Black Butler

*INCLUDES SPOILERS. All media credits go to their owners.*

Well now, as promised, I will talk a bit about what I've been watching. I'm pretty sure most people out there know about Black Butler or Kuroshitsuji and have either watched it or refrained from watching it. That last part is just a wild guess of mine.
It's the story of a young boy, Ciel, the heir to house Phanthomhive whose family was murdered a while ago. He then forms a contract with the demon Sebastian who vows to fulfill the revenge Ciel Phantomhive wishes to take on the unknown culprits. Here they are now on a fan-art picture.

The general style is pretty goth-loli and to be fair, the bishounen style of it all instantly makes you think of harem-slash-yaoi topics. Which is the first point I really want to discuss. The ANN information rates the objectionable content as 'significant' and I really did not notice that beforehand. Sure, in the first couple of episodes there were some brutal images, but I didn't really think it would be quite as "significant".
First of all, the corset scene. You can view the original here:

Now... when I first saw it, my eyes were about to pop out. Out of the blue, suddenly a pure yaoi scene appears! But that was far from the only one, there were loads and loads of references to the fan-favourable option of Sebastian serving his master in many ways.

  
Anyway, since that (and by that I mean yaoi) seemed to be where the general direction was headed, I was almost hit with a brick when it happened that Sebastian decided to seduce a teenage nun in order to gain further information on a cult inhabiting an old church. Seriously, I thought I was imagining things until this scene appeared:

  
 Well that came as a surprise! I bet loads of female watchers out there either got a nosebleed or wished to heavens they were a part of that cult.
In any case, the mature topics aside, I was pretty surprised at the brutality of some of the scenes too. For example when it turned out that the angel working for the Queen of England had sewn Ciel's parents together so that they may be together for all eternity.

  
But fine, those two were dead anyway. She did the same with the Queen, on her own request, and sewed a part of Queen Victoria's late husband onto her chest. Which eventually went rotting...

Now I'm sorry, but I actually thought this was some kind of a classy anime, but the amount of goth-style gore is amazing! How do I feel about it... uhh... not sure, really. At least it left a strong impression, right?


But one thing about the show, which I have to say I really enjoyed, was the ending. Usually when a hero makes a pact with the devil or a demon, he finds a way to overcome it. But in this case, Ciel was elegantly taken to his death, every step of the way preparing him for the inevitable. And nothing stopped the situation. He accepted his fate and even though a part of him had hoped for a new life, he solemnly agreed to his contract and gave up his life. It was a breathtakingly beautiful scene, a perfect ending.

Ignore the credits.
Of course, then it turns out there is a second season -.- My sister keeps pestering me to watch it. But no! I don't want to. Iiya da! For once, the hero actually died in the end and I want to keep it that way. At least in my head. I watched the OVA since I knew it was only linked to the first season and it was funny. But to have a new story start after such a marvelous ending?? No thank you.
The only other viable option is to start reading the manga since my sister tells me the storyline is entirely different after like episode 12-13 from the anime. It may not be such a bad idea. But I would still have to read the entire beginning too - how can I just jump in from out of nowhere! There might be differences! Omg!

All in all, a decent anime. I rated it very good on ANN and even though some parts I enjoyed a lot, I can't still place it in contrast with other animes. I supposed it had a decent story at first but then at some point it felt like the depth of it was exaggerated and fake. Is it because of the manga differences? Perhaps. Maybe it's just me.
If you figure out what exactly was wrong with it, let me know.   

*Panicmode*

Guys! Guys, guys! What should I do now? Every anime that I'm watching right now is half way through! I can't pass a final judgement or talk about the things if I don't know how they finish!!

So right now I'm watching Black Butler, which I've started like 2-3 times. Now, finally, I've managed to get further with it. But before I discuss some things, I really want to see all of it.
Same with FMA.

So I'm just going to finish those and then add a new post.
 
Also, what the hell!! Did you hear that Fairy Tail is about to end??? Dafuq, just when the topic is getting really thrilling. You can read about it here. Hiro Mashima said though that it is not the end... well... I sure hope so. Dammit. Am I really going to have to start reading the manga?? Unbelievable.

Lots of shoujou... and some FMA!

*May include spoilers. All media credits go to their owners.*

Okay... you're not going to believe me but I just checked back here to blogger now (Sunday) and my scheduled post had not been posted... I even have proof:

Look at that! What the hell happened.
Anyway, here is the post that was supposed to be live, as follows.


I've got no idea what's wrong with me... but recently all I've been doing is reading romance manga. Where the hell did this urge come from??! Am I coming down with something?? Must be that...

Misao and Kyou

In any case, I started with Black Bird this week and it was all cool and awesome until it turned into another Twilight story. Yuk. A demon falls for a mortal girl, they want to get married, yada yada, whatever. Sure, it existed before Twilight, but that doesn't make it any better. Although it actually started pretty well and I thought it was going to be a bit more meaningful, they managed to crush my hopes. In the end it was just winding and winding problems preventing them to be happy. What the hell is up with that anyway? I guess there wouldn't be anything to write about if you don't go for the problems in the relationship, but since it was also listed as fantasy/action I was expecting something a bit more... high paced? Brutal? I don't know, SOMEthing. It wasn't exactly horrible either though, I suppose it was better than a random regular shoujou manga since they actually had to overcome supernatural problems. And they did show some blood and brutality... hey I guess it wasn't so bad after all. But something was lacking. Don't ask me 'what exactly'. Shiranai!

Mei and Yamato

Then I moved on to Sukitte Ii Na Yo or Say "I love you" which I had actually seen as an anime already. But I wanted to see what was going to happen next so I figured I'd just read it from the beginning. Otherwise I wouldn't know the characters they built in the manga. I actually liked it. The plot was pretty plain but there were realistic characters and lots of side stories so I didn't have to listen (well, read...) the female lead Mei whine about everything. People were broken and insecure but they found their solutions and the whole story was dynamic, well built. I also liked the main point the manga had: if you have a problem, get a grip and talk to your partner about it. Geez. You don't have to walk around thinking all kinds of BS all day long, suppressing your thoughts and feelings. Since it's still ongoing I might check back later on!

Chiwa and Hokuto

Okay, the next one I started just yesterday. It's name was Hapi Mari - something that should be Happy Marriage. Looking at all these names and genres I just have to take a good look in the mirror and figure out what the hell I was thinking when I opened the manga. I haven't finished it yet but what was I expecting? Obviously there were going to be problems regarding an arranged marriage turning into a real one. Duh. Well I finished the fifth volume and it's turned into somewhat of a The Bold and The Beautiful story. Family business successions and the relatives all being at each others throats. And of course spice that up with a company president's wife a.k.a. female lead who (naturally) has a bit of an inferiority complex. Well, still... It was better than a random shoujou I guess. The story was a bit different and it was aimed more towards older readers. But the topic - not sure if this kind of a thing is actually on anybody's mind - trying to make your husband fall for you? I suppose it might be in a society where you're not really supposed to speak your mind. Right? Right? Damn it must be hard living in Japan as a woman. Who the hell could be happy with a supportive role only. When the family expects you to set aside your own aspirations and help out your man full time. Then again, it's not like women could get to very high positions there anyway, right? Might as well support your husband then <.< Damn you Japanese people - you've got it all figured out!

To balance the massive amount of romance related topics, I started the original FMA yesterday morning too. Why have I not seen it already? Because I watched Brotherhood first and it is to this very day my favorite anime of all time. I loved the story and the characters - especially Ling Yao and Greed. Oh boy, when they mixed those two up, was I psyched or what!!! And those voice actors - damn! It was Mamoru Miyano and Yuuichi Nakamura together - who can resist!
Anyway, back then when I figured I should watch the original too, I started it and after the first episode I couldn't bring myself to continue. Since I really loved the characters and the plot I kind of didn't want to lose what those had brought me. I felt like the value of Brotherhood would diminish if I saw something less epic.
But now I've decided it's time to see the first version of the series too - just so I could decide for myself which one is better. I've heard though that Brotherhood is closer to the original manga. I wonder if that's true? I can't bring myself to confirming that just yet. But I will definitely make a decision about the two anime series.
So far it seems that Brotherhood started with more of a bang and pulled me right in, whereas the regular FMA starts out a bit less core topic related and goes deeper as it evolves. Then again I just started it so can't say anything for sure!

I'm hoping to finish it by next week. So maybe I'll devote the next post to comparing them two? Who knows *shrug*.

Zombies, boobies and love

*Includes spoilers. All media credits go to their owners.*

Aaaand the blog is late again >.< I couldn't help it - I was watching HOTD and FT: Houou no Miko yesterday. And studying Japanese. And I went to the gym. Okay, I'm just making excuses. Gomen gomen!
 
Isn't it funny how one thing tends to lead to another? There I was, on a completely normal day, cooking dinner after a full day at the college and listening to some music. It was something from my native area, pretty outdated too. But then, for some reason, there were several romance anime videos in the related. And I ended up on a romance OAV. It was called Kyou, Koi o Hajimemasu or Love Starts Today or Today We Start Our Love. It looked something like this:

Tsubaki-kun and Tsubaki

Since it was only an OAV though, it was extremely hard to follow. I had noooo clue what was going on, things were moving so fast. Except for one thing: the female lead's voice didn't seem to suit her very well. Anyway, I decided to read the manga. Now I've read a few manga before, only once was it online. And I learned that reading off the screen doesn't really make it easy on my eyes. But I still read it.
The manga was about two regular high school kids Hibino Tsubaki and Tsubaki Kyouta, the girl being pretty old fashioned and the guy being extra popular (of course). The male lead did have some weird past issues to deal with but in general they had very few problems and started dating pretty quickly. Naturally half of it was the girl over thinking everything and getting surprised by the reality. Tsubaki-kun was refreshingly insightful though. He knew exactly what Hibino was thinking and how to work with it. Sure, there were times when even he was confused, but he seemed to be a pretty complete character - where the female lead seemed a bit forced at times. For example, she kept on doubting herself a lot after they started dating and even after Tsubaki-kun reassured her. I guess that happens in real life too but I was a bit skeptical to the amount of it.
Anyway, the real reason that I kept reading was this:

  
There were just so many hints from the very beginning that I had to see with my own eyes whether shoujou mangas really display such a thing. Don't get me wrong - I'm always happy when people get laid! I was just surprised that they actually went through with it. In the romance anime I watched last week (Bokura ga Ita) they almost did it, but eventually it was a no no. Not sure about the manga though.

It got me thinking: in several of the romance/shoujou anime and manga I've seen in the past year, there have been sex related topics. Whether the male lead is a playboy or just happened to do it with someone or is just very interested in doing it - the guy always seems to be related to sex somehow and the female is always oblivious. Now the real question here is then:
If this topic is displayed naturally in the shoujou section... does that mean that in the shounen part we should take it for granted too?
I mean - maybe Luffy goes around sleeping with every girl he meets and they just don't show it to us since it's that natural? Maybe Natsu goes over to Lucy's place for a very specific reason and Happy just ignores it? I mean, sure, Lucy denied all such possibilities in the Fairy Tail OVA 4 but since she doesn't seem to realize her feelings for Natsu, maybe she thought they were just sex-buddies?
JESUS PENIS - did I have them all wrong from the very beginning???!!
Massaka... ne?

Be that as it may, I also managed to finally watch High School of the Dead this week. There had been so much publicity about it, I just had to watch it - eventually. Who cares if it's a couple of years late, eh! Even though I care naught for zombies. I do like boobies though! Even if these boobs had a life of their own... Seriously, I don't think one real boob has ever done that before... Which is why it's great that we also have drawn boobs!
 

Oddly enough, it was pretty interesting. I watched it non-stop until I went to sleep and right after I woke up. Although it was pretty clear they left room for either a new season or wanted to tempt people into reading the manga, I still thought it could've ended a bit better. Though that last quote by T.S. Eliot pretty much captured it all:
"This is the way the world ends 
Not with a bang but a whimper."

Can't really formulate any thoughts about it yet though. Mmmm need some food too... See you next week. I promise myself I will be on time!