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?

Why I love Shaman King

Where else will I ever have the pleasure of reading fantastic lines like, "Hah!  Taste my perfected asceticism!"?

Shaman King has been impressing me as a great Buddhist manga series, something I never thought I would say about any manga.  I've been feeling this strongly in the last handful of volumes as not only are we hearing Budhist ideas but actually seeing them applied clearly and devastatingly in action (lots and lots of action).

I'm not a Buddhist, but I am a Christian, and as a Christian who loves to read and write, I am always interested in the way people integrate their faith with their art, especially when it's smoothly well done, as it is in Shaman King.  Hiroyuki Takei is probably not trying to make converts.  He may not even be devoutly Buddhist, though I know his previous series Butsu Zone also delved into Buddhism, so I suspect he might be somewhat interested in the religion, at least as it potentially relates to stories he can tell with it. 

Shaman King feels very integrated (pun not exactly intended), a story possessing a sort of organic integrity as the principles underlying it are played out on the page and in characters' lives (and deaths).  Yoh has always been a slightly enigmatic character, a laid-back slacker who fights on even when we aren't exactly sure why.  The last several volumes have shown him off quite brilliantly, in all his contradictory, dedicated-shirker glory.

"This is hell?  Did I get killed?" Yoh asks.
"You don't seem very distressed," Amidamaru says.

I can't really explain it in a clearly summarized, reduced way, but I think if you've been following things closely, you probably sense this integrity, as well.  I hope you do and that I'm not just doing my reading-too-deeply-and-actively-into-a-kids-comic thing that I do so well.

Have you read any comics that subtly and beautifully weave a religious/faith tradition into the storyline, so it feels like it organically arises from the story rather than is shoe-horned in?

Pandora Hearts brings the darkness

I'd never heard of Pandora Hearts, but Yen Press was sure excited about this license, and I've been digging it in Yen+.  It starts out interestingly dark and only gets darker from there. 

However, I was a bit hesitant.  I've been burned so many time by series that start out well and then crash and burn by tapering off, often because they're by new authors.  In a spirit of magnanimity, I picked up an earlier one-shot title by this author.  This was actually another strike against the author because I don't like most one volume series.  It's hard to establish characters, create a world, and follow a whole story arc to a satisfying conclusion in one book.

Crimson Spell wasn't earth-shattering, but it was intriguing.  After reading it, I find myself looking forward to a nice, well-crafted, earned unhappy ending to Pandora Hearts, one that will honor its great set-up, world-building, and tragic characters.  That probably sounds a bit morbid, but I've also been burned by works that start out with tragedy and style and darkness and end in whimpery, simpery happy-endings, maybe because the creators can't keep up the darkness realistically.

It's not that I like doom and gloom and sadness, per se.  I just like consistency.  I will suspend my disbelief way further than most people, but if you jar me out of your world of your own volition, sometimes, I get annoyed.  I feel disappointed because the expectations you've built up go unfulfilled.

So, anyway, here's hoping Pandora Hearts stays exquisitely tragic right until the bitterly sweet end.  :)


Any darker anime/manga you liked that didn't fizzle at the end?  Any that drove you crazy by crashing and burning into sentimentality?