Catch Up

It's been a long time since I've made a post. I think that is mostly due to the fact that I've been feeling incredibly blah lately for a number of reasons, but I didn't feel like writing about it because it 1) makes me feel even more blah thinking about it enough to write about it, and 2) it isn't fun to read about and just seems whiny and self-absorbed. So, those of you who are in frequent contact with me have already heard about my blahs, and if you haven't you probably don't need to hear about them anyway.

That said, let's talk about what I have been doing lately. I haven't been accomplishing much—at least, not as much as I would like—but I have been watching some new things.

I've been watching season three of Nikita after it was donated to the yellowdancer21 library by the Callow Queen, and I had no idea that the third season was the season of abrupt hair changes. I knew that the hair styles would change... I've seen random episodes from later seasons. But I didn't realize they changed all at once. Now Madeline has very short hair, Michael has short hair that they obviously don't know what to do with because it looks all bushy and 80's at the beginning (kind of like how Duncan's looked in the last season of Highlander), and Operations has gone white (which I think actually looks rather distinguished). I don't mind the changes so much, but they were still a bit of shock. I'm still a little iffy on whether Madeline's hair completely changed her character or not, though.

Now that I'm addicted to Gilmore Girls I've been watching the new episodes of that, and I want to slap Rory upside the head SO bad. And this week is the beginning of a new season of LOST! Let's hope it keeps up the momentum it had from last season and doesn't disappoint like Alias has lately.

As far as anime goes, I'm still watching Bleach (I'm a few episodes behind, but only a couple and once they've finished downloading I'll be all caught up); I've been watching Scrapped Princess and Shannon kicks major ass (he also likes to kick walls when he's frustrated); I've watched the first two DVD's of Mirage of Blaze and I'm excited to find that it has an interesting plot and not just shonen ai goodness (though it creeps me out how much the characters look like characters from X at times). Oh, and I watched Shamanic Princess a while back and that was really good too—trippy, but good. Last, but not least, I've also become addicted to Honey and Clover.



This anime is right up my alley. It's character driven, which means not a lot happens plot-wise, but I don't mind. I enjoy slice of life stories that focus on the character's emotions, thoughts and motivations. Let's face it; real life can be very hard sometimes— even without aliens, epic battles or super spies getting involved. I also really enjoy this anime because it focuses on art students who are all supposedly college age (though Hagu still looks like she's no older than ten) trying to figure out their direction in life, where they fit in with the people around them and who they love. So, it's totally shojo in that respect with lots of love triangles, squares and pentagons. But at the same time there's this element of nostalgia that makes me wistful about my own days in college—that feeling that you need to enjoy every single moment because it won't last forever and everyone will change in different ways once they graduate. I can completely empathise with Takemoto and his fear of the changes accompanying graduation and losing that feeling of belonging with his circle of friends. The art style of the series is nostalgic in and of itself, with faded colors and softened lines. It makes me so wistful it hurts at times...

But I would be remiss if I didn't mention the other aspect of Honey and Clover that I love: its sense of humor. This anime touches on some of the things I loved so much about Fruits Basket. It can make me cry and roll on the floor laughing in the same episode. Morita is insane. But SO much fun. And somehow, despite his carefree, oblivious demeanor, he deeply cares about the people around him, and somehow he manages to be a guardian angel for each of them at some point. I also enjoy Shuu-chan Sensei for his extreme protectiveness of Hagu (not to mention the fact that his voice actor also played Hughes in Full Metal Alchemist—he's good at the overprotective father role).

I also have to admit I find it extremely cool to see the characters visiting places I have seen or been to on my brief visit to Japan. Ueno park for Sakura viewing (I only wish Morita had shown up to sing for us when we were there), Odaiba with the huge ferris wheel...

Okay, so I'll stop going on about Honey & Clover but only so I can mention the pinnacle of my recent watching experience: Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. It makes me weepy just thinking about it. It was everything I hoped for and more. I'm glad I didn't spoil myself too much for it, because it was nice watching it without really knowing what was going to happen. They really stayed true to the game, in my opinion, and it felt like they really did fans homage—they made it for us, not just to wring more money out of an old game—from the fanfare cell phone ring, to Barret saying "You're late, bitch," to the fight against Bahamut which was almost turn based like a fight in the game. And let's not forget Cloud's limit break, and the fact that he was actually unable to stand up straight because he was injured—I knew he was low on HP then. :) Reno and Rude were awesome too—who knew Reno could translate Tifa?—and I enjoyed the comic relief they provided. Even Rufus was cool, I have to say—and not just because he was played by the same voice actor who played Roy in FullMetal Alchemist. I still would love to see an omake with Rufus throwing back the hood of his cloak and revealing himself as Roy, though. That would be awesome.




The fight scenes were incredible, and the music was so awesome that I've already preordered the soundtrack. I think Square made a mistake by not releasing the movie here at the same time in Japan because I'm worried some people who watched the fansubbed version won't buy it. I can't imagine being so stupid, but I'm sure some people will be. It will be mine.

(sorry about including an angsty Cloud pic, but he was so angsty in the movie it's hard to find one where he isn't angsting)