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Entry tags:
return (of me, Gintama, and Who)
Back from Japan! Visited some of my favorite places, and while we were mostly staying in Kansai we went to Tokyo long enough to confirm is in fact still standing, mostly unscathed (though the lack of tourists feels weird) - went to the lovely Ghibli museum, gawked at Sky Tree already dominating the skyline and took the DRRR!!/IWGP tour of Ikebukuro (and dropped by Otome Road on the way, to refresh my doujinshi collection). And back in Kyoto we saw sakura on the Kamo river and climbed up to the monkey park at Arashiyama and on the last day we wandered down to Toji and lucked into a flea market.
More than anything it's great to know that I can go back to Japan and even if I forget most of my words (oh man...I can still understand basic Japanese but speaking it... orz) but I still remember how to use the trains, and Kyoto Station is still bogglingly enormous, and the Loft off Shinkyogoku has moved but the little Manraku used book shop and the Sanjo-Keihan Book Off are still right where I left them, and FamilyMart still sells FamiChiki (mmm grease!) Even if I've been gone a few years, Kyoto is still my city.
Also got to see![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
naye (<3!) and shayera in Tokyo, and a bit of crashtestskater - not all together, so not quite a Saturday-nights reunion, but we did spend Saturday night watching stuff (note: gathering four Gintama fans in a small room to watch the latest episode is an ill-advised evening activity in a nice quiet hostel. Especially if it's the second ep of the 2-years-later arc (anpan-huffing! XDXDXDXD)
(Really, though, the new eps, ZOMG!!11!! Gintama in gear makes me laugh/giggle/hysterically shriek about as hard as any show I've ever seen...)
So, yay Japan, and have almost recovered from the jetlag!
In unrelated news, new new Who has started up - Moffat's in fine form, really bringing his A-game! Mmm, twisty time-travel shenanigans and spooky aliens (kind of reverse Angels, aren't they - or a variation on that quantum theme, anyway; the dangerous instability of the unobserved). And I think Moffat does better working with the established chars; his one-shot chars tend to be less sympathetic than some so it's easier to get into his stories when they're focused on the leads. Also helps that the major new char is played by Mark Sheppard, who is made of so much awesome it leaks out of his ears; it's hard not to enjoy any Mark Sheppard char, even with a jarring (if convincing!) American accent. (And casting his father to play his elder self, hee.)
Rory is adooooorable (being the voice of rarely-heeded reason, never the easiest position - and I love that the common-sensical one is a boy, rather than the usual responsible girl)(tsukkomi to the Doctor and Amy's boke? Really, Rory and Shinpachi would get along so well...) and Amy + Rory are so awfully sweet. And I do like Eleven - he's simultaneously more immature (in his "look at meeeee~!" showing-off) and more ancient than Ten, and Matt Smith does a good job of conveying that there's always more going on in his head/heart than what shows, even if you're never quite sure what that is.
Could really have done without the Doctor/River innuendo - or, well, if I thought it was just joking innuendo that'd be fine, but I'm pretty sure it's getting set up to be an explicit relationship and having the Doctor's potential asexuality denied will be a big blow. One I've been resigned to since I heard Moffat was taking over, though, so I'll deal. And River herself is growing on me more with each appearance (though I'm trying to figure out how they're going to handle her timeline, if she's supposed to be getting younger...?)
Plus LOL Nixon. And "They're Americans!"
Am curious about one thing - they're determined not to tell the Doctor about his eventual death, okay...except that the future!Doctor pretty clearly knew he was going to die, so, erm, why exactly do they need to keep it secret, when they know he has to find out sooner or later anyway?
More than anything it's great to know that I can go back to Japan and even if I forget most of my words (oh man...I can still understand basic Japanese but speaking it... orz) but I still remember how to use the trains, and Kyoto Station is still bogglingly enormous, and the Loft off Shinkyogoku has moved but the little Manraku used book shop and the Sanjo-Keihan Book Off are still right where I left them, and FamilyMart still sells FamiChiki (mmm grease!) Even if I've been gone a few years, Kyoto is still my city.
Also got to see
naye (<3!) and shayera in Tokyo, and a bit of crashtestskater - not all together, so not quite a Saturday-nights reunion, but we did spend Saturday night watching stuff (note: gathering four Gintama fans in a small room to watch the latest episode is an ill-advised evening activity in a nice quiet hostel. Especially if it's the second ep of the 2-years-later arc (anpan-huffing! XDXDXDXD)(Really, though, the new eps, ZOMG!!11!! Gintama in gear makes me laugh/giggle/hysterically shriek about as hard as any show I've ever seen...)
So, yay Japan, and have almost recovered from the jetlag!
In unrelated news, new new Who has started up - Moffat's in fine form, really bringing his A-game! Mmm, twisty time-travel shenanigans and spooky aliens (kind of reverse Angels, aren't they - or a variation on that quantum theme, anyway; the dangerous instability of the unobserved). And I think Moffat does better working with the established chars; his one-shot chars tend to be less sympathetic than some so it's easier to get into his stories when they're focused on the leads. Also helps that the major new char is played by Mark Sheppard, who is made of so much awesome it leaks out of his ears; it's hard not to enjoy any Mark Sheppard char, even with a jarring (if convincing!) American accent. (And casting his father to play his elder self, hee.)
Rory is adooooorable (being the voice of rarely-heeded reason, never the easiest position - and I love that the common-sensical one is a boy, rather than the usual responsible girl)(tsukkomi to the Doctor and Amy's boke? Really, Rory and Shinpachi would get along so well...) and Amy + Rory are so awfully sweet. And I do like Eleven - he's simultaneously more immature (in his "look at meeeee~!" showing-off) and more ancient than Ten, and Matt Smith does a good job of conveying that there's always more going on in his head/heart than what shows, even if you're never quite sure what that is.
Could really have done without the Doctor/River innuendo - or, well, if I thought it was just joking innuendo that'd be fine, but I'm pretty sure it's getting set up to be an explicit relationship and having the Doctor's potential asexuality denied will be a big blow. One I've been resigned to since I heard Moffat was taking over, though, so I'll deal. And River herself is growing on me more with each appearance (though I'm trying to figure out how they're going to handle her timeline, if she's supposed to be getting younger...?)
Plus LOL Nixon. And "They're Americans!"
Am curious about one thing - they're determined not to tell the Doctor about his eventual death, okay...except that the future!Doctor pretty clearly knew he was going to die, so, erm, why exactly do they need to keep it secret, when they know he has to find out sooner or later anyway?
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Starts in half an hour~~~ > 3
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torturing myself withperusing food blogs, and my self-control's entirely depleted! :'Dno subject