J-Wednesdays 水曜日だ！: My Manga Collection.

It's Wednesday and I'm on my second week on J-Wednesdays. I am so happy that I'm being a responsible blogger and carrying on with this. This week I'd like to talk about my Manga (Japanese comic books) collection. I'm so excited that I don't know where to start. Okay. Brief history first: I started collecting manga just three years ago. I love reading manga ever since I was in high school but back then I could just read online because I was a poor high school student who lives in Dubai and there were little to no manga in Dubai back then. (Thank God there's Kinokuniya in Dubai now and Fully Booked in the Philippines) That's why my friends and I are fond of reading manga from online manga reading sites translated by kind-hearted fan translators. I owe to them my love for Japan and Korea, props to you guys! 

My manga collection at the middle part of my bookshelf. This photo was taken like two years ago and that empty part above the small mangas are basically stacked up with more mangas now. And that is my old laptop.

Anyways, I just started collecting physical copies of manga just three years ago, when I was in college. I save up some money back then to buy me some books and manga. About 80 percent of my manga collection are those translated in English and the 15 percent are in original Japanese, and 5 percent are English translated Manhwa (Korean comic book). I bought my original Japanese manga from an online store where you have to pre-order it and they'll get it for you in Japan, but they have some people in the Philippines that you can meet to get your manga or just have it delivered. Some other original Japanese manga that I bought was from Kinokuniya in Singapore. I literally hoarded mangas there and Japanese magazines. Click here for my family's Singapore trip last 2012.

This photo is from my instagram: In Kinokuniya SG, I got a Kimi to Boku fanbook, magazines, JLPT reviewer, some other mangas for my friend and myself, and a Kokoro Connect light novel, all of which are in Japanese.

Most of my collection are Shoujo mangas, which are mangas marketed for teenage girls. Other manga that I have are shounen, seinen, and josei. Shounen are those marketed for young teenage boys. Seinen, in contrast, is marketed for older boys from 18 to 30 years old. Josei manga is the opposite of Seinen, and is marketed for older women.

These two are new additions to my collection and I bought it last Christmas. I am a bum and broke for about half a year now so these obviously are the latest finds for my manga collection.

Another important information to point out is that my manga collection are in tankobon form. This means that all of these manga are in separate books per volume. Why is this significant to mention? Manga in Japan are first serialized in Manga Magazines first like Margaret, Betsucomi, Dessert, Hana to Yume, Weekly Shounen Magazine, etc., before it is put into volume by volume books (tankobon). These Manga Magazines have dozens of manga chapters serialized in it and is either released every week or every month. That is why these magazines are typically "phonebook" sized because of the mangas and other manga related articles within it. I do only have one second hand manga magazine (Margaret) and I just borrow some magazines from friends or when I get a chance, go to a library (like the Japan Foundation Manila library) and read some. They're in Japanese though, so I only understand a little.

Lastly, I come to provide a list of the mangas that I own. I'm currently away from my home where my manga collection is, so I don't remember those other one shots (one volume manga) or other titles that I have. Some of them are old, and some are new.

• K-On!
• Koukou Debut
• Kaichou wa Maid-sama!
• Kimi Ni Todoke
• Bokura ga Ita
• Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei
• Lovely Complex
• Kimi to Boku
• Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun
• Sukitte Ii na yo
• Sono Kuchibiru, Itadakimasu
• Chihayafuru
• Strobe Edge

So, that's it! I don't remember the other titles that I have but these manga (except for the one shots) have lots of volumes and can get a bit pricey. I'll just save up again and buy all those volumes when they come out!

おわり。

Tuesday Running Man: Episode 155, Destiny's Pairs.

This week's Running Man guest is Miss A's Suzy! Before I watched the episode, I saw some comments about it saying that it was not satisfactory. One even mentioned that every time Suzy goes to Running Man, the concept of the games are not so good. Being a hardcore fan that I am, I tried to understand what was wrong with the episode that many fans deemed it to be boring or lame or whatever. So, I watched it, finished the hell out of it, and had fun! It wasn't boring at all because of the mystery going on. I'll therefore go on and talk about the episode, "Destiny's Pairs."

The men of Running Man are the six students of class 3-3 in Running Man High School. They all talked and pitched in some funny lines and predictions of what was going to happen.

Of course, poor Kwang Soo gets bullied for acting as the class president. The hyungs didn't take him seriously.

The only female regular, Ji Hyo, enters as a transfer student.

Ji Hyo then introduced another transfer student, the "nation's first love," Bae Suzy.

The class proceeded, with Suzy choosing to sit on the line with Jae Suk, Haha, and Jong Kook.

Go Dong Wan teacher enters the room and tells Kwang Soo to shut up because he was being noisy.

The two teams, Suzy's team and Ji Hyo's, played against each other in three games. The first game was throwing their shoes into boxes with their names on it. The second was couple arm wrestling, with one girl and one boy member of both teams going against each other together. The last game was name tag tearing, but the members of the opposite team should find a hidden "treasure" of a member of the other team in order for them to be able to tear that member's name tag.

The games ended and they were all able to graduate.

Running Man class graduation photo!

5 years later, they all went to have a reunion.

The mission is to find the "Destiny's Pair," and they have to bring a thing from their assigned rooms and validate whether they're the "Destiny's Pair" or not through a mirror.

Suzy and Jae Suk tried to ask whether they were the "Destiny's Pair" or not.

Unfortunately, they were not. However, after asking if they were destiny's pair, the mirror told them something: "If three persons or more group together, someone will die." The mirror afterwards allowed Jae Suk and Suzy to ask a yes or no question. The question they asked was "Is that someone among the two of us?" The answer was no. The pair concluded that they were exempted from that rule.

I just wanted to include this screen cap of the easy brothers because they're so funny together.

Suzy, Suk Jin and Kwang Soo tried to group together, but then no one died or got out so they concluded that the person that would be eliminated wasn't one of them. Before that, everyone was so afraid of getting out that they ran whenever they saw the threat of becoming three people together. Then, the trio experimented again and their victim was Jong Kook. Indeed, when Suzy, Suk Jin, Kwang Soo, and Jong Kook were in the same room, an announcement was made and Jong Kook was out. "I told you, one would die if there are three or more persons together." The voice was so creepy and I was really surprised with what happened. 

It was then revealed that Suzy and Ji Hyo were the "Destiny's Pair" and that they were ghosts even from before. Their mission was to get all the Running Man High School guys to be out according to what was assigned to them (eg. having three people or more group together). Suzy was also the one who planned to make Jong Kook out by making the three "people" together in one room.

The graduation photo from 5 years ago, now without Suzy and Ji Hyo.

Go Dong Wan teacher didn't entertain Ji Hyo's question back then because she was a ghost.

Haha, for example, got out because he screamed.

Kwang Soo got out because he looked behind him.

Suk Jin was out because he stepped his two feet on the ground.

At this time, Gary and Jae Suk knew that the two girls are ghosts, and the only way for them to win was to stick an "R" sticker on the two girl ghosts' name tag. I swear, the two were also creeped out by the twist of events.

Unfortunately, Gary still got out because he was sprinkled with water.

Jae Suk, on the other hand, got out because he was ugly. Hahaha! (They just needed to remove Jae Suk's glasses)

The two lady ghosts won, and creepily went away.

Now for my reaction. The concept of the episode was fun, and since it is summer, they had to have a horror special. I admit, it was a bit creepy at first, when I still didn't know about Ji Hyo and Suzy being ghosts. The rules were perfect for a horror movie, where they were not allowed to go in groups, not allowed to look behind, and not allowed to scream. These three rules were announced before revealing what the real plot is all about that's why it was so scary at that time. However, the creepiness got into a whole new level when it was revealed that Ji Hyo and Suzy were ghosts and that they didn't really exist back then and now. I was like "whaaaaaaat?! that's genius!" I really praise the writers for coming up with this episode's plot. One thing that was negative about this episode was the games. I think it lacked the competitive side of Running Man and that's something that all the viewers enjoy. No matter, the plot made up for it and it was still a fun episode.

Next week's guest will be 2NE1! The second celebrity that I want to be on the show! (the first one being Yoon Eun Hye) Props to YG and Running Man team for letting the girls be on my favorite show. Weeee!

K-Mondays: Most Memorable K-drama Moments and OST's.

I love Korean dramas, even though they have cliché plots, and ultra mushy scenes, I'll never stop watching them. The first Korean drama that I've probably watched is Lovers in Paris. It was a hit in the Philippines when it was first aired. Kids, teenagers, middle age people, or even our grandparents loved that series in the Philippines. Who would dare forget Martin and Carlo? The two handsome and rich male leads that we debate about who's much more good looking? I doubt that any TV-obsessing-Filipino would not be able to relate.

On the other hand, the first Korean drama that I loved and truly dedicated my time to was Full House. (I even went to the shooting location in Korea.) Whenever I remember those times that I've watched it (a few, well, a gazillion times), the soundtracks automatically play in my head. I first watched the series when it was aired in the Philippines and it was dubbed in Filipino. After a few years, I watched it again, and again, and again. One of my favorite scenes in this drama (I even remember which episode and which part) was when Han Ji Eun (Song Hye Kyo) confessed her feelings for Lee Young Jae (Rain) for the first time, but it didn't end well.

Ji Eun seriously confessing her feelings for Young Jae.

Young Jae took it as a joke and laughed.

Ji Eun also laughed upon finding out that Young Jae had only took her feelings for a joke. Wasn't that sad? I was so sad but a had a good laugh because of Young Jae's foolishness. There are more scenes that I really like, for example, the 3 bears song scene, and the one where Ji Eun brought kimbap for Young Jae at a shoot and they forcefully fed each other.

Next drama is My Girl. Like Full house, this drama was also aired in the Philippines but I didn't watch it on TV. I was actually not in the Philippines when it aired, that's why I wasn't able to watch it. Thank goodness for the internet though, I was able to fall in love with My Girl (or should I say Lee Dong Wook). My favorite scene in this drama was when Joo Yoo Rin (Lee Da Hae), told Seol Gong Chan (Lee Dong Wook) various lies when they went to the 63 building together. The funny thing about that scene was Gong Chan believed every lie that Yoo Rin told him. Towards the end of that chain of lies..

Gong Chan tried the "lie" that Yoo Rin told him, where he has close his eyes and to count to 10. He would then fall in love with the first person that he sees.

And what do you know? He saw Yoo Rin.

It was a bit cheesy, I know, but it's heart-warming and cute. I was young then but I still haven't forgotten how it felt when I watched that scene. Another scene that I love was when Yoo Rin and Seo Jung Woo (Lee Jun Ki) were eating dinner and Jung Woo asks Yoo Rin how she could make her lies really convincing. Yoo Rin said that it's easy, that it's just a matter of believing your own lies. If you like someone, you tell yourself that you don't. Then she made another example by eating a green pepper. There are two kinds of green pepper; one that is not spicy and one that is really spicy. After taking a bite, Yoo Rin asked Jung Woo whether the pepper was spicy or not judging from her poker face. Jung Woo wasn't able to guess and ended up taking a bite on one of the green peppers. That's how he found out that the pepper was indeed very spicy and Yoo Rin was just holding it in.

The last drama that I'll be blabbering about is Goong/Princess Hours. Although I have many scenes that I love in this drama (and like any other dramas that I've ever talked about) like their wedding, the one scene that had my heart bursting with laughter and feelings was when they had their 합방 (hapbang) or first night as a couple. The thing is, the pair were expected to make love and create an heir to the throne..

Shin Chae Gyung (Yoo Eun Hye) was creating a lot of noise because removing the head piece was apparently hurting her.

The palace maids who are always on duty hears the (weird) noises and assumes the two are indeed doing what they're supposed to do.

Lee Shin (Joo Ji Hoon) drank some "energy drink" forced upon him to ensure the creation of an heir.

It was so funny that Shin restrains himself from his temptation to make a move on Chae Gyung, who he allegedly, had no feelings for. The noises they made though was from hitting each other as a consequence of playing a game. The palace mades however, assumed that they would get an heir to the throne soon. For more funny goodness of this scene click here.

These three dramas that I reminisced about are my top three most favorite/significant K-dramas of all time. There still hasn't been any new K-drama that exceeded my love for these three, but there are many of those that are in line. As I'm going through memory lane, I might as well provide the nostalgia inducing OSTs of the dramas that I love. Click on my mix below.

Most Memorable Korean Drama OSTs from genina07 on 8tracks Radio.

It's the Random Weekend: The cat who reincarnated into a FANGIRL.

I have made some changes in my blog, just to make me more efficient in blogging, and make my blog more readable. I included five segments per week: K-Mondays, Tuesday Running Man, J-Wednesdays 水曜日だ！, Reel Thursday, and It's the Random Weekend. First is K-Mondays. On Mondays, I'll be talking about anything related to Korea, be it their pop culture, traditions, food, cultural heritage, travel, etc. My first topic this week was K-pop, specifically, 2NE1's new single Falling In Love. Second is Tuesday Running Man. Since English subtitles for Running Man usually come up on Monday nights, I'll be making the post on Tuesdays. Also, I'm hoping that my beloved Running Man will not be ending soon and might make it into 5 years or more! Third, J-Wednesdays, is a day for anything and everything Japanese! This week's first J-Wednesdays was about Karuta, Hyakunin Isshu and Chihayafuru (anime). Next is Reel Thursday. On Thursdays, we wear pink. Now, that's a line from Mean Girls. They wear pink on Wednesdays though. Anyways, I talk about mostly Western movies on Thursday, but who knows, I might go for Filipino or any Asian movies.. Lastly, it's the random weekend. On Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, I want to take a break and just do 1 to 2 short blog posts with random topics. This week, I chose to talk about the changes in my blog.

Moving along, I want to talk about the blog name change. I went with "The cat who reincarnated into a FANGIRL" because I wanted to change my blog name since I saw that similar blog name with a Tumblr user. I, myself, is a Tumblr user but I don't have the same blog name as my blog name here. The reason though for coming up with that name is my own personality. I am a fangirl and I love cats. I find myself similar to cats as I live with them for how many years now. Sometimes I'm lazy, I'm not in the mood, but other times I'm hyper and want to play along. That's why I thought that I might be a cat in my past life. And so, I made that into my blog name, The cat who reincarnated into a fangirl.

I'll be going real random with this blog post and tell you guys that The Walking Dead Season 4 Trailer is out! It's only available in America though, but a kind person uploaded it in Youtube for us to watch in places other than America.

Reel Thursday: While You Were Sleeping.

Sandra Bullock is the queen of chick flick, along with Drew Barrymore and Jennifer Aniston. I'm a sucker for chick flick and as much as they have cliché plots, I still love them, watch them over and over again, and make my friends and family watch them. Back to Sandra Bullock, she's an actress who became well-known for a number of romantic-comedy films that she starred in. 


The romantic-comedy/chick flick that I'm going to talk about is While You Were Sleeping. It was released way back, when I was just two years old. Obviously, I just watched that recently since I haven't really heard about it with all the English words I knew when I was 2. And so, while looking for chick flicks to watch, I came across it, and decided to watch because of the plot and well, Sandra Bullock.
I would say that this part reminded me of Sandra Bullock's 2009 film, The Proposal. In The Proposal, she also confronted everyone in the family that she'll not be marrying Ryan Reynolds' character because it just wasn't right. Oh, Sandra.

The story's about Lucy (Sandra Bullock), a token collector on a train station who has a secret crush on a regular passenger, Peter (shown above). On Christmas day, Lucy saved Peter after he had fallen on the tracks and brought him to the hospital. 

Because of some weird situation that happened in the hospital, Peter's family thought that Lucy was Peter's fiancé, while Peter was in coma. It is safe to say that the viewer would expect that Lucy might end up Peter's real fiancé after he wakes up from coma. However, that's not the case. Lucy's partner is not Peter but Peter's younger brother, Jack. Lucy and Jack develop feelings for each other "while Peter was sleeping," hence the title. 

I admit, I was a little bit disappointed that the male lead wasn't Peter but when I saw Lucy and Jack's chemistry, I fell in love. They were so cute together that it made me feel all tingly inside. Their love is so innocent and heart-warming. 

Just when the two love birds develop feelings for each other, Peter wakes up and we find out that he has a real fiancé (screen cap above). It's too late though, because Peter was convinced that Lucy is indeed his fiancé, that he just have selective amnesia that's why he forgot all about her. As Peter got to know Lucy, he realizes how good of a person she is and decided that he could marry her in order for him to have a fresh start. Poor Jack though, because he already has feelings for Lucy. Lucy cannot say no, on the other hand, because she still hasn't admitted that she wasn't really Peter's fiancé in the first place.

So Peter proposed and decided to marry Lucy. Just before the wedding started, Lucy confessed that she is in love with Jack, and that she had never been Peter's fiancé. She was afraid to admit that she is not really Peter's fiancé because she thought that Peter's whole family would hate her, just after she already got used to them, and even loved them as if they're her own family.

In chick flicks/rom-com, without a doubt, everything works out and the main leads will eventually end together. Jack proposed to Lucy through the ticket booth by placing the ring on the token bowl thingy. Isn't that cute? *aww* Jack came with the whole family (except for Peter) to watch the proposal, since Lucy admitted that she also fell in love with them. So cute.

And what do you know? They got married! Instead of a car, they get a train.

Overall, this film left me in a good mood and as what chick flicks do, leaves me feeling good about life. I intended for this post to be not so detailed so that everyone would enjoy the small yet funny/cute things in the movie.

Ciao.

J-Wednesdays 水曜日だ！: Chihayafuru, Hyakunin Isshu & Karuta

Chihayafuru, as anime lovers (or casual fans who watch it, whatever) know, is an anime and manga series which is all about high school students who play Kyougi Karuta or Competitive Karuta. First of all, what the hell is Karuta? It came from the Portuguese word, "carta" which means card, and then "Japanized" hence Ka-ru-ta. Karuta is a set of cards wherein poems are printed. These poems are from a Japanese poet's (Fujiwara no Teika) collection of a hundred poems from a hundred poets, Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. All of the poems in Hyakunin Isshu are called Waka (literally poems) but are also called Tanka (literally short poems) these days since there are many kinds of Waka. The Waka's in Hyakunin Isshu have a 5-7-5-7-7 syllable pattern. If you're familiar with Haiku, then Waka is a quite longer and older version of it. Here's an example of a Waka:

なにわずに　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Naniwa-zu ni

さくやこのはな                                                                Sakuya kono hana

ふゆごもり                                                                        Fuyu gomori

いまをはるべと                                                                Ima wo haru beto

さくやこのはな　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Sakuya kono hana

"In Naniwa Bay, now the flowers are blossoming. After lying dormant all winter, now the spring has come and those flowers are blossoming." (I got the translation from here.)

This poem is used in competitive karuta, although it is not part of the Hyakunin Isshu. It is the official opening poem or Joka in competitive karuta. An opening poem is recited to signal the start of the game. If you watch Chihayafuru, you'll be able to get used to or even memorize this poem because of its repetitive occurrence in every episode. Moving on, competitive karuta is played by two people going against each other and attempting to take the displayed cards according to what is recited. For instance,

(Screen cap from Chihayafuru 2, Episode 5. This is a competitive karuta played in a group against another group. First group to have 3 individual wins, wins.)

The reader (the man in white, top left corner), recites the opening poem. The reader's copy of cards are the Yomifuda, which is the complete copy of the poem. When a card is recited, the players will attempt to take the card corresponding to the recited card. Here's the catch: the player's copy of the cards are the Torifuda, which only has the last two lines (7-7) from the poem. What the players must do is to memorize the cards and try to anticipate which poem is being recited for them to actually take the card. This game requires players (serious ones that is) to memorize all 100 poems and to actually remember where they positioned their cards in the game "field."

In Chihayafuru, there are players who actually love karuta because of the beautiful images that they get from the poems themselves.

It is understandable and makes more sense that people who love poems are also in love with the story they tell. However, there are also those players in Chihayafuru who are born as karuta prodigies, which means that they actually have the talent in playing great competitive karuta. The lead in Chihayafuru, Chihaya, is however a competitive karuta player who have grown to love karuta and gained skills through practice. In this anime, there are many kinds of people being represented and I can say that they do not only exist in the karuta world, but also in our regular, or even real world. There are those who have talent, those who practice to gain skills, those who try things just to find out where their talent lies, and those who are passionate enough to translate that passion into skill.

In this post, I have talked about many things that surrounds the main topic: Chihayafuru. This anime is not only there for entertainment, or for anime lovers to watch. It is an anime series worth watching especially if one wants to learn about Japanese culture. It tackles the world of competitive karuta, which not only is a game, but a product of the Japanese people's appreciation of great poetry by legendary poets of their time. Most certainly, it also has the capacity to encourage the audience in doing their best in whatever they do, like the main character, Chihaya.

To end this post, here's a poem by Ariwara no Narihira, also from the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu and is the basis poem of the anime series, Chihayafuru.

ちはやぶる　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Chihayaburu

かみよもきかず                                                                Kamiyo mo kikazu

たつたがわ                                                                        Tatsuta-gawa

からくれないに                                                                Kara kurenai ni

みずくくるとは                                                                Mizu kukuru to wa

"Even when the gods 
Held sway in the ancient days, 
I have never heard 
That water gleamed with autumn red 
As it does in Tatta's stream"

(I got this translation from here.)

おわり。