Manga Mondays: Ibitsu Special

When I saw this panel on my Tumblr dash, I knew that I had to find the manga it was from. I had to. From the type of art and the subject—as much as the subject as I can guess from one line—I could guess that it was either horror or pseudo-hentai, both of which I wouldn’t have minded but only one of which I would have been allowed to publish here. With the new technology of searching via image on Google, finding the source was a piece of cake, but I couldn’t believe it. Much like its main antagonist, it seems as though this manga will never leave me alone.

A little over a year ago I reviewed Ryou Haruto’s Ibitsu, a horror manga about a deranged woman that goes around looking for older brothers and killing their little sisters if they have any. While I pored over the main chapters, I didn’t give any attention to the manga’s extra chapters. A mistake on my part; I can’t believe I previously missed out on this funny, poignant commentary on people who take their original characters way too seriously.

Fanfiction Fridays: Loophole by SaccharineSylph

Are you tired of Homestuck posts yet? If you are, too bad. I’ve had this fanfic prepped and ready for a while and considering what month it is, I don’t think there’s a better time for me to reveal it.

Art by Lazili @ tumblr

No matter what fandom you’re in, there’s bound to be roughly infinity AUs (alternate universes): high school AUs, England AUs, rock star AUs. The list is only limited by the fandom’s imagination. However, out of all the fandoms I’ve been in, Homestuck has had about the most, and the most diverse, set of AUs I’ve ever seen.

Despite that, this story doesn’t take place in a universe where everyone is a space pirate or where they’re down on their luck circus folk just trying to get by. It’s interesting in its seeming normalcy. It’s interesting because it forces the reader to reconsider how they view humanity and how social media interacts with society on a broader scope than Tumblr petitions and Harlem Shake videos. It’s interesting because it’s about the most realistic fantastical AU I’ve read (I know that’s a bit of an oxymoron, but stick with me here) and trust me when I say this: it hurts.

A lot.

The Road So Far: “Pac-Man Fever” Review

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK, IDJIT!

I have to admit, I went into this episode expecting some fun and games. Given that it was an episode which featured Charlie Bradbury, was written by the excellent Robbie Thompson, and was (I can only assume) named after the infamous “Pac-Man Fever” song, some fun and games ought to be expected, right? However, while the episode was indeed chock-full of the pop culture references and geeky asides that have come to characterize Thompson-penned episodes, “Pac-Man Fever” had an impassioned heart to its comedy that previous Charlie episodes lacked.

Ghibli Month: Porco Rosso

Tsunderin: One upon a time many years ago, Adult Swim was hosting something they called the ‘month of Miyazaki’: a month of showing Miyazaki—I can’t remember if they threw in some Takahata to shake things up—films ass-early in the morning. I was bound and determined I was going to watch every single one. Every. One. I started out well, made it through Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, but the film that followed them just couldn’t keep my attention at all and I conked out.

…Looking back, that wasn’t exactly impressive of me. Oh well, I’ve never been a hardcore movie watcher.

After giving it another shot though, I’ve found that Porco Rosso has really grown on me. Perhaps the reason I didn’t like it was because of the deeper intricacies that went right over the head of younger me or the fact that it didn’t star someone particularly likable (not as likable as Miyazaki’s previous heroines/heroes, at least). Or maybe it was because it starred a pig, because seriously, what would even make you think of that?

General Feels on Disney Princess Perfume

I’m a true believer in the idea that kids should be kids while they are kids, so the idea of perfumes targeted for small children irks me.

Disney Princess Perfume is what it sounds like, and it comes in pretty themed bottles labeled with Belle, Ariel, Cinderella, and more. And it has very similar packaging to other Disney Princess products, which leads me to believe it’s meant for the same age group as their other products are marketed towards: young girls. From reading some of the reviews of these products on various websites, the perfume has been given to girls as young as three.

First things first, I don’t like perfume to start with. It gives me a headache almost instantly. I was the reason Axe got banned in my middle school because I wouldn’t stop sneezing. So the idea of perfume doesn’t appeal to me.

And if you are an adult and want Disney Princess perfume, that’s fine. But to target young children just sickens me. Now if a child wants to play dress up or put on make-up for fun, that’s one thing. But I feel perfume is different because you can’t just take it off like lipstick or high heels.

Marketing perfume to pre-schoolers seems wrong to me because it is sexualizing. Four-year-olds should be seen as four-year-olds, not as sexy ladies. And while you can say, “There’re high heels and lipstick for my toddler too, why aren’t you whining about how they’re sexualizing?” They are sexualizing; however, because you can take them off, you don’t have to leave the house with them on. You can’t pretend to smell like an adult; you either do or you don’t. And they’re small children, if you want to smell like an adult, I think you can wait until you’re an adult. And I personally don’t consider smelling different a ‘play thing.’

So is my hatred of perfume clouding my judgement on this? Should the toddlers be encouraged to smell like women? Let me know what you think in the comments.

TV Review: Revenge

While this show is more mainstream drama-rama than our usual stuff, I really want to talk about how it’s got all the strong ladies.

Here’s the simple explanation: Revenge is a story of a girl who wants to get revenge against the family that put her father in jail; like Bruce Wayne, she gets trained by a League of Shadows-esque organization so that she can carry out her revenge. However, when you factor in all the different characters and put the show in the Hamptons, it becomes a complicated hot mess. Everyone knows everyone, everyone pretty much hates everyone, and everyone pretends to be really nice to each others’ faces.

Teen Wolf and Race: In Which People of Color Actually Exist in a Fantasy/Horror Show

Lady Geek Girl: Many writers claim to care about racial diversity in their stories, but it is a sad fact that that racial diversity usually takes the form of either stereotyped and/or minor characters, especially when it comes to sci-fi, fantasy, or horror stories. Teen Wolf is unique in that the main character is actually a character of color, and yet even then some people claim the portrayal of race is Teen Wolf is problematic.

Ghibli Month: Only Yesterday

Out of all the films on Ghibli’s roster, Only Yesterday is the film I was looking forward to watching the most and is the one I’ve heard the least about. After finishing the ninety-some minute drama, I think I have a better understanding as to why I haven’t heard much.

The film focuses on Taeko, a Tokyo business woman and all-around city girl in her late twenties, who decides to take a ten day trip to the countryside where her brother-in-law lives. Taeko feels no ill for city life, nor does she hold any attachment to it: at her office job she feels as though she’s just floating by. She adores the country, but she doesn’t know why.

On her journey to Takase—a small farming town in the Yamagata Prefecture—she is slowly overcome with memories of her younger self, specifically her fifth grade self. She mentions that that moment in time was a defining moment in her life, a moment where she changed from one form of herself to another. In that same vein, she feels like this trip may be another one of those points in her life.

Ghibli Month: Kiki’s Delivery Service

Tsunderin: Realizing that he must have hit a sweet spot with his previous small-scope, through the eyes of a child film, Miyazaki once more set forth to capture another important point in everyone’s lives through his next film, Kiki’s Delivery Service. The target this time: coming of age. It can of course be argued that Castle in the Sky was also a coming of age story, but that part of the plot was overshadowed by a larger storyline as opposed to Kiki’s. Success of such things either relies on a series of stories in which the characters have a chance to grow slowly and more robustly, or a narrow focus. Again, Miyazaki chose to go with the latter.

Manga Mondays: Rock Lee’s Springtime of Youth

Here’s what I think when I read this series: What. Da. Hell?

Rock Lee’s Springtime of Youth is a spin-off of Naruto that focuses on one of Naruto’s peers named Rock Lee. Everyone is chibi and the series takes place in the past so everyone is there and carefree and happy. And did I mention they’re all chibi?

Most chapters are episodic in nature so you can pick up the series at practically any point and just start reading. You won’t miss much. And if you have an unabated passion for Naruto then you will probably find a place in your heart for this one.

That’s where the plus sides end however. It’s like every bad Hetalia episode put back to back (and I know I’m going to get torn a new one for saying that). Everyone and everything is completely ridiculous and it loses all appeal after approximately two pages. I love Hetalia, but what I think balances out the ‘cray-cray’ of it all is that it is a political commentary (which is what I truly love about Hetalia). RLSToY doesn’t have some greater message to achieve balance. It’s over-the-top for the sake of being over-the-top.

Actually, RLSToY exists to make money. It’s a way of earning a couple more bucks for Shounen Jump and it’s blatant; no effort was made to hide this: if you want to make a series solely for earning the money, at least make it interesting. Most of the plots of RLSToY make for very dumb stories. If you want me to read a spin-off, make it better than fanfiction I can find online.

So if you are a diehard Naruto fan and somehow don’t know about this, check it out. If you don’t fall into that category, you’re better off staying away.