In my last post, I mentioned that I couldn't think of a manga that didn't have a Japanese main character. But then I read the next volume of Chibi Vampire, and realized that the main character, Karin, is a full-blooded European! Of course, she's also a full-blooded vampire. So non-human appears to be all right.
This is one of those instance where I fully recommend the manga but not the anime. For one thing, the opening sequence of the anime is, shall we say... a bit racy. Then, after 6 or 7 episodes of following the manga pretty faithfully, they introduce a totally new character (who has a really annoying voice in the English dub) and go off in a totally new direction, which I'm still not sure I like, though it is pretty funny. (The new character is a vampire hunter who can't stand the sight of blood, and who has proclaimed his undying love and protection against the undead to Karin, who is embarrassed by this in oh so many ways.) All in all, not a bad anime, but the manga is better.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Fruits Basket
I stayed away from this one for a long time, at least partly because of the name. It just doesn't flow well in English, even though, after learning what it referred to in the manga, "fruit basket" doesn't really work either. I finally started reading the manga a few months ago, and finished the whole 123 chapter thing waaay sooner than I should have considering how much homework I had. I have a weakness for sequential art, what can I say? This happens to me every time I get into a new comic or manga. I try so hard to pace myself, because I know that all too soon I'll be caught up and I'll have to wait two days or a week for the next update just like everybody else (and because I know I have a lot of homework). But I just can't help it. I'll inhale huge chunks of the archives, or just read it all at once, and then I'll be behind in my homework AND wailing because the next update doesn't come until next Wednesday, dang it!
Fruits Basket (which I keep trying to spell Fruists Basket) is about Toru Honda, a Japanese high-schooler (I don't think I've ever read a manga where the main character wasn't Japanese) who is an orphan living in a tent because she has nowhere else to go. She tries to remain cheerful and happy, but then a landslide buries her tent! Luckily for her the land she was staying on belongs to the family of one of her classmates, Yuki Sohma, and they take her in. Yuki is super popular at her school, and a little mysterious. She soon finds out why- after she accidentally hugs him, Yuki turns into a rat! It turns out that all the members of his family turn into animals corresponding to the ones in the Chinese Zodiac. BUT they only turn into animals when they're under a great deal of stress, OR they get hugged by a member of the opposite sex.
This is the other half of why I avoided it for so long. It just sounds like an ecchi (perverted) manga. But it isn't. It's actually a funny, deep, well done story about opening up your heart and letting go of past hurts.
And now the anime is on Hulu.
Goodbye, life.
Fruits Basket (which I keep trying to spell Fruists Basket) is about Toru Honda, a Japanese high-schooler (I don't think I've ever read a manga where the main character wasn't Japanese) who is an orphan living in a tent because she has nowhere else to go. She tries to remain cheerful and happy, but then a landslide buries her tent! Luckily for her the land she was staying on belongs to the family of one of her classmates, Yuki Sohma, and they take her in. Yuki is super popular at her school, and a little mysterious. She soon finds out why- after she accidentally hugs him, Yuki turns into a rat! It turns out that all the members of his family turn into animals corresponding to the ones in the Chinese Zodiac. BUT they only turn into animals when they're under a great deal of stress, OR they get hugged by a member of the opposite sex.
This is the other half of why I avoided it for so long. It just sounds like an ecchi (perverted) manga. But it isn't. It's actually a funny, deep, well done story about opening up your heart and letting go of past hurts.
And now the anime is on Hulu.
Goodbye, life.
Okay, I lied.
Yesterday was my two and a half year anniversary.
And I guess the whole hiatus thing is being put on hold. (Can you put a hiatus on hold?)
And I guess the whole hiatus thing is being put on hold. (Can you put a hiatus on hold?)
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
New Year, New Post
Wow...
I should really post more often. Or close up shop altogether.
But I won't do that, because I have so many things I want to write about. Time to write about them, on the other hand, I do not have. So I may just go on an official hiatus until May, after I graduate in late April. Because graduating from school means you have lots of time, right? Right?
(I may have been lying about the hiatus thing. But in case I don't post anything until May, just pretend I really did officially take a break. Because, man, blogging is hard work.)
I should really post more often. Or close up shop altogether.
But I won't do that, because I have so many things I want to write about. Time to write about them, on the other hand, I do not have. So I may just go on an official hiatus until May, after I graduate in late April. Because graduating from school means you have lots of time, right? Right?
(I may have been lying about the hiatus thing. But in case I don't post anything until May, just pretend I really did officially take a break. Because, man, blogging is hard work.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)