Oooo. [steals]

Oh yay, I hope you can use them for something!

I love the Halloween fish one! I want to hang them on my wall or something. (Even though that's totally not what you intended them for...)

lol, the icon-sized ones remind me of koi, but the big picture looks more like ghosty ghouly things.

Also GET ON AIM U H0R.

Yes'm!

Taking Neon Birds and Halloween Fish. These are beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing!! <3

*uses Shinigami icon to honor you*

I'm glad you like them! What's your icon from??

An anime called 満月をさがして (Full Moon wo Sagashite). Do you know it? It's one of my favorites. It's about a girl named Mitsuki who has a type of throat cancer and won't live much longer. There are two shinigami who grant her dying wish, so she becames a famous singer named Full Moon. The manga-ka, Tanemura Arina, makes beautiful artwork. I really adore her style and I have everything she's done. If you like shoujo, try it out! It's a really great series! (Doesn't have another FMoS icon atm, so uses a Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne icon by the same manga-ka)

I believe there was an anime once that was about five or six episodes called Shinigami no Ballad or something like that; I think it was a drama in Japan recently, too. I saw the anime ages ago...perhaps C1 Anime fansubbed it, I want to say? I didn't see the drama, but I recall seeing torrents for it at D-Addicts. It was about a female shinigami and her daily work, and the people she encountered through her job.

And you probably know this series, but Death Note also had an interesting take on the shinigami. :)

Oooh, and if I recall my kanji properly, your icon actually says "shinigami," doesn't it? <3<3 *must start studying her Japanese again!!*

I assume you were replying to me...it does, in fact, say shinigami! It's one of my favorite Japanese words. Right up there with kutsushitaya. >.>

Yeah, I was; I saw it after I posted, lol.

Yay, my kanji skills aren't too horrible! Then again, I don't know anything too hard, and I wouldn't have automatically written the kanji on my own if you asked me to spell it. Reading is much easier. :)

kutsushitaya is not a word I know; what does it mean?

My kanji skills have gone down the drain in a big way. I can barely remember how to write anything, and I probably am only capable of reading a year below what I actually studied.

kutsushitaya is a sock shop. XD I like the word because it flows and it's really fun to say.

Mine too! I used to study every day, and since returning to the States in August, nada. That's why I was like, wait...I know that's death...I think that's kami....which would be right, since shinigami....let me see! I was pleased. But there are so many times when I look at a kanji and go, "...shit, I knew that once upon a time..." The other day, I tried to write something simple for the heck of it and went, "Wait, I know this hiragana!" ゆ, I think it was. And I knew I knew it, but couldn't think of it that second. *laughs*

For me, I only had one term of study before going to Japan b/c my school only started offering Japanese my senior year. I had that stuff down the best, and from there, it was self-study in Japan. Plus, I wasn't allowed to talk to my students in Japanese, even outside of class, b/c they had to study their English, so I couldn't practice what I studied. So, I can barely speak Japanese; I'm better at reading/writing/listening (when it's not so damn fast!), but even that's diminishing...it's sad.

Ooh, sock shop! Thank you! <3 I learned something new. ^.~ I don't think I ever saw a shop that just sold socks there, though, lol!

I think my favorite word that I learned in Japan is "Gambaramba!" I love how it rolls off my tongue. It's Nagasaki-ben (prefecture slang) for "Gambare!" One of the teachers taught it to me at Sports Day or an enkai party or something. I LOVE saying that!!!

Wow, that's awesome. I'm absolutely terrified of going to countries where I don't speak the language, so I studied for three or four years before I went, and from there I dropped into an intensive language program. Theoretically I should be able to write papers and hold political discussions in Japanese. But, uh, lol. Not so much.

Yeah, it was really hard at first, and even when traveling, there were times I really struggled. It really makes you learn the basics, though! By the end, if I could have a successful conversation (even if in two broken tongues), I was happy.

I wish I knew more Japanese, though. I even bought these light novels based on a short anime about figure skating (Ginban Kaleidoscope) so that I could see what happened next, but my Japanese just wasn't fluent enough, and they didn't have the furigana that manga did, so the study was harder. Now I have these books, so at some point, I'll have to start up a scanlation group and post a listing for a translator on Manga Jouhou or something if I want to know what happens! *laughs*


Or just start studying again, but it's harder on your own, esp. when you don't practice! LOL.

It is so hard to study on your own! I had every intention of taking the JLPT test this winter, but I didn't touch anything Japanese after I came home. I did the same thing you did--I bought a few novels while I was in Japan, thinking they might encourage me to study. HA. No. They're sitting on my shelf completely untouched. I have no incentive other than personal preference to continue studying Japanese, because I'm not going into any job with it, and I'm so busy just trying to keep up with everything else.

I can't even imagine how hard it was to adjust to Japan with very little experience speaking. I had ridiculous trouble and I came in intermediate. I was terrified of the train lines and didn't work up the courage to really use them for something like three months. That really held me back from traveling around Tokyo and seeing as much of it as I should have. Maybe it would have been better if I hadn't lived on campus and had been forced to figure things out more.

Who knows. I wish I had done more with my year in Japan, but I think a lot of people end up feeling that way. ^_^

P.S. I think we should be friends. XD Added you!

Sounds good to me! *friends you back*

I've heard of Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne and I've seen a bit of Death Note (they did have a really interesting take on shinigami), but I am horribly out of date on my manga/anime. I chose my name for Gundam Wing back in the day, and I also really liked Yami no Matsuei.

The problem for me with manga is that I love the shoujo art but not the storylines so much. Woe.

Gackt is not a shinigami, but he probably likes to think he is...? XD

Actually, I'm behind on my manga/anime, too! KKJ was a series I watched back when fansubs were still big and a lot of series weren't licensed, such as Fruits Basket, Hana Yori Dango, Kare Kano, Kodocha, etc.
Back when I was first getting into anime and stuff!

I watched/read more during HS and my early college years. By the second half of college, I didn't have time, and then, I got into JET and went to Japan for two years, but I watched more drama then I did anything else! I did watch Death Note and Host Club while there, but I think that was it! Even now, it's mostly drama. Well, I am watching Skip Beat b/c I used to love the manga, but it's the first in a long time! Even my drama-watching has been dying off since returning to the States next year.

Yeah, Death Note was interesting; I was surprised! At first, I didn't want to watch it b/c I don't like gore and stuff and it had "death" in the title, but enough people convinced me that it wasn't gorey....
Ryuk was a very interesting shinigami!

Tanemura Arina is the only manga-ka I'm still buying stuff from right now. Full Moon> is a great show, but long--about 52 eps! And the manga is, I think, 7 volumes. It's a sad show, but I like it a lot; definitely a fave...I think that came on my...second? year of uni...? Tanemura Arina's artwork is very pretty, though. Her Full Moon artbook is available in English, too. I know the local Barnes and Noble has two copies right now. You could flip through that or one of her series and see if you like her art. I adore it the most!

I never saw Gundam Wing; I didn't have cable when it aired. I remember that I was in HS (and possibly MS) at the time and my friends liked it, but I couldn't see it. And then a show I had liked in MS, Sailor Moon, also went to CN with new episodes. I was very sad!!!


LOL!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, Gackt thinks he's something, all right! My friend who is still in Japan actually went to his concert the other day and really enjoyed herself!

I did the same thing with the dramas! I started with the CN anime, then read a few manga (including Kare Kano), but then I found jrock (and have been in love with Gackt ever since), and in college I was introduced to dramas (of which KimuTaku's were my favs--but Hana Yori Dango was also good).

I was so upset that last year when I studied abroad in Japan, the ONE YEAR I actually could be over there, Gackt didn't do a tour. wtf?!?! Noooo, he had to run off and make his little movies. WHATEVER. XD

Yes, I was introduced to dramas in uni, too. First, I watched ones based on manga I had read: Mars, Peach Girl, and Sailor Moon were my first three...I believe in that order, which is funny, b/c in manga terms, the order was opposite: SM, then Smile mag that had SM and PG, and then right before they ended the mag, they introduced Mars, and then TokyoPop launched. Meteor Garden was another one that I watched, and then I saw pieces of other Taiwanese ones with MG actors and the first season of Hana Yori Dango, but I didn't actively watch dramas until I went to Japan and used them to study the language. I got more into Korean ones at that point, too, b/c I was on D-Addicts more and some of their series sounded good.

I think I'm more into J-Pop than I am J-Rock. My top three are Utada Hikaru, Yuna Ito, and Orange Range. I got into more J-music when I was in Japan, too, from people Westerns don't know such as Hirahara Ayaka (thanks to her singing a ballad at a skating competition on TV) to groups I'd heard of but never listened to such as Bump of Chicken and Porno Graffiti. I'm not into a lot of the boy bands and Johnny groups or Koda Kumi or that side of J-Pop, ,though. Then again, I was never into BSB or N'Sync or 98 Degrees or Britney Spears or Hanson back when those groups were big here, either...

What ken did you study in? I lived down in Nagasaki-ken (Kyushu Island), so I couldn't get to the mainland as frequently as I wished. I think I went to Tokyo for...maybe three trips total in two years? My favorite places that I visited were Kyoto (so much old beauty!) and Hiroshima (it's amazing how that city rebuilt itself and flourished, and nearby Miyajima Island was just wonderful!).

I was into Japanese music in high school and early college, so I focused more on the VK bands (Janne Da Arc, Gackt, Kagurra) and on the Johnny's groups (I have a particular fondess for Kame and Yamapi, though as far as groups go I only ever followed KAT-TUN). The problem is, those bands generally aren't the type of music I actually like--I really just like to listen to Japanese. So by the time I went to Japan I had pretty much stopped listening to everybody except Gackt. I was never really exposed to any "normal" Japanese music. I had also mostly stopped watching j-dramas before I went to Japan, too. o.O I only really came out of hiding for KimuTaku's shows, because so many of them are too slap-stick for me to handle.I got sick of sifting through tons of dramas trying to find one that didn't bore me.

I studied in Tokyo, actually. My school has an exchange program with the International Christian University. I didn't travel nearly as much as I should have--Kyoto was absolutely beautiful, but I really liked going to Osaka because then I could go to Nara and pet the deer. ^_^; Over the winter I took one skiing trip to Niigata Hakkai-san, but other than that I just stayed in Tokyo.

Janne Da Arc is different from L'Arc en Ciel, right? They both have Arc in the title, and it's not a nickname? I haven't heard of Janne Da Arc; I've heard some of L'Arc's stuff, but wasn't a big fan. I haven't heard of Kagurra, either. I liked a couple of KAT-TUN's songs okay, though I forget what now. And there are three or four Arashi songs I don't mind, but mostly b/c I heard them nonstop on dramas, I think. Mostly, I don't like their music when I hear it. It's very...vapid. Was AAA a Johnny group? I want to say yes, but there are a couple of girls in the group, so maybe not. I liked their song 花火 (Hanabi) a lot, but some of their other songs I heard...meh. I think the biggest "Boy Group" I like there is EXILE.

Utada Hikaru got me into Japanese music...she had a lot of English in her songs, and that helped get my interest.

What type of music do you like? I've noticed that for Japanese songs, I like the ballads the best, and not the "pop." For English music, I enjoy groups like Snow Patrol, Jimmy Eat World, Coldplay, The Killers, Keane, Bright Eyes, Rilo Kiley, Death Cab for Cutie, Postal Service, etc. I think the "poppiest" artist I like is Kelly Clarkson, and even then, "My December" is my favorite album of hers, and the least poppy! (I was a little sad with how generic her new album is).

Hmm, well, what types of dramas do you like? Maybe I can recommend some? I like...let me see, for Japan, my favorites are probably Hana Yori Dango (though it gets SO overdramatic...but Oguri Shun is worth it all alone!) and Nodame Cantibile. A show that had easier Japanese that I watched and enjoyed was a summer drama called Yamada Tarou. I didn't want to watch it because it had two Arashi singers starring in it and I was all, "Ugh, idol drama," but a university student I had befriended was adamant in asking me to watch it, and I actually enjoyed the fact that it was about family/friendship. Oh, and My Boss, My Hero was a nice, funny one. I watch it and want the Japanese pudding now, lol! What I liked the best about the J-Dramas is that they air during their respective seasons, so you can learn so much about the culture while you're living there that you wouldn't otherwise pick up on! Mikan oranges on the kotatsu table in the winter, the space heaters, the whatcha-call-them-winter-robes, etc. That was all in HYD. Yamada Tarou had summer festivals and those ball prize games and, I believe, graduation or a new school year or something.

My fave Korean shows were My Name is Kim Sam Soon (My Lovely Sam Soon) and Goong (Palace), though they get a little long and have more love triangles. At least they're not sad "we're killing the main character" stories like the Koreans love!

It must have been lovely to study in such a vibrant city, though also expensive, b/c I'm sure you wanted to buy more while there! Oh, I also enjoyed going to Nara! One of the reasons I like Miyajima Island in Hiroshima is b/c there are deer walking around when you get off the ferry, then if you go up the rope course to the mountain there are wild monkeys!! It was wonderful. In Osaka, it was more touristy: Castle, Aquarium (not as big/fabulous as made out to be), USJ (I could see "Wicked!!"), etc. I also like the Kansai area b/c we went to Takarazuka City in Hyogo Prefecture (and also Himeji on the other side for the castle, and Kobe for the port) to see a show, and the town was so quaint, with pebbled streets and all. And Kobe port was so relaxing, and Hyogo is so close to Osaka. I would have loved to be placed in the Kansai region (despite the dialect!)

I wanted to take a ski trip and get up to Hokkaido during the festival, but it never worked out. :(

Snagged Neon Birds and Halloween Fish. Thank you :)

Glad you like them!