(no subject)

50% off manga + 20% coupon for entire purchase is a dangerous combination, especially if you only went in to grab your father's Christmas gift and the new Codex Alera book for yourself.

Spoils of war:

Antique Bakery Vol 1-2
Beauty Pop Vol 1-2
I.O.N.*
Kare Kano Vol 4-5, 9**
Short-Tempered Melancholic*
Planet Ladder Vol 1, 3-7**
Time Stranger Kyoko Vol 1-2*

^Arina Tanemura's art kind of scares me (The eyes! The eeeeyyyyyeeeeeessssss!!!) but we'll see.
**I have the omnibus collecting the first 3 volumes somewhere in the slowly-shrinking backlog.  I shall hunt it down.
***Volume 2 is going to end up one of those that it's murder to find, isn't it?

To do today:  bog manga read in the last few days and beta at least 1 of the 2 yuletide fics that I've been sent.

Suikoden III Vol 6-7

I remain very happy that we get detailed character and relationship and rank charts at the end of each volume, though they’re different ones each time.

( spoilers )

manga: Aqua Vol 1-2

Set in 2301, Aqua takes place on the planet Mars-now named Aqua-150 years after the icecaps have melted, resulting in 90% of the planet being covered in water. Floating cities control the climate, and the planet has since been terraformed. The story takes place in Neo-Venezia, a popular tourist location modeled after Earth’s-now called Manhome-Venice. The tour guides of Neo-Venizia are gondoliers called Undines, and our heroine is Mizunashi Akari, and young woman from Manhome who has come to Aqua to become an Undine.

Akari is apprenticed to an experienced Undine named Alicia at a company called Aria, and soon befriends Aika, and apprentice at another company. Aika is prickly and defensive, and always quick to forbid Akari to make sappy lines when Akari gets caught up in the romanticism of Neo-Venezia and the spirit of whate4ver moment they’re in. As near as I can tell, there’s no rivalry between the companies. Other important characters are President Aria, a Martian cat who is the symbol of the company, and Akatsuki, a Salamander-a worker in the floating cities-who is a friend/client who looks and acts like he wandered out of a shounen manga. He calls Akari “pigtails” and pulls her hair. Other manga has trained me to interpret this as romantic interest, but I’m pretty sure that’s not what’s going on here.

The series is slow moving sci-fi-shoujo-slice-of-life, but it and its characters are inherently likable. As yet there is no unifying plot (perhaps in the sequel series, Aria) but it doesn’t need one. Despite some very vague shoujo-ai elements and Akatsuki’s apparent crush on Alicia, there’s no romance, just a lot of very satisfying friendship and admiration. Much of the world seems to be an excuse to draw absolutely gorgeous spreads of a sci-fi version of Venice, with girls in cute outfits (I love the character designs) in a role usually reserved for men, but not the typical action/leadership roles we usually see in such cases.

Has anyone seen the anime? I’m tempted to check it out just to see what an animated Neo-Venezia looks like.