Of Swords and Parasols

What are you currently reading

Currently in between.

What did you recently finish reading?

Star Wars: A New Dawn by John Jackson Miller. finished reading this, and it remained pretty enjoyable throughout. I'd like it if they did more rebels prequel books, particularly of Hera and Kanan acquiring Zeb and Sabine.

Vixen in Velvet by Loretta Chase. Third book in a series (I haven't read the first two) about three sisters who are French dressmakers and marry incredibly rich British lords. Entertaining, like most Loretta Chase, but the concept stretched believability a bit much for me, even for a Window Dressing historical Romance.

Cloche and Dagger and Death of a Mad Hatter by Jenn McKinlay. First two books in a mystery series about two cousins who run a hat shop. Cousin A became internet-famous thanks to a youtube video in which she's flinging handfuls of anniversary cake at her supposedly-single boyfriend. Depending on who you ask, she's either "a total nutter' (used frequently in the books by characters who have seen the video, but not a view supported by the narrative) or a feminist icon and symbol for women who discover they're dating cheating louses. Cousin B is the creative, free spirited cousin prone to leaving for weeks on end without a word to buy rare feathers, or spending her entire savings on crystals, both to be used in hats. People keep dying while wearing their hats, but more people keep buying them. More overtly humorous than a lot of the mysteries I've been reading lately, and very fun.

Tonari no Seki-kun vol 1-2 by Takuma Morishige. Manga that the anime I watched last year is based on. Studious girl has a neighbor in class who is always bringing absurdly complicated and involving things to do instead of paying attention in class. She tries to ignore him, but keeps getting caught up in his antics. Pretty much like watching the anime. (Which is not a bad thing.)

What do you think you'll read next?

I should probably devote the time I'd normally spend reading on RW for the next few weeks. (no Dear Author letter yet, only prompt in the signup is a brief one for a fandom I'm not familiar with. Insert panicky Megan.)

I'm going to try to watch this season's new anime roughly as it comes out (which for me means "fall behind and then realize that i have a giant figurative pile of episodes to catch up on and binge). The problem with this crop of series is that, while I don't think there's anything that I'm going to passionately love, there are more that I like than I can probably keep up with, even by my lax standards of keeping up with tings.

I think there's at least one episode of most of these that i haven't watched yet, but oh well.

Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha eps 1-3: This is a cute series about a girl named Inari who rescues a fox cub that falls into the river, only to learn that the fox is a familiar of Uka, the goddess of the local shrine (who appears to be a bit obsessed with romantic dramas), and as thanks, Uka gives Inari the power to transform into other people. The first couple episodes are cute and a bit random, with Inari changing into various people for the opportunity to talk to the boy she likes, and then being tested to see if she can go without transforming for a day. Episode 3 gets a bit more serious, bringing in more gods who draw Inari into their business, and implying that there's more to Inari's contract with Uka than we've been led to believe. There's also Inari's older brother, who's been able to see Uka since he was a child, and who is currently extremely displeased because he knows Uka has done something to his sister, but not what. Inari also has several female friends who she interacts with regularly, and has already bonded with her romantic quasi-rival. As fair warning, Uka also has a brother who has a sister complex that's at least on a par with the one in Kyoukai no Kanata, though, unlike KnK, IKKI doesn't seem to think it's a cute or endearing trait at all, so far.

Magical Warfare 1-4: This one is about 3 teenagers who accidentally gain magic powers after encountering Mui, a teenaged magician from a mirror world where magicians are at war with each other, and the conflict sometimes spills into our world. Mui is looking for her brother, who was captured by an enemy group and has his memories erased so now he thinks she's a delusional stranger who only thinks she's his sister. So far it's mostly been the three humans-Takeshi, Kurumi and Ida-learning about their powers and the magic world, while Mui splits her time between helping them and looking for her brother. It has the potential to interesting things, but so far it's largely been introduction and setup, but I've enjoyed it.

Nisekoi eps 1-3: Chitoge and Raku are the children of two rival gang leaders. Their father's are actually old friends, but the gangs themselves can't stop fighting each other in the street, so the father's ome up with the BRILLIANT idea of having their kids pretend to date. Because, as you know, in anime, gangsters are sooperdooper extra devoted to the heir apparents, so OBVIOUSLY they'll stop fighting to keep the kids happy. Except they only stop fighting to stalk the "lovebirds" and watch for slipups so that they can get back to trying to kill each other. There's also the fact that Chitoge and Raku's meetcute was her accidentally kneeing him in the face while jumping over the school fence, his having a crush on another classmate, and the animanga standard of 'I had this special encounter with someone as a kid and never saw them again and now they're obviously going to be one of my love interests, BUT WHO?" it's very entertaining, though I"m not sure how long the fakedating plotline can be carried. Also, Chitoge reminds me of Sailor Venus, and that's just fine.

Noragami eps 1-4: About a homeless god named Yato who grants the wish of anyone who can pay him 5 yen. One one of these jobs, a girl named Hiyori sees him standing in the street about to get hit by a bus and pushes him out of the way, only to be hit by the bus herself. Because of this, she has the ability to separate her soul from her body, but little control of when it happens, leading to her body being left sleeping in very awkward places. Her astral form is good at fighting, and she and Yato run around a lot, fighting evil spirits, while mythical characters and other spirits start coming out of the woodwork. There's little ongoing plot to speak of, aside from Hiyori wanting to stop the whole "I was just walking along and then suddenly I was walking and everyone is clustered around the girl sleeping on the sidewalk" thing, but i like the characters, and it's very entertaining.

The Pilot's love Song eps 1-3: This is about a bunch of teenagers training to be pilots while living on a floating city. The main character, Kal-El (I know, I know. Get it out of your system, I'll wait. I know it can take a while.) was orphaned during the "Wind Rebellion," during which the royal family was killed and a new government took over, almost a decade before the story starts and adopted by a pilot with three daughters. Kal's youngest sister, Ariel, is a day younger than him, and enters the academy with him. At school, Ariel makes about 5000 friends and Kal falls in insta-love with Claire, a girl from a rich household. The early episodes have been mostly Kal and Ariel getting used to school and making friends, with liberal use of flashbacks to explain what happened in the rebellion, and given us some character's origins. Episode 4 has a plot development that is apparently causing some people agony.

( spoiler )It reminds me a bit of both Castle in the Sky and Allison and Lillia, which is probably a good thing.

Silver Spoon 2 eps 1-2: Pretty much just like the first season so far, though with a bit less "fish out of water," and building up to non-"eating the animal you fed last week" angst.

Tonari no Seki-kun eps 1-4: The episodes of this series are only 7 minutes long, and it's pretty much a running gag. Yokoi sits at the back of her class and the boy who sits next to her, Seki, is always goofing off and building/doing something incredibly elaborate and not at all related to classwork. Yokoi gets distracted by him, but anytime the teacher notices, he's put everything away before the teacher comes to look. Most of the dialogue is Yokoi's internally trying to figure out what he's up to, with a few lines from teachers. Seki himself has no lines, at least in these episodes. I think it's very funny at cute while i'm watching it, but get frustrated when I'm not and think about because Yokoi sometimes gets in trouble because of Seki, but he never gets in trouble. I intend to keep watching it, but doubt I'll post more on it.

Wake Up, Girls! ep 1: About a group of girls who become an idol group under a new label. I enjoyed it, but there were a lot of gratuitous panty shots when they performed, and the episode ends with a potential sponsor telling them to change into tiny white bikinis. I will probably watch more, but not until I hear more feedback about it.

Wizard Barristers: Benmashi Cecil eps 1-3: Wizard Barristers is an anime about, you guessed it, WIZARD LAWYERS. In the near future, magic is somewhat commonplace and magic users have a whole set of criminal laws devoted just to them, and lawyers, who are also wizards, who specialize in their cases. Oh yes, and police departments just for them. Wizards are special. The main character, Cecil, is the youngest wizard barrister ever, having passed the bar exam at 15, and her mother is a wizard who is also a convicted criminal. The series follows Cecil and the other lawyers at her firm in their legal adventures, though the series has started hinting at a conspiracy. As such anime is prone to do. Part of Cecil's magic is to control metal, which she uses to form a giant robot so the series can pretend it's a giant robot anime. because it can. I like this one a lot.

I also watched a bit of Witch Craft Works and No-Rin, but neither first episode really help my attention. I might try them again later.