Da-da-da-da-da-daaaah!
I'm having a busy week with preparing for Japan and work, so naturally I took the time to get hooked on and read a new manga series, Buso(u) Renkin (by the same guy who did Rurouni Kenshin).
The plot is basically this: Boy sees girl about to be attacked by a monster, pushes her out of the way and gets stabbed through the heart. Girl puts magic rock alchemical device in his chest to act as a heart for him, and reveals that actually, she was just pretending to be helpless to lure the monster out, she's actually a kickass Alchemy Warrior. The alchemical devices, called kakugane, turn into weapons whose shape depend on the user's personality or something. The monsters are homunculi.
The words "alchemy" and "homunculi" are the only similarities with Fullmetal Alchemist. It's more like Bleach, only without the endlessly dragged out story arcs and fight scenes (it clocks in at ten volumes of manga and 26 anime episodes). The main character's power ups are also plot relevant and not a good thing.
Male lead and main character Kazuki is one of those idealistic sweethearts. Female lead Tokiko is awesome. And then there is Papillon.
Anyway, watching this show finally clued me in to why I took to Judau of Gundam ZZ immediately, but it took Kamille of Zeta Gundam so long to grow on me. I'm pretty much an omnivore when it comes to female characters - as long as she has agency and a personality, I don't actually care what the personality is. With male characters, I'm much more picky. Basically, I like two types: socially awkward/dorky and complete sweethearts (often also wide-eyed idealists). Judau, like Kazuki, falls in the second category.
I guess this is also why I prefer Superman to Batman, and Captain Marvel (him with the Power of Shazam) to them both (Superman is a Good Person, while Captain Marvel is both a Good Person and still keeps some of his innocence).
The plot is basically this: Boy sees girl about to be attacked by a monster, pushes her out of the way and gets stabbed through the heart. Girl puts magic rock alchemical device in his chest to act as a heart for him, and reveals that actually, she was just pretending to be helpless to lure the monster out, she's actually a kickass Alchemy Warrior. The alchemical devices, called kakugane, turn into weapons whose shape depend on the user's personality or something. The monsters are homunculi.
The words "alchemy" and "homunculi" are the only similarities with Fullmetal Alchemist. It's more like Bleach, only without the endlessly dragged out story arcs and fight scenes (it clocks in at ten volumes of manga and 26 anime episodes). The main character's power ups are also plot relevant and not a good thing.
Male lead and main character Kazuki is one of those idealistic sweethearts. Female lead Tokiko is awesome. And then there is Papillon.
Anyway, watching this show finally clued me in to why I took to Judau of Gundam ZZ immediately, but it took Kamille of Zeta Gundam so long to grow on me. I'm pretty much an omnivore when it comes to female characters - as long as she has agency and a personality, I don't actually care what the personality is. With male characters, I'm much more picky. Basically, I like two types: socially awkward/dorky and complete sweethearts (often also wide-eyed idealists). Judau, like Kazuki, falls in the second category.
I guess this is also why I prefer Superman to Batman, and Captain Marvel (him with the Power of Shazam) to them both (Superman is a Good Person, while Captain Marvel is both a Good Person and still keeps some of his innocence).