beyond the edge

I have been out of anime and manga world for so long, but every now and then I go back to check if any of my favourites have finished (answer: NO), but just a few tidbits.

1. Sailor Moon is getting a reboot
This could be good or terrible, however I have high hopes for it as it promises to be "closer to the source material". Supposedly that's a good thing, but I haven't read the original manga either. Presumably any anime that tries to tell a story in 26 episodes will be more bearable than one told over 144 episodes.

2. Gintama anime resumes
After making it look like the Gintama anime is over for good, it comes back after barely 6 months off the block. Or something. That said, I appreciate the anime pausing for a season, every season, just for the manga to catch up instead of filling it up with endless fillers like...Sailor Moon, for example. Or Naruto. Or Bleach. Or Hunter X Hunter. Or any other manga that had the misfortune of not being complete when the anime is still going.

3. And oh, gets a(nother) movie
The script for the new movie will be penned by Sorachi-gorilla. I have no doubts it will be funny and bizarre, but early sketches are teasing a Gintoki origin story. Will we finally canonically know what happened during Gintoki's famous "Shiroyasha" years? Or Sorachi's having a go at us, again. And when will the Shinsengumi ever turn up in a Gintama movie?

4. Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden is still going
And amazingly, NO ONE IMPORTANT HAS DIED YET. What is going on. This is unacceptable.

5. Gakuen Alice is still going
After about 20 chapters of Natsume nearly dying...and then not dying...and then nearly dying...and then not dying...and then nearly dying, I'm going to sit this one out until she makes up her mind.

5. Ludwig Kakumei restarted
As much as Fairy Cube was refreshing, and Ningyou was sweet, Yuki Kaori really hasn't returned to her former epic-ness since Count Cain ended. She's like the Japanese version of Tim Burton, deriving her tales from well-established stories, and like Burton she's lost her touch. As much as I adored Ian, I don't think I've cared much about any of her characters, certainly not in the way I used to love them in the heyday of Angel Sanctuary or Count Cain.



Other things #1
Recently I tried to watch Timeslip Dr. Jin (aka the Korean version). I never managed to watch the Japanese version because as much as I find Ayase adorable I can't stand her acting.

One lesson to learn from the Korean version is...if you have bland, uninteresting main characters, do NOT make your secondary major character a tragic anti-hero who struggles with such profound issues as obligation and filial duty and integrity, because suddenly no one's interested in the main characters. And do NOT, then, make every tragedy imaginable happen to this sole character just to deepen the emotional impact, because suddenly no one gives a hoot about the main characters' own tragic love story. And next, do NOT cast someone who is ten times more eye-catching (that is not, actually to say, he is in any sense of the word a better actor or in fact suited to his role) than the main actor; because everyone's eyes glaze over when the girl opts for the bland guy for no apparent reason. And finally, DO NOT make the story's pivotal events eventuate because of the actions of this secondary character, because then everyone's kinda wondering, so what's the point of the main character?

Other things #2
Searching "Gintama" on Ebay is a very, very bad idea. It reminded me of those long ago high school days, when my young innocent eyes came upon Yuu Yuu Hakusho doujin's. O how I shudder to think of it.

Other things #3
Speaking of Yuu Yuu Hakusho, I drew this for my friend's birthday:


Maybe one day I'll finish it (I'll have to steal my parents' computer for the Photoshop). Does anyone still remember these 2 anime?

Other things #4
After drawing the above picture, I remembered these were some of my first favourite anime characters ever -


...Not to mention the craploads of long-haired guys in Bleach, Saiunkoku, anything by CLAMP or Yuki Kaori, or Kenshin, or Fujiwara Sai...

Suddenly it all made sense =0=;;;;;;;;;;;

(To be fair, only Nuriko acted like a girl despite having the non-girly superpower of superstrength...I'd never accuse Kurama or Inuyasha or Duo of being girly, possibly on the account they can incinerate me with a thumb)

I knew, going into Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden, that it wasn't going to be a romantic comedy anywhere near the scale of the original. As expected, the casualties begin to pile up by the sixth book.
( spoilers and rantings ahead )
In the Freetalk, she mentioned that people complained that Inami （牛宿）was an obasan. I'm kinda glad of it. In her own words "the seishi don't survive by their face". I'm glad that only Rimudo and Hikitsu come across as the typical bishounen. The lack of "prettiness" and optimism allows for deeper characterisation across all boards.

I hope it wraps up within 10 volumes =/

A meme from ditch_gospel! I've done it before...but why not.

Instructions:


1.Grab the nearest book
2.Open it to page 123
3.Find the fifth sentence
4.Post the text of the next four sentences after that in your LJ with these instructions:

No digging for your favourite book - it has to be the nearest one

What was lying on his foot? Who was this doing the asking, and why was he wrapped in a blue shawl with ducks on it?

Blessed recollection flowed in. Young Sam was fast asleep, with Vimes's helmet clutched like a teddy bear, and Dribble, always on the lookout for somewhere warm to slump, had rested his head on Vimes's boot.

Aww.