Lovesick Jellyfish!

Kuragehime chapter 8 is done, corresponding to the middle of episode 5 of the anime, which will sadly end in less than two weeks. Who knows if a second season will be made, though that really all depends on the BD sales. There's tons of material left to adapt, so maybe we'll see a continuation in a couple of years. That said, this chapter of Kuragehime was very enjoyable to work on, and from what we see from the anime, more great chapters are soon to come.

The chapter title actually comes from a real autobiographical book called I Want To Become A Jellyfish (Watashi wa Kurage ni Naritai) by Chichi Matsumura released in 1993. Apparently, Matsumura is a great lover of jellyfish, and is basically a male version of Tsukimi (or Kuragehime's author Akiko Higashimura for that matter). The book tells of his love of jellyfish, such as why he began loving them, and how he's come to raise some of his own.

We would also like to take this opportunity to inform our readers that this will likely be the last release of 2010, and we'll probably be releasing our next release (Usotsuki Lily ch. 8) in the first week of January. So with that, Happy Holidays to all of our readers, and Happy New Year! See you all in the Year of the Jellyfish! Er...I mean Rabbit.

Kuragehime ch. 8: Mediafire, Megaupload

Give Me an E! Give Me an N!

What does that spell? Yes, one of our favorite cross-dressers, En! Usotsuki Lily chapter 7 is out with the start of volume 2. As previewed at the end of the last chapter, this one deals with the athletics festival, and what goes hand-in-hand with sports is of course cheerleading. Not much else to say, so without further ado,

Usotsuki Lily ch. 7: Mediafire, Megaupload

Jellyfish Virgins!

Finally the first release from volume 2 is out, Kuragehime chapter 7. This comes to the end of episode 4 in the anime, which I'm enjoying immensely, making working on the manga all the more fun, especially when I notice things Brain's Base added in the anime that wasn't in the manga while translating, such as the "Top 5 things you shouldn't ask the Amars", which I believe has come up at least three times in the anime, but only once in the manga. They also seem to use the cute version of Clara a lot more, like with the eyecatches. Speaking of which, I still have no idea why they say "Tequila" after the second eyecatch; I guess Brain's Base is just weird like that.

It's much easier this time to explain the chapter title. It comes from Tom Clancy's novel, which was later produced into a film. Don't know how that's really supposed to relate to this chapter or anything, though.

Kuragehime ch. 7: Mediafire, Megaupload

Edit: Per comments, and the previous issues with downloading, all files will now be available on both Mediafire and Megaupload.

Sazanami Cherry Goodness!

As mentioned in an earlier post, we have picked up the Waai series Sazanami Cherry, and have collaborated with WOW!scans to produce chapters 2 and 3 for our first-ever double release! Chapter 1 was done previously by The Energy Trade, so be sure to read that chapter first if you haven't already. This is a nice, sweet manga about Kazuhiro Migiwa, a high schooler who falls in love at first sight for Ren Takano, a middle school boy cross-dressing at the time when they first meet. It's one of my personal favorites from Waai, so please check it out, since it's only 3 chapters so far. The next Waai release will be volume 4 in late February, so it'll be a little while before any more material appears for this, or the previously released Past Future.

Sazanami Cherry ch. 1: The Energy Trade
Sazanami Cherry ch. 2: Mediafire, Megaupload
Sazanami Cherry ch. 3: Mediafire, Megaupload

Edit: Megaupload mirrors added per comment request.

Bonus Lily!

And now volume 1 of Usotsuki Lily is complete! This is basically two bonus manga at the end of volume 1, the first one being in a regular manga format, and the second one a bunch of 4-koma strips, followed by an afterword. We list it as chapter 6.5 since it comes between 6 and 7, but it doesn't actually have a number. We look forward to starting on volume 2 as soon as we can, as many other great chapters are still to come!

Usotsuki Lily ch. 6.5: Mediafire

Take Me To Your Jellyfish!

With this, volume 1 of Kuragehime is complete! If you're watching the anime, volume 1 ends at about the middle of episode 4. It seems we're working at a pace of about one volume every two months, and that means after the anime ends in January, it'll probably not be until April or later that we'll surpass where the anime ends off, which we expect will be around the end of volume 3 judging by the pace they're moving.

So, we've only just begun this long, arduous journey. Volume 6 was recently released in Japan about a week ago, so suffice it to say, it'll be a while before we catch up to the latest volumes in Japan. For those of you that decide to stick with us for that long, we thank you for reading this wonderful manga and we always appreciate your comments.

Regarding the chapter title, it's kind of complicated. It's derived from an episode title (also called Take Me To The Aquarium) from the second season of the 2007 Japanese TV drama Cell Phone Detective Zenigata Sea (Keitai Keiji Zenigata-kai), which is itself a part of the Cell Phone Detective Zenigata series, which has been airing since 2002 and currently has 8 series. Furthermore, "Take Me To The Aquarium" seems to itself be a reference to a 1987 Japanese film titled Take Me Skiing (Watashi o Sukii ni Tsuretette). And while I'm at it, I might as well mention that the title for chapter 1 came from Sex and the City, if you didn't already realize.

Oh, and it seems Akiko Higashimura's wish came true (you'll understand after reading the chapter). It seems the limited edition version of the first BD/DVD volumes of the anime will come with a plushy of Clara (link to Japanese article). And not only that, but if you squeeze it, it says "I'm seriouswy in pain!" (it really says "Gachi de kuruchii detsu", which is a baby-talk version of "Gachi de kurushii desu", taken directly from chapter 1, page 27). Now if only they would release it to the general public!

Kuragehime ch. 6: Mediafire