Nabari No Ou (originally written in Sep 08, updated 13 March 09)

I'm reminded of this because of the beautiful ending song, called Hikari, and also because a friend wrote a review on it as well.

Anime: Finished, 26 episodes
Manga: Ongoing, No volumes published in English yet - May 2009!! (according to Gocomi's website, let's hope they stick to their schedule), cos if you look below I wrote March 2009 (in Sep 2008). Dunno if that was a typo or they delayed their date.

Starting to really like this manga. But the first volume will only be published in March 2009. The characters look a bit different in the anime, a bit more childish and young. Seriously tempted May want to get the manga when it comes out.

Not too dark and pace is quite fast. The characters are nicely drawn - hee, in fact the main character is so "pretty" some people thot he's a girl, though ya, in some angles he really does look like one. And his rather weak character matches that perception. And, well, so far no boy love! ;p hehhahahh... Oh, sad to say I've to take back what I said about there being no BL, although it is not anything close to yaoi.

Will try to write a bit more on this when I've the time.Looks like I write about it even when I don't have time.

Wanna see a cosplay of Yoite? Miharu? Thobari Sensei (done by a girl)?
Looks fun. Hahahha...Oh, but some of the fanart really ruin it! No no no no to the yaoi please! ;p


This part courtesy of Simplejoysinlife/Coboypb who watched the anime because of the Ending Song called Hikari (Light). Do have a listen if you have an opportunity, and if you google the lyrics you'll find them very very sad...but I'm sidetracking. Here goes Coboypb's review:

The story is about Miharu, a schoolboy who had some secret art/power in him - he didn't know about it at first and people (who were ninjas/samurai in the Nabari world) were interested in his power. Some became his friends and others just wanted to use the power for their own gains or to create their ideal world. It shows how misguided some people can be by destroying lives around them just to get what they want. There is also goodness where strangers became Miharu's friends and were there to help him. Another important character is Yoite who had the power of Kira and was also called the Death God. The scenes of him and Miharu were very touching as the 2 of them were similar in some ways and they shared a special bond.

I also like how the anime portrays some baddies with some goodness in them and even the good guys had some secrets they were keeping. Things were not what they seemed to be. It was fascinating to see how the story developed. I feel it's kind of unpredictable. Initially, I was attracted to the ninja fighting scenes, then in the later part, it was how the feelings and emotions of the characters were played out.

Most of the guys in the anime (especially Thobari Sensei)look cute and I initially thought one of them (Raiko) was a girl with his pink colour hair. Thobari sensei (another good guy) looks very cool and he was very funny to have a phobia of taking any form of transport.

Additional Ramblings:
Was additionally discussing this and told my friend (above) that I got the goosebumps when the characters appeared on Miharu but she said she thought it was cool. :)

Spoilers (please highlight the text below to read):

There seem to be some notable differences between the manga and the anime. Was discussing with my friend and realised that in the ending of the anime, the memory of Yoite's existance was not erased by the Shirabanshou as it is mentioned in the wiki. She considers the anime version a happier one for this, as I mentioned it was really sad that Miharu no longer remembered Yoite, but then perhaps it's not sad if one doesn't remember/know (the whole purpose of Yoite's wish). But, as a reader/viewer, it's really sad to know. She also mentioned that she thinks Yoite didn't want Miharu to use the Shirabanshou to erase him as it was unnatural and "what's done is done". I think all in all this series seems to set us thinking about deeper issues. :)

Finished

Just finished VK Guilty and feeling...well, a bit disappointed. The ending seemed rushed although I wanted some action instead of draggy flashbacks. On who she finally chose, I did ask my friend earlier if it was ambiguous and she said no, but in the end I did feel it wasn't quite resolved and I also felt really really sad for the one that she left. The ending didn't seem like an ending but seemed open to a part 2 of sorts although perhaps on the other hand, one is supposed to imagine what comes next.

A lot of tormented souls (do vampires have souls?)...


A lot a lot of unanswered questions...



Spoilers ahead...Highlight to see.










- like how Kaname is not her real brother, that part was really fuzzy
- the whole association plus elder council collaboration thing was a bit weak on motives and objectives
- the reason Rido wanted just Yuuki's blood, couldn't it have been Kaname's? Another pureblood's? There seems to be some relationship there that isn't quite clearly spelt out.
- kept thinking why Zero didn't make his brother a vampire to save him

Reassessing this and thinking about it, it really is a very sad tragic story. The saddest parts are when the parents died, and Zero's twin died, and when Yuuki takes blood from Zero and realises he loves her when all that's going through his mind is her name.

VK Guilty

Well, guilty of one thing - starting VK Guilty at the insistence of my fellow manga/anime loving friend. The art and all is great, as per expected. I realise that I've been so reluctant to watch it probably because of a few factors, like that I wanted to wait for the manga to finish and get the entire set and enjoy from the beginning (maybe?) or perhaps it is really cos I don't want to find out who Yuuki ends up with cos I want her to have both of them!!! (more likely?). So I started watching the last season's epi 13 to recap, but the only version on hand was the French subbed. And oh boy did I struggle cos I'm just not used to it and read French oh so sloooooow....But thankfully, it is surprisingingly easy dialogue - hmmm...they don't say much of complexity, do they? ;p

Ok, still wrangling time to watch the rest...

And some negatives - I'm finding the plot painfully slow, with some "emotional" bits a bit too drawn out and then some. The dialogue sometimes goes in circles and some parts I could have done without. The drawing of hands were also really weird, with those scenes of Zero and Yuuki a bit ruined when her hands were the same size as his. The proportions were just a bit too much off.

In the poster on top I also find Yuuki a bit less attractive/sweet/cute than she is in the anime. It's somehow as if she's a bit too gaunt or something. I do like her with longer hair but in this she just looks strange.

Should I?

Came across Mars, another manga by the same author as Eternal Sabbath, and the characters look similar. I'm wondering whether to read it. Seems as angsty and dramatic as ES and even more so, dealing with rape, abuse, suicide, etc. etc, and plus, the couple (did you get it's a romance?) fall in and out of love throughout the manga (talk about tormented!). Well, these were elements in ES as well. So maybe it's too much for me right now.