Azure Flame Reloaded

In a coincidence that has been several weeks in the planning, Karura has managed to roll two events into one- for not only is the one thousandth post to appear on Azure Flame, but it also marks exactly two years since that fated day when Azure Flame came into being. Since that time, thousands of words of mockery, praise and criticism have been written, hundreds of hours of anime have been watched, many people have come by to comment, and despite flirting with burnout in the winter months, Karura recovered to blog once again. I’m not sure how much time I’ll have to keep it up once my PhD course starts in October, but I’ll try my utmost to make sure this place only dies when there’s nothing more to say.

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Still stuck for something to watch? Then let Azure Flame once again guide you to the best of the best, the cream of the crop in the world of anime.

Hello Kitty and Friends
Many have written off Hello Kitty as a kids’ show, but there is so much more to it than that. In animated form, Hello Kitty is a delightful slice-of-life tale, following the daily lives of Kitty and her sister Mimmy as they discover the world around them. Second only to Aria in terms of quality and tranquillity, Hello Kitty is a must-see series for anyone who wants to enjoy a quieter pace of life.

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Ah, Valentine’s Day- that period when smug couples exchange material goods whilst depressed singles either jealously dream of the day when someone will give them red roses or pretend not to notice and care. As perhaps one of the cruellest celebrations after Christmas (that time when a jolly old fatso breaks into children’s bedrooms), Valentine’s Day could surely not help but appeal to the sadistic minds at Azure Flame; so whilst Karura nips out to steal chocolates from oblivious lovers, those of you with nothing better to do can stay in and read about anime’s contribution to the world of romance. Continue Reading »

For everyone who has been in turmoil since Saturday due to their lack of Azure Flame fix, I bring you the salvaged form of my blog, kindly moved by Randall Fitzgerald after the tragic loss of ikimashou.net. This move will, of course, have broken all links coming into this blog, so if all you kind people could update your blogrolls (including those of you who still link to wordpress, slackers), it would help ease the pain of this difficult time. In the meantime, I will continue to post here as normal and we”ll see what the future brings with regards to domains.

The one named Karura arrived on this planet, and the world was changed forever- for little did anyone know that it was her destiny to wield the legendary sword and free the populace from the tyranny of the evil Dark Lord, whose sole purpose was to destroy the world.  Okay, so that part may not be strictly accurate, but let us join in the celebration of the inevitable process of aging, and admire the lovely picture created by Necromancer (dancing fanatics will note that the hold is reversed, but don’t be picky). Any gifts you might wish to send are welcomed, and indeed encouraged…my fat cat heavies will be round to collect them shortly.

A riot broke out outside Azure Towers over the weekend when it became apparent to readers that commander in chief Karura was not in the building. Ignoring the sounds of Lui rattling his chains in the basement and the judges hitting each other over the head with their scoring paddles, chibi Dii and Mikoto went on a bold journey to find out what had happened to their mistress, only to discover that she had been laid low all weekend by an illness that reduced both HP and MP to a measly 1. Continue Reading »

For reasons best known to myself, I have gone ahead and changed theme from my beloved MistyLook to Seashore, but whereas for some people that would be enough, I just have to go one further- for this reason, I will be creating an unholy fusion of the two themes that will hopefully combine the best of both of them. Unfortunately, until such time as that is mastered, the blog will be passing through various phases of hideous brokenness- please do not be alarmed by any horrors you see on here in the meantime.

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In the summer of 2006, the blogging bandwagon was rolling along at full steam, and one particularly dull and boring Friday afternoon, the person who was to come be know as Karura decide to venture over to Wordpress and start her own blog. It was an idea that had been considered and discarded many times over the months, but now it could be put off no longer. Ginga Densetsu Weed was being subbed and desperately needed parody, .hack//Roots had just become deathly boring and demanded enlivening in some fashion, and in general various thoughts and opinions just had to be inflicted on the world in general.

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So, after months of being on Wordpress, I’ve taken up Randall Fitzgerald’s offer of free hosting on ikimashou.net. What does this mean for you, the reader? Well, the original Wordpress blog will stay where it is, and I’ll still reply to any comments that appear on there, but from now on all new content will be posted on http://azureflame.ikimashou.net, so please update all links and bookmarks. As I’m sure you’ll notice, the sidebar on the new blog isn’t ready yet, but I’ll be tinkering with it soon, and for now the Episode Guides section is down since Wordpress imported what were meant to be sub-pages as posts. So just be patient, and everything will be back to normal soon, with a new theme, new banner and the long-awaited poll function, among other things.

In case anyone is wondering, my non-anime blog, the creatively entitled Azure Flame B-Side, will be continuing on Wordpress as normal.

Ages ago, I had this great idea of reviewing various Christmas related episodes for today (think the Love Hina Xmas Special et al), but when it came down to it, not only did I have no time left, but I couldn’t remember most of those episodes particularly well. So instead, you will have to enjoy this festive low-content Christmas collection of seasonal anime screencaps. Click on the ‘more’ link and let the pointlessness begin! Continue Reading »