miscellaneous squee

[xparrot]

Argh, I need to be writing! The words, she are not coming... >_>

The Jeeves & Wooster TV series is much fun. Wodehouse's original stories are much fun +1000. Though they're dangerous to read on breaks at work because I start choking trying to keep from laughing out loud. I can see how Douglas Adams was inspired by him. (And yep, slashy as Fry & Laurie's J&W are, the books...heh. Bertie is "essentially one of nature's bachelors". Yes, Jeeves, you would know.)(Speaking of nature's bachelors, must remember to rec Biological Exuberance, for all your gay animal rights needs.)

Also am getting back into the manga, J-dramas, etc.! For the language practice, of course. And the cute boys playing football - Eyeshield 21 is still love. Even though this last chapter (245) was a terrible place to be stopped. Hiruma will always be my demonic darling and the Devil Bats are too cute for words. The Shinryuuji match is still my favorite (not just because of Vegeta-clone Ikkyu! They're one of the few teams one wants to see go down & go down hard, unlike the others where you sympathize enough to be a mite melancholy when they lose) but Deimon vs Oujou was plenty exciting once it got going. And that silent communication in the last second? Oh shounen, you bring on the squee like nothing else.

And in the category of: technically Shounen manga but which god did they sacrifice puppies to manage that? there's xxxHolic. I've been into 'Holic for a while now. In general I have a love/hate relationship with CLAMP; I love their art but get impatient with their brand of willowy aaaaaangsty will-we-or-won't-we BL teasing. I have trouble connecting with their chars. Card Captor Sakura was about the only exception, and that love didn't carry over to Tsubasa (I don't dislike the series, but the way Sakura was switched from plucky shoujo heroine to typically annoying shounen plot-device girl got to me. And Fai's just not my bishounen type, and Kurogane is trying too hard to be.)

I don't remember why I started reading xxxHolic, except that CLAMP does bring on the pretty. I started buying the English edition of the manga when I was back in Borders-proximity and found it entertaining; fun ghost story lite and the characters amused me without me getting especially attached to any of them. At first. I wasn't expecting to fall for Doumeki/Watanuki, and then there was volume 6 and I...did, hard. Even knowing this is CLAMP, where there's a 90% chance of sakura petal rain, a 10% chance of canon BL, and 40% chance Doumeki will smile cheerfully as he carves up Watanuki's non-existent twin sister. Or something of the sort. (btw, does anyone else suspect that when the CLAMP girls were designing xxxHolic they happened to be reading a lot of One Piece dounjinshi at the time? Doumeki/Watanuki plays out way too much like dj-fanon Zoro/Sanji. Obviously the anime creators agreed with this, considering they cast Nakai as Doumeki.) But despite this...Doumeki/Watauki is cuuuuuute, and there's some good fic to support this habit, too.

That's not the problem; the problem is after catching up with this year's 'Holic, my 'ship got expanded. I went from vaguely disliking Himawari-chan for always being there making Watanuki even more of an idiot than he already is and using the poor boy badly in an almost Lana-Lang-esque manner, to, after the revelations in volume 10, absolutely loving her and being all sad for her and wanting her and Doumeki and Watanuki to eat cake together and buy themselves a little house and be happy and squeeing about this when I reread previous chapters. And this being CLAMP, there's no guarantee anyone will get a happy ending. Or an ending at all. Not to mention with all the wacky dreaming that's been going on in 'Holic lately I don't know if the last few chapters even really happened, much less what they mean either way. I'm gonna have to read Tsubasa just to figure out what's going on in 'Holic. I will, even knowing that this is the wicked plan; what fangirls they missed snaring with Fai, they'll catch with Dou/Wata.

...it's the sad truth of shoujo manga fandom: we are all CLAMP's bitches in the end.

For those wanting to check out xxxHolic but are unable to buy the manga for whatever reasons - torrent here, plus vol.10 and vol.11 of BWYS's scanlations.

And now...I must catch up with OP!

Comments

I adore PG Wodehouse's books...

[greenlady2.livejournal.com]

... and I remember the first time I read one. I started to read it before bed, and found myself still up at 3AM, laughing until I cried, and keeping other people awake.

"Sorry. Sorry. It's just so funny."

"Well, keep it down. Some people have to sleep."

Jeeves is perfect. Everyone needs a Jeeves in their life. :-)))

Re: I adore PG Wodehouse's books...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I don't know what took me this long to get around to them! No one told me they were this amusing...I just read "Thank You, Jeeves," in which Bertie's replacement valet spends much of the time chasing him with a carving knife, when he's not burning down his cottage, and there were bits I had to stop reading just to fight back the giggles!

[naye]

Oooh~! J-dorama and anime and manga! Awesome! Go you! ♥ I know those helped me a lot when I was struggling with the language, and just in general, it's really fun to be into those things when you're in Japan.

Doumeki and Watanuki I could probably get into. Reading Doumeki with Nakai's voice helps.

And OP! YES! Catch up, and then make me catch up - I'm at least two months behind, if not more...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Yep, definitely it's the time for animanga! If you feel like getting into Doumeki/Watanuki I just edited the post to add links to an xxxHolic torrent + the last volumes scanlations ^^

And I'll let you know about the OP, soon as I get through it - I'm about 8 months behind, soooo...!

[naye]

Thanks for the links! Though - um. Yeah. Probably not going to get into those right now, because even if it wasn't for you-know-what having stolen my little fangirl heart right now, if I'm going to be reading manga, I should start by one of the ones I brought back with me from Japan. They make me feel super-guilty, sitting there unread in the bookshelf...

Yay, OP! More OP is always a good thing. ♥

[huabot.livejournal.com]

XXXholic: I was so confused at first - How is Watanuki anything like Sanji? I guess he cooks - and chases after a woman - and gets comically angry with Doumeki oh my god. My brane, you have broken it. I think I really made the exact angry-face five-year-olds make when they're trying not to cry. I also think I have the same problem with Doumeki you have with Kurogane, who I love to sparkly bits. And I never thought it could happen - I went into Tsubasa: RC for Sakura and Shaoran and then wandered away, and then somehow came back for Kurogane.

Also also: There was post way back when (on OPY? The ZoLu comm?) that compared Zoro/Luffy to Doumeki/Watanuki based on looks. Throwing that out there...for some reason.

Way behind on ES21 too, but the latest color spread really perked up my attention.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I am totally serious about someone in CLAMP reading OP dj! They're not much like the canon ZoSan, but the fanon Sanji with his fainting all over the place and such...yep, awful familiar. His char design is more Luffy, maybe, but personality-wise he's dj!Sanji to the tee.

ES21 is much fun as always, though this latest chapter was a mite traumatic...

[attaccabottoni.livejournal.com]

I wish I weren't so lazy in downloading TV eps (I have a slow laptop), because I've been coveting Jeeves & Wooster DVDs for more than a year now (I only have some mp3s of Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry sketches from A Bit of Fry and Laurie, and I could only imagine what a riot they are as Jeeves and Wooster). I still haven't finished reading the ones from Project Gutenberg anyway. :D

I love your commentary on CLAMP, which is so right on the money, esp. this one:
Even knowing this is CLAMP, where there's a 90% chance of sakura petal rain, a 10% chance of canon BL, and 40% chance Doumeki will smile cheerfully as he carves up Watanuki's non-existent twin sister.
because I always bemoan that reading X/1999 from Animerica got me started on anything CLAMP, and from there the fannish experience got crazy in logic-defying levels. *hides face in hands but laughing*

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

The J&W TV series is definitely worth it if you can manage the d/l, and the books are well-worth buying...I've only read the earlier ones myself, but must get the rest.

And speaking of LOL...CLAMP. Oh, CLAMP. The beautiful but utterly nonsensical X/1999 film was one of the first anime movies I saw (mainly because it features Seki Tomokazu) and the final bit on Tokyo Tower, when Kamui is cradling Fuuma's severed head, had me in hysterical fits of laughter because, uhhh, my sense of humor is terrible like that. So that colored my first CLAMP impression. In general I like their work (best when it's light and sweet, like CCS or Wish) but I can never quite take it seriously; the angst is as stylized as the art, and this amuses more than affects me...

[terra-tenshi.livejournal.com]

Holic...oh god Holic. I never should have gone to a techie school, what time I don't spend in class I spend getting pimped into new fandom by professors, classmates, etc. And between Holic and Saiyuki I officially have no life anymore. Damn. Oh well, now that you're into it at least I have someone to squee at.

[utopiantrunks.livejournal.com]

Bertie is "essentially one of nature's bachelors". Yes, Jeeves, you would know

XD Wasn't that line priceless? I made undignified noises when I read it. I wonder if that was about the point where Wodehouse went, "Y'know, what the hell..." Because before we do have a little mac-daddy Jeeves thrown in before (Jibrahn was impressed by him juggling the two fiances in that one Bingo story)... but I think the remaining straight starts to evaporate faster after that... ^^ Or perhaps it's just me.

I didn't look at your cut, 'cause I haven't read the relevant chapter(s). I haven't read Tsubasa or Holic since I got back from seeing you guys... is the water safe? Ish? o_O