Saying that this epilogue is "better" than last week's ending is like saying that Star Wars Episode II is "better" than Episode I. Trufax, yes, but an utterly meaningless comparison as well. Shit is still shit, even though it may seem preferable when compared to runny storytelling diarrhea. At the end of the day, it's still shit.

Right, so let's recap.

( Baby, you look hawt in that silly, silly hat. )

So like, I just heard that CLAMP got nominated for a Lulu award. I think they definitely deserve a spot in Lulu's Hall of Fame, if not for Cardcaptor Sakura alone, then at least for their phenomenal commercial success. However, I reeeaaaaally wish that the timing were different, as it's hard for me to root for CLAMP getting such an award at a time when they're basically at a creative nadir. It's kind of like Martin Scorsese getting his Best Director win for The Aviator. That movie didn't deserve the recognition, but Scorsese certainly did. The same could be said for CLAMP and the Lulus right now. Tsubasa is a pile of shit, xxxHolic is far from their best work, and Kobato is just silly fanpandering layered on top of silly fanpandering. At least Kobato is fun to read, though. Not like Tsubasa, which in its final hundred chapters wasn't fun to read at all. It was downright painful to read, actually. The final hundred chapters of Tsubasa are practically a literary colonoscopy.

Oh well. Here's hoping that CLAMP's next work will be better.

Edited to add: Once again, the master list of plot holes and critiques is here. Like, only one minor plot hole was actually resolved in this epilogue. Wow. That's pretty bad. I mean, wow.

Edited again: This is the most reasonable and intelligent defense of the series that I've seen yet. And of course, I waded in and disagreed. (*slaps self on wrist*)

Edit the third: Best. Summary. Ever. Seriously.

All right.

Okay.

I have never, ever read an ending to anything - ever - that more clearly screamed of the writers just throwing up their hands and giving up. It's clear that CLAMP doesn't give a flying fuck about this series any more, and they just wanted to end it already, so end it they did. It's really their own damn fault for writing themselves into a corner the moment that they started the whole Oedipal time travel plot twist, though. There was never going to be any way to resolve that without completely fucking over the storyline, so they just... well, didn't. They didn't really resolve anything. They just stopped.

( And HOW. )

Edited to add: Epilogue recap is GO. Have any of the plot holes listed above been addressed in the epilogue? The answer is: No, not really. But that's no surprise.

The final chapter of Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle drops tomorrow. Heck, for all I know, it might have been leaked on the internets already. Thus tonight, I attempt to recap the next-to-last chapter of this travesty of a manga.

One down, one more to go. Let's get this over with.

( Please stand up, please stand up, please stand up. )

Two more chapters down. Let's go.

( Kurogane FTW. )

Next up: Chapter 231! Wait for it, guys. You're going to need to have some pretty strong liquor on hand to get through this next one. Or at least, I know that I will.

Okay, four more chapters to recap before I'm completely caught up, and then only two more chapters to go before the end.

Let's put this manga out of its misery.

( You know why this manga sucks? No waffles. Every manga is better with waffles. Also, it's a bunch of stupid crap that makes no sense. )

I can't subject myself to any more of this today. I'm done. Two more chapters to go, and then I'll be caught up.

PS - Does anybody know when the penultimate chapter comes out? I know that the final chapter will be released on 9/30, but will the chapter before that be out on 9/16 or 9/23?

AND THIS MONTH'S CHAPTER OPENS WITH...

...ellipses.

Oh, fuck me.

( I can't stop this feeling/deep inside of me... )

Oh, and by the way, this is what my flist looks like today:

:<    :<    :<    :<    :<    :<

I love this fandom.

Edited to add: So, uh, if anybody has access to this month's GanGan, would you mind sharing what the new tankobon cover looks like? I know that we're overdue for a Troika cover, but I suspect that we might get a Team Failboat cover instead. If that means that Giriko gets to be on a tankobon cover twice while Kid has only been on a cover once so far, then so be it. Aw hell yeah. Took long enough.

I'm holding off on my final Scanspam Week post, just so that I can put myself through a very special kind of hell first.

Seven chapters of Tsubasa, recapped all in one sitting. No, actually, I couldn't do it. I broke down after three chapters. So here are the first three chapters that I was able to finish. I have four more to go, and then - apparently - the series is finally going to fucking finish before the end of this month. No, really.

So now I'm scrambling to play catch-up, I guess. Anyway, here are chapters 224, 225, and 226. Let's go.

( 'Whether as my son or as my father, you are still the most precious person in the world to me.' Because I AM MY OWN GRANDPA. )

Clearly it is no longer Scanspam Week, as I haven't exactly been keeping up with getting one of these posts out every day. So now it is officially Scanspam Whenever-The-Hell-I-Feel-Like-It, and we're down to our final three posts.

Here, have some Fate/Stay Night stuff.

( Yay, new artwork! )

And that's all for tonight. Coming up next: HELLO KITTY DAY. For great asymmetry!

Right, then. It's time to get back on the scanspam horse. If you'll recall, we last left off with Anno Moyoco Day, before my computer decided to drink the virusaide, and then I got caught up in moving. Anywhoo, to re-kick things off, here is a very small scanspam post devoted to pretty girly things.

( Tinkerbell, Ariel, and the Rose of Versailles. )

One more thing: I just posted two more Soul Eater CD scans over at shibusen today. Here they are. There were only two of them this time, and they were older scans anyway, so that's why I posted them over there instead of over here.

So! My apologies that this particular post is so short. The next five scanspam posts, however, will be more on the "massive" end of the scale.

Coming Up Next! 1) Doujinspam the First with Takehito Harada Special. 2) Doujinspam the Second, 100% Toho Project. 3) Fate Day. 4) Hello Kitty Day. 5) Samurai Day. And then I'll finally be finished with my backlog!

In a sort of vague honor of Super Comic City this weekend, here, have some epic Soul Eater crossover fanart.

First!

http://kira-mayer.deviantart.com/art/hurm-132633917

Communist pinko liberal hippie democrats, your days are numbered.

Second!

http://honekyouka.tsunokakushi.com/top.html

Click on "Diary." Why? Soul Eater/Dan Brown-verse crossovers. That's why. (But the series of gender-flipped Eruka pics that were posted a month or so ago are also worth a gander.)

Another speed recap, since I'm roadtripping today, visiting family this weekend, and moving to another state on Monday. Whew! Let's go.

( Mmmmmm, waffles. )

Edited to add: There is some most excellent win in the comments, courtesy of rend_dx.

I'm not dead. Just busy doing stupid things that I really didn't want to be doing this week.

Thing the first! Laptop-chan is more-or-less kaputskies, so I am now the not-so-proud owner of a P.O.S. that I guess passes for an acceptable laptop here in America.

Seriously, I... I used to poo-poo the stereotypical notion that Japan and China were actually more technologically advanced than America or any other country. I think a lot of people have this idea in their heads that things like computers, cell phones, cameras, etc. are way more advanced - and cheap - in Asia than they are in other parts of the world. With the notable exception of cell phones, that's simply just not true. Or at least, I used to think that it wasn't true. Yeah, but see, that was before I bought a Toshiba laptop in Japan last year... and then had the "opportunity" to buy a second Toshiba laptop this week while back in the good ol' U S of A.

Fuck. Fuck, you guys. And I thought that the technology gap between cell phones was bad. But this is just pathetic.

( Long long entry about laptop technobabble. )

So yeah, that's what I've been doing this week. Wasting my time trying to fix my old computer, going through a lot of crap in that direction, giving up, buying a new computer, wasting hours and hours of time trying to set-up/customize the new computer, blah blah blah blah. It's been a huge source of stress and a huge time-suck. This on top of still dealing with Paypal drama (still going!), setting up my new bank accounts, trying to set up phone/internet service in my new apartment, and trying to learn the ropes of my new cell phone. Which is also a P.O.S. compare to the cell phone that I had in Japan, but that is a rant for another entry.

I really wanted to spend this week relaxing and focusing on nerdly pursuits, but alas, that didn't happen.

Oh and I get to waste another full day on Monday, since I'll be reporting for jury duty! Fun times. I know right away that I'm not going to be chosen for any juries because I'm moving out of the state on Friday, and as soon as I tell them that I'm off the hook. BUT I still have to schlepp over to the Scott County courthouse at 8 a.m. on Monday and spend the entire day there anyway, even if I know ahead of time that I'm not qualified to serve. Way to go, American legal system. Way to go.

And I'm still adjusting to the whole "holy crap I have NO MORE SOURCE OF INCOME for the next calendar year" thing, too. It's only now just barely starting to sink in. I'm going from a living situation where I had a huge monthly salary and paid only a pittance for housing and health care, to a situation where I have ZERO monthly salary, actual rent to pay, and... yeah no I don't even want to think about health care right now. Ahem. Fortunately my grad school tuition is already paid for (thank you AmeriCorps, and thank you, state of Kentucky, for having the cheapest grad school tuition rates in the nation), and I have way more than enough money saved up to cover my ass for rent and utilities for a good long time. But still. No more income = a lot less fun shopping, at least for a while. Edit: No wait, scratch that. It turns out that all of my classes are at night anyway. Way to go, NKU scheduling! Day job, here I come.

I have a fantasy wishlist for Comiket76 and SuperComiCity compiled just for fun. Maybe if I make puppy-dog eyes at fandom, somebody will pony up with scans...? I have... (*counts*) twelve more of my own that I plan to share. But all of the good Noah books are coming out either at C76 or SCC and that makes me sad.

I just caught up on three weeks' worth of Tsubasa. I'd recap, but what would be the point? In three whole weeks absolutely nothing happened. I'm serious. Absolutely. Nothing.

At least there's a new chapter of Soul Eater to look forward to next week. I can't wait to see how far down the sexual rabbit hole Ohkubo is going to push this series, especially in light of the previous three chapters. Fun times, fandom. Fun times.

Because I think that she is awesome. And if anybody deserves her own scanspam day, it's her.





Click for high-res!

( Behind the cut: Flapper girls, geisha, little girl witches, working women, and a dress that I swear is made entirely out of cabbage. )

Tomorrow: Shoujo and Disney Day! Yes, I'm grouping them together. Because I say so!

Because advertisements are awesome.





Click for high-res!

( Behind the cut: More pretty commercialization from Japan. )

Tomorrow: It's Anno Moyoco Day!

Oops, meant to include this one in the previous post, but I forgot since I didn't actually have it scanned yet. Anyway, here's one more for the road, since I promised the_terrible that I would scan it, and because it's also very very pretty:

( Misaka is totally the best character in To Aru Majutsu no Index, hands-down. )

This is one of the largest scanspam posts I've ever done.

( Behind the cut: Interesting, cool, and beautiful images from Kimagure Orange Road to Azumanga Daioh and beyond. Plus, as promised: Ray Amuro's barenaked butt. )

Whew! That was one mother-long post. I hope that you enjoyed this random spamming of images as much as I enjoyed inflicting them upon you. ;)

Tentative schedule for the remainder of Scanspam Week:
Tomorrow - Funky Advertisements and Stationary Day
Saturday - Anno Moyoco Day
Sunday - Shoujo and Disney Day
Monday - Doujinspam the First (with Takehito Harada Special)
Tuesday - Doujinspam the Second (100% Toho Project)
Wednesday - Fate Day
Thursday - Hello Kitty Day
Friday - Samurai Finale

Okay, so that is more than a week. That's like a week and a half, or something. Whatever. It's my journal, and I'm going to spam it with as many pretty pictures as I goddamn want to. So there!

PS - Unfortunately, doujinspam posts will be flocked. Sorry to all of you lurkers reading this.

It may have been two days since my last post according to relative time. But according to the infallible Gregorian calendar and my time machine owned and operated by Mesaba Airlines, it is still merely "tomorrow" compared to my last post, hence, Scanspam Week is still on schedule.

Anyway, here's this month's Mini-Goddess, still being published on the spine of monthly issues of Afternoon. In case you missed any of the previous panels, you can find them all linked here.

( Behind the cut - plus a lot more! )

Random info: According the inside flap on volume 39 of the manga, our lovely villianess for this story arc is indeed named Hagall. Which, like Sigil, is apparently the name of a rune...?

Oh well. Since chapter 247 was included in volume 39, I'm working on replacing these fugly old scans with lovely new non-bleedthrough scans. Like so. And so. Thoses pages are all scanned and should be uploaded to the gallery shortly.

Tomorrow: Scanspam Week continues with.... (*points to a random image group in the Scanspam folder*) Okay, then. Tomorrow is Free-For-All Shounenapalooza Day! I hope you all want to see Sheryl Nome's barenaked butt. AND Amuro Ray's barenaked butt. Because you will be seeing both of them tomorrow. (And for context, yes, tomorrow will all be official imagespam, not doujin. You can blame Newtype for Amuro Ray's butt. No, seriously. And not even Newtype Romance. I'm talking the regular Newtype, people.)