"Kimi ni XOXO" Chapter 4

"Kimi ni XOXO" is back for the final two chapters.  I'm sorry it's been a while since a release, but this chapter was really hard to clean (poor quality raw) and had a lot of redrawing to do.  Because of the difficulty I want to acknowledge the contributions of Chiresakura who helped clean and Ichigo Stars who did all of the difficult redraws.  Without them, this chapter wouldn't have come out nearly as well as it did.

Links to "Kimi ni XOXO" chapter 4:  (Zip) (PDF)

I wanted to release chapter 5 right after chapter 4, but again because of cleaning and redrawing challenges, it didn't get done before Aria 2 came out.  The chapter is cleaned, though, but untranslated.  I've decided to move on to the Aria 2 series and then circle back to finish chapter 5.  This way I won't be rushed to translate, Ichi won't be rushed to complete the redraws, and the readers (myself included) get a dose of "J+K" and "Magnolia" immediately.

Next up are J+K chapter 6, "Magnolia" chapter 6, and the first chapter of "Lily".  After those, we'll swing back and complete "Kimi ni XOXO" chapter 5.

Anime Review: Sokou no Strain

My husband and I watched all 13 episodes of this series over the course of two days. I have mixed feelings about this show. I think the basic story was compelling, but the execution was poor. The story takes place in an alternate universe in which mankind is split into 2 factions -- the Union and the Deague. It's never really explained what the main difference between the two factions is -- which is sad, because it could have been used as a red herring in the story. Anyhow, the story begins with the parting of Sara Warrick from her beloved older brother Ralph. Ralph joins the military to battle the Deague and Sara promises to join the military too so she can be with him. Stuff happens and while Sara is in training, her brother comes back as a traitor in league with the Deague and destroys the military academy and kills all of her friends while retrieving a mysterious little girl. And so the story begins with Sara confused about her brother's intention and her quest to find her brother and to figure out what the hell is going on.

For some reason Sara's personality is reset such that she's a haughty asshole that does not "do" teamwork and acts like a crazed recluse. There's lots of bitch-craft involved in this story which, while being typical, nonetheless, still pissed me and my husband off to see played out. There's gundam battles a plenty, a little romance, two goth-lolis, and yuriness. The "yuri" episode is quite funny, but also precipitates the end of this tragic, but fractured tale. There are a lot of story threads that are started, but forgotten, like the impending battle-to-end-all-battles between the Union and the Deague, the nonsense about the Emilys, and why any of this was going on in the first place. I give this 3/5 for a OK anime series.