Ok I am a month away from being 17, i'm obssessed with Saiyuki, (though I deny it to keep up appearances, and keep my family from going crazy) I love reading, I love reading manga, I like my sleep, I have eclectic tastes in music, I am a newly begun fanfic author, and am in dire need of a rant zone of some kind. So here it is. More Information About Me Than You EVER Wanted To Know. Older stuff is at the bottom.
... Damnit school is starting again. And I don't think I'll get much time to zone out and doodle like last year. I'm in Grade 12 now. murg. Where the HELL did all the time go? I DUN WANNA GROW UP YET!... That right there is half the reason I love the story Peter Pan so much. And am so f***in jealous of him too. And it's ALL the reason why I'm looking for a magic portal. I WANNA GO TO SANZOLAND! Where the fuckin' hell is a magic pencil or an annoying deity when you need one...
More ranting, My computer curfew (the time I have to get off the computer at night, NOT the time I have to go to bed) has been pushed back to ten fucking thirty. APPARENTLY my typing keeps everyone awake. I think that is total bull. JUST CLOSE YOUR BEDROOM DOOR DAMNIT! ITS NOT LIKE I HAMMER THE KEYS! So now have 16 minutes to get done everything I wanted to before I'm on illegally. murg. At least I'll have more time for fanfiction...! murg.
... Oh yeah, for all those people who want to liven up their binders, and finish all their work really fast but want to look busy so more isn't given to you, draw Saiyuki pics on your dividers. That's what I'M doin' this year. Last year it was mostly Inuyasha pics, and not on dividers. I'm gonna try and theme 'em for the class and stuff.
... I think that's it. I'm gonna read One Piece now, and try and finish the volume I'm on really fast.
Monday September 5 2005
Yeah, I know, awful me hasn't updated in awhile. OK summary of the last couple days, and then you will get a rant! YAY! OK, fanfiction, fanfiction, One Piece, Movie, Sleepover. YAY SLEEPOVER!
Ok now for the rant. This will be about Evil reviewers (NOT the ones reviewing 'Why Mornings Are Evil') and how they totally wrecked the happy feeling I had coming home from the aforementioned sleepover. This person took a remarkable exception to my one shot. According to this person, the whole thing is horribly OOC, and laughed about it. And I quote,
"this story is horribly out of character...puhahaha gogyo wouldn't say 'no thank you sir'
next time, try to make it IN character. please." end quote.
... I don't even know where to BEGIN with this. Ok I WILL admit that there may be validity to the 'no thank you sir' thing, I was iffy about using that line at all, but I was sleepy and I wanted to finish.
Now for all the other stuff. Okay FIRST of all, if you're going to offer constructive criticism, make it CONSTRUCTIVE. How the hell am I supposed to make it in character if I don't know how it was OUT of character? You think one little line automatically makes th whole thing OOC? 'Cause that's the image you're putting forth.
Second of all, was it REALLY necessary to LAUGH at me? I mean come ON that is just fucking bad ettiquette there. Who the hell laughs at the authors to their FACE? Especially one who has been having half-way decent success with her other fic, so she must be doing SOMETHING right. Plus she already has only very fragile confidence in her writing abilities. PLEASE try not to make it WORSE.
THIRD of all, if you MUST be rude as hell (and just because you added please at the end doesn't make it polite, it just seems condescending as hell, 'specially from someone who hasn't written ANYTHING on ffnet.) and take pleasure in trying to tear down an author's confidence in her writing ability, can you at LEAST spell Gojyo's NAME RIGHT?! How the HELL am I supposed to take you seriously at ALL if you call him 'gogyo'? it's GOJYO.
FOURTH of all, I PUT WARNINGS FOR OOC UP DAMNIT! THERE'S NO FUCKING POINT IN BITCHING ABOUT SOMETHING WHEN THERE ARE WARNINGS UP DAMNIT! As I've said BEFORE, I can't exactly fix OOCness when you don't tell me what the OOCness IS! I can't fucking read minds you know.
Ok my LAST point (I think) is it's even HARDER for me to give a shit what you think when you review Anonymously and don't even have the guts to put your email address up. If you HAD put the email address up, believe it or not, I WOULDN'T have flipped out in your face. I was actually planning to ask you what you found OOC, and ask your opinion on how to fix it. I started writing fanfiction only partly 'cause of my love for Saiyuki. A big part was to improve my writing skills so I can actually get a book published. I want to be a writer. Flaming does NOT help me improve. And yes, I'm considering your review a flame. You laughed in my face, and then didn't even fucking bother to say what you were laughing about, OR how to make it so you DON'T laugh in the future. That's just fucking rude. Unless you actually TELL me what you think is wrong in future, BESIDES a single line out of the whole thing, I'm just going to ignore you. In fact, I may just delete that review. There's no point in having it there, it isn't doing anybody any good. The only thing I won't ignore is the 'no thank you sir' thing, and that's only because I already was iffy about it. So yeah. I'll decide tomorrow. If you don't contact me before then to tell me what I did wrong in your eyes, there's no point to it being there. In fact, it's fucking bad advertising. If you had just fucking gave me a fucking REASON for why you didn't like it, it would stay. But there is none so it goes.
On another note, SCHOOL TOMORROW. Dum dum DUM! RUN AWAY! But yay for the teachers I like! And a more steady social life! All the people I know well enough to to talk to on a regular basis go nocturnal during summer... so YAY for Sleepovers and MSN!
And on that note, I'm going to read more One Piece before I have to go to bed. I have to wake up at seven... I won't work on the fic tonight, I still have to recover from staying up so late for the sleepover... I will work on the fic during the daylight hours tomorrow instead. So NIGHT!
Thursday September 1 2005
... I do not want to go downstairs. My brother and many of his friends are down there. And if I can hear them from here, I shudder to think at how loud they'd be from my room. But now I am faced with a dilemna. I have been reading so much fanfiction today, that if I read anymore I'm going to freak out and and start running through the streets yelling various Saiyuki things, none of them making sense, and only half of them complimentary... WAY TOO MUCH FANFICTION. If only the fics I am following were updated. I've been going through the archives in the Saiyuki section. Did you know there are over 3820 stories in that archive? And even just reading the ones with decent summaries, and with the pairings I like, I'm only on page 23 of 145, and over half the stuff I've read is so insane, random, or would be good if the grammar was good that I really will do the above-mentioned running through the streets. o.o Maybe I'll go on msn. At least till 11. And if no one is on, I'll listen to music. Or maybe I'll go and reread stories with plot. And catch up on reviewing. Or maybe write down this other idea for a fic that bit me at 6:00 this morning, and has refused to go away. Since I was half-asleep when I thought of it, the villain may actually be creepy. All my dream villains are creepy. Even though it wasn't a dream. Weirdness. But I will only write the idea down for it. First I wanna finish that one-shot and get at least another chapter of 'Why Mornings Are Evil' out. And I just realized this is one long paragraph. mleh. This is what happens when I don't have paper to plan out my thoughts, and am just rambling to waste time. Ok going on msn now.
P.S. 'Wing Area' sung by Souichiro Hoshi is one of my new favourite songs. Just thought I'd mention that, as I've probably listened to it 6 times already today. What they hey, one more time before I get off the comp can't hurt! ^_^
Wednesday August 31 2005
... I, have been reading fanfiction all day. When I was not reading fanfiction, I was listening to Saiyuki-themed music. I actually might have enough for a second CD now. ^_^ When I was not on a computer, I was rereading Eragon, so I will remember everything for when my brother finally lets me read Eldest. And I went on the other compy to play Harvest Moon. -_-; That game is so damn addicting...
And now that I've listened to 'Freedom' again, (damnit, is it Toshihiko Seki who sings that song or not!?) I am going to work on my humour/fluff one-shot.
*10 minutes later*
... Fucking hell. My mood's totally blown. How the hell am I supposed to write fluff/humour like THIS?! Ok, reason for my bad mood. I have the lyrics to 'Freedom.' I was singing them a cappela. (I think that's what it is. Anyways singing without the music.) I had just finished when my sister comes down and asks me to stop singing because I'm disturbing her precious sleep because APPARENTLY, the fucking vent in my room connects to her's. And SHE WASN'T EVEN ASLEEP DAMNIT! NO ONE IN MY FAMILY FALLS ASLEEP THAT FUCKING FAST! And she couldn't even last 3 fucking minutes of noise, that was BARELY EVEN NOISE due to the laws of physics, when I've put up with way more shit from her and everyone else keeping me awake for much longer than 3 lousy minutes, and she has the fucking nerve to complain!
...fuck. I'm perfectly aware I'm probably grossly overreacting, but since she left before I could bitch the little I allow myself (which is never much, so much of my anger is bottled up inside... hey, maybe that's why I keep getting Hakkai on those personality quizzes! Anyways back to the rant.) it all exploded on to paper. Just so you know, 'cause it won't show up typing, that whole paragraph up there with my rant was written in bigger and bigger letters, Until I was writing 4 times my normal size. I am now going to listen to 'Freedom' again, AND sing along, and SCREW what my sister says. The only concession I'll make is usin' the headphones and singin' quieter. Fucking hell, if there was only a way to block the vent with a pillow, but alas, the vent is on the ceiling. Going to listen to music NOW. Oh yes, I'm also locking my bedroom door so she can't get in again.
MISSION SUCCESS! It is now 12:45 AM of what I guess is now September 1st, and not only was I able to listen and sing along to 'Freedom', I was in a good enough mood after that I got 3 and a half pages done. And if I thought I could get away with sleeping in till 11:30, I'd stay up later and finish it I'm so close. But I will sleep now! ^_^
Tuesday August 30 2005
...damn... Bearshare... keeps... giving... me... episodes... that... DON'T... FUCKING... WORK! DAMN YOU BEARSHARE!!
In other news, I'm taking a mini-break from 'Why Mornings Are Evil' to attempt a one-shot humour fic with some 58 fluff mixed in. Based on an encounter that would prove to my family beyond all shadow of a doubt that I'm 'practically challenged' if they knew about it. I prefer the term 'absent-minded professer' actually. 'Cause I'm NOT STUPID. I just don't think things all the way through. mleh
Anyways, best episode of 'House' EVER tonight. No it's not anime. It's on Global. Anyways, it was the funniest/most intence episode ever. First half hour seemed to be all gags. Then it somehow switched to all serious-make-you-sit-up-and-take-notice-. Dr. House was brow-beaten into lecturing med-students. All those who have heard of 'House', and have watched it, know the many possibilities of where this could go. ^_^ But I'm not going to give an epi summary, 'cause 'House' is just one of those shows I don't want to drive people away from because I described it crappily.
Yeah, so anyways, I'm going to stop typing now (TYPING! NOT pencil!) and read this fic I found yesterday, and then work on that one-shot. ^_^
Monday August 29 2005
Here's a little update on how chapter 6 is going. Ni is REALLY hard to write. I almost quit last night after writing only one paragraph. But after one mini-breakthrough, I somehow managed to write 4 pages worth. o.o And a page is one side of a lined piece of paper. Somehow it has ended up so my first draft is always done on paper, second draft is when I type it up, and final copy is when I look through it after I upload it. o.o Anyways, this chapter should be finished to the point I want, AND posted in time! ^^
*9:00 PM*
This is just a small note to say, I'M FINALLY CAUGHT UP WITH MY BLOG POSTING! WOOT!
Sunday August 28 2005
... I is bad. I distracted myself again. This time with thoughts of Saiyuki. And Mar. Now you'd think thoughts of Saiyuki wouldn't be a problem while the fic I'm writing is also Saiyuki. But they are. mleh. And for Mar, I kept trying to visualize the scene where Raiha (I'm SURE Silhouette-Guy is Raiha) finally meets Nanashi/Joker. And in nearly every version Nanashi gets his memories of being Joker back. : P Oh yeah, and Raiha usually either glomps Nanashi, or does something else extremely Raiha-ish, just so we know it's Raiha.
... Yeah. That particular maybe-it-will-go-like-this scene has been running through my head ever since chapter... 93? 94? And there's up to chapter 96 out. And Raiha hasn't shown up yet. And the watching of the Mar anime has made the m-i-w-g-l-t scene pop up even more frequently. I't gonna be outta control by the time Nanashi shows up in the anime. o.o
*10:45 PM*
O.O I love our vacuum cleaner. It sucked up 4 giant spiders for me tonight. *huggles vacuum cleaner*
On a less ecstatic, but still relieved not, I finally found my timetable again. Now I know what classes I'm taking again!... mleh.
Oh yeah, epi 149 of Naruto. Methinks Hinata learned her lesson of dancing (probably) naked. All scenes of her secret training are in her hoodie. Methinks she's realized dancing (probably) naked is not a good idea with curious people like Naruto around.
Anyways, me go write fic now. After 'Crossing Jordan.' ^_^
Saturday August 27 2005
Basically the only reason I'm writing anything today is because Jen's back! Apparently she never left. mleh. Anyways, that means I finally talked to someone I'm not related to. YAY! And I think my relatives are leaving tomorrow too! Yay! I love 'em but JEEZ there's only so much of 'em you can handle at a time. 'Specially since there's so MANY!...
Anyways, I've beem watching more Marchen Awakens Romance. YAY! And trying to wrestle episode 1 of Gunlock out of Bearshare. boo. I ask you, who the HELL puts up an incomplete file on Bearshare to be downloaded? Some dumbass put up a 15 mB file of epi one. Only problem is, you can't play it since it's PART OF A LARGER FILE DUMBASS! It can't even be used for clip purposes. No player I've been able to find plays an incomplete file unless it's streaming. And the ONE time I found the PROPER file, something happened to it and it disappeared so NOW I have to go find it again. Which is hard, as my search keeps restaring every time the compy is turned off. : P
Anyways, ficcie news! I managed to severely distract myslelf last night so not much more was done on it, though I did get a few good ideas on how to make the scene work. They just wouldn't go on the paper 'cause of said distraction. -.-; Don't ask, all I'll say is I kept going down a train of thought that kept feeding off of itself. And NO it wasn't dirty. Just distracting. Anyways, I work on ficcie now, kay?
Friday August 26 2005
... Congratulations ofudamaster! Not only have you submitted my 10th review, you are officially they first fanfic author who's story invaded my dreams. The first half of it was all JiroushinxKanzeon, and my subconscious kept stumbling over the fact that Kanzeon is a hermaphrodite. In fact, it got to the point where my subconscious took a break from what was happening to try and figure out what Jiroushin was if he had the hots for Kanzeon B. It hovered briefly on bi for a moment, before I realized that if I didn't consider the Saiyuki Boys bi or gay in the fics where there all over each other, and if I didn't consider Collin from Friendly Hostility gay, why the hell should I think Jiroushin is bi for having the hots for a hermaphrodite? So now the JiroushinxKanzeon pairing is in that nebulous category of "Just... Are." along with 39, 58, and Fox x Collin from FH.
*11:30 PM*
... Well fuck, if it weren't for the fact that now two authors have emailed me in response to reviews, I'd feel totally ignored. Screw it. I DO feel totally ignored. Much as I enjoyed those emails, I don't know those people from real life. Katie may practice the art of being unnoticeable, but that doesn't mean she likes being ignored by people she knows.
Anyways on to a lighter subject, I think I've finally COMPLETELY memorized 'Still Time'! I will now try and write out the lyrics from memory, to see if I do know all the words. ^_^
Still Time
dareka ga sutete shimatta
hinoe o hiroiage
gamushara ni to wo nobashita
kotae o tsukisukete
[1]nani wo te ni irete mo
manzoku soru koto wa nai
fukuzatsu ni karanda
kokoro no sukima kara nigedase
[2]Sou sa Make a Treasure sabitsuita
toki no naka ni kimi no koe o kiku
kono mama todoketai
hikari no naka kimi ga matte'ru
sou shinjiteru kara ima sugu ni
subete wo tsukai hatashita
mirai wa surikirete
tameraigachi ni eranda
yume sae kishimidasu
yuu'utsu na nichijou
nukedasu kotae sae shinai
sonna kimi no soba de
machi-tsudzukete'ru no wa gome da
[3]Dakara Make a Treasure sabitsuita
kagami no naka jibun wo sagashite
kono te de tsukamitai
doko ni ite mo kimi ga matte'ru
sou shinjiteru kara ima sugu ni
{then repeat [1], [2](without ima sugu ni), and [3](with ima sugu ni)}
o.o I DID IT! It took some thinking on some parts though...
Anyways I'm going to work on my fic now before it gets much later. It's already midnight.
Thursday August 25 2005
As of 2:00 PM today, I have officially caught up with the Naruto anime. As of now, it is 2:20, because I wanted to eat lunch before any blog writing.
Episodes 147 + 148 were shown as a double episode. The first half (epi 147) was devoted to finally wrapping up that damn Mizuki side-story. God that was the most annoying/corny arc EVER to me, and I'm still not sure I liked the ending. mleh.
That said, the second half of the epi (148) was the start of yet another side-story. But wait! Don't get the torches and pitchforks out yet! The star of this side-story seens to be none other than (drum roll please) Hinata! Probably one of my favourite minor Naruto characters, right alongside Shikamaru and that little frog Naruto keeps summoning when he's trying for the giant one.
*15 minutes of being conscripted into helping with chores*
Ah fuck I've nearly lost my train of thought. Anyways I think I like Hinata because she reminds me a bit of me. We're both shy (though I'm not so obvious about it, and am probably much less shy altogether), we both have (her)/had (me) major crushes on boys, both of us with little success. But she has the major kick-ass, I-will-never-give-up attitude as well. I wish I was a bit more like that. mleh. Who knows, maybe if someone dropped me into Narutoland (or better yet, Sanzoland, better known as Tougenkyo), maybe I'd develop some of that attitude.
More anyways, as I've said, Hinata seems to be more of the main focus here. (Warning: this blab will contain minor to major spoilers for the anime, depending on your view of major and minor. Those of you who haven't seen epis 147 + 148 go to www.bsx-media.com NOW and watch. If it isn't up, and your compy is fast, go to www.narutodownload.com and download the 270 mB file. If your compy is slow, wait a few days and go back to bsx-media. If you are also impatient, or don't watch the Naruto anime, just say 'screw it, I'm not waiting that long just so I can safely read a stupid blog blab' and continue reading)
Ok, Hinata wants to do something nice for Naruto, as she overhears him arguing with Tsunade to let him go look for Sasuke. Tsunade so helpfully points out there are no clues or leads. Hinata mentions to Shino and Kiba Naruto's plight. SHino comes up with the bright idea to use a special bug that has a nose better than Akamaru's. Problem is, they're nearly extinct, and lay only one egg in several years, and they need a baby bug. Tsunade gives them permission to find special bug, and sends Naruto along too, as he was spying on the conversation and would've gone along anyway. Plus it's his own damn show, we can't have everyone forgetting about him now can we?
*4:10 pm*
wow... REALLY got distracted there. My turn on the comp came up. Anyways, stuff happens on the way to the bug's habitat. Like Hinata sneaking out in the middle of the night. Naruto, 30 seconds after Hinata leaves, gets up to answer a call of nature. Anyways, after he's done, he either hears something or sees something and goes to investigate. He ends up at this little waterfall that empties out into either a big pond, a really small lake, or a river. : P I think it's a big pond. What comes next however, is something I NEVER thought I'd see on Naruto.
(SPOILERS!!!)
There is a girl dancing on the lake. I am 95% sure she had no clothes on. (though she could have had a leotard on) The girl IS Hinata. And it was the most pretty/beautiful thing I've ever seen on Naruto. o.o I mean, Naruto just doesn't do pretty. Everything was shadowed so you couldn't see her face or body lines. It actually really reminded me of Sailor Moon. And I know Sailor Moon is corny as hell and all that, but they DO have really pretty art. Anyways, it's a show about fighting ninja's, most of them around 12-13 years old. o.o
I mean really, it was PRETTY. While she was dancing the water in the air circled around her somehow. Though I THINK it may be part of her training somehow... There were some hints earlier.
Anyways after the initial shock of seeing things I did NOT expect to see on Naruto, I was of two minds.
One part of me was going, 'Yeah Hinata! You go girl! See Naruto? Sakura's not the only fish in the sea!'
The other part of me was going, 'Oh my god, Naruto avert your eyes. I mean it. Don't look at the possibly (probably) naked dancing girl who is definitely Hinata. God you guys are 12! Avert your eyes Naruto!
... yeah. So Naruto (stupidly NOT averting his eyes) moves closer to the pretty girl dancing on the lake. And, of couse, he has to call out to her. He has to find out the mystery girl's name, yes? Of course, being Naruto, he falls in the lake. Pretty-dancing-girl-Hinata uses the moment to make her getaway. Naruto comes up, sees she's gone, wonders who she was. Then, for any dense people, the camera zooms to a pile of clothes left on a rock. They are definitely Hinata's. It's also another piece of evidence for the naked theory. She COULD have been wearing a leotard, but a few scenes later, we see Hinata really training, (still at night though) and you can clearly see where the sleeves end due to how thick they are. o.o Wow Hinata, I never knew you had it in you...
Anyways, next day, Kiba wonders why Naruto is so tired. Narutor replies "Because I got up in the middle of the night and saw a REALLY pretty girl dancing on the lake and when she moved her hands like thins the water went 'ga'!" I have no idea what 'ga' means, but I assume he was describing the floaty-swirly motion. Of course Hinata is 2 steps in front of them and hears the whole thing. Her face is beet-red by the end of the conversation. Everyone is clueless as to why. : P
Yeah more happens but the main thing I wanted to talk about was the whole dancing-on-the-lake thing. I mean, it's PRETTY. You just don't SEE pretty on Naruto. Cute sometimes, pretty no. If it weren't for that scene, I probably wouldn't have bothered telling about the epi at all. A brief mention maybe. o.o I mean, really PRETTY. Gah I can't describe it. Hinata fans go watch it NOW! I think I'm actually gonna like this sidestory. ^^ But if they don't get back to the plotline in the manga right after this sidestory, I might have to break out the tar and feathers and go hunt myself some producers.
*8:30 PM*
... Relatives have descended upon my house again. : P Fortunately, after hanging out at the snack table for over an hour, until I just... couldn't... bear to look at chips anymore, when I trailed forlornly into the living room, prepared to try and socialize, Mom quietly gave me permission to go hide with my sister! Yay! Unfortunately, my sister was in no mood to be good company. So now I'm in my room, watching TV. If the next show on sucks, I'll listen to music. At 10 I'll try and work on chappie 6 ^^
Ooh yay it's Will and Grace. And I think it's a good epi. ^^
And now it's 10:00. And 'Without a Trace' is on. I will try and multitask by watching it and working on the ficcie.-.-; Let's see how well I do, yes?
And now it's 10 minutes to midnight. : P All I got done during the show was the titles. : P I got distracted by nail polish... evil stuff, nail polish. Then I accidently trapped myself into a social situation upstairs. Didn't get away until the last people left 10 minutes ago. : P And now I've tried splashing my face with cold water, and pinching my arm to try and stay awake. Mixed results. We'll see how well the writing went tomorrow. I smuggled the electric pencil sharpener into my room. ^^ Half the reason I stop writing sometimes is my pencils are all dull. Anyways, off to write ficcie now, with wonderfully sharp pencils. ^_^
*12:15 AM*
Well it's officially tomorrow. And my brain has officially shut off. Counting the titles, I have 3/4 of a page done. mleh.Well it's a start. At least I didn't give up after one paragraph. But now I really need sleep. I'm always sleepy after relatives come to visit. I'm starting to suspect that there's something in the chips. Does anyone know if MSG causes sleepiness? mleh. Whatever. I go sleep now.
Wednesday August 24 2005
I have been playing Harvest Moon again. ^^ I also have discovered a new fanfic! And the author replied to my review by emailing me! O.O That was unexpected... And as a result of the person being a total stranger, it took me over half an hour to write a reply. o.o yay for having the time to choose your words...
I also have started trying to download Saiyuki Reload Gunlock. Anime-Kraze doesn't have it on their bots, I can't find it in their channel, and Bittorrent won't let me download Gunlock for some reason (though MAR downloaded :P), so I've been wrestling Bearshare. Again. Found epis 1,2 and 4. mleh.
Now since this is actually early in the day, (4:30 I think) I'm going to try and work more on chappie 5, as I don't have access to the compy and have nothing else to do.
*10 minutes later*
... Ah fuck it. I'm posting the chapter As Is. It's long enough, and I'm stuck on how to continue. There's a writing style at the end I can't figure out how to switch out of without making it seem stilted or whatever. So the chapter that was originally supposed to be one, but then split into two, will now be three parts.
*11:30 at night*
... Well I was going to work on my ficcie tonight, but I got severely distracted. You know how I mentioned earlier today about how Bittorrent wouldn't let me get Gunlock, but it did let me get Mar? About a week ago I downloaded the first epi of Mar to see if it was just the site that was f*cked up, or the actual Gunlock files. I picked Mar because I was still currently elated by the revelation, "Raiha is coming! Raiha is coming! RAIHA is finally COMING!" I'm one of those firm believers that Nanashi is none other than Joker with amnesia.-_-; I mean, come ON, the most interesting/humourus guy in the series got sucked into a BLACK HOLE. I think one of the main reasons i'm so eager to believe is because unlike when J.K. killed off Sirius, (DAMN YOU J.K. ROWLING! But I'll still read your books) I never went through what I guess would be the fictional equivalent of a 'period of mourning.' I mean, who kills off one of the main sources of comic relief by chucking them in a black hole? It took me to the very last page of Flame of Recca to realize, 'Joker ain't comin' back.'
Anyways the coming of Raiha would be the final piece of evidence I need before I run through the streets yelling, "Joker's alive! Alive I tell you! Really, truly, honest and for real he's ALIVE!"
...
Now, due to Manga-Heaven being so slow with their latest Mar releases, and that I was tired of seeing the links to Gunlock mocking my inability to make them work for me, and that I had to scroll past Mar every time I went to stare at the evil links, I finally went, "You know, I've had that Mar epi for a week now. Epi one of Gunlock from Bearshare hasn't downloaded yet, why not watch Mar?"
And I am so frikken GLAD I did. Which of its virtues shall I extol (I think extol is the right word...) first? What the hey, let's start at the beginning: music. Now normally I don't care much about the music when I'm watching anime based on a manga I like, but every now and then an opening song comes along that would make those who didn't know what the actual show was like, to just stop watching then and there. Not so for Mar! I actually may try and find the mp3 of that song, that's how much I liked it. ^^ It's no 'Still Time' but that has the advantage of the Scene. Really hard to beat a song that calls up images of the Scene.
Anyways, next: animation. Now those of you who have read Flame of Recca, and then went and watched the anime, will know why I was just a little bit worried about this. They're the by the same author after all, and possibly some of the same characters. But it seems Nobuyaki Anzai was just as disgusted with how the FoR anime turned out as me, since he seems to have either handpicked the animators himself, or switched companies. The art could have been drawn by Nobuyaki himself, it was so damn goo. ^^ Plus they had some computer animation thrown in as well, which made for great special effects. The dimension door thing is just cool animated. Though it did look a little odd when two completely computerized giant Arms were fighting each other... It looked kinda like it has suddenly become a videogame. Actually, now that I think about it, it kinda reminded me of the summoning monsters from FFX. o.o Anyways, GREAT animation. It's the nicest feelingto watch an anime where the art is nearly indistinguishable from the manga. It's like watching the manga come to life. ^^ And sadly, much as I love Saiyuki, it's anime is NOT the manga come to life, though it DOES have its moments.
Ok, next up, plot!... Well it's the first frikken epi, so it's hard to tell. But so far, it seems nearly identical to the manga! Well, not quite, I think they change a few minor things and added a few funny things, (I think) but it was nowhere NEAR what they did to FoR. In the manga in FoR, Hime meets Recca when he saves her from some unsavory guys. Of course, said guys beat the crap out of him. Recca wakes up in Hime's lap, and she finishes healing him, making the cut on his arm disappear.
In the anime, he pushes her out of the way of a one-tonne pile of concrete that fell, and gets half-crushed in the process. Hime heals him while onlookers go, "It's a miracle!" when he wakes up.
... Yeah that's right. Oh, did I mention the children Helpful Hime was babysitting at the time?
...I nearly had a mjor corn attack there. There were many many more changes, like them editting out Joker's only fucking fight scene (and nearly his only scene period), which by episode 10 was my only reason to keep watching. (WARNING: Next comment contains MAJOR spoilers for the FoR anime) And here's the real kicker, the thing I kept bitching about to my friends for at least 2-3 days. Kurei, Big Bad Kurei, gets hit by a fucking CAR. A CAR. Guess who was in the car? That's right, Mori Kouran. Let me describe the scene for you. Shirtless Kurei in middle of road. Crazed-with-fear Mori Kouran yelling 'hit him! hit him!' to the chaueffer, while laughing maniacally. Car coming, Kurei standing. Car coming, Kurei standing. *ZOOM* *Thunk* Car goes off screen. Then *BOOM!* and a whole bunch of flame comes on screen, which makes me think Kurei blew the car up. But if he could blow the car up, why not before he was hit, hmmm? Anyways the point of that rant is, so far, Mar is sticking to the plot. ^^ Wow I've wanted to rant about FoR anime for awhile. This has been very therapeutic for me. ^^
Anyways, next up: voice actors! Now so far, the actors actually really good. They're not quite Saiyuki-style sit-up-and-take-notice, but then, all characters besides Babbo, the mom, and various Teachers, are kids. Babbo's voice sounds a little odd, but I think that's either just me, or because he just woke up. Anyways, maybe I'll get lucky and Nanashi/Joker will have a dead sexy seiyuu. I've already been surprised by one voice actor I wasn't expecting, (to be shortly revealed) what do you think the odds are that Toshihiko Seki or Hirata Hiroaki (Hiroaki Hirata?) were cast? As for the voice actor I didn't expect, well, I could be wrong, but I could swear the same person who plays Ginta also plays Naruto. o.o It's a lttle hard to tell though, as the characters way of speaking is different. (And I'm NOT talking about 'tebayo') When Ginta is excited (which is nearly half the time) he sounds exactly like Naruto. When speaking normally though, he sounds... different. The thing that finally convinced me the voice actor is one and the same was a mental playback of every time Naruto was dead-serious. Dead-serious-Naruto and non-hyper-Ginta sound exactly the same. o.o Anyways, the voice fits Ginta, and if I managed to banish images of Inuyasha when Ranma's voice actor changed, I'm sure I can do the same for Naruto and Ginta. ^^
Last of all: ending song! Well the song seemed to be not quite as good to me, due largely to the slightly corny english translation. But it was still pretty good. And the way pictures were arranged in frames gave me another FoR flashback. Just how much input does Nobuyaki have in these things anyway? The pictures were all fairy-tale-esque, and looked as if someone had mangafied children's fairy tale illustrations. Nice touch actually (to me at least). ^^
... And I think that's it. o.o And it's now ten minutes to one AM, Thursday morning, and I need some fucking sleep now that I've ranted about how great Mar was. Now the rant won't be in my head anymore, and keep me awake. ^^ I'm going to brush my teeth now, and then sleep. Ah happy days. Still have the happy feeling caused by watching something that you can just tell is the way the author meant it to be seen... Ah great animation...
Sleep now.