Hi! You may know me as woodburner. Or hey, you may not. Anyway, this is a mostly open journal - subscribe/unsubscribe at will, no need to ask permission. :)

So I have finally watched the Revolutionary Girl Utena TV series. I know, I know, wth, get with the times, etc. But anyway, I loved it! (Well DUH, I hear you saying, isn't this the sort of thing you generally lap up? Okay, so it is. I don't know what made me put it off for so long; maybe it was just the retro-shoujo art style.)

It was totally brilliant and I loved all of the surreal imagery, the commentary on the whole whore/Madonna complex in media, the subversion of female character stereotypes and fairy tale tropes and shoujo genre tropes (and the deliberate comical parodying of shoujo fanservice, omg, it killed me) and so on. I adored how complex all the characters were - especially Anthy, omg that girl was terrifying, I mean TERRIFYING, and I loved her and all of her subtle expressions and inflections and EVERYTHING to death. (Her facial expressions! Oh, they gave me chills. There were several times I gasped out loud at her changes of expression.)

Kind of wondering whether we are supposed to assume Touga and Saionji were banging. Pretty sure we're supposed to assume Touga and Akio were banging. Maybe we're supposed to assume they were all banging? Idek. The line between metaphorical implications and literal reality is never very clear in this show. But considering that Akio bangs anything that moves it is probably fairly safe to just go with "they were all banging," which I would kind of like to do because it is hilarious and also sort of embarrassingly hot.

The ending? Uh. Srsly bizarre and confusing and I only have a vague grasp on what all happened, though it was mostly satisfying; I mean, y'all know me, I love me some Weird Shit(tm), and I have seen and loved much weirder.

...And then I watched the movie.

...

......

Okay, you guys, I have seen a lot of Weird Shit(tm) in my life. But I don't think I've ever had to ask myself, "Did I seriously just sit here and watch somebody turn into a car? Did I just watch a random carwash pop up out of nowhere, suck somebody in and turn them into a car?"

I just.

What?

What?

What the hell did I just watch? No really. Nothing made any sense in this movie. Nothing.

On the upside, it was pretty? And that "let's draw Utena naked!" scene was pretty hot? And gives us a serious relationship text upgrade, since you don't get much more textual than naked kissing. But really, you guys, City of Lost Children is one of my favorite films, and yet the only explanation I have for the Adolescence of Utena movie is "deranged fever dream". I just don't even know.

Not that I wouldn't recommend watching it. Just. After the TV series. After.

...Ep 19 of Fairy Tail. That was. THAT WAS. Quite possibly the greatest filler episode in the history of all anime.

THEY MADE BODY-SWAP FANFIC

CANON

t-tears

i'm crying

can't breathe





HANG A LAMPSHADE ON IT

I have got to make an icon of moe crying Gray I swear to god

OH MY GOSH YOU GUYS. Dennou Coil is so good! SO GOOD. I just marathoned it over the course of 3 days.

;___________________;

Such a sweet show! And so charming and imaginative! And those kids were all so adorable I wanted to squeeze the everloving piss out of them! (Except Daichi, he was probably covered in boogers.)

It's billed as sci-fi but it's really more science fantasy with a healthy dollop of horror. TV tropes describes it as "Ghost In The Shell Stand Alone Complex meets Hayao Miyazaki," ahahaha that's kind of accurate.

The "strong female characters" are so out in force here I'm sure it's got to be deliberate. The girls and women do almost everything in this show. PLUS IT HAS THE MOST AWESOME OLD LADY EVER. A cantankerous old hacker lady. Also, re: Yasako and Isako...

( spoilery pictures and slightly spoilery discussion )

AND MIGHT I MENTION THE CRACK. Jfc, when this show does crack, IT DOES IT HARDCORE. The sentient beards episode. The sentient beards episode. No seriously, exactly what were the writers smoking when they came up with that plot? How do you even get to that point? "I KNOW, guys, what we need is some sentient beards! And they should start an inter-facial war!"

I just.



TERROR.

OH MY GOD

OH MY GOD

THE NEW PH CHAPTER

A-ADA

I

I THINK I LOVE YOU

OGOD PLEASE SOMEONE TRANSLATE IT I CAN'T REAAAAAD

( spoiler )

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH screaming forever ♥♥♥♥

Okay look, people. I can see how one might dislike Maria. I disliked her at first! She was amazingly obnoxious! ...True, over the course of the series (especially EP4) she managed to become one of my favorite characters in the series, but I think this is just proof that Umineko is kind of amazing.

But I digress! My point is, I can totally get you if you don't like Maria!

But all the flippant little comments I keep seeing about how awesome Rosa is for beating the shit out of her, or how you'd smack your kid around too if your kid was Maria? THAT SHIT IS SO NOT ON. >:|

i swear to christ do people even HEAR the shit that comes out of their mouths i can't even

deep breath

deep breath

okay.

On to less enraging subjects:

Book of Bantorra ep20: JFC BANTORRA WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME okay wait I'm not sure this is a less enraging subject at all. :((((((

I would say it was refreshing to see a series set out to disillusion all its naive, Pollyanna characters for once - I mean, these types always win! and it is so unrealistic! and here is a show for once acknowledging that hey, you can not turn the world into pretty pink bubblegum with the power of your will and love alone! - but the way it is playing out, NO.

Y U DO DIS. There better be some cop-out fix-it at the end of this series, srsly. Nolotyyyy. ;; You and Enrique were supposed to be BFF! Why did you tell him to believe in you if you were just going to go and get yourself offed. How are you supposed to teach him how to smile if you're dead. :((((

Okay let's move on to an ACTUALLY less enraging subject...

Durarara! I just watched the first 5 episodes all at once. It is incredibly bizarre! Def. one of the more unique shows I've ever seen. I... I think I really like it, although I am not sure wtf it is actually about.

So far we have:
- one (1) badass lady on a motorcycle with a conspicuous lack of a head (?!!)
- one (1) hilariously sociopathic information broker
- one (1) enormous black Russian sushi chef (...wait, what) possessed of a bad accent, inhuman strength, a friendly personality and apparent endless patience for the ridiculous way people run from him in the street (...oh, Japan), and...
- one (1) random superhuman dude with anger issues and a penchant for throwing vending machines.

In addition to these weirdos of mythical proportions (...literally, in at least one case) running around and tripping over each other in Ikebukuro, we also have three (3) normal high school kids, one (1) creepy back-alley doctor who rooms with the headless lady, one (1) secretive gang called the Dollars who everyone claims to be a part of but probably no one who claims to be actually is, and one (1) freaky unexplained horror-movie creature that runs around slashing people with a sword, and who freaked the headless lady right the fuck out, and I do not even know how to express how hilarious that was.

I may not have any idea what is going on, but it's all so terribly stylish and entertaining! And Mikado and Masaomi are so adorable! And there is a badass lady that runs around on a motorcycle kicking ass, AND SHE HAS NO HEAD.

Sora no Woto ep 1: I feel like Sora no Woto wants to be both K-ON! and Haibane Renmei at the same time. Which, I don't even know, okay.

That aside, it looks like it could be cute, but it's too slow for my tastes. I can usually only enjoy really slow-paced stories if they're extremely eerie, like Mushishi or Kino no Tabi.

The OP song: the first few bars had me going WHAT IS THIS IT IS SO FAMILIAR OH MY GOD and then the vocals started up and I was like "...why does this sound like Kalafina." Well, I'm sure you can guess where I'm going with this. I just don't know how I managed not to know about this in advance.


Book of Bantorra continues to be absolutely incomprehensible yet strangely entertaining. I can't really get into it because the narrative is so all over the place - but after every episode I still want to watch the next one. Also, the lack of a real main character is simultaneously refreshing and jarring. The moment I start getting attached to anyone they disappear for several episodes.

Speaking of getting attached to characters, are Noloty and Enrique not the most adorable little things you have ever seen. THEY SHOW THEIR AFFECTION BY BEATING THE CRAP OUT OF EACH OTHER. No really! I do not even mean this in the usual, "they pretend to hate each other but it's really just pig-tail pulling" way! THIS IS JUST HOW THEY EXPRESS THEIR OBVIOUS OTP-NESS ETERNAL FRIENDSHIP.



Noloty: LET'S SAVE THE WORLD TOGETHER K? :D:D:D

Enrique: ......w-what

That poor boy never had a chance. (Well, his "dominant trait is stupidity", after all.)

Also, EPISODE 12. JESUS CHRIST THAT WAS THE HOTTEST THING. Fffffuck. I didn't know anyone even ever HAD casual sex in TV anime.

( spoilerific hotness )

I WAS ALREADY THIS CLOSE TO SHIPPING IT

AND THEN THE SHOW WENT AND MADE IT CANON

...IN THE PAST

GODDAMNIT SHOW THIS ISN'T FUNNY

MAKE THEM HAVE AMAZINGLY MINDBLOWINGLY HOT PSYCHOTIC FIGHT SEX AGAIN OR I SHALL BE VERY PUT OUT

Certainly not your most dignified moment ever, Hei. Nope, not your most dignified. (Fff, he looks so pathetic and dejected! How can such a dick look so adorable? I kind of want to pet him.)

Episode 5 seems not only to be out to punish and humiliate Hei for being a dick, but also to prove that Hei is apparently not that bright.

Hei: "So she's still a kid."

...slow. clap. Wow. That was - wow. Were you always this astute, Hei? Idk, maybe that contractor zappy machine gave him brain damage or something.

I think this was my favorite episode so far - I will never tire of "let's make the badass cool guy seem kind of silly" trope. There is nothing more adorable. A-and okay so, after watching him smack around a young girl for several episodes, it was pretty satisfying to see him have a TERRIBLE HORRIBLE NO GOOD VERY BAD DAY.

And Suou, man. SUOU. I JUST. I LOVE HER SO MUCH. "She opened up the pot, and a cockroach came out of it. And then... BOOM."

;ladskfalksjdflakj ♥♥♥

?!?!?!?!!

I. I may have screamed.

Also...





Oh my god, those two. I think I may have fallen in love with them.

Also, re: Darker than Black S2, idk, it's been a while since I watched the first season so my memory of Hei's character may be a little off, but doesn't Hei seem kind of OOC? I mean, okay, I can reluctantly buy the slightly unhinged drunk bit, because clearly a lot has happened, and while this seems kind of weird he was never exactly what you would call stable, but slapping the shit out of that chick? When she said the bit about how he could kill his lover or friends without flinching I was like, "oh, that's gonna piss him off" - and then he SLAPPED THE SHIT OUT OF HER and I was just kind of, "...okay, expected rather a more controlled display of anger than that, but whatever." Idk, I just don't think that Hei should be that easy to needle, even in this clearly unhinged state.

(Not to mention the fact that it made me go :E:E:E at him a lot, because a) SLAPPING A HELPLESS YOUNG GIRL HARD ENOUGH TO SEND HER FLYING, stay classy Hei, and b) you and a bunch of contractors show up and completely ruin her life, you threaten to kill her and treat her roughly and grope her tits (...okay so the tit-groping was unintentional BUT STILL, IT HAPPENED), then she saves your life and you respond to this by tackling her and tying her up - GEE, HEI, I WONDER WHY SHE IS SHOUTING ABUSE AT YOU. SUCH A MYSTERY. Srsly, suck it up and take it like man, it's your own damn fault.)

Otoh, somehow the show has managed to involve me enough that I'm actually giving it this much thought?

But why isn't that song that played at the beginning of episode 18 of Pandora Hearts on the 2nd OST? Anyway, my animes, let me show you them.

- Watched ep 3 of Darker than Black. Seriously, the new season of Darker than Black is weird. Have there been any contractors that manifested weapons before? Why does Hei keep getting into skeevy-looking positions with that girl? And why does it seem he's gone from binge-eating to binge-drinking? Also, cats are more expressive than squirrels, is all I'm sayin'.

- Why is no one releasing the 2nd episode of Aoi Bungaku? I really enjoyed the 1st episode - unexpectedly, as I am pretty snub-nosed when it comes to deliberately depressing realist fiction, and when it comes to depressing realist fiction, no one freaking tops the Japanese. (Also, the original author of the first story seemed to be trying to set some kind of world record for number of attempted suicides in one lifetime. No seriously, look at the wiki, it starts getting almost funny after a while.)

Congratulations, Japan, through pretty, dream-like visuals and a compelling story-flow you're making me enjoy a genre I usually hate with a vicious passion. But nobody's subbing it!

- Fairy Tail ep 1 & 2: Nothing outstanding, but it's fun, and for a shounen craving it manages to hit the spot. Check it out if you like uber-cracky shounen.

- Kuchu Buranko (aka Trapeze) ep 1: Unexpectedly highly comedic. Amusing diversion, but eh, nothing mind-blowing. Nurse is so over-the-top, oh my god. The animation... Well, I don't know, it seems like they had about a million things that they said "Hey, you know what would be AWESOME?!" about, and then used them all at once, and it's a little too much. An interesting artistic exercise, certainly, but I feel like it doesn't quite hit the mark.

All I want to know is, why, for the love of god why does the doctor cream his pants every time someone gets an injection?

Next episode: Takahiro Sakurai has a chronic erection problem. Oh, Japan.

- The Sacred Blacksmith ep 1-3: Old-fashioned high-fantasy anime that begs for breastplate jokes. While it's nothing all that special so far, I'm really enjoying it - though I hope they intend on having Cecily toughen up enough to match Luke (or at least not be so utterly and completely out-classed by him). Luke is an adorable grumpy tsundere boy and you guys know how I am about adorable grumpy tsundere boys.



Look at the cute little McGrumpy face! Don't you just wanna pinch his widdle cheeks? Also, girl-lovey subtext, I can smell it.



Can has?

- Hanjuku Joshi - a yuri manga I really like! Yet another high school girls setting, but even so, it's very sweet and funny, and I dig the subversion of icky tropes. Pretty art, too.

So! Darker than Black S2! Did not do much to endear me by akdsjf;alkjing killing off April in the first damn episode! Also I have no idea what's going on! I didn't even finish the last few eps of the first season!

HOWEVER.



LADY. SUIT. NINJA.

ALSO:



I-it wasn't even her remuneration or anything, either...

- I want story/manga/what-have-you where the Pied Piper and the Mad Hatter are arch nemeses. They will of course be ridiculously hot and there will be Subtext. Lots of Subtext. Optionally, they may be women instead of men; either way would be fantastic.

- Pandora Hearts ch. 42: BREAK ;__________; Stop making me sad, PH.

- One thing I keep wondering though. People who get injured in manga are always waking up after however many days and then proceed to have, y'know, a conversation and all that. Shouldn't they like, desperately need to pee?

- Kuroshitsuji ch. whatever the hell we're on now: Sherlock Holmes crossover y/y?

- You know, Sherlock Holmes would be way more interesting if Holmes and Watson were both women in disguise.

I rarely review books here. This is largely because while in my anime/manga "reviews", I feel free to throw coherency to the wind and keysmash to my heart's content, with books for some reason I feel I should be more formal and actually, you know, review it, rather than just going "S:LDKFJ:SLKDJ THIS WAS AWESOME." I don't know why. But whatever, I should just get over it. It's my journal and I can gibber senselessly if I wanna.

ON THAT NOTE! A book that I have read! Later I will try to work up the motivation to write up the rest of everything I've read recently.

Liar, by Justine Larbalestier

First heard of this one because of the outcry that sprung up regarding the whitewashing shenanigans that were going on with its cover prior to release. Saw it in the store and went "!!!" and sat down with it to see if it was any good. I emerged 45 minutes later after it ate my head whole, and promptly bought it.

Guys, this book. THIS BOOK. It is really awesome. I don't want to say too much about it, because (and I say this as a spoiler monster who rabidly seeks out spoilers to everything) it really is better if you go in knowing as little as possible. Suffice it to say that the narrator, a senior in high school, is a pathological liar, and thus is about as unreliable a narrator as you can get. The boy she liked has just been murdered, and many people suspect she's the culprit, though she denies this.

The prose is very terse and spare, and creates this sense of uneasy quiet and space. It was like a high-contrast black and white drawing, all clean, thick lines in ink stretching across the page. The language itself was just, ffffnggg. It was really atmospheric and a joy to read.

tl;dr READ THIS BOOK

- Browsing Pixiv fanart. Why such a lack of kinky Ikuto fanart? Why does it seem people would rather have kinky fanart of 12 year old girl? I hate everything.

The non-kinky fanart of Amu is perfectly fine, of course. I am just a dirty old lady who is craving Ikuto in dirty poses right now.

- On the subject of fanart, why does it seem there is no fanart of everyone transforming with each other's characters? THIS IS SO OBVIOUS I WOULD THINK IT WOULD BE EVERYWHERE WHY. I want to see it. ;;

Amu + Yoru! It would be adorable yet badass, and while it would be somewhat inappropriate it would at least be less inappropriate looking than her canon transformation with Iru.

Also, Ikuto transforming with almost anyone else's characters would be the most lolarious thing ever. Just scroll through the options in your mind and picture it.

- Been watching some more Shugo Chara episodes on Crunchy Roll, and there's this strange phenomenon I'm noticing in the comments on each episode's page.

EVERYONE HATES TADASE? I haven't seen this much hate for a male character since Raki from Claymore! I mean, w-what.

Okay, if I'm honest, while I don't dislike Tadase, I don't like him all that much either - he's a sweet kid, but he's kind of dull, at least as a romantic prospect. There's no tension! And yeah, I am a dirty old lady and want to keep Ikuto in my closet. (Amu, girl after my own heart. ...Okay, so she didn't really keep him in her closet, but she did throw him in there a couple of times.)

But! Let's be pragmatic here for a moment! IKUTO IS A DICK. ALSO, HE IS SEVENTEEN. Amu is what, twelve now? AND DID I MENTION THE DICK PART? If we are judging based on suitability as a suitor, the choice is obviously Tadase! Cheering Ikuto on while bashing Tadase makes no logical sense, unless the young girls viewing the show are so broken they think total dicks make better boyfriends. Also, possible pedophiles. That possible pedophiles make better boyfriends.

(Okay, I no longer think Ikuto is a pedophile, but Jesus, people should be more suspicious of him, srsly. When it happened in Full Moon o Sagashite I was not bothered in the least, because it was so sweet and innocent! ...THERE IS NOTHING SWEET AND INNOCENT ABOUT IKUTO WHATSOEVER.)

- For the record, I'm opting for the OT3, but I always opt for the OT3. Not that this is a likely outcome. ;;

- On the subject of the anime, filler. Wow, it's annoying. Well, okay, in all fairness, on occasion it's really pretty cool, but why do they feel the need for monsters of the week in almost every episode? And why Lulu. Just. Why Lulu.

That said, the filler episode that focused on Yoru? I APPROVE OF THIS TOOTH-ROT INDUCEMENT.



- In other news, I WANT A YORU OF MY VERY OWN ahhhhh so fluffy fluffy I can't standdddd itttttt

So people were telling me how awesome the Tegami Bachi manga is. I decided to read a few chapters last night... and... Then all of a sudden it was 5 in the morning.

And now I just finished reading all of what's scanlated. ;____________; I NEED MORE OR I MIGHT DIE

I-it's so sweet and strange and lovely...



And these two are so adorable my TEETH ARE ROTTING can I squeeze them ogod

OH, yes, and as several people noted to me last night (one of the reasons I decided to try the manga), Sylvette, the girl with disabled legs, is badass. I still wish an anime/manga series would provide an actual adult man with a serious disability, but for Sylvette alone I could love this series. ♥_♥ (Also, as shown in the picture above, she and the main character can not be in the same room for more than five minutes without bawling at each other, IT IS SO ADORABLE.)

All I want to know is why, why is Jiggy Pepper only a minor character?



I, um. yeah.

eta: OH, OH, I feel the need to mention the EPIC LOVE STORY between the giant maid and the lady who looks like a beautiful man!



AHHHHHHH SWEETEST THING EVER

eta #2: Ah, right, it's listed as "Letter Bee" on mangafox, if anyone's looking for it.

The Book of Bantorra eps 1 & 2:



This is a world where people turn into "books" (slabs of stone containing their memories) when they die; these books are protected by a group of "armed librarians," fighters with various psychic powers. A strange religious cult wants to take these librarians and their organization down, and takes humans and makes them into mindless drones they call "Meat", then using them as suicide bombers.

I'm not sure what to make of this show so far. It's got an intriguing premise and some awesome female characters - and, bonus, the librarians are led by a ruthless, nigh-invincible woman voiced by Romi Paku. (Who, I might add, seems to have been directed primarily to "sound like pure sex." She was more than up for the task.) But the presentation so far has been chaotic, scenes seemingly jumbled together almost at random, and the info-dumps are abrupt and glaring. Also, am I the only one wondering what's up with that bizarrely out of place bow on Hamutz's head? Seriously, I'm gathering she likes a bit of cute to go along with her bloody massacre, but that character design is rather awkward.

Well, it's off to an uneven start, I guess, but it's certainly intriguing enough to keep watching.


Tegami Bachi eps 1 & 2:



Not sure what to make of this one either. It takes place in a world called the Amberground, which is shrouded in eternal twilight. We start off following a man who transports letters from city to city across dangerous wastelands filled with huge and deadly mechanical insects. He arrives at a village to pick up a package, only to find the village in ruins, and instead of a normal letter, there's a young boy chained to a cross with a postage label stuck to his arm.

The world is delightfully surreal and the premise has promise, but so far it's been fairly rife with cliche. Oh, Gauche has a little sister at home with crippled legs, and he's trying to make money so that he can find a cure for her; oh, Lag's mother was kidnapped by bad guys and taken away to an impenetrable city he can't get into. There's probably a fresh way to do those plots, but so far, they're playing out in bog standard fashion.

(And on a tangent, it gets on my nerves that disabled characters are almost always portrayed as young girls, usually helpless characters that exist for no other reason than to give the protagonist - usually male - a person to project his desires to protect something onto; and when they're not completely helpless, they're still young girls, and are eerie and have psychic powers. I have rarely seen disabled adults in anime, and I don't think I've ever seen a disabled man, save for a spare few with supernatural afflictions and those dying of old age. Mothers are almost as often the endangered thing to save, which is also annoying, but that's another rant.)

Nevertheless, it's damn pretty, and it's been entertaining and sweet so far, so I'm going to keep watching for now.

o-oh

oh my

god

buh

There is het in my Vassalord. REALLY HOT HET.

( PICS OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN. GLORIOUSLY NSFW. )

GDIT CHERRY. YOU FUCKING TEASE.

*;* ffff Rayfell pls to be doing me now kthx

Look, all I am saying is, Cherry's gotta have one hell of a case of blue balls after that. (And I am dying to see what tortures Cheryl is obviously thinking up for her master in that last picture. Seriously, that kid is terrifying.)

Now somebody scanlate this so I know what's going on! Besides, you know. The obvious.

So despite my better instincts I ended up watching/reading Sekirei. It is sort of fantastically horrible, yet strangely fun and addictive. Even leaving aside the epic huge breast fetishism, it has some gender issues (is there a harem manga without gender issues?), yet surprisingly a lot less than most harem manga. At the very least, you cannot fault it for lacking strong women, nor for lacking strong relationships between women.

It doesn't hurt that Karasuba, Homura, and Takami are so hot. Especially Karasuba, Jesus Christ.

 



Am I predictable? (An evil, droopy-eyed, perpetually grinning bifauxnen, an angsty pretty-boy loner who wears a black mask, and a cigarette-smoking surly scientist lady in a suit and labcoat, all white-haired. I am totally predictable.)

For pure wtf-factor, it's worth noting that this author has done about 239847298374 BL manga, of both soft-core and hard-core varieties, including the infamous Sensitive Pornograph. It's not so surprising that someone's writing both BL and ecchi, that happens often enough, but... straight-up huge breast fetish harem manga? Really?

So what happens when a hardcore BL mangaka starts writing harem manga? Well, I guess things like this (spoiler). (Seriously, I could totally buy her writing that whole storyline in one of her BL titles, boobs included.) Also delightful things like ACTION GIRL YUKARI and her BEAUTIFUL SHOTA OF DEATH.



(Yes, the one in the loli dress and sprouting wings is a boy. TOGETHER, THEY FIGHT CRIME. I swear to Christ I'd read a manga about just these two.)

In conclusion: Matsu the massively perverted voyeuristic hacker? Totes authorial insert.

...

In other news, SO HOW ABOUT THAT NEW PANDORA HEARTS CHAPTER, HUH?

W.

T.

F.

So those last two episodes of Pandora Hearts? Yeah, I uh... haven't even watched them yet. I was so miffed at Sheryl being completely removed from Break's arc that I haven't worked up the motivation to watch the second part yet. Seriously, she's not young and moe, thus she's not important? And besides just wanting to see her for her sake, she's important to the duke's characterization. Without her, Barma is about as interesting as a piece of stiff cardboard.

And as for this week's episode... I don't have the courage. x_x I think I'll just wait until the series ends and find out whether the filler destroys continuity or not before I watch it. If it does, fuck it, if it doesn't, I'll watch it. I don't hate all anime-only material, but I really hate hate hate anime-only material that destroys continuity.

...

Canaan episode 10: uh, wow. So, that did completely the opposite of my expectations. I was so sure/afraid that Ms. beautiful frolicking mute lady was doomed to a fridgin' so her dude could angst more, but instead, they fridged the dude. Many kudos to the writers for reversing that gender trope, even if the way it was done was... shall we say, maybe a just little bit over the top?

(Seriously. So over the top.)

...

And in unrelated news, ruffwriter is running another original fiction prompt tree challenge, and I wrote a ficbit for it! This is completely random and unrelated to anything else I've written.

Prompt: The view from the back window.
Rating: G/PG-ish.

>> The thing's image went flicker-jitter, in-and-out, like a bad signal on a television set.

Man, Leverage S2 09 barely managed to finish broadcasting before all the shrieks of "Mary Sue!" and "Kill it with fire!" started rolling in. Lol fandom. Y u so predictable?

( Somewhat spoilery snark. )

Though I'm sure that despite all logic, if you stomp around and define the term "Mary Sue" for us enough times, we'll agree with you. Yeah uh no.

Aaanyway, I too am hoping for Gina Bellman's imminent return to the show, since the whole dynamic's thrown without her, but I'm kinda liking Jeri Ryan's character so far, too. I hope they don't overdo Hardison's attraction to her in order to create tension between Hardison and Parker; that would be a little too cliche for my tastes. (Although I'm curious as to how jealousy would manifest itself in Parker. She's much too bizarre for any normal kind of jealous behavior.) Approve of Eliot's longer hair, and also the merciful laying off of the hair mousse. He looks much better like this.

Am now wondering what the hell I am going to do until January. x_x How is it that if I get into an American show, it's right before or during an incredibly long hiatus? It happened with Avatar, too.

And I suppose I never said anything about last week's Leverage, either. Eh. This:



Says allll I could need to say.