there it is, plain as daylight.

I’ve started re-reading Fullmetal Alchemist from the beginning, mainly to pass the time until the next volume is released by Viz, and I’ve been posting my thoughts about it as kind of a read-a-long with others in a non-public place. I thought I’d try adding these posts here as well, to be publicly accessible. If anyone else wants to join me in re-reading, that’s great, or if you might start the series for the first time and read along, I’d be completely thrilled!

One note before I begin, I’m using clips from scanlations in my discussions, because I don’t have a scanner available to scan the pages from the books myself, but I *am* reading the Viz editions, and I encourage you all to do the same!

And so, on to discussion of Fullmetal Alchemist, Volumes 1 & 2! (note: restored after editing snafu!)

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Happy holidays! I hope you’re all enjoying yours, however you choose to spend them. It’s been a bit of a strange holiday season for me, I admit. This is usually my favorite time of year, but everything has had a bit of a damper on it this time around. This year has been like that overall, I suppose, but I’m still surprised to find myself with anything even approaching the holiday blues. It is very unlike me. I hope this year remains an anomaly, as I don’t especially wish to repeat it. I did enjoy time with family, which was a true pleasure.

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It’s been a while since I’ve written here, primarily due to stress and illness, both of which are still with me. Tonight I am snuggled under and electric blanket with my pup at my feet, and as usual, these things make me want to talk about manga. Actually anime, tonight, I guess. Heavy cold and flu medicine have made reading difficult, though I am still working my way through the Bleach manga, and have re-read Fullmetal Alchemist 13 & 14 in anticipation of the English release of volume 15, which should be sometime this month, I think.

Speaking of Fullmetal Alchemist, I must take this opportunity to tell you all that my workplace Secret Santa (who today was revealed to be our creative director’s assistant, Chelsey) has outdone every Secret Santa in the history of time by making me an Elric Brothers shrinky-dink keychain. I repeat, an Elric Brothers shrinky-dink keychain. That’s right, she drew Edward and Alphonse Elric on a shrinky-dink, baked it, ran a key ring through it, and gave it to me for Christmas. I spent much of this afternoon admiring it, and now my coworkers may believe I am insane. I will attempt to blame this on the illness.

Anyway. Continuing. Not even illness can stop the consumption of anime, so that’s what I’ll talk about tonight. Continue Reading »

It’s been a long week in just two days, and I’m very happy to have only one day left of work. We’ve been busy hiring performers from the auditions I talked about recently, and revving up for the new season. Meanwhile, Paul is sick as a dog, which makes the upcoming long weekend even more of a relief.

We’re still watching the Bleach anime, and have reached the portion of the series that is made up of 48 episodes of filler, created while they waited for new manga material from Tite Kubo. Continue Reading »

I’ve been very quiet on the internet lately, which is rare for me, but my life is a whirlwind of work, writing, reading, & viewing. The work has been stressful, and the writing has been slow, so it’s best if I focus here on the fun parts of that: reading & viewing. Mostly reading.

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