Being Santa Claus is hard work…

It’s now officially December (I’m following the Tokyo timeline by the way, so yay me), and with Christmas and New Year’s closing in, everyone’s in the rush to buy presents for the occasion. However, we anime and manga fans are different in every way, and that also counts when giving gifts. So why not give something significant, like the ones given by notable anime and manga characters to their treasured ones?

For today’s Christmas Present Catalog, I first thought of presents that have an intimate meaning between lovers. But thinking that most gifts are given to the girls by the guys, I got stumped a bit. Eventually, I just went along with the idea of gifts that have special meanings for the female counterparts of anime and manga.

1. Hair Ribbon of Promise

A simple ribbon to tie the hair. Contains the promise of going back and meeting your female partner under the tree where you both promised and giving the ribbon back to her. Originally white, but can come in different colors.

The Hair Ribbon of Promise is an important item in Tsukihime, where it was given by Kohaku to Tohno Shiki. The latter promised the former to give the ribbon back upon his return. Years after staying in the Arima household, Shiki came back to the Tohno mansion, fulfilled his promise, and made his loved one happier than when she was always sporting a doll-like, plastic smile.

A perfect gift for diabolical female minds with yandere tendencies.

2. Innocent Smile First Issue of Fated First Meeting

An issue of Innocent Smile, the anime equivalent of Megami Magazine. Possibly published more than ten years ago. Contains memories of a fated first meeting, and a start of a romantic relationship years after.

This is the first issue of Innocent Smile from Nogizaka Haruka No Himitsu, given by Ayase Yuuto to Nogizaka Haruka to cheer her up. Yuuto, after helping Asakura Nobunaga on his otaku hobby, found Haruka crying on a playground’s swing seat. He proceeds to cheer her up, until he remembers the issue of Innocent Smile that he had with him. This cheered Haruka up, and fired her passion for anime and manga. After a few years, Yuuto and Haruka meet again, and a romantic relationship blooms from Haruka’s “secret”, which is the result of their first meeting.

If you want  your loved one to have a “secret” of their own, this should do the trick.

3. Ronin’s Santa Coat

A red Santa coat that’s pretty popular for female ronins. Doubles the love points if coupled with a Christmas Eve promise.

This is the infamous Santa coat that Urashima Keitaro wanted Narusegawa Naru to have in Love Hina Christmas Special: Silent Eve. After numerous study sessions, turndowns on senpai-kouhai relationships, author cameos, broken legs, train chases, and others instances of mayhem that you might want to take a look at, the couple fulfill a promise for Christmas Eve: ‘Fess up your love on the fated night, and your love will come true.

4. Lion Plushie of Heroism

A lion plushie that is given as a gift on dates. Doubles your love points if given to a Saber-class Servant, triples your love points if said Servant accepts the gift.

This is the famous lion plushie that Shiro Emiya failed to buy and give to Saber in Fate/Stay Night. After asking Saber on a date, Shiro Emiya finds her holding a lion plushie that she seemed fond of. However, before Shiro was able to buy said plushie, Saber asks him not to. They then ended up quarreling about the Holy Grail War, much to the chagrin of Shiro and his newfound feelings for Saber.

A bittersweet gift for the canon, headstrong Servant. With the lion signifying strength, even tomboys would soften up when they receive this kind of Christmas gift. Do note that there’s a 50-50 chance that she won’t take it.

5. Shrine Trinkets of Lesbian Love

Animal trinkets brought from a shrine. Favored by mahjong players, as well as lesbian lovers.

In the last episode of Saki, Miyanaga Saki and Haramura Nodoka encounter emotional trouble after people found out that Saki is the sister of one of Tokyo’s “mahjong monsters”, Miyanaga Teru. Nodoka assures Saki that she’ll do fine as long as she keeps the optimistic mindset, and both spend quality time sightseeing. After Saki calmed down, she and Nodoka proceed to buy trinkets from the nearby shrine and exchanged them with each other, with one asking the other to call her by her first name, which is a sign of intimacy between two people.

Trinkets are one of the cheap, yet meaningful gifts one can give this Christmas. However, if both persons of the couple are female, then that’s another question. I… think I’ll keep the reasons why to myself…

So there you have it! Male-female gifts, female-female gifts, gifts that weren’t received, name it. It will be listed here, and all you have to do is buy it and give it as a Christmas present! You could also ask Santa Shance to deliver the said gift for you, but you’ll have to pay for air fare. I ain’t got any flying reindeer, y’know.

And so, the first season of the series ends…?

It’s quite a ride. Not that good, but interesting nonetheless. During my hiatus, the only prominent series that I said I’ll follow till the end was Saki. Maybe, for lack of a better show, or because the next season’s series lineup is made of ho-hum and fail. The episodes pass, the comparison to canon material deepens, and various innuendos regarding boobs and yuri scattered everywhere (with, of course, some interventions of Censorship-san from both the TV and DVD releases). And now, with the last episode symbolizing the final curtain fall, the anime gets the rest it deserves…

Or so I think.

Let’s not get slicey or dicey here. We need not try to define if Saki is enjoyable or appreciable (though Zeroblade helped a lot on thinking for this post). It both tried to define that, and after the final episode, I STILL didn’t think it did. Maybe the reason for garnering such an audience was because of its amazing tileslamming powers, or different moe factors like oppai power levels and cheesy scenes, or because it tried to tackle the smorgasbord of influences that affected the characters and their gameplay. But it didn’t effectively mix these factors with the plot the way Higurashi did, or the way CLANNAD did, or the way some other anime that had both moegasmic tendencies and a deep plot did. For me, it’s kind of hard to put a finger on it, compared to putting said finger on the chin to further think it over.

Still, the exquisite flavor that tries to link mahjong to personal life had me on my toes, even if it’s only for a fleeting moment. Why? Because it outweighs any other affection, any other suffering, or any other endeavor that you may get from a game. You don’t see someone like Miyanaga Saki, who’s desperate enough to think that playing mahjong would unite the divided family that often. You don’t see someone like Amae Koromo, who thinks that living the existence playing mahjong would stave off the loneliness of losing a family that often. “Playing to be the strongest” suddenly turns into “Being the strongest for my personal interests”.  And so, the opposite forces of the game and the influences behind playing it clouded the effect curiosity had on the series’ impression.

So like, here comes the yuri?

To somewhat distract me from this, a large platter of possible relationships and shippings are laid on my table, which, due to the nature of the show, are inclined to yuri. I don’t see how the competition sunk in, or how love for the similar sex suddenly blossomed from playing the game to the point of aggression and alienation. I think I already got warned by the first few chapters and episodes, but I really hoped that the impression of yuri on the first episode and the impression of mending internal affairs that was made bare on the latter parts of the series would remain equal. Seems I was wrong. It only added more confusion for the plot.

To somewhat distract me from this, the series employed powers of tileslamming destruction. From subtle ones like intuition and smoking trails for moves that make your opponents eat dust, to extreme ones that include Mystic Eyes of Move Perception, and Mahjong Phantasms that either make you play like an idiot, or just plainly destroy your mahjong world completely. These made the battles oh-so-exciting, ultimately driving the series audience into an awestruck frenzy. But to be frank, it’s plain pointless, even if you say these are special because of how these change the way the game is played. All the more confusion for plot.

Pick your poison, choose your destiny: Lack or abundance of chest area is irrelevant if we are to count personal preferences.

For now, I think I’ll have to dismiss Saki. Until the fated meeting of the Miyanaga sisters comes, I’ll try to somehow grasp a hold of the situation and not just stand dumbfounded watching one tileslam after another. Hopefully, someone would try to find the enlightenment I’m looking for. It will ultimately decide if watching it was out of enjoyment or appreciation.

Let the moegasms ensue until further notice.

This much rape just from touching PCs? WHY NOT?!

With events jumbled, but still canonically aligned, Saki is beginning to show the Gonzo Syndrome (that is, nipple scenes with the expected interference of CENSORSHIP-SAN, which of course, would be available without said interference on the DVD for MARKETING POSSIBILITIES). But that aside, it looks like this year’s HochaKugi combo (Hocchan-Kugyuu combo, but let’s just shorten than, shall we) is unavoidable. Who said so? Episode 9 says so.

Aside from some cheesy scenes on the day before the finals during episode 8 (especially Mihoko’s I-touched-a-PC-and-got-electro-cord-raped scene, even with that half-assed yelp, yeah), it just showed a bit on the third team apart from Ryumonbuchi, Kazekoshi and Kiyosumi. Furthermore, there was emphasis as to why Kazekoshi’s team is currently being looked down due to their loss to Ryumonbuchi. This was just vaguely done on the manga, but it seems that the reason why everyone’s having half-hearted expectations on the former prefecture champions is because they were beaten harshly, and on such a very close fight with Ryumonbuchi too.

Here we go again…

But that aside, I’d like to emphasize the HochaKugi combo today! The similarities from their previous titles are so obvious, I think I need to list them down:

• BUST SIZE – The usual flat – around average tandem. Need I say more?
• RELATIONSHIP – Mihoko’s liking towards Yuuki forges some kind of “relationship” during that round. Weakness against cute things? Motherly intuition? Eh? Ah? What?
• MENTALITY- Well, you can say there are similarities between Mihoko and Minorin as well as Siesta (positive, never-give-up attitude, as well as being adept to cleaning and housework), while Yuuki has similarities to Taiga, Louise and Shana (lousy, bossy, loudmouthed, and oh-so-obvious about chest size).

And while we’re still at it, kicking beanpoles unanimously ain’t bad too.

Anyways, I don’t know how they got paired, or how Gonzo got both of them in the first place, this HAS GOT TO have delicious moments while it lasts, or else this would be as short-lived like it was on the manga.

And don’t ask me for a Ladies’ Meal.

For one, I have no actual love for gambling. It’s not all about the win-lose specifics, or the money or something you have to bet in order to be able to play. Rather, it’s the fact that I have to bet something (trust me, betting your most precious Haagen-Dasz English Tofee half gallon tub after losing a battle of hanafuda is BAD), or denote myself within some sort of stature or position, be it good or bad, just because of a game. If so, why do I feel a sense of interest and humility when I grazed upon Saki, more than everyone going ga-ga and raining K-ON posts all over the world?

Mahjong, as the pros say, is a game based mostly on luck. Well, that’s half-true at most. Most people say it also requires skill. Winning requires luck, not ending as the sore loser requires skill. And like most of us believe, you’ll need both of those if you’re to survive in any game. For sure, that was one of the charms that Saki won over me than any other K-ON post out there. It sports this innate talent with the intent to win everyone’s hearts via a hearty conquest from bottom to top, and the utmost humility along with skill only adds more fuel to the already burning fire.

Question: What did you first notice on the picture? Saki leaving, or the dripping between Nodocchi’s legs?

Think: If mahjong was all about winning, then main character Miyanaga Saki would only boil up into something along the lines of a supporting role. Clearly not good for the worth of the title. But she sported something else, something that nobody with the pure intent of winning has ever thought of doing. Now, it’s not that this makes Nodoka Haramura a bad person who got played around when she and Saki first met on the table. A win is a win, but if your luck and determination to win is blown away by someone’s skill to prove that winning is not all there is in the game, how would you swallow the facts?

Then again, since the series still follows the canon events from the manga, the humility wears off eventually, getting mellowed down, and sometimes drowned by Saki’s renowned desire to win so she can go for a destined meeting with her sister, Miyanaga Teru. Even with Nodoka and the others being there, I can’t help but think that Saki’s stealing all the spotlight most of the time because of her hell-bent objective: to try to unite a family held only by the tiles of mahjong. But isn’t it okay? Saki only wants to have fun and meet friends along the way to her goal. This made think of Asu no Yoichi‘s Karasuma Yoichi for a second because of some similarities, but okay, I’d point out that Miyafuji Yoshika lookalike reference as well.

WHY HALLO THAR CENSORSHIP-SAN!

To sum it up, the start was very down-to-earth and all. Ecchi implications and cameo appearances of Censorship-san may dot events here and there, which means added perks and MARKETING PROSPECTS for the series, and I ain’t complaining. I know I sucked (damn you for this, Rakkun) because I didn’t get quite a following on the manga (which was released before the anime), but I’m willing to follow this while I go find raw volume copies of the manga (BADASS RAW MANGA READER, with special thanks to Zeroblade for providing me some scans instead, though I dunno if that’s any good for me), with high hopes that the anime will continue to stay canon till the last episode.