- Created By cougarsama
Back to Work
So as of next week, I'll be back to work. First, a week at my local county fair cleaning the bathrooms in the mornings and early afternoons; they say that this time is slower so the bathrooms hopefully won't be disgusting. My only concern is the weather; this is Washington, but we've only had one rainstorm recently and I'd like more, but not during the fair so it'd be all muggy. Trust me, I cleaned bathrooms at the base swimming pools when I was in high school in Korea and it would be 100% or close to humidity and I don't want that again.
Then, the week after, I start my full-time job at a chocolate factory in town. Not sure what I'll be doing yet exactly, maybe having to do the production line, but it should be cool. And I'll be getting paid; getting paid is very important to me now. And if I'm lucky, there'll be free samples as a perk.
I have less free time nowadays, but I've gotten back to my art a little. I'm looking forward to the new season of 'Face Off' on Syfy; in the past, the artists have put together some really impressive makeup and characters. I totally wanted Gage to win in the first season; he was a friend of some of my friends in my old anime club down in Utah and he always was a pretty nice guy. Still devoted to 'Storage Wars' on A&E and the 'Say Yes to the Dress' shows on TLC.
Re-adjusting my life
So my parents are now gone; they left yesterday to fly back to Germany and won't be back to the States till next summer. I immediately went and On Demanded most of the TV shows I've missed, including the eps of Casshern Sins and Deadman Wonderland from Adult Swim. I was up until about 1 AM watching different stuff and then I still didn't catch up on Storage Wars. On Friday, I took a brief break from job searching to stop by my local Barnes and Noble and read the first three volumes of DRRR! that're out now. I don't know, with what goes on in that series, it's kinda better as an anime because then you really see the people and things moving.
Then this morning, I got up at 8 because I've decided (and promised my dad) that I'd get in proper shape by walking. Didn't actually go out and walk, but I went to the fitness section of On Demand (I love that stuff) and selected a half-hour walking based workout. But it's way more high-impact than my strolls around my neighborhood, even though I'll walk for an hour. I was pushed to do faster-paced movements so when I was done, my legs were about done and I was very gross and sweaty. Maybe tomorrow I'll do a different one or actually get out and walk again. It's different when I go out and walk because I stop and look for deer and wild bunnies.
My Favorite Bishonen
Okay, I promised I'd do a rundown on Crispin Freeman characters and why I like them. Obviously, I like them because they tend to be incredibly hot and more or less nice guys who will mess up anyone who crosses them. And there's something rather comforting about Crispin Freeman's voice. Now, I do not necessarily like all his characters, nor have I seen everything he is in; I am not so hardcore as that. But I generally approve of most of them. So here is my top ranking. Also, I will be giving my secondary bishie from each series because you should always have a spare in case something happens. Be prepared!
1. Zelgadis Graywords (Slayers) - He's the first major character CF ever dubbed; if you watch the second half of the first season of Slayers, you'll hear CF do some minor guys in the filler eps, but he was then brought on to take over for Daniel Cronin. And it was an improvement. Zel's not entirely human, but that does give him some advantages that come in very handy for the situations he and his friends/allies find themselves in. Back-up bishie: Gourry Gabriev
2. Straight Cougar (S-cry-ed) – If there had been any true justice at all in this series, Cougar would have been the main male. Heaven knows he’d’ve gotten more done than the other two and in less than half the time. And frankly, I love him because he’s just slightly nuts; makes him very human. I love how he’ll rattle on; in another life, he’d either be a NASCAR driver or an auctioneer. Back-up: Asuka Tachibana
3. Amon (Witch Hunter Robin) – This series gets little to no attention, but I like it. And I like Amon: he’s a lot nicer than he seems, he just doesn’t show it. He’s the field-leader for his group of people that hunt witches. And, along with several of the other characters, he is a witch himself, we just never find out what his powers are; it’s explained that he hasn’t ‘awakened’. In the meantime, he’s a good hand with hand-to-hand combat and gun play. And he occasionally has some fun picking on the other two guys he works with, so good times there. Back-up: Michael Lee
4. Haji (Blood Plus) – Cutest band geek EVER. He’s in about one of the most committed relationships you’re ever going to find on Earth which means that he’s got the devotion and sweetness any girl would dream of in a guy. Very quiet; at first, we’re lucky to get him to say more than two sentences an episode. But he doesn’t need to talk; he just plays his cello and, in a fight, will pitch his instrument case at the opponent’s head. Never fight with someone who can take you down with one of the largest members of the string family. Back-up: Joel the 6th (Bonus: he’s also a CF character! And he’s cute and sweet and apparently ridiculously rich.)
5. Tsume (Wolf’s Rain) – Probably the series that did anthropomorphism best; Tsume is a big, mean gray wolf, but he’s a bit of a softie on the inside, mainly to younger wolves and humans that can’t seem to take care of themselves. You might think that as a wolf in human form, he’d want to wear an outfit that less . . . er, attention-grabbing, but since he is a wolf and wolves don’t need to wear clothes, he could wear a lot less. (I’m on the side of modesty myself, so as far as his outfit goes is just right.) Back-up: Hubb (not that having a back-up in this series made any difference.)
6. Togusa (Ghost in the Shell) – If not for Togusa, this series wouldn’t exactly have any bishonen factor; yes, Batou is awesome, but not exactly pretty. Togusa is very human, which is kind of a switch, both in this line-up and in the series. And one of my favorite things is that he’s a family man: he’s married and has two adorable kids that he would take a bullet for to protect. (Watch Solid State Society and you’ll know exactly how far he’ll go; scared the heck out of me there for a moment.) Back-up: the Tachikomas COUNT, OK?
7. Alucard (Hellsing) – Best vampire ever, anywhere. In fact, as I’d hope we all know, he is THE vampire. He’s not necessarily a nice guy; if he were, he’d probably be dead by now. Permanent dead, I mean, because he’s already dead, in a sense . . . Oh, never mind. He’s also got the same loyalty factor of Haji, just he makes more light of it. I could watch him fight for a long time and not get tired (unless by some accident I died first.) Back-up: um, well, maybe Walter? Okay, don’t really have one. Don’t really need one; it’s not like anything’s going to happen to Alucard.
8. Shannon Casull (Scrapped Princess) – Another kinda underrated series, but pretty enjoyable for the story and nice art style. And everyone’s named after guns; how fun is that? (By the way, ‘Casull’ is the make of gun Alucard carries so that’s kinda funny.) Shannon is a great older brother, very caring about others, and he has no problems doing household chores like the laundry. In fact, in the first episode, he takes down some bandits with a laundry basket so he’s also a quick thinker, which is good because he and his come into some very close situations several times throughout the series. Back-up: Christopher
9. Shizuo Heiwajima (DRRR!) – I think everyone kinda likes this bundle of pent-up irritation and strength. But that’s not all there is to him; he’s apparently quite smart from the statistics he can throw out in a fight and he’s great about standing up for someone who’s really in trouble. And he’s clearly a good brother; yeah, I do like a solid family man. What I do not like is people wanting to set him up with Izaya. Explain to me exactly how going into a murderous rage at the idea that someone might even be in the general vicinity constitutes any good feelings toward that person at all. Yeah, didn’t think so. Back-up: I’ll take Simon on this; I rather like accents. And what a sweetheart.
10. Jeremiah Gottwald (Code Geass) – Got an unfortunate fruity nickname, but he’s really tough as heck. He’s very stubborn about whatever cause he chooses to side with at the time, so you have to give him the loyalty factory. And after he’s cyborg-ized or whatever you wanna call it in season 2, he’s got the whole anti-Geass and the blades that come out his arms; how cool is that? And in the end, he tames down nicely. Back-up: Suzaku. Not Lelouch; I disapprove of megalomaniacs.
11. Holland Novak (Eureka 7) – He’d just be a lot of fun to hang out with; he’s like a slacker beach bum but with a purpose in life. That purpose being to go after his older brother for being a bit of an evil overlord, but I can work around that. It was a good episode when he strips down to his boxers and puts on the all-over body paint to go after the ones that wanted to kill him; yep, I like that. Back-up: I’ll get back to you on this one; no one else from this series stands out. And Renton’s too whiny.
12. Kyon (Haruhi Suzumiya) – I find it incredibly funny that a character who doesn’t initially believe in the supernatural got dubbed by CF. I don’t know; does that qualify as irony? Anyway, I like Kyon because he’s got brains and, despite not quite understanding what the heck is going on around him, he manages to cope very well. He’s not particularly strong, fighter-wise, but he’s only in high school; give him a couple years and I’d have to guess he’s going to turn out to be a lot like Togusa. Back-up: again, none really. Itsuki’s too much of a sneaky guy for me; he and Kyon seem to me to harp back to the alliance between Zelgadis and Xelloss in Slayers.
Wow, this was a long post.
Manga I'm into
A lot of what I've been reading lately is manga; my personal collection is not large, but combined with my local library and Barnes and Noble, my gamut runs from sweet Sailor Moon and CardCaptor Sakura to Higurashi, which I like to refer to as 'Stephen King's harem anime'. C'mon, you've got the harem set-up with the brutal, supernatural murder mystery stuff so it fits.
My current favorite series is Crimson Hero by Takanashi Mitsuba, a shojo series about volleyball. I first found this in Shojo Beat a couple years ago and later figured out how to found the full thing (so far) on scanlation sites online. It's still on-going, 71 chapters in 19 volumes.
The main character is Nobara Sumiyoshi, 15 years old, kinda tomboy, and loves playing volleyball. She's not exactly suited to be the next hostess of her family's traditional-style restaurant so she basically moves out and ends up as the dorm mother for the boys' volleyball scholarship players. There's only four guys there and one, Haibuki, is a childhood friend that's carrying a torch from her, but he can be a bit of a jerk in expressing himself. The main guy that Nobara falls for is Yuushin: tall, kinda a tough guy, but really nice to pretty much everyone. He rejects Nobara at first, but then ends up falling for her. And then the drama really gets going; lots and lots of drama. It is shojo, after all.
But mostly it's about Nobara and the girls' volleyball team that she has to build from the ground up. Seriously, at first there wasn't one, but she manages to find and befriend several other girls and her kind of brash, can-do attitude gets them all to believe in themselves and prove to everyone that the girls' team can and will do just as well in the various tournaments as the guys. Even if you're not into sports manga, it's a good series and I'd recommend it; it's made me laugh and occasionally cry, especially lately.
Slayers Review continued
Darn one-hour time limit on my library's computers. Where was I? Amelia, right. Her full name is Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun, the princess and heir to the throne of the major kingdom in the Slayers world. So when she's going about wanting to make everything right as she sees it, it's not like she doesn't have the influence and money to back it up. But you don't see her use it very often so she's really a very normal girl. She's got kind of a rough family background and the only one really around anymore is her dad, the crown prince, who she got her ideals from. And he's rather crazy in himself; in the first season, we see him trying to get rid of ghosts by reasoning that they must accept their death and move on. He's a pacifist, but he'll still fight 'for justice' in a rather over-the-top, 'pro' wrestling style.
Xelloss: He didn't get introduced till Slayers Next, but then he becomes a permanent fixture in the Slayersverse as a frenemy to Lina and company. He's a quite powerful monster, the only one we ever see that is not out to actually kill the others or destroy the world. Frankly, in Slayers Try, he's fighting against the main villain because, as he mentions once or twice, he wants to preserve the world so that the Monster Race can destroy it themselves. Which is interesting. I wouldn't say I particularly like him as his hobby is annoying the others to death (especially Zelgadis), but he's a necessary evil and does come in handy several times.
And that's the starting line-up of the series; seriously, there's five of them, enough for a basketball team. (Bit of a scary thought.) There're lots of other great characters like Filia the Golden Dragon in Try, Sylphiel the shrine maiden in Prime, Revolution, and Evolution-R, and others that I like; Pokota from the new seasons is so cute though at first I was rather taken aback that Slayers was going to have a fuzzy little Pokemon-like character. As I said, I love this series for it's story and it's characters; I even approve of the dub. (Yes, David Moo was annoying as Xelloss, but Xelloss IS annoying in himself.) So nothing's ever gonna knock this out of my top spot.
