(no subject)

[skygiants]

The book I finished yesterday is a bit srs bsns, and though I will review it tomorrow, I do not feel like doing srs bsns today. So, instead I think it is time for a recent media roundup thing!

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya:

I did not expect this to be so short (when you think about it, thirteen episodes is, like, the length of a really long movie) and I wish it had been longer, which I guess is a sign that I liked it a lot! It helps that Kyon as a character is pretty much designed to appeal to me - seriously, a thoroughly and determinedly ordinary person whose main reaction at the discovery of supernatural phenomena occuring all around him is to facepalm and make sarcastic commentary? SIGN ME UP - and I really like the ensemble-ness and the genre-play and the meta of the premise. Mostly the show made me very curious to read the light novels, the first of which has been legally translated into English with the others hopefully to follow.

My biggest problem with the show is that Haruhi's treatment of Asahina makes me literally cringe in my seat. NO NO NO THAT IS NOT FUNNY OR OKAY. This also has the unfortunate blame-the-victim effect that I find it hard to like Asahina because she whimpers about it instead of punching Haruhi in the face (though older Asahina intrigues me, mostly because I read somewhere that in the books older Asahina is kind of puppetmaster-y, which makes me very curious.) I also kind of wish I had seen it in the anachronic order, but unfortunately the DVDs package it mostly chronologically, which I did not realize until I was halfway through.

HOWEVER. What I really really want, aside from more episodes/access to the novels, is a crossover of this show with The Middleman. SERIOUSLY IT WOULD BE SO AMAZING. Kyon's consistent reaction of *eyeroll, facepalm* in the face of comic book danger clearly makes him a shoo-in as a MiddleBoy candidate! And can you imagine the hijinks that would ensue as Haruhi stalked the Middleman to try and find out his secrets and the Middleman desperately tried to pretend that he was just running a temp agency, ma'am. SO MANY HIJINKS. *_*

Mouryo no Hako:

I promised my college roommate that I would watch this to talk about with her, after she made me promise to watch Code Geass and I failed in that completely. All I knew going in was that it was kind of a detective story and there were possibly ghosts. I did not know going in that the series (also thirteen episodes) was only subbed in English through episode 8, which means that I am now teetering on a cliffhanger with no promise of resolution any time soon. YOU'D THINK THAT WOULD BE THE KIND OF THING SHE WOULD MENTION. (To be fair, I suspect she was watching in either the original Japanese or with Chinese fansubs, which may not have this issue. But still!)

Anyway, Mouryou no Hako involves a series of bizarre murders with body parts showing up in boxes; two intensely BFF schoolgirls who believe that they are each other's reincarnations, one of whom has been pushed in front of a train, creepily operated on, kidnapped, and possibly dissected (it is very unclear!); a retired B-movie star; a detective with PTSD from WWII; and a whole slew of reporters, writers, psychics and frauds whom I cannot keep straight at all or figure out what their connection is to everything else. Despite all these plot threads it is actually kind of a quiet and slowly creepy series. Most of the time I have no idea what is going on even with subtitles - also I accidentally watched a few episodes out of order, which does not help - but I like the creepiness and I really like the intro and end songs! I cannot really give a comprehensive review because I still have no idea where this is going. Or if I will ever be able to finish it.

The Legend of the Four Gods:

This is a kdrama of INSANELY EPIC AWESOME that I have been watching through with rushin_doll. It is full of drama! And people throwing fire! And galloping horses! And COSTUME PORN. After babbling to genarti lengthily about the costume porn I have promised her a picspam, so, uh, that will be coming one of these days. When I have screencapping capabilities. For now, I will just list some of my favorite plot points: sisters SEPARATED IN CHILDHOOD, one raised by Good Monks to be a cheerfully hard-drinking scammer ("let me take you to this brothel, eh? The girls there are so beautiful that even I, a woman, am aroused!"), one raised by Evil Monks to be a FIRE PRIESTESS with the conflicted emo and inability to choose a side of Zuko and the manipulative badassery of Azula! Twelve-year-old boys coolly forcing their relatives into political (and literal) suicide! An adoptive father-daughter relationships unfortunately based around the central fact that someday the father is probably going to have to kill the daughter! Manly earrings of eeevil! The MYSTICAL POWERS OF THE TURTLE-SNAKE! BATTLE POLO! My favorite character is a sensible middle-aged lady blacksmith who sort of adopts one of the protagonists, also sort of adopts a troupe of mercenaries after refusing to sharpen their axes because she feels the mercs are too young to use them, and currently appears to be about to set off on a REVENGE QUEST, which I am mad excited for. Epic fantasy at its finest, guys, for serious.

That Star Trek Movie:

Okay, yes, I really enjoyed this! (Though I will say, straight from the start: not enough ladies, not enough ladies getting to do stuff, Bechdel test is a FAIL.) As is thoroughly predictable, I find myself not all that much interested in Kirk - sorry, Kirk, it is just that Heroic Rogueish Mavericks do not do much for me these days; you would be more fun as a side character, perhaps as an assistant to the awesome captain who got killed off in the first two minutes! - and adoring the rest of the ensemble pretty much to a man. Also, yes, I totally 'ship Spock/Uhura. And I was cackling at the blatant retcon.

The Coraline Musical:

I got to see this with obopolsk and her roommate (both of whom it was thoroughly lovely to meet!) and oh man, guys, it was amazing. It was basically a love letter to the book, in the best way, and it was funny and it was creepy, and it had a deliberately mixed-up casting that was jarring at first but somehow actually really worked. And the gentleman who played the cat was insanely, insanely good at playing a cat. If you have a chance - which is basically only those of you in NY, I think, but maybe more of you will have the opportunity later! - go see it.

Next up, perhaps I will go back to Western media for a while and join the classic-Trek-watching bandwagon, or watch some Xena as I have had a weird craving to recently. Or maybe I will actually watch the John Adams miniseries like I have been meaning to forever. Or maybe I will watch Full Metal Alchemist like I have also been meaning to forever. Who knows!

Comments

[ceitfianna]

I keep meaning to really sit down and watch Full Metal Alchemist since I keep finding it late at night on Adult Swim and thinking ooh good sibling stuff and magic. I just need to actually start watching it.

[skygiants]

Yeah, I love sibling stuff, and I was intrigued by the characters in Milliways, and I know it is A Classic, all of which add to my interest! It's been kind of on the back burner of my head for a few years.

[ceitfianna]

Oh yes, but then my list of things to get around to watching is rather long.

[skygiants]

Oh, mine too! But then I forget half of it at any given time and only remember when I'm in the midst of something else.

[ceitfianna]

Yes, its so much easier when someone has dvds or just vids and says, okay we're watching this. That's how Danii hooked me on SPN.

[skygiants]

It makes life much easier when other people just go ahead and do the enabling! Less decision-making that way.

[ceitfianna]

It really does, one reason I love getting to visit people, there can be lots of enabling.

[furikku.livejournal.com]

Asahina also can't really fight back because that might result in THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT, which is D: all around.

[skygiants]

I know, I do want to like Asahina! I just have difficulty. Though also, I suspect Haruhi would at least find being punched in the face by Asahina interesting - t is mostly when she is bored that THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT starts to loom. (Well, or when there are hints of somebody else/Kyon.)

[furikku.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I didn't like Asahina much in general.

Yuki is the best.

Strangely, there is a big segment of Haruhi fanart that genderswaps some or all of the characters. It makes for some very interesting stuff. Most popular is "Kyonko."

(You can usually find a thread for it on 4chan's /c/ board.)

[skygiants]

Yuki is definitely the best. Also she gets the most character development! Also also, she reads books I have read, which endears her to me strongly.

*makes note* I shall have to check this out! Um, probably when I am not at work.

[furikku.livejournal.com]

Also her not knowing what to do with a mouse is adorablarious.

/c/ is one of the 4chan "worksafe" boards, meaning that nudity and all that isn't supposed to be there, but that doesn't keep some Questionable images from getting posted. :/

And of course, there's the whole "lots of animu images on your computer machine screen" thing, which is probably not encouraged at most workplaces, since it does not usually look anything like work.

[skygiants]

It is! And her very, very slight satisfaction at getting to TROUNCE the Computer Club. <3333

Yeeeah. I mean, I am on LJ lots at work and people do not care (obviously . . .) but giant animu images for long periods of time might be sort of glaring.

[futuresoon.livejournal.com]

Oooooh, yes, Fullmetal Alchemist! I'd advise to go for the recent series rather than the original--for one thing, it's easier to get the subs (mileage varies on the dubs for the original; I quite like the subs for the new one myself, and haven't been able to find most of them for the original due to the "remove all evidence once there's an official dub" rule). Although really it doesn't matter that the subs for the new are easier to get than the subs for the original, since there aren't any dubs for the new yet anyway. And I'm rambling. My point is, it is v. good yes yes, especially if you like sibling relationships. And magic. And trauma. Oh man, the trauma.

[skygiants]

I have been wondering about the recent vs. the original, so that is good to know, thanks! (I tend to prefer subs over dubs whenever possible, yeah. And I have heard that the new one is more faithful to the manga? Though . . . I have not read the manga, so I do not even know if that is hugely relevant to me, but still, on principle!)

[futuresoon.livejournal.com]

The new one is indeed more faithful to the manga--the original isn't bad, per se, it's just that the ending is...well, let me put it this way: the original anime finished years ago. The manga only ended recently. So the original anime runs off on its own path, and unfortunately the end of its path is not very good. Can't say much about how the manga ends, since I haven't read that far, but I hear it's better. (Not that this would be difficult.) Thus people are more positive about how the new anime will go, and thus probably it is the better one to check out.

[skygiants]

How long is the new one projected to be, do you know? I am sort of leery about getting involved in Epic Neverending Series, just because that's one of the reasons I have not been watching all that much network TV lately (why do you always break my heart, network TV! Why!)

[futuresoon.livejournal.com]

Well, the original anime was 51 episodes, so...I have no idea whatsoever. It does have an end, though! This much I can promise you! Plotty shows like this one tend not to be continued beyond the manga.

[skygiants]

51 still feels long for me for an anime, though I know in the scheme of things it is not really. I think that's because all the ones I have seen have been either 13-episode or 26-episode series. Still, comparatively that is not all that much . . . and the assurance of an end is indeed a very good thing!

[ethelflaed.livejournal.com]

The second season of Haruhi actually looks like it is set to start on the 24th of this month - it is difficult to tell because there have been lots of publicity hijinks concerning it ever since they announced they were making a second one.

The treatment of Mikuru has always kind of been my big problem with the show, too (I think it's everyone's) - I know exactly what they are mocking with her, and I have also heard that in the novels Mikuru turns out to be a more interesting character (like you said), but it's really uncomfortable to watch. Adult Mikuru seems to remember it fondly, though, which is. . .worth something, or perhaps not.

. . . .though, when I finished reading the first novel (second one due out sometime soon, I think), I felt like they had actually toned it down a bit from the books, which is a horrible thought.

Mouryo no Hako is something I kind of desperately want to watch or read but I have a feeling my chances of getting to do either are depressingly low. The author's first novel is getting translated in August, however, so I am hoping it will be a success and then they will translate this one as well.

[skygiants]

The 24th of this month, really? Man, awesome! I had heard the rumors that a second season would be starting soon after a rerun of the first, but I had not realized it would be quite so soon. Apparently I have good timing!

Yeah, I can see what they are mocking, but saying "I am doing this IRONICALLY" does not really make it okay. It's like they're trying to have their cake and eat it too, basically.

- aheh. Man. I would have so predicted the other way around, based on fanservice etc., so it is definitely good to be forewarned there.

I don't know exactly what to make of what I've seen yet of Mouryou no Hako, but I definitely find it interesting to watch without . . . quite having formed actual opinions. I would definitely be intrigued to read the book if it was ever translated, though. (And, um, possibly be able to figure out more what was actually going on during all the parts I was half-asleep for . . .)

[ethelflaed.livejournal.com]

It should start the 24th, but they have built up a lot of mystery around it and when it is happening and whether or not it is happening, so this could be one more stunt or it could be the real thing.

Yeah, I can see what they are mocking, but saying "I am doing this IRONICALLY" does not really make it okay. It's like they're trying to have their cake and eat it too, basically.

Yup, and while that is sort of the approach it has to everything, it just. . .really breaks down here. Not to mention everyone else goes along with whatever Haruhi makes them do in a grudgingly happy way, whereas Mikuru is just. . .upset and crying and clearly not enjoying herself very much and wishing she was on a different time plane. It would be sort of interesting if that all turned out to be a front or something, but I don't know if that would really make it that much better.

Generally speaking the novel felt a lot more fanservice-y than the anime, though I haven't re-watched the anime in full yet so it may just be that I had forgotten most of it. It is extremely awkward, anyway, because fanservicey prose just makes Kyon feel kind of creepy. In particular, a scene where he is says something like "and Ryoko Asakura stepped out from behind her desk and I happened to notice her thighs were particularly lovely today" sort of jumped out at me as particularly weird.

[skygiants]

I guess we will see come next week! *crosses fingers*

And right, absolutely - and, I mean, what Haruhi is doing to Mikuru is generally significantly more problematic than what she's doing to everyone else, too. I mean, we are basically talking "wear a silly hat" vs. "sexual harrassment."

D: Kyon! DON'T BE SKETCHY.

[dramaturgca.livejournal.com]

Or perhaps MERLIN? MAYBE?

[skygiants]

Well yes, but that is not a thing that's new!

[obopolsk.livejournal.com]

I <3 the cat. I mean, I had so many favorite parts -- but the cat was my most favorite, I think.

We both enjoyed meeting you, too. We should hang out again! :)

[skygiants]

The cat was BEST. He was such a cat! It was awesome.

And yes, we totally should! :D rymenhild is apparently counting on me to rhapsodize to you lengthily about the wonders of Princess Tutu, so . . .

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

Suzumiya: The novels have been translated by fans and are available online. Also, the first has been officially released in the US. There is also manga.

And, as a coup-de-grace, there is evidence that the first episode of the second season will air very soon.

[skygiants]

Several copies of the first novel are listed as On Order at the library and I am I think third on the list to receive one when they come in. (Come oooon, NYPL, speed it up.) Depending on how irresistibly compelling I find them I may go ahead and read the fan translation, or be good and wait patiently for US releases.

I am way excited for the rumored second season! But it seems too good to be true that my timing could have been that awesome, so I am trying not to get my hopes up.

(Also, hey, I presume you are in California now! Hope you had a decent flight and so on.)

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I just landed. And if I'd known, I could have given you my copies of the first novel and the manga.

It's best not to get your hopes up about the second season--Kyoto Animation has been screwing with us over that for about a year and a half now.

("Decent" is the right word.)

[skygiants]

Well, I have no particular feelings of urgency about reading the manga, so I may take you up on that offer next fall when you come back, if it is still open then!

Yeeeah, so I gather. (TVTropes is very helpful in providing that kind of information.) Next week will apparently be the moment of truth one way or the other . . .

(Ehh. Could have been worse, then, I guess? Congrats on a safe arrival, at least!)

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

Next week will apparently be the moment of truth one way or the other . . .

No, that was today. And it seems that yes--a new episode aired today/yesterday. It's already been fansubbed.

[skygiants]

Seriously? Awesome! Thanks for the heads-up.