(no subject)

[meganbmoore]

[Poll #1115911][Poll #1115911] ETA: And before everyone instinctively answers, I would just like to ask: How many fandoms like to write about teenaged boys getting it on with 30 foot tall robots? Don't answer, just ponder before clicking.

Comments

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

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Explain in the least scarring way possible, please.

[sanada.livejournal.com]

This guy. His real name is Char Aznable (he has mainstream name recognition in Japan on the level of like, Darth Vader and Captain Kirk). He's the villain of the 1979 series, but since the hero is such a douchebag everyone likes Char best. Anyway, at one point he infiltrates the opposition with nothing more than that unfortunately chosen alias and a pair of sunglasses. Quatre's name and looks are a homage to him... And yes, Zechs is a blatant ripoff of this guy, only with 1000000x more gay and hair.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Well, as my first thought when you said his name was that Quatre had another name, and my first thought at the picture was thatt he looked like an early version of Zechs...that all makes sense.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Oh god, a Charles Aznavour reference!? Now I feel a little better about my favorite 1970s shojo crack having characters modelled after all of the members of Led Zeppelin...

[southerndave.livejournal.com]

Led Zeppelin?

I am torn between a sort of fascinated, almost irresistible horror at the thought of the very idea and the knowledge that my limited understanding of what "shojo" is, is that it's stuff that is calculated to not appeal in the slightest to anyone who is grumpy, middle-aged and possesses a "Y" chromosome.

It's also not helping that I ended up researching Led Zeppelin on Wikipedia last night (a long story involving a very silly radio show the local national public radio station is playing in the afternoons because all their serious interviewers are on holiday) and found that one of the gang co-wrote "Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter"...

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Robert Plant (http://www.google.com/custom?q=robert+plant&sa=Go&sitesearch=www.aestheticism.com&cof=S%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.aestheticism.com%3BAH%3Aleft%3BLH%3A1%3BL%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.aestheticism.com%2Fimages%2Fblank.gif%3BLW%3A1%3BAWFID%3A7248eb5fd38a1c8a%3B&domains=www.aestheticism.com) in particular seems to have made a rather lasting impression on many mangaka of a certain generation; but the series I'm thinking of, From Eroica With Love (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_Eroica_with_Love), isn't the sort of sparkly big-eyed magical-girl high school romance you might be thinking of from the mention of shojo; it's more of a cracktastic parody of Cold War spy thrillers.

And yes, the Led Zep references are pretty bloody obvious. Here, for instance, we have one of the lead characters, the flamboyantly gay British nobleman (and not-too-secret leader of a ring of international art thieves) Dorian Red Gloria, and two of his henchmen:



Nope, can't think who they remind me of...oh did I mention the henchmen are "Bonham" and "James"? And it's often thought that Dorian's name might have been improperly romanized, and should have been "Led" rather than "Red"? Or that there's another less-seen henchman named Jones? Or that Dorian sometimes travels by blimp...and also has a sub called the "Aqua Zep"?

And if you think that sounds insane and cracky, well, I haven't even begun to scratch the surface (http://shaenon.livejournal.com/14312.html)...

[southerndave.livejournal.com]

I am torn between running and hiding at the very thought, and stealing that picture and putting it up in my journal just to share the pain and watch with amusement the resulting brain breakage (which might even top the infamous Hello Top Gear! pictures I was too slow to avoid a few months back). This sounds almost as... not-right... as that Otanomomo (or whatever it's called) thing that Megan was marvelling at the insanity of a few weeks back.

Unfortunately I can't read Japanese (four and a bit years of learning it at high school back in the early `eighties has left me barely able to figure out the sound effects if they aren't translated). I'd ask if the book was available in English, but I'm rather afraid the answer might be "yes".

But at least we've given Megan something to read during her Boring Day Alone At The Office tomorrow (unless I've got my time zones mixed up and it's already happened...)

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Oh, that picture is NOTHING; Dorian, for all his talk of being a great art lover obsessed with possessing beautiful men things, clearly has more money than taste in the wardrobe department. (All the better to disturb his deeply repressed, violently homophobic unrequited love interest...) Let us not even mention all the times Dorian has to do drag for reasons of plot!

And yes, there's FINALLY a legit English version (http://www.dccomics.com/cmx/?action=on_sale&i=2362) available, but it's only up to book 11; this title's been published continuously (albeit on a rather erratic schedule) for THIRTY YEARS, so there's quite a way to go before we're caught up with Japan. But I can point you to sources for scanlations of the more recent volumes, if you're just not getting enough crack in your diet!

MY OBSCURE, DEEPLY INSANE FANDOM, LET ME SHOW YOU IT!

Perhaps I should dig up some scans of the issue where Dorian is feeling particularly bored, so for a change of pace from heisting priceless art treasures he decides to steal the Pope. Or the one where he's involved in a car chase on the Autobahn, although can you really call it that when the pursuing vehicle is a tank?

[southerndave.livejournal.com]

Deeply insane fandom I've just about got used to; I've survived quite a while on the periphery of Doctor Who fandom, after all (although most of my actual participation involves ihasatardis).

Seeing as all this talk about music has got me thinking on musical subjects I'll give you one guess as to what tune my mental stereo will be playing if I ever see the scene you're talking about...

goes back to waiting for a punk rock video to download on You Tube...

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Oooh, is it Kraftwerk? (Iron Klaus would probably not approve, even though they're German; he's an utter philistine with little interest in art and about the only music he's ever seemed to approve of is the Panzerlied and..."Mary Had A Little Lamb"? Don't ask.)

This, btw, is Robert Dorian's not-at-all-interested love interest, Major Klaus von dem Eberbach:



Yes, he's supposed to be a West German NATO officer. How he gets away with that haircut in uniform is never explained, but considering one of the agents under his command has to go undercover disguised as a woman (http://www.eroicafans.org/Summaries/Greece/0101.html) in one early mission, and likes it so much that he spends the rest of the series cross-dressed...which subjects him to quite a bit of attention from the Major's lecherous superior officer...well, clearly this is yet another case of Manga Reality having its own deranged rules...

[southerndave.livejournal.com]

Kraftwerk all the way. Dances in glee at finding someone else on the internet who actually remembers his generation's music.

This looks like a case for "Don't ask, don't tell". Or even "Don't even think of asking, and ignore anything suspicious".

I have for quite a while had this weird theory that some of the not-quite-accurate portrayals of Western concepts in Japanese popular culture (Nicholas D. Wolfwood in Trigun being a particularly blatant example) are a subtle and complex revenge for portrayals of Japanese culture in such Western classics as The Mikado.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Well, in the case of Iron Klaus it's more like "Don't ask, don't get shot at and reassigned to Alaska". I rather want to do an Eroica/Saiyuki crossover at some point wherein Sanzo and the Major have a spot of male bonding over multiple cups of bad coffee and endless packs of cigarettes, snarling about how their underlings are all perverted, incompetent idiots and their superiors are the same but even worse, and let's not even MENTION how much more annoying the rest of the world is, particularly all those perverts who keep hitting on us, wouldn't it be so much nicer if we could just SHOOT THEM ALL, because our guns are our only real friends...

And that is an amusing theory, although I suspect the simpler explanation is "who cares so long as it looks cool?".

_{But what's with this "remembers your generation" jive -- just how old do you think I am, grandpa? Wait, wait, before you answer that, lemme adjust my hearing aid and take a quick restorative bath in the blood of virgins...}

[southerndave.livejournal.com]

I don't really know anything about Saiyuki, although a couple of my friends have been known to watch it. It's on my "possibly check it out if I see it going cheap on Trade Me" watch-list, along with things like Bleach and Basara.

I tend to work on the theory that everyone I meet on the internet is between five and 25 years younger than myself until found to be otherwise; less chance of dropping an industrial-grade clanger that way.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

Saiyuki is my most recent obsession, and is absolutely EATING MY BRAIN. It's a cracked-out anachronistic take on Journey to the West, technically shojo because of its original publication, although you might be forgiven for thinking it's shonen at first glance, mostly-male cast with tons of fighting. Look a little closer, though, and the leads are all rather pretty, there's lots of attention paid to emotion and subtle character growth, and oh yeah there's lots of what can be read as yaoi subtext if you're so inclined. (Mind you, it remains very safely subtexty, there are no overt scenes of boys kissing or the like, and there is some similar het subtext around the one recurring female character who isn't evil, underage, dead, or a hermaphrodite goddess.) Romance really isn't the point of the story, though, so all of the subtext, gay or straight, stays safely in the background and can be ignored if you like.

I haven't read Basara and have only read/seen some of Bleach, but from what I'e seen I'd say Saiyuki is generally less cracky than Bleach and lighter on overt romance than Basara. There are some vaguely-magical weapons and a few characters with magical/spiritual powers, but nothing quite at the level of the insane zanpakuto in Bleach; this is not a series with endless training sequences or weapon upgrades. And subtext aside, none of the main characters has any overt romances during the present timeline; one guy is effectively a widower who seems to be only just starting to heal from his loss enough to even abstractly contemplate future relationships; one is the Worst Monk In The World who smokes, drinks, eats meat, swears, and kills enemies with abandon, chastity is the only vow he *isn't* shown breaking -- and his hostility towards anyone showing interest in him makes it look like he's not interested in breaking it; one is 500-going-on-fifteen, seemingly a bit emotionally/mentally stunted from years of magic imprisonment -- he's finally maturing as the story progresses, but seems to just be starting to reach the point where he might start noticing girls (or boys) *that* way; and the last one is a self-proclaimed ladies' man, but has been getting remarkably little action due to the constant travelling and fighting -- even when it looks like he might *finally* get lucky, the girl turns out to be a damsel-in-distress, or an assassin trying to kill him, or sometimes both types simultaneously.

The manga is a squillion times better than the anime; it starts out a bit rough in the first volume as the artist's style is still developing, and her time-shifting storytelling takes a bit of getting used to. But the art improves and settles rapidly and the bits and pieces of needed background come out rather quickly too; I'd say try giving the first five volumes a chance, if it hasn't hooked you by then it probably never will. The anime, OTOH...I really hesitate to recommend it; it was good enough to serve as a gateway drug for me, but it pales next to the manga and even considered on its own has many faults. The character design is pretty crude compared to the best of the manga art, and the animation quality ranges from mediocre at best to really rather dire. There are quite a few filler episodes, although for the most part they're rather fluffy and inoffensive and scattered about as standalones, rather than stretching on and on for endless lengthy arcs *koff* Bleach *koff*, and I will also grant them credit for not stretching out INDIVIDUAL FIGHT SCENES over multiple episodes *koff* Dragon Ball Z, Naruto... *koff*. The first two seasons also sort of rearrange some of the plot elements in a way that may be a bit confusing if you go on to the manga later, and the third season, along with having the most painfully shoddy animation at points, takes a storyline from the manga and just warps it in all sorts of deranged and not-good ways. If you must sample the anime I would strongly suggest checking a few episodes out online or going for a cheap rental, it is not something I could in good conscience tell someone to buy unless you have money to burn and can find it marked down to a pittance; that's money much, much better spent on the manga.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

(Oh, and if you really want to spread some serious pain to your friends, you need to follow the links in my earlier post to find the review of the manga involving a tender tryst between a Robert Plant-esque male prostitute and a shy, romantic alligator in a business suit. I Am Not Making This Up.)