labingi

I’ve been compiling a mental list of favorite pairings for years, and I thought I’d write some of it out. We can also make it a “meme”: I’d love to see your list linked in the comments!

What I mean by a “love pairing”: two people who come to love each other so deeply that this relationship is pivotal to their lives. I’m a friendship bonder, and I’m not distinguishing between sexual and non-sexual love. I am leaving out literal and metaphorical close family relationships (parent-child, siblings). Expect big spoilers (like character death & ending) for any story mentioned. Below the cut are some favorite picks, some ranked, some unranked, with explanations.( Read more... )

Jumping into Day 11 with apologies for not doing the whole thing in order. I just don't have time to do the whole thing properly.

Day 11
In your own space, talk about a creator. Show us why you think they are amazing. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I think this means fan creator? I want to extol several.

The amazing astrogirl2 is the one who introduced me to LJ-style fandom in 2004. I came across her site somehow in searching for Blake's 7 fandom and was captivated by the wonderful community (doing B7 and Farscape RPGs at the time). Astrogirl herself--still posting regularly on LJ and still with quite a following--has always been such an intelligent, balanced, caring, engaged fandom presence, as well as a dashed good fan fic writer. (Alas, we are no longer in the same fandoms, but my admiration remains.)

Apart from Astrogirl, I want to use this space to praise some of the amazing people who have brought Mirage of Blaze fandom into English because I have been revisiting Mirage with much enthusiasm lately.

One of the first Mirage fans I ever encountered was petronia, first on her website, later through LJ. I long considered her--and pretty much still consider her--a celebrity I am rather shy about talking to. As far as Mirage goes, it does not get better than her humorous summaries. Across the years, I find I would usually rather read her account of Kotarou being mistaken for [Spoiler] than read the original. She captures very much the tone of Mirage itself when it self-satirizes with just a nance more meta and comedy. Utterly delightful.

The most professional-like of the many wonderful people who have taken a stab at translating the 40 volume epic of Mirage is Asphodel. Check out her amazing site of Mirage and other translations, complete with giant glossary and numerous hyperlinked footnotes. She is still at it! She has been at it for ten years or more now. The going is slow. (This is not her day job.) But the product she posts is always exceptional.

Also an excellent and voluminous translator is quaint_twilight. She is no longer active on LJ or DW, which I totally understand but makes me sad. I miss her wonderful translations and her enthusiastic fan presence, and I applaud her for keeping her account active so that we can continue to access the fruits of all her hard work on Mirage.

Other folks who have put in many long hours of translating work include 99me, tasha_poisonous, and demitas, as well as many others who have translated some wonderful bits in English and other languages--and round about 10 years ago, a whole host of people doing amazing multi-page meta. I can't name everyone, but I appreciate it all.

As for traditionally published creators, hands down the most influential in my life over the past eight-ish years or so is Yasuhiro Nightow. I must admit, I don't really relate to his latest work, Kekkai Sensen (3B), but both of his two major earlier works, Trigun and Gungrave, have been not only big fandoms of mine but have transformed my life. Each has been a means of profound revelation about myself, my patterns, and how I can better address my life. I am extremely grateful for that. It's a rare and precious gift.

I have reviewed Gungrave at the Geek Girl Project. Now, I've written many abstruse posts on this series, but this is legitimate, basic review (with pictures), so if you'd like an overview of the anime, check it out!

The Review:

This month I’m an evangelist for Yasuhiro Nightow’s 2003 anime, Gungrave. Disclosure: this is one of my favorite stories ever, so your mileage may vary. Based loosely on the video game of the same name, Gungrave is a seinen anime following some thirty years of the relationship between two orphans, Brandon and Harry, who become best friends and join the mob together in a fantasy America, where tragic missteps ensue.

Gungrave has two distinct modes, which might be described as “video game” and “human drama.” In its video game mode, it has lots of “necrolyzed” people (i.e. zombies), who are in need of being shot. And at its dullest, it levels up through a series of boss battles that are probably more exciting to play than to watch. This is the weak side of Gungrave, but I, for one, can brush it off–because Gungrave is about the human drama, and the human drama is almost perfect. Spoilers follow for the basic story structure…

Read the rest at Geek Girl.

Exhausted but have to write something about Trigun. Now that I've seen the whole anime, I understand why people have been telling me for years that it's awesome. It is; it just takes about a fourth of the series to get there. For anyone who has been as under a rock as me since 1998, the series is... hard to summarize without spoilers but about an action hero on Tatooine a desert planet grappling with moral problems. It starts as typically broad anime action-comedy (though the main female characters are never typical anime babes) and proceeds to become rather dark philosophical drama.

( Thoughts & Spoilers )

( Trigun and Christianity )

( vs. Gungrave )

I've finished my rewatch of Gungrave and am now feeling depressed and angsty for want of something to fan over. I have gotten some good suggestions though in comments to my previous post, and since my DVDs of the second half of Blood+ arrived today, I'll probably fan for a little while by rewatching some of that.

I think I've spent all my deep Gungrave thoughts for now except to say that every time I watch this show I see more structural resonances. Everyone pretty much foils everyone. The effect is to demonstrate with an enormous iterative weight how different people face the "same" conflicts but make different moral choices according to their personalities, backgrounds, and what all. Here are just a few pairs who act as foils for each other:

* Brandon/Harry
* Big Daddy/Harry
* Brandon/Big Daddy
* Brandon/Bear Walken
* Maria/Sherry
* Maria/Mika (a little)
* Brandon-Harry/Bear-Sid
* Brandon-Harry/Lee-Bob/Big Daddy-Jester
* Brandon/Bunji
Etc.

In other viewing news, I'm in the midst of converting my old VHS tapes of Space Island One to DVD. I don't know why this show has been so totally forgotten. It may not have as much charisma as some other sci fi shows, but it's very solid and often very entertaining. I feel like I'm preserving a precious relic--though I note that it apparently is online. That's a comfort.

Title: "Advantage"
Fandom: Gungrave
Characters: Tokioka, Brandon
Rating/Warnings: R for themes.
Summary: Tokioka spent thirteen years alone with an unconscious Brandon.
Genre: Humor, crack
A/N: I'm assuming the Land of the Yule is a parallel universe to ours close enough to have some of the same books, etc. Apologies if this fic comes off as homophobic in a Robert Holmesian vein. That's not my intent; it's just where the material went.

( Advantage )

On watching Gungrave again. This must be my fourth or fifth time through, and as with the best stories, I’m still spotting new things--and am aware I’m missing others. Below the cut, Harry observations with rampant spoilers, including substantial Iliad comparison.

( More Iliad Comparisons and Other Character Bits )

ewans_gal_4ever put me onto YouTube's Epic Rap Battles of History videos. She recommended:

Kirk vs. Columbus, which I greatly enjoyed.

I also quite liked:

Einstein vs. Stephen Hawking
Mr. T vs. Mr. Rogers

For Mirage of Blaze fans, a pretty picture of Nagahide by Jillia.

And a Naoetora video.

For Gungrave fans (I know 1 or 2 of you exist), an excellent Harry and Brandon vid.

I've just finished rewatching Gungrave with sixish and must hold forth. Almost no one I know gives a flip about Gungrave, which is understandable given that the anime is based on a video game about shooting zombies, but it's a shame because it is not only one of the best anime I have ever encountered but possibly one of the best stories.

( The Friendship Tragedy--Spoilers Follow )

Title: "Bondage"
Fandoms: Gungrave, Kino's Journey
Characters/Pairings: Brandon/Kino, Harry, Bunji
Rating/Warnings: R for sex, swearing
Summary: When Hermes breaks down, Kino is forced to find a job in a mafia-run country.
Disclaimer: I own nothing as usual.
A/N: I'd abandoned this story, but my latest trip through Gungrave inspired me to finish it up. Meanwhile, I'd cannibalized part of it for "The Hammer," so apologies to those who've read both for the repetition. Kino, at this point in time, is 23.

( Bondage )