Night of the Beasts Vol 4 by Chika Shiomi

For Him: How to carry on a courtship when you’re possessed by two demons who are ancient enemies:

1. Have the Evil Demon, Kagara, awaken inside you, giving several thousand of your relatives dreams where you slaughter each and every one of them in a particularly brutal fashion.  This will lead them to ceaselessly hunt you down and try to kill you for the next several years.
2. Hunt down the very distant cousin(naturally of the opposite sex from you and approximately of the same age, to allow for romantic angst) who possesses the mortal enemy of your own demon inside of her because your soul tells you she can help you control Kagara.
3. Face the Evil Relatives who want you dead and bond over dead bodies.
4. At some point, said Evil Relatives must kidnap the female half(sustaining a fair amount of damage in the process…that Aria is a vicious one when provoked) to draw you out.  When this happens, you will naturally run off to save her a like any good hero, only to get caught in their trap.  The fact that your girl hates all their guts for relentlessly hunting you without ever trying to help you will not help the situation any (and, frankly, they are all Scum and she has many valid points.)
5. When one of them makes a move to kill her, feel free to attack him instead, even though you know that the first time you willingly shed blood, the demon will take over completely.
6. Be warned, though, that as everyone around is on Kagara’s hit list, he’ll probably slaughter them all.  On the upside, it may allow Kagara’s mortal enemy, Kurugi, to finally awaken inside your girl.
7. Don’t worry, even though the demon in your body tried to kill her, she will engage in a relentless quest to save you, despite all the relatives she never met before ordering, bribing and begging her to kill you to save them from you.  To her, they are the worthless scum who were trying to kill you and drove you into the corner that forced you to give in to the demon and you are the victim.  Sure, she’s going to beat up anyone to use the words “boyfriend” or “love” in reference to you, but we all know better.
8. As you are A) in love, and B) the hero(ok, hero’s love interest, really) of the story, you will be able to fight back against the demon inside you and keep him from killing her a few times.
9. This may also cause Kagara to remember what may have been a romantic side to his relationship with Mikage, the female warrior who killed him (with Kurugi’s help, of course) 400 years ago.  Of course, as Kagara is Evil, this will likely just make him even more determined to crush your soul and slaughter all your relatives(only a very few of which are worthy of being spared the brutal butchering.)
10. Please not that Kagara is a manipulative SOB, and you should NOT be tricked when he lets you regain control of your very wounded and bloody body in a place where your girlfriend is likely to find you.  As soon as she gets close enough for cuddling, he’ll likely take control back and try to choke her to death.
    

Yes, still loving this one.  I really do despise the relatives…really, the only flatout likable ones are Tohru, who’s really barely more than a kid and isn’t all “Kill Sakura! KILL KILL KILL!!” and Towako, who mostly wants all the idiots to shut up and start whining.  Akiya and Takikaido are both interesting, but are both destined to end up either broken shells or with their entrails dangling from Kagara’s fingers.

Night of the Beasts remains my favorite of Chika Shiomi’s books.  I loke both Canon and Yurara a lot, but compared to Aria, both their heroines are pushovers, and while Canon has promise in the “messed up psycho OTP area” Yurara doesn’t really show signs of it, and I like the history and mythology in Night of the Beasts.

Night of the Beasts Vol 4 by Chika Shiomi

For Him: How to carry on a courtship when you’re possessed by two demons who are ancient enemies:

1. Have the Evil Demon, Kagara, awaken inside you, giving several thousand of your relatives dreams where you slaughter each and every one of them in a particularly brutal fashion.  This will lead them to ceaselessly hunt you down and try to kill you for the next several years.
2. Hunt down the very distant cousin(naturally of the opposite sex from you and approximately of the same age, to allow for romantic angst) who possesses the mortal enemy of your own demon inside of her because your soul tells you she can help you control Kagara.
3. Face the Evil Relatives who want you dead and bond over dead bodies.
4. At some point, said Evil Relatives must kidnap the female half(sustaining a fair amount of damage in the process…that Aria is a vicious one when provoked) to draw you out.  When this happens, you will naturally run off to save her a like any good hero, only to get caught in their trap.  The fact that your girl hates all their guts for relentlessly hunting you without ever trying to help you will not help the situation any (and, frankly, they are all Scum and she has many valid points.)
5. When one of them makes a move to kill her, feel free to attack him instead, even though you know that the first time you willingly shed blood, the demon will take over completely.
6. Be warned, though, that as everyone around is on Kagara’s hit list, he’ll probably slaughter them all.  On the upside, it may allow Kagara’s mortal enemy, Kurugi, to finally awaken inside your girl.
7. Don’t worry, even though the demon in your body tried to kill her, she will engage in a relentless quest to save you, despite all the relatives she never met before ordering, bribing and begging her to kill you to save them from you.  To her, they are the worthless scum who were trying to kill you and drove you into the corner that forced you to give in to the demon and you are the victim.  Sure, she’s going to beat up anyone to use the words “boyfriend” or “love” in reference to you, but we all know better.
8. As you are A) in love, and B) the hero(ok, hero’s love interest, really) of the story, you will be able to fight back against the demon inside you and keep him from killing her a few times.
9. This may also cause Kagara to remember what may have been a romantic side to his relationship with Mikage, the female warrior who killed him (with Kurugi’s help, of course) 400 years ago.  Of course, as Kagara is Evil, this will likely just make him even more determined to crush your soul and slaughter all your relatives(only a very few of which are worthy of being spared the brutal butchering.)
10. Please not that Kagara is a manipulative SOB, and you should NOT be tricked when he lets you regain control of your very wounded and bloody body in a place where your girlfriend is likely to find you.  As soon as she gets close enough for cuddling, he’ll likely take control back and try to choke her to death.
    

Yes, still loving this one.  I really do despise the relatives…really, the only flatout likable ones are Tohru, who’s really barely more than a kid and isn’t all “Kill Sakura! KILL KILL KILL!!” and Towako, who mostly wants all the idiots to shut up and start whining.  Akiya and Takikaido are both interesting, but are both destined to end up either broken shells or with their entrails dangling from Kagara’s fingers.

Night of the Beasts remains my favorite of Chika Shiomi’s books.  I loke both Canon and Yurara a lot, but compared to Aria, both their heroines are pushovers, and while Canon has promise in the “messed up psycho OTP area” Yurara doesn’t really show signs of it, and I like the history and mythology in Night of the Beasts.

July comics, part 1

( in which one of my heroines sinks further and further into drek, while another is temporarily spared from the parasite that plagues her )

July comics, part 1

( in which one of my heroines sinks further and further into drek, while another is temporarily spared from the parasite that plagues her )

*sniffle*

Apparently, Dresden Files is officially cancelled and Paul Blackthorne has already signed on with another show.

I shall now go off into a corner and cry for a bit.

*sniffle*

Apparently, Dresden Files is officially cancelled and Paul Blackthorne has already signed on with another show.

I shall now go off into a corner and cry for a bit.

Challenge to/question for the asian mythology/history lovers on the flist

So, the name Mikage/Mikagi seems to keep popping up for me in anime and manga.

It's likely best known from Yuu Watase's Ceres: Celestial Legend/Ayashi no Ceres as the family name of the main character, Aya, and the name of her ancestor who, along with his celestial wife/mortal enemy, was reincarnated generation after generation in his descendants.

The only other place I've seen it prominently is in Chika Shiomi's Night of the Beasts, where Mikage is the name of the ancestress of the two leads, who was bonded to a demon.  That demon, and an enemy demon, were also passed down through the generations in Mikage's descendants.

In both books, the "evil" spirit took over the body of the descdendant and used it to wreak havoc, while the "Good" spirit emerged to battle it and allied with the descendant whose body it possessed.

I've seen Mikage/Mikagi used a few other times for minor characters, seemingly always inconnection with the ideas of demons and/or rebirth.

My question is:  Is there a major belief, legend or person associated with this name?  Or does it just have a meaning similar to rebirth?  

Yes, this has been bugging me off and on for months and I haven't been able to find an answer.

"Why are so many ninja's named Sasuke?" was so much easier...

Challenge to/question for the asian mythology/history lovers on the flist

So, the name Mikage/Mikagi seems to keep popping up for me in anime and manga.

It's likely best known from Yuu Watase's Ceres: Celestial Legend/Ayashi no Ceres as the family name of the main character, Aya, and the name of her ancestor who, along with his celestial wife/mortal enemy, was reincarnated generation after generation in his descendants.

The only other place I've seen it prominently is in Chika Shiomi's Night of the Beasts, where Mikage is the name of the ancestress of the two leads, who was bonded to a demon.  That demon, and an enemy demon, were also passed down through the generations in Mikage's descendants.

In both books, the "evil" spirit took over the body of the descdendant and used it to wreak havoc, while the "Good" spirit emerged to battle it and allied with the descendant whose body it possessed.

I've seen Mikage/Mikagi used a few other times for minor characters, seemingly always inconnection with the ideas of demons and/or rebirth.

My question is:  Is there a major belief, legend or person associated with this name?  Or does it just have a meaning similar to rebirth?  

Yes, this has been bugging me off and on for months and I haven't been able to find an answer.

"Why are so many ninja's named Sasuke?" was so much easier...

single digit manga

So, several times recently in comments and IMs with various people, the topic of neverending manga  has come up, and how it seems there are  so few manga that are short.  So, largely out of curiosity, I went to AnimeOnDVD and compiled a list of all the manga I've read, in whole or in part, that are under 10 volumes with a few words on each.

( list )

And longer series that I'm reading, have read, list and volumes only.  Incomplete series are here as they may end up never ending.

( list )

Neither list includes anything that I've dropped or wouldn't recommend to at least a few people.  If I read some of the manga but switched to just anime, it's there if the manga was also good(for longer series.)  Also, if I couldn't remember anything at all beyond "uh...I liked it, it's not here.

single digit manga

So, several times recently in comments and IMs with various people, the topic of neverending manga  has come up, and how it seems there are  so few manga that are short.  So, largely out of curiosity, I went to AnimeOnDVD and compiled a list of all the manga I've read, in whole or in part, that are under 10 volumes with a few words on each.

( list )

And longer series that I'm reading, have read, list and volumes only.  Incomplete series are here as they may end up never ending.

( list )

Neither list includes anything that I've dropped or wouldn't recommend to at least a few people.  If I read some of the manga but switched to just anime, it's there if the manga was also good(for longer series.)  Also, if I couldn't remember anything at all beyond "uh...I liked it, it's not here.