Randomly, American Comics

Reading this blog post,American comics popped into my head. You pay way more for way less. An example: Fables' list price is 17.99 for 192 pages. and Kimi Ni Tokode is 9.99 for 216 pages. As a person who also reads American comics, I have to say 'man up, manga fans'. Another peeve I have is people who scanlate Naruto. Really? Do we need 50 folks scanlating popular licensed series? Try something that we won't be getting in two months!

Today's Complaint: Rapist and Rapee in Love

This post contains spoilers for Kare Kano[manga version] It also contains triggers since the title is rapist and rapee in love.

Kare Kano- One might not ordinarily think of this as a title with rapist and rapee in love, but I think it is. Now, in volume 15, Miyazawa notices that Arima is lying to her, and confronts him in what looks like a library. He starts yelling in an irrational manner, and then we see him grabbing her wrists, being on top of her, and Miyazawa says 'wait', and then it cuts to a reprise of the Miyazawa as a little kid figure that we've seen in their previous sex scene, except for she's surrounded by thorns instead of a peaceful scene.

Of course, there's some weird intimate psychotherapy, and somehow raping Miyazawa frees him of his childhood angst or whatever. But that bullshit is only peripherally related to today's complaint. No, no, the issue is that Miyazawa spouts some bullshit about how she didn't tell him no once, and plus, there's some blather about fake and real selves, etc, etc.

And then their love is perfectly fine! Arima complains that he feels bad about stealing the one he loves' body and making a child[really! that's almost a direct quote!] as somehow Miyazawa is magically able to sense OMG, CONCEPTION, despite the fact that that doesn't happen that way at all.

But anyway, happy end! The whole extremely dubious sex doesn't do anything to their relationship at all.

This really bothers me. All through the manga, this couple is treated as a wonderful love story, but Arima is shown as possessive and maybe a bit controlling. Takefumi is even warned by Asapin that Arima doesn't like Miyazawa getting close to other guys. IRL, this would probably not be a very healthy relationship. I also have a bone to pick with the 'her love saves him' stuff. Acceptance is a wonderful thing, but it's not enough to paper over rape.

A girl who is able to be so resentful over someone making 3 points higher on a test is all "oh well over rape? I just can't see it. Tsuda's art is beautiful and emotional, so she sells it on a surface level, but on a deeper level, that message really falls apart.

In the 13th hour of FF13

There will be spoilers. I'm at the part right after Szah and Vanille skip through a beautiful forest filled with evil sentient bell peppers. Right now in my game, Lightening and Hope are having a realization which shows that they really are their stated ages. Lightening wanting to actually do something productive, and Hope wanting to shut out the world by blasting some robots with flames.

People say that they don't know what is going on, which is odd since there are useful explanations every time you reload your saved game. To recap, you live in a futuristic hell scape where strange beings toy with you at will. Also, the government is apparently run by the military.

The battle system seems fine to me. The cute names for various paradigms helps me because I can remember to switch on the fly. To me, it's basically a more streamlined way of saying "I want to spam cure three times! Now change paradigms! Time to asskick!" I was not especially tied to the choose attack from the menu three times' mechanic, so I'm all good . I also don't mind the 'lack' of shops. In a futuristic hellscape, apparently they use computers for shops now.
I don't like the lack of control over the other party members. That was the worst part of Persona 3, except for your team mates aren't going to actively kill you with their terrible AI decisions in FF13.

My favorite character is Lightening. I'm all GIRL CLOUD! YOU ARE SO COOL! Hope is slightly improving with his desire to get stronger, even if it's for the wrong reasons. Vanille is annoying, and probably from Pulse.

More on Moe

I agree with dude. It's creepy. And his talk about every lovely detail of Mina's body is also creepy. Moe annoys me, but the thing that annoys me most is lolicon. While not the actual rape of a child, it's the sort of audience that if I were an anime company, I'd keep on the periphery of demographics for my shows, not even putting in a token loli. Yes, I understand they spend tons of money on models, but maybe sometimes taking the high road might be desirable.

[ETA:also, too much loli drives other demographics away, btw]

My Persona 5 wishlist is small and simple

Xbox360 port! and with readable text for the folks who have regular tvs. That is all. I'm sure whatever they come up with will be flawless! and if it isn't, I'll complain to high heavens!

A Distant Soil Online

Why am I the last to know?! I only have the first one![in print format]

Also, I've been using paperbackswap as a fairly expensive way to clear myself out of manga I don't want, so I might get some in return.

Make Xbox Games More Accessible

To normal tv owners[The way budgets work is that you can often buy one splurge item but not another. Think about it!] and the visually impaired.

Also, what's with this figure? At least in the first volume of Pandora Hearts, Alice is awesome. I hope she doesn't start sucking and being boring later.

Finally!

After a random 2 month hiatus for no reason, they finally get the 8th chapter of Afterschool Charisma out! It starts with random boobs that we don't really need, but isn't too distracting, and is rounded out with cute moments between Shiro and Joan D'Arc, and even Freud. Too bad there's not enough Clone Hitler this time. You guys at Viz nut up and get the next chapter our for April!

The Place Promised in Our Early Days

More Makoto Shinkai. Like Voice of a Distant Star, it has a boy and a girl communicating over a long distance, teens doing things they aren't supposed to do[while in middle school, did you create a flyable plane of your own design? Yea, I didn't either.], extremely suspicious science[Some mumbo jumbo about dreams and parallel universes] and that same wistful feeling.

I love this film though. I love that sad wistful feeling.

What Not to Do With Games and Guns

The family's biggest mistake was leaving a loaded gun on the table. You just don't do that. It's a terrible idea. I wouldn't leave a bottle of aspirin near a child, so why would you leave something just as lethal out there where kids can reach it? And why would you let a three year old play shooting games? Not every game is appropriate for everybody! I wouldn't let a 10 year old play erotic games or violent shoot em ups, and there are not very many video games I'd allow a 3 year old to play in the first place... *geez!*

Tenative Steps and I'm Sick of Japan

This guy really is sick of Japan. Culture shock is a mother. Come home, son of America! Come home! Our reality shows are more aligned to your cultural sensibility!

Now, back to obsessing about Planetes. Ok, today's episode is Tentative Steps, and it gives me a reason to muse about the idea that anyone can reach any goal. Hachi and Hakim are completely dedicated to their goal of going to Jupiter, even to the point of taking quite extreme measures to reach it. But...what's so good about reaching your goal if others suffer or are crushed beneath your towering dreams? I have to admit that I love Planetes. I love Lavie and his servile devotion to the company, the manager and his buffoonery, Yuri's upstanding heart, Tanabe's naivete, everything! I love how geopolitical forces and office politics warp everyone, even though they are doing their best. I don't have words to express my Planetes love.

More on Does New Anime Suck

This is pretty insightful. I didn't even consider the model market as important[as much of an anime/manga fan as I am, I tend to only buy manga volumes, because I'm old school and like the physical feel of paper] And I agree that there aren't as many something for everyone anime out there. I hate harem and moe, but will put up with them if there's something else for me to entertain myself with.

Personally, Fanservice is a Bore

Fanservice is like hot sauce. A little bit can make a show slightly more entertaining. While watching Code Geass, I'd think "Man, Kallen looks good in that suit she wears when she pilots that mecha." 1% girls in attractive mecha suits improves the anime, but once we get over say...10% fanservice in my estimation, it starts to affect the quality. Thus, do we get to the debate about whether new anime sucks. The issue is that yes, in the past, we didn't have twitter feeds of anime websites meaning that we didn't hear about every single panty shot anime they came out with, but on the other hand, this current moe boom is making me go uuurggh. Yes, moe has its roots in 90s and 80s anime, but the fact is that anime can't live on moe alone, as much as you can't make a meal out of hot sauce. One of my favorite series of the 90s, Slayers, has cute female characters like Amelia and Lina, and attractive male characters like Zel and Xellos, but when you lose interest in Zel's awesome body, there's still the mystery of whether he'll ever find something to get his original body back, the excitement of battles with monsters and gods, and even some amusing hijinks on the side.

Compare this to me trying to watch the anime of Rosario + Vampire. I thought the manga was fairly cute, so I thought "I'll watch the anime." OK, I don't think I got through an entire episode. The point of a panty shot is that you're seeing something usually hidden. If you see them every five seconds, it breaks one's concentration. I start thinking "really? why doesn't she wear shorts under her skirt? Doesn't she know that she's constantly flashing everyone? What if she wears period panties?" Back in the 90s, a harem anime would have maybe five panty shots in a show. You could ignore that level of panty shot and still enjoy other aspects of the show. Of course, I blame harem shows for moe anime today. At first, they had to make some weak attempt to have a plot and they put some random dude in to create some sort of audience sympathy, but since anime creators found that having a plot was unnecessary,and no one cares about the wimpy guy, remove both and we get moe.

I can't complain too much. While anime has fucking CHU BRA or whatever, Ouran Host Club finally grew a plot, Nana's near final volume is coming out, All My Darling Daughters is sticking in my head as some sort of masterpiece ,and so I'm happy. And of course, I'm not on Japanese fan time in anime or manga, so I am in part shielded from the crap. Right now, I'm am obsessively watching Planetes, which I have to admit is one of the best anime I've seen. I only just watched Code Geass. Being late really has its perks.