Disney Channel adventures continue

[meganbmoore]

On Disney Channel, they're currently showing a cartoon  (modern times) about a dragon who is has a massive crush on the daughter or granddaughter or something of a dragon hunter who is obsessed with catching him, and he goes to school (High School? Junior High?) with her as a normal student and they sneak around frighting monsters and Totally Not Dating and she is all "We should not do this anymore due to that whole bit where I'm supposed to hunt you down and imprison you and no doubt use you in some arcane ritual!" and he is "But I like you and our love will be stronger than that!" and they go around angsting and fighting monsters and crushing on his part and her co-hunters saw them fighting together.

When I was 12, I would have thought this was the most awesome thing ever.  It's...err...actually enjoyable.  In its way.

I also saw That's So Raven for a couple hours earlier today.  I kind of loathe it.  I think I'm offended by how a lot of episodes seem to be Raven having a vision where she makes a mistake and there are consequences and then it's revealed that none of it happens and so she doesn't make the mistake and never actually has to suffer any consequences or learn.  There was one episode where she had visions and kept trying to stop them from happening and ended up making them happen, but it didn't really help.

Ooooh...my Rose of Versailles torrent just finished...

Comments

[worldserpent.livejournal.com]

Yay, Rose of Versailles! How I wish the manga was translated so you could read it.

(BTW, speaking of classic shoujo, have you ever read/seen Glass Mask? IMHO I think it would be up your alley, as it has some thematic overlap (in my eyes) with Hwang Jin Yi)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I've seen GM mentioned as something people really want translated, but don't know much about it.

[worldserpent.livejournal.com]

It is fantranslated, but I know you don't read scanlations. But man, it is of THE AWESOME. There is also an anime that is subbed? (Do you watch fansubbed anime? Sorry if you are offended by the question)

Sadly I haven't extensively posted about it, because I wanted to wait until I finished reading it in Japanese. It's basically the story of a girl who wants to become an actress. But it's not only that: acting is her life, her consuming passion. She's not especially pretty, is poor, but has a godlike talent and is noticed by a retired actress, and becomes a candidate, along with her great rival, to inherit a famous role. However, this isn't enough to get her ahead: Maya faces huge setbacks in the harsh theatrical world, but is sustained through them by her need to act. It's also pretty amazing because of the creativity involved in how the mangaka portrays acting: I would ruin it if I revealed the numerous devices. Also, although many of the plays are made up by the mangaka, there are some that are based on famous stories both Western and Japanese, to the point where the plays put on become like stories within stories. The rivalry between Maya and her rival, Ayumi, is almost like one of those rivalries in a sports manga, but what really makes me love it is that their relationship is especially pure and chivalrious. In a lesser manga Ayumi would be stereotyped as an evil, mean girl, but while Ayumi is less scrupulous than Maya (who is more innocent and less worldly), she also loves acting and takes it extremely seriously, and wishes to defeat Maya for the role fairly and squarely, as an actress. However there are less scrupulous people out there.

There are also romantic plots, but the main plot, refreshingly, is about the acting and Maya's struggle as an actress. (Oh yeah, just to warn you, the art is old school shoujo, sparkly eyes and all. Kind of like Rose of Versailles or Utena. And it is SUPER DRAMATIC also.)

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I', not opposed to reading scanslations, just not fond of it.

It does sound interesting.

[worldserpent.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see. Well, if you do decide to do it for this series, it's totally worth it, IMHO.

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

ZOMG SOMEBODY SCANLATED GLASS MASK? Eeeeeeeeee! *scampers off to Google, squealing all the way*

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Let me know what you find.