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Birthday and some manga review
I'm another year older. Not that I really feel it. I was going to take the day off work as a vacation day, but we had a snow day instead. The weather loves me.
For some reason I've been reading a lot of manga this year. I used to have a hard time following comics (paying attention to the art instead of just the words), but I've discovered that I enjoy this form of storytelling. I think I still have a slight preference for the novel, but I've definitely grown to appreciate the power of images. A picture is worth a thousand words indeed.
I decided to read some of CLAMP's older works, partially because I generally like their work (even when they are screwing with my mind) and partially because they are fond of reusing characters and themes from their other series. Right now, Tsubasa and xxxHOLiC are probably my favorite series of theirs, mainly because of the characters but also because of the world-hopping/supernatural elements and the deep, symbolic themes. I'm not sure I'll ever fully understand them, but that might be part of why I find them so intriguing. (Which should say something about how my mind works, but I have very little psychological knowledge.) I've also read Cardcaptor Sakura (cute with some fun characters, odd relationships, and a myth arc that carries over into Tsubasa and xxxHOLiC), Clover (a melancholy steampunk work that expresses themes in song lyrics - I hope they finish it some day), Chobits (I loved the use of picture books to convey the central message of the story), Legal Drug (it seems to be setting up something fairly interesting, and a lot of the elements remind me of xxxHOLiC - another series I hope they finish), and Kobato (very cute, and I'm definitely curious as to how the apparently supernatural storyline that's been hinted out plays out).
Fortunately I live near some fairly extensive library systems, and between them I've managed to reserve most of CLAMP's works (I've been unable to find Miyuki-chan in Wonderland, which doesn't really surprise me given what I've read about the book, and Shirahime-Syo: Snow Goddess Tales). As I've had to reserve volumes from the same series from different libraries due to some systems having apparently lost parts of some series, I'm still waiting on a few of them. So far I've managed to read Wish, The One I Love, Legend of Chun Hyang, and Magic Knight Rayearth.
Wish made me wish that the English language had a gender-neutral pronoun, as I wasn't entirely happy with the translator's decision to make all angels female and all demons male. Assigning a gender definitely changes the dynamics of a relationship, after all. Different takes on angels and demons usually interest me, although they are more often done badly than done well (not everyone can be as awesome as Good Omens). I would have liked to see a little more on the dynamics of Heaven and Hell and why certain rules existed, but I suppose the reader only got to see those essential to the main story (which, seemingly typical of CLAMP, was cute, quirky, and a little bit twisted).
The One I Love was interesting mostly because it provided a bit of insight into the lives and feelings of CLAMP's members. I admit that short stories have never been my favorite genre; I almost always prefer longer works that more thoroughly explore and develop characters and settings. Romance is also not my favorite genre. I like a little romance in my stories, but usually I'd rather the main focus of the story be something else. Nonetheless, these little snippets of romantic themes worked and were well done despite not being my cup of tea.
Legend of Chun Hyang surprised me by exceeding my expectations. I confess that I have higher standards for female protagonists than I have for male protagonists and as a result generally end up liking the latter more than the former, but I really liked Chun Hyang in these three stories. I liked the characters, I liked the action, and I liked the pseudo-historical setting with various mythological and magical elements. I have no idea if CLAMP will ever continue this or not - it definitely feels incomplete - but the existing stories were certainly entertaining.
Magic Knight Rayearth, on the other hand, was something of a disappointment. Most of it was the fault of the editions that I read, though. The manga had been flipped, and it hadn't been edited very carefully. A couple of the volumes were also falling apart, so I had to piece them back together in what I thought was the correct order (which was a little difficult as there were no chapters - I'd be curious as to whether or not this was true in the Japanese editions). The story itself was a little too compact for my taste - it seems to me that there was a lot more to explore in both the setting and the characters - but I'm sure that from a narrative standpoint, a six-volume story was tight and fairly conclusive. As someone who read Tsubasa first, it was interesting to see the origin of several of the crossover characters. I had a bit of a hard time following the fights (in part because I haven't read mecha manga before), and I'd unfortunately managed to spoil for myself what were apparently some very interesting plot twists, but I'd definitely be interested in reading it again if I can ever find some better editions. I read somewhere that Dark Horse Comics is supposedly rereleasing the series; I hope this is true.
Since the fifth volume finally came in, I'll be reading Tokyo Babylon next, even though I usually avoid extremely depressing series. This ought to prepare me for X, an extremely depressing series WITH NO ENDING, but I'm still waiting on volumes 7-9.
I am reading works that aren't CLAMP as well. I finished FMA recently (and I'd like to reread it again). A girl in band is a big fan of realistic shoujo manga, and she's lent me a few series. Reading Hot Gimmick was like watching a train wreck - awful, but you can't tear your eyes away. I don't think I've ever wanted to shake a heroine so badly - being with someone who blackmails you and molests you is NOT A GOOD IDEA. And Honey Hunt, by the same author, has a kind of non-ending, as the series might be continued in the future. Or something. I have been reading some shoujo works that I kind of like, though - Otomen isn't very deep and is pretty easy to predict (let me guess, this new male character that they just met is going to have a girly hobby), but the characters and premise are at least fairly entertaining. I've also been reading Natsume's Book of Friends, which I'd be inclined to like just because of the mythological elements. I've also been reading Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei, which manages to be funny even when I don't understand most of the obscure cultural references (thankfully the translator provided some very useful endnotes). The chapter on apology is one of the funniest things I've read, especially since my family has a bad habit of overusing the phrase "I'm sorry." Black Butler (Kuroshitsuji in Japan) is probably the darkest series that I'm reading now, as it's a Faustian story set in Victorian England, but it balances out the underworld elements with psychotic-yet-endearing characters, so I like it so far. And I'm still reading Bleach, but I'm very, very behind. I've heard bad things about the series as it progresses, but right now I still like a lot of the characters, so I'll probably keep reading it.
I've been reading things other than manga too, although I've mostly been rereading. I reread Harry Potter recently, and last fall I underwent a massive reread of Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books. I'm still working my way through the Discworld books, too, and I'll probably reread James A. Owen's Here, There Be Dragons books again soon so that I can read the new fifth book in the series. I've done some nonfiction reading as well - a teacher where I tutor lent me a book on the Middle East, and I'm currently reading Trickster Makes This World, a book about mythological tricksters and various other cultural things. I have accumulated a fairly decent collection of mythology books that I need to read.
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