On a nice and sunny Friday...

[dangermousie]

So.

Everyone but me has watched the premiere of Supernatural. And poor me? Not so much as no TV or cable or anything. GRRRR. I did spoil myself rotten and read this absolutely amazing recap here. Go read it, it's to die for. Can't wait to see the ep!

The movers inadvertently spurred my desire to unpack as all my DVD players AND my laptop are currently stowed in a small closet which is just as currently blocked by a mountain of boxes. They just put the boxes there because it was convenient, but let's say I am eager to unpack. Being able to watch rainy angsty kiss of ISWAK is a good motivator.

I am beginning to suspect Volume 4 of Beauty is the Beast is the neighborhood Borders' equivalent of Bigfoot. It's listed as in the store but it hasn't been any of the times I checked. And I don't think other stores in the area have it. Yeah, yeah, I can order it from Amazon, but it's too much of a pain plus I just want to read it in the bookstore and not buy it.

I also saw a volume of a manga called Paradise Kiss of whose merits I have no idea, but katranna, you'd be amused to find out that it had a quote from Velvet Goldmine on the cover.

I did manage to check out another potentially interesting manga during my lunch break: Nana. Bought the first two volumes in fact. When we were in Japan, Nana was everywhere. Bookstores had piles of it stacked and blow-ups of covers hanging on walls. People were reading it on the train (along with other manga, of course. It was kinda odd to see so many people reading what back home is a very esoteric niche product).

The plot: two very different girls who share the same name and end up intersecting in Tokyo, didn't really sound too exciting, but interesting enough for me to give it a chance. Nana 1 is a 'wholesome' normal girl from a normal family who wants to study art and whose biggest issue is her boyfriend. Nana 2 is a pushy girl from a broken home who wants to be a punk rocker. Since I only started volume 1 now, I have no idea how they intersect, but I do love how Nana 1 isn't really very wholesome either: she was so boy crazy that she'd crush on any guy and the one who did end up paying attention to her was an older married sleazebag who she lost her virginity to but who basically used her for sex and dumped her.

Apparently, there was also a movie based on the manga. I remembered vierran45 seeing it recently and liking it. And I know it has been ul on the comm (once I get my DSL back I can check it out for self).

So I found some pics of it. Most of them I can't really comment on as they are from the Nana 2 side of the story and I haven't gotten to her yet.



This is Nana 2:


This is Nana 1:

Comments

[katranna.livejournal.com]

I know Paradise Kiss! An loaned some of it to me. It's okay. Its author is a big fan of Velvet Goldmine though, true.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I definitely thought of you :P

[kitsune714.livejournal.com]

I love NANA! I still haven't seen the movie yet, but I've heard good things. Also, "Paradise Kiss" is about fashion and design and the anime's theme song is so addictive. Also, a random thing to note: Ryuhei Matsuda, who plays Ren in the NANA movie, is Shota Matsuda's older brother (and you'll remember Matsuda Shota as Nishikado in the dorama, HYD).

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

There is an anime of this? *scurries to find*

Ryuhei Matsuda, who plays Ren in the NANA movie, is Shota Matsuda's older brother (and you'll remember Matsuda Shota as Nishikado in the dorama, HYD).

Interesting and a very 6 degrees of separation thing. But yeah, the movie sounds fun!

[summertea.livejournal.com]

In this case, manga > anime. There's so much going on in the manga that the anime can't capture.

[klmorgan.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD

OH MY GOD

YOU HAVEN'T READ PARADISE KISS?!?!?!!?!?!?

IT IS ONLY MY FAVORITE MANGA EVER

EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

OKAY I MIGHT HAVE BUILT IT UP A BIT NOW

But

Yazawa Ai is a goddess. Really. She's a straight-up shoujo goddess with a punk aesthete. She did Parakiss and Nana, and woah. (Parakiss has an excellent English translated manga and an anime which is good, but waaaay too compressed. Nana has the manga, still running, anime, and movie.)

And yay for more ISWAK.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I am definitely going to check it out then. Thanks@!

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen Supernatural yet(though I did finish season 1 today)

But I learned this morning that I'll be at the parents watching the cats for 5 days, so I'm gonna try to watch it and Veronica Mars(must find links...)

I tried Nana, but I douldn't get into it. If it had just been about rocker Nana, I would have loved it, but I didn't care for girly Nana or her story.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I like rocker Nana better too. I think everyone does.

[plazmah.livejournal.com]

Wait... Mika Nakashima IS one of the Nana's?!? I have music by her! I thought she was just a singer who happened to sing the theme for the movie! Colour me surprised!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yup, she is.

[fivil.livejournal.com]

I saw Nana the live action movie last week and it was somewhat disappointing (overhyped to me, that is). Partly cute, funny and very interesting (Hachi was so adorable! and the bald guy with sunglasses was hilarious for some odd reason!) but sometimes just badly acted (Ren and Nana 2 ...I just couldn't feel the love between them at all) and otherwise unengaging.

Maybe the manga is better. My friend said it had much better subplots than the movie.

I also liked Paradise Kiss but I can't afford manga so I couldn't follow. I should probably borrow the volumes from a friend or something.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I don't mind bad acting. But we shall see....

[vierran45.livejournal.com]

I, on the other hand, really liked the live-action Nana and it induced me the buy the manga as well. Well, differing tastes and all that...

[mimesh.livejournal.com]

The Supernatural episode is already up on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9SWoidl0zI

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

But I don't have DSL yet :(

*pouts*

[summertea.livejournal.com]

Yazawa Ai is ... painful to read. I don't expect Nana to have a happy ending, but the entire roller coaster ride is worth it. Hers is truly good manga.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Painful? Hmmmm. I am only on first volume so it's pretty light so far...

[mycenae.livejournal.com]

I should really read that last volume of Paradise Kiss I never got around to. (Not that it's not good, it really is, but there was a year and three months between the last two volumes and I... forgot.)

ParaKiss is basically the story of a kind of uptight good-student girl who isn't really that interested in staying on the "get into a great university" track and then gets accosted by several ecclectic art students (the rocker, the cutesy girl, the transvestite) who decide she absolutely must be their model for their final project. And then there's the requisite love triangle between her and the nice guy classmate she's had a crush on forever and the intriguing and confounding bisexual fashion student in charge of the "ParaKiss" brand/group of scraggly cohorts.

It's fun... and dramatic... and depressing... and she draws some really cool clothes.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Sounds interesting. I'll check it out, thanks!

[catdecember.livejournal.com]

aaaahh NANA!!!!! i love that manga.

i'm getting my movie version soon *cartwheels*. i love Ryuhei Matsuda and Hiroki Nariyama. :D

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Cool. Let me know how the movie is :)

[syliasyliasylia.livejournal.com]

YAY! NANA!!! I've seen Nana and I find it thoroughly enjoyable and cute! The manga is also fantastic!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Cool! Must really find it now...