Of Swords and Parasols

This volume was mostly about the history between Mikage, the priestess who founded Aria's line, and Kagara, the demon who killed, and was killed by, Mikage 400 years ago.  Now, here's the thing:  I like the "enemies as lovers"  bit, but very conditionally.  As a general rule, you have to convince me that no, nothing about the plot could possibly work without it, such as in Basara, for it to work.  That Romeo and Juliet "oh, woe, our families hate each other and instead of using our brains and dumping them, we will angst a lot and then kill each other" stuff isn't my thing.  At all.  (Side note:  I don't really call the "oh, I've heard so much bad stuff about you that I'll reject you until you prove that you're not so bad, or at least willing to make really dramatic gestures for me that usually involve a trail of dead or unconscious bodies" bit "enemies as lovers" as it's more "bad boy/good girl" most of the time.)

There is, however, one time I'll almost always fall for it:  when you bring in reincarnation and make the "enemies" part against the will of the principles. Siblings/friends/lovers/whatever forced into being enemies due to that pesky past lives things almost always works for me.  And since Night of the Beasts is centered around that, Japanese mythology and a strong heroine, it's no wonder I love it so. 

In the non-manga arena: tonight is the  church Thanksgiving meal.  This will be Thanksgiving meal #2 of 4.  The first was work, the third will be with Dad's family on Thursday and the fourth Mom's family on Saturday.  Thank goodness it was agreed on year's ago that the Saturday meal was a no-turkey meal.

In other news, megaupload is evil and keeps cutting me off after one or two eps of Utawarerumono, making me wait 8 or so hours before I can have another(yet another argument to stick to my "dvds only" thing...)  If they announced a thinpak tomorrow I'd just wait the 4-5 months until I could get it(since I'm getting it anyway...)  I'm on ep 12 now and it's great, but one I think I'm better off waiting to really talk about until I finish.  I'm having to pace myself because of megaupload's meanness, but as soon as I get the whole thing...

Also, the online manga community has let me down thrice in the last week:  no scanslations to be found for Night of the Beasts, Qwan or Hikkatsu! Strike A Blow to Vivify?  I can find scanslations for every endless hearts and flowers and giant eyes love triangle shojo and every endless shonen action manga, but those?  Nowhere to be found.  Not even raws.  (Though, if anyone with mightier googlefu than mine wants to be nice and try...?)  At least I did find Togari, though I don't plan to read ahead there atm, just use for posts and maybe icons.  I have also decided to catch up with Bleach.  No idea what chapter/volume I left off at, so I'll just skim until I get to where I was.

[And since I'm talking a lot about downloading stuff:  I utterly despise reading manga/books and watching anything but youtube vids on my computer screen(though I have nothing but love and respect for scanslators and subbers.)  Especially reading.  I do it only to feed addictions, or if there's no other way to get it.  If I download it, I consider myself committed to buying the licensed version when/if it comes out.  The only exception is if I get completely fed up with something, at which point, I'll drop it...this has happened exactly once, and as I'd already given the US publisher a ton of money, I didn't feel real guilt over not paying for EVERY volume I read...]

On the printed manga front:

1.  I have vols 2-6 of xXxHoLic and vols 1-3 of Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle waiting for me.  Do I need to read them in any specific order(since I know there are crossovers) or can I just catch up with xXxHoLic and then worry about Tsubasa?

2.  Anyone want me to try to create a comprehensible, semi-logical explanation of the plot of Hikkatsu! Strike A Blow to Vivify?  I feel compelled to pimp it more and since I can't provide scans...

For Him: How to carry on a courtship when you’re possessed by two demons who are ancient enemies:

1. Have the Evil Demon, Kagara, awaken inside you, giving several thousand of your relatives dreams where you slaughter each and every one of them in a particularly brutal fashion.  This will lead them to ceaselessly hunt you down and try to kill you for the next several years.
2. Hunt down the very distant cousin(naturally of the opposite sex from you and approximately of the same age, to allow for romantic angst) who possesses the mortal enemy of your own demon inside of her because your soul tells you she can help you control Kagara.
3. Face the Evil Relatives who want you dead and bond over dead bodies.
4. At some point, said Evil Relatives must kidnap the female half(sustaining a fair amount of damage in the process…that Aria is a vicious one when provoked) to draw you out.  When this happens, you will naturally run off to save her a like any good hero, only to get caught in their trap.  The fact that your girl hates all their guts for relentlessly hunting you without ever trying to help you will not help the situation any (and, frankly, they are all Scum and she has many valid points.)
5. When one of them makes a move to kill her, feel free to attack him instead, even though you know that the first time you willingly shed blood, the demon will take over completely.
6. Be warned, though, that as everyone around is on Kagara’s hit list, he’ll probably slaughter them all.  On the upside, it may allow Kagara’s mortal enemy, Kurugi, to finally awaken inside your girl.
7. Don’t worry, even though the demon in your body tried to kill her, she will engage in a relentless quest to save you, despite all the relatives she never met before ordering, bribing and begging her to kill you to save them from you.  To her, they are the worthless scum who were trying to kill you and drove you into the corner that forced you to give in to the demon and you are the victim.  Sure, she’s going to beat up anyone to use the words “boyfriend” or “love” in reference to you, but we all know better.
8. As you are A) in love, and B) the hero(ok, hero’s love interest, really) of the story, you will be able to fight back against the demon inside you and keep him from killing her a few times.
9. This may also cause Kagara to remember what may have been a romantic side to his relationship with Mikage, the female warrior who killed him (with Kurugi’s help, of course) 400 years ago.  Of course, as Kagara is Evil, this will likely just make him even more determined to crush your soul and slaughter all your relatives(only a very few of which are worthy of being spared the brutal butchering.)
10. Please not that Kagara is a manipulative SOB, and you should NOT be tricked when he lets you regain control of your very wounded and bloody body in a place where your girlfriend is likely to find you.  As soon as she gets close enough for cuddling, he’ll likely take control back and try to choke her to death.
    

Yes, still loving this one.  I really do despise the relatives…really, the only flatout likable ones are Tohru, who’s really barely more than a kid and isn’t all “Kill Sakura! KILL KILL KILL!!” and Towako, who mostly wants all the idiots to shut up and start whining.  Akiya and Takikaido are both interesting, but are both destined to end up either broken shells or with their entrails dangling from Kagara’s fingers.

Night of the Beasts remains my favorite of Chika Shiomi’s books.  I loke both Canon and Yurara a lot, but compared to Aria, both their heroines are pushovers, and while Canon has promise in the “messed up psycho OTP area” Yurara doesn’t really show signs of it, and I like the history and mythology in Night of the Beasts.