dangermousie | Of various angsty swordsmen. Oh, and books and movies too.

Apologies for this LJ all of a sudden turning into an anime-heavy zone. I do have obsession phases that come and go and if anyone wanted to unfriend me, I won't be upset, I promise.

Continuing to read Passion by Jude Morgan. Any book that can make me root for a half-siblings in love with each other (Augusta Leigh and Byron) is quite something.

Also, apparently, by the end of the Fushigi Yuugi OVAs (which I am still of two minds re: watching), Miaka and Tamahome have a kid. Which is both adorable (and I guess the poor star-crossed lovers finally got to have sex, heeeee) and amusing, as when I was little I kept pestering my Mom about how she and Dad met etc etc and if Miaka tells her, the kid is going to be convinced her parents did a great deal of hard core drugs back in the day. In case you are wondering, I am still obsessed with Fushigi Yuugi. I am tempted to just start rewatching again. Must. Fight. Obsessiveness. But I have no intention of doing so.

Need to finish Meteor Garden. Aaaangst. Yes!

I have also started watching Rurouni Kenshin, and so much love. Right now I finished ep 8 or 9. It's getting a lot more arc-ed. I am loving it (and not just because, unlike the OVA, it doesn't make me want to slit my own throat out of misery), but let's hope I won't get FY-level obsessed because I can't handle that during the week.

For those who don't know, but are interested, Rurouni Kenshin is an anime set during the Meiji Restoration. It follows around the protagonist, Himura Kenshin, who was an assassin of opponents during the revolution for idealistic reasons but now is a wanderer who turned his sword into a reverse-blade one and has sworn not to kill. In his wandering, he comes across Kaoru, an owner of a dojo that teaches fighting purely as self defense and after he saves her from the bad guys, she wants him to stick around. Soon, there is an impromptu group of people living or hanging out at the dojo: Kaoru, Kenshin, Yahiko (a boy they rescued from small-time goons) and Sanosuke (a brash street-fighter, who has a really messed-up past). For all I know, there will be other people, but that's as far as I've gotten, so far. It's not too quiet though, because not only does Kenshin have to sometimes protect those he cares about or just general innocents, his past life continues to haunt him, both emotionally and in a more concrete shape of people who either want to settle scores or just to have the glory of defeating someone that known. Kenshin himself appears as an amiable, laid-back, even simple and child-like drifter, unless something threatens in which case...look out. The mask comes off. I have a few posts about this show already, if anyone is interested.

It's hilarious how the characters are trying to eat the food Kaoru cooked (what is it with anime and women who are bad cooks? First Miaka, now Kaoru) and she keeps pestering as to how it tastes and then Sanosuke finally tells her it's awful (awwww, love Sanosuke and his screwed up back story. It's odd to call someone who wields an anti-cavalry weapon as a hand weapon adorable, but he is. I want to mother him). And Kaoru gets mad and Yahiko tells the little girls who are saying how the food is so salty and bitter that "This is a great experience. You learn how to endure great torture." ROFL

Basically, none of them have any money or any means of earning it, except for Kaoru who has no paying students. They are like this hippie commune. A hippie commune for violent people.

And I adore that Kenshin lets Kaoru boss him around. This whole dynamic of the 'best fighter in the room who wishes he wasn't' and the bossy woman who adores him and mothers him and orders him around reminds me of Vash/Meryl from Trigun. And then the bad guy of the latest ep wants Kenshin to become Battousai again and kidnaps Kaoru (who's come looking for Kenshin, to make sure he won't wander off again after becoming Hitokiri. She gives him her hair ribbon and tells him to return it after the fight) and makes Kenshin fight him to the death otherwise Kaoru dies in some kind of a choking hypnosis thing he has on her. And Kenshin does do it, even though it goes against everything he now believes and wants and Kaoru can't bear to see him do that so she manages to break the hold before he has to kill and it's....They are so an OTP. Especially since he thanks her for saving him from becoming a Hitokiri again because if he'd killed he'd be one forever and it's all nice until she sees that the ribbon she gave him has blood on it and then she is all "blood???? You couldn't take care of it?" and starts chasing after him. And they are both grinning and so are Sanosuke and Yahiko who are also running after them. And Kenshin thinks that with friends like this, he'll be a drifter who never kills again before he dies. Which is a pretty modest wish. So adorable. I want to pat them on the head and give them cookies. Except they'd bite my hand off.

And I love the interaction between Sanosuke and Kenshin. I love all their interactions, actually. They are just like this really cool unusual family. Also, glad to see that the weapons of the bad guys in RK are the same type of weapons that are in FY. They manage to remove the shirt of the good guys but keep the pants on. Mmmmm, shirtless Sanosuke :P

But seriously, love this.

I want a Kenshin/Kaoru icon. And a Sanosuke one, maybe.

The four main characters: