Ergo Proxy eps 7-23(end)

*note to self: make and upload better "fight like a girl" icon of Real*

How shall I put this? LESS BLATHER, MOAR ROLLER DERBY!

On the one hand, we have all sorts of awesomeness. The whole thing is like the brainchild of Witch Hunter Robin and Ghost in the Shell. For that matter, as someone pointed out in the comments of another post, Real herself might as well be the love child of WHR's Robin and Amon. Except about 10 times as kickass. I mean, guys, it's post apocalyptic cyberpunk noir. What's not to love? And then you add in the badass heroine, the amnesiac hero searching for the truth about himself, and one of the cutest and least annoying kids to ever grace anime.

And then there's the twist in the Real/Vincent pairing. On the one hand, some bits of it are the normal "badass but emotionally distant hero and the nice love interest bringing them out of their shell." However, the baddass, closed up, emotionally distant hero who would cut off her own arm before saying "I love you" but will leave a trail of bodies to express the sentiment if needed? Real. The less capable(but not wussy or whiny) love interest who's more open and friendly and brings her out of her shell? Vincent. In a lot of ways, it's a complete gender reversal of the trope, but not in a "look, we're being clever" way.

The "look, we're being clever" stuff is saved for the downside. Because for all the awesome setting and setup and characters and atmosphere, every time it got me going in the "OMG! SO AWESOME!" way, it would start in on endless existential blather and messages. Don't get me wrong, I don't go "existentialism, ick" (guys, GITS has it all over the place and, while it annoyed me a bit a few times, it never reached the point of bothering me in either series) but really, at one point, enough is enough. Except that every time it started to be too much for me, it would blatantly cater to one of my kinks, be it character, plot, or pairing, and I'd sink back into it.

So, basically, all in all a good anime, and worth watching. All sorts of awesome sauce in some (the most important) parts, but annoying in others. (MORE ACTION! MORE POST-APOCALYPTIC CYBERPUNK NOIR! LESS PHILOSOPHY!) That said, I plan to get the set if one ever gets put out for a decent price.

Here, have an MV:

PS-Prepared to need a flowchart and possibly wiki(if the entry is decent, I shall go exploring tomorrow) for the last few episodes.

ETA-Also, if you watch, brace yourself for some truly appalling fashion on the part of the male characters. That Vincent never got a new wardrobe is a crime.

Ergo Proxy eps 7-23(end)

*note to self: make and upload better "fight like a girl" icon of Real*

How shall I put this? LESS BLATHER, MOAR ROLLER DERBY!

On the one hand, we have all sorts of awesomeness. The whole thing is like the brainchild of Witch Hunter Robin and Ghost in the Shell. For that matter, as someone pointed out in the comments of another post, Real herself might as well be the love child of WHR's Robin and Amon. Except about 10 times as kickass. I mean, guys, it's post apocalyptic cyberpunk noir. What's not to love? And then you add in the badass heroine, the amnesiac hero searching for the truth about himself, and one of the cutest and least annoying kids to ever grace anime.

And then there's the twist in the Real/Vincent pairing. On the one hand, some bits of it are the normal "badass but emotionally distant hero and the nice love interest bringing them out of their shell." However, the baddass, closed up, emotionally distant hero who would cut off her own arm before saying "I love you" but will leave a trail of bodies to express the sentiment if needed? Real. The less capable(but not wussy or whiny) love interest who's more open and friendly and brings her out of her shell? Vincent. In a lot of ways, it's a complete gender reversal of the trope, but not in a "look, we're being clever" way.

The "look, we're being clever" stuff is saved for the downside. Because for all the awesome setting and setup and characters and atmosphere, every time it got me going in the "OMG! SO AWESOME!" way, it would start in on endless existential blather and messages. Don't get me wrong, I don't go "existentialism, ick" (guys, GITS has it all over the place and, while it annoyed me a bit a few times, it never reached the point of bothering me in either series) but really, at one point, enough is enough. Except that every time it started to be too much for me, it would blatantly cater to one of my kinks, be it character, plot, or pairing, and I'd sink back into it.

So, basically, all in all a good anime, and worth watching. All sorts of awesome sauce in some (the most important) parts, but annoying in others. (MORE ACTION! MORE POST-APOCALYPTIC CYBERPUNK NOIR! LESS PHILOSOPHY!) That said, I plan to get the set if one ever gets put out for a decent price.

Here, have an MV:

PS-Prepared to need a flowchart and possibly wiki(if the entry is decent, I shall go exploring tomorrow) for the last few episodes.

ETA-Also, if you watch, brace yourself for some truly appalling fashion on the part of the male characters. That Vincent never got a new wardrobe is a crime.

kdrama: The Legend, eps 1-2

Two thousand years ago(in the story, almost 4000 for us) the evil Fire Tribe waged war on the world, led by it's powerful priestess, Kajin.  In response, the god Hwan-Woon was sent from the heavens to return peace to the world, and after he healed Kajin of a battlewound, she decided to swear off war.  Her people, however, refused to change, and so she continued to lead them, leading Hwan-Woon to take her fire powers, the power of the Phoenix guardian god, from her.  Meanwhile, Sae-Oh of the Bear(I think it was Bear) Tribe leads her people against Kajin, and in the process, she and Hwan-Woon meet and fall in love.  When the elders of Kajin's tribe decide they have to kill that pesky, meddling god, Kajin kills them and leaves to join Hwan-Woon.  Except, you know, he's gotten Sae-Oh very, very pregnant while she was off killing people.  Kajin turns bad again.  As you can see, Kajin seems to have had trouble keeping her mind made up.  When the baby is born(in battle, they always are) Kajin steals him and says she'll only return him if her powers are returned to him.  When Sae-Oh(who was entrusted with the gem containing Kajin's powers) contronts her, Kajin tosses the baby off a cliff.  Kajin pissed off the mommy with superpowers at her disposal.  It did not go over well.  Hwan-Woon saves his son, but not before Sae-Oh has pretty much set half the world on fire and has been consumed by the Black Phoenix.  When the other three guardian spirits fail to stop Sae-Oh, Hwan-Woon is forced to kill her himself, then, to put out the fire, brings forth a rain that drowns half the world.

Having failed in his mission, Hwan-Woon seals the four guardian gods away until the true king of Joo-Shin, who can bring peace to the land, is born.  (At this point, Megan came out of the squeeful epic fantasy fangirlish daze to go "WAIT?  Why do they always do that?  Don't they know someone might need those spirits in between?)  A lot of this sounds familiar to me from elsewhere, so I'm guessing this much, at least, is based on some sort of legend.

Fast forward 2000 years to 374 A.D., and the sign that the king has been born pretty much sets the entire sky on fire.  ZOMG! Off every sect ever goes to find him, and the four talismans with the quardian spirit.  At this point, I kinda got a bit distracted because my inner fangirl was cackling over all the babies being born and dramatic deaths and the fights and the little girls finding their baby sisters inside barrels to hide them from the bad guys, but being taken herself, and boys getting talismans shoved into their chests by their father to protect the boy, as the bad guys are literally cutting him down(awesome origin!) and whatnot.  The boy getting the talisman shoved in his chest hasn't been seen since, but the little girl, Kiha, who was taken by the descendants of the Tiger Tribe and her baby sister, Sujini, who is being raised by warrior monks(WOOT!) seem to be the reincarnations of Kajin and Sae-Ho, and it's unclear which has the Phoenix's power.  (I'm guessing both.

Fast Forward ANOTHER 11 years, and the king summons his (exiled?) brother, Uh Ji Ji, and Uh Ji Ji's son, Dam-Duk to the capital to name Uh Ji Ji his heir, for the express purpose of eventually placing Dam-Duk on the throne.  This rather annoys the king's sister, who wanted her son, Ho Gae, to be the heir.  Ho Gae, fortunately, doesn't seem to be overly into the whole "grudge" thing at this point, and becomes the sole friend of Dam-Duk, who has to feign being ill and is cut off from all but Commander Go(Ho?  I forget...) and his men, who are essentially raising him in seclusion.  Both boys, meanwhile, seem to be falling for Kiha, who seems to be manipulated into being a spy for the Tiger Tribe.

As you can tell, the first two eps are the backstory and the set-up, and I suspect we'll spend a couple more eps in the set-up phase.  I am perfectly fine with this.  We aren't even to the main story yet, but it's hitting my wuxia/fantasy/period darma kinks all over the place, rather like how Damo and Emperor of the Sea also did from the word "go."  I admit, young Dam-Duk isn't doing much for me right now, but I expect that to change.  Kiha I think I largely sympathize with, at this point.  I mean, lets face it, the bad guys got their claws into her and got to turn her into their tool because she was trying to save her baby sister from them(and she did.)  Young Sujini is just a major scamp.  I don't think those monks raising her are any better.  Sadly, I fear the drama will end up going a bit in the "tomboy good, ladylike bad" direction, but I'll have faith.  Young Ho Gae I adore, even though he's only had the two major scenes.

( a few possibly spoilery mumblings, largely based on my limnited understanding of future events )

Screencap heavy linkblogging:

alexandral on ep 1 
dangermousie on ep 1 and ep 2

Do not spoil me for any specific events(general theme type stuff I ask about is different...)

kdrama: The Legend, eps 1-2

Two thousand years ago(in the story, almost 4000 for us) the evil Fire Tribe waged war on the world, led by it's powerful priestess, Kajin.  In response, the god Hwan-Woon was sent from the heavens to return peace to the world, and after he healed Kajin of a battlewound, she decided to swear off war.  Her people, however, refused to change, and so she continued to lead them, leading Hwan-Woon to take her fire powers, the power of the Phoenix guardian god, from her.  Meanwhile, Sae-Oh of the Bear(I think it was Bear) Tribe leads her people against Kajin, and in the process, she and Hwan-Woon meet and fall in love.  When the elders of Kajin's tribe decide they have to kill that pesky, meddling god, Kajin kills them and leaves to join Hwan-Woon.  Except, you know, he's gotten Sae-Oh very, very pregnant while she was off killing people.  Kajin turns bad again.  As you can see, Kajin seems to have had trouble keeping her mind made up.  When the baby is born(in battle, they always are) Kajin steals him and says she'll only return him if her powers are returned to him.  When Sae-Oh(who was entrusted with the gem containing Kajin's powers) contronts her, Kajin tosses the baby off a cliff.  Kajin pissed off the mommy with superpowers at her disposal.  It did not go over well.  Hwan-Woon saves his son, but not before Sae-Oh has pretty much set half the world on fire and has been consumed by the Black Phoenix.  When the other three guardian spirits fail to stop Sae-Oh, Hwan-Woon is forced to kill her himself, then, to put out the fire, brings forth a rain that drowns half the world.

Having failed in his mission, Hwan-Woon seals the four guardian gods away until the true king of Joo-Shin, who can bring peace to the land, is born.  (At this point, Megan came out of the squeeful epic fantasy fangirlish daze to go "WAIT?  Why do they always do that?  Don't they know someone might need those spirits in between?)  A lot of this sounds familiar to me from elsewhere, so I'm guessing this much, at least, is based on some sort of legend.

Fast forward 2000 years to 374 A.D., and the sign that the king has been born pretty much sets the entire sky on fire.  ZOMG! Off every sect ever goes to find him, and the four talismans with the quardian spirit.  At this point, I kinda got a bit distracted because my inner fangirl was cackling over all the babies being born and dramatic deaths and the fights and the little girls finding their baby sisters inside barrels to hide them from the bad guys, but being taken herself, and boys getting talismans shoved into their chests by their father to protect the boy, as the bad guys are literally cutting him down(awesome origin!) and whatnot.  The boy getting the talisman shoved in his chest hasn't been seen since, but the little girl, Kiha, who was taken by the descendants of the Tiger Tribe and her baby sister, Sujini, who is being raised by warrior monks(WOOT!) seem to be the reincarnations of Kajin and Sae-Ho, and it's unclear which has the Phoenix's power.  (I'm guessing both.

Fast Forward ANOTHER 11 years, and the king summons his (exiled?) brother, Uh Ji Ji, and Uh Ji Ji's son, Dam-Duk to the capital to name Uh Ji Ji his heir, for the express purpose of eventually placing Dam-Duk on the throne.  This rather annoys the king's sister, who wanted her son, Ho Gae, to be the heir.  Ho Gae, fortunately, doesn't seem to be overly into the whole "grudge" thing at this point, and becomes the sole friend of Dam-Duk, who has to feign being ill and is cut off from all but Commander Go(Ho?  I forget...) and his men, who are essentially raising him in seclusion.  Both boys, meanwhile, seem to be falling for Kiha, who seems to be manipulated into being a spy for the Tiger Tribe.

As you can tell, the first two eps are the backstory and the set-up, and I suspect we'll spend a couple more eps in the set-up phase.  I am perfectly fine with this.  We aren't even to the main story yet, but it's hitting my wuxia/fantasy/period darma kinks all over the place, rather like how Damo and Emperor of the Sea also did from the word "go."  I admit, young Dam-Duk isn't doing much for me right now, but I expect that to change.  Kiha I think I largely sympathize with, at this point.  I mean, lets face it, the bad guys got their claws into her and got to turn her into their tool because she was trying to save her baby sister from them(and she did.)  Young Sujini is just a major scamp.  I don't think those monks raising her are any better.  Sadly, I fear the drama will end up going a bit in the "tomboy good, ladylike bad" direction, but I'll have faith.  Young Ho Gae I adore, even though he's only had the two major scenes.

( a few possibly spoilery mumblings, largely based on my limnited understanding of future events )

Screencap heavy linkblogging:

alexandral on ep 1 
dangermousie on ep 1 and ep 2

Do not spoil me for any specific events(general theme type stuff I ask about is different...)

Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers

 The third Wimsey mystery has Wimsey and his friend, Parker, being told of a strange death by a doctor while having dinner.  Apparently, a patient of the doctor's died recently, and despite her health, the doctor was suspicious of her death, but was driven out of town when he questioned the woman's great niece, making the locals very unhappy with him.  Wimsey investigates and soon determines that the woman did murder her great aunt, he just has to figure out why.

For whatever reason, this book didn't work as well for me as the first two did.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but I wasn't as caught up in it as with Whose Body? and Clouds of Witness.  I blame the fact that Peter's family was nowhere to be seen.  Or even mentioned.  Come to think of it, I don't think Bunter was around as much, either.  We do get Miss Climpson, a busybody who makes inquiries for Wimsey, but I'm not quite sure what I think of her yet.

( vaguely spoilery )

Also, is it just me, or does Sayers seem to work in a lot of lesbian implications?  The murder victim here seems to have been "companions" with a woman for some years, just like the "companions" in Christie's A Murder is Announced, and I remember thinking in Clouds of Witness that one of Mary's friends seemed to have much morethan friendly feelings for her.  I ask because it interests me, and it's not the sort of thing I usually hear about with Sayers's(or Christie's) books, so I wonder if I'm just reading too much into it or what.

Anyway, a good book, but not as good(for me at least) as the first two Wimsey mysteries.

*I use my Syaoran icon because apparently the latest chapter has the entire fandom going insane and it amuses me to use it.  But remember, spoilers make little Kurogane remember his Mommy's death.  No one wants him to go there again.*

Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers

 The third Wimsey mystery has Wimsey and his friend, Parker, being told of a strange death by a doctor while having dinner.  Apparently, a patient of the doctor's died recently, and despite her health, the doctor was suspicious of her death, but was driven out of town when he questioned the woman's great niece, making the locals very unhappy with him.  Wimsey investigates and soon determines that the woman did murder her great aunt, he just has to figure out why.

For whatever reason, this book didn't work as well for me as the first two did.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but I wasn't as caught up in it as with Whose Body? and Clouds of Witness.  I blame the fact that Peter's family was nowhere to be seen.  Or even mentioned.  Come to think of it, I don't think Bunter was around as much, either.  We do get Miss Climpson, a busybody who makes inquiries for Wimsey, but I'm not quite sure what I think of her yet.

( vaguely spoilery )

Also, is it just me, or does Sayers seem to work in a lot of lesbian implications?  The murder victim here seems to have been "companions" with a woman for some years, just like the "companions" in Christie's A Murder is Announced, and I remember thinking in Clouds of Witness that one of Mary's friends seemed to have much morethan friendly feelings for her.  I ask because it interests me, and it's not the sort of thing I usually hear about with Sayers's(or Christie's) books, so I wonder if I'm just reading too much into it or what.

Anyway, a good book, but not as good(for me at least) as the first two Wimsey mysteries.

*I use my Syaoran icon because apparently the latest chapter has the entire fandom going insane and it amuses me to use it.  But remember, spoilers make little Kurogane remember his Mommy's death.  No one wants him to go there again.*

*sigh*

There are certain(rare) things I prefer to be spoiled for, so I can brace myself.  Like the events of tonight's Supernatural.

( vaguely spoilery, maybe? )

*sigh*

There are certain(rare) things I prefer to be spoiled for, so I can brace myself.  Like the events of tonight's Supernatural.

( vaguely spoilery, maybe? )