In praise of Fushigi Yuugi

(inspired by egelantier).

After all the anime I've seen, Fushigi Yuugi is still one of my favorites. (Second favorite after Trigun in fact). I wrote extensively about it when I first watched it, but surprisingly, after two or so years, my love for it is just as strong.

FY is the story of a 15 year old Japanese schoolgirl, Miaka, who ends up in the world created by a supernatural book, a world rather closely resembling medieval China. This is also a world in turmoil and Miaka ends up becoming a Priestess of Suzaku and going on a dangerous quest, meeting a whole bunch of neat characters, from hot guys to evil monsters, and oh yeah, trying to still study for her entrance exams. And of course, there is always the question of what happens to the chosen Priestess once the quest is over, and also of how to reconcile Miaka's realness, her desire to return to the real world and her family to her love for Tamahome, one of the warriors who protects her, and who can clearly exist only inside a book.

FY is the story that somehow touches on so many archetypal themes (there is a reason why it's so successful): growing up (is this fantastic world Miaka's last gasp for fantasticness of childhood), quest-logic, sacrifice, love, friendship etc. It is chock-full of everything I love in stories: dangerous journeys, fights to the death, humor, star-crossed love, and above all, awesome characters. I adore Miaka herself (I don't care how unpopular that makes me :P) who is not the sharpest crayon in the box but is unfailingly cheerful, effectively pushy, and very good-hearted. Tamahome is my anime boyfriend, no ifs or buts. He is my favorite anime character ever, and I love that he is both someone who can make me swoon at his love or heroism, yet he is not this rarified perfect knight, but demonstrably a 17 year old boy, with all of a boy's awkwardness, and with a hot temper, and a greedy streak, and roughness. And it's not just Miaka and Tamahome themselves. I love so many characters: the self-absorbed yet noble Hotohori, Drama Queen Nuriko, the rough and funny Tasuki etc etc.

And one thing I love almost more than anything is the self-referential humor. With few exceptions (such as Miaka post her belief she was raped), the anime laughs at some of its melodrama/heroic fantasy conventions at the same time as making them irresistable. I watch so many dramas/anime on a dual level, my inner 14 year old swooning, and my outser 29-year old lovingly mocking. It is rare to find an anime that does this with you.

Anyway, I started a rewatch some time back but then got sidetracked. Need to pick it up again. And it still has the best ending of any anime I've seen. My hands literally went to my mouth and I ended up crying and smiling at the same time.

In praise of Fushigi Yuugi

(inspired by egelantier).

After all the anime I've seen, Fushigi Yuugi is still one of my favorites. (Second favorite after Trigun in fact). I wrote extensively about it when I first watched it, but surprisingly, after two or so years, my love for it is just as strong.

FY is the story of a 15 year old Japanese schoolgirl, Miaka, who ends up in the world created by a supernatural book, a world rather closely resembling medieval China. This is also a world in turmoil and Miaka ends up becoming a Priestess of Suzaku and going on a dangerous quest, meeting a whole bunch of neat characters, from hot guys to evil monsters, and oh yeah, trying to still study for her entrance exams. And of course, there is always the question of what happens to the chosen Priestess once the quest is over, and also of how to reconcile Miaka's realness, her desire to return to the real world and her family to her love for Tamahome, one of the warriors who protects her, and who can clearly exist only inside a book.

FY is the story that somehow touches on so many archetypal themes (there is a reason why it's so successful): growing up (is this fantastic world Miaka's last gasp for fantasticness of childhood), quest-logic, sacrifice, love, friendship etc. It is chock-full of everything I love in stories: dangerous journeys, fights to the death, humor, star-crossed love, and above all, awesome characters. I adore Miaka herself (I don't care how unpopular that makes me :P) who is not the sharpest crayon in the box but is unfailingly cheerful, effectively pushy, and very good-hearted. Tamahome is my anime boyfriend, no ifs or buts. He is my favorite anime character ever, and I love that he is both someone who can make me swoon at his love or heroism, yet he is not this rarified perfect knight, but demonstrably a 17 year old boy, with all of a boy's awkwardness, and with a hot temper, and a greedy streak, and roughness. And it's not just Miaka and Tamahome themselves. I love so many characters: the self-absorbed yet noble Hotohori, Drama Queen Nuriko, the rough and funny Tasuki etc etc.

And one thing I love almost more than anything is the self-referential humor. With few exceptions (such as Miaka post her belief she was raped), the anime laughs at some of its melodrama/heroic fantasy conventions at the same time as making them irresistable. I watch so many dramas/anime on a dual level, my inner 14 year old swooning, and my outser 29-year old lovingly mocking. It is rare to find an anime that does this with you.

Anyway, I started a rewatch some time back but then got sidetracked. Need to pick it up again. And it still has the best ending of any anime I've seen. My hands literally went to my mouth and I ended up crying and smiling at the same time.

In praise of Fushigi Yuugi

(inspired by egelantier).

After all the anime I've seen, Fushigi Yuugi is still one of my favorites. (Second favorite after Trigun in fact). I wrote extensively about it when I first watched it, but surprisingly, after two or so years, my love for it is just as strong.

FY is the story of a 15 year old Japanese schoolgirl, Miaka, who ends up in the world created by a supernatural book, a world rather closely resembling medieval China. This is also a world in turmoil and Miaka ends up becoming a Priestess of Suzaku and going on a dangerous quest, meeting a whole bunch of neat characters, from hot guys to evil monsters, and oh yeah, trying to still study for her entrance exams. And of course, there is always the question of what happens to the chosen Priestess once the quest is over, and also of how to reconcile Miaka's realness, her desire to return to the real world and her family to her love for Tamahome, one of the warriors who protects her, and who can clearly exist only inside a book.

FY is the story that somehow touches on so many archetypal themes (there is a reason why it's so successful): growing up (is this fantastic world Miaka's last gasp for fantasticness of childhood), quest-logic, sacrifice, love, friendship etc. It is chock-full of everything I love in stories: dangerous journeys, fights to the death, humor, star-crossed love, and above all, awesome characters. I adore Miaka herself (I don't care how unpopular that makes me :P) who is not the sharpest crayon in the box but is unfailingly cheerful, effectively pushy, and very good-hearted. Tamahome is my anime boyfriend, no ifs or buts. He is my favorite anime character ever, and I love that he is both someone who can make me swoon at his love or heroism, yet he is not this rarified perfect knight, but demonstrably a 17 year old boy, with all of a boy's awkwardness, and with a hot temper, and a greedy streak, and roughness. And it's not just Miaka and Tamahome themselves. I love so many characters: the self-absorbed yet noble Hotohori, Drama Queen Nuriko, the rough and funny Tasuki etc etc.

And one thing I love almost more than anything is the self-referential humor. With few exceptions (such as Miaka post her belief she was raped), the anime laughs at some of its melodrama/heroic fantasy conventions at the same time as making them irresistable. I watch so many dramas/anime on a dual level, my inner 14 year old swooning, and my outser 29-year old lovingly mocking. It is rare to find an anime that does this with you.

Anyway, I started a rewatch some time back but then got sidetracked. Need to pick it up again. And it still has the best ending of any anime I've seen. My hands literally went to my mouth and I ended up crying and smiling at the same time.

Rewatching Fellowship of the Ring...

Yesterday, I restarted my Lord of the Rings rewatch, and before I passed out, Mr. Mousie and I got as far as the Nazgul attack on the hobbits at Weathertop (where Frodo gets stabbed with the Nazgul blade).

Oh God. I still love this movie to bits: the dreamy lushness of the shire, the menace of the Nine (I was grabbing Mr. Mousie’s arm), the fluid camera moves, and the characters all perfectly stepping out of my imagination, from Frodo’s big-eyed wonder and Sam’s sturdy sense, to Aragorn’s intensity and quiet voice. And Merry and Pippin. Oh, I’ve forgotten how I loved the two. Merry is definitely the pragmatic, ‘thinky’ one even so early on, and Pippin is the baby of the group.

Mmmmm. Aragorn. Still awesome (My favorite character, I admit). I get the same sense of security when he first appears (especially when the hobbits are lost as to their course of action) as I did in the book: knowing nothing truly horrible can happen as someone so capable is there. Of course, horrible things can happen still, but you forget for a moment.

A few things really get me on rewatch:

1. Bilbo telling Gandalf that Frodo is still in love with the Shire and so shouldn’t leave. That just makes it incredibly heart-breaking, as you know after his journey the Shire will be forever poisoned to him. It’s not as if he is Bilbo, wanderlust hobbit who is bored and on to the next thing after Shire. He saved the Shire and he loved it, but he never got to enjoy it at all. (Just as Bilbo’s comment of there always being a Baggins in Bag End makes me tear up a little).

2. The hobbits are such civilians at this point: lighting a fire at Weathertop etc etc. And why should they know any better, have any other instincts like that? It’s sad that they learn.

3. The passing of the Elves fills me with sadness as well. You get the sense of something more special than every day world leaving forever, the connection with living myth. But Sam’s comment about never being able to sleep in the wilderness..oh yeah, bittersweet.

4. When Aragorn tells the hobbits of the Nazgul and says ‘they were once men’…he is thinking again of being bound by the common guilt of his ancestors, isn’t he? Even though he shouldn’t as it isn’t his fault. And some of these are literally his ancestors probably.

5. Aragorn singing the song of Beren and Luthien. I am so struck that his answer to Frodo’s question as to who was Luthien and what happened to her is ‘She died.’ Because Luthien was and did many many things, including prying a jewel from the crown of the current Big Bad’s Boss (!!!) but all Aragorn is consumed by is the thought that an Elf Maiden loving a mortal made her mortal as well. That is the only thing he can see. No wonder Elrond convinces him to give up Arwen, he is consumed with guilt.

6. Gandalf the Grey has so much hope, and humanity, and despair in him (you can’t tell whether he is devastated or relieved when for a second it looks as if the Ring isn’t the One Ring). I am never as in love with Gandalf the White, more remote.

7. Attention to detail point 1,458: when they leave the inn at Bree, Aragorn has clean hair. Because he’s stayed in a town, after all. But not so later, when they are out in the wild: his hair gets matted a bit, and his fingernails have grass and dirt stains. And he is STLL hot. Ummm, slipped out…

Btw, I love the story of Beren and Luthien. It would probably make a neat movie (or a really horrible one). There is this super long Russian-language fanfic about them which I had book-marked ages ago but haven’t read (По Ту Сторону Рассвета, Ольга Брилева). Time to pull it out.

Rewatching Fellowship of the Ring...

Yesterday, I restarted my Lord of the Rings rewatch, and before I passed out, Mr. Mousie and I got as far as the Nazgul attack on the hobbits at Weathertop (where Frodo gets stabbed with the Nazgul blade).

Oh God. I still love this movie to bits: the dreamy lushness of the shire, the menace of the Nine (I was grabbing Mr. Mousie’s arm), the fluid camera moves, and the characters all perfectly stepping out of my imagination, from Frodo’s big-eyed wonder and Sam’s sturdy sense, to Aragorn’s intensity and quiet voice. And Merry and Pippin. Oh, I’ve forgotten how I loved the two. Merry is definitely the pragmatic, ‘thinky’ one even so early on, and Pippin is the baby of the group.

Mmmmm. Aragorn. Still awesome (My favorite character, I admit). I get the same sense of security when he first appears (especially when the hobbits are lost as to their course of action) as I did in the book: knowing nothing truly horrible can happen as someone so capable is there. Of course, horrible things can happen still, but you forget for a moment.

A few things really get me on rewatch:

1. Bilbo telling Gandalf that Frodo is still in love with the Shire and so shouldn’t leave. That just makes it incredibly heart-breaking, as you know after his journey the Shire will be forever poisoned to him. It’s not as if he is Bilbo, wanderlust hobbit who is bored and on to the next thing after Shire. He saved the Shire and he loved it, but he never got to enjoy it at all. (Just as Bilbo’s comment of there always being a Baggins in Bag End makes me tear up a little).

2. The hobbits are such civilians at this point: lighting a fire at Weathertop etc etc. And why should they know any better, have any other instincts like that? It’s sad that they learn.

3. The passing of the Elves fills me with sadness as well. You get the sense of something more special than every day world leaving forever, the connection with living myth. But Sam’s comment about never being able to sleep in the wilderness..oh yeah, bittersweet.

4. When Aragorn tells the hobbits of the Nazgul and says ‘they were once men’…he is thinking again of being bound by the common guilt of his ancestors, isn’t he? Even though he shouldn’t as it isn’t his fault. And some of these are literally his ancestors probably.

5. Aragorn singing the song of Beren and Luthien. I am so struck that his answer to Frodo’s question as to who was Luthien and what happened to her is ‘She died.’ Because Luthien was and did many many things, including prying a jewel from the crown of the current Big Bad’s Boss (!!!) but all Aragorn is consumed by is the thought that an Elf Maiden loving a mortal made her mortal as well. That is the only thing he can see. No wonder Elrond convinces him to give up Arwen, he is consumed with guilt.

6. Gandalf the Grey has so much hope, and humanity, and despair in him (you can’t tell whether he is devastated or relieved when for a second it looks as if the Ring isn’t the One Ring). I am never as in love with Gandalf the White, more remote.

7. Attention to detail point 1,458: when they leave the inn at Bree, Aragorn has clean hair. Because he’s stayed in a town, after all. But not so later, when they are out in the wild: his hair gets matted a bit, and his fingernails have grass and dirt stains. And he is STLL hot. Ummm, slipped out…

Btw, I love the story of Beren and Luthien. It would probably make a neat movie (or a really horrible one). There is this super long Russian-language fanfic about them which I had book-marked ages ago but haven’t read (По Ту Сторону Рассвета, Ольга Брилева). Time to pull it out.

Rewatching Fellowship of the Ring...

Yesterday, I restarted my Lord of the Rings rewatch, and before I passed out, Mr. Mousie and I got as far as the Nazgul attack on the hobbits at Weathertop (where Frodo gets stabbed with the Nazgul blade).

Oh God. I still love this movie to bits: the dreamy lushness of the shire, the menace of the Nine (I was grabbing Mr. Mousie’s arm), the fluid camera moves, and the characters all perfectly stepping out of my imagination, from Frodo’s big-eyed wonder and Sam’s sturdy sense, to Aragorn’s intensity and quiet voice. And Merry and Pippin. Oh, I’ve forgotten how I loved the two. Merry is definitely the pragmatic, ‘thinky’ one even so early on, and Pippin is the baby of the group.

Mmmmm. Aragorn. Still awesome (My favorite character, I admit). I get the same sense of security when he first appears (especially when the hobbits are lost as to their course of action) as I did in the book: knowing nothing truly horrible can happen as someone so capable is there. Of course, horrible things can happen still, but you forget for a moment.

A few things really get me on rewatch:

1. Bilbo telling Gandalf that Frodo is still in love with the Shire and so shouldn’t leave. That just makes it incredibly heart-breaking, as you know after his journey the Shire will be forever poisoned to him. It’s not as if he is Bilbo, wanderlust hobbit who is bored and on to the next thing after Shire. He saved the Shire and he loved it, but he never got to enjoy it at all. (Just as Bilbo’s comment of there always being a Baggins in Bag End makes me tear up a little).

2. The hobbits are such civilians at this point: lighting a fire at Weathertop etc etc. And why should they know any better, have any other instincts like that? It’s sad that they learn.

3. The passing of the Elves fills me with sadness as well. You get the sense of something more special than every day world leaving forever, the connection with living myth. But Sam’s comment about never being able to sleep in the wilderness..oh yeah, bittersweet.

4. When Aragorn tells the hobbits of the Nazgul and says ‘they were once men’…he is thinking again of being bound by the common guilt of his ancestors, isn’t he? Even though he shouldn’t as it isn’t his fault. And some of these are literally his ancestors probably.

5. Aragorn singing the song of Beren and Luthien. I am so struck that his answer to Frodo’s question as to who was Luthien and what happened to her is ‘She died.’ Because Luthien was and did many many things, including prying a jewel from the crown of the current Big Bad’s Boss (!!!) but all Aragorn is consumed by is the thought that an Elf Maiden loving a mortal made her mortal as well. That is the only thing he can see. No wonder Elrond convinces him to give up Arwen, he is consumed with guilt.

6. Gandalf the Grey has so much hope, and humanity, and despair in him (you can’t tell whether he is devastated or relieved when for a second it looks as if the Ring isn’t the One Ring). I am never as in love with Gandalf the White, more remote.

7. Attention to detail point 1,458: when they leave the inn at Bree, Aragorn has clean hair. Because he’s stayed in a town, after all. But not so later, when they are out in the wild: his hair gets matted a bit, and his fingernails have grass and dirt stains. And he is STLL hot. Ummm, slipped out…

Btw, I love the story of Beren and Luthien. It would probably make a neat movie (or a really horrible one). There is this super long Russian-language fanfic about them which I had book-marked ages ago but haven’t read (По Ту Сторону Рассвета, Ольга Брилева). Time to pull it out.

Fic love

OMG. I am now reading По Ту Сторону Рассвета ("On the other side of the dawn," the Beren/Luthien fic I mentioned earlier) and it just might be the best fic I ever read.

I wonder if the author of this is some sort of Russian BNF, sort of like Cassandra Claire was in Harry Potter fandom, only as far as I am aware, this author didn't plagiarize.

OMG.

BEREEEEEEEEEEEN.

Now I am frustrated that so few people on my flist read Russian....

egelantier, you might have to hold my hand through all the angst and h/c.

Fic love

OMG. I am now reading По Ту Сторону Рассвета ("On the other side of the dawn," the Beren/Luthien fic I mentioned earlier) and it just might be the best fic I ever read.

I wonder if the author of this is some sort of Russian BNF, sort of like Cassandra Claire was in Harry Potter fandom, only as far as I am aware, this author didn't plagiarize.

OMG.

BEREEEEEEEEEEEN.

Now I am frustrated that so few people on my flist read Russian....

egelantier, you might have to hold my hand through all the angst and h/c.

Fic love

OMG. I am now reading По Ту Сторону Рассвета ("On the other side of the dawn," the Beren/Luthien fic I mentioned earlier) and it just might be the best fic I ever read.

I wonder if the author of this is some sort of Russian BNF, sort of like Cassandra Claire was in Harry Potter fandom, only as far as I am aware, this author didn't plagiarize.

OMG.

BEREEEEEEEEEEEN.

Now I am frustrated that so few people on my flist read Russian....

egelantier, you might have to hold my hand through all the angst and h/c.