dangermousie | Iceland, glorious Iceland. Pictures galore (and utterly unconnected anime/manga thoughts)

Just got back from Iceland which was amazingly beautiful and perfect. We had two glorious days: saw geisers, waterfalls, swam in a geothermal pool, wandered around Reykjavik (and the sun was out for it, too) and flew over Greenland. Perfect.

Panorama of Reykjavik from the top of the tallest Church in town:

Lake formed in the crater of an old volcano:

Geiser shooting up

More of the panorama of Reykjavik:

Street where our hotel was:

Geysers and hot pots:

Yet more of the panorama:

Blue Lagoon. Huge geothermal pool, where you are warm even in the freexing rain:

Waterfall:

Yeah, I got a bit obsessed with the view:

Wide view of the watefall:

Steam literally pouring out of the ground:

Not only the site of the first Icelanding parliament (the Alping) but also the place were tectonic plates meet:

Waterfall close-up:

And even more close-up:

Outflow from the waterfall:

And more view:

Icelandic horses. Blurry as from a window of a bus:

And more view:

Near the port on a rainy day:

In a crazy, yet typical turn-around, I now like Ryo (the subject of my previous rant, and the main male character of Hot Gimmick, all 10 volumes of it which I read on the plane to Iceland.

Like the boy now, mainly because I can see his headspace. He is not a perfect guy I'd love to bring home to parents, and if I dated him, I'd murder him, but he is such a typical teenager (most of my problems with his behavior seriously vanished when I remembered: teenage boy!) And he clearly is both desperate for and even often nice (gasp!) to Hatsumi however hard he tries to conceal it under the veneer of "I am soooo cool and I don't need silly girls." The bit where she asks him to a movie and he tells her "OK, I'll go. I have no plans for that day. Even though I'll be bored to death" while in reality, to go on this date, he is blowing off these uber-important practice exams for the University that he's been studying really hard for, is typical. And very teenage boy. Just as Hatsumi's "OMG! I am not wearing sexy underwear" is very typical teenage girl (my rather more grown-up reaction is to laugh at this because come on, he's a teenage boy, he's in love with her, and he is getting to have sex with her for the first time. I don't think he'd notice if she had pink elephants on her undies at that point). He also has quite a temper but he is also very very straightforward, no lies, and doesn't seem to be afraid of things (including his mother) which is quite good. And because I was bored on the plane, I started rereading, and a lot of his behavior that annoyed me earlier stopped doing so when I knew more about him and where he was coming from. In fact, I found his little satisfied look when Hatsumi manifests the smallest interest in him, kinda adorable. He has no filter between brain and mouth, but then his family isn't a great socially-developing environment.

Basically, his relationship with Hatsumi is a first relationship he's ever had, and I don't mean a romantic one, I mean ANY. No wonder he has plenty of rough edges and doesn't really know how to conduct himself or really express his liking. Heck, even when he hugs her, it seems like he is sort of unused to expressing affection (but significantly, whenever she gets really upset, he helps one way or another). Look at his family! His mother is a snobby bitch who couldn't care less about him as long as he is 'perfect' in getting perfect grades and all that stuff, but his father makes his mother look like Mommy of the year. Despite his surfac niceness, he is a horrible person. Not only does he have an affair with someone, and when that woman gets divorced by her husband he basically lets her die, but he also has Hatsumi's Dad take the fall for it. And that flashback, where little Ryo asks him "everybody in the complex has their Daddies be home all the time and play with them, but not me" (and being Ryo, he coaches it into "not that I care, it's clearly stupid" but he obviously does), Daddy Dearest's response (Dad is married to Mom but he sees the family about 10 days a year)? "I love this other woman, so I have no love left over for Mom or you." OK. What a thing to say to your kid. No wonder Ryo not only cannot comprehend Hatsumi's devotion to her family (in his case, family really is a collection of strangers randomly stuck together), but is so emotionally "I don't really like you THAT much" etc to Hatsumi. It's not just teen "I am trying to be cool." He just doesn't want to be rejected and is trying to minimize exposure. All he is familiar wit are relationships that don't work, after all. I mean, in his head somewhere is the thought that hey, even his parents didn't really want him one way or another. Even in that flashback to all of them as kids, he is an odd little kid but he is clearly very lonely and bossiness is the way to cover it. Heck, his blackmailing her in the beginning is really an extention of that. The guy wants some company. That is where his facade is tied to: proving he doesn't need or want anyone because he is above it all.

And I think the above is also tied up to his jealousy and/or 'don't talk to other guys' issues. Even though he is going about it all wrong (but he is getting better), it's basically because he is terrified of losing her (There is that bit where he makes her choose between him and her adopted brother who is in love with her (it's a soap after all) and she stands indecisive (because she just doesn't see her brother as anything but a brother and so the whole situation is a bit off-kilter for her and he just hugs her and goes "Just choose me. Nobody else ever." is pretty indicative). And that is why he doesn't mention the thing about their fathers to her right away. He is rather panicky about losing her (and of course, ironically, his not telling her does just that. Though maybe if he explained himself as opposed to being 'it's because it doesn't matter' it might not have ended as disastrously). So yeah, not my idea of a boyfriend by any means, and he certainly has a lot of growing up to do, but he certainly livens up the manga.

But now Hatsumi's ditched him at the end of vol 10 (which I am all for, as: angst! Power dynamic reversal!) and I found out that I am hooked but the rest isn't published yet. Boo!

Also, last week, I've been slowly (busy busy busy) watching GetBackers. I just finished episode four, in fact. And I love it. GB deals with Ban and Gingi, two young guys who live in a slightly futuristic Tokyo and run a recovery service: if it's been taken/stolen/lost they will find it for you. They have an almost 100% recovery rate but business just doesn't seem to be booming. This show is a bit of a comedy, a bit of noir and as the story is getting more arced and our heroes clearly have the requisite tragic past (tm), I am a happy happy camper. I like Gingi quite well: he is nice, effective and sweet. But I must admit I am definitely a Ban girl. It's the very reluctant hero vibe he has going. And sarcasm and mercenariness (yeah, yeah, not a word). And of course the fact that he is a nice guy underneath, however much he tries to hide it. Also, unlike Saiyuki, this one seems to have more prominent roles for women. Not only is there the waitress girl, but there is Himeko, "Lady Poison" who seems to be working a delivery service and is with the bad guys, and clearly has a whole connection with Ban (I don't mean romantically. Yet. Hopefully). As far as I can tell from info so far, Ban and Himeko and Himeko's older brother grew up together and did the recovery thing. And Himeko saw Ban kill the brother. And she is all bitter and alone now and hates Ban and makes it her mission to kill him. And Ban gets all emotionally messed-up around her too. I really wonder what the back-story is, as Ban doesn't strike me as someone who gets off on killing people. Whatever it was, that's probably why he is so cynical and hard-boiled now. This is really FUBAR so I could totally get behind the OTP.