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I saw the preview for this one at about the time Seirei no Moribito was coming out, and thought it looked similar and only vaguely interesting and also rather cliched.
It's definitely not any of these.
Mukou Hadan starts out deceptively simple--a boy flees a burning temple, and is told to make his way to a safe place. A bunch of thieves attack a merchant caravan only to be slaughtered by its defenders. Guards block arrows to defend an old man; a lone swordsman massacres a group of cannon fodder; a woman expresses concern over someone only to be reassured by her (male) compatriot. Moving on, we find the requisite spunky-kid-with-dog, lone grumpy swordsman, Dark Things Afoot (altars and sacrifices and hints at supernatural power).
But as the plot unfolds it reveals itself to be more about people than some Dark Lord. We're introduced to people on the initial two sides, and then to a third side, all of them at odds with each other, and we're made to sympathise with them all. Seemingly-simple characters show hidden facets. No one is innocent, no one untouched by war. The final battle is fought simply for the sake of fighting, not to Defend the World (TM).
One other thing I love about this: the detail. A lot of stuff happens that serves to flesh out the plot and characters, and not all of it can be caught in one sitting. Like a good novel, going back reveals things you wouldn't have noticed without knowing stuff that comes up later.
I'm going to stop being serious now.
One set of the "bad guys" in here is a bunch of warriors from China, and apparently they actually hired two sets of voice actors for when they speak Japanese and Chinese respectively. Only two people speak Chinese without benefit of Chinese VA, and god does it grate I was wincing every time those two opened their mouths, lol. Though maybe it was intentional in the case of Luolang, who is for some reason a Westerner working with the Ming Dynasty. Non-Chinese speaking Chinese in shows is always a source of hilarity, anyway. Snrk.
( surpraise gay! also SPOILERS )
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This was done for a contest run by fongmingyun, to design clothing for a character of hers. So I whipped up the wiki-fu and googled up a ton of crap about zweihanders and German landsknechts, and then twisted the originals with my usual impractical decorative flair. Horrendous fun. :D
Excuse me now I'm done gloating I have a headache from running (for the first time in 8 months aslfkjasl;fjaslkfj I'm so out of practice) am going to play Cabal.
@DeviantArt, Y!Gallery
( of tabir[873x768] )
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| 2008-05-05 19:01 |
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It's karma, karma I tell you.
My mom's ATM card has a withdrawal limit of less than what it takes to pay for my laptop. It'll have to wait till tomorrow. Karma goddamnit. I'm spending my evening reading fanfiction. Lots and lots of lovely gay fanfiction.
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The original characters that my GE main party is named after, in outfits mixing GE and their original designs, in poses vaguely based on those in the barracks. L-lol?
*prances around* New laptop, new laptop, tomorrow, COME TO MAMA.
@Y!Gallery, DeviantArt
( bond of trinity[600x449] )
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I-I kind of suck at keeping a journal, really. I just keep forgetting to post things, and then I ramble on and on about horrendously boring things that aren't, technically, "journal"-stuff.
Anyway just posting to tell you guys, MAI EXAMS ARE OVER, FREEDOM IS HERE, play draw game read BL BL BL.
Hem.
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I'm supposed to be studying swarm intelligence, and instead I'm drawing boys making out. THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG HERE.
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Shove over, xxxHOLiC, I think I've found my most-favourite show of the current season.
Ironic since I didn't intend to watch Kure-nai to begin witch, and only picked it up because BSS subbed it and they supply IRC distro and direct download links (v. convenient for me!). And then it got me in the first five minutes.
I just realised the main character reminds me of Allen Walker. Not sure if this is good or bad. But either way it is awesome.
At any rate: Shinkurou Kurenai, boy with traumatic past (read: nightmares and horror, but no real emo) and mysterious bodily problems (read: random stabbing pains and something possibly trying to tear out of his elbow) works as a "dispute mediator" (read: beats people up). He's hired to guard the 7-year-old Kuhouin Murasaki, runaway from a very important and rich family with some strange family customs. Hijinks ensue.
At this point 2 episodes in there's already quite a large cast introduced, with quite a few questions open. It appears that nobody's quite as simple as they appear, from the main character with the mysterious past to his lovely, stern-but-caring boss to his classmates and co-workers and even Murasaki's stern-but-hiding-something father. Interesting things galore, I love this show, oh dear.
Exams will be over in a week and a day. Yay! Freedom to fangirl.
Forgot to add--the art director and animation character designer are the same people as worked on Red Garden, though the animation studio is different. I had suspicions, given the opening, and pegged it as "Red Garden team work" upon watching the first episode--and I was right! The resemblance is VERY obvious, and the animation, as far as I can tell, looks very nice. Shiny show is shiny. Happy llyse is happy.
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I am a terrible shit about updating. Nevertheless!
Also I keep changing my mind. New format, ported from the temporarily-closed-again-now-for-manga ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) dreaming_worlds. Complications yay. Or not.
Have a Photoshopped photograph of a monoprint, done in school when I should've been doing other things.
@DeviantArt
( wing[800x1000] )
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SOLDIER BLUE IS PRETTY. SO PRETTY.
TERRIBLY DISTRACTING.
GOOD THING HE'S ABOUT TO--
--OSHIT.
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So someone on the Moyashimon comm posted a danjo video of it, which led me into the danjo videos (oh lol) and then on to this truly fucked-up gem of a Gundam 00 crossover video. And here's more. Looks like the person redrew screenshots, how awesome is that?
*goes to cough brains out laughing*
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Quick note here: life is crazy, presentation presentation presentation portfolio project sculpture bust of JoCo, hahaha.
Is only appropriate since Jonathan Coulton is keeping me sane at o-unholy o'clock in the mooorning as I plow through a ton of info and feminist art history theories to sort out stuff into presentable form, there's nothing like "and you can take that to the bank and shove it up your big fat ass" and "hooray, pizza day" and the all-time favourite "all we wanna do is eat your brains" to keep a smile on my face.
Shutting up now.
Oh, and poor Marie Bracquemond, really.
Artemisia Gentileschi is kind of awesome, too.
Note to self: talk about my taste in Western music wrt Coulton and Tori Amos someday, because seriously, geek-nerd male guitarist vs. emo-ish feminist female pianist? I am weird.
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So to commemorate my having gotten my hands on the First Departure opening, "Heart", have a portrait of Joshua.
...Yaay, lips?
o.0
@DeviantArt, Y!Gallery
( joshua[636x708] )
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I love this game. Really.
People seem to like to slash musketeer and fighter, but since I'm using musk!Xane and wiz!Sarezel, the default pairing becomes musk/wiz? That's Forestlight, at least. :D It might've been different had I stayed on Pachelbel with the Delkhaze family and musk!Rue/fighter!Lane.
...But if I go by my pairings for GE pairings, there'll be a lot of weird things popping up. Insane Emilia!Kazeri? Gavin!Davreiz/Lisa!Kari HET? Bernelli and Lorch, twins?
Ahahahahaha.
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( explorers[391x593] )
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Beach outing, sunscreen provided by a helpful friend. So I've never been in the sun for more than 2 hours at a stretch, and I put sunscreen on the obvious areas--shoulders and face. So my shoulders and face are perfectly fine.
On the other hand, my shoulderblades, the back of my neck, the back of my hands and part of my lower arms, the backs of my calves, my knees and my feet are positively crimson.
I'm covered in aloe gel. I smell like a plant.
It's all vaguely amusing, actually.
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So somehow this didn't post when I tried to post it the other day (same day as Kari and Davreiz's picture).
@DeviantArt
( a sort-of valentine[595x891] )
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Playing Granado Espada using Balance character names is making me draw Balance art.
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( partners[854x1142] )
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llyse's journal
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