Life 1x01-1x02

Charlie Crews was a cop who was imprisoned for twelve years for a crime he didn't commit. Now he's been exonerated, and he's back on the force. His partner and superior officer is Dani Reese, an ex-addict. Together, they fight crime!

So, vonnie_k has already warned that the first few episodes aren't so great, and coffeeandink has been full of Dani love. I too am full of Dani love, but my problem is: every single time Charlie Crews is onscreen, I want to hit him over the head with a giant stick. I hate his quirkiness, his incredibly annoying Zen Buddhism quotes that sound like he's learned Buddhism from fortune cookies, the way he miraculously gets to solve all the crimes, and just... arrrgh. I did not realize that rogue cops who are all genius-like and show up other people by being so creative and so unbiased by things like evidence were a pet peeve of mine, but apparently they are. Like, the scene where he gets the kid away from Dani and gets the kid to talk? ARGH!

Also, I want to bash him over the head for sleeping with everything that walks and for being insanely rich and for not talking to his father. I am sure much of this is unreasonable, but there you have it. It's the quirkiness! And the Zen aphorisms! I hate them so much!

That said, is it worth my watching more episodes? I love Dani, and I love watching her and the lieutenant together in particular, but Charlie is driving me crazy. I do not care about him or his daddy issues or his attempts to solve the murders that got him imprisoned. At all. And seriously, the next time he chants "I am not attached" to himself, I will throw Buddhist monks at him.

Gantner, Amy Kim - Sorcerers and Secretaries, vol. 01 (orig. Eng.)

Nicole is university student by day, receptionist at night, and writer whenever she can find the time. Her old neighbor Josh is working in a bookstore and getting lots of people's phone numbers, though he still wants hers, since she's the only person who's ignored him.

(For those interested, the art style is more indie comics than shoujo.)

This should be a sweet shoujo series on the power of the imagination, but it completely didn't work for me.

We get to see snippets of the story Nicole is writing, and sadly, I was very bored by it, which means I didn't emotionally buy the power the story had over her. I do grok the draw of writing and creating, but as a reader, it was like reading one of those things that tells you so-and-so is incredibly witty when all their dialogue is not.

I like that Josh is Korean American (I think?), but I hate the womanizing thing and how he stalkerishly pursues her. It was a little better after the reveal that they had actually spent some fun times together, but in the beginning, it seemed like he went out of his way to pursue her despite her consistent expressing of non-interest, and that was very off-putting.

Unfortunately, the rest of the romance is also boring. There are too many stupid misunderstandings, and Josh acts like he has zero comprehension of human behavior (who takes the advice "Go pick a fight with her; it'll make her like you better" seriously?). I also completely did not buy the final turn which leads Nicole to reject Josh -- it felt like it happened just because they needed to be kept apart for another volume, not for anything real.

Didn't work for me at all.

Fujieda Toru - Oyayubihime Infinity, vol. 06 (Eng. trans.)

( Spoilers )

That said, while I didn't find the latter volumes nearly as interesting, this is still a pretty nice, solid series with some interesting takes on the usual reincarnation tropes.

CLAMP - Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, ch. 172-176

( Spoilers! )

CLAMP - xxxHolic, ch. 144-147

Also contains spoilers through Tsubasa ch. 176!

( Spoilers )