Get your own Free Home PageFirst rambling ever: On Cyberteam in Akihabara
(Note, I finally got the names of the first 3 girls) Since CTIA is a very little known anime, let me just list the girls:
Hibari Hanakooganai - The mainest character out of the 5, red hair.
Tsugumi Higashijujo - The black haired one who's father owns a dojo and is an idol nut. ^_^
Suzume Sakurajoshi - The blue haired "snobby" rich girl
Kamome Sengakuji - The calculative girl
Tsubame Ohtoori - The white haired girl with relatively no emotion
Basically, I'm just going to comment on one particular episode: the one where Hibari has this lesbian chasing after her and Tsugumi has to dress up like Hibari's boyfriend. That episdoe was so funny! Normally, I don't really like CTIA since the fights are hardly worth that name, and the story can get really dumb sometimes. However, I just LOVED that episode! Tsugumi made a really good "boy" (She's my fav so far, by the way). She looked like one and even knew how to dress like one! The show did get gross sometimes, though, like when Suzume (I don't like ehr as much, so I might sound biased) tried to get them to kiss, or when Tsugumi had to take off her clothes in a fitting room and pretend to be trying on this stylish jacket, because the cloth which was squashing her, ahem, breasts down flat got too tight! Though I do admit I laughed like mad when the lesbian (her name's Uzura)raced into the fighting room and tried to prove Tsugumi was a girl, only to find that she somehow managed to dress up like a handsome boy again, just in time too! ^_^
CTIA: Episode 16
After missing goodness knows how many episodes, I finally got to see this one. Even though there was no fighting, I still liked it. (Or should I say, I liked it BECAUSE there was no fighting. The "fights" are so boring!) This was about the 5 girls (Not too clear about this, but I think Kamome and Tsubame haven't joined the team yet. Not too sure, though) having to present an essay about what they want to be when they grow up. When Hibari asked the Tsubame what she wants to be, she emotionlessy replies "An ordinary girl..." much to Hibari's confusion. (She thinks she's joking) Very mysterious... I think I'm beginning to like this girl more and more...
Later on, we see a couple of flashbacks of each of the four girls. (Tsubame is still not their friend, I think, so that's why we don't see hers.) I found Suzume's and the blonde's most touching out of the four. In Suzume's case, she hardly ever sees her father because he's always away on business, so even though he promised to come to he piano recital, he breaks that promise. When Suzume throws a tantrum about that, with Sebastian trying to consol her(She sure is lucky to have such a patient butler), her sister comes by and says that you should never trust their Daddy and that she doesn't have to be a good girl any longer since Daddy isn't there to see her anyway. She leaves, and Suzumay fumes silently. The next part explains why she is so competitive, always wanting to be the best ine everything. To show her Dad, who always breaks his promise, and to her sister, who always taunts her. Isn't that just so sad?
Then we have Kamome's flashback. Her father is either dead or divorced, (I'm betting on the previous) and her Mom wants to marry another man. They want to move, and they ask her whether she's ok with that, and whether she'll like her new daddy. She thinks "To me, there is only one Daddy. To me... There is only one home." but when her mother and stepfather asks her what the matter is, she replies in a fake cheerful tone "Oh yes! I'll love our new house! I'm sure I'll like you too, Daddy!" and smiles. Next, we see her standing in front of a house, staring silently at it. She says "This house is full of memories of my father. I swear... one day, I'll earn enough money to come back and by it!"
I was so touched by this, because I originally didn't like her at all, because I thought she was rather greedy to want to make so much money. However, after I saw this, I felt that I understood her intentions a lot better.
Even though CTIA CAN get REALLY stupid, I still like it sometimes, depending on the episode.
On Flame of Recca: Inconsistencies
Some time ago, some of my friends at the FoR mailing list (can't remember which one. Sorry. *sheepish grin*) came up with the idea of pointing out the inconsistencies in the anime Flame of Recca. So far I can only remember three, so here I my opinions on them:
1) Recca's Tekkou (Arm Guard) - How did he get it? And why does it seem to fit him so snugly? Shouldn't he have outgrown it long ago?
This isn't shown in the anime, but in the manga, when Kagerou is sending Recca to the future, they show that his Tekkou is tied to his blanket. It seems Kagerou made it for him, but I'm not too clear on that. Also, perhaps Recca doesn't outgrow it because it's like one of those adjustable bracelets where you can make it big or small enough to fit your wrist. I dunno. *shrugs*
2)Is Domon able to use the Tetsugan again? If so, how? I mean, he DID swallow it and everything.
I believe he IS able to use it again, since in one of the later manga volumes (After the Dark Martial Combat), he uses it to prevent himself from being killed as he falls from a cliff. But the question is, how? Does it stay in his body forever? Does he activate it by mentally commanding it to do so? What I like to believe, however, is that he uses stomach contractions to activate it. LOL.
3) Why is Kagerou able to attack Recca directly in the earlier episodes? Don't she have a curse which does not allow him to touch her?
Some of my friends are of the opinion that she is able to touch him in the earlier episodes because he is not aware of the fact that she is his mother. Only AFTER he realizes this is the curse then activated. Besides, she didn't really touch him that much. All she did was to hit him quickly. But this confuses me a little, since she was able to hug him once in volume 8 or 9 of the manga. Was this curse mentioned in the manga? I'll have to go check and get back to you later on this one.
28/3/2k
Anyway, good news! AXN (Shown on SCV, channel 19) is going to show Flame of Recca again, as well as Fushigi Yuugi! Seems like SCV can read my mind, since I've only recently just gotten interested in Fushigi Yuugi, and I wanted to watch it, and also FoR because I've missed some episodes. Isn't that great? I nearly squealed in delight when I heard the news. (I tell you, anime is taking over my life.) Also, the description for Fushigi Yuugi (which they call "Curious Play") sounds really weird, since it's all wrong. Here it goes:
"Miaka is a bright school girl with a keen interest in ancient worlds and the people inhabiting them. The appearance of a mysterious book on ancient China allows her to be transported into the mystical world. It also transforms Miaka into a shrine maiden decked with powers to fight the vicious emperor."
I mean, hello! Can we just say TOTALLY wrong? Ironically though, I prefer Yui, since I don't really like the typical shoujo (girls') anime main characters, since they are more than likely:
1) VERY silly<.
2) Clumsy.
3) Loves to eat. (And by that, I mean she loves to eat ALOT)
4) So big-hearted and naive it's impossible.
The last point I don't mind, but the rest I don't like, since it makes it seem like ALL girls are like that. There's nothing wrong with a girl of those qualities, but I'm just not one of those who like them that way. (Give me Fuuko Kirisawa anytime! She can beat Miaka or Sailor Moon flat! Same goes for Yui. In my opinion, anyway.) Kinda ironic, since Sailor Venus, my favourite sailor, is a lot like Sailor Moon, but she can really be serious sometimes. (I read the translation for the Sailor V manga last volume, and it was so incredibly sad.) Will you believe I actually love Sailor Moon even though I've only read one manga and seen one episode? (In cantonese, too!) The rest I got from episode summaries and manga translations off the net. I'm weird. ^_^ Hopefully, though, I'll be able to watch the last few eps of Sailor Moon R, since I'll be getting Variety Vision soon.
Extra: Dates when the anime series' are aired on AXN:
11th April, Tuesday at 5.30pm: Flame of Recca. (Woohoo!) Then, from that date onwards, every weekday at that time.
21st April, Friday at 6.00pm (After FoR, too!):Fushigi Yuugi (Curious Play). Then every weekday at that time from then on.
On Dual
A lot of people say that Dual is a rip-off of Neon Genesis Evagelion, but I wouldn't know, since I've never seen Evangelion. In my opinion, however, I think it's a pretty cool show. I like D a lot, as well as Mitsuki No. 2. At first I didn't really like Mitsuki no. 1, but I'm okay with her now. I liked the ending; it was pretty interesting how everything turned out when they compressed both worlds. I suspected that the green-haired woman and Mr. Sanada liked each other; the ending sort of proved it. I usually don't like anime with unfinished endings, (eg. It makes you wonder [REALLY wonder, since they don't explain certain incidences] what happened) but this was actually quite a nice touch. I didn't really like FoR's ending, since we don't know if Kurei died or what. (I hope not) I just wonder... how come Yayoy (sp?) had long hair in the beginning but cut it later on? (Even in the world that Kasuki (sp?) came from she had long hair) I'm not sure if they explained or anything, since i missed one or two episodes, and AXN didn't re-run it.
5/5/2k
On Rurouni Kenshin
Okay. Rant time.
As much as I love Rurouni Kenshin, sometimes it just annoys me. I've finally gotten fed up and decided to rave as much as I want. After all, that's what my ramblings are for, ne? ^_^
Why, might I ask, is Kaoru Kamiya, an MASTER of the Kamiya Kasshin Ryuu reduced to a lousy simpering woman who hardly fights, if at all? Don't get me wrong; I'm not bashing her. I don't hate her - Quite the contrary, in fact. I USED to like Kaoru a lot. Why used to? Because despite the fact that she's beautiful and kind (Though a tad bit hot-tempered. Yahiko: Boy, that's the understatement of the year. Kaoru: WHAT DID YOU SAY????!!!!!! Announcer: The following scenes have been omitted due to unecessary violence.) SHE GETS OVERSHADOWED BY YAHIKO. I don't have any grudge against him, he's quite cute, actually. (Funny cute) I just have this to ask: "Why is a woman who is "supposedly" the second most main star in the show given nothing else to do but WATCH as she sees Kenshi, Sanosuke and Yahiko fight? If it were only the first two, that's fine. Sanosuke IS stronger than her after all. But why Yahiko? As much as I like that lovable hot-tempered boy, I'm still pretty pissed at the fact that HE gets to fight, HE gets to show off his moves to perfection, HE gets to defeat the bad guys, HE gets all the glory. Whereas Kaoru, despite the fact that she is the MASTER while he is the STUDENT, gets to fight like, oh say, once in 20 times? And we NEVER see her do anything, they only show a bunch of bad guys falling to the floor as she finishes her so called "move". It's more like she pokes the stick at them and they all fall down. With the guys, you see all the cool moves; they thwack them on the head, drive the sword into their gut, punch their brains out. But do we see her do anything? NO. Do you understand now why I get so irritated? I mean come ON! She is so obviously better than Yahiko. Seems like RK is bent on stressing the "Women are the weaker sex" statement. Sure, Misao gets to fight, but she usually just throws a few daggers, mouths off a few lines then stands by the side as Kenshi/Sano/Yahiko finish the bad guy off. *Growls*
Maybe I've been "spoilt" by Flame of Recca; so far, out of all the shonen anime I've seen (Which is not much, really. There's only RK, FoR, Powerstone, Dual... can't think of anymore), Fuuko is the ONLY girl warrior who gets to kick butt. And when I say Kick butt, I mean REALLY kick butt. Heck, she's the third best fighter in Hokage! (I think) Hopefully, though, FoR won't be the ONLY shonen anime I'll ever see which will have other better and cooler girl fighters.
Anyway, on a side-note, I'm up to the part in the anime (RK) with the Black Knights etc. I think Yutarou and Snyder are so cool! I've always liked Yutarou ever since the Raijuta part, so I'm glad the anime brought him back. (He's not shown anymore in the manga, right? I remember reading somewhere that the creator couldn't think of how to get him back in the series. I guess the anime decided to work on that statement, huh? ;D) Snyder seems like a pretty nice guy... (Though sometimes his "accent" grates on the ear) I wonder whether they'll tell us what's the deal with his ear?
Begun 5/6/2k, but finished 7/6/2k
On Fushigi Yuugi (Lotsa spoilers)
Fushigi Yuugi... otherwise known as Bishonen Heaven. *drools* FY is too good to be true. Lots of great characters, and a cool plot.
When I first watched FY, my favourites were simple, Yui, Suboshi and Hotohori (By the way, I HATE Miaka, so I might accidentally let slip and bash her sometimes. Sorry, you Miaka lovers out there, but I just can't stand her). That is, until Tasuki came along. Then I promptly fell in love with him. The Tiffany, my Chichiri and Tasuki obsessed maniac of a friend, infected me with her love for Chichiri. Add another one to the lot. And finally came episode 31, the one where Nuriko finally decides to cut off his braid and become a man again. That's when I began to REALLY like Nuriko. Originally, I was okay with him, but I don't know why, my liking for him just increased around those episodes. Such a pity that he had to go and die 2 episodes later. WahZ... :(
FY is just so incredible. The more I like it the more I begin to appreciate the characters. Heck, I even like Chiriko and Mitsukake a lot, the two who are severely overlooked! (Chiriko is just so kawaii and Mitsukake just seems so... I dunno. Can't think fo the right word to describe him. Strong? 0_o) I suffer from severe Yui mania (The poor girl has so few supporters [Though I managed to get my friend green_angel to see her good qualities too. *winks*]), and my goal in life has always been to one day write zillions of fics pairing her up with all my other favourite male characters. I guess I can add Nuriko to the list now. ^_~ (I am soooo going to get flamed by Nuriko lovers. Hehehe) I've even got all the ideas and everything, but whether I will ever right it is debatable, especially since I can't seem to write good, LONG fics. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
And lately I've also been obsessed with the Genbu and Byakko side, even though they get so little air time. I just watched episode 34 today, and it's one of my favs. Really humourous, and (since I'm feeling so generous) Miaka didn't act so annoying this time. In fact, I actually thought she was cool when she broke Tomite's ice. (*gasp* I actually thought Miaka was cool? Heavens have mercy!) Although I DID wonder what it would be like if it was Yui who did that, since I've been thinking about writing an alternate reality fic where Yui is Suzaku no Miko. :) But I'm off topic here. ^_^
Anyway, I really like the Genbu and Byakko seishi etc, especially the Byakko love story. I've seen lots of Genbu fics, but not that many of Byakko. Kinda surprising, since I know almost everyone enjoys the Suzuno and Tatara love story. Maybe one day I'll give a shot at trying to write stories for these, but I'm not good at creating new characters (I would need to do that for the rest of the seishi, since nothing is known about them), so it'll probably come to nothing. I DO hope Watase Yuu decides to write about these two stories. (I heard she was wondering what it would be like to do so... is this true?)
Oh, and lastly, as a side-note, I have to say Miaka's reaction to Nuriko's death was rather... um ... odd and unexpected. I didn't really like that part, though the rest of the ep was so incredibly touching and sad. Poor Nuriko... *sigh*
7/6/2k
On Shadow Skill
Shadow Skill doesn't really seem to be that popular, since I see only one site listed at Anime Web Turnpike. At first, I didn't really like SS at the first ep, but today's second episode was pretty cool. I found the main character, Aellay (Names may be spelt wrongly, since I spell by ear), the orange haired girl, rather weird at first, but I think I'm beginning to like her better. Gao was pretty cool today, as is Folly, and Scarface is intriguing. I think the princess (Didn't quite catch her name) is very pretty. I think it'll be fun to see what developes, so I definitely WON'T be switching off the telly after FY. ^_^ (Because SS shows right after FY)
Late Breaker - 9/6/2k I like the pink-haired girl too. What's her name again? K something? Well, I'm not sure, but she might turn out to be my favourite or something. ^_^ I like the opening theme a lot too... the front part sounds like bagpipes being played to me. :)
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