Beware the JoJo fan in a position of power

[petronia]

LAUGHING. Candidate for biggest nerd-out by members of the "respectable" scientific community since Planet Xena. But think, it could have been worse - the researchers could have insisted that their discovery be illustrated in moe-chara style. LIGASE-TAN WILL BIND YOUR SYNAPSES WITH LOVE.

Those of you who're Ph.D.-tracked, I'm looking at you.

In other hilarious news, apparently there are Viewfinder side-stories out? They're from the most recent fanbook, I think. (Speaking of which the merchandising for this series has really gotten ridonkulous.)

Love Prize 3: Asami x Takaba with a seasonal theme, like the first two only incrementally sappier. At this point it's nearly functional without the dys-, i.e. one has to figure it's AU or else set in a nebulous post-NT future (and don't I grok the urge). This is what Yamane does best, though; it's not like she's out to write gangland noir fundamentally. XD

Naked Truth Zero: eight-page backstory from the POV of Yoh, who as always is a gem of a long-suffering retainer. Concerns Feilong in prison... yeah, she went there, and by there I mean the showers. Hilarity. But now at least it's ascertained that Yan is (probably) still alive, which is more than one knew before.

Other updates: TRC 159-165 and Holic 139-144, otherwise known as "in shocking news, Fye and Watanuki still can't catch a break with a mile-wide net".

Kurogane: Bitch, this flashback fails at logic.
Me: It, it wasn't my Japanese reading comprehension. T_T

Where this series would be without Kurogane's big sword I'm sure I don't know.

When all's said and done the revelations of the Celes Arc are 1) nothing as expected and 2) exactly as expected. I would ask why Ashura-ou felt obliged to dismember his subjects (a curse? inherent nature? shits and giggles?), except people are supposed to share a soul across world-versions, and he was pretty ineffable the last time too. orz The whole labyrinthine strategizing in order to get someone who cares about you to grant your batshit insane wish while incidentally screwing up their entire life and that of a dozen other people in the process? Yeah.

As for xxxHolic there's not much to do but wait and see. >_> At least CLAMP may have sated themselves on bandage-moe!Watanuki for the moment? I think?


I've also read up to FMA vol.11, halfway through. Am however missing vol.15 which stands to become a problem in the near future. ^^;

Comments

[jokersama.livejournal.com]

My response to that was, MY GOD I NEED TO MAKE A MEANINGFUL SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY RIGHT NOW.
I'm sure Araki's depiction of my massive world-altering neurotransmitter breakthrough would look like a gay robot ejaculating flowers onto the face of another gay robot. THAT REPRESENTS CHEMICALS DIFFUSING ACROSS THE SYNAPSE YOU SEE

[supplanter.livejournal.com]

I, I'm working with fungi right now?  We know he likes fungi!  He gave the fungi guy a gimp!

(And viruses.  Was there a virus stand somewhere?  Canon crushes me beneath the merciless weight of backstory!)

[iatros.livejournal.com]

XD

Most interesting journal cover in a long time >D

[ashesto.livejournal.com]

Seriously, I just started cracking up when I saw the hearts. xDDD

And oh yes! What is Viewfinder, by the way? I keep hearing of it, but all I can figure is that it's BL? I think? Also, long.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Oh, lord. XD Viewfinder is a BL manga (4 volumes and ongoing) by Yamane Ayano, which is currently popular in both Japan and W-fandom. It's one of the few BL manga series to have a self-sustaining English fandom, which isn't too bad considering new canon only comes out once every 2-4 months. The main comm is yamane_ayano: scans, translations, fic and discussion can all be found there but it's age-locked.

Basically it's a crime drama about a love-hate triangle between an uber-seme yakuza crime boss, a bratty photographer bent on taking him down, and a beautiful Chinese triad leader with Issues and a grudge against the former. It's also way more ridiculous than I've just made it sound. XD People take it too seriously, including me if you consider that I've actually written fic for it (quite a lot (http://www.kekkai.org/sabina/NnY/fiction/viewfinder.html), in fact). The art is undeniably gorgeous, though.

[ashesto.livejournal.com]

...Nice. xDDD Huh, it does sound interesting though, so I'll check it out. 8D

[prototypical]

I would read that journal just because of the cover. My brain would melt from the dry scientific writing, but it would be worth it.

[iatros.livejournal.com]

Nah...don't read the journal...just look at the table of contents...and determine that there is no relevant article to read in that issue ^_-

Seriously...it's a heavy duty journal @_@;; Perhaps they'll have a larger image available one day.

[qem_chibati]

There was interesting discussion in the yamane amano lj comm, where they were talking about how it might be set as a flashback, just a month or so before hand, because if it was canon it had ever just happened before current events or about a year down the track.


Because when Akihito came in asking for his friends to be rescued and then said he was foolish to ask Asami and then Asami lashed out - and one of the reasons why he was so angry was because he thought their relationship had become a lot closer - as shown in the events of love prize.

Personally I'm thinking AU, to help change the overall tone of the series, because I think what Yamane wants us to think is, yes they are fucked up - but no it's not quite that fucked up and there are some real feelings involved! Honest!

Since I think she said in an interview that she wouldn't of made the first scene so graphic if she had known it was going to be a series rather than a oneshot... And she rewrote it in her novel so that it was over a three day period and a bit kinda to Akihito and that he got more pleasure out of it.




And FOOLISH. CLAMP can NEVER have enough BANDAGE-MOE! o.o;

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I skimmed the comm discussion... For this one it makes sense in my head that it would be into the future rather than just before NT. It would mean Yamane's jumping the gun but between that and retconning the relationship dynamic I prefer the former (not just because my WIP is set during that time period either XD). Or it could be AU but if all the Love Prizes are removed from the canon timeline there'd be little left to the actual Asami/Takaba relationship.

Well, spoilers for the next TRC chapter prove that much right... orz

[qem_chibati]

Well when Yamane's finished with the series it will hopefully make a lot more sense. ^_^;;

I found it fascinating to think about it as being before current events, but it doesn't really work in my head... and well. It's easier for me to think of it as AU, since the future... Though The first two love prizes I find easier to take as in between events...


TOLD YOU. D:

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what's going on with xXxHolic. "Am I the butterfly or the man" -- what?! It doesn't even make sense, Watanuki has had contact with people who were neither ghosts nor customers, or did I hallucinate the arc with the little girl who was a famous television medium. I liked his out-of-nowhere friend though. If it had just be a "o hey, these things are still happening!" recap I'd have understood.

With Tsubasa I feel like I'm on firmer ground because even if the flashbacks/visions make just as little sense, at least you were expecting them to be inconsistant. (This is, what? The fifth major character revision so far? AT LEAST FAI ISN'T A ROBOT. Also, like you said, the thing with Ashura-Oh was random but you knew he was going to be a crazy mass murderer, you just knew it.)

When during all this trauma did Fai learn to even be a as fake!functional as he was at the beginning of the series?! That's what I'd like to know.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

I don't think Watanuki started off as a "dream" or has been non-existent all along, but he's definitely fading from existence somehow - past and present, like Ban nearly does at the end of GetBackers, so that when he's gone normal people won't even remember that he used to be there. Or something like that. ^^; No idea why, why now, or how Himawari's curse plays in, if at all.

In any case I guess I was right about the ghost girl exorcism story being foreshadowing - Watanuki will stop "seeing things" when he's no longer around to see them. ^^;;

The sudden character revisions are why one reads CLAMP, amirite - to find out that A is secretly a sociopathic mass murderer, or B is going to destroy the world when she grows up, or C has been intending to sacrifice himself for the sake of D's happiness all along. XD

Fai did spend a few non-traumatic years with Ashura-ou, didn't he? Long enough to grow from 8-year-old-looking to present-day-looking. (And being told by everyone to Smile, sweetheart, it makes you look so much nicer.)

[saturnoolaa.livejournal.com]

I love that Kurogane was planted in the group by the Forces of Good. It's something that you definately wouldn't have seen coming at the beginning of the series, but on the other hand, who better? I also love how everyone is teaming up to save Fye's sanity.

I just assumed Ashura-oh was cursed, possibly because of Fye, or Fei Wong, or something else that had nothing to do with the story. It sure would be nice to have a complete Venn Diagram of curses/prophecies and how they interact with one another in Tsubasa and xxxHolic, just to keep track.

...It's been a suspiciously long time since anyone lost another body part.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

...It's been a suspiciously long time since anyone lost another body part.

You just had to say it!

I've given up on the curses/prophecies. orz While I'm sure CLAMP plotted out the general character arcs in advance, they seem to have pulled the logistics of getting there out of a hat.

[saturnoolaa.livejournal.com]

I've started to sort of look forward to it. It's like CLAMP's limit break.

Actually I'm thinking that the action needs to stop rising for a few seconds so that everyone can get a breather. Unless there's some comic relief soon, the series will just keep getting darker, and then there'll be no way things can get worse for the finale!

[petronia.livejournal.com]

I think we're pretty close to the finale if not upon it. The only obvious loose end that remains to be tied up is Seishirou - and you know CLAMP is going all out when an appearance by Seishirou rates as a potential breather from all the blood and angst. XD

[saturnoolaa.livejournal.com]

So uh 166?

I called it.

[celestriad.livejournal.com]

lol, the celes arc is something i kind of came to expect from clamp. ^^; still, they still employ some pretty strange logic in these revelations they like to make...

i'm just waiting for there to be some slight clarification or hint as to what yuuko's actual wish is. although, knowing clamp, they'll leave it as a cryptic, nebulous 'idea-wish' that you have to kind of grab at blindly and hope you're right.

...although i guess sometimes they do actually come out and say stuff explicitly. :P

[petronia.livejournal.com]

I would guess Youko's Wish is coming, given that it's only just been mentioned in the last few chapters - and that it will tie into the endings of Holic and TRC both. XD

[emblem.livejournal.com]

XD;

A new source of inspiration to get published in something more prestigious than PNAS. <333333