As you may have noticed, BBI updates have been few and far between this month. I am not at all well at the moment, having just come out of hospital yesterday after recovering from surgery last week. Hopefully things will improve, but don't expect any major BBI updates until the new year.

Thanks to those who sent emails of support. I'm afraid I couldn't read them at the time, but they were a nice surprise when I checked my mail this morning.

Finally, happy holidays to all!

December is finally here and Christmas isn't too far around the corner... for several religious denominations at least, although mainly those from the Church of Rabid Last-Minute Shopping. Many of you reading this site who do the whole present buying/giving thing (I tend to do as little as possible since I am cheap) probably have friends who share an interest in Japanese games, manga and animation. One question you might be asking yourself is "what do I buy an Otaku for Christmas?" It's a good question and not an easy one to answer. Otaku (which I will use here to represent fans of Japanese game/manga/anime culture) are a notoriously fickle folk. They often have quite selective likes and dislikes. Buy them the wrong thing and it will surely end up in the bring and buy at the next con. And when you find something they might like, chances are they already have it. Thankfully, you don't have to worry anymore. I've done all of the hard work for you and located a gift that should be suitable for just about anyone with an Otaku streak. Presenting the BBI Osusume Christmas gift of 2003:

Moeru Eitango Moetan was a bizarre joint endeavour by Sansai Books and the doujin circle ElectromagneticWave. The premise - to create a series involving a cute, "moe" girl (the "moest of lovely teacher on the planet", apparently) to teach readers English words and phrases. The project's main product, the Moeru Eitango Moetan Wordbook (Amazon) was finally released a couple of weeks ago. However, this is no ordinary phrase book.

The promotional text on the front cover reads: "The WORDBOOK you've waited for! A revolution in english studying! 1000 most frequently used words and phrases!! Buy now, Falling Love with Ink-chan, and GET IN to college!!" Ink-chan is Ink Nijihara, the cute girl with the light orange-red hair in the picture on the left, your guide to one of the most wacky language learning books ever produced. Spread across its 228 full colour pages are some of the strangest phrases you're never likely to hear. The website provides a few sample pages (1) (2) (3) so that you can get an idea regarding the content of the book. Example phrases include "Dahhhhhhh! Don't launch lots of expensive missiles too quickly" and the ever useful "I met my brother after all this time. He had forgotten his purpose to destroy the earth."

Don't be put off by the fact that it is oriented towards Japanese learners of English. It is arguably just as useful/useless to learners of Japanese. ^^; Of course, this isn't supposed to be a serious educational reference book; it's just a big excuse for a lot of fun, which is something it achieves quite admirably. If you can't think of anything else for your Otaku friend this Christmas, you could do a lot worse than Moetan.

A quick bit of Koge Donbo news now. Volume 2 of Kami-chama Karin goes on sale today, exactly 3 months after the first. I haven't got my copy yet so I don't know if it will have the nice plastic cover that volume 1 had.

I've been spending a bit of time this week on Tenerezza, my current offline RPG (FFIX and Summon Night Craft Sword Monogatari have both taken a back seat until I have finished Tene). I think I'm in a "cute action RPG" mood at the moment. Playing Tene reminded me that I wouldn't mind replaying Dewprism - I borrowed it from a friend but never finished it. I'll have to pick up the game the next time I see it. I also need to get PuyoPuyo Tsu (2) PSX, the game I believe to be the best version of Puyo Puyo Compile ever created. I will dig out my copy of PuyoBox later to temporarily quash my Puyo cravings, but it's just not the same as Tsu. BAYOEN!~~~ ^_^

I am back! For the last week and a bit, I have been enjoying a whole new world of pain, brought on by a combination of viral infections and a Subway HIGH-DEX Sandwich of Doom. My temperature is now back to a reasonable level and the pain is but a distant throbbing so I am once again able to subject you to my annoying waffling.

I seem to have missed out on quite a lot while I was away. I could have bored you with endless commentary on what I think about the new Final Fantasy titles (FFXII, Advent Children, and any other FF games/movies Square-Enix announced when my back was turned). I could have rambled on about human stupidity in this modern era of rules and regulations, citing countless examples. But I'm not that evil. Instead, I'll ramble randomly around several topics as I usually do and wrap it all up in a post with some pretty pictures.

Anyone with an interest in Japanese PC games and doujin culture must surely have noticed by now that it's that time again. Yes, another Comiket (C65 - Dec 28th to 30th) is looming large on the horizon. Creators' websites are either being rapidly updated with last minute info on new doujin products or participating in the Big Shutdown - that strange phenomenon surrounding Comiket where hundreds of websites shut down during the month of the convention. VisualArts are doing their usual Comiket promo packages, so if you want your limited edition Gakuen Heaven ~Boys Love Scramble~ or Clannad CDs, calendars or telephone cards (Key once again making up for their lack of a game by selling us more merchandise), head over to Tokyo now. Or search around on Ebay afterwards.

Hoihoi-san was released while I was away - I intended to have a Hoihoi-san awareness day by splashing cute Hoihoi-san images about the site, but one vicious meatball sandwich put pay to that. Leaf are now shipping the new, improved DVD version of Routes. Utawarerumono DVD is still on schedule for a release on Friday the 12th.

Following the release of IO's Tenshi no Kakera, illustrated by Takamichi, IO are releasing the Kakera Fan Disc on Dec 28th to coincide with Comiket 65. The disc features material relating to Tenshi no Kakera and the earlier Mizu no Kakera including short stories, illustrations, music, minigames and the usual desktop accessories pack.