Fruits Basket Vol 18

I have a confession to make.  Most of the f-list who I browbeat into reading who have started reading FB in the last year or so seem to start out liking Yuki, and then eventually prefer Kyo after a while.  Me?  When I started reading, I straightup disliked Yuki.  Something about him simply rubbed me the wrong way.  After a few volumes, I came to not mind and then passingly like him, but my main use for him was that him being around meant Ayame and Haru would show up more. I was never interested in him until the last handful of volumes, when he finally got his own storyline separate from Tohru's.  While I'm not remotely invested in his relationship with Machi, I find it much better than any romantic relationship he could have had with Tohru, which would have beenexclusively about her making him feel better about himself.  With Machi, he feels better about himself because he's able to help someone.

( more that would be spoilery )

 

ETA:  Zodiac hugging has been explained.  Megan just has a bad memory.

Fruits Basket Vol 18

I have a confession to make.  Most of the f-list who I browbeat into reading who have started reading FB in the last year or so seem to start out liking Yuki, and then eventually prefer Kyo after a while.  Me?  When I started reading, I straightup disliked Yuki.  Something about him simply rubbed me the wrong way.  After a few volumes, I came to not mind and then passingly like him, but my main use for him was that him being around meant Ayame and Haru would show up more. I was never interested in him until the last handful of volumes, when he finally got his own storyline separate from Tohru's.  While I'm not remotely invested in his relationship with Machi, I find it much better than any romantic relationship he could have had with Tohru, which would have beenexclusively about her making him feel better about himself.  With Machi, he feels better about himself because he's able to help someone.

( more that would be spoilery )

 

ETA:  Zodiac hugging has been explained.  Megan just has a bad memory.

Nightmares for Sale Vol 1

Nightmares for Sale is one of those "mysterious shopkeepers/figures who grant wishes...but not the way you want" series.  In it, a man named Shadow, along with his (physically) childlike assistant, Maria, run a small pawnshop, and prefer odd, seemingly useless items to items with a more obvious value.  All the customers have a darkness or obsession, most dealing with the need to be loved or wanted.  Unlike other such characters, Shadow seems to delight in their fall, and to want them to sink into the pits of their obsessions until it destroys them.

Shadow and Maria seem to be demons of some sort, and at one point he identifies both Maria and himself as being succubi(which I probably just spelled wrong), in the context that they feed off the wants and dreams of their victims.  In one story, he indicates displeasure when a soul that is traded to him is saved from the limbo he placed it in, indicating he has even fewer charitable impulses than the character type usually does...and these mysterious shop owners/people who bargain for wants and wishes aren't known for their charitable impulses.  Even though she looks much younger, Maria is apparently the older of the two, and at one point when Shadow proclaims his love for her (he does this several times) she rejects him by saying she doesn't like younger men...and is soon swooning over a young bishounen.  I think she just likes playing with his mind.

The volume was interesting, but has the same problem most of this genre has in the first few volumes:  too much customer, not enough leads.  It's hard to properly judge a book or its characters when you feel you know more about the guest star in one chapter than you do about the leads.  That said, xXxHolic and Petshop of Horrors are perfect examples of why you stick it out until they focus on the leads in these series, because the payoff tends to be worth it.

Nightmares for Sale Vol 1

Nightmares for Sale is one of those "mysterious shopkeepers/figures who grant wishes...but not the way you want" series.  In it, a man named Shadow, along with his (physically) childlike assistant, Maria, run a small pawnshop, and prefer odd, seemingly useless items to items with a more obvious value.  All the customers have a darkness or obsession, most dealing with the need to be loved or wanted.  Unlike other such characters, Shadow seems to delight in their fall, and to want them to sink into the pits of their obsessions until it destroys them.

Shadow and Maria seem to be demons of some sort, and at one point he identifies both Maria and himself as being succubi(which I probably just spelled wrong), in the context that they feed off the wants and dreams of their victims.  In one story, he indicates displeasure when a soul that is traded to him is saved from the limbo he placed it in, indicating he has even fewer charitable impulses than the character type usually does...and these mysterious shop owners/people who bargain for wants and wishes aren't known for their charitable impulses.  Even though she looks much younger, Maria is apparently the older of the two, and at one point when Shadow proclaims his love for her (he does this several times) she rejects him by saying she doesn't like younger men...and is soon swooning over a young bishounen.  I think she just likes playing with his mind.

The volume was interesting, but has the same problem most of this genre has in the first few volumes:  too much customer, not enough leads.  It's hard to properly judge a book or its characters when you feel you know more about the guest star in one chapter than you do about the leads.  That said, xXxHolic and Petshop of Horrors are perfect examples of why you stick it out until they focus on the leads in these series, because the payoff tends to be worth it.

anime

[Poll #1143316]But I think I'll watch the Slayers OVA first. For snark purposes.

anime

[Poll #1143316]But I think I'll watch the Slayers OVA first. For snark purposes.

(no subject)

I am watching a Korean martial arts flick named Arahan.  It is as cheesy as they come(in the fun way)  and features a heroine who can keep pace with a motorcycle on foot, leap between rooftops, run down the sides of skyscrapers, and catch switchblades midair and snap the blade barehanded.  She appears to be the keeper babysitter sole disciple of 5 elderly Tao masters who long for more victims students.  I am sure she will soon be playing second fiddle to the clumsy cop she brought home after he was injured trying to catch her criminal, as the Tao guys are fussing over his amazing yet untapped chi, but I shall enjoy this while it lasts.

(no subject)

I am watching a Korean martial arts flick named Arahan.  It is as cheesy as they come(in the fun way)  and features a heroine who can keep pace with a motorcycle on foot, leap between rooftops, run down the sides of skyscrapers, and catch switchblades midair and snap the blade barehanded.  She appears to be the keeper babysitter sole disciple of 5 elderly Tao masters who long for more victims students.  I am sure she will soon be playing second fiddle to the clumsy cop she brought home after he was injured trying to catch her criminal, as the Tao guys are fussing over his amazing yet untapped chi, but I shall enjoy this while it lasts.

kmovie: Arahan

Arahan is about an awesome girl with a sword, an ok guy with a sword who stole her show, ancient tao masters, a resurrected evil tao master with questionable fashion sense, magic tattoos, and awesome fights.

Basically, we have the Seven Tao Masters, who range age 50-70~ in looks, but are apparently much older. And there's only five of them. There used to be seven. I forget what happened to one, but the seventh broke the rules and interfered with normal humans to take out Evil Warlord, only to become corrupted by human desires and get locked in a crypt or something for centuries by his buddies. He comes back all old and wrinkly, but literally sucks the young out of a guy to become young and pretty. Then he starts wearing pinstriped clothing, accompanied by a long yellow coat with fake fur. Later, he adopts a black coat and red shirt, which is a vast improvement.

Meanwhile, one of the five remaining masters has a daughter, Awesome Heroine, who has killer fighting skills, superior(for the movie) fashion sense, and inexplicably works in a convenience store. She devotes her life to trying to keep the masters our of trouble and hunting down Evil Doers. While engaging in the latter, she accidentally beats the crud out of our hero, Dork Cop, with a chi blast. She takes him home so the five masters can patch him up, and they start training him when they realize he has super chi powers. He's ok and has decent fashion sense, but is far less worthy of being the main hero than Awesome Heroine. But it's a guys' action flick, so he has to be the main hero.

Swords are used as projectile weapons. Tattoos of Great Magical Importance hop from person to person. Chi makes things float. Collision of chi makes shirts fly off. But not pants. People literally shout and growl their emo at each other. Badassery is established by throwing a teacup with the speed of a bullet. Greater badassery is established by catching said teacup on the flat tip of your sword, spinning said sword around a bit, and then displaying the teacup spinning on the flat tip of the sword. People also travel by running across and leaping between rooftops, and run up and down the sides od skyscrapers.

My life is wholly unchanged, but I had great fun. Meanwhile, if i ever see the lead actress in something where she doesn't play an awesome fighter heroine, I won't know what to do. I had the same problem with Ha Ji Won...

I bring an MV with fights, gravity defying running, and villains with bad fashion sense.

kmovie: Arahan

Arahan is about an awesome girl with a sword, an ok guy with a sword who stole her show, ancient tao masters, a resurrected evil tao master with questionable fashion sense, magic tattoos, and awesome fights.

Basically, we have the Seven Tao Masters, who range age 50-70~ in looks, but are apparently much older. And there's only five of them. There used to be seven. I forget what happened to one, but the seventh broke the rules and interfered with normal humans to take out Evil Warlord, only to become corrupted by human desires and get locked in a crypt or something for centuries by his buddies. He comes back all old and wrinkly, but literally sucks the young out of a guy to become young and pretty. Then he starts wearing pinstriped clothing, accompanied by a long yellow coat with fake fur. Later, he adopts a black coat and red shirt, which is a vast improvement.

Meanwhile, one of the five remaining masters has a daughter, Awesome Heroine, who has killer fighting skills, superior(for the movie) fashion sense, and inexplicably works in a convenience store. She devotes her life to trying to keep the masters our of trouble and hunting down Evil Doers. While engaging in the latter, she accidentally beats the crud out of our hero, Dork Cop, with a chi blast. She takes him home so the five masters can patch him up, and they start training him when they realize he has super chi powers. He's ok and has decent fashion sense, but is far less worthy of being the main hero than Awesome Heroine. But it's a guys' action flick, so he has to be the main hero.

Swords are used as projectile weapons. Tattoos of Great Magical Importance hop from person to person. Chi makes things float. Collision of chi makes shirts fly off. But not pants. People literally shout and growl their emo at each other. Badassery is established by throwing a teacup with the speed of a bullet. Greater badassery is established by catching said teacup on the flat tip of your sword, spinning said sword around a bit, and then displaying the teacup spinning on the flat tip of the sword. People also travel by running across and leaping between rooftops, and run up and down the sides od skyscrapers.

My life is wholly unchanged, but I had great fun. Meanwhile, if i ever see the lead actress in something where she doesn't play an awesome fighter heroine, I won't know what to do. I had the same problem with Ha Ji Won...

I bring an MV with fights, gravity defying running, and villains with bad fashion sense.