Skip Beat! 138 Frank-House Scanslation

Spring’s here!  I love how the Manga knows it’s spring =D I just got the raws from Mel yesterday so my jaw totally dropped when I saw the SB! 138 scanslations already up on OneManga!  Oh, guys, I am so excited to see us move on.  As fun as it was to meet and play with Natsu, I am so ready for some Ren scenes!  Wish totally granted!  If you have a moment, stop by Shirayuri-hazu’s and give her some digital love!  She did such an awesome job translating and tell her that her sound effects rock!

By the way, if you haven’t seen Golden Meliades’s blog  pomme-de-miel for her Skip Beat! FanFiction, check it out pronto.  It has a few goodies up there that’s not on FanFiction.net, so if you’re ever craving new stuff, that’s the place to go =)

Is anyone interested in the Taiwanese Skip Beat drama?  Or the drama about that drama?  Good grief, they really can’t make up their minds about it, can they?  shouhaku from the Skip Beat! LJ community posted an Asian Fanatics Forum Article on Paper Rose.  New actress and everything (o.o) I don’t know what to think.  The SB! Anime was fun and all, but I really wanted a more modern animation style instead of the great 90’s-tastic style they did it in.  For me, it was like watching the old version of Glass Mask when the new version was already out =P (I love Glass Mask new version.)  But I think enough people enjoyed it that they can peacefully hope for a second season!  There’s enough manga arcs for them to great 6 seasons of Skip Beat! LOL

Anyway, I need to start stalking the forums more for news on the Taiwanese drama.  We can hope that it’ll be good =)

Skip Beat! Chapter 136 Scanslation

Skip Beat! 136 was released today!  Scanslation waiters, wait no more! Go read it at:

http://www.onemanga.com/Skip_Beat/136/

Credits, again, go to the fantastic Franky House team:

Raws: Folla
Translations: Shirayuri-hazu
Editing: songaka, Dark Sin
Typesetting: Dark Sin

Ren is hot. Kyoko’s hot. So are the Skip Beat! 136 Raws!

LYL. The first scans of 136 are out and it includes full colour scans of the bookmarks and that faboo Natsu x Ren image. Want it?  If so, you can get it here: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QMS5QIG0

In which Golden Meliades updates my blog ♥ Yes, Mel.  We do worship, thee =P And no, I don’t just love this picture* because I love Natsu.  It’s because I love hot Kyoko, and hot Ren =P Don’t you?  Oh, the possibilities!

Skip Beat 136 raws are out!  Big thanks to Mel ♥ (See, see?  There’s the love!) and to Deddinty for the gorgeous cleanup!

The Cover Challenge

After eons of indecision, I’ve decided that I will host a Skip Beat! FanFic challenge.  This is open to anyone that loves Skip Beat! and FanFiction, but if you don’t like either, I don’t know why you’re here

You’ve read the Manga.  You’ve seen the covers.  Most of the time, the covers have nothing to do with the storyline.  In fact, sometimes, those lovely, adorable pictures come out of nowhere and you’re left thinking, “Why isn’t this in the storyline?”  Or a side story?  Or, something to give readers a bone!  C’mon, Nakamura!

So, I thought, I want to do a FanFiction Cover Challenge!  A challenge based off of Skip Beat covers!  It’s not very original, but it does sound like fun, doesn’t it?  Beach scene anyone?  Or, how about that delicious Volume 16 cover?  Too bad.  Nakamura beat me to it first.

Nakamura’s tagline contest

I didn’t see this posted anywhere else yet, so I took pictures of these pages from my copy of volume 16.  Sorry!  I don’t love you guys nearly enough to break the binding to scan it in.  I cheated, took pictures, and edited it instead.  I’m sorry that they’re not HQ pictures!  T.T  Yes, I have failed you all… Anyway!  Nakamura held a tagline contest for the picture of Ren draping himself all over Kyoko’s body.  You can read the pages below:

Meh, meh.  But I’d still love to see certain covers made into FanFics.  SO, instead of a tagline, you, dear writer, are challenged to choose a cover and write a Skip Beat! FanFic.  In order to qualify for this challenge, you must fulfill two requirements:

The Skip Beat! Cover Challenge

1. The picture chosen must be from an official cover.
2. The FanFic must include how the picture was taken.

The “how the picture was taken” is up to you: photo shoot, snap shot, paparazzi–Ren seducing Kyoko is always a favorite.  (Hint, hint.)  Length does not matter.  If the challenge actually get entries, I’ll definitely post them here!  And, I’ll probably get some high quality scans up in a couple of days, but here are some Hana to Yume covers (not all of them are actually covers, I think), and official Shoujo Beat covers below.  Have fun!

135 Scanslation Release!

oOh ho ho ho ho!  Not even a day later, here’s the latest release.  Read it at OneManga: Skip Beat! 135

Thanks to everyone at Franky-House that worked on it!  You guys were insanely fast this time around ♥ Thanks again! ♥

Raws: Shaea
Translations: ChrisRjik
Editing: Thefolenangel, Rosa, Dark Sin
Typesetting: Fluke32, Pengin, Rosa, Dark Sin

As always, I’m sure the guys wouldn’t mind getting some more help for faster releases.  So if you have any talents–or just the desire to learn!–head over to Franky-House forums and help out!

135 Raw + Translation Release

Thanks to Golden Melaides ^-~ for always being on top of things!  For us scanslations fans, it’ll only be a matter of time before Franky-House does a Skip Beat! 135 release.  In the meanwhile, you can grab the raws and the translation from the Skip Beat! Yahoo! Group.  Be warned, though!  Kyoko’s acting has definitely improved, but the result is downright spine-chilling.  In fluffier news, did anyone catch this super steamy Skip Beat! picture on the last page?  Yowza, right?!  Can someone grab me a high-quality scan of this?  I smell a teaser FanFic in the works…^-^

You Deleted It, Stupid

I was messing around with some settings and I ended up deleting my blog content. What a moron. Luckily, by sheer accident, I also somehow managed to back it up right before I started tinkering. Perplexed? I am.

In any case, if you see anything missing (or something amiss), just let me know.

Skip Beat! Episode 11

If you’ve been checking my blog in the last two days, I’m really sorry about the crazy layout changes  >.>  I just wanted to switch to something that was more… How do I put this delicately?  Parallel with my mind.  Apparently, I’m in a crazy godzilla-like state.  Nice.

I missed out on a lot of stuff over vacation: Skip Beat! Volume 16 was released early and I didn’t pre-order because I had an in-store coupon that I wanted to use =( I still haven’t bought it.  TEAR.  Also, the scanslation version of Skip Beat! chapter 133 was released by Franky-House.  They’re looking for people to help edit, typeset, and proofread, so if you want to keep one of the fastest Skip Beat! scanslation teams from getting axed, check out the F-H forums ^-~

Just finished watching Skip Beat! Episode 11, and I realized: I’m really not into the Anime.  The portrayal of Anime Kyoko is a little too annoying to handle =/ She kind of freaks me out a little bit.  I know.  It’s sad because I really do adore her but I’m not going to lie to you: she’s just not as likable.  She’s still really cute and very entertaining to watch but there are a lot of scenes where I find myself cringing, just waiting for the show to be over.  I skipped-viewed through most of this episode (it’s not one of my favorite arcs) but I stopped just in time to watch the interaction between Ren and Bo.  It was the cutest part of the Anime thus far!

I have a ton of awesome screen caps from these episodes that I need to post up but I gotta go to sleep because I’m hitting up the gym again tomorrow  T.T On the bright side, I got in a great workout this morning.  Not so bright side: eighteen hours later will give me that nice, achy burn in my thighs.  WhOo!  PAIN!  Anyway, here’s a few of my favorite screens =) This is the best part about Skip Beat! having an Anime: beautiful and utterly ridiculous screen shots!

More to come =) Especially reviews on new Skip Beat! FanFics, awesome Skip Beat! FanArt, and jaw-dropping Skip Beat! Wallpapers.  Fans have been busy this winter!  Not that I mind.  On the contrary ♥ It’s all the better for me.  I might be behind on my Skip Beat! news, but that just means there’s more of a smorgasbord for me to enjoy!  Hurrah! ♥

A Skip Beat! Christmas Present

For all the Skip Beat! FanFic lovers out there: The Yuletide Collection is OPEN!  Yay!  The anonymous authors will be announced on January 1, so go and read all FOUR awesome Skip Beat! FanFics and leave a comment before they’re announced!  After all, they deserve a little something for so generously writing for the holiday season, don’t they?

1. The Work Of Chemists
2. Faux Fairytale
3. Inevitable
4. Love Love Plan 100

My favorite one this year is definitely Inevitable *^-^*  But this year is really, really, really amazing!  From the website:

Yuletide 2008 is now over! An astounding total of 2426 stories were written in 1010 different fandoms by 1620 participants. Thank you so much to everyone who participated; we are overwhelmed ourselves and we hope you had a great time. Remember to keep which story you wrote a secret until New Year’s Day, at which time all will be revealed here on the site.

Anyway, read it and review them–support your Skip Beat! authors!  Reader feedback is definitely one of the best perks of writing *^-^*

On that note, thank you to everyone that’s supported me over the past year!  I can’t express how humbled and grateful I am that you’ve taken the time to read, comment on, and share my thoughts (as much as they tend to ramble LOL).  Thank you!  And Merry Christmas!

Crunchy Roll, Are You Effin’ Kidding Me?

I apologize in advance.  This is a pure rant.  I think I’m decently pissed off.

After compulsively checking my email for new reviews, subscriptions, and spam, I’ve learned that Crunchyroll has officially started its Anime Membership enrollment plan.  Why wasn’t this marked as spam?  Oh, right.  I have an account.  Damn.

Hi LyL!

As you may know, we recently got permission to show Naruto Shippuden, Gintama, Skip Beat!, and Shugo Chara on crunchyroll starting January 8th. Besides offering it for free to everyone, there’s a premium Anime Membership you can get for extra benefits! Benefits include early access (streaming these shows the same day it airs in Japan) and exclusive High Definition quality streams (better quality than most downloads). Check out a sample here~ Crunchyroll is the ONLY PLACE on the internet to offer this — No other website will have exclusive early access. If you preorder today, you can get a special discount and lock in a low price! Click here for more details.

If you don’t watch these shows, don’t worry, we’re adding more in January – we just haven’t announced them yet ;P

Getting the Anime Membership supports anime industry — a large portion of the proceeds goes back to the creators of all these awesome shows. With your help, we can get more and more shows!

Thanks for your support! Preorder today! ;P
~shinji

P.S. You can also get this as a Christmas gift for someone, or ask your parents to get it as a gift for you! =D

Oh, cool!  A portion of the money goes back to the creators!  Really, not the distributors?  … The actual creators?  Very cool.  Of course, I have no way of verifying that.  Aside from making me feel like it was  written by a 12-year-old trying way too hard to be my friend, I admit, I was a little bit curious.  Same day airing?  Cool.  HQ Streaming?  Not so much.  With so many online services offering HQ for free, it didn’t seem like that much of a deal.  Oh, and the 720p resolution would look a lot better if the video size was the same size as the 480p.  But yes, it is HQ and anything HQ is very tempting to me.  I checked out their prices and it looked pretty decent until:

Compare at what?  Oh, @&)*!  Regular pricing.  Ok, maybe you don’t care.  Anime at $7 a month, especially compared to $13/month, maybe not so bad for some people.  So, sign up.  Not me.  You.

How can you pay?  What if you don’t have a credit card?  Quote: “Don’t have a credit card?  Pay by mail with money order or cash!“  CASH?  FACK, cruchyroll.  What the hell?

Never mind that it reads like a SCAM SCAM NIGERIAN EFFIN’ SCAM, I have to say that a lot of the content and services offered on Crunchyroll seems to be targetted at a younger audience with a good number of adults who don’t know how to BitTorrent (don’t be insulted, you know it’s true).  Most DECENT places would insist that you don’t SEND CASH in the mail.  It’s like, they emailed this KNOWING hundreds of little 10-year-olds are going to take out $7 and stuff it into an envelope and ship it out in the EFFIN MAIL just to watch Naruto with NO guarantees that they’ll actually get their subscription.

Yes, <sarcasm>maybe the little brats deserve it if they’re stupid enough to do it in the first place</sarcasm>, but isn’t it a little bit wrong to ask for this in the first place?