Entries -> Viewing All

• All Entries (73)
America (1)
Anime
5cm-s (1)
Manga
Reviews
Happy World! (1)
Politics (2)
Rambling (1)
Untagged (69)

Words bright as light	コトバ ヒカリ
The world glistens	キラメク セカイ
Memories fragment	キオク カケラ
My heart stirs	ザワメク ココロ
Broken memories	コワレカケテイタ
Continue trembling	メモリーガフルエテスク
Light overflows	ヒカリガアフレテ
Enveloping me	メノマエラツシンデク
Let's sing	ウタヲウタオウ
"I'm right here"	「私は、ここにいるよ。」
Shining words	言葉 光る
Connected visions	繋がる 視界
Disappearing noises	消える ノイズ
Throbbing heartbeat	ときめく 鼓動
Forgotten scenery	忘れかけていた
Still overflows	景色が流れこむ
Covered memories	埋もれた思い出
Shine in every color	七色に光りだす
A sound rises	満ちてく音
"I'm right here"	「私は、ここにいたよ。」

I.C. (I See)
Crosslight
by kz (of livetune)

Much thanks to Kaishin of Tranquil Spring for her translation.

I never knew my lips could feel so hot;
That a racing, aching heart-
That my body, full of fear,
Could come from such a gentle touch.
If I'd known before letting go -
My stomach leaping out my throat;
My trembling hands; Incoherent thought -
Would I still have been so carefree?

Obvious? Sure. Expected? Probably. Surprised? YES.

For ages, people have lived many diferent kinds of lives.

In order to live, one must eat.

Thus we lived, reaping the harvest of the life of the sea. Prosperity came, as we took from the sea only what was necessary. But we are a species weak of heart. And that weakness - which we know as anxiety - led us to take from the sea more than was necessary. Thus the god of the sea was angered. The sea rose up to the shores. And as it did, it claimed the lives of the people of the land. The people trembled in fear, and begged the maidens of the island to save them, to which was replied, "We shall offer ourselves to the god of the sea as his wives. This will calm his anger."

The maidens died in the sea, and became Okuhime.

And so, Okuhime is the embodiment of those maidens, returning from the sea, once a year.

Sometimes, ecchi manga can be pretty amazing. This was from Umi no Misaki 51.

What is love, to you? And don't answer that with some pre-programmed, generic response, like "LOVE IS A VERB!!1", or "Love is absolutely committing your entire life to someone.". That doesn't actually saywhat love is to you. How do you quantify love? Is it a feeling? Is it a chemical reaction? Is it disire or longing? Maybe it's unexplainable for you -- that uncontrolable explosion in your chest that makes you feel like you can't even talk straight. A nervousness so strong, you can barely make yourself eat, for fear of regurgitating it all in a fit of epic insecurity? A desire for self-sacrifice?

HMMMM...

This is to remind me to review Kamichu!.

Comments are finally working! Hooray!

I've been reading manga pretty steadily for around a year now. By "pretty steadily", I mean that, since I started, I've read maybe upwards of 50,000 pages of manga. I'm currently keeping up with a list of over 100 titles, either still in monthly serialization, or waiting for scans/translations. Of all the titles I'm reading, or have already finished, only a handful stand out as truly noteworthy. I have a list of maybe 10 or so titles that I'd be willing to call "brilliant", or "masterpiece". One of the first titles I ever read falls into that category. And for reasons I've had some difficulty quantifying until recently.

One of the big draws to manga, for me, is the tremendous attention to the characters paid by the authors. Where a western author has a tendancy to write a situation around a character (e.g. Superman has a fixed set of abilities and a specific personality, and is presented with a situation to overcome), Japanese authors tend to write a character into a situation (e.g. Superman isn't quite sure of his abilities or intentions, save being a good member of society, and must now discover himself and his abilities as he faces challenges). To be fair, stories aren't always clear-cut as my examples make them out to be, and over the last decade or so, western storytelling has matured. Regardless, there's a clear separation between what Japanese readers appreciate of as a protagonist, versus America. And I think probably a lot of the difference has to do with the differences in our religions (at least, historically), though that's a tangeant I'll not explore, for now.

Yubisaki Milk Tea -- on the surface, is about a boy who a.) discovers he really likes cross-dressing (and is quite convincing), and struggles with the social and personal/emotiinal implications of such a hobby, and, b.) is discovering, for the first time, his attraction to girls, and trying to figure out how to separate "girl that's a good friend and I enjoy hanging out with", from "girl to kiss and grope and whatnot". Not surprisingly, the two are wildly different categories, and confusing them can cause no end of frustration, pain, and tears.

So I've been wanting to write about YMT for a long time, but couldn't even figure out where to start. The problem was that, while I did thoroughly enjoy the drama, the decidedly overtly sexual overtones of the story sort of overwhelmed any sane opinion I may have had of it — I really had no idea WHY I liked it, save the shallow answer of, "Uhh... ecchi?". Some recent titles I've read (a couple of one-shots that I hope to review at some point) have forced me to think about exactly what made them good or bad, and as a consequence, I feel like I've really come to understand YMT much better. It's not about crossdressing (though that's amusing), nor kissing (though that can be an exciting/intense element of the story), nor girls masturbating (yes,I believe it actually played a role in developing the character). It's not about that awkward feeling of reading about a guy, dressed as a girl, kissing a girl (which was awesome on more than one level, by the way), nor that same guy, who, dressed as a girl, ends up kissing a guy. Actually, it was that last one that pushed the title from the "HOLY CRAP THIS IS AWESOME" category, into the "shit just got serious/what does this mean to me/wat" category.

So I have some weird categorization standards. Point is, I was forced to think about what was going on. Why would a fairly normal high school boy (ignore the cross-dressing and he's pretty normal) end up ultimately not being bothered into suicide over kissing another guy (tongue involved, too, though the whole scene was quite short)? What would actually drive his interest in crossdressing in the first place? What's up with the awkward sexual tension between him and his sister (oops, forgot to mention that — they live alone together. She's a few years older and is supporting them both on her own)? Despite appearances, this manga isn't actually about anything it advertises. Although if you don't care to dig deeper, it's an awesome trap manga with great drama. It's about understanding love completely outside the typical context. It's about understanding sexuality when it's thrust upon you before you're really ready to cope with it. It's about clearly defining and understanding your relationships (sexual or not) with other people.

Love is a tricky subject that tends to be marginalized and forced upon us by society, under the assumption that, of course, everybody understands it, because it's just such a simple, everyday thing. I, for one, enjoyed the oppotunity YMT afforded me to really question, and think about what love really is, and how I should understand it.

And maybe I'll even write a full review at some point...