Recently in Japanese snacks Category

Hmmm the local Asian supermarkets don't carry the Pretz flavors I like anymore so I've been reduced to roaming the aisles looking for other snacks to nosh while watching anime. I must say the search has been a bust.

Wheat rolls and glutinous rice filled with too-sweet bean paste send my blood sugar spiraling skyward. Uh, don't tell my doctor. The yogurt jelly with fruit had an odd aftertaste. Don't get me started on the crab chips with a hint of vinegar or the potato chips with seaweed flakes. Bleah.

What I really crave is the flat version of Pretz, those cracker stick snacks from the Land of the Rising Sun. The only flavor of the flat version I could find recently was the melon bread kind. And I'm not a big fan of melon bread because it doesn't really taste of melon to me and the bread is too sticky.

The Pretz Melon was ok and sorta tasted of melon. But it didn't hit the spot. Whatever happened to the Cuttlefish or French Toast version of Pretz? Who eats the Tomato Pretz, I'd like to know since the store had boxes and boxes of this abomination.

I'm a sucker for Pretz, that other cracker stick snack from Japan. It's one of the reasons why I will never let go my membership to the local Japanese supermarket near my house. That and this particular instant ramen that I fancy would pass muster with Naruto.

My favorite Pretz flavor is this hotcake version but I haven't seen that in months and consoled myself with scarfing down the French Toast Pretz which sorta tastes like it. My brother likes the Corn Pretz which tastes somewhat like corn.

I found this new flavor two weeks ago which reminds me of the "Oishi" shrimp snacks of my youth in the Philippines. Oishi means good in Japanese. Or so I was told. Ya can't miss this Pretz box. It features the photo of a cooked cuttlefish on the cover. Yum. I know some of my friends are too delicate for that. Whatever.

Down on my list are the Roast, Salad, Tomato, Cheese, Hokkaido butter and Fruit pretz. I mean, what roast are we talking about here? Roasted anime sidekick? Roasted vegetable? It tastes like nothing roasted to me. And this salad abomination is better off being a crouton. The cheese is just too salty, the butter too bleah and the tomato not worth writing home about.

The so-called Fruit Pretz is thicker than regular Pretz crackers and tastes as if a puree of fruit was made into a crunchy snack. Not really my thing since I don't recognize what fruit it's supposed to be. Yeah, yeah I see grape, apple and fig on the cover. But to me, it doesn't taste like any of these fruits.

But I really like that Pretz and Pocky come in a variety of flavors. It just means a no-carb diet is out of my reach in this lifetime. I can never be a size zero gal ever. Boo hoo.

So pardon me skinny ladies while I tear open another box of Pretz.

I don't like driving to LA and I especially loathe driving in downtown LA. The one-way streets, the seeming never-ending constructions, drivers who won't let you change lanes, the parking and the traffic! So I usually take the Metrolink if and when I need to be there.

However, I missed the train by five minutes and the next one wouldn't arrive until an hour and a half after my appointment. So I drove instead. I should have just called it a day.

The only silver lining to my day was finding parking in Little Tokyo where I later hoped to scout around for new and interesting Pocky and Pretz flavors. I found something called Pretz Salad and an unnamed flavor that had a chicken cartoon on the box. I assumed it was chicken-flavored but I haven't eaten it yet. The Salad Pretz tasted like a seasoned crouton. Or at least it did as I tensely gripped my steering wheel on the slow drive home.

I had never been so happy to see suburbia. I cheered up considerably after I watched the latest episodes of "Death Note" and "D. Grayman." I'm beginning to actually like the latter and the episode involving the singing doll was so sad, I had to sniffle. Tissue break!

Anyway, the second season of Hell Girl called "Jigoku Shoujo Futakamori" wasn't too shabby. Ai's crew gets a little more air time and the first three episodes were solid. The people who got hauled off to hell deserved it.

Latched onto a new series called "Kekkaishi." Actually I heard about this from another blogger and was elated when I saw fansubs on the show. The character designs aren't that great though. The hero looked cuter as a child.

In a nutshell, two families who claim to be the rightful heir to a man who was a famous monster killer are still continuing the family business today. The son and the daughter of each house work at night eliminating the monsters that get attracted to the school campus. The grounds used to belong to a family who attracted monsters/spirits.

So far, it's entertaining although the humor can be corny at times. And anything that prevents me from reliving my recent trip to LA is welcome fare right now.

Aaah Pocky. The requisite anime snack. Featured in many anime shows as well. Comes in different flavors and readily available at Asian markets. I even saw some at Walmart. Granted they only had the strawberry kind. The price for Pocky ranges with the fancier kinds going for as much as $3 a box. I had a caramel/chocolate version that looked like it was decorated by some fancy schmancy pastry chef.

I like the chocolate mousse Pocky the best. My mother has seen fit to swipe the chocolate almond Pocky from my fridge a lot. Grrrr. The coconut is disgusting though since the coconut is dessicated.

Personally I prefer Pretz, another cracker stick snack from the Land of the Rising Sun. Like Pocky it comes in a slew of flavors including the savory types. I've tried mustard, hotcake, Hokkaido Butter, cocoa, pizza, cheese and roast. My favorite is the hotcake version which sorta tastes like it was dipped in syrup and butter. My family and friends think I'm too far gone on the whackaloon scale to care and have resigned themselves to seeing me wave the latest flavor in their faces.

I saw the "roast" version two weeks ago and it was on sale so I bought it. I have no idea why they called it roast flavor because it didn't taste like any roasted meat, fruit or vegetable I ever ate. It was like a cracker stick with some unknown flavoring. (shudder). I'm not too jazzed on trying the tomato version either.

I don’t pretend to be an anime expert and feel free to stone me if I try to come off as one. I’m just a fan with very strong opinions.

Aaah the joy of watching anime while nibbling on chocolate Pocky or hotcake-flavored Pretz. But happiness is a fleeting thing especially when the show turns out to be a dud. But since I’m a cheapskate, I watch the show to the bitter end because I already spent money to rent the sucker in the first place. And believe me, I have seen a lot of anime I wouldn’t inflict on the people I detest.

My taste in anime is pretty eclectic. It ranges from shows targeted for girls like “Boys Over Flowers‿ where love triangles and three-hanky moments abound to anime geared for boys like “Naruto‿ where the hero runs around fighting injustice with his latest technique.

I also love shows that are bizarre, artsy, complex or feature quirky characters. So these are the types of anime I will be reviewing. I admit, I do have a guilty pleasure list which includes anime that require only two brain cells to watch.

Sorry folks but you will seldom, if ever, read any reviews of mecha or harem anime here.

I don’t like anime about giant robots since I’ve seen too many of these in my childhood to last me a lifetime.
I also turn up my nose at what fans call harem anime which feature one guy living/working/interacting with a bunch of girls. Why do each of the girls represent a cliche character like the brainless beauty with large bosoms? And why are the female characters often put into situations where they end up inadvertently showing their underwear? One word. Fanservice. And since I am not a teenaged boy with raging hormones, such shows do not interest me. (Sniffs haughtily then hides from angry harem anime fans.)

Rejoice fellow "Beach" fans. “Bleach‿ anime finally comes to American shores. I saw a promo on Cartoon Network that says the show will debut there Sept. 9. I was so overcome, I needed a moment to compose myself. (Just kidding.) Oh okay, I squealed like a little girl. I'm just hoping the English dub doesn't suck.

I’m assuming that like me, many U.S. fans have been following the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki via the manga or via fan-translated copies of episodes that aired in Japan. Yes, I know fansubs are controversial and this is not the blog entry where I will yak about that. Let’s just say for now that I don’t download fansubs. I rent them from a store which angers some fans since fansubs are supposed to be free. But when a show I like gets licensed, I rent or buy the official DVDs.

Anyway, back to “Bleach‿. Ichigo is a high school student who can see spirits and lives with his widowed father and two younger sisters in a nondescript town. His life changes when he meets Rukia Kuchiki, a shinigami from Soul Society. I won't tell you anything more of the story. Let's just say Ichigo ends up helping Rukia somehow and he gets to carry a sword.

It has sword fights, interesting characters and a nice soundtrack. I hope they keep the original beginning and ending songs which they didn't with "Naruto". "Bleach" rocks! Ahem. I mean, I recommend it a lot.

- Ruby G.