Sick-O

Yeah, yeah, I know this is turning into a veritable manga-blog. But so what, that's what is on my mind right now.
But then todays artwork is a manhwa and not a manga. Small difference only, but still not exactly the same. Originally much the same thing as a manga, manhwas come from Korea. What I know about Korea printed in a 10-font-type would fit onto my toenails - and I do cut them regularly. The difference between mangas and manhwas: you read manhwas from left to right like western books and comics, the characters have mostly korean names (surprise, surprise) and there is a slightly different feeling to manhwas - at least the ones that I have read so far. Manhwas seem to be a bit less care-free than mangas. And the action & violence level seems upped a bit in comparison.
The special manhwa that is on my mind right now is by artist Hwang Mi Ri and called "Hot Blooded Woman". She seems a well known manhwa-artist and has published quite a few series starting in the ealry 1990s. The only other one that I have tried so far was "Boarding House of Hunks". Yes, there seems to be a theme of cheesy titles ... You can try out both series online at mangafox.
I found "Hot Blooded Woman" when I was looking for mangas/manhwas with heroines that have a strong fighting skill. The heroine in "Hot Blooded Woman", Ha Ji, is not what I imagined when hearing the title - a hot blooded woman would be someone womanly, probably sensual. Ha Ji is more boyish than most boys, eating like pig, belching and not pretty. She is also the leader of the gang at her high school, a position earned by her well developed fighting skills. She is fun to read about. Still the manga started a bit weak, the plot was developing too fast in the beginning and I found the first three or four chapters mostly confusing. But then the heroine dies in chapter 2 of a 24 volume-thick series. You guess it. She does not really die. Instead the soul of the fighter girl is transfered into the body of the sickly weakish Aram, a girl that is everything that Ha Ji is not. Ha Jis natural temper makes her fight back even in the body of weak Aram. Until she meets Sin Uoo, leader of the gang at her new school. Only Han Seo, her vice leader in her old gang and long term friend discoveres her soul-travelling secret. Ha Ji's soul has to find a way back into her comatose own body. But it seems like the really trouble will only start then.
"Hot Blooded Woman" should rather be called "short tempered woman with an enormous appetite". The artwork is nothing special - pretty average I would say. The heroine is very enjoyable and the hero is a real knightly hunk. So why exactly did I find myself rooting for the second man Jang Han Seo (picture)? What intrigued me in Han Seo was his reckless everything-or-nothing-attitude. This man does not go for half slices. When he thinks that he can not have Ha Ji (although it is never really said in any way that he wants her as a woman, at times I thought he just doesn't want to be taking second place in her life), he would rather destroy her than let someone else have her. So he has complete asshole moments - lots of them. More than good moments. He has a sick mind. He is a possible other choice for Ha Ji but at the same moment he is the villain. Yet, I find him much more interesting than Sin Uoo and despite different expectations kept hoping that he would find a way to win her.

I have since read a review of "Hot Blooded Woman" that critized that Hwang Mi Ri was just re-using all her old ideas in new clothes again. After finishing "Hot Blooded Woman" I have started to read "Boarding House of Hunks", and can see a few similarities as in the character of the heroine. But I have not read enough by hear to be bothered by that - if it is true. Both series have quite a few lough-out-loud moments. As for "Hot Blooded Woman" I thought that the plot seemed divided into three parts, that still are connected by the plot line but have a very different feeling about them. The first part is a romantic comedy, the second part is a dramatic romance with funny and exciting moments, the third part is an exciting dramatic drama. The romance seemed to lose out more and more with the progressing plot. Despite that I found the series very engaging, it provided fun and excitement and even a few moments of romantic heartbeat. It also gave me a new hero for my ever growing manga-harem - welcome Han Seo!

Touch of Tongue

When I saw a short description for the Manga-Series "Five" by Furukawa Shiori the cover art caught my eye and I immediately wanted to give it a try.

The plotline is cute, but nothing new:
Due to her fathers job Asou Hina had to move and change schools pretty much on a regular basis so far, therefore she never had a chance to develop close friendships. She wants to change that at her new school, but finds herself the only girl in a class full of boys. 5 (hence the title) of these boys are quite outstanding and they "adopt" Hina into their circle. But one of them, Shimizu Toshi, known for walking ankle-deep in girlfriends, seems to take a special interest in Hina.
So, you see really that the plot is a quite common mixture of popular shoujo manga themes. There is for one the "new girl at school"-plot on top of a good foundation of the "reverse harem"-plot. Both widely popular. On top of this comes a small dosis of the "fighting heroine"-plot, a small "gender-bender"- side plot and of course the "alpha man protector" hero (almost a given constant in shoujo mangas). There is some comedy, but I have read a good deal of funnier stuff. And some of the plot is really out there, but I still want to call this an absolute masterpiece because of the unique and very appealing "cool" style of the mangaka.
So now a word about the master:
I have looked up other published work by Furukawa Shiori and apart from "Five" there have been released three other series (Hajimari no Kotoba, Number Boy, Tsuki o Dakishimeru). The only translations that I could find are scanlations at mangafox for some of the short story collection "Tsuki o Dakishimeru" and the still unfinished series "Five". I will definitely keep an eye on this artist. Furukawas style is adorable. Not only are the drawings unusual, they are also extremely sensual. Furukawa is very good at drawing eyes, draws very nice hands and even better are the mouths. The lips seem adorable in the mangas, made so by an absolute minimalistic input, it's not what is drawn, but what isn't that seems so attractive. In the front views upper lips are rarely drawn, the bottom lip is defined usually by a single narrow line, what makes the thing work is what is in between. The lips are slightly open, wide open, drawn into lopsided smiles or cheeky grins. But what really pushes my button is the fact, that Furukawa has a tongue thing. The characters are constantly sticking their tongues out, catching drops of ice cream, licking their lips and doing various acrobatics with their tongues and it is absolutely ... wow. This rather small and simple seeming thing gives the manga a very earthy sensuality, a feeling of cheekiness, of teasing sexuality. Okay, its a given that the main hero is a real boycandy, the heroine supercute and even most of the sidecast looks really hip, but there's quite a lot of that out there. "Five" manages to create sexual tension while still staying within the proper boundaries of a free-for-under-16-shoujo manga. No halfclad heroine, no cheasy love scene, but a trendy style of drawing, a dose of retro-art and pop-art and a touch of tongue. So what if you do not have the characters undress themselves - who bothers about the clothing level when Toshi opens his mouth and licks his lips?

This just managed to remind me again that even what seems commonplace at first sight can be really hot - in the right light. The tongue thing absolutely does it for me. The tongue is an underrated and neglected body part anyway and really deserving of this artistic hommage.

Wallow in misery

I usually prefer mangas leaning towards the romantic comedy genre. If you have followed the previous blogs you know that I am an addicted sucker to Hana Kimi and may guess from a picture that I liked Zettai Kareshi (though I admit that I was struck dumb by the ending, I was warned beforehand that it doesn’t end as one might wish, but THAT was really out there …). I usually read for escapism, to dip into other worlds and I enjoy myself there.
More by accident I came upon a manga series by award winning manga-ka Obata Yuuki, called “Bokura ga ita” (could be translated as "This was us"). It kind of stood out amongst the other mangas by its unusual pastel coloured dreamy looking front covers. So I got the first three volumes on a hunch and now I’m hooked at something I never would have chosen willingly and there’s no way back and no light at the end of the tunnel.
"Bokura ga ita" stands out in more ways than just the style of drawing. This is way different from the easy going mangas I normally read and prefer. This unusual teenage romance with a high school setting has no comedy at all – it’s dead serious, dark, bitter-sweet, compelling and disturbing.

"Bokura ga ita" tells the story of Takahashi Nanami who in her first year in High School finds herself in the same class as the very popular Yano Motoharu, who is famous for having most of the girls falling in love with him. Seeing Yuno as a spoilt, egocentrical, selfish and opportunistic womanizer, Nanami believes herself immune to his charms and claims herself to belong to the minority of girls who see nothing in him.
But as Nanami and the readers slowly unravel shadowy secrets of the seemingly easy-going Yano and discover a dark side to him, they find Nanami falling head over heels for the exact guy she wanted to avoid.

I have read other mangas trying the twist turning towards the melodramatic, they failed and showed the believability (and class) of cheap soap operas. But in Bokura ga ita the whole things works just fine. For all its dark sides – or maybe because of them – it seems frighteningly real. Because this is what love felt like when I was young. It was not the pink died romantic happy feeling that warms your heart, but a frightening feeling of hopelessness, of knowing you would never be happy.
While Obata has a very distinctive dreamy and easy looking way of drawing - it is strangely at odds with this disturbing tale of madness, lies and broken hearts. The characters are excellently woven, none of them are easy to predict and especially the half heroic/more than half villainy Yano is astoundingly intriguing for a teenage-love story. You get to love him, and then he takes your heart and wrings it dry – still smiling all the way. The whole story is sooo not what I expected. Not the easy going tale of first stolen kisses on a high school. To say it was an emotional rollercoaster seems too tame a comparison. More like inviting a heavy duty steam-roller to run over your heart repeatedly.
I was still half clue-less after the first volume which left me intrigued and a bit puzzled. Because Obata takes her time developing characters and plot. That is probably the reason why at the end of the third volume my blood ran cold seeing the characters happily racing towards doomsday, cheerily inviting the apocalypse. And every time you recover from the punch the plot gave you full force into the guts, you can already feel the artists fist connecting with your jaw …again.
I found reading this series extremely painful. My heart beats away furiously, my mind can’t grasp that the characters don’t see the abyss right in front of their noses. It is a gut-wrenching, mind-blowing, blood poisoning story of heartbeat and the misery of being 16. It hurts to read this, which makes the experience everything but joyful – yet of course if a story is able to pull you into such emotional depth you can be sure it is a masterpiece.

I don’t usually do sad and painful stories. I have managed to stay clear of the books by Cecilia Ahern for this exact reason, even though I am sure I would agree with my friends, that they are wonderful. I just can’t take it. Neither can I take "bokura ga ita". I can't fully understand why anyone would willingly read something so sad - the story seems designed to pull you down and frankly I get down without help from outside, thanks very much. But due to my addictive personality I got hooked and have to know how it ends. To make the pain pass by quicker I have swopped from mangas to the anime – series. I'm still hoping that this will have a happy ending, but even if so the road to that end is sure not an easy one. The anime is a comparatively cheap adaption of the manga; Using the more or less the exact pictures (only coloured in) of the artist with only minimal animated effects added. If you are interested you find the anime-series at Youtube. If you want to give the manga a shot, you find free scanlations for the first volumes online at mangafox. It is excellent, but beware that "Bokura ga ita" should come together with warnings of danger to your mental health.

Mowing bees

Yesterday I had to mow our lawn. My husband, who originates from the United Kingdom always wants to achieve the perfect english lawn. You know - like in Hyde Park. Or the Wembley stadion. But he is working out of town coming home only now and then, which leaves the mowing mostly in my incapable hands. As long as I am the one mowing his chance on achieving the perfect lawn is exactly zilch. It's not that I have anything against short and evenly cut grass. But I seldom have the time to spend a whole morning or afternoon on cutting grass and that is what it would take at least. More so - we have weeds, quite a proud collection of weeds actually. You name the weed - we have it. And gardening being usually rather on the bottom of my to-do-list, the weeds are positively thriving. Right now clover is in full bloom. When you look over our back garden, the whole place is covered under a tight web of flowering white clover. There is so much of it, that walking through the back, you can smell the clover everywhere. And that says something, because if you take a single clover flower and hold it to your nose, I'd say it doesn't smell much of anything. But sheer number does it. You can smell the clover then.

So, back to beginning. I was mowing the lawn. The clover-infested lawn. When you stand really quiet for a moment and concentrate you can even hear the humming. Because of cause clover seems to be some kind of pollen-delicatessen for bees. So there are bees. Lots of them all over the clover and me mowing. Of course what happens is this. A bee is sitting on a clover flower having its way with it, doing the age-old deed of bees and flowers when suddenly a big red dirty stinking lawn mower appears and goes right over them. The sharp rotating knife is powered by a Briggs&Stratton engine and whirl relentlessly over the happy couple of coupling bee and clover. (I don't mean to mow bees, but there is no way around it.) BUT: When the lawn mower moves on the bee is nowhere to be seen.



Of course my first thought was that probably the bee gets sucked into the basket of the lawn mower together with all the cuttings. But I empty this basket again and again and have been doing this for some time now. Not once in all this time have I ever seen a bee in the cuttings. Of course it is possible that I miss them - they are not exactly fire engine red. But never in all these years have a seen a bee. I often take the cuttings out with my bare hands, I've never been stung. This mystified me enough to look rather closely at the cuttings - still no bees. Where are the bees gone? Do they make a last-minute escape despite their pollen-induced pleasure? Are they completely intoxicated by the pollen and fall deep into the cut grass? Do they get all dizzy by the whirling knife and remain unconscious hidden in the cuttings? Have they hatched an escape route from the lawn mower? To bee or not to bee - I am determined to get to the bottom of this mystery!

Circus

Today I have been to the circus for the second time this year. After I had successfully avoided it for the last 30+ years. Well, I guess I must have been to the circus at one point in my life before, but if so I have eradicated all not-so-fond memory of the event. But now I am a mother and all resistance is useless.

Both times I have been to smaller circus-companies, not the big deals that would ever make it into TV, but rather smallish family-run shows.

As I was not a circus-doer before now, I was surprised about the dirt involved. And that was as a member of the audience. Working at the circus can not be a white collar job - surprise, surprise.

Both shows featured young voluptuous women with too much bad make-up and bad taste in clothing. The people sitting front row must have had ample opportunity to look up the uterus during the gymnastics. I fear for the minds of the children in the audience whose dreams might be haunted from this scarring experience.

Both shows also featured very well shaped men of striking physique and with inspiring skin-tight trousers. Ha! I know: Pretty much the exact thing that I was complaining about on the women - I must be hetero after all!

Today's circus show showed the act of a child. She was 13 years old and the only person at today's circus show who did something that looked dangerous. It was gymnastics in the air thingy - her doing bending here and there some meters above ground. She was definitely one of the better artists today. Even so, I was pissed off. A child doing the most dangerous act. She was dressed in something that would have made my grandmother blush (not my mother - you have to go a lot further to make HER blush). She was not wearing any support. There was no net. Provided, it was just 3 or 4 meters above ground. Provided she was good, she seemed sure of what she was doing. Still - there is always risk. And being a child she can not fully understand what it is she is risking there. Her health, a thing chronically underestimated by 13-year-old girls. Her life even - if she is unlucky. And none of the other (grown-up) artists seemed willing to take any such risk. But they let a child go up there and do it. Hmmph!



The worst acts however - and in both shows - were the clowns. It's not because I dislike clowns, but I do think them kind of scary. And I do believe that the majority of clowns out there are not funny. My daughter liked the clown today. I asked her what it was she liked. She looked at me as if I asked her how many legs she has. "Well, they are clowns!!!" When this revelation failed to clear matters to her ignorant mother, she went into a detailed analysis: "He wears the clown-costume and the nose. It's funny." I wish life was that simple for me!