On air @ YTV today

Full Metal Alchemist is finally on Canadian local station! Yay~! Due to the content, it's not shown in prime time. There's one at 1 a.m. and should have an earlier showing at 10 p.m. I think. (The web site only shows the schedule in real time. I couldn't get the time line to go earlier.)

The English dub is a totally different animal. If you have a chance, try watching it in Japanese with subtitle. Ed's voice is originally played by a female actress, which makes more sense for his stunned growth. Not to mention he's much more adorable with a younger voice.

Sometimes I look back, and wonder what happened. Why am I so intoxicated?

• 2005 spring: 1st contact (DVD). A colleague highly recommended the show and lent me the first DVD. It was the north American release and I watched it in English. (The whole series was finished in Japan at the end of 2004.) There was no urge to watch more. And then my contract ended, and lost touch with the colleague. (But he only had the first DVD anyway.)
  
• 2005 summer: 2nd contact (BT). A BT and anime expert friend gave me the full 51 episodes of downloaded fan sub. I watched it in Japanese and realized, this is the real thing! After 9 or 10 episodes, I started caring about what's next. After 20, it stays on your mind. After 35, it's unstoppable! I finished the rest on Canada Day weekend. Staying up all night!
• 2005 fall: 3rd contact (manga). Unsatisfied with the TV ending, I turn to the manga, which is still going on. Too bad the local Japanese book store isn't pushing the series. They only had the latest 2 books so I had to order the rest in. (They have more now.)
  
• 2005 fall: 4th contact (rental manga, online manga, toys). It took over a month for the books to arrive. I couldn't wait and went to a Taiwanese rental manga store. At the same time, I started buying FMA toys. A friend recommended some free manga (bootleg) sites so I started catching the latest chapters online. But there's still a 1-2 week delay.
  
• 2005 winter: 5th contact (online book store, shopping service, internet). Manga book 12 first print special edition came with an extra booklet. I was a little late in placing an order and the book store couldn't get it. So I got the normal version while surfing the Amazon Japan and Rakuten sites everyday, watching the number go down. But, but! I wanted the booklet bad enough to make an inquiry at a shopping service. They replied saying unlikely. So I asked a friend for help to order the Taiwanese version. And then! The shopping service got the book! (But... but I didn't officially place an order!) Yikes!! Now I ended up with 3 books. Sigh... (Not to mention I found the book much later in a downtown Japanese book store! They carry it as normal stock! Aaargh!!)
  
• 2006 spring: 6th contact (toys, auctions, fan blogs, fan sites). Actually, the blog thing started at the end of 2005. Itching for the latest chaper, I started surfing Japanese fan blogs. They're surprisingly informative and entertaining! And then from the blogs, I can link to fan sites with fan art and parody manga. Lots to read. And then... there was a toy I really wanted. (The secret figurine "childhood memories" of Square Enix trading arts vol. 2.) When I saw it on Yahoo Japan auction, it was no truning back...
• Nowadays, I tour the 12 Japanese fan blogs daily. The number keeps increasing thanks to links. Every month after Gangan magazine's publish day, I check the scanlate sites until the chapter comes out. Not to mention keeping an eye on auctions for interesting items. Oh, hunting for fan art or manga is also fun.
  
• Before I know it, I'm spending way too much time and money on FMA.
  

Help~!! I need a detox~!!