Slayers Review

I realized that I have not yet talked much anime in my posts. So let's start with my favorite anime ever: Slayers.

When my family moved to Korea in '93, there was only the one English channel, the military-owned station with shows brought over from the US. They were a little behind, but I'd watch stuff like Seinfeld and all. And of course, I'd watch some Korean TV. My sisters and I would have to watch the TV in my parents' room while my dad watched sports and we caught the last episodes of Sailor Moon and Rayearth season 2 along with some other stuff and we were like, "Huh, animated stuff other than the Disney and Looney Tunes we've been watching; interesting." It was all in Korean and we didn't understand it though so it was kind of underwhelming. Though sometimes we'd have fun making up English dialogue for the soap operas. Then the first season of Slayers started and we got into it. Still didn't know what they were saying, but we could more or less figure out what was going on; a Korean-American friend who also watched it would translate if there was anything we didn't understand why they'd reacted to what was said. And we liked the characters and the plot was really cool. We got so into it that by Slayers Next, if our parents called us to dinner, we would try to put them off until the end credits were over.

Slayers is to blame for several things in my life: why I've spent so much money on anime, why I don't take Star Wars as seriously as I once did, my deep and abiding love of Crispin Freeman (which is a whole 'nother post for another day.) The storyline is great, classic sword-and-sorcery stuff that sometimes makes fun of the genre, namely in the first episode when Lina taunts a bandit out for revenge because he's using stock dialogue and being very cliche. And later in the first season, when it looks like Lina's going to die but then she comes back, Gourry says that he was thinking the series was gonna be over and Zelgadis reminds him that they're really not taking the story seriously. Sometimes the filler episodes get a little stupid, especially in the new seasons that came out a few years ago, but they're pretty funny mostly. And unlike some other series(Bleach, FMA, ETC), there're only a few; it's like 3 per season.

And now for a brief rundown of the main cast:

Lina Inverse: main female, a 16-year-old sorceress who is incredibly strong. She learns some new spells in the first two seasons, but does so by trial-and-error; she doesn't have to go off and train for a whole episode or so which would bog down the story. Of course she's famous for her attitude, physical appearance, and appetite; a friend once told me that I'm like her mentally, physically I'm her opposite.

Gourry Gabriev: Lord, you made him so cute and so talented, but so dumb. I mean, he knows some stuff, but if it wasn't that he's Lina's best guy (he is, okay; I don't wanna hear any different) and he can totally kick butt with any sword under the sun, I don't know that he'd last long.

Zelgadis Graywords: chimera, has an attitude, and an amazing sorcerer. I'll get more into him when I cover my Crispin Freeman characters because I could say a lot more about him.

Amelia Seyruun: a lot of people think she's annoying, but I love her. She's also a lot like me: she wants everything to go according to ideals and sometimes does dumb stuff trying to make it so. And people forget that she's not too bad at magic. And she's so cute; she's the total little sister-type.

War TV

Okay, so I guess I was a little unfair to my parents because yesterday they did let me watch the new episodes of Storage Wars. I think my mom kinda likes it now too; don't know about my dad. But since it is kinda like Antiques Roadshow, just with a plot, I figured they'd get it. My dad still won't let my mom and I watch Cupcake Wars on Food Network though. Why all these 'Wars' shows nowadays: Storage Wars, Craft Wars, Cupcake Wars, I'm sure there're others. Is our society today so unfazed by war that we refer to any little competition as a war? Not cool; not fair to our men and women in uniform that're involved in the actual wars.

How I Spent My Afternoon

Went to check out some local colleges so I can avoid another conversation with my dad (for a while anyway) and tried to get started on FAFSA, but couldn't remember all my tax figures and Live Help was rather neither of it's titles. Here's an idea to jump start the economy: hire more people on the help lines so people don't have to be on hold so long. To let off steam afterwards, I walked around Michaels Craft Store. Good thing I didn't take in my wallet or I might've blown what little cash I currently have on craft stuff. I already have tons of craft stuff that I don't use, like all my scrapbooking paper that's sitting around because I don't take pictures anymore. I considered going and reading some manga in the nearby Barnes and Noble, but I have to go home sometime.

If I'm lucky, I'll get to watch the new Storage Wars tonight. With my parents here for a while, I haven't gotten to watch much of what I like because my dad just seems to grudge me so much of it. Do I roll my eyes when he watches sports? No, I try to feign some interest in something. Or just go read. But he'll roll his eyes and ask, aggrieved, "You watch this?" And then he'll go and take over the remote and change the channel to what he wants. I know I'm living in his place for free, but he could meet me more halfway on at least this. As for what I've missed, I'll just have to wait till I can On Demand it. So much I'll have to catch up on!

anime

Sigh, I feel like a bad fangirl because I've watched almost no anime lately. None! Not even on Adult Swim. But my parents are currently in town and they kinda have control of the TV and I don't want to risk watching DVDs lest they come in my room and want to know what I'm watching. It's not that they disapprove of my anime-watching exactly, but I don't want them thinking I'm more focused on it than my current penniless, unemployed status. I have snuck some manga home from the library (some volumes of Crimson Hero) and I read that. But otherwise I haven't had much contact lately. When they leave again for a week soon and then once they're gone again, I'll be going nuts. I've got 'Kanon' and 'Romeo X Juliet' to rewatch and I need to catch up on 'Deadman Wonderland' and 'Casshern Sins'. And I'd started re-watching Slayers from the first season so I need to finish that and move on to the other seasons.

So what do I get to watch nowadays? Well, my dad'd always watching sports and my mom's always watching cooking or home design shows. But at least now they'll let me watch Storage Wars; love that one.

My TV

So when I'm not watching anime (and it does happen), I can watch maybe four or five hours straight on TV at a clip. Amazing what you can do with your time when you're unemployed. I should turn it off and work on fan art or something, but . . .

First of all, there's A&E's 'Storage Wars'. I got addicted to that show a year ago; it's just starting on it's third season and it is amazing. Basically, it follows five people that buy abandoned storage lockers in California and try to find stuff that'll make a profit. Most of them have consignment stores; the other, Barry Weiss, is just cool. Seriously, he's made of crazy and awesomeness; he's such a wacky old guy and he'll say really crazy stuff and he'll do totally weird stuff. I love him. Then there's Brandi and Jarrod, a youngish couple that fight sometimes, but are fun, Darrell, an older guy who says kinda dumb stuff and has an attitude, but he's still cool, and Dave, who is just a complete jerk. I'd say someone needs to strangle him, but the man has no neck.

Then there's the 'Say Yes to the Dress' series on TLC; there're four versions: New York, Atlanta, Big Bliss (for plus-size brides), and Bridesmaids. I cannot believe how much crap some of these poor brides get from family and friends when they're trying to find a wedding gown or bridesmaids' dresses; almost every show, I feel like I'd want to strangle someone in the wedding party. I like most dresses, except the ones that show too much skin and are covered in crap (too many accessories.) But it gives me ideas for drawing; if you look at my portfolio, there're about ten or so wedding gown ideas. Some are anime-related; I think my favorite is the Edward Elric wedding gown with bridemaids outfits based on Scar and Envy.

Also on the docket are several Food Network shows, but I do not like Bobby Flay or Rachael Ray because they seem so annoying. I like Alton Brown and Chef Robert Irvine; they're awesome. And I watch the 'World's Dumbest' series on TruTV because you get to watch clips of people being absolute idiots and then D-list celebrities like Danny Bonaduce make fun of them. Good times. I used to watch CSI:NY and NCIS and Criminal Minds a lot, but not anymore; I hardly watch the major networks (CBS, NBC, ABC) anymore except now they're starting the new season of Wipeout and that's awesome. And then I watch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to somewhat keep up with current events. And, of course, I watch Mythbusters. I am not a science-y, technical person; I've never been good at that stuff. But Mythbusters is just cool and you follow stuff so you know exactly how and why what they're doing is going to blow up.

And then there're other things, like cute dog and cat shows on Animal Planet and the ridiculous monster movies on SyFy, but I won't go on. Suffice to say, I have a reasonably broad spectrum of interest.