Hugo Poll

Love him or hate him, Hugo is an interesting character.  Is he Ayato's friend, enemy, or both?  Seriously, what IS his deal?  Personally, I think he's there on a specific mission, but I don't think things are going as planned -- though, I admit I have no idea what his mission is.  I think Hugo is getting a little side-track because, regardless of the Magnolia smell, he likes Ayato.

I look forward to the development of Hugo's character.  Will someone eventually take him down a couple of notches?  Will Ayato eventually wrap him around his/her finger?  Or will he be a damned-dirty-dog forever?

What do you think?  Take the poll in the right hand column.  If you want to rant positively or negatively, please leave a comment.  Go all out!  Let's talk about Hugo :).

Torn About AnS from the Magazine

Update: Thanks to everyone who thoughtfully responded right away.  Your love of AnS is clear and I hear it.  I think the majority of you understand the difficulty of working with a bad raw and that we as a group don't want to do mediocre releases if there's an alternative.  So...here's what we're going to do:

• Chapter 28 will be released as scheduled in December
• In place of releasing a mediocre Chapter 29 in January, we will release the extras from Volume 6.
• Chapter 29 will be done from the tankoubon as soon as we get it.  My hope is that it will be released sometime in February.
• Chapter 30 and beyond we will consider month to month.  Hopefully, at least chapters 30 and 31 will be printed in the nice section of Lala so there won't be much of a gap.  I will do the translation along with the Lala releases and post summaries for those who want to be spoiled. 

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Update:  Just to clarify, chapter 28 is coming out in December.  Chapter 29 is one I'm talking about.  It was planned for January.  We are going to move it to February so we can use a high quality raw.  My concern is what happens if the volume 8 chapters in Lala are crappy.  This could lead to a 4 month gap if we only use the tankoubon.

I just got Lala 1/2012 today and "Akagami no Shirayukihime" was printed in the crappy section of the magazine.  The image quality is not what I would like it to be.  Consquently, the resulting release would looks very different from the quality all of you and I are not used to.
It is my preference to work from a nice raw because Akiduki's drawings are gorgeous and deserve to be showcased.  At the same time, I realize that the team and I have volunteered to serve more than just ourselves.  I imagine there are those of you for whom legible is good enough.  So the question is whether we as a group put the time and effort into cleaning and redrawing what would be a medium quality (at best) release or do we wait for the tankoubon and do high quality releases?  My feeling is now that AnS is monthly the tankoubon will be released every five or six months and volume 7 will be released in February 2012.  We would release chapter 28 in December as planned and then go from the tankoubon after.  If we work from the magazine, we will not go back and redo it from the tankoubon, so whatever crap comes out of Lala magazine is what you would get.
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Update:  I think skipping a release in January isn't a big deal.  The real problem comes after Chapter 30 if they continue to print the series in the crappy part of the magazine.  We'd have to wait until the 8th volume to continue which could potentially be in the late summer :(.  I think, though, chapter 3/29 is too important to do a poor job on.  I'm really baffled as to why such an important chapter was printed so poorly.

Anyhow, I want to know how you all feel about it.  Please leave a comment with your thoughts and suggestions.  I will also put up a poll in the right side column of this blog.

Favorite New Series Poll Results and "Pika Ichi"

Here are the results of the poll about what your favorite new series is:

Magnolia 28% (87 votes)
Pika Ichi 26% (80 votes)
Junketsu + Vampire 46% (145 votes)

I'm not surprised that "J+K" won by a wide margin. However, I am surprised at how closely "Magnolia" and "Pika Ichi" are.  The main reason I put out this poll was to gauge "Pika Ichi."  I felt the first two chapters were great, but I was greatly let down by the third chapter and I see a very mediocre and predicable path ahead for the series.  My mentality always seeks what's optimum, so if it's not working for me and the other group members, and, I see a better opportunity, I'm inclined to go for for new opportunity.  And so the question for me is whether to continue along with "Pika Ichi" or take a chance on another series?  I do have another series in mind and it's one with more action and intrigue.  At the same time, though, I hate to subject the readers of this blog to my whims.  The ideal solution would be for us to pass "Pika Ichi" off to another group who feels passionately about the series.  If you belong to or know of another group that would like take over "Pika Ichi" please contact me via the "Contact" link at the top of this blog.  In the mean time, we will continue "Pika Ichi," but the release schedule will not be as regular.

Poll Results: Will Haruhi Study Abroad?

A total of 180 votes were cast.

People who predict Haruhi will study abroad: 133 votes (74%)
People who predict Haruhi will not study abroad:  47 votes (26%)

Hopefully we'll find out the answer in chapter 82.

Thank you to everyone who participated.

Poll Results: Joshua's Punishment

• 21 Sack Beatings
• 17 Sack Full of Nickels Beatings
• 13 Hugs
• 26 Convenient Disney Deaths

I'm actually quite surprised by the number of people with sympathy for Joshua.  Well...I guess we'll see what will become of Joshua in a chapter or two.  I still maintain that he will be sacrificed.

On the matter of "Zettai Heiwa Daisakusen," I did read that chapter 17 was the climax of the story.  I suppose this means the series is ending soon.  I don't know how many chapters are left, but chapter 18 or 19 will be the end of the fourth volume.

Poll: Kimi ni XOXO or Orange Chocolate Chp 13 First?

Update 5/26 -- It's abundantly clear that most of you want OC 13 first.  Your wish is my command :)
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Please take the quick poll if you care and help me decide what to work on next.

New Poll: Ukon or Sakon?

Top Right Corner!  Go take it!  If you want to elaborate on your choice, please leave a comment to this post.