Selling

(same post as DS)

I really need to change to a different car, so here are some beloved books I've accumulated over the years from Japanese stores and websites that I'm selling. Click on thumbnails for bigger image. Please let me know if you would like more scans.


Manga:

Yakitate! Japan, books 1-20, $80

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, books 1-6, $40



Artbooks:

Escaflowne filmbooks, books 1-4, $20
Storybooks on eps 1-15 from shots. Esoteric series and design information on the bottom of every page, as well as art from design notebooks at the end.


Kenshin anime series artbook "best collection", $10


Kenshin KADEN, $18
Ultimate collection of Kenshin information. Notes from beginning to series to end of jinchu arc that manga volumes 1-28. Also pages on character, sword styles, etc.



Doujinshi:

Escaflowne, "Vision" published by Link Out (comedy), $6
Compilation of comedy pages.


Escaflowne, "Van Fanel Remodeling Project" by Minato Tajima (comedy, slightly adult), $10
A funny, lighthearted story by one of the best adult Escaflowne doujinshi artists.


Kenshin, "Saikai" by Shinji Yamaguchi (adult), $12
Popular adult Keshin doujinshi artist.


All are in excellent condition. The prices are ~50% of original cost and includes shipping, but are open to negotiation. Email in comment box for contact.

Jade Orchids

Despite my usual low opinion of Victoria's Secret's toiletries, the other day I bought their new lotion, Bali Orchid. It reminded me of childhood in Taiwan. There used to be farming women at major intersections in Taipei, with woven straw hats and large frocks, carrying a small bamboo basket of these "jade orchids". My parents would buy the orchids strung like ivory keys on a wire, and hang the flowers in front of the car air vent. The flowers would only last a couple of days in the hot humidity, but that honeysuckle smell when we first receive the orchids would linger for a while. When I visited Taiwan last year, I had looked for them, but there were no more orchid sellers. Perhaps the only way to continue to enjoy them is to buy a M. alba tree.

My habit is to collect toiletry items but end up using only a portion of them. I can't quite imagine what it'd be like when I get to an age to collect jewelry and afford designer shoes. I'll need a new closet, I think.

But for now, I'm content with my collection of toiletry and perfumes. Crabtree & Evelyn is the English, elegant version of Bath & Body Works. The best part is that my credit card rebates let me buy their Nantucket Briar, Nadira, and Evelyn Rose lines almost as much as I want and certainly more than I need.

GRE and more manga

Goal for GRE:
95 percentile
verbal 670, quantitative 800

10 weeks to go! My diagnostic exam was decent, so if I could get 100 points higher in both sections I can hit 95%. In times like this I suppose I should be grateful that my education prepared me for standardized testing and academic writing. And if I sound like a pundit or venture into incursions of sedulous semantics for the next 10 weeks, forgive me for my propitiatory efforts for school ingression.

Anyway. Manga updates and news.

Goong translation is now up to vol13.

Chocholatelova pointed me to Fullmetal Alchemist and now I'm engrossed. Although the beginning chs were childishly exaggerated, the story quickly plunges into the main storyline and is now deep in political intrigue. While FMA isn't quite magic realism or even pretend to present complex character development, its storytelling is strong. Now go read it in online viewer or download it, and come back to discuss it with me!
(The image is from Transmute.)

I also read Kimi no Kakera on readmanga.com, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the author was male. It just had such a quality of CLAMP ephemeral sensibilities and sketchy, imprecise inklines that is more common in female mangaka. The art enhances the story--it has a simple premise, a simple approach to narration, and yet by viewing the story through the eyes of children in a world that has turned upside down, it's strangely mature. However, until the Cinderella plight of Icoro and the innocence of Shiro came together at the end ch5, little more than Shin Takahashi's artwork motivated me to keep reading. But it really is wonderful art.