"Ouran High School Host Club" ep 10

In this episode, Honey-sempai is kidnapped by the newspaper club who is about to "out" Tamaki's family status.  Wrestlers appear as the henchmen and they periodically do unsettling exercises. Honey kicks ass with his major judo abilities.  Tamaki's family situation as the unwanted illegitimate grandson is explained.  Honey and Mori's curious relationship is explained.  Kyouya's lot as the the third son of his magnate family is shown.  We get to see Tamaki recruit a rather deep-voiced and serious Honey with cake, a bunny puppet, and some words of wisdom.  Mori meets one of his fans and gets some screen time and lines.  Tamaki's grandmother gives Tamaki an order.  Haruhi learns about Tamaki's resilience.  The episode ends with a shocking revelation...what is going to happen to the host club?  A fun episode that reveals more details of the lives of the club members.

My new Galaxy S WiFi 5.0

Came home from work, and my new toy was sitting in my mailbox.  Basically, it's a slightly bigger iPod touch that runs Android.  All I need is a screen protector!  The pic above compares the new toy to my trusty iPod touch 3G.  Why don't I just get an iPhone?

"Squid Girl" season 2

Ika-chan in "Shinrakyu! Ika Musume" is back for a second season.  It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I really enjoy the silly humor of the show.  It's streaming on Crunchyroll.  I give props to the translator who has to interpret the humor into a non-Japanese, but still funny, way.  All the characters are back, including the Squid Girls' stalker, Goro the lifeguard with the six pack, and the 3 stooge-scientists.  Squid Girl is always trying to invade earth, but gets sidetracked by her part time job at the beach restaurant.  If only she had some free time...we'd all be in trouble, right?

"The Musical"

The Korean drama that has appeared in my "queue" of current shows is "The Musical."  So far I've seen the first three episodes on Dramafever (yay! for their simulcasting of current shows).  Koo Hye Sun (from "Boys Over Flowers") plays Go Eun Bi, a med school student who is more interested in musicals than medicine.  A chance encounter with a critical musical composer Hong Jae Yi (played by Daniel Choi) motivates her to drop out to become a musical actress.  After a year of failure (and lying to her father) she meets Jae Yi again.  This time Jae Yi is motivated to return to composing musicals after a bad breakup with a famous actress.  Love triangles and quite a bit of singing ensue.  I like the chemistry of the main couple.  Hope this turns out to be a good one. 

"Ouran High School Host Club" ep 9

This is not inconspicuous.

Nekozawa looking chipper.

Tamaki saving Haruhi from thunder?!

The club follows Haruhi to her summer job in a resort town.  Kaoru sets up Hikaru on a "date" with Haruhi to teach him how to think of other people besides himself.  Hikaru ditches Haruhi out of jealousy and Tamaki saves the day.  Highlights: The strange fashions the club wears while stalking the dating couple, especially Honey's loli outfit.  Kyouya and Honey "flirting."  Nekozawa (and his puppet) in resort wear.  An especially corny episode (hard to believe Haruhi is so afraid of thunder), but it's nice to see Haruhi expecting Tamaki to show up in emergencies.

"Ikemen desu ne" ep 10

Of course, Ren comes back to Mio after finding out the lies his mother told.  Mio is happy to reunite with him, until she finds out how much her mother suffered because of Ren's mother.  Now it's her turn to blame him for the sins of the parent.   (Huh? I know.)
Highlights:
Okinawa scenery.
Ren and Shu make up...sort of. The real Mio shows up and we see a disturbing photoshopped image. 
Mio finally finds fault with Ren and leaves him (hah.)
The president actually finds out the big secret, unlike in the kdrama.

"Ikemen desu ne" ep 9

This episode certainly has everyone's emotions on a rollercoaster ride.  Ren and Mio are actually happy together...for about 15 minutes.  They announce their new relationship to Mabuchi (who give a fantastic yelp of surprise) and Yuuki.  Yuuki is devastated and rides the bus of catharsis.  We don't get a tearful, heartbreaking song over the cell phone as in the kdrama, but Yuuki's pain is shown pretty well.  Ren's mother can't stand Mio being "with" her son.  She drops the bombshell that she was the reason Mio's parents split up.  Ren is devastated to find out his new GF is the daughter of the man that ruined his life and rejects Mio.  Shu is there to pick up the pieces.  It's kind of hard to believe Ren would dump Mio over this, but I suppose Ren is a little damaged by his childhood.

"Ikemen desu ne" ep 8

A lot of plot happens in this episode.  Highlights: 

Ren quizzes Mio on her worthiness to be a Ren Fan Club member.

Jang Geun Suk appearance!  He makes all the A.N.Jell members jealous and seems extremely tall. 

The boys make an awful spaghetti to "poison" Nana... but Yuuki ends up eating it.

Shu finally confesses his love to Mio at the airport...and you know what happens.

Ren finally confesses his love to Mio at the airport...and you know what happens.

"Ouran HIgh School Host Club" ep 8

This time we get to see Nekozawa without the hood and long hair...and he's cute! The funniest parts are when Nekozawa is training to like the light so that he can become closer to his little sister who is afraid of him.

Highlights: Kyouya sporting a police uniform and mirror shades...for some reason this cosplay is getting to me...is it hot in here? 

The chairman of the school acting Tamaki-like. 

The "No shadow!" "Yes shadow!" exchange between Tamaki and Nekozawa.

Also, do I sense Haruhi warming up to Tamaki as she learns of his family's situation?  I think so...

Looking forward to the next episode when the host club members end up working at the same summer job.

"No. 6" ends

"Ikemen desu ne" ep 7

This episode was kind of over-angsty, but finally Ren gets a clue that Mio likes him.  He gives her "permission" to like him, which I don't really like, but in the context of what is happening I guess it's not as bad as it sounds.
Highlights:
Yuuki being ecstatic/relieved when told Mio is a girl.
Ren using a pink mechanical pencil to help Mio.
Shu gets angry for a split second at Mio when she's a no show.
The president says "shit."
One of the stiffest kisses ever, but I think that's as good as we're gonna get.

"Homo ja nai!" (Remember Ikuta Toma?)

I just like the fact he's using a pink mechanical pencil.

"Ikemen desu ne" ep 6

I keep waiting for some difference in plot to show up from the kdrama, but nothing has happened since the first episode.  Highlights for me:

Ren wearing a sequined zipper hoody when taking Mio to the hospital (Hyun Bin reference?).
Nana being a pretty good villain, since I HATE her (haha).
Ren grabbing Mio's hand in his bedroom (leading to absolutely nothing.)
Yuuki continuing to be sexually confused.
All the times Ren and Shu share meaningful looks regarding Mio.

Digging the swoon catch, not the hoody.

Mio actually PUSHES HIS HAND AWAY after this.  Sigh.

"Ouran HIgh School Host Club" ep 7

I enjoyed this episode where the host club members cajole their way into Haruhi's "commoner" apartment.  We also get to meet Haruhi's cross dressing dad.  The funniest parts are when Tamaki worries over making a good first impression with Haruhi's dad and fails miserably at doing so.  I also liked seeing Haruhi try to comfort Tamaki and being nice to him for once. 

"Ouran High School Host Club" ep 6

Hikaru and Kaoru (I think)

This episode is my favorite so far.  The inseparable, identical, mischievous twins Hikaru and Kaoru start to fight after a careless remark by Haruhi.  We get to see a little bit of their past when they were not as sociable and how Tamaki recruits the duo into the host club. Plus a lot of screen time for the actors Shinpei and Manpei Takagi (Hikaru and Kaoru, respectively.)They pretty much  nail the their parts when compared to the anime. The exaggerated cartoon-like action of the series is made to best use in this episode, especially in the end.  I kind of want to re-watch the anime now.  Where is my copy...