Beyond My Touch

Well, I’ve just finished packing and hopefully I haven’t forgotten anything important.  I’m so disorganized this year.  arg.  I suppose the thing to look forward to is Friday morning when I have two weeks of vacation staring me in the face.  Ahhh…

I don’t normally say this, but thank goodness there was hardly any new manga this week!  Christmas shopping had to take priority, but I hate leaving stuff behind.  There were only a few titles to choose from and I ended up buying just one, which was Beyond My Touch (rating is 16+).  Too bad it seems to be a standalone volume.  Of the manga I’ve bought in the past month or so, this is one of the top three.  It’s so sweet!  And the art shifts between cute and beautiful, my two favorite styles.  Yeah, I like manga better if it’s pretty.  Sorry.

Three of the five parts in the story are about a boy named Mizuno who is being haunted by his dead classmate Mamoru.  Mamoru has become a ghost to deal with his unfinished business.  His only regret?  Not kissing Mizuno before he died.  There is a big contrast between the two characters – Mamoru is outgoing, friendly and cheerful and Mizuno is a broody, detached boy who slowly comes to realize through his interactions with Mamoru just how lonely his life really is.  Will he grant Mamoru’s only wish, or is he willing to take the chance that he’ll be left alone again? 

I spent a lot of time thinking “awwww” while reading this.  (I was on the bus while reading it, otherwise it would have been a verbal “awwww”)  Watching Mizuno slowly working through his feelings and opening himself up to life and love was very entertaining.

There are two other short stories called Cool Lips and Recipe that aren’t quite as good (of course, they only got one part each as opposed to the three parts to Beyond My Touch) but are still worthy reads.  Cool Lips is similar in tone to Beyond My Touch (the roles between the loner and the outgoing guy are a bit reversed in this one), but Recipe was pretty different.  It has a young chef who is obsessed with baking sweets for his childhood friend and can’t figure out why said friend isn’t as impressed with his baked goods as all of their other classmates.  He will continue to bake until “…Minoru falls for Takashi’s sweets.”  heh.

That’s probably it until after the new year.  I’m going to miss the new stuff coming out next week, and the usual Boxing Week sale.  The guys at the comic store said they’d put aside some sale stuff for me until I got back if it stays in stock, though.  They rock.  Now I just have to figure out what I want… heh heh heh…

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and have a safe and happy New Year.

What the heck is going on??

Somehow this month is going by a lot faster than it should be.  Partly to blame for that is the fact that I put off Christmas shopping for so long.  I’m usually at least halfway done through the month and have already shipped a box of presents home so I don’t have to travel with them (a policy put into place after the year I arrived home with BRUISED shoulders because my present bag was so damn heavy.  Also, I buy lighter presents now.  :P ).  I didn’t really start my shopping this year until last week.  I have no idea how that happened.  I’m leaving for home in two days and I’m definately not ready for Christmas yet.  Add a killer work schedule to that (did I *really* need to work at job #2 for three weekends in a row last month??) and I’m completely disoriented and convinced it’s still last week.  I have *plenty* of time for everything!

Another thing I didn’t need this month?  After sitting around on my hold list FOREVER, I had a bunch of library holds suddenly show up.  I’ve been waiting months for this stuff, a lot of which was on order, and it decides to come in now.  I moved a lot of stuff on my list to inactive, but I literally didn’t have a chance with this batch.  So, as of today, I have three volumes of Samurai Deeper Kyo, two of Jubei-chan the Ninja Girl, My Neighbor the Yamadas and a whole whack of books and manga signed out that’s due next week and probably not renewable.  Did I mention I’m leaving in two days???  Yes, I could put it all back on hold, but then I’m back to two hundred on the list and waiting another six months.  arg.

On a brighter note, I caught a killer cold that pounced on me out of nowhere, and have been lying in bed feeling miserable for two days.  So while I had no energy to get up and do useful stuff, I did manage to have a live action GTO marathon that lasted all night.  Hey, it’s not like I’ve been able to sleep lately anyway, what with the blades lodged in my throat. 

Watching GTO was FUN!  I’m a fan of the graphic novels, and I liked the anime series (tho not as much as the books) and the tv series was a good interpretation.   It managed to pull most of the main characters from the manga and tell their stories, but usually in a more simplified version.  It took me a while to figure out who Murai was (I must have missed when they first said his name?) mostly because the two guys he’s always hanging out with in the manga were now being led by the girl from Onizuka’s student teaching adventure and Murai was more of an angry loner.  He also took more time to win over in the tv show.  There were a lot less of the crazy stunts and feats of strength (which makes sense for live action) but it was still both funny and touching.  I laughed quite a bit (or tried to, I had no voice to laugh with) and cried a lot (it was mostly Tomoko who prompted the tears, which is odd because I’ve never really liked that character much.  Props to the actress and dialogue!) and it was 10 hours very well spent.  :)

I have Samurai Deeper Kyo playing in the background right now and there are two voices that are driving me crazy because I KNOW I’ve heard them before and I’m trying to figure out from where.  I want to figure it out myself before looking it up, though.  It’s more fun that way.  I’m going to look up their real names later.

Wait.  It’s after midnight.  I’m now leaving tomorrow.  This can’t be good…

Manga update

Forgot to mention that I did manage to keep it to two extra books last week.  I picked up Antique Bakery #2 and La Esperanca #1 on Friday and really enjoyed them both.  I *loved* Antique Bakery, but then I was really looking forward to it after the first one.  I love the art (even though I find the characters look very similar.  thank goodness for the hair!) and I the characters are pretty interesting in their interactions.  (How *does* Tachibana manage to resist Ono??)  Without going into much detail (no time!!) some of the notable events in AB 2 were:

• the introduction of a new character who not only reveals Tachibana’s high class status but ALSO unleashes Ono’s gay demonic charm.  And yes, it’s pretty demonic.
• a lot more of the three men’s histories, some of which were only hinted at for future stories (yay! foreshadowing!)
• it tied together some of the stories and secondary characters that kind of confused me in the first volume.  What was up with the time skipping back and forth?  Who were these people?  Now I get the point.
• lots of pastry porn.  If I knew more about food, I’d probably enjoy it more, but the guys seem to be enjoying themselves, so what the heck.  And speaking of food porn, there’s also a…
• scratch ‘n sniff cover, which I totally didn’t notice at first.  mmm…smelly cover…

December seems to be an official Yaoi month for me, which is of course the month I decide to start writing all of this down.  I get teased sometimes for reading this stuff, but it’s really still a small part of my manga collection.  lol.  Be Beautiful had a bunch of titles scheduled for release over the months of September to December, but ended up pushing everything back to this month.  Soo… a lot of books I’d been planning on spreading out over four months are instead coming out over four weeks.  What to do, what to do…

Tomorrow is Wednesday again and I’m hoping my manga run isn’t too tempting or painful.  :)  I finally got to my other regular comic store last week and picked up about a months worth of comics.  I’m finding I’m enjoying my DC comics less and less and I’m dreading what’s going to happen with this whole Infitity Crisis thing.  Am I going to WANT to keep reading my DC titles after a complete revamping of my favorite characters?  Am I going to be confused since I’m not reading a lot of the crossovers and tie-ins?  I’m skipping the whole OMAC thing, am I going to regret it later??  Ah well.  I guess my favorite comic right now, as in the one I consistantly enjoy reading and have the most fun with is Ultimate Spider-Man.  (Spiderman? too lazy to check…)  Followed by the New Avengers.  What do these two titles have in common?  Brian Michael Bendis.  He rocks.

Fun with Multitasking

I was going to write about Our Kindom tonight, but I ended up taking a nap instead. I actually brought work home with me today so I plugged interlibrary loan requests into Docline while watching Panda! Go, Panda! Why can’t I watch dvds while I work during the day? You have to do something while you’re waiting for pages to load… There’s probably no point in suggesting that at the next staff meeting.

I went to the official Fruits Basket site to see if I could find out what the next plush animal will be. I heard somewhere that it was going to be an onigiri for Tohru. Of course, even though I got the address off one of my toy labels I couldn’t find the stuffed animals anywhere. They’re probably hidden or something. (I did get a really nice Ayame wallpaper for my desktop, which has now replaced Ichigo from Bleach. Sorry, Ichigo!) A broader search came up with a lying down Kyo/cat as being forthcoming. I probably won’t get that one since I already have a Kyo and I’m running out of flat display space.

Tomorrow night I have to try to get over to Kikiwai to get some Christmas presents. I hope they have some cool stuff in – I want to get some Fullmetal Alchemist merch for my nephew. The merchandise on their website doesn’t come close to showing everything in the store. And I will be strong. Nothing for me until after Christmas!! Um, probably nothing for me until after Christmas…

Kong

Well, my original plan was to see Chronicles of Narnia tonight. But when we got to the theatre, I was surprised to see that King Kong hadn’t completely sold out for the night. So we went to that instead.

What a fucking. awesome. movie.

Sorry, but it needed the profanity for emphasis. Really. I basically went to this movie for one thing: I wanted to see King Kong fight the dinosaur from the preview. That’s it. I didn’t really have any expectations, since I’m not a huge fan of the remake and have never seen the original. I was completely blown away by Peter Jackson’s version. There was a chunk of time during the movie when I could only sit there laughing hysterically in amazement with my hands clutched under my chin in the “oh my gosh” position. It was the part when Jack’s group meets up with their own dinosaurs and I will say nothing else.  Go see it for yourself.

I even liked all of the non-action bits, which kept me amused and entertained between the exciting bits.  And no, I didn’t cry at the end, but it was close.  There was a girl down the row from us who was sobbing at the end.  I completely got why.  Kong was done so beautifully and so believably that I was at one point thinking, who needs the humans?  I would be completely entertained by a monster island movie.  No dialogue required.  heh.

The bugs made me kind of nauseous though.  Please.  No more bugs.  The next time I see one of those huge millipede things in my room I’m going to scream like a little girl and run for the can of Raid.

Plus?  Kyle Chandler is in this movie.  I didn’t know that.  I’ve been a fan of his since Early Edition, which I loved.  Sorry Early Edition.  I probably got you cancelled.  Most of my favorite shows do.  I kept cringing during the action bits every time he showed up because I was waiting for his horrible death.

 

And yes, I did go buy manga today.  My lunch time plan was to go and buy two volumes and pick two more to buy on Friday.  Everything else gets left until after Christmas.  I bought:

Hot Gimmick 10
Hana Kimi 9
Our Kingdom 1

Yes, that’s three.  My plans have all gone awry today.  I’m getting Antique Bakery 2 and La Esperanca 1 on Friday.  Midori’s Days and Kare First Love are getting left behind.  Unless nothing good comes in next week.  Then I’m getting the Midori book.  Of course, it’s almost time for Tokyopop’s end of the month flood of manga, so who knows what’s going to happen next week?

I didn’t read Hot Gimmick yet, surprise surprise.  I didn’t want to read it during lunch ’cause then I’d have to rush through it.  I read Our Kingdom instead (more about that one tomorrow) and figured Hot Gimmick would be good for the way home.  I had such a King Kong buzz after the movie though, that I knitted instead.  Tomorrow I’ll bring Hot Gimmick and Hana Kimi with me to read during the day.

I’m a bad fan.

Also coming soon!

I completely forgot! Oni Press is publishing Scott Pilgrim #3 in February! (Maybe? I hope? Apparently it might be late.) This rocks! I’m a huge fan of the Scott Pilgrim books, and Lost at Sea is one of my favorite graphic novels. Actually, it’s the first non-superhero, non-manga graphic novel that I bought when I was looking to try something new. I’m so glad I started with such a great book. Bryan Lee O’Malley is amazing!

Plus, not only does Scott Pilgrim #2 feature a girl ninja fight in a library, he also very helpfully published the branch hours too! That one made me giggle. Hee!

Coming soon

Television on dvd:

The Flash – January 10 – My brother taped all of the episodes when they were on tv the first time, and I still feel kind of guilty that I’m the one that broke one of the tapes… But I think they’re still hanging around at mom’s and no one’s been itching to watch them so it’s probably time to forgive myself. 
Teen Titans Season One - February 7 – I’m glad I didn’t pick up the individual discs when they were released.  Don’t know if I’m going to get this or not.  I guess it depends on how cheap the set is.
The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. – Summer 2006 – Hello!  It’s Bruce Campbell, of course I’m getting this!  I’m hoping my memories about how good this show was are reliable – things never seem as good as they were when you first saw them when you were younger.  This originally came out in 1993, so I think I was what?? Still in university I believe.

This is stuff I came across today.  I knew the Flash and Brisco County Jr. were coming out, but not when.  Teen Titans was news, but since it’s already been released on dvd, it’s not exciting news.  :)  Apparently Justice League and Batman Beyond will be coming out soon as well.  Think I’ll hold out for the JL Extreme sets.

Braindead moment: I figured out the time thing. There’s actually a place to edit the timestamp if you scroll down on the Write Post screen. D’oh!

New manga tomorrow!

Free anime score

I don’t get to keep any of it, though.

I had an appalling pile of dvds to pick up at the library when I went in on Sunday. How on Earth am I supposed to watch all of this stuff in a week?? Time to recharge the battery on the portable dvd player, I guess. I got Ladder 49 (I honestly don’t remember why I put this on hold – I must have seen it on the new dvd list), volume 1 of Jubei Chan the Ninja Girl, Panda! go Panda! (free, remember?) and volumes 2 and 3 of Samurai Deeper Kyo. I haven’t seen the first volume yet, which kind of sucks. The Circ desk person taunted me with it (because it was still on the hold shelf with the rest of my stuff) then wouldn’t let me sign it out (because I missed the pick up date by a day). I see her point, but don’t hand me something unless you’re going to let me keep it. I don’t need that kind of frustration. grr.

I put a lot of dvds on hold through the library, even though it fills up a hell of a lot of my hold space (I’m up to 50 again, damnit!), but it takes so LONG for dvds to come in.  It’s all movies I kind of want to see someday but am unwilling to spend money on.  It makes for a kind of boring hold list.  :)

I’ve also had a chance to read most of my new manga.  Yay! 

Cafe Kichijouji de #1 – it met all of my expectations.  The art ranged from beautiful to seriously cute (that would be the mini adventures between stories with the boys in chibi form) which is all I was really hoping for.  I also got a story that started me laughing out loud from the start and kept me going for the rest of the volume.  The ads for this book were a bit misleading, because it seems to get lumped in with DMP’s yaoi stuff, but as far as I can tell all the guys so far are straight.  :)  This is from the back of the book:

You don’t need a reservation at Cafe Kichijouji, but be warned… they’re dishing up total craziness.  Five waiters with different-flavored personalities sling the hash daily, and even the smallest tasks make for red-hot mayhem.

That sums up the book pretty well.  I don’t want to say too much about the characters, since discovering their quirks was a lot of the fun, but I will say that a couple of times I was expecting the standard character-types and was happily surprised to be wrong.  The book itself was divided into five different short stories.  And I laughed every time Kurihara whipped out a plate… (read it – you’ll get it then!) 

(after writing that I didn’t want to spoil anyone with the characters, I went to the DMP site to link to the book, and of course there’s a description of all the guys… lol.  check it out if you’re curious)

Bleach #10 – after fearing my Bleach buzz wore off on volume 8, and the fun I had reading volume 9, I wasn’t entirely sure what my reaction was going to be for this one. The manga and anime are very similar to each other, so lately I haven’t had that “ohmygoshwhat’sgoingtohappennext??” feeling that I had with the first part of the series. Volume 10 kind of straddled my reactions to 8 and 9. I still very much enjoyed it, but it wasn’t as much fun as the last one. Of course, it didn’t have as much humour, which explains part of that… So. Ichigo and crew are working on infiltrating the Soul Society with the help of Kukaku the explosives expert. There was a lot of action in this one, which I liked (though “reading” a sword fight will never be as exciting as watching one for me) and there were a few times where I just kind of… paused… to check out the art in a panel. For me, that’s a big deal, since on my first read throughs I usually blast through reading the dialogue and catching the plot.  My second read through is when I spend more time checking out the art.  Conclusion?  Bleach remains on my Go Without Food to Buy Manga list.  Go Bleach!

BTW, according to Amazon, the new Hot Gimmick is coming out this week.  Finally!!  A friend in Japan sent me the next couple of volumes, but they were in Japanese of course!  The joy… the agony… the confusion…  I could tell that Secrets Were Revealed, though, and Azuza got a haircut!  This was confusing until I finally figured out that there wasn’t a new character hanging around…

A very special shout out to said friend for the totally rockin’ Ouran High School Host Club pins she sent for Christmas.  After a nail polish tip from another equally rockin’ friend, I plan on sporting Haruhi and Tamaki pins on my bag.  After my Christmas trip home though.  Greyhound buses are hard on my belongings and I will be VERY VERY sad if these go missing!

I was going to write more about my new manga, but it’s almost 2 am now. Sheesh! (yes, 2 am, WordPress. Not 10 am. I SO have to fix that!) It would be nice if I stopped getting my second wind at midnight, especially when I only got about three hours of sleep the night before… and I have to work at job #2 tomorrow after job #1… and Wednesday I’m going to go see Chronicles of Narnia…

When am I going to get to sleep again?? :)