- why must like that? -

currently listening to - taishou "a" (anNina)
i feel - wet

'coz of the sweat.

ooh it rhymes..

went to the National Diet Library for the 1st time.. registered as a member and tried borrowing books and stuff in there. and i thought....

mendokuseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!

first of all it's a closed-stack library. which means you cannot search for books by yourself. you need to search through the computers (they call it the OPAC system, the very same system that we use in my university), apply books through the computers, and get the books from the counter. the thing is, each person can only borrow 3 books at once (6 if the books are related, eg. 6 Jump magazines of different dates). plus, the rental counters are separated into the magazine section and the books section, which are not so close to each other. because the library's FREAAAAAKKKING huge.

here's another problem: you can't borrow the books OUT OF the library. because a lot of them are out-of-print books and they're treated as "treasures".

so photocopying counters are set in each section. again, because a lot of the books are "rare stuff", the photocopying fee in this library isn't usual. although the librarians will photocopy for you very neatly and nicely, it costs you 25 yen per page. black and white. by the way self-servicing in family mart only costs 10 yen per page. a shop near tokodai charges only 6 yen.

yeap. real library. reminds me of the one that i saw in fullmetal alchemist, where people have private rooms and they can stay overnight in there.. i wish i could do that someday... though bunking in the library isn't my hobby.

nevertheless it's an interesting place to go. i tried a 800-page, 3 inches thick, hard-cover Yubiwa Monogatari, and gave up after flipping 2 pages of the prologue. pages covered with katakana writings of Furodo Baginsu, Gandarufu, Aragorun and more were such a fun sight, but i'd prefer the original english one. then someone was scrutinizing some comic magazines, so i suspected this place doesn't only hide censuses, classified information and dirty little secrets of national leaders (just joking i didn't mean it).. but also loads of manga! and i proved myself right because i found the complete collection of Higurashi (+Kai).

apparently there's a branch library in Kyoto but i've not been there before.

*****

so, back to the title. (eh?)

been reading Zombie-Loan. a manga by the very same author of Rozen Maiden. why? i don't know. just felt like reading it. another typical boy-manga i.e. it has the "human and demon" theme and it's all about fighting (and a bit of humorous moments). so what's it about? zombies. who are the main characters? zombies. who are they killing? zombies. there you go, easy as that.

but there are things that i don't understand..

why is it that when the gang goes to the hot springs they have to play PING-PONG after bathing? hint hint: Fruits Basket. Yuki vs Kyo. and that something will definitely happen in the hot springs (hint hint: Ramna 1/2) and the gang will encounter something they've least expected (or maybe not..)?? hint hint: Yami no Matsuei. okay maybe it's such a common thing to happen in japan but i didn't see any ping-pong tables (coz i didn't look around) nor peeping guys nor werewolves (or any of that sort) when we gaijin were in the onsen.

and then you see the girl wandering off into the memories of the guy. and she sees his past. and she makes a promise with the guy in his past, before she's swept back to the future. hey haven't i seen this somewhere? Howl's Moving Caslte? and i'm sure i saw this in Chrno Crusade as well. nah, i haven't tried straying into somebody else's memories before though.... i'm not as great as Paprika you see.

however, things seem to be connected if you realise. back then i was thinking of Schrödinger's cat while reading Higurashi: Kai. and there it is.... Tachibana Shito of Zombie-Loan mentioned the very same Schrödinger's cat thing in volume 7. "the number of worlds existing is as mush as the human population in one world," said Rijichou, who's exchanging an intellectual (?) conversation with Shito-kun. it appears that Shito-kun's a chinese too, just like Lee-kun from Darker Than Black.

and to the One Piece fans out there, you know the newest arc of OP has something to do with zombies.

what a strange world..

^ so we have man in the story (he's not main).. ^

^ man sleeping with girl, naked.. ^

^ girl kissing another girl.. ^

^ guy licking another guy.... ^

^ and of course doll-like people.. ^

but the storyline has got nothing to do with anything above!!!!!!

anyways, reading this manga will keep me busy for.. maybe 2 days. or 1. it's time for mass manga shopping again.

*****

1) mendokusai - troublesome/annoying/pain in the ass..
2) Yubiwa Monogatari - The Lord of the Rings