mayoraasei: (Reflective)
After many long years, Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden finally drawn to an end.

I guess at least we should admire Watase Yuu for sticking to her guns even until the end. Takiko and Rimudo had the ending they were always said to have in the original...and poor Tomite and Hikitsu volunteering to stay behind.

Unfortunately it just increases the bitterness when one thinks about how annoying Miaka was compared to Takiko...although at the same time it goes to show how much the Seishi admired their Miko, to the extent of spending 200 years just waiting for shit things to happen.

I can't believe Rimudo actually reigned for 100 years. That means he lived for like 118 years or something! What the heck!

As much as I like Rimudo, I feel Watase Yuu's main characters are still weaker compared to her side characters. Again, as in the Suzaku and Seiyuu groups, the other Seishi all had a more distinctive character than the main guy. For example even now I can remember what the personalities of Nuriko and Suboshi and Amiboshi and Hotohori were like, but if you asked me to give a good description of Rimudo, I can't. He's just the generic Watase Yuu main guy - generically protective, generically caring, generically enigmatic. Maybe that's why I didn't feel too sorry for him in the end....

I'm getting old...getting to the age where I can't bear to read sad stories any more <-- person who is currently 64 pages into writing a horribly depressing story should just shut up.

I like happy endings, but I don't like happy endings stretched out beyond the lifespan of the character...I don't think of it as happy ending. It's different for the author, the imagination for your own character is endless, but I try to take the story as what is written...and if they died before a happy ending is reached, it is the end. A passing promise of meeting in another life is something...I can't consider as a happy ending.

I'm not sure I can really bear to read the Byakko story if there ever is one.
mayoraasei: There is no such thing as coincidence (Default)
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)
mayoraasei: There is no such thing as coincidence (Default)
Dreams
So, right after I did the dreams meme (previous post), that night I had a dream involving a prince who had fallen out of favour was being locked up in a mansion (a sort of modern-looking - at least Georgian era - rather than gothic) while his courtiers planned his "death by accident". They evacuated the entire place and planted a bomb in the estate outside, but one of people who helped with the assassination plan was actually on the prince's side (without the prince realising), and he, or she, can't remember, went in right after the "rebels" had left the place. He bundled up the prince and climbed with him over the tall metal gates, and barely had he gotten over the fence when the bomb went off, in a big cloud of flames and black smoke. It was very high resolution =D

Life
One of my...colleagues (I still find this a pompous-sounding word) said something that really struck me. She said that neurology's pretty depressing because yes, it's fun to figure out what's wrong with the patient, but once you've found the problem, there's often not much you can do after that. It made me remember what my tutor last year said about cardiology...apparently he finds it incredibly boring (this is coming from someone working in boring rheumatology) because there's only so many things that can go wrong with the cardiovascular system. I mean, there's maybe a handful of infections that affect the heart, and the heart practically never gets cancers. Everything else is pretty much mechanical stress. I don't have to start thinking about specialisation for at least another three years, but it's interesting what people perceive of each specialisation.

Manga
I bought Gakuen Alice 15 and Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden 9 yesterday =D The people in GA look so elongated (older) now. Book 15 was the second part of the sports carnival, which managed to be both incredibly cute and somehow also tension-charged because of Luna.

I like reading the author's free notes usually. I wonder what's wrong with Watase Yuu. She's been complaining for two years of really bad back pain and what sounds like carpal tunnel. I mean...I know I read somewhere that lower back pain is like an occupational risk for mangaka (because of their posture), but Watase seems to be having a pretty bitter time with it, taking hiatuses several times to cope. It makes one question why she's doing three projects simultaneously, in three different genres =___=||||| I'm glad that Sakura Gari is ending soon so we can get more chapters of FYGK, which has been put on hiatus until next month.

I wonder how it's going to end. We know already that Tomite and Hikitsu were going to die, but the original series said very little about the final outcome for Uruki and Takiko, apart from that Takiko was supposedly killed by her father to prevent her becoming a live sacrifice for Genbu. We also know that Takiko's tuberculosis looks pretty advanced and she looks like she'd die within a few months anyway ==;;; Watase usually does really good deaths, but I think I'm going to be pretty pissed off if Takiko dies, simply because like 90% of anyone who watched Fushigi Yuugi I hate Miaka and I hate the idea of Miaka being the only Miko being able to get a happy ending. I wonder if Watase Yuu ever looks back on that work and cringes in shame at the oozing Mary-Sue-ness of it all =__=||||

In other news, the first volume of Yuki Kaori's new work (the title of which possesses an incredibly ugly chain of syllables that I can't remember) is released~~~ Still debating if I should collect it...considering she hasn't done anything suitably brilliant since Count Cain. This is what having babies do to people ="=
mayoraasei: There is no such thing as coincidence (Allen)
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 [livejournal.com profile] 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.
mayoraasei: There is no such thing as coincidence (Default)
Myo~ Random post #2:

Went to Kino yesterday and during a moment of compulsive buying, I bought Fushigi Yuugi Genbu Kaiden volume 2. Somehow, I ordered volume 1 as well...

Me: Excuse me, do you have volume one of this too? *holds up FY v2*
Salesperson: Wait a moment please...*checks* *mumbles in Chinese* Someone's stolen it! *In English* Not right now, would you like to place an order?
Me: No thanks.
Salesperson: *beaming and simultaneously filling out an order form* GOOD! Now sign here please!
Sign at counter: "Customers are not allowed to cancel their order"
Me: ...

So far I do like FY(GK?) a lot more than the original FY (which Yuu Watase calls the Seiryuu/Suzaku arc); for one thing, Toriko (I think that's the romaji for it) isn't as annoying as Miaka, but that's not saying much. Rimudo also isn't as stupid and annoying as Tamahome - not that that's saying much either; although I still find the whole concept of him turning into a girl every time he uses his power really weird. The whole construction of it is much more mature as well: not just the plot, art and characters, but also the tone of the story. I really like Tomoka(? - man, I don't remember any of their names...) He's the guy that appears briefly in FY original along with Hikitsu(?), just before Nuriko (or after?) gets killed. Argh, I really should revise what happened in FY. It's interesting to see that the style of the clothing is quite different as well, nothing quite as lavish or elaborate as the clothing in Kounan(???); even the princes' clothing don't look all that decorated. I recommend FYGK! I also recommend Zettai Kareshi!!! Night better end up with Riiko or I'll...erm...I'll wait until Watase finished FYGK before I skewer her or something. Oh! It's also interesting to note that Rimudo doesn't look all that much like Tamahome - his hair isn't black! Lol! Tomoka is very cute though <3 I think he's somewhat a cross between Tasuki and Suboshi... I really liked the seishi names in the FY-o...I don't know, but Rimudo's seishi equivalent name just sounds really stupid ~~; Probably just me.



While in Kino, I also spotted an English version of the comic of 倚天屠龍記...I was so scarred -_______-; I think even having comic versions of Chinese wuxia novels is wrong...and translating it into English is just.......*shudders*

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mayoraasei: There is no such thing as coincidence (Default)
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