Every so often, there comes a time when the about page has to be updated, and if you are reading this, then it has levelled up to version 4. Here we try to penetrate the mind of the blog’s author, Karura, in an attempt to give readers some grounding as to what exactly goes on around here.
Who is Karura, anyway?
Karura is a character in Utawarerumono, to be sure, but here it also refers to the author of this blog, a 35 year old woman (as of 2018) living in England. Karura holds not one but two degrees in mad science, and in between planning evil schemes aimed towards moneymaking and world domination, she serves an evil syndicate run entirely by fat cats such as Mikoto and President Aria. She started blogging in July 2006 as a way to inflict her opinion on others, and in the intervening time has had great fun ranting, reviewing and generally making fun of anime via the now infamous medium of parody. She doesn’t have quite as much time to blog right now as she once did, but she remains determined to have her say.
Karura is great! I want to talk to her! A contact form has been especially prepared for you at the bottom of this page- please feel free to use it. Contact form disabled due to spamming.
Where can I download all these great series you keep talking about? If something is particularly hard to find, there’s a faint chance I might help you out, but more often than not I won’t. Presumably if you’re smart enough to get online, using Google shouldn’t be beyond your abilities. Please do not use the comments section to ask where you can download anime, manga, games, etc.
Where can I download Mai-HiME: the RPG? I stopped working on this 4.5 years ago. I’m not sure if I’ll revive the project.
What the hell is an Azure Flame? Don’t you know regular fires are orange or red? Azure Flame is named after “Kite of the Azure Flame”, the alternate name of Tri-Edge from the second generation of .hack (Roots, GU, GU+); I don’t actually like the new .hack that much, but I thought the name sounded good. My second choice for a blog name was ‘Shameless Self-Indulgence.’
Hey, I commented on here and it didn’t show up/you didn’t reply. If your comment doesn’t appear right after you posted it, it will be due to one of three reasons.
1)It’s gone into moderation. Wait a while and I’ll get around to approving it.
2)You ignored the rules and asked where to download something. Go find out yourself.
3)You’re a troll, spam bot or other unfortunate species of internet flotsam.
Please note that I do read all comments, but if I don’t reply to one it’s just because there doesn’t seem to be anything more to say on the subject.
What the hell is up with HARD GAY? Men posturing with swords, meaningful glances between bishounen- once you get attuned to it, you realise there’s a lot more going on off-camera than you might have otherwise assumed. Remember, HARD GAY is not to be taken seriously, it’s an element of parody rather than actual hard yaoi…or is it? The more you see it, the more you begin to wonder where parody ends and reality begins…
Where can I find a guide to all the other in-jokes you seem to use on here? There’s a glossary one page over from here.
What exactly is a Tuesday Rumble? Up until 2008, it was a regular Tuesday feature on this blog (you don’t say), in which I presented all those random ideas that floated around in my head, but weren’t really independent enough to form their own blog posts. Contents included tongue-in-cheek articles, short parodies, screencap parodies, HARD GAY/YURI corner, OST and merchandise reviews, character comparisons, Weekly Awards, Mini-rants/appraisals/editorials, Fashion Police and Amusing Search Terms.
Tuesday Rumble is ‘hosted’ by chibi Dii, which basically means that a picture of him appears at the beginning of every TR post.
What can I find in the Weekly Round Up? Short reviews of the latest (usually subbed) episodes from ongoing series and the latest translated chapters of ongoing manga; this includes series that aired a while back but are still being subbed in English.
I’m not watching much new stuff at the moment, so the Round-Up is on hold.
Can you explain the new tier system in reviewing to me?
With pleasure. Most series reviewed will now be assigned to one of seven tiers from Platinum (the best) to Junk Ore (the worst). Here are some guidelines to the different tiers.
- Platinum: The absolute best of the best- the kind of series you put in top ten lists (Wolf’s Rain, Kurau, Mushishi, Aria,Madoka).
- Gold: Very good but lacking in just one or two little things- usually the best of their genre if not the best overall. Most of the series in my Sixty Anime recommendations are gold level (Hikaru no Go, Texhnolyze, Kino’s Journey).
- Silver: These series are solid and enjoyable throughout, but either have one major flaw or just lack that something special that elevates them above the rest (Cowboy Bebop, GITS: SAC, Tactics).
- Bronze: Bronze series are entertaining overall but are either inconsistent or lacking in originality (Himawari, MagiPoka). They tend to make up for flaws in one department by extra effort in another, and thus are unbalanced.
- White: Shallow series that are something of a guilty pleasure. They have dull stretches but can also be fun to watch in the capacity of light entertainment (Burn Up Excess).
- Wood: These series are watchable, but they lack any real reason to actually watch them. Largely boring but able to be sat through (Lucky Star, El Cazador, Seirei no Moribito).
- Junk Ore: Complete and utter brain haemorrhage inducing crap. It is impossible to watch these without suffering some kind of lasting damage (Disgaea, Shining Tears X Wind).
