felis_ultharus

I like Joyce some times... not Finnegan's wake mind you. But I promise if it was made into an anime there would be more giant robots, cyborgs and homoerotic subtext than you could handle. Have you seen the anime adaptations of The Count of Monte Cristo and Seven Samurai (Gankutsuou and Samurai 7 respectively)? Both have all those things and more. ^_^

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That's a nice image ^_^

Though I haven't actually seen those anime :)

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I'll have to fix that at some point then. I know you'd love them both. Gankutsuou is absolutely stuning (and unique) visually on top of everything else.

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Looking forward to it ^_^

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I used to think that I disliked Joyce because it's cheating to make up 90% of the words in your work. Then I got a hold of John Lennon's first two books, which are nothing but cheery nonsense, and I had to revise that: It's cheating when you make up 90% of the words in your work, and then get upset when people don't instantly know what the hell you were talking about. It's the author equivalent of when your SO stomps around the house all day, plainly angry, and when you ask what you did the answer comes back, "If you don't know, I'm certainly not going to tell you!"

I was not impressed when I had to read portions "Portrait of An Artist As A Young Man" in high school. My feeling is that no book that starts out with the author wetting himself is ever going to turn out well.

I had the misfortune to see all of the Eva movies before I finished the series. I remember perking up when Kaworu showed up in the series recap, because he had a personality and I didn't loathe it. Ahaha! That taught me a good lesson about getting attached to secondary characters in psychodramas.

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"My feeling is that no book that starts out with the author wetting himself is ever going to turn out well."

Of course, given how End of Evangelion starts out, it's not too different :/

Of coyurse, I'm in denial over End of Evangelion. Some days, I cabn convince myself the series ended with the final episode, and nothing came after.

I adored Kaworu. I'm glad he gets more face-trime in the manga, though the personalities of the characters are changed a bit, and the story is more streamlined.

*really wishes the next volume will come out before I retire*

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Of course, given how End of Evangelion starts out, it's not too different :/

I did have misgivings about the movie right about the Asuka-in-hospital scene, yeah. I happen to be a redheaded girl, and that's even creepier than some of the very o.O things I've gotten in real-life. Of course, that now makes me wonder what would happen if I ever fell asleep in any semi-private spaces....

The last episode of Eva hurt my head, but I'm with you in preferring it to the movie. Hearing that Kaworu get less of a short shrift in the manga makes me wonder if I should start picking that one up; right now I'm waiting on volume 11 of DNAngel, which is apparently scheduled to come out after my retirement. Very cute series, and for something that's theoretically based around a heterosexual love triangle, very slashy. Seriously. Every time Satoshi wants to have an actual conversation, he pins Daisuke to a wall. Daisuke does not appear to think this is unusual or worrying, either.

I'll have to wait for Evangelion to come out in English, though. I read Japanese, but not well enough to plow through Shinji's tortured life.

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Yeah. The movie was intended as a "Screw you!" to the fans who didn't like how the series ended. A lot of them were just getting off on the girls, so that's what the hospital scene was about -- Shinji stands in for the shallow fans, there.

As Asuka asks later, "Do you think of me as food...?"

The manga is even more brutal to Shinji, but Shinji doesn't react as badly. Shinji is less a perpetual victim -- he builds a colder shell around himself, and reacts to being hurt by hurting others. Shinji comes off as a jerk a lot of the time -- but it's for the same reason he's a martyr in the series. He's wounded too much by human contact.

They changed Kaji, too -- made him a lot deeper and more complex. I really liked where they went with Kaji.

Actually, they change a lot of the plot. It's easier to understand. And Shinji and Kaworu have more time, and actual conversations.

The last volume ended halfway through the Kaworu sequence (volumes 1-9 are available in English). Volume 10 has only just started to appear in individual installments in Japan. It takes Yoshiyuki Sadamoto -- the artist -- ages to do anything.

He likes working at his own pace.

I still haven't seen DNAngel.

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I'm one of the few people who actually like manga Kaworu. I still think it's strange noone else agrees with me >_> I mean, for once you can actually see why he'd attach himself to Shinji. Other than being some kind of uberwise guardian angel that is actually much too good for Shinji but just has a weak spot for frail human boys-
Not that I didn't like that, I just think the manga version makes so much more sense.

As for DNAngel, it's an awesome series and I love it, but personally I think all the slashiness is fanservice more than meant to be, especially given the note on which it ended... -__-

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Oh, I really like him, too. In a lot of ways, it's really hard to figure the anime kaworu out because he has so little screen time, and there are so many very different translations of his words.

I am liking the manga version. There are some things I miss from the series, but Sadamoto has pleasantly surprised me in a lot of ways :)

That's two recommendations for DNAngel. Maybe I'll check it out ^_^

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And here's a third recommendation. ^_^

DNAngel really is great (though the manga is much better than the anime, mostly because the animation is kind of clunky). It's very sweet. As for the slashiness, I don't know if it's jsut fan service. I mean yeah, Daisuke's probably never gonna end up with Satoshi but Satoshi most definately has more than friendly feelings for him.

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WHAAAAT! The animation is not clunky!!! *protest*

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Not the cell animation, no. But that 3d stuff? it's pretty bad and it doesn't mesh at all.

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>_>

<_< Yeah butbut. It's still shiny....

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Grr. How I hate that lj doesn't take the less-than anymore.

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I feel the continuing protest. *chuckle* That's fine. I still prefer the manga. ^_^

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:P Alright. I can live with that.

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I don't mind fan service :)

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Of course it's fanservice. The whole series is fanservice! Sugisaki's serious manga is Candidate for Goddess, as near as I can tell. DNAngel is just cuteness. Emiko speaks for fangirls everywhere when she dresses Dark like a J-rocker, after all. It's not quite as fourth-wall-breaking with commentary on the fanservice as, say, Koko wa Greenwood, where Mitsuru and Shinobu will actually crack wise about it just to see Hasukawa pop a sprocket in the cafeteria -- but it is, nevertheless, loaded down with fanservice-y things.

What I do find interesting about DNAngel, though, is the way the random slashiness is handled. Daisuke does not have the traditional response to getting pinned to a wall, which is, "ZOMG! Another boy touched me! AM I GAY? WHAT DO I DO!?" He's either totally oblivious, or completely aware of what is going on and doesn't mind, I can't decide which. Totally different from the usual social model, and thankfully less dripping with Angst.

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But Candidate for Goddess SUCKS! That's HER work? For serious?
... That's really sad. =_=

From what I understand, DNAngel is a magical boy series (just about the only one in existance, too), and as such, certain elements are justified, and not really fanservice. Like the cute fluffy bunny. It also explains the particular kind of funny, including the weird family. And the stage play. Something like that also happens in CCS, for example.
I still think there's more than enough serious in it, and until the very last episode I still thought it possible Satoshi is REALLY meant to be gay. That was why he pulled away for a while in the what, fourth eps or so, right?
And then the goddamn woman went and spoiled it. That really wasn't funny
-_-
As for unusual responses... I think that's simply because it's such a marginal element in the series, it'd make no sense to make it a big thing and throw Daisuke in confusion over it, especially because he knows where his heart belongs, for the most part. I'm also glad that's not where the angst in the series comes from, but what I meant is that to me, this one wittle scene at the end totally invalidated all the slashiness because *NEITHER* of them meant it. Which might be silly of me, but it annoyed me to no ends.

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I actually haven't seen the anime. From most accounts, the ending is somewhat different than in the manga. I have 1-10 in the English translation and I'm waiting to get my paws on 11, which is the last one.

There is a very CCS-ish element with Emiko dressing Dark up like a doll, but it's not quite the outright parody that CCS aims to be. (CLAMP was a yaoi doujinshi circle before they broke into the mainstream, incidentally -- explains a lot, doesn't it? XD) In the manga, the interplay between Satoshi and Daisuke actually has a LOT of very serious undercurrents to it, some of them inescapably sexual. Daisuke does understand why his mother freaks out over it, and he still goes back, over and over, to talk to Satoshi. He ignores the wall-pinning for the most part, but the moments where he breaks through and actually gets Satoshi to talk are given significance at least equal to when he successfully gets the attention of either Harada.

The relationship is plainly very important to Satoshi, too. Krad goes straight for Daisuke every single time, and Krad is most jealous of whatever's most important to Satoshi. Kind of surprising the first time; you'd think it would be the artwork, if Satoshi had successfully shut everyone else out of his heart.

The little bunny thing is adorable. Wiz/With (depending on translation) I don't think is really supposed to be a rabbit, just a Mokona-ish thing with a speech impediment. I dunno if you've seen the subs or raw Japanese, but the running joke is that With keeps mispronouncing Daisuke's name as 'Daisuki!' with the obvious hilarious results. =)

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Ahhh okay. Well I've seen the anime first, then tried to pick up the manga because I liked it so much, but found I just couldn't get the same feeling from it. There are only a tiny couple of mangas I really really enjoy anyhow, and only one I actively prefer over the anime (that would be X/1999, of course).

And hah, yeah that makes a lot of sense.
Looks like they cut it down a lot in the anime. As far as I remember, Daisuke's mother only ever notices Satoshi once, and that's no big deal. Most of the interaction with innuendo happens in the first few episodes, then Satoshi leaves for a long time because he feels he's not in proper control of himself (and because Krad went after Daisuke); a lot of it is also accounted to the fact that he chases after Dark so passionately.
Daisuke seems to understand the innuendo but he cares very little, just like you said.
There's a scene at the very end where Satoshi flirts with Risa, and it's portrayed as a new lighthearted attitude that is *the* solution to all his problems with selfhate and depression etc, while his relationship with Daisuke seems to have turned into a mutual friendship and nothing else.

Right it's not really a rabbit, but I fail to find any other description :P Mokona-ish thing works too. It's really cute anyhow.
I've seen subtitled, noticed the Daisuki of course. There was a whole episode about that with all consequences. ^_^

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Aha -- it sounds like they skipped over most of the Satoshi and Daisuke stuff, which actually I can understand in the interest of making it a more coherent story for a television show. There aren't any arcs in the manga that don't involve Satoshi somehow, and while Satoshi nurses a seething hatred for Dark, he will go out of his way to make sure nothing happens to Daisuke. A couple of times he actually pits himself against Krad to keep Daisuke safe, which is not terribly good for his mental health.

Emiko is *very* aware that Daisuke keeps talking to the Hiwatari boy at school and periodically harangues him over it. Daisuke ignores her with the serenity that only Daisuke can muster. One thing I suspect they did differently in the anime is that in the manga, both boys learn about each other very early on and there's an unspoken agreement to keep it out of their non-phantom-robbery lives. Daisuke drags Satoshi home with him, once, and I think even shows him the vault of artwork. (Emiko, needless to say, flips out and only the efforts of Daisuke's father keep her from personally rampaging down there and tossing Satoshi out on his ear.) While I do agree with you that it's technically a 'magical boy' series, almost all of the 'secret identity' angst comes from Daisuke and Dark trying to keep things straight with the girls, and not avoiding his best enemy, which is sort of an unexpected touch.

Besides which, the interplay between Daisuke and Satoshi keeps me entertained with trying to figure out what exactly would happen if Satoshi were in love with him. The kaitou curse has something to do with the Niwa falling in love and the object of his affections knowing about Dark, but so far as I know, it's always been a girl before, and never a Hikari. Daisuke wouldn't dare ask his mother either; she'd explode. ^_^;;

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Well Satoshi plays a major role in the beginning and then again at the end. But if that's so, boo on them for cutting down on it -_-
In the anime they portray it more as though he went against Krad because he doesn't want Krad to have his body (which is also not good for his mental health). Later on we also learn that Krad completely wants to take him over and never give his body back, so it makes sense.
The home-dragging incident is kept in, but I can't really remember if he shows him the basement.
You're for the most part right, just that after they learn about it, you always feel it sort of hanging over their interaction from then on, but they don't talk about it.
We also learn very early in the series that Dark/Krad coming out (ie showing themselves, taking the body over) happens when their counterparts get overwhelmed with feelings (for the one they love). Which is why his mother always shows Daisuke a picture of Risa when he refuses to go stealing, and Krad forcibly comes out when Satoshi meets Daisuke, though it's always a much bigger struggle.
Towards the end it seems to become more and more independent from that, or rather, at least Daisuke learns how to induce/control it better.
I'm not sure how clear cut Daisuke's romance life is in the manga, but in the anime it gets absolutely settled, in a satisfying way (I can't remember how many OMG THANKGOD I uttered), and all throughout it never seems possible that it might turn out to be Satoshi.

But yeah >_> his mom would explode. Which deviates her from the common fangirl, because the common fangirl would be all OMG SQUEE HOW CUTE.

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Steps back and listens to the show, because I have no idea who these people are or these series are about ^_^

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That's good, because then the massive spoilering-ness we have committed here doesn't mean anything :P

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:p

Without a context, it's all going in one eye and out the other.

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Glad we're livening up your day! I have this unhealthy tendency to sit down and psychoanalyze people who do not actually exist. Ordinarily I keep it to myself, but occasionally I find someone like-minded and, well... if I don't clear out my Trillian logs periodically I wind up scratching my head and wondering where that 75MB of disk space went to. Really.

I am entertained and a little bit scared to note that if you Google for 'Yumemisama' most of my fanfic is still floating around out there in intarweb-land. It'll probably also hit some of my miscellaneous contributions to the web, like helping N-chan with a small bit of her Please Save My Earth opus, and writing up an etymological explanation of the term 'yaoi' for CFAN that really ought to have been a quarter the size, but if you'll notice, I'm not very good at shutting up. ^^;;; So far as I know, I'm still the only Yumemisama (and the variants YumemiSama and Yumemi-sama) that comes up in English. I think I'm occasionally credited as Yumemichan, but I'm less sure about being the only one of those.

I risk hideous embarrassment by telling you all this, because I haven't released any fanfic into the wild for a couple of years now, and if I read it back over I would probably cringe and die. I am not claiming to be a better author nowadays -- just better at recognizing bad ones. ^^;;;

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"Glad we're livening up your day! I have this unhealthy tendency to sit down and psychoanalyze people who do not actually exist."

I'm an English major. If I do become a professor, I'll be doing that for a living ^_^

And I have quite a few friends who write fanfics of various sorts.

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My BA is in sociology. Loved getting it, but it's totally useless for doing things like, oh, feeding myself. My minors were Japanese and linguistics, which are likewise completely useless for getting a job in the American Southwest. I'd do better if my Spanish didn't suck.

Current BS program is Electronic Media, which will in theory qualify me to be a button-pressing monkey for a television or radio station/production facility, thus meaning I can eat when I get into grad school.

My grand life plan is to stay at a university until they quit charging me to be here and start paying me instead. I was actually looking at school in Montréal at one point, on the basis that my country has actually been embarrassing me more than my family has, these past few years, and I speak pretty reasonable Canadian French, so I wouldn't, you know, die. I'm not sure I have job skills the Canadian government would like, however, which means I don't have any idea of my odds of getting the boot once I have a PhD. I loathe moving and I would hate to have to put down on my résumé something like, "Was asked to leave the country as they already had a surfeit of smartasses."

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I don't know the series, but I've never minded angst in that situation.

Coming-out is angsty. My own was a series of worst-case scenarios, by the end of which I'd gone from a comfortable working-class home to poor, starving, and struggling. It took me a long time to crawl out of that hole.

For that reason, I kind of like the angsty situations better. I identify with them more.

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I don't mind the angst either, as a rule; the problem is it's unfortunately very easy to do it poorly in a dramatic sense. Sort of the difference between a novel that is a sincerely involving, intricate character romance and your average bodice-ripper. There's a lot of angst in FAKE!, for example, but it's based on who Dee is and who Ryo is, and how they interact, and actually has a basis in characterization. Because the world runs on Sturgeon's Law ("90% of everything is crap"), I have run into a lot of poorly-done angst, and it drives me crazy.

I'm sorry to hear about your coming-out. I'm usually the most anti-climactic person to come out to; I've known several guys (and one girl) who come rushing up going, "Okay, I have some SERIOUS news to tell you, and I don't want you to freak or anything, and it's OKAY if you need to take some time to think about it, but: I'M GAY." My response is invariably, "Okay. You can beta-read my slashfic, then. Are we still going to lunch?" I sincerely disappointed the one of them who was using it to drama-whore to our entire group of acquaintances, but he's an irritating person in most other respects as well, so I don't feel too bad about it. ^^;;

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Fake was soooo goooooood.... >_>

*runs away before he discusses stuff in other people's journals again*

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Ha! It so happens that *I* keep a journal, and I *beg* for comments and discussions!

http://www.blurty.com/users/sotlc/

Transferred from LJ for reasons that are kind of obvious if you are ever bored enough to poke back into the Yumemisama archives. Feel free to ignore whatever I'm whining about today and just comment randomly on anime/manga/life/universe/everything/cute puppies/whatever. I have a university desk job where I am actually encouraged to use the Internet to keep me out of worse trouble, so you are bound to get a response, whatever you post. ^_^

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Oooh :D Very cool, thanks. I'll have a look and see if I have some ramblings to add here and there.

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