So sorry I wasn’t able to update for this week. Was supposed to write manga reviews for Crying Freeman (this is much more graphic than its anime rendition) and Hana Kimi.

Y’see, I had been working on reviving the fanfiction archive, which has always been one of my favorite sections of this site… well, actually, it used to be part of Hentai Neko and only featured mature fics. This time around, I’ve installed security measures for those who are underage. I’ve also included new kid-friendly categories.

Just to list the new features available:

• New layout (in accordance with the Otaku Fridge’s theme for 2007)
• New categories
• Anti-bot filters
• Ability to challenge another fic author with your own fic
• Collaborations
• More editing powers for authors (you can delete undesirable reviews)
• And so much more…I get confused with the features already

Some of the sections are still being debugged (like new author registrations can’t be processed yet and the index page is rather skewed) so please bear with me.

Anyhoo, I lead you to the new fanfiction archive:
http://fiction.otakufridge.com

Sorry for the delay in updates. I am looking for a new place to stay. The current one I’m living in is so far from my work that my brain goes dry by the time I get home. (Only have time to sleep before I wake up at 4AM actually. I manage to squeeze in the anime and video games during my short breaks.) In any case, I am supposed to be working on the following titles:

• Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (game in progress)
  Notes: So many things to explore that there are times when I just get tired. The sub quests are killing me. Also, I’ve always hated those flying Medusa heads, since the very first Castlevania back in the Family Computer (NES) days.
• Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings (game in progress)
  Notes: Wonky dual screen usage. I hate the controls. It’s like the makers couldn’t decide whether to create a tactics game or an RPG. I know there have been games like these…but they have been presented on a BIGGER screen and navigation isn’t such a bitch. If you’re not careful with this one, the battle ground might turn into one big confusing mess.
• Death Note (done watching, review in progress)
  Notes: Plot holes galore! But it’s so addictive, that I couldn’t stop plopping DVDs into my player until I was done with the series.
• Hana Kimi Manga (done reading)
  Notes: Butterflies in my stomach. ‘Nuff said.
• Crying Freeman Manga (still reading)
  Notes: My gawd, this story can get hilarious sometimes. I can see now that the anime was very loyal to the manga…even the parts that have gotten waaay too ridiculous.

I’ll start writing again once I’m settled in. I’m still out hunting apartments during free days. I hope I find it before I also start taking my entrance exams for my Ph.D. Wish me luck!

I have just received a notice from the Invision Power Team that they will be increasing the rates for the forum hosting. It’s almost double the original rate that I have been paying since 2001. As I haven’t been on the Otaku Fridge Boards for quite some time, I have already begun to think of letting it go.

If anyone else has a solution, please don’t hesitate to comment on this entry. We only have until May 25. I will be downloading the database, for posterity’s sake, but since we won’t be using Invision anymore, we’ll probably have a new forum or another venue for discussion.

Until then!

Since I’m still in the middle of finishing a series, it would be quite difficult for me to come up with a fresh review this week. But I noticed that my other site contains other Japanese products ranging from snacks to cosmetics to J-Pop music. I was wondering if it would be a good idea to review my favorites like Pocari Sweat (super life saver, if you ask me!), Shu Uemura (which I already reviewed at Coolay), green tea bars (yum!), and artists like Hiraku Utada and Ayumi Hamasaki (both also covered space at Coolay).

Anyway, if it pushes through, I’d like to start with Pocari Sweat, of course. But only if you guys want to see that in here and are too lazy to visit another site for it. I am so in love with that drink, I can’t help but sing it praises.

After a whole month of beta testing, we’ve decided to close the registration process. We found out that a lot of people will try to abuse the system, which is kind of funny because spammers and dubious usernames are automatically filtered by the site anyway. From now on, only people who have been approved as Contributors will be registered into the site.

Non-contributing readers are still welcome to comment on the articles and reviews, of course. Your thoughts and ideas are always welcome. You can register on the boards, if you want to talk to other users. ^^

As for spammers, well, I still get a kick out of the attempts since I’ve seen really creative ones captured by the filter. Once in a while I approve a spam comment through, mostly because some can be quite amusing.

Oh and…I’d like to thank the spammers who attempted (and utterly failed) to fill the site with garbage. Without you, we would never have found out how adorably tough our filters are. =^.^=

When I still used to run Hentai Neko, one of the most visited sections of the site was “Hear Me Roar.” It was a section that contained all my general opinions about hentai and the fandom in general. I would get letters from various other feminists and sympathizers and I’ve corresponded with the most intelligent of them.

When I sold HN, I had to struggle with the decision of including the roars in the new Otaku Fridge. Some of the articles aren’t very relevant to what the Otaku Fridge has become, although many still explain what kind of community we’re running here and what kind of a reviewer I am. I’m keeping about four of the articles and I am archiving them, the rest…will forever remain in my hard drive. They’re a reminder of what I was when I started and what I have become now. (While I still get major goosebumps over Yuki Yoshihara’s highly romantic erotic manga, sadly, the licensed hentai materials are still predominantly male-oriented and repetitive. I’m still on the lookout for the good stuff, though…hentai or not…)

The articles I’m keeping online will now simply be…articles. I don’t roar anymore. Except, perhaps, if a particular title (hentai or otherwise) disgusts me. Life’s too short for negativities (and quarrels that stem from differences). I’m cultivating a more open-minded atmosphere, where differences in opinions shouldn’t keep the members of this community from being friends. By that, I mean, let’s all happily disagree if we are to disagree. (I’d still kick you in the nuts if you dig rape and you go anywhere near me, though.)

If you want to re-visit the articles or you’re someone new, just click on this link:
http://www.otakufridge.com/archives/category/articles

To provide you with further access to various anime, manga and video game merchandise, the Otaku Fridge now opens its stores. The link to the store has been added to the Navigation.

You can also find the store by clicking here.

I built the Otaku Fridge, my very first website, on May 18, 1997. Back then, it was a collection of mini-shrines that talked about anime, video games, music, and food by a group of Senshi cousins. It was originally called The Kitchen Raiders’ Refrigerator. The long name was inspired by the fact that my cousins and I used to hang out at Icesenshi’s house to watch anime and raid her fridges (I think it’s the reason why my aunt bought three of ‘em giant coolers). As each of us grew up and diversified so did the site, which resulted in many spin-offs. Now it’s back to what it used to be, albeit focusing entirely on love for Japanese entertainment.

My celebration of the Fridge’s 10th anniversary (yes, we’re 10 years old!) is two months late, but I’m hoping I’m not too late. As you can see, there are many changes that this site is undergoing. Namely:

Incorporation of Hentai Reviews
With Hentai Neko having been sold in early 2007, I’m putting my old and future hentai reviews into this site. Honestly, I don’t have the stomach to watch hentai anymore (it had made me fear sex…literally!) but I will try to be as broadminded as I can. The good thing about the new interface, though, is that I can cut what appears on the index page so children will be spared from having to immediately see something they’re not supposed to.

Database Driving
With Web 2.0 leaving a blazing trail, we’re already moving ahead. I just wish I had gotten off my butt back in the 90s and migrated everything into a database before it had grown into such gargantuan proportions. As of this writing, I still have over 700 titles to convert from static HTML to dynamic PHP. That’s not my priority, however. My priority is getting freshly written material up and running in minutes. My priority is making editing and posting a breeze. This is why I still kept the classic Otaku Fridge up — for those people who are looking for old material that may not have been converted yet.

User Empowerment
I’m hoping to rebuild the community within these walls so that people could comment on the articles, write reviews themselves or post news about the fandom. Of course, the official Otaku Fridge articles are still the ones posted by the Administrators, Editors and Authors but at least now, the posting process is much faster and more convenient. Screening up and coming reviewers is also much easier now.

A New Home
As most of you will know, I have a history of switching hosts for like…every two years. The reason for this is that every other host starts to slack off when it comes to support after a year or so. There was only one that didn’t slack off, mostly because I didn’t need support in the first place (everything was in their control panel, even account cancellations). I just happened to have outgrown that host’s best plan. The host that came after that (the last one I had), on the other hand, had stopped answering support questions. None of the other companies they own would acknowledge my emails, which is a shame because they just automatically charged my credit card last January. This time around, I’ve opted to go to somebody I REALLY KNOW. That somebody is someone I could bug nearly everyday, since we both work in the same place. He’s a great teacher, so amazingly geeky, and always ready to help. Thanks, Father Bob! (Take a look at his hosting plans, if you’re curious. Hehe.)

An Old Muse, A New Artist
Before I forget, I wish to shower my utmost gratitude to our very own Nib. He’s the artist behind our muse’s new look. Those who were avid fans of Hentai Neko will remember Neko-chan and that she’s based on yours truly. Why? To quote myself (December 31, 2005): “Why am I the model? Well, I am the chief writer. It would be weird to put someone else’s face on my writing, ne? I just figured that it would be nice to have the webmistress’ icon watch over the site. =^.^=” Since HN has been sold, Neko-chan is now donning more conservative clothes…and I very much want to cover up that cleavage. If it weren’t blasphemous to the gorgeous artwork, that is. Anyway, Nib and I are now planning for the next few poses, which would have her wearing clothes that I actually wear in real life. (The purple booby-buster currently displayed on our masthead is something you can only make me wear when I’m dead drunk and unconscious. Fat chance of that happening. Hehe.)

I’m sorry that it took this long. I was finishing my master’s (graduated last May 2007) while juggling various responsibilities, but I intend to finish the main kinks from the Otaku Fridge before I embark on a new journey towards a doctorate degree. I remember that I was a college student when I first began the Fridge, and it’s been there when I got my first paycheck, when I shifted careers from a packaging company’s account officer to a web developer to a virtual marketing consultant to a voice actress to a digital ink-and-painter to a game developer to an information architect to a lecturer… It was my therapy for troubled times and has helped me help other people. These last ten years have been the best so far.

I hope you enjoy the transition as much as I did working on it.

This article was part of the “Hear Me Roar” section of the old Hentai Neko and is one of those that are deemed still relevant in today’s version of the Otaku Fridge.
–

Happy New Year!!!

I don’t usually write Christmas or New Year roars, but 2005 was special. All my sites in the network (The Otaku Fridge, Hentai Neko, The OF Boards) have been extremely blessed. Actually, I had been extremely blessed. 2004 and 2005 have been tumultuous, transitional years for me. Undergoing life-altering events led me to re-evaluate my attitude towards life in general, bringing it to more positive heights. I hope this has been noticeable in the many changes that the network — which covers both the Otaku Fridge and Hentai Neko — had also undergone.

While I had constantly harped about women being abused in hentai animation in the past, I have come to realize that we females have an extraordinary power. We have the tendency to stand up straight after a depressing fall and aggressively chase after what we want. All this while keeping our hearts intact. (Actually, some may even be manipulative as they go about it, but only women can do so with such flair.) These traits had me exploring various partnerships for the network, just to get my mind off the more personal stuff, and have since reaped great rewards.

One of the rewards is access to a gold mine of female smut. Finally! After all these years of searching for non-disgusting “couple-friendly” hentai, I have found what I was looking for. It’s only a matter of working to get these beauties licensed for the English-speaking market now. The same scenario happened for a few new artists, writers and companies who have approached me so that I could help them start out. It felt like such a great honor, to be asked about pursuits that I never really considered myself an expert in.

Another reward came from my being less strict towards contributing writers, adapting a mentorship role that have helped them gain recognition from some magazines and other popular sites. The load here even became easier as I had managed to find a couple of willing editors to help the writers work out the kinks. I never realized that being nice and that knowing you have helped people achieve their dreams would feel so good! In fact, I felt so good that I resigned from my post as a game developer and became a college professor instead (while still doing virtual marketing consultancy, taking up my masters, and voice acting for animated features on the side)!

Anyway, one of 2005’s blessings is an artist by the name of Niccolo Salonga, whom I met through a friend, ironically also named Niccolo. I commissioned him to do a 12-month Hentai Neko set of artworks. The mascot, Hentai Neko, is based on your not-so-humble webmistress, and she will be doing sexy poses. This had been quite a task: I was looking for an artist who will see me in an objective light. Someone who will not think perverse thoughts while he draws an anime version of my likeness. Someone who can put up with my hectic schedule. Most importantly, someone whose energy level can outmatch those who are high on caffeine. (There was actually one guy who was willing to do it for free if I could pose for him naked and I just laughed it off. To this day, I don’t know if he was serious or not.)

Why am I the model? Well, I am the chief writer. It would be weird to put someone else’s face on my writing, ne? I just figured that it would be nice to have the webmistress’ icon watch over the site. =^.^=

I hope the regulars aren’t disturbed by the way things are evolving at Hentai Neko, especially after I had re-awakened the Otaku Fridge this year. I still have quite a few plans up my sleeve, but I’m not going to mention them just yet. Don’t want to jinx things.

I also hope that you experience the positivity, armed with the knowledge that from pitfalls springs resilience. From ugliness springs beauty. I fervently wish that the New Year would bring you all the same inspiration that this year has brought me.

Thank you, everyone, for your continued support. May we all keep being agreeable despite everyone’s differences in beliefs and opinions.

And thank you, Goddess, for watching over me.

=^.^=

This article was part of the “Hear Me Roar” section of the old Hentai Neko and is one of those that are deemed still relevant in today’s version of the Otaku Fridge.
–

One lazy Wednesday afternoon, while I was happily Googling, I happened across a couple of forum posts that claimed that I hated hentai. One of them just actually has a huge chip on his shoulder—he’d tear your head off if you didn’t agree with him or if your opinion doesn’t coincide with his. Well, actually, he had a falling out with my super hot cousin Firesenshi and, in his confused state—Firesenshi has that effect on men (^.^)—mistook me for her. The other dude misunderstood my Parade, Parade review and thought that I was dissing it, when I actually gave it an above average rating.

If you do look at the archives, however, you will notice that it’s quite rare that I give a hentai title glowing reviews. Now…I don’t want to cross swords with anyone who doesn’t share my opinion because opinions stem from feelings and feelings are neither right nor wrong. They’re mostly based on your experiences. Am I to say that your experiences and feelings are wrong just because people living in progressive countries have better lives than I do? Heck, no. If you disagree with what I have to say, you can simply visit another site that better suits your taste or write your own alternate review to counter mine. That’s what we’ve been doing in the Otaku Fridge community for the past eight years.

Going back to my ratings, I guess I need to explain myself. I love hentai. My cousin Firesenshi and I happily disagree about it. She can’t tolerate it because she is a devout Christian with certain principles; but I swim in it because I’d like to believe that I’m a very sensual creature. So, why the very low ratings for many of the titles? My first hentai flick was a couple of episodes from the Twin Dolls. After that shocker, I nearly dismissed all H material as scary things with nothing to offer but tentacles and rape.

Years later, I would be exposed to other titles such as The Elven Bride, Tokio Private Police, Cream Lemon, U-Jin Brand and Midnight Panther. Wow, I thought to myself. Hentai isn’t such a bad thing after all! I mean, look at how sweet and romantic those couples are. Plus, I loved the kick-ass uber sexy vixens of Midnight Panther. And that was how my journey as a Hentai Webmistress began. If King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table went on a quest to find the Holy Grail, I went on a quest to find my kind of hentai. The kind of hentai that would be nice to women. The kind of hentai that didn’t have such idiotic plotlines or ugly male protagonists that couldn’t think beyond their dicks. (It would be years years later that I would wonderfully discover that there’s such a thing as female smut. Unfortunately, they don’t get licensed easily.)

I didn’t really care if I have to go through piles and piles of hentai titles. At least I know who my target readers are. If I praised rape and violence towards women, that would not only make me a sell-out, that would also make people think I tolerated lack of creativity in coming up with h-materials. I don’t. I just have to find the right films that I could watch with my boyfriend so that we’d have something to sigh about. In any case, I think I’ve learned to live with the fact that there will always be mind-numbing H just as there will always be seasonal dandruff. All those years of going through hundreds of worthless junk tends to numb a person, you see. You just develop a stomach for it. You have to, if you want to find what you’re looking for. (In retrospect, I think you should thank me. I go through all the crappy hentai so you don’t have to. Kidding.)

Here is the funny thing. A lot of wholesome websites don’t want anything to do with me because of the word “hentai” in my website name. On the other hand, a lot of hardcore h-fanatics don’t want anything to do with me because I just have to sympathize with the women (newsflash: I’m a girl). In more extreme cases, they hate me because I love yaoi (well, I’m sorry but the gay community just fascinates me so much). It’s a matter of taste and opinion. Wholesome people aren’t my target audience. Hardcore h-fanatics aren’t my target audience either. I just happen to be a simple girl, living a very normal life and looking for readers that could understand where I’m coming from. Bottomline is, if you generally don’t like what you read, then, my friend, this site is just not for you.

So as not to be confused, just remember 2 important factors in mind when you begin to wonder about Hentai Neko’s existence:

1. This site exists to encourage the licensing of underground favorites and well-written female smut such as Yu Asagiri’s Midnight Panther (the manga, which is a whole lot better than the anime, isn’t being distributed in English anymore) and Yuki Yoshihara’s Aisuru Hito. Come to think of it, we all know that statistically speaking, there are more females than males. And when you check fangirl forums discussing titles, the female hentai fans may just outnumber the males. So why then aren’t we licensing titles that could capture this potentially huge market?

2. To categorize the good, the bad, the ugly, and the bizarre for people who have different tastes. Even if I gave a title you like a negative review, you’d then be able to gauge my taste. “Ah! Hentai Neko hates this, so I prolly will like it!” ^_-

If you do notice, I’m not the only reviewer in the site. Many of these reviewers even write opinions that are in complete contrast with mine. It’s normal. It happens. That’s what I love about this site. It started out as something that a semi-feminist built, but now it caters to diverse tastes. I don’t want to be an uberbitch and dictate what you should like or what you shouldn’t like. If you didn’t like nurse-related hentai stories because your mom is a nurse (a member of our forums actually shared this), I wouldn’t be dissing you by saying, “Hey, not all of us have nurses for moms.” Nor would I diss you for saying that you’re Hindu and don’t eat cows just because I happen to love eating beef. I’d like to think my mom taught me better than to be so disrespectful. I just want to say my piece about animation, meaning stating my own personal tastes without personally attacking another for differences in opinions. You’re welcome to say yours and I can even post it, so long as it’s not offensive, disrespectful or illegal.

Now, if you happen to like rape…well, I respect your opinion and tastes but…stay very very far away from me or I will punch a hole in your gut. Heh.