h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

At least it made for a change of pace for a while, though!

The newest anime I'm following is xxxHolic. Definitely a change of pace.

It's a name I've heard but know nothing about. Care to spill a bit of blurb?

On an interesting note, my boyfriend and I ended up talking at length about what else but Digimon today! Amazing how topics come up, hey?

The basic premise of xxxHolic is that Watanuki has the ability to see spirits. Of course, by "spirits" we mean the Japanese concept of magical beings that live in another layer of reality. Think Spirited Away. He makes a deal with the witch Yuko to remove this ability, but he has to pay for this wish first by working at her shop.

So after school he works as her housekeeper and servant. People come to get their wishes granted, and he tries to help. He's also trying to win the love of the girl of his dream, and deal with his classmate and coworker Domeki. Whereas Watanuki attracts spirits, Domeki dispels them. And where Watanuki wears his heart on his sleeve and is quick to temper, Domeki is calm and deadpan at all times.

Besides the comedy of conflicting personalities there's also a great deal of drama. Many customers aren't really ready to pay the cost required to get rid of their addiction (the x's in the title are a placeholder for the various addictions). Others are led to the store unaware of how much damage said addiction is causing. Watanuki makes both friends and enemies in the spirit world, many of which reappear. And so forth.

That sounds pretty cool (sorry I haven't been around again; things have been busier than anticipated). Hope you had a good Christmas/holiday season!

I never begrudge Real Life interfering with online life; that's the way it should be. I just want people to come back eventually.

Like this, I take!

Again, it's been a busy time; I've been laptopless for over three weeks, and I've been job-hunting and the like. Now I'm keeping house, so it's absolutely manic!

I really need to find the time to watch/read more stuff, but it just doesn't happen!

Yeah, we're getting so old!

Sorry for the late reply; BBC certainly didn't make it easy for me to log into my account again!

I've probably talked to you online for longer than any other person I know; it's certainly been a fair few years now!

Nine years this May. That's probably a record for me, too.

That's awesome, really, when you think about it! I know we've had some huge hiatuses before (some spanning several months), but the fact that we can keep coming back to this conversation and chatting is a great feat, I think!

If you'd like some exposure to anime shows you might not have known about, may I recommend JesuOtaku's reviews? She's shown some shows that I never even knew existed. You can find her on YouTube, amongst other places.

Still here. Maintain radio contact, over and out.

Tag, you're it.

I'm starting to worry now...

I can't even begin to apologise for my lack of presence. Life has been, shall we say, extremely manic this year.

Are you still around? Should we perhaps migrate our conversing to email or something? I don't know what to suggest, but I will endeavour to not be so awful at replying any more!

I'm around. I check in at least once a month if your replies aren't more frequent. My life is in limbo at the moment, so apparently I don't have anything better to do.

The most active forum I'm a member of is over at tvtropes.org. There are plenty of people to talk to about any number of subjects. And thankfully they don't need an e-mail address either, only a password and cookies enabled.

Good to see you're still around, although sorry to hear about the limbo life (although I tell you right now I'd love that at the moment!).

I never really visit TVTropes, but may try it there sometime. But I will definitely resolve to try to get here more often and not let life get in the way.

Asides from limbo, how have things been?

Oh, the usual. Trying to figure out the next step in my life while I keep half a dozen online projects juggled in the air.

If we're talking stuff a bit more personal, I'm just enjoying the downtime while it's free of romantic distractions. I've been a bit unlucky in love and it's nice to not be interested in anyone for a change.

Oh, I know that feeling. I'm currently settled in a job and all, but never any harm in moving on forward.

I think it's nice to have some romance-free downtime (although sorry to hear you've been down on your luck in that department) - I'm currently in a relationship, but the freedom isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'd take advantage of it while you can!