Anime and Manga

[ficwize]

I came into fandom two ways - X-men and Dragonball Z. Back in the days of Yahoo Groups, I spent more time in the anime/manga fandsom than in any others. For some reason, when I came to LJ, that wsn't the case. I think 95% of my fandom activity is now comics or live action fandoms.

That's well and good, but...

I miss the anime and manga fandoms!

So, I'm going to make an effort to seek out more friends from those fandoms and be more active it them.

Right now, I'm nearly finished watching Blood +. In short, it is amazing. There is a female protagonist! Saya, whom I adore, is part of an adopted family in Okinawa.. Her father is American, her brothers are both Japanese.

It's about what it means to be family and what it means to be human and what it means to be friends with someone who has done something truly horrible.

Also, it's complicated and ranges from Russia to Japan to Viet Nam. It deals with issues of class and gender in post-war societies. The fallof the Soviet Union is a a big part of the story.

So, has anyone else seen it? I have desperate need to discuss. Did I mention that it's also about some sort of vampire-things called Chiropterans???

Epic and awesome!

Comments

[ficwize.livejournal.com]

LOL. First you can tell me how long it is? Are there 2 seasons? And a movie? Live action movie only or anime movie?

And, oh, dear God... Hagi. ♥

I've just finished episode 20 out of 25 in Part I.

I.... don't even know! If you can avoid spoilers, I'd really like to talk about the badkdrop and setting. I'm absolutely fascinated by the alternate history parts of it (Chernobyl not being real?) and the mix of characters nationalities.

[sabriel75.livejournal.com]

Okay... it's not a very long series, only two season or 50 episodes total I believe.

It does successfully conclude though. There's nothing left to clean up. The end is the end. And not much more can be said because that would involve spoilers.

The backdrop mostly are flashbacks and modern day where Sayu is... They explain everything from where the Schiff come from to how each person came to choose the side that they are on: Diva vs. Saya.

However, somehow along the way Saya has escaped being merely a puppet programmed for destruction when in Vietnam her adoptive father saves her from that life. He tries to keep her protected but you should know what happens given that you're on episode 20. That breaks my heart because as much as I want Hagi to have his only companion in life returned to him; it is only at the sacrifice of the normalcy Saya has been given with this new life.

The alternate history parts are woven into the story-line brilliantly. Since they are constantly on the run, Saya and entourage interfere with daily historical occurrences just to survive, many of them traps set up by Diva's Chevaliers to kill her.

What I find most fascinating is the psychological argument that comes into play throughout this series. Nature vs. Nurture... would Diva have been different if she had only been loved like Saya had been? Did the misplaced "mad scientist" in a human infect a the preternatural instincts of an otherwise benign creatures? Did our interference cause the disruption and therefore create the actual animosity that develops in Diva for us?

There is an anime movie and a live-action film. Neither really representative of the original product. And there is now Manga which I abhor. The artwork is somewhat sloppy in my estimation.

Anything else?