Of Swords and Parasols

Cuz I HAVE been watching things between Rurouni Kenshin, wuxia, and doramas(as far as I know, everyone who cares about that is on the dorama_chat community, so the rest of you have been spared clutter on your friends pages)...

Monk: Season 3-4:  Pure delight, as expected.  The focus shifts away from the mysteries and more towards Monk's hang-ups in these seasons, but the mysteries are largely there to give the characters something to do and a reason to interact and be clever and quirky, anyway.  The main thing, here, is the switch from Sharona to Natalie.  The transition in regards to Natalie herself was handled well, but the way they wrote out Sharona's character was horrid...her behavior as described didn't fit with her devotion to Monk as portrayed for 2 1/2 seasons, and the whole thing was clearly designed to make us dislike her.  Natalie's character, initially, clearly had little more thought behind her than "Sharona when she first met Monk."  it worked well enough, and Natalie soon developed her own personality, though.  All in all, I'd ay that my only complaint is with the "how" of writing out Sharona(and the backstage "why")

Poirot: The Movie Collection: Set 2/Poirot: Set 3, 5: My first mystery love(before I knew about the Suchet versions, I religiously watched a couple of the Unistov ones as a teen.) As clever and as good as always.  Though, this is the first time I've seen the regular episode versions since watching the first three episodes, which were my introduction to the series.  It's not a bad thing, but watching the episodes and the movies so close together, the difference in production was huge.  They also don't get to get as in depth with the mysteries as the movies do, making them a little easier to figure out, but I don't mind.  From these, I particularly liked The Double Clue, Murder on the Links, and Hercule Poirot's Christmas.

Incidentally, I've thought since the first episode of Monk that Monk was largely an extreme version of Poirot...watching them so close together, it's even more obvious.  This is far from a bad thing, and is part of why Monk works, it's just an observation.

Outlaw Star: Complete Collection:  (Yes, I know it's not alphabetical...it's on purpose because I wanted to put Monk and Poirot together.)  A pretty fun anime(which I actually watched a week or so before Rurouni Kenshin)  Pretty much "Treasure Island" as a space western.  It's not the best anime ever, but it's far from the worst, and one I'm glad I got around to watching.  Incidentally, it also features one of the few anime guys who actually doen't look feminine.

Snow White: A Tale of Terror:  A movie I've been wanting to see for a while now.  A much darker version of Snow White, darker in some ways than the original(though not the darkest I've encountered)  It focuses more on the stepmother, and Snow White's reacting to her like most young girls do to an "intruder" in their lives, and it's harm on the stepmother's already fragile psyche.  They pretty much do away with Prince Charming/Seven Dwarves part, though both have representatives, and  play it as supernatural history.  It's pretty good, really...easily my favorite of the film versions of Snow White(unless 10th Kingdom counts, but I don't think it does...Snow White was the most prominent theme, but it was far fromthe only theme)