Ao no Hako:

Tonikaku Kawaii recommended people read the Ao no Hako manga, so I gave it a try, respecting Hata Kenjirou's opinion.  It turned out to be a mesmerizing read, in two days I read everything available and am now waiting for the next chapter like everyone else.  Imagine the plot of I"s except instead of having to fight a stalker over and over again the hero has to win at badminton instead.  That's about the only difference.

The Itsuki clone, Hina, is a childhood friend who likes him all along.  The Iori clone, Chinatsu, is a star basketball player who isn't clear about whether she likes Taiki (the protagonist) no matter how many times they interact (even living together isn't enough).  Taiki has to choose between these two prospects, and just like in I"s he goes with the hazy prospect over the sure thing.  Of course, I preferred Hina, she's the third best rhythmic gymnast in Japan, the daughter of an Olympic gymnast, with the looks and grace you'd expect that goes along with that package.  She's obviously the better girl, she likes you more, and you get along better.  It's a slam dunk.  But there's less drama in that so the mangaka has to go with the 'will she or won't she' girl to keep up suspense.  Stories suffer from needs like that, making everyone take bad decisions to keep the story going.  Is Ao no Hako a great manga?  I don't know, I think it depends on what happens in the future.  I don't know how long this love story plans on lasting, or whether it will have hundreds of unnecessary chapters about the next sports tournament with love taking a back seat.  There are lots of ways the story can develop, not all of them positive.  If it is a great manga, it would replace Hunter x Hunter, which is getting on my nerves with its continuous commitment to making the story larger and more complex all while the author is too unhealthy to write more than a few chapters a year.  Any sane person would be trying to quickly wrap up all the loose ends, seeing as how they can't write a long story anymore.  But instead he's determined to make the situation ever-more-strung-out.

I'd rather replace Hunter x Hunter with Datenshi Ron but it only has a few chapters so far and isn't ready for the big leagues either.  *sigh*

America should have won its game against Wales but a stupid defender, for no reason at all, slide tackled a Wales striker from behind in the penalty box.  The guy was pointed away from goal, there were five other defenders inbetween him and goal, he was no threat at all, and out of sheer generalized brutishness the defender decided to take him out anyway.  It's one of the stupidest plays I've ever seen in soccer history.  So a win that was in the bag became a tie.  With Wales.  A province, not even a country, tied our nation of 330 million people.  It's all so pathetic.