Even his dog is cybernetic! But not a vampire. I think.
Being back in college means being back with friends who will let me borrow their stuff, which is how I ended up reading the first three volumes of Vassalord and Petshop of Horrors. Uh. They are both very interesting! Vassalord is, well, it says right on the back of every volume that it is about "a cybernetic vampire who does the Vatican's dirty work", and that is pretty much all I needed to know. Except it is also about his hotass vampire boyfriend, who is adorable, if mildly evil. It is kind of refreshing to see a BL series where neither of the guys is feminized or notably smaller/skinnier than the other; they're both fairly muscular and they both get to kill people, and that suits me just fine. And, really. Cybernetic vampire who does the Vatican's dirty work how is it even possible to go wrong with that.
--I will admit, though, that I am not used to thinking things like "wait, is that guy disemboweling him or having sex with him?...oh, both".
Petshop of Horrors is actually quite similar to Vassalord in that it is 1) a wee bit gruesome and 2) gay gay gay, although the violence tends to be a bit more permanent and the gay is still in the subtext phase. It also is not unlike xxxHolic if Yuuko were a guy and there were only two recurring characters of any importance! Well, okay, Watanuki and Leon really have nothing in common whatsoever besides associations with strange people who sell stuff that turns out to cost more than you thought it did, but it's close enough. There's even the same level of food consumption! Unfortunately it looks like the rest of the series is hard to find, except for the sequel which is very easy to find but which I would not read until I'd read the full first series which is hard to find. D: IT'S ONLY LIKE SIX YEARS OLD, IT'S NOT THAT ANCIENT. Still, I can appreciate what I have of it; even if the 'morals' of each chapter tend to boil down to "don't buy a pet from Count D, seriously, unless it's just like a canary or something but even then be wary", and whenever I see 'Count' I think of Gankutsuou which is just a bit whiplashy, it is a very pretty and oddly fun series. And gay. Seriously it is pretty damn gay.
OH AND we also watched the first two episodes of Mushi-Shi, since we'd read and enjoyed some of the manga, and it is far too relaxing and peaceful for a series where a little girl's eyes are devoured from the inside by a parasitic monster and then gush forth ridiculous amounts of dark green goo when the monster is being removed. IDK, maybe it's how nice all the forests are. Does the series ever develop actual arcs, or does it remain episodic all the way through? Because it seems to be one of the rare times where episodic actually works pretty well. I can also add it to my List Of Anime That Contain No Stereotypical Anime Tropes Whatsoever, which makes me happy. And it is just so pretty! Look at that, isn't that pretty? Even the eye-goo was kind of pretty! --or maybe I am just weird like that. BUT THE FORESTS ARE VERY NICE.
--I will admit, though, that I am not used to thinking things like "wait, is that guy disemboweling him or having sex with him?...oh, both".
Petshop of Horrors is actually quite similar to Vassalord in that it is 1) a wee bit gruesome and 2) gay gay gay, although the violence tends to be a bit more permanent and the gay is still in the subtext phase. It also is not unlike xxxHolic if Yuuko were a guy and there were only two recurring characters of any importance! Well, okay, Watanuki and Leon really have nothing in common whatsoever besides associations with strange people who sell stuff that turns out to cost more than you thought it did, but it's close enough. There's even the same level of food consumption! Unfortunately it looks like the rest of the series is hard to find, except for the sequel which is very easy to find but which I would not read until I'd read the full first series which is hard to find. D: IT'S ONLY LIKE SIX YEARS OLD, IT'S NOT THAT ANCIENT. Still, I can appreciate what I have of it; even if the 'morals' of each chapter tend to boil down to "don't buy a pet from Count D, seriously, unless it's just like a canary or something but even then be wary", and whenever I see 'Count' I think of Gankutsuou which is just a bit whiplashy, it is a very pretty and oddly fun series. And gay. Seriously it is pretty damn gay.
OH AND we also watched the first two episodes of Mushi-Shi, since we'd read and enjoyed some of the manga, and it is far too relaxing and peaceful for a series where a little girl's eyes are devoured from the inside by a parasitic monster and then gush forth ridiculous amounts of dark green goo when the monster is being removed. IDK, maybe it's how nice all the forests are. Does the series ever develop actual arcs, or does it remain episodic all the way through? Because it seems to be one of the rare times where episodic actually works pretty well. I can also add it to my List Of Anime That Contain No Stereotypical Anime Tropes Whatsoever, which makes me happy. And it is just so pretty! Look at that, isn't that pretty? Even the eye-goo was kind of pretty! --or maybe I am just weird like that. BUT THE FORESTS ARE VERY NICE.
