Hello there. Welcome to my world of Random Thoughts. In this world I’ll be posting stuff about anime and manga. Not to mention various other topics. I may post the occasional music video every now and than. And from time to time, I’ll just talk about my life in general. But first, here are a few things about me.

I was born an only child, for one thing. Originally I was planning to go into art professionally, but recently I’ve been more inclined towards writing. I still do the occasional wallpaper every now and then though, and I also still draw a little. But much of my energy these days goes into writing fan fiction. I’ve also recently become interested in archive and library work, which is something I’ve discovered I’m good at. Finally, like most people on the Internet, I like cats.

Favorite Anime/Manga

Yu-Gi-Oh!, Sailor Moon, Tokyo Mew Mew, Card Captor Sakura, Vampire Princess Miyu, Dragon Ball Z, Code Geass, Digimon (Adventure and Tamers), Pokemon (Misty era), Gundam SEED, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Strawberry Panic, Rideback, Full Metal Panic, Slayers, Psyren, El Cazador de la Bruja, Sword Art Online, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Yurikuma Arashi, Kill la Kill, Parasyte: The Maxim, One Punch Man, and Mob Psycho 100.

Other Anime/Manga I Like

Buso Renkin, Gurren Lagann, InuYasha, Kannazuki no Miko, Shattered Angels, Bleach, Naruto, Durarara!!, Spice and Wolf, This Ugly Yet Beautiful World, Dragonaut: The Resonance, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, Trinity Blood, Blue Gender, Eden of the East, Last Exile, Soul Eater, Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040, Space Dandy, Black Lagoon, Citrus, Riddle Story of Devil, and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

Favorite TV Shows

Original Star Trek, Star Trek the Next Generation, Star Trek Deep Space 9, Star Trek Voyager, Magnum P.I., Numbers, Shark, The Simpsons, The West Wing, Hawaii Five-O (Remake), NCIS, NCIS Los Angeles, NCIS New Orleans, Blue Bloods, Doctor Who, Red Dwarf, Leverage, The Mentalist, Elementary, MASH, Bones, The Red Green Show, Almost Human, Rizzoli & Isles, Supergirl, and Sherlock.

Other TV Shows I Like

Murder She Wrote, Simon & Simon, Adventure Time, Regular Show, Steven Universe, Powerpuff Girls, The Closer, Major Crimes, Columbo, Matlock, Futurama, JAG, The Rockford Files, Unforgettable, Emergency, Mysteries at the Museum, Castle, Covert Affairs, Alias, Due South, Nash Bridges, Body of Proof, Longmire, The Flash, Arrow, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, It Takes a Thief, Frasier, Home Improvement, and Last Man Standing.

Favorite Movies

Summer Wars, Short Circuit, The Abyss, The Karate Kid, The Karate Kid Part II, Tron, Tron: Legacy, Highlander, The Ghost and the Darkness, Dark Shadows, Ghostbusters, Twister, Apollo 13, Alien, Aliens, Predator, Predator 2, The Martian, Rocky (1-3), Creed, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Iron Man (1-3), Original Star Wars Trilogy, Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens, Star Trek (The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock, The Voyage Home, The Undiscovered Country), Star Trek Next Generation (First Contact, Insurrection, Nemesis), and the Star Trek Reboot Films (Star Trek, Into Darkness).

Favorite Musical Groups/Artists

Phil Collins (and Genesis), Journey, Styx, Boston, Queen, Heart, Meat Loaf, Billy Joel, John Denver, Survivor, Chicago (and Peter Cetera), and Josh Groban.

In addition to being a fairly good wallpaper artist, I'm also a fan fiction writer who's written quite a few stories on FanFiction.Net. To check those stories out, CLICK HERE

That’s pretty much all you need to know about me. I'm not sure how often I'll post something here, but I'll try to as often as I can. In the meantime, I hope you all enjoy visiting.

Fall/Winter Manga Reading List

Well, once again September has come, which means Fall is more or less upon us. Fall is perhaps my favorite time of the year, and winter is probably my second favorite. Around this time of year, I have a list of manga that I like to read. Over the years, that list has changed a little, and I thought it would be fun to share what that list is.

September 3-11

• Buso Renkin Vol. 1-10

September 16-22

• Yu-Gi-Oh! Vol. 1-7

September 23-30

• Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist Vol. 1-8

October 1-16

• Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist Vol. 9-24

October 17-23

• Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium World Vol. 1-7

October 25-29

• Yu-Gi-Oh! R Vol. 1-5

October 30-31

• Vampire Princess Miyu Vol. 1-2

November 1-7

• Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Vol. 1-7

November 23-29

• Tokyo Mew Mew Vol. 1-7

November 30th

• Tokyo Mew Mew a la Mode Vol. 1

December 1st

• Tokyo Mew Mew a la Mode Vol. 2

So that's the reading list as it is this year. It'll most likely change next year. For one thing there'll probably be another volume of GX or two on it. I'll also probably add another series or two to the list. It'll probably either be the 5D's manga, or the Sailor V and Sailor Moon manga, which starts coming out this month. On that note, I also traditionally watch the one season of the Sailor Moon anime that I have on DVD at this time of year. I actually should've started watching that a couple of weeks ago, but I was so obsessed with finishing a fanfic that I was writing it totally slipped my mind. Anyway, that's my reading list for this Fall. Thanks for reading.

Attention Readers!

Those of you who've been reading my Yu-Gi-Oh! GX/Strawberry Panic crossover fanfic, Strawberry Crisis, will be happy to know that it's now finished. The final chapter and epilogue have already been posted. This story probably isn't my best work, but it's a story that I've had a lot of fun writing. In fact I became a little obsessed with finishing it the last month. I may actually go back and edit a few parts of it, but go ahead and read the whole thing now, if you haven't already started.

In the meantime I'm planing a sequel to Strawberry Crisis, which I might start here in the next couple of months. I just need to work out a few of the details. I also want to try posting some more stuff in my Yu-Gi-Oh! Workshop world. Aside from updating a few of my older posts, I've pretty much neglected that world for a few months. Anyway, thanks for reading.

~Darkarax

Shockwave Approaching

This post is for all of you here at TheO who play the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game. Next month, those of us here in North America will be getting Generation Force next month. Meanwhile, the people over in Japan have already gotten the set to come after Generation Force, Photon Shockwave. So, I thought that I'd do as I've done a couple of times before, and share my initial first impression of the set.

This biggest card in Photon Shockwave is probably the set's cover card, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon. In terms of artwork, Galaxy-Eyes is probably one of the most dazzling cards I've ever seen in the game. Effect wise, this card is the first anti-Xyz monster. Of course, Galaxy-Eyes Photon Dragon isn't alone in the "Photon" archetype. There are other Photon monsters as well, along with a few related Light attribute monsters and support cards. I'll probably cover these cards more in my Yu-Gi-Oh! Workshop world at some point.

Also in Photon Shockwave are a new group of Reptile, Dinosaur, and Dragon type monsters that have two things in common. They're all of the Fire attribute, and they all revolve around the theme of evolution. Like how a lizard becomes a dinosaur, and how a dinosaur becomes a dragon, and so on. There are also some new cards for Normal monster decks. A few of which might work in Gemini decks. For some reason, most of these new Normal monster support cards are Rabbits. Why, I don't know.

Photon Shockwave also continues some of what Generation Force started. There are still more cards for Fish decks, and the new Wind-Up archetype gets some new stuff as well. As expected, there are a good number of cards from the ZEXAL anime, the previously mentioned Fish and Photon cards being a part of that group. Other members of that group include cards used by ZEXAL's hero, Yuma, and a few more of the "Number" Xyz monsters. Getting to the bottom of the barrel, Psychic, Watt, Naturia, Ice Barrier, and Spirit monster decks all get at least one new card. Finally, there's the assortment of random cards that's usually found in every booster set.

In conclusion, while Photon Shockwave continues where Generation Force left off, it provides some new and interesting stuff as well. In my opinion, I think that while Photon Shockwave is kind of a set for beginners, there's plenty of stuff to attract experienced players too. Photon Shockwave will be available November 15th.

Special Invite

Attention all fans of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game here on TheO. This Saturday I'll be dueling my friend Amestar in TheO's chat room. This is something that we've been doing for the past few months. If anyone wishes to join us, please PM me and I'll give you the password to the room, which will be opened up at about noon. If anyone wishes only to be a spectator, that's fine. If anyone has any questions, please leave them her on this post in a comment, or feel free to send me a PM.

~Darkarax

And the Winners Are...

Well, my wallpaper challenge, League of Heroes, has finally come to an end. I'm a little disappointed that only six people entered, but it's better than nothing. Anyway, I judged the winners by how interesting the teams were and how interesting the name was. Here are the winners.

1st Place: The Masterminds by 7deadlyhomunculi

2nd Place: Guardians7 by kita mikichi

3rd Place: Justice League of Anime by Knight Edge

There's also an honorable mention for this challenge. This person made a wallpaper that I really liked, but it wasn't exactly what I was looking for. Still, I decided to send this person a gift for entering anyway.

Honorable Mention: For the Earth by mewnicole

As a raging fan of both Sailor Moon and Tokyo Mew Mew, I couldn't help but like this wallpaper. Plus she tried really hard to make it. Well, I'd like to thank everyone who entered, and I hope you'll all consider entering my next challenge.

~Darkarax