Top Ten Pairings

Next up was going to be the top ten moments that have made me cry, but then I had a serious urge to write about my favorite pairings, so that won out. Totally normal for me—I really have a thing for romance.

Contrary to how I may seem, this list is not comprised totally of yaoi pairs. It's actually half-and-half between yaoi and straight, which amused me a bit when I was done making the list and counted. My experience with yuri is basically non-existent, so there aren't any of those included—sorry yuri fans!

Number Ten: Tamaki Suoh / Haruhi Fujioka (Ouran High School Host Club)

You know, this was a pairing that I only supported occasionally. It was a very on/off thing for me as I watched Ouran. I loved each character individually, but for the most part I was sitting there shipping the yaoi wholeheartedly (as will be seen in just a minute) throughout. Still, there were a few different times throughout episodes where I absolutely 100% had to want Haruhi and Tamaki as a couple.

It was especially when he was being ridiculously protective (as in the beach episode) and at the end...the very end of the anime when he was about to leave (because he was a giant dumbass) and she was going after him...at those sorta points, I definitely wanted them together. Besides, it'd be pretty cute, I imagine.

Number Nine: Tamaki Suoh / Kyouya Ootori (Ouran High School Host Club)

And here is the yaoi that I supported for 90% of the series. Yes, I also went for Hitachiin brothers twincest as well as Honey/Mori, but on the whole...Tamaki and Kyouya were my favorites and therefore I ship them the most. Besides, according to Tamaki they're the parents of the Host Club and they are best friends and...come on. I have to support them being together.

That's all there is to say for this one. Romance wasn't something I focused on much during Ouran, so my pairings are just vague things that I sorta love on the side, behind the excellent humor.

Number Eight: Mai Taniyama / Kazuya “Naru” Shibuya (Ghost Hunt)

These two have a great connection, a lot chemistry. In the first episode of the series, Mai breaks a camera and Naru says she has to work for him to pay it off, so she starts assisting at Shibuya Psychic Research. The two butt heads constantly, in basically every case, when Naru wants to do something that Mai doesn't consider appropriate (usually these things are dangerous for someone).

But really, inside, Mai is in love with him—no, she is not a tsundere. She's not all 'I hate boys', 'I hate you' angry person and then gushy lovey-dovey in the next minute. It's more that she stands up for herself and what she feels and if he doesn't like it, too damn bad.

I'm positive he had feelings for her as well, but sadly nothing is ever said in the anime regarding this romance other than Mai's thoughts. Very disappointing.

Number Seven: Yuzuru Otonashi / Hideki Hinata / Ayato Naoi (Angel Beats!)

And yes, a threesome. When the series started up I was leaning toward purely Yuzuru/Hideki, and then Ayato came in on the good side and it was like...well. I want him (Yuzuru) to be with both. Heck, all three of them can be together! It was kind of a first for me—I've never been much of a threesome person. If it's just for sex, then sure, why the heck not? But in a relationship, I want just the two people. This one on the other hand...well, I like the three of them together.

I think putting all of them in one relationship would create a really cool dynamic. Ayato is a little brat to Hideki, but he's all over Yuzuru. Hideki doesn't seem to dislike Ayato outright, but he's definitely into Yuzuru. And Yuzuru is perfectly great to both of them. So yeah, I'm keeping this one.

Number Six: Natsuno Yuuki / Tohru Mutou (Shiki)

Do I even have to justify this to anyone who watched the anime? Look, they're best friends in this town. In fact, Natsuno is an anti-social little asshole and yet he's always hanging out with Tohru because Tohru refused to leave him be. They're hanging out in Tohru's bedroom. Sometimes sitting on his bed. Natsuno spends the night at his house.

And after Tohru became a Shiki? He was fighting against biting Natsuno for awhile. They're so clearly gay it isn't even funny. But this, this is funny:

So yeah...Tohru/Natsuno all the way. (Which definitely explains why I'm cosplaying Natsuno and my personal flea is doing Tohru.)

Number Five: Shinra Kishitani / Celty Sturluson (Durarara!!)

Again, I shouldn't have to justify this. These two were actually together. As I said in my Top Ten Females post, I really love Celty because even though she's a supernatural creature who can't get hurt, she still acts like a normal woman—she feels fear, she feels caring, she has morals, and so on. And when she's scared, who does she go to? Shinra, of course. The guy she's known since he was a little kid.

It's made very clear throughout the series that Shinra is in love with her—which is pretty awesome, that he's in love with a woman who doesn't have a head. Still, it seems for a long part of the series as if she doesn't share his feelings. It's pretty clear by the end though, that she does, and they're 100% a couple.

I love them together—so much fanart to make me smile.

Number Four: Sakura Kinomoto / Li Syaoran (Card Captor Sakura)

I'm pretty sure I read Card Captor Sakura in sixth or seventh grade, and not only did I fall in love with Sakura as a character, and Li as a character, but I also love them as a couple. This one is no secret in the series—they very much have feelings for each other. It takes both of them a long time to realize it, but once they do...they're just so freaking cute!

One of my favorite scenes will always be when Sakura is rushing to follow the bus he's on (as he's going back to Hong Kong) and she gives him the bear she made for him and they make their promise. God it's adorable. And much as I don't really like when they change things for an anime, I also have to admit that I like the way they did the end of the second movie—how he remembered his feelings and they were together and against it was adorable.

Their romance is so innocent, so yeah, I love it.

Number Three: Tomoya Okazaki / Nagisa Furukawa (Clannad)

Another innocent one! I've acknowledged my love of both of these characters in the past. And when they're together...of course I'll love them all the more. I can't say much, because it's one of those things I can't explain too well. Prettymuch, I spent the series repeatedly wishing Tomoya would just ask her out and be done with it—obviously she'd say yes.

So when he finally—finally—asked her out at the end of the anime, I cried. I really, really cried. Not very hard, it was more just a gasp and some tearing up, but uh...both of them were crying as well, so I can honestly say I was crying along with some of my favorite characters.

And then they get married and have the most adorable little daughter in the world. Nothing not to love here.

Number Two: Yuuri Shibuya / Wolfram von Bielefeld (Kyou Kara Maou!)

These two have one of my favorite relationships ever in a series. The yaoi is canon—I love it when the yaoi is canon! And yet, unlike most actual yaoi, the series isn't focused on the relationship without having an actual plot. But anyway. These two get together through a huge accident—Yuuri was just transported to this world and he doesn't know their customs. So when Wolfram starts being a little brat (this is typical) and insults Yuuri's mom...well, the new guy gets up and slaps him across the face. Everyone tells him to take it back, but he won't and it turns out that he just proposed!

Wolfram is understandably pissed, but says it would dishonor him to turn it down. So they are a couple after that. What's hilarious is that despite Wolfram's initial anger, he starts getting jealous and going to sleep in Yuuri's bed and whatnot. So it's great. Plus, Wolf really does come to love the idiot king, and it's just so adorable. I really can't help but love them together.

Now if only they'd kissed on-screen...

Number One: Shizuo Heiwajima / Izaya Orihara (Durarara!!)

Anyone surprised by this does not know anything about me. I worship these two as a couple. I hold the right to not get into why other than...well come on! They have to be together. Especially when you look at a few facts:

1) Tsugaru (cover song Shizuo) and Psyche (OST cover Izaya) are basically a canon pairing. This is undeniable.

2) Hibiya (cover song Izaya) and Delic (OST cover Shizuo) are just as much of a canon pairing. Equally undeniable.

3) The creator of the Durarara!! light novels penned a Shizaya sex scene. (Anyone who wants the link, just ask.) And that, my friends, make it impossible to avoid—they became canon the minute that thing came into being. And I am not going to complain.

My current total for Shizaya pictures is settled at over 1000. I'm not done yet. (I refuse to be done.) I cosplay Shizuo, it got me my personal flea/husband, and I can't complain about that under any circumstances.

So yeah. That's all.

Top Ten OST Tracks

Some random fact about Arianna Sterling: When I was younger, a little kid, I did not, under any circumstances, like listening to instrumentals. I wanted words, dammit. And if a song wasn't going to give me words, that song could just go straight to hell. Then when I got a bit older, I think around eleven or twelve, I discovered that some instrumentals (read: the ones by Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Savatage) weren't all that bad. Skip forward a little more to when I was thirteen, more instrumentals were welcome in my life, including classical stuff like Beethoven. I love Beethoven.

Then take me now, and I love a lot of instrumentals just as much as I love songs with words.

Granted, this list is not 100% instrumental. A number of the songs have those vague kinda vocalizations, and there are a few with actual words. But for the most part, they're wordless, so I figured I would just offer up this tidbit about myself.

And for the record, music is one of my greatest loves next to anime and writing. I'm always on the lookout for something new to listen to.

Moving on, my top ten OST/insert tracks.

Number Ten: Kokoro wo Shibaru Ai no Kotoba (Durarara!!)

Composer: Makoto Yoshimori

In general, I wasn't all that impressed by the DRRR!! OSTs, but I can go into detail on that when I review them, so I won't babble about that here. This is the one song that stuck with me when I gave it a listen and I kinda sorta love it. For anyone who doesn't know (most of you?) I'm a really morbid, sometimes creepy, obsessed-with-Poe sorta person. I mean, bodies make me happy.

So this song, with it's not-word vocals that sound like the musically enhanced moans of someone dying (it's not just me who hears that, is it?), or at least someone who has been stabbed by Saika, it appeals to me. It gets even better with the...whatever that is that comes in at about 0:50. Seriously, what is that? I don't know, but I love the hell out of it. And when both those aspects are combined...well. Let's just say it makes me smile.

Number Nine: Diva (Blood+)

Composer: Mark Mancina

The song opens up beautifully, and makes me think of dark theatres and single spotlights on girls in long black dresses. Which is interesting, considering the character who sang it did not wear long black dresses—I believe she wore white dresses, and also little sailor boy clothes (← that was kinda weird). Yes, this is in fact Diva's song from Blood+, so it was only played if the character was singing it herself. And as much as it's certainly beautiful when you don't know the context, it takes on an extreme creepy factor when you put it inside of its own story.

Usually people started turning into Chiropterans if they heard this in person. Great fun, turning people into horrible man-eating monsters. Well, despite that horrifying bit, the song is still lovely. I think the high point for me is around 2:20, when it's picking up, and then a number of seconds later when she hits that high point. Or 3:12-ish, which is also amazing. I have no clue who actually did the vocals for this, but I she has a beautiful voice. I suspect she was trained in opera.

Number Eight: Kage Futatsu (Clannad)

Artist: Riya

Studio Key, in most of their creations, seem to have a penchant for using songs performed by ladies with absolutely gorgeous voices. Clannad certainly wasn't an exception, and it was hard for me to choose which Clannad piece was my favorite, but Kage Futatsu won.

Riya does have a lovely voice, so I couldn't even complain that the song wasn't Lia, like so many songs Key uses are. I think part of what makes me love the song so much might just be that it was played during a scene that brought an enormous smile to my face, because it was something I'd been waiting on for awhile, but for the most part...how can someone not enjoy this song? It isn't the most masterful composition on this list by any means, it's just plain beautiful and really, that's all it needs.

Number Seven: Si Deus Me Relinquit (Kuroshitsuji)

Composer: Taku Iwasaki (I think)

The first time I heard this song it brought tears to my eyes and it had nothing to do with what was going on in the anime at the time. That voice...it's so pretty, so soft. And I have a weak spot for Latin in music (Carmina Burana anyone?). Then I looked up the lyrics translation and somehow that made it even better. Even just the first line:

If God has forsaken me, Then I shall forsake God, too

That's...wow. This is a heart-wrenching song in its own right. Throw Ciel's backstory in there and it's a recipe for disaster. In a good way. If that makes sense.

Besides the female vocalist, I also like how the male voices are tossed in the back. And the instrumental appeal is very high. And I just really love this song. It still makes me cry when I listen to it, and that tends to be somewhat often, as it also sort of perfectly fits every single main character in one of the novels I'm working on (very much not a happy novel).

Number Six: Day and Night (Shiki)

Composer: Yasuharu Takanashi

This song...I can't explain what makes it so good, it's kind of just a matter of, wow, this song is good. I love the way the music all works together—I feel like if I picked it apart, each separate sound would work fine on its own, but hearing them all right atop each other the way Takanashi did it lovely.

Oh, and the rain first heard at 1:27? I love those things. Plus the strings that enter right after—I have such a weakness to strings. The vocals that follow, are...how is this song not higher on my list? I'm not sure. But it ended up right here. I just love it so.

Especially how the strings trail off at the end.

Number Five: L's Theme B (Death Note)

Composer: Yoshihisa Hirano

L himself made my top guys ten list, as number two, as you may have seen. Well here's another thing about L that's pretty awesome: he also has amazing themes. In fact, just that he has two themes is pretty freaking awesome. His second theme gets to be number five on my list.

I can't for the life of me remember which L scenes used this song. But I love it. I spent spring break my junior year (last year, guys) listening mostly to the Death Note OST and mostly to this song and L's other theme. I love the rock-esque tone to this. It's not actually rock, and anyone who calls it such can feel free to argue with me.

This song represents L's badassery though. I can say that. Because you know that genius is a badass. How else could he have all those weirdo habits and still be taken so seriously? And probably my favorite part of this song is the series of notes first heard starting at 0:09 which play throughout the entire song (they change midway through and start taking breaks, but they're the same notes). While I love the entire combination of music, there's something about that specific sound that just draws me in every time—basically, if I turn this on and don't actually want to listen to it at first, I have to get out before those notes begin or I will listen to the entire song.

Number Four: Aozora (Air)

Artist: Lia

I mentioned Lia, didn't I? Well, of course she was going to make this list somewhere. I think she's also on another one somewhere, but that's beside the point. This song.

This song makes me cry every single time I listen to it. Now, I had heard it before watching Air. Or...okay, an amendment. I heard it after seeing one episode, because I went to download the songs, and of course, having seen one episode of Air, you still get to think it's a happy series. The soul-ripping comes later. So I figured, happy series with pretty music, very awesome.

Then I got to the part of the anime where they play this song. And I was already in tears at that part, so having the depressing combined with this pure beauty—that just made me cry harder. Thus why I cry whenever I hear this. But listen to it! It's beautiful. I can't stop listening.

Meaning really, I just can't win.

Number Three: L's Theme (Death Note)





Composer: Yoshihisa Hirano

Okay, walking into writing this list, I had a goal. I knew there was going to be something from Death Note in here, and I knew it was going to be L-related. And I know myself, so I knew it would be an L theme, and my goal was to only include one of those themes. Well, then I listened to them both and I tried so hard to pick just one to make the list. ...Obviously, I did not succeed. I'm too in love with both of them.

This one gets to be higher up on the list, my third favorite, because it plays during one of my absolute favorite scenes from that anime. In episode two, when L decides to send Lind L. Taylor on TV and see if he'll die, completely playing Light with that trick (where the thing was broadcasting), that is where I first started to love the crazy detective. And this song was playing for that duration. So I feel like this song completely just 100% really represents the essence of L, who he is and what he can do.

And that piano. God, I love that piano. (The piano and violin are my two favorite instruments.) Of course what amuses me in this song is that both of my parents have heard the beginning of it at different times, and both have assumed based on the piano at the beginning that it's Savatage. No guys, it's from an anime.

A really awesome anime.

Note: Numbers 1 & 2 were very hard choices. I love both of these songs obsessively.

Number Two: Eau de Vie (Shiki)

Composer: Yasuharu Takanashi

I couldn't help it, Shiki had to be on this list again. It has one of my favorite OSTs of all time, for sure. This song is so amazing it distracted the hell out of me during the series. It didn't matter if something was going down, if I was mourning over a recently lost character (much as I knew better than to get attached to anyone from the very beginning, there were still a few people I felt mildly sad over) this song...as soon as it started playing, I started fangirling.

If I tell this song to play, I have to get out very early, or I'll be trapped. And I mean I'll let it loop for awhile unless there's something else I really want to listen to.

My favorite aspects of this particular song are...well there are a few. I love the way it sounds around 0:10, how it's pretty but also sounds a bit like urgency. It is followed up by the rising of the strings at 0:22, in another beautiful melody. I adore both of those parts with all my heart. But what takes the cake for the track is the way the strings and the voice join forces around 0:56 and just keep going. I believe the first time it played in the series my jaw literally dropped for that part.

Such pretty music, I think, would mask the true manner of the series if you hearing it without context. As things stand, it's a little creepy, how beautiful it is.

Number One: Ake ni Somaru (Jigoku Shoujo)

Composer: Yasuharu Takanashi

First of all, notice something—there are three Yasuharu Takanashi compositions on this song. Clearly, he knows how to get to me.

From the start, watching Jigoku Shoujo, I adored this song. That little-girlish voice set to that tone of music, sounding that way, and in such a darkly themed anime...it sorta blew my mind. Then the rest of the music came in, along with the other sort of vocals this song gets, and my mind was blown all over again. Then it got strings and guess what happened? Yes. More mind-blowing.

It seems like every time I listen to this song, I locate a new portion of it to give my love to and worship and bow down to. The little girl 'la' thing coming back in, softer, combined with the music right there? Yes. All over that. The slow ending, drawn out with sort of the Silent Hill-static sound thrown in there just for good measure? Yes.

Am I in love with this song?

Oh hell yes.



So there's my top ten OSTs/insert tracks. That was fun.

My Future Cosplays Part 2

Here's the problem with being a cosplayer at heart: the list is constantly growing. Seriously, in order to stop the list from growing, I would have to stop looking at new things. And that just isn't going to happen anytime soon. I'm supposed to watch 150 anime series this year. So far I've completed twelve and am in the midst of two more. I've tacked new cosplays onto my list from five of those. Clearly this is dangerous.

But oh well.

Here's the fourteen that have jumped onto my list since my post last month.

...Wait, did I just say fourteen in the last month? Crap, I'm in trouble.

(Guys, in reading this post, please remember that my husband is female.)

Ai Enma (Jigoku Shoujo) I've noted in the past (yesterday) that I love Jigoku Shoujo, and Ai Enma herself. This is a cosplay I've been debating for quite awhile now, since finishing out the series last year, really. Finally I thought about it, and I really do want to do this cosplay someday. I chose to stick with the school uniform version rather than one of the complicated kimono ones, partially for the sake of cost and partially because...well, red and black school uniform. Pretty awesome right there.

Love This Cosplay: It's pretty simple. And I can carry around a straw doll, offering it to people. Fun stuff.

Hate This Cosplay: School uniforms tend to be a little on the expensive side. Cheaper than kimono, but still.

Black Swan (own design) Okay, when I went to see Black Swan I fell utterly in love. It was so...twisted. Oh, and the lesbianism aspects were pretty cool as well—not something I get to see very often, at least not presented the way they were. If you haven't seen Black Swan yet, I highly recommend it. Natalie Portman earned that Oscar. But anyway—I'm not actually planning to wear the black swan ballet outfit, this is something I'm designing myself. It does involve feathers though. No details yet, since I'm not done with the design.

Love This Cosplay: Black Swan. Enough said.

Hate This Cosplay: May be a bit skimpy. And that makes me slightly uncomfortable, but we'll see.

Hideki Hinata (Angel Beats!) In theory I'll have a review of Angel Beats! up tomorrow, and you can all see what I thought of the series itself, but for now...Well, this was the first time I'd ever been a yaoi fangirl for something so typically Key. (Note: Yes, Haruhi is from Key and I thoroughly support Kyon/Itsuki, but Haruhi is not typical happy-followed-by-soul-ripping-Key.) And not only was I a yaoi fangirl, I was supporting a threesome—Yuzuru/Hideki/Naoi. So I'm going to do Hideki and my husband shall do Naoi. We lack a Yuzuru. But I do have a friend who will do T.K..

Love This Cosplay: It looks so easy to pull off. Oh, and an excuse to own a blue wig? Hell yes.

Hate This Cosplay: What's there to hate?

Itsuki Koizumi (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) I mentioned being a Kyon/Itsuki fangirl, didn't I? Right, well I'll be cosplaying Itsuki as part of a Haruhi group at OMGcon 2012, and yes, my husband is doing Kyon. I'm glad that when I asked which she'd rather be she said Kyon, because Itsuki is my favorite character in that series.

Love This Cosplay: Well I already own half of it. That is always nice.

Hate This Cosplay: Couldn't the Haruhi uniforms just be the same color as the Ouran ones so I could use my Tamaki blazer?

Miku Hatsune (Vocaloid) I am not a Vocaloid fan. Their voices weird me out and I am entirely incapable of enjoying the songs. But well, I've been learning Love & Joy (still a few bits I can't seem to get down) and in this process I have come to develop a love of Miku's outfit, at the very least. So while it's dependent on weight loss, I do intend to do this Vocaloid cosplay someday.

Love This Cosplay: Do I want to own that wig? God yes.

Hate This Cosplay: It's so short...

N (Pokémon Black/White) N is awesome. I haven't actually finished playing Black yet (I'm at the Elite 4) but man...this guy. If not for the whole Team Plasma thing, he'd be a pretty cool guy. As of the ferris wheel scene it's like...dude, you're epic, why the hell are you on their side you twit? But I still want to cosplay him, despite the Plasma nonsense.

Love This Cosplay: ...My addiction to awesome wigs tells me that N's hair makes my life better.

Hate This Cosplay: I'll be walking around as a member of Team Plasma. What the hell.

Naoto Shirogane (Persona 4) Because I am in love with the Persona games and feel like they're the best ones to ever be brought into existence, I've been determined to choose a cosplay from 3 or 4 (the two I've played) for quite some time now. Finally I decided on Naoto, because I adore him...her...I'm still in denial.

Love This Cosplay: It's just a school uniform, pretty easy. And the hat is very nice as well.

Hate This Cosplay: ...Not applicable.

Renamon gijinka (Digimon Tamers) Someone on cosplay.com created a thread about doing Digimon gijinkas, since there seems to be a lack of them. I took this as my sign to...well, design one. And Renamon is one of my favorite Digimon, has been since I first saw Tamers, so it was her I decided on. I've already designed the cosplay, but can't draw for the life of me, so I have no picture to offer.

Love This Cosplay: If I felt like explaining the aspects you would see that it will be pretty cheap to pull together.

Hate This Cosplay: I'm not sure how I feel about it, since I created it myself.

Koichi Shidou (Highschool of the Dead) So I started watching Highschool of the Dead yesterday while waiting on a download. Now here was me while starting up the series--

Episode 1 Arianna: Oh, I'm not going to have any new cosplays from this series. They're all just school uniforms, and lame school uniforms for that matter, so I'm safe.

Episode 2 Arianna: La dee da, oh look someone died...

Episode 3: This is mildly entertaining and—ohmigod I think I may have to cosplay that man. ...Yup, yup, I have to cosplay him, for sure.

So he's a giant asshole. So is Izaya, so it's not like I don't obviously like assholes in anime. And I'm going to cosplay this one.

Love This Cosplay: Are those pinstripes I see? I think they are. Do want.

Hate This Cosplay: ...Why am I cosplaying from Highschool of the Dead? I'm pretty sure there is not a worthy, acceptable answer to this question.

Katsuki Shima (Clannad ~After Story~) It is not a secret that I view the anime Clannad as my friend. Like, one of my best friends. So it should be obvious that I'd want to cosplay from it, but I wouldn't really want to do any of the girls other than maybe Kotomi. Well, there is this kid...he was only around for maybe two episodes, but I got pretty attached to him in that time for being such a sweetheart. I have now decided to cosplay him.

Love This Cosplay: It looks like it should be pretty easy to pull together.

Hate This Cosplay: It also looks like it will be entirely too warm in a convention environment.

Shirogane (Monochrome Factor) This is a series I got midway through yesterday, and it's so very...gay. Which is really not a problem for me, as I think we know by now. I'll be doing Shirogane, and the husband will be with me as Akira in his Shin form. I think Shirogane is a pretty cool guy, considering he is capable of being both powerful and flamingly queer.

Love This Cosplay: Look at that braid. God yes.

Hate This Cosplay: His lips kind of bother me. I am not making my lips look like that. Period.

High School Shizuo (Durarara!!) Well, my husband already has a High School Izaya cosplay. I figure I may as well match her by pulling together a High School Shizuo. It's only logical.

Love This Cosplay: It looks so easy to get. I am a fan of easy.

Hate This Cosplay: I do not.

Touko (Pokémon Black/White) All right, when I first got Pokémon Black I felt like I needed to cosplay Cheren, because he's really awesome-looking. Then I talked to my husband and found out she wanted to do Cheren. Well, I support him as a pair with the girl character, whose real name is Touko. Thus, while it requires losing weight, I am going to pull off this cosplay at some point.

Love This Cosplay: That wig will make me a happy person.

Hate This Cosplay: Those shorts...they will make me less happy.

Tsugaru (Durarara!!) Tsugaru is the other version of Shizuo that's floating around out there. He's pretty cool. I hadn't really planned to cosplay him at all, because that is one heck of a kimono and I wasn't sure how I would be able to get the darn thing. Then one of my friends informed me that she's planning to make the kimono for me, so that sorta changed the plan.

Love This Cosplay: It's another Shizuo. Why wouldn't I love it?

Hate This Cosplay: I don't want to accidentally hurt the poor thing...

So, yeah, this will be a lot of fun. I need to stop adding to this list, but that just isn't going to happen.

Top Ten Anime Girls

Here we have my top ten anime girls! I actually seem to have managed to stick with just anime for this one instead of throwing a random manga lady in there...though admittedly, there are two of them whom I've seen in both mediums at some point or another. It was kind of hard for me to come up with people for this list—there are plenty of girls in anime that I like just fine when I'm watching the series, but not many I'd say I adore and can think of otherwise

Number Ten: Kanade Tachibana(Angel Beats!)

As one of the lead women in Angel Beats!, Kanade (aka Tenshi) caught my eye pretty quickly. In fact, within the first few minutes. What can I say—you stab a guy through the heart to prove he can't really die, that's going to make me interested in you.

I see Kanade as a beautiful character, not only because she's physically very pretty (and there's some amazing art of her out there) but because of her purpose in being. The group initially sees her as an enemy, but really, she isn't. I won't say anything more for risk of spoilers, but basically, Kanade is a good person and it's something that makes me love her.

Number Nine: Misuzu Kamio (Air)

If we met in real life, Misuzu and I would get along very well. She loves dinosaurs. That, in and of itself, tells me we could be friends, because, I too, love dinosaurs. Other than that though. Misuzu is an adorable, sweet young girl who just wants to be happy and make friends. That's the entire reason she starts talking to Yukito in the first episode, is to make a friend—she wants to play.

This girl has one of the most heartbreaking stories I've ever seen in an anime. Cursed to become ill and die when she gets emotionally close to someone, and therefore her aunt, who has been raising her, is forced to act pretty cold to her. It's a depressing thing to think about, and Misuzu...well, Misuzu deserves to be allowed to get close to people. She's such a good girl.

Number Eight: Kotomi Ichinose (Clannad)

The ladies of Clannad are some of my absolute favorites on the whole, and Kotomi is near the very top. Much like me, she is a lover of books, and she's very quiet. Granted, her reasons for being quiet are incredibly different from mine—she has extreme emotional issues and me, I'm just shy. Still, I loved her for being quiet and cute and intelligent yet completely lacking in the common sense department. Besides, her obsession with being called “Kotomi-chan” made me smile.

Kotomi...is a girl that I felt a lot of pity for. Her arc of the anime was one of my favorites to watch, and probably the one I considered the saddest. The way she shut herself down was just...sad. I don't know what other word to use. It made me tear up.

And on a lighter note, Kotomi + violin = don't do it man.

Number Seven: Fuko Ibuki (Clannad)

I am quite positive that it's impossible to watch Clannad and not have an intense urge to glomp Fuko at least once. When I look at her I have those Rena Ryugu “I'm taking it home” moments, because seriously, she's adorable. And she makes me laugh. Like with her starfish—well, that part's just plain cute, but when it comes to the cuts on her hands and how she denies that she's in pain...it's just adorable.

My one regret in watching Clannad was that she didn't wake up earlier. I really wish she had. But I loved the times when she would pop up and do something random and declare that they didn't have to remember yet, that she could wait. She's just so amusing.

Number Six: Rena Ryugu (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni/Kai)

Oh, Rena...On my list of 'most psychotic anime characters' (actually, that list doesn't exist) she's probably at the top. Or at least in second place, because Mion might just have her beat. But at the same time, despite her utter insanity, she's freaking cute. And I got attached to her throughout the course of the two Higurashi seasons.

That's all.

Number Five: Sakura Kinomoto (Card Captor Sakura)

Sakura is one of the two I've seen in both mediums. I read the Card Captor Sakura manga in its entirety and watched the second movie of the series, though I still have yet to watch the rest of everything that goes with it. Still, I 100% adore this little girl. Not...not in a creepy way. She's just cute and has such a fighting spirit—watching her I always had to cheer her on, kinda like Tomoyo, just without the clear lesbian attraction.

...Uhm, anyway. Watching her capture the Clow cards and develop a relationship with Syaoran made me very happy, and so did her interactions with everyone else. She's such a bright girl. The world needs more people like her.

Number Four: Mai Taniyama (Ghost Hunt)

I think this attachment may have been formed because I've sat through Ghost Hunt about a million times now. I have the dub, so if I need something to play in the background, Ghost Hunt is my go-to series. I've sorta developed a love of Mai. I like her because she's spunky. Naru is her boss, but she doesn't put up with his crap the way everyone else is willing to. If she doesn't like what he's doing, she makes sure he knows it.

So for that, I love her.

Number Three: Celty Sturluson (Durarara!!)

Look man, Celty is undeniably badass. For anyone who hasn't seen Durarara!!...well first of all, fix it—go watch the series, right now. But I was saying she's a Dullahan, a sort of Irish fairy who can control shadows and whatnot. This one doesn't have a head as a result of plot points I shall not disclose. And instead of riding a horse, she rides a motorcycle...which actually is her horse, but still.

Despite being a powerful mythical creature who can't die and heals incredibly fast, she's not always brave. She isn't one of those typical icy bitches who acts like she's the most epic thing ever to walk planet earth—there are moment where she's truly scared, where she throws herself at Shinra and tells him she's scared. It makes her seem to human. She's amazing.

Number Two: Nagisa Furukawa (Clannad)

Clannad has to make one last appearance on this list. I don't even know how to explain my love of Nagisa, because I don't fully understand what it is that I love about her. She's sweet. She's pretty. She doesn't want to cause trouble for anyone. She's...just a wonderful girl all around.

And I'm not going to bother justifying my love of her.

Number One: Ai Enma (Jigoku Shoujo)

I love the series Jigoku Shoujo, and Ai Enma, Jigoku Shoujo herself, is very much my favorite girl in the world of anime. Ai is obligated to take people to hell for people who wish revenge, and this applies whether or not the person deserves to be sent to hell or not. In one episode, for example, she takes a nurse who is truly a wonderful person, because some drug addict has a problem with her that isn't fully explained—presumably he's just an asshole.

During the first season I didn't have much of a reason to love Ai, I just did. Then season two, Jigoku Shoujo Futakomori, happened. It was...wow. At the end of the season, Ai was forced to take this little boy who didn't at all deserve to be sent to hell. And she brought him back. She was punished for that, harshly. But she did it anyway.

Love her.

This has been, my top ten anime girls.

Top Ten Anime Guys

It hit me that so far, I haven't done any top ten posts since starting my blog. So now I've been making lists and more lists, which is pretty typical of me anyway, and I'll be posting them over the coming weeks. (The K-ON! review is still planned for tomorrow, for the record. It was planned for yesterday, but I just wasn't feeling it, and didn't want to write a half-hearted review.) I'm putting my top ten series off, since there are some things I'd like to get out in the open before I do that, so we're beginning the fun with my top ten anime/manga men.

Really, the goal was to stick with just anime for these things. But as I was making the list it hit me that one of my favorite guys came from a manga for which I didn't watch the anime (and never will) and while there are plenty of guys I like, there are a lot less that I truly love.

Without further ado...

Number Ten: Death the Kid (Soul Eater)

All right. So I didn't enjoy Soul Eater very much. I don't feel Soul Eater earned my enjoyment. Even thinking about it now, it's not that great of a series. Sorry, fans.

But Death the Kid? Oh, he was great. Much as it bugged the hell out of me that he'd freak out in the middle of something serious because the symmetry wasn't right...so do I.

That's right. Kid and I are the same person. Except he's like, a guy. Other than that, though. I am obsessed with symmetry. Recently I set my status on Skype as 'Skype is not symmetrical', with a rage-face, and a friend comforted me by mentioning the number eight. I have such good friends. Anyway, because Kid and I are the same person, I love him deeply.

So he makes my list.

Number Nine: Jun Ushiro (Bokurano)

Honestly, there was not a reason for me to love this kid for 90% of Bokurano. He was kind of a giant dick. I mean hell, he kicked his little sister. She didn't even really do anything, he was just abusive and mean and...like I said, a dick. But somehow I loved him. Maybe I'm just odd.

Well, he redeemed himself. If you've seen the series, or don't plan to watch it at all or are one of those people who don't give a damn about spoilers, go ahead and highlight the spoilery content.

In the end, there's a risk his sister may have to take part in the evil “game” (game my ass) and die as well. He refuses to let it happen. And you see that he really does care about her, he just couldn't let himself show it. So she's his reason to sacrifice himself, so she can live on in this world.

So prettymuch, the end made me not feel like a crazy-bad person for liking him.

Number Eight: Kouji Minamoto (Digimon Frontier)

In watching Digimon Frontier (the dub—I have never watched a Digimon series subbed, only some of the movies) I fell hard for Kouji. And I mean, obsession-hard. Cannot even begin to say how many screenshots I had of that boy. My sister said I was creepy for obsessing over a twelve-year-old that way (I was about sixteen at the time) and I justified myself by noting that Frontier came to the States when I was ten, meaning he's two years older than me at all times.

...Yeah, I've given up on that justification. It wasn't working out very well.

But I still love Kouji. He's pretty bad-ass for a twelve-year-old.

Number Seven: Akira (Samurai Deeper Kyo)

Here we have our manga character.

Akira came in pretty early on in the manga—I can't remember exactly what volume. But he was cold, and a bit cruel, with a pretty smile, and also he was blind. And he fought with two swords and also ice. And somehow, that led me to fall utterly head over heels in love with him.

Every time he fought a battle, I would root for him. And man, he took things (people) DOWN. In volume seventeen he takes part in a battle where anytime he hits the other person, she makes it so that he takes the damage. He manages to time a hit just right, where he stabs himself through the stomach with both blades, and takes her out.

That's just one of his many sexy battles. Love the blind man.

Number Six: Tomoya Ozaki (Clannad/Clannad ~After Story~)

I think I mentioned my love of Tomoya when I wrote my review of Clannad. So if I repeat myself from that post...leave me alone. Prettymuch, in most harem anime, I have no clue why all these girls want this guy who is truthfully nothing special.

Tomoya?

No, dammit. If I lived in Clannad I would join the harem. Because this boy is perfect. No, he's not the best-looking guy in the universe—I've seen plenty of hotter anime/manga guys, and that's totally okay. He's nice. He's a sweetheart. Except for a little awhile in ~After Story~, but that can be forgiven. He made up for it.

Prettymuch. Do want.

Number Five: Shizuo Heiwajima (Durarara!!)

I don't even know. I really don't. Yeah, I cosplay him. Frequently. I can honestly say though, I have no clue why I love Shizuo. Maybe it is an automatic attachment coming from the cosplay. Maybe he makes me laugh. Or maybe it's just a random adoration.

Who knows.

Number Four: Wolfram von Bielefeld (Kyou Kara Maou)

Wolf...how can I not love Wolf? He's such a stubborn little brat.

I value him for that stubbornness (I'm just as stubborn as he is), and for being a brat (that part, I have no clue why). And I also love him for the way that, even though he raged when the accidental engagement to Yuri first happened, he ended up not only calming down and accepting it, but becoming incredibly jealous and a huge sweetheart. Plus, despite the anger, he also had his softer, more blushy side, which was damned adorable. Watching him be a parent to Greta despite his apparent hatred of humans...yes.

There was something endearing about all of that when blended into a single blonde Mazoku.

Number Three: Izaya Orihara (Durarara!!)

First of all: damn. Look at that guy. Sex on legs right there.

Other than that...the reason I love him is the reason a lot of people hate him. He's such a giant asshole. But he's so happy about it! I love how gleeful he is! I love how wonderfully Hiroshi Kamiya portrayed that glee! I loved it all! I'm kinda sorta obsessed with Izaya at this point.

And I mean obsessed. I am so far gone it isn't funny.

Anyone who delivers to me a live version of Izaya Orihara through magical abilities and soul sacrificing to demons...I will worship you.

Number Two: L (Death Note)

I'll admit something. I've always had a thing for the smart ones (ever since the #1 on this list) and for me L was like...wacky genius. He fit right in next to Reid, of Criminal Minds.

Dear readers, I fell in love about two seconds after he hit the scene. No, he isn't gorgeous, he isn't at all normal, he's just...wonderful. Smart. Insane. Everything I'm looking for. Right here in this crazy, absurdly intelligent man.

Number One: Izzy/Koushiro Izumi

From one of my earliest things watched, I give you, Izzy. The beginning of my genius addiction.

While other people liked Matt (Yamato) and Tai (Taichi) because they were the hot ones, I liked the short little boy who was always on his computer to solve the problem. And that kept up throughout the years. For awhile I thought he'd been de-throned by L, but when I started re-watching the first season of Digimon, I realized that no—no.

Apparently puppy love lasts forever.

So this has been the first of my Top Ten series.

What do you think?