Of Swords and Parasols

Some things I've read recently-ish but keep forgetting to post on:

Manga:

Blank Slate Vol 1-2 (complete series): This is a short series by Aya Kanno, the creator of Otomen, and it's about an amnesiac, sociopathic, evil assassin. In one of the sidebars, Kanno said she set out to do a series about a villain and, well, did. It's an interesting experiment, but it's too short to develop the characterization it needs to really work and still have the plot it wants, and the plot isn't strong enough to pull it off without strong characterization. The most impressive thing about it is the amazement at it coming from the same brain as the adorable genderbending fluff that is Otomen.

xxxHolic Vol 16-19 (end of series): This remains one of the most beautifully illustrated manga I've read (despite Clamp's refusal to actually give people bones) but I was never able to recover interest in it after the change in status quo that took place a little bit before these volumes. Strangely, I recall spending a fair bit of the early volumes wishing the series focused less on the individual customers and more on the meta plot, and then these final volumes were mostly about the metaplot, but that had changed to something that interested me significantly less by then. (And I half-think that one day Clamp just decided the next chapter would be the last, and it was.) Still, I remain fond of the series, and would be so regardless simply because it was my gateway drug into Clamp.

Wallflower Vol 22-27: I...cannot believe I've read 27 volumes of a manga in which there is only the merest hint of an ongoing plot and character growth and relationship evolution both move at a snail's pace, and where the timeline is actually on repeat. Yet, I do not regret it at all. (Well, I could do with unreading some chapters along the way, but that's true of most things that last a while.) I generally enjoy the chapters with Sunako's aunt and/or Noi-chan and the ones where random supernatural things may or may not appear (particularly possessions) best, and the ones where people try to force conformity least. (Though those always end up going terribly for the ones trying to force conformity.) But this series never fails to make me laugh a lot, even if the laughter is sometimes of the more horrified "what--..." variety. When/If this series ever ends (though for all I know, it actually has in Japan) I hope Hayakawa actually has a final arc that resolves things instead of just stopping.

Books:

A Dance With Dragons by George R. R. Martin: Rambling, repetitive, boring. I'm not entirely sure how much is taste changing/GRRM either not caring or needing a firmer guiding hand, and how much had to do with it mostly being about plots/characters I'm either disinterested in or outright dislike, and adding a lot of POVs that weren't needed, but I feel this book would have been far more effective at about 1/4 the length. I also simply outright disliked most plot "twists," and can't help but feel that GRRM was developing it to not follow fandom expectations, as opposed to writing what he had always planned to write. It just frequently felt random and "HA HA GOTCHA!" Like, I almost think he'll make Robert be Jon's father just because everyone thinks it's Rhaegar. (Yes, I joke about how hair color makes it a valid theory but I am largely joking because GRRM has used hair color for major paterinty-centric plot developments before. Though I actually have accidentally predicted paternity reveals based on hair color and style more than once, and I think I did once write out a fanwank for how it could work based on the Arthurian themes in Jon's plot, but I've forgotten half of that now. But I digress.) I...will probably skim future books (should they ever come out...I'm not sure he's interested in writing this anymore) to see what happens with Dany, Sansa and Brienne, but this book pretty effectively killed my interest in the property as a whole.


The Mortal Bone by Marjorie M. Liu: Actually, my feelings for this one are very positive but I kept not thinking of anything to say about it that wasn't spoilery from the first word. (Well, aside from the fact that similarities to Top Cow's The Darkness seemed to increase some.) In other series, I'd be a bit leery of some of the plot developments, but as Liu has avoided the plot elements associated with the elements that would usually make me leery so far, I'm largely anticipating them instead.

Pretty Little Liars series by Sara Shepard: Yet another case of my suffering Stockholm Syndrome when it comes to awful, trainwrecky YA. I don't think I'll be complaining as much about the guys and romances in the TV series when I get back to it because what I've seen of the series is way way better on that front. Actually, I'm kind of amazed that the TV series has mostly positive relationships between women because pretty much every female/female relationship in the books is negative at some point, and ends up tense at best, and I think Jenna is the only character I liked. (I suppose this is how some people feels about the Vampire Diaries books, except unlike the VD books, the PLL books can't claim to be 1001% better when it comes to rape culture and violence against women, and way more comfortable with female sexuality. Whereas the PLL books are way way worse than the show when it comes to those factors.) I do think the resolution ofthe "who killed Ali?" plot rightly captured the feel of the 90s YA mystery ala Christopher Pike that it wanted, but while I think Shepard knew how she was going to resolv "Who killed Ali?" I think she was making up how she got there as she went along. And I'm not sure I've read anything else where in 8 books I don't think any of the main characters made a single smart decision. And I don't mean "are uninformed when making the choices" or "believe they're acting on information from a source they think they can trust" but always act on the bad information of someone they know is out to get them and who has tricked/hurt them before.

The Road to Avalon by Joan Wolf: A largely interesting Arthuriana set in post-Roman Britain and heavy on the politics and much more focused on Arthur than most Arthuriana I've read, it succeeded in making Arthur more interesting than most versions are for me (a lot of that, I think, had to do with the fact that it was written that most of Arthur's good traits and the aspects of his personality that made him a strong leader came from Ygraine. I actually think the Camelot series was trying to do this with Arthur's more douchy moments being attributed to acting like his father and his better moments being when he was showing more of Ygraine and her influence. The show was just terrible.) and Arthur and Lancelot (in his earlier incarnation as Bedwyr) more likable than usual for me until around the page 200 mark where I abruptly stopped liking both within a few pages of each other (if you read it, you can probably guess what bit for each.) Ultimately, while I found the plot interesting and engaging and liked most aspects of the take (There are some obvious MZB influences, but I didn't feel obnoxiously so, and this is almost purely historical fiction as opposed to fantasy.), Gwenhwyfar (Guenevere) and Mordered were the only characters I found to be particularly sympathetic, and it had 2 of my big pet peeves in modern Arthuriana: Ygraine/Uther is portrayed as True Love, and Morguase and Morgan are not Ygraine's daughters, but her sisters (in Morgan's case, they have different mothers and Morgan is Arthur's age.) For me, making Morguase and/or Morgan not be Ygraine's daughters completely alters some of the most interesting aspects of their roles, but that may be a YMMV thing.

Fate's Edge by Ilona Andrews: A lot better than the second Edge book, but not as good as the Kate Daniels books. I liked the caper plot a lot and liked Audrey and though the adolescent tagalongs and their issues worked well. I...did not dislike the hero, Kaldar, but I think I was supposed to not mind all his chauvinism since he got called on it, but, well, just because you get called on your attitude it doesn't erase the attitude, much less make it charming. I think I remember reading that some fans thought there wasn't enough romance in this one as compared to the others, but I didn't notice the decrease. Actually, I think I may have preferred that it had a bit less focus on the romance than what it had.

Over the last few weeks, I have been catching up on the U.S. releases of various manga series that I was following in scans (and largely posted on at the time) before I burned out on scans (as in, one week I was following faithfully and the next I didn’t and haven’t touched them since and have avoided posts on the series from people who were still following them to avoid spoilers. (Given how much of the fiction I consume is foreign, I have become a master at avoiding internet spoilers, unless someone just blurts out “And then the cliff crumbled beneath this character in this series, and s/he fell into the sea and died!”)

Anyway, this mean the last six volumes of Samurai Deeper Kyo (Certain aspects near the end are delightfully reminiscent of self-indulgent fic. This is not a bad thing.) and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle (Clamp is so…utterly shameless. I am both impressed and concerned that they actually Went There, and yet…somehow not squicked. Also, Kurogane must be so relieved that his major issues are Dead Parent Angst, a major princess complex, and thwapping his buddies when they start getting too self-sacrificing.) This actually worries me a bit.)*, seven volumes of Full Metal Alchemist (Despite some problems, this is one of the most tightly plotted and better characterized series I’ve read.), two volumes of xxxHolic (That cooking lady plot that seems endless when you’re waiting for a new chapter zips right by in collected form.) and three volumes of Claymore (I still know joy that my fanon of Helen being a grabbing drunk basically became canon.).

Naturally, This mean I am looking for clones and significant eye-and-other-body-parts-but-mostly-eye loss and clones and duplicates and various forms of created beings and zombies and immortals everywhere. Not to mention swords and various kinds of long, flowing hair.

But it looks like xxxHolic, Full Metal Alchemist, and Claymore are all within a few chapters of where I left off, so there will soon be new-to-me stuff!

Meanwhile, a spoiler for Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle‘s ending, that’s also a xxxHolic spoiler.

( spoiler )

*Later volumes of SDK and T:RC both have serious cases of “OMG would you just finish that sentence/say what you mean, but mostly just finish that sentence already!” Random observation.

Clamp I have a row of 4 Sakura* plushies glaring at you very very sternly

( Spoilers would break your brain if I bothered with many actual plot details-and a poll! )


*Overkill? Probably. But they were so cute and cheap at A-Kon!

This is the Clamp series that seems to be liked even by people who don’t like Clamp. Rather understandable, as I don’t think I’ve read another manga quite like it. I suppose Nabi: The Prototype comes closest, at least in feel.

Set in a cyberpunk world, the government recently had a psychics program that has sense disbanded. The psychics were called “clovers,” and their psychic strength was ranked by clover leaves. When the program fell apart, the low-rank one-and-two-ranked clovers were released into the population, and the others were kept in isolation and cared for by robots.

Kazuhiko, a young, but retired, officer with a mechanical hand is asked by his former commander to escort Sue, the only four-leaf clover, to a place she desires to visit. There’s apparent unrest with neighboring countries, and some skeletons in characters’ closets, but most of the focus is on the characters and their motivations and pasts. The story is told in three parts with a reversed chronology, telling how the various characters came to be where they are, wanting what they want. The most common thread that links them is the feeling of loneliness, and bonding to combat the loneliness, and the most moving relationship is between two characters who are never able to actually meet. (Oh manga, you will never run out of new ways for Important Not Touching, will you?)

Artistically, the linework lies somewhere between Clamp’s early days of giant shoulders, long faces, and big hair, and their more recent, symbolism laden artwork where characters seem to lack bones. The designs, unsurprisingly, are stunning (even if you don’t like Clamp’s actual linework, I don’t think it can be denied that they have some amazing designs) and there’s a heavy emphasis on visually portraying characters as pretty birds trapped in a cage. (And the battle ready robots that guard the clovers are cute anthromorphic animals in old-fashioned clothes.) There’s also a heavy use of white-and sometimes black-space that manages to serve to control the reader’s pace and emphasize certain events, rather than simply coming across as minimalistic art.

There seems to be some disagreement among readers as to whether the series is complete or discontinued. Having read it, I would say that there are various plotlines that could be followed up on, but doing so isn’t necessary, as what there is can be read completely alone, and the emphasis is on how the plot affects the characters, not the plot itself. In fact, each of the three stories could stand independent of the others, despite forming a cohesive whole.

Yes, i know that there's another chapter or two ofthis out now, but tis is what was at Onemanga when i caught up a week or so ago.

( spoilers have identity confusion )

TRC and xxxHolic, I think, are the two series I’m reading where I pretty much need to reread things a year later. Del Rey’s translators also tend to do a pretty good job of making things a lot clearer than the scanslations, and of explaining things. (Note: Not slamming the scanslators, who don’t do this for a living and have the fandom demanding chapters the second raws are out.)

Of course, these volumes were right in the middle of the 100~ chapters that I read in the space of about a week a while back, which could also contribute to my “it all makes more sense now!”

( spoilers )

Kazuhaya Kudo has visions when he touches people or objects, but appears to be homeless. When he collapses in the snow, he’s taken home by Rikuo, who works at Green Drug Pharmacy, and rents a room connected to it. Kazuhaya is hired by Kakei, the owner of the pharmacy, who also has a psychic ability of his own. Kakei sends the boys on supernatural errands, but seems to have a good idea of how they’ll turn out before hand. There’s also Saiga, a man who smokes and wears sunglasses, and seems to have nothing to do but lounge around the pharmacy. Unless Rikuo and Kazuhaya re off on an errand, in which case, he’s pawing Kakei.

I’ve heard that this series is pretty much a proto-xxxHolic and that’s pretty accurate, and I can’t quite separate the two in my head and stop comparing them. I had a hard time forcing myself to stop calling Kakei, Rikuo, Kazuhaya not!Yuuko, not!Doumeki and not!Watanuki. Of the main characters, only Saiga doesn’t seem to be the basis for an xxxHolic character, and he reminds me of Seishiro from Tokyo Babylon and X/1999, in both looks and personality. Only apparently non-evil. It also seems to be the closest thing to straight shounen-ai that Clamp has written. Not including the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures yaoi doujinshi that they started out doing.

This has, I think, a stronger beginning than xxxHolic, but doesn’t have that “something” that makes me love xxxHolic so much. And I’m not referring to Yuuko. Then again, it also took a few volumes for xxxHolic to really take off for me. The art and themes have the same dreamy supernatural quality that xxxHolic has, but not the amazing stark black and whites and negative imaging. I wish I’d checked this one out before having read so much of xxxHolic, so that I’d be able to separate them better in my head, but this is one of several Clamp titles that initially didn’t interest me as much. Of course, the same was true of Magic Knight Rayearth, which I ended up quite fond of.

Also, I am shallow and went “ZOMG! IMPORTANT TATTOOS!” at one point.

Possible Tsubasa; Reservoir Chronicle spoiler. I’m not positive, and I’d have to track it down, but I think Rikuo’s tattoos actually look like Fai’s.

Wow. Now I get the common belief that at least part of why Clamp abandoned the series was all the endless destruction of Tokyo. When most series destroy Tokyo (or whatever city) they just blow it up and move on, or it’s already been destroyed. When X/1999 does it, we get multiple, long sequences of districts being destroyed while the guys who did it share ice cream and spare a moment to mourn the fact that they just blew up the ice cream shop, so now they have to go to the other one.

("Tokyo go boom" is kind of one of the basic concepts of the series, so that's not particularly spoilery...)

( spoilers )