hmm...

I'm not sure it's a good sign when my reaction to Fullmetal Alchemist ch 78 is "ech, why are you back?" and my reaction to Bleach ch 303 is "ech, why are you still back, and am I supposed to find you interesting?"

But in other news, I am currently watching the first ep of Princess Tutu...Ahiru is quite darling and I am possibly already in love with...uhm...Fakir? I think...the prince's friend/bodyguard/whatever.

hmm...

I'm not sure it's a good sign when my reaction to Fullmetal Alchemist ch 78 is "ech, why are you back?" and my reaction to Bleach ch 303 is "ech, why are you still back, and am I supposed to find you interesting?"

But in other news, I am currently watching the first ep of Princess Tutu...Ahiru is quite darling and I am possibly already in love with...uhm...Fakir? I think...the prince's friend/bodyguard/whatever.

Princess Tutu eps 1-5

Once upon a time, a man named Herr Drosselmeyer(HD) wrote a story about a brave prince who battled an evil, cunning raven.  But HD died before he could finish the story, leaving the prince and the raven stuck fighting each other forever.  The raven, of course, would have none of that, and broke free of the story and out of the world of the book.  The prince, being the prince and the hero, followed the raven and managed to seal the raven up again, but in the process his heart was shattered, leaving him a cold and empty shell.

Sometime later, there is a kind but lonely duck who loves the prince, but being a duck, can do nothing to help him.  There's also Princess Tutu, a magical princess who strives to put back together the pieces of her prince's heart, but who will disappear into a speck of light if she ever confesses her love.  And finally, there's Ahiru, a sweet and bubbly, but dim and clutzy, girl who attends a ballet school, and who is hopelessly in love with another student, Mytho, a cold and repressed upperclassman.

All three girls are the same.  For you see, after the prince's heart was shattered and the duck fell in love with the prince, the spirit of HD saw the duck and decided it was time to tell another story.

On some levels, Princess Tutu is as pretty, and frilly as shojo comes, especially magical girl shojo, but at the same time...it's not.  It's a fairytale(Ahiru's life at school and crush on Mytho) within a fairytale(Princess Tutu's quest to restore her ptince's heart) within a fairytale(the duck who fell in love with the prince who sacrificed his heart to stop the raven.)  Ahiru is so much the quniessential sweet and bubbly and energetic shojo heroine that she should give me hives, but I adore her.  The whole "love square," at this point, should have me twitching.  There is, of course, Ahiru who loves Mythos.  But Mythos is dating Rue, the beautiful, poised, elite ballerina.  And there's also Mythos's friend, Fakir, an ill-tempered and unpleasant(outwardly) boy who doesn't want Mythos to regain his heart, for reasons that have not yet been revealed. There is, I think, a reason that Certain People I know who break out in hives at the idea of magical girl shojo praise this to no end.

To be perfectly upfront:  a lot of my opinions are likely influenced by my having a vague idea of what's really going on via reports by (among others, but mostly) magicnoireand calixa, especially in regards to Fakir.  You see, not knowing what was coming, I would likely be somewhat annoyed.  We are, clearly, supposed to be rooting for the poor duck to save her prince, restore his heart, and somehow break free of the curse and confess her love, thus having the beautiful fairy tale ending.  And yet...Mythos is so interesting he makes my eyes glaze over.  I have no idea what Rue(who is quite cool and seems to have quite good taste otherwise) or Ahiru see in him, beyond his being the prince.  If I didn't know that the story is, indeed, that of Ahiru and Fakir, and not that of Ahiru and the prince, this post would likely be full of grumblings along the lines of "but why can't the duck save the prince, but then dump him for the grumpy and much more interesting guy who's nicer than he seems?"  Don't get me wrong, I'm all for "she saves him" stories...it's just that, male or female, I prefer my damsels in distress to be interesting...give me a reason beyond "PRETTY!" for the hero or heroine to be on the rescue quest, please.  But, having been generally spoiled, I know that I don't have to worry about that, and that I'll get what I want in the end.

I need icons...or screencaps with which to make icons. 

ETA:  I find it very amusing that the second disc has a preview for Pretear, because one of my main thoughts watching the first disc was "this is like Pretear or Revolutionary Girl Utena...only done much better."

Actually, this has been compared to Utena so much that I was almost scared to touvh it, but I am promised that it only gets better, as opposed to being like Utena where it starts good, but my the end all I could process was "And now Akio is driving around and seducing everyone with his car and Touga and Saionji are posing on the car and their shirts are flying open and I think people are doing Many Physical Things while the car seducing and posed shirt popping is going on, AND I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT I'M SUPPOSED TO BE GETTING FROM THIS!!!!"

Oh, and the "AH OOGA AH OOGA yuri subtext AH OOGA incest subtext AH OOGA yaoi subtext AH OOGA yuri subtext AH OOGA AH OOGA!!!" part.

Ok, head hurt now...

Princess Tutu eps 1-5

Once upon a time, a man named Herr Drosselmeyer(HD) wrote a story about a brave prince who battled an evil, cunning raven.  But HD died before he could finish the story, leaving the prince and the raven stuck fighting each other forever.  The raven, of course, would have none of that, and broke free of the story and out of the world of the book.  The prince, being the prince and the hero, followed the raven and managed to seal the raven up again, but in the process his heart was shattered, leaving him a cold and empty shell.

Sometime later, there is a kind but lonely duck who loves the prince, but being a duck, can do nothing to help him.  There's also Princess Tutu, a magical princess who strives to put back together the pieces of her prince's heart, but who will disappear into a speck of light if she ever confesses her love.  And finally, there's Ahiru, a sweet and bubbly, but dim and clutzy, girl who attends a ballet school, and who is hopelessly in love with another student, Mytho, a cold and repressed upperclassman.

All three girls are the same.  For you see, after the prince's heart was shattered and the duck fell in love with the prince, the spirit of HD saw the duck and decided it was time to tell another story.

On some levels, Princess Tutu is as pretty, and frilly as shojo comes, especially magical girl shojo, but at the same time...it's not.  It's a fairytale(Ahiru's life at school and crush on Mytho) within a fairytale(Princess Tutu's quest to restore her ptince's heart) within a fairytale(the duck who fell in love with the prince who sacrificed his heart to stop the raven.)  Ahiru is so much the quniessential sweet and bubbly and energetic shojo heroine that she should give me hives, but I adore her.  The whole "love square," at this point, should have me twitching.  There is, of course, Ahiru who loves Mythos.  But Mythos is dating Rue, the beautiful, poised, elite ballerina.  And there's also Mythos's friend, Fakir, an ill-tempered and unpleasant(outwardly) boy who doesn't want Mythos to regain his heart, for reasons that have not yet been revealed. There is, I think, a reason that Certain People I know who break out in hives at the idea of magical girl shojo praise this to no end.

To be perfectly upfront:  a lot of my opinions are likely influenced by my having a vague idea of what's really going on via reports by (among others, but mostly) magicnoireand calixa, especially in regards to Fakir.  You see, not knowing what was coming, I would likely be somewhat annoyed.  We are, clearly, supposed to be rooting for the poor duck to save her prince, restore his heart, and somehow break free of the curse and confess her love, thus having the beautiful fairy tale ending.  And yet...Mythos is so interesting he makes my eyes glaze over.  I have no idea what Rue(who is quite cool and seems to have quite good taste otherwise) or Ahiru see in him, beyond his being the prince.  If I didn't know that the story is, indeed, that of Ahiru and Fakir, and not that of Ahiru and the prince, this post would likely be full of grumblings along the lines of "but why can't the duck save the prince, but then dump him for the grumpy and much more interesting guy who's nicer than he seems?"  Don't get me wrong, I'm all for "she saves him" stories...it's just that, male or female, I prefer my damsels in distress to be interesting...give me a reason beyond "PRETTY!" for the hero or heroine to be on the rescue quest, please.  But, having been generally spoiled, I know that I don't have to worry about that, and that I'll get what I want in the end.

I need icons...or screencaps with which to make icons. 

ETA:  I find it very amusing that the second disc has a preview for Pretear, because one of my main thoughts watching the first disc was "this is like Pretear or Revolutionary Girl Utena...only done much better."

Actually, this has been compared to Utena so much that I was almost scared to touvh it, but I am promised that it only gets better, as opposed to being like Utena where it starts good, but my the end all I could process was "And now Akio is driving around and seducing everyone with his car and Touga and Saionji are posing on the car and their shirts are flying open and I think people are doing Many Physical Things while the car seducing and posed shirt popping is going on, AND I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT I'M SUPPOSED TO BE GETTING FROM THIS!!!!"

Oh, and the "AH OOGA AH OOGA yuri subtext AH OOGA incest subtext AH OOGA yaoi subtext AH OOGA yuri subtext AH OOGA AH OOGA!!!" part.

Ok, head hurt now...

I OBJECT!!

So, why is it that when I went to Hallmark to get my parents an anniversary card, there were more "for mother and spouse" and "for father and spouse" cards than for "my parents."  Seriously, is it THAT UNFATHOMABLE for people to actually stay married to the person they have kids with?

(And on a lesser note, why must anniversary cards be so dramatic and mushy...what's wrong with "I love you and I'm glad you're still married, now here's a joke" cards?)

ALSO!!!!

Why do women assume it's ok to pretty much flash other women?  I don't know how many times I've almost got whiplash by a woman in front of me bending down and giving  me a look at her navel.  I KNOW the woman at Hallmark knew it because she had to get something from under the register for the man in front of me and she knelt down, instead of bending right over.  I mean, yes, I'm A) heterosexual and B) female so I'm not going to ogle her, but it doesn't mean I'm fine with an unexpected look down her shirt, either.

I have also come to the horrible realization that I will be off work the day after Christmas...this means THERE WILL BE NOTHING TO TEAR ME AWAY FROM CHEAP CANDLES AND CHRISTMAS CHOCOLATE!!!  It could be dangerous.

And, since Waldenbooks sent out another 30% off card, I caved to several well respected recommendations and bouth the first volume of Cantarella, though I won't read it for a bit.  Actually...I think I have a dozen or so volume 1s waiting for me to catch up with a few things...I should do a post to get opinions and recs on them.

Food is ready, Princess Tutu time.

I OBJECT!!

So, why is it that when I went to Hallmark to get my parents an anniversary card, there were more "for mother and spouse" and "for father and spouse" cards than for "my parents."  Seriously, is it THAT UNFATHOMABLE for people to actually stay married to the person they have kids with?

(And on a lesser note, why must anniversary cards be so dramatic and mushy...what's wrong with "I love you and I'm glad you're still married, now here's a joke" cards?)

ALSO!!!!

Why do women assume it's ok to pretty much flash other women?  I don't know how many times I've almost got whiplash by a woman in front of me bending down and giving  me a look at her navel.  I KNOW the woman at Hallmark knew it because she had to get something from under the register for the man in front of me and she knelt down, instead of bending right over.  I mean, yes, I'm A) heterosexual and B) female so I'm not going to ogle her, but it doesn't mean I'm fine with an unexpected look down her shirt, either.

I have also come to the horrible realization that I will be off work the day after Christmas...this means THERE WILL BE NOTHING TO TEAR ME AWAY FROM CHEAP CANDLES AND CHRISTMAS CHOCOLATE!!!  It could be dangerous.

And, since Waldenbooks sent out another 30% off card, I caved to several well respected recommendations and bouth the first volume of Cantarella, though I won't read it for a bit.  Actually...I think I have a dozen or so volume 1s waiting for me to catch up with a few things...I should do a post to get opinions and recs on them.

Food is ready, Princess Tutu time.

Princess Tutu eps 6-9

Uhm, just to get this off my chest due to(likely unnecessary) kneejerk reactions to a couple things here: if this ends up anything remotely like one of those stories where the bubbly, plucky girl is better than the intelligent, elegant girl just because of character type and for no reason than that character type being viewed as "better"(rather like tom boys being better than princess types, for no reason but that tomboys are better than princesses), there will be NO END to my wrath.  I learned my lesson by not following my instincts and dropping Goong 15 minutes in and instead endured 24 hours of that(and actually, Ahiru/Mytho/Rue reminds me of the Char Gyung/Shin/Hyo Rin setup...except for the part where I passionately dislike the two I'm supposed to root for and like the one I'm supposed to hate.)  I'm 99.9% sure I have no worries, but the arrival of Princess Kraehe(who, naturally, I adore) and a couple things surrounding that set off alarm bells.

But moving on to more pleasant things...

May those who accept their fate find happiness. May those who defy their fate find glory. 

So, Fakir now has a SWORD?  And(briefly) a mask?  And likes to hang out in the library?  Oh anime, you spoil me so...

And now we come to the question...is Ahiru right to restore Mytho's heart?  Is Fakir wrong to try to stop her?  After all, Mytho never asked Ahiru to restore his heart.  Before she returned the heart shards to him, he knew no pain, no fear, no loneliness, no sorrow.  Now, because of her, he knows those things.  Fakir, meanwhile, wants to protect Mytho from them, even if he has to come across as an unpleasant bastard in the process.  At the same time, who is Fakir to decide whether or not Mytho can have his heart back.  Yes, he wants to protect Mytho from pain (though presumably he also has important mytharc reasons, too) but how is it right to make the decisions for Mytho, when Mytho has no idea what he's being denied?  Two very different missions, with identical goals: to protect and help Mytho.

And oh, how did I love Fakir when he found Ahiru(as a duck) in his locker, and gently tucked her inside his clothes to get her out of the lockerroom before anyone else saw and went "DUCK! TASTY!" and then fed her?  While I'd say that his clapping after Rue and Ahiru's dance was the first sign that there was a nice guy in there(which those of us familiar with the stories already knew) this is the first OBVIOUS "nice guy inside" scene, just like the scene of his protecting Mytho after Ahiru returns fear to Mytho is the confirmation that yes, he really does just want to protect his friend, even if he has to come across as a bastard in the process.  He is, ultimately, the prince's knight in shining armor who will lay down his life and fight princesses if he has to.  Have I mentioned I am possibly in love with Fakir at the moment?

I also love(though in different ways) Rue, the girl who has everything she could want...except friends and the prince's heart.  Because the prince has no heart to give her, and what little he does have wants another...who, of course, is the only person who wants to be a real friend to her.  It's only natural that it would allow the darkness to take over, even if Rue herself would never want to hurt them.

Meanwhile, Mytho remains dull(but has the benefit of becoming slightly less dull with each heart shard) and Ahiru remains a darling.

So we have a prince with no heart, two princesses who want the prince, and a knight who wants to protect the prince, but has to learn to let him make his own choices.  Only one can have their way.

I also find it interesting that Ahiru is the only one who, as an animal...is just an animal.  Mr. Goatette, Anteaterine and Goatette are all treated as normal people, as is the eel with the ballet troupe(though the husband and wife do have to wonder if he was always an eel...wasn't he something else before they came to town?)  but Ahiru is either a cute but clumsy girl...or a normal duck.  So it's right to leave off with another quote:

Some things just don’t change with a night’s worth of sleep. Mytho and Rue are still perfect for each other. Fakir is still not nice. And I’m still a duck.

And I'm too lazy to go look, but I think magicnoireposted the same quotes when she  posted on the eps, which is probably why they stuck in my mind.

Princess Tutu eps 6-9

Uhm, just to get this off my chest due to(likely unnecessary) kneejerk reactions to a couple things here: if this ends up anything remotely like one of those stories where the bubbly, plucky girl is better than the intelligent, elegant girl just because of character type and for no reason than that character type being viewed as "better"(rather like tom boys being better than princess types, for no reason but that tomboys are better than princesses), there will be NO END to my wrath.  I learned my lesson by not following my instincts and dropping Goong 15 minutes in and instead endured 24 hours of that(and actually, Ahiru/Mytho/Rue reminds me of the Char Gyung/Shin/Hyo Rin setup...except for the part where I passionately dislike the two I'm supposed to root for and like the one I'm supposed to hate.)  I'm 99.9% sure I have no worries, but the arrival of Princess Kraehe(who, naturally, I adore) and a couple things surrounding that set off alarm bells.

But moving on to more pleasant things...

May those who accept their fate find happiness. May those who defy their fate find glory. 

So, Fakir now has a SWORD?  And(briefly) a mask?  And likes to hang out in the library?  Oh anime, you spoil me so...

And now we come to the question...is Ahiru right to restore Mytho's heart?  Is Fakir wrong to try to stop her?  After all, Mytho never asked Ahiru to restore his heart.  Before she returned the heart shards to him, he knew no pain, no fear, no loneliness, no sorrow.  Now, because of her, he knows those things.  Fakir, meanwhile, wants to protect Mytho from them, even if he has to come across as an unpleasant bastard in the process.  At the same time, who is Fakir to decide whether or not Mytho can have his heart back.  Yes, he wants to protect Mytho from pain (though presumably he also has important mytharc reasons, too) but how is it right to make the decisions for Mytho, when Mytho has no idea what he's being denied?  Two very different missions, with identical goals: to protect and help Mytho.

And oh, how did I love Fakir when he found Ahiru(as a duck) in his locker, and gently tucked her inside his clothes to get her out of the lockerroom before anyone else saw and went "DUCK! TASTY!" and then fed her?  While I'd say that his clapping after Rue and Ahiru's dance was the first sign that there was a nice guy in there(which those of us familiar with the stories already knew) this is the first OBVIOUS "nice guy inside" scene, just like the scene of his protecting Mytho after Ahiru returns fear to Mytho is the confirmation that yes, he really does just want to protect his friend, even if he has to come across as a bastard in the process.  He is, ultimately, the prince's knight in shining armor who will lay down his life and fight princesses if he has to.  Have I mentioned I am possibly in love with Fakir at the moment?

I also love(though in different ways) Rue, the girl who has everything she could want...except friends and the prince's heart.  Because the prince has no heart to give her, and what little he does have wants another...who, of course, is the only person who wants to be a real friend to her.  It's only natural that it would allow the darkness to take over, even if Rue herself would never want to hurt them.

Meanwhile, Mytho remains dull(but has the benefit of becoming slightly less dull with each heart shard) and Ahiru remains a darling.

So we have a prince with no heart, two princesses who want the prince, and a knight who wants to protect the prince, but has to learn to let him make his own choices.  Only one can have their way.

I also find it interesting that Ahiru is the only one who, as an animal...is just an animal.  Mr. Goatette, Anteaterine and Goatette are all treated as normal people, as is the eel with the ballet troupe(though the husband and wife do have to wonder if he was always an eel...wasn't he something else before they came to town?)  but Ahiru is either a cute but clumsy girl...or a normal duck.  So it's right to leave off with another quote:

Some things just don’t change with a night’s worth of sleep. Mytho and Rue are still perfect for each other. Fakir is still not nice. And I’m still a duck.

And I'm too lazy to go look, but I think magicnoireposted the same quotes when she  posted on the eps, which is probably why they stuck in my mind.