Of Swords and Parasols

If the whole series had been more like eps 20+, this likely would have ended up hovering around my favorites list, but as it is, I had the same problems with it that I did with Cowboy Bebop...too much about the music, style and action scenes and not enough about the story or characterization.  I mean, I'm(obviously, if you read my anime posts) always good for a good action anime, but it's hard to care about the action if it's about the action instead of the who or why.  I was more attached to this one than Cowboy Bebop(which, incidentally, is far from being the worst case of "style over substance" and I did like...like Samurai Champloo...it's just that the popularity of both rests much more on how the story is told than the story that's being told or the people in the story, and that's not my thing)

But the last leg was really good(and 20-21 had Sara, the only female in the show besides Fuu who was remotely interesting) and I'd probably have a different opinion of it if the whole thing was more like the last episodes, because that's when the focus shifts to story and character...Cowboy Bebop did the same thing towards the tail end, and that was when I really started paying attention to it, too.)

The Woman in White-I only watched this one Monday or Tuesday, but I've already forgotten most of it.  The mystery was pretty interesting, but I was wondering why the guy was in love with the boring sister who characterization was limited to being the DID while the other sister was pretty cool(not that it was a love triangle, it was just...you know...you can still protect the DID while loving the more interesting one, it's ok...)

Tsukihime: Lunar Legend-A short(12 episode) anime about a boy who's eyes somehow give him the ability to slice people into little bits(it's a recent realization for him) who ends up being the bodyguard of a 1000-ish year old vampire.  It was good, but confusing, and so complex that you'd need to watch it several times to really get it.  That said, the music was lovely and it had some of the prettiest anime animation I've seen, and an interesting, if odd, romance.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children-Considering that this movie almost completely relies on your having played a game(it's a sequel) that I haven't played and hadn't even heard of before the movie came stateside, I'm still surpised by how much I like this.  With a few exceptions, though, it's pretty accessible.  Mostly though, it's lots of fun, and I adore Vincent(and his cape...it can't hold a cell phone, but it can hide little girls while they rightly chew out their guardians for always taking off and doing their own thing) and Reno(such a dork...I love him every time he shows up) and very much like the Cloud/Tifa pairing(actually, it's rare for me to ship a pairing as much as I do them just from a movie, but hey...if ever a guy needed his friends to whack him over the head and tell him to get over his guilt problems and go make babies with the girl, it's Cloud...heck, Reno and Rude seem to think they're an old married couple anyway)  Tifa is also the kind of heroine I tend to latch on to(well, one of the kinds)  The girl who's more than good enough against your normal opponent, but completely out of her league with the guys she's up against, but still doesn't back down.

Prince Valiant: The Complete Collection: Vol 2-Pretty much the same as I had to say about the first volume.  I really like the take on Arthurian legend(and that they just added their own story to it, instead of rewriting the same old stuff) and the characters.  Though...I did have my one problem with the animation...Aleta looks a LOT like Rowanne...you can really only tell the difference because of their hair at times.

I'm also 5 episodes into the tdrama Meteor Garden, and liking it quite a bit, though I'm still adjusting to the change in pace from Hana Yori Dango.  Dao Ming Si(as well as the Soujiro and Akira equivalents...haven't caught their names yet) is more immediately endearing than Domyouji is(in particular, the scene where the 2 male students harass her...in HYD, we see no reaction to this from him, and when he tells them to harass her, it comes across as what they do is what he's telling them to do.  In contrast, it's made extremely clear that Dao Ming Si did NOT want them to do anything like that and disapproved, a lot.  There's also the fact that the HYD guys seemed to plan to do a lot more than steal a kiss and tear her clothes-which is more than bad enough-which didn't help Domyoji's case)  That said, I don't feel anything resembling the instant love for Lei that I did for Rui, though he's growing on me.

Also started(well, restarted-I watched the first 2 discs back when it first came stateside) Samurai Champloo.  It's clicking better this time around than it did the first.  Don't get me wrong, I liked it, I just didn't connect well with it.  Like Cowboy Bebop, it's still a little too much "Style over substance" to me, but its more in the vein of the style I like, and I do rather like the characters.  Jin is rather my anime type(if saner than what I usually go for) and Mugen/Fuu are quite cute.  If psychotic.

I love this icon, but rarely have a good excuse to use it, so I'm just using it cuz i feel like it.

Still haven't made up my mind about "Lady in the Water."  Guess I'll see what others say and then decide from there.  

I've been eyeing the anime wall scrolls at Waldens for a while now, but they've never had anything I actually wanted.  Then i looked on a whim today and they had 4.  One of the early cast of Naruto,  a really, really pretty one of Kaoru and Kenshin(looked like it was based on the "Reflections" OVA)  a nice Sesshomaru one and a pretty wicked looking Inu Yasha and Sesshomaru one.  I only got the Naruto one for now, but will eventually have them all...I have very bare walls, currently.  Partly because by the time I got unpacked, school had started and there was no time to hang my stuff up for a few months, and partly because I've been too lazy to go get myself a hammer and nails.  Will have to fix that part, soon.

I also found out that the goth store in the mall has some anime stuff.  I checked it out and it was extremely loud and cramped and I'd never go in there again except that, even though none of the anime stuff they had appealed to me, they did have some pretty cool fairy stuff, including what appears to be a new Brian Froud book.

Between 2 batches of comics and my reading future volumes of Naruto online(which I fully intend to buy as they're released, barring an extremely severe change in finances or future extreme suckage, neither of which seem to be in the future)  there isn't an emormous lot of stuff in this update, but hey, I feel like it...

It has not ended, but it has dwindled.  And so...