Of Swords and Parasols

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.

Samurai Deeper Kyo writeups are a bit odd for me at this point, because I’ve read the rest in a combination of raws + translations, scans, and summaries and start getting confused as to what has and hasn’t been revealed yet, and half my thoughts are about things that are being built up to.

( spoilers )

Uhm...this is one of those posts where I ramble around for a while thinking things through at you, and probably come to no conclusion and make sense to no one but myself.

But basically, there's this whole massive character type of characters who are always up to something and have something up their sleeve and 50 times more things going on in their heads than anyone knows about, and are often crazy levels of smart.  Western stuff tends to cast these characters more as villains, but anime and manga often has them as supporting (or lead) characters, running the gamut from evil villain to the hero's best friend.  They also tend to be massively popular in the anime and manga fandom.  For me, liking them is all over the place...there are some I adore, and others I want to strangle.

(Obviously, I'm thinking mostly in the anime/manga fan mindset here.)

I've been thinking a lot recently about that: why I love some of the type, and want to strangle others, and I've noticed that, for me at least, they seem to boil down to three types:  schemers, tricksters, and plotters/planners.


And again, mostly thinking "out loud" and talking to myself in front of everyone.  No idea if all that'll make sense to anyone but me.

Does anyone know off-hand(or have the books right beside them) which volume it was where Bon and Akira were separated from Kyo and Yuya because they fell down the hole? Specifically(if it's in 2 separate volumes...it all blurs together for me, as far as what volume ends where) when Tokito is revealed to be the one messing with Bon's head? (very mildly spoilery for for something somewhere in the teens.)

 

crumpeteer posted some cosplay last week for Bleach and Samurai Deeper Kyo.

Here is the SDK.  All cosplayers are female.  All characters are male.  I am just grateful there was no Kyo.  Or Bontenmaru.  Kotaro is scarily good, though.  

Here is the Bleach, though there is some debate about the Ishida, I think all cosplayers are gender appropriate here. (Includes a character who hasn't shown up in the US releases yet, but I don't think that's an issue for anyone here.)

I have no proper writeup, just various comments.


I have to say...I'm kinda just sitting here, waiting for the Super Duper Extra Important Vol 29 to be in my hands...I'm trying to remind myself that everything between now and then isn't just filler.  Because, you know, it isn't...