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Feb. 15th, 2007
currently viewing
Feb. 15th, 2007 21:07well, enough with the health chat, let's talk about anime. no? ok, just me then. new ones bolded.
get backers 40 (26 with the paramour)
death note 17 (both)
saiunkoku monogatari 30
gankutsuou 3 (both)
kamichu! 2 (both)
prince of tennis 57
yamato nadeshiko shichi henge 14 (both)
bleach 9 (2)
kyou kara maou 7
fushigi yuugi 4 (both)
yamato nadeshiko shichi henge | (perfect girl evolution, the wallflower, sunako of many forms) isn't really new to me, but was on hiatus because i got busy watching lots of other things. mangaka: HAYAKAWA tomoko, genre: shoujo. the manga is licensed in english by del rey. i am so far only watching the anime in fansub; not sure whether i want to read the manga. both manga and anime are ongoing in japan.
four handsome and fashionable 15-year old boys are living cheaply in a stately mansion under the condition that they transform the owner's niece into a lady. how hard can it be? enter the niece, sunako -- she's frumpy, her curtain of badly kempt hair covers a face full of zits, loves the grossest of horror movies, she's anti-social and prefers to hang out with skeletons and anatomy models over people. her attitude stems from her first love rejecting her and called her ugly. the four pretty boys appear to her as beings of pure light, which burn her eyes and cause her to break out into sponteanous nosebleeds. so we basically have "straight eye for the weird gal" here, on crack. and surprisingly, it isn't half bad. i am not usually much into super deformation and chibi, but here those techniques used to fabulous effect (even if i suspect the mangaka of drawing sunako so much as a chibi because hey, that's much faster :).
contrary to hollywood techniques, we're not just taking ugly glasses off sunako, giving her a new haircut and wardrobe, and MAGIC, she's gorgeous and social and successful. nope. in fact, while there are glimpses of a possibility that the owner might get her wish now and then, so far sunako hasn't appreciably changed, certainly not in her weird hobbies. what's even better is that she has as much if not more of an effect on the boys as they have on her. lots of themes touched on here; self-acceptance, identity, the meaning of beauty (and its ugly sides), but the treatment is light.
slashable, if one wants to, because, well, pretty boys. me, i don't want to; i don't actually care about the boys a whole lot; i am liking sunako.
bleach | mangaka KUBO taito, genre: shounen.
KUROSAKI ichigo, a 15-year old boy, can see ghosts. one day he encounters KUCHIKI rukia, a shinigami (death god) who's following a "hollow" (evil spirit) in order to release its soul. rukia is wounded and transfers most of her power to ichigo in order to stop the hollow from killing his family. from then on, while initially unwilling, ichigo joins rukia in her job of cleansing souls and sending them onto the "soul society" (some form of heaven) or wherever else they are meant to go (there's some form of hell and limbo as well). the manga is up to 26 volumes in japan with no end in sight; it is licensed in english by viz; i am just watching the anime so far. don't really have an opinion yet, but it's definitely interesting.
kyou kara maou | novels: TAKABAYASHI Tomo, genre: shounen-ai
SHIBUYA yuuri is an average high school student who's more interested in baseball than studying. when he tries to intervene while seeing a classmate being bullied, he gets his head dunked in a toilet -- and gets flushed into another world, which he first assumes is a theme park. but the first people he encounters are pelting him with stones and are clearly afraid of him. then some other people rescue him, and tell him that he is the new "maou" -- the demon king. yuuri thinks this has got to be a joke. and it doesn't help that whenever he's near a water source with a drain, he gets sucked back to his own world, at the most inconvenient time. and then back again. and what magical powers he is expected to have as the maou seem not to be under his control.
this is basically a magical girl story, except the girl is replaced by a boy -- yay, no annoying shrill cutesy lead voice (SAKURAI takahiro, who also voiced cloud in FFVII, lan di in shenmue, and kagami in get backers). the girl, uh boy, has the usual harem; all boys naturally. the good thing is the story totally doesn't take itself seriously. while not explicitly shounen-ai, the humour most definitely is (yuuri's new teacher nosebleeds in the presence of yuuri, yuuri gets accidentally engaged to another boy, and nobody bats an eyelash). lots of bishounen and some fine voice talent (which is why i am watching it). it's very light fare, but i am enjoying the humour. inoue kazuhiko as günter von christ is a hoot; i've never heard him in such a comedic role before.
the anime is licensed in english by geneon. i hear there is a manga as well, but i am unlikely to read it.
fushigi yuugi | mangaka: WATASE yuu, genre: shoujo, magical girl.
super-annoying lead female character, and stupid shoujo romance tropes. dropping it.
get backers 40 (26 with the paramour)
death note 17 (both)
saiunkoku monogatari 30
gankutsuou 3 (both)
kamichu! 2 (both)
prince of tennis 57
yamato nadeshiko shichi henge 14 (both)
bleach 9 (2)
kyou kara maou 7
fushigi yuugi 4 (both)
yamato nadeshiko shichi henge | (perfect girl evolution, the wallflower, sunako of many forms) isn't really new to me, but was on hiatus because i got busy watching lots of other things. mangaka: HAYAKAWA tomoko, genre: shoujo. the manga is licensed in english by del rey. i am so far only watching the anime in fansub; not sure whether i want to read the manga. both manga and anime are ongoing in japan.
four handsome and fashionable 15-year old boys are living cheaply in a stately mansion under the condition that they transform the owner's niece into a lady. how hard can it be? enter the niece, sunako -- she's frumpy, her curtain of badly kempt hair covers a face full of zits, loves the grossest of horror movies, she's anti-social and prefers to hang out with skeletons and anatomy models over people. her attitude stems from her first love rejecting her and called her ugly. the four pretty boys appear to her as beings of pure light, which burn her eyes and cause her to break out into sponteanous nosebleeds. so we basically have "straight eye for the weird gal" here, on crack. and surprisingly, it isn't half bad. i am not usually much into super deformation and chibi, but here those techniques used to fabulous effect (even if i suspect the mangaka of drawing sunako so much as a chibi because hey, that's much faster :).
contrary to hollywood techniques, we're not just taking ugly glasses off sunako, giving her a new haircut and wardrobe, and MAGIC, she's gorgeous and social and successful. nope. in fact, while there are glimpses of a possibility that the owner might get her wish now and then, so far sunako hasn't appreciably changed, certainly not in her weird hobbies. what's even better is that she has as much if not more of an effect on the boys as they have on her. lots of themes touched on here; self-acceptance, identity, the meaning of beauty (and its ugly sides), but the treatment is light.
slashable, if one wants to, because, well, pretty boys. me, i don't want to; i don't actually care about the boys a whole lot; i am liking sunako.
bleach | mangaka KUBO taito, genre: shounen.
KUROSAKI ichigo, a 15-year old boy, can see ghosts. one day he encounters KUCHIKI rukia, a shinigami (death god) who's following a "hollow" (evil spirit) in order to release its soul. rukia is wounded and transfers most of her power to ichigo in order to stop the hollow from killing his family. from then on, while initially unwilling, ichigo joins rukia in her job of cleansing souls and sending them onto the "soul society" (some form of heaven) or wherever else they are meant to go (there's some form of hell and limbo as well). the manga is up to 26 volumes in japan with no end in sight; it is licensed in english by viz; i am just watching the anime so far. don't really have an opinion yet, but it's definitely interesting.
kyou kara maou | novels: TAKABAYASHI Tomo, genre: shounen-ai
SHIBUYA yuuri is an average high school student who's more interested in baseball than studying. when he tries to intervene while seeing a classmate being bullied, he gets his head dunked in a toilet -- and gets flushed into another world, which he first assumes is a theme park. but the first people he encounters are pelting him with stones and are clearly afraid of him. then some other people rescue him, and tell him that he is the new "maou" -- the demon king. yuuri thinks this has got to be a joke. and it doesn't help that whenever he's near a water source with a drain, he gets sucked back to his own world, at the most inconvenient time. and then back again. and what magical powers he is expected to have as the maou seem not to be under his control.
this is basically a magical girl story, except the girl is replaced by a boy -- yay, no annoying shrill cutesy lead voice (SAKURAI takahiro, who also voiced cloud in FFVII, lan di in shenmue, and kagami in get backers). the girl, uh boy, has the usual harem; all boys naturally. the good thing is the story totally doesn't take itself seriously. while not explicitly shounen-ai, the humour most definitely is (yuuri's new teacher nosebleeds in the presence of yuuri, yuuri gets accidentally engaged to another boy, and nobody bats an eyelash). lots of bishounen and some fine voice talent (which is why i am watching it). it's very light fare, but i am enjoying the humour. inoue kazuhiko as günter von christ is a hoot; i've never heard him in such a comedic role before.
the anime is licensed in english by geneon. i hear there is a manga as well, but i am unlikely to read it.
fushigi yuugi | mangaka: WATASE yuu, genre: shoujo, magical girl.
super-annoying lead female character, and stupid shoujo romance tropes. dropping it.