Ah, the tried and true.

Ever since I was introduced to the song by Aubrie, Life is Like a Boat has been one of my most favorite songs ever. I used it as a character theme for Alister for a long time and even made a very amateur wallpaper with him and some of the lyrics.

It also had the effect of singlehandedly *almost* getting me into Bleach. Because of that song, and my intrigue with the character it pertains to, I did actually get to where I got a manga down from the shelf to look at in Barnes and Noble. But I took a look at the story with Orihime and her brother and promptly decided, Um okay. This is really too depressing for me. Thus was the end of my attempted foray into Bleach.

Fast-forward to now. I still love the song, and Rukia, and I dug out the song after deciding I wanted it as the song in an AMV I've commissioned from nuitsongeur. (And I'm very excited to see how it turns out, even moreso after hearing what she's doing with it!) I ended up deciding again maybe I'd try Bleach, after my past curiosity resurfaced from listening to the song on Repeat and mushroomed into me having a really crazy dream in which my aunt gave me one of those season boxsets. **headdesk.** I thought my interest would fade, like it usually does after I'm awake and getting back into my normal routine, but it didn't.

So finally I broke down and had a look at the first episode. I liked it. And I liked the English dub, but that's no big surprise. (It honestly still surprises me that I detested the Princess Tutu dub, even moreso since I'd *never* heard it in Japanese before. I think that's the only time that's happened, other than when I saw Inuyasha playing at Media Play and didn't like the English dub of it, either.) Rukia was awesome. And random, but I totally cracked up when she very calmly drew a mustache on Ichigo after he insulted her drawing. LOL. I'd been expecting the cliche anime girl freakout, and her blase reaction was absolutely priceless.

I kind of rolled my eyes at the stuff with Ichigo and his father. That guy is *weird.* But it didn't deter me. It was stupid, but stupid in a way that for me is like "This is so stupid it's silly and amusing."

Anyway, so then I decided that maybe I'd go ahead and buy a Bleach manga with a coupon I had. The next day I went and looked through it, reading most of the Orihime and her brother one. Yes, still depressing, but not so much to me now that it would be a barrier. However ...

I got tempted with the YGO manga where Shadi first appears and challenges Yugi. I've wanted those for years. I remember standing in Smith's and reading the rooftop encounter when they printed it in Shounen Jump. And after much deliberation and worrying over taking far too long ...

I ended up with YGO #3.

Though, if I'd had the money, I probably would have gotten Bleach too. And I probably will, once I have that money.

And once I'm able to get YGO #2 as well, because I want the whole Shadi arc! It's been far too long that I've loved it and haven't owned it.