Girl Anime and other fun.
Mar. 26th, 2006 07:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieNext week is going to be crazy at work, so the post volume is going to be unusually low. (Half the flist groans in relief).
But I am all about the giddy because we bought our plane tickets to Japan today!
Anyway, on to the lengthier topics of the post. Which is the fact that I finished Pretear earlier. And that I started watching Peach Girl (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
katranna groans), which is a good thing as I can only watch RahXephon with Husband.
Peach Girl. The plot (so far) is pretty simple. Momo is a high schooler whose tan, sun-bleached hair appearance makes people think she is a play girl. That's not true as she only used to be on the swim team and tans easily. Momo's 'friend' Sae always goes for what Momo wants, so when Sae asks who Momo likes, Momo (who likes the quiet, good-looking Touji, someone she's known for years), points her finger completely randomly at some guy in the hallway to get Sae off track. The guy she points at is Kairi, the attractive school flirt. Sae makes her move (of course) but Kairi sees right through her. And he also decides to chase Momo because hey, she likes him, right? So she should totally be easy to date, right? It's part mischief, part easy attraction (she's cute after all) but Momo is NOT interested. She thinks.
So far, I saw one ep of (let me know if you want to know where to dl) and while it won't make me rave about its artistry or complex concepts, it's girly fun. I like the animation well enough, the colors and the backgrounds, and to my relief, Momo (the heroine) while tanned , does ot have the slutty clothes and excessive make up she does in the covers. I like her, as she is strong and assertive and not a weepy useless shy mess. I am also rather giddily amused by Kairi, who has plenty of charm and is tongue-in-cheek funny and hot at the same time (and a bit too interested in sex, heh). You know those broody, Brontean heroes? Well think polar opposite. And when he teases Touji. Whoa. I do wonder who the girl in the pic is because that's one of the few times he was serious.
Re: Pretearautumnflame was right. As soon as Sasame went evil, the whole show went downhill from pervy and girly to making little character sense. In fact, this was the biggest problem with Pretear. You couldn't imagine the characters as living, breathing human beings outside the confines of the story. They were puppets pulled around by TPTB without inner consistency. This was the biggest, glaring difference between it and Fushigi Yuugi. In the good anime I've seen so far, you got the sense that what you were watching was a window into a continuing world. The world of the story and the characters had long, complicated existences before the time of the story and will continue to do so after. This was clearly not the case here. Not just because character motivation was shoddy, but because world-building was non-existent. What is Leafenia? Who lives there (surely it couldn't be just the seven knights). What did the knights do before they became knights? Do they have families? Hobbies? How come the families of the youngest ones were OK with the kids traipsing arounf fighting? Also, why did the Big Ebil come to that small town Himeno was living with as opposed to somewhere more important, like Tokyo? Etc. None of them were answered.
And Sasame's going evil? Silly. In theory, the whole 'he loved her silently and then had to fight against her and now he can't take it any more and snaps' would make a cool story. If they gave any hints beforehand that is. Also, the fact that he persists even though she tells him she doesn't love him and she is just using him (in a lovely s&mish scene where he is brushing her hair and she cuts his cheek with her fingernails. Ouch) makes me wonder about his tendency for self-punishment (in a better story, I would say it's because he feels so guilty about not helping her the last time). And of course, Takako herself is a fruitcake, as she realizes she really loves him after he dies protcting her. And then she is all over him. You mean his giving up his calling and all his friends wasn't good enough proof? And putting up with wearing matching clothes? (now you know she is evil)? She clearly has a thing for unavailable men and if she only made up her pea-hen brain 16 years earlier, none of this drama would have been necessary. Also, I think her moaning about being alone and no-one loving her is undercut by the fact that:
a. she is trying to destroy the world. That makes potential friendships akward and
b. she has a gorgeous, cool guy madly and conclusively in love with her. Instead of bitching, she should just make him prove his love by cleaning her house, taking her batty relatives (if she has any) for dinner etc.
But that's all right because at the end, Himeno learns to pret by herself (considering what preting is, ROFL) and saves the world. By the way, I know a few people on my flist don't like Miaka. Be that as it may, Himeno's Mary Suishness dwarves any problems with Miaka, IMO. The cute costumes, everybody weeping after she saved the world etc etc. Actually, it's a good thing I think Mary Sue is an inapplicable term to author's own creations, otherwise most of teen fantasy (Harry Potter included) would have a Mary Sue protagonist. Of course, the difference between a fantwit author and JKR is writing nuances and skill and subtlety, but I wonder if it has anything to do with the whole process of growing up and growing into things. Did this even make any sense?
But I am all about the giddy because we bought our plane tickets to Japan today!
Anyway, on to the lengthier topics of the post. Which is the fact that I finished Pretear earlier. And that I started watching Peach Girl (
katranna groans), which is a good thing as I can only watch RahXephon with Husband.Peach Girl. The plot (so far) is pretty simple. Momo is a high schooler whose tan, sun-bleached hair appearance makes people think she is a play girl. That's not true as she only used to be on the swim team and tans easily. Momo's 'friend' Sae always goes for what Momo wants, so when Sae asks who Momo likes, Momo (who likes the quiet, good-looking Touji, someone she's known for years), points her finger completely randomly at some guy in the hallway to get Sae off track. The guy she points at is Kairi, the attractive school flirt. Sae makes her move (of course) but Kairi sees right through her. And he also decides to chase Momo because hey, she likes him, right? So she should totally be easy to date, right? It's part mischief, part easy attraction (she's cute after all) but Momo is NOT interested. She thinks.
So far, I saw one ep of (let me know if you want to know where to dl) and while it won't make me rave about its artistry or complex concepts, it's girly fun. I like the animation well enough, the colors and the backgrounds, and to my relief, Momo (the heroine) while tanned , does ot have the slutty clothes and excessive make up she does in the covers. I like her, as she is strong and assertive and not a weepy useless shy mess. I am also rather giddily amused by Kairi, who has plenty of charm and is tongue-in-cheek funny and hot at the same time (and a bit too interested in sex, heh). You know those broody, Brontean heroes? Well think polar opposite. And when he teases Touji. Whoa. I do wonder who the girl in the pic is because that's one of the few times he was serious.
Re: Pretear
autumnflame was right. As soon as Sasame went evil, the whole show went downhill from pervy and girly to making little character sense. In fact, this was the biggest problem with Pretear. You couldn't imagine the characters as living, breathing human beings outside the confines of the story. They were puppets pulled around by TPTB without inner consistency. This was the biggest, glaring difference between it and Fushigi Yuugi. In the good anime I've seen so far, you got the sense that what you were watching was a window into a continuing world. The world of the story and the characters had long, complicated existences before the time of the story and will continue to do so after. This was clearly not the case here. Not just because character motivation was shoddy, but because world-building was non-existent. What is Leafenia? Who lives there (surely it couldn't be just the seven knights). What did the knights do before they became knights? Do they have families? Hobbies? How come the families of the youngest ones were OK with the kids traipsing arounf fighting? Also, why did the Big Ebil come to that small town Himeno was living with as opposed to somewhere more important, like Tokyo? Etc. None of them were answered. And Sasame's going evil? Silly. In theory, the whole 'he loved her silently and then had to fight against her and now he can't take it any more and snaps' would make a cool story. If they gave any hints beforehand that is. Also, the fact that he persists even though she tells him she doesn't love him and she is just using him (in a lovely s&mish scene where he is brushing her hair and she cuts his cheek with her fingernails. Ouch) makes me wonder about his tendency for self-punishment (in a better story, I would say it's because he feels so guilty about not helping her the last time). And of course, Takako herself is a fruitcake, as she realizes she really loves him after he dies protcting her. And then she is all over him. You mean his giving up his calling and all his friends wasn't good enough proof? And putting up with wearing matching clothes? (now you know she is evil)? She clearly has a thing for unavailable men and if she only made up her pea-hen brain 16 years earlier, none of this drama would have been necessary. Also, I think her moaning about being alone and no-one loving her is undercut by the fact that:
a. she is trying to destroy the world. That makes potential friendships akward and
b. she has a gorgeous, cool guy madly and conclusively in love with her. Instead of bitching, she should just make him prove his love by cleaning her house, taking her batty relatives (if she has any) for dinner etc.
But that's all right because at the end, Himeno learns to pret by herself (considering what preting is, ROFL) and saves the world. By the way, I know a few people on my flist don't like Miaka. Be that as it may, Himeno's Mary Suishness dwarves any problems with Miaka, IMO. The cute costumes, everybody weeping after she saved the world etc etc. Actually, it's a good thing I think Mary Sue is an inapplicable term to author's own creations, otherwise most of teen fantasy (Harry Potter included) would have a Mary Sue protagonist. Of course, the difference between a fantwit author and JKR is writing nuances and skill and subtlety, but I wonder if it has anything to do with the whole process of growing up and growing into things. Did this even make any sense?
