Hello and welcome to Keba's Anime and Manga Place (KAAMP for short)! Here at KAAMP, I write about anime and manga that I have seen/read as well as my views on them. I'll also post about my original stories from time to time.

Just beware that some of my posts contain spoilers. I'll put them in spoiler tags just in case.

KAAMP's history: KAAMP was created in July 2002 by yours truly. It was a sloppy-looking website on Yahoo's now defunct Geocities. I posted my anime fan art on that site. Also, for a time, I posted my thoughts on the few anime series that I had seen. Now that I look back on it, my thoughts were rather ill-informed (is that even a word?) because I had only seen bits and pieces of anime dubs. Now that I've seen more series, I think that my commentary on various anime will be a little better than before.

So, come on in and stay awhile! KAAMP is now in session.

Attack on My Mind

I wasn't into it before it was cool, but I resolved to see Attack on Titan before every anime-loving insomniac saw it on TV. So I did. Sure it was only a few hours before the dub premiered, but I did it.

I'm usually skeptical about popular stuff. Is it popular because it's good? Or is it popular because "everyone else is doing it"? I figured that I'd watch just one episode to see what the hype was about.

I ended up watching seven.

I don't remember ever watching that many episodes in a row when starting off a series. I usually do marathons at the very end, but not really the beginning. But this time, I couldn't take my eyes off the screen.

There was something mysterious about all that disturbing imagery. Something intriguing. My brother put it nicely when he first talked about the anime to me: the titans look more like people than the actual people. I think that's the scariest thing about the anime. Scarier than the blood. And there is a LOT of blood.

Something tells me that I don't know what I'm getting into. I know it's only twenty-something episodes, but with the manga being such a huge hit, there's bound to be an Attack on Titan 2, and maybe even a third installment (don't quote me on that, though). I guess nowadays they're doing anime in periodic, bite-sized pieces so as to avoid filler.

I HOPE that the Attack on Titan manga doesn't continue for 15 years and wear out its welcome. Then who knows what will become of the anime? Will it end with a "false" ending? Will it be abandoned altogether? I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it-- and IF we come to it.

Another reason as to why I was hesitant to watch Attack on Titan was paranoia-- the fear of getting hooked. It's not the "becoming a fan" part that gets to me. It's just that I don't know how long the series will be. And judging by all the adoring fans who want MORE and want it NOW, Attack on Titan will be sticking around for awhile. I don't want to devote a decade of my life to it. But who knows? I just might.

Your Anime Collection

I'm a big fan of Hulu. They can satisfy a lot of my anime "needs". A lot, but not all.

If it's not on Hulu, I turn to the library. The downside to using the library is that, well, it's a library. People have already handled these DVDs, and they didn't handle them carefully. So far, three of the series that I've checked out have had scratches that made the discs skip and freeze. It's annoying, mostly because I had to pay a dollar for each set of faulty discs.

So, I'm beginning to think of starting my own anime collection. The problem is, where can a person on a budget get some good anime? I'd think Best Buy, but in a previous post, TimeChaser made a comment about how their collection has dwindled. Besides, their prices are kind of crazy. Are there any other good stores (either on land or online) that sell anime for a good price?

Anime and Manga that I Have Seen or Read

Here's a list of the anime and manga series that I have watched or read. I will divide the list into various sub-categories.

MANGA
Manga that I am currently reading:
Death Note

Manga that I intend to read:
Fushigi Yugi
Fullmetal Alchemist

ANIME
Anime that I am currently watching:
Naruto Shipuden

Anime that I have finished watching:
Death Note
Naruto
FLCL

Anime that I started watching some time ago but intend to finish:
Azumanga Daioh
Inuyasha
Sailor Moon

Anime that I have seen bits and pieces of and intend to watch episodes in order:
Trigun
Cowboy Bebop
Robotech
Tenchi Muyo
Yu Yu Hakusho
Ruroni Kenshin

Anime that I have seen bits and pieces of and don't intend to pursue anymore:
Dragonball
Dragonball Z
Cardcaptor Sakura (AKA Cardcaptors)
Pokemon
Hamtaro
Digimon
Voltron

Anime that I want to watch:
Fullmetal Alchemist
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
Inuyasha: The Final Act (I forgot what the Japanese title is.)
Hetalia
Trinity Blood
Wolf's Rain
One Piece
Samurai Champloo

(I know that there are more out there that I've seen an episode or two of and/or want to see, but I just can't remember the names.)

Movies that I have seen:
Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away

Movies that I want to see:
Paprika
Metropolis

Looking over my list, I see how anime/manga-illiterate I am. Most of the series that I have seen and want to see are pretty mainstream. And of course, the ones I want to see outnumber the ones I have seen. Boy, I've got a lot of work to do.