when a person acts according to what is expected of them. What is more cliched than a plagiarist who is seeking attention, denies wrongdoing, can't write proper English (by proper, I mean sentences with punctuation and without profanities and doesn't apply to those who are not native-speakers, but hey, English wasn't my first language either), flames everybody and then quickly destroys all evidence, as is easy to do online? Yeah, I've worked in the legal field, so I'm big on evidence-keeping, hence the ready screenshots of profile pages that keep disappearing. I was writing a longer blog entry trying to make sense out of things, but at the end of the day, I grew weary of making excuses for this individual and really didn't see much resolution to the larger issue at hand which is not plagiarism but why this individual (and many others out there) was compelled to commit this act (as I mentioned before, I classify internet plagiarism differently from academic or professional plagiarism). It could happen to anyone, but it happened to me, so now, it is something that I am going to ponder over. I will love to hear what others feel about this issue and how you would handle this situation because truthfully, I am stumped.

Anyhow, it's all for the better to just let her be. All I can say is, girl you picked the wrong fanfic author to mess with.

New Trials Plagiarism

2010-07-17T00:18:00.000-07:00

I'm really behind on emails at the moment (sorry, I'll get around to replying soon), but to my surprise, I got an email yesterday from a kind reader stating that the New Trials of Card Captor Sakura was being plagiarized on fanfiction.net. This is not really the first time I received such an email that NT was being plagiarized, but the other time it happened, I was far more shocked. The plot was reworked so that it wasn't completely word-for-word, and it was is in the New Trials First Arc days, hence I didn't know how to react, and I just let it slide.

So, I was rather surprised to find an author on fanfiction.net decided to simply copy and paste my work into their account, even kept the title in tact as "The New Trials of CCS." I was actually more bemused by the whole situation more than anything else yesterday; plagiarizers, please at least change the title if you're going to copy and paste someone else's work. More than anything, I was very moved by the reviewers who did stick up for me, and I thought, "Ah, I guess there is justice." What actually irked me was not the copy-and-pasting part; since I like to give people the benefit of doubt, perhaps this is just a young kid who doesn't know better. But then, she did choose to remove my disclaimer and add her own, and it amused me so much, I took a screen shot of it today (I removed her name and ID because I don't want flaming).

I really can't dislike someone who likes Card Captor Sakura, I just can't. So I sent her a polite message reminding her that I am the writer of New Trials and that I would appreciate if she could take down my fanfic. Earlier today, I checked and saw that she had taken down New Trials and changed her ID name. I wasn't expecting an answer to my email/ message, but I guess ideally I would have liked to hear what had motivated her to do so, or at least, I hoped it was just an honest, youthful mistake. Anyhow, I checked a while ago, and it seems like the story and reviews are up again, indicating she might have chosen to ignore my email and message and the reviewers' comments. Her profile states she is 16, so I tried to justify that she might not know better. But how much can I excuse blatant stealing? (I still love you Kai ^_^;). I was thirteen when I wrote that very prologue, and there are many younger writers out there with integrity and common sense, and I think if you are a part of the ff.net community and a fanfic writer, it is minimal courtesy that you don't take another writer's work (also on ff.net) and copy and paste it into your account, with a rewritten author's comment stating, "This is my very first story for Cardcaptor Sakura... I'll continue this story chapter 1 through 95. Disclaimer: I do not own Cardcaptor Sakura and the Characters." I'm sorry, but that disclaimer, and her note at the chapter's end asking, "How do you like things so far?" under her name annoyed me more than the whole copy-and-paste issue.

Truthfully, I am not sure what is worse. Blatant copy and pasting of the text or "reworking" someone else's idea into your own. I am a firm believer that there is no such thing as an original story, only how originally you can present it. I think that all writers and artists begin cultivating their craft by reading and mimicking their favorite authors/ artists. I went to the New York Comic Con last year and listened to an interesting panel of renowned sci-fi and fantasy authors who are at the top of their craft, and was glad to hear that they basically echoed this notion, stating that they too shamelessly get inspiration from every where. I know clearly what authors have influenced me. Same with art. I think a lot of us learn to draw by copying other artists. Eventually, once you get enough practice, you start developing your own style. That is why the term "plagiarism" doesn't rest well with me because it is often overused/ misused and there are many situations where the boundaries do become murky, and I am always on the side of creative progression. However, there are cases when some people do INTENTIONALLY cleverly disguise someone else's ideas and words into their own; but those who are talented enough to rework someone's ideas surely is talented enough to come up with something that is their own? There was someone in school who got caught plagiarizing on a paper, but I was confused as to why she did it because she was our school salutatorian and a smart person. I always figure it's more deceitful when someone with the craft and knowledge commits the act than someone inexperienced or naive.

I can at least understand the motivations of those who plagiarize in the real world, whether it be because of grades, laziness, fame, or most often, money. But why do it on the internet? What is there to profit? People write fanfiction for a various assortment of reasons: self-gratification, to communicate with others with similar interests, to practice writing (?), for entertainment, to fantasize what-ifs... The internet has spawned into a mega-communication network over the past decade; I began writing New Trials in 1999 when I was still using dial-up modem from a long cable that stretched all the way from the living room phone to my room (and yes, nobody could use the phone while I was on the internet). That seems like ages ago. That was before internet became commercialized, and the pages on the net were often pages made by individuals who had a serious dedication to and interest in that subject matter. In a way, it was sort of a haven, a magic mirror doorway to reaching out to others with similar hobbies/interests as yourself. But then came the commercialization of the internet, all the profile pages ie. MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, blogs (yes, I am writing one too), etc., and the internet became more about "me, me, me." Which is fine, so long as you don't try to take the easy way out and steal somebody else's identity or body of work. I'm not really sure what to do in this situation, but I figure that if it's attention she wants, the best thing to do is simply ignore her.

I do understand the frustrations of writers (or any other craftsman) who do not receive the recognition or feedback they desire, because I know that fear as well. I remember how nerve-wracking it was to post my first couple chapters, and even rereading my comments then reflect how insecure I felt about releasing my writing to the public. Perhaps this plagiarizer did so because she wanted more readers or wanted her name to be known. Who knows. I just don't know what she was thinking or wasn't thinking--anyone care to enlighten me? I didn't start writing New Trials because I wanted fame or recognition (if you want that, fanfiction writing is not the route to go). I wrote simply because I love to write. Thus, I can't comprehend how copy and pasting fanfiction can bring anyone any sort of gratification. When I began this fanfic, I said, "If I have even one reader left, I will continue writing," and it is that dedication which has carried me through 1,010000+ words. I've been very lucky that even after ten years, I still do have loyal readers to this monster of a fanfic, and I am always grateful for the opportunity I had to communicate with some wonderful people and find people who love Card Captor Sakura as much as I do. I began writing New Trials for self-gratification and for entertainment purposes, but now, I am writing New Trials because I have a story to tell, and I want to finish it because I owe it to the readers who have stuck by for 67+ chapters, and I owe it to myself to finish the project I have dedicated a good decade to.

Moral of the story, don't plagiarize off of Wish-chan, or else she will start psychoanalyzing your motives and then jump into a broad generalization on the evolution of the internet instead of finishing up Chapter 67 of New Trials. Second, writing is ENJOYABLE in itself.

On a more positive note, I've been able to communicate with so many creative people ranging from fellow writers, artists, musically talented people, etc. Over the years, numerous people had emailed me regarding using New Trials as inspiration for their various projects varying from fanfics, doujinshi, film projects and even reworking Star-Crossed as a school play. Truthfully, I'm not sure what happened to a lot of these projects, but I've never refused a request till this date regarding the use of NT for personal use, as long as due credit is given (or not given, because what I don't know, I won't know). I will feel very blessed if at the end of New Trials, I can say that this work has encouraged some people to explore their artistic outlets. So if you're going to plagiarize, do it creatively, and at least I'll be entertained. (But 99% of you are awesome and always check in first, and I love seeing everyone's creative work).

Thank you very much for those who defended me on ff.net! That might have been the only bright side to the ugly affair of plagiarism. I still haven't figured out what to do with this individual on ff.net, as she did not respond to my message. Maybe I'll just send her the link to this blogpost. There are many malicious people on the internet, those who intentionally try to harm or hurt others. But really, if a person likes CCS and fanfiction (and presumably New Trials, at least enough to look it up and ctr+v, ctrl+p), then the optimist in me says that person just needs a good hug from Sakura-chan and be pointed in the right direction (and never repeat the offense again).

UDPATE: Seems like ff.net finally took the story down (or not?). I'm not sure what's going on. I didn't mean to rant, but I guess I was more irritated by the whole situation then I thought I was. Hopefully, I will have better news next time. Chapter 67 is a whopping 97 pages at the moment--I'm going to have figure out how to cut it down. ^_^

Happy Birthday Syaoran 2010!!!

2010-07-13T00:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to our favorite grouch-ball!

Sakura and Syaoran The Promise by ~wishluv on deviant ART

I've been working so hard to try to finish Chapter 66 in time for Syaoran's birthday, but I think I'm going to be several days late. I've been dealing with some stressful issues in "real life," moving amongst one of these stresses, hence this chapter kept getting delayed. But on the bright side, I've been simultaneously writing Chapter 67, so probably less wait for the next chapter. Hopefully. I hate making excuses, and didn't want to make a blog full of apologies, but I'm also currently very back-logged in emails as well. Anyhow, my priority is finishing the next chapter ASAP! Thanks for having on!

Couple times a year, I get a little angsty when I get tired of all the songs on my playlist when I write but somehow Yoko Kanno always composes something new to cheer me up. I think I mentioned before how I'm a big fan of Aoi Teshima ever since I heard her voice Therru in the Tale from Earthsea (Gedo Senki). I am especially in love with her first album because it has minimal instrumental bgm and really brings out her fresh and soothing voice. If you close your eyes and listen to the album, it makes you feel like you are standing in thee middle of a vast field of barley in the countryside, the clouds high over your head, the wind blowing from the mountains. I think it's pretty obvious how big of a fan of Yoko Kanno I am, so I was ecstatic to find that Yoko Kanno has collaborated with Aoi Teshima on her new single: Because. The lyrics are all in English and Aoi Teshima's lovely voice is really brought out by Yoko Kanno's piano accompaniment. I heard the song will be part of the Ogura Shun directed movie "Surely Someday," which is scored by Yoko Kanno. The B-side "A Little Because" is a slower rearrangement of the song, and I might even like it better than "Because."

I feel bad because I think I always celebrate Sakura-chan's birthday more than Syaoran's. Oh well, check out the omake I drew two years ago for Syaoran's birthdday and reminisce of dear Wolfie-chan.

Syaoran and Wolfie-chan Omake by ~wishluv on deviant ART

The New Trials of Card Captor Sakura Season 4 ED Theme

2010-04-30T18:36:00.000-07:00

One of the most common comments I receive in email is "I wish New Trials was made into an anime," which I feel very flattered about and yet rueful. It is fun imagining what New Trials would look like as an anime, because unlike when I write original stories, when I write this fanfiction, I am often envisioning scenes in animation and transcribing them into words. Hence, it has been fun coming up with songs to associate with New Trials "soundtrack," if it were indeed an anime. Since we have moved into the middle of Arc 4 of New Trials, it was fun making an ending theme for the "last season" of New Trials and culminating everything that New Trials is into a couple minutes.

Song: 紅茶 - Koucha/ Kōcha "Black Tea"
Singer: 坂本真綾 Maaya Sakamoto
Album: Lucy (2001), Everywhere (2010)
Composer: Yoko Kanno
Lyrics: Maaya Sakamoto

The clock-tower that tolls the end of love is waiting for the next hour
Can't stop this moment

The cherry-blossoms at the subway entrance will bloom again this year
So I guess we’ll grow older by another year
Spring has drawn near

As a sign of eternity,
The two of us at that time waited for a night when the meteors would come and made a wish

Embracing each other, saying things will never change
I was thinking I had obtained everything
What remains in these hands is but one thing
You were my first boyfriend

It felt like we could go anywhere we wanted by bicycle
I even remember the taste of the black tea I drank by the street-side on a cold day

It’s not that I’m lonely
This is supposed to be a choice I made myself
Yet there are times I want to do nothing but cry

What is there in the future beyond here?
How many more heartbreaking goodbyes will there be?
The clock-tower that tolls the end of love is waiting for the next hour
Can't stop this moment

Embracing each other, saying don't go anywhere,
I was thinking I had obtained everything
What remains in these hands is but one thing
You were my first boyfriend.

Lyrics referenced from Miyuki Mouse and Korean translations.

Maaya Sakamoto's 2001 album "Lucy" is probably here strongest collaboration album as a whole with Yoko Kanno (though she has had many other stronger individual songs). She wrote most of the lyrics on the album, including the lyrics for "Koucha," and if you pay attention to the lyrics, the album sort of unfolds like a love story. "Strobe no Sora" is the third song on the album and can be described as vibrant, upbeat and hopeful, which is why I chose it as the ending theme for Arc 2 of New Trials. In contrast, "Koucha" has a twinge of bittersweet nostalgia. (Ironically, the last song on the album is titled "I Throw a Vase from Atop the Hill." Koucha is one of my favorite of Maaya's non-anime songs because it has such a haunting yet lovely tone. I was glad to see the song included in Maaya's new 15th anniversary compilation album "Everywhere" because I think it deserves more recognition.

Because I envisioned this as the ending theme to arc 4 of New Trials, I felt obligated to include symbolism and whatnot in the video. I actually had two main themes going on. Because of the refrain in the chorus, "Everything is fading with the bell, ringing to me it's time to go," I had to use Cinderella theme. This is not the first Cinderella reference linked to Maaya and CCS; the B-side to Card Captor Sakura opening 3 single, "Purachina" (Platinum) is "24" (both Yoko Kanno songs), which is a homage to Cinderella. It's an adorable song, with lyrics in English. And of course, you can't forget the hilarious CCS episode where Touya and Yukito participate in their class production of Cinderella for the cultural fair. Cinderella is a good old happily-ever fairytale but really is an allegory of the persistence of time, as the spell breaks after 12'o'clock. What happens when the clock-tower strikes midnight?

The other theme was the rain scene, which I don't know if you recognize from the end of Chapter 59: Thundercloud. I mentioned that I get inspiration from many different things when writing New Trials, and I think this is a situation where I drew the scene before writing the scene. The idea probably started with me wanting to draw Sakura and Syaoran sharing a green umbrella in the summer rain. Most of the key S+S artwork in this AMV is from over a year ago, because I conceptualized this video before my first ending theme for New Trials to Maaya Sakamoto's "Strobe no Sora" and then didn't have time to work on it. My first New Trials AMV was the Arc 3 season finale trailer. I never studied film or animation or anything of the sorts, so it's been a fun process figuring out how to do things. The first New Trials trailer was painstakingly made frame by frame in Windows Movie Maker on my old laptop which really didn't have enough RAM capacity to render videos, so working with Sony Vegas makes editing so much easier. I still dream of having a large screen monitor and all the proper equipment for digital art and video editing, which is sort of out there for me because I am far from the art field and in the meantime have to work with the small screen of a widescreen laptop which seems to stretch out everything I draw.

I probably had the most fun making the 10 second preview for the "Next Episode of New Trials," Episode 62: Sakura and Syaoran and the Fashion Show (aka Chapter 62: Designs in Crime), same as how I had most fun making the preview for Episode 1: Sakura and Syaoran and the New Beginning (named after the fashion all CCS anime episodes are named--it's all Sakura + something something). I love how Irino Miyu's voice has matured, and it's a pity I can't bring Makino Yui and Irino Miyu and make them act out S+S scenes. My next goal is making an opening theme to New Trials with Utada Hikaru's "Sakura Drops," which I think I have wanted to make since 2001, but back then, I didn't have any video editing skills whatsoever. Most of the main characters of New Trials make an appearance in the ending theme. Can you identify them all?

New Fanart: The Girls of New Trials

2010-04-18T00:20:00.000-07:00

CCS: The Girls of New Trials by ~wishluv on deviant ART
The Female Descendants of the Great Five: Kara Reed, Tanaka Miho, Kinomoto Sakura, Li Meilin, Daidouji Tomoyo and Chang Eron. (Representing Landon Reed, Mizuki Mayura, Amamiya Hayashi (both Sakura and Tomoyo), Li Shulin and Chang Ruichi and Risa.

I had a lot of fun drawing everybody's outfits and it is Kara Reed's color debut. I remember I posted up a pencil sketch of her up in the Yahoo Group years ago and everybody speculated who she actually was. Some people guessed correctly that she was associated with Mizuki Kai based on her punk outfit. I'm glad I got to finally introduce her. This is my first time posting up a colored picture of Miho as well, though I have quite a few Miho art that I just haven't posted up yet. She used to be a rather annoying little girl in the New York Saga in Arc One, but now, she's quite popular. She's the youngest in the group and is like everyone's little sister. She's actually wearing the Mizuki locket, but it's hard to tell. Sakura has gone through a lot over the past arc of New Trials, most notably a hairstyle change. But it's fun drawing her with both long hair and short hair. Meillin is probably the character who has evolved the most since CCS days. Truthfully, she is my favorite character to draw because she has sharp features; I used to not like her in the CCS anime when she was first introduced because she was such a pretty character and I felt concerned about her as Sakura's rival. I also like drawing Tomoyo a lot; I guess I'm partial to drawing long dark hair. Tomoyo's the character I ironically worry about the most (considering she probably has the least amount of drama in her life). And Erika has surprisingly grown on me over the past 65 chapters. Considering how spoiled and selfish she can be, she is quite self-aware of herself. She's actually one of the characters I look forward to writing about in the upcoming chapters.

Music Spotlight: Yiruma, Chibi Syaoran and Sakura Fanart

2010-04-01T23:23:00.001-07:00

Chibi Sakura x Syaoran Bunnies by ~wishluv on deviant ART

This fanart is in reference to the newest chapter of New Trials, Chapter 65: Cohabitation, Part Deux. The outfit is totally courtesy of Tomoyo (they come in all pastel colors with matching mitts and a cat version as well). I want a bunny hoodie too. There is something about Syao-chan here that I just want to pinch him and bother him. I actually wanted to draw Touya even more though. It is sort of Easter themed. Happy Birthday to our beloved Card Captor Sakura! CLAMP really likes April's Fool Day, I think.

Today, I wanted to feature Yiruma, a word-wide renowned South Korean pianist and composer. He spent six years in Osaka and studied in King's College London. His pianos pieces can be heard in numerous Korean show programs, dramas and on the radio. His most famous piece is probably River Flows in You, which became popularly mistaken as Bella's Lullaby before the Twilight movie was made. It is a simple yet resonant melody which I think can touch your soul, hence why it has such universal appeal.

I recently discovered that there was a vocal version to this every-so-popular song. In the past several years, Yiruma decided to write lyrics to River Flows in You and sometimes performed it live in his concerts. He mentioned ever so humbly that his original dream was to become a singer-songwriter, but early on, he realized that his vocal skills were lacking, hence concentrated on just composing. His voice is really good though, and he was just being modest. I really like the different vocal versions of River Flows in You, and the lyrics are simple yet poignant and match the piano so well, and I love the added strings. Much of the poetic syntax is lost in translation, unfortunately. The following version is from Yiruma's newest mini-album Movement on a Theme and is sung by Ruvin.

Yiruma - River Flows in You - 너의 마음속엔 강이 흐른다 (vocal ver.)

If there is one road that is just for you
Then it is in you right now
If you can endure through it
Then put your trust in that place.

Holding you, holding you, it's in you, river flows in you
Slowly, more slowly, there is a river flowing in my heart
Holding you, holding you, It's in you, river flows in you
Waiting, at the end of the waiting, will I be there?

I want to throw my heart towards you
So that I can always feel you
If you can just endure it through
Then try putting all your trust in this place.

Holding you, holding you, it's in you, river flows in you
Slowly, more slowly, there is a river flowing in my heart
Holding you, holding you, It's in you, river flows in you
Waiting, at the end of the waiting, will I be there?

Holding you, holding you, it's in you, river flows in you
Slowly, more slowly, there is a river flowing in my heart
Holding you, holding you, It's in you, river flows in you
Waiting, at the end of the waiting, will I be there?

Happy Easter!

Edit: Kirei Blossom reminded me that lunyareli made a New Trials AMV for my birthday 2008 using Yiruma's River Flows Through. Yiruma was looped on my playlist while writing Chapter 65, and I was constantly wondering why River Flows Through matches my mood when writing New Trials so much. Kudos to Kirei for solving that mystery as well and thank you again to lunayreli for making such a lovely AMV which you can view below. Ah, I am sad that my memory is getting so bad while am amazed at the subconscious mind's consciousness.

Happy Birthday Sakura! New Trials Update: Chapter 65 Up!

2010-04-01T03:57:00.000-07:00

Chapter 65: Cohabitation, Part Deux is up at http://wishluv.revolutionhosting.net/nt65.htm.

Happy Birthday to Kinomoto Sakura! (And Watanuki and TRC! Syaoran).

Happy April's Fool Day!

Music Spotlight: Color Bottle - Sayonara

2010-03-18T22:04:00.000-07:00

Color Bottle is one of my lucky finds on Youtube. They are a rock band from Sendai that formed in 2004 but don't seem to be well known outside of Japan. There are those songs that somehow seem to just touch your heart, and "Sayonara" was one of those songs. The PV is very simple but poignant and bittersweet. I rather love the vocalist Takemori Masayuki's slightly raspy and very versatile voice. I am trying to get my hand on some of their discography. They are probably best known for doing to opening for the anime Casshern Sins, "Aoi Hana," which is an awesome song as well, much edgier than Sayonara. It sort of matches the mood of xxxHolic, especially the lyrics "Hey, why were we born? Hey, why did we meet?" I look forward to seeing more of Color Bottle's works in the future.

I had a hard time finding the lyrics to "Sayonara" and ended up having to do the English translations myself. I had to work off of Korean translations and my limited knowledge of Japanese grammar. It's sort of a pity that the poignancy of words gets lost in translation. I don't speak Japanese, but grammatically, Korean and Japanese are very similar and more interchangeable in translation. When I heard this song, I thought I would like it to be the third arc ending song for my fanfiction New Trials. Because I chose two Maaya Sakamoto songs already, I wanted to choose one that had male vocals. This song reminded me a lot of Syaoran. I also like how if you rearrange the letters of "sayonara" it spells out "Syaoran" plus an a. Three down, just one more ending song to find. ^_^

On a side note, Chapter 65 of New Trials, Cohabitation Part II, is coming along. I think a week or so to fine tune and edit and it should be out.


Color Bottle – Sayonara (カラーボトル - サヨナラ)

Goodbye, every day until today, let us walk on from here
Even if this feeling that tightens my chest will become a memory
I won't forget, I won't forget.

No matter how much we do not want to change, we cannot help but change
The warmth of your last touch still remains in my left hand so real.
From where did we go so differently
When everything used to shine so brightly.

Goodbye, every day until today, let us walk on from here
Even if the feeling that tightens my chest will someday become a memory
I won’t forget, I won’t forget.

When we met, I didn’t need anything else but your smile
Hugging tightly, we shared are insecurities, but in our hearts somewhere
We both realized that the colors had begun to fade
The color of this path and even of the evening sunset.

Goodbye, every day until today, goodbye, the scenery with you in it
All the sincerity that tightens my chest seems to be changing into memories
If this door is opened, there is no more returning
It is the first movement to a new sky
Even if I cannot walk properly, even if tears fall
Still, still…

Goodbye, every day until today, goodbye. The scenery with you in it,
The small back, the moist eyes, the face with the innocent smile, I really loved it all.
Goodbye, every day until today, from here I will walk on
Even if this feeling that holds my heart will someday become a memory
I won’t forget, I won’t forget, so I will not forget.

Wacom Intuos4 Review

2010-02-28T00:14:00.000-08:00

As you all know, I've been eying the Wacom Intuos4 Tablet for the longest time. I have been using the precursor to the Wacom Bamboo series, a Wacom Graphire3 Sapphire. After much thought and hesitation, I finally justified that I've been working hard enough, and I deserve a present for myself. I ordered it on Sunday and got it on Tuesday, so I was very excited (after like 11 months of coveting it). I started out by stalking E-bay for a while, but in the end, I gave in and purchased a new one, because I was tempted by the sensation of opening up a pretty new box and E-bay prices were not that much cheaper. I enclosed some pictures of the box, inside the box, the tablet, the pen and the mouse. Everything is very sleek and pretty in black.

I had the hardest dilemma of choosing between an Intuos Small and Medium (the most popular and recommended size). In the end, I chose a Small because as an amateur hobbyist, I couldn't justify paying over $100 more for a couple square inches more of drawing space. I'm glad I chose the Small, because firstly, I just don't have space on my desk (though I like drawing on my bed), and also, I use a laptop with a 15.5 screen, hence having a bigger tablet won't do much for me anyway. Plus, the Intuos working space dimensions is still bigger than my old Graphire. I ended up getting a good deal on my Intuos4 Small, the best deal I found on the net, so I'm pretty satisfied. I would like to one day try drawing on a Medium though.

Truthfully, I haven't used my Intuos a whole lot yet because I'm a bit afraid to touch it. Lol. Off the top, the Inuos4 pen has a 2048 levels of sensitivity, twice more than its predecessor, Intuos3. My Graphire had 0 sensitivity because I dropped the pen very early on, and the nib end went dead, so I have been using the eraser end to paint all this time, which is basically like using a mouse in the shape of stick. So, yes, I never really got to experience the whole "pressure sensitivity" before, and it was amazing to have tilt recognition and actually be able to sketch straight into Photoshop/ Paint Tool SAI. And I like how the Intuos pen is heavier and more solid feeling, and with the pen holder, hopefully I won't drop this pen as much.

I'm rather used to the smooth, slippery plastic feel of the Graphire tablet, whereas Intuos4 has a rough, papery texture which some people love, some people don't. There have been some complaints on the net regarding pen nib-wear, which I guess I will experience eventually. The pen-holder comes with 10 replacement nibs, which I have yet to play around with, which come niftily inside the pen holder. The mouse seems pretty useless as usual, but is at least more functional than the Graphire mouse. The biggest difference on the Intuos4 tablet is the ExpressKey buttons and the I-Pod like radial scroll button, which is very useful. I have yet to fiddle around with the different functions of the ExpressKey.

The biggest issue I had was in the beginning, getting the drivers to function properly. The latest driver was useless--it made Photoshop crash. Anyhow, after two hours of fiddling around with different drivers, everything worked. Truthfully, the first time I used the Intuos, I sort of missed my Graphire and having to do everything manually, from changing pressure to switching between functions. And then, perhaps it was the papery texture of the tablet that I began to miss traditional medium, the feeling of paper and pencil, of watercolor and color pencils, of my brush. Of course the first thing I drew was Sakura and Syaoran--it didn't take me too long to adjust to the Intuos, because after using the eraser end of a pressureless Graphire, you realize how little effort you need to be able to sketch with an Intuos4 (which still requires more hand-eye coordination than drawing on traditional medium). I haven't really painted with Intuos much, but hopefully I'll get a chance to. I might put some comparison pictures up of my Graphire and Intuos for reference if anyone wants it, because I know I would have liked some reference pics.

I haven't really finished inking the sketch yet (so you can see the rough sketch underneath) and began on another piece, but I might finish this one up later. Truthfully, I'm having the worse case of a writer's block at the moment. January and February have been pretty crazy, but I've finally been trying to catch up on emails. I've been staring at Chapter 65 for the past two weeks without making a dent (though I had quite a bit written from back in December/ January). Drawing CCS related stuff usually is a first step to recovering from a writer's block for me which I failed to mention in my fanfiction writing process guide.

Happy Lunar New Year! Music Spotlight: Radwimps

2010-02-13T22:39:00.000-08:00

Young Sakura and Syaoran Date by ~wishluv on deviant ART

It's the year of the tiger now. Time seems to fly by, doesn't it? I wish I had more New Trials news, but I've been so busy that I haven't had much time to work on Chapter 65 (which by the way I am having so much fun writing ^^). I just posted an old fanart of young Sakura and Syaoran on a date. A Valentine's date, I wonder? Lol. They used to be so cute. I wanted to coordinate them in complimentary preppy outfits. I think one of Syaoran's appeal is his awesome fashion sense; he breaks the mold of male characters and never appears wearing the same day-to-day clothes twice. I remember when I first saw CCS, I wondered how Syaoran, this poor, fatherless boy who is very serious in his "mission" and a tough guy to boot has such a fabulous style of fashion. It was quite a conundrum until I watched Card Captor Sakura Movie 1 and finally realized, ah, he has four sisters. And then, everything made sense to me.

So, Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Today's song is a sort of an anti-Valentine's Day song? :P I discovered Radwimps some time ago from Order-Made (one of those simple but surprisingly profound and resonant songs that you must hear/and watch the PV) and they've been on my playlist a lot lately. They started off as high school friends in 2001 and have since then exploded in popularity in Japan, one of those rare indie-group success stories, I think. One of my favorites is Radwimp's 05410 - (n) because it's angsty lyrics in contrast to the upbeat and very addictive tune. The vocalist Noada Yojiro has a really smooth voice and his English is pretty good since he lived in the US for a couple years; Radwimps does quite a few English songs, sort of like Ellegarden. Do check out their other songs as well; they have many awesome songs with catchy melodies, poignant lyrics and just a raw, unpretentious and sincere ambiance about their music (coming from someone who's been guiltily indulging in a lot of over-processed pop lately).

The title 05410-(n) (0="o" 5="ko" 4="shi" 10="ten" - (n) can be translated to "Okoshite~" which means "wake me up."

Radwimps - 05410-(ん)

Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up when you come back
I'll be here, I'll be waiting here for you.

I can be your best friend
I can be your least friend
I can be your boyfriend
But I don't wanna be your ex-friend.

Don't you know this guy who sang a song
About the highest common factor and so
It's kind of how this is, I'll tell you what it is
About all your questions you have asked.

Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, when you come back
I'll be here, I'll be waiting here for you
If the size of the sky makes you frightened then come back
And then cry so that I might, could hug you.

This is our fifth talk of breaking up, but this time there is something different
The usual "short term memory loss" for some reason isn't working this time.

It's fine by me if you thought "I don't want this anymore"
But you are the one who said "goodbye," so why did you cry?

Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up, when you come back.
If that answer is "no", what should I do?
Should I cry? Should I die? Or go crazy and then fly?
Better yet should I kiss myself "don't mind."

Wake me up, wake me up, wake me up when you come back
I'll be here, I'll be waiting here for you.
Pick me up, pick me up, pick me up when you come back
Until then, I will save this song for you.

Now come back, now come back, now come back, I'll take it back
I'll be here, I'll be here, I'll be waiting here for you.

Lyrics partly from here.

Music Spotlight: Angela Aki - Tegami ~ Haikei Juugo no Kimi he

2009-12-29T09:09:00.000-08:00

Angela Aki - Tegami ~ Haikei Juugo no Kimi he (Greetings to a Fifteen-Year-Old)

I have kept an eye on singer, songwriter Angela Aki for some time now ever since I heard her ending for the anime Blood+ "This Love." My favorite song by her is "Tegami ~ Haikei Juugo no Kimi he (手紙～拝啓十五の君)," which was originally written for the NHK National School Music Contest in 2008, Junior High Division. The first time I heard the song and read read the lyric translation, it brought tears to my eyes, and it is a song that still makes me tear up when I listen to the lyrics.

The song cleverly weaves together the POV of a fifteen-year-old letter to his or her adult self and the message of that adult self addressing his/her fifteen year old self and something about this imagery rings home to a lot of us. Angela Aki accompanies herself on the piano and while the melody is simple, the lyrics are very poignant and I think reaches out to that lost fifteen-year-old in all of us. I find this song a "healing" song that rings true without any pretense. The clever use of shifting points of view creates a multi-layered tone of the song. The song's message uplifting and optimistic but the point of view of the adult holds a bittersweet sense of nostalgia. It makes me recall my fifteen-year-old self. That year was sort of the black hole of my teenage years, so I guess that is why this song is even more meaningful to me.

Translated lyrics by PhatParis:

Dear you,
Who is reading this letter
Where are you, and what are you doing now?

For me, who is 15 years old,
There are worries that I can't tell anyone.
If this is a letter addressed to my future self,
Surely I can confide in myself.

Now, it seems that I'm about to be defeated and I'm about to cry
For me, who is seemingly about to disappear
Whose words should I believe in?
This one-and-only heart has been broken so many times
In the midst of this pain, I live the present, I live in the present.

Dear you, thank you,
I have something to tell the 15-year-old you.

If you continue to ask what you should do and where you should go,
You will be able to see the answer.

The rough sea of youth may be tough
But row your boat of dreams on towards the shores of tomorrow.

Now, please don't be defeated and please don't shed a tear
During those times when you're seemingly about to disappear
Just believe in your own voice
For me as an adult, there are sleepless nights when I'm hurt
But I'm living the bittersweet present.

There's a meaning to everything in life
So build your dreams without fear.
Keep on believing

Seems like I'm about to be defeated and I'm about to cry,
For me, who's seemingly about to disappear
Whose words should I believe in?

Please don't be defeated and please don't shed a tear
During those times when you're seemingly about to disappear
Just believe in your own voice

No matter era we're in
There's no running away from sorrow,
So show your smile, and go on living the present
Go on living the present.

Dear you,
Who's reading this letter
I wish you happiness...

The song was paired with animation from drawings by mangaka Natsuki Takaya of Fruits Basket fame for Minna no Uta, a short NHK program geared towards children pairings songs from various musicians (including Maaya Sakamoto and Utada Hikaru) with various animators, artists and directors. I especially like the one by Makoto Shinkai. These Minna no Uta segments are sort of like MADs/ AMVs with professionals, broadcast on national television.

When I first heard the song, I could see Sakura in Arc 4 of New Trials looking back to herself in Chapter 53: Yesterday's Letter. It also reminds me of that scene in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle: Tokyo Revelations when young CCS!Sakura shows up and tells Sakura-hime that everything is going to be all right. As adults, I think many of us have moments where we think, "Ah, I wish I knew then what I know now." But on the reverse, there are times when we think, "Ah, I wish I can go back to those days when those little things that I worried about seemed like the greatest worry in the world and those little things that made me happy were the greatest bliss."

Japanese lyrics and translation also found here.

Fanfiction Spotlight: Chronicles and Trials

2009-12-28T11:43:00.001-08:00

Chronicles and Trials TheamPic by ~WinxC1ub on deviant ART

I've been promising WinxC1ub-chan that I would be able to read her fanfiction "Chronicles and Trials" once I finish Chapter 64. Gomen, I took a long time! Anyhow, I finally got around to reading it finally, and I love the premise. Our main characters are Hiiragizawa Daidouji Renae and Li Kinomoto Seiru (yes, you can do the math ^_^) and there are lots of familiar faces everywhere, from both the CLAMP universe and New Trials characters cameos as well!

It's very fascinating reading about an alter-universe New Trials amongst other things. Lol. It's like one of those Russian matryoshka dolls, a fanfiction within a fanfiction. Lol. Needless to say, I was most excited to see Eron's appearance. I'm sort of ashamed to say it's been many years since I read a CCS fanfiction. Don't get me wrong, I love reading CCS fanfics, but I think I sort of made a conscious sacrifice when I began writing New Trials that I probably will not be reading CCS fanfics and use that time to write New Trials. I remember when I was 12 and very innocent and naive as a newcomer to the world of fanfiction and stumbled upon a CCS one-shot lemon. There were just a handful of CCS fanfics at that time, and I really just read randomly (no picking and choosing back then.) I had no idea what a lemon was at that time and was a bit traumatized with the one-shot about a certain Lust Card and Sakura and Yukito-san. Don't ask anymore. Well, in the long run, I think all the trauma I felt when characters were OOC helped me write New Trials. When I began writing New Trials, I used to be afraid of the "bleeding" of ideas, which was sort of why I did not even read Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle for the longest time. But I've reached a point in New Trials were I became so comfortable with the realm, characters and plot, that I no longer have those worries. Heck, CLAMP parodies their own work. Lol.

Anyhow, check out WinxC1ub's fanfiction "Chronicles and Trials" which is a big crossover between New Trials and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle among other things. The fourth chapter is on its way. She has many adorable CCS-related artwork up on her devianart account. She also makes lots of wonderful New Trials AMVs that you can check out on her youtube channel. Arigatou!

Lost Sunrise by ~WinxC1ub on deviant ART

Merry Christmas! Chapter 64 Up!

2009-12-25T19:03:00.000-08:00

Chapter 64: A Christmas Miracle is up!

As usual, it's version one. This month has been such a hectic one, and even though I had most of this chapter written months ago, I almost thought I would not finish on time. It is a much more character oriented chapter more than anything else and also perhaps a transitional chapter. The "Memory" arc is finished, and we will sort of move to the second part of arc 4. For those of you who are wondering, Arc 4 will definitely be longer than the other arcs.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone!

Kiseki: The Promise of Spring by ~wishluv on deviant ART

Fanfiction: The Writing Process

2009-11-23T16:26:00.000-08:00

I have a personality where I love to start projects but never finish them whether it is cross-stitching or novel-writing (or this blog-entry which I began writing in July). Thus, I can confidently say that my ten-year-old fanfiction The New Trials of Card Captor Sakura is by far the most persevering I've been on anything. Over the years, I have received numerous emails from various readers who also are writers themselves, telling me how they were inspired to go write their own fanfiction. This always makes me very happy. The root of any creative endeavor is the inspiration. But of course, then comes the concrete writing, pruning and publishing. There are so many unfinished fanfiction out there because people lose inspiration midway, I believe. Each writer has his or her own method of writing, but I thought I would like to elaborate on how writing a typical chapter of my fanfiction New Trials is like.

0. Introduction aka Inspiration

I was first introduced to the anime Card Captor Sakura on Korean TV back in June 1999 (though I became aware of the franchise when I was around sixth grade when my Japanese friend gave me stationary with Sakura and Tomoyo (and didn't even realize it was them until I went back and looked at the artwork years later). I immediately fell in love with the show. Those were the days of dial-up modem, I believe, and anime was not streamed online. Watching anime meant I had to sit down at 6:00PM to watch each episode of CCS dubbed into Korean. At one point, I also watched on cable TV the NHK2 broadcast of Season 3 of CCS (ending in March 2000) though at that time I didn't understand a word of Japanese.

So, back in early fall of 1999, when I was pretty much new to the internet and anime fandom in general (I had just gotten a PC less than a year ago), I began reading fanfiction for the first time. At that time, there were only a handful of CCS fanfics online, and I remember using anipike.com to find them. I haven't read fanfics before in general, so I basically had no clue what I was doing when I got started (that header note on the Prologue makes me wince a little time whenever I read it, but it also feels like a shout out from my 13-year-old self.) Because I couldn't find many CCS fanfiction that I thought were believable continuations off of the characters I've grown to love, I had two intentions in mind when I started New Trials and that was 1) make characters stay true to character and 2) entertain myself and indulge in my own fantasies.

Thus, I began writing New Trials at the age of thirteen with that inspiration in mind. The way I write fiction is very much like the way I write my school essays. There are two types of writers--the ones who make an outline and write according to the outline, and then those who just write the body first and then copy and paste to structure the essay (okay, I know there are other ways as well). I'm the type of person who for an English essay will type up all the quotes, write up the body, then the intro and conclusion. I know, all in reverse order. That is pretty much the way I have written all 64+ chapters of New Trials. I write the scenes that I feel like writing at that moment, sometimes in the middle of work, sometimes in the middle of writing something else; when I have a dialogue replaying in my mind, sometimes I hurry to type of the conversation as fast as I can before I lose the essence of it, then go back and make sure it's all coherent.

The Writing Process of a Chapter of New Trials

1. Brainstorming: The foundation of any story; this process can take a couple minutes or years and usually is the fun part because I derive ideas from everywhere, from dreams to lectures to something I see on the streets (ie. the fashion show in Chapter 63 was inspired by a mannequin wearing a pastel green shirt and beige blazer in the Men's Section of Banana Republic). I have only recently jotted down some of my ideas on Words because I'm afraid with my declining brain cells, I might forget something essential down the road. Also, the plot now in Arc 4 is much more structurally complex than it was in Arc 1. I mean, back then, I never thought I'd be still writing this fanfic 10 years later.

2. Scene writing: This can be considered as brainstorming on paper/MS Word. I often write the core scenes, the vital conversations or events of the chapter out first before I forget them. These scenes aren't written in chronological order, and I might have scenes from several chapters in advance depending on when I feel like writing them. For example, last year I was inspired to write a scene for last chapter of New Trials. My defense to my friends who think I'm lazy when I miss out on a night out, it's actually because my mind is very busy plotting. ^_^

3. Plot configuration and scene replay : Most writers would do this first. But for me, once I know what key scenes and story I want present in a chapter, then I have to figure out all the technical details aka. the action/climax, ie. what dark forces there will be (unless the dark force plays an important role in the chapter development and I planned it out in brainstorming process) and how the force will be sealed, what outfits people would be wearing, where the action will take place. I used to end a chapter when I got tired of writing it, but now that we are in Arc 4, I pay more attention to what information is revealed/withheld each chapter and how much development along the plot line there is. This part usually takes the longest time, and I am consistently replaying dialogue or sentences in my mind while I'm walking back home, exercising, though not so much before falling asleep at night anymore (but back in high school, I used to fall asleep to playing out scenes out in my mind which was a lot of fun). The reason this process takes so long and is important is because I have to put myself in the character's position and think how the character would react in a certain situation. I believe there are plot-writers and character-writers. Plot-writers use their characters as a means to convey the plot whereas character-writers use the plot to convey the characters, and I am the latter. Oftentimes, I have to rewrite certain scenes or dialogue because I realized that the character would not act in a certain way, and hence, I would have to reconfigure the plot.

4. Pruning and rearranging (aka fitting the pieces of the puzzle together): This process might be sort of unique to me, but it's when I actually get to writing out the chapter in a coherent fashion. It is also when I start to reorder the scenes because being me, I don't necessarily write in chronological order, especially now that there is a cast of two dozen characters and five different subplots going on. I ask, is this information needed in this chapter and are there any loopholes in the story of the chapter or anything that will create loopholes later on. Somewhere along this process, everything "clicks" together in terms of plot and language, and it's a satisfying feeling because it indicates that the completion of the chapter is near.

5. Editing: Usually, this is when I do some final pruning. I usually end up pushing some scenes back to a future chapter, which also means that I have the foundation for the next chapter to work off of. I used to love this process until the chapters turned 80 pages long. Ideally, I would like to have perfect, errorless chapters, but I am only one person. I actually edit a lot in the process of writing, so at this point, it's usually purely grammatical and typos that I'm checking. I've had people offer me to edit, which I am very grateful for, but at the moment, getting out chapters with speed is priority, so doing a one-man-show has worked out best thus far. There was an earlier chapters editing process going on last year... I wonder what happened to that. One day, I will go back to edit everything, hopefully.

6. Publishing: Finally, when I decide I'm too sick of the chapter to work on it any longer, I upload the newest chapter up at http://wishluv.revolutionhosting.net at some wee hour in the morning, post a message at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newtrialsring/ announcing latest chapter and fall asleep. Usually, I don't want to look at a chapter again for at least a week, but usually, within the next couple days, I discover some major typos and then freak out, edit and repost--or ignore because I am too burned out and it's a hassle to reupload everything.

7. Recuperation: For the next two weeks, I don't think of anything about New Trials (completely not true, actually). I catch up with responding to backlogged email, feeling guilty about emails from a month or two ago. (I am sometimes very quick, sometimes very slow to response, not on purpose though. I usually read emails on the run, so I oftentimes don't have time to respond and forget to later on.) But even if I don't respond, remember, it might have been your email which motivated me to actually go back and finish up that next chapter. There is usually a point in the midst of writing a chapter when I run behind schedule because of a writer's block or just from hecticness in real life. And then, a lovely email awaits in my inbox which inspires me and then I revert back to "Wish-chan-mode," inspired to hurry up and pump out the next chapter. Lol. Anyhow, after recuperation, it's back to step 1. (But usually, I have at this point a bit of stages 1 and 2 already done because we are now in Arc 4 and everything's culminating).

8. Every writer's enemy - the Writer's Block: Each writer has a different means of writing and there is no right and wrong way. The method I have described is one that developed from writing a chapter by chapter long-running series. Hence, I suffered from many long periods of writer's block or overload with school/life/work. It's sometimes difficult to balance real life and hobby. Because writing is sort of a meditative hobby/ life calling for me, I could keep at it for so long. Writing takes many many hours and lots of patience. The funny thing about writer's blocks is that some of my favorite stories derived from such periods where I was stuck in the main storyline. If you suffer from writer's block, take a break from writing, go out enjoy the sunlight, take a walk, watch TV, read. I think more ideas generate when you engage in life. Or, write about something else, a different character, a different plot line. I think a lot of New Trials Specials derived from having a writer's block. On the reverse, there is something very fascinating how when I'm so busy with other things, I always suddenly get an idea or an urge to write. We all know the phenomenon where it's so much more fun to do something when you're procrastinating studying.

The main difference between "fanfiction" writing and "academic" writing for me is that in New Trials, I do pour a 100% of my soul into my writing. But if I were doing academic writing, there would be another step after #6 which would be "sentence-by-sentence pruning." That oftentimes takes as much time as it takes me to write. For school writing or something published, I would read over each sentence and analyze whether each word is necessary and prune, show restraint, edit more and fine tune the writing technique. But the joys of fanfiction is that there is no word limit, no time limit (arguable) and no limit to the imagination, hence I can truly be me.

Anyhow, RIP http://geocities.com/wishluv, my first website and first real home of New Trials. Geocities is gone forever. I have a horrible feeling I still had stuff left on the server but I guess time will tell.

New Trials Character Profile: Akagi Aki

2009-11-14T23:07:00.000-08:00

I've always been meaning to do a character profile for the original characters in my fanfiction New Trials of Card Captor Sakura, but never got a chance to. I decided to start off with Akagi Aki, Sakura's classmate since Junior HIgh.

Akagi Tomoaki (16) is the youngest child in the Akagi family, who are considered "nouveau riche" and made their fortune in the horse racing business in partnership with the Tamemura family. He is younger brother to famous actress Akagi Arima, and his older brother is currently heir to the Akagi business, a graduate of MIT. He used to be a grade below Tanaka Mikai back in elementary school at Eitoukou Academy. Aki transferred to Seijou first year of junior high and has been in the same class with Sakura-tachi since then. He is currently class president at Seijou High, Editor-in-Chief of the Seijou High newspaper and pointguard in the Seijou Basketball team even though he is only a freshman. He was captain of the Seijou Junior High Basketball Team and voted MVP two years consecutively and student council president. Though he has a carefree demeanor, he has a tendency to be bossy and a perfectionist when it comes down to his work.

Relationships: Since Christmas of their third year of junior high, Aki has developed a big crush on Daidouji Tomoyo. Because of his extroverted personality, he gets along with everybody at school and is liked by everyone but despite his flirtatious nature, he has trouble finding a girlfriend. Syaoran used to dislike him a lot because of the Winter Wonderland incident (Arc One), but since then has grown to value Aki's steadfast presence in class. Sakura grew closer to Aki when she was recruited into the journalism club and finds him one of her few male peers that she feels comfortable to talk to. Miho and Aki clash a lot because they both are so headstrong, but Miho genuinely respects Aki as an editor and journalist. Tomoyo thinks Aki is like a big golden retriever (she thinks Syaoran is like a Siberian Husky and Eriol like a tabby cat). Aki's greatest idol back in elementary was Tanaka Mikai, but he gets greatly annoyed by Mizuki Kai. The person he is most scared of is his older sister.

People have been requesting for a picture of Aki, and unfortunately, I only have a rough sketch I drew quite a while ago. Hopefully, I'll be able to do a color picture of him when I have more time; he's actually a pretty fun character to draw. I mentioned before that Aki was originally named because there needed to be more male characters in Sakura's class, but somehow, he just stuck around. Unfortunately, I find that he is the only "ordinary" guy in the entire cast of New Trials; he has a very simplistic nature. He has trouble hiding his emotions, and he speaks what he thinks, hence is an antithesis to Syaoran, I guess. His fashion style is sporty and on the flashy and flamboyant side (think Hawaiian Tropical). In the sketch above, the boy on the right is Aki. The boy on the right... can you guess who it is? It's young Tanaka Mikai. You learn more about Akagi Aki's past in the Kaitou Magician Origins Special I actually should post the next chapter up, because I think I've caught up to the point in New Trials where I can reveal more about Kai's past. Anyhow, I wonder which character profile I should do next.

New Trials of CCS Chapter 63 and xxxHolic 192

2009-11-12T14:36:00.000-08:00

Sakura and Syaoran Ending by ~wishluv on deviant ART

Chapter 63: The Joining of the Circle is posted at http://wishluv.revolutionhosting.net/nt63.htm (ver.2) or http://www.fanfiction.net/s/197453/105/The_New_Trials_of_Card_Captor_Sakura_and_Friends and refer to Sakura's Magic Circle chart after you read the chapter.

I don't know why it is whenever I try to post my chapter, something happens and the revolutionhosting.net server is down briefly (which always gives me a little heart-attack.) This chapter was very difficult to write because of its length and also content--it's 80 pages size 11 font Arial in Microsoft Words. I've written all my chapters size 11 Arial in Microsoft Word, for a whopping ten years. Anyhow, Chapter 64 is another 80+ pages (currently in editing process) but I might hold out releasing Chapter 64 till December because I'm really busy right now, and I also like to synchronize the story with the season . ^_^ Chapter 63 and 64 were meant to be one chapter-- I mistakenly thought I could fit the entire Christmas storyline in one chapter. It was strange writing a non-action chapter and more of a drama saga. I'll refrain from commenting anymore until the next chapter comes out, which I had more fun writing. I wrote the beginning of this chapter, with Sakura's father in the hospital early in the summer (right after Chapter 62 came out). Anyhow, I had the worst dream that night about losing my father; I still remember it vividly because it was one of those dreams where you wake up feeling like you were crying and crying. The next day, I kept wondering why I had such a sad and disturbingly realistic dream, and it was because I'd been writing that particular scene in Chapter 63, and also, that previous day, my coworker had been talking about how her mother was ill with cancer. Dreams have often inspired ideas to write about, but this was one of the rare times that it was vice versa.

Exciting xxxHolic manga chapter this week. Chapter 192 refers to Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle characters again. Mokona Black mentions that Syaoran-tachi are still traveling and have recently returned to Piffle Country (my favorite!) and that Kurogane got himself a new prosthetic arm/ automail if this were Fullmetal Alchemist (yay!) I'm feeling a little better knowing that we will be hearing updates of Syaoran and crew like this, which leads me to believe that the TRC crew might play some important role in the future of xxxHolic. After all, there will be a point when Syaoran/Tsubasa will be freed from his price of always traveling and Watanuki from his price of always staying at the same place, hopefully. The new artbook cover for TRC is lovely as well, showing a grown up Sakura and Syaoran (Tsubasa and Tsubasa), actually looking like Mama and Papa S+S; we can tell it's them Tsubasa!S+S because Syaoran is wearing his awesome outfit from the final chapter in TRC. Maybe Tsubasa/Sakura will give birth to Clone!Syaoran some day in the future in a wonderful loop of events (hopefully not).

I like the idea that Watanuki is still learning his trade, that he doesn't always know how much is the right price to take from a person, and that he gets hurt by this. And perhaps Yuuko is in the same place where Clone!Syaoran and Sakura, because to me, TRC was THEIR story and whatever seemingly semi-happy ending CLAMP left us with Tsubasa!Syaoran and Sakura in the Epilogue of TRC is an illusion, disguising that "Clone" Sakura and Syaoran's story actually is a tragedy (thus far). I ended up feeling so sorry for Syaoran writing the new chapters that the Christmas chapter turned into semi-fluff. Lol.

Spoilers: My favorite scene this chapter is Mike and Erika's breakup scene. Maybe I'm a little evil like that. I enjoyed continuing off the "father" theme from last chapter, but this chapter I think was all about girl-power. Well, next chapter's all about the boys.

Sakura's Magic Circle of the Star Version 1

2009-11-12T12:34:00.001-08:00

SPOILERS for Chapter 63: The Joining of the Circle>>>

It actually took a long time to figure out the order everybody is seated on the Star Circle in order to keep balance, etc., but I like how it came out. I created this diagram more for my own benefit, because I kept getting confused. It's even color-coded. This is just version 1 of the Star Circle from Chapter 63. As you can see, it's slightly different from Sakura's regular star circle because as of Arc 4, Sakura's magic circle has an extra crescent moon around the five-pointed star. Also, Sakura's regular magic circle is centered differently (the moon and sun and each have one point). The original vector of Sakura's Magic Circle is done by Yamamoto114, which is probably the best vector of Sakura's magic circle out there, except the alignment of the stars is slightly off. Still, I based the star-moon circle off off this model, and I just left it so that the centering of the stars is off and the sun and the moon aren't at equilibrium. (You can compare with image below of Sakura's regular upright magic circle). I had a hard time deciding whether to use this format or not, but in the end decided to stick with the off-aligned version for the star-moon circle because I like the idea that Sakura's magic circle is off balance in some way. Click on chart for a larger view.

A sign that you've been working on a chapter of New Trials too long is when you start counting 13 points on Sakura's star instead of 12. (Yes, this is a real life story). I panicked and thought, how could I for the past 9 years think there were 12 points and how come nobody pointed it out before? I was really really tired. I recounted later and voila, there was 12 again. Anyhow, Eriol's guardians are more like his minions. I technically should have erased Kai's name as well. In the Li spot, Meilin is currently standing. The positioning of everyone is important because the powers need to balance each other so that "equilibrium" can be reached, and because of this, the positions aren't stationary but will change accordingly to who is in the Magic Circle.

Sakura: Nee, Kero-chan, what order are people going to stand on my star circle?

Kero-chan: Random order? Height? People who get along?

Sakura: Hoe, this is so complicated!

Kobato Episode 2

2009-10-15T12:09:00.000-07:00

Episode 2 is about as sweet as the first episode. I didn't really notice the background music in the first episode but this time around, I remember being pleasantly surprised by some of the bgm numbers. I'm not sure if the OST would become as iconic as the Card Captor Sakura bgms (which I think represents a series where the bgm itself embodies the series) or as in Tsbasa Reservoir Chronicle, which I think the soundtrack MAKES the anime.

Kobato is so adorable, I can't help loving her despite her ditziness and lack of common sense. Which is rare. CLAMP's heroes and heroines are usually a hit or miss for me ie. Hikaru from Magic Knight Rayearth may be one of my least favorite characters, though I have no idea why. I think she is so bright and optimistic, it grates my nerves. Then again, I adore Fuu and Umi is one of my favorite female CLAMP characters (mainly because she is pretty). CCS Sakura inevitably has become my favorite female CLAMP character and is probably one of the most iconic female majou shoujo heroines in the history of anime. Now, Kobato is a little bit older but probably has the mental capacity of someone younger than Sakura. She is loveable nonetheless because rather than being plain stupid, I find that she is just genuinely childlike and naive in an alienesque sort of way. And she's adorable. In a 'I want to pull her hair and pinch her cheeks sort of way.' I know, it's horrible. I want a younger sister like Sakura-chan that I would squeeze into a tight hug, but with Kobato, I want to tease her or something. Yes, I am very much sympathetic to Ioryogi-san.

I like how CLAMP made Sakura and Syaoran's character design reflected each other, like how Kobato and Fujimoto's designs reflect each other (with their layered hairstyle and long hair). Their colorings are even sort of similiar, but Fujimoto's eyes seem a little greener while Kobato's is a bit more hazel (I find the anime made her eyes greener than I anticipated). I find Fujimoto's character design really appealing because it's very unique for a CLAMP character to have the perfect balance between "tough cool guy" and "bishounen," and I dig his glasses and piercings juxtaposed to his gentle occupation. The most nostalgic part about the series though is the way Madhouse did the eyes of the characters so much like they did Card Captor Sakura eyes. Especially the kids looked like they would pop up in CCS.

The encounters between Fujimoto and Kobato this episode reminded me of Sakura and Syaoran's relationship in the beginning. Kobato's indignant reactions to Fujimoto's crassness was very reminiscent of Sakura's reactions to Syaoran when he was being mean. Fujimoto playing the organ reminded me of Kinomoto Touya, as well. I find Fujimoto's personality a cross between Syaoran and Touya (their love child?), while Ioryogi makes me think that Tomoyo-hime one day decided to punish Kurogane and turn him into a blue plush dog doll. They sound the same and they act the same). I adore Ioryogi-san and think he's the most badass "magical animal" sidekick any shoujo heroine has had.

Fumiko Orikasa is wonderful as usual as Sayaka and never fails to impress me with her versatility. I swear, she never sounds the same. Kobato's seiyuu is perfect for the part, albeit sounding sort of like a Clannad girl, as is Inada Tetsu as Ioryogi.

It's been a while since I've seen a "magical girl" theme anime, and forgot the doki doki sense of anticipation waiting for the potential hero to appear at the opportunate moment and the fact that they don't appear all the time. I remember going through episodes of CCS where Syaoran barely showed up or did not show up at all. And in those days, I judged how good an episode was by the role Syaoran played in it. The only episode I really enjoyed without Syaoran in it was Sakura and the Calendar of Memories, the episode about Touya and Nadeshiko and the organ. Anyhow, Fujimoto might make it to my list of top 3 favorite CLAMP males. I've only read the manga on and off, but I'm looking forward to some character development and the appearance of Okiura (Shinichiro Miki).

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles Epilogue and AMV: This is my Road

2009-10-08T12:31:00.001-07:00

CLAMP's Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles manga has finally come to an end. Unlike the final chapter, the epilogue is very much in line with the kind of ending I had envisaged for TRC, along the lines of "and the journey will continue on." I have a feeling we'll be seeing Syaoran/Tsubasa and crew again in the future.

My favorite part of the epilogue was seeing Nadeshiko and Fujitaka again, happy and loving. At least in the Clow universe, they are alive and together (though pretty much everybody else seems to be suffering, except Touya and Yukito who are always the same, what ever world they're in). I also liked the idea of Syaoran and Watanuki's sacrifice, Syaoran to keep moving on, whereas Watanuki to stay in one place for ever. I like the simple equilibrium created. Unfortunately, something about the ending reminded me of Pirates of the Carribbean 3: At the World's End, where Will is bound to sail The Flying Dutchman as captain, which can surface only every ten years, hence he can see Elizabeth only every ten years. It's one of those cases where we already had a good ending, like the first movie which was the best of the bunch, and then everything just became messed up because of sequels. Lol. No, but I really appreciate the ending of TRC because while the previous chapter ended with a sense of bittersweet nostalgia, the epilogue at least gave us a forward-looking sense of anticipation. Almost to the point where I feel like there could sucessfully be a whole new series on the adventures of Syaoran finding Clone!Syaoran.

We finally learn Sakura and Syaoran's real names. Surprise, they have identical names as if we already do not have enough clones and Freudian warpedness running amock. But I like the thought that the name "Tsubasa" connects the two individuals and furthermore, brings new meaning to the title. I am curious what Sakura saw in her dream that makes her decide to stay in Clow (that could be any worse than anything that has already happened), but I hope it's something related to a means of getting Yuuko back. Because R!Sakura and R!Syaoran's given names are something else, somehow, I have even stronger a feeling that to me, the Clones were actually the "real" Sakura and Syaoran, especially because reincarnated C!Syaoran was alternate-universe Hong Kong Li Syaoran. Yes, it is confusing. I am going to save further analysis on the series until xxxHolic unveils some lingering questions.

Meanwhile, to celebrate (mourn?) TRC coming to an end, I have made an AMV with one my favorite new songs from the ending of the anime Guin Saga. (Many thanks to Tragrendd for introducing me!) The first time I heard the song "Saga~This is My Road," I immediately thought it fit with TRC. Hence, this came about.

The AMV is made with Sony Vega 8.0 Pro and Adobe Photoshop CS3. I didn't realize how much less painful it was editing videos with a faster processor speed. It makes me cry thinking about how long everything used to take and how many times the program crashed on my old computer and how long everything took to render. Some AMVs make good use of putting random clips together to music, but for me, I like AMVs that tell a story. I put lots of effort into the "epilogue" of the video, which are actually scenes from TRC chapter 222 and 232, one of the most beautiful chapters of the series, IMO. The lyrics of this song and the ambiance, I thought, fits TRC very well. Kanon is a very talented singer/songwriter, and this song is absolutely beautiful and haunting. There are two versions of Saga~This is My Road, Japanese and English. I prefer the Japanese version because it is more fluid and Kanon's voice really soars in that version. But I had to add in a verse from the English version because the lyrics were so resonant with TRC, especially if you read to the ending. You can find Japanese lyrics at this blog. Check out this blog for English lyrics. Because I could not find raw videos, I had a hard time clipping all the subtitles out of the episodes of TRC, Tokyo Revelations and Tsubasa Shunraiki, but I really didn't want subtitles flying about this AMV. My favorite part of the video is probably the last clip after credits, just because I like how it turned out. I colored the manga picture and animated the text, and I thought it came out nicely, and I will keep hoping that the later volumes get OVAs or TRC season 3 or something.

On a side note, I saw the premier episode of Kobato. Isn't Kobato just cute or, what? It reminds me of a good, old-school shoujo anime with a CLAMP flavor.

Yui Makino Concert at the New York Anime Festival 2009

2009-10-07T13:58:00.000-07:00

As we all know, Yui Makino is the voice of our beloved Princess Sakura in the Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles anime. Thus, when I heard she was going to be at the New York Anime Festival, I had to go just to see her. She held an hour-long concert on Saturday 26 and also did a Q&A session on Sunday, along with an autograph session.

Yui Makino's debut role as a seiyuu was Princess Sakura from Tsubasa, though she had done several anime songs before, namely Omna Magni from Sousei no Aquarion by Yoko Kanno. She said there were at least 200 people auditioning for the role of Sakura-hime. The first impression I got of her voice was perhaps childlike, pure and very pretty. I think they did a good job casting the seiyuu for Tsubasa and loved Irino Miyu as (older) Syaoran(s).

(Sakura poster signed for girl (cosplaying Vocaloid Miku) standing in front of me. Yui even drew her a picture! Cute!)

After seeing Yui Makino perform live, however, my respect for her totally skyrocketed to a different level. Whoever said that she is not strong live was completely mistaken. Yui Makino was amazing during the one-hour concert. I was thrilled with that Yui Makino played the keyboard while singing her first song, "Yunagi Loop," the ending theme of Tsubasa. She also played a couple songs from her new single, which has not been released in Japan, but we were able to purchase at the NYAF. I got my copy autographed by her (see picture above).

The best song of the day was the piano version of "Amrita." I was hoping that she would play it and it was by far her strongest performance and also my own favorite Yui Makino song. Her voice was strong, sweet and emotional, as she self-accompanied herself on the keyboard. Yui Makino has been trained on the piano since age 5 and you can tell that she has a very strong classical music background. When asked what her favorite music was, she replied "Debussey and Chopin" rather than contemporary artists. I was actually able to ask her during her Q&A session what her favorite song out of her own albums was and she say "Amrita" as well. I was happy. ^_^ She mentioned her favorite American singers were the Beatles and Vanessa Carlton. (I knew she had good taste in music.)

I was a little disappointed that she didn't perform "Synchonicity" but other than that, I was left impressed by Yui Makino's concert and began looking at her more of a "musician" than a "seiyuu," someone who I think really has a bright future ahead of her. Unfortunately, I think half the audience didn't really know her songs too well. The theme song from Aria is one of her more famous songs, and I don't think people even knew that one. Either way, Yui's strongest performances were the ones where she was accompanying herself on the keyboard. But she did such a cute dance move to one of her new songs. She has a serious side and an adorable side, so I see her appealing to the popular "idol" image and also appealing to more classical music scene and continuing to collaborate with famous composers (having worked with Yuki Kajiura and Yoko Kanno is already an impressive resume).

Yui Makino is very pretty in person (prettier than photos, in my opinion) and more petite than you can imagine. She mentioned that the animal she would most be like is a cat (just like Sakura-chan in Tsubasa)! The sense I got from her is that she is quite introverted (her favorite activity is sleeping), and also that she is a serious musician rather than an "idol." She said that in the future, she would love to perform in Suntory Hall which is a concert hall in Japan that holds over 2000 seats and it is considered one of the pinnacles of a musicians career to perform there.

My favorite part about the Q&A session is when Yui Makino was asked if she enjoyed karaoke, and she replied that the CLAMP-sensei-tachi took her to karaoke and made her sing her own songs. It was very cute. And she mentioned that the kimono she wore the the Paris Anime Expo was borrowed from Mokona-sensei (famous for her large collection of beautiful kimono.) It made me sort of fangirl squeal thinking how wonderful it would be to be so close with CLAMP (and how like them to make Yui Makino sing her own songs as karaoke). She also went to watch the Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. This made me sort of nostalgic for the "New York Arc" of the New Trials of Card Captor Sakura.

Over all, I felt that seeing Yuki Makino was almost like seeing Sakura-hime in person. Or at least hearing her voice a whole lot, anyhow. (Her real voice is not as high and childish but once in a while she would say cute phrases which made her sound a bit like Sakura). I would say the New York Comic Con is a stronger convention on the whole, but my first time at New York Anime Fest was a good experience (because of Yui Makino being the guest of honor); the crowd was younger in general, a bit more rambunctious, and I was impressed by the high quality of the cosplayers. I even saw a Sakura and Syaoran (Card Captor Sakura version). I had several people ask to take pictures of/with me as well. FYI, I wasn't dressed up like any character but was going for a schoolgirl look my first day and a sort of dark Misa-Misa inspired version of that look the second day. There were less Bleach and Naruto cosplays than I expected (not saying there weren't a lot anyway), and lots of Vocaloids, namely Miku and the Kagamine twins. Lots of Yoko cosplays from Guuren Lagen, L from Death Note and many many maids and lolitas everywhere. I was impressed how in character some people were. Oh, and I even met for the first time a CCS fanfiction reader who's heard of my penname. Lol.

Picture I sketched on the spot of Sakura on a thank you note to Yui Makino that I gave to her for the CD signing:

Check out Yui Makino's new single (my autographed copy pictured above!) Check out outtakes from her interview that I recorded for your viewing pleasure so that we can share more of her quirky cuteness with everyone!

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles Chapter 232: The End?

2009-09-30T18:39:00.000-07:00

Spoilers...

How should I put it... This ending leaves a lot more wanting. I had a firm belief that Tsubasa could become and epic manga or it could become a huge disappointment for me simply because I have invested so much in the characters of "Sakura" and "Syaoran" since Card Captor Sakura days. Either way, I'll refrain from making a final judgment until I see the final epilogue chapter and how xxxHolic unfolds.

Ever since the whole Clone controversy began, I began to feel a little cheated. Because Tsubasa has been the story of the clone's journey. I haven't followed Tsubasa that carefully and I think it could do some good to read everything through without all the interruptions.

There are lots of parallels between TRC and some Jungian principles; I recommend Carl Jung's Synchronicity as a start. Hence, I feel confused when I read TRC whether there is deeper meaning or whether the ending is simply rushed or there is just a lot of explaining to be found in xxxHolic.

Maybe it was naive of me to think there could be a happy ending for the clones. I knew clone Sakura and Syaoran meeting in the alternate modern day Hong Kong world in Chapter 222 was too good to be true. My heart broke a little bit in Chapter 223 when I learned that Syaoran's surname in that world was also Li. I think CLAMP indicates that the memories of the Clones will live on through real Sakura and Syaoran, hence they are not truly gone. But then, they are gone and at the end of the day, while I initially thought that Tsubasa was a manga about the epic journey of a boy who wants to recover the memories of his most beloved person, it is actually the story of a glitch in time, the story of how duplicates of the real Sakura and Syaoran escape from an infinite loop. It was never a story about characters but rather archetypes. I have a feeling we'll probably be seeing the vampire twins (they'll probably get their own spin off someday) and KuroFai in the future (truthfully, I feel more sorry for these two than anyone else in the manga--they lose arms and eyeballs and find out that their travel buddies are clones that disappear in the end, not to mention that they've had quite crappy childhoods on top of that).

From the beginning, I decided to differentiate between CCS!Sakura and Syaoran and TRC!Sakuras and Syaorans. I don't know why CLAMP wrote this manga. I initially thought it was fanservice, reintroducing characters we knew in a big, grand universe and showing us the interlinking of CLAMP worlds. The second half of TRC seemed to then twist into a torture-fest of how much we can make our main characters suffer as much as possible. I can't tell if this ending is the true ending that CLAMP intended for TRC (though obviously we'll understand more through xxxHolic), or whether they just grew tired of this project and wanted to move on to other projects (that would likely get a more decent animation production).

I read TRC eagerly to see glimmers of further insight of characters I am familiar with. Truthfully, though TRC!S+S are not CCS!S+S, nonetheless, this story has made me reevaluate the dynamic between Sakura and Syaoran. I'm not sure I can ever look at the beautiful ending of the CCS manga where junior high Sakura and Syaoran hug, finally reunited without thinking of a very similar composition in TRC where clone Sakura and Syaoran are reunited in Hong Kong. Furthermore, it is indicated throughout TRC that CCS!Sakura and Syaoran are aware how much suffering their alternate world alter-egos are undergoing.

I've been working on a TRC AMV recently, but now I feel like I'm going to cry if I see poor S+S.

Anyhow, does anybody feel like it's time for some Kobato-healing?

xxxHolic 籠 186 Review

2009-09-16T21:06:00.000-07:00

SPOILERS>>>>> XXXholic Rou (Cage) again with the bird in a cage analogy...

Wow, I really was not expecting a time jump. It's strange seeing how much Watanuki has changed, especially when he's lying Yuuko style on her couch, wearing a draping kimono and smoking a pipe in this languid, laid back manner that you never saw from him before. I keep thinking back to how Watanuki was such an irritable, cranky, slightly boisterous and very silly boy. His eyes were so expressionless in that panel that it was rather heartbreaking, and I constantly applaud CLAMP's artistic execution of the full two-page spread of the "new Watanuki" to give us the full impact and also eye-candy. It is like Watanuki has taken on as much of Yuuko's characteristics in order to keep her alive within himself.

The bright side of this chapter was Doumeki's appearance and his interactions with Watanuki evokes the faint traces of the old Kimihiro Watanuki that still remains in him. Doumeki is now a folklore major? It was funny because I thought the same thing as Watanuki; that image really doesn't fit Doumeki but also reality hits how four years have already passed in the world outside. People outside are changing, developing, but Watanuki is forever trapped in one moment in time, in one mindset, with one strong desire. I'm personally very interested in Doumeki's folklore professor. Who knows if there is anything significant about this professor or not. Of course, our favorite CLAMP professor will always remain Kinomoto Fujitaka aka Clow Reed's half-reincarnation. But again, there is the painful reality that time outside of Yuuko's house is moving and shifting but for Watanuki, he is always trapped inside that house frozen in time, just waiting. It reminds me of poor Syaoran trapped inside the glass cylinder with his time and freedom sacrificed. It's also reminiscent of Princess Emeraude from Magic Knight Rayearth who was so lonely and trapped because of Rayearth's pillar system. Hence "cage" I guess.

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles is coming to an end very soon with only a few chapters left. I'm actually surprised it's ending so soon because I feel like there are so many loose ends to tie, and I was hoping that all the numerous characters would be able to get some resolution. Unfortunately, I feel like Kurogane and Fai have only become a backdrop to the whole Sakura and Syaoran plotline. The part of Tsubasa that I actually enjoyed the most were the little character interactions in between all the chaos like Fai and Sakura's mutual understanding (Fai is like the sister Sakura never had in my mind) or Kurogane and Syaoran's mentor and student relationship. I'm hoping that Tsubasa ends with a satisfying conclusion. I have a feeling that it will be XXXholic's role to tie all the loose ends that Tsubasa does not manage to tie up. I'm just going to trust CLAMP to let the stories come to a fitting end without fans having to rip their hairs out in agony.

On a side note, I finally watched the XXXholic Shunraiki OVAs, and I was sort of peeved at the difference in animation quality between XXXholic and the Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles Shunraiki, especially because of the overlapping scene in the dream world. I have to admit, the battle between Syaoran and Syaoran in Tsubasa Shuraiki OVA 2 was awesome. But all the budget seems to have just gone to that particular scene. Also, I loved all the Tomoyo and Kurogane interactions. It makes me wonder if the rest of Tsubasa would ever get animated properly. It's a pity because Tsubasa could have become an epic anime with the right direction, supervision and budget.

I have high expectations from XXXholic's ending because for me Tsubasa was all about chaos and in-your-face shocking plot devices whereas XXXholic's strength was its restraint, gradual character development and the unique strange, artistically melancholy and mysterious ambiance of the manga. I wonder if we'll get a time jump in Tsubasa at one point as well. I'm still waiting for CCS!Syaoran and Sakura's appearance before the end of the series. It's a problem when I'm looking more forward to getting lots of pretty Sakura and Syaoran artwork in the next couple chapters than having a happy resolution. I'm also waiting for Clow Reed to make an appearance, and even more so waiting to learn that Watanuki actually becomes Clow Reed in the future and we'll have a big incestuous circle of S+S being Wata's parents, and Wata/Clow Reed being Clone!Sakura's father and we get an impossible eternal loop. Lol. I'm joking. Half. After all, I'm a fanfiction writer. It's just that as I was coloring Watanuki in this particular frame, I thought how much he resembled Eriol-kun. Anyway, who else thinks Watanuki aged very well? ^_^

Oh well, if all fails, then I'll just eagerly await glimpses of Kinomoto Touya in the upcoming Kobato anime. ^_^

Card Captor Sakura Fanart - Let's Go to the Beach!!!

2009-08-14T07:07:00.000-07:00

Cardcaptor Sakura Summer Lovin by ~wishluv on deviant ART

My first fanart on my new laptop! I would rather work off a full monitor, and I find laptop widescreen monitors annoying to work on because I feel like they're shorter. But then my painting programs were not freezing up on me every other minute, so that was awesome--I would not have been able to draw a picture this big on my old laptop without it crashing up.

The theme is "Summer Lovin' "-- I wanted to capture a breezy beach full of sunlight. I guess this is more of a Card Captor Sakura fanart than a New Trials one, but you should spot two familiar faces from the New Trials scene. :) I wanted to draw everyone happy and carefree for a change. The inspiration for this pic is CCS episode 17 (?) where Sakura is repeating "Umi umi umi" over and over again because she's so excited to go to the beach. Ah, she used to be so adorable. I wanted to draw Eriol and crew as well, but he wasn't there when Meilin was, unfortunately. And young Miho and Mikai are playing in the background, not knowing Sakura and crew at all.

Ten Best Anime Ending Theme Songs

2009-08-05T23:19:00.000-07:00

My top ten favorite anime ending songs in no particular order and not complete by any means. I went more for a survey of good anime ending themes out there that might not always be the best known (or may be very popular already.) I think I cover a wide range of anime between shoujo, shounen, jousei and mecha.

1. I love it when the first chords of the ending song kick into the end of the anime episode. The quintessential example of this of Fushigi Yuugi's ending "Tokimeki no Doukousen," especially with the ending of the first episode which gave me the feeling, ah this anime is going to be epic. The Yuu Watase manga illustration at the end was beautiful as well. Note: I have not watched the anime nor read the manga in its entirety and still plan to one day.

2. Full Metal Alchemist is noted for its great music, and if I could, I would include all the songs in my list. If had to pick my top (and it's a real hard choice), I would pick FMA's second ending theme Yellow Generation's "Tobira no Mukou E" because I love the way the beginning of the song kicks in at the end of the episode, which gives me a tingling sense of anticipation. I didn't really fall for FMA until the mid-teen episodes, and then rapidly, before I knew it, I was hooked. Oddly enough, Crystal Kay's "Motherland" is probably overall the crowd's least favorite ED, but it's the most re-listenable one and is a constant on my playlist, more so than most other songs. FMA did the progression of ending themes very well from the angsty and slightly bitter-toned Nana Kitade song "Kesenai Tsumi" or "Inerasable Sin" (I love the acoustic raw-breath version even more), the frustration and desperation felt in Tobira with it's opening lyrics, "The two of us are screaming, even now" (paired with music that is somewhat forward-looking and ends with a sense of hope), the nostalgic "Motherland" and finally the wistful Sowelu's "I Will." I found the last image in the ED 2 video very poignant, when the snowflake melts from the warmth of Ed's real hand and doesn't in his metal arm.

3. Honey and Clover 1st ending Sunohair's "Waltz" just pairs one of my favorite ending songs with my favorite anime. One of Honey and Clover's winning points (besides great character, plot, comedy drama and animation) is music, since it was named after to albums. Especially since the first half of season 1is so much more light-hearted than the rest of the series, this ending just embodies hope and youth. (And yes, I love it when the first chords of the ending kicks in at the end.)

4. Detective Conan Ending 17 - "Overture" by Inaba Koshi (of B'z). Yes, this is the song I really fell in love with B'z, who have done other Detective Conan related music. There are songs that the first time you hear it, it sense shivers down your spine. It was once said that Inaba Koshi's voice is one of Japan's national treasures, and I whole-heartedly agree. Matsumoto Tak and Inaba Koshi are really a dream combination. Overall, Detective Conan boasts an awesome OP and ED collection--sometimes I like the animations of the OP and ED even better than the story because they're angsty and more romantic than the actual series.

5. Full Moon wo Sagashite is a music anime so inevitably the music has to be good. I loved all of Changin' My Life's songs for this anime and Myco truly made "Mitsuki" shine. My favorite songs, if I had to pick one, would be first ending "Myself" (though my ultimate favorite would be Route L version of "Eternal Snow," which I wish was longer and recorded with better acoustics.) Nonetheless, I pick for best ending "New Future" because I just love how they use the song in the last episode and it ties the whole anime together-- it really brought tears to my eyes. And I loved how Tanemura Arina tied in the "New Future" lyrics in volume 7 of the manga. Anyhow, love them all.

6. Naruto's 1st ending theme Wind by Akeboshi. I know it's a cliched choice, yet is there any other subsequent ending theme that fits "Naruto" so well? I personally find this one of the most beautiful and poignant anime ending themes ever, the way it starts out with the flute, the vocals kick in, even the wispy animation. This was my first introduction to Akeboshi, and I fell in love with his music and lyrics. They are simple yet so poignant, and Japanese mixed in with a Celtic flair was very refreshing from the typical pop scene. I really like "Yellow Moon" as well which has been on my playlist quite frequently. Someday, I will catch up with Naruto Shippuden.

7. Wolf's Rain - "Gravity" by Maaya Sakamoto. You can't go wrong with Maaya meets Yoko Kanno, and this song, with complete English lyrics is a hauntingly memorable ending. I haven't watched the anime yet, and the ending sequence animation is boring, but I love the ending. I first heard just a short clip of the song at the end of an anime and then set out on a quest to find the song--I didn't even realize it was a Japanese anime song let alone Maaya.

8. Beck Mongolian Chop Squad Ending 2: Sowelu - "Moon on the Water." Good songs bring you back to the moment you hear them. The first time I heard the acapella duet between "Koyuki" and "Maho," it was 5 am sophomore year of college on the day we had to sign up for courses online for the spring semester at 8 am sharp (yes, it was a battle of speed), and I had not yet decided my classes. I was procrastinating and began watching Beck, and I still remember the shiver I felt down my spine when I heard the guitar strumming in and the clarity of Sowelu's voice (of course, I didn't know she was the singing voice of Maho then.)

9. Inuyasha - Do As Infinity - "Fukai Mori." DAI was one of my earliest J-pop hooks, and this probably is my favorite DAI song. Inuyasha, like many Shounen Jump anime, has great songs. Ending 4 Boa's "Every Heart" is also a favorite.

10. Nodame Cantabile's 1st ending "Konna Chikan de..." Yes, this song does it too--I love it when the beginning notes kick in at the end of the episode--this song gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling, and the lyrics are so cute too. (Makes you nostalgic hearing Tomokazu Seki aka Kinomoto Touya as Chiaki-senpai. Their personalities are actually surprisingly similar, down to the violin-playing. Lol.

Other notable anime ending themes.

Mahoujin Guru Guru - "Wind Climbing" I first heart the ending done in Korean, and the song is strangely memorable though anime itself is cute and silly. It still retains much popularity in Japan as well, it seems, according to polls.

Bleach ending 3 - Youhna - "Houki Boushi" The singer is actually Korean, and though I was introduced to her because of Bleach, I enjoy her Korean songs as well--she is talented and a breath of fresh air in the K-pop scene. I especially love this ending because the animation changed each episode to match a division. How awesome is that? Bleach, like FMA, boasts an awesome repertoire of theme songs, (unlike Naruto which is a hit or miss for me.)

Macross Frontier Ending 1 - May'n - "Diamond Crevasse." Since Macross is mecha music anime meets Yoko Kanno, of course it should have a spot on the list. I loved many songs on the soundtrack; I personally prefer Megumi's voice to May'n's voice, and my favorite song is "Ao no Ether." But Diamond Crevasse, I believe, is THE song of Macross. I love all subsequent versions of it.

Nana Ending 1 - Olivia's aka Reira's "A Little Pain." I think it's the best song of the bunch in another music-centric anime.

K-on Ending 1 - "Don't Say Lazy," which I don't think needs anymore pimping than the hype it has already gotten.

Slam Dunk Ending 2 Wands - "Sekai ga Owaru Made Wa"

Saint Tail Ending 1 - "Junshin "

Rurouni Kenshin Ending 3 - T.M. Revolution - "Heart of Sword."

Lastly, the Fancy Lala Ending Theme. The plotline is the typical young girl transformed into older popstar story. There was nothing outstanding about this anime (which was supposedly overshadowed by the reigning shoujo anime of the time, Card Captor Sakura). It is a typical coming of age story, but the last episode which segued into the ending theme really made this anime linger longer than just another typical magical shoujo anime. I actually prefer the Korean dub of the song, which is rare for me.

Favorite opening themes I think would be easier to do because openings have bigger animation budgets usually and need to capture the audience and are better publicized/ easier for me to recall. I feel like anime OPs should draw you in, and I do value good opening theme animation sequences. But with ending themes, I like songs that gives you a lingering sense after the episode has ended (hence oftentimes the more ballady ending themes in contrast with upbeat openings). With my favorite songs, I think there is a pattern of a. music animes, b. shounen anime c. anime I watched as a child d. anything involving Yoko Kanno or Maaya Sakamoto or both. You will see this pattern manifested more in the next list I make. ^_^

xxxHolic 185 and TRC 226

2009-08-04T17:51:00.000-07:00

Wow, I never thought I would come to say this, but at the moment, I am more in anticipation of the new xxxHolic chapter than the Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicles chapter. Truthfully speaking, I was never that into xxxHolic in the beginning. I was nostalgic of CLAMP's old style of drawing, and I read xxxHolic for the tie-ins with TRC.

Watanuki is a reluctant hero, and starts out as a crabby, whiny and ungrateful high school student. He is always grumbling, he is silly with his crush for Himawari-chan. Over the course of xxxHolic, he has matured greatly starting with the spider incident and the eye-swap with Doumeki. We can see how far he has grown as a person in Chapter 185, when he claims he will take over the shop. That last shot when he takes a puff out of Yuuko's pipe will remain one of the most poignant CLAMP images to date because you see a gravity in his persona, a sense of dignity, sadness, determination and responsibility all in one panel.

I find the relationship dynamic between Yuuko and Watanuki a fascinating one. They are not exactly mentor and student, they aren't friends, they aren't lovers. You wonder what was the significance of her existence to Watanuki. Watanuki has a strong pillar system going with Doumeki by his side, but you can clearly see that "Yuuko" is the one who has left an imprint on Watanuki, changed him for better or worse. On the contrary, I find Himawari a rather shallow character, and I can't figure out her significance in the bigger pictures of things, but CLAMP may surprise us yet. Yuuko reminds me a bit of CC of Code Geass with her will to die.

In TRC 226, I found Fei Wong Reed's reaction to Yuuko's disappearance funny. You can't tell if he is angry or sad that Yuuko is gone, declaring she must be revived. I wonder if Fei was bishounen like Zagato, would he be more likable. He is possibly the most despicable character in all of CLAMPdom, but that can still be overturned. Who knows what inner demons he suffers from. TRC has come to a full loop now with the explanation of the glass cylinder scene in Chapter 225. I am glad to know that they were the clones after all aka the "original" S+S that we start off with, that we weren't cheated of the main characters, that the story is indeed the clones' story. It was jarring to see Clone with Son though, same age. I wonder if Ohkawa-sensei shed some spoilers to Maaya Sakamoto when Maaya wrote the lyrics for the Tsubasa anime ending 2 "Yunagi Loop."

Either way, I look forward to the conclusion of both mangas. It will really feel like the end of an era to me. At least we can look forward to the Kobato anime!

The New Trials of Card Captor Sakura - Translation Project

2009-07-29T11:21:00.000-07:00

I am very blessed in that the New Trials of Card Captor Sakura has readers from all over the world and has connected me to people from numerous countries in numerous sorts of occupation and studies. I have received emails in the past requesting New Trials to be translated to a certain language. Unfortunately, I lacked the resources and time to do so. I have also received in the past various requests regarding adaptations of New Trials including if New Trials can be made into a doujinshi in Thailand (?) and several other countries, if the musical "Star-Crossed" can be adapted into a school play, if there can be fanfiction involving original characters or events in New Trials and if New Trials could be made into a movie for a film school project. Way back in the days, there was even a plagiarized version of New Trials called "Trials of the Heart" or something of the sort, which didn't come into my attention till a reader pointed it out. There have been many New Trials projects that I never heard back about, which makes me always wonder if there is some derivative of New Trials out there that I do not know about. ^_^

Recently, I received an email from a Spanish reader who stated that English was not her native language and requested for a Spanish translation of New Trials. It got me thinking that though I consider English a universal language, likewise, there are many anime/manga fans out there who don't speak/read English fluently. I was very enthused when Rikku-chan offered to translate New Trials into French. Rikku-chan is a beta-reader on a French website and commands excellent use of both English and French.

Rikku-chan is handling things in a very professional manner, and I trust her to handle the translation at her own pace and leisure. So far, the Prologue has been translated, and I think Rikku-chan did a great job (albeit my poor French-comprehension skills). She wants me to mention she does not do translations by request. ^^

Without further ado, the French translations can be found here at fanfic-fr.net which seems to be the French counterpart of fanfiction.net. Rikku-chan is doing these on a voluntary basis, in her own free time, and I am deeply grateful to her. Please do give her a warm round of applause.

http://www.fanfic-fr.net/fanfics/Animes-Mangas/C/Card-Captor-Sakura/The-New-Trials/20758.html

There has been mention of other translation and edit projects in the past, but I really don't wish this monster of a fanfic on anyone. Translation into any language would take an enormous amount of time and effort, especially come later chapters. But I think perhaps having Arc 1 translated into several different languages won't be too bad because I think it is shorter and structurally and gramatically more simple than the following arcs, it might be more straightforward to translate. It will then provide non-English speakers a gateway into New Trials. And there always is Amethyst Beloved's summaries of New Trials for those who want a simpler version of NT.

Meanwhile, Desi-chan/ desiree_li80 from the New Trials Yahoo Group has expressed interest in starting up Spanish translations. If there's anybody fluent in Spanish and English and interested in helping out, please feel free to contact her!

This is another opportunity to thank all those people who have been so supportive and helpful to the development of New Trials over the years. Merci beaucoup and muchas gracias!

VAMPS Concert in New York July 11

2009-07-15T13:06:00.000-07:00

L'Arc~en~Ciel has always been one of the first J-Rock bands I have been introduced and are probably my second favorite Japanese band besides B'z. B'z are just on an untouchable level, and someday, I pray I will get to see them in concert.

I started out liking L'Arc~en~Ciel for their fun songs like "Honey" and "Stay Away" and their anime songs such as "Seventh Heaven," "Ready Steady Go" and "Driver's High." I usually start liking a band for their songs, and then one day, I decided to look up the band and figured out who Hyde is. Not only is Hyde one of the most beautiful male musicians out there, but he also has an incredible voice (when he is not ruining it by smoking). I had a serious Laruku faze a couple years ago, when I was listening to nothing but Laruku, and I was a little obsessed with Hyde and Gackt. I love their duet in "Orenji no Taiyou." I think the moment I fell in love with Hyde's voice is when he hits this beautiful high note in the 10 minute song, harmonizing with Gackt. I would love to hear a live version of that song (I can imagine how difficult it would be to replicate that beautiful recording.) I love Hyde's solo work stuff as well, especially Roentgen. "Cape of Storms" is a most haunting song and matched perfectly the movie "Last Quarter" based on the manga by the same name by famed Nana mangaka Yazawa Ai.

Vamps consists of Hyde from Laruku and Kaz from Oblivion Dust. I don't know much about the latter band, but Kaz in an amazing guitarist and very hot--my friend loved him. I was intending on attending the concert anyway, but I got two free tickets because I got picked by an MTV contest. I've been lucky with stuff like that. I managed to attend the much coveted premierof the Yatterman movie in New York with Miike Takashi and JE idol group Arashi's Sakurai Sho. It's the first time they premiered a Japanese movie outside of Japan. This was my second J-Rock concert. I went to the T.M. Revolution concert last year and actually met Takanori Nishikawa at New York Comic Con last year. He was really friendly and nice, and I shook hands and got an autograph from him. He has an awesome stage presence and the concert was exhilirating (loved the live preview of the Soul Eater opening as well.) Anyhow, so I had a little idea of what to expect from the Vamps concert.

First off, the concert was AMAZING! I don't know what people say about Hyde's live performances, but his voice was FLAWLESS. He sounded even better than recordings (and we all know he doesn't always sound so fabulous). And for a small man, his stage presence is just mindblowing. The Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza is not a big venue but there was a pretty huge line waiting down the block. There are some hardcore fans out there, and I was about to get trampled alive by the CRAZY concert-goers. I'm not kidding when I say I think I've never been more suffocated or moshed. It was like I was in a human panini-maker. Anyhow, my friend and I were stuck in the smack middle center of the mosh pit, so after the first song, my friend and I clambered to get away from the craziness. I had a perfect spot perched on the guard rail to the side and had a wonderful view of the entire concert. Since the venue is quite small, you can almost just hop onto the stage if you want to. At one point, I was waving my arms and screaming my lungs out, and Hyde looked over and did a pouty kiss in my direction and winked. Kyaa!!! I'm pretty sure it was towards me because I was the only one sticking out from the crowd since I was standing on the guard rail keeping all the crazy fans fenced in. (At one point, the guard made us get down, but I climbed on again because the other people were huge and I was wearing flats.) For the record, I am usually a very reserved, calm composed person. It's just certain triggers that unleashes the crazy fangirl in me.

Kaz had mad guitar skills, and he was very nice, throwing all his picks at the audience. At one point, Hyde through his water bottle too. My friend is not a J-Rock fan, and I was slightly afraid the madness would scare her, but I think I converted her. She made fun of Hyde's little dance though. Lol. One of my favorite songs of the night was "Trouble" because Vamps did a refreshing rock rendition of a pop song already familiar to the audience, and it was lots of fun and catered to a more "Western" audience I suppose. I thought it was cute that Hyde spoke in English, which was surprisingly very good. He talked about how big the pizza in New York is. My Chinese friend said that he always talks about food.

I also saw the band exiting the back of the building into a large van. A bunch of people were waiting in the front, but I was smart and convinced my friends there must be a side exit. Lol. I don't think I'll ever be an arm's reach away from Hyde again. Lol. I'm jealous of those people who will be able to get his signature at Baltimore.

Needless to say, I was very sore and my voice was compeltely hoarse the next day. Lol. I would love to see L'Arc~en~Ciel in concert one day because those songs are a lot more familiar to me and it would be a lot of fun. I would love to hear "Jyoujoushi" which I prefer live versions over the recorded version. All the FMA songs would be awesome--but I also like their album stuff and their older songs as well. I know even those who are not J-Rock fans have heard of L'Arc~en~Ciel (especially since they're more on the commercial pop side anyway), but do check out Vamps if you get a chance. They are on tour in the US until August.

Now, if I can only see B'z and Akeboshi in concert, I can rest in peace.

Belated Happy Birthday Syaoran! New Trials Chapter 62 Up!

2009-07-15T06:48:00.000-07:00

Finally, Chapter 62: Designs in Crime is up at my website!

This is an extra long chapter, rather like two chapters in one. LOL.

My laptop of six years recently crashed, unfortunately. I had backed up most of my important files except for some extensive artwork I've been doing over the past two months and a bunch of media files. I had forgotten about the artwork, a lot of which I was really fond of and had worked on for a long time. I'm hoping I will able to at some point rescue these files from my now defunct Samsung laptop harddrive through Windows XP Recovery Console, though I am not sure if I do have the disk back home. I'll figure something about. I acquired a Sony VAIO to replace this laptop mainly for aesthetic reasons more than anything else. Lol.

The first day, I hated Windows Vista as much as I thought I would. The second day, I was a little better. I hate the new Office as well. It made me very little motivated to edit Chapter 62, because I had no clue where all the different features were. The whole visual aspect of Vista irks me--I like things written out plain and clear, which is why I always liked Windows XP. I'm hoping Windows 7 will be an improvement. I am irritated that I lost a bunch of programs as well, though I'm quite addicted to the Chess game. Lol. I'm glad to have a properly working Internet and a bigger RAM. I am not a big fan of the widescreen aspect because I use my laptop mainly for writing and drawing, for both which I believe all that extra width is a waist of space and unnecessary; I'd rather have height on the screen.

In terms of the chapter itself, I had a lot of fun writing it because I got to finally get to the "core" of the different subplots. It's no fun to write about an amnesiatic heroine, so I'm glad Sakura's memories have returned. I had been drawing up outfits for the fashion show on my old computer before it crashed. Lol. I also had all the artwork for the New Trials Ending 2 Theme: Koucha. Oh well.

Belated Happy Birthday Syaoran July 13 2009!!!

J.D. Salinger Writes Fan Fiction!

2009-06-19T13:04:00.000-07:00

Out of all the mandatory reading lists in high school, I think the most popular novel by far is J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye." I first read that book in 6th grade and didn't get it; reread it 9th grade and loved the book. Holden Caulfield is one of the most memorable teenage anti-hero's in literature. And despite all his angst and hypocrisy, he is strangely likable and resonant with adolescences. For 9th grade literature class, I remember illustrating one of the scenes from the novel into 6-panels. Now that I think of it, it was one of my first "doujinshi." Lol.

Supposedly, J.D. Salinger came out of seclusion after 30 years to rave about the new Terminator movie. I have not watched any of the Terminator franchise though all of my friends have given it good reviews. I may be tempted to go watch Terminator Salvation because Salinger praises it so much. In fact, I was not even aware that he was still alive, but he is 90 and thriving, it seems. He even allowed scholars to access his never-been-published works. (Why was he hanging on to them?) Amongst them are more than TWO DOZEN short stories, all of them are supposedly fan fiction on Terminator though of course not your typical run-of-the-mill sci-fi fanfic. His house is decorated with Terminator posters, figures and collectibles. In other words, J.D. Salinger is a Terminator otaku.

Finally. A respectable author (one that is one every high school reading list) coming out of the closet as a fan fiction writer. All the more to read Salinger.

Check out the article at theonion.com http://www.theonion.com/content/news/new_terminator_movie_brings_j_d?cnn=yes