Half my AIM buddies are going back to school...I feel loneliness descending already...
Anyway...
Sat down with the "X-Factor: The Longest Night" trade today. On the upside, Monet was perfect(and, in terms of characters, that was the most important thing for me) and I think I approve of the Rictor/Monet direction PAD is going(not a pairing I would have ever thought of, but there are hints, and their interactions are amusing) Layla is a freaky-fun kid, and the book as a whole is funny and interesting and very well done. On the downside, the whole "spin" on Rictor's powers seemed an excuse for a very out of character suidice attempt. More importantly, however, is Terry. First of all, artistically, where did the freckles and giant nose come from. The freckles, while distracting aren't really important, but what's with the nose. Monet and Rahne have perfectly normal noses, so why is Terry's suddenly as big as Jamie's? Then there's her powers...I'd say the new development is interesting, but it's very, very close to what Fabes did with Songbird near the end of his first Thunderbolts run, and they're already redheaded leaders and heartbreaker's with flight and soundbased powers...they don't need more similarities. The main thing, however, is Terry getting the Longbow Hunters treatment(kidnapped and tortured so a male can come and rescue her to prove he still has what it takes) Not only is it a "girl in the refrigerator" moment, but Rictor already proved he still had it a few issues earlier at the gas station. Still aside from the Rictor "rrr" moment and wanting to apply a metal bat to both PAD and Sook's heads for Terry's sake, I'm quite happy.
Moving on to the manga...
I found this 'Wallflower" shrine today...it seems I shall be a happy, happy girl with my 'ship in the future:
http://www.geocities.com/perfectgirlev/home.html(for those confused, 'ship=relationship, love of a relationship)
For some reason, I seem to be in a serious 'ship mode lately. That's probably a part of why I'm reading so much and babbling about so much manga lately...there's almost no such thing as a manga without a 'ship(maybe "Blade of the Immortal," but that's debatable)
Anyway...
Read the second "Lone Hina" novel. Much shorter and with fewer illustrations than the first, so...hmph. A fun book, and the second half was a Motoko story, and I always highly approve of Motoko stories, but it was basically like about half the episodes of the anime. which is to say that it was fun and neither added to or detracted from the main story.
Also FINALLY sat down with the last volume of "Ultramaniac"(like a few other things, my filing system left it in a hard-to-remember-out-of-sight-out-of-mind place) Nina ended up with the right guy, which is really the most important thing(I've been fretting over that since volume 1) Most of the book focused on establishing and laying that out, with the magictaking a back seat, forthe most part. Now to find an affordable set of the anime, so I can finish that...
"Platinum Garden" sounded odd enough to be really fun,and it was. The crux of the matter is that a young woman's, Kazura, grandfather recently died, and in his will he left her to a man nsmed Mizuki in his will to pay off his debts(Mizuki paid his medical bills) Kazura, naturally, is thinking things like "slave trader" but she's actually there to(after proper training) pose as Mizuki's fiance because he doesn't want the arranged marriage his family is trying to bully him into. (Naturally, the family does not approve of Kazura, despite the fact that none of them have ever met her) Mizuki is the future head of the family because he has a special gift exclusive to the heads of the family. He can call back a spirit once and briefly, except he calls them back as they were when they died, which usually means sickly or in pain (hopefully any examples of this we get won't be of violent murders or bloody accidents...) Anyway, Kazura is a fairly standard likable heroine in a manga...a little too engeretic, loyal, and her mind goes in stranger places than mine does far, far too quickly. Mizuki is kind of a jerk but apparently nice underneath...he has more self-hatred than he has disdain for others(and he has plenty of that) and he spends a fair bit of time bullying Kazura, but that's because it's the only way to get her to cooperate. He goes from perfectly calm, polite and businesslike to evil eyes and diabolical when crossed, which happens a lot. STill, he's starting to thaw, and they're quite fun together. There's also the whole "they knew each other as kids and he remembers but she forgot" thing that crops up a lot in manga. This is probably one of the more fun relationship-centric mangas I've come across in a while.
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