Gentlemen's Alliance babbling...

[dangermousie]

It is perhaps entirely predictable that The Gentlemen's Alliance manga went from 'enjoyable' to 'muuuust read more' the second it became FUBAR and angsty.

What I am talking about is the scene in volume 2 where Haine came in (at Emperor's explicit invitation) to discover him 'fooling around' with Ushio, her lesbian best friend.

Which he did (and staged) exactly so she'd see and be hurt and which Ushio wanted because she wanted to break the two of them up and cure Haine of her crush.

(Did I mention the part where the 'Emperor' is not Shizumasa but his older twin brother who has had to give any identity or desires of his own and pose as real Shizumasa's 'shadow' because he lost the test when they were little? Now he has to 'be' Shizumasa because the real one is sickly. And apparently once high school is over he is not supposed to ever again come outside the house).

And Haine walks off and talks to forget-his-name and is all 'Emperor hates me. He hates everyone. How can he not when above everything he hates himself the most.' Which is so true. The reason he hates Haine is because she is in love with him and is sweet to him, but since he hates himself and can't believe anyone can love him, then her feeling strikes him as false playacting. And of course because she (understandably) calls him by his brother's name and thinks he is his brother so it's got to be the worst. And of course also he is all 'I'll make her hate me so she'll hate Shizumasa' which is, bizarrely, a sign that he likes her because he doesn't want her to like his twin.

Because the real Shizumasa (who is a jerk btw) does like Haine. He is the one she met when she was running away from home a couple of years back.

Also, I loved the scene where Haine came to the Togu house to see Shizumasa and the servants are all 'the real one or fake one?' and don't want to let her in but then the butler takes her to see the fake one (awwwwww, does he have a soft spot for him?). And Haine talks to him and she tells him she fell for him because he wrote that book she used to love (and it's actually this twin who did so) and tells him she loves him and there is hugging and it's totally awesome because he is super-shocked and super-moved that someone actually likes him and it's such a huge thing and there is hugging and it's adorable.

Clearly the subgenre of bouncy girls falling for angsty boys from messed-up families is a favorite of mine.

I went looking on youtube to see if there was ever an anime made of this (sadly no. I am getting addicted) and found out people make manga MVs. I didn't realize that. Hmmmmm...See sample:

Comments

[ladysaotome.livejournal.com]

The butler is so hard to read. He reminds me of Shigure from Furuba - someone manipulating behind the scenes but it's unclear what his intentions are.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the butler is kinda creepy. Also, the schoolgirl fetish? Yikes...

[mishane.livejournal.com]

I want to read this sooo bad! Where did you find it? Online or in store?

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I am sure it's on line, but I found it in a local bookstore.

[calixa.livejournal.com]

I read this one. I remember kinda just skimming because I was bored but then the bizarre plot twist with the twins thing came along and then I was like LOL and read like almost all of it in two days.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

You and me=alike. I was reading the first volume, thinking it was cute but not attention grabbing or anything, and sort of with my mind half on other things and then I found out about the twin craziness and now I am addicted and reading it in all my free time. LOL.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Heh. Arina Tanemura is pretty popular, and if you like GA, you'll probably like her other stuff, as it's all relatively similar, and a lot has been licensed.

(Though she is to me what Clamp is to you, in a way...her art and stories are so overwhelmingly shoujo that they scare me off.0

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I intend to check out Full Moon.

See, I don;t mind Clamp's shoujoness but their stories are too freaky even for me. GC is freaky, yeah, but in an amusingly wtf way, not Clamp's 'my brain, my brain, this must be what an acid trip feels like1' way.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's not the shoujoness itself, but the type of shoujoness. Aside from a couple of side pairings (student/teacher) in Cardcaptor Sakura, Clamp doesn't hit most of my squicks or irritation points, and when it does, it handles them in a way that doesn't make me want to throw things. The extremely bizarre crack is mostly limited to Tsubasa, based on what I've read so far, though RG Veda has potential to gothat way. (Of course, I didn'treally get into Tsubasa until it went overboard...)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I also didn't like Chobits...it really annoyed me.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Chobits left me confused and feeling more than a bit offended and insulted. And kept me from touching Clamp for about 5 years.

I think, though, that it's the least popular series among the Clamp fans I know, some of whom read the concept and refused to touch it.

I maintain my long stance of pretending it doesn't exist.