Deathnote

Love it. What else to say? It was the cause of my return to the anime world. I have been collecting and watching anime for the last 12 years, way before the Pokemon phenomenon and among my friends a sorta anime godmother. It is bad that I've become such a snob about anime after seeing so many that I can't enjoy most animes anymore. But despite this anime being a "popular" anime which usually means it's overrated or eventually eventually goes into fillers, this was actually quite decent. You know I was just thinking how truly happy I am that I waited until the anime was completed and I stopped hearing nonstop hype over it that I decided to watch it. No need for nailbiting and checking obsessively for when the next episode comes out. So two things I am thinking of right now...
First what anime is completed and has been truly great the last few years? I have read good things of XXXholic, Black Cat, Hagurashi, etc. But I have to say that there are several I have watched before I got hooked again with deathnote that I found horribly lacking. Fate/Stay night which I had heard great things was nothing too much out of the ordinary, artwork being one of the main enjoyments for me. And Trinity Blood made me remember why stopped being so devoted to anime. Ah, the list goes on... But anyway, I will try to sift through the crap and find the decent ones I hope.
Second I have recently been inspired to go get back into my artwork as well: pastel, painting and other various mediums. And I love doing anime art and have been trying to think of good couple artwork. I especially like odd pairings but am not getting enough creative juices going. I really like Misa and L for some reason and see very few artists doing them so they are one of my new subjects and I will certainly have to post a few just for fun. And a few others I've been playing around with are Ranma and Lum. Ah well, if any random anime fan happens upon my ramblings I would love to hear suggestions.

Full Metal Panic!

So I have recently rewatched 2nd raid after reading more of the light novels and now I am absolutely hooked once again to the FMP world. After several hours of stubbornly browsing through millions of webpages, blogs and forums, I happened upon the translations of the most recent FMP books. So for those uneducated about this series, it was based on the light novels and so the stories go way beyond the anime. And after reading them, I have to say that the novels are way better in so many ways although I still absolutely love the anime adaptations.
It's unfortunate that bomf hasn't completed the translations but I did find the summaries of all the FMP up the most recent novel.
http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=33290
So I feel it my duty to share the wealth... If anyone is interested in DVMC, ODBD, COMO, you are free to email me at kodocha2@gmail.com. Please post a response first so that I know to look for your email.