wSep 9, 2008


The argument fanboys have at every convention, ever

For n00bs to the anime scene: "Shounen" (or shonen) manga is that which is marketed toward boys. The girls are often voluptuous and useless and kidnapped, and the protagonist boys have EPIC ANGST that must be overcome. This angst is always overcome by fighting, be it ninja-style or ghost-killing style. The protagonist's goal is usually to level up a lot and generally pwn n00bs.

Is the separation of shoujo and shounen manga sexist? This should be the topic of another post.

Anyway, so I'm only 3 volumes into Bleach, but I'm ready to list the reasons why it's better than Naruto (of which I read ~32 volumes):

-- The narrative pacing is actual...narrative pacing.
-- Girls do things other than whine about Sasuke
-- It's a personal preference, but I like the art style more
-- A single fight does not take 6 volumes to reach its conclusion
-- Characters do not spend entire fights explaining the flow of their chakra, or explaining in great detail how their SEKRIT ULTIMATE MOVE works. I like this. I don't care about the schemantics behind somebody's bad-ass fight move. I care about who gets hit, who hit them, how cool it looks, and who dies afterward.
-- It's actually funny, when it tries to be funny
-- The characterization that protagonist Ichigo gets in volume 3 makes me care about him a lot more than I ever cared about the protagonist of Naruto.


Of course, all these things could soon change.

Feel free to use the comments to weigh in on how you feel about Bleach v. Naruto.

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scribbled mystickeeper at 4:23 PM
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wDec 13, 2007


I will feel her blood on my hands.....TONIGHT!

(BTW, blog titles that are not self-explanatory are still being taken from Wizard People. If only so Steph will nod in approval while she reads.)

I had a post written last night, and then I fell asleep. WTF. Classes are over. I've made the first steps toward job-searching. Do I write about specifics on the blog? Theoretically, the majority of my readership is also my competition, and I am an ambitious whore. So......YOU WILL NOT KNOW WHAT I DID.

Things I'm Reading
I started A Great and Terrible Beauty today (reading throughout my entire English lecture, as I can't stand it), and I like it. Although, for how much people love it, some of the writing seems.....not so great. Especially Gemma's interactions with the other girls her age. I don't know. Are they making this into a movie? It seems like it wouldn't feel the same at all, without her biting commentary. Ah, well. The plot's interesting enough, anyway.

I don't know why I keep reading the Naruto manga. I am through volume 25 (chapter 225), and I just feel like it's not all that great. When one battle takes 4-8 volumes to resolve....? I lose interest. I'm also not a fan of....
"MY ANGST, LET ME SHOW YOU IT BEFORE WE FIGHT! AND WHILE WE FIGHT. AND AFTER."
"OH YEAH? LET ME EXPLAIN MY SUPER-ULTRA ATTACK MOVE IN EXPLICIT DETAIL, COMPLETE WITH DIAGRAMS FOR THE READER ABOUT HOW MY CHAKRA IS FLOWING!"
"OMG ME TOO!"
I dunno. I've stuck with it this long, I'm going to hang around until the Shippuden arc starts and see if it starts throwing bucket loads of awesome on to pages, and if Sakura stops frickin' moping all the time, and maybe I'll keep going. I think I would just like it a whole lot more if it didn't take so damn long for the plot to progress. I now understand why the anime has so much filler. It wouldn't be very hard to catch up with a pace set by a turtle.

And other things
I'm still really glad that I took off of work next week. I couldn't focus at all today when I was there. How can you? You walk around giant slabs of marble and Greco-Roman paintings and statues, deliver pieces of paper that make legislation happen, and have endless conversations with intelligent peers in the basement. I'm really going to miss my job when I leave it, :/ This is the best job I've ever had.

It's so hard to focus once finals start. All I can think about is going Christmas shopping, and what books I want to read and shows I want to watch. Most of all, I feel sick to my stomach when I think about the fact that I'm going to graduate in May and really have no idea what I'm doing. I've entertained the thought of presenting a cool and collected persona via my blog, buuuut.....we all know that that's just not my style.

Whatever. Because we all need an lol.....I am still registered for Ballroom Dancing next semester.

I'm off to try and get a bit of Christmas shopping done now, and then go and see "Blade Runner" on the big screen with Antoine and some of his friends. I've only seen Blade Runner once, and I think I might have fallen asleep and not understood it. Or, possibly, both. I feel like it's one of those things that I should like, though, so I'm going to try again. If nothing else, I can fall asleep on Antoine in the movie theater, which is always a win.


Current Music: The Night Starts Here - Stars

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scribbled mystickeeper at 5:19 PM
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wAug 4, 2007


Big Plans

First of all.....STOP IT, KTHX.

OMF, Ryan is famous! Way to pwn it, Ryan.

Today is going to be awesome! Antoine and I are meeting up with Steph and Gordon at Mitsuwa's Bon Odori Festival. It sounds like a fair number of people from Anime Club are going, too. So, I will eat delicious food there, and buy delicious food to bring home with me. And if there are cheap anime-related things....SO BE IT. :D

Antoine and I will spend the night on the floor of a friend of our friends, and then we will spend Sunday at the Bristol Renaissance Faire. I think my goal will be to spend as little money as possible.

Anyway, weekend culture points will be win.

Not much has happened this week, aside from work. Most nights during the week, I came home and fell asleep in front of my laptop, and then woke up at 1am-3am wondering wtf was going on. I did start reading the Naruto manga. It is kind of meh so far, but I have assurances that it gets better. Sasuke has replaced Kekashi as my favorite. Sakura could easily become my favorite if she'd DO something. I also started reading X/1999. It seems awesome!

Anyway, I should go print off tickets and directions, and pack my bag. I just hope it doesn't rain! That would suck hardcore.

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scribbled mystickeeper at 10:30 AM
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