Fun post
It's been a few days since I posted. Usually that means nothing interesting is going on. (Tho' I doubt any of you poor masochistic folk who read this find descriptions of my college life interesting...) But in this case, it's exactly the opposite. It's been rather insane lately. For that reason, I'm breaking this up into two posts. I have so much to say, but about such different things. So this post is for the fun, random stuff I usually post - the second post will be for the depressing stuff.
To start with, I'm home from college. My dad showed up on Wednesday afternoon, we packed all my crap in the car (amazingly, since I had a late final and was one of the last on my floor to leave, it wasn't the huge hassle I expected it to be), and said good-bye to my roommate. Then we started driving the four hours to home. (I don't know how this is going to go down when I'm in Indiana.)
So now I'm home. I got to see my fam and my doggy. I'd have gone to meet up with Kathryn and the peeps, but I'm going to Florida tomorrow and the few free days in between were a bit difficult for scheduling things. It's really weird not being at college. I still haven't gotten used to sleeping in what used to be my brother's room. And all my boxes and bags are strewn around the floor, which is small, so I can't walk anywhere without toppling over. (I should really unpack. But, again, Florida - a lot of stuff will just end up back in bags when we leave.)
Even though my Stat teacher said he'd have our grades up the day after we took the final (last Monday), and even though Yoshida-sensei has never been late with grades, I still have not seen a single grade anywhere on the university website. No emails about it either. That's really weird, and annoying. I was hoping to at least know what I got on my finals by now. The suspense is killing me.
I also received a bunch of forms in the mail from the school I'm transferring too. Housing apps, advisor apps, etc... At my current school, we were asked three questions on the Roommate Questionnaire. THREE. At this school? There's an ENTIRE form, FRONT AND BACK.
Eek!
It's obvious these schools are entirely different. But I'm really excited about the transfer. In fact I feel stupid for not picking this school in the first place (I even got in last year). I didn't for a few reasons: I didn't want to go so far from home (now I want to be at a school where most of the students are from far away, so that they don't all go HOME every chance they get, or look at me weird for being a long-distancer), I thought I wanted to try something different (suburbia, I will never reject you again), and ultimately, I wasn't sure if I'd have been choosing that school because I wanted to go there or because it was the safe option (I'd been there before for a summer program).
But this school has a lot to offer. They have themed dorm floors. My number one is the Polygot floor, for language enthustiasts. (!!!) How nerdy can you get!? I could speak Japanese and Spanish whenever I want, and maybe pick up some other languages too. And there's no stupid "only Honors College students get to do such fun things" policy like at my current school. Anyone can apply for themed housing. Best of all? No one cares one iota for my math score. YAY.
I'm hoping to do a pre-orientation thing that starts towards the end of August, so I can just stay at school for when the semester begins. But I do have a job to think about. I'm supposed to work as a camp counselor all summer. (I'm going to die.) But I'm sure they're flexible with college kids. They know we're one baby-step away from our heads exploding.
Since I've been home and back in reach of my manga collection, I've been rereading Twin Signal. I MISSED IT SO MUCH. (This reminds me, I need to catch up on Eureka 7.) Over the year it sort of dropped out of my interests, since the fandom is so excruciatingly small. There's only one three-episode OVA, which goes over the stories in tankouben volumes 2 and 3 (and 4? I own mostly bunko) which is about the rivalry between Signal and Pulse. So anyone who does happen to be a fan is completely obsessed with Signal and Pulse. Never mind that there are so many other equally awesome (or moreso *cough*Code-niisama*cough*) characters that aren't presented in the OVa except for a brief cameo in the opening theme song.
They finally started translating the manga and publishing it in English about a year ago, but I haven't seen it being sold anywhere except on the Internet. And I haven't heard a thing about future volumes. It's not surprising. They were releasing it in bunko form rather than tankouben, likely to get more of the story out at once since the early chapters leave a lot to be desired. (Honestly, I don't know how TS ever got published, based on those early chapters. The art is horrible and the story random and pointless.) The author evidently thought up a plot around bunko 3. (I can't remember the tankouben timeline. And I can't remember if Signal and Pulse had fought yet, but that is hardly a main plot of the series - the rivalry between Signal and Pulse dulls considerably over time, and in fact Pulse becomes a background character really fast, with characters like Code and Oratorio taking his place.)
(notes: tankouben = graphic novel of typical length, 200-something pages; bunko = shorter, squatter graphic novel containing almost double the page count)
But, with the start of bunko 3 (or around there), the story starts to get interesting. (Maybe I'm biased, since this does mark Code's first appearance, but I still think I'm right!) Signal (who, admittedly, had been very cute up until now - at least you can say those early chapters were cute) shows he's really got some mettle. And a whole bunch of way awesome characters are introduced: Karma, Oratorio, Lavender, Code, Europa, Atrandom... etc. (Oh lord, the scene with Atrandom clutching wounded!Europa in his arms always makes me catch my breath.) This also marks the beginning of Code's Box. We do not see much of the Box, but there is a Box. Code in Bird Form is carried around in it, usually by Oratorio or Minoru. IT'S SO FRICKING CUTE.
So - plot takes off. Atrandom, the first ever A-numbers robot, is redeemed by Dr. Cassiopeia. Then, Signal gets to know Oracle in Cyberspace (and Oracle is adorable), as well as Emotion (who is adorable too, even though her full name makes John Jacob Jingleheimer Smith look like a pansy) and see Code's Cyberspace-only human body (which is hot) and get on the wrong end of Code's hacker-beating katana, Sasameyuki (which is hot too, even though Code named it such a girly thing). YAY FOR INTERESTING-NESS.
It's been a while, so I'm blanking on what happens next. (My collection consists of mostly bunko, but does have a few tankouben, and so the discrepancies between page numbers mean I'm actually missing some parts of the story. It hasn't been a problem though.) But eventually, we find out more about Mad Scientist Quasar, and his robot clones, the Q-numbers. (Egotistical at all?) The Q-numbers are not really interesting in themselves. They have a bit of a famil dynamic, which is cool, but mostly they're boring - except for Quarter. Aside from seeming to have a bit of an obsessive streak where Quasar is concerned, Quarter also seems to have his own ulterior motives for, er, tormenting Signal. And the scene in bunko 9, where he's somehow torturing Signal with his eyes... CREEPY.
(Also, Quarter's monocle. Teh luff.)
OH! I forgot one of the coolest moments: Atrandom's second betrayal, this time against his will. He rips the SIRIUS chip right out of Signal's body (ow). Sucks to be a human-form robot. And how come so many of them have blue hair? Like cotton candy blue?
So, after Signal loses SIRIUS, his technological breakthrough thing, he's rendered much weaker than before... or not. Since this marks the first time he can beat Code-using-Sasameyuki. Earlier, Signal was able to use Sasameyuki himself, even though typically only Code can wield it. Now Signal gets to beat the crap out of Code, who had gone temporarily insane and almost killed him with it. (But later we find out he only wanted to find out if Signal was worthy of being his partner. Seriously, how can someone as irredeemably uke as Code have such a samurai-complex?)
We also get a couple really fun chapters of backstory about Code (and also Emotion and Karma, though they're secondary characters). Turns out it really sucks to be a human-form robot program too. (He and Bundle were so getting it on.) I love these chapters. (Dr. Humpty thinks bratty Code is cute. No - seriously - if they ever used the word わがまま to describe Code, I would die of joy.)
Then Signal and Code fight the Q-numbers at the airport, which is when Quarter starts acting all CREEPY (even the other Q-numbers were freaked out by him) and Signal and Code spend the rest of bunko 9 acting TOTALLY CUTE. Like, irrefutably cute. I just want to smush them. Karma, also, is a total doll. I'm not sure when his personality changed, but he used to be (also irredeemably uke) passive and patient. Now, suddenly, he's screaming at Oratorio, panicking, getting miffed at everything. He's so much fun. And yay, he remains this way straight to the end of the series. Oratorio and Oracle are also tons of fun - 'specially Oratorio, who has got to be the most annoying lovable big brother ever. Code sends Signal many sexy looks over the course of the Great What-Shall-We-Do-Now? Debate. (Okay, he has a partner-fetish. Figures.)
Again, it's been a while since I've read this, and I can't remember why Karma tries to stop Code and Signal after the aforementioned Debate, going so far as to throw sleeve-knives at them. (Srsly, where does he keep all of those?). But Code KOs him with ease, and Karma goes Good again. Nah, he was already good, just mucho loyal to Masanobu. So he couldn't let Signal and Code go against Masanobu's orders, which is exactly what they wanted to do. Poor Karma. Got his tiny uke butt kicked. (I'm not sure, but I think Karma's body build was designed by Cassiopeia - same as Code's and the A-E's... which explains the utter uke-ness. That woman has PROBLEMS)
Then there's more fighting, more fighting, more fighting, and cuteness. The ending of the series (the last chapter, at least) is as bad as the early chapters, sadly. It's unfortunate how much the last bunko was rushed. But still, it's readable up until that last chapter, which is a typical bad!manga ending: Everyone expresses heartfelt gratitude for deeds done and things go back to the ohsojoyful state they were in before all the fighting began. Oh, and all the bad guys (that survived) become good guys and make friends with Our Heroes.
*sigh*facepalm*
The art never improves either. It gets a little better when the author/illustrator (Oshimizu Sachi) started doing her artwork completely digitally. At least, it got cute. (It wouldn't have been a bad idea for Oshimizu-san to have taken an anatomy class at some point, though.) It's really not a wonder why this series isn't popular. But, on the other hand, the fans it does have are very loyal. That's because we have learned to look past the bad, and see only the dynamic characters (really, the characters are excellent - while it's true they play into some manga stereotypes, somehow they each manage to make themselves unique, which is certainly helped along by the fact that they're *robots*) and the comedy and the plots/subplots that are interesting. Oshimizu-san definitely put a lot of work into fleshing out the world the characters live in, and it really comes through in the story.
Another interesting thing about Twin Signal is the inexplicable lack of romance! Sure, Signal has a puppy crush on Elara (ELARA, not ERALA, silly dubbers! There actually *is* a reason why it's supposed to be spelled that way!), and Masanobu and Minoru still act like newly-weds, etc. But in comparison with other manga - shonen and shoujo alike (and TS is undeniably shonen) - the amount of romance is negligible. Which is great for me, since I'm bored to tears by romance that is a main story component.
After the series ended, aside from a few artbooks and fact books, there were a couple prequel stories published as well. (Deja vu moment - I know I posted this in my old LJ, but hey, it's been a long time.) These stories are about A-G Gear (which focuses mainly on Karma and young!Masanobu, but with plenty of Code to boot) and I still haven't figured out what the ghosty woman is supposed to be in the second story, but that one's about Oratorio and Oracle and how Oracle feels bad that he can't protect Oratorio the way Oratorio protects him. (Again, there's tons of Code and Emotion trying their hardest to steal the spotlight here.) These stories are fun and insightful.
I don't know that the rest of the Twin Signal series will ever be translated into English, but there's at least one site out there that has some translations up. Every now and then I think about scanlating my own copies. It wouldn't be hard; I've already translated a good amount of it for my own benefit. And then there could be more fans. (I just don't want to translate the early crappy chapters. >.< Or the Code-less ones...)
Anyway. I do love it. <3
I finally saw Hound of Baskervilles with Brett and Hardwicke. It honestly wasn't as much fun as I was expecting. The Russian version was more fun - but what you can say for the Brett/Hardwicke version, it stuck closer to the book. (Though, the scene with Holmes begging Watson to "try my stew!" and Watson retorting, "It's disgusting, Holmes" was priceless. I wish there had been more of those moments in the movie. Hardwicke's Watson is so frank with Holmes.) I did enjoy it, though. But I think it doesn't need to be as long as it is.
To-Do Before I Leave List:
- Pack
- Hygiene-related activities
- Get batteries
- Post everywhere in XGD
- Post another chapter to Ins and Outs (maybe...)
- Fill out new!college forms (maybe, not due for weeks...)
- Make card
- Eat the last piece of chocolate cake before someone else gets it!!
I think I had more to put in this post, but I actually didn't expect to start a lengthy TS discourse... *shrug* If I remember it, I'll post it later. However, I'll be without-computer for the entire Florida trip T_T So this is good-bye... well, so long.
Depressing!post to come next.