(re)discovering ... anime/manga! [part i]

my very first ideas of anime and manga mainly comprised that of doraemon, that weird little cat without ears and big eyes and a pocket that seemed to be bottomless...and nobita, with giant and su-something, the only girl who seemed to be featured in the cartoon/comic...yeah, brings back memories no...?

but it got kind of lame after awhile. i mean, doraemon is fine for little kids. but i tired of watching nobita get into endless scrapes and doraemon coming to his rescue. how many times is that creature going to go to absurd lengths for such a silly lil kid? no, i did not find nobita particularly adorable. or cute. same goes for doraemon.

so i abandoned the world of anime/manga only to rediscover it...maybe...about 10 years down the line. it's been that long...but well, very very worth the wait. :)
and ooo...i am having a simply marvelous time reading and following the adventures of Syaoran, Sakura, Kurogane, Fye and Mokona in 'Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle' which is written by CLAMP. it's also in anime form in 'Chronicle of the Wings' which recently finished its 1st season run on Channel 75 Animax over on Astro - (tsubasa is Japanese for wings)

the story is a little...complicated. but suffice to say that the 5 of them are on an adventure crossing dimensions and worlds to search for feathers which form part of Princess Sakura's memories and her soul. actually i find Sakura and Syaoran (they were originally from Cardcaptor Sakura, that's why they are so familiar. not that i watched it, it clashed with guide meetings, and later wushu training) quite boring. to quote harn, white bread characters. :P bleh.
and Sakura is quite annoying. she sighs, faints, and says things in a tinkly voice reminiscent of slightly bimbo heroines we find in fairy tales. aiya, common species of princess. nothing special.
Syaoran goes around with either a grim determined look or simply besotted look. a is when he's searching for feathers. and b is when he's around his Princess. but to readers of the manga, if you've gone and read ahead to where the story is now, you'll know that there's more to them than that. but i still don't like both of them very much.

done with the hero and heroine. check out my two fave characters, who are admittedly supporting characters, but i still like them a whole lot more. Kurogane is a bad-tempered, surly, grumpy, mean, brooding and violent (not demented ok. i mean just because he says he's lost count of the number of people he's killed and he looks scary when he's wielding a sword doesn't mean anything...) ninja and Fye is a magician on the lam, from what we are not sure. (although i like spoilers, i don't think i should be so inconsiderate here) his background story is still a mystery to all of us. but hey, that's the fun in reading/watching, no?

Kurogane and Fye both look extremely striking, with Kurogane having red eyes and black spiky hair and Fye having blonde hair and blue eyes...and that smile. he's always smiling. in contrast to Kurogane's eternally unsmiling expression. except when he was on the roof laughing because he had killed maybe 10,12 other ninjas...er, i accept that in this particular world, he might need therapy for his anger issues and Fye might be taking ecstasy or LSD. but hey, what the hell. they are so much more interesting than Syaoran or Sakura. i can't wait to find out more about both of them...
and Mokona...Mokona the white deformed bunny who plagues the life out of Kurogane by teasing him, calling him names and stealing his food!

having read both part of the manga and watching the anime...i must say i am totally blown away ... the manga rocks! i just love the way they manage to juxtapose humour with ultra dramatic moments which you'll be able to identify by the chibi or super deformed expressions on the face of the characters. it's story driven, and there's plenty of excitement. but i sometimes find that character development is a bit slow.
but after certain chapters, things are beginning to speed up towards an ultra huge and majorly exciting confrontation, which will also be a conclusion...suffice to say that when i least expected it, i got a surprise ...

i'm a fan. seriously!