Notes on Depeche Mode concert later, I promise. XD
Nearly through the scanlated beginning of JoJo part 6. Truly Araki Hirohiko is one with the Special: most people would have to think hard in order to cause the heterosexuality quotient of a shounen manga to deteriorate by ADDING MORE GIRLS. Also it is really rather dark, and could only seem darker to WJ's target audience, although come to think of it I'm not v. well informed re the percentage of WJ readers who enjoy women-in-jail exploitation films. POSSIBLY IT IS GREATER THAN I IMAGINE. I mean, there's a question on the survey that asks you what of the following recent movies (anime or not) you went to see, right, maybe every once in a while they switch it up and are like,
5) Which of the following movies have you watched recently (tick all boxes applicable):
__HEAVY METAL
__AND GOD CREATED WOMAN
__THE CONCRETE JUNGLE
__DONNIE DARKO
__ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA II
__BLUE VELVET
I'm also reading Steel Ball Run, which came in the mail the day of the Depeche Mode concert. The tankoubon are pretty skinny. Compared to Stone Ocean it has a leisurely, sprawling setup and is more lighthearted; it doesn't remind me too much of the Piffle Country bit in Tsubasa, which I was sort of resigned to it doing, but Johnny's backstory does unexpectedly remind me of that kid in Inoue Takehiko's Real who gets hit by a truck - which, come to think of it, what is with the wheelchair fascination, guys. orz More than a desire to highlight social issues or a taste for melodrama, I suspect an element of keeping self entertained while drawing. Earlier on you could pratically hear Araki make note to self, "expand on wheelchair concept later when not in plot-related hurry", and there's a sense of intangible happiness about all those galloping horses. :P I guess it's what he said about liking spaghetti westerns as a kid.
Both series are actually entirely readable as standalones - Stone Ocean takes pains to have Jolyne work through What Stands Are And How To Use Them 101 by herself (THANKS FOR BEING HELPFULLY INFORMATIVE, DAD), and SBR is a complete reset. But at this point it's inherent stylistic and storytelling qualities (what Charmian calls "decadent") rather than just the fact of it being volume sixty-something out of eighty-something and counting. Which is a roundabout way of saying 1) Gyro is a great big lovely freak and 2) lesbian prison flick WTFFF.
Peeps who read recent thing: I guess I'll elaborate and expand before posting, suggest characters/series pls. XD;; Also I need an LJ icon of Oshitari in a tux holding a cocktail glass or something
Oh help I need JoJo icons stat
...It has belatedly occurred to me that perhaps I can never access bands' Myspace pages, not because Myspace is stupid and farked, but because the IT dep't is blocking Myspace at work. >_>