Tegami Bachi

A land where a man-made sun shines only on the capital, and where delivering letters can be a hazardous occupation. A young boy who’s determined to become a great Letter Bee and find his kidnapped mother. A mysterious day that seems to affect those born on it. These are the premises of Asada Hiroyuki’s latest manga, Tegami Bachi/Letter Bee, serialized monthly in Jump Square.

Lag Seeing meets a Letter Bee – an official letter-carrier in the land of Amberground – for the first time at the age of seven. Motivated by the courage and friendship shown by the Bee, he’s determined to become a Letter Bee himself. Fast-forward five years, and Lag is off to take the Letter Bee exam. On the way he meets Niche, a silent, fierce girl who’s said to be the daughter of a flesh-eating she-creature. From then on, Lag’s journey becomes even more colorful.

Asada isn’t that great on maintaining a tight plot (and his sense of humor still makes me eyeroll every time, being rather dubious), but his artwork, which has always been pretty, has gotten prettier and more detailed in TB. The two main characters are ridiculously adorable, and the older characters are interesting. Expect lots of eye-candy, a looming mystery in the background, and character development.

You can read the scanlations at Onemanga. More raws and scanlations can be found at the LJ community. I bought two of the tankoubon, and may buy more. Lovely books, although the covers can do with shades other than those of blue.

There’s nothing really special with these two episodes. Don’t expect almost OVA-like animation quality like in the first three or four Shippuden episodes, that’s for sure. Studio Pierrot keeps animating everything in slow motion, which makes it look like the characters are moving underwater. What makes the episodes worth seeing is mostly our first look at post-timeskip Team 8, Chouji and Ino, also Yamato and Sai in action and penis jokes.

First of all, I apologize if the above screencap isn’t something you’d like to see on top of an entry. ^^ I haven’t properly capped the episode and that’s all I could come up with for the time being. Spoilers for the episode after you click on the link.

Death Note 37

I’m among those who disagree with Madhouse for rewriting chapter 107. Doing so is very detrimental to the dramatic impact. I was afraid Madhouse would attempt to portray our resident megalomaniacal psycho in a more sympathetic light, and I wasn’t wrong – they did. *pulls a face* The fan in me thinks that they consider too much screaming and evil laughter is okay for manga, but would be an overkill in an audio-visual medium.

Animation is heart-pounding, and the scene in the previous episode where Mikami is writing down the names almost knocked me off my feet. Speaking of Mikami – what did he stab himself with, and if it was his pen, how come it made him spout off blood so – well, so profusely?

Last but definitely not least: Mamo, wonderful job. No, I shan’t offer to have your babies, since that’s not how I feel about you. (I tend to think of the TeniMyu guys as little brothers) May you live long and enjoy a prosperous career.

Apology to anyone who is reading this journal regularly (there seems to be one person who does, at least) – at the moment I’m crazily addicted to Death Note (manga, anime, movie), so you’ll see plenty of DN entries here. (Actually, I’m just crazy, period).

Death Note 25

Madhouse, realizing full well that anime is in many ways a different medium from manga, decided not to merely carbon-copy L’s death from the manga. They employ visual gags instead – flashbacks, scenes ending in silence, and blurry, seen-through-handheld-cameras images. L’s final thought (“So I wasn’t wrong…”) is erased, as if to maintain that he, too, ends his life in silence, without the chance to articulate his discovery about Kira even to himself. Watari’s death is one of the creepiest parts in the episode, what with Rem fading into the background and the music. The blackout before L falls out of his seat is another fitting visual gag.

On another note, if Mamo keeps screaming like this, they’d encourage him to be the next Seki Tomokazu.

Romeo x Juliet 1

Gonzo does a completely retold version of the love story that Shakespeare has made popular, that of Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet. According to Gonzo, Montague gets hold of the Capulet house in a bloody takeover. The Capulets’ young daughter, Juliet, escapes from the massacre with the help of faithful retainers. Fast-forward fourteen years, and we see an older, self-assured Juliet. She puts on a boy’s clothes, goes around by the name of Odin and keeps the Neo Verona soldiers from bullying the ordinary citizens too much. During one of her adventures, she falls off a tall building, and gets saved by Romeo, son of the same Montague who murdered her family way back when. One night, mistaken for her friend, Juliet gets whisked into a ball at what used to be the Capulet house. Overwhelmed with memories and shaken at seeing Montague, she runs out and stops near a fountain. Romeo spots her and they stare at each other, captivated.

I want to like this series, I honestly do. The first episode, unfortunately, makes me hesitate. There’s a lot of eye-candy, and the animation is good without being obtrusively so. However, there’s a certain missing logic that grates sorely on me, and it has to do with the titular characters. When Juliet sees Romeo again at the fountain, does she remember that this is the same guy who rescued her earlier, and whom she acted so brusquely to? If she does, why the sudden blushing, change of attitude, and fascination? If she doesn’t remember, how come? It’s not like he’s dressed differently or wearing some sort of a mask. Is it because he looks different by night than he does by day (…?), or because she hasn’t gotten a good look at her savior? Well, Gonzo?

All right, so that may have been nitpicking on my part. However, since the story is, I assume, will be mainly about romance, the audience has the right to see a romance that develops in a believable manner. Love at first sight is fine and dandy, but preceding circumstances also have to be taken into account. When they don’t fit together, the audience may spend more time than necessary puzzling over said love at first sight.

So here I sit, waiting for someone to come along and convince me Romeo x Juliet is worth watching for other than the visual aspects (and I’m not being sarcastic). O, anime industry, wherefore art thou industry?

I did the fanbook’s “Which Death Note character are you” quiz via the translation in deathgod.org, and I’m not at all surprised that my result is Light. I think it should be too obvious. (Shinsekai no megami to naru!)

You can read the translated quiz here. And tell me what your result is!

Two days ago I borrowed nine Death Note manga volumes from a friend. Re-visiting the earlier volumes is tremendous fun. Yay for the breakneck pace. We wouldn’t have it any other way, would we?

Some fannish thoughts about the series. Silliness and spoilers galore.

During high school, Light sometimes walks home with two schoolmates. Do you suppose one of them is the Yamamoto that appears in chapter 108? They look the same, anyway. Then again, Ooba says that chapter 108’s Yamamoto is a new character.

Does anyone else think that the finger-puppet Near makes to represent Mikami looks like Stephen King?

Someone has written a crossover with TeniPuri, right? I mean, Light was a tennis champion during junior high, and both series run in WJ magazine. The combinations are too hard to resist.

Fan disappointment aside, Lawliet’s death, especially in the wake of Light’s regained memories, is completely logical. If Ooba does not kill Lawliet, fans will be pleased, but the series will lack credibility. So, goodbye Lawliet. At the same time, though, it also amuses me to see Light walking around with that big, so-psychotic-it’s-almost-dopey “hee hee, I won!” grin all over his mug.

That Light’s life is extinguished (I like bad puns, sorry) the way it does shouldn’t be surprising. Play with fire, and all that. That ending also sort of compensates for a lot of the things missing from the second arc compared to when Lawliet is still around – Light’s fiendishly clever tricks and maneuvers, detectives that are really intriguing and not just two halves of a deceased one.

ETA:

Speaking of Near and Mello – if they don’t remind us constantly of Lawliet, readers might have an easier time switching into the second arc. It would’ve been better if Near and Mello are completely different from their predecessor (for example, one of them could be a girl, but this is a shounen series, so we can rule out that possibility). Instead, we keep seeing that each of them is a half-Lawliet and therefore we keep missing the panda-eyed detective. “If only he were still here!”

By 2009 Light is already resigned to having Misa around (ahaha). What interests me most at the moment is his speech pattern when he commands her to do something. (e.g. “Misa wa damatte!”) ‘Misa’ is the subject of the sentence rather than something added after the imperative verb. It’s like speaking to a pest-like little sister. A little sister you sleep with. (pause) Okay, I’ll shut up now.

…Okay, so I’m not as desperate as that. I finished reading the scanlation lately (read: aeons after everyone else) and would like to exchange thoughts with fellow DN readers. To begin with, a couple of general questions about the series.

1. What do you think of Misa’s portrayal as a giddy, clingy uber-cute girl? Do you think that’s what she genuinely is, or is she smarter than she appears to be?

2. How are Light and Lawliet different in their attitude toward (what they believe to be) justice?

(I say Lawliet instead of L because, as the Salon.com article points out, “Kira” and “L” are identities rather than characters)

3. In your opinion, does Light underestimate Near and Mello? What might cause his stubborn conviction that each of them is less capable than Lawliet?

4. Do you think what Matsuda does to Light at the Yellow Box warehouse is out of character or in character? Do you think any of the other police officers would be able to do pull the same act?

This is part of my Effort to Use This Journal For Something.

Darker than Black 1-10

From ANN:

“In Tokyo, an impenetrable field known as “Hell’s Gate” appeared ten years ago. At the same time, psychics who wield paranormal powers at the cost of their conscience also emerged. Hei is one of the most powerful of these psychic agents, and along with his blind associate, Yin, works for one of the many rival agencies vying to unlock the mysteries of Hell’s Gate.”

The action/spy movie aspect is pretty cool, although the babe-of-the-week idea feels rather out of date to me. (It’s so…1978 ) Animation-wise, BONES pays close attention to details, one of the things I like about them. For example, in a scene where a grown woman is walking together with a young boy, his legs move faster than hers because a child has shorter legs and therefore walking faster is only logical. Stuff like that. The colors are bright, bordering – just a little – on bold.

The worldbuilding unfolds at a rather brisk pace, and we’re left wanting to learn more details. Most if not all of the characters are stereotypes fashioned in new and interesting ways, a trick that the anime/manga industry excels at. The series does a pretty good job at keeping the viewers’ attention on the main character without keeping him on the spotlight longer than necessary. The sidekicks are intriguing, as well, even Huang. (Why does he seem to dislike Contractors? Has one of them ever done something personally or professionally harmful to him?) Mao is amusing to watch in the perfume company casefile.

Would I recommend the series? I would, with a small warning that babes in distress may not appeal to everyone. Other than that, it’s a fun ride.

(I could have watched more episodes if they weren’t .mkv files, for which I have SO MUCH H8 right now, roar)

X-posted from Array of Colors. 

While LJ-browsing last year, I happened on an entry where the LJ user (IINM, it was a friend of a friend came up with the idea of a fanfic done in the style of the Choose Your Own Adventure series. The LJ user’s friends voted for the course they’d like the fanfic to take, and the poster would continue the fic according to the option with the most votes. I wonder if anyone else has ever tried that idea – the system would’ve worked well if the fic is posted on a website.

This reminiscence is brought on by seeing several books from the Choose Your Own Adventures series in English. Gramedia published the series in Indonesia up to volume 12 or 13 back in the 1980’s. Plus, there’s my utter inability to resist shiny new things.