Jingan Hotel Shanghai

Pictures of couples from Strawberry panic! Artbook (simply – original picture book of manga characters). Enjoy! ^_~

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Here’s some more shoujo-ai Anime Music Videos from other users. I really want to start doing AMVs myself *^^* Kawaii.. [...]

Anime music videos (AMVs) are a derivative art form similar to, and arguably an example of, vidding. Generally, an anime music video combines footage from Japanese animation (anime) with music, but increasingly, the art form has expanded to include the creation of music videos with fanart, and sometimes music videos are created from manga scans. [...]

Manga is the commonly used term for Japanese comic books that are often turned into anime-style cartoons. Manga reached the height of its popularity in the 20th century when laws banning this art form were finally lifted. In Japan, Manga books are read by most of the population, and the writers are revered much the same way as great American authors are revered in the United States. [...]

Brother, Dear Brother [TV 1991]

Alternative titles Oniisama e…
To My Brother…
Onii-sama e

Total Episodes 39 (39 x 26 min)
Release Date 1991-07-14 ∼ 1992-05-31
Director/Creator Dezaki Osamu (based on manga by Ikeda Riyoko)
Studio TMS

SUMMARY [...]

Ahahahah~!!! ^^”

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Blue Drop: The Drama of Angels [TV 2007]

Alternative titles Blue Drop: Tenshi-tachi no Gikyoku
Blue Drop ~ Tenshi-tachi no Gigyoku

Total Episodes 13 (13 x 25 min)
Release Date 2007-10-02 ∼ 2007-12-25
Director/Creator Ohkura Masahiko
Studio BeSTACK

SUMMARY [...]

Yukata is a summer fashion staple in Japan. This year (as well as in the past year) a top polling company Oricon asked men and women ranging from middle school students to people in their 40s who they thought was “The Best Female Celebrity in a Yukata“.

The top choice was actreand singer Yui Aragaki (also known as Gakky). She has black hair, white skin and a slender figure. She has the image of a young woman who displays the feminine virtues of old Japan. She is also ranked #9 in the female celebrities. [...]

Harajuku style originated among teens on the streets near Harajuku Station in Shibuya, Japan. The work that goes into their outfits is incredible. Some of them take years to complete and are a never ending project. A Harajuku Girl will know how to embroider, process leather, and create teddy bears from PVC. It’s a hobby, like any other hobby.

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Takarazuka is a female-only theater school and performance troupe based in the city of Takarazuka, Japan. The form specializes in Broadway-like musicals with emphasis on song and dance. The plays feature male and female characters, despite all actors being female. Japanese fans of the troupe are almost exclusively female, and stars are treated like Hollywood celebrities.

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Traveller Yami, Hat and Book [TV 2003]

Alternative titles Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito
Yami, the Hat and the Travelers of Books
Yami to Boshi to Hon no Tabibito

Total Episodes 13 (13 x 24 min)
Release Date 2004-10-02 ~ 2004-12-18
Director/Creator Yamaguchi Yuji
Studio Studio DEEN

SUMMARY [...]

Cosplay is a popular hobby of teen-aged girls in Japan, and is also prominent amongst anime fans worldwide. Cosplay is an abbreviation of “costume-play”. During a cosplay event, people dress up as their favorite anime, manga or video game character and parade and pose for photographers.

Sometimes, cosplays can be very good; with a well-crafted, well-fitting costume that looks like its original reference. Such cosplays often require hours of hard work, and considerable seing talent. [...]

Oh my gosh~!! I think this is too sweet!! <3

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In Japanese, Otaku means someone who is obsessive about a hobby. Typical hobbies this would apply to would be trains, busses, anime and manga, computers, aircraft, cars etc.

Common uses are anime otaku (a fan of anime), cosplay otaku and manga otaku (a fan of Japanese comic books), pasokon otaku (personal computer geeks), gemu otaku (playing video games), and wota (pronounced ‘ota’, previously referred to as “idol otaku”) that are extreme fans of idols, heavily promoted singing girls. [...]

With the exception of the opening/ending theme edits, all music for anime Simoun was composed, arranged and produced by an accomplished Japanese composer Toshihiko Sahashi (born November 12, 1959 in Tokyo, Japan). Sahashi has composed music for various anime series (including OVAs, movies, and drama CDs), video games, movies, dramas, and musicals. His works include the original soundtracks for Ghost Sweeper Mikami, Gundam Seed, Gundam Seed Destiny, Gunslinger Girl, Black Blood Brothers, Kamen Rider Kuuga, Kamen Rider Agito, Kamen Rider Hibiki, Kamen Rider Den-O, Full Metal Panic!, Hunter X Hunter, Simoun and Hitman Reborn! Together with the London Symphony Orchestra, two symphonic albums have been released, each arranging his compositions from Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny. [...]

Simoun [TV 2006]

Alternative titles -

Total Episodes 26 (26 x 25 min)
Release Date 2006-04-03 ∼ 2006-09-25
Director/Creator Nishimura Junji
Studio Studio Deen

SUMMARY [...]

Chiho Saitou and Kunihiko Ikuhara interview with “Animerica Extra” (the anime fan’s comic magazine) by Julie Davis and Bill Flanagan [2000]

I post only the part of interview about Utena

Animerica Extra: Ms. Saito, how did you become a manga artist?

Saito: Shogakukan (my Japanese publisher) has a contest every month for new artists. One time, I decided to enter into one of these, and I won!

Animerica Extra: When you are coming up with the characters and settings for Utena, does one person originate them, then another member of Be Papas add ideas?

Ikuhara: Actually Ms. Saito and I did character designs going back-and-forth by fax. I’m not very good at drawing, so I had to rely on Ms. Saito. (laughs)

Saito: It took a very long time, and we were faxing designs back and forth. I’d make a drawing and fax it over, and Mr. Ikuhara would make corrections and fax it back. That included everything: hairstyles, uniforms, all sorts of things like that. It took so much time and so many drawings to got the final OK! (laughs) Of all the manga I’ve drawn, I’ve never had to do so much work on character design.

Animerica Extra: With all of the platforms and other stage-like devices in the series, one gets the feeling that it’s not a real place. What it seems is that the place is actually something in the characters’ heads.

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Some romantic wallpapers from shoujo-ai anime series *^^*

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Priestesses of the Godless Moon [TV 2004]

Alternative titles Kannazuki no Miko, Destiny of Shrine Maiden, Kannaduki no Miko

Total Episodes 12 (12 x 24 min)
Release Date 2004-10-02 ~ 2004-12-18
Director/Creator Yanagisawa Tetsuya
Studio TNK

SUMMARY [...]

Utena was an example of how brilliant anime music can be. Shinkichi Mitsumune’s BGM and J.A. Seazer’s duel themes made it so.

The series’ musical score, by J.A. Seazer, is one of the show’s most memorable features. Utena’s signature song is “Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku” (Absolute Destiny Apocalypse), which plays every time Utena makes her way to the dueling arena. This song, along with those played during the duels, is composed in a choral rock style. The music itself features polyphonic melodies and lyrics that often appear to be little more than themed words strung together. While the show’s creative team hasn’t offered any official explanations of the lyrics, some fan websites suggest interpretations. [...]

The Student Counsel members often repeat words borrowed from Herman Hesse’s “Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair’s Youth”. “If it cannot hatch from its shell, the chick will die without ever truly being born. We are the chick; the world is our egg. If we don’t break the world’s shell, we will die without truly being born. Smash the world’s shell, for the Revolution of the World“.

Revolutionary Girl Utena [TV 1997]

Alternative titles Shoujo Kakumei Utena, Ursula’s Kiss

Total Episodes 39 (39 x 25 min)
Release Date 1997-04-02 ~ 1997-12-24
Director/Creator Ikuhara Kunihiko
Studio J.C.STAFF

SUMMARY [...]

Here’s my list of every shoujo-ai/yuri anime, manga and game of which I know. Some of them I actually watched and enjoyed. This list should help you on your way to finding more series you’ll likely enjoy.

The ones I marked in blue are the ones I really like.

Shoujo-ai anime:
01. Brother, Dear Brother (Oniisama E…) [TV 1991]
02. Revolutionary Girl Utena (Shoujo Kakumei Utena) [TV 1997]
03. Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Adolescence of Utena (Shoujo Kakumei Utena: Adolescence Mokushiroku) [Movie 1999]
04. Traveller Yami, Hat and Book (Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito) [TV 2003]
05. The Virgin Mary is Watching Over You (Maria-sama ga Miteru) [TV 2004] [...]

The word yuri () literally means “lily”.

Yuri is often used to describe any anime or manga series or other thing that shows intense emotional connection, romantic love or physical desire between women.

The term shoujo-ai (girls’ love) was created as an analog for shounen-ai (boys’ love) by an American fans. It isn’t really used in Japan – although they know what we mean when we use it.

Shoujo-ai is often used to refer to romantic love between girls. Shoujo-ai focuses on the relationship and often does not contain any explicit material (the romantic relations may even exclude sex). Yuri is more sexually explicit than shoujo-ai.

I prefer shoujo-ai as it’s pure *^^* and yuri is like hentai to me.