manga: Vision of the Other Side Vol 1, Wallflower Vol 12, a bit of randomness
Vision of the Other Side is a manhua set in 8th century China when the Tang and Li kingdoms are at war. On the brink of ruin, the Emperor of Tang's council pressures him to enter into a treaty with Li by offering up his youngest(and only pretty) daughter, Nan-Fan as a bride to Nurhun, the second prince of Li. Nurhun is known as the "Battle Demon"(period and fantasy asian stories really love to give their heroes monickers like that, don't they?) and all of Tang views him as an evil beast who theie precious princess is being sacrificed to, even though no one has ever actually met the man.
The day before the wedding, Nan-Fan sneaks out of the palace with her brother, Yong-Jing, and Ling-Fei, a royal consort(naturally, they're in love but can't do anything about it.) Nan-Fan sneaks away from her escorts and meets Nurhun, who's dressed as a common, who rescues her from being trampled by a carriage and steals a kiss as payment(and gets bitten for it.) Both, of course, are absolutely clueless about who the other really is. That night, Yuan Yu-Yu, the leader of a dancing troupe who also moonlights as a thief, is caught trying to steal by Nan-Fan, who agrees to let her go if she'll help Nan-Fan escape before the wedding. Yuan Yu-Yu disguises her as a dancing girl the next day and Nur-Hun, recognizing her as the girl from the market but not as his bride, has his underling help them escape,thinking they're trying to escape the attentions of the Emperor of Tang, who's known to be a lech.
So far I quite like this. It's both standard shojo and standard wuxia romance, and both Nan-Fan and Nurhun are likable, and the plotline itself is the kind of thing I usually go for the most. Most importantly, though, Nurhun reminds me quite a bit of Shuri from Basara, though that's actually the one thing that makes me leery. While that type of character (that is, a protagonist who is largely defined not only by walking the very fine line of hero and villain who chose that path willingly and the only excuse offered is that it's what life gave him and he chose not to be a victim) can often be pulled off to a much lesser degree with supporting characters, when it's a lead character, though, the series will usually say that they're nice or misunderstood underneath. The only times I've really seen the character fully pulled off as a main character is Shuri, and, though he's typically an antagonist in the series, Anotsu in Blade of the Immortal(I suppose some would say he's a supporting character, too, but as he's pretty much the most important person to the series after Rin and Manji, I tend to think of him as a lead character despite his tendency to disappear) Still, I hold out hope that Nurhun won't have any excuses made for him and it'll stay good.
Incidentally, both vierran45 and I get a series kick out of the publisher's name: DramaQueen.
I also read the latest volume of Wallflower. Actually, it's a good thing I forgot to take this out of the car when I grabbed it from the apt. office the other day when it came. The book I was planning to read today I didn't make it more than 2 chapters into and the backup book, while better(rather enjoyable, actually), has enough "first time author" hitches that I can't binge through the whole thing. I also brought the manga A Kiss For My Prince, but...well, it's looked promising flipping through it and skimming a couple chapters, but was rather dull reading, and the heroine annoyed me. Fortunately, I had Zelda to help occupy me before I remembered I had this in the car. Also, while I can't handle the entirety of most of the movies the guys like in one sitting, I can find them amusing in out of context 5-10 minute increments.
Wallflower isn't as crack-tastic now as the earlier volumes were, but it's still much better than the bulk of high school shojo series out there, and never ceases too amuse. I have to wonder(and I may have forgotten between the last volume and now...I DO remember Ranmaru pretty much having a breakdown in Vol 11) how on earth Ranmaru managed to get the others dressed like that...I don't see Takenaga or Kyohei ever agreeing to a month of that. Takanaga and Noi's "retreat" was fun, but the best part of that was Sunako's sea diving. Of course, the best part of the whole book was Kyohei and Sunako working in the video store...how the others evert thought THAT would work out well is beyond me.
Also, the problem with making a big order in a big sale is that, unless you're absolutely one of the first people to place the order, it takes FOREVER to get out...my order I placed a week and a half ago still hasn't shipped, which likely means I won't get all of it. But then, I figure I wouldn't get everything when I ordered. I'll just be happy when some of it gets here.
Also, would it KILL Amazon to send out reminders or bills or something when it's time for Amazon Prime to be renewed? It'd be really nice to know when I'm going to have a relatively large amount of money taken out of my account...