Scratching my head over CLAMP (again)

Ah, CLAMP.

I just read Tsuabasa: Reservoir Chronicle 24 and 25, and wow am I confused.  It's a familiar feeling, this breaks-are-out-but-what-a-view feeling.  (I remember it from parts of X/1999 and, not surprisingly, XXXholic.)  I kind of want a flow chart to show who's who when and where and for how long.  And stuff.

Definitely an enjoyable exercise read, I think Tsubasa will have good re-read value in general, even if it tanks at the end.  :)  I guess I think that just because the roller coaster's last hill isn't as much of a success as the first doesn't mean it's a bad ride.

Do you think a series' ending makes or breaks the series?

Cosplayers vs. Fanfic Writers

I'm a huge Patrick Rothfuss fan because he writes most excellent fantasy.  He is aware of the anime/manga fan community (aware enough to be searching for yaoi fanart using his characers). I thought this bit was interesting because I'm curious if this same hierarchy exists in anime fandom.

"It didn’t really strike me as odd that people who engaged in cosplay would look down on people who wrote fan fiction. There is a viscous of territorialism in geek society, as shown by this flow chart that Brunching Shuttlecocks put together years ago."

The whole post is pretty funny, and his cosplay fans are incredible.  (Also, he can be kind of a doofus sometimes, but he owns up to it.)  Be sure to check out their book.

Anyway, in your experience, what's the cosplay/fanfic hierarchy in anime/manga fandom?

Selections from what I read in April: digest version part 2 of 4ish

Hooray for exercise!

• b  Astral Project 2: Hrm.  Dark and serious.  Too long since I read volume 1.  I couldn't remember anyone's backgrounds.  Still pretty compelling, especially once I was up to speed on who they were . . .
• b  Gals! 5: Oh, hyper!  More Ran-chan, ko-gal goodness, pursuit of justice, and loud, ridiculous, fun.  I love this series in whatever form it takes! How a static series of images can manage this much hyper-energy is beyond me.
• b  Love Attack 6:  Um, did they really rate yet another volume of this graphic novel series with humorously portrayed alcoholic beverage consumption by obvious minors as T (13 up) instead of T+ (16 up)?  Yes, yes they did.  But it's okay, because there's a message: if you get drunk, you won't get to sleep with your boyfriend/girlfriend because you pass out in a humorous fashion.  Seriously?!  Come on.  Why do I still like this series this much?
• Never Give Up 8: I would very much like the next volume, Tokyopop.  Please?  Don't make me beg.  The art is, frankly, hideous, but the story is all goofy, warm-hearted, shojo goodness.  Will their love stand the test of all these ridiculous tests?  And is modeling really worth it?!
• b  Ooku 3: I adore this manga.  It is harsh and beautiful.  It captures a lot of the essential Romantic history of Japan.  Highly recommended for the more mature manga fan who adores tragedy, subtext, and that kind of serious, literary/historical fantasy that is underrepresented in the US.  If you like this one, try Lian Hearn's Tales of the Otori just because they're awesome and have a similar feel.
• b  Palette of 12 Secret Colors 4: Soooo cute.  Good-natured and loveable.  Very pastel in a sort of calm, melancholy way.  Is that even possible?
• b  Pluto 8: The very ending was a tad irritating, but I still cried.  This series is exceptional.  Every fan of smart sci-fi should give it a try.  At 8 volumes, it's an outstanding shorter series and well worth your time.  Well done, Viz.  Really well done.  I'm sad that there won't be any more, but I'm pleased/content with how it turned out.  Sob.

Selections from what I read in April: digest version part 1 of 4ish

Brief break for a spate of sudden applications.  Hope springs eternal!  This may be in 4 parts.

• b I Hate You More Than Anyone 1: Yeah, I think I like Banri Hidaka for a lot of reasons (such as VB Rose and Tears of a Lamb).  Her relationship dynamics are often so goofy, and they should just be wrong and offensive, but they're so darn charming.  She captures the mis-communications of relationships (romantic and family) in a way that seems less cliched and dumb than a lot of shojo manga.  I also like that she writes related series with lots of crossover characters to discover.
• b Kiichi and the Magic Books 1: Enchanting.  I totally love this one.  Lots of subtle mystery generated from the very beginning, fascinating world being built, nice art.  Complex characters with ambivalent motivations and unexpected interactions (even when they're just peripheral characters) make for an absorbing read.  The School Library Journal likes it, too.  Great all-around, nearly all-ages fantasy manga goodness.  CMX/Flex, you guys rock.
• b Lagoon Engine 6: It is not fair that the author is being all cool and mysterious and tantalizing her readers with crossover details if she's never going to finish it!  I am pulling my figurative hair out!  This series has been going on forever, and this artist (mostly of DNAngel fame) has a history of starting awesome things and then not finishing them.  She did a tantalizing one-volume cross-over called Lagoon Engine Einsatz, and we keep getting glimpses into that world, but we're moving at a glacial pace, and I'm afraid she won't finish any of the three she's working on.  So why do I torment myself?  Wicked cool mystery + deadly adorable yet somehow also realistic bickering sibling cuteness = irresisitable.
• b Whistle! 22:  Sports manga, how do I love thee?  Let me count the ways . . .  Why do US manga fans hate on sports manga so much?!  It baffles me.  This is great, adrenalin pumping stuff.  I get mad and yell, "Cheater head!" sometimes when I don't realize there are other people in the exercise room, and then I am mortified for 3.2 seconds before I am reading again.  It's so universal, yet so Japanese (in the way that mean, "this is baffling, and I don't get it, but obviously all of the other characters do because it is some kind of cultural thing").  Shigeki, I am so looking at you, right now, you little punk.  Grrrr.  In this volume, I learned that a red card puts you out of a tournament, not just a game.  Way to be observant, there, ref.  For, like, once.  Not that I'm bitter.

See you with part 2 in a few days.  As always, if one of these titles intrigues you, let me know, and I'll be happy to talk more about it in its own little post.  Until next time . . .

Honey and Clover comes to an end

Thank you, VIZ, for finishing what you start!  You rock!

The last Honey and Clover boxed DVD set is out at last!  For those of you who watched the first two because you liked and cared about the characters but weren't fond of the goofier humorous college antics, you will be in heaven with the final story arc. 

And here is a beautiful quote from Carl Kimlinger's excellent review at ANN that I just had to share.  Nicely said, Mr. Kimlinger.

"Honey and Clover II, the twelve-episode sequel to Honey and Clover, is a very different beast than its progenitor; different merely by dint of being the series' concluding chapter. Where Honey and Clover was a study in delicate melancholy driven by slow change, Honey and Clover II is an emotional locomotive, coming out of the gate with both fists swinging and never letting up. This is a conclusion; full of significant development, irrevocable changes and big events. It brings all of the characters to their end-games and builds in a very traditional manner to a simultaneous climaxing of several plot lines. This is a sharp departure from the deliberate lack of directionality in Kenichi Kasai's subtle, unconventional first season. There is no repetition here, no reassuring stasis undercut by unnoticeable drifting, no long, sneaky, premeditated builds to potently underplayed emotional climaxes. Rather season two is all full-bore forward motion towards emotional payoffs that redefine the heart-wrenching power of the bittersweet. It's an unstoppable emotional steamroller—slow, inexorable, powerful—that gracefully stomps the crap out of your heart from start to finish."

So true. Now I want to start all over again from the beginning.  Well, maybe not until I read that last volume of the manga.  I just can't bring myself to because then it will be over.  Sigh.

Anyway, if you can handle slower-paced, nostalgic, character-centric, sometimes over-the-top comedic drama, this is a show for you.

Welcome to the NHK?

If you've never heard of it, Welcome to the NHK is an anime (based on a semi-autobiographical [?] novel) that centers on a young man who has withdrawn from society and lives with as little human contact as possible until a girl appears who says she can save him from his self-imposed exile.  Lots of adult content because adults can legally make their own stupid choices.  (NOTE: the first ending theme song may be one of the most disturbing I have ever seen.)

It's hard to watch Welcome to the NHK, especially after finishing Hurry Down Sunshine: A Father's Story of Love and Madness (Vintage), a memoir about mental illness as seen from the outside.  I recognize symptoms (paranoia, mania, depression), and the armchair sociologist in me starts flipping through scattered notes about hikikomori and increasing loneliness and social withdrawal as technology rises.

It's painful to watch Welcome to the NHK as a fan (who happens to be a somewhat shy, introverted person).  Sometimes, I feel the pull of being a hikkikomori.  I mean, seriously, if someone were paying your bills, and you didn't have to leave the comfort of your home, wouldn't you stay in? 


Especially if the alternative was working a crappy customer service job that puts you inescapably face-to-face with the decidedly less-fine aspects of humanity all the time?  Wouldn't you want to stay where you couldn't hurt and offend or be hurt and offended by others, where you wouldn't have to be angry or frustrated so frequently?  Where you wouldn't have to pick up after other people's inconsiderate leavings all the time?  Where you wouldn't have to smile while people are rude and dismissive and contemptuous to you, bully you, or hit on you (when they're not being infuriatingly slow, unhelpful, and forgetful, or assuming you have god-like powers)?  Where you wouldn't have to deal with an unqualified, incompetent boss immune to logic, reason, or any other method of discourse?  Where no one expected anything of you?  Where no one tried your patience?  Where the only person you could disappoint was you?  Where you were more in control of everything (everything having shrunk down to your apartment)?

Understanding that pull makes watching the show more difficult.

Tokyo Vice gave some good (and sad) examples of how mental illness is viewed and dealt with in Japan.  There's that whole wa concept (and fitting in and not standing out and the nail that sticks out getting hammered down and all that). 


Japan would be a painful place to withdraw from social contact, which makes me wonder how much more painful it is for those who do withdraw to maintain contact or try to reestablish it.  It gives me more sympathy for the seemingly hopeless, boneheaded protagonist of Welcome to the NHK.  He's still trying to re-connect even through that added pain.  He screws up so badly, but he's trying, so you can't help but pull for his eventual success.  You know his story is based on a real person's story (you think so, even if you might be wrong), and you want there to be a happy ending, to have been a happy ending.

I wonder if people in the U.S. who are writing all these books about the rise of loneliness and social withdrawal as technology makes living without people possible are looking to Japan to learn about what this kind of mass withdrawal can do to society.  I wonder if someone's written about it somewhere.  I wonder if all the anime fans who've seen the series or the manga fans who've read the manga adaptation or the original novel have thought about the sociological implications of this sort of thing in their lives in their countries in their fan communities.

I wonder if my sister would say I'm thinking too hard about this.  :)

Watching Welcome to the NHK is a struggle for many reasons.  I'll let you know if I think it was worth it in the end.

Selections from what I read in March: digest version part 3 of 3

Pretty good month for exercise, as you can see (I read manga while I exercise).  Thankfully, they've finished their ridiculous renovations to the apartment building's fitness room (for which I am so, so grateful), which means more manga for me!

• b  Love Attack 1-4: Okay, this series is ridiculous and fun.  If you like quirky romantic comedies with plenty of violence and don't demand too much from them, you'll be quite thrilled.
• b  Love*Com 17 of 17: Loved it.  Sad it's over.  Really sad.
• b  The Name of the Flower 3: Angst.  Love it.  I hope volume 4 is similarly spectacular in its quiet, sad, melancholy, moody way.  Some people just find it difficult to let themselves be happy.
• b  Platinum Garden 5-6: Ridiculous and somewhat extremely Japanese premise, but I'm liking all the mysterious and variously hostile relatives. Please finish this one, Tokyopop.  Don't keep leaving me hanging!
• b  Red Hot Chili Samurai 1: Out of nowhere.  It was amusing, a bit confused, and somewhat pointless, but it was pretty and bizarre.
• b  RIN-NE 1-2: Hmmm.  I liked it.  I hope something more happens, though I'm not sure what could since most of the "mysterious past" issues have already been discussed.  If anyone can pull something out of nowhere and make it work, I'm sure Rumiko Takahashi can.
• b  Ristorante Paradiso: I'm a confirmed Natsume Ono fan.  Publishers Weekly hated on this one for being a casual, breezy slice-of-life story instead of a weighty piece of literature that delved into super-serious issues.  I'm sorry, PW, why criticize it for not being not simple, which you didn't even bother to review?  RP is frothy romance set in Rome, a loosely connected series of vignettes about people who work at a restuarant.  It's complete in one volume. Gente and House of Five Leaves can't get here fast enough.
• b  Shaman King 27: It's going to bum me out when we catch up to what was published in Japan before the series was cancelled, but, until then, I'm loving the ride.
• b  Slam Dunk 5: I love sports manga.  Yes, I do.
• b  Swan 15: I love sports manga and ballet.  Yes, I do, indeed.  Thankfully, this volume came out faster than the last one, but I still forgot everything.  I'll have to marathon things to figure out what great revelation Masumi had at the end of the last volume.  Her troubles in this one are all too relatable.  Hurray for shojo-shonen!
• b  Two Flowers for the Dragon 1-2: I think I'm officially addicted to Nari Kusakawa's brand of quirk-tastic fantastic fantasy manga.

Looking forward to more great exercise, er, manga in April!

Selections from what I read in March: digest version part 2 of 3

I ended up splitting this by alphabet. Sorry.

• b 13th Boy 3: Well, the mystery of the cactus is solved. We find out some important things about the past. There is crabbiness and stupidity. It's hilarious and awesome.
• b Apothecarius Argentum 6: Argent really just wasn't made to be an assassin. I mean, he was fed poison to turn him into one, so he was technically made into an assassin, but he's just too agreeable for that to have worked out even if he hadn't been rescued/set free/whatever. He's in a land far away trying to find a way not to be poisonous because he'd like to kiss the woman he loves without making her ill. Quirky adventure/political dramedy/romance about apothecary and friends (and enemies and politics).
• b Bunny Drop: Confirmed bachelor gets tired of hearing his family gripe about the surprise his recently deceased grandfather left behind (a very young daughter) and says he'll take care of her. A very grounded, slice-of-life story about what it means to take responsibility for a child. Funny and full of warm fuzzies but also practical, day to day sacrifices and decisions.
• b Emma 9: I love Kaoru Mori's work. I don't really care what she's writing about or whether it has even a passing, tangential connection to Emma. Reading these stories makes me giddy/sighing happy.  I missed the Manga Moveable Feast about this series, but look forward to a post briefly comparing my reactions to the end of the main story in the manga and the anime.
• b Flat Earth Exchange 3-4 of 4: It loses points for being unwilling to let people stay dead and for being so enticingly mysterious without following through (on account of two magazines dying) all while promising answers in the future. At least she's still alive, unlike Nabokov . . .
• b Gakuen Alice 7-10: Totally addicted. Goofy and serious like a see-saw. Dang. Lots of key surprising revelations and thankfully, no descent into let's-make-a-happy-ending land (something the anime is guilty of doing).
• b Hanako and the Terror of Allegory 1: Deserves an award for titling.  (Is there such a thing?)  Don't you want to read it just because of that title? It made me think of Missingwith their shared themes of urban legends coming alive, though this one is much lighter in tone and more action-oriented (I also thought of Hogfatherbecause of the whole belief making things real bit).
• b Key to the Kingdom 5 of 6: OK, that had a lot of surprises, and it looks like the next volume is going to be a tear-jerker, too. Aw, man. Really solid fantasy.
• b Kyo Kara MAOH! 5: Awkward. Honestly, I love that the fierce, frowny, scary-looking guy relaxes by crocheting and has a weakness for cute things of all kinds. Pretty much never gets old.
• b Lizard Prince 2 of 2: Awww. More cute and calm vignettes about the prince who was cursed to be a lizard and still turns into one at inopportune times. Will he and the princess live happily ever after? Relaxing and inoffensive.

I'll post the next set tomorrow, and then, it's on to April, which has been great already!

Princess*Princess: Hmmmmm

Hmmmm.  I understand that sometimes an anime adaptation of a manga property takes some liberties and rearranges things, especially when the manga was published irregularly and without a real concern for overall plot, and I am very supportive of that as long as the finished product is better/makes more sense than the original. However, when your source material is a series of gags about three first-years in an all male high school being forced to dress as girls for the something (amusement?) of their school-mates, why try?  Even the author thought it was a ridiculous idea.

I guess I see what they were trying to do: keep some sort of overarching tension/suspense going, but, honestly, its strength was in its episodic, slice-of-ridiculous-life nature.  (And those great afterwords by the author.  I still love the way she thought they were joking about making it into an anime.  That was awesome.)  What they sacrificed for that over-arching tension was a better told sequence of stories.  It's like the bones of the structure were just sticking out all over and not-quite-connected, making it all the more sad that you could see what they were trying (and failing) to do.  Such is life.

I don't think I can even try to watch the live action version of Princess*Princess, even if it's licensed.  Who thought that would be a good idea?  It probably tries to take itself a tad too seriously, too.  Feh.  And I couldn't sit through any more ridiculous openings and closings . . .  Those were, frankly, brutal.

I did enjoy hearing Mikoto freak out.  His VA did that very well.  I was also amused when Romi Park (a woman acting the part of a 15-year-old boy who sometimes has to dress as a girl for the something of his peers) sounded more like a man than the man playing the nominal main character.  Those moments were quite priceless.

I guess it didn't help that I'd read the original manga the month before seeing the anime.  It's always better if I have a fuzzy recollection of the actual contents and can say, as I'm watching the anime, "Did that happen?  That way?  Really?  Oh, well, I can't remember.  Onward."

Harry Potter movies are better that way, too.

Any thoughts on Princess*Princess?  (In any of its incarnations?)

Yes, again with Darker Than Black

Well.  Wow.  The sudden ultraviolence means this title is definitely not for everyone.  The series in general keeps you off balance, and the early inclusion of several scenes of hideous and unexpected gore was definitely a successful part of that strategy, but, ewwwww. 

The problem is that unlike other shows, there isn't necessarily warning that things are about to get unbelievably gross, and sometimes, you can't look away because, you know, important plot is happening.


Other ways they keep you off balance:

• killing people who seem important
• inexplicably letting others live
• the most excellent two-episode story arc
• the way the inhabitants of this world don't have everything figured out

That last one is my favorite.  Ten years ago the world changed for these people.  Things they thought were givens (laws of science, common sense, etc.) got tossed out the window.  Or over the wall.  These people are trying to figure their world out on a fairly basic level, and there are a lot of guesses and lies running around.  Even stuff everybody who knows knows is wrong.  It's subtle and breathtaking.  Bravo! 


Because of all this, it feels much more immediate, engaging, and compelling, and you as the viewer must participate because they are not going to spell things out for you, and when they do, the truth may or may not be involved.  Monologues and info dumps can be "full of fail."  Pay attention, or else you miss all the great nuances, contradictions, and bunny trails that make this show a jaw-droppingly great ride.


Up through volume 4 where I am going to stop because I wish to own this series and meticulously pick apart each and every episode to analyze how the story-telling and world-building are so awesome.  I wouldn't want to know the ending and let that influence my obsessive re/watching.

I wonder if I should wait to read this tantalizing novel until after I'm done with the series . . .  Anyone heard anything about it?

I love being a nerd.

Are there any shows you stopped watching partway in so you could start over obsessively?

Selections from what I watched in March: digest version

I do love alternating things that don't go together.  I learned to alternate after the first X times Netflix didn't have the next disc available and sent me the disc after that, leaving me stranded somewhere further into the plot and unable to make any sense of things.

• b - Ninja Nonsense: Utterly ridiculous, crude, and hilarious from start to finish.
• b - Darker than Black: Well.  Wow.  The sudden ultraviolence means this title is definitely not for everyone.  The series in general keeps you off balance, and the early inclusion of a few scenes of hideous and unexpected gore was definitely a successful part of that strategy, but, ewwwww.  Incredible world, really great and well-developed characters, slow-burn long view plot.  Up through volume 4 where I'm stopping because I want to buy this one some day and dissect how it is constructed because I am a story nerd.
• b/o - Princess Princess:  Hmmmm.  I understand that sometimes an anime adaptation of a manga property takes some liberties and rearranges things, especially when the manga was published irregularly and without real concern for overall plot, and I am very supportive of that as long as the finished product is better/makes more sense than the original.  Or maybe I just miss the hilarious afterword comments from the manga where the author pokes fun at her work with hilarious abandon.

What did you feast your eyes on in March?