I just want to say...

That I now have S7-S10 of Stargate SG-1 and S1-S2 of Stargate: Atlantis waiting for me.

Though, of course, they're waiting until i finish Slayers Next.

I just want to say...

That I now have S7-S10 of Stargate SG-1 and S1-S2 of Stargate: Atlantis waiting for me.

Though, of course, they're waiting until i finish Slayers Next.

Slayers Next eps 19-22

We now have dragons who turn into blond bishounen .  I'd say "only in anime," but I've seen it elsewhere.

It is now time to set aside the jokes(as much as Slayers can) and get down to the serious end of the world business. We learn Xellos's identity, which doesn't really come as a surprise(but that's probably because I hadn't put any thought into it, really.)  Martina decides that he was a cruel, evil man who deliberately deceived her and broke her heart.  I was hopeful we'd seen the last of her when she dashed off in tears, but it was not to be.  Actually, she's kinda grown on me, but I'd still be happier without her.

Lina and the others set off to the home of the dragon lords to see the original manuscript of the Claire Bible.  Along the way they meet a little pickpocket who gives them directions.  All I will say is that while we should always be suspicious anytime Lina is suspicious, we should be even more suspicious if she doesn't even consider being suspicious.  Bishie Dragon Lord is amazingly unbothered by the gang.  I think he sees them as cute little two-year-olds playing grown up.  Well, except for Xellos.

Then we start up with all the epic fantasy angst and tragedy. PEOPLE SINKING iNTO POOLS OF THEIR OWN BLOOD! ARMS GETTING BLOWN OFF! COUGHING UP BLOOD!  DRAGGED AWAY BY MAGIC TENTACLE THINGS!  NEW VILLAINS WHO MAKE THE VILLAIN YOU COULDN'T KILL DIE WITH A SNAP OF THE FINGER!  PLANS TO DESTROY THE WORLD FOR THE GREATER GOOD OF ONE'S PEOPLE!  (This guy and Zechs need to bond.)

If I didn't know everyone lived through it just fine(with all limbs intact) I might be a tad worried right now.  As it is, I get to sit back and enjoy the melodramatic anime angst.  And maybe giggle at it a bit.

During all that, Sylphiel got a random name dropping.  I'm assuming it means she'll show up somewhere in the next 4 episodes.

And at long last, the Sensibly Running Away With A Bit of Screaming returns.  I have missed it so.

Somehow, Gourry managed to make it seem romantic.

Slayers Next eps 19-22

We now have dragons who turn into blond bishounen .  I'd say "only in anime," but I've seen it elsewhere.

It is now time to set aside the jokes(as much as Slayers can) and get down to the serious end of the world business. We learn Xellos's identity, which doesn't really come as a surprise(but that's probably because I hadn't put any thought into it, really.)  Martina decides that he was a cruel, evil man who deliberately deceived her and broke her heart.  I was hopeful we'd seen the last of her when she dashed off in tears, but it was not to be.  Actually, she's kinda grown on me, but I'd still be happier without her.

Lina and the others set off to the home of the dragon lords to see the original manuscript of the Claire Bible.  Along the way they meet a little pickpocket who gives them directions.  All I will say is that while we should always be suspicious anytime Lina is suspicious, we should be even more suspicious if she doesn't even consider being suspicious.  Bishie Dragon Lord is amazingly unbothered by the gang.  I think he sees them as cute little two-year-olds playing grown up.  Well, except for Xellos.

Then we start up with all the epic fantasy angst and tragedy. PEOPLE SINKING iNTO POOLS OF THEIR OWN BLOOD! ARMS GETTING BLOWN OFF! COUGHING UP BLOOD!  DRAGGED AWAY BY MAGIC TENTACLE THINGS!  NEW VILLAINS WHO MAKE THE VILLAIN YOU COULDN'T KILL DIE WITH A SNAP OF THE FINGER!  PLANS TO DESTROY THE WORLD FOR THE GREATER GOOD OF ONE'S PEOPLE!  (This guy and Zechs need to bond.)

If I didn't know everyone lived through it just fine(with all limbs intact) I might be a tad worried right now.  As it is, I get to sit back and enjoy the melodramatic anime angst.  And maybe giggle at it a bit.

During all that, Sylphiel got a random name dropping.  I'm assuming it means she'll show up somewhere in the next 4 episodes.

And at long last, the Sensibly Running Away With A Bit of Screaming returns.  I have missed it so.

Somehow, Gourry managed to make it seem romantic.

Because I'm too lazy to look up where we left off...

 smillaraaq, I wonder if the book I was trying to think of was The Book of Atrax Wolfe by Patricia McKillip(I may have the title a little off...the book is at home and I'm at work.)  I thought it was something I hadn't bought, but I finally got the books out of the trunk of the car today and saw that.  McKillip came up in the book recs post...I didn't find the ones that were specifically recced, but it seemed to be "you'll like in general, but especially these."

It is, IIRC, about a man who flees his past life and lives wth wolves for years, then eventually has to return to civilization.

Because I'm too lazy to look up where we left off...

 smillaraaq, I wonder if the book I was trying to think of was The Book of Atrax Wolfe by Patricia McKillip(I may have the title a little off...the book is at home and I'm at work.)  I thought it was something I hadn't bought, but I finally got the books out of the trunk of the car today and saw that.  McKillip came up in the book recs post...I didn't find the ones that were specifically recced, but it seemed to be "you'll like in general, but especially these."

It is, IIRC, about a man who flees his past life and lives wth wolves for years, then eventually has to return to civilization.

Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart by Jane Lindskold

( cut for the people reading the series but haven't reached this book/finished the first )

Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart by Jane Lindskold

( cut for the people reading the series but haven't reached this book/finished the first )

Hell Girl Vol 1

note:  manga, not anime(as they both just stared to come out here.)

There is an urban legend that says that if you visit a certain website that only appears at midnight.  If you have someone you truly hate, you can enter their name into the text box on the screen, and Ai Enma, Hell Girl, will come and take them to hell for you.  There is, however, a catch:  she will take your revenge for you, but in return, you go to hell when you die.  Ai Enma is a young girl about 14-15 in appearance.  She has an expressionless face and wheres a kimono and a bracelet with bells, unless she is appearing as a classmate of one of her contractors.  As Hell Girl, she appears in a shower of sakura petals, and when she rings the bells on her bracelet, the revenge begins.

A girl is framed for shoplifting by a classmate who the bullies her into servitude, a young woman wants revenge on her friend's mentor who is destroying her business and reputation and driving her into a nervous breakdown, a young actress is crippled by a jealous friend who sees herself as a rival, a veterinarian mistreats the animals in his service and allows pets to die, and a teacher sexually harasses his student, then claims she attempted to seduce him.  For each of these people, Hell Girl creates a personal hell, and their sins are visited upon them.

She is also aided by three people:  a young bishounen whose hair hides a third eye that seems to be able to see through anything, a beautiful woman whose beauty seems to be a facade hiding a decaying, half skeletal body, and an old man.  In her home, there is also what appears to be an old woman spinning behind a screen.

While one would probably expect the art to be slightly dark or edgy, instead it's your normal Watase-style shojo:  lots of frills, busy backgrounds, flowers and sparkles all over the place, and tall, lean bishounen and petite girls with giant, empty eyes.  While it should seem odd or "off" to have that artstyle with a dark subject matter, it somehow seems very fitting here.

I do, however, have two problems with the book:  the first is that Ai Enma and her companions are given almost no development in the first volume.  The entire book is told almost exclusively through the eyes of her contractors, developing their grudges from the beginning to their breaking point, and then the tail end is through the eyes of her victims.  The only exception to this is a small scene of Ai Enma at her house.  The names of her companions are never stated in the book, outside of the author's notes.  While this does a good job of showing us why people would be willing to go to hell for revenge, I have no idea what kind of people Ai Enma's companions are beyond the fact that they like punishing people, and only a little idea about Ai Enma's personality.  The other problem is that all these people seem to have no problem with the idea of eternity in hell just to get back at someone.  Instead of it being treated like a major problem for them, their general attitude seems to be "well, it sucks, but I'll enjoy life while I can."  I'd like to handwave it as my thinking of the Judeo-Christian idea of Hell, as opposed to the asian idea of it, but the book seems to present it about the way I think of it.  There is one small nod to it when the pet owner finds a puppy that looks like her dead pet, and thinks that he may have been reincarnated, but she never will be, but that's it.

I think I need to read another volume or two to have a solid feel for it, but it is interesting so far.

Hell Girl Vol 1

note:  manga, not anime(as they both just stared to come out here.)

There is an urban legend that says that if you visit a certain website that only appears at midnight.  If you have someone you truly hate, you can enter their name into the text box on the screen, and Ai Enma, Hell Girl, will come and take them to hell for you.  There is, however, a catch:  she will take your revenge for you, but in return, you go to hell when you die.  Ai Enma is a young girl about 14-15 in appearance.  She has an expressionless face and wheres a kimono and a bracelet with bells, unless she is appearing as a classmate of one of her contractors.  As Hell Girl, she appears in a shower of sakura petals, and when she rings the bells on her bracelet, the revenge begins.

A girl is framed for shoplifting by a classmate who the bullies her into servitude, a young woman wants revenge on her friend's mentor who is destroying her business and reputation and driving her into a nervous breakdown, a young actress is crippled by a jealous friend who sees herself as a rival, a veterinarian mistreats the animals in his service and allows pets to die, and a teacher sexually harasses his student, then claims she attempted to seduce him.  For each of these people, Hell Girl creates a personal hell, and their sins are visited upon them.

She is also aided by three people:  a young bishounen whose hair hides a third eye that seems to be able to see through anything, a beautiful woman whose beauty seems to be a facade hiding a decaying, half skeletal body, and an old man.  In her home, there is also what appears to be an old woman spinning behind a screen.

While one would probably expect the art to be slightly dark or edgy, instead it's your normal Watase-style shojo:  lots of frills, busy backgrounds, flowers and sparkles all over the place, and tall, lean bishounen and petite girls with giant, empty eyes.  While it should seem odd or "off" to have that artstyle with a dark subject matter, it somehow seems very fitting here.

I do, however, have two problems with the book:  the first is that Ai Enma and her companions are given almost no development in the first volume.  The entire book is told almost exclusively through the eyes of her contractors, developing their grudges from the beginning to their breaking point, and then the tail end is through the eyes of her victims.  The only exception to this is a small scene of Ai Enma at her house.  The names of her companions are never stated in the book, outside of the author's notes.  While this does a good job of showing us why people would be willing to go to hell for revenge, I have no idea what kind of people Ai Enma's companions are beyond the fact that they like punishing people, and only a little idea about Ai Enma's personality.  The other problem is that all these people seem to have no problem with the idea of eternity in hell just to get back at someone.  Instead of it being treated like a major problem for them, their general attitude seems to be "well, it sucks, but I'll enjoy life while I can."  I'd like to handwave it as my thinking of the Judeo-Christian idea of Hell, as opposed to the asian idea of it, but the book seems to present it about the way I think of it.  There is one small nod to it when the pet owner finds a puppy that looks like her dead pet, and thinks that he may have been reincarnated, but she never will be, but that's it.

I think I need to read another volume or two to have a solid feel for it, but it is interesting so far.