Manga Review: Ibitsu

Ibitsu, literally means 'Twisted' in Japanese is a psychological-horror manga in all it's truth. It's based on a (fictional) urban legend in Japan that goes like this:

There's a legend that goes around in Japan. It involves a girl dressed in Loli outfit sitting near dump sites holding an umbrella and a plush toy. She would have a dirty appearence as if she hadn't bathed in days. If you find her sitting near dump sites when you are about to throw your trash at night...by all means DO NOT SPEAK TO HER. She would often target young men and ask them a question 'Do you have a sister?'. If you answered yes, she will become your sister against your will. If you said no, she will still become your sister*. So the trick is...DONT SPEAK WITH HER. Ignore her competely and in time she will leave to find someone else.

*In Japanese 'watashi imouto iru kara' means I have a sister. It can be read as both ways: one, I have a sister. Two, I need a sister. If you answered 'watashi imouto inai yo' which mean I dont have a sister. So she will become your sister too because SHE decides you needs a sister. So whatever you asnwer is, you're still fucked.

By the way, this is her:

 

  It must be a Monday.

This is the apparition you would see in dump sites should you decide to throw the trash at night. Alone. Any other normal person would turn back and decide to throw it the next morning during their routine morning jog. But no...characters in this manga would still throw their trash in the night with a creepy girl in white Loli clothes asking you if you have a sister. Meanwhile in Japan.

So her cycle is pretty much consistent. She finds a guy regardless of whether or not he has a sister. She stalkes you and behaves like a 'sister'. She cleans your room, she visits you at night for 'sibling' chat and if you dont entertain her...BE QUICK TO RUN THE HELL OUT. Dont forget your little dog. Nothing happens really, she just kills you in the most horrifyingway possible.

As the manga progresses, you get a glimpse of a hypothetical past of her. She is shown to be in a mental hospital where a kind psychiatrist had taken her under his wing. She was freshly taken away from her 'family' where her brother had supposedly killed the whole family and she was the sole survivor. Only then we remember she might have a name.
As the compassionate shrink tries his best to treat her, he manage to dig out the truth about her and became insane in the process.

You see, you will notice in the manga that she cuts herself regularly and intentionally bleeds herself. She also eats inedible food like makeup creams, lipsticks, lotions and paper and pukes a putrid black stuff.

Extremely violent and cruel, unpredictable psychopath, everything about her is beyond the normal human comprehension. Nobody knows how a living creature can be so fucked up. Perhaps, she is not alive at all, she's a vengeful ghost going a killing spree until she's satisfied.

To say she's alive is debatable, to say she's dead is also plausible.

A) Why it would make sense if she's dead

     No normal human being would survive after eating garbage their whole life. No normal human being would still survive after so much of blood loss. No normal human being can carry a 100kg hammer/chainsaw at a small frame of 40kg. She also cuts up her victims into pieces when they are alive and awake like beef steaks.
She drove her shrink to insanity and he ended up killing everyone in the hospital because he couldn't take up the guilt. It can be assumed that he managed to kill her as well.

B) Why it would make sense if said she was still alive

      Others can see her. If you're a ghost, people can see you only if you let them. Even random people in the road can see her. She leaves a bloody mess after her murder episodes and she leaves trails behind as the 'missing person'. Enough people have seen her for her to be an urban legend. The cuts and bruises can be explained. People with severe mental illness have high pain threshold. No matter how much they are hurt physically, they wont feel pain that much. Bipolar people report feeling numb when they inflict self-injury. They dont feel the pain. She is severely depressed, suffering from severe apathy that she perhaps cut herself to make herself feel 'alive'. Am I making any sense to you?

What happened to this fucked up bitch, really? Why is she doing this?

There is only ONE explanation I found after much thought.

She was abused by her brother. She was made to eat garbage when she 'misbehaves'. She was burned with an iron box when her brother is in his 'moods'. She was forced to dress up like a Lolitha maybe to satiate her brothers own perverted fantasy(ever heard if loli-con fetish and younger sister fetish? Google it). She was also shut in her home-particularly in her closet. Her brother 'trained' her though this abuse so she could become the 'ideal' sister. She did keep it secret from her family until she couldnt take it anymore and snapped.  She has since been living in that 'snapped' mode.

I strongly suggest to read this manga. So far, this is the only manga I read that made me check my bedside to see if anyone is standing there. I also occasionally looked back to see if she was standing there with a hammer asking me if I have a sister. Good God I would die right then and there without her having to kill me.

Rating: 10\10

Ever Wondered How Valentine's Day Came About?

Let me tell you a brief history of why Valentine's Day shouldn't get the respect it's getting.

In ancient Rome, soldiers were forbidden to marry back then. Wait, dont hyperventilate! There's a good reason and logic to this, listen. When a soldier marries, his life is uncertain - he may die today or survive a war ending up a cripple.

Lets say a soldier dies in war. His wife and kids would be homeless and suffer till they die because no one wants to look after a widow that comes with a brood. And women had no rights back then. They were simply assets to men as breeding vessels.

Nobody wants them, nobody wants to look after them. So what happens? Poverty rates goes up, illiteracy rates go up, more social problems(women start engaging in crimes because they had no money to after their kids) and more diseases(women started to become prostitues to earn a living and spreading venereal diseases to the public, they dont have condoms back then remember?)

Hence, you have a bunch of needy dependant women on the governments hands and they take up a lot of money. (charity wise)

Hence, the Romans came out with a rule: Miles non licet nubere. It means A SOLDIER IS NOT ALLOWED TO MARRY.

This is a very good rule. When soldiers are single men, there wont be any unwanted widows, less crime rates and less new diseases being introduced everyday.

Father St.Valentine was a priest who married soldiers in secrets. He was an insipid fool who believed in the overrated 'power of love'. He thought he was doing a good deed by uniting lovers in their forbidden passion but in actuality he just made matters worse.

Even with the edict implemented there are still widows around, how? The culprit we all know as Father St.Valentine. The stupid man who went against a sensible law and had his comeuppance not long after(Thank God) He was beheaded in public. Yay!

Now, the soldiers are really pissed. They think a hero had been severely mistreated and decided to have a daycelebrating his 'noble' heroic death. The day he was executed 14 FEBRUARY became St.Valentine's Day and since then it had been a day for all clueless couples to celebrate. Yippie yay hooray for them ignorant imbeciles.

So, now do you at least uderstand why I laugh at couples who celebrate Valentine's Day?

20 Things Why Dogs Are Perfect

1. They love you no matter what

2. Unlike cats, they look at who gives them love and attention not who gives them better food.

3. Even if you give your dog away to someone else, he will always wait for you to come pick him up.

4. No matter what you do, dogs ALWAYS forgive. Cats would take revenge.

5. Dogs would protect you. They would give you their life to do that and expect nothing in return.

                                        The Saluki, my favourite breed.

6. Dogs are always grateful! They do this by sometimes bringing you their 'presents'. XD (a buried bone etc).

7. When we are feeling down, they accompany us - just by being there. =)

8. They can be your little assistant! If you are a forgetful person, you can train them to help find your things. They help you to fetch the newspaper, bark when there's a stanger at the door. Big dogs have been said to help to throw the garbage!

9. Dogs are beautiful, no matter their shape and size.

10.No matter what you race, age, deformity and what have you, your dogs loves you just the way you are.

Look at this beautiful bundle of poof! Pillow have flattened? Dont worry, look at that picture. Now you have your solution. =)

11. They so very much like children except that they stay innocent and happy!

12. They love it when you give presents. And whatever it is, they love it!

13. They love hugs!

14. They are always curious why you do what you do. Which explains why they follow you around in the house. =P

15. A dog would wait untill you come home. They are happiest when they see you!

                    Look at this beautiful creature. Didnt your heart just melt???


16. The like sweets, just like children! But it's fatal for them so make sure your chocs are in a place where they cant reach.

17. When they are gone, you will realize there is no one like them. =)

18. You cant have enough dogs!

19. Your dog will always be the most beautiful animal to you.

20. There's no love greater than a dog's love.  =)

Interlok by Abdullah Hussain - Pandangan Saya

Novel Interlok Karya Abdullah Hussain ini sememangnya menimbulkan banyak kontroversi dalam kalangan masyarakat India. Perasaan amarah yang tiada batasannya, peraasan sedih pilu bagi sesetengah, bagi saya - saya tergolongan dalam masyarakat India yang memang kecewa dengan pernerbitan novel ini kerana is menunjukkan lembaga penapisan untuk karya bertulis tidak diperuntukkan dengan ketat. Ia juga menunjukkan novel ini hanya ditapis oleh penapis yang berbangsa Melayu. Seharusnya, negara yang bermulti kaum seperti Malaysia perlu rekrut penapis yang terdiri daripada Orang Melayu, India dan Cina supaya pengeluaran buku boleh diterima oleh masyarakat umum. Apa, panel penapisan karya bertulis hanya terdiri daripada orang Melayukah? Ataupun panel ini tidak wujud langsung di negara kita?

Saya memang kecewa dengan reaksi dari kalangan masyarakat bukan India kerana ramai yang setuju dan gembira dengan pengunaan perkataan 'pariah' itu! Ada segelintir masyarakat bukan India menggunakan peluang ini sebagai alat untuk mebuli dan mencerca masyarakat India. Kumpulan yang sama inilah mempunyai perasaan animositi terhadap kaum-kaum yang lain. Mereka adalah orang yang extrimis yang perlu dididik tentang nilai murni perpaduan dan kerjasama antara kaum. Dah 50+ tahun hidup selesa bersama kaum yang lain mengapa perlu kecaikan tali perpaduan ini dengan menyalurkan buku ini kepada pelajar? Jangankan pula mereka ingat ini hakikat sebenar! Jangan pula mereka ingat buku ini sebagai satu propaganda untuk mencetuskan perasaan animositi terhadap rakan-rakan mereka.

Asal perkataan pariah membawa maksud yang amat hina. Dan penulis novel ini pula dengan senangnya menggunakan perkataan ini seolah-olah SEMUA masyarakat kaum India berasal dari kasta rendah. Penulis telah melakukan kesilapan yang amat besar. Tidak semua orang India berkasta pariah malah majoriti masyarakat India yang hijrah ke Malaysia pada tahun 1920-an berkasta baik. Bukan semua hijrah ke sini untuk bekerja sebagai buruh di estet ladang getah, ramai lagi yang berhijrah ke sini untuk bekerja sebagai guru-guru untuk sekolah vernakular Tamil dan kerani di jabatan. Ada yang mari ke Malaysia sebagai pegawai pengurusan. Keluarga saya adalah salah satu contoh. Nenek moyang saya merupakan golongan yang berpelajaran dan kaya - adakah kami berkasta rendah? Tidak sama sekali.

Semenjak orang India berhijrah ke Malaysia, sistem kasta telah pun tidak begitu lagi dipraktiskan. Dalam kalangan ortodoks, ya mungkin tetapi yang telah maju dan moden kami tidak mengambil serius isu kasta ini - malah kami tak pedulikannya pun!

Untuk membangkitkan isu ini dalam novel setelah ianya dilupakan memang menghinakan masyarakat kaum India.

Cadangan saya, tidak perlulah membakar atau ban buku itu tetapi saya berharap buku itu tidak lagi digunakan di sekolah. Sebagai buku stand alone atau sejarah memang buku ini bagus tetapi bukan sebagai novel sastera di sekolah.

What are we teaching our kids man???
Apa kata kita guna novel Salina karya A.Samad Said? Saya menerima review yang baik daripada cikgu BM saya yang juga berbangsa India. Malah, ada juga rakan-rakan saya(yang majorit bukan Melayu) mengatakan novel ini sangat menarik! Apa kata kita guna novel ini instead?

Segregation In Class: Does More Harm Than Good.

It is a typical custom in Malaysian school to have levels of classes for the super smart, smart, average and below average students. These students are basically classified according to their :

a) Intelligence

b) Behaviour

c) Financial status


The smart ones are in the better classes and the not so smart ones are all just sardined in the lower classes. Teachers absolutely love the students in first classes because they are quick to grasp knowlegde and motivated to learn. More often that not the teachers themselves would take pride in teaching the 'good' classes because they assume it proves that they are good teachers. The students oftentimes comes from well-to-do families.

The average ones are in the average classes with average teachers who scores average scores that have a healthy amount of motivation to learn. Basically they are also one of the easiest classes to teach because they are a very compliant lot. They also come from a mixture of wealthy and average families.

Well now the ones in the last classes are an interesting lot. They are the hellions of the lot, the ones who never does their homeworks, the delinquents that everybody hates and look down upon and oftentimes they come from low-income families. Any teacher would dread teaching this class because they have hell to dealt with. Rude students and what-have-you.

So here we more or less can predict the future of these students. The smart ones from the ace and average classes further their studies and become 'harapan negara'.

The ones from lower classes becomes 'sampah masyarakat' as these lot becomes involved in social problems.

It has always been that way how can we change this? Easy! Stop segregating students according to their intelligence, behaviour and financial status.

The ones from 'lower' classes suffer from social stigma of being considered stupid, useless and good-for-nothing. They are taken for granted that they will never come up in life and be a useful member of society. Every reckons they become drug-dealers or criminals of some sort sooner or later.

But dont we realize instead of letting their fate to be like that we could help them? I have always wondered why schools doesnt  distribute their students equally in a class. A typical Malaysian school have five classes for each form/standard. Why not we evenly distirbute the smart, average and weak ones in one class? This way we wont have hierarchy of social statuses and the weak ones would have the same opportunity to learn the same set of education delivered in the 'smart' and 'average' classes.

What really is focused here is MOTIVATION.
If you just chuck all the 'weak' ones all in one class, from would they get the motivation to compete with their peers since they all of the same group anyway? The teachers dont count because if they dont implement healthy competition among their peers than thats it, they go wherever the wind takes them.

People who are weak academically need to be with those who good in it so that they can realize that they need to keep up with these 'better students'.  They need a push to pursue education. They need to mingle with 'smart' people so they can know what they were missing out. What better method than to chuck them in a sea of 'smart' people. First hand exposure at how things really work-is it not?

The wanderer have not tasted life if he hasn't seen the greener side of the grass.

So, what I am really trying to say here is - if Malaysian education needs improvement, start with the classroom arrangement. Changes in small things result in big rewards.

Kerrelyn Sparks ~ Love At Stake Series Review

The first book of Kerrelyn Sparks I stumbled upon was The Virgin and The Vampire. That was 2 years ago. I made a mental note to purchase this book when I have the money. Money was never enough during my college days and I forgot about it competely as time went on.

Two days ago I was surfing the website of my favourite author and it just came to me in a jolt: what was that book I was supposed to buy? Something about vampires and romance and Greece...then the title popped up: Vampire and the Virgin or something like that. True enough I googled the title and the black and white cover brought back my memory. Yes, this was the book I am supposed to purchase! Heh heh...
Sorry to say this but I didn't buy the books: I downloaded ALL the eight books. =P

Then I read: the 8th installment of Ms. Sparks' Love at Stake series have made our day again...

The 8th book? You mean, there's more?

I googled her website and true enough, the whole list of her books where there: How to Marry a Millioaire Vampire(book 1), Vamps and the City(book 2) and the list goes on.

Here I'd like to note something: the titles of her books are like wordplays of famous bestselling books/series/Tv and so on.

Book 1:
How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire is similar to Julia Quinn's How to Marry a Marquis.

Book 2:
Vamps and the City- isn't this obvious? Sex and the City!

Book 3:
Be Still My Vampire Heart is a wordplay on Be Brave My Little Heart(i forgot who wrote it)

Book 4:
The Undead Next Door-a wordplay on the 1980's cult classic thriller 'The Stranger Next Door'.

Book 5:
All I Want For Christmas Is a Vampire. Even the dimwitted ones can see through this: All I Want For Christmas(add is a vampire)

Book 6:
Secret Life of a Vampire - Secret Life of a Shopaholic.

Book 7:
Forbidden Nights with the Vampire - The title is a wordplay on a very old romance novel Forbidden Nights With The Duke.

Book 8:
The Vampire and The Virgin. A wordplay on D.H. Lawrence's The Virgin and The Gypsy.

Book 9:
This is the most blatant wordplay of all: Eat, PREY, Love.

So you see, even though her stories are original her titles are not. I guess it is forgiven because,

a) Her writing style is very engaging and witty.
b) Intelligent plot. It's something you could believe happen.
c) Actual ancient facts about Vampires are used here without overdramatization.
d) Character development is good. There's no wounded soldier turning cheerful clown in 5 pages.
e) You could understand the characters.
f) You see another perspective of vampires. Ex: Vamps actually laugh at the idea of Dracula apparently.
g) Don't we all love to see how a mortal and a paranormal creature managed to make it in the end?

Anyhoo, there were a few annoying cliche's like the female vampire speaking with an accent, having a temper and think of nothing but food, sex, dress like tramps and preen about with other female vamps. Wish the female vamps would be credited with some intelligence and some girl power. =/

Quick facts from the first book:

Roman Draganasti is a 500+ year old vamp who is the pioneer of Romatech Industries: a company responsible of producing synthetic blood that saved vampires and mortals alike. Having lived so long he started to feel very empty and depressed. Until he broke his fang trying to bite a sex toy filled with synthetic blood and he needed a dentist before the sun rises or else he would be a one-fanged wonder for centuries to come.

Shanna Whealan is a dentist on the run after witnessing something she shouldn't have seen. On a boring night shift in her clinic, the thugs from her past tracked her down and was saved by a beautiful man who insist she fix his tooth. Refusing to fix his tooth(fang actually) yet she on the run from the thugs, she found safety in the most outrageous place(or person) possible: a vampire who wants his tooth fixed.
But she doesnt know it's a real fang and he's a vampire...
So the story picks up from there and A LOT of juicy stuff happen before they all live happily ever after.

I can only say I am beyond anticipation for the next book. Now, where is my dashing and dangerous bloodsucker?

The book covers:

 And her latest installment:

DragonBall Z Evolution (review)

I know I am a year or so late from watching this movie but it largely due to what I have heard from people who have watched this: lets just say it wasn't pleasant. It took me many months to muster up courage and watch Hollywood's rendition of the cult classic manga DragonBall Z.

A little background info: I have always been a fan of Dragonball as long as I remember. I have collected ALL of the comics and wouldn't mind reading it over and over again. Here I'd like to tell that my review of this movie would be honest because I know the comic like the back of my hand.

Now, I sat my with my mom last night and steeled myself to watch it.
For an excrutiating 2 hours or so.

The result is-wait for it- ABOMINATION. ABYSMAL. CATASTROPHE.

                               Pictured: A masterpiece of Epic Fail.

Can you rate a movie ZERO out of TEN? I sure want to.

I can write down a list of what was horribly wrong about this movie.

a) Goku was not an 18 year old teenager who goes to school. He was a 12 year old boy(at the beginning) who hunted for his meals in the wood, is an illiterate and didn't know the difference between a man and woman till much later. They made him too smart here. Goku was no smarter than a rock.

b) Chichi was not the popular girl in the school who hung out with the popular guy. She too, was around 12 years old when she met Goku and made him promise that he would come back to marry her. Goku never went after her like a sick puppy.

c) Bulma was not a multiple PHD holder. She was a 16 year old schoolgirl who happened to be a genius. She doesn't need all those degrees to prove she's smart. She did have a fleeting romance with Yamcha. With reminds me-

d) Yamcha was a street bandit(he is in the movie too). He was not, however, a blonde and he was not, ironically a 'ladies man'. Yamcha was scared to death of women till he met Bulma. And that too, took a while. Also, he did not meet Bulma in a hole in the middle of the road. She was hiding from a village mafia and happened to meet Yamcha in his trailer, with Goku of course.

e) Muten Roshi is a sleazy old man, perverted to the core. But HE DID NOT live in the big city slums with an underground apartment. He lived in a small island with a fucking turtle. He also did not behave as in if he was on acid 24-7.

f) Piccolo was not EVIL. He never was, just VERY misguided. His friendship with Goku had changed him into a better man. Also, he DID NOT wear a black cape black suit. He was wearing a white-purple combat suit! Goku was NEVER his reincarnated evil minion. The part of him changing into a were-gorilla was true but that was because he was a Saiyan not because he was a Namekian hitman.

g) Gohan, Goku's grandpa died of old age. No one killed him.

h) There were no Buddhist temple with Hindu incantations to trap Piccolo in. It was purely qi energy by those who have mastered the art of Ma Fu Ba.

h) Goku did not kill Picollo by toasting him with his qi energy. He used his head(literally) to headbutt directly to Piccolo's chest that caused his ribs to puncture his lungs. THAT'S how he died.

I) Goku took ONE FUCKING YEAR to learn Kame Hame Ha with KRILLIN in MASTER ROSHI'S HOUSE. Not in a Buddhist temple or in 7 days like the movie implied.

j) Now that I mentioned it: where the fuck is Krillin??? How did they leave out such an important character?

k) Akira Toriyama was the executive producer. A well-known eccentric: he prolly agreed to this film to see Hollywood getting Number 2 smeared on their faces. It must be on purpose. Why would he do this to his own comic? Stephen Chow have a lot answering to do.


This movie sucked ass. I am never watching it again. Torture, that's what it will be.
To make a Dragonball live-action movie was too ambitious. There was too much to consider: the costume being number one. How are they gonna handle the bizarre hairstyle of Goku?
Next, the character: who will they cast? Can you really find a living person that resembled the anime characters??? Watching the movie, the racial tension was to apparent.
They need to think about a lot character and the story sequence. There were many important part in the comics that were left out in the movie. It's was blasphemy. And from Book 1 to 10 alone there were already about 100 characters introduced: both major and monir alike. They left out so much of DBZ that this movie looked more like a SPOOF of DBZ.

Dont watch this movie of you're a DBZ fan, please. You will walk away, your soul polluted.

Spoiler:
Even if you did watch this movie, there's only one person worth giving credit too. It's the guy acting as Piccolo, James Marsters. Though his overall appearance could only sum up to 30 minutes he was still the best character.