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That haiku is strangely appropriate. The first two lines, anyway.
Per a meme I picked up from Melymbrosia, the title of my journal is the title of a book I will someday write about Tokyo. Maybe. I never really experienced the change of seasons until I went to Japan, and I was enchanted by the seasonal foods and decorations and how everyone as excited about the bonfire-colored leaves as I was, even though they got to see it every year and it was my first time. Also parts of Tokyo have more neon than I've ever seen in my life, though Time Square comes close.
I can't watch more SAIYUKI till I order it from ebay or amazon, and can't read more till volume 2 comes out in May. So I'm delving into the female collective CLAMP's X/1999. What I've watched and written covers around the same ground, as the first DVD has three episodes plus a very extended intro-teaser labeled episode 0. I understand that there is also a movie which is incomprehensible and dire, so I won't be seeing it.
X/1999, in both incarnations, is absolutely gorgeous, in a lush, doomed-romantic way. The animation is fluid, beautiful, and very expensive-looking. That is to say, the production values are excellent. CLAMP's artwork is intricate and lush, reminding me at various points of Thomas Canty (it's the complicated costumes and all that hair, I think) and H. R. Giger. Exquisite young men and women soar and duel above Tokyo, brutal scenes of splatterpunk violence are drawn with a decadent beauty, and enough cherry blossom petals and feathers cascade down from above that I began to imagine a crew hurling them from unseen rafters.
The storyline is complicated and so far pretty vague. A boy named Kamui (that may actually be a title of some sort) returns to Tokyo after several year's absence, having gained vast psychic powers. A whole bunch of people who also have powers, some of whom are in cabal with each other, want something from him but it's not clear what. Armageddon is approaching, and Kamui will either save the world or destroy it.
I was put off in the manga, which focuses on Kamui, by the fact that he's a complete jerk. The anime focuses more on the supporting characters, and I enjoyed that more. Also the anime spends more time introducing everyone and so is clearer at the outset. (I still liked the manga, don't get me wrong.) The large cast of characters are all interesting and many are likable, and there are bishonen galore. The women's roles are also good. I hope to see much more of the tough schoolgirl who can pull a sword from her hand, and also of the girl with a spirit dog named Inuki (Spirit Dog.)
Note to TK, in light of our conversation last night: Kamui's seiyuu is the ubiquitous Tomokazu Seki, and I once more did not recognize his voice but found out when I looked up the seiyuu on the net.
Also, one of my favorite characters, a cute monk-in-training in a baseball cap, has what I-- no kidding-- managed to identify as an Osaka accent long before one of the other characters referred to his duel with "a funny little boy from Osaka."
Per a meme I picked up from Melymbrosia, the title of my journal is the title of a book I will someday write about Tokyo. Maybe. I never really experienced the change of seasons until I went to Japan, and I was enchanted by the seasonal foods and decorations and how everyone as excited about the bonfire-colored leaves as I was, even though they got to see it every year and it was my first time. Also parts of Tokyo have more neon than I've ever seen in my life, though Time Square comes close.
I can't watch more SAIYUKI till I order it from ebay or amazon, and can't read more till volume 2 comes out in May. So I'm delving into the female collective CLAMP's X/1999. What I've watched and written covers around the same ground, as the first DVD has three episodes plus a very extended intro-teaser labeled episode 0. I understand that there is also a movie which is incomprehensible and dire, so I won't be seeing it.
X/1999, in both incarnations, is absolutely gorgeous, in a lush, doomed-romantic way. The animation is fluid, beautiful, and very expensive-looking. That is to say, the production values are excellent. CLAMP's artwork is intricate and lush, reminding me at various points of Thomas Canty (it's the complicated costumes and all that hair, I think) and H. R. Giger. Exquisite young men and women soar and duel above Tokyo, brutal scenes of splatterpunk violence are drawn with a decadent beauty, and enough cherry blossom petals and feathers cascade down from above that I began to imagine a crew hurling them from unseen rafters.
The storyline is complicated and so far pretty vague. A boy named Kamui (that may actually be a title of some sort) returns to Tokyo after several year's absence, having gained vast psychic powers. A whole bunch of people who also have powers, some of whom are in cabal with each other, want something from him but it's not clear what. Armageddon is approaching, and Kamui will either save the world or destroy it.
I was put off in the manga, which focuses on Kamui, by the fact that he's a complete jerk. The anime focuses more on the supporting characters, and I enjoyed that more. Also the anime spends more time introducing everyone and so is clearer at the outset. (I still liked the manga, don't get me wrong.) The large cast of characters are all interesting and many are likable, and there are bishonen galore. The women's roles are also good. I hope to see much more of the tough schoolgirl who can pull a sword from her hand, and also of the girl with a spirit dog named Inuki (Spirit Dog.)
Note to TK, in light of our conversation last night: Kamui's seiyuu is the ubiquitous Tomokazu Seki, and I once more did not recognize his voice but found out when I looked up the seiyuu on the net.
Also, one of my favorite characters, a cute monk-in-training in a baseball cap, has what I-- no kidding-- managed to identify as an Osaka accent long before one of the other characters referred to his duel with "a funny little boy from Osaka."