I think "Mad Fangirl" is particularly apt for this post

[soc_puppet]

Now, where was I? Oh, yeah!

On RE:play:
Okay, first of all, I probably wouldn't even have picked this up if I hadn't fallen in love with the manga-ka's oneshot "Doors" in RSoM 3 a few years ago. I found the characters charming and not overdone, the art style cute and appealing, and the details fun ♥ I knew I would want the creator's next work when it came out. Sadly, I may have missed the chance to pick up Next Exit, so when I saw that the creator was coming out with something new with TokyoPop, I was delighted. Then I read a three-page preview of it in the back of (I believe) the latest RSoM, and began to doubt just a little.

At first glance, it looked like it was going to be a typical 'band' story, what with picking up prodigal new members and facing adversity and soaring to the top of the chart, et cetera. And, being as I had only the first oneshot to go off of, I assumed that's mostly what it would be. I was still going to buy at least the first volume, as a show of good faith in the creator, but I was ready to be disappointed, especially after My Cat Loki (which I have not reviewed here).

I don't think that I have ever been so delighted to be proven wrong! RE:play took two geanre stereotypes and melded them together to form something that feels new and unique - at least to me. The art has also noticeably improved since Doors, and feels cleaner/more organized. There also appear to be tiny in-jokes for FMA fans, like the name of the fiancé of Mr. Bostov and one of Rail's professors ;) (The name of Cree's ex is probably either unrelated, or possibly even what spurred the jokes in the first place - I'm not sure which. Or maybe I'm just reading too much into it.)

...Also, the last page of the second chapter makes me go weak in the knees. Or possibly the second chapter in its entirety. And the little bunny mascot things are full of adorable and the temptation to make a plush version (see chapter six flashbacks).

In short? Love all over. I am definitely getting the next volume when it comes out. Just please don't make me wait a year like you're doing with Bizenghast DD:


On the Law of Ueki manga:
There's not really much for me to say about this one, other than the usual slight disappointment that the company isn't keeping the honorifics and name orders. The honorifics thing hits only slightly harder in this case, as I was rather fond of Mr. K's original nickname: Kobasen.

As for the manga itself, though, while think I prefer the cleaner/clearer art of the anime, I am a fan of linework, and can tell what's going on in all the pictures. More importantly, Mori seems to have a somewhat bigger/more important role to play - at least for the first few chapers. So, I'll definitely be keeping an eye on that.


On Stranger Than Fiction:
I wanted to see that thing since I first saw the trailer for it. And then came the positive feedback on it - first online at a couple of journals I lurk at, and then from my mom and brother, who came back raving from it. So I knew I had to see it, and then started praying that I hadn't let my expectations get too high.

Lo and behold, I hadn't! Stranger Than Fiction turned out to be fantastic in ways I couldn't even have imagined. The phrase "little did he know" now has new significance for me ♥ Also, while Mom and Tomas were completely blindsided by the ending, I did have an inkling that it might be a possiblity ;) ...Which I'm mostly saying to brag, but that's the kind of person I am, so. Anyway, if you feel that the first half is boring, then just force yourself to sit through it to the second half. If you still don't like it, then you can cuss me out for making you spend far too much money on a ticket and leave. But I'll still think it will have been worth it.

Also, I don't know whose decision or influence it was to put that in there or keep it that way, but they got writing spot on. Because yes, it really does come out of nowhere like that.


And now, for something unrelated, because I told Pat I'd upload it for her: the only one of three individual copies of the Do Virgins Taste Better Medly by the Brobdingnagian Bards I have that actually works on my computer. And anyone else who needs a laugh. Though, uh, not if dragons devouring virgins is a sensitive topic for you.

Edit: I... I think it's love ♥

Comments

[kurobahikaru.livejournal.com]

So, I'm on errantry and I greet you. XD

[soc_puppet]

XDD Dai stiho, cousin! *geeks it up with you*

[kurobahikaru.livejournal.com]

*geek geek* So, I'm still waiting for W@W in paperback so it can match the rest of my collection (Amazon says they have it!), and trying to track down the Cat books. Cat wizards, yay!

Also, totally geeking over Avatar (and trying to catch up). Srsly, Iroh's the coolest. *got all weepy over Tales of Ba Sing Se*

[theotherjoey.livejournal.com]

RE: Stranger than Fiction, I thought it didn't take its premise nearly far enough. It started out great but settled, starting in the middle third, for a kind of conventional sentimentality that I felt was an ill fit with the metafictional conceit that it was based on...it was a good, entertaining movie, but fell way short of my hopes for it....

[soc_puppet]

*stares at the screen* *mutters about it being too early for such vocabulary, regardles of the fact that it's one-thirty in the afternoon* *gives you points for it anyway*

Mind elaborating on what you had hoped for? I admit to not being much of a movie conneseur, so my standards for them probably aren't as high as they are for, say, books.

Spoiler Warning Goes Here

[theotherjoey.livejournal.com]

Well, I was suprised at how much they shoehorned in a romance, and a typical funky-girl-saves-guy-from-boring-sad-life one as well, like in Garden State and countless others. As much as I like Maggie Gyllenhaal...it seemed a distraction to me. I didn't buy her falling for him. Maybe I'm too cynical, but that seemed more like misdirection and padding (by creating uncertainty about the genre of the book Crick was living out) than a likely love story.

And the way that the author's voice came and went seemed to be based more on convenience for the plot than on what actually made sense. I would have preferred they stick with it consistantly, at least until he met her.

I'm still undecided on the ending, though the current one seems the only one that would be palpable to wide audiences...but it at least fits better with the early part of the movie. And I wouldn't be surprised in the screenwriter (Zach Helm, I believe) wrote the middle after having written the beginning and end.

Re: Spoiler Warning Goes Here

[theotherjoey.livejournal.com]

But, uhm, I'm being harder on it than it deserves, really. It was clever and cute in a lot of ways, just not on the level with something like Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind. It was, unusually, more conventional than the trailer made it out to be. I don't want it to seem like I didn't enjoy it, because I really did. The use of animated overlays, I thought, was particulaly neat.

Re: Spoiler Warning Goes Here

[soc_puppet]

Yeah, those are some pretty good reasons. The romance did seem a little out of nowhere for me, too, and the narration was definitely disjointed.

And yes, you already included the "it was an entertaining movie" disclaimer up there ;) Also, I'm going to have to check out that other movie now...