Loving LJ and Marmalade Boy fun
Here are four reasons why I love LiveJournal.
crumpeteer has a snarky, hilarious summary of the second half of North & South.
pottersues deals with the story in which Hogwarts puts on a production of Rent, killing both fandoms in the process.
sarcasticchick writes a ‘translation’ of a Fox News interview re: Cheney hunting accident which is to die for.
And ajhalluk discusses why she didn’t like Brokeback. One word: sheep.
I love LJ.
In other news, I’ve embarked on watching Marmalade Boy, an anime I’ve been told is the quintessential example of modern high-school-girl soap. I don’t want to watch Beebop, RahXephon, Kenshin or Peacemaker when Husband isn’t around because he either likes them or has interest in seeing them, but he has zero interest in MB. I am seven episodes in (this show is super long: 70+ eps plus an OVA) and so far I am enjoying it well enough though my general impression is of a glass of milk: pleasant, soothing, and not terribly filling. This certainly lacks the interesting, deeply flawed characters of Hana Yori Dango or HYD’s approach to gender and class issues. The animation is easier on my eyes though. I like the music, as well.
Plot: Miki (the heroine) is a typical high school girl: energetic, popular enough, well-adjusted. Until one day her parents come home from a cruise and tell her that while on vacation they met another couple and decided to swap partners. And so Miki won’t be deprived of parents, both families will move into the same house. The other couple has a son Miki’s age, whose name is Yuu and Yuu and Miki are the show’s OTP. Yuu is a nonchalant, deeply reserved person who is, so far, my favorite character. And there is a host of other characters interconnected as well.
I am amused at how unusual some of the basic premises are. I know this show was very main-stream and popular and I cannot imagine an American show approach these issues in such a matter of fact way. Not only is there the happy swinger hippie communal family (this household is perceived as happy and Miki’s friend even tells her she is lucky her family still loves her and can be friends with each other), there is also a student-teacher affair (Miki’s best friend and the coolest teacher in school. Unless the music director screwed up majorly, we are supposed to think this is cool. They play the same music as during the first kiss of Yuu and Miki who are clearly the show’s OTP!). Not to mention that, since I am spoiled, I can’t wait to get to the part where Yuu and Miki find out, Veronica and Duncan like, (it turns out, wrongly, later) that they are half-siblings. They agonize over this and then decide that it doesn’t matter and they love each other anyway. Can you imagine this on an American show?
Now I can see why katranna was so surprised by my dislike of HYD anime art style. I was comparing it to different styles: the ‘adult’ anime like Trigun or Cowboy Beebop, or even the fantasy world of Fushigi Yuugi. But it seems a HYD-like style is a popular thing among contemporary shoujo. MB has brighter colors, but the character design stems from the same basic principle (e.g. they have beetle eyes: big, unified round ovals, which took me the most getting used in HYD). I can see how HYD can come across as more artistic…I do like the brighter colors and MB animation well enough, but neither MB nor HYD will be winning ‘coolest anime design’ if it was my vote.
I like Yuu a lot. He is boylike and fun and not mushy. He acts and looks rather like a 17-yr old boy would: there are no devoted poetry recitals but instead various actions which are the equivalent of pulling on pigtails to show he likes Miki (he sticks gum on her hand, he tells her he came over because he wanted to see her in her cute tennis outfit and when she goes “really” he goes “of course not, just joking!” He leaves the breakfast table so she has to clean up. He invites her for a date at an amusement park and wins her a toy. Except it’s not the one she wanted.) And yet he can be surprisingly nice in an understated fashion. When he sees she is troubled he drags her out of the house and takes her to a beautiful spot, which is his favorite place, where the river is and teaches her to skip stones. I also love his laid-back, detached attitude. He is VERY reserved, even though since he is always smiling and even-tempered it’s masked very well. Ginta, the other boy who likes Miki and who I adore, finally realizes that about Yuu when he asks him if Yuu likes Miki and Yuu grins and switches the topic and then walks off. Pleasant, non-intense, and completely stone-walling any answers Ginta might have wanted. I am also amused he is so popular with the girls because he generally likes to spend so much time in the library and is quiet enough, though very confident.
Unfortunately there is no swoon potential here, as he doesn’t have the sheer coolness and maturity and issues of the grown-up characters like Vash or Spike, or the hot intensity and mystery of Yuu Watase bishounen. Understandably so, for the type of character and story it is. I do like him quite a lot so maybe when the angst hits…It took me forever to adore Doumyouji, after all.
My favorite scene so far is the purple haired (is there some sort of purple-haired cult I don’t know about? Every anime has purple hair) gay boy trying to pick Yuu up. Yuu is sitting by himself in the library which is completely empty and has hundreds of seats. The PHB comes up and sits right next to Yuu asking ‘is this seat taken?’ to which Yuu, puzzled, replies ‘no. But there are plenty of other ones.’ So PHB sits right next to him and starts staring at him. Yuu, who is reading a book on Gaudi(!!!), possibly because he wants to be an architect, or he likes cathedrals with fruit on top or has a beard fetish, notices and looks back at him so PHB tells him he likes him to which Yuu, taken aback, replies he doesn’t like boys.
Then PHB looks at Yuu’s book and says “Gaudi. I have all the volumes of this at home. Want to come with me and I’ll show you?” And I fall in love with this show. Because he is trying to seduce Yuu by offering him a complete set of volumes on Gaudi!!! Way better than “let me show you my etchings.” Yuu says the library’s set is good enough and flees and PHB cheerfully decides to pursue another day. Heeee.
I also liked the little flashback to a few years back, when Miki liked Ginta. The following conversation ensued:
Friend (re: Ginta): "What's so good about him?"
Miki: "He has a short temper and gets angry easily. But a bit of flattery will soon get him calmed again. Wait, that's not what I meant..."
Heeee.
Also, I love Miki questioning why Yuu kissed her:
Miki: “Why did you do it?”
Yuu: "Why do you do that? A devil made me do it."
*she starts shaking him:
Yuu: "OK, OK, I am lying. It's a joke. Miki, it's obviously because I like you."
The "we don't care about sibling-hood" OTP of the show, Yuu and Miki:
The 'cast:'
Ginta:
The main girls:
Yes, the clothes are stuck in the 80s.
crumpeteer has a snarky, hilarious summary of the second half of North & South.
pottersues deals with the story in which Hogwarts puts on a production of Rent, killing both fandoms in the process.
sarcasticchick writes a ‘translation’ of a Fox News interview re: Cheney hunting accident which is to die for.
And ajhalluk discusses why she didn’t like Brokeback. One word: sheep.
I love LJ.
In other news, I’ve embarked on watching Marmalade Boy, an anime I’ve been told is the quintessential example of modern high-school-girl soap. I don’t want to watch Beebop, RahXephon, Kenshin or Peacemaker when Husband isn’t around because he either likes them or has interest in seeing them, but he has zero interest in MB. I am seven episodes in (this show is super long: 70+ eps plus an OVA) and so far I am enjoying it well enough though my general impression is of a glass of milk: pleasant, soothing, and not terribly filling. This certainly lacks the interesting, deeply flawed characters of Hana Yori Dango or HYD’s approach to gender and class issues. The animation is easier on my eyes though. I like the music, as well.
Plot: Miki (the heroine) is a typical high school girl: energetic, popular enough, well-adjusted. Until one day her parents come home from a cruise and tell her that while on vacation they met another couple and decided to swap partners. And so Miki won’t be deprived of parents, both families will move into the same house. The other couple has a son Miki’s age, whose name is Yuu and Yuu and Miki are the show’s OTP. Yuu is a nonchalant, deeply reserved person who is, so far, my favorite character. And there is a host of other characters interconnected as well.
I am amused at how unusual some of the basic premises are. I know this show was very main-stream and popular and I cannot imagine an American show approach these issues in such a matter of fact way. Not only is there the happy swinger hippie communal family (this household is perceived as happy and Miki’s friend even tells her she is lucky her family still loves her and can be friends with each other), there is also a student-teacher affair (Miki’s best friend and the coolest teacher in school. Unless the music director screwed up majorly, we are supposed to think this is cool. They play the same music as during the first kiss of Yuu and Miki who are clearly the show’s OTP!). Not to mention that, since I am spoiled, I can’t wait to get to the part where Yuu and Miki find out, Veronica and Duncan like, (it turns out, wrongly, later) that they are half-siblings. They agonize over this and then decide that it doesn’t matter and they love each other anyway. Can you imagine this on an American show?
Now I can see why katranna was so surprised by my dislike of HYD anime art style. I was comparing it to different styles: the ‘adult’ anime like Trigun or Cowboy Beebop, or even the fantasy world of Fushigi Yuugi. But it seems a HYD-like style is a popular thing among contemporary shoujo. MB has brighter colors, but the character design stems from the same basic principle (e.g. they have beetle eyes: big, unified round ovals, which took me the most getting used in HYD). I can see how HYD can come across as more artistic…I do like the brighter colors and MB animation well enough, but neither MB nor HYD will be winning ‘coolest anime design’ if it was my vote.
I like Yuu a lot. He is boylike and fun and not mushy. He acts and looks rather like a 17-yr old boy would: there are no devoted poetry recitals but instead various actions which are the equivalent of pulling on pigtails to show he likes Miki (he sticks gum on her hand, he tells her he came over because he wanted to see her in her cute tennis outfit and when she goes “really” he goes “of course not, just joking!” He leaves the breakfast table so she has to clean up. He invites her for a date at an amusement park and wins her a toy. Except it’s not the one she wanted.) And yet he can be surprisingly nice in an understated fashion. When he sees she is troubled he drags her out of the house and takes her to a beautiful spot, which is his favorite place, where the river is and teaches her to skip stones. I also love his laid-back, detached attitude. He is VERY reserved, even though since he is always smiling and even-tempered it’s masked very well. Ginta, the other boy who likes Miki and who I adore, finally realizes that about Yuu when he asks him if Yuu likes Miki and Yuu grins and switches the topic and then walks off. Pleasant, non-intense, and completely stone-walling any answers Ginta might have wanted. I am also amused he is so popular with the girls because he generally likes to spend so much time in the library and is quiet enough, though very confident.
Unfortunately there is no swoon potential here, as he doesn’t have the sheer coolness and maturity and issues of the grown-up characters like Vash or Spike, or the hot intensity and mystery of Yuu Watase bishounen. Understandably so, for the type of character and story it is. I do like him quite a lot so maybe when the angst hits…It took me forever to adore Doumyouji, after all.
My favorite scene so far is the purple haired (is there some sort of purple-haired cult I don’t know about? Every anime has purple hair) gay boy trying to pick Yuu up. Yuu is sitting by himself in the library which is completely empty and has hundreds of seats. The PHB comes up and sits right next to Yuu asking ‘is this seat taken?’ to which Yuu, puzzled, replies ‘no. But there are plenty of other ones.’ So PHB sits right next to him and starts staring at him. Yuu, who is reading a book on Gaudi(!!!), possibly because he wants to be an architect, or he likes cathedrals with fruit on top or has a beard fetish, notices and looks back at him so PHB tells him he likes him to which Yuu, taken aback, replies he doesn’t like boys.
Then PHB looks at Yuu’s book and says “Gaudi. I have all the volumes of this at home. Want to come with me and I’ll show you?” And I fall in love with this show. Because he is trying to seduce Yuu by offering him a complete set of volumes on Gaudi!!! Way better than “let me show you my etchings.” Yuu says the library’s set is good enough and flees and PHB cheerfully decides to pursue another day. Heeee.
I also liked the little flashback to a few years back, when Miki liked Ginta. The following conversation ensued:
Friend (re: Ginta): "What's so good about him?"
Miki: "He has a short temper and gets angry easily. But a bit of flattery will soon get him calmed again. Wait, that's not what I meant..."
Heeee.
Also, I love Miki questioning why Yuu kissed her:
Miki: “Why did you do it?”
Yuu: "Why do you do that? A devil made me do it."
*she starts shaking him:
Yuu: "OK, OK, I am lying. It's a joke. Miki, it's obviously because I like you."
The "we don't care about sibling-hood" OTP of the show, Yuu and Miki:
The 'cast:'
Ginta:
The main girls:
Yes, the clothes are stuck in the 80s.