I am at least attempting to keep these suckers balanaged.
► I spent a lot of time glued the NHK live stream and the BBC live stream as everything was unfolding, which was sort of working me up into a bit of despair. Thus, I am determinedly balancing it out with nerdy talk about anime and manga. (Even if I do keep sneaking back to the BBC updates probably more than I should.)
I still hope and pray that things can get better soon. And that 2011 stops trying to out-suck 2010. STOP IT.
► LINKS:
→ The things you find on tumblr! This Junjou Romantica video is kind of amazing.
→ Oh, excellent! Super Effective has been updating again! I left off as Red was heading towards Mt. Moon, so I had several pages to read! Including the series of comics of him trying to fight in the cave and comic 44 that made me LOL really hard. Although, page 45 also had me cracking the hell up.
→ Troy is officiall the March Madness winner and I am super delighted about this! ♥
► MANGA:
→ I've been reading a fair amount of manga lately (well, for me at least), including starting two new series that fit with the semi-theme of action and horror series I've had going lately. Also, two of them are series I've meant to read for ages, but was only galvanized by wanting to get out in front of the anime adaptations that are coming next season.
→ Deadman Wonderland: I'm currently in the middle of volume two and I can't put my finger on why I like this series, precisely, because it feels like I shouldn't--the basic premise is a fairly generic nice boy (Ganta) survives a massacre at his school (despite that he was attacked by the mysterious floating red man, too) and is blamed for the crime because that's the only conclusion they can come up. So, he's taken to a special prison called Deadman Wonderland, where it's a futuristic funhouse-style prison and they make you participate in human races (with razor sharp traps set up for everyone, of course) and other fun things for spectator sport. Meanwhile, Ganta is trying not to freak the fuck out at all of this, he's befriended by a weird girl named Shiro who just wants to play all the time, he's being watched by the crazy scientist in charge of the place, and he seems to have a special power that he doesn't even realize.
In a lot of ways, it should almost feel rather paint by the numbers? Nice kid, loopy girl in a skintight outfit, strange powers and a mystery that's slowly being hinted at, futuristic prison full of death around every corner. I feel like I've seen all these elements before. (Only in a Japanese fandom can I look at that list and think, "Yeah, I've seen those things before.") But somehow I am really enjoying this one. Part of it is that the art is absolutely lovely, the detail is strong, but it's the artist's genuinely beautiful lineart and shading that I really love. Shiro is lovely to watch her twirl around, her hair spinning out around her, her whimsical nature even as she's casually smashing through walls with just her bare feet. And, for a manga that's clearly containing some T&A, it's surprisingly non-T&A. Even the warden (who has an impossibly huge rack) is still a character and she is still scary as fuck with the iron fist she uses to rule the prison!
It helps that Ganta isn't as much of a cypher as I was expecting, he's already trying to think outside himself by volume 2 (being sorry that he caught everyone up in his quest for revenge against the red man, realizing that Shiro protected him during the race, etc.) and I think I knew I was sold on the manga when they're running from a giant killer robot as they're trying to find the red man who killed all his friends and Shiro is ticked at Ganta for reasons he can't understand, when she finally spins around and makes adorable ticked off faces and says, "What do you mean 'all your friends died'!? Sure, I ate all your candy without asking, but... but I'm your friend, too!" She shouts this with arms raised and an annoyed look on her face while she's standing on top of the smoking ruins of a giant killer robot.
Whatever. I know I'm easy for the happy-go-lucky whimsical girls who can punch holes in walls with their bare hands. And this manga is happy to give it to me. ♥
→ Ao no Exorcist: This one had a bit of a rocky start with me because I read the pilot chapter and loved it--demons! Almost a fairy tale-like story! Beautiful little girl whom the demon was completely devoted to! Gorgeous art! ALL THINGS I LOVE!--and I was all set to read about those characters and the adventures in that world. Then I started the actual manga and it was a completely different set of characters, ones I felt no connection to and, despite the gorgeous color pages and that I know this artist is super talented, the scans weren't that well done.
Of course the lead character was delinquent-esque and, okay, I'm weak to that type. He was also obviously part demon, so, okay, I'll stick with it awhile longer. Then there was adoptive father issues and, shit, this manga knows my weakness, when the adopted kid feels unloved because of current shit circumstances, but then gets smacked in the face with the reality of how much the parent cares. All right, I'm still reading.
Then? Turns out Rin (the main character who is obviously part demon) is THE SON OF SATAN. AHAHAHA, THE TOP DEMON HAS A LITTLE SHIT FOR A SON, OKAY, I AM NOW ONBOARD.
There is also Yukio, the super hot serious twin who doesn't have any magical powers, but is scary levels of casual badass anyway, so, you know, this manga is definitely really good at giving me a bunch of things I want. I can't say I'm super hooked yet, but it has enough elements that I love that I'm totally willing to go with it. (Even if it is a bit of a dude fest right now.)
→ Sailor Moon - ch01 to ch06: Now, here there actually will be SPOILERS for these chapters (which is about the first volume and a half, I think?) because I want to talk specifics.
One of the first things I really noticed, of course, was how beautiful I found Takeuchi's work on this series, how pretty absolutely everything is. Is it in proportion? No, of course not, everyone's fingers and legs are miles long, everyone's eyes are gigantic, but whatever! It's shoujo manga! Everything is long, graceful, and elegant! As much as I love the anime, I definitely think the manga is far, far more gorgeous.
The other thing I noticed (anime vs manga-wise) is that, so far, Usagi is basically the same character in both versions, but the anime definitely seemed to add a lot to her personality. She's much more goofy in the anime? Well, that's not how I want to put it, more that she's... she's very off-the-wall at times, in that extremely adorable and lovable way. While manga!Usagi is amazing as well, she definitely has her moments, I have to admit, that I enjoy the extra level that the anime took it to. (Unless it gets expanded on more later? I'm still not quite halfway through the first arc yet.)
However, in the manga's favor, holy crap, does everything make a lot more sense! Sure, you still have their hair styles being the same, so you'd think people would figure this shit out more easily, but you just sort of have to accept that they're not recognizable. However! MAMORU FIGURES SHIT OUT, BECAUSE HE HAS A BRAIN. He figures out who Usagi is really early on just by being observant and putting two and two together when he's in the right place at the right time. His dreams are also a lot more obscure, when he dreams of the princess, it's not as easy to tell who it is as it was in the anime, all you can really see is that she has very long hair.
I find that the search for the princess works a lot better in the manga as well, you can believe that they thought Usagi was the leader of the Senshi, especially since Luna is able to give Usagi the Moon Stick before Venus shows up. It's still obvious that Usagi is going to be the princess, but I can more seriously believe that the Senshi themselves can't put two and two together.
I love Luna rigging the arcade machines to pop out special prizes and then getting that *fufufufufu* grin on her face as she goes, ooh! that's a good prize! Let me have that so I can modify it into a new gadget for you! and Ami being like, ".....Luna, are you rigging the machines? .__." at her. I love everything with the Sailor V game, really. I love Ami being super good at it and teaching Usagi how to better play and Usagi actually gets better! One of the ways the extra emphasis the anime puts on Usagi's goofiness is that it often comes a little too close to chariacture levels for me, but the manga actually has her growing even in just little ways like this.
I like the way the Mamoru/Usagi relationship plays out better here, too. For one thing, Mamoru is only in 11th grade rather than in college, so the age difference isn't that much--even though Usagi totally mistakes him for a college student and he's like EXCUSE ME, I'M IN HIGH SCHOOL, lolz. But the best (well, aside from Usagi chucking her super low test score right in his face as she throws it over her shoulder, as he's walking around the city in full tuxedo wear, lolling so hard) was on the bus when she was talking to Luna, who suddenly shuts up. HEY, LUNA, WHY ARE YOU BEING QUIET, START TALKING AGAIN!
Cut to Mamoru watching her with casual interest, "Yeah, Luna, go ahead and start talking again." asdl;kfjasl;kjs I love them forever. I love that you can also clearly see Usagi blushing during their encounters, it's much more explicit that she's crushing on him but turning it towards saying what a jerk he is because he teases her so much. Even the other Senshi remark on how she clearly likes him.
Mamoru's characterization is definitely a lot better in the manga, like how he figures out that she's Sailor Moon and how he leads her to the fight with Makoto because Sailor Moon is needed there. I found it really interesting that he used the newspapers as a way to get more leads on the Silver Crystal--the media has a much stronger role in the manga, which I like. The anime has always sort of hinted that the general public is slowly becoming aware of Sailor Moon and the Senshi, but it never really explicitly says (beyond some reports about Sailor V, IIRC?). In the manga, it's very much known that there are running around and that they're looking for the Silver Crystal.
I found the Shitennou interesting here as well--as much as I'm not a fan of the Shitennou/Senshi pairings (because I much prefer the idea of the girls all having their own storylines where they fall in love with their own people, rather than being neatly paired off), I can see where it comes from. Between the artbooks and moments like Jadeite saying that he's been attracted to Rei since the first moment he saw her (on the other hand, she's frequently referred to as being extremely beautiful) and Rei killing him and the Nephrite vs Makoto fight (where I think she killed him, too??), I can sort of understand it.
Other stray observations:
» The Silver Crystal grants immortality? Is that just something the (youma controlled) expert said to get people hyped up about it or is that how Crystal Tokyo's residents are granted immortality?
» When the Dark Kingdom is stealing everyone's energy, the Senshi are affected as well, albeit more slowly. Mamoru, however, doesn't seem to even notice anything? My best guess is that because it's from the Dark Kingdom/Metallia, he's not affected by it, since he's on the same wavelength or whatever as they are. Interesting that, when he touches Usagi as she's collapsed, she feels warm and seems to regain energy from just the touch.
» Mamoru is apparently SUPER SMART in the manga--Ami says that his high school only accepts, like, the top .01%. Granted, this is also the manga that has Ami with an IQ of 300, which is so much bullshit that I can't even, so I take that with a grain of salt.
» The use of the transformation pen is a lot more consistent in the manga! You can tell that the episodes which used it were lifted directly from the manga, so they had to use it, but anything else the anime made up, they didn't bother with it, so it seemed really inconsistent, when it sort of wasn't.
» Genderswapped Usagi in canon? OMG I LOVE THIS MANGA HARDCORE.
» Usagi's cries are super-sonic waves that can destroy the enemy and her mask is a special set of goggles that let her see things--interesting that both of those were dropped from the anime.
► ANIME: I am up to episode 9 of Shikabane Hime and I have more thoughts on it! Well, honestly, I have more questions and wonderings than I do answers/observations, but whatever. This time it'll be more SPOILERY than general comments. I also see that the manga is serialized in Shounen Gangan? I was kind of delighted by that. ♥ (They also serialize Fullmetal Alchemist and Soul Eater.)
I am finding it interestingly difficult to get a read on the style of the series--it started out as a horror series, then it shifted to an overarching plot style of storytelling, then it seemed to briefly go back to a monster of the week type of story, and then it had a chain reaction style of events, and then it seemed to go back to episodic in nature, with hints of a bigger storyline. With most series, I would find this lack of focus to be extremely off-putting, but I don't mind it here and I honestly can't say why. Maybe I'm just enjoying the women of this series more than enough to care?
Or maybe I'm just really easy for what this show is really good at doing--these moments with such intense build-up that suddenly just snap. A monster turns their head to snarl suddenly or something explodes in someone's face suddenly or someone loses a limb when I think she was going to get away, those sharp moments that play on the building tension beautifully.
As the discussions on lj/dw/tumblr going around have basically all unanimously agreed--Ouri is not that interesting of a character, still. I find his relevance to the plot interesting enough (meaning, I want to know what the heck is up with him), but as a character himself he's still terribly bland. I'm starting to warm up to him bit by bit, especially after Minai's death, when he realized that he didn't know anything about her, so he wanted to know more about her so he could mourn her. I found his backstory very interesting, the story with the cat was absolutely heartbreaking, but didn't exactly give him a lot of personality. His connection with Minai was probably the best storyline of his so far.
That said, yeah, I'm very curious about what exactly Ouri is. Keisei found him when he was three, he didn't even know how to feed himself or go to the bathroom (which makes one wonder how he lived to the age of three then) and didn't feel anything, not until he picked up the cat and it died suddenly. The cat that looks exactly like the one that's been haunting him, the one that is seemingly Ouri himself? Or some other part of himself.
That episode also had a few clues--there were two (nearly identical) lines that stood out in particular:
- "Shikabane Hime attract those who long for death." (This was said about Makina's stalker girl, but it brought Ouri to mind immediately, given how he gravtitates towards all of the Shikabane Hime."
- "You attract Shikabane Hime because you're drawn to death. You can't run away from it anymore," the cat says to Ouri.
Way back in the beginning of the series, before he really knew about the Shikabane Hime or about his brother (who revealed himself far, far more quickly than I expected, which was such a refreshing change), he healed Makina without being a Contracted Priest with her. I don't think he's a Shikabane himself, but certainly he's something. I'm not sure if Keisei knows what he is specifically, but he clearly knows something, as do the rest of the priests and bishops. They want Ouri taken care of for some reason, implying that they know what he is? And, while I'm not sure if it's related, my suspicions are raised about Ouri punching that guy in episode 4, where he punched him hard enough to send him flying a ways up into the air--which he himself seemed surprised about, that he had that much strength.
Despite my growing interest in Ouri--and I even like Makina's relationship with him as it is--I still find the other characters far more interesting. I find Makina's relationship with Keisei far, far more interesting than her relationship with Ouri, because you can see why she cares so much about him, why she's probably at least a little bit in love with him. I can't say I ship it, because I can't really ship a dead girl (in this series) with anyone, it'd only end in tragedy and, hell, I don't think Keisei feels the same way at all. But I certainly find it very interesting.
(Also! Keisei being so very hardcore during the fight with Akasha! I KIND OF LOVE HIM A LOT. And I liked that he didn't promise Ouri that he wouldn't die, but he's always said that death isn't something to be afraid of. And I love how much he clearly cares about his little baby brother.)
I'm interested in most of the Contracted Priest/Shikabane Hime relationships, really. ....except for Isaki, I honestly didn't care that he got stabbed and died, beyond what it meant for Minai. (Whom I loved dearly.) But I think they meant for us to feel that way, given how he kissed her when she clearly wasn't interested in him, the way he pushed her beyond what was reasonable, the way he practically abused her. He was a dick and I think he was meant to come off that way.
That said, I'm definitely looking forward to more of whatever this series wants to throw at me! Especially if it's more hardcore fights between the Shikabane Hime or of the two of them teaming up together! I just. I really love a series that knows how to throw a bunch of really awesome women with guns into a fight. ♥
I still hope and pray that things can get better soon. And that 2011 stops trying to out-suck 2010. STOP IT.
► LINKS:
→ The things you find on tumblr! This Junjou Romantica video is kind of amazing.
→ Oh, excellent! Super Effective has been updating again! I left off as Red was heading towards Mt. Moon, so I had several pages to read! Including the series of comics of him trying to fight in the cave and comic 44 that made me LOL really hard. Although, page 45 also had me cracking the hell up.
→ Troy is officiall the March Madness winner and I am super delighted about this! ♥
► MANGA:
→ I've been reading a fair amount of manga lately (well, for me at least), including starting two new series that fit with the semi-theme of action and horror series I've had going lately. Also, two of them are series I've meant to read for ages, but was only galvanized by wanting to get out in front of the anime adaptations that are coming next season.
→ Deadman Wonderland: I'm currently in the middle of volume two and I can't put my finger on why I like this series, precisely, because it feels like I shouldn't--the basic premise is a fairly generic nice boy (Ganta) survives a massacre at his school (despite that he was attacked by the mysterious floating red man, too) and is blamed for the crime because that's the only conclusion they can come up. So, he's taken to a special prison called Deadman Wonderland, where it's a futuristic funhouse-style prison and they make you participate in human races (with razor sharp traps set up for everyone, of course) and other fun things for spectator sport. Meanwhile, Ganta is trying not to freak the fuck out at all of this, he's befriended by a weird girl named Shiro who just wants to play all the time, he's being watched by the crazy scientist in charge of the place, and he seems to have a special power that he doesn't even realize.
In a lot of ways, it should almost feel rather paint by the numbers? Nice kid, loopy girl in a skintight outfit, strange powers and a mystery that's slowly being hinted at, futuristic prison full of death around every corner. I feel like I've seen all these elements before. (Only in a Japanese fandom can I look at that list and think, "Yeah, I've seen those things before.") But somehow I am really enjoying this one. Part of it is that the art is absolutely lovely, the detail is strong, but it's the artist's genuinely beautiful lineart and shading that I really love. Shiro is lovely to watch her twirl around, her hair spinning out around her, her whimsical nature even as she's casually smashing through walls with just her bare feet. And, for a manga that's clearly containing some T&A, it's surprisingly non-T&A. Even the warden (who has an impossibly huge rack) is still a character and she is still scary as fuck with the iron fist she uses to rule the prison!
It helps that Ganta isn't as much of a cypher as I was expecting, he's already trying to think outside himself by volume 2 (being sorry that he caught everyone up in his quest for revenge against the red man, realizing that Shiro protected him during the race, etc.) and I think I knew I was sold on the manga when they're running from a giant killer robot as they're trying to find the red man who killed all his friends and Shiro is ticked at Ganta for reasons he can't understand, when she finally spins around and makes adorable ticked off faces and says, "What do you mean 'all your friends died'!? Sure, I ate all your candy without asking, but... but I'm your friend, too!" She shouts this with arms raised and an annoyed look on her face while she's standing on top of the smoking ruins of a giant killer robot.
Whatever. I know I'm easy for the happy-go-lucky whimsical girls who can punch holes in walls with their bare hands. And this manga is happy to give it to me. ♥
→ Ao no Exorcist: This one had a bit of a rocky start with me because I read the pilot chapter and loved it--demons! Almost a fairy tale-like story! Beautiful little girl whom the demon was completely devoted to! Gorgeous art! ALL THINGS I LOVE!--and I was all set to read about those characters and the adventures in that world. Then I started the actual manga and it was a completely different set of characters, ones I felt no connection to and, despite the gorgeous color pages and that I know this artist is super talented, the scans weren't that well done.
Of course the lead character was delinquent-esque and, okay, I'm weak to that type. He was also obviously part demon, so, okay, I'll stick with it awhile longer. Then there was adoptive father issues and, shit, this manga knows my weakness, when the adopted kid feels unloved because of current shit circumstances, but then gets smacked in the face with the reality of how much the parent cares. All right, I'm still reading.
Then? Turns out Rin (the main character who is obviously part demon) is THE SON OF SATAN. AHAHAHA, THE TOP DEMON HAS A LITTLE SHIT FOR A SON, OKAY, I AM NOW ONBOARD.
There is also Yukio, the super hot serious twin who doesn't have any magical powers, but is scary levels of casual badass anyway, so, you know, this manga is definitely really good at giving me a bunch of things I want. I can't say I'm super hooked yet, but it has enough elements that I love that I'm totally willing to go with it. (Even if it is a bit of a dude fest right now.)
→ Sailor Moon - ch01 to ch06: Now, here there actually will be SPOILERS for these chapters (which is about the first volume and a half, I think?) because I want to talk specifics.
One of the first things I really noticed, of course, was how beautiful I found Takeuchi's work on this series, how pretty absolutely everything is. Is it in proportion? No, of course not, everyone's fingers and legs are miles long, everyone's eyes are gigantic, but whatever! It's shoujo manga! Everything is long, graceful, and elegant! As much as I love the anime, I definitely think the manga is far, far more gorgeous.
The other thing I noticed (anime vs manga-wise) is that, so far, Usagi is basically the same character in both versions, but the anime definitely seemed to add a lot to her personality. She's much more goofy in the anime? Well, that's not how I want to put it, more that she's... she's very off-the-wall at times, in that extremely adorable and lovable way. While manga!Usagi is amazing as well, she definitely has her moments, I have to admit, that I enjoy the extra level that the anime took it to. (Unless it gets expanded on more later? I'm still not quite halfway through the first arc yet.)
However, in the manga's favor, holy crap, does everything make a lot more sense! Sure, you still have their hair styles being the same, so you'd think people would figure this shit out more easily, but you just sort of have to accept that they're not recognizable. However! MAMORU FIGURES SHIT OUT, BECAUSE HE HAS A BRAIN. He figures out who Usagi is really early on just by being observant and putting two and two together when he's in the right place at the right time. His dreams are also a lot more obscure, when he dreams of the princess, it's not as easy to tell who it is as it was in the anime, all you can really see is that she has very long hair.
I find that the search for the princess works a lot better in the manga as well, you can believe that they thought Usagi was the leader of the Senshi, especially since Luna is able to give Usagi the Moon Stick before Venus shows up. It's still obvious that Usagi is going to be the princess, but I can more seriously believe that the Senshi themselves can't put two and two together.
I love Luna rigging the arcade machines to pop out special prizes and then getting that *fufufufufu* grin on her face as she goes, ooh! that's a good prize! Let me have that so I can modify it into a new gadget for you! and Ami being like, ".....Luna, are you rigging the machines? .__." at her. I love everything with the Sailor V game, really. I love Ami being super good at it and teaching Usagi how to better play and Usagi actually gets better! One of the ways the extra emphasis the anime puts on Usagi's goofiness is that it often comes a little too close to chariacture levels for me, but the manga actually has her growing even in just little ways like this.
I like the way the Mamoru/Usagi relationship plays out better here, too. For one thing, Mamoru is only in 11th grade rather than in college, so the age difference isn't that much--even though Usagi totally mistakes him for a college student and he's like EXCUSE ME, I'M IN HIGH SCHOOL, lolz. But the best (well, aside from Usagi chucking her super low test score right in his face as she throws it over her shoulder, as he's walking around the city in full tuxedo wear, lolling so hard) was on the bus when she was talking to Luna, who suddenly shuts up. HEY, LUNA, WHY ARE YOU BEING QUIET, START TALKING AGAIN!
Cut to Mamoru watching her with casual interest, "Yeah, Luna, go ahead and start talking again." asdl;kfjasl;kjs I love them forever. I love that you can also clearly see Usagi blushing during their encounters, it's much more explicit that she's crushing on him but turning it towards saying what a jerk he is because he teases her so much. Even the other Senshi remark on how she clearly likes him.
Mamoru's characterization is definitely a lot better in the manga, like how he figures out that she's Sailor Moon and how he leads her to the fight with Makoto because Sailor Moon is needed there. I found it really interesting that he used the newspapers as a way to get more leads on the Silver Crystal--the media has a much stronger role in the manga, which I like. The anime has always sort of hinted that the general public is slowly becoming aware of Sailor Moon and the Senshi, but it never really explicitly says (beyond some reports about Sailor V, IIRC?). In the manga, it's very much known that there are running around and that they're looking for the Silver Crystal.
I found the Shitennou interesting here as well--as much as I'm not a fan of the Shitennou/Senshi pairings (because I much prefer the idea of the girls all having their own storylines where they fall in love with their own people, rather than being neatly paired off), I can see where it comes from. Between the artbooks and moments like Jadeite saying that he's been attracted to Rei since the first moment he saw her (on the other hand, she's frequently referred to as being extremely beautiful) and Rei killing him and the Nephrite vs Makoto fight (where I think she killed him, too??), I can sort of understand it.
Other stray observations:
» The Silver Crystal grants immortality? Is that just something the (youma controlled) expert said to get people hyped up about it or is that how Crystal Tokyo's residents are granted immortality?
» When the Dark Kingdom is stealing everyone's energy, the Senshi are affected as well, albeit more slowly. Mamoru, however, doesn't seem to even notice anything? My best guess is that because it's from the Dark Kingdom/Metallia, he's not affected by it, since he's on the same wavelength or whatever as they are. Interesting that, when he touches Usagi as she's collapsed, she feels warm and seems to regain energy from just the touch.
» Mamoru is apparently SUPER SMART in the manga--Ami says that his high school only accepts, like, the top .01%. Granted, this is also the manga that has Ami with an IQ of 300, which is so much bullshit that I can't even, so I take that with a grain of salt.
» The use of the transformation pen is a lot more consistent in the manga! You can tell that the episodes which used it were lifted directly from the manga, so they had to use it, but anything else the anime made up, they didn't bother with it, so it seemed really inconsistent, when it sort of wasn't.
» Genderswapped Usagi in canon? OMG I LOVE THIS MANGA HARDCORE.
» Usagi's cries are super-sonic waves that can destroy the enemy and her mask is a special set of goggles that let her see things--interesting that both of those were dropped from the anime.
► ANIME: I am up to episode 9 of Shikabane Hime and I have more thoughts on it! Well, honestly, I have more questions and wonderings than I do answers/observations, but whatever. This time it'll be more SPOILERY than general comments. I also see that the manga is serialized in Shounen Gangan? I was kind of delighted by that. ♥ (They also serialize Fullmetal Alchemist and Soul Eater.)
I am finding it interestingly difficult to get a read on the style of the series--it started out as a horror series, then it shifted to an overarching plot style of storytelling, then it seemed to briefly go back to a monster of the week type of story, and then it had a chain reaction style of events, and then it seemed to go back to episodic in nature, with hints of a bigger storyline. With most series, I would find this lack of focus to be extremely off-putting, but I don't mind it here and I honestly can't say why. Maybe I'm just enjoying the women of this series more than enough to care?
Or maybe I'm just really easy for what this show is really good at doing--these moments with such intense build-up that suddenly just snap. A monster turns their head to snarl suddenly or something explodes in someone's face suddenly or someone loses a limb when I think she was going to get away, those sharp moments that play on the building tension beautifully.
As the discussions on lj/dw/tumblr going around have basically all unanimously agreed--Ouri is not that interesting of a character, still. I find his relevance to the plot interesting enough (meaning, I want to know what the heck is up with him), but as a character himself he's still terribly bland. I'm starting to warm up to him bit by bit, especially after Minai's death, when he realized that he didn't know anything about her, so he wanted to know more about her so he could mourn her. I found his backstory very interesting, the story with the cat was absolutely heartbreaking, but didn't exactly give him a lot of personality. His connection with Minai was probably the best storyline of his so far.
That said, yeah, I'm very curious about what exactly Ouri is. Keisei found him when he was three, he didn't even know how to feed himself or go to the bathroom (which makes one wonder how he lived to the age of three then) and didn't feel anything, not until he picked up the cat and it died suddenly. The cat that looks exactly like the one that's been haunting him, the one that is seemingly Ouri himself? Or some other part of himself.
That episode also had a few clues--there were two (nearly identical) lines that stood out in particular:
- "Shikabane Hime attract those who long for death." (This was said about Makina's stalker girl, but it brought Ouri to mind immediately, given how he gravtitates towards all of the Shikabane Hime."
- "You attract Shikabane Hime because you're drawn to death. You can't run away from it anymore," the cat says to Ouri.
Way back in the beginning of the series, before he really knew about the Shikabane Hime or about his brother (who revealed himself far, far more quickly than I expected, which was such a refreshing change), he healed Makina without being a Contracted Priest with her. I don't think he's a Shikabane himself, but certainly he's something. I'm not sure if Keisei knows what he is specifically, but he clearly knows something, as do the rest of the priests and bishops. They want Ouri taken care of for some reason, implying that they know what he is? And, while I'm not sure if it's related, my suspicions are raised about Ouri punching that guy in episode 4, where he punched him hard enough to send him flying a ways up into the air--which he himself seemed surprised about, that he had that much strength.
Despite my growing interest in Ouri--and I even like Makina's relationship with him as it is--I still find the other characters far more interesting. I find Makina's relationship with Keisei far, far more interesting than her relationship with Ouri, because you can see why she cares so much about him, why she's probably at least a little bit in love with him. I can't say I ship it, because I can't really ship a dead girl (in this series) with anyone, it'd only end in tragedy and, hell, I don't think Keisei feels the same way at all. But I certainly find it very interesting.
(Also! Keisei being so very hardcore during the fight with Akasha! I KIND OF LOVE HIM A LOT. And I liked that he didn't promise Ouri that he wouldn't die, but he's always said that death isn't something to be afraid of. And I love how much he clearly cares about his little baby brother.)
I'm interested in most of the Contracted Priest/Shikabane Hime relationships, really. ....except for Isaki, I honestly didn't care that he got stabbed and died, beyond what it meant for Minai. (Whom I loved dearly.) But I think they meant for us to feel that way, given how he kissed her when she clearly wasn't interested in him, the way he pushed her beyond what was reasonable, the way he practically abused her. He was a dick and I think he was meant to come off that way.
That said, I'm definitely looking forward to more of whatever this series wants to throw at me! Especially if it's more hardcore fights between the Shikabane Hime or of the two of them teaming up together! I just. I really love a series that knows how to throw a bunch of really awesome women with guns into a fight. ♥