32 Points

I don't think I'll ever grow out of Naruto

silent_shadow01@hotmail.com — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 02:18:42 GMT

NARUTOSPOILERSOMG:

Naruto says something, Sakura cries, Sai is just there, and Sasuke is probably going to do something stupid.

I was really dissapointed the way the invasion arc part duex turned out, but I can always trust on Sasuke to bring out the melodrama. His arcs tend to make the manga take a darker turn while every other arc has a hopeful light. Even in the water arc where Haku and Zabuza died, Zabuza repented and showed that he could be human. But with Sasuke, he left Konoha for Orochimaru his first arc, crushed Team 7 when they tried to rescue him, and killed Itachi only to realize he was a good guy. He's probably the only thing standing between the manga, and Naruto summoning unicorns and using rainbow jutsu.

On another note, I liked the breaking down scene. Sakura's probably going to receive a lot of shit for it, but to me it showed a pure emotional defeat. Even when Sasuke beat them the first time, there was a part of them said "we can still save him." After all, it didn't matter that Sasuke tried to kill them, they loved him. But it's different now they know he already attacked another village and killed someone (or at least tried), all outside of Orochimaru's presence. It's easy to blame him for all the wrongs when Sasuke was with him, but now Sasuke is without Itachi and Oro, he's got to be accountable for his how actions. Worse now that Sasuke has clearly stepped from chaotic neutral, to an antagonist with his latest hope to kill all the hokages.

Coupled with Sasuke pure rejection the Sai arc, him not coming back after Oro was killed, and now all the villages coming to hunt him, they pretty much hit the wall and there's no turning back. It will be interesting if at least, just for a second, they had to come to the realization that they just may have to kill him. Or, at least, betray the village to keep him alive.

silent_shadow01@hotmail.com — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 02:41:59 GMT

Lol livejournal.

Anyway, I finally got to play FFVII: Crisis Core, (I never play games unless they’ve been out for a year or two, apparently.) This game, even for its horrible antagonist and annoying DMW gameplay, had brilliantly executed scenes. I felt they couldn’t do any better for a prequel.

Most importantly turned me into a horrible OTP troll for ZackxAerith, which coincidently fits nicely with my CloudTifa.

I had never really considered ZxA before, I thought it was some stupid ploy that CxT fans pushed so that their pairing was ~*~*~more canon<3~*~*~ It‘s one of the more annoying trends in fandom, I find it ridiculous that that every female needs to be paired with someone and that people are willing to throw to people together just to make it justify a different relationship. But Crisis Core showed me that ZxA was every bit of real and moving as any of the relationships of FFVII.

However I was more reluctant to get into any pairing fandom again after dealing with all the pairing drama on Narutofan. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a friends with a lot of pairing fans, any of them are on my lj list. But there are just a lot of things that made me seriously dislike the workings inside them.

General disclaimer: This is my thoughts about pairing fandoms trends I found while on NF forums, not the people. There are plenty of pairing fandom members and fandom leaders that I’m friends with. And for goodness sake, these are my thoughts and my thoughts alone, not anyone else’s. It's stupid I have to write this.

PreNF I had dabbled in Naruto pairings, though not seriously as I went through OTPs like toilet paper (I’ve had Narusaku, Sasusaku, Naruhina, Hinakiba, SakuIta, SakuSasori, LeeTen, LeeHina otps at different points in time). The last time I truly was into a pairing fandom was FFVII:AC debates but since then I have stuck as a character debater. Character fandoms have just as bad flame wars to be sure, but I find them a lot less…exhausting.

Pairing groups are pretty well organized beasts, much more so than character fandoms. They have the ability to police each other better, they can coordinate quickly and in masse, and a lot better at inner community events (like making contests or giveaways). Even with all my complaining, pairing fandoms is one hell of a well oiled machine. Had it not been for the quantum amounts of drama that ensues from them, it would be inspiring.

Almost every fandom has one or two BFNs that act like a fandom leader, pairing fandoms are no exception. In fact, the fandom leaders there are just as well organized as the groups themselves- so much so that even when I was modding I was well aware that they would be able to control their members better than any of the modstaff, they were trusted and well respected whereas mods were mostly outsiders. But most importantly, fandom leaders are under no illusion that they were irrelevant. Fandom tends to police itself through member interaction, and fandom leaders tend to take it upon themselves to make sure that their particular fandom is doing well- which more times than not a good thing.

One of the few things I noticed about fandom leaders in pairing fandoms is that they were extremely well connected. Many had direct connections to other fandom leaders, their own members, and mods. Which was useful because there was something always blowing up in those fandoms, and then the “right” people could be pulled into chats and debates, which lasted for fucking hours. I was only thrown in two or three my time there and I am glad that the majority of them are settled between each other because after the first hour- you start to get annoyed.

Fandom leaders are extremely protective of their own fandoms which is mostly helpful because they’ll look after members and make sure they aren’t being taken advantage of. At the same time, though, it’s been kind of exasperating as every fandom (not just pairings mind you) believe they are being persecuted by 1. The majority or 2. The higher ups; and once a fandom leader feels this way the feeling generally is spread to everyone else. Getting involved in a fanspat will generally leave you both sides and all their friends pm’ing you of your bias against them- even if you care absolutely nothing for pairings either way.

They also manage to find problem children on the other side and will work together to get them to stop. I have seen almost every pairing fandom conspire to get “that other guy” banned in some way, shape, or form. They don’t take it lightly either, I’ve seen some pretty elaborate and lengthy arguments complete with evidence, lengthy philosophical interludes, narratives about the banning process, and information they obtained that they really shouldn’t be able to get. And in response, because the other side is just as defensive, the banned members side will throw in their angry appeal. If it doesn‘t work, they‘ll try to get others in the fray. It was just the normal, “hey this guy is a jerk do something,” this was a well thought out group effort.

I think it was around this point, where members were planning to get others banned was when I went, “Holy shit, these guys mean serious fucking business.” I saw some of the power struggles, elaborate conspiracies, and poll riggings and went, “No thanks.” I’d sooner have Sakura go with no one and prove she doesn’t need to hold a penis to be worth the paper she is on than be involved in the pairing process again.

This, of course, only applied the pairing wars I am familiar with; NaruSaku, NaruHina, and Sasusaku. I’ve had a lovely time hanging out with crack fandoms- generally because crack fandoms know they aren’t in the running for the winning canon and aren’t intimidated by other fandoms. Yaoi fandoms on NF were also pretty calm, mostly because they were an ignored majority. Which is actually quite different from eljay as yaoi fans make up the bulk of the power fandoms. But for the most part, I’ve never seen yaoi fans go to war with each each other; while they occasionally snip at the het fandoms (and vice versa) they don’t even try to bother with each other. I guess you either view your characters as gay or straight. It is possible Icould be completely wrong and yaoi fandoms are just as neurotic inside as the het ones. I don’t know.

Oh and yuri fandoms. Nobody cares about yuri fandoms either way. D:

--

I think this whole thought diarrhea was brought about when I was lurking the some final fantasy site and read their translation of the Aerith-Sephiroth chapter in the canon novels.

Tl;dr, someone translated koibito in “beloved” instead of boyfriend or sweetheart. Some guy got really pissed and basically accused him of bias and calling it a bad translation. Which was a similar thing that happened on eljay awhile back. If I remember correctly, a Sasusaku fan named twinbells translated Sakura’s data book entry, which happened to lean to Sasusaku. And a bunch of fans went crazy and immediately said that she must have been biased. I don’t even think the person really was a translator, in the end. He just copy and pasted an argument from somewhere else, I don’t normally find *experienced translators throwing hissy fits at each other over a word. They tend to be more respectful.

And in the end it was mostly people’s bias that caused them to call bias.

In short:

Pairing fandoms are scary. Pairing fandoms leaders are powerful.

Powerful and scary combination killed any desire for me to go back into pairing fandom.

silent_shadow01@hotmail.com — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:23:51 GMT

I was going to post a really long winded discussion on the habits of pairing fandoms but thenHOLY SHIT MICHAEL JACKSON IS DEAD.

silent_shadow01@hotmail.com — Fri, 29 May 2009 15:47:49 GMT

Not like anyone reads it anymore but

Oh, no fuck no. You serious?

Just... no.

I'm going home.

I'd put Bleach under spoiler cuts as well, but it's still the long string of repetitive and endless fight sequences with minimal plot value and large blank spaces to cover most of the panel space. The same as it's been last month. And last last month. And the month before that, and probably the month after this one was well.

silent_shadow01@hotmail.com — Mon, 11 May 2009 13:56:48 GMT

My renewed interest in livejournal is probably brought about because I have finals coming up and I need something to help me be unproductive. You are all enablers, I hope you feel bad about yourselves, you addicting beautiful bastards.

Look at that slut

silent_shadow01@hotmail.com — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:51:44 GMT

I've been spending my time on ohnotheydidnt and I'm not quite sure why. I have never cared about celebrities at all, and even cared less about talking about them. I suppose that after NF, I wanted to spew my vile, uninspired and unwanted opinion about things that matter very little to me as a sort of therapy, compared to the long winded and sometimes heated debates riddled with forum politics. I also go there because a lot of the people there are hilarious and I wanted to help my gif collection grow without suffering through piles of guro porn. Not to mention I have this unreasonable, malevolent hate for Julia Roberts and I have no way to express it anywhere but there.

But I think this addiction is getting to me though, ontd brings out the worst in me. There is no sane reason for me to try and debate about Lindsey Lohan other than the fact that I want to troll.

The problem with taking a break from livejournal for years at a time is that when I come back, I don't know anybody on my friends list. Post here so I know where you came from or if you changed your name, or if you are like me and wonder "who the fuck is this fabulous person!? "

hahahah oh wow

silent_shadow01@hotmail.com — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:28:26 GMT

I still have a journal? >_>

silent_shadow01@hotmail.com — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 16:41:32 GMT

ARRGsjdfklsa;da Internet drama.

ARRSJFkdsljkdsfds losing friends over inane reasons.

I'm not sure if I liked it more now, or when I didn't care about anyone on the internet. :/

silent_shadow01@hotmail.com — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 16:22:30 GMT

I have twenty minutes until I have an exam.

Why the hell am I still on the internet!?

PS. Seren, I haven't talked to you in about a gazillion years after you moved to Ohio. Call me.

Anonymous doesn't forgive

silent_shadow01@hotmail.com — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 17:40:50 GMT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNO6G4ApJQY

I thought it was a joke first time I saw it O_. But apparently 4chan or ebaums world or whatever hacked into Fox News. Why is always so amusing when serious news casters make reports about the internet?

My favorite part is that random car blowing up for no reason. GG fox.

silent_shadow01@hotmail.com — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 18:29:48 GMT

This is an extremely interesting and intelligent post.

silent_shadow01@hotmail.com — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 21:05:24 GMT

Some may hate it, but I loved this chapter. Everyone was running around going "AMGOBITO" nobody actually considered that Tobi could be Madara (Be it possession, lies or whatever, Tobi DID say he was Madara) Or actually be in such a strong position of power. The ultimate unintentional redherring. And um, yeah. Tobi looked bad ass this chapter, that new Akatsuki cloak is win.

I suppose some people have said, "but oh, he's not the same." I suppose, but I'm to busy being petty and reveling in a pseudo sense of justice that, no, he doesn't suck because Pein said so. I think it's hard to dislike a character that you fell in love with.

I think this is one of the stronger plot twists of Naruto. Tobi is his very own Aizen.

I like how they share headphones, but I didn't draw a cd player. I win. Sasuke looks odd in this one, I think. >_> I messed up with the coloring of his hair with his head or something, now he has a flat face and a retarded nose.

Lineart:

I knew people would dislike it... but I promised it wouldn't get in my way of loving this book. So I have decided to steadfast and stay away from HP fandom for a long time. That lasted all of two seconds and popped in a discussion about HP >_>

Anyway, as I said, I loved the book, and most of all the climaxes. I liked them on the run, I am a huge Dumbledore fan so I loved his sidestory, I loved Snape's sidestory, ecetera. Although halfway into the book, I got nostalgic for Hogwarts and was relieved when they actually got there. I mean, running around in the woods is okay, but it's Hogwarts the readers "grew up" in. And there was something about *everyone sticking up for him when Pansy wanted to give him up was near heartwarming.

The problem with the shock value of the book... is that I was spoiled by some ass on IRC ~~I'm so glad Kapsi is banned. That bastard is never getting help from me again.~~ So I knew a lot of people would die this book. But the only one that took me hard was Fred (I managed to look over most of the names -.-). Like most peopleI thought his death was almost... random and done because she wanted to kill someone popular off. To be fair, at war death is random and many times, unglorious. But still... it's fictional fantasy.

There's something said about killing off popular characters. Actually, there isn't, but I'm going to say something anyway. Two things can happen 1. The added shock value makes the story unpredictable, sad, a true sense of loss, ecetera. Basically, makes the book better. 2. It leaves the reader unsatisfied. Lupin's and Tonk's were leaning towards 1, but Fred is leaning towards 2.

Also, ending was weak. I thought the story in of itself was strong, interesting, and captivating. It had a brilliant climax, wonderful drama, great tension, well written war scene... and then he ends it in a classic Scooby Doo, lol joke. What the hell? There has always been time after the climax for mourning, for thinking, for Harry to think "let's do this in the future," for Harry/Ron/Hermione to have a strong moment, and to think back. That didn't happen. He basically said "I am glad we win, I am sad people are dead, I'm tired. End." That's why an epilogue was done, because the story ended but it didn't finish. And the epilogue was weak. Not because it was bad, but because it wasn't... well. Anything. It made no impact whatsoever. I swear I read that epilogue a hundred times over is fanfiction

But anyway, kudos to Rowling for making an awesome world, great characters, and a fantastic- yet crazy- fanbase. You brought us Hogwarts, huge book parties, and crazy fans like Ms. Scribes. GG. The saddest part of an end to a story, imo, is the eventual dying out of the fandom.

For the longest time I had stopped reading fiction books with the exception of HP. Anyway, I saw this name tossed around a lot and finally someone went and pushed me to read it. I couldn't think of a better book to make me want to read again, it's absolutely fascinating. I love his style, I love the plot, and I love how realism and fantasy are sort of mixing in it.

I think I was a little to upset when Robb died. He was my favorite non POV character and one of my favorites overall. I guess it sucks because I knew it would happen, I even told a friend I was a bit worried about it, and I was reading with a growing sense of dread. I seriously hate the Frey's now, and I hope Zombie Catelyn destroys all of them. ]< I was remarkably annoyed to see Ceresei be a regular POV, and Robb never got one. Injustice.

Bran would be my favorite characters, and because of that it took me a long while to get warmed up to Jamie. Even when he was sort of good I couldn't get passed his reasoning of throwing an eight year old boy out the window because he wanted to have uninterrupted sex with his sister. :S. I also hated Theon for the longest time. I actually sort of liked him during book one, but after he got his pov he acted like a little bitch. cry moar n00b. Tyrion is another one of them, and I felt kind of sorry for him. He's a genuinely good person who gets shit blown up in his face on a constant basis. He tries to save the court, Ceresei plans to destroy him, he tries to save the kingdom and he becomes hated, he tries to raise money an easy way, and he gets mocked for instigating a sex penny, he tries to be a good man- and his wife hates him. If that was me I would have been "lol, I give up, bye bitches."

I can't get myself to finish part IV though. It just doesn't interest me as much. I understand it's more plot intensive than character base... but the new characters seem to blend in with the others too well. I just can't get into their stories as much as I could the first three. D:

silent_shadow01@hotmail.com — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 04:32:24 GMT

Deeeer eljay,

Lately I've been horribly unPC, using internet memes like druggies use crack, and been using lots of internet lingo like "lol" and "gtfo." I remember when I first came to you and vowed never to use it.

Lolwtf happened to that? Should I care? >_>

On to important, life changing stuff. Naruto.

1. AL and BHG look pretty much what I expected them to look like. Only AL looks much younger and BHG looks, well, more exotic/oriental. I like it.

2. Someone's name is Pain. Or Pein. I think it's AL, but people say otherwise. Oh well.

3. I'm betting BHG is a haku type of character. Not in personality as much as devotion to AL. She gives off the "I am a stoic but dutiful woman who is not really evil, but is desperately in love with the main villain and therefore will do anything for him" type of character. There is one in every manga :/

4. Ok, Sasuke was out of chakra. But not only did he summon MANDA, he managed to use a strong enough jutsu to control it. What the hell? Ok, Sasuke was suppose to live, yes. I get that, but come on.

I'm not trying to annoy any Sasuke fans. He's cool and he's ultrawinning, but there's got to be a cap to that. Sasuke doesn't even feel like a main character anymore. Main characters don't keep pulling jutsu out of their asses, only villains and godlike side characters. Main characters have an established amount of moves to the point where you can document it. Once you don't know how many a character has, they move beyond your level of understanding. D: Sasuke, you better come back to Team 7.

5. Team7ReunionTeam7ReunionTeam7ReunionTeam7ReunionTeam7Reunion Gogogo! I'm so glad that they didn't get infected with the disease of idiocy and actually noticed the hueg explosion. Now run, you lazy bastards, run to Sasuke. It's not like he can fight now anyway.

6. Need more Tobi.

7. I'm not sad for Deidara, but I care a lot more than I thought I would. I never liked him, but he picked a hell of a way to go.

Fanart x2, one old, one done today

Original sketch

Drawing guys is a pain. Anyway, when I was coloring this my first thought was "Wow, I bet those two are going to be compared to NaruHina." Lo and behold, I checked and they already were. Fandom, you are such a predictable vice.

Original Sketch

Done before I realized Karin's colors. They [Karin's canon colors] suck, by the by. But I guess Kishi likes to keep it colorful. I think this combo looks much nicer on her.

Naruto anime is a shithole. I understand going a bit slowly, but good god. It's the actual fight now, at least keep a somewhat interesting pace. You are going to make me hate this arc. :/

I hate weddings. Even more so when I'm trying to kick a fever and been puking. Donavon's, though, wasn't that bad. I missed some of the short ceremony (thank god, when I heard it was a catholic wedding I thought I'd never get out of there. Luckily they didn't make it full. Though I totally told this guy that there was a wedding going on so there was no confessional. Lulz D: Anyway, I spent most the time holding my 10 month old niece and she screamed in horror (there is nothing more depressing and strikes that much terror into a child than catholic church music).

Reception was much better. I went to help to put the reception together which was a bit hectic. Especially in my shoes, which were uncomfortable as hell. And a shirt that, I found out too late, was a bit low cut for my taste :/ I dress up maybe once a decade (all two of them), and now I remember why. It was boring for awhile, but after a bit everyone started dancing. It was like a school dance, only without all the pricks you hate, and you got to see a really cool fifty year old black man do the chacha dance.

If I hear one more "AMGPLOTNOJUTSU" I'm going to kill someone.

silent_shadow01@hotmail.com — Sun, 20 May 2007 15:34:39 GMT

Finals are over and I'm currently in the process of draining everything I learned out of my head. I'm doing fairly well too, I was at PCbang with friends/family , playing wii until 3:30 AM last night D:

silent_shadow01@hotmail.com — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 14:09:35 GMT

So, I was thinking I should update my lj about something. Only to realize, I've got nothing to update about. Personally, I think this shows a sad fact about my life.

It's been really nice out lately. As in fantastic up to the cloudless sky and down to the dirt on the ground. Honestly, it makes me really happy. Makes me fall in love with nothing and everything.

Let's say hypothetically speaking, you are retaking a class. And in that class, you have to write a paper for it, only it's the exact same paper about the same topic, the same notes leading up to it, and you basically think the same way. Would it by ok to turn in the same paper as you did a year ago if you were satisfied with the grade?

Oh, and by hypothetical, I mean I already turned it in.

...

Internet drama makes me "lol".

silent_shadow01@hotmail.com — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 13:14:39 GMT

It's hard to offend me on the internet; especially since I can be remarkably unpc myself, but I know when and where to do it. This bothers me. It's not really unexpected, I've seen DB do it a couple of times. But seriously, it hadn't even been four days after the shootings when they/him (I heard they didn't really fire timecop) released it, that's just inane asshatery. It's the fucking worst school shooting in history, have some god damn tact.

The greatest irony being... I will still download their subs. :/

Not beating them with a self-righteous stick. I don’t want heads to roll or make them stop. But I still find it distasteful in the ultimate sense.

Naruto thoughts: Mmmm Team Sasuke mmmm.

Bleach thoughts: Why do you have to be so damn shippy? Seriously, I'm stockpiling crack fandoms. (didn't read the chapter, just saw the spoilers)

silent_shadow01@hotmail.com — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 04:25:16 GMT

People have a romantic notion of being the hero in bad situations.

Getting in a one on one fight is NOTHING like being in a frightened crowd of people while someone is gunning you down.

Just because everyone didn't go tackly the mass murderer while he was SHOOTING MULTIPLE ROUNDS doesn't make them stupid.

Ugh.

silent_shadow01@hotmail.com — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 17:24:20 GMT

I have just created...

The nastiest and most gross tasing pancakes ever.

I amaze myself.

silent_shadow01@hotmail.com — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 01:31:27 GMT

Deer Frendzlizt,

I've been gone for so long, I almost forgot some of you and I don't know how to keep up. So Imma going to post about Naruto instead.

1. Karin is hot. And bipolar. And has awesome hair. This is irrefutable truth. I honestly am slightly weirded out by the fact that her fandom sparked REALLY fast. In one day she became really loved, the next day I saw her paired up with Sasuke, Suigetsu, Sakura, and oddly enough Naruto. THEN she got an anti fanclub. Her fandom went full circle in a manner of a week. Impressive.

So far, I like her. She interesting and I like how she dupes Suigetsu all the time, while trying to molest Sasuke. It amuses me. I wouldn’t call her a favorite though, I haven’t seen too much of her.

2. Suigetsu, you are awesome. I can’t believe how fast it took for me to endear myself to you. I think it was the “I dunno… maybe because he’s retarted” that won me over. Or that time when he complained about needing a rest every five minutes. Or the fact he spent the better part of his introductory chapter, naked and grinding Sasuke. He just amuses me.

3. Sasuke, when did you get so cool. I remember never caring for you but liking what you did to the manga. Now with you here, it’s like the manga is expodentially getting better. Moar

4. Juugo, crack much?

It seems like we are getting a Sasuke arc. I’m going to repeat what I said before. I think Sasuke arc is just what the manga needs. I don’t want to keep switching from Akatsuki-to Rescue Sasuke- to Akatsuki- ecetera.

It’s a fresh plotline. Even more so, we have awesome new characters to develop. What makes this even better is that it is completely unexpected, no one thought Orochimaru would be gone so quickly (though I stand firm in my belief that he will return.) It also gives time to build up anticipation for Naruto and Sakura.

While I love this new line, it kind of makes me sad. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a huge Team 7 tard. If Sasuke does makes a new time, it makes me think that Team 7 actually will never get back together and that Sai really has taken Sasuke place. Is Sasuke really going to have someone as close to him as Naruto- whom were rivals and brothers? Is he really going to have intense moments of characterization with Sakura? Is he ever going to talk to Kakashi again, who in the databook stated that he was pretty much his mentor and father figure?

Also, Kishimoto,

Orochimaru is dead and Sasuke is free. What the hell is up with the nearly apathetic reactions. OROCHIMARU WAS LIKE A BROTHER TO JIRAIYA. What the hell?!

Also, Bleach.

Stop crying. There’s nothing wrong with this arc. Someone is getting rescued again, ZOMG, THIS IS THE ONLY CLICHED MANGA EVAR. It’s not that bad, and I see it going in a different direction. I’m not usually a fan of Ulquiorra, but him owning Ichigo into last RAW day and having a four on his body… that was nice.

Need more Orihime please D:

My computer is dead. Ugh.

Dear Kabuto,

lol shit...

Sincerely,
Kishimoto

silent_shadow01@hotmail.com — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 17:51:40 GMT

I'm about to throw my shoe at my car.

Once in a blue moon, the car alarms triggers. But because there it is so rare that there is no way to prevent it. Now it just turns on all the time, and I have to sit there, trying to turn on the engine while the car is screaming at me every time I need to go anywhere. Aughsadkasl;dadlaks.

I just finished reading and writing about the migration patterns of flamingos, no joke, so don't be worried if I seem a bit irritated with the world.

How's it going friend's list? Do we still like Naruto or is that not cool anymore D:

silent_shadow01@hotmail.com — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 02:07:43 GMT

I haven't updated in forever. Damn D:

The problem with shoujo

silent_shadow01@hotmail.com — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 20:19:23 GMT

Bitchings, ramblings, and a rec.

Anyway, I haven’t been doing internet duties for the past couple of days for a number of reasons that I don’t wish to go into. But I thought, hey, I haven’t updated my journal in awhile. Why not that, lolz?

Anyway, I’ve had a real irrational craving for shoujo as of late. Atypicaly, I despise shoujo as half of it I find shallow and uninteresting, and the other half I find myself despising every coupling that becomes official and with shoujo- that’s what it is all about (seriously, FruBas, kare kano, peach girl, Honey and Clover- never had a single pairing I liked happen. Damnit).

But anyway, I’ve only been reading shounen/ sennen as of late. And after the seventh volume of Vagabond I decide to lay off for awhile otherwise I was certain to grow a penis. (Vagabond, though highly recommended by most, I got bored with it after awhile. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good. But it’s only good because it’s good, \ I never found it enough to hold my interest). So I went on a downloading spree on shoujo, though I mostly tried “underground” shoujo that most people don’t know about.

And just as I thought, Shoujo was the same uninteresting monotonous cesspool of insignificant and boring drivel of a horny highschooler’s wetdream fantasies. Seriously, for a genre dedicated to romance, it seems that none of these mangakas actually know how to write an interesting one. I was sucked into a primordial incompetent hell of cliched “plotlines,” ridiculously shallow and dull characters, cardboard cut out relationships, and the same rehashed lackluster boob jokes.

There was this one manga that has fantastically lovely art, but even that didn’t make up for the smoldering pile of creativity defecation it really was. It had absolutely no point rather than pretty looking smut. I’ve never seen a manga so poorly created in terms of story. It was as if to make up for the total inability to have any skills of writing, the mangaka threw random taboos in it just to keep it going. Listen kids, strange =/= good. I don’t care how much incestual sex you draw, the only thing it’s going to make me think is that you had a completely unhealthy family relationship and have me fear for you kids. It wasn’t good the first time, and it’s not going to be good the second ime.

It almost made me cry for Yuu Watase’s work again (which I like but seriously, once you read once- you read them all). I was completely ready to crawl back into my happy land of Naruto, Bleach, One Piece, 20th Century Boy, Monster, GTO, Gantz, and other mangas of interest. Seriously though, they have a better grip on romance then half of stories I read. But after wading awhile in my seemingly endless sea of mediocrity, I finally buckled down and looked for recs- most of them I seen, others seemed uninteresting.

Eventually, I found one that was not only enjoyable enough worth mentioning, I’m going to recc it to you. “Skip Beat.” Where other mangas failed horribly (and by horribly… it’s more like going to a movie that you paid eight dollars for, only to realize that it was written by Anne Rice when she high on pshychellic drugs, co written by Tom Cruise, directed by a half brained math professor who doesn’t even speak English, and starring Keanea Reeves) this manga shines.

It’s really a fun read, the characters are satisfyingly complex yet not so difficult to comprehend that it turns you off. The comedy was unique, the relationships didn’t feel awkwardly thrown in. The story wasn’t exactly new but it was created in a way that it seemed fresh. Luckily, I didn’t read up on the plot before hand, otherwise I would have dropped it before giving it a chance.

Basically, it’s the story of the wrath of a woman scorned. Kyouko, a measly mild mannered girl came to the city with her childhood friend, now super famous “hot” singer Shou . She basically sacrificed her life and education to be with him, and is in love with him though he shows nothing back. He’s upset that he hasn’t made it to the level of “Ren” a famous actor who he considers his rival, and Kyouko encourages him. However, when going to meet Shou, she overhears him say that he was basically using her and he doesn’t like her at all. This causes Kyouko… to go insane. And swearing revenge on him, she begins to take steps to becoming famous so she can reach his level to break him.

Now, it sounds lame, I know, but it really isn’t. They way the mangaka delivers it makes it so that it’s enjoyable and you want to read the next chapter. Typically, I despise “plain girl gets famous” because it tends to be annoying sugar pop fluff with her hooking up with guy after guy. But this isn’t the case at all, while there are romantic developments, she initially has only spite for her romantic interests (Ren and to a lesser extent, Shou). So there are moments in which it’s really about her struggle as an actor as a person as much as it is hooking up with someone.

I like a manga that doesn’t drown itself and potential in its own angst (*cough* Mars), where the depression of the story waters down the whole experience. At the same time, it’s not all typical fluff. It’s a comedic story and there are sad moments, comical moments, and moments that make you awe. In general, a diverse manga.

The artwork is pretty, though I usually despise the style. It’s sort of generic and sometimes the faces just look odd, but in general it’s nicely done.

If you ever want to pick it up a well written shoujo, get Skip Beat. It really is worth the read.

Skip Beat previews:

Skip Beat downloads for you

Volume I, Volume II, Volume III

silent_shadow01@hotmail.com — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 13:32:43 GMT

So my mom flips out because she knows I won't be able to finish college in the typical four years and I don't have the heart to tell her I'm failing out of it all together.

Cheers.

silent_shadow01@hotmail.com — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 23:40:16 GMT

I draw too much

silent_shadow01@hotmail.com — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 16:52:22 GMT

Eh, damn, there goes all my icons, silly paid account.

Anyway, I guess this is an art update, I got my scanner to work and I've been doodling nonstop >_>

I drew this one for a friend, Mori on NF. It was meant so that I would force him to draw me something (and got a really awesome Gai-sensei :D)

A friend wanted me to make him a cute signature with Sasuke in it, but I told him I don't use fanart in my graphics, so I just drew a cute Sasuke, but it ended up as little Team7s

I will finish all of them, but so far I only colored Sasuke. Sadly, it was 2AM in the morning and I did a crappy job ><

Oh yeah, history notes:

This is my first doodle I scanned just to get it working XD Don't mind the Yondaime too much... that was mostly to annoy someone I know XD

The hangul is "Man-se" which is something like like "WoooO!" or "Banzai!" in Korean

I'm planning on a Gai-sensei rant next >_>