A Little Air Bending about Avatar before the movie comes out

So, the (Avatar) The Last Airbender movie is coming out in a week, and we're a tad excited.  More than a tad.  We are ecstatic but trying to keep our deisre for an awesome movie from creating impossible expectations.  We talked a little bit about it and thought we'd share our geeking out here with you.  We love you that much.

TMIA: I'm going to take this opportunity to grouse that this movie should have been the one that got to be called Avatar, and the other one should have had to change its name.

ST: Indeed. I'm not one to impugn James Cameron's character, but what a jerk. His movie could have been called any of a dozen names, but no, he had to insist on Avatar. But Avatar was already a TV show called "Avatar" when he started making his movie. But he has the "Intellectual Property Rights" to the name because he registered for it as a movie name first. What a jerk. I just hope the Avatar movie blows the Avatar movie out of the water...

TMIA: I hope so too, though I think it unlikely. (I think I'm glad book titles can't be copyrighted.) Then again, family-friendly can surprise the box office out of left field sometimes. (Crossing fingers.) Have you seen much of the promo stuff? What is your gut reaction to what you know or have seen or read about the movie so far?

ST: Well, I'm sure the action will be very cool, but some things I've read about the movie have disturbed me. For one, they're changing the way they pronounce Aang's name to make it more "accurate." I don't think it can be inaccurate if that's the way the series creators wanted it pronounced. Also, Shamalan (totally spelled that COMPLETELY wrong) said he took a lot of the humor out because there wasn't time for it. Sorry, but the point of the series is that it's HILARIOUS first, an action show second. And what purpose will Sokka serve if they take a lot of the humor out? He's the guy with the boomerang and the sense of humor. If you take the humor away, he's just the guy with the boomerang.

TMIA: Yeah, I'm a tad worried about Sokka, too. The director said he's a more grounded character from the beginning. I have no idea what that means, but apparently it means he's very useful. Useful is nice, but we need Sokka's goofiness to balance out the seriousness. (It was one of the genius things the orignal creators built in, all of these characters and set-ups that balanced each other out.) And we need that progression from comic relief character to maturing and responsible tactical genius because without it, how will his character change and grow? Apparently, the director also wanted to axe Oppa and Momo, but his kids basically told him NO. Way to go, kids.

ST: I was SO WORRIED about that. I kept searching the previews in vain for Appa and Momo (they are really important characters, as they are Aang's only living link to the Airbenders), but when I went to Iron Man, I FINALLY saw Appa briefly in one of the previews. Yay for the director's kids!

TMIA: What do you think about the "controversy" around the director changing the ethnicities of the characters?

ST: I'm not really bothered by the ethnicity changes. Aang always looked white anyways; Sokka and Katara's actors could stand to get a tan, but I never understood why they were so dark in the cartoon if they lived on the South Pole, which is not noted for its sunny weather. I miss the fact that it appears that Iroh is not a jolly fat man. He looks much more serious and worse, skinny, in the previews. How can we relate to a skinny Iroh? I'm not sure we can, especially if he's not a FUNNY skinny Iroh. But I still have high hopes for the movie.

TMIA: I guess I thought Aang was middle Asian. I thought the darker skin tones of Sokka and Katara's tribe was supposed to indicate that they were similar to the Inuit tribes. Also, Iroh's skinny? What in the world? They couldn't just pad him out at the beginning and then, I dunno, follow the story and then let him be skinny at the end?! I'm trying to keep my expectations low, but I really do wish this movie turns out to be great. And that Aang's actor's voice doesn't start to change before the filming is done . . .

Are you a fan of Aang and friends?  Are you going to see the movie in the theaters?  You should.  Hope to see you there.

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

Viz-heavy month, here, but there was still some variety.

• b Black Bird 4:  Ah, uncomfortable.  There are a lot of similarities between this series and Butterflies, Flowers, but this one actually seems to have some real depth and politics and plays more than one note over and over.  I'm looking forward to how the relationship evolves now that sex is really out of the question for the time being.
• b Crown of Love 2: Yun Kouga does uncomfortable REALLY well.  She makes ambiguous, hard-to-read characters not out of clumsiness but out of intent, and the results are definitely interesting.  Fantastic quote here from Melinda Beasi's review: "This series’ hero, Hisayoshi, continues to be both intensely creepy and surprisingly relatable. It’s a combination guaranteed to make most readers uncomfortable, but it’s also one of the series’ greatest strengths. Watching Hisayoshi perilously straddle the line between crushing teenager and bona fide stalker quickly becomes a rather terrifying series of 'There, but for the grace of God,' moments for anyone who has experienced unrequited love (in other words, roughly everyone). His inner thoughts echo the kind of late-night self-confessions that rarely see the light of day, tucked firmly away in those dark, hidden corners where shame and denial conveniently coexist."  Yeah, go read the rest of the review.
• b Flower in a Storm 1: Fun, frothy shojo action.  One review I read a while ago said it was like what would happen if chicks made an action flick.  Yeah, I can kind of see that.  And it's only two volumes long, so enjoy.
• b Happy Boys 2: I didn't read 1 because our bookstore seems to think it's a good idea to carry later volumes of series they never carried earlier volumes of.  It didn't really matter much.  More plot-y than Cafe Kichijoji-de but equally as full of frothy eye candy.  Based off of a live-action drama from what I understand.  Made me crave another re-read of the superior Antique Bakery.
• b Kekkaishi 21: AWESOME.  The smart character development that happens in this volume and the way the characters relate to each other once again shows me why this is basically my favorite serious shonen series EVER.
• o Laon 2: Still a muddled, sometimes-offensive mess.  Unless I get some hint that the lost girlfriend plot is going to pick up a lot of steam in volume 3, I will have to write this clunker off.
• b Rasetsu 5: So others apparently suspected the same thing I did (that a certain character was really another character in dusguise).  I thought the last volume sort of disproved that theory, but some people are hanging onto it.  I don't really care either way because he's a delightfully, darkly mysterious character whoever he is.  And I love the way he picks on Yako.
• b Record of a Fallen Vampire 3-6: I was only going to read volume 3.  I had other series to catch up on.  I had a job interview to prepare for (even though I'd already spend four hours prepping that day).  I couldn't stop myself.  One awesome reversal after another left me reeling and then reeling again.  Incredibly compelling stuff.  I'm so glad I waited until this one was all available in English, or I would have gone crazy waiting.  And forgotten everything between volumes.
• b Sand Chronicles 8: I was surprised at how this one resolved.  I enjoyed every sad and melancholy and dramatic minute of it.
• b Shaman King 28: I'm kind of lost right now.  It may be better to read these later volumes in chunks, so you don't forget who's dead and stuff. Also, does ANYONE know what the cover is about? It made me laugh, but I just don't get it.

What've you read lately?

Generations of thieves

I was at a bookstore the other day, and a mother and daughter were in the manga section.  An employee gave them several recommendations, and the girl (I'm going to say she may have been 15 max) kept saying, "Oh, I love that one!  I read it online!"  She was saying this about long-since licensed manga titles that are not provided by the publisher online. 

It came down to final choice time, and they could only pick two.  "You read this one online, right?" the mother asked.  "So you don't need to buy it, right?"

I was weeping inside.  Seriously.  Does this adult not know it's illegal to read pirated works online?  Does she not know economics (if you don't financially support the creators in some way, eventually there will be no more product since the artists can't afford to make the art)?! 

I mean, it's great that this mother was interested and involved in her daughter's life, but shouldn't she be the voice of, I dunno, legal uprightness in their relationship?  I just really don't know what to even think about this situation except to be sad.

Any thoughts?

Chilling and beautiful summer reading

Dear Yen Press,

Have I told you how much I adore Kieli?  I really, really do.  I can't figure out if it's the atmosphere of sweet, awkward melancholy or the dreamy quality of the storytelling (interrupted by brief and disturbingly clear instants of graphic violence and action).  Is is the reflective mood?  The detached but sad tone?  The brisk pacing that seems languid at the same time?  The spine-tingling weirdness that creeps in sometimes?  The amusing and crotchety relationship between the lead characters?

Well, a lot of it is the characters.  I love the idea of a beat-up old radio possessed by a foulmouthed, dead, young soldier as the sidekick/mascot.  Nothing cute and cuddly here.  It fits with the story surprisingly well, though.  As much as I wished him peace, I was glad the Corporal decided to stick around and play fairy godmother/conscience/voice-of-reason/brow-beater/babysitter.  And I still giggle every time he calls Harvey Herbie. 

Harvey is great.  He's hardly a hero anymore if he ever was; he's too tired and grouchy for that.  There is so much potential when you're dealing with a character over a hundred years old who has seen every imaginable horror of war and its aftermath.  He's been on the run for 80 years; he can't stay in one place because people will notice he doesn't age, or he'll end up getting hunted down.  He's really tragic and also really crabby.  Who wouldn't be?  And of course he doesn't deal well with people, and is especially out of his depth with fourteen-year-old girls who start following him around and causing trouble for him by being so dang young and curious all the time.  What about her could possibly make him choose to continue living his pathetic existence?  He sure doesn't know, but you feel that connection, and it feels so real and right and realistic, if I can use that word about a book set on a post-apocalyptic world where perpetual motion machines exist as part of the premise.  What is it about Kieli that makes it impossible for Harvey to really leave her alone?  It's not like he doesn't understand her loneliness; he just doesn't understand why she needs him.

Neither does she, really.  Like most fourteen-year-olds, she can be kind of annoying, but this is her first time seeing anything outside her hometown, and there is so much to see outside the walls of that convent school.  Is she tagging along because Harvey's the first person she's met who can also see ghosts?  Because he represents a sort of freedom and escape?  It can't be pity; I don't think pity could cause someone to risk life and limb and future to save another.  Is is co-dependence?  Doesn't really feel like it.  Who needs who more?  I don't know, but I really can't wait to read volume 3.

One quibble I have is about your marketing tag-line, the part about it being an uncommon romance.  I've read the first two novels, and I'm glad to see it's really not that, although there were some hilarious and endearingly awkward questions in volume 2.  The author is kind of genius about this because we as the readers know what Kieli knows and why she is asking, but Harvey doesn't, and the sheer snort-inducing power of that scene was kind of staggering.  I would like to hope that before any actual romance happens, Kieli is allowed to grow up a little more.  (And Harvey, too, though it seems odd to want a 100+ year old man to be more mature.)  That's hardly your responsibility, though, since you're just providing great translations of a haunting story.

I just hope volume 3 comes out on time because I need it to still be warm outside when I read Kieli.  If I can't sit outside in the sun while reading it, the horror and bleakness can get to be too much because I'm not much of a horror fan normally.  So please bring it out in September as planned.  I have it pre-ordered.

Thanks for keeping the series going.  I can't wait to love on the enticingly-titled volume 3.

Sincerely,
TMIA

Selections from what I read in May: digest version part 1 of 3

Sorry to interrupt my new regular posting schedule, but Blogger was down for the count when I tried to post last night.  Great fun last month.  Here's some of it.

• b Arata 1: Fun, if simple, adventure story; we'll see if it gets any more complex as time goes by.  I feel like I heard this one didn't do so well in Japan, so maybe it got canceled, but I hope the story finished first.
• b D. Gray-Man 17: Yeah, the zombies got old but were still kind of funny, and then POW, POW, K.O.  Did that really happen?  You're pretty sure it did, but then again . . .  Poor Allen.
• b Dinosaur Hour 1: Hilarious.  Brutal and funny, kind of like a Darwinian comedy show.  Don't drink milk or juice while reading.
• b Gakuen Alice 11: NOOOOOO.  You can't just stop in the middle of the sad and adorable, long, drawn-out flashback and still not resolve the huge, deadly conflict looming in the present!  More, please, now.  (It took me the longest time to figure out who was on the cover . . .)
• b Kimi ni Todoke 4: As ST said, "She puts her foot down, but she still believes the best about everyone in a way that is totally consistent with her character."  And totally, awkwardly adorable.  Here is an excellent (spoilerful) rumination on this volume.
• b Kyo Kara MAOH! 6: One bit wraps up and another begins.  It's kind of sad when Yuri realizes that his choices mean that this is his life now, and he may never get to go back again, but it's heartening to see that it makes him want to work harder.
• b Maison Ikkoku 11: I feel for you, dude.  But I do want to smack you.  If you'd stop with the hysterical overreactions and just, you know, talk, maybe things would work out.  But probably they wouldn't because you're both allergic to being honest even when you do talk.  Relationships.  Sigh.  More trouble ahead. This volume had the memorable chase scene that ended in . . . no progress.
• b Silver Diamond 6: Thank goodness it looks like they won't stay on the "happy will save the world" kick.  Happy is great, but it needs power and a goal and a reason to see it through, or it gets stupid and old quickly. 
• b Spiral 11: Okay, there were some pretty devastating moments in this volume, which was mostly just talking.  Kyo Shirodaira makes talking awesome. 
• b Yakitate!! Japan 21: It is so unsafe to read these while exercising because you never know when a pun is going to actually paralyze your brain, causing you to trip on the stair-climber or slip off the bike pedal.  You've been warned.

Ah, reflecting back on the joys of the past is a valuable exercise in reminding one how much one has to be thankful for.  Anything you've read lately that tickled your fancy?

Selections from what I watched in May: digest version

A ridiculously busy month for me personally as I pursued the impossible dream job, but a lot of this stuff was the last couple of episodes or was dubbed sufficiently well for me to do job stuff while listening to the story unfolding behind my head.  Nice.

• b Case Closed Fourteenth Target: Would you shoot Ran/Rachel?
• b Case Closed: The Time Bombed Skyscraper: Awwwwwwwww.  No, seriously.  That door scene at the end, and the whole red thing.
• b Clannad: For those of you who liked the comedy team humor in Love Roma and Love*Com (and can get your unruly willing suspension of disbelief under control) and don't mind harem anime with more-than-slightly-creepy moe character designs based on dating sim games.
• b Deathnote Live Action Movie II: Y'know, I saw the first and third ones in the theater, so I was curious how they connected.  Aaaaand the connection was a tad strained.  I would love to hear opinions on this adaptation of the series from people who've seen another adaptation recently.  Since it's been a long time, I thought this one wasn't bad (not perfect but not bad, especially if you were mostly listening to it).
• b Salaryman Kintaro:I think I've said a sufficient amount about how awesome I thought this one was. 
• b Solty Rei: Well.  That's over.  And it wasn't nearly as torturous as Gun X Sword.  I'm glad they stopped the stupid and let some of the dead stay dead.  
• b Toward the Terra: What an emotional meat grinder.  Gee whiz.  Now it's time to read some Manga Moveable Feast To Terra Commentary and then probably reread the series.  Where are those tissues . . . ? 
• b Welcome to the NHK: Hm.  I like that the answer was simple: stop enabling this lifestyle, and the person will have to change out of necessity.  Probably.  The ways we save others and ourselves are so fraught.  I think I've decided that it was worth it to watch all the way through.  Sometimes you have to define your own acronyms to make sense of your world. 

A good month overall.  Some nice variety and a chance to watch that sad biography of Louise Brooks, who has nothing at all to do with anime except for the weird connection in my mind between her and Millenium Actress.  It's all in my mind.

See anything good in May?  (Doesn't have to be anime.)