I was starting to get a bit concerned since airmail doesn't normally take this long from Japan, but... I've never had things sent as 'printed material' before, and we're heading into Xmas season, so I wasn't quite sure how long things should take. As it is, I'm not finding a customs slip for this package...?? I'm not quite sure what to make of that. (Quite frankly, I'm just glad it finally made it safely. ^^; )

I read through the After Word for HakuYou's latest novel and basically all it's saying is that it'll be a bit until the next novel comes out but that the author will be maintaining the original agreed on pace.　　I think I've been seriously spoiled by the frequency volumes for this and Migawari have been coming out, so this slowdown might hurt a touch. ^^; (I really do need to find myself some English books to read...) Oh, and FWIW, Migawari wasn't on the list of titles to be released in Jan. orz Hopefully, there'll be something in Feb. And while I'm making wishes, hopefully, there'll also be a SS in the next vol of The Beans. :P

Otherwise, I'm not sure if I'll read HakuYou now or if I should hold off until Tues. I need to sit around and wait for male parental for an unknown length of time that day (possibly several hours), so I'm debating leaving it for then. (It's either that or I take some unread GH doujinshi with me. :P )

Sounds like the start to the day wasn't going to be great, but hope the rest of the day is full of awesome! ^o^

I noticed that Haku's been acting a bit weird for the past week or so and thought that he was being so flaky because he's got such wimpy memory, but... ^^;; The good thing is that he's fine. The not so bad and actually pretty good thing is that, after being restored back to factory default, the font I'm now using for Japanese input is much nicer. A bit win-win except for losing some bookmarks. ^^;; (Nothing's stored on Haku except bookmarks in my browser. Everything else is on USB keys.)

( not much )

Otherwise, my last book order still hasn't arrived. (It's been 2.5 weeks.) >.<;; I'm trying to be patient, but I do want to see how things went in the latest HakuYou. Comments on 2ch lately WRT HakuYou in general has been a bit more negative as people express their frustration over the lack of overall plot movement in the series. However, there's some speculation that it's to slowly (like frozen molasses...) progress towards the changes that will happen next presumably with the prince. Shall see if that's the case. Still, HakuYou negative is nothing compared to the Saiun anti thread. That thread went off the deep end weird last time I popped in there, and folks seem to be getting tired of the troll. I'll have to see how things go in the regular thread once the new Saiun novel is released.

And I finally got to read the last chapter of Migawari Hakushaku no Bouken manga in Beans Ace a while back. ^^;; I seriously have to sit down with it and read it again. :P

( note to self )

I have to admit, I loved that scene. ^o^

A little bird directed me to some Migawari scans, and I simply couldn't resist. (Especially since I still don't have a real computer yet. >.> ) This SS takes place some time during the fourth novel. (Hints of events from Books 1, 2, 4, and SS1-1, but no major spoilers per se.)

Oh, and since I can't go back and check how I'd spelt things for the scanlation, some spellings might be slightly different in this. Sorry. >.<;;

( clicky! )

Enjoy! ^o^

Every now and again, I go hunting for the novel ranking figures over on 2ch to see how shoujo novels do. When I do, I usually check out the weekly rankings, but the monthly rankings are sometimes interesting to see, too. I won't bother reposting the entire list, but here are some of the numbers that have come up for Oct. from 7&Y. (Oh, if anyone wants to see the whole list it's towards the end of this thread.)

( some numbers )

It'll be interesting to see the weekly figures when they get posted (soon I expect). ^_^

Oh! And there was a comment on 2ch that the next HakuYou might not be out for a while (based on the After Word in the latest novel). No idea as to what's said or what have you, but I'm guessing there might be a SS compilation in between and the author does have another series that she's writing for but hasn't released a new vol for in over a year now. ......As long as this novel doesn't end on such a cruel cliffhanger as the latest Migawari novel, that's fine. I can live with that. I just don't know how well I'll survive until the next Migawari main novel release. :P

I'm going to try something a bit different this time around. :P

Shitsuren Ryuu to Keiyaku no Hana Yome (The Heart-Broken Dragon and the Contract Bride) is an on-going(?) romance series with five books now. The first two novels form the first arc to this story, v3 takes place 10 yrs later, and the main charas from v4~ is completely different.

Unfortunately, I can't seem to trim this one's cover img well (MS Paint is a pain to work with...), so that part will have to wait, but... I have to admit, I did like how these two met. :P

( book 1 blurb, story summary with short snippet )

Hmm... maybe a bit too long still? Hard to tell on Haku. I wonder if I can do this with other series as well. Not sure about HakuYou seeing how that series seems to be completely out of control. Still, I will admit, I did delete a number of paragraphs when writing this up. *sigh*

Comments are finally coming out for HakuYou's latest novel. It seems most people were waiting for the no-spoiler period to end before saying anything. ^^;

( comments on 2ch )

Combined with the previous comments, we have... very little about the actual story. ^^; Lots of questions are brought up by what's mentioned, some of which might be clarified in previous vols. Likewise, some of this will depend on intended meaning of what's said. Not sure if I'll try checking out blog posts next or not. Might be worth waiting for my copy to eventually get here instead. ^^;

*laughs* Apparently, I should actually *read* some of what I'm looking at sometimes rather than only checking out whatever info I'm looking for. ^^; This info's from 7&Y's site. Oddly enough, they're listing Nov 28 as the release date rather than the official Dec 1.

彩雲国物語 暗き黄昏の宮
ISBN：978-4-04-449919-8

The eagerly awaited main story novel of this popular series!! At last, the story enters the final arc!! Shuurei disappears while carrying out her duties!! The Emperor Ryuuki is shaken by that news. Suou, who'd been travelling with Shuurei returns. And he then starts to tell of the surprising things that happened to Shuurei...?!

*sigh* I see that battle lasted oh, so long. >.> Spoilers are barely coming out, and yet I've already given in and ordered the latest HakuYou novel. >.<;; I don't know how far down the shipping list I'll eventually work myself on bk1, but I'm using regular airmail this time instead of EMS. The other two options unused (other than OCS) are seamail and SAL. I've shipped from Japan using seamail many times (typically takes 1 month), but I've never used SAL before. Does anyone know how long that normally takes from there to Canada? (sekitx2, you use SAL regularly, right?)

In any case, hopefully it won't take too long for my books to get here. >.> I can just see me going through this again come Jan/Feb assuming the next Migawari and HakuYou vols continue at their current pace. I'm wondering if HakuYou might not take a brief break/side trip and put out a SS compilation instead soon. There's probably almost enough material now. Migawari... I just want to know where the story goes given the major cliff-hanger it ended on. >.<;;

( what little's on 2ch about HakuYou's latest novel )

And the title for the next Saiun novel is out, and it's *not* what was listed on Kadokawa's Fall newsletter. The new novel will be 暗き黄昏の宮. ...Hmm... 'Dark Twilight at the Palace'. (I wonder what happened with the previous title? *confused*)

Oh well, tonight's reading will probably be the continuation of Shitsuren Ryuu to Keiyaku no Hana Yome (The Heart-broken Dragon and the Contract Bride). Either that or I'll try out Picte Schenke no Fushigi na mori (sp? The Mysterious Forest of Picte Schenke). I think the art in the second title is supposed to be done by the same person who did the illustrations for Vampire Butler. :P FWIW, both of these are romance series. ^^;

[ETA: Cobalt's website has been updated and there's a new wallpaper for HakuYou (cover illust for the latest novel). If you go direct to the site, click on the last link on the left menu that has 'new' listed by it. Otherwise, try here.]

Cover img is out on Amazon for the latest HakuYou novel. ...Uh oh......? It doesn't look like one, but I'm wondering if the story went the way all the predictions have been going...? Argh! My book coupon's stuck on my old HD! >.<;; A quick check on 2ch tells me that at least one person has received their copy, so hopefully spoilers will start coming out in the next day or two. (Will keep an eye on the spoiler thread since spoilers won't be allowed in the HakuYou thread until after the 31st.

Can't wait to find out where the story goes. ^o^

[ETA comment on 2ch: 'If you were surprised by the cover, you'll be floored by the illustrations.']

[ETA2: Migawari Hakushaku Manga Vol 2 is set to be released Dec. 26th ISBN: 978-4-04-854410-8-C0979 ]