broken-nosed gods

I don't know if I've framed it in these terms before, but one of the plots I am super in favor of are crossovers between dark serious fandoms and light happy bouncy fandoms, where rather than the light happy bouncy fandom characters being torn apart by wild beasts or otherwise being absorbed into the grimdarkness aura the grimdark characters suddenly start playing guitar together or something and everything turns out better than expected. Oh, you thought there was going to be a brutal final battle where everyone's favorite characters die? SURPRISE, MOTHERFUCKER. GARDENING.


I hate that trope -- you know the one -- in grimdark shows where the girly-girl always dies, and the nice one always dies, and strength is based exclusively on how many people you can kill.* (*cough* Gantz *cough*) Fuck that. I want the nice characters to be the ones who keep themselves alive. I wanna see the big dark-and-gritty showdown that is just someone going up to the big bad and getting them to sit down and talk about their feelings. I want hard problems to have happy endings that are not based on violence.

Maybe this is just a reaction to the difficulty of writing dark-and-gritty/not-dark-and-gritty crossovers, idk. But for real, I just want happy crossover things where the happy fandoms suck the grimdark out of the gritty fandoms and suddenly everything is FLOWERS.


*Looking at myself now, I can see that I've sort of kept away from learning 'survival skills' on purpose, to prove I can get on well enough without being able to fight.

This is not the FEELINGS ABOUT GENDER thing I have been planning to post, nor is it the request for veganish recipes I was going to post. Instead, I shall use this space to note that I now have the third volume of Sailor Moon! And the cover is absolutely gorgeous.

I may or may not have shouted "Mars Power!" upon receiving it.


Evil!Mamoru looks like a total tool, by the way.

So, I have been watching Re: Cutie Honey! And enjoying it quite a bit. I love the animation style, love (most of) the characters, love the colors, love the music. I even like the T & A, which is rare for me. Usually panty-shots and obvious cleavage and that sort of thing really, really bother me, but when it comes to things like this I am apparently just fine with it.

Possible reasons include: a) there is no actual male gaze! Most of the manga (not so much anime, since I avoid that genre of animation like the plague) where I've seen really ecchi stuff has a male protagonist, and when you see that stuff it's because of where they're looking. It feels creepy as fuck, because it's like I'm complicit in his sexist fantasies. Not so in Re: Cutie Honey. :D

b) the female characters don't make a big deal out of it! So Honey's clothes got torn off again, so what. Natsuko is damn well going to do more important things, like shoot stuff.

c) In the first episode there is this great, great scene where Honey is basically wearing bits of string. She goes to a cafe with this guy, still without actual clothes, and eats an enormous meal and talks to him like it ain't no thing. Even he acts like she's just wearing a low-cut shirt or something; they have a totally normal and reasonable conversation about her father and nano-machines. This is not a show where the narrative treats nudity as 'boobs, whatever' (unlike Basara) so it's very refreshing to see some of the characters doing so for a while.

d) Honey and Natsuko. They are all about each other and their respective jobs; there is no point whatsoever at which they flirt with dudes, or put up with dudes' shit if they try to flirt with them. While technically-speaking the show's nudity is aimed at guys (I don't think this is the sort of show that was advertised super-heavily to women) it sure doesn't feel like it.

Also, here feels like an appropriate place to mention that Natsuko is the only member of the police who actually accomplishes anything. She is the goddamn savior of the Japanese police force, no matter what those old dudes try to foist off on her.

e) The T & A aren't in the usual ecchi 'sexy sexy' art style. They're just, you know, there. And bouncy.


Other fabulous things: The music! There are all these variations on the opening theme that get used for battle music and such, and they're all pretty fantastic. I'm going to go hunt for mp3s at some point, I think.

Have I mentioned Natsuko? I mean, I know I did, but I don't think I mentioned her enough. She is badass and cool and she is like a cross between Hiruma of Eyeshield 21 and various Cowboy Bebop characters. Or possibly Michiko of Michiko e Hatchin, it's too late at night for me to be sure. But she is a hard-hitting lady of much shouting and many guns, and I kind of adore her.

She is also Honey's girlfriend! Sort of. Eventually. It's really sweet, despite all the (plot-necessitated) nudity.

The other policemen! Apparently the Japanese police force consists of Natsuko, a bunch of old dudes who try to order her around, her two sidekicks, and a bunch of adorable knee-height chibis in uniform. SO CUTE.

The reason the bad guys dissolve when you kill them is because they are made of NANO-MACHINES.

James Bond shoe-phone.


Basically, if you like the kind of things I like, and you are okay with animated women who are often rather lacking in clothing, this show is for you. Here is the opening, if you would like to see for yourself. (Note: the actual OVA contains a lot less of Honey looking upset/getting perved on and a lot more of her and Natsuko kicking ass.)

And now Mamoru is back in his tuxedo and sunglasses, only this time he is wearing DIFFERENT SUNGLASSES. WITH HIS TUXEDO.

Sorry, man. This habit of yours will never stop being hilarious to me.


Also I love how he is TELEPATHIC. But, apparently, only to warn Usagi when she needs to attack. This is a boyfriend superpower I am okay with!

And his hat fell off. Awww.


Ami is super cute! I love how Usagi isn't envious of her at all, she just thinks Ami is amazing for studying so hard and being so brilliant. And she's just so happy that Ami is a guardian too! In that end-of-chapter panel, she is clearly thinking of fistbumps and post-fight friendly ice-cream dates.


Beryl's generals clearly have no idea what the hell this Ginzuisho they're supposed to be looking for is. And that little pause after Nephrite asks her is totally her going "Oh, yeah, I kinda forgot to tell you. Oops."

Have just bought first volumes of Sailor Moon and Sailor V manga. EXCUSE ME, TIME FOR AWESOME.


First pages in full colour, aaaaaaa! UPDATES TO FOLLOW.

Two-and-a-half episodes in, and I am enjoying Creamy Mami a lot more than I expected to! Especially for something that came out eleven years before I was born. I like that it's not a fighting show, the way magical girl things usually are—not that I don't like those fighting shows, but they feel very formulaic. Creamy Mami is quite different; the main plot so far concerns her reluctant recruitment as a singer for an idol company. It's pretty eighties (well, as much as I can recognize as eighties) which probably makes it better rather than worse.

Also, and this is kind of a shallow reason, but I really love the main character's hair. Her character design as a whole is pretty cute, actually. If I'm not careful I might start looking for Creamy Mami everything the way I look for Hello Kitty everything.

I would be okay with this, I think.