Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge

Cited from Animelist:
Takano Kyohei, Oda Takenaga, Toyama, Yukinojo, and Morii Ranmaru are going to rent a house for free on the condition that they make the niece of the house's landlady a "lady". However, Nakahara Sunako, the girl living there, is gloomy, weird, and horror movie maniac. She has a trauma of when she was told ugly by the boy whom she loved when she was in junior high school. She doesn't like beautiful things and gets a nosebleed when she looks at something beautiful.

Review:

Different from the other animes that I have watched, I started of with the manga first for this one. And I had been anticipating the anime for a while back then. I LOVE Sunako! She is different then the typical prissy, pretty, pheromone-exuding, cutesy female anime lead characters. The more you get to know her in this anime, the more you want to befriend her! Despite loving all-out gore, preserved intestines and skulls, he would make the perfect housewife (or a housekeeper? LOL). Kyouhei's character is a bit exaggerated but everything seems to be exaggerated in this anime, making it a fun watch. Kyouhei is the MOST handsome boy to walk on this earth, according to my understanding of the anime. I mean, women and MEN actually fancy him. Disturbing, yes. Funny? Absolutely! I prefer Takenaga over Kyouhei though. I'm always favouring the darker haired characters over the seemed-to-be-more-famous blondies. For instance, in Fruits Basket I liked Shigure the most. Oh, and also, expect lots of nosebleed, LOTS OF. Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge is a fun to watch anime that you would have no trouble rewatching again and again.

Valentine's Day and White Day

What comes to mind when we say Valentine's Day? Flowers? Teddy bears? Heart shaped balloons? Proposals? Chocolates? Jewelery? Extra special dates?

Valentine's may seem a complete normal and nonchalant day to us, but in Japan, there seem to be a whole set of rules when it comes to, erm, giving your chocolates to.

In Japan, Valentine's Day is observed by females who present chocolate gifts (either store-bought or handmade), usually to a male, as an expression of love, courtesy or social obligation. The handmade chocolate is usually preferred by the receiver, because it is a sign that the receiving male is the girl's "only one".

Many women feel obliged to give chocolates to all male co-workers, except when the 14th falls on a Sunday, a holiday. This is known as giri-choko (義理チョコ), from giri ("obligation") and choko, ("chocolate"), with unpopular co-workers receiving only "ultra-obligatory" chō-giri choko cheap chocolate. This contrasts with honmei-choko (本命チョコ, Favorite chocolate); chocolate given to a loved one. Friends, especially girls, may exchange chocolate referred to as tomo-choko (友チョコ); from tomo meaning "friend".

On White Day, the converse happens: males who received a honmei-choco (本命チョコ, "chocolate of love") or giri-choco (義理チョコ, "courtesy chocolate") on Valentine's Day are expected to return the favor by giving gifts, usually more expensive. Traditionally, popular White Day gifts are cookies, jewellery, white chocolate, white lingerie and marshmallows. Sometimes the term sanbai gaeshi (三倍返し?, literally, "thrice the return") is used to describe the generally recited rule that the return gift should be two to three times the cost of the Valentine's gift.

Extracted from here and here. Photos from Google.

On a totally different note, White Day is my birthday. (^_~)

Azumanga Daiou!

Cited from Animelist:

Azumanga Daioh is about high school life through the eyes of six girls with unusual personalities: Chiyo (the 10-year-old genius), Osaka (the resident airhead), Sakaki (the shy one prone to cat bites), Tomo (the loose cannon), Yomi (the short-tempered one) and Kagura (the resident jock).


Review:
A sweet anime for those who love moe-ness of cute school girls! There is not really a proper storyline, more to the day to day life of schoolgirls. The anime goes to the entire 3 years of high school; the school festivals, summer breaks, sports days etc. Some memorable characters beside the main characters above would be Yukari-chan, their homeroom teacher; wacky, crazy, fun-loving, self-centered and probably the worst driver ever? LOL. Chiyo chan was psychologically scarred after riding with her. Haha! The only prominent male character would be this male teacher, Kimura Sensei who erm, is a creepy pervert man who enjoys admiring school girls. I don't like him period. My favourite episode is episode 16, where they organised a stuffed animal cafe for their second school festival and Chiyo chan dressed in a penguin costume. Believe me, the kawaii overload of this episode will make you return to this anime again and again. The final episode for me was a tearjerker, where they were graduating from the school. Most probably because I can relate to it as I am facing my convocation at the end of the year. This anime is definitely an enjoyable one and Chiyo chan will be forever etched in your mind, with penguin costume or not.



And I present to you Chiyo chan in a Penguin Costume! (because I think it is the cutest thing EVAR.)

Kareshi Kanojo no Jijyou

Cited from Animelist:

Miyazawa Yukino is the perfect student. Kind, intelligent, pretty and modest, it's unbelievable that such a person could exist. Little did everyone know Yukino's perfection was just a facade. An act to fulfill her desire for praise and admiration. Her life took a turn however, as a newcomer to their school Arima Soichiro topped the exam rankings. Arima is more then just intelligent, he's also kind, handsome and modest, an unbelievable person who can actually exist. Even worse luck, Arima found out Yukino's secret, blackmailing her to help him out. Their odd relationship soon develops into friendship and eventually into love. But can their love prevail through the many problems that come their way?

Review:

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this anime. The storyline would be a bit slow for others, but I think it was well thought out. I love how different the two lead characters are in terms of personality. And the love story between them is light and beautiful as a first love should be. They start of as smart-ass rivals, with Yukino feeling challenged by Arima's non-chalant smartness. She prides herself as being the top of everything and lives for applauses and praises by friends and teachers. Only her family knows her true personality as an attention whore. Arima on the other hand has a dark past. The two suddenly got together when Yukino accidentally left her guard down in front of Arima. They got closer after that and only the two of them truly understood each other's true pesonality and secrets. My favourite character is Asapin, who makes the story light-hearted with his perverted jokes and cute girls-collecting mission. However, I wish the story had a more prominent ending. It felt like the ending was a cliffhanger leading me to believe there would be a second season or something, but sadly no. Overall, it's still a good watch!

Proper Sushi-Eating Etiquette

I am a HUGE Japanese food junkie.

I can eat sushi and sashimi for the rest of my life and still be happy.

Unfortunately I just realized that all the while I have been eating sushi the wrong way. :'(

Check out this article on "Are You Sushi Savvy?"

And I am unfortunately guilty for two sushi-eating malfunctions:

1. Dipping the rice into soy sauce

2. Mixing wasabi into the soy sauce turning it into a greenish soupy gunk.

(T____T) I am ashamed.

Fortunately while Googling, I found this page on sushi-eating etiquette which provides all the major Do's and Don'ts when eating sushi. Let's not make the sushi chef cringe everytime we're mixing the wasabi in the soy sauce. ("-_-)