Ever Bethany

I am rereading Chalice, for the first time, after some time since my first reading.

And it is amazing me. Here is a book that is a maze to get into because it is full of the ways situations can be impossible, and life can be dreadful through a maze of little things.

And this is not something fantasy usually deals with.

It’s a book about the suddenness of having to Become…an analogy for being an adult maybe, but more an analogy of any taking up of a role you weren’t ready for. A working girl. A father. A governor.

Because I am intuitively reconstructing what I had trouble putting together the first time, I’m not distracted by the worldbuilding. I remembered it being a lot about a girl just doing her best, and meaning well, and that being powerful. Like a grown-up version of Wizard’s Hall (one of my favorite of children's literature).

I did remember this text takes McKinley’s parentheticals to a new height. But it’s also grounded in a different way than her earlier books set in the traditional country setting.

McKinley’s always loved the flora and fauna, the real work of the country, but from her gardening and life in England (even just her maturity), it’s taken on a depth, a texture, that is even more genuine. It is integral to the heroine's nature, her ways of thought.

I think the first time I read this I was depressed and overwhelmed enough that the catharsis wasn’t really noticeable—my distance now from the headspace Chalice is in makes me much more appreciative of her quiet heroics. And the slender but growing line of her connection with the Master. It’s really artfully done. And it is probably one of McKinley’s best fantasies (though there are a couple I still haven’t read), in being a story about just about humanity while being set in a fairy-tale sort of world.

hisashiburiiiiiii Drama Filter!

So. I haven't been watching much of anything...at my normal pace. And have been posting random thoughts on a Tumblr account. But that Tumblr account is not giving me the gratification of actual interaction. SO HERE I AAAAAM.

*
And here is Oguri Shun, oh mama

I would like to note that if I'd seen THIS poster for the show instead of whatever dramafever was using, I probably would have picked it up before half the dramanet was crying love for it, but this is aside the point.

"Rich Man, Poor Woman" like many English word-play titles for speakers of another language, not really all that accurate.
More like "genius boy, study girl" tho she has her own little corner on the genius market, which is a plot point that does not get overused OR underused, props to the writers!

Oguri Shun's latest character is an autism-spectrum tech innovator whose company launched through unique cellphone games. He has a secretary-type vice-president who cleans up after him, since you can dress him up but you can't take him out.

(Oguri's work on the physicality of this character who is a little bit awkward when behaving, and spastic when relaxed, was kind of jaw-dropping: uncool, very real, and almost unself-conscious.)

The girl is one of those poor sots graduating over-educated in an over-staffed field--a brain but without that spark. She's pounding the pavement for jobs when she comes to his company. She gets picked out to be looked down on by President Hyuga--she's about had it up to here with her failure to find jobs and stammers back, confrontational but not making a dent in the swagger of this guy.

Who has come a long way from his origins, too, okay:

Aaaaanyway, no need to say fate throws them together.

Things to love about this show:

1) There is no romanticizing of Hyuga's social ineptitude.
He's not a swaggering Alpha, typical in his suaveness when insulting girls, and yet oozing so much sexiness the girl has to take it as a compliment. (as much as I've enjoyed some of those.)
He's honestly in trouble because of his brusqueness with his board, for example, and it's more his vision and brilliance with problem-solving that appeals.

2) The deep emotional connection with where the characters are.
Ugh, one of the things some J-dramas get right is pulling you into the heart of the character without physicalizing it at all. The girl looks up and smiles after seeing him go off with the other girl and you *ache*. Same for the guy character.

who
3) is realistically obtuse sometimes. Hah.

4) the end I was rolling my eyes at the teaser. "Not the AIRPORT. Drama, no!" But. In fact, they do a cool thing of letting the girl, off doing her own work apart from her guy interest, and that is accepted by him. Is this a spoiler? Kind of... But it's a character moment that's great, too.

Um, and, Ishihara Satomi is CRAZY CUTE.

It's only 11, tightly written episodes.

The Dramanets was right to be going crazy.

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I am feeling gross-ish, so I started watching a new shojo anime.

As you do.

I am also watching it on my phone because my computer seems too bulky to be comfortable.

(When did I get rid of my last pair of fat-pants?

Anyway, it looked intriguing and fluffy. Surprisingly good, though in the exactly fluffy way I'd expected (it's amazing how you can do it wrong, yes, I'm looking at you Mei-chan No Shitsuji).

It's got: isolated girl, magical blood, butler guy, elite rich people. It's the remix that's fun.

The heroine is waaaay tsundere, because she's been picked on as the rich girl all her life. Already that's fun, one of those as the viewpoint character, instead of a friend-sidekick. She moves into this elite mansion*...to try and discipline herself out of her sarcastic ways. Finds herself assigned one of the Secret Service guys that are part of the building. Twist: they're all, SS and resident, part youkai.

Slow build-up right now, but that's fairly usual for a fantasy shojo comic, which it is based off. I would actually really like to get my hands on that. I am only two episodes in.

(*accidentally used the Japanese transliteration here: it means apartment, like in a high rise. I'm not sure why that's the word used, or exact application)

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Guys. I am hesitant to exclaim too loud about this show...because it's the kind of smart drama that has more potential to hurt you, because it also has potential to be fantastic.

That said, this show sports a hero who's smart enough that when he travels forward 300 years into the future, he gets over his bewilderment and finds himself clothes to blend in. He's constantly observing and deducing what he's seeing in what's a totally alien world. Like you do.

He's the first to make me want to dabble with a time-travel story (though not much) because it's so personal a take to his character. And though his counterpart is kind of a lovable idiot, it comes across as her being a kind of unusual girl to the screen, though common enough in life: she is exaggerating for cute. She's not stupid--she's in a rush. And she's willing to yell at people who cut her off, and flip off a smirky ex-boyfriend. Really, she's fantastic.

Dramas make smart girls seem dumb all the time: having a ditzy girl seem very full and capable? As well as a crazy driver?

I also love that there have been moments of significance between the characters though there's no romantic interplay yet. The tension is there.

(Adorable? Our Hero not knowing how to do his seatbelt, she does it for him, it's awkward, he comments "I see, that's why you were mad I asked you to do it". SO CUTE.)

I'm holding my frail little heart in my hands on this one, watching slowly, because I already love the characters, respect them, and only want the best story for them.

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.