anime: Blue Seed eps 1-5

The myth goes as such:  thousands of years ago, the land of Izumo  was terrorized by an eight headed monster, Yamata no Orichi.  An old couple with eight daughters was left in peace as long as they sacrificed one daughter to the beast each year.  When it came time to sacrifice their last daughter, Kushinada, the exiled god, Susa-no-o, came along and made them an offer: he would slay the beast for them, if they gave him their daughter as a bride.  Beast got chopped up, girl got married off to a stranger instead of eaten for lunch.  I'm sure she viewed it as an improvement.

Fast forward to today, and the descendants of Kushinada and Susa-no-o are known as the Kushinada.  Yamata no Orichi also spawned descendants, monsters known as the Aragami.  When the daughters of the Kushinada die, they set off an electromagnetic pulse that keeps the Aragami asleep underground.  As you can tell, it always has and probably alway will really suck to be female and a member of this family.  The current generation, though, went and had twin daughters, Kaede and Momiji.  Kaede was adopted by a man named Kunikida, head of TAC, an organization that hunts and fights Aragami, and is trained to fight them, while Momiji is raised to be a normal girl, oblivious to her heritage.  (And somehow living in Izumo, but completely ignorant of a famous legend about it.  I'll let that slide.)

However, when Kaede sacrifices herself to stop the Aragami, they learn that the electromagnetic pulse was split between the twins, and her death wasn't enough to put the Aragami to sleep for a couple decades.  Realizing this, Kunikida takes off to get to Momiji before anyone else does.

COMPLICATION!!!

Somewhere along the way, the Aragami got tired of this forced naptime and they created Kusanagi, a young man with supernatural powers thanks to the seven magatami beads-the true form of the Aragami-within him, specifically to protect Kaede.  Somewhere along the way, though, Kusanagi fell in love with Kaede(look, you create a guy specifically to protect a girl, and it's going to happen) and after her death, he decides to finish the job for her and attacks the clumsy Momiji on the way to school.  I really need to figure out why the "I will kill you" here makes me go "Ooh?" while almost the exact same thing in Gundam Wing made me go "WTH? Tell me I'm reading this coding wrong!"  Probably because, while Relena seems to take it as confession of love or some such, Momiji has the much more sensible reaction of wanting to get away from the psycho.  The fact that it takes about 5 minutes for "I will kill you" to change to "I will protect you even if I'm kinda a stupid @$$ about it" instead of 40~ episodes probably helps, too.

Soon, Momiji has joined TAC and is helping them hunt the Aragami, with Kusanagi tagging along in the shadows, ready to play Knight In Shining Armor when needed.

Am in love.

Kusanagi seems to have taken lessons in "how to let a girl know you like her"  from a certain red eyed guy named Kyo.  It's received in about the same vein, too.  He seems to have a lot of bottled up angst, and is one of those "I'm so badass" guys who is, but is also a lot nicer than he thinks he is.  Momiji's a clutz and does her best to be friends with everyone(including a certain rude guy obsessed with her panties) and does her best to be a useful member of TAC, instead of a princess in a glass tower.  Kunikida seems to be trying to let Momiji choose her own path, instead of choosing it for her.  There's also Takeuchi, Kunikida's second in command, who seems to be in love with him, Matsudaira, a scientist whose devotion to her work cost her her family, a pair of nerds I haven't learned much about yet, and Koume, a prickly soldier who got transferred to TAC for being too fond of blowing things up.  I like Koume.  She's my favorite after Kusanagi and Momiji.  Maybe before or tied with Momiji.  (I'm currently being glad that Momiji is being allowed to do things so far, despite her character type.)  Actually, so far, I like them all.

I like stories based on mythology, and I've been wanting to watch or read something based on the Susa-no-o myth for a while now.  Though I'm saddened that there is no sign yet of his grass cutting sword.  Also, Momiji has a magatama in her chest, and it's what lets her detect Aragami.  Kusanagi gets his powers from the seven magatama inside him.  Eight is the magic number of the Susa-no-o legend.  Not too obvious, are we anime?  I do wish, though, that it wasn't so fond of panty shots.  (And again: Kusanagi.  Related to Kyo.)

anime: Blue Seed eps 1-5

The myth goes as such:  thousands of years ago, the land of Izumo  was terrorized by an eight headed monster, Yamata no Orichi.  An old couple with eight daughters was left in peace as long as they sacrificed one daughter to the beast each year.  When it came time to sacrifice their last daughter, Kushinada, the exiled god, Susa-no-o, came along and made them an offer: he would slay the beast for them, if they gave him their daughter as a bride.  Beast got chopped up, girl got married off to a stranger instead of eaten for lunch.  I'm sure she viewed it as an improvement.

Fast forward to today, and the descendants of Kushinada and Susa-no-o are known as the Kushinada.  Yamata no Orichi also spawned descendants, monsters known as the Aragami.  When the daughters of the Kushinada die, they set off an electromagnetic pulse that keeps the Aragami asleep underground.  As you can tell, it always has and probably alway will really suck to be female and a member of this family.  The current generation, though, went and had twin daughters, Kaede and Momiji.  Kaede was adopted by a man named Kunikida, head of TAC, an organization that hunts and fights Aragami, and is trained to fight them, while Momiji is raised to be a normal girl, oblivious to her heritage.  (And somehow living in Izumo, but completely ignorant of a famous legend about it.  I'll let that slide.)

However, when Kaede sacrifices herself to stop the Aragami, they learn that the electromagnetic pulse was split between the twins, and her death wasn't enough to put the Aragami to sleep for a couple decades.  Realizing this, Kunikida takes off to get to Momiji before anyone else does.

COMPLICATION!!!

Somewhere along the way, the Aragami got tired of this forced naptime and they created Kusanagi, a young man with supernatural powers thanks to the seven magatami beads-the true form of the Aragami-within him, specifically to protect Kaede.  Somewhere along the way, though, Kusanagi fell in love with Kaede(look, you create a guy specifically to protect a girl, and it's going to happen) and after her death, he decides to finish the job for her and attacks the clumsy Momiji on the way to school.  I really need to figure out why the "I will kill you" here makes me go "Ooh?" while almost the exact same thing in Gundam Wing made me go "WTH? Tell me I'm reading this coding wrong!"  Probably because, while Relena seems to take it as confession of love or some such, Momiji has the much more sensible reaction of wanting to get away from the psycho.  The fact that it takes about 5 minutes for "I will kill you" to change to "I will protect you even if I'm kinda a stupid @$$ about it" instead of 40~ episodes probably helps, too.

Soon, Momiji has joined TAC and is helping them hunt the Aragami, with Kusanagi tagging along in the shadows, ready to play Knight In Shining Armor when needed.

Am in love.

Kusanagi seems to have taken lessons in "how to let a girl know you like her"  from a certain red eyed guy named Kyo.  It's received in about the same vein, too.  He seems to have a lot of bottled up angst, and is one of those "I'm so badass" guys who is, but is also a lot nicer than he thinks he is.  Momiji's a clutz and does her best to be friends with everyone(including a certain rude guy obsessed with her panties) and does her best to be a useful member of TAC, instead of a princess in a glass tower.  Kunikida seems to be trying to let Momiji choose her own path, instead of choosing it for her.  There's also Takeuchi, Kunikida's second in command, who seems to be in love with him, Matsudaira, a scientist whose devotion to her work cost her her family, a pair of nerds I haven't learned much about yet, and Koume, a prickly soldier who got transferred to TAC for being too fond of blowing things up.  I like Koume.  She's my favorite after Kusanagi and Momiji.  Maybe before or tied with Momiji.  (I'm currently being glad that Momiji is being allowed to do things so far, despite her character type.)  Actually, so far, I like them all.

I like stories based on mythology, and I've been wanting to watch or read something based on the Susa-no-o myth for a while now.  Though I'm saddened that there is no sign yet of his grass cutting sword.  Also, Momiji has a magatama in her chest, and it's what lets her detect Aragami.  Kusanagi gets his powers from the seven magatama inside him.  Eight is the magic number of the Susa-no-o legend.  Not too obvious, are we anime?  I do wish, though, that it wasn't so fond of panty shots.  (And again: Kusanagi.  Related to Kyo.)

Blue Seed eps 6-9

Hmm...we did turn a bit "monster of the week" pretty quickly there, didn't we?  But it's still all good.

I have learned that our resident computer geek is Yaegashi.  Yaegashi likes "adult" games and creates computer prediction programs with what animal Momiji will wear on her panties as the test.  I suspect Kusinagi hunted him down and demanded details when he found out.  Yaegashi also seems to love fighting with Koume.  Or rather, the reverse.  I detect future love.  Koume also seems to have a soft spot for puppies, and I don't think she got to blow nearly enough stuff up in these episodes.  I also think I need an icon of Koume in her pink lumpsuit, looking giddy at the idea of getting to shoot something.

There's also another Aragami hunter named Sakura, who seems to be a shinto priestess.  She doesn't like Little Miss Sacrifice Girl, and seems to have a thing for Kusanagi, who lacks the brainpower to notice either that or the fact that another girl fight object to his teamups with Sakura.  Then there's ANOTHER Aragami hunter who seems to be randomly going down and hunting down Aragami.  They said his name, but I was too busy being impressed by the fact that he had more hair than the rest of the cast combined, with about ten time as much body.

Kusanagi definately studied at the Retard Shounen Hero School of Courtship, and thinks "Idiot! I wouldn't save you if I didn't like you!" and "*munch munch* I've had worse *munch*" when a girl makes him lunch are romantic.  Momiji is wise enough to realize that her personal stalker boyfriend bodyguard pervert knight in shining armor Kusanagi seems to have made stalking her(and invading through her unlocked bedroom window) and saving her at the last possible second his life's work, even to the point of yelling out to see if he's stalking her at the moment at random times.  Like Amelia is Slayers, she is also very well aware that the wise thing to do when there isn't much shelter in a fight is to hide behind the guy who is really hard to kill.  Few things top practicality.  They do, though, need to discuss their personal definitions of "date" and "Aragami hunt" just to avoid mixups.

Kunikida also displays unconventional strategy in realizing that it would be GOOD for Momiji to become a celebrity so that people will like her(it's hard not to) so the government will think twice about pissing off the entire nation if they decide to sacrifice her like they did Kaede.  A vast improvement on the typical "we must keep her hidden for her own good" drivel.  Also, everyone is amazingly accepting of Kusanagi, what with his having been created by their enemies.  "Oh hey, it's the guy who's threatened to kill half of us before who was created by our enemies!  Do you know anything about *blah blah blah*  Let's talk about that Momiji thing..."  (Yes, Kusanagi, your badboy image was tarnished the second you noticed Momiji's girly parts and started saving her every second.)

I am also vastly amused by Kusanagi's angst.  Not only does he spend every moment he isn't saving or bickering with Momiji engaging in angsty staring, but he also has super angsty shadowed walking in the opening credits, and the rain streaked angst on the closeups.  I can only imagine what a modern anime would do with him.

Blue Seed eps 6-9

Hmm...we did turn a bit "monster of the week" pretty quickly there, didn't we?  But it's still all good.

I have learned that our resident computer geek is Yaegashi.  Yaegashi likes "adult" games and creates computer prediction programs with what animal Momiji will wear on her panties as the test.  I suspect Kusinagi hunted him down and demanded details when he found out.  Yaegashi also seems to love fighting with Koume.  Or rather, the reverse.  I detect future love.  Koume also seems to have a soft spot for puppies, and I don't think she got to blow nearly enough stuff up in these episodes.  I also think I need an icon of Koume in her pink lumpsuit, looking giddy at the idea of getting to shoot something.

There's also another Aragami hunter named Sakura, who seems to be a shinto priestess.  She doesn't like Little Miss Sacrifice Girl, and seems to have a thing for Kusanagi, who lacks the brainpower to notice either that or the fact that another girl fight object to his teamups with Sakura.  Then there's ANOTHER Aragami hunter who seems to be randomly going down and hunting down Aragami.  They said his name, but I was too busy being impressed by the fact that he had more hair than the rest of the cast combined, with about ten time as much body.

Kusanagi definately studied at the Retard Shounen Hero School of Courtship, and thinks "Idiot! I wouldn't save you if I didn't like you!" and "*munch munch* I've had worse *munch*" when a girl makes him lunch are romantic.  Momiji is wise enough to realize that her personal stalker boyfriend bodyguard pervert knight in shining armor Kusanagi seems to have made stalking her(and invading through her unlocked bedroom window) and saving her at the last possible second his life's work, even to the point of yelling out to see if he's stalking her at the moment at random times.  Like Amelia is Slayers, she is also very well aware that the wise thing to do when there isn't much shelter in a fight is to hide behind the guy who is really hard to kill.  Few things top practicality.  They do, though, need to discuss their personal definitions of "date" and "Aragami hunt" just to avoid mixups.

Kunikida also displays unconventional strategy in realizing that it would be GOOD for Momiji to become a celebrity so that people will like her(it's hard not to) so the government will think twice about pissing off the entire nation if they decide to sacrifice her like they did Kaede.  A vast improvement on the typical "we must keep her hidden for her own good" drivel.  Also, everyone is amazingly accepting of Kusanagi, what with his having been created by their enemies.  "Oh hey, it's the guy who's threatened to kill half of us before who was created by our enemies!  Do you know anything about *blah blah blah*  Let's talk about that Momiji thing..."  (Yes, Kusanagi, your badboy image was tarnished the second you noticed Momiji's girly parts and started saving her every second.)

I am also vastly amused by Kusanagi's angst.  Not only does he spend every moment he isn't saving or bickering with Momiji engaging in angsty staring, but he also has super angsty shadowed walking in the opening credits, and the rain streaked angst on the closeups.  I can only imagine what a modern anime would do with him.

My Dearest LJ...

STOP GIVING ME AN ERROR MESSAGE EVERYTIME I TRY TO COMMENT!!!

Seriously, is anyone else having this problem? Is there some major wank or kerfluffle that I'm missing out on? Did 

ohnotheydidnt break LJ again?

 

Also, cannot wait for payday so I can renew my extra userpics. LJ has an interesting idea of what userpics I use the most, as it only looks at what I've used the most in posts the last two months, as opposed to comments or anything.

AND!!!

Second time at the post, as LJ ate it the first time. Had it done this with my Blue Seed post earlier, I would be Very Displeased.

 

My Dearest LJ...

STOP GIVING ME AN ERROR MESSAGE EVERYTIME I TRY TO COMMENT!!!

Seriously, is anyone else having this problem? Is there some major wank or kerfluffle that I'm missing out on? Did 

ohnotheydidnt break LJ again?

 

Also, cannot wait for payday so I can renew my extra userpics. LJ has an interesting idea of what userpics I use the most, as it only looks at what I've used the most in posts the last two months, as opposed to comments or anything.

AND!!!

Second time at the post, as LJ ate it the first time. Had it done this with my Blue Seed post earlier, I would be Very Displeased.