Series Rant

So, there were several series things I wanted to talk about, so I guess I'll just do them all now.
There are several reviews on this blog, which is supposed to be for writing, but it is all relevant! We're analyzing plot, characters, ex. All very important for writing.

First of all Rurouni Kenshin, because I just found something about it.
There's a live-action Rurouni Kenshin movie coming out. Maybe it came out already, actually. I gotta check. And then Crystal told me that the author of Rurouni Kenshin, Nobuhiro Watsuki, was starting up the series again. I was a bit dubious at first, because things can get really lame when they're dragged out. I would be happy if Watsuki made it good, though.
And then Crystal said that Watsuki was practically re-writing Rurouni Kenshin and giving it a different plot and everything, which just sounds bad (that was why I didn't like the new Star Trek movie - It destroyed everything that happened in all of the other movies).
Today I was looking for an image from the manga, and I ran into a series called Rurouni Kenshin Kinema Ban. I thought it was one of those pilot chapters, so I clicked on it. It's actually the first chapter of that new thing, apparently written in honor of the live-action movie. I suppose that if the manga is based off the movie, it's forgivable. But it was really weird to read. Because I know all the characters already... but they were doing different stuff.
Yeah, still a bit dubious. Since Keshin's my favorite character from any series, I'm concerned for his image. (He said "oro" but he didn't make his oro face at all!) I like his scarf though. I already don't like the Kenshin from the anime as much (though I still haven't made it past episode 25). So , just keep him amazing in this series, please! Watsuki should be able to, since he created Kenshin in the first place.
I noticed that the art is quite a bit like Buso Renkin (which I think was his last series Watsuki wrote?). The Gatling gun guy (who's not important enough for me to remember his name) seems to behave a bit like Papillon too. (Maan, I can never take the word "papillon" seriously anymore...)
I dunno. I'll read it, but I'm still a bit concerned. I kinda hope it's not too long, unless he surprises me and ends up doing an amazing job. Which would be great, of course. I suppose whatever happens, it will be like the difference between the two FMA anime. I do like both of them, but FMA Brotherhood is sooo much better!

OK, spent a long tome on that.
On to Legend of Korra.
Apparently a lot of people were disappointed in the season finale. I'm one of them. I'm sure that the creators got used to having plenty of episodes to work with, because they didn't seem to be able to fit in everything they needed in to 12 episodes. The ending was rushed (spoiler alert for the next couple paragraphs). Korra learning airbending, Korra meeting Aang, Korra losing her bending, regaining it, and then helping everyone else recover, and meeting the identity behind Amon all happened right near the end.
I'm kinda annoyed that we never heard of Noatak until the season finale. This may just be personal preference, but I wanted to know who he was before we were told. I guess because I wanted to guess who he was. (Or maybe I'm just annoyed because I was so certain that Tarlock was Amon). They never explained why Noatak ended up hating benders so much either. Or how blood-bending can take bending away.
I think there was too much blood-bending. Although maybe the sound-effect for it just bugs me.
I didn't really get attached to any of the characters either. I like Naga and Pabu of course. Though Pabu doesn't seem to be as much of a character as a cute thing that chews ropes for them. There were a couple characters I almost chose as my favorite, but it never got finalized (Bolin and Asami). I like Tenzin and Lin though. I thought it was hilarious when Tenzin did those random things like cheer for Korra during pro-bending.
I wanted more of Iroh! (Feel him weird calling him that because I keep thinking of Uncle Iroh. I keep wanting to call him Zuko). In that episode, I was depressed that Lin lost her bending, and then promptly after we meet Iroh for the first time. And I go "ZUKOOO!" Sorry, Lin. My sympathy dissipated temporarily.

Let's see. So, one of the first manga Nicole told me to read was Petshop of Horrors. I recently discovered it at my library, so I've read all but the last book. I like it. At first it seemed like all the animals would just end up killing people, but it's not like that. Count D actually cares about his animals and does his best to send them to good homes (being an animal lover, that concerned me at first). And most of them end up happy. I like the parts with Chris too. And there are some cool creatures.
Leon and Count D have a funny relationship. It's amusing. Leon wants to arrest Count D, and yet he's always trying to save the guy (and never really being much help since D can pretty much take care of himself).
And there's 4 episodes of the anime. I guess that's all there will ever be. I watched those a few days ago. They kinda picked out all the episodes where the people die. And D is creepy. D from the manga is better cause he's funny sometimes. So, not crazy about the anime.

Speaking of amusing relationships. Recently finished watching the XXX Holic Anime. They did a much better job of it than they did for Tsubasa Chronicles. Man, that anime bugged me so much. But I enjoyed the XXXHolic anime.
So, the relationship. Watanuki and Doumeki. Most of the time Watanuki is just loud and obnoxious in his insistence that Doumeki bugs the hell out of him. But what would he do without Doumeki's help? And he knows it too. Doumeki's always saving Watanuki's ungrateful (not really ungrateful) hide. The only way Watanuki can show his gratitude is through food. Heheh. That'd be funny if Doumeki only hung around for the food.
There were a couple moments that I liked a lot. Like when Watanuki was standing out in the rain and Doumeki called him an idiot, but gave him his umbrella anyway. And then there was one scene were Watanuki finally said thanks to Doumeki, and Doumeki stares at him, trying to see what sort of face Watanuki makes as he says it. (Ok, I did a sucky job trying to explain those scenes, but they really are good!)

Watched Ghost in the Shell too. Just finished the last episode about a week ago. It's interesting.

Oh, Inuyasha. I wrote about this, but I have one more thing to add. So, yeah. I like the beginning of Inuyasha. Up to volume 16 or so, in the manga. I read through the whole thing (but will not watch beyond the good part). I decided to watch the last episode of the anime, just because. In the manga, the end really bugged me. Though possibly it was because I was in a bad mood since the final battle was so not epic. Because I really enjoyed the last episode of the anime.
I'm also glad they had something with Koga. One of the things that really bugged me about the anime was that once Koga lost his shards, he never showed up again. It was like the only thing he was good for was holding the shards. In the anime, at least they told us what became of him (and apparently gave him a girlfriend, which I am now curious about).

Currently reading Natusme Yuujinchou. I like it. It's just like the anime.

Probably about to start watching more Rurouni Kenshin, just because I feel I owe it to Kenshin. Heheh.

I wasn't going to, but I guess I'll say a few things about Brave too.
I can't make my mind up about it. I'll have to see it again to know for sure. There was some things I really like about it. Like the animation, especially the landscapes. And I liked the will-o-the-wisps. And the horse! The horse is awesome!
But there were some things that bugged me too. I'm used to Pixar movies being so creative, like Up, Wall-E, and Finding Nemo. But Brave was so predictable. (Spoilers for the rest of the section).
It's kinda funny. One of the stories (one of the better stories) from my fiction class last semester was about a girl getting this magic apple tart thing, and she gave it to her sister, and the tart turned her into a werewolf thing. Maybe that's why it felt so obvious to me.
The beginning kinda felt like the Little Mermaid. Parent doesn't understand kid, parent destroys something important to kid, kid goes to witch to get her problems fixed.
The triplets didn't really seem like characters to me. They seemed more like things. Things that caused trouble and got a key for Marida.
And Marida was kinda annoying for one part (which is fine. Characters are allowed to be annoying, as long as they're supposed to appear that way). She kept going, "it's not my fault you turned into a bear!" Yeah right. Use your brain and then tell me again what you think.
And then at the end, everyone suddenly seemed to believe that the bear was the mom, even though they'd been denying it up until that point. Why'd they believe her so suddenly? Because 3 little bears showed up? How does that prove anything?
But one of the main things that bugged me (and made the triplets seem even more like things than people). At the end, Marida's there, crying because she turned her mom into a bear forever. Dude! What about her brothers? Aren't they gonna be stuck like that too? And they're just kids!
I'm also surprised that the witch didn't come back. Seemed like she would.

Fact of the Day:
Some people (me included) get these funny goosebump things on their upper arms. Here's an article about what they are and how to get rid of them.