White Flags and Pasta

Hetalia is a Japanese manga that was turned into a very popular anime show. It's about the personifications of nations and their interactions through history. Most of the first two seasons are about the Axis Powers in World War Two. Instead of being sad and violent like you may expect when looking at world history, for the most part it's a very cute story. Most of the characters are based off of World War Two stereotypes of the country they represent.

By Hidekazu Himaruya And Funimation
Front to back: Italy, Germany, Japan, America,
China, England, Russia, and France

The Allies, (America, England, France, China, Canada and Russia) and the Axis (Italy, Germany, and Japan) are the main characters, but there are over 50 characters, including countries that no longer exist, like Holy Roman Empire or Prussia. There are also some micro-nation characters, like Sealand, who somehow always manages to get on England’s nerves. Then again, it’s not very difficult to get on his nerves, ask France.

My favorite characters are Russia, Canada, Finland, and as if that was not enough europeans, Prussia. Many Hetalians do not like Russia because he is a little scary, but he is seriously sweet and very cute. Do not argue with me, I am an expert. Canada is a quiet introvert who is either overlooked or mistaken for America all the time. Oh, and he has a pet polar bear (casually adds polar bear to christmas list). 

Finland is not a very big character in the series, but it is Finland, he is a nordic, he is nice, he is married to Sweden, he is just too awesome not to be included. Then last but definitely not least, ze awesome Prussia. Capable of breaking the fourth wall, Annoying his brother Germany 24/7, and keeping a diary from the dawn of time, Prussia is quite clearly just as awesome as he constantly states.

The closest thing the story has to a main character is Italy, who is relatively defenseless and ends up being caught by the Allies multiple times, only to be given back to Germany because he talks way too much.

In all honesty, I just can not find it in me to dislike any of the characters, even Turkey and Cuba. I think they all have really admirable traits and relationships with one another. This is by far my favorite anime, even though it is not as serious as Attack on Titan or Death Note, it makes me really happy to just watch it and it has some really cute messages from time to time.

I have learned more about pre American history from a TV show about the personifications of nations getting into petty fights and insulting British food at every turn than I have in an actual history classroom. I would not know what Liechtenstein is, and I would not have been able to answer most of the Jeopardy questions that I have (It is a good show ok?) without having watched Hetalia. It also makes Geography more interesting and it can be credited with helping me pass the European map test with flying colors.

Hasta la pasta!

End Game (Homestuck Spoilers)

The Homestuck gigapause has finally ended after an entire year without an update. It was published on my fellow homestuckian friend's birthday, but it was not a good present that's for sure. If you are starting Homestuck or do not want to spoilers, do not read any more. For those that do not know, Homestuck is a popular webcomic consisting of gifs, videos, interactive games, and pictures created by Andrew Hussie that is over 7,000 pages long.

Okay, here we go.

The cascade was what the first time the author, Andrew Hussie, killed many of the characters and it looks like End Game (one of the latest updates) will be "Cascade Two".  I have gotten attached to the remaining kids and trolls,  I am not ready for them to be gone. Complete denial over the entire thing. 

After Karkat was stabbed by Gamzee and thrown into the lava, Kanaya chainsawed Gamzee in half and was burnt to death by the Condolence. Aranea tried to kill Jane, but Jake jumped in the way and died a heroic death (Jane still died) and Dave tried to protect Jade... then was stabbed. Rose also died trying to avenge Kanaya but was stabbed (any one else pick up a bit of a pattern?) and died a few updates later. Just in case you were wondering, Homestuck is not supposed to be like this.

But seriously here, really Andrew Hussie? You're going to make your fans wait for an ENTIRE YEAR to the day just to bring Homestuck back with some sadstuck and ironic bad anime? That is not what anyone wanted or expected. Besides crying and hoping this resolves itself in the near future, I do not know that to do. 

My friend Alice theorized that John will make a deal with his denizen to trade his life for the lives of his friends. Since that sounds incredibly like something he would do, I am worried that it is actually going to happen and John will die. I refuse to deal with him dying...again. He has already died in the main timeline three times, and a fourth would not be any less awful and somewhat worse because I would have to wait for Hussie to update to see what would happen. The updates will get farther apart after Hussie gets through what he wrote during the gigapause so that will not be fun.

therefore, I can not bring myself to read the new updates, even though I want to know so badly and four of my good friends are also Homestuck fans and are getting really annoyed with my antics. It is getting bad, and one of them will probably spoil what has been happening so far, but I refuse to see anything else as hurtful as this.

 I just hope that eventually all the characters will live happily together and defeat Lord English. I would even be alright if all the characters were in the Dream Bubbles, Homestucks version of the afterlife. So yeah, this has been a good way to distract myself and forget that every character is dead and all of my ships have sunk. Alright, I am going to procrastinate on Homestucks Merch shop, What Pumpkin until I have enough courage to read more.

Trickster Roxy LaLonde from Andrew Hussie
(Link cannot be found on school computers)

Anime Bonzi 10th Anniversary

I got to go to Anime Bonzi last weekend. The panels were interesting and funny, I bought tons of fandom merch, and all the people were super nice and cool to talk to. Honestly if I could go back every weekend, I would.

It started on Friday when Alice picked me up. I was cosplaying as Tavros, Milly was Sollux and Alice was Terezi from Homesuck. We had to wait in line for a half an hour, but we got to talk to a Canada cosplayer. She was extremely nice and I talked to her for an hour before I realized any time had passed. On the first day I spent most of my time talking to people and helping choose which toy llama my friend Sarah should buy. I only went to one panel that day, Reading vs Writing and it was fun to talk about fanfics we had written or read. I also bought lots of merch, including a Supernatural pin, a plushie Darlek, a Prussia wall scroll and a Sherlock purse. It was a truly beautiful thing.

Prussia, ze awsomest! And Gilbird on has head.

The second day I was Aries from Fairytail and loads of people asker to take pictures with me. It was tons of fun again and I was also able to meet up with the people I had seen the day before. Although I went to way more panels on Saturday including origami 101 (I FINALLY made a swan!), a Doctor Who scavenger hunt (got to keep a commemorative bow tie and everything), a Fairytail one (Spoilers D:) and most of a very intreating Hetalia panel (they had a cool Russia). I made friends with 2 Terezis, a grimdark Rose, a Prussia, Jake English(yes, he had an english accent), and a very attractive Dave Strider. There was also a Batman in a hot tub, but I didn't nor do I ever want to know. I also bought some cute Supernatural and Hetalia stickers.

Moral of the story, whenever given the chance go to a fan convention because it is amazing. I had so much fun, and I'm taking all my friends who didn't go this year next time.

top left to bottom right England and a mint bunny, Russia with a metal pipe, Italy with a white flag, and Germany judging them all, Sam, Castiel, and Dean

Blood of Olympus (SPOILERS)

First of all, thank you Morrison for lending me The Blood of Olympus, and thank you William, for being too sick for Morrison to lend you the book first like she promised. Of course I only had the book for 2 days while William was still out sick, but I managed to finish the book in under 48 hours. Side note: reading for 8 1/2 hours straight is very likely to cause a bad headache.

 Even though I was really excited to finally read the book after waiting for a year after The House of Hades was published, it's sad to see the series end. I am content with the ending though, because everyone was able to find their place and where they would be happy. I also liked the fact that it had Nico and Reyna's POV. Although now that I'm thinking about it, the fact that neither Annabeth and nor Percy got a chapter from their POV, I find that sort of irritating.

The top five things that I liked were that Nico found his place at Camp Half-Blood, the giants were defeated in an epic battle, Octavian was the only person I knew by name who died (thank the gods), the Romans and the Greeks are finally getting along, and Charisse, the super hardcore daughter of Ares, became a godmother. I'm happy with how it ended, but also a little sad that Percy Jackson's quests with his friends are over. Thank you Rick Riordian for giving us Percy Jackson and his friends extraordinary adventures.

Back in Back-SPN Season 10

Having missed the Supernatural season 10 primer and not wanting to wait all next day, I got up at 5 AM to watch it on demand and I can say for certain that it was worth it. Now a week later and I still can't believe it. Dean's a demon, Cas is dying, and Sam has gone on a demon-slaghtering-rampage (again). On top of all this, without Cas the angels are messing up heaven (that one's not difficult to believe).  The story left of in season 9 with Dean being turned into a demon (or deanmon take your pick) after being stabbed by Metatron and Sam about to sell his soul for his brothers life.

Now the Story picks up a month later with basically everything that could possibly still go wrong for them going wrong. The first episode has Dean singing really awful karaoke, and since the fifth episode, Fanfiction, is a musical episode, I can't wait to see that. The seasons fifth episode will be the 200th episode of the series and many shows never make it to their 100th episode, let alone a 200th.

Soon the Winchesters story will come to an end and after fighting monsters, angels, demons, and stoping a fair amount of apocalypses, the boys really deserve to have a happy ending. Knowing this show though, it's much more likely that we will have a brief glimmer of hope that will be swiftly pulled out from under us and leaving things even more desperate than they previously were. Yep, that's how you write a successful TV show CW.  However I'm honestly really excited for the new season and what will happen to the brothers now.

Sam and Dean in front of the Impala

The 12th Doctor

Ever since Matt Smiths' doctor regenerated, Whovians all over the world have been eagerly anticipating season eight, along with a bow-tieless doctor. A few other fans complained that an older doctor was wrong for the show and Peter Capaldi was bad for the role but so far he's my favorite doctor. In the first episode of the season, the doctor, as usual when he has just regenerated, crashes the TARDIS and forgets nearly everything. You would think he’d have learned not to fly the TARDIS while he regenerates after twelve times, but of course not.

Clara, the Doctor’s companion, simply does not know what to do with a cranky old doctor who transports a dinosaur to victorian London after flying the TARDIS down its throat. With a premiere like that, it is easy to tell this doctor is going to be a fun character. The first couple of episodes have been full of adventure with Robin Hood, metal monsters, and high profile bank robbery. Hey when you’re a time traveler you can skip the boring everyday stuff and go straight to the fun.

The doctor has faced legions of monstrous enemies over the years, but the only one that has really scared me was one that wasn’t even there. The doctor pulled Clara away from a date to investigate his theory that there are creatures perfectly adapted to hiding and every time you get a feeling you are not alone, it’s one of them watching. Needless to say, some Doctor Who villains get a little bit to close to reality for comfort.  Although it was fictional, it was still a huge relief when Clara proved the creatures were not real. If Steven Moffat can keep the rest of the season as good as the beginning, this doctor’s going to have tons of adventures in store.The show is now on at a later time.

Picture from BBC one's website