Luce's Fanfiction Blog:
June to July 2004
Luce's Fanfiction Blog:
June to July 2004
31 July 2004
I was writing and found myself finishing this line:
Touya was a deep pool, still and considering, and it appeared the only times he poked his head from that pool was in the middle of a particularly challenging game, or in the vicinity of Shindou Hikaru.
Now I have weird image of Touya as a frog. Hm. Need more sleep.
Aishuu's chapter 8 of Starting Over, her PoT AUish fic. A disappointment, to my way of thinking. It didn't preserve the tension of the anime (or manga), and lacked the dramatic flair of Ryouma's injury. Instead, we get more gripping and more of Atobe talking (I think it was him--his voice doesn't sound very strong) about his superiority, etc. Atobe considers himself superior but the voice he has about how certain people are beneath his notice, and the plot about how he crushes other players like they were nothing, doesn't quite ring true for me. But perhaps I see Atobe differently. He's lots of fun, even if I wouldn't want to speak to a RL version of him. I think of him as a Japanese version of Jonathon Power (which tells you more about my fixation with Power than anything else)--secure in his skill, casually superior, calculating but not manipulative, passionate about tennis and about his game.
And a pity with Chapter 8, because Fudomine was clearly shown to be an excellent team, and despite their loss, both Seigaku and Fudomine ended the day with mutual respect and some feeling of goodwill. Which was good for Fudomine, because goodness knows all the other schools didn't have a high opinion of them.
GW: The Arrangement chapter 31. No denouement yet, but a slight twist into war-crimes investigation and Wufei getting guilt and insomnia.
28 July 2004
D.C. Logan's AU series, Daydream, excellent as always. A nice
job of understating Heero and Duo's characters so they seem so much more
plausible, for AU characters. In fact, with a bit more tweaking, they
might be original characters. I keep wondering if she has written in other
fandoms, though GW has been quite enough for me. Still, her style is
extremely distinctive, strong without being flashy, and tender without being
cottony, sad rather than angsty (when the situation warrants it). And
always with a bare, gentle beauty that sticks in the mind long after you've
finished reading. Hm, seems like I end up raving about her fics whenever I
read them. Well, worth the rave.
27 July 2004
Sudden impulse to write a fic about Hikaru's shampoo after realizing that
the other one I started last week has stalled. Well, it was to be short
and light-hearted, for I had a weird impulse to post something on the net.
Probably due to all the discussion about good fics, bad fics, and what should
people do about the latter? that has been going on via lj. So of course I
started with shampoo, and drifted from there to Hikaru's fan. I took a
break for lunch. I came back and found myself orphaning Hikaru and writing
a funeral scene. (Also, I left out his grandmother.) Insane. Read it over, then thought about what to
call it. Came up with Shindou's Hair, Shindou's Fan,
which is oddly incongruous, but oh well.
And look, I haven't even done a scrap of work!
23 July 2004
Big, big GW reading. Sol's Monster Trucks, Roadside Weeds, and the
Art of Seducing Duo Maxwell: another hilarious attempt by Heero to get
together with an oblivious Duo Maxwell. The humour reminds me a little of
Maldoror's writings, but Sol's is more measured, Maldoror's more light-hearted.
The Worst Thing is quite good too, though Quatre isn't really one of my
favourite characters. Nice thing is that they're all nice, long stories,
good to sink your teeth into. Broken Jade, too, was excellent--the
characterization of Duo was spot on, though the relationship between him, Heero
and Trowa seeming to end a bit muzzily, to my way of thinking. Arghh,
where is the next Ion story?
22 July 2004
Gripes about Brightly Burning (see what happens when the WIPs I'm reading
don't update fast enough for me?):
1) typos
2) Is Hikaru the cheerful sort? I hadn't realized.
3) Is Hikaru the nice sort? I hadn't realized.
Trying to nit-pick. There must be more... but I can't find... oh, well. Have been reading Kristin Huntsman's (who used to write in the fandoms of--maybe she still does?--X and TB, if I remember right) HnG stories. His Name and its sequels, characteristic of her: solidly told, slightly sad, nice characterization. Though I wonder about the huge objection in-fic about homosexuality. But thankfully not so angsty as in X. (Then again, it was X. And Clamp.) And a few more which are recorded on my lj. Must really thank Anime Honesty for the decent recs.
Working on HnG story: A Pleasing Shape Takes Place.
19 July 2004
Watching Hikaru no Go
The person who did the English subtitles of the Hikaru no Go episodes has
a strange fascination with the word "station." Otherwise, a confused
understanding of the words "station" and "situation." Hmm. At some
point--especially the episodes near the end, Hikaru actually looks nearly
twenty. Maybe it's the sober look of concentration. (Akira really
needs to improve his sense of fashion, by the way. Ditch the tweeds!) What a fun trip it's been,
watching the episodes in marathons like this.
Come to think of it, I haven't found too much interesting fanfiction on HnG on the net so far. The ones I've seen so far are mainly wildly out of character, or focusing only on romantic relationships, or both. The best are the ones that replay scenes, though there was a memorable one with Hikaru time-traveling to the Heian period, which showed at least some enjoyable creativity.
Maldoror's The Arrangement chapter 30: somehow, Wufei stuck in a hospital and secretly moping about Heero isn't half as exciting as the denouement that, I suspect, is going to appear in the next chapter. Oh, please do. Once the two of them realise what is happening, perhaps they'll act like rational people and acknowledge it. I don't ask for flowers or cheesecake, just stop this robotic arrangement!
And is it my HnG obsession, or has PoT suddenly become a little dimmer? Quality of fics? Excitement engendered by the weekly episodes? Must consider.
15 July 2004
I'm trying to figure out why I like Aishuu's Brightly Burning so much,
and why I have such a visceral response to it. That, and going around thinking,
"Poor Hikaru, what happened to you? Are you still looking for Sai? What's going
to happen when you meet Touya?" and being absolutely fixated on HnG.
Intellectually, I know it's because she has done an excellent job of
re-introducing Hikaru as the 'stranger with a past' instead of the impulsive
pre-teen that we first get to know. The contrast in their pasts, combined with
the similarity of Hikaru's Go genius (and the ancient joseki, etc), makes the
experience so dazzling, I'm having a hard time taking a detached step back. Part
of me keeps moaning, "oh no, oh man, Hikaru... imagine learning Go with only Sai
for company and then losing him..."
It's easy to see where my disdain of HnG yaoi comes in, huh?
And why is this a work of process, and when will the next chapter ever appear? The third chapter is dated January 2004. That's... six months to now. Oh no! what if it never gets completed?
Aishuu seems to be quite interested in AUs, especially those that contain re-writes of the original story with a few details tweaked. I based this weak hypothesis on the fact that she's doing one for PoT, too, called Starting Over. Hm. Good setup both times, but it keeps me wondering what mid-plot developments will be like: might turn out to be very good, or very boring. I'm starting to feel the fatigue in Starting Over, though it could be my delusion, and think that there needs to be more plot. Much, much more. Though I guess I can't even think of a halfway decent plot myself for HnG, 'cos I'm still much too fascinated by the anime right now. I guess the ability to write fanfiction comes from a necessary capability to mentally tweak your mind so that you can play with the characters... something I find to be really difficult. I'm the type who just likes the author's version best, I guess.
14 July 2004: It's
highly possible I'll end up eating my words at some point, but...
I hate Hikaru no go yaoi fanfiction. I really, really do. There's
something about reading that Hikaru and Touya (or Waya) are in love-lust with
each other and are indulging in sex and admiring each other's bodies and
muttering "I love you" that makes me scream !CanonRape!
This is even worse than with PoT, because while I could accept (happily, I might add) romantic relationships because PoT is clearly a hotbed of teenage hormones (given a narrative tweak or two), I don't get that in HnG. The boys love Go. They wanna be better at Go. That's it. While there might be romantic attraction--and I freely admit, the UST is so, so visible--I just don't want to read about it! I want to read about Go and how each player loves it and gets better (or don't), particularly for Hikaru and Waya and even Touya and Isumi. I want them serious and full of fighting spirit. I want to see Touya possibly lose a match unexpectedly. I want to see Hikaru filled with glory and be bratty about his playing style. I want to see Waya come out with unexpected flashes of brilliance. I want to see Isumi getting maverick-like flashes of genius. I want to see stories of rivalries, friendship, competition, ambition, more friendship, determination, etc. Instead, I get tepid romance and stories of teenage hormones. Or plot devices like amnesia, accidents, trauma, leading to tru luv. Sigh.
The moment I really fell in love with HnG (other than squealing over Hikaru's cuteness--and who can resist a loud, brash boy who's also a maverick?) was when (watching the episodes out of order) he exclaimed to himself at the preliminaries to Hokuto, playing with Yashiro, "I can't believe you did that!" (Yashiro just placed his first stone on 5 by 5). Maybe it's the seiyuu, too, but the excited tone of his voice just made it clear how much excitement there is in Go for Hikaru and the other players. I joked with my sister how terribly serious they all were--all that staring open-mouthed at this and that game--not to mention the 'drama' of placing the stones just so. My god, these players have more than enough excitement in their lives, given that they basically breathe and live Go, and think of Go as the greatest thing in their lives. I mean, they think that Shuusaku Honinbou is the best thing since steamed rice, and the man has been dead for how long? And how about Sai who remained a ghost because he just loved Go that much? That kind of devotion to a board game rules their lives, and that's as it should be. Romance, sex... pfft.
13 July 2004
[rave]Am about to rave crazily now...
I bought Hikaru no Go anime. Yes, after resisting for weeks, I finally bought it on Sunday, and watched the first 22 episodes in two marathon sessions Sunday and Monday. Oh my god. These kids are so cute! (That exclamation mark needs to be bigger, by the way.) See, gut instinct was right. Buy the anime with the cute boys. Because I caught a bit of Hikaru at the shop, which must have been when he was twelve or something, 'cos he looks younger (face rounder, eyes bigger) in the beginning episodes, and my brain went, cute cute cute. Same for Touya. He doesn't look like a girl when he's twelve, he looks like someone's kid brother, who's good at being his elder sister's dress-up doll. Eheh. Sai is cute. Also, I particularly like that he's not a distraught ghost or a particularly traumatic one, which you'd almost expect a ghost to be. He's also an intelligent teacher, and treats Hikaru like a real friend (which Hikaru reciprocates, which I also like.) Scenes of Touya's rivalry with Hikaru/Sai... (so gay) it works on so many levels: love of the game, rivalry, ambition, lust, curiosity, anger... [/rave]
So, what else do I do but read the fanfiction? Of note, Aishuu's Brightly Burning, slightly AU, not finished, unfortunately, and I wonder if it will be. It's good in that it's not a romance-based story but a plot-driven one--as far as I can figure out, is "who is Shindou Hikaru?" and "finding Touya a rival"--one very nicely narrated from Waya's viewpoint. Would love to read Aishuu's version of the backstory, wherein Touya is 'arrogant' and Hikaru is 'in pain' (over Sai's departure?) and the legendary Sai on the 'net. Though there's my dread of WIP arising, once more. Hm. A few other stories, but not many that stood out. Will probably search (can't resist), am also remembering Wankage... what happened to that, I wonder?
9 July 2004
Wooh! Ravenwood's The Continuation of War and the omake following?
Brilliant. May I just repeat how much I love such great, careful, sexy writing?
Writing that's sensitive but firm, especially characterizations of Yukimura,
Tezuka, Fuji, ... even Ryouma? Wow. Why can't the manga show this?
8 July 2004
I have the sneaking suspicion that some writers of PoT think of the PoT-universe
as a Japanese-tennis-based Harry Potter fandom. Why else would there be so many
boarding schools? Every school is a boarding school, except for Seigaku, while
canon shows that only St. Rudolph is. While I agree that boarding schools
provide an easy way for cohabitative lovey-dovey interaction, it stretches the
imagination that in Japan(!) there're so many of them. Nah. PoT 20.5 shows the
school grounds, and no residence buildings anywhere about. Which, for junior and
senior high students, should be necessary--can't be like universities with
residence halls here and there about the city. Besides, cost of real estate in
Japan, especially metro-Tokyo? Exactly.
Mel and Christy have the newest chapter of Rebuilding, great but too short.
6 July 2004
Maldoror has two new chapters of The Arrangement, both from Trowa's
viewpoint. I used to think that Trowa was boring, and sadly, in fics and
in canon, he's rather... even more boring than Heero. In fics he's the
ex-mercenary with no life except some (more) angst, or is occasionally
bastardised into a traitor/ rapist/ sociopath/ madman. This is
considerably more entertaining.
5 July 2004
Is this greeny page too bright?
Again, lots and lots of PoT fics, some good, some awful--and we shall not speak of the latter here. I've managed to find Two_if_by_sea's Fire Exit Running, which I heard about a couple of weeks ago. Very retrospective, very Ryoma (or should that be 'Ryouma'?) Which is certainly to the good; I'm puzzled at the people who say they dislike him. The most common reason seems to be that he always wins... but check the title of the show, dears. He's supposed to be the title character, and maybe it's a cultural thing, but many Japanese writers/artists don't really mind glorifying their main character and seeing that he wins most of the time (especially in pop/commercial works).
Also remember that in Japan, Konomi-sensei's writing in Jump! and appealing to teenage boys. What makes PoT slightly superior in terms of story telling is that Ryouma (hah, now I'm spelling it this way!) is believable--as far as tennis geniuses who exist in a universe that can come up with the Three Counters are believable--in that he is clearly shown to be someone with very high potential, as well as the will to reach it. And usually it's not a will that repels people (like Sanada's is to me) but one that wants to make you cheer for Ryouma. So I like it when he wins, even if I wish he didn't sometimes. And perhaps we've all been skillfully manipulated by Konomi in this, but I'm certainly enjoying the ride.
The other outstanding thing about PoT is, of course, the huge cast of players from within Seigaku and out, including the incredibly enjoyable Hyotei (who doesn't like a snobbish, rightfully 'superior' school--we're all secret snobs!) and the school of mavericks, Rikkai. Fudomine's is everybody's dark horse (the way I see it)--my soft spot for Shinji notwithstanding, I think Konomi has further plans for them too. And who is Tachibana's pal in Kyushuu anyway (manga version)?
I'm taking the opportunity to add my two cents about Ryouma's American background, based on an lj discussion by Aishuu. Didn't feel like interrupting their conversation, but... the basis of Aishuu's discussion was that Ryouma was probably suffering from culture shock, and he seems to be the most 'Japanese' guy in the show. Ah. Culture shock? Maybe.
My feel is that children (and yes, Ryoma is a child, for the most part) don't tend to become as overwhelmed by culture shock as adults. Well, maybe it would happen if he went from (clichéd) dark, deepest Africa to wealthy, orderly Japan overnight, but no. He went from a comfortable life in the suburbs of LA (or New York? where does it say he was in NY?) to a comfortable life in the 'burbs of metro Tokyo. School-wise, it was a huge change, sure, but (lucky) Ryouma seemed to have no problems, so I think either he arrived in Japan long enough (even a few months is enough) to get used to it, or he was in a Japanese international school in America (they have those, I think... and there's a sizeable Japanese-American population in CA, anyway.) Or his parents stuck him in a junko for him to catch up on his studies before starting at Seigaku.
Lots of 'ifs' here, true, but there's also the fact that Ryouma is only twelve, is obsessed with tennis, and therefore has probably spent much of his free time with his family. I don't see him being willing to spend time ‘hanging out’ (scare quotes deliberate) with his elementary school pals, unless they were obsessed with tennis too, which, from the impression I got (i.e., lack of total mention of America), was not likely. Besides, with those American junior tennis championships under his belt, Ryouma probably spent a fair bit of time away from school, and it doesn't seem like he had that many friends in school. I would say poor Ryouma, except I think he wouldn't have cared. In that respect, going to Japan and attending Seigaku might have been the best for him (Nanjiroh actually made a correct decision for his son?!) I mean, he actually made friends!
In America, Ryouma would probably be playing tennis at home at the times he wasn't attending classes, remaining under the influence of his family. (He's twelve, you know, twelve!.) Nanjiroh may not seem like a warm and fuzzy daddy-figure, but he can be quite 'Japanese' when he puts his mind to it. Witness him dumping water on the loser who jeered at Japanese tennis players. His mother is Japanese too, who would have handled the Japanese side of upbringing (Nanjiroh for the tennis). And my impression of Japanese families is that all the typically 'Japanese' things, like manners, bowing, respect to elders, are taught from young anyway. Seeing that Ryouma picked up tennis from the time he could walk, why would it be surprising that he knows about normal Japanese families/ traditions as well?
Ryouma doesn't display the respect and bowing much, but I always thought that was because he's a gaki and a brat. He's handled the rest of the school stuff okay, like doing daily cleaning. And Japanese schools may be rigid and hierarchal, but Ryouma (other than his tennis obsession) doesn't kick up a fuss easily, is mostly quiet (quietly dozing), can act mature for his age, doesn't draw attention to himself in school (mostly): doesn't make waves. I think he's more than able to fit into Japanese schools and the Japanese school structure in this sense. And as for getting along with his senpai... see above comment about him being a gaki... and Ryouma's an adaptable boy (just see his tennis). He reacts quickly, and he's probably young enough not to think "they're not like my American friends, so I hate them" and not spoilt enough (or too tennis-minded) to want everything to go his way.
Oof. Talk about overthinking your peeves. So, culture shock? Not exactly. Him being 'Japanese'? Why not? Ryouma might have other problems adjusting to Japan, but right now, he's in junior high, and those wouldn't come up yet.
2 July 2004
Ravenwood's Need, very interesting. Good to see plot detail,
and such an intriguing one too. Interesting to see Fuji in such a predicament:
facing a difficulty from which even his genius can't extract him.
Then The Great Beyond by Beckingham, X-files. Good, good (I'm just overusing this word today) writing, incredibly soft but never wimpy, poignant view of Mulder and Scully. Stories like that rivet my attention to the computer and make my day.
1 July 2004
I really should let this go.
One of my favorite GW mailing lists was stormed with a dozen mpreg fics by some writer I've never seen before. 's awful. The perky tone of the writer makes me want to poke her with a pointy stick, and the story is... poor characterization, lack of actual story-telling, and of course, the mpreg.
Most of the time, I'm pretty sanguine about mpreg, despite my musings on it, and despite a healthy dose of 'eek' combined with 'how does the story continue?' I have opinions about writers turning otherwise likeable, healthy males into hormonal, weepy ukes, all in the name of genetic inheritance, but I can shelf those in favour of good writing. This isn't it. Why, oh why, in a universe where you can set up colonies in space, where you have big mecha and genetically altered people, there would be a need for in-vivo pregnancies, by males no less? The genetic inheritance, I can understand (yes, cute baby!Heero and cute baby!Duo combination!). But for god's sake grow these babies in a vat somewhere and stop torturing the pilots with PMS and stupid food cravings and morning sickness.
More manga PoT 20.5: Jackal's dad is unemployed? Ryoma is Rookie of the Year. And Mizuki carries a handkerchief with flowers printed/ embroidered on it.
For the record:
You Got Me, Ace-of-Trump's Rikkai fic, general, mention of the ELS syndrome.
Samenai Yume, by MorphailEffect, Jirou and Atobe. Jirou sleeps.
Baby Boy, by Avamarie, general, sympathetic Akaya.
Akaya's Brilliant Day, by Avamarie.
Got You! by Cheeseburger of Doom
29 June 2004
Underwater Light chapter 18, finally. 's good. But why does it, once
again, end with Harry tearing himself out of Draco's arms (or is it the other
way around?) with tears (okay, not tears) and recrimination?
I did mention lj's ravenwood yesterday, right? Good. Newest chapter from her lj, Contrary, pairing is Sanada AND Kirihari, subject is Kirihari being cute, amidst sex, plus before and after, and Yukimura. Argh, am mangling the summary.
Interesting discussion at fanfic_hate (lj). (Must stop dragging lj stuff incessantly into yahoo!webpage. But I spend so much time there now...) Am slightly startled that there's so much repressed hatred at over-hyped fics, but enjoyed the schadenfreude this engenders.
Pru's snippet of SV, aka Clark and Lex's son--canon, actually--funny and irresistible. Hope there is more.
28 June 2004
Can't work... must... read... fic
Was going to take a stab at writing fic (again), then realised, why should I bother when I can just read other people's fics? Newest discovery of mine: Ravenwood. Actually, I think I've come across her before, in a Mizuki/Yuuta and/or Fuji story, a combination I don't really like. But she writes great Rikkai and Seigaku fic, and for that I'm going to re-read her stories all over again after I finish this update. Her Yukimura is really good, and the Fuji/Tachibana is a nice pairing, entertainingly written. And there is Tezuka/Atobe pairing, which is a nice break from TezuFuji (and I still don't see their UST).
What I especially like is the sustained quality of her story-telling; so much of ToP fic is drabble and vignette-focused, and while some of those are excellent, I do adore good storytelling. And the deft characterization isn't to be sniffed at, either.
Am also going through 20.5 of PoT... Kabaji is a second-year? Hyotei's tennis clubhouse has personal computers. And a gym. Listing the full 1000 members of the tennis club is... insane. Yukimura's pictures remind me slightly of Tsuzuki (of YnM). Why does Atobe own so many cell phones? Says that he has one especially for overseas calls. What, he can't afford a premium plan that allows him to call overseas on the normal one? Maybe they do it differently in Japan...
27 June 2004
When I watched Ruronin Kenshin I thought how mildly ridiculous of
Sojirou that he could be driven to such lengths... then I watch PoT and think
the very same thing. Huh. Japanimation.
Have just remembered the lovely RK series, All That Matters, by Risu-chan. Kaoru is pregnant, and her and Kenshin's life change again. Very good and entertaining, especially with Kenshin giving Saito's men 'training' and being sweetly protective of Kaoru. But after chapter 7... no more! Oh man, the story's not finished yet!
And then, Tae's Taken With the Notion and Battousai's Child, chronologically after All, but written after. A bit too cute, but great to read.
23 June 2004
Chapter 26 of The Arrangement, hah! Nicely described tension, and
good progression of plot. Poor Wufei--he's much too pessimistic for his own
good. Heero should kick his butt a few times for being so... mechanical in his
thinking. Trowa and Quatre... I like. What I'm wondering is, is this a new 3+4
dynamic, or is this a threesome-to-be?
22 June 2004
Newest chapter of The Arrangement, further developments of Wufei-the-sexually-frustrated
(I love typing that) turning into Wufei-'ohmygod,theyspiedonus! having sex!' Trowa was so very, very cool.
Also, have turned my lj into a fic record page, mainly because while I want to keep track of the stuff I read, I don't want to categorize them, or rate them, or review them, or do any extra work. So. And I wanna narrate the manga version of The Prince of Tennis, just because. Only the sections I like for now, though; maybe it'll get more systematic in the future? Will scan pictures too, I think.
As for the Tenipuri fics I have on lj today...
Ace-of-Trumps's Who's got the wildcard?, FujiKiri, chapter 1 very good, chapter 2 a bit odd, so maybe chapter 3 (when it appears) will even things up. Went through Jennifer D.'s lj with a fine-toothed comb for Tenipuri fic. (I'm so sick.) Hate, hate the boyband stories. It's all about tennis or it's over! Am now reading a random Kisarazu fic, incest, and going, uh-huh, uh-huh. Fanfic reading has so jaded me.
Lady Readwolf's Catch me when I fall, very nice, Eiji the way I like him, and the side forey into Gakuto's relationship with Oshitari. Also, Yukuro's chapter 6 of Tenipuri Phone Messages! Rokkaku. Hilarious; she's really a dab hand at this, and the image of Yuuta chewing on a phone cord? Exactly.
17 June 2004
Got to the Keyfics page through
www.blackfeathers.com website. Hadn't realised that the site was back
on (at least, it looks sort of alive); it became dormant more than three years
ago (I think), which was a pity 'cos lots of the stories were unfinished.
There're more stories now, quite interesting ones, though the ones I liked were
unfinished. Luck of the draw, or just my luck?
Anyway, I can't think why the name Jennifer D. would sound familiar (she of blackfeathers, above). I've checked through some other fandoms I read: the name didn't come up. Maybe because it reminds me of JeanD, she of Dysfunctional? (Mmm... Dysfunctional...) They both have a D....
Maldoror has the newest chapter (24) of The Arrangement. Sexually frustrated Wufei: ah, that's something to see, definitely. Then the appearance of Trowa, very welcome, in order to add spice to the story, which was teetering on an overdose of one-sided UST (as far as we know, from Wufei's POV).
All this rash of fanfics is making me wondering if I should write it again. I'm bad at it, though, and had long ago told myself to stop, 'cos it's rather painful on the eyes, not to mention the brain.
15 June 2004
The reason I really bought the Prince of Tennis anime was that the dubbed
English version they were serving up on the free-to-air channel (not to mention,
one measly episode every week) was plain-out horrible and cringe-inducing. I
mean, sure, in the interests of saving my money, I could put up with the lack of
Japanese seiyuus. (Mental chant: I'm stingy I'm stingy I'm stingy). Even though
good Japanese seiyuus are one of the best things in Japanimation, I feel. That
was why I just couldn't watch the dubbed Spirited Away, especially not
after having watched the Japanese (subtitled) version.
Anyway, I'm pretty tolerant. I also watch dubbed J-dramas, after all. Until I caught the dubbed PoT, and I blew my stack. Oishi is not Australian, and damn that accent in Japanese anime! What's more, Oishi does not go about saying "yo" as though he was an over-Americanized rapper-wannabe! He's Japanese. A polite, restrained Japanese boy. They are Japanese. Japanese junior high school kids. They do not have "varsity" players in their tennis club: either you're on the school team (or maybe a 'regular'), or you're not. They do not have, in the school as a whole, "freshmen" or "sophomores": they're first-years, second-years, and third-years. The tennis coach, Ryuuzaki, is not supposed to sound like an office lady in her twenties: she's more than middle-aged, and already has a twelve-year-old grand-daughter! There were so many things wrong with the casting and the script that in the one episode I watched, I wanted to dig out my eardrums just so it would stop.
So I bought the dvds. Jap-import originals. So there. Finally: normal-sounding voices. Though the English subtitles are also not that great.
Generally: Ryoma is a brat, but I'm impressed by the face of Supreme Boredom. Also, I like that he's definitely drawn as a twelve-year-old boy instead of some adult version of a professional tennis manic. Tezuka is a robot. Kabaji comes off looking more approachable than Tezuka, and that's an achievement, even for him. Sakuno whines too much. Fuji comes off as more enigmatic than manipulative (though there's that, too). Mizuki wearing the purple shirt with roses (eyesore eyesore eyesore) is one of the more traumatic things I've seen on a tv screen. The colour scheme in the series is odd, at times. There're a lot of ultimatums, some rather funny, especially when they're supposed to come from junior high school pupils. Shinji is funny; I sometimes mumble like him so definitely a connection there. The music is not too bad, though for some reason I kept thinking of Charlie Brown.
Yaoi-speaking: Gakuto is seriously, sluttishly cute. I like Taki, who is pretty. Who cares about honeymooning Shishido and Ootori? Jirou is adorable. Atobe is amusing and really too smug and should lay off pink clothes. Eiji and Oishi could simply be friends. So could Fuji and Tezuka (I really don't see the UST... poor me).
Have not watched up to the Rikkai dai Fuzoku matches. This weekend
12 June 2004
Jennifer D's Tenipuri fics. I feel like the idiot who didn't realise
that the earth is round. Why didn't I know of the existence of stories
like that?! Her FujiRyoma stories are great, and as a foil to (boring)
TezuFuji, she has TezuFujiRyoma!! In all its wondrous incarnations.
Chase, After the Chase and Confessions (this one is an arc.
11 chapters..)
11 June 2004
Something I've been pondering for a while:
I don't want to read Duo fics where the only prevailing idea is how adorable Duo is, and how he is the 'heart' of the group of pilots, and how he changes everybody's lives by bringing them laughter, appreciation of cotton candy, and knowledge of how precious life is. Yes, Duo's past may be seen as unfortunate--even tragic--but Duo is not a touchstone for everything Disneyesque in anime or fandom. I have never gotten the impression--however certain writers may rape canon--that Duo is obsessively sentimental. These assumptions seem to come up even when some writers write about an evil Duo, believe it or not.
To me, on the surface, Duo is more of the fun-loving "baka" than the (gag) eternal child who brings sunshine into everybody's life. Inside, who knows? He's supposed to be an excellent pilot, and may or may not be good at spy missions, but he's also not a godlike (despite his moniker) superworker who performs missions so perfectly, who's such a wondrous mechanic, who can hack computer systems even better than Heero, who's such a big charmer that everyone who comes across him is unwillingly impressed by him. By gods, he's not that super. Une is supremely unimpressed by him, and so would Treize be, I think (but he'll be impressed by the piloting skills).
I think it would be extremely lazy to characterize him as somebody so special, as though he were incapable of being average (and averagely normal). Let's not forget that all five of them are presented as special too. Une is not secretly tickled by his insolent attitude; she's too professional for that. Duo is unique, in the way that everyone is supposed to be unique--it's only that certain of his unique qualities are more striking, compared to the people around him. He doesn't have to be that special in order to be liked/loved. I think Duo would rebel against the implication himself. After all, he's supposed to come forth as somebody who is 'not special' in L2, but he realizes his own self-worth while he's with Solo and so on, and develops his own skills and philosophy from there. Honestly, for a character who appears to have been drawn as the most 'normal' of the boys, it's amazing how 'unnormal' he becomes in fandom.
OK, rant over. I really do love Duo.
(Link to keep) http://www.txq.nu/jumpyboys/viewuser.php?uid=11
4 June 2004
Have been reading so much Tenipuri fic, it isn't funny. Aren't Rikkai
and Hyotei fun, though? For some reason, I'm not so keen on TezuFuji fic
anymore. Maybe because it's all so angsty. And er... a bit
one-dimensional.