Next release date to be determined…
ᕙ། ◕ – ◕ །ᕗ
I’ve been sitting here for well over two hours, fingers hovering over the keyboard, at a loss over what to write about. It’s not that I don’t have anything to talk about, but the words aren’t coming. Usually they just gush out as I hack away at my keyboard like a madman.
Yep, me and my Heels Crew, we back in the game! (‘∀`)ゝ”
For the past several months, we’ve been on a wicked dry spell. I mean, REALLY wicked. Yeah, we threw out some onesies and twosies here and there, but tonight? Tonight, we gonna make you bounce!
ヽ(⌐■_■)ノ♪♬ ヽ(⌐■_■)ノ♪♬
But before we release, let me just take a moment to post an open letter to staff from our reader Julia.
Hey guys, I’m just writing to tell you something you probably already know: you’re awesome.
I’m following you for “Principal”, and always find it amazing how neat your work is.
What I love the most is that insted of just translating, you make an actual adaptation to your language. It’s so perfect it feels like the original language of the manga was English.
It’s freaking fascinating! You are the only scans group who does that.
And the editing and typesetting are flawless.
You all do an incredible job, and for free!
Thank you so much for what you do, every single chapter is worth the wait.
Please never abandon your fans! 😀
On behalf of the Heels Crew, as well as our head staff members – Francophone Rebel Minelauva and Desert Junkie Lilanar – let me just say that we have no intentions whatsoever of calling it quits. The team’s still got plenty of steam left, and even pulled two new editors on board the other week, Jyuu Viole Grace and Natsu. Of course, the words pinned above could also be said about any of our projects. These people work so hard, it makes me tear up just looking at these releases. There’s just one eensy-weensy thing left I have to say to you Julia. Please don’t call yourself our “fan.” You’ll make us blush! |_-｡)
Dear Friends, Lurkers, and Stalkers alike (especially you Stalkers), July 31st is the night where we Heelians gather together as pustules of excitement to commemorate five years of “sloth-paced” industriousness. With releases, yes, but more importantly, with many thanks to you, the readers, and especially the wonderful staff here at Stiletto Heels.
Can you believe that five years ago, on July 24th, we nearly gave up the idea of keeping up the group? /waits for the collective screaming to subside.
We did a bit of tug-of-war with another group over Oboreru Knife, but lost our bearings under the galvanizing pressure of their kind admin’s glowing halo. However, little did we know that this ill-timed scrapping of a shoujo project proved to be a blessing in disguise, as Stiletto and I next turned our rapacious, roving eyes toward the treasure trove of untapped Josei. /wipes drool
Stiletto: Gee, Mimi, what do you want to do tonight?
Mimi: The same thing we do every night, Stiletto – try to take over the world!
Stiletto picks up a tanko and pretends to smash it over Mimi’s head. Unfortunately it was George Asakura’s Oboreru Knife, a sober reminder of their failure to secure a decent project.
Mimi (fingering the dust jacket): What about her other project – Heart o Uchinomese?
Curtain opens and the angels start to sing, bathing Mimi in a swatch of soft light.
Well, it wasn’t exaaaactly like that, but a week later, on July 31, 2009, we were bringing bra-snapping Josei goodness to the world in the form of Negishi: Our very first release (Does it count that she’s only in middle school?)
Every year – and I really mean it – every year that I try to do something special for the anniversary, something bad happens. Like the year I decided to secretly trim the money tree into the shape of two hands “raising the roof,” or the year I had to break up the releases into two days because we couldn’t finish everything in time, or last year, when the release was a day late! This year proved no different.
I ordered a heel-shaped cookie cutter (lame idea), so that I could bake chocolate-filled pastries for the staff. The cookie cutter never came. (Curse you, Ebay!) Determined not to lose out, I ended up using heart-shaped cookie cutters over a bit of leftover pastry dough. I had enough to make one – uno, ichi, ein – heart-shaped pastry. 
(Oh mah gah, so lame!) But after it was finished baking and left to cool, my nephew nabbed it off the counter and ate it while I was busy abusing my eyes over a thank you card for the Balancing Toy staff.
It would have been delicious, I kid you not. I can’t bake for crap, but it would have been! /so unconvincing.
So my lovely girls and guys at Heels – lurkers, readers, stalkers, and staffers, alike – never mind that the anni gift was a big failure (lame!), that I’m too frikkin’ tired to make a decent anni card (lame!), and that I forgot the date until very last minute (lame!).
The releases are just a click away. Go get ’em.
If you’re wondering what that monster is, it’s my androgynous mackerel tabby, Mugen. Occasionally I suspect he’s plotting something against me because I will wake up to find him glaring at me with that very expression from his corner of the bed.
Mimi: Why are you looking at me like that?
Mugen: 
Mimi: Are you hungry, is that it?
Mugen:
Mimi: Don’t tell me you’re not happy living here?
Mugen:
Of course, with his unbending will, my interrogation eventually leads to a humiliating defeat. I’m not sure what’s worse though: A grown woman accepting defeat from a cat or a grown woman talking to her cat. (I should really start spending less time alone.)
And now that we’ve got that out the way………TA-DA! Our beloved Heels’s staff work their magic once again.
However, be forewarned! Any verbal flak about “how slow” releases are will be met with some glove-on-cheek action and the full force of Mimi and Heels Team’s collective “Eyebrows of Consternation.” Everyone on the team is using up valuable, valuable time to churn these projects out. Time that could have gone to better things like studying for exams, working, being with family/friends, and just real life in general.
– 3 AM Dangerous Zone v2, ch.8: All I have to say to Momoko is, “Daaaayum girl. You got guts.”
– Nina My Love v2, ch.8: Girls are always wondering what boys do when they’re alone together, and here we examine two fine specimens, sharing delicate desserts while discussing girls.
– Principal v2, ch.6-7 FIXED PAGES: Piccolo! Piccolo! 😉 If some of these pages weren’t so integral to the plot, I wouldn’t have thought twice about fixing them.
– Principal v2, ch.8 w/ Extras: Wao gives his dilapadated house a farewell rub, while Haruka calls up Shima trying to assuage her guilt. I have to admit, I didn’t hate Haruka, even after all the stunts she pulled on Shima. But what she said to Gen was absolutely abominable; It was downright low. Somebody needs to backhand that girl with a pair of leather gloves.
– Sekine’s Love v3, ch.13: Sekine’s “first date” with Sara doesn’t just end with chafed heels after all. 😉
And if you’re wondering why there are so many glove references, let the record show that it has always been my unfulfilled desire to see such a duel scene filmed for a British period drama. Horatio Hornblower was an epic series, but I swear it would have been ten times better with one glove scene. (Okay, I don’t know where they’d be able to fit something like that when all the men are filthy and bare-handed aboard the ship, but that won’t stop me from dreaming.)
After 18 years, Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ has finally come to an end. I used to catch the episodes airing on the International channel as a teenager, and watched religiously until about a year ago. After that, I’d catch episodes uploaded here and there, but could never really find time to watch them all. Just the other day, I figured I’d catch up since I had a day off of work, only to find that my hard drive had crashed on me, taking hostage the 80 gbs or so of Hey!x3 episodes with it.
Coming online, I find out that the show had ended it’s 18 year run, and the news gutted me like a slab of tuna.
Still, I’m glad it’s not the end of Downtown. If Gaki no Tsukai were to end, I’d overturn all the tables in every LA diner. If Downtown decided to call it quits, I’d mourn them like I lost a grandfather.
Anyway, with news (though rather belated) about the end of Hey!x3 comes the end of Nina My Love Volume 1. I bet you all thought we’d never get around to it, huh? Kekeke. Not sure how many of you are still interested in this series seeing as it’s been a heckuva long time since the last release. (560 Days? WTH?). But I hope that you’ll nab this chapter and read it anyway because it’s really good. Thanks to hard work of our staff, especially our new typesetter, shuyiin, we were able to get the ball rolling again on this project. You’ll be seeing the next chapter in our following April release.
Nina My Love Ch.7 & Extra: Atsushi faces his “final boss” when he decides to take down Ushijima.
ENJOY.