moonsheen

I didn't realize he worked on the Tokyopop translation! I'm almost done with the anime, and it's pretty fantastic. Watch it and experience girly slumber parties + national politics in the third arc.

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I kinda want to try the anime now! I'd heard mixed things, namely due to pacing issues/diversions from the novel. But at this point I'm willing to give it a shot for the simple fact that I'd actually just love to see how they animated some of these characters! (although what I really think this series ought to have is a live-action movie. SOMETHING RIDICULOUSLY OVER THE TOP. FLOWING ROBES. EPIC WIGS. ADORABLE CGI FOR THE RAT. It would be AMAZING)

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:D

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Anime is worth watching, I mean, the vocal cast is brill and in the third arc Youko becomes SO BADASS it almost hurts to watch.

Live-action, a;laksjdflskjfdl; if only.

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Oh man! Youko has just amazed me in the first book! I can see why people complain about her to start. She is a pretty hapless protagonist to begin with, but it's mostly irritating for the fact she's just...reacts very realistically to her situation (we all WISH we could automatically be gigantic badasses if thrown into a strange fantasy world). What stuns me is how thorough the author is with bringing her character arc all the way through. She moves from frightened stranger to a stranger land to hardened and paranoid vagabond to young Emperor in the wings very, very naturally. And GODDAMN is she kickass by the end.

My only disappoint is the fact that we are rushed through to the big RESCUE THE PRINCESS-I MEAN KEIKI conclusion. But I'll forgive glossing over the EPIC BATTLE AND TRIUMPH for the fact that such a point is made about how Pretty And Delicate And Pettable his Kirin form that...once again, i want a pretty unicorn

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Writing unicorn stories: poss. healthiest way to vent pesky shota complex? y/nnnWAIT was that even it the first book. OHOHOH

Also I kinda dig that for once it is a huge pain in the ass to meet a unicorn, get spirited away to a magical land, receive special powers and a badass makeover, and become queen.

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ANIMU REC SECONDED

I hear kids watch this in school to learn about um. Feudal uh land division systems in er China.

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No, no it was not. Unless Shouryuu and Enki count? I'm not sure they do, given they seem to fill every series need for a couple of badass old marrieds. (except enki also looks like, twelve okay so crapyestotallyshotaBUT OFFICER THAT KIRIN SAID HE WAS 500)

This was such a relief after the unfortunate reliving of my childhood with the Alanna series! Everything goes right for the prtagonist in that book! Everyone loves her! Everyone accepts her deep dark secrets and is rooting for her to face the CLEARLY EVIL adversity ahead of her! It was weirdly refreshing to hop from that to a series where the main chick is pretty much just screwed over from day 1. Even by her super pretty magical unicorn WHO IS, LET'S BE HONEST, KIND OF A DICK. (ilu keiki)

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Funny story: Way back when Kristin convinced herself Shouryuu and Enki were just straight up straight dudes who were good friends in a very straight fashion. I... I don't think that ever stopped being funny to me. I'm laughing now as I type at work. Anyway y w/f/e Enki is 500 WHAT A BRILL NARRATIVE TRICK I have never seen it done bef hm

Keiki is not a dick! He was just homeschooled.

Edited Date: 2008-07-10 12:59 am (UTC)

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And by 'good friends' in a 'very straight fashion' we actually mean in ways that are probably illegal in these modern days? Okay, Shouryuu, I know they did things DIFFERENTLY in your era but SERIOUSLY...

and okay keiki may not actually be a dick. He just needs about a century or two to depressurize and become reaccustomed to the presence of a lady who is not BATSHIT INSANE oh my GOD that POOR PONY. I want youko to like, comb his hair and feed him sugarcubes and TELL HIM IT WILL ALL BE OKAY AND i will stop with the horse jokes, as a kirin is a most noble and beautiful creature of Heaven.

except i probably won't.

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also waitwaitwait keiki is voiced by Koyasu?

abwakghak BWAHAHAHAHAHA

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Wha--when did I convince myself of that. WHAT ARE YOU SAYING. Do I need to write more unipr0ns to exonerate myself.

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WORTH THE PRICE OF ADMISSION Y/Y

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The answer is never not yes.

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I vote yes! -- I mean. Um.

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Worth the price of anything.

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Shouryuu don't care whether the poon is legal so long as the poon is present. LITERALLY CENTURIES OF LOLDRUNKEN NIGHTS, what do you think.

Keiki will now ineptly try to express his growing adoration for his hot Woman King. Natch Youko would have to extend friendship first as Keiki never tops. :( Duh he's a kirin.

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amei.livejournal.com

I seriously thought that noone else felt the En love. That or I'm looking in the wrong places! There needs to be more not!shota for art for this y/y

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Character designs are kind of MINDBLOWING, by which I really mean pretty pretty clothes. There are so many flowing robes, and Rakushun is AAAAAAAAAAH BEST. It's also Studio Pierrot which means your characters' faces are gonna be kinda goofy and lumpy at random inervals, but really, it's a pretty series otherwise!

The story itself never struck me as having pacing issues as much as NOT FINISHING THAT ONE BIG STORYLINE, and you'll often want to tear your hair out as characters make poor life decisions. In the long run, though, even those decisions make sense in character progression; they learn, but still stumble and fall face first into the dirt along the way. The payoffs are all still soooo v. worth it. ♥

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I just wish Keiki would actually say something useful to Youko every once in awhile rather than let her perform trial-and-error while he makes :< faces at her as she screams! He's a kirin! He needs to guide heeeeer!

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saturnoolaa.livejournal.com

I AGREE WITH PRIOR COMMENTS

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saturnoolaa.livejournal.com

I'm basically going to flail just like everybody else. WAIT UNTIL YOU GET TO TAIKI

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EXACTLY. Keiki is just so cranky and NOT WITH THE EXPLANATIONS. Seriously, Keiki. Maybe the girl is panicking because you have NOT TOLD HER ANYTHING OF WHAT IS GOING ON? ...admittedly, she probably would've just screamed MORE but STILL.

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And then Youko has to go through the whole stop-trying-to-meet-others'-expectations thing again, except thankfully she gives Keiki the cliffnotes version, understanding that he missed out on her character development while unwillingly playing My Little Pony with Joei.

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En is the Kingdom of Love, whatchoo on about.

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Are-are they translating the other books? *__*

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yoshitsune.livejournal.com

See, I bought it, read the first few chapters, and then put it down in disgust and haven't picked it back up again, precisely because of Youko. I hear Youko gets better later on, but I'm SCARED because those first few chapters made me want to THROTTLE HER WITH MY BARE HANDS. She's just so STUPID, and it's not even that she's just not a badass, it's that, OH HAY WE HAVE SIDE A WHICH IS CLEARLY TRYING TO KILL/CAPTURE/DO SOMETHING BAD TO YOU AND SIDE B WHICH IS MYSTERIOUS BUT SEEMS NOT TO BE TRYING TO KILL YOU AND IN FACT SEEMS TO BE TRYING TO SAVE YOUR LIFE, PERHAPS YOU SHOULD TRUST SIDE B UNTIL YOU GET OUT OF THIS. I mean, at some point you'd think that even if rational thought didn't kick in, some kind of, I dunno, SENSE OF SELF-PRESERVATION might?

...er, sorry for the CAPSLOCK RAGE; I have very little patience for Too Stupid To Live protagonists, in part because on the rare occasions I have been in seriously bad situations (nothing REALLY bad, but things that were decently serious and relatively urgent), I've always been the kind of person who does the shit I need to do and staves off collapsing in shivering panic until later, because panic solves nothing and you kind of have to GET OUT OF THE SITUATION ASAP. (Also because whoever I was with was usually busy collapsing in shivering panic, and SOMEONE had to get shit done and solve the problem, and that ended up being me by default). So even though I hear she gets better and I hear so many good things about this series, I'm kind of leery of sticking my neck out again, because very little irritates me more than TSTL characters. D:

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The first Taiki book is out, didn't you hear? They censored all the pedo bits.

Haven't heard anything about TokyoPop dropping the series so AFAIK they're still going, but I suppose it depends on sales.

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WHAT DID THEY SENSOR THE PHILISTINES

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