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wJul 16, 2008 | |
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I'll bend the world to our will / And we'll make time stand still Can I just say that Dr. Horrible (the character) is totally TEH SEX? I love that man's voice! And I didn't know that he's on How I Met Your Mother! Between him and Alyson Hannigan, I totally need to watch that next. Spoilerific notes on Tsubasa, volume 17! OMG, Fai's eye was gouged out! Syaoran fought his own clone! Kurogane TOTALLY LOVES Fai! What will he do to save him?! The Twilight movie is coming, and I'll probably mock that, too. This shit writes itself. Actress playing Bella: He [Edward/Vampire Love Interest] always acts like wants to kill me, and what I find interesting is that she likes it. THAT'S NOT INTERESTING, IT'S FUCKING CREEPY, and I pray to God it doesn't make creepy want-to-be-boyfriends even creepier than they already are. EDWARD LOOKS HORRIBLE. HORRIBLE His makeup makes him look....I don't even know. TERRIBLE. Do you not believe me!? Look at the cover of Entertainment Weekly! HE LOOKS HIDEOUS. Who would ever kiss that?! Not only is his makeup job atrocious, but he looks like he's about to start drooling. I thought that perhaps the movie might be better than the book because it wouldn't have such heinous narration. But I don't think I'm capable of watching it without laughing at Edward the entire time. Labels: a: meyer stephanie, dr horrible, manga, manga: clamp, manga: shounen, manga: tsubasa scribbled mystickeeper at 10:13 PM 
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wJul 8, 2008 | |
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A Potpourri Post A question for anime people: I love watching Rightstuf.com, and keeping an eye on their sales. Are there other websites on the Internet that I should be watching? Look at some sweet Scott Pilgrim art! The characters are super hero-fied. If you haven't read Scott Pilgrim yet, you totally should. Dave, I'm looking at you. I haven't had time to read the entirety of this entry, but it's titled "Female, Muslim, and Mutant: A Critique of Muslim Women in Comic Books – Part 1 of 2," and it sounds very interesting. Spoilers for Tsubasa, volumes 14 and 15 OMF, confrontation between Fai and Kurogane! I want to know Fai's tragic backstory! And I love the look on his face when he makes it clear that dying for someone else is totally different than himself happening to die in battle. What's up with this copy of Syaoran? But if the eye is HIS, then maybe protagonist!Syaoran is actually the copy?! OMG KAMUI! Wahhh, it's totally cool that Kamui and Fuuma had their teams flipped! A universe where Kamui chose Teh Evil Side! Sometimes I feel like Sakura is really trying hard, but then there are times like these, when Fai is all, "I'm glad she's asleep for this horrible world, it would be too much for her." O RLY? It just....makes me roll my eyes, I guess. I miss the old Sakura. In conclusion....things are getting wacky, and I might need to begin figuring out another way to consume this manga, as the waiting list at the library is something like 20-40 people deep per volume, and there are only 3 copies of each volume. Labels: anime, comics, comics: scott pilgrim, manga, manga: clamp, manga: shounen, manga: tsubasa scribbled mystickeeper at 4:38 PM
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wJun 20, 2008 | |
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Can you tell it's a slow day at work? OMG, there are so many crazy people in the public library! I am trying to get better at dropping books that are difficult to get through, rather than forcing myself to read things. Thus, even though I only had 100 pages left in Holly Black's Tithe, I dropped it. I can't get into Shelley Jackson's Half-Life, so I'm not going to force myself to read that, either (I'll still go to Wiscon Book Club, don't worry!). I think that part of why I grow tired with fantasy novels is that world-building makes me impatient. Sure, it's dealt with in science fiction too, but supposedly the SF genre is grounded in possibility - something that could happen - and therefore the world, however futuristic, is inextricably linked to our own. With fantasy, it seems like more time is spent explaining societal structures like governments and schooling than I care to read at once (interpersed information is much better than infodumps, in my opinion). Anyway. This is partly why I find it difficult to stay wholly interested in the manga series Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle. The main characters are literally world-hopping, and each new world means another set of explanations to get through. Of course, they travel to a new world every time I get comfortable with the one I'm in. New worlds can be neat, but it's hard to care about every character, even though most of them are incarnations from previous CLAMP manga. Of course, as soon as I am able to make sense of my mild dislike of the narrative structure of the series, I read volume 13. Spoilers through the end of volume 13! OMG, Kurogane's past! So angsty! So good! It was so shounen! Like the "everyone always loses an eye" trope, it seems like someone should also keep a list of violent maternal deaths. Perhaps, when I post my list of "Recommended Reading Order for CLAMP Manga," I will make a key, with symbols next to each series, for things like "Someone loses an eye" or "Doubles/Clones are important in this series." ALSO, WTF, someone told me that the word "fey" means "fated to die," and the Del Rey editor made sure to say that that's how you pronounce Fei's name. WTF, FAI CANNOT DIE! Labels: books, books: fantasy, manga, manga: clamp, manga: shounen, manga: tsubasa scribbled mystickeeper at 3:25 PM
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wJun 15, 2008 | |
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Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Volumes 8-10 Spoilers for these volumes, as well as the video game Final Fantasy VII, lie behind the cut. Ashura-O looked so beautiful in these volumes! I liked the happy ending (sort of) that Ashura and Yasha got here. Okay, what's up with the end of Chapter 63? From here through Volume 10, it's clear that there are two Syaorans. One is patch!Syaoran, who floats, encased in liquid goo. In fact, it reminds me of Sephiroth, from Final Fantasy VII. Which leads me to believe that our hero is a clone! Unlike Cloud of FF7, though, Syaoran might actually be a clone. Since they, you know, look alike and shit. How come patch!Syaoran is all chubby-faced and younger-looking, though? Shouldn't they be the same age? It's interesting that patch!Syaoran can control Syaoran's movements, though. I wonder if patch!Syaoran will try to kill Sakura with Syaoran, like Sephiroth tried to kill Aeris through Cloud, before doing it himself! You know, there's a lot of crossover potential, here! Also, nice use of the Yuuko crossover here! I don't have much else to say, really. Labels: manga, manga: clamp, manga: shounen, manga: tsubasa, video games: final fantasy vii scribbled mystickeeper at 4:46 PM
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wJun 14, 2008 | |
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Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Volumes 6 and 7 My boyfriend Antoine has been following the xxxHolic anime since it came out, I think. He has now excitedly read the available manga in its entirety (almost all in one day, I think. There is a reason this man is my boyfriend!). Apparently, the cross-over value increases as both xxxHolic and Tsubasa go on, because he was opposed to reading Tsubasa manga before, but has since changed his mind! Spoilers for these two volumes lie behind the grey. It is simple, but I really like the line art in Tsubasa (I think my love of the line art in the xxxHolic manga goes without saying). ALSO, Fai is always smiling, and because this is CLAMP, HE IS PROBABLY TOTALLY EVIL! We'll see, though. OMF, I keep thinking they're going to run out of character crossovers that make me squee, but then it's the CLAMP School Defenders Duklyon people! OMF, and RG Veda! WTF, Seishiro?! AND CLOVER! How many crossovers does this volume have? (And as a side note, I forgot to record how excited I was a volume or two ago, when the CLAMP School Detectives showed up. They are so cute! I love them!) So....Is Fai suicidal, then? He was all, "I will not fight hard enough!" And Kurogane was all, "GRRR, I will finish this battle for you, and then chide you for wanting to die!" Or did I misinterpret that? Poor Fai! Don't die just because you're probably evil! OMF, Seishiro! And he recognizes Syaoran, which means he's world-hopping, too! And there's a book about vampires. Of course, my inner-geek would love it if it were called VAMPYRE, but I'll take what I can get. Volume 7 Who is Seishiro searching for? Subaru, of course. And Hokuto? Oh, Seishiro-san. Always waiting beneath the cherry blossoms. Fai can't really be dead, can he?! OMF, yay, neither of them are dead! The virtual reality was a nice twist, especially given how much I didn't like Angelic Layer. I miss the 19th century clothing of Fairy Tale World! :[ Labels: manga, manga: clamp, manga: shounen, manga: tsubasa scribbled mystickeeper at 10:58 AM
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wJun 12, 2008 | |
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xxxHolic, Volumes 1-3 and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Volumes 1-5 To see my past posts on CLAMP manga, I recommend using the tag system to your advantage! Can I just say how much I love Del Rey's publishing style? I wish that their manga wasn't so expensive ($10.95/volume). Their post-volume character guides, cultural notes, and cross-over notes are absolutely fantastic. Also, their honorifics guide at the beginning of each volume is stellar. Huge props to Del Rey! Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle This will mostly be squee. References (but not particularly spoilery things) are made to the series Cardcaptor Sakura, X, Chobits, Legend of Chun Hyang, and xxxHolic. Hey! Syaoran's dad is Fujitaka, or Sakura's dad from Cardcaptor Sakura! Also, cuteness, Sakura and Syaoran look like they met at about the same age as they did in Cardcaptor Sakura. Syaoran is once again orphaned, living alone as he did in Cardcaptor Sakura. I don't like Sakura even in the Kingdom of Clow, whining about missing Syaoran all the time. I love tha Toya still calls Syaoran a brat. Also, OMF Toya/Yukito!! Their love is so cute. They say that they know Syaoran is destined for Sakura. How do they know this? Is the "power to pass through space and time" greater than the power of the Clow Cards? Yuki's fierce "I will never allow him to die!" was so cute, and just made me think of the sacrifice Toya made for Yuki in Cardcaptor Sakura. Squee for Tomoyo - now she has awesome outfits, too! Chi. Still an idiot. I'm glad her role seems very minor. Oh no! Even if Syaoran restores Sakura's memories, their relationship won't be the same! That is so sad, :( OMF, Arashi and Sorata from X! I love Arashi! Watching Chu'nyan was pretty depressing. Syaoran tells her it's "because she's suffered too much already," which kind of sucks. Even at the end of her world's arc, she says her opponent "isn't worth the energy it takes to hit him." Where is the Chun Hyang I know?! Sadness! Volume 3 I love when Sakura gets a memory back, and Syaoran's flashbacks too. I also enjoy how, like in Cardcaptor Sakura, Tsubasa Chronicle makes it very clear when a flashback is taking place. Sakura has the same birthday as Watanuki! Birthdays can be important in CLAMP (Tokyo Babylon!). What does this mean? I would guess that Watanuki was a version of Sakura in his dimension, but it's been made pretty clear that Watanuki's dimension is the one in which Sakura was Cardcaptor Sakura (I think?! Why else would he recognize her scepter?). Ooooh, okay so Syaoran's father isn't Fujitaka, and he's missing some memory. AND, Sakura's father is Clow Reed. What does this mean?! Volume 5 Yay, fairy tale arc! I loved Sakura breaking out of jail. LOVE the 19th century attire. So far, the feather has caused badness in society, so it's actually a good thing when Syaoran & Co. take it back for Sakura. I think it would be interesting to watch them make a choice between Sakura's memory and a feather that was causing a society to flourish. WTF, Syaroan is blind in an eye?! Isn't that the Seishiro blind-side?! I MUST USE CAPS LOCK! Also, yay, Nekoi and Kusanagi are on the same side, unlike in X! Happiness abounds. xxxHolic This will mostly be squee. References (but not particularly spoilery things) are made to the series Cardcaptor Sakura, Chobits, and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle. LOL, I liked Yuko calling Clow Reed a creep. She says, "The creep's blood relation, a cute young girl" owns the original staff. Was Sakura related by blood? I just read Cardcaptor Sakura, and I can't remember. I remember Syaoran was a direct descendent, but I can't remember Sakura being related by blood. Also, Watanuki recognizes the staff. I hope Tomoyo's tapes hit the airwaves, and everyone in Sakura Kinomoto's universe got to see her getting Clow Cards! OMF, Watanuki in the Legal Drug store! Hey, and what's up with this witchesandmagic.com? I wanted to check that website, but maybe I should wait until I get home. Is it a site for fans?? I squeed at Yuko's reference to Subaru as a kind, hard-working medium. Volume 2 Interesting that Yuko calls Sakura and Syaoran as the "same, but of different worlds." I love how dramatic she is with the Tsubasa characters, and then instantly wants a beer as soon as she's done. Yuko is hilarious. And what's she up to, anyway? Grooming Watanuki and Domeki to be master magicians like her and Clow Reed? I love the funny dialogue, too: Fortune Teller: "You are also very adept at housework." Watanuki: "I've got nothing against it." Watanuki's cooking is really good.....who else cooks well in CLAMP? Hotoko, Sakura's dad. Probably many others. Bwahaha to Watanuki in Persocom ears! Labels: manga, manga: clamp, manga: holic, manga: seinen, manga: shounen, manga: tsubasa scribbled mystickeeper at 1:52 PM
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Book Talk Does anyone know if there is a limit to how many books a person can put on hold at the public library? Yesterday, I put hold requests on 22 volumes of manga. I CACKLEE FOREVER. Sorry I haven't been blogging much. Now that Kristy's moved into town, we've been spending our evenings at Antoine's house, playing Mario Kart and watching Arrested Development (Dave, you should do it! We're working on Disc 1, and Jennifer has seen it too). It's kind of nice to not be spending so much time online, though. I hope to write today about manga, specifically xxxHolic and Tsubasa Chronicle, which I have now begun. I understand now why people were so eager to say, "Skip most of CLAMP's old stuff and just read those, they're awesome!" Because they are so awesome! There is a huge jump in quality in my opinion, particularly in the pacing of the storytelling. I have been taking notes while reading - something for which my co-workers ridicule me. I had intended to blog about it last night, but I wanted to find a CLAMP LiveJournal icon. Of course, I fell asleep on top of my covers before I could accomplish this task. Labels: friends, libraries, manga, manga: holic, manga: tsubasa scribbled mystickeeper at 8:51 AM
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wNov 18, 2007 | |
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A quick post, so that I can chain myself to my English paper Firstly, a couple of links: It might not make as much sense here on Blogger, but over on LiveJournal, every time you make a post, you use a picture icon to go with the post. How many icons you get depends on the type of account you have with LiveJournal. In this post, I describe the meaning of 7 of them. Interesting enough, I guess. I wish I could have icons here on Blogger, too, but oh well. A post, and comments, dealing with the issues Heroes has been having this season when it comes to gender and race. It is not just me, I swear! Borders plots to ruin my book-perusing experience in every way imaginable. And I had gotten so excited, too, because at the Madison location, they just moved the manga section to be right next to the young adult. My Real Reason for Posting: There should be a CLAMP manual. (For those who are confused, and curious, CLAMP is a 4-person team from Japan that writes manga. Lots of manga! They are so prolific that they have their own tropes!) I’m working on reading all of CLAMP’s manga, and there’s a lot to cover, as they are quite prolific. I just finished reading Clamp School Detectives and Tokyo Babylon. I know that it isn’t necessary to read every other CLAMP title in order to read Tsubasa Chronicle/xxxHOLIC, but I would like to read as many as possible in order to enjoy maximum appreciation. Also, I'd like to read many of the series for the sake of themselves. Still, I think that they’ve written over 20 series, or something equally absurd. My “must” list so far is X/1999 (yes, I know it isn't finished, but I own half the series, and I want to get to it now that I'm done with Tokyo Babylon anyway), Chobits, Magic Knight Rayearth, and Cardcaptor Sakura. Does it matter what order I read these series in? For that matter, when I finally start reading Tsubasa Chronicle and xxHOLIC, does it matter what order I read those two series in? Start with one, reach a certain point, and then alternate? (As I’m doing with the Buffy/Angel series) Also, are there any other series I should check out, first? RG Veda? Angelic Layer? Miyuki-chan in Wonderland? Clover? Clamp School Defenders? Man of Many Faces? Suki? Wish? Legend of Chun Hyang? My God, how is it possible to write so much manga?! Note to Self: What You're Blogging About Next * Beowulf movie * Clamp School Detectives manga * Tokyo Babylon manga Current Music: BON BON - Hey! Say! 7 (Lovely Complex, second ending) Labels: manga: ccs, manga: clamp, manga: holic, manga: tokyo babylon, manga: tsubasa, tv: heroes scribbled mystickeeper at 11:49 AM
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