Exclusive Insanity

I am on episode eight of Pretear, and I love this series! It's not a fabulous piece of art or anything, but it's entertaining, and the characters have a lot of potential. I really wish it was longer so there'd be more development for all of the Knights and further exploration of some of the themes that so far it has only just touched on.

Thirteen episodes is not long enough for a series like this! I would gladly watch fifty or more! The characters are wonderful, and the heroine is one of the best I've seen. She is alternately strong and weak, and it's a lot of fun watching her antics.

I think this is the first time since Digimon Tamers where my favorite character in an anime series has been female. It doesn't generally happen with anime.

Plus, I can see why the title is often listed as 'The Legend of Snow White Pretear'. One of the themes in Snow White is jealousy and its consequences, and I can see it all over the place in here. Takako is a 'duh', but also Mawata and her mother - two less objectionable characters. I get the feeling that in the true style of magical girl anime, Himeno will somehow correct the villain's fall from grace and bring her back to the side of good, but that doesn't phase me. There's plenty of action, hilarity, and pretty costumes to keep me happy.

It's also true that this is a shoujo series which both genders can enjoy. I've been watching it from the start with Cody, and he is liking it too.

I want more than thirteen episodes! But I suppose the only way I'll get more Pretear is by purchasing the manga, which I intend to do once I get paid and feel a little richer.

Does anyone know of any good fanfics, doujinshi (I can't find any anywhere - it makes me sad), or anything for Pretear? Any pairing or no pairing, it's all good.

EDIT: I thought of something else which seems interesting. When I read 'The DaVinci Code', the thing which struck me most was the old belief that true spirituality could only be achieved through the union of the masculine and the feminine. I don't know if it was a deliberate thought on the creator's part, but you can see this theme in Pretear, because Himeno, who could be said to represent the sacred feminine, achieves her full power by merging with one of the Knights. Alone, the Knights have little power, and we see the result of the lone feminine power in Takako, who clearly represents chaos. Neither does much good without the other.

It's a neat sort of theme, and even if it wasn't deliberate, it only increases my enjoyment of the series.

Himeno from Pretear has fun facial expressions.

I made three new icons today.

Has anyone bothered to go see 'Bridge to Terebithia'? If so, is it anything like the book at all? I'm not holding out much hope after seeing the previews. Evilness. That was a fantastic book.

Apparently 'The Dark is Rising' is next on the list of good books that are being bastardized in movie form. I've heard rumors of Americanization, Christianization, and general bad things. This is an European-based series with pagan themes and a mild undertone of criticism towards Christianity. I don't understand why anyone would think it was a good idea to try and give it Christian themes and make everyone American.

Then again, someone thought it was a good idea to make a story about friendship, imagination, and accepting loss into something about a wacky fantasy world that comes to life.

Argh.

After so many brilliant adaptions like 'Lord of the Rings' and 'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe', it seems that now we are getting the backlash with companies who don't mind ripping apart a good story to cash in on the fantasy craze.


EDIT: There may be some hope for 'Bridge to Terabithia - apparently the previews were very misleading, and the director actually didn't think they were appropriate. Thanks to feather_down for the info. I may go see this movie after all.

One of my friends posted a link to this wank recently, and I'm not sure what exactly I'm thinking about it. Yes, the guy is a nutjob with the typical "if you don't like what I like, you're retarded" mentality. But he did make the post in his own journal rather than on a public forum the way most fandom clowns do. It's easy to justify spamming and posting mocking responses to someone when they make a post in some place public, because the assumption is that if you post in a public community, you are inviting discussion.

Can you justify spamming someone in their own journal when he or she has not posted their rant somewhere that would invite public discussion? I suppose it would be easy to say "well, he/she didn't make the post private, so why not?" But this person has not harmed you in any way with their craziness. They have not lashed out at you on a public forum or community. They are ranting, yes, but in their own space. You are the ones lashing out at this person, rather than the other way around. And doesn't that make you the bad person?

Any thoughts?

tsaiko! I got your card! You didn't sign it, but I cleverly deduced that it was from you. Yes. Cleverly.

Anyway, thank you very much! It's pretty and I feel special now. And I'm reminded that I graduate! Yay!

It's been a good day.

Okay, it was a conversation with V that spawned this... We were talking about female characters we relate to or admire. I started thinking about which females in anime that I actually like, and why. So I decided to post something about it. I picked out five female characters (not necessarily the top five, just five I like for different reasons) and summarized why I like them.

( Luna (Uninhabited Planet Survive) )

( Bisuke (Hunter X Hunter) )

( Haruhi (Ouran High School Host Club) )

( Tohru (Fruits Basket) )

( Ruki (Digimon Tamers) )

( BONUS: The Azumanga Daioh Cast )

( My Seduction Style )

In other news, Tetris is totally working. Woot! It's impossible to win, but it works. I'll be making it so that you can rotate camera angles and look at it from all sides and also from the top, which *might* make it a *little* easier.

I tried enabling the lighting and materials last night, and now all the blocks are black. Haha... I probably screwed up on calculating surface normals or something. But no more work is getting done on that until I finish my philosophy paper.

Almost done...

I'm basically only making a second post today because I've decided I'm going to work on my Philosophy paper in my free time at work and now I want to procrastinate. Whee...

I finished some new (to me) titles by David Eddings a while back, but never bothered to say anything about them because it never occurred to me until now (when I'm looking for stuff to keep me from doing actual work - go figure).

( Random book stuff (minor spoilers) )