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Yeah. The last post I made was kinda long and went off topic a bit, didn't it?
Well, I finished the first chapter of A Wizard of Earthsea and I really don't have much motivation to read further. The setting is rich and colorful, but the characters are flat. The vast majority of the chapter was exposition told from an omniscient point of view. There was very little dialog. What there was was short and usually one-sided. A couple lines from one character might be given, then the rest of the exchange paraphrased.
The writing, from a technical standpoint, is quite good. Tending a little too much toward long, complex sentences, but good. And the descriptions are lovely. But they tend to be flat and analytical. The same emotional weight is given to a battle scene as to a boy's coming of age ceremony.
And remember the omniscient pov I mentioned? It's used to tell, not show, what the characters are like. I was told by the narrator that Duny's father didn't care much for him, but that wasn't shown. It felt fake, flat, and condescending. As if the author didn't trust the readers to analyze the characters from their actions and come to their own conclusions.
How this became a fantasy classic is beyond me, quite frankly. There isn't even anything particularly original so far. Youngster with a gift for magic becomes great hero. Whoopee. We're even told in the first sentence of the book that he becomes arch mage and dragon tamer. I guess it could be interesting finding out how, but right now I really don't care all that much.Current Mood:  tired Current Music: (watching something on TruTV) |
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Not all books make good movies and vice versa. The two media are very different and the way one tells a story is restricted accordingly. Because of this, authors are often dubious about sending their precious babies to the slaughter houses known as movie studios.
As an aspiring writer, I sympathize with these authors and am more than willing to acknowledge the anger and frustration when sweeping changes are made to the story.
But as a reader of books and watcher of movies, I also have to admit that sometimes the changes had to be made. There is, after all, only so much you can fit into one and a half to two hours of screen time. The best the author can hope for is that some of the less essential bits get left out or glossed over.
Remember now, I said the best the *author* can hope for. How good the movie is sometimes has very little to do with how faithful it is to the original. There seems to be a general consensus, for instance, that Disney's The Little Mermaid is several magnitudes better than the original Anderson story, which the movie only resembled vaguely.
My impression is that there are just a few outcomes for the book-to-movie journey.
The movie makers could take great pains to make a movie as close to the original as possible, as if to prove that this story should never have seen the light of day to begin with. (I can't think of an example at the moment, but I'm sure there is one out there somewhere.)
The movie makers could take equally great pains to make the movie faithful to the original, with the realization that the information contained in those long tracks of exposition are going to either have to be ignored or presented in a rather more visual manner. The quality of this method depends a great deal on the quality of the original work. (Though people will probably argue on for decades as to whether the right choices were made in the Lord of the Rings movies.)
The movie makers could say, 'hey, cool concept,' and work a mostly new story around those cool ideas. Here the quality depends on the skill of the movie makers, the quality of the original (the lower latter and higher the former the better), and just how rabid the fanbase of the original is. Because, let's face it, some aspects of quality are subjective.
And, lastly, the movie makers could completely ignore the source material and make something up out of whole cloth. (I, Robot, I'm looking at you.) Here the quality of the original is irrelevant unless it was so bad that no one cares what anyone did with the movie, in which case why was a movie even made? What will make a difference is the size of the angry mob armed with torches and pitchforks marching up to the studio gates.
All this brings me to the actual reason I wanted to write this post.
I recently saw Studio Ghibli's new movie, Tales From Earthsea (properly Gedo Senki, which seems to translate as Ged Battle Strategies or something like that). I rather liked it, though I was rather concerned during the slow parts as to how they'd wrap things up before the end of the movie. Probably didn't help at all that I was watching it online and so could see just how much time was left. Takes away from enjoying the moment.
Well, I noted in the credits that it was based on a series of books, so I did some research. And found a rather curious article writen by Ursula LeGuin herself. I say curious because of the combination of understanding and displeasure evident in the work. I nearly said 'ignorance' instead of 'displeasure,' but that would have been unfair. Not all of the problems she seemed to have were the result of ignorance.
The article certainly made me curious as to what the original source material was like, so I just today borrowed a copy of the first book, A Wizard of Earthsea, from the library. Honestly, I didn't expect much, given my experience with Howl's Moving Castle. (The movie was a great deal better than the book, for reasons that could be an entire post in it's own right.)
What I've read of the book, so far, comes later. Right now, to the article.
"It was explained to us that Mr Hayao wished to retire from film making, and that the family and the studio wanted Mr Hayao's son Goro, who had never made a film at all, to make this one. ... I am told that Mr Hayao has not retired after all, but is now making another movie. This has increased my disappointment."
This is why I nearly used the word 'ignorance' above. Miyazaki-san has tried a number of times to retire. It almost seems like every movie he makes is 'going to be his last one.' He probably means it every time, too. It just doesn't last very long. Frankly, I don't think he's capable of retiring by any means short of death. An event that I hope is a long time in coming.
"We were given the impression, indeed assured, that the project would be always subject to Mr Hayao's approval....We realised soon that Mr Hayao was taking no part in making the film at all."
I do wish she'd explained exactly how they (she and her son) realized that. It would help convince me of the validity of that last statement. Oh, I'm quite certain that Miyazaki-san gave his son as much freedom as was asked for, it just seems strange that a promise like that would go unheeded.
"Mr Goro Miyazaki asked me just as I was leaving, 'Did you like the movie?' It was not an easy question to answer, under the circumstances. I said: 'Yes. It is not my book. It is your movie. It is a good movie.'
"I did not realise that I was speaking to anyone but him and the few people around us. I would have preferred that a private reply to a private question not be made public. I mention it here only because Mr Goro has mentioned it in his blog."
No idea why she would think such a question would be private, at least for any great length of time. Surely she realized that the instant the movie was released she'd have to give a public response to that question? In any case, it was a very diplomatically put answer.
"The excitement was maintained by violence, to a degree that I find deeply untrue to the spirit of the books."
Was she watching the same movie I was? Because there hardly seemed to be much violence, certainly in comparison to some of Studio Ghibli's earlier works. Heck, the kid couldn't even draw his sword for 99% of the movie!
"Both the American and the Japanese film-makers treated these books as mines for names and a few concepts, taking bits and pieces out of context, and replacing the story/ies with an entirely different plot, lacking in coherence and consistency. I wonder at the disrespect shown not only to the books but to their readers."
Now this got me very interested. It reminded me a lot of some of the things I'd heard about Howl's Moving Castle, which I've already mentioned was better than the original book, in my eyes. In any case, I wouldn't have called the movie 'incoherent,' exactly. There were a lot of unanswered questions up until the end, but that's part of the reason one keeps watching. To find the answers to those questions.
"I think the film's "messages" seem a bit heavyhanded because, although often quoted quite closely from the books, the statements about life and death, the balance, etc., don't follow from character and action as they do in the books."
This is where I go into my reading of the first book. Now, granted, I haven't gotten very far. Page six, to be exact. But those first six pages where almost entirely exposition with some mention of the balance thing. If much more of the book is like that I can see why the movie, while quoting from the book, would sound a tad "preachy" as she says later on.
"The moral sense of the books becomes confused in the film. For example: Arren's murder of his father in the film is unmotivated, arbitrary:"
She goes into detail at this point, which would be a major spoiler so I won't quote it here. Suffice to say that she would rather the motive have been presented at the beginning as she did with Ged in A Wizard of Earthsea instead of held in suspense until the last third.
This leaves me rather dreading further reading of that book, since it seems having such a clear answer from the start would defeat the purpose of turning the next page.
"But in the film, evil has been comfortably externalized in a villain, the wizard Kumo/Cob, who can simply be killed, thus solving all problems."
Well, yes. Here we get back to the whole book medium vs movie medium again. Movies are very visual. If there isn't anything happening on screen people won't pay attention. You can have an internal struggle, but there better be an external one, too, so that people have something to watch other than the character angsting. Ghibli's Tales From Earthsea have both, and while LeGuin might not like physical struggles with external evil it sure does make for a compelling story.
One more question, did she even notice that the good guys tried to talk Cob out of doing something stupidly evil? Perhaps not.
There's also the issue she had with the skin tone of the characters. Apparently the people of Earthsea are mostly dark skinned. I wouldn't have known that from the first six pages of exposition, but apparently that was her intent.
Now that I have gone through what an author had to say about the movie based on her books, I want to make one last note on what I thought of the movie. Not Studio Ghibli's best work, but a very good watch. Now I shall see if the other 191 pages of this book measure up.Current Mood:  not enough sleep Current Music: rabbit grooming. *flapflapflap* |
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This is a book about rabbits. cute little wild rabbits in the British country side that run from foxes and fight each other to the death. It's a wonderful book that was recommended to me by a councilor, since I like rabbits so much.
Well, I love the book, so I thought I'd look up the movie.
Overall, the movie is pretty good about condensing the essential story. And I love the treatment of the gull, Kehaar. *kerthunk into ground* "Perfect landing."
There are just a few little issues that I have with it.
One - The events after leaving the Sandleford warren are shown out of the original order. This makes things more than a bit confusing at times. I don't know if it would be confusing to those who haven't read the book, but it sure does for me.
Two - Nothing is mentioned of the hutch rabbits after the attempted escape. It is implied that they didn't get out, which makes Hazel's sacrifice rather meaningless. In the book all but one made it out and Hazel was praised as a hero.
Three - Cowslip doesn't join them after they leave the farm warren. Actually, the whole bit with the farm warren is cut down to barely anything, leaving the event feeling rushed.
Four - We aren't shown how Hazel escapes from the cat. He just shows up later. In the book quite a bit more is made of this and considering that the whole movie is barely an hour long I don't think it would have hurt to show these events.
Five - El-ahrairah is barely mentioned after the opening. That doesn't really matter much for the bulk of the story and I can understand why all the mythology was glossed over or cut out. The way a story has to flow in a movie is much different from the way it can flow in a book. That being said, all those stories being left out makes the ending just a bit confusing. And that's on top of problem four. I really think they could have handled that a bit better. The ending in the book made me cry my eyes out. The ending in the movie made me say, "What?"
I just realized that it's funny that there are five problems with this movie. One of the characters is called Fiver (hrairoo). Actually, hrair means 'many' for rabbits, as they can't count passed four.Current Mood:  sick Current Music: none |
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I watched Marley and Me this weekend. It was funny. In case the commercials confused you, it's the story of a young couple who buy a yellow lab puppy. The puppy turns out to be chaos incarnate. Of course, then they add babies to the mix and life gets even more interesting.
Not entirely sure how it got rated G, though. There really isn't anything offensive in it, exactly, but the language gets a little rough and there's no secret made of where the babies came from. Huh.
Apparently it's based on a real life story. I really want to find the book and read it. lol
Also watched Eragon, which was a lot better than online chatter made it out to be. Okay, so the dragons are a little off the fiftieth percentile. The story's tight, fun, and full of action. Now if I could just find out if they're planning a sequel. Or maybe find the book series.Current Mood:  cheerful Current Music: Watching Clone Wars series |
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Her special power is being able to hold her hands like that.
I really have mixed feelings about this anime. On the one hand it's a pretty good story about a girl who's trying to figure out who she is. It even manages to make fun of some of the conventions of the magical girl genre, mostly by having Amu flip out when she first transforms or gets a new weapon. The ease with which she uses her powers is even explained by the fact that the Guardian Characters are partially controlling her actions, and they know what they're doing (usually).
On the other hand... so much pink. @.@
Seriously, now. Friendship speeches and the obligatory making friends out of enemies thing aside this series has some serious problems. Not the least of which is how slow it is in the beginning. The first few episodes is little more than Amu flipping out over the weirdness thrust upon her alternating with bishie sparkles whenever one of the Guardians shows up. (Guardians as in the insanely powerful school council, not the Guardian Characters who are little chibi manifestations of a child's would be self. Yes, it does get confusing.) Apparently adults can have Guardian Characters, too, though early in the series it's mentioned that the GCs disappear as the person grows up. Continuity, please?
Then there's the romance angle. This is almost always a sticking point with me in shojo series as the people involved tend to act like idiots. And not the funny kind of idiot like in Takahashi-san's work. We're talking competence goes out the window level idiocy. This show doesn't have that so much but Amu does have a huge crush on one guy, a sort of crush on another guy, and a love-hate relationship with a third. Then there's the near platoon of guys who are crazy about her. Yeah, definitely shojo.
But wait, there's a surprise. She's in fifth grade!!! I'm getting Cardcaptor Sakura flashbacks. Someone, help me. Never mind that every guy I ever knew at that age who liked a girl expressed it by teasing her mercilessly. Never mind the improbability of a girl that age wanting to pursue such a relationship because of mutual immaturity. Never mind the nervous tick inducing weirdness of a third grader stalking a fifth grader because of a crush.
What I really want to know is what is up with that cat-boy!! He's obviously several years older than the main cast and yet he's obviously flirting with Amu. He even bites her ear, forces her into an indirect kiss over some ice cream, and reaches into her pockets! And that's not even counting all the pastel love sparkle moments.
Hello! You're hitting on a preteen! A preteen!
Good grief. I haven't even mentioned her parents yet. I've almost gotten used to the idea that anyone over the age of 20 is more than likely going to be incompetent, but Amu's parents take it to a whole other level. They aren't parents, they're the instigators of her 'cool and spicy' fan club. Seriously, they act exactly like her classmates do when she does something 'cool and spicy.' And why do they say 'cool and spicy' in English, anyway? In fact, why do they use English for the transformation names, and the into narration, and the attack names, and so many other random things? It's not even like they can speak it very well.
"Anrokuk!" for "Unlock!"
"Amureto Harto!" for "Amulet Heart!"
The list goes on.
I guess it's kinda cool that they think using English is cool, but it just sounds weird. The only English that's actually done well is the opening narration. Making me wonder where they got that from.
Over all, this is a strange, disturbed series. No idea why I've watched as much as I have. Aside from a certain amount of curiosity over the characters' goals and moments of cuteness.
It's also a pretty good model for me on what not to do.Current Mood: exhausted Current Music: listening to the rain |
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If you haven't seen this movie, you really should. Now. It's so cute! I want a Wall-E plushie!
I went yesterday with my Dad and little brother. ^_^
The story is very anvilicious with it's message. Dad described it as having the subtlety of a pile driver. But when one's following the wacky antics of an adorable little robot, nobody really cares! Besides, it's anvilicious in a way I can handle. Humans are not the bane of all things. In fact, the humans who get lines are very nice people.
A nice, upbeat movie. ^_^
I mentioned that some of the humans get lines. They actually get more lines than most of the rest of the cast combined. Not all that surprising given that most of the cast has two or three words in their entire vocabulary.
Wall-E himself doesn't speak for several scenes at the beginning of the movie. Of course, he doesn't have anyone to talk to, but he's also not the brightest bulb in the box. But he makes up for in in shear determination! And cuteness! Did I mention that he's cute! He's adorable!Current Mood: he's so cute! Current Music: commercials on radio |
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I'd never heard of "steampunk" before, but if Girl Genius is a representation of that then I think I could get into it.
The story follows Agatha Clay as she encounters monsters, machines (called clanks), and crazed scientists (calls Sparks). I don't want to give away too much of the story, because you really should read it. Well, I wouldn't recommend it to little kids since there is blood, mild swearing, and acres of cleavage. Not to mention several deaths, including a few sympathetic characters.
If I were to complain about anything, it'd probably be how every single woman in the comic is built like a Buxom 'This Corset Is Going To Blow' Barmaid. Are there any women in that world who are, oh I don't know, skinny? Fat? (I'm not counting the operatic cameo.) Less physically endowed than Dolly Parton?
Still, the characters are all definitely unique individuals in personality and appearance. That's a good thing.
One thing that makes me curious is the art style. It looks exactly like the art in some old Dragon Magazine comics Dad saved. I'm currently trying to find out if this is an amazing coincidence or if GG is drawn by the same people who did those comics. That would be so cool.
Edit: Just received confirmation that my suspicions were correct.
Phil Foglio, artist of Girl Genius also did the Phil & Dixie comics of Dragon Magazine.
Must tell Dad. Now.Current Mood:  curious Current Music: road work (sounds of spring) |
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The bags are quite literally green. In color and in design.
The commercials are quite accurate, by the way, food really does stay fresh longer when put in these bags than if they're put in regular plastic bags.
Just one little problem that you won't find on the official site...
NEVER put fruit in them if any of the insides are exposed. That means no halved cantaloupe, sliced apples, or sectioned oranges. Or any other exposed fruits.
Why? Because whatever it is the bags are made of will give the fruit a really nasty taste where the two come in contact.
And when I say nasty, I mean **nasty!**
Other than that, though, they're a pretty good buy.Current Mood: cheerful Current Music: none |
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First let me introduce you to Typical Shojo Heroine:
Skinny teenage girl who's good at sports, bad at math, clumsy around boys, hates violence, cries easily, is a strong believer in treating people equally, she manages to make best friends out of people who previously hated her guts, every single (and not so single) guy in the entire series adores her, she's constantly being kidnapped/nearly raped/otherwise in need of rescuing by--
The Toxic Prince:
Tall, handsome, more than a little androgynous, easily made jealous, alternates between trying to seduce Typical Shojo Heroine and pushing her away because he's not right for her (boy has be got that last part right), every woman in the world wants him, men follow him or try to steal Typical Shojo Heroine from him.
Why do I call him The Toxic Prince? Because that's his effect on Typical Shojo Heroine. At first the relationship is rocky and Typical Shojo Heroine isn't even sure that she likes him. When she finds herself liking him she beats herself up over it because of some problem with making the relationship work.
In the case of Red River it's because Typical Shojo Heroine, Yuri, is from modern day Japan and The Toxic Prince, Kail, is from Bronze Age Anatolia. Yuri got sucked into that world through, of all things, a rain puddle.
I'm seeing shades of Fushigi Yugi on the horizon.
Thankfully, Yuri isn't anywhere near as suicidal as Mika from Fushigi Yugi. Not that it'd take much. When she isn't thinking about her handsome prince she's really a very capable leader. And when she isn't just about being raped she can fight.
That last really bothers me. Here's this girl who learned how to use a sword with amazing speed. Yet a guy makes sexual advances on her and she's suddenly helpless! Your legs are free, kick him where it hurts! Your hands are free, scratch his eyes out! *Do* something! Don't just lay there screaming "No!" and wishing for your prince to come save you.
And when the golden couple get intimate do we really have to see them pressing flesh, kissing each other's chests, and groaning? They're in a bed room looking longingly into each other's eyes and the door's closed. You can cut right there, we get the idea. Hitting us about the head with a flowered sledgehammer is unnecessary.
Not only that, but the readers are supposed to want these two to end up together, right? I didn't. Not at all. I wanted Yuri to go home as soon as possible. And it didn't have anything to do with the near constant dangers of that world or the perpetual plots to tear these two apart. It was the terrible effect Toxic Prince Kail had on her emotional and mental well being.
Every stinking time she thinks about that guy or is separated from him her confidence goes out the window. She's not worthy, she's always making mistakes, she's just dragging him down, yadda yadda yadda. Que total psychophysical meltdown.
It is disturbing that there are women who write stories like this. A lot of stories like this. This is why I never really got into shojo manga. There are more believable relationships in shonen manga. And without anywhere near as much nudity.
And this is *shojo* we're talking about. Intended for the under 18 female crowd. Josei is for older women and supposedly is more sexually explicit.
More? I fear for the Japanese culture if that is so.
I give this series, and most of the shojo genre, a thumbs down.Current Mood:  annoyed Current Music: (watching World's Wildest Police Videos) |
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Don't let the young cast fool you, this manga is for adults *only*!
Good grief. The things these kids talk about and think about. Most of them are seriously disturbed individuals. On beats his sister, another takes pleasure in shooting cats, another wants to commit murder... the list goes on. And don't even get me started on what a couple of thirteen-year-olds are doing doing *that* together.
The impression one might get of Japanese family life from this story is grim at best. I think there's one so far who actually has a halfway normal family.
Then there's the contract with the giant robot. I won't go into details in case you want to read it, but it's not pleasant.
The art is very good, though. It really carries the mood. The mangaka does anxiety-to-the-point-of-not-eating-for-days very well.
Can't say that I agree with much, if any, of the philosophy presented. There's a rather fatalistic streak running through this that is rather more depressing than I'd really like.
Still, the story's interesting. I think I'll stick with it to the end.
I give it a neutral rating, maybe a slight thumbs up.Current Mood:  anxious Current Music: (watching Trauma: Life in the ER) |
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Hmm. Well, the story just about lost me on several occasions. At the moment it seems to me to be a great example of why people in high activity, high risk jobs should *not* wear miniskirts.
So many panty shots. 0.0
The icchi seems to come and go. It's weird. I think I'm reading it mainly because all the other manga I've been following haven't updated in a while. Stupid reason, I know.
Dec. 28th, 2007 @ 06:45 pm
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| » Manga Review: Air |
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I'm confused. The story follows Yukito, who's looking for a girl with wings, and Misuzu who seems to have some social anxiety issues.
There's a lot of talk about flying, and dreams, and some seriously surreal stuff that I completely didn't understand. I think there was something about reincarnation but I really didn't understand much of anything in it. There are also some other characters who really don't appear much. Misuzu almost makes friends with them, then they kinda disappear.
What I really didn't understand was the ending. I mean, what happened to Yukito? How did Misuzu over come her paralysis? I'm so confused. @.@
Apparently it's based on a computer game that, according to Wikipedia, has some adult-only content. There doesn't seem to be anything like that in the manga, though. Not even a panty shot. The art is nice, too. I just wish I understood what was going on!
If anyone has the answer, please let me know.
Dec. 22nd, 2007 @ 09:05 pm
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| » Manga Review: Akuma Jiten |
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The title means 'Evil Spirit Encyclopedia'. Rather odd title since there isn't anything terribly encyclopedic about the story.
It started out rather cute. Hiroyuki is a 16-year-old who's rented a house to live in while going to high school. How a 16-year-old could afford a house or even live on his own is beyond me. Anyway, it turns out the house is occupied by a demon named Milky Way. The demon is a girl, of course.
The series started out cute, with the occasional joke centered around sexual tension. It didn't start getting ecchi until the vampire showed up. Then the series slowly spiraled down the path of random ecchi-ness. Any plot the story had quickly got lost as the mangaka started adding characters with reckless abandon.
And why on earth do all these girls want a piece of Hiroyuki?
The whole thing hit a new low when Hiroyuki's little sister showed up and, in a classic case of projection, started talking about how ecchi her brother is.
Hey, she's the one who seemed to think suggesting incest was funny.
It's really too bad. The art is cute, the story started out cute, it really could have been a neat little series. Why everything had to be about sex I don't know.
The start is thumbs up, but as the story progresses I have to give it a thumbs down.
Dec. 22nd, 2007 @ 10:57 am
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| » Manga Mini Review: Ga-Rei |
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Okay, I just started reading this because it sounded interesting. This kid, Kensuke, can see ghosts, which seems to be detrimental to his social life. Then he meets this girl with a pet demon thing and that's how the story starts.
I actually haven't gotten much further than this right now. To tell you the truth when I first saw the main character I thought it was a skinny goth woman who hadn't had any sleep in about a month.
Turns out he looked like that because a rotten, maggot-riddled samurai ghost was sitting next to his date. That would freak just about anyone out.
Then there was that little incident with the panties. Kensuke was nearly run over by a girl on a motorcycle, so she got off and knelled down to check to see if he was okay. Since she was wearing a short skirt, her panties showed.
Granted, they were fairly good sized panties, but still. I do admire Kensuke's admonishing himself for getting excited, though.
I know a few people who'd stop reading a series right there, no matter how good the story, and
this one seems kinda standard issue for the genre, but it's just the first chapter.
It's still good enough for me to be curious about what happens next, so maybe there's hope.
What is interesting is the art. It's a bit like silly putty. The characters go from a semi-normal appearance to a sort of claymation version of The Scream in a single frame. This series must have the greatest range of deformation of any manga I've ever read. Still, it fits with the subject matter. (It's also kinda creepy, which also fits, I guess.)
I really don't know where to put this series right now. But I thought I should make a note of it. It has potential.
Dec. 19th, 2007 @ 05:38 pm
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| » Manga Review: Midori no Hibi |
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One word: riot.
I'm not sure what the translation of the title is exactly since I don't know what kanji are used, but Midori is the name of one of the characters. Hibi either means everyday or skin fissure (maybe flaw).
Either one would make sense, given the plot.
Okay, here's the set up. A tough-guy high school student named Seiji wants a girlfriend but everyone is scared of him. Midori is from a different school and has a crush on him. Through some means that have yet to be explained Midori ends up as Seiji's right hand.
...
No, really. Seiji's hand is now the body of a girl from the waist up. And she is absolutely obsessed with him.
His life kinda goes downhill from there.
But as much as he suffers the reader suffers more. From a repeatedly busted gut.
I suppose I should be kinder, the poor guy can't even use the bathroom in peace now. First having to use his left hand and secondly trying to keep her from "helping."
Midori is pure hearted but clueless. Funny how those two tend to go together in manga.
Anyway, the story is hilarious. Seiji spends most of the time either freaking out or desperately trying to look cool while freaking out internally. Otherwise he's a pretty cool guy.
A little gratuitous fan service when Seiji goes to Midori's house to figure out what's going on.
Really, I understand the idea of putting mini-Midori in contact with her body, but was it really necessary to pull back the covers? (I suppose if he thought proximity to the heart would make a difference...)
Oh well. It led into a really hilarious scene where the maid nearly kills him.
Like most guys, he's utterly clueless about girls. Probably more so than most. (He wouldn't get that a girl likes him even if she popped out of his sleeve and said so.)
But he's really sweet, and when he isn't freaking out at her he really cares about Midori.
The art is pretty good, too. Maybe not fantastic, but it does the job and a little more.
I really don't know what else to say. It's a really fun series with a lot of tension. It's not high drama and there really isn't any depth beyond the central storyline. (Shakespeare this ain't.) But who cares? This is escapist entertainment at its most basic.
I give this one a thumbs up!
I'm reading it on One Manga. Midori no Hibi
Dec. 14th, 2007 @ 08:53 pm
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| » Manga Review: Hourou Musuko |
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Ah, how to start.
Well, I should say that after starting to read the series it occurred to me to look up the name in a Japanese to English dictionary. Really should have thought of that before reading the series.
Translated, it comes out to 'Wandering Son.' That's if you take the second word by its humble meaning. Colloquially its meaning is of a rather crude anatomical nature.
Some of you can probably stop reading now and just cross that series off your list of manga to read. Some might also think this would be a good place for me to stop typing (I know who you are) but this is a review and I think it's important.
Even without knowing what the title meant it's still my own fault for turning the first page. (Figuratively speaking, I found the translation on the One Manga site.) Along with the genres drama and school life the series was also labeled as gender bender.
Usually that turns me away from reading a series all together, but the series description sounded kinda like W Juliet. I really enjoyed W Juliet so I thought I'd give this series a shot.
This series is so not W Juliet.
For one thing, the characters look annoyingly alike. Their personalities aren't that well differentiated, either. I don't know that cardboard cutout is a good description. Cardboard does have some thickness, after all.
The scene transitions weren't to great, either. Usually it was well into a sequence before I realized what side of the door the characters were standing on. The rather vague artwork probably didn't help.
Actually, 'vague' is a very good way to describe most of the series. At least the early part. A lot of the characters spend a lot of time kind spaced out, as if going through life in a trance. Particularly Chiba-san, who instantly latched onto the idea of dressing the main character up in girl's clothes.
I started out kinda feeling sorry for Shu-kun, the main character, but I got over it. The boy is a wuss. He's described as a feminine boy and he actually wants to wear girl's clothes, but I really buy it. I don't know why everyone mistakes him for a girl on first glance. He really doesn't look like a girl when he's not wearing a long wig. (Then again, the girls don't look that different from the boys in this manga. They're all kinda androgynous.)
Shu-kun is a wuss. He can't stick with a decision, he waffles constantly, he gives up on everything way too easily, and he's just generally weak willed. He's not feminine at all unless you equate weakness and liking to cook feminine. Even if he were really a girl I'd find him just as idiotically weak.
Then there's Takatsuki, who's usually called Takatsuki-kun because she's such a tomboy. I think her main problem is that her family has some very strange ideas about what's okay and not okay for boys and girls. (They chewed her out once for staying out late. They said that it was one thing for Shu-kun since he was a boy, but Takatsuki's a girl.)
Uh... And they're both, what, 12 at most? That's kinda young to stay out late without telling anyone no matter what organs you have.
Anyway, Takatsuki introduces Shu-kun to taking the train to someplace far from home and then walking around like the opposite sex. On one of those trips, an older woman flirted with Takatsuki, and Takatsuki was thrilled.
This kid has **issues**.
Turns out the woman is actually a transsexual and becomes fast friends with Taktsuki and Shu-kun.
One word: gross.
I don't care what your personality is like or if you think you're a woman trapped in a man's body or vice versa or whatever. That's the package you were born with, deal with it. It's one thing if there's some life-threatening abnormality like the esophagus not reaching the stomach, but this is just nuts.
...
Okay, that's a really bad choice of words, but I guess I'll leave it like that. (In my current frame of mind, it'd probably only get worse if I changed it.)
Can't really say much about the other characters. They're just sorta... there.
So, um. How do I wrap this up? I guess if you like this sort of thing you can read it. Why you would I have no idea. Otherwise, it's a total skip. Nothing worth seeing here, people.
Dec. 13th, 2007 @ 01:17 pm
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| » Creepy! |
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I have just now caught up to the rest of humanity and witnessed the phenomenon known as The Phantom of the Opera. Andrew Loyd Weber version.
One word: CREEPY!
I am so glad I watched this at noon rather than in the evening. Bad enough that the wind was howling outside my window, I do not want to watch this in the dark.
It was the most amazing, frightening, moving, suffocating thing I have ever seen.
Though I can't say that I was particularly horrified by the phantom's appearance as everyone in the movie was. A bad burn, surely, but hardly the stuff of nightmares.
Then again, this is set in 1870, when malformations of any sort were hidden from public view.
No, his appearance didn't scare me. His personality did. The man seemed more demon than human until the very end of the movie. In fact, I think having him be flesh and blood made him scarier than if he really had been a phantom.
Man. I wonder what sort of dreams I'll have tonight.
Oct. 23rd, 2007 @ 03:20 pm
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| » A seasonable movie |
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Is it just me, or are kid-friendly Halloween specially getting dumber?
I suppose you can't entirely blaim them. It's nigh well impossible to show something truly frightening without breaking just about every kid-friendly TV rule in existance (not to mention raising the litigious wrath of hundreds of parents). So instead the writers of Halloween specials have fallen back on extra gross-out jokes, friendly monsters, and seriously hokey situations. (Anyone up for a Scooby Doo rerun?)
The adult fare offered isn't much better. ('Santa's Slay'? Guess someone figured making people petrified of hockey players wasn't enough.)
*sigh* It's been so long since I've seen a desent horror movie. Ironically, I'm pretty sure the last one I saw was one of the many screen adaptations of Braum Stoker's Dracula.
I say ironic because the movie I'm about to describe is the deceptively titled The Batman vs. Dracula.
'Deceptive' because you wouldn't think a movie with a this sort of title would be watchable. Brings to mind those old B-movies like Godzilla vs. King Kong. Or was it the other way around? Nevermind.
Don't let the title fool you, this is a really good example of feature-length animation. It also lives up to it's horror tale promises.
But how can that be? Isn't The Batman a kid show?
Quite true. The Batman can be seen on The WB during their afternoon kids' segment. However, the show itself has proven unafraid of delving into the dark and brooding. We're talking about Batman here, the poster child of brooders. (The guy needs some serious counciling.) The movie takes that several steps further.
I was actually quite surprised. Though I couldn't see the writers getting around Dracula's blood-sucking nature, I was anticipating them to gloss over the gorier possibilities. Instead I found two hours containing more animated blood than the entirety of the YuYu Hakusho Dark Tournament arc, uncut. I'd love to get a recording of the studio meetings that decision must've illicited. Not to mention the constant references to death.
I gotta describe this scene. The Penguin has just made the enormous blunder of waking up Dracula, but some poor cemetary patrol officer ends up getting the first bite. Penguin finds the corpse, which promptly starts moving.
"Dead people don't do that!" Penguin then has the misfortune of backing up right into Dracula.
"Not dead," says the king of vampires. "Undead."
*gulp* "I think I need to un-wet my pants."
^~^ Humor and terror all in the same scene. Now that's good writing.
Now, granted, this is still more or less family-friendly fare, and so Dracula's victims don't stay dead, I mean undead. In a more traditional Dracula movie, each and every one of those "lost ones" would've required a stake through the heart, not a vampirism antidote. Even so, the writers made up for it with a spectacularly dramatic death scene for the title villian.
As much as I would have liked to see Dracula shish kabobbed with one of the many ancient weapons Bruce has lying around his library (what're they doing there, anyway?), I was able to appreciate the idea of having Count Dracula, king of vampires, self-proclaimed evil incarnate soundly defeated by what amounted to a 5,000 watt lightbulb. Now that's a sunburn.
Oh, and in case anyone thought the Joker couldn't get any more insane, then you have to see him as a vampire. That alone was one freaky trip. (Not to mention the bloodiest set of scenes in the entire movie. The Joker has no table manners.)
Oct. 24th, 2005 @ 10:45 am
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