X, ep. 04-05
Thu, Aug. 12th, 2004 01:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterEep! Things have started happening again! I continued to not feel sorry for Kamui until Tokiko showed up, at which point pretty much everything starts sucking like mad for him. Your mother died because of you! Of course, it doesn't help that I now remember what happens to Tokiko. I have to say, I sort of snorted when Tokiko asked Kamui if she looked familiar. If everyone in CLAMP manga and anime went by that rule, everyone would be related! I like CLAMP, but one must admit that aside from the hairstyle, clothing and occasional eyebrow difference, everyone looks exactly alike. But, oh, the impending tragedy! Looking forward to future episodes filled with angst and doom for Kamui, who is destined to save the world, because that's what all 15-year-old kids do. (I think he's fifteen... ?)
I also had epiphany moment with an opening shot of the Togakushi Shrine. Of course the Divine Sword is there! "Tou" is the kanji for sword and "kakushi" is the kanji for hidden. And then someone said something about being surprised that one of the Seven Angels managed to find the sword, because the location was not common knowledge. Except... er... they have the sign hanging right on the entrance to the shrine in what amounts to giant neon letters: "HIDDEN SWORD HERE."
I need to listen more closely to when Nataku speaks -- I think, but am not sure, that the entire speech on his origins never used a pronoun and as such, did not specify his gender. I use the male pronoun when writing about him because the subtitles do, but thanks to the grammatical structure of Japanese, the actual speech very easily avoids any sort of gendered labels for Nataku. I wonder if he calls himself "boku" or "watashi." Or maybe just "Nataku"?
I especially enjoy the juxtaposition of the wildly fantastical and the blandly normal in X. On one hand, you have pretty boys wallowing in tragedy with swords and wings and red ribbons and sakura petals. And the giant gears of fate implacably driving them to their final destiny. On the other hand, there is a sleeping princess in the basement of the Diet building; the skyscrapers of Shinjuku and the Yamanote train line and the Tokyo Tower keep Tokyo safe from mystical forces. (I was very excited when I visited Tokyo -- "I'm on the Tokyo Tower!" or "I'm riding the Yamanote line!" or "I'm in Shinjuku!! It's right out of X!!") And Aoki has to race back to work, late because of an unanticipated monster attack (reminds me of Buffy). Hee. I had forgotten he worked at Asuka (the company the publishes X the manga). I also like the echo of Fuuma being able to enter someone else's kekkai in an earilier episode.
The importance of names continues with the Magami clan ("kami" there is the same kanji as in "Kamui").
I'm getting slightly more used to Sorata's voice. I think if I had not read the manga before, I would have found his character immensely grating and annoying, because the voice actor is just that bad, but luckily I have residual fondness from the manga. It gets less grating after one has heard it for a while, although whenever I start an episode, I get that unpleasant surprise again whenever he opens his mouth.
I miss manga-Arashi's hair, which looked like individual threads of black, all stick-straight and fanning out behind her. Animation can't quite capture that level of detail.
And two girls with swords now, whoo! Are all the swords in this series organic in some way? There's the apparently organic Divine Swords, Arashi's sword, Yuzuriha's dog-spirit-sword.
Yuzuriha is so cute and genki! I love the scene where she just bounces in and defuses all the tension in the room from sheer genki-ness. "Hi!!! I'm Nekoi Yuzuriha!!! Pleased to meet you!!!" You can see the multiple exclamations and smiley faces punctuating all her sentences, almost.
I also had epiphany moment with an opening shot of the Togakushi Shrine. Of course the Divine Sword is there! "Tou" is the kanji for sword and "kakushi" is the kanji for hidden. And then someone said something about being surprised that one of the Seven Angels managed to find the sword, because the location was not common knowledge. Except... er... they have the sign hanging right on the entrance to the shrine in what amounts to giant neon letters: "HIDDEN SWORD HERE."
I need to listen more closely to when Nataku speaks -- I think, but am not sure, that the entire speech on his origins never used a pronoun and as such, did not specify his gender. I use the male pronoun when writing about him because the subtitles do, but thanks to the grammatical structure of Japanese, the actual speech very easily avoids any sort of gendered labels for Nataku. I wonder if he calls himself "boku" or "watashi." Or maybe just "Nataku"?
I especially enjoy the juxtaposition of the wildly fantastical and the blandly normal in X. On one hand, you have pretty boys wallowing in tragedy with swords and wings and red ribbons and sakura petals. And the giant gears of fate implacably driving them to their final destiny. On the other hand, there is a sleeping princess in the basement of the Diet building; the skyscrapers of Shinjuku and the Yamanote train line and the Tokyo Tower keep Tokyo safe from mystical forces. (I was very excited when I visited Tokyo -- "I'm on the Tokyo Tower!" or "I'm riding the Yamanote line!" or "I'm in Shinjuku!! It's right out of X!!") And Aoki has to race back to work, late because of an unanticipated monster attack (reminds me of Buffy). Hee. I had forgotten he worked at Asuka (the company the publishes X the manga). I also like the echo of Fuuma being able to enter someone else's kekkai in an earilier episode.
The importance of names continues with the Magami clan ("kami" there is the same kanji as in "Kamui").
I'm getting slightly more used to Sorata's voice. I think if I had not read the manga before, I would have found his character immensely grating and annoying, because the voice actor is just that bad, but luckily I have residual fondness from the manga. It gets less grating after one has heard it for a while, although whenever I start an episode, I get that unpleasant surprise again whenever he opens his mouth.
I miss manga-Arashi's hair, which looked like individual threads of black, all stick-straight and fanning out behind her. Animation can't quite capture that level of detail.
And two girls with swords now, whoo! Are all the swords in this series organic in some way? There's the apparently organic Divine Swords, Arashi's sword, Yuzuriha's dog-spirit-sword.
Yuzuriha is so cute and genki! I love the scene where she just bounces in and defuses all the tension in the room from sheer genki-ness. "Hi!!! I'm Nekoi Yuzuriha!!! Pleased to meet you!!!" You can see the multiple exclamations and smiley faces punctuating all her sentences, almost.
(no subject)
Thu, Aug. 12th, 2004 06:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Thu, Aug. 12th, 2004 07:33 pm (UTC)That is pretty strange that it's only 24 eps... huh.
(no subject)
Fri, Aug. 13th, 2004 08:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Mon, Aug. 16th, 2004 07:29 pm (UTC)I am ignorant
Fri, Aug. 13th, 2004 01:25 pm (UTC)Re: I am ignorant
Mon, Aug. 16th, 2004 07:26 pm (UTC)