then there are blackbirds

Wow it's been ages since I've read/watched any new content?? Things I plunged into on recent rest/recovery/workfail days:

- Zuko fic, including lots of Sokka/Zuko - I love their canon relationships with Mai and Suki (and to a slightly lesser extent Yue) to bits so this ship hadn't previously registered for me, but I find their combined ridiculousness... astoundingly appealing right now??

- Kimetsu no Yaiba/Demon Slayer - sister watched the anime on Netflix and poked me about it, and then I went and watched it and read the whole manga in approximately 2 days. I didn't expect to love it so much, but TANJIRO! NEZUKO! Cute and heartwrenching and sweet, but tbh my first overall reaction was CLOWN FRIENDS, HOW DO YOU HAVE SO MANY. ♥ ♥ ♥

- Tian Guan Ci Fu/Heaven Official's Blessing - I marathoned this on Netflix after I finished Kimetsu no Yaiba, and then did the same thing with the manhua and novel translations. >.> (Hello again, completionist tendencies?) 800 years of pining, literal/emotional suffering, and EPIC OBLIVIOUSNESS are truly A Combination, wow. The portrayal of the pains of bureaucracy also made me laugh really hard- Ling Wen is a truly underappreciated martyr!

Side notes: I think non-live-action is the only reason I could handle the amount of gore/body horror in these, though the art style in Kimetsu no Yaiba was less of a buffer for me than, say, Mononoke. Really, the art style in TGCF doesn't have Mononoke's extra buffer of surreality either, it's just that Hua Cheng and Xie Lian are distractingly pretty so the eye gets drawn away a lot more. xD

Belated & abbreviated watchblog!

1. Snow White and the Huntsman. Dear internets, I was forewarned, and it still made even less sense than I was expecting! Totally agree with oyceter that there are about four logical movies that could have been made out of it (two of which I would actually have enjoyed watching). I should have listened to you all and not paid to see it in the theater, but at least I didn't pay full price?

2. Korra. I... keep trying and failing at coherence, but in the meantime, my general reaction:
( in macro form )

3. The Dark Knight Rises. I watched this post-dance-class, not for full price, and with my brain half off, which may have contributed to my enjoyment of the movie in addition to my complete lack of knowledge of comics-verse. ( spoilers-ish )

4. Kuroko no Basuke, for which I blame inkstone! ♥ I seriously inhaled all of the manga and anime in a day. I don't even know where to begin talking about it and also am in a state of total A:JKS:DLFHSDL:F *\o/*!!!!!!, but if you enjoy sports series and/or are a sucker for all things team like me, I recommend checking it out! Also: endless eye candy, even though there aren't a lot of female characters. >.> inkstone's promo post has video clips.

[For those of you who don't feel like reading about anime flail WITH ALLCAPS, have fun with this Inception fic! Because The Adventures of Yusuf, Best Superhero Ever is MADE OF FABULOUS. ;)]

1. Tiger and Bunny: up to episode 9? I am surprised at myself! Superhero shenanigans are usually not my thing, much less a series about superhero reality TV, but whoever it was on tumblr who coined "Team Dad and Butthurt" got EXACTLY what hooked me in the end, ahahaha!

2. Spice and Wolf: all of it! Not quite sure why I bulled ahead with this one, either, though it was admittedly pretty despite the... quietness. And the quietness is maybe a little odd, come to think of it, considering the entire thing is- a traveling merchant and wolf goddess on what amounts to an endless road trip? I would have expected more mishaps from a WOLF GODDESS WHO ENJOYS GETTING DRUNK AND (LOTS OF) GOOD FOOD, I'm just saying. Also, I have a feeling people who are into economics/marketing might enjoy this more than me, considering the amount of ~supply and demand~ and ~trading tactics~. xD

3. Shounen Onmyouji: almost all of it! Pretty much everybody on this show is MY FAVORITE, which is a marker of the shows I like best, really. ;) Abe no Masahiro is the cutest onmyouji-in-training ever, and Abe no Seimei is THE MOST LOLARIOUS DOTING GRANDPA IN EXISTENCE (not to mention totally the Uncle Iroh of the show), and I am just going to stop before I hit spoiler territory, as;dlfjka;s. &hearts I would have finished the last two eps if I didn't want to be CRYING (MOAR) FOREVER OMG; thankfully sarashina was awesome and saved me with a summary of what is SADLY NOT PICTURED ON THE SHOW. :3 Not-too-spoilery icons to come, once my eyes have stopped crossing from the awesomeness of

4. Samurai 7, which I just finished! Too flaily to talk coherently about this, but- based on Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, futuristic flying mecha, and full of POLITICKING AND REVOLUTIONS?? FUCK YES. :D Another show where pretty much everybody is my favorite, though I admit I have huge soft spots for Kyuzo and Heihachi and also Shichiroji!

So thanks to being post-weekend shenanigans (and late to work this morning due to surprise!snow), I have rewatched all of Toshokan Sensou/Library Wars [wiki; 'ware spoilers]! I'D FORGOTTEN HOW MUCH I LOOOOOOVE IT, YOU GUYS. 12 delicious eps of libraries! Battling for freedom of information! and against government interference/censorship! If the Freedom of Library Law doesn't put hearts in your eyes, I don't know what will:

It is the most important responsibility of libraries to offer collected materials and library facilities to the people who have the Right to Know as one of their fundamental human rights. In order to fulfill their mission, libraries shall recognize the following matters as their proper duties, and shall put them into practice.

• Libraries have freedom in collecting their materials.
  
• Libraries secure the freedom of offering their materials.
  
• Libraries guarantee the privacy of users.
  
• Libraries oppose any type of censorship categorically.

When the freedom of libraries is imperiled, we librarians will work together and devote ourselves to secure the freedom.

(... okay, that is perhaps a slightly clunky translation, but still. *____*) Anyway, the Library Corps was mobilized by the libraries in order to defend the public's freedom of knowledge, and their opponents are the Media Betterment Corporation, whose objective is to limit access to and/or destroy media deemed inappropriate in order to achieve a "better society." With all that premise, the adorable hilarious het romance is TOTALLY JUST A BONUS.

Kasahara Iku is the main character: tall, opinionated, unabashedly emotional, and (predictably enough) MY FAVORITE. She's far from the brightest member of the Library Corps, but she has the biggest heart by far. Also, uh, it's possible that I over-identify with her quick-to-peevishness. xD Her greatest advantages in the Corps are her athleticism (she's demonstrably the best runner and the strongest fighter of all the trainees); her roommate, Shibasaki Asako, a member of the Corps' Intelligence Division; and her boss, Doujou Atsushi.

( some more notes; minor spoilers )

In conclusion: the amount of win overwhelms the minor irks I have with this show. Also, it's a short series! 12 20ish-minute eps is NOTHING, okay, this is why I blew through the entire thing on a break from Shikabane Hime. :D