I've been re-reading all my copies of Fruits Basket, and continue to be more pleased with it than revolted. There's a soupcon of that "OMG must CLING TO LOVE because I'm just a WEAK WOMAN WHO NEEDS A MAN" and "I, the man, must be the strong hero warrier Prince for my beloved because she's too weak to take care of herself!!!!" but most of it's pretty rockin'. Lots of character development and change, mysteries, pretty pretty clothing, and I like the fact that the ladies change their hairstyles frequently. And people don't wear uniforms all the time. IE, they have casual clothing, different outfits, summer clothing, formal clothing, etc. And it's real clothing, not just Chobits-style Loli costumes. Anyway. Speaking of Chobits, I'm hoping the ending of the series doesn't make me fall over in rage because srsly. That was a retarded ending.

Woah, I'm digressing.

One of the things I like about Fruits Basket is that it's presented in the original format, and (at least in the beginning) the sound effects are translated and sometimes explained. Little puns are also spelled out. It's a pretty rich experience that adds a lot to the book. It's not just translated, it's explained.

Blade of the Immortal is another favorite manga. I love love love it. The writing is great, the characters grow and change, the art is just fantastic, the storyline is compelling. Yeah, Rin is kind of whiney and helpless, but she tries. She's not whiney and helpless because she's a girl, she's whiney and helpless because she's Rin. There's so many strong, capable, female characters in the book... and Rin wants to be like them. She aspires to more than what she is. It's refreshing. One thing I don't like about Blade of the Immortal is that the art was either cut and pasted or else reverse copied so it reads "Western Style." While that makes it easier for me, a Westerner, to read... it also fucks up the flow of the art/dialogue somewhat and can be jarring because due to the reverse copying sometimes huge identifying marks are suddenly flipped around. Waugh!

One of my great fears is that Dark Horse will re-release Blade of the Immortal, from volume one, in the correct format. Because then I will be compelled to go back and re-purchase all the volumes I already own. At the same time, I'd absolutely love to read them in the original format.

I was nosing around When Fangirls Attack and followed a link discussing Princess Ai. I've seen ads for this and dismissed it as a piece of crap (reading the Wikipedia article kind of reinforces that idea), but it also seems that it was drawn/printed Eastern style. Er. Why? I mean, I understand trying to ape manga and such, but uh... if you're writing for a Western audience, using English (which reads Left to Right), why publish a book that runs counter to that? I don't get it. It just seems stupid. Imitation doesn't make an authentic product.

It's late. I was staying up because of some medication I'm taking. I'm done babbling now. I'll leave you. G'night.