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Mangas I read recently

Starting Monday, I read around 4 manga series, namely

Basilisk:

This is a really good manga. The story is basically about two rival ninjaclans Iga and Kouga at the beginning of the Tokugawa era. Unable to find a worthy successor among his grandsons, listening to advice from his personal advisor, he decides to break the peace treaty keeping these two clans from killing each other. Both clans are to choose ten ninjas and fight against each other to the death. Each clan is to represent one grandson and the new shogun will be decided by which clan survives.What follows is a bloody battle in which all 20 ninjas are killed. The different Ninja techniques displayed in this series are good but I feel most of the charaters are underdeveloped. They could've made this series a bit longer. My friend doesn't like it beause he feels it's too realistic but I felt it was a welcome change from all the unrealistic battles I've been reading about recently.

Trinity Blood:

This is the series that truly exceeded all my expectations. The story is about a world after Armageddon. For around 800 years, the Vatican has ruled as a major power . They are willing to use even a Krusnik(a vampire who feeds on vampires) to combat the threat of extremist groups led by Methuselah(vampires) and such. Thus, the Ax(the foreign affairs branch of the Vatican) sendsits agents abroad to exterminate Methuselahs who are causing problems. Instead of being portrayed as fiendish monsters, the Methuselah are portrayed as entities as complex as humans but with a great sense of pride and honour. They even have a whole empire. And, strangely, the Krusniks play a major role in the politics of this world(Abel Nightroad alias Krusnik 2 is the main character of the series and an AX agent; his sister Seth alias Krusnik 3 is the ruler of the Methuselah empire and their brother Cain Nightroad alias Krusnik 1 is the main antagonistand the leader of the Rosencruez orden which is the most powerful of the extremist groups). The manga is based on a series of novels by Sunao Yoshida who, unfortunately, died before he could conclude the series(refer Wiki for details). Although,I must say,The story'sreally great.

Hellsing:

Yet another vampire story. This manga is about the Hellsing organisation which combats the threat of vampires in England. Their secret weapon is a vampire named Alucard. What I like about this series isthe action. the series is pure action but also has a good story.

D. Gray Man:

Yet another good series. The story's about a guy named Allen Walker who joins the Black order, a group of excorsists who work to defeat the Millenium Earl, a phantom who is building an army of Akumas(or demons) to destroy the world. The plot seems cliched and the series seems highly influenced by Bleach and Fma but it's better by far than Bleach is or ever was. it seems to be a highly underappreciated manga/anime series but I would highly reccomend itto any fan of Bleach or Naruto.

Currently, I'm downloading Berserk and looking forward to reading it.

Posted by isildurelendil, 11/12/2007 7:12pm
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Deathly Hallows

Considering the fact that I'm a huge Harry Potter, I was sure to write this blog sooner or later. I just finished reading the book two days ago. It is, in one word:COOL. It's sort of nice how it begins and how it ends. Harry has the happy ending many fns wished for but neer realy thought he would get. There were more deaths in this than in any other book.

1. Moody: sort of inevitable

2. Hedwig: Don't give a damn.

3. Remus and Tonks: sad but remus' death felt sort of inevitable but I don't think Tonks needed to have died. It's sad that poor little Teddy knew neither of his parents(sort of like a certain someone).

4. Fred: I feel this was unnecessary.

5. Colin Creevey: minor character. Won't affect the story either ways.

6. Bellatrix Lestrange and Voldemort: Utterly deserved it(antagonists).

Aside from that,fans seemed to have guessed quite a lot in those forums. For eg: the Harry Horcrux(I myself have contributed to this argument).

I expected a little more from the final duel between Harry and Voldemort but of course, you can't expect a 17 year old to have knowldge of magic way more advanced. Also, I found it illogical that Ron, having heard Harry speak Parseltongue only once (maybe twice if you count the 2nd book), used it to enter the chamber of secrets. I wonder how he could've memorised it that accurately considering tha osiion they were in andthe fact that even Harry can only speak it only when i contact with a snake(onlyVoldemortand hi ancestorscan speak it to humans). Anyways, that's my thoughts.

Feel free to comment if you want.

Posted by isildurelendil, 08/11/2007 5:50pm
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One Piece vs Yu Yu Hakusho

This is a blog I said I would write but didn't have enought time to do so. I personally feel both re equally good but not all would feel that way. Thus, I will summarize my views now.Let's get started.

One Piece

One Piece

vs

Yu Yu Hakusho

Yu Yu Hakusho group

First, One Piece;

It's a cool show. As everyone knows, it's the story of Monkey.D. Luffy, a boy who wants to be the greatest pirate and his adventures as he works his way toward his goal. The concept of pirates is original and it's cool in almost every way. It's got a good story, fair amount of humor,cool and creativetechniques and Devil fruit powers, and good fights and villainsas well: all the things that make up a great anime.

The primary limitation is: the plot is fairly cliched. Luffy goes island after island with his friends fighting bad guys and winning. But to make up for that, Eiichiro Oda has introduced cool villains with varying goals and techniques.(Crocodile's plan was to take over Alabasta, Eneru's plan was to destroy Skypiea and take Five survivors including himself to the new land, Lucci's was just to escort Nico Robin through the gates of Justice etc.)

Moreover, it's one of the few anime that still keeps people interested in spite of going on for a fairly long time.

Yu Yu Hakusho:

Another cool show.It has good amount of humour(by anime standards),interesting techniques good fights, and good villains(who could ever forget Sensui). This show kicks @$$. The one flaw I can find with it is the fact that the ending is rushed but that can't be helped.It's also the only show I've seen so far that has more than 100 episodes without a single filler.

Thus, I conclude that, in terms of techniques and story, both areon the same level. But overall, YUYu Hakusho is superior but One Piecehas the potential of surpassingit.

But, on a sidenote, both shows are individually way better than both Bleach and Naruto.

Feel free to comment.

Posted by isildurelendil, 07/25/2007 7:24pm
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Blood+ finale

I just finished watching the last two episodes of the "Blood+" anime. I can say they were fairly average.

The conclusion was predictable:

1. The U.S military bombed the Metropolitan opera house to destroy the chiroptera as well as any evidence.

2. Saya decides not to fulfill the destiny she had chosen for herself and live on as well as letting Diva's babies live.

3. Diva died: Saya vs Diva wasn't that great compared to some of the better duels in the series. It was just about the two stabbing at each other ending with one final stab with their bloodied swords. Diva crystallises while Saya doesn't(this is due to Diva's blood losing its potency due to child birth).

4.All the Chevaliers except hagi and Nathen die throughout the series, Amshel the last.

One more reasonI call this finale "Average" is the ending scenes were a bit of a drag.

The only finale fight that was good was Hagi vs Amshel. I wish they had shown more of that stuff. Amshel's full Chiropteran form was ugly. Nathan's and Solomon'swere a little more elegant.Hagi's looked the best as he wasthe only one who kept a human body while transforming.

Anyways,they tied up all loose ends before concluding the series. For that alone, this finale wasn't abysmal.

Posted by isildurelendil, 07/20/2007 6:19pm
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Inheritance + questions

This is two blogs in one.I just finished reading "Eldest" so I'll start with a brief summary of the two books.In the first book "Eragon"(which has now come out as a movie),a farm boy named Eragon who lives with his cousin Roran and uncle Garrow finds a blue stone in the Spine(a mountain range) which hatches into a dragon (a female he names Saphira).Eragon finds out he can talk telepathically to Saphira.Later,his uncle Garrow is killed by creatures called the Ra'zac,who are agents of the empire.Shortly after,Eragon leaves with Brom,the village storyteller,to find the Ra'zac and avenge his father .Brom is later amjbushed and killed.Eragon,along with Murtagh,a fellow wanderer goes to the Varden,a group fighting Galbatorix(the self proclaimed emperor of Alagaesia and the man who destroyed  the dragon riders of old).After that,Eragon helps the Varen win a battle against the empire in Farthen Dur and killed the Shade Durza who was the right hand man of Galbatorix.

Eldest focuses on Eragon's trip to Ellesmera,the capital of the elves ,where he resumes training to improve his skills as a dragon rider.It also tells us exactly what happened to his cousin Roran after he left and how Roran came to seek refuge with the Varden.In the end,Murtagh ,who is the son of Morzan,Galbatorix's close servant who was killed by Brom,and is now a dragon rider with a red dragon,fights Eragon in the battle of the burning plains,and reveals that Eragon is his younger brother(thus making him Morzan's son).The final book will be releasing soon.

Now come the questions

1.I have heard in other forums that Eragon could have a brother older than him but younger than Murtagh.This is because of what Murtagh said about Zar'roc going to Morzan's "eldest" and not "youngest" son.What are the possibilities of this?

2.There is a rumor that Vanir or Arya or Roran will become the third rider.Who is likely?if there is another,why?

3.Finally,It's been debated that Murtagh and Eragon have the same mother but different fathers.Possibility?

Feel free to post comments(if any)

Posted by isildurelendil, 05/27/2007 3:55am
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Chronicles Of Narnia

The chronicles of narnia is a series of 7 books written by C.S.Lewis and published in the 1940s and 50s(around the same time as LOTR).One of them has already come out as a successful movie.The books are:

1.The Magician's Nephew:This was actually the second book in the series to be pulished.But it's the first book of the series as it tells about the creation of Narnia,the coming of the white witch etc.

2.The Lion,the Witch and the Wardrobe:This is the second book in the Narnia series but the first one to be published.It tells us abo ut how the Pevensie children (Peter,Edmund,Susan,and Lucy) go to Narnia,overthrow the white witch and become kings and queens of Narnia.This is the only one that has come out as a movie so far.der:

3.The horse and his boy:This is a story that takes place around the time the Pevensies rule Naria.It tell us about a boy named Shastha who travels across the desrt from a distant country called Calormen on the back of a Narnian talking horse and finds out tha he is a prince.

4.Prince Caspian:This tells us about how the Pevensies return to Narnia and find out that hundreds of years have passed.It also tells us about how they help a rebel named Caspian to become king.

5.The voyage of the dawn treader:This book tells us about how Edmund and Lucy get back to Narnia with their cousin Eustace and how they sail to the end of the world with Caspian.

6.The silver chair:This book tells us about how Eustace and his classmate,Jil go to Narnia and rescue Rillian,Caspian's son from a witch.

7.The final battle:This book tells about the destruction and recreation of Narnia.

Overall,these books have good grammar but the stories are far too similar to children's fairy tales.But nonetheless,they are worth reading for fantasy lovers. 

Posted by isildurelendil, 05/09/2007 7:46am
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new icon

Hello.I got a little bored with my old zangetsu icon so I changed it.How is it?
Posted by isildurelendil, 05/04/2007 9:32pm
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horcruxes

i know that this topic has been discussed in detail in many online forums but i decided to write a blog on it nonetheless.with the release of "HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS " only months away,this is likely to be the hottest topic for potter fans.anways,as any potter fan would know,a horcrux is an object in which a person puts a part of his soul thus ensuring that he can't be killed as long as it lasts.Voldemort supposedly made 6 horcruxes.the ones suggested by Dumbledore are

1.riddle's diary:confirmed and destroyed by harry

2.marvolo's ring:confirmed and destroyed by dumbledore.

3.hufflepuff's cup: confirmed and hidden.

4.Slytherin's locket: confirmed but fate is uncertain.

5.a mysterious item:dumbledore suggested it.he feels that voldemort managed to acquire something belonging to ravenclaw or gryffindor.

6.Snake:suggested by dumbledore but thought by many as highly unlikely.

other possible horcruxes suggested in different forums are:

1.gryffindor's sword:this is highly unlikely in my opinion.basically because when harry pulled it out of the at,tom riddle was surprised and dumbledore definitely mentioned it as the only known relic not to be turned into a horcrux.

2.mirror of erised: wild theory as voldemort was unable to get the philosopher's stone from behind it.

3.Harry's scar: suggested by many.i,however,find it unlikely because

a)the only time voldemort could've made the horcrux was the night the potters died and i seriously doubt if even voldemort is capable enough of creating one while eing it by a killing curse.

b)if there was a horcrux in harry,it would've been easy for voldemort to possess him which,as shown in the 5th book ,he couldn't .

any comments? 

Posted by isildurelendil, 04/12/2007 8:41pm
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lord of the rings

this is my first "ever" blog.i was wondering about what to type and finally decided on a summary on one of my favorite books:Lord of the rings

the book begins with these lines:

"three rings for the elven kings under the sky

sevn for the dwarf lords in their halls of stone

nine for mortal men doomed to die

one for the dark lord on his dark throne

in the land of Mordor where the shadows lie

one ring to rule them all,one ring to find them

one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

in the land of mordor where the shadows lie"

these lines are found in the first page of the book. as one of J.R.R. Tolkien's best works,Lord of the rings is an epic in every way.it is "the" book that set the trend for modern-day fantasy novels like "eragon".Celebrimbor,son of Curufin and grandson of Feanor,forged the elven rings of old.the dark lord sauron forged the one ring so that he could rule over all others.into that ring went  great part of his strength.Elendil of Numenor and his sons,Isildur and Anarion,entered into a great alliance with Gil Galad,the high king of the elves , in an attempt to overthrow sauron.Elendil and Gil Galad both perished in the process and Isildur cut the ring from Sauron's finger causing him to diminish.But isildur refused to have the ring itself destroyed ,a mistake that cost him his life.the ring then disappeared for centuries and was eventually found by Bilbo Baggins,as is told in the book "the Hobbit".now,his nephew and heir,Frodo Baggins,is entrusted with the task of going to Mordor an destroying the ring.it's a race against time as Sauron is gathering strength again and the one ring is the only thing he needs to ensure complete victory.thus,all hope lies in stealth and secrecy.

and that's the end of the summary.  

Posted by isildurelendil, 04/09/2007 8:11pm
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