anime: Hakkenden: Legend of the Eight Dog Warriors

Based on the same novel as the Satomi Hakkenden drama, which is supposedly one of Japan's most famous books, Hakkenden is the story of the spirits of the eight half-dog children of Princess Fuse of the Satomi clan.

Years ago, the lord of the Satomi Clan ordered the execution of an evil sorceress who had bewitched her husband into being evil and...you know...killing his buddies and such(it was a sudden flashback with little lead-in, so I was still adjusting.)  With her dying breath, just before getting her head lopped off, the sorceress cursed the lord, saying that his grandchildren would be half-mongrel.  Years later, Lord Satomi was losing the war against another evil lord(and they continued to plague him for the rest of his life.)  After his soon-to-be son-in-law, Daisuke, is lost in the battle field, he jokingly tells the family dog(who is not normal dog) that it can marry his daughter, Fuse, if it brings him his enemy's head.  The dog brings him the head, of course, and the lord treats him like a king, hoping he'll forget the promise.  The dog doesn't, of course, and when Fuse learns the truth, she insists that her father's word must be honored, and leaves with the dog as his wife.  

Fuse vows that it will be a marriage in name only, and doesn't allow him to consumate the marriage.  The sorceress, of course, refuses to be satisfied with this, and uses sorcery to impregnate her anyway.  Meanwhile, Daisuke did not die in battle, but barely survived, and when he learned of the marriage, he went off to save Fuse.  He shoots and kills the dog, but the bullet goes through the dog and kills Fuse, as well.  The spirits of her eight unborn children leave her body and find new homes, some almost immediately in young boys, some such later in unborn children.  Each enters into a family with "Inu"(dog) in the family name, and each boy has a peony-shaped birthmark and a blue bead with a character on it.  When they grow up, they encounter each other on their vaious adventures and vengeance quests, and eventually learn their origins and set off to save the Satomi from yet another evil lord to honor Princess Fuse.

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anime: Hakkenden: Legend of the Eight Dog Warriors

Based on the same novel as the Satomi Hakkenden drama, which is supposedly one of Japan's most famous books, Hakkenden is the story of the spirits of the eight half-dog children of Princess Fuse of the Satomi clan.

Years ago, the lord of the Satomi Clan ordered the execution of an evil sorceress who had bewitched her husband into being evil and...you know...killing his buddies and such(it was a sudden flashback with little lead-in, so I was still adjusting.)  With her dying breath, just before getting her head lopped off, the sorceress cursed the lord, saying that his grandchildren would be half-mongrel.  Years later, Lord Satomi was losing the war against another evil lord(and they continued to plague him for the rest of his life.)  After his soon-to-be son-in-law, Daisuke, is lost in the battle field, he jokingly tells the family dog(who is not normal dog) that it can marry his daughter, Fuse, if it brings him his enemy's head.  The dog brings him the head, of course, and the lord treats him like a king, hoping he'll forget the promise.  The dog doesn't, of course, and when Fuse learns the truth, she insists that her father's word must be honored, and leaves with the dog as his wife.  

Fuse vows that it will be a marriage in name only, and doesn't allow him to consumate the marriage.  The sorceress, of course, refuses to be satisfied with this, and uses sorcery to impregnate her anyway.  Meanwhile, Daisuke did not die in battle, but barely survived, and when he learned of the marriage, he went off to save Fuse.  He shoots and kills the dog, but the bullet goes through the dog and kills Fuse, as well.  The spirits of her eight unborn children leave her body and find new homes, some almost immediately in young boys, some such later in unborn children.  Each enters into a family with "Inu"(dog) in the family name, and each boy has a peony-shaped birthmark and a blue bead with a character on it.  When they grow up, they encounter each other on their vaious adventures and vengeance quests, and eventually learn their origins and set off to save the Satomi from yet another evil lord to honor Princess Fuse.

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Shaman Warrior?

Does anyone read this manga?  It's one of several Dark Horse titles I'm thinking of checking out in the relatively near future(The others are Banya: The Explosive Delivery Man and Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, but I've had feedback on them, but not Shaman Warrior.)

Shaman Warrior?

Does anyone read this manga?  It's one of several Dark Horse titles I'm thinking of checking out in the relatively near future(The others are Banya: The Explosive Delivery Man and Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, but I've had feedback on them, but not Shaman Warrior.)

Kekkaishi Vol 1

Yoshimori Sumimura's family have been Kekkaishi(demon slayers) for centuries.  At 14, Yoshimori is the 22nd heir of his family.  Meanwhile, the Sumimura family's neighbors, the Yukimura's, claim to be the TRUE kekkaishi.  Both family heads claim the other is the usurper of the title.  (Note:  the Sumimura kekkaishi seem to all be male and the mark that labels them as a kekkaishi appears on the palm of the hand.  The Yukimura's symbol-which is identical-appears at the top of the breast, and all the Yukimura Kekkaishi are female.  This is clearly a sign people have been too busy bickering to notice in the last 21 generations.)  Yoshimori would rather make cake castles than hunt ayakashi, but isn't getting any choice in the matter.  It's made better, though, by the fact that he can patrol with Tokine, the pretty 16 year old heir to the Yukimura family.

Yoshimori, of course, has had a crush on Tokine since birth and is always trying to help and protect Tokine whent hey fight ayakashi.  Tokine, however, always ends up protecting Yoshimori(including getting a terrible scar on her arm when she protected him from an ayakashi that tricked him when they were younger) and mostly treats him like an annoying little brother who has to be protected, but really should just go away.  Eventually, Tokine can't take the schoolboy crushing and trailing anymore, and tells Yoshimori that she thinks he's disgusting.  WOE! EMO! ANGST! The heart of a 14 year old isn't designed to handle such things!  And immediately on the heals of that he learnsthat other boys think she's cute!  And teachers! MORE WOE! MORE EMO! MORE ANGST!  (I am far too fond of going "WOE! EMO! ANGST" lately...)

Meanwhile, their grandparents are still rabidly feuding(personally, I think they used to date) their school is built over the ruins of a castle whose lord attracted so many ayakashi that the ayakashi eventually wiped everyone out, so the school grounds still attract ayakashi(this is manga, it makes perfect sense for people to knowingly build a school at a site they know  attracts monsters) and the ghost of a pastry chef who won't move on has moved in with Yoshimori's family.

For the most part, despite being very fun and likable, there isn't a lot that makes it stand out among your typical shonen manga.  What does stand out is what originally brought the title to my attention in this post a while back at

scans_daily.  The clumsy, often ineffectual one who usually gets by on luck and has to be rescued a lot is Yoshimori.  The capable, skilled, intelligent, observant one who is always saving the other is Tokine.  And apparently, she remains the smart, capable one. Even without that bonus, though, I'd still stay tuned in for at least a few more volumes.

 

Kekkaishi Vol 1

Yoshimori Sumimura's family have been Kekkaishi(demon slayers) for centuries.  At 14, Yoshimori is the 22nd heir of his family.  Meanwhile, the Sumimura family's neighbors, the Yukimura's, claim to be the TRUE kekkaishi.  Both family heads claim the other is the usurper of the title.  (Note:  the Sumimura kekkaishi seem to all be male and the mark that labels them as a kekkaishi appears on the palm of the hand.  The Yukimura's symbol-which is identical-appears at the top of the breast, and all the Yukimura Kekkaishi are female.  This is clearly a sign people have been too busy bickering to notice in the last 21 generations.)  Yoshimori would rather make cake castles than hunt ayakashi, but isn't getting any choice in the matter.  It's made better, though, by the fact that he can patrol with Tokine, the pretty 16 year old heir to the Yukimura family.

Yoshimori, of course, has had a crush on Tokine since birth and is always trying to help and protect Tokine whent hey fight ayakashi.  Tokine, however, always ends up protecting Yoshimori(including getting a terrible scar on her arm when she protected him from an ayakashi that tricked him when they were younger) and mostly treats him like an annoying little brother who has to be protected, but really should just go away.  Eventually, Tokine can't take the schoolboy crushing and trailing anymore, and tells Yoshimori that she thinks he's disgusting.  WOE! EMO! ANGST! The heart of a 14 year old isn't designed to handle such things!  And immediately on the heals of that he learnsthat other boys think she's cute!  And teachers! MORE WOE! MORE EMO! MORE ANGST!  (I am far too fond of going "WOE! EMO! ANGST" lately...)

Meanwhile, their grandparents are still rabidly feuding(personally, I think they used to date) their school is built over the ruins of a castle whose lord attracted so many ayakashi that the ayakashi eventually wiped everyone out, so the school grounds still attract ayakashi(this is manga, it makes perfect sense for people to knowingly build a school at a site they know  attracts monsters) and the ghost of a pastry chef who won't move on has moved in with Yoshimori's family.

For the most part, despite being very fun and likable, there isn't a lot that makes it stand out among your typical shonen manga.  What does stand out is what originally brought the title to my attention in this post a while back at

scans_daily.  The clumsy, often ineffectual one who usually gets by on luck and has to be rescued a lot is Yoshimori.  The capable, skilled, intelligent, observant one who is always saving the other is Tokine.  And apparently, she remains the smart, capable one. Even without that bonus, though, I'd still stay tuned in for at least a few more volumes.

 

PRETEAR!!(aka, the WRONG kind of crack)

 *cough*

Poor, poor calixais watching  Pretear.  And freaking out on the "preting."  Particularly with the kids.  I was so busy warning her about Revolutionary Girl Utena that I completely forgot about Pretear.  If you aren't familiar with Pretear, here's a paragraph from one of  dangermousie's entries on it that explains things well:

The concept has been designed by pervs. Or people on crack. Or pervs on crack. The good kind. Freud could spend happy months analyzing the set-up. Leafe Knights protect “leafe” (aka life force of all beings). Now there is Princess of Disaster who is trying to destroy all leafe and end the world. Leafe Knights (“leafe” makes them sound like pretentious California yuppies) are strong but they can’t win without a girl knight, a Chosen One (down, Buffy!) This teenage girl (whose title is Pretear) fights the bad eco monsters by ‘preting’ with her Leafe Knights (all male, ranging from grown-up hotties to children and one borderline toddler). What is ‘preting?’ Well, here is where the fun is. To fight, Pretear and a Knight become one. Yes. Indeed. And in a Karmic way, this happened right after I told Husband, this is the one anime I could see showing kids. No, it turns out, it was't. Oh boy, how it wasn't. 

Yes, to transform into her Magical Girl persona, the Magical Girl has metaphorical sex with every male in the show but her father.  And while transformed, the male has been absorbed into her.

For laughs, I went poking around The Pit.  I will not traumatize you.  I will, however, inform you that I discovered a Mary Sue named Sakura Petala.

And that's all you need to know.

 

PRETEAR!!(aka, the WRONG kind of crack)

 *cough*

Poor, poor calixais watching  Pretear.  And freaking out on the "preting."  Particularly with the kids.  I was so busy warning her about Revolutionary Girl Utena that I completely forgot about Pretear.  If you aren't familiar with Pretear, here's a paragraph from one of  dangermousie's entries on it that explains things well:

The concept has been designed by pervs. Or people on crack. Or pervs on crack. The good kind. Freud could spend happy months analyzing the set-up. Leafe Knights protect “leafe” (aka life force of all beings). Now there is Princess of Disaster who is trying to destroy all leafe and end the world. Leafe Knights (“leafe” makes them sound like pretentious California yuppies) are strong but they can’t win without a girl knight, a Chosen One (down, Buffy!) This teenage girl (whose title is Pretear) fights the bad eco monsters by ‘preting’ with her Leafe Knights (all male, ranging from grown-up hotties to children and one borderline toddler). What is ‘preting?’ Well, here is where the fun is. To fight, Pretear and a Knight become one. Yes. Indeed. And in a Karmic way, this happened right after I told Husband, this is the one anime I could see showing kids. No, it turns out, it was't. Oh boy, how it wasn't. 

Yes, to transform into her Magical Girl persona, the Magical Girl has metaphorical sex with every male in the show but her father.  And while transformed, the male has been absorbed into her.

For laughs, I went poking around The Pit.  I will not traumatize you.  I will, however, inform you that I discovered a Mary Sue named Sakura Petala.

And that's all you need to know.

 

Wild Ones Vol 1

Seemingly left alone in the world after her mother's death, 15 year old Sachie is shocked at her mother's funeral when a man tells her that he's her maternal grandfather, who she'd been told was dead.  Even better, she learns that he's a yakuza boss(hence mom telling her he was dead...) and she suddenly finds herself living in a house full of yakuza.  For once, the shojo heroine's freaking out is pretty consistently justified.  Almost immediately, she's assigned a bodyguard, Rakuto, who is her own age.  Rakuto is handsome, charming impeccably polite and alternates between prince charming, a playboy, and a bully.  At school, Sachie learns that he's the most popular boy in school and the student body president.  Rakuto publicly refers to her as his "princess" and says that it's his job to serve her in every way possible.  This, of course, leads his fanclub to assume that their relationship is Purely Professional, and Sachie the perfect way to score a date with Rakuto.  Sadly, they do not realize that Rakuto is one of those shojo heroes who goes around in a state of extreme monomania over the heroine(though in his case, we don't really know how much of it is Sachie, and how much is his loyalty to her grandfather.)  Rakuto also has a habit of randomly and regularly scooping Sachie up, proclaiming his devotion in unspecific but absolute terms, kissing boo boos, etc.  Sachie, so far, is a fairly normal "spunky shojo heroine"(in this case, with a serious mad on for anyone who wastes food or is a thief, thanks to her upbringing) but in the likable way.

So far, it's very fun.  Like most shojo romance, I'm not sure it can hold my interest for a long period of time(they tend to start losing me around vol 4 or 5 if there isn't an end in sight) but we'll see.

Side note:  If I hadn't known what it was about when I first saw the cover, I would have thought it was one of those "powerful priestess type girls with demonic sidekick/bodyguard/love interest" series, due to the setup of the cover and Rakuto's rather demonic appearance.  I think we were seeing him through Sachie-vision.

(Also, seriously, are Yakuza hoods as obsessively devoted to the daughters/granddaughters/nieces of their bosses in RL as they are in anime/manga/dramas?  MY INQUIRING MIND DEMANDS TO KNOW!!)

Wild Ones Vol 1

Seemingly left alone in the world after her mother's death, 15 year old Sachie is shocked at her mother's funeral when a man tells her that he's her maternal grandfather, who she'd been told was dead.  Even better, she learns that he's a yakuza boss(hence mom telling her he was dead...) and she suddenly finds herself living in a house full of yakuza.  For once, the shojo heroine's freaking out is pretty consistently justified.  Almost immediately, she's assigned a bodyguard, Rakuto, who is her own age.  Rakuto is handsome, charming impeccably polite and alternates between prince charming, a playboy, and a bully.  At school, Sachie learns that he's the most popular boy in school and the student body president.  Rakuto publicly refers to her as his "princess" and says that it's his job to serve her in every way possible.  This, of course, leads his fanclub to assume that their relationship is Purely Professional, and Sachie the perfect way to score a date with Rakuto.  Sadly, they do not realize that Rakuto is one of those shojo heroes who goes around in a state of extreme monomania over the heroine(though in his case, we don't really know how much of it is Sachie, and how much is his loyalty to her grandfather.)  Rakuto also has a habit of randomly and regularly scooping Sachie up, proclaiming his devotion in unspecific but absolute terms, kissing boo boos, etc.  Sachie, so far, is a fairly normal "spunky shojo heroine"(in this case, with a serious mad on for anyone who wastes food or is a thief, thanks to her upbringing) but in the likable way.

So far, it's very fun.  Like most shojo romance, I'm not sure it can hold my interest for a long period of time(they tend to start losing me around vol 4 or 5 if there isn't an end in sight) but we'll see.

Side note:  If I hadn't known what it was about when I first saw the cover, I would have thought it was one of those "powerful priestess type girls with demonic sidekick/bodyguard/love interest" series, due to the setup of the cover and Rakuto's rather demonic appearance.  I think we were seeing him through Sachie-vision.

(Also, seriously, are Yakuza hoods as obsessively devoted to the daughters/granddaughters/nieces of their bosses in RL as they are in anime/manga/dramas?  MY INQUIRING MIND DEMANDS TO KNOW!!)