There are many things that don't need a movie

and Fruits Basket is one of them! Why doesn't Fruits Basket need a movie? Well, the first reason is that very few things really need a movie. The part of Fruits Basket I loved required time. It took time to develop relationships, it took time for us to understand the Sohma family dynamics- until volume 13 or so, we didn't know Akito's role or why her word was absolute, for example. What movies don't have is time.

Another reason is that Fruits Basket has loads of characters. There are 14 cursed people- all 12 of the original Chinese zodiac, Kyo, the cat, and Akito, the god. The interactions between these loads of characters is why Fruits Basket is popular. It's not because of people bumping into girls and turning into animals! Nor is it because of Hollywood style romance. We see friendship grow first, and then, tenderness, and then, love. The emotional weight of that such as it is can't really be expressed in a love montage.

There are other issues, such as the fact that the Sohma compound is very well...Japanese. I can imagine Shigure's house in America, and maybe the school, but not the compound. I of course wonder why every movie has to be set in America or fantasyland. There are so many great stories in America- women's stories, black people's stories, Arab people's stories, Latin@ stories, Native American stories- that aren't being told in film. Why go to some other country and butcher their comic book by Americanizing them when we have so many great ideas here?










More people reacting in pure horror

More about the Hunger Games

And BTW: I don't want to be assured that a bunch of 'off screen' characters are people of color, or that we can just imagine that everyone is any color. I want to 'see' it. Even the little note that Rue is dark skinned is enough for me. If you just go with "the red haired, green eyed girl" I'm not seeing anyone who looks like me. When an author goes out of their way to not mention skin color, except for one or two times, our mental landscape may end up not very colorful.

Now, for movie rumors! A white Rue would be awful. I'll accept a white Katniss, even though I'd prefer someone more ambiguous. BUT! I don't want a Katniss that can't seem like she is fighting desperately for survival. And for god's sake, don't take out the action and replace it with boring boring romance scenes, please?

The Hunger Games Bothers Me

Panem used to be America, and this book is set years and years into the future, so where are all the PoC? We see maybe two people who are mentioned to be dark skinned, but there should be a huge amount- in 2050, we'll be majority minority.

I like how Mockingjay never forgot that they are in the middle of a war. There's not much time for kissing and worrying about which boy to date when there's a countrywide rebellion on, people are dying every day,etc. I don't think Katniss could have chosen Gale after she saw how his anger and hatred towards the capitol had twisted him.

Seiho Boys School

I got Seiho Boys School vol 2 and the Unseen Academicals at Borders for $10 total. Seiho Boys School continued to be fairly interesting- less crude humor this time, but the bittersweet romance, and women with very unique personalities continued, and so I'll continue to get this. BTW: I liked the side bar about the 'foreigner' with the kanji tattoo.

People who like Japanese art are often accused of idealizing Japan. Now, I don't idealize Japan, and wouldn't like to go there, but manga is global culture, like Spiderman, or Harry Potter.

By The Way

Tokyopop wastes more money on stuff no one likes, and the mystery of why Princess Ai keeps coming out is solved.

BTW: Gakuen Alice vol 13 avoids doing something wacky like advancing the plot. But Gakuen Alice 14 sounds like it might actually advance the plot. Oddly, these volumes are coming out fairly quickly- it seems like it'd be 2 months between volumes instead of 3 or 4.

Also, Slam Dunk has very appealing art.

Black Bird Vol 6 wasn't that Bad

I was thinking of dropping it after vol 5, but luckily, this volume doesn't have as much sappy romance and crap about how much Misao and Kyo luuuuuurve each other, and the plot actually advances. Backstory is revealed! I would like to hear more about the family dynamics of Kyo's evil demonic family and much much less about lurve. You two are an official couple- we don't need to hear about their lurve every five minutes. If they must go on about their deep and fated love, they should do it only when there is random nudity. Of course we know that the big OMG! WILL KYO SLEEP WITH SOMEONE ELSE?! cliffhanger will not in fact occur, and even the author is bored with her boring boring covers. So it's a mixed bag, but it's enough to keep me reading.