I should be asleep right now. Can't sleep, whirling thoughts'll eat me.
► GENERAL:
→ One of the few things fandomsecrets is good for anymore is finding links to things. An unofficial trailer for Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica is really good.
→ From yumemiya: Les Yay Madoka, her tumblr dedicated to the yuri ships of Madoka Magica. (Mostly Homura/Madoka, Kyouko/Sayaka, but occasional others as well.) I APPROVE SO HARD.
→ Also from fandomsecretsly, HOLY SHIT, I NEED TO FIND THE ARTIST FOR THIS PIECE OF FANART, IT IS SERIOUSLY FUCKING AMAZING. (Spoilery for Madoka Magica episode 10 context.)
► TUMBLR:
I was kind of all over the place on tumblr tonight. I posted a bunch on girlsbydaylight (Avatar, Madoka Magica, VOCALOID, and Sailor Moon) plus a bunch of Madoka Magica art on girlsofmagic.
► MANGA:
→ Deadman Wonderland: I'm still slowly plugging away at this one, so let's say SPOILERS up through volume 4 now. I'm sad to see that the tankouban versions ran out (they were so pretty) and they had to switch to magazine scans, but it's still a really fantastically good-looking series.
It's kind of amazing how this series continues to keep me sucked in. Even when it sort of sometimes threatens to be a little too T&A for my tastes, it backs it up with its women being fucking hardcore--there's Shiro and Makina, of course, and Makina's underling who is totally gay for her, but also Karako joining the ranks of the totally badass here. I was pleased that the manga answered one of my questions--if their blood becomes these super-hard or super-sharp weapons, why not cover yourself in it and use it as armor? You wouldn't take near the damange then! And then Karako shows up (looking super hot, I have to say) and does exactly that! And, man, she hits like a demon, too. *___* But, I take it, your blood weapons generally only take one shape? I've only seen each of the Deadmen use their powers in one way, so I'm assuming so?
I did feel like the events of this volume were rushed, that Ganta is just suddenly shoved into the scenes with Scar Chain and rushed right into their assault during the inspection visit, which of course went badly off the rails as everything in this place does. It felt like all these characters were suddenly thrown at me, then there was this big plan they were putting into action, and I hardly had time to catch it all before it was going badly and the manga was asking me to care. I just didn't have time with Nagi and Karako and the others to care. But that was before they moved on to the second part of the plan--trying to get Nagi to join the Undertakers, so maybe I'll find the pacing better yet.
However.
There was one moment when I knew I loved this manga all over again.
That is Senji's re-introduction into the fray of the whole mess of Scar Chain vs Undertakers, not even a panel before that. You see him say, "One... two... three..." but then that's it. He just jumps right in, his blades slicing right through the two creepy serial killers and I just. a;lskdfj;alsjk;lkajs oh, I am a sucker for all these things! A splashy entrance! A double splash page! Badass character designs! Swords on his arms! Dangerous as fuck! Killing the enemy's underlings while he's still laughing because he hasn't realized it yet!
Senji isn't even necessarily my favorite character (I'm not sure I have one yet? I guess he would be in the running, though....) but that entrance was fantastic and I really love this manga a lot.
► ANIME:
→ Madoka Magica: SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS for episode 10!
(You know what is a seriously weird moment of cognitive dissoance? Looking at all that Madoka Magica fanart while listening to "Soremimi Cake". a;sdlkjfa;lkslkj I can't even explain how weird it is.
Wolfie linked to this timeline image for the various events that happened in each timeline and I'm amazed at the detail of it, but mostly. LOL FOREVER at the image used for the fifth Walpurgisnacht. (Seriously, that wasn in IRL LOL I got there.)
→ Sailor Moon Super 105-109: I've been focusing back in on just Super (because I realized it was silly to be watching it out of order when the point was an in-order rewatch of the whole series) and it's helped now that the storyline is really ramping up again. Spoilers, of course, but for a series as old as this one....
Notes arranged by episode:
Episode 105:
→ This is the episode where the girls go visit Makoto during her training in the mountains and Usagi manages to leave Chibi-Usa behind. (Especially because Mamoru is working at a nearby hotel and Usagi wants to spend time with him.) It got me to thinking, because, well, here's the thing about Usagi's purity--she says (to the other girls on the trainride out there) she gave Chibi-Usa an explanation worthy of showing her that Usagi is her future mother. Cut to a flashback of Chibi-Usa in a huff, because she's screaming at a not-there Usagi who told her she was going to the bathroom and then sneaked out the back door. Which was hilarious as all hell, but... "pure"? It made me kind of give the show a bit of a side-eye.
→ I love this episode because it's so much of what Sailor Moon is about, as a series. Makoto is feeling down because she lost against one of the Daimon (hence being in the mountains to train), so the other girls have this genuinely sweet, supportive conversation with her about why she's here... and then it degenerates into a giant pillow fight. Of course it does.
→ I... I have noticed that Rei seems to almost always be the one starting shit with Usagi. I feel like this should make me like her less, but somehow makes me like her more? I think it's because it's coming from a place where Rei obviously loves Usagi deeply (the show has more than shown that) but that also she's someone who has trouble not teasing the ones she cares for. So she just can't resist a chance to yank on Usagi's pigtails, as it were, because that's how you know Rei likes you a lot. (Also, boy do I sympathize with find it easier to tease someone as a way of caring than to be open and direct.)
→ Wow, I think Sailor Jupiter defeating the Daruma diamon was the first time one of them wasn't defeated by Sailor Moon. There was no special attack or anything! Not even the Outers managed that, as far as I've seen?
Episode 107:
→ This episode is the one with Chibi-Usa in a pottery class and there's this boy she likes named Masanori. When you see him? BOY DID I EVER LAUGH when he looked like an honest-to-god mini version of Mamoru.
It makes me wish that Chibi-Usa dated Masanori for awhile, maybe running into him at the park while she's with Mamoru and the SHEER, UTTER AWKWARD OF THAT, meeting your baby girl's first boyfriend despite that she's sort of not your baby girl just yet except she is and she's INTERESTED IN A BOY... who looks exactly like you. I would laugh and laugh and laugh and LAUGH FOREVER.
P.S. You know who I really feel badly for? HELIOS. Of course he falls for the daughter of the prince of the earth and the holder of the Golden Crystal. Of course he does. (Though, I'm not actually sure what the relationship is there--he's not one of Mamoru's generals, but their spirits are definitely tied together. It's not helped by how different things are in the manga vs the anime, of course.)
Episode 108:
→ If I didn't ship the respective OTPs so very hard, I... I would not be opposed to Haruka/Usagi and Mamoru/Michiru after the waltzing together at the English party. Though, I kind of think that Haruka (along with half of the cast) was a little in love with Usagi anyway.
Episode 109:
→ THIS EPISODE. THIS EPISODE IS ONE OF MY FAVORITES. Minako worries about how she's the only one who hasn't been attacked by a Daimon and Minako always, always makes for the best hilarity. THIS EPISODE DOES NOT DISAPPOINT.
→ One of the interesting things to come out of this episode is something that had been brewing in my head before they touched on it directly: Luna's trying to cheer Minako up about possibly not having a "pure" heart, by saying that look at Usagi! Sure, her love for Mamoru is pure, but so is her love of food and sleeping and her pure hate for studying. (Pure idiocy, maybe!)
And I think that's what they're actually saying about pure hearts in the series? Not necessarily that it's the kindest, most good-hearted people (though, they're usually very kind as well), but people who are not all over the place, the people who are very focused on what they love. Someone who has a pure love of wanting to fix up a car or a pure love of tea ceremonies or a pure love of singing, rather than just half-heartedly loving one thing or another. Not that that's bad, just that it's not the people they wind up targetting. And Usagi has a huge heart crystal because she's Usagi and cares for everyone and she has a pure heart because Usagi puts her huge heart into everything she does.
→ Minako's chirping CACKLE as she hoards her heart crystal makes me LOL every single time. The way she zips off and everyone has to chase after her, giggling the whole time, it is seriously the greatest thing ever.
→ Ayakashi 06-08: I finished up this arc, which means I only have three episodes left (the Bake Neko arc) and I definitely found this one interesting. SPOILERS for the whole arc, of course.
Overall, I can't say it had as strong an impact on me as the first arc or it's catching my attention as much as Mononoke has, which I don't think is a reflection on the quality of the writing, so much as... maybe it was the art? It kept distracting me by how it was almost super pretty, except the budget was clearly not high enough to really tighten it up. It reminded me a lot of a poorer quality Saiunkoku Monogatari, I want to say. There are moments when it's really beautiful, especially with Tomi-hime, but Zoshonosuke always looked weird. I get that he was supposed to be handsome, it was just that the art didn't quite back it up.
There were also some very oddly placed moments of humor in the episodes, like when the toad mononoke fell down the stairs. It was a serious moment previous to that, it was just a random rapidfire change and then it was like it never happened. I didn't mind the role of the two mononoke, I get that they were there for an outsider's point of view, but that moment was just... weird.
I did, however, like the tension of the entire story, how I had no idea what was going to happen, other than that it couldn't end well, not once Tomi-hime and Zoshonosuke tried to run away together. From then on, it was pretty well doomed to tragedy. But, honestly, I thought the ending they got was perfect. You didn't see it happen, you just saw the two of them, in the middle of the battlefield after the lord attacked the Forgotten Gods' castle, the two of them the only survivors while the falcon (Tomi-hime's mother's spirit) circled over them and rained flowers down.
Then, after a moment, the two mononoke are looking up at the sky and, huh, there's three of them now, weird. And that's it. It was a lovely ending and I thought it hit every note it needed to at the end. I'm a little surprised at myself for not having seen it coming, it was so well foreshadowed, but I'm glad I didn't, because it capped the arc off perfectly for me.
I think maybe it just feels like a weird fit with a tale of "horror" stories. Even Mononoke has the creepy factor and monsters to fit the genre, but... even when the Forgotten Gods were killing people or everyone was dying, it was more flowery action than it was horror. Not that it wasn't an awesome set of action scenes--the Forgotten Gods just destroying the enemies and not even bothering to defend all that hard because they believe they're invincible, that the weapons of man wouldn't harm them, so when they start bleeding from attacks, it's too late. I enjoyed that everything just sort of snowballed on them, as soon as Tomi-hime fell in love and weakened all of them because it was a human.
A well-told story that I'm glad I saw, but it leaves me feeling vaguely unsatisfied for lack of any actual horror in it. But! On to Bake Neko now!
→ One of the few things fandomsecrets is good for anymore is finding links to things. An unofficial trailer for Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica is really good.
→ From yumemiya: Les Yay Madoka, her tumblr dedicated to the yuri ships of Madoka Magica. (Mostly Homura/Madoka, Kyouko/Sayaka, but occasional others as well.) I APPROVE SO HARD.
→ Also from fandomsecretsly, HOLY SHIT, I NEED TO FIND THE ARTIST FOR THIS PIECE OF FANART, IT IS SERIOUSLY FUCKING AMAZING. (Spoilery for Madoka Magica episode 10 context.)
► TUMBLR:
I was kind of all over the place on tumblr tonight. I posted a bunch on girlsbydaylight (Avatar, Madoka Magica, VOCALOID, and Sailor Moon) plus a bunch of Madoka Magica art on girlsofmagic.
► MANGA:
→ Deadman Wonderland: I'm still slowly plugging away at this one, so let's say SPOILERS up through volume 4 now. I'm sad to see that the tankouban versions ran out (they were so pretty) and they had to switch to magazine scans, but it's still a really fantastically good-looking series.
It's kind of amazing how this series continues to keep me sucked in. Even when it sort of sometimes threatens to be a little too T&A for my tastes, it backs it up with its women being fucking hardcore--there's Shiro and Makina, of course, and Makina's underling who is totally gay for her, but also Karako joining the ranks of the totally badass here. I was pleased that the manga answered one of my questions--if their blood becomes these super-hard or super-sharp weapons, why not cover yourself in it and use it as armor? You wouldn't take near the damange then! And then Karako shows up (looking super hot, I have to say) and does exactly that! And, man, she hits like a demon, too. *___* But, I take it, your blood weapons generally only take one shape? I've only seen each of the Deadmen use their powers in one way, so I'm assuming so?
I did feel like the events of this volume were rushed, that Ganta is just suddenly shoved into the scenes with Scar Chain and rushed right into their assault during the inspection visit, which of course went badly off the rails as everything in this place does. It felt like all these characters were suddenly thrown at me, then there was this big plan they were putting into action, and I hardly had time to catch it all before it was going badly and the manga was asking me to care. I just didn't have time with Nagi and Karako and the others to care. But that was before they moved on to the second part of the plan--trying to get Nagi to join the Undertakers, so maybe I'll find the pacing better yet.
However.
There was one moment when I knew I loved this manga all over again.
That is Senji's re-introduction into the fray of the whole mess of Scar Chain vs Undertakers, not even a panel before that. You see him say, "One... two... three..." but then that's it. He just jumps right in, his blades slicing right through the two creepy serial killers and I just. a;lskdfj;alsjk;lkajs oh, I am a sucker for all these things! A splashy entrance! A double splash page! Badass character designs! Swords on his arms! Dangerous as fuck! Killing the enemy's underlings while he's still laughing because he hasn't realized it yet!
Senji isn't even necessarily my favorite character (I'm not sure I have one yet? I guess he would be in the running, though....) but that entrance was fantastic and I really love this manga a lot.
► ANIME:
→ Madoka Magica: SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS for episode 10!
(You know what is a seriously weird moment of cognitive dissoance? Looking at all that Madoka Magica fanart while listening to "Soremimi Cake". a;sdlkjfa;lkslkj I can't even explain how weird it is.
Wolfie linked to this timeline image for the various events that happened in each timeline and I'm amazed at the detail of it, but mostly. LOL FOREVER at the image used for the fifth Walpurgisnacht. (Seriously, that wasn in IRL LOL I got there.)
→ Sailor Moon Super 105-109: I've been focusing back in on just Super (because I realized it was silly to be watching it out of order when the point was an in-order rewatch of the whole series) and it's helped now that the storyline is really ramping up again. Spoilers, of course, but for a series as old as this one....
Notes arranged by episode:
Episode 105:
→ This is the episode where the girls go visit Makoto during her training in the mountains and Usagi manages to leave Chibi-Usa behind. (Especially because Mamoru is working at a nearby hotel and Usagi wants to spend time with him.) It got me to thinking, because, well, here's the thing about Usagi's purity--she says (to the other girls on the trainride out there) she gave Chibi-Usa an explanation worthy of showing her that Usagi is her future mother. Cut to a flashback of Chibi-Usa in a huff, because she's screaming at a not-there Usagi who told her she was going to the bathroom and then sneaked out the back door. Which was hilarious as all hell, but... "pure"? It made me kind of give the show a bit of a side-eye.
→ I love this episode because it's so much of what Sailor Moon is about, as a series. Makoto is feeling down because she lost against one of the Daimon (hence being in the mountains to train), so the other girls have this genuinely sweet, supportive conversation with her about why she's here... and then it degenerates into a giant pillow fight. Of course it does.
→ I... I have noticed that Rei seems to almost always be the one starting shit with Usagi. I feel like this should make me like her less, but somehow makes me like her more? I think it's because it's coming from a place where Rei obviously loves Usagi deeply (the show has more than shown that) but that also she's someone who has trouble not teasing the ones she cares for. So she just can't resist a chance to yank on Usagi's pigtails, as it were, because that's how you know Rei likes you a lot. (Also, boy do I sympathize with find it easier to tease someone as a way of caring than to be open and direct.)
→ Wow, I think Sailor Jupiter defeating the Daruma diamon was the first time one of them wasn't defeated by Sailor Moon. There was no special attack or anything! Not even the Outers managed that, as far as I've seen?
Episode 107:
→ This episode is the one with Chibi-Usa in a pottery class and there's this boy she likes named Masanori. When you see him? BOY DID I EVER LAUGH when he looked like an honest-to-god mini version of Mamoru.
It makes me wish that Chibi-Usa dated Masanori for awhile, maybe running into him at the park while she's with Mamoru and the SHEER, UTTER AWKWARD OF THAT, meeting your baby girl's first boyfriend despite that she's sort of not your baby girl just yet except she is and she's INTERESTED IN A BOY... who looks exactly like you. I would laugh and laugh and laugh and LAUGH FOREVER.
P.S. You know who I really feel badly for? HELIOS. Of course he falls for the daughter of the prince of the earth and the holder of the Golden Crystal. Of course he does. (Though, I'm not actually sure what the relationship is there--he's not one of Mamoru's generals, but their spirits are definitely tied together. It's not helped by how different things are in the manga vs the anime, of course.)
Episode 108:
→ If I didn't ship the respective OTPs so very hard, I... I would not be opposed to Haruka/Usagi and Mamoru/Michiru after the waltzing together at the English party. Though, I kind of think that Haruka (along with half of the cast) was a little in love with Usagi anyway.
Episode 109:
→ THIS EPISODE. THIS EPISODE IS ONE OF MY FAVORITES. Minako worries about how she's the only one who hasn't been attacked by a Daimon and Minako always, always makes for the best hilarity. THIS EPISODE DOES NOT DISAPPOINT.
→ One of the interesting things to come out of this episode is something that had been brewing in my head before they touched on it directly: Luna's trying to cheer Minako up about possibly not having a "pure" heart, by saying that look at Usagi! Sure, her love for Mamoru is pure, but so is her love of food and sleeping and her pure hate for studying. (Pure idiocy, maybe!)
And I think that's what they're actually saying about pure hearts in the series? Not necessarily that it's the kindest, most good-hearted people (though, they're usually very kind as well), but people who are not all over the place, the people who are very focused on what they love. Someone who has a pure love of wanting to fix up a car or a pure love of tea ceremonies or a pure love of singing, rather than just half-heartedly loving one thing or another. Not that that's bad, just that it's not the people they wind up targetting. And Usagi has a huge heart crystal because she's Usagi and cares for everyone and she has a pure heart because Usagi puts her huge heart into everything she does.
→ Minako's chirping CACKLE as she hoards her heart crystal makes me LOL every single time. The way she zips off and everyone has to chase after her, giggling the whole time, it is seriously the greatest thing ever.
→ Ayakashi 06-08: I finished up this arc, which means I only have three episodes left (the Bake Neko arc) and I definitely found this one interesting. SPOILERS for the whole arc, of course.
Overall, I can't say it had as strong an impact on me as the first arc or it's catching my attention as much as Mononoke has, which I don't think is a reflection on the quality of the writing, so much as... maybe it was the art? It kept distracting me by how it was almost super pretty, except the budget was clearly not high enough to really tighten it up. It reminded me a lot of a poorer quality Saiunkoku Monogatari, I want to say. There are moments when it's really beautiful, especially with Tomi-hime, but Zoshonosuke always looked weird. I get that he was supposed to be handsome, it was just that the art didn't quite back it up.
There were also some very oddly placed moments of humor in the episodes, like when the toad mononoke fell down the stairs. It was a serious moment previous to that, it was just a random rapidfire change and then it was like it never happened. I didn't mind the role of the two mononoke, I get that they were there for an outsider's point of view, but that moment was just... weird.
I did, however, like the tension of the entire story, how I had no idea what was going to happen, other than that it couldn't end well, not once Tomi-hime and Zoshonosuke tried to run away together. From then on, it was pretty well doomed to tragedy. But, honestly, I thought the ending they got was perfect. You didn't see it happen, you just saw the two of them, in the middle of the battlefield after the lord attacked the Forgotten Gods' castle, the two of them the only survivors while the falcon (Tomi-hime's mother's spirit) circled over them and rained flowers down.
Then, after a moment, the two mononoke are looking up at the sky and, huh, there's three of them now, weird. And that's it. It was a lovely ending and I thought it hit every note it needed to at the end. I'm a little surprised at myself for not having seen it coming, it was so well foreshadowed, but I'm glad I didn't, because it capped the arc off perfectly for me.
I think maybe it just feels like a weird fit with a tale of "horror" stories. Even Mononoke has the creepy factor and monsters to fit the genre, but... even when the Forgotten Gods were killing people or everyone was dying, it was more flowery action than it was horror. Not that it wasn't an awesome set of action scenes--the Forgotten Gods just destroying the enemies and not even bothering to defend all that hard because they believe they're invincible, that the weapons of man wouldn't harm them, so when they start bleeding from attacks, it's too late. I enjoyed that everything just sort of snowballed on them, as soon as Tomi-hime fell in love and weakened all of them because it was a human.
A well-told story that I'm glad I saw, but it leaves me feeling vaguely unsatisfied for lack of any actual horror in it. But! On to Bake Neko now!