Woo!

[telophase]

Thanks to MangaBlog, I've just found out that the Rurouni Kenshin mangaka, Nobuhiro Watsuki, will be a guest of Viz at the SDCC. Anyone on the friendslist going to the SDCC who can get a sketch from him fangirl him for me, please do so but not if it involves standing in a very long line.

Am most of the way through volume 26 now: the saga's winding to a close. He does have a tendency to story bloat - the Kyoto arc was originally scheduled to last one year and ended up taking two, IIRC. I also like the liner notes where he explains how he based the character designs of various of his secondary characters on Marvel characters. GOSH I'D NEVER HAVE NOTICED HOW THAT DUDE LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE APOCALYPSE. XD

Man, now I need a Kenshin icon. And Sanosuke. And Yahiko. rachelmanija? Have you read RK? Somehow I think you'd really like the character of Yahiko, especially as he grows throughout the series.

Comments

[octopedingenue]

And Sanosuke's TOTALLY AUTHENTIC HORSE-KILLING SWORD OMG!

I need to finish RK, don't I.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

That is SO TOTALLY NOT OVERBALANCED! I gotta say, I love the wacky explanations of powers, weapons, and methods that keep RK juuuuust this side of fantasy. They drove me crazy at first, but then I got into the groove and started thinking "OK, how's he gonna cover for this one, huh?"

[umadoshi.livejournal.com]

Yahiko! *^^* (My one sadness with the whole domestic release is that there don't seem to be any plans to release Yahiko's side story. ;_;)

*loves all of the characters, really*

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I managed to find it in scanlation many and many a moon ago, although I've forgotten where I backed it up. :D

I like that he's a typical shounen protagonist character, but not the actual subject of the story - they did some slightly subversive things with that.

[umadoshi.livejournal.com]

I have it in scanlation as well, but I wish they'd included it in the final volume or something--it's a nice thought (and a good marketing move) to include the first chapter of Watsuki's new series, but I just don't care that much about it. :/

I don't fully understand why I didn't get particularly into the series on a fandom level, because I really like it. But other than one fanfic, it just never clicked for me that way. ;_;

*reads other comments* *nods* avataresque does really nice work--the majority of my custom icons are hers (although I've got them all credited to flamika, her other journal).

[telophase.livejournal.com]

That reminds me ... half the Death Note icons I've used in the past were by the_pixelized *goes and adds that journal to new icon filter*

I haven't looked into the RK fandom - I want to read and participate in interesting discussions on it, but the idea of potentially sharing space with bad fanart, OOC fic, and Kaoru vs. Tomoe fights doesn't appeal to me.

[umadoshi.livejournal.com]

I don't think I have any of the_pixelized's icons in rotation, but I've really liked the occasional DN comic strips. ^_^

I can be of no help with Kenshin fandom, alas. I seem to recall poking around a bit when I first "finished" watching the anime (or as close to it as I'm ever going to get), but I don't remember finding much . . . *checks info of a friend who's much more into it* Have you tried rk_fans?

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Not yet ... I've only started poking around this morning. :) And probably won't do too much until I've got volume 28 finished.

Man I should do some actual work today instead of poking about LJ, shouldn't I? It's just that whole Friday thing (plus I have to work tomorrow afternoon. XP)

[umadoshi.livejournal.com]

Work + Friday = bad. *nods*

*amused* My husband is in training with a new job, and just called to ask me to Google something for their scavenger hunt in the park. (Now *that* is appropriate work for a Friday in July.)

[mscongeniality.livejournal.com]

Man...if you find a place where you actually can have those discussions, let me know. I'm all for it.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

So far, the best place there is is rilina's journal, as she's just finished the series. She's a bit behind on posting about it, though. :D

[telophase.livejournal.com]

and here are her posts so far (http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?keyword=Rurouni+Kenshin&user=rilina&sortby=des).

[sparkylibrarian.livejournal.com]

Ah, run out and buy the September Shonen Jump when it hits stores. They've promised to publish Yahiko's story there then. I think it's Sept.

[mscongeniality.livejournal.com]

Watsuki is cracktacular in his own, special way and I love him for it. If you ever find any decent RK icons please let me know where you found them. I've been hoping for a while now and am entirely too lazy to actually make my own.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Will do. And if you find any, let me know. :D

[mscongeniality.livejournal.com]

I have a whopping 3 unused and sitting on my hard drive. They're by avataresque, moonbeam_icons and a deleted account. They're nice, but in the same dark, depressing vein as a good many of my icons. I keep hoping I'll find something different that I actually like.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

There ought to be, somewhere, a good confuse-a-Kenshin* icon with "Oro?" It seems only natural.

* In much the same vein as Monty Python's Confuse-a-Cat, I expect.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I've just found two Kenshin icon communities, although haven't looked trhough them other than to confirm they've been active in the past month. kenshin_icons and rk_icons.

And also have just started an icon community filter at http://telophase.livejournal.com/friends/icons and started watching 5 or 6 icon communities/journals there, in case anyone cares.

[mscongeniality.livejournal.com]

Woo!

[rabican.livejournal.com]

I should dig up all my Kenshin icons and post them already.

Also, now that I'm actually reading Marvel the RK designs are SOOOOOO much funnier. I like to call the Black Hat storyline "The Ballad of Evil Gambit."

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Yes. Yes, you should. *waits expectantly*

Heee! So right! If I ever was bored enough, I could go through RK and Marvel and post all the correspondences. which could then possibly end up as a manga essay on where plagiarism ends and homage begins

[rabican.livejournal.com]

*sputters*

He likes Spawn, too, doesn't he? I'm told that's what Hiko's cloak is based on.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

The ever-growing cloak! XD

[rabican.livejournal.com]

The one which singlehandedly explains why Kenshin will never be the master of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu!

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I've been meaning to return to RK. I wasn't hugely impressed by the first volume or the first six or so anime episodes, but I can say the same for many of my favorite series.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

The Kyoto arc is really the most accomplished part of the series. And in the anime ... DO NOT WATCH ANYTHING AFTER THAT ARC. They ran out of manga and made shit up. It's ... well, not as bad as Saiyuki Reload Gunlock, but that ain't sayin' much.

You haven't hit Aoshi yet. You'll like Aoshi - tall, dark-haired repressed bishounen. Or Saito either, IIRC, who you may like. And Yashiko doesn't come into his own until the latter half of the series, IMHO.

You just have to get used to the wacky villains, and chalk it up to the crack.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

* Re: Aoshi: did I mention the angst?

[heyoka.livejournal.com]

Mmmmmm, Saito.

Post-Kyoro arc anime...there is NO KEYBOARD MASH sufficient to express my SOUL-DEEP LOATHING. Although man, the Marvel "homage" sure does explain emo!Christian!Terrorist dude's Dr. Strange cloak. Always wondered about that.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I watched much of the post-Kyoto anime before I learned that it wasn't based on the manga, whereupon I breathed a sigh of relief. I finished watching it, just to do so, but ... man.

I own the last OVA, but haven't watched the second half of it ... I've heard that Watsuki is on record as saying he didn't like where the writers took it, and I have this weird feeling that it will really seem all over once I watch it. But if I never watch it ... there's always still Kenshin in the world. (yes, I have a broad idea of what happens in it.)

[heyoka.livejournal.com]

Man, you finished? You're a woman of greater fortitude than myself. I ground my teeth all the way through the emo!Christian arc. Then they got into the storyline with the...pirates? and the lost dog? or something? And I stood up in the middle of the theater and yelled "No more f*cking Kenshin!!"

(this was back in the day when I was an officer in the UT Anime Club and could do that without being beat down ^_^;; )

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I was in grad school at the time. It was either that or read more of the crap that passes for academic writing in the library field.

I also watched all of Weiss Kreuz Gluehen the same year. PH33R M3.

[fourthage.livejournal.com]

I watched the second OAV because it was the only Kenshin thing I hadn't seen, and I wish I hadn't. It was beautiful and all, but not at all consistent with where Kenshin ended up as a character at the manga's end.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

You'll like Aoshi - tall, dark-haired repressed bishounen.

Re: Aoshi: did I mention the angst?

You know me far too well.

I think I'll pick up a chunk of the series at Comic Con this weekend, as manga usually runs 25% off there.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Aoshi has beautiful, beautiful angst. OK, not in the I-slept-with-my-sister-and-then-she-killed-herself category, but it made me love him.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

RK is also, like, THE exemplar for manga where two characters fight and the rest of the cast stands around and explains what's happening in the fight, and what each character's advantages and disadvantages are. (Which means Watsuki has to have reasons why there's this audience watching the fights, so people can't really sneak off on their own to duel.)

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I actually like that. It cracks me up in Naruto when characters have to draw chibi diagrams to explain what's happening in the fights.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I don't think they resort to drawing chibi diagrams, but not only the audience but the fight participants spend inordinate amounts of time explaining their deepest fighting secrets to each other.

"At first glance it would seem the one with the katana holds the advantage. But longer ranges also have more blind spots. You use kodachi against katana within this one's blind spot, then attack with your fist. But if the range of the katana is altered to that of the kodachi ... the blind spot naturally shrinks."

"... Mm. The katana shows its sharpness by pushing or pulling against the target. If you simply grasp it, especially at the base where it's most dull, it won't dig into the bone. Break the bone ... by letting the flesh be cut ... is it? I have seen ... the true essence of the hitokiri."

That's the second of two entire pages devoted to explaining a page and a half of action.

[mscongeniality.livejournal.com]

It really does get better--both the manga and the anime.

The first season of the anime was about half filler, and the second is almost directly out of the pages of the manga. The third is a classic example of pure filler killing an otherwise good show.

[fourthage.livejournal.com]

I've been meaning to screencap Sanosuke twirling his big-ass sword to make an icon that says, "Go, go, Gadget-copter!"

I'm a big dork.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Do eeeeeeet! so I can steal it