Found this thing today and thought, why not try it out. The basic idea is to use a sorting algorithm that gives you a choice between 2 characters. Choosing either of them; or 引き分け (draw); or どっちも知らない (don't know either), will give a new choice. This is repeated until you get "100% sorted". There are similar choicemakers for other fandoms and one for seiyuu that I've seen.

So here goes ikka's Sorting Order for HCB, the top few were more or less expected. How Wanko ended up so near the bottom is a mystery, though...I think she's adorable.

SEMPAI~~IKKA <3 YOU~~xD

 

( looooong )

Oh yeah, find it here.

For reference purposes. I plan on making another list for how the characters address each other, but that will take quite a bit of time.

Will be updated when ikka gets her hands on volume 9.

Junior high classes are labeled "jh" followed by class, same applies for senior high but with "sh".

( junior high )

( senior high )

With the series moving to Shueisha's Ultra Jump, some notable changes can already be seen, such as the reset of chapter count (probably to not confuse readers any further...not that it helps) and reprinting of tankoubon volumes 1 and 2 with "spiffy" new covers.

But one of the biggest surprises of this chapter is actually this...



HOMURA SANZENIN KUROGANE NAGI IMRE, BULLFIGHTER EXTRAORDINAIRE~~~
IN TENCHI UNIFORM ｷﾀヽ(ﾟ∀ﾟ)ﾉ!

Had been wondering when Hayashiya-sensei would let Nagi in on the action after her brief appearances previously, maybe she'd been planning all along to keep it until the UJ move. Does this mean we'll finally get to see something regarding the hinted drama between the twins, or will Nagi be another of them commonsensical folks (in HCB?! ikka you jest!) a la Ouka/Yukari (...), constantly wondering if all the baka genes dropped into the other half of the zygote when they were being formed? Hmmmmm...

Eh, if Hayate's in this state, does it mean that she got schooled by Ensuu? *scratches head*

Another surprise: Daddy (?????) Kurogane.



Mistook Nagare as a made-over Hitsugi-kaichou the first time round in chapter 51. No weird looks please...come on, they do look sorta alike, no?

There was background info on HCB published together with this chapter, such as story summary, definition of key terms and a character list (with not-too-descriptive text, aw well) that was actually quite funny - everybody got at least a semi-sane/cool-looking shot, save for Wanko and Tatewaki. (ikka excluded Sou because it was kind of in character for her)
...then again, all shots of Jun in the drama CD booklets' character introductions weren't very flattering, and she's supposed to be the most popular cast member, so...-_-;;;

So nice people shared the (official) Chinese version of Hayate Cross Blade 8, ikka squeed over Maki-sempai's minute amount of screentime while laughing at generally everything else (the "nice kind", mind. Hayashiya-sensei delivers again), and exploded into happiness when the author's notes finally featured the Kamijou-Someya duo. Took her long enough :3

Then in a case of stupidity claiming one's mind, I decided that the shot was filled with awesome and that the old Ash icon was getting a bit stale. New icon in the works! Cue roughly 4 (!!!) hours of GIMPing and the result above.
yes, ikka is aware that yukari's hair isn't the right color, but it's not wrong either...

To think I used to slave for hours/days on end fiddling with PhotoStudio, moaning about my lack of coloring ability. Yes, I still don't color all that great, but it looks kinda better, at least. Some useful tutorials helped loads, too. Yay? now ikka can finally go back to that abandoned project of *SECRET*

The big downside now is that this new shiny icon, when chosen to be the new default, replaced every single use of the previous default, Ash. *green flames BBQ* Not to mention that the "upload from file" option gave screwy responses...囧

Huh? Homework? What's that? Can it be eaten?

Suddenly remembered that I still haven't written a review for a couple of fics that were promised them...|||orz Sorry! Will get down to it asap!

And that Sigma's birthday was yesterday 2 days ago (22 June) now. And that Junjun's was on the 20th.
WTF only was reminded of this when a pic BBS ikka visits semi-frequently had a post on that that I just saw.
Shipper 失格...

So anyway, 姫とお庭番, 誕生日おめでとう (belated) :DDD

Link to Caramelldansen with them in PE gear: 【ニコニコ動画】【はやて×ブレード】　久我順・静馬夕歩　でうまうまー

*takes chance to show off handmade icon*

Just came across a Hayate Cross Blade fanfic almost entirely by accident. It wasn't all that badly written, and was pretty interesting. I went to the writer's HP and found another one with the same pairing, Sae/Akira.

This was rather significant for ikka as it was the first ever time I found fic for this series, never mind this pairing! Though admittedly that was limited to the English- and Chinese- medium fandoms only. There's probably fics out there in Japanese or some other language. *shrugs* Which is a real pity, by the way. HCB is one of those manga that should, by right, have lots of fans. And it probably does. IMO it certainly pwns some of the "bigger" works like this and that (not naming any in particular in case those terms come up in search engines).

Not saying this just because it happens to strike a lot of ikka's weak points, mind.
1) Schoolyard battle for supremacy? Check.
2) Swords? Check.
3) Hilarious violence (or is that violent humor)? Check.
4) Uber cool characters? Check.
5) All-star (drama CD) seiyuu? Check.

-on 1): From Rival Schools to Ikkitousen to HiME Destiny to who knows how many other works with that setup...srsly, what is ikka's problem? lol
-on 2): What is it with all these romantic notions about swords, by the way? I'm still waiting for the day when a series other than Busou Renkin has a lead character with a non-sword physical weapon.
-on 3): Hayashiya Shizuru is a goddess of humor. There's no other way to explain how she can make ikka laugh - something that not a lot of animangame has done, btw
-on 4): I think I want to marry Maki-sempai. lol
-on 5): Put it simply, when even various big names are in the side cast, you know that this is like the drama CD version of Real Madrid and their Galacticos. *laugh*

So, for a work with 8 published volumes and 2 (3 counting the special) drama CDs, why is this still not animated, and why is there a lack of fanworks?! D:

Will do follow-up posts sometime later.