Yuki Kaori - Godchild, vol. 01 (Eng. trans.)

I read this at Borders, and after I read it, I was so completely boggled by the cracktasticness and sheer Victorian gothic insanity that I promptly went upstairs to look at knitting books, because nothing else in the manga section could possibly compare.

I'm not quite sure if I like it or not, but it's definitely cracktastic like nothing else. Every time I thought things couldn't get more insane, they did.

Apparently Godchild is a sequel of sorts to Count Cain or The Saga of Count Cain or however Viz is choosing to translate the title. It doesn't seem as though it's been published here yet.

The very first panel of Godchild kindly tells us that Cain is the mysterious son of the dead Earl of Hargreaves; his incredible loneliness means that his one hobby is poisons. (I am reduced to incoherent giggling at this, but wait! It gets better!) He has a half-sister Mary Weather, bastard child of the Earl and a non-noblewoman. Mary Weather is 10, doll-like and innocent and spunky, but luckily not enough so that I wanted to throw something at her. Yet. Cain is served by the mysterious butler Riff; together, they fight crime! Not really, but they investigate the aftermath.

Then, things get even more insane! Apparently Cain's father was the head of some super-secret society, and a beautiful blonde doctor, Jezebel Disraeli (I think), who was also part of said secret society, has a dread love-hate relationship with Hargreaves and desperately wants to kill Cain, fuck with his mind, or just have sex with him, or all of the above, or all of the above at the same time, since this is manga. And then it ends with the announcement that apprently Jezebel collects eyes and wants Cain's beautiful golden eyes.

Just to remind you all, this is the first panel summary of Count Cain.

The story takes place in Victorian England, but has absolutely nothing to do with Victorian England and much more to do with the Goth-Lolita fashion and aesthetic so popular in Harajuku. Aka, baby-doll dresses in Victorian fashion, long ringlets, little cloth caps or sashes in the hair, platform shoes and striped stockings, lace and lace and lace, and lots of black. There's a little nursery rhyme or children's story in front of each short story mystery except the last -- the first is something like the White Rabbit or the Mad Hatter, the second is something about the crooked house on the crooked lane, and the third is "Baa Baa Black Sheep." The fourth is some sort of bridle or torture mask, which is really rather indicative.

The first story is on a serial killer in a white rabbit mask who beheads young girls, ala the Queen of Hearts' "Off with her head!" The second story has to do with creepy dolls come to life or death or something, which I'm sure is in no way a spoiler, because how else could a Victorian goth murder mystery short story with a room full of life-size, lifelike dolls end?

So far, the relationship between Cain and Mary Weather isn't quite incestuous, but he wants to protect her innocence from the world, and she says she wouldn't mind being caged like a bird, as long as it was caged in his love. I suspect incest will enter shortly, or some sort of devotion that isn't quite proper.

Then there's Riff, the dark and mysterious butler, who is the only one Cain wants dressing him.

Then, of course, there is the absolutely insane Jezebel, who lusts after Cain's golden eyes.

My problems with the story are the same problems I have with Angel Sanctuary -- the guys are ten times as interesting as the girls, and I'm really hoping Mary doesn't turn into a Sara-esque character. I'm not quite sure why I don't mind this with Saiyuki... maybe it's because there aren't the child-like younger sisters who are beautifully innocent.

On the other hand, the sheer cracktasticness! It hurts my brain! I am still completely stunned by how absolutely Victorian gothic Lolita insane this is. I spent the entire walk back from Borders trying desperately not to cackle out loud.

ETA: coffeeandink on Godchild 1. I agree with her; Viz's translation is horrible.

Samurai Champloo, ep. 01-07

I really adored Cowboy Bebop, so I wasn't quite sure what my reaction to Samurai Champloo would be. But after rachelmanija told me it was a deliberately anachronistic yet extremely accurate loosely-structured quest story set in late Edo Japan, complete with hip hop, I decided I'd definitely give it a try, if nothing else.

Fuu, a bouncy 15-year-old waitress with no family, manages to sort of rescue Jin, a stoic ronin, and Mugen, a convict from Ryuukyuu (Okinawa). In return, she makes them promise to a) not kill each other and b) help her find a samurai who smells of sunflowers. And off they go, a-questing.

It took a while for the characters to catch me, but right now, I really want to watch more! This is largely due to episodes 6 and 7. Episode 6 is extremely cracktastic and had me giggling so hard that I would have fallen off the bed, except rilina's laptop was on my knees and that would have been bad. So I just giggled nonstop through all of this episode and half of the next episode.

Episode 7 is more serious, and there's just some beautiful animation in the last parts.

To give you some sense of how the series works, the first episode starts with a statement that the series is set in Edo Japan (1600-1867) and that it is historically inaccurate. And then they add something like, "And if you can't deal with that, screw you!"

Another episode narration starts with a summation of the action done kabuki style, and yet another follows Fuu, Mugen and Jin's tracks across an ancient map of Japan, except their trail looks like a series of subway stops.

And now, episode six, which is currently my favorite episode ever! I'm cut-tagging, but seriously, anyone can read this. No spoilers except for the episode, and it was so utterly cracktastic and insane and funny and historically accurate yet anachronistic that it still makes me giggle!

( Episode 6 )

rachelmanija has some write-ups, as does kate_nepveu (here), and rilina (eps. 1-4 and 5-7).

(ETA: fixed links)

If anyone else has any, let me know!

Megan Whalen Turner links?

I've noticed lately that a good deal of my flist has been reading or re-reading Megan Whalen Turner (yay!!!). I'd love to post some sort of collection of all the reviews or just comments or whatnot on the books, so if anyone knows of any posts on Turner and the Attolia books or has their own and wouldn't mind them being linked to, please comment!