Please skip directly to chapter 35. No one will object. Continuity be damned.

[Update: I was going to add a comment to Ubu's discussion, but it's fallen off the front page. He poked fun at the R+V manga fanboy who whined that the anime was ruining a "serious romantic story". Now that I've read up through chapter 40 (volumes 1-10, with ~80% comprehension), I think I'm qualified to answer that. Or, rather, I'll let Tsukune's poor, bewildered cousin Kyouko answer for me:

この学園の正体ッ
それは...
風俗ね!!?
えっちなお仕事の専門学校なんでしょ
ここーーーッ

For the kana-impaired: “Kono gakuen no shoutai, sore wa… fuuzoku ne!!!? Ecchi-na o-shigoto no senmon-gakkou nan deshou, koko!”.

Translated: “This school’s true character, it’s the… sex trade, isn’t it? This place is a dirty-job vocational school!”.

Admittedly, by showing up unannounced during the school festival, she’s gotten a slightly skewed view of things. Fortunately, she wasn’t there when Kurumu’s mom met Tsukune and offered him private lessons…

On a related note, following the usual shorten-to-four-mora pattern, Jump Comics refers to the series as RozaBan. Respectfully, I submit that it should be RozaPan. There’s not a panty-shot in every frame, but there are plenty to be found, and alt-Moka’s pantsu-fu fighting style guarantees that they show up even in the middle of the most serious battle.]

[Update: Note to people following the scanlations: chapters 39 & 40 will feel like an abrupt end to the series. 39 was in fact the end of its original serialization, and 40 was a one-shot. It started up again recently in a different magazine, Jump Square, as “season 2”. My guess is that the next collection will show up around May.

Meanwhile, the DS game will be out in March, based on the anime character designs. The screenshots make it look like a dating sim (surprise!). The title (「七夕のミス陽海学園」 = Tanabata no Miss Youkai Gakuen) suggests a beauty contest, with Tsukune picking the winner. And it’s set during the “star-crossed lovers” festival…]

This is the entrance to the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka.

The false entrance, that is. The real one's over here:

Sadly, not only can’t you buy a ticket from Totoro, you can’t get one at the real entrance, either. Domestically, they’re only available at Lawsons convenience stores, and they sell out weeks or even months in advance. There’s a block reserved for foreign tourists, fortunately, but you have to order them through specific travel agencies.

…of Minimoni. Sort of. If they start turning into mini-skirted mini-hamsters, though, they’re going too far. Meanwhile, here’s Athena & Robikerottsu:

Their new video replaces the first one as the opening theme of the kid’s anime series Robby & Kerobby. Fear for the future.

Based on the complete lack of results on Yahoo, Google, and MSN search engines, I hereby claim credit for coining the term “glompire” to describe the aggressively affectionate blood-sucking fiend who is the heroine of Rosario+Vampire.

Not that I expect there to be very many of them, but you never know. It could catch on.

[Update: screenshot]

[Q: does Moon Phase’s Hazuki ever glomp Kouhei? I don’t remember.]

One of the highlights of a visit to the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka is the chance to see an original short animated film produced to their high standards. Currently, it’s Hoshi wo katta hi, a story that becomes only slightly less incomprehensible if you can pick out some of the Japanese dialog.

If you go there while it’s still running, there are two things you should know. First, it’s based on the surrealist paintings of Naohisa Inoue, specifically his Iblard fantasy world. It doesn’t make a lot of sense because it’s, well, surreal.

Second, in the final scene (spoiler warning):

more...

The purpose of subtitles is communication. This is particularly true of song lyrics, where “karaoke animation” is intended to help people sing the words at the correct time. This means using crisp, high-contrast fonts, and visually indicating the current word in a way that makes it possible to read the entire line.

This does not mean setting them in a hot pink cheesy fat-face font and then exploding each word as it’s sung, leaving behind only a low-contrast pink-on-pink version that’s basically invisible. It also does not mean spinning words that are repeated more than once. It doesn’t matter if the song is called “peach-colored unrequited love” and the entire set of the video is pink. In fact, that just makes it worse.

You are not an artist. You are a tagger, and your work should be scrubbed from the video with the same vigor that a business owner scrubs bad graffiti from the side of her store.

[and I’ve ordered the DVD so I can watch a high-quality version of the video that doesn’t include your “contribution”. I’m doing this despite your efforts, not because of them; don’t pat yourself on the back and think you accomplished something for the artist]

Youtube version without fansub here. Street-legal Aya here.

Steven has declared a unit of measurement. Sometime during the blur that was my vacation in Japan, I found something that I think measures up:

In addition to her high-school uniform, she enjoys busting out of a yukata, a miko outfit, frilly western dresses, and lacy lingerie. She’s the oldest of four sisters, and their Parents Are Traveling Abroad. And Our Hero has just moved in with them, having been Sent Down From The Mountains by his father to Become Stronger in the ways of the samurai.

She’s his new teacher.

Less than an hour after moving in, he manages to get into a Compromising Position with all three of her younger sisters at the same time.

Second sister is a bleached-blonde modern girl who’s sensitive about her small bust. Third sister is a sexually aggressive busty meganekko Gal doujin manga artist and junior high-school student. Fourth sister is a fourth-grader, who doesn’t appear to be a harem loli, fortunately, even if she does get dragged into the Wacky Hijinks.