blogger still has me on standard time. luckily, i don’t care.
what i do care about, and what i’m here to talk about, is warawanai ningyou. now, i’m a little slow when it comes to things like “Those Subconcious Visual Clues Manga-ka Use That Everyone Else Gets Quite Easily But Not Me.” apparently, they go straight to my subconcious w/out taking the time to make themselves known to my actual concious. i read something, i say to myself, damn that’s good! i just can’t tell you why. my brother, who turns out to be a master at these kind of things, can say things like, oh yeah, well that’s because it referenced X and X and X, and although i have seen/read/learned X and X and X, i never seem to pick these things up while i’m reading. it’s only a block w/ manga, i do fine on anime and novels. go fig. anyhow, luckily for me, while i’m translating warawanai i have to read it through several times. this way, i can actually see what i’m supposed to be seeing. and let me tell you, ima-sensei packs it in. for instance, and i know it’s not out yet, so this is kind of pointless, but when it finally does come out: in chapter three, pay attention to when and where and how many times you see kawae-san’s eyes. and also the color of his glasses vs takashi’s glasses compared to how well they’re holding their Issues in. i feel like i could write a paper on this stuff. reminds me of cowboy bebop, actually. all the good ones can have symbolism papers written about them. that’s basically how i know if it’s in the top ten (the BEST3 as YOU-kun would say) all time greats. can i write a paper about it? yes? good. no? well, i don’t care how nicely animated it is, it’s not “great.”
the other thing i really like about warawanai is that the characters are realistic. they’re attractive, but not unbelievably so. they’re cute, but they’re not skinny, impossible bishie people. now, don’t get me wrong, i am ALL FOR bishies (if you only consider my absolute affection and undying love for Lord Ashram, you will see) i’m just saying that i like the realism of these stories. it’s not “Bishie Prince meets Bishie Servant and overcomes impossible odds to declare his love!” it’s more like “Male Lead A has personal/past/parental Issues, which he will attempt to work out over the next thirty or so pages, with Male Lead B all the while also attempting to work out his own Issues, and maybe they’ll have some sex at the end, and if we’re very lucky, they’ll have some sex before that, too.” it’s really quite nice.
in other news, my entry for the dA etsysellers‘s contest. i could win 100 free promo buttons! that would be cool. of course, everybody else’s entries are awesome, too, so… we’ll see. it was a blast to make, and it certainly wouldn’t sell, so it’s pretty much its own reward. (^_^) wonder what i could put in it…?
Labels: facts
