randomness

[meganbmoore]

 1)  *looks inside dustjacket of Moribito novel*  "Translated into multiple languages and adapted for a major television series..."  It is called anime.  It is not a bad word and is not synonymous with "dumb" or "trash."

2)  I feel I shall need something with which to cleanse my brain once I finish Melody of Oblivion.  Recommend me something.  (I was thinking Seirei no Moribito, but since I'm reading the book now, i figure I should wait a bit in between.)

3)  Clamp fans:  How important is it that I read Tokyo Babylon before X/1999?  Keeping in mind that I've seen both anime versions of X/1999, and so am already spoiled for some major stuff.  Also, I am kinda evil on this front and kinda like Seishirou and Subaru as

Seishirou being the first love who destroyed Subaru's life and killed his beloved twin(?) sister and now they are eternal enemies, and I'm not sure I want my evil joy threatened by seeing them, you know, potentially happy and lovey dovey scenes...

4)  Rightstuf, I am glad you finally had my order pop up, but please get it out of "processing" and just send me my mass of loot already!

5)  Balsa is a close range spear fighter(I forget the proper term.)  I love that beyond words.

Comments

[kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com]

I never read Tokyo Babylon and had no problem following X.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

*notes*

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

#3 - This will probably come as no surprise but that's what I love about the Seishirou and Subaru dynamic too. I never fail to find it amusing that while most of my friends are eternal fans of the enemies turned allies and/or lovers trope, I'm all about the best friends and/or lovers turned mortal enemies trope. I will eat that up forever.

#5 - Balsa is full of win. That is all.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yeah, "enemies as lovers" can work (sughs a bit over Basara and Willow) but most of the time, I'm not sold on it. I'm much more interested in good relationships turned bad, or people who should have been friends/close never having a chance at it. (See: separated siblings trope.) Ithink there's a lot more emotional charge to it. It can also go in a lot of places, while there are fewer places "enemies turned allies/lovers" can go.

I guess I should just decide whether I want to just wallow in the angst, or actually, you know, read about the stuff before the angst. (And why do I think it will be more fun to read TB AFTER X/1999?)

Balsa: Agreed. Waiting for your Tanda. As usual, though, the translation is a bit clunky...

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

The translation is incredibly awkward in spots. I think it's a combination of cultural differences regarding narrative and some things just not translating well. But interestingly enough, some of the dialog? Is almost lifted straight from the book and adapted into the anime. Like, almost word for word.

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

#4 - TRSI might be processing for a while because I think they're short-staffed due to the floods.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yeah. That, and they probably have 5000000000000 orders right now...

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

That too.

[magicnoire.livejournal.com]

Okay, so the internet is all-powerful and likes to mock me when I make statements like that. My order is shipping.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I had the same reaction. (And mine is shipping with all the manga I ordered on a whim from their sale on Viz stuff...I'll have another manga tower that I can't afford/put anywhere...)

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

You get more insight on Seishirou, Subaru, and Hokuto. However, no, X very much stands on its own as a text.

However, I think Tokyo Babylon >>>>>>>>>>>> X (and I think X >>>>>>>> Most Everything)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Ithink I might save TB for after, since I already have a few volumes of X. That way, I can just wallow in the sheer angst without worrying as much about the, you know, serious stuff...

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

Well honestly? X ain't no cake ride either. Everyone dies isn't entirely a joke.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think only Fuuma was left alive at the end of the anime. Maybe a couple others. I can't recall. I guess I should say "the serious stuff from both series."

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

You should know the X anime is dead to me the moment they fucked over Hokuto's character with the crap with Kakyou (and I LIKE Hokuto/Kakyou, just now how the anime handles it).

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

In a way,the X anime is what got me to check out Clamp again. I read Wish and Chobits early in my manga days, but disliked the endings of both series, and swore off Clamp. But then I was shown an AMV of the anime and it was so pretty and then I watched it and that lead to X/1999 and Tsubasa...

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

Wish actually isn't totally their fault. Editors made them change the original ending

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

This does help, as the death/reincarnation thing literally came out of nowhere and made no sense.

Ah...what was the original ending?

[a-white-rain.livejournal.com]

No idea. Read the first volume and couldn't stand it (unusual, since I even adore CHOBITS). Just read about it. I think it was supposed to be dark. Unsure though.

[desdenova.livejournal.com]

#3: I have not read much of X (I am only on vol. 3), but it is pretty clear from early on in TB that Seishiro is made of evil and that it will all end badly. The potentially happy bits will just add some spice of anticipation to your evil joy.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

It's just deciding which reading order will result in my evil joy being greater...

[cerusee.livejournal.com]

I would read Tokyo Babylon before X if for no other reason than because X isn't finished, and TB is. TB has a (somewhat) satisfying narrative arc, even with all the trauma and murder and stuff, but X will leave you hanging forever. (Also, since TB is earlier in their career, it will jar you less artistically. They were really into greytone with TB.)

The X anime is amazingly awesome, despite the fact that they have to make up an ending, because the manga will probably never be finished. I recommend it! I was very impressed with it; I remember telling people at the time that it was the closest experience I'd ever had to seeing on TV a genuine epic in the classic sense of the word. I dig the music immensely; it's not easy to come up with a sonic equivalent to the X manga's two-page spreads of someone, usually Hinato, clutching the Earth and looking terrified in a swirl of sakura petals. But the anime does! It's so cool.

Do not watch the movie. I am not kidding. I always thought it would be like watching the Utena movie--utterly incomprehensible even when you know the entire story, but equally gorgeous and highly symbolic, a visual treat for serious fans, a poem to the prose of the anime, etc, etc--NO. NO. Watching the X movie is like have your teeth kicked out by a trusted friend who spits in your eye, laughing, "Where's your God now?" DO NOT WATCH. YOU WILL GAIN NOTHING BUT DESPAIR. The only benefit to watching the X movie was in finding the anime ending considerably more palatable, as the movie ending felt pretty much like being gutted.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Actually, I've seen both X the anime and the movie. As much as I like Kamui's overwhelming angst, my favorite plotlines in the series were Seishirou/Subaru and Sorata/Arashi (aah...for different reasons, of course) and they were barely there in the movie! I was sad.

The anime is actually what eventually led to my getting into Clamp through xxxHolic and then Tsubasa.

[kingcrankycat.livejournal.com]

I was unaware the Seirei novel was out. Another book on the pile.

I don't see what's wrong with calling it a television show as opposed to an anime. The anime fandom is already too touchy with what the medium can and cannot be called as it is, and I feel that just makes the gap between the fandom and everyone else even bigger.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Hmm...I think I'm touchy because a lot of the light novels I've been reading lately (read: since probably early last year) seem to be carefully avoiding saying "anime" or "manga" when referring to adaptations or other works by the authors. It's almost like the publishing houses (and one was Viz...) are trying to avoid there being a connection.

[kingcrankycat.livejournal.com]

Nertz, didn't know it was in hardcover. Hopefully it'll come out in softcover within the next decade (and bring Brave Story along with it)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Amazon only charged me around $10 for it.

Not fond of the paper stock, though.

[kingcrankycat.livejournal.com]

It's not a price thing unfortunately, I'm just not a big fan of hardcovers (harder to hold for extended periods of time, etc etc).

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I'd actually suggest this in spite of that, as it's a fairly small hardcover(both length and dimensions) but the paper stock is heavy enough to make it a bit awkward.

(I feel compelled to point out, however, that the first 12 kingdoms novel is in paperback now...)

[kingcrankycat.livejournal.com]

Good to know about 12K, I was waiting on that one as well.

[mystickeeper.livejournal.com]

As others have said: X stands by itself just fine, but if you're going to read both series anyway, I would highly recommend reading Tokyo Babylon first - especially because these characters hold your favorite story arc!

Enough background is given in X that you understand what's going on, but Tokyo Babylon is a pretty quick read, in my opinion. Read it first!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I think part of my problem is that I have the first few volumes of X, but not of TB...

[salimbol.livejournal.com]

Well, I read Tokyo Babylon after having seen the X anime and having read most of the X/1999 manga, and for me one of the greatest pleasures of TB was seeing the slow, slow reveal about Seishirou's true nature. And coming to realise that (arguably, I guess) anything you saw that was 'happy and lovey dovey' was a total lie. In fact, the whole thing felt even crueler and angstier (and therefore cooler; yes, I am a bit twisted) than I had expected after X.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I think most people's interest in the Seishirou/Subaru dynamic is the whole "OMG CRUEL CRUEL ANGST AND TRAUMA AND LOVE GONE WRONG!" bit...we're all twisted, there.

[salimbol.livejournal.com]

And there ain't nothing wrong with being a little twisted! I think my slight shock over TB was due to the fact that I'd got the impression from X that there might have been a bit of love genuinely there on Seishirou's part back in the day (we all know Subaru's feelings were real), but it seemed clear to me after TB that no, there really hadn't been (obsession, yes, sexual attraction, yes; any type of soft fluffy love with a capacity for self-sacrifice, no). So it required a bit of mental readjustment. IMO, the love story (yeah, I think of it as a love story) doesn't kick in till Subaru is all grown up and has been broken and remade by the truth about Seishirou, at which point they're essentially equals.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Even though I know it's an important part of his character and growth, I don't really care about seeing Subaru as young and hopeful and in love. I just want the Subaru who's been torn into shreds and pieced himself back together and is now a walking ball of angst going about his job with no care about his own life uptil he gets caught up in destiny stuff and finds himself on opposite sides with Seishirou.

For that story, I have Sorata and Arashi for my cute and innocence and OTP-ness and sacrifice.

[salimbol.livejournal.com]

Yup, you said it: adult Subaru is about ten times more interesting than adolescent Subaru. (God, he's a wonderful mess of a character, really.) But the process of watching him heading in that direction, all unbeknownst to him, really was a good one, and Seishirou was wonderfully creepy. Plus it was nice to see more of Hokuto. So I do recommend that you read TB at some point, even with happy girly Subaru, but I don't think it has to be before X.