April comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers

Picked up:

Shion no Ou:

This is kinda like Hikaru no Go, only with shogi instead of go, and instead of being a subtle, mature, intelligent story (with just a touch of the supernatural) about becoming an adult, it's a crime drama with cross-dressing and sordid--'scuse me, torrid romance. And Paku Romi! It's kind of sad, but I'm infatuated. Husky altos and gender-bending--I'm a cheap date.


Minami-ke:

With the ending of Lucky Star, I needed something to fill my comedy fix. This is slice-of-life, a school setting with three sisters who are utter cliches (maternal older sister, weird, energetic, dumb middle sister, worldly, cynical, genius-type littlest sister, and nary a parent in sight), unless they're just archetypes. Calling them archetypes will leave me with more dignity when I admit that I snicker all the way through each episode. And I totally ship Kana and that guy she keeps kicking. What this lacks in brilliant parodic Lucky Channel segments, it makes up for by not constantly referencing The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. I mean, guys, I liked it too, but give it a rest already, will you?


Bamboo Blade:

I haven't a clue why I put this on my watch-list. Kendo comedy? Since when do I do kendo comedy? But it's really rather funny; it seems to be constructed by people who know what they're doing, and how to tell a joke, and it's somehow hitting all the right notes. So far, we have a clueless, albeit reasonably competent and likable kendo captain, her totally selfish, yet not despicable loser teacher, who only wants put together a winning kendo team so he can win a bet and get a year's worth of free sushi, a generic nice guy, his childhood friend, who looks like Mikoto from Mai-HiME and whose kendo skills are clearly OVER NINE THOUSAND, and some guy with an egg-shaped head, voiced by Akira Ishida.

It just clicks, somehow.


Genshiken 2:

Should this be ongoing, instead of new? I'm a big fan of Genshiken, both from the airing of the original series, and the subsequent American publication of the really excellent manga source material (Del Rey's translation is nothing to turn your nose up at). The plot isn't new to me, since it's based on manga I've already read, but the adaptation is no less enjoyable for that. If you prefer manga to anime, there's probably no need to watch this, but if you prefer anime to manga, there's no reason not to.


Finished:

Seirei no Moribito:

Kinda like Fantastic Children, this ended with such satisfactory elegance that I'm left with nothing more to say than what I've said already. Do you like a thoughtful, well-told story? Watch this. You won't be disappointed.


The latest season of Maria-sama ga Miteru:

Dude, they aren't even pretending to resolve things anymore, are they? Well, as long as they keep on returning for new seasons, I don't care. More grey-palette, pseudo-Catholic, tasteful shoujo-ai, dammit! I am insatiable! I even still secretly ship Sei/Yuri, even though Yuri and Sachiko are so close to being on an emotional equilibrium that they make a darn cute couple these days.

Still watching:

Lucky Star:

Of course. A girl needs her humor fix. And while the status quo of a four-panel joke slash sitcom show may never change (Konata is an otaku, Kagami is her straight man--and for some reason, the darling of my heart--and everyone else is kind of dumb in a different way), the plot of Lucky Channel is becoming positively epic. Plus, various new takes on the show's joke of an ending theme are threatening to displace the show proper as a source of comedy.

Rurouni Kenshin:

This is sort of on a temporary hiatus, since I've been Netflixing this one, and I recently accidentally dropped juice on the DVD player's remote, and it turns out that it's impossible to adjust the language settings on my DVD player without that. I've been enjoying it, though. Oro!


Picked up:

Seirei no Moribito:

My god, this is so good. This show is so quiet and understated, and it's beautifully crafted in every respect. It's a little like watching Mushishi, both in its sort of moody, evocative, anti-history setting--it has kind of a feel of what I believe is supposed to be a particular era of Japanese history, but distinctly sets itself as fantasy--and in the way that while I don't burn to watch new episodes of this show, it is totally engaging for each and every minute of every episode. Even when most of the screentime in an episode is literally spent with minor characters standing around and telling stories about anonymous people, I'm enthralled.

Flash burns itself out, but real craft lasts forever. Like Mushishi, like Fantastic Children, like Planetes, this is a show that I believe will stand the test of time.


New section!:

Books being read:

Hellboy: Seed of Destruction:

Okay....Rasputin. Nobody ever did that before. Will I like the plot more in books that weren't co-written by John Byrne? This is stylish and different, and the art can certainly have all my babies, but volume one didn't rock my socks enough to explain why someone was inspired enough to make a movie based on this series. Hellboy himself, I like, but as of volume one, he's more image than person.

All sorts of Georgette Heyer: Does this really require explanation? Well, the last time I was at the library, checking out yet another set of Georgette Heyer frothy Regency romances, the library assistant noted that Heyer was classic, but that she herself had never read any, and asked were, they anything like Jane Austen? To which I immediately replied, "Yes, but more frivolous."

And there you have it. If you've ever secretly wished, while re-reading Pride and Prejudice for the fifth time, that you could get the same story, but just a little bit sillier and with more fun, go to Heyer. Her romances are certainly formula, but her plots are neatly crafted, and the characters do have distinct personalities--yes, you can probably guess each pairing within the first three chapters, even without the aid of the dust jacket, but her heros and heroines are not all alike, and that's better than you can say for most romance writers. If you like ton, you'll like Heyer.

The odd Agatha Christie:

...proving, I suppose, that Josephine Tey was not unique in her love of passing judgement on people. Tey is nothing short of brilliant as a writer, but her unyielding contempt for the common person always left a sour taste in my mouth, and I marked it up to her theater background--20th century theater, finding itself so much on the rarified end of the cultural divide, always seems to need to justify its unpopularity with the masses by condemning the masses. Christie, on the other hand, is as popular culture as book writing can get--genre, formula genre, and popular formula genre; she certainly should feel no need to justify her position to people. So why the disdain for people, common people, falling moral standards, etc? The repeated observation in Hallowe'en Party that there seem to be more insane people around today, casually murdering the innocent, where are the asylums, etc, etc, why aren't mothers looking after their daughters, is, well, so ahistorical as to be moronic. It also totally puts to shame Arthur Conan Doyle's digs at Americans for being judgmental puritans; nothing, nothing, I tell you, can beat out a British mystery writer when it comes to feeling superior to the rest of humanity.