Posts in Shinigami no Ballad Category

Once again, sorry for the delay for various reasons ;) Anyways, this time we're introduced to (yet another middle school aged kid) Ayumu Kantarou. While looking through the possessions of his grandfather, Koutarou, who recently passed away, he finds a box with a letter to him in it and also something that resembles a treasure map. Koutarou wants to play a little game with him, much like the RPGs he enjoyed with his grandson. Kantarou plans to skip out on school to do it... however, he's caught on his way to the train station by Miki Tomato, the class rep and longtime friend of Kantarou. She tries to get him to stay, telling him how important school is since they're going to be taking high school entrace exams soon, but Kantarou still wants to go play this "game" with his grandfather. Tomato says she's going along with him... she had a giant bag so it seems she intended to go with him from the start...

Apologies for the delay -- trying to do too many things at once here (okay, so maybe I'm playing games too much). Anyways, this time we're introduced to Mitsuki, a 3rd year middle schooler who one night floats in the school pool as he and his sister often did. There, Momo show up along with Daniel and tells Mitsuki that he's going to die sometime soon. A classmate of Mitsuki's, Yutaka@Kana Ueda also happens to be at the pool at the same time, but she didn't see or hear Momo. She did just release a pirahna in the pool, however. You should say stuff like that earlier (^^;;)

Thanks to Yutaka the next day's pool activities are canceled. But where did she get a pirahna? Seems her dad is interested in fish of that type, she tells Mitsuki. While walking at school Mitsuki hears the sound of a bell... and wakes up that night, remembering his older sister, Subaru. Seems she died from some kind of illness. Momo shows up once again, telling Mitsuki that he can't take another's place. Subaru was so much better than he was in everything and everybody looked up to her, so it should've been him, he says. Momo leaves, telling Mitsuki to do his best...

  
Opening: "no one" by Ｋ○Ｙ - English lyrics sung pretty decently for the song. I like the part at the beginning there with Momo and Daniel. Momo's smile is great :)

Mai@Chiwa Saitou and Kouta are 5th graders who are pretty close to each other, pretty much a couple you could say. After school one day, they find an abandoned kitten under a bench. Mai wants to take it home, but the last time that happened things didn't go well so Kouta says no. And Mai's got asthma anyways... Mai insists, so Kouta suggests they take care of it at a nearby shrine. The next day they go there to feed and take care of the kitten. The kitten's eyes are blue and transparent like the sky, so Mai names it Blue. Kouta doesn't seem to care that much. Mai tells him to shape up -- he's dad. And she's mom, and Blue is their child. Awwwwwww~ ;)

At school, Kouta gets a good bit of teasing from a kid about how close he and Mai are (I can relate to that), and Mai happens to see it. Back at the shrine Mai tells Kouta he should go play with his friends sometime... she apologizes to him since she thinks it's her fault that Kouta's with her a good bit of the time. She then has an asthma attack, but Kouta retrives her inhaler and it subsides. She apologizes again, but Kouta tells her she doesn't have to and suggests they head back home. Mai grabs Kouta's hand, making him rather embarassed -- but they're mom and dad so it's normal. Awwwwww~ (again)... A girl in while with red shoes sits on the roof of the shrine. Kouta and Mai hear the sound of a bell and look back

And my "I have no clue what this is like, but since there's an anime of it coming up I'll check it out" purchase this time. My instincts were right on, as Shinigami no Ballad. is definitely a strike for me ;) Though in that 。゜・（ノД`）・゜・。 way...

Even so, the girl had one mission.
Carrying someone's life... taking it.
That was the girl's mission, born from tears.
One who administers death.
A black messenger.

Why was I born?
Why am I here?

So the girl decided to go.
In order to find herself.
A lonely white in the midst of black.
Herself, a pure white born from tears.
To find the reason for that.
All alone, carrying black in her eyes, looking straight at the world.
The day she would understand would surely come.

That's why she decided to go, wearing red shoes.

And that would be the introduction for the first volume of Shinigami no Ballad. The girl described is the shinigami of the title, the loli girl god of death, Momo. Her official shinigami designation is "A" 100100, A no juumantondehyaku, but since that's hard to say, if you put the 100 and 100 together you get 百百 Momo, so that's what most people call her. Her companion is a black cat named Daniel. Daniel tries his best to keep Momo in line, but he doesn't have much success... you see, Momo's a bit of an odd shinigami. She doesn't follow her orders all the time, sometimes lengthening people's lives instead of taking them, and she's quite a crybaby as well. And rather kawaii as well ;)