"Love is essentially a pretty creepy thing"

I came across this review of Yun Kouga's Crown of Love (a series that is actually coming out more frequently than Loveless and is actually finished), and I have to say I agree with Melinda's view.

"What this series ultimately succeeds at pointing out is that love is essentially a pretty creepy thing. And though I’m not sure that’s a philosophy I’d personally want to live by, it’s not exactly wrong, either. Despite its obvious emotional focus, this is a series that analyzes itself and its characters constantly, from the inside out. The fact that its conclusions are disturbing is pretty much undeniable. They’re also uncomfortably (and remarkably) true. :)

"This kind of psychologically-heavy romance won’t be for everyone, but despite the fact that it’s one of the least romantic romances I’ve ever read, it’s definitely for me. Normally, I’d spend a lot of my time with a series analyzing its characters and their personal motivations. Kouga does it for me, and in a surprisingly organic way. What more could I possibly ask?"

- Melinda Beasi

The thing about Yun Kouga, a thing I like, is that she makes people uncomfortable in ways they don't expect.  Loveless, Crown of Love, Earthian, and Gestalt are all creepy in their own special ways.  They don't start exactly where you expect, and they don't really end like you expect, either.  She has this knack for making readers squirm.  I wish I could describe how it works, but I really can't.

Since Melinda already said all that great stuff about Crown of Love, how about Loveless?  There are some really creepy and obvious places Ms. Kouga could have gone with this set-up, and many people think she goes there.  However, she really leaves that up to certain readers' imaginations (I mean, they're going to imagine it anyway) and instead focuses on the different bonds between people and the hold that "love" has over all different sorts of people.  She creates these agonizingly uncomfortable situations and relationships and these horribly broken, conflicted, and sometimes inscrutable characters and then turns the everybody loose to try to figure out how to stay sane.  It's brilliant at times.

Sure, you may be turned off it when you hear squeeing fangirls letting their imaginations run rampant (what they think is in there really isn't).  What is in there is definitely thought-provoking (if you can avoid falling into the trap of getting freaked out or imagining things that aren't really happening).  It will also make you really uncomfortable. 

If you aren't afraid to do some hard thinking and make emotional investments in emotionally damaged characters, it may be as fascinating for you as it is for me.  I'm almost okay with the fact that it may never be finished because unless the ending is brilliant, I'm fine with what I have to think over so far.  (I feel bad enough for these characters as things are . . .)

So when is the next volume coming out, anyway?

Give a writer a break, here (Kingyo Used Books)

I came across this bit of a review in one of the brief moments I was able to look at some other people's blogs in the last six months (I promise I'll be more faithful in December once my commitments for this semester end), and it made me think as a writer.

"For all the tears and shouting, however, Kingyo Used Books is dramatically unpersuasive. The stories are too literal, positing a simple, direct connection between the content of a book and a reader’s subsequent behavior; it’s as if I read Middlemarch then decided to dump my pedantic boyfriend — sure, it could happen, but literature tends to effect us in subtler, less obvious ways, influencing our perception of things, rather than what we do. "

While I don't disagree with these statements, I wonder if maybe we need to cut the author a little slack.  If the author didn't show that simple, direct connection that leads to action, these would be stories about people making not-really dramatic, not-exactly life-changing realizations about stuff.  Realizations do not make for riveting manga.  Characters who don't take action are considered the bane of novel and short story writers' existences.  It is a very rare author who can make people having a conversation interesting enough to be a single story, even rarer for people coming to mental conclusions or being subtly influenced by things they read.  Think of trying to do it lots of times as part of a series.  Yeah.  Difficult.

I suspect Kingyo's purpose is not pedantic, not, "You should read manga because it will change your life." 

It can change you, sure.  What we read can influence us and probably does in a lot of subtle, unconscious ways.  I remember when a friend of mine finally read books from my favorite series.  He said he saw a lot of similarities between me and the main character.  I never consciously tried to be like that main character (who is in the military, crippled, living in the future, and slightly psychotic), but the fact that I've read the books about him more than a dozen times has left a mark on who I am that someone else who knew me could connect and see.  Again, not the stuff of short-story length drama.

We've probably all read books that have influenced our behaviors and personalities and even changed us, and when I read Kingyo, that's what gives me the warm fuzzies.  People can make connections through books (to themselves, to others), and sometimes it's something they read (on top of all the other things that have been going on in their lives for years that we can't see) that allows them to change or shows them their need for change in a way that they can't exactly articulate, a way that's often quite sideways from what actually literally happened in the book.

The literalness in Kingyo may seen ham-handed, but it lets us get access to the information about obscure manga and see that people still believe in the power of books to change people literally and figuratively even in a different culture.  Kingyo may not change your life, but it might add to your reading list and your store of knowledge, something every bibliophile can appreciate.

Also, in that series of reviews was this awesome quote:  "I’m normally immune to whimsy."  Wouldn't Normally Immune to Whimsy be a great name for a rock band?

Selections from What I Read in October: Digest Version, Part 3 of 3

Hooray!  I'm caught up right now.  I will bask in the moment!

• b King of RPGS 1: This was awesomely silly.  I do not play RPGs and have never played collectible card games or anything, and I still got a kick out of this one.  It's one of the better east meets west attempts.  The over-the-top shonen bits made me look forward to a second volume that will probably never come.  Sadness.
• b Kingyo Used Books 2: Still best served one chapter at a time.  Reminds me of the power of books, even if it gets a bit clumsy about it sometimes.  I'll be writing more about that soon . . .
• b Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service 11: Oh, dear.  Light refraction suits and the nature of good and evil.  Also lots of corpses and a really creepy long story that is just really horrific.  Also those amazing notes.
• o Mail 1-3: Meh. There were times when this was genuinely creepy and disturbing, but I'm not a big fan of just creepy and disturbing.  I wonder what the authors could do with this if they gave it another run in 5 years.  I'll admit that the Pinoko-like assistant twist toward the end was weird and creepy.
• b Prince of Tennis 18-19: Ah, light, breezy, intense shonen action.  No romance, no corpses.  Stupid kids injuring themselves to (fail to) prove a point.  Then again, they are only 14 or 15, so it's not out of character for them to be a bit too narrowly focused.  (Like I should talk after all the injuries and illnesses I played through.)  And I know coaches in Japan are different and that their junior high and high school sports are way different from ours, but I can't believe the coach let that happen.  Seriously.  Coaches get fired for that here.  Fun times.  :)
• b Venus Capriccio 1-4: Gentle.  Nice.  Unfinished.  Drat.  Oh, CMX . . .  I like the ones that involve music, no matter how melodramatic they get.  VS is another one I'm trying to track down a few last volumes of, so I can finish that one.  Ah, Nodame, when are you coming out next?

While the last few months have been a bit lean, November, due to a couple of book binges, was pretty great.  Look forward to it.  :)

Selections from What I Read in October: Digest Version, Part 2of 3

• b D.Gray-Man 7: Yeah, I do really like this series.  I like all the characters.  I like the art.  I like the drama and the action and the suspense and the humor.  I even like one of the villains.  I hold on to this stupid hope that he's not, you know, completely evil.  He does his best to change my mind.  I hope I'm stuck on him not being a hopeless case because I have been picking up on subtle hints and clues and not just because he is attractive.
• b Flat Earth Exchange 1: Ah, the end makes more sense now.  I like books with good reread value.
• b From Eroica With Love 5-13: So, I went on a bit of a binge here.  It's stupid, ridiculous, over-the-top, and just plain silly sometimes.  The hair, the clothes, the flamboyance, the cold war, the personality clashes.  I like it anyway. 
• b Jihai 2-3: I still liked it this read-through.  There are all kinds of flaws and plot-holes and overly-dramatic silliness, but I guess I like the connections the characters make and break and the ways they lie to each other and themselves and the choices they make to trust and not to trust.
• b Kieli 3: Oh, Harvey.  Poor Harvey.  Poor Corporal.  Poor Kieli.  When is volume 4 coming out?

Selections from What I Read in October: Digest Version, Part 1 of 3

October was a busy, melt-down sort of month, but we soldiered on.

• b 20th Century Boys 10-11: Okay, when this is all over, I will marathon it, and I will enjoy my marathon immensely.  And it will all make sense.
• b Alive 1: You know, for its premise and activities, this could have been a lot gorier, and I'm glad it's not because I definitely couldn't read it then.
• b Bokurano Ours 1: That was just as, if not more, brutal the second time through.  Is this Nihilism in manga form?  Am I willing to put myself through an emotional meat grinder to find out if the end is as hopeless as the beginning?  Yes.
• b Broken Blade 2-3: I like this one.  I am sad I will never find out how it ends for the characters who are still alive.  Who's the real bad guy, and will any of these people ever have the chance to sit down and talk about things and clear up all the lies?  Or will they just keep killing each other and themselves out of ignorance?
• b Bunny Drop 2: Awwww.  If you read and at all liked Aishiteruze, Baby or Tramps Like Us I suspect you will like this.  You may like it even more because there's no sexual subtext crawling around (at least, not yet).

Look for parts 2 and 3 to come quickly (before December gets here, eek)!

Detroit Metal City Live Action

Dear Viz,

Thank you for listening!

Sincerely,
TMIA

Selections from What I Read in September: Digest Version, Part 2 of 2

September seems so far away now . . .

• b Boys Over Flowers 28-29: I will have to marathon this some day.  It might actually take three parts or so because I'm not sure I can put up with their ridiculousness for more than 10 volumes at a time . . .
• b Broken Blade 1: I got a kick out of the series. I'm fairly disappointed that I'll never get to find out what happens.
• o CLAMP School Detectives 3: I try to pretend that I'm not a completist.  I try hard. I fail.
• b From Eroica with Love 2-3: Just utterly ridiculous and fun.  Who knew NATO could be involved in such silliness?
• b Goong 7-9: it's funny that every time I get a volume of this series, for some reason I think it's going to be the last even though the series has some ridiculous number of volumes. I remember the same thing would happen with Fruits Basket and Hana Kimi.  For some reason, I can never accurately remember the number of volumes in a series.
• b House of Five Leaves 1: Okay, if I weren't a Ono fan before I read this, I would be now.  We really don't get enough serious samurai period drama manga over here for some reason.
• b Sand Chronicles 9: I wasn't sure how much value these exercise stories would add since the main story concluded already, but I'm really pleased.
• b Shaman King 30: I'm pretty sure I say this every single time, but how can I possibly forget how breathless the series makes me?  It's kind of funny that I forget, but I find myself doing about double time on the stair climber whenever I read this one while exercising.
• b Twin Spica 2-3: This is really an intriguing series. It might be a good series to show people the difference between manga aimed at younger teens and manga aimed at older people.  It's a school story, but it doesn't read at all like shojo or shonen.  It covers the same territory, but it does it with such a different tone and focus and execution that I'm not sure people the age of the protagonists would even find it interesting. I'd be curious to find out.  I love and hate every time the main story ends with a lot of pages left over. I whine every time, but I love those flashback stories . . .
• b We Were There 3: Yes, due to being poor, I'm way behind in this series.  I'm really liking the careful, sad brokenness this manga is not afraid to show.  People get screwed up pretty bad, and we stumble around hurting each other sometimes by accident and sometimes on purpose.  And sometimes, when it's happening to our friends and loved ones, we just have to watch it happen because there isn't anything we can do to fix them.  It's a sobering realization you don't see in much of the manga that makes it over here. Bring it on!

Next up, October, which looks kind of scant until you see that I sort of binged on a whole series . . .  Look forward to it!

Remember Immortal Rain?

Well, Jason Thompson sure likes it, and so do I.  I'm jealous to hear that Japan has three more volumes of this incredibly well-crafted story.  Beware of spoilers if you haven't read it, but if you have read it and are praying it gets rescued from licensing limbo soon, check out Jason's reminiscences here.

The art is clean and gorgeous.  The characters are fun, compelling, and sometimes tragic.  The world is amazing.  The story is full of knock you over twists.  Even the romance is sweet and understated.  It's really an all-around winner.

Your thoughts?