Er, not dead

[petronia]

I've just been... writing. ^^; It's turned into one of those periods. At the moment I'm not particularly good company either online or off, though I've been leaving comments; mostly I'm heavily engaged in talking to myself. XD There are also RL issues pulling at my attention.

I ordered some books quick-ship, since I was feeling unaccountably desperate for new reading and GetBackers 34 was already out (of course I have a pile of books I've yet to touch, in both English and Japanese, but the backlog never seems to count at these times). So I got, er, "Koi suru boukun" #1 since everyone and their aunt is reading it, and the first Yukikaze novel. XD I'm a chapter in and... it's actually really absorbing, in that military infodump jargon-a-minute SF sort of way. I'd better wrap up the fic first though or my head will explode from trying to reconcile my random extrapolations w/ the world-building.

Yukikaze is definitely a girl. XD Still the seme, but. XDDD

(I don't know if it's worth bookblogging this? There's not much overlap between the fans-of-Yukikaze-anime and readers-of-military-SF flist contigents, I think. I guess I'll pretend it's an English novel and hope no one sporks me out of frustration.)

Also, Sumomo Yumeka's "Dousaibou seibutsu". This from the CRAFT Comics imprint which I believe to be INDIE(tm) for the following reasons: 1) I have never so much as heard of any of these mangaka, 2) details of cover design and packaging - it looks rather more like a single-artist doujinshi collection than a commercial tankoubon, 3) the fact that they number their releases like an arty record label, which is of course the hook that grabs the suckers like yrs trly. "Dousaibou seibutsu" [CRAFT 015] is nuanced shoujo/light BL a bit like... you know the sort of Prince of Tennis fanfiction My Clique(tm) used to write? XD The art is quite pretty.

And of course the infamous GetBackers 34, which opens with Teshimine making a little Brokeback-style hobo campfire next to a waterfall so he can boil water for herb tea - IN THE BELTLINE. Because apparently Paul (who needs to change his battle moniker to "King of Hot Beverages") taught him how to use herb tea to counteract the Beltline's power-draining effects. And then longhaired guy in robes and bindi shows up and they both drink herb tea and talk about the mysteries of the universe.

Yup, herb tea. That's what they're calling it these days.

EDIT as I read -- the art is suddenly way better. WTF? Also, I would actually put money right now on Ban and Ginji having the same mom, just based on how the issue is broached. XD

Even when I think I have nothing to blog I can always come up with a ton of stuff. XD

Comments

[nekokoban]

I would actually put money right now on Ban and Ginji having the same mom, just based on how the issue is broached

Wait, what?

I don't care about spoilers, but. D: I am not gonna be able to get to a Kinos for at least another week and I whu-huh-gah??

Spoil me?

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Ahahaha. XD;; Okay um, so Ban, Ginji, Makubex and Kazuki have gotten into the Beltline and are preparing to battle Der Kaiser and the whole Miroku clan, right? There is some discussion as to whether Ban should/is prepared to do this, whereupon Ban states he doesn't intend to fight his father so much as confront him with the negative consequences of his actions, as the only reason his father could be doing what he's doing is if his mother (or as Ban charmingly puts it, "the woman who gave birth to me") is up in Babylon City.**

Ginji: !?
Ginji: *remembers Teshimine telling him his mother is in Babylon City*
Ginji: *blinkety blink*
Ginji: Ban-chan, your mom is in Babylon City too...?
(there is a pause. Ban pointedly does not look his way)
Ban: Ginji... you know...
(Hevn falls on Ban from above, effectively derailing the conversation)

** thus demonstrating that Ban has a keen sense of what kind of manga he inhabits.

...So, um, you see. XD;;

[nekokoban]

.............

Um. Wow.

Yanno, if this turns out to be true, this is seriously going to be the first incest-y type couple I have ever really and truly fangirl-shipped. |D THAT IS GOING TO BE REALLY INTERESTING (though I thought Ban's mother had her big freakout and was left alone wherever when Ban went to live with his grandmother BUT APPARENTLY NOT).

Thanks for the info, ahah. XD

[petronia.livejournal.com]

I'm sure the readership gets a waiver if they pull "o the main characters are actually related" in volume 30-something of a manga for pete's sake though! That's just evil. XD (The last time I can remember it conceivably happening was in Gundam Seed but I didn't ship that pairing, so. XD)

Ban's mother: from what I can make out, didn't happen in the same order as what we all thought... apparently Ban was shipped off to Germany right after he was born and only met his mother later (post-Eris)? Will report back, it'll be explained in this volume, I'm pretty sure.

[nekokoban]

That's what I'm hoping, at any rate -- but then, this is the animanga community, and shipping siblings isn't exactly new. XD I have enough Elricest shippers on my flist to realize this; it's just sort of a paradigm shift that I gotta get used to, is all. XD

... if you would, please, that'd be awesome. o_o Because my impression was certainly that he stayed with his mother until she realized O HAY I HAVE A FREAKCHILD before he was sent away, but ...

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Oh, no (she says cheerfully), Ban's mother knew that from the get-go! Seeing as how he wasn't uhh entire human when he was born.

Or so says Ayamine in one of his vol.32 sidetalks - I wish they'd put this sort of information into the manga where it belongs, but.

[nekokoban]

o_________________________________________o

Yeah, it'd be nice if that sort of thing could be in the story, yes. (Though now I'm wondering, when they say "not entirely human," HOW do they mean not entirely human? Does this mean I am going to have to dig through my room to find v32 and then try to squint my way through Ayamine's writing? AUGH.)

[petronia.livejournal.com]

...Not entirely human as in with the spiky Aesclepius arm thing. (Which his dad proceeded to make disappear - don't ask me how. Paul witnessed this by accident, went back to the waiting room and discreetly forgot he saw anything.) Otherwise, cute baby! But lud I hope it was a caesarian. XD;;;;

THE ACTUAL, REAL, I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP STORY OF HOW MIDOU BAN GOT TO BE MIDOU BAN:

*Paul sits in hospital waiting room, smoking a cigarette that's mostly ash*
Papan: Paul! It's my son!
Paul: O give it over! O lookit that! He's got a mean glare just like his daddy! What are you naming him? Something German?
Papan: We thought about it but we'd like you to be the godfather, actually. So you name him.
Paul: Ah okay, then "Yosaku"! Like the song.**
*the baby does not like this and KICKS HIM IN THE FACE*
Paul: Owwwwww did he just kick my nose? He just kicked my nose! WTF!
Papan: Actually I tried naming him and he kicked me too. ...Several times.
Paul: WELL, IT'S DECIDED! HE'S BAN! 'BAN' AS IN VIOLENT, BRUTAL, THAT 'BAN'! THAT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR HIM!!1!
Papan: You really suck at this. ....But eh, why not.
*baby... looks pleased, in a smug sort of way*

** It's a terrible cheesy oldie. XD

Man, canon wins. It always wins.

[nekokoban]

Aw man, now I REALLY need to get volume 34, damnit. XD (And good lord, if he came out with the spikey!Asclepius arm, I hope it was c-section, too. XD;;)

... also, that story is a thing of sheer brilliance and beauty. It's even better because I had, previously, wondered how he got the name "Ban" of all things. XD It's nice to know some things about a person's personality just never change. XD

Thank you♥ That made me giggle like mad. XD

[harajukufuuri.livejournal.com]

!!!

A&A are just.. genius, man, genius. :D :D :D

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

Star Wars! (But they look nothing alike!)

[canis-m.livejournal.com]

Dousaibou Seibutsu <3333333 Yumeka Sumomo <3333333 IIRC she's illustrated a "How To Draw BL" instructional manual. ^^; Reminds me of those "How To Draw Horses" books aimed at the female elementary student set.

I just put in an amazon order, literally, like 10 minutes ago--had no choice as Ze 3 (http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4403661335/ref=ord_cart_shr/503-7901927-1865547?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=AN1VRQENFRJN5) is out. Came close to getting Koi Suru Boukun but put it off again for reasons now unclear (when I know & trust Takanaga Hinako, and it gets five-star ratings across the board? maa, next time).

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Oh, thanks for reminding me! XD;; (Thanks... I see more cash expenditure on the horizon...)

Koi susu boukun seems quite cute and funny but I haven't read enough into it.

[naanima.livejournal.com]

Yumeka Sumomo goes for the throat.

In a very understated way of course. [I say this because of her other works where after reading I felt like listening to some ENYA and crying my poor heart out.]

She owns my soul and possibly several of my future babies.

Furthermore, Ban and his name made me inhale water the wrong way. I am in pain but terribly amused.

[corneredangel.livejournal.com]

There's not much overlap between the fans-of-Yukikaze-anime and readers-of-military-SF flist contigents, I think.

You *have* a readers-of-military-SF contingent on the flist?

In my prior experience, 99-point-like-5 percent of English-language mlitary SF deteriorates into self-parody three pages in; the .5 percent that doesn't...cheerfully embraces self-parody from the get-go.

...and then there's Joe Haldeman, but he's in a class of his own. What with the 'having actually been shot at', and all...

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Well, you're the only one I know who reads military SF and has seen Yukikaze anime, at any rate. XD

I dunno, I just treat it like Tom Clancy (whom I used to read a lot of) - as long as there's a lot of real-life-granular technical detail flying past in the prose I'm happy, regardless of the topic. It's not like I know any different. XD

[ayabai.livejournal.com]

i am still so behind on GB. lol. the last volume i bought was 31. if i've been incest!shipping all along, er... =___=

oh, i adore yumeka sumomo! she also did a book called chou ni naru.... romantic and soft.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Ha, yeah, I actually hope it won't be but there's so much revelations being piled on revelation now... XD

(I still have to answer your email about the universities! Um, I do intend to answer, I'm sorry... ;;;;)

[ayabai.livejournal.com]

i think i'm gonna wait for the next volume to come out before buying 32-35 at mandarake or something and just sitting down with the tanks and some chu-hai for a quality evening at home: A&A sensei and light booze, what more do i need?

ah, and don't worry, just whenever you have free time! i'm not even going to be back in north america for awhile anyway, and i've been getting into arguments with my mother about it- uh... i don't think she thinks canada/quebec is a real country.

[insaneneko.livejournal.com]

Erg, you've reminded me that I need to go find volume 1. Volume 2 is sitting there, waiting for me to find and attempt to read volume 1 first... *sighs*