paint it black - no, really.

re: OP 522

Maybe it's 522, I'm not sure anymore.

So, this is interesting. The plot of this sub-story and the plot of the series seem to be intersecting. Luffy will meet with all the Shichibukai at once this way, and if he succeeds at what he's doing here, there will be no way to hide his... skills from the world. He'll either be made a shichibukai himself, or more likely reject the position since he doesn't seem to favor the government, or the government doesn't seem to favor him (though I haven't read the Water 7/Enies Lobby arc, so I'm a little foggy on the specifics of this).

The eventual goal, of course, is to reach the end of the grand line and find the one piece. This isn't anywhere near that, but once this happens, I can't see any other way for the world government, or anyone else for that matter, to interfere with Luffy. This thing with Ace, which was started so long ago, will be met and resolved... and hey, maybe Dragon will be hanging around somewhere. I feel like this could be the beginning of the end of the series, even though that isn't necessarily the case.

I am intrigued and very excited.

# / RKC got addicted at 11/16/2008 03:47:00 AM /

for later

He who had been your proof, your life itself... the answer has been lost, never to be found again...

# / RKC got addicted at 11/16/2008 02:44:00 AM /

Thursday, September 25, 2008
KAMUI NOOOOOOO

I seriously want to read Tokyo Babylon. Or X. Or watch the Tokyo Babylon OVA. Or watch the X anime. All of these things are at home, unfortunately, and I won't have access to them until Christmas. DAMMIT. I can watch the X movie, if I want, but I've seen it a hojillion times at this point. That doesn't make it any less good, though.

# / RKC got addicted at 9/25/2008 10:19:00 PM /

Monday, September 22, 2008
re: OP 515

Kintama. Balls of gold, Luffy. Balls of gold. I wish really hard that that isn't a common thing in Japan and is just something Luffy made up.

# / RKC got addicted at 9/22/2008 12:19:00 AM /

Sunday, September 21, 2008
Skip Beat

I've been reading Skip Beat since earlier this year. I inhaled it. It's good like Hot Gimmick, Peach Girl, Nana, and Paradise Kiss are good. I may like From Eroica With Love better than those, but Eroica isn't quite as addictive, and it's in a different class of story. Anyway, Skip Beat. I seem to remember flying through four or five volumes of it in one day when I first started reading it. I've been taking it as it comes out, too, but for some reason, it's been on my mind this week. Yesterday, I read all 14 volumes I had of it. I've NEVER marathoned a series like that before, and I also rarely re-read volumes like that, especially something that I've read less than a year ago. I was quite pleased with the marathon. Today, I went ahead and read the six or so volumes after that in scanslations. I hated myself a little bit for this, because scanslations are such poor quality that they sort of ruin the mood with untranslated text (which I don't blame them for in Skip Beat, there are about 1,000 tiny asides per chapter) and bad translations. One chapter had tiny scans that were still Flowers and Dreams blue with a text translation that read like the characters were texting each other. Words like that coming from Ren and Mr. Yashiro made me weep.

But Skip Beat is utter crack, yes. Some things are confusing me, though. Namely that we're 20 volumes in and Kyoko is showing no signs of yielding towards Ren. Ren's ardent pursuit makes me happy, though. There are a few GREAT scenes that I read in the scans (the one where they run into each other by the river, for instance, or any of the scenes with Sho or the Vie Ghoul guy), but I still haven't liked any nearly as much as any of the two great scenes in Ren's apartment, where he calls Kyoko by her first name or he asks her if she'd like him to "show her."

The arc with the veteran actor that Kyoko cooks for bothered me because nobody bothered to TELL KYOKO WHAT WAS GOING ON. How will Ren explain it later? Certainly she will find out his real name if they ever get involved. Also, I was mad more was not made of the "Corn" connection. I wanted Kyoko to think that what the Vie Ghoul guy said about Corn was true, and she thought that the actor's son was dead, and he wanted Kyoto-style food... just, please. Throw me something, here. Also, it's more than a little messed-up when you don't see your dad for five years, and then find out he's got the girl you have a crush on pretending to be you at a younger age. What the fuck, Ren, say something.

Throwing me Corn's face was probably plenty, though. I died a little inside.

Also, I die a little inside every time Ren makes a surprised face or blushes. The characters in this series are just that good. I also underestimated Mr. Yashiro my first time through. He's developed into the perfect sidekick, the character who will make the snarky comment you yourself would love to make in any given situation. A real friend to all readers.

I'm also a little more than disappointed that things don't seem to be winding down anytime soon. The entire "Suddenly, a Love Story" arc was the best I've read so far, even better than the substitute manager story. It opened up some loose ends, though. The guy from Vie Ghoul doesn't seem like he'll be coming back (because he hates Ren), but then again he says something about meeting again... but then he goes off to New York. If we're lucky, he won't be back, because he's an even bigger asshole than Sho. Kyoko's still a struggling newbie actress though, nowhere near as famous as she needs to be to catch Sho, and Sho is still totally in love with her. Sho and Ren will need to have a showdown, which is important. More important, though, is the pacing of the series. Each and every moment lived in the story has been worthwhile, but I've read 20 volumes and the story's only progressed one year, a year during which Ren has not aged. I wish some time would elapse and then we'd join back when Kyoko could get some more experience under her belt, be more popular, more well-respected, and then she could tangle with Sho and have Ren confess his undying love, etc. On the other hand, hers and Ren's relationship is a delicate thing, so I'd hate to miss a moment, or have it implied they didn't see or speak to each other once every few days.

Ahh, Skip Beat. It's what every shoujo manga should be, really.

# / RKC got addicted at 9/21/2008 10:29:00 PM /

Monday, September 15, 2008
Raidou Kuzunoha

Here's my second attempt at a Shin Megami Tensei game. Shin Megami Tensei Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha versus the Soulless Army. Apparently my dream in this game is MasterSummon.

# / RKC got addicted at 9/15/2008 12:42:00 AM /

Monday, September 08, 2008
re: OP 513

Yeah, so I haven't really been reading. Not since the mermaid girl got kidnapped.

But this chapter?

THIS CHAPTER.

This chapter was not where I was meant to come back in.

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO MY STRAW HATS? WHAT THE MOTHERFUCK?!

# / RKC got addicted at 9/08/2008 02:00:00 AM /

Ai Yazawa

Ai Yazawa is some sort of genius. I'm a pretty girly girl, but I can't help crying whenever I read her comics. I still break down in weepy girl-tears whenever I read Paradise Kiss (which is surprisingly frequently, and has been for the past several years). Nana made me cry... at the part where Nana brought Takumi to Hachi and when Hachi wrote the letter to Nana. And I just finished Neighborhood Story. The part where Tsutomu showed Berry-chan to Mikako was very tear-jerky, and the fashion show was too, but the final bits with Mikako's farewell party, the whole chapter with her in London, all of it was very sad. Oh dear. I'll probably read I'm Not an Angel and the Moon one too, but I'll sob the entire time I'm doing it. Neighborhood Story wasn't nearly as good as Paradise Kiss or Nana, but it was still the best Ribon series I've ever read. This isn't actually all that impressive, but I never thought I would genuinely enjoy any other Ribon series besides KKJ.

# / RKC got addicted at 9/08/2008 01:51:00 AM /

Saturday, August 23, 2008
vacation's end

I am SO DEPRESSED right now. I still have two days worth of my vacation left, but I'll have to register for my plane ticket this afternoon, and tomorrow evening I'll be back in Chicago. It helps that my new apartment is awesome, but I still hate living in Chicago. A lot. I want to move back here, but doing so would probably mean I'd have to break up with A, and we're soul mates, you understand.

I did accomplish what I set out to do on my vacation, or close enough to it at this point. I've read 16/20 volumes of Angel Sanctuary and only have two volumes of Dragon Ball left. If I can finish those five volumes today, that'll just leave me with the miscellaneous stuff tomorrow, like a volume of Pastel, the last two volumes of Astro Boy, and... Iron Wok Jan, I think. Reading seven volumes of Dragon Ball and all 20 volumes of Angel Sanctuary is pretty hardcore.

I almost didn't though. I had to use ALL my spare time and stay up to 4 in the morning and shit. Every single day this week involved some sort of road trip in the car. Saturday was the drive back from Chicago, Sunday was a baseball game in Akron, Monday was a drive to the hotdog shop in Girard (which I opposed strenuously), Tuesday was a drive to Pittsburgh for a boat ride and general walking tour of the city, Wednesday was a drive to Pittsburgh's suburbs and a roundabout tour of several as we were taking a detour to Kennywood, Thursday I didn't leave the house, and Friday we drove to Akron, back, then drove to Rodger's sale. Today I worry that my mother is going to want to take me to Boardman. I'd go with her, but I really don't want to leave the house today.

The one thing I didn't get to do as much as I wanted was play Harvest Moon DS Cute. I love that game and got back into it, but I had to forego playing it in order to read a ton of comics. I'm kind of bummed about that.

# / RKC got addicted at 8/23/2008 11:47:00 AM /

Monday, July 28, 2008
What would my mother say...

For some reason, I have found myself gravitating more and more towards erotic fiction, which is kind of disturbing for me. And weird. Because really, it's just an extremely unsettling voyeuristic tendency that's being satisfied rather than any sort of sexual connection. I think I would feel better if I found them at least a little... titillating, but I'm totally asexual, so, like, not even actual sex is the least bit pleasurable.

All the same, I've been reading a lot of fantasy novels lately which have sex as a plot element, usually not a very subtle plot item (Merry Gentry, the Kushiel books, kinda-sorta the Rachael Morgan series, I've got the first volume of the Anita Blake books on my shelf, and god help me, I've also want to read Twilight very badly even though I'm sure there's no sex. I think it helps if its a fantasy book, for whatever reason. I just found myself considering a recent book from Vertical Publishing which was just a collection of erotic short stories. I... had to stop myself, because really, I would have only read it because people having sex in books is fascinating me lately. I think I'm more fascinated by the fantasy books, though, because there are other things going on, whereas something like "Cock and Bull" is literally just people having sex, or in that case, really weird sex (though Cock and Bull is not erotica in the strictest sense). So really, I wouldn't have bought, or at least wouldn't enjoy, that Vertigo book.

But I can justify it to myself all I want, in the end, my bookshelves are laden with naughty fiction featuring night creatures, something that my self from two years ago would have killed me for, especially since I love every damn page in most cases.

# / RKC got addicted at 7/28/2008 12:56:00 AM /