My history with manga

This is a repost from Organization ASG so some people probably have read it and for that I'm sorry, but I think it has its place on my blog too. 

The story behind how I started to read manga is quite a simple one, mainly I was driven by the need to know what this hype was all about I started to research the topic.

But that’s not exactly how it started: everything started, back in the days when I was 3 (damn, that’s 20 years ago) and I discovered anime on TV. Of course I didn’t know what it was, obviously, but the important thing is that I liked them.

Where I guess it really started was when I started to read French comics, mainly Tintin, and Astérix. I mean, from an early age I knew you could read drawn stories, I found that awesome, but getting both a good story and nice drawings to look at? Perfect, especially when you’re a child.

Later on everything died a little–I lost a bit of interest as I moved onto thicker books, that is, until procrastination kicked in.

I was in high school at the time, supposed to prepare for the big finals, but obviously that’s the moment when I had to remember I wanted to check what this manga thing was all about. I mean, that was Japanese, I was listening to Japanese music to study so as not to be distracted by understanding the lyrics (Which sadly isn’t true anymore now), obviously that was the perfect time to start wasn’t it?

That’s when I started to research, spending my time reading about them, not really knowing what I should choose, where I should start, where to read them (back in the days, you still couldn’t find manga anywhere mind you, I had a legit excuse) and then asked a friend. She said I’d liked Death Note, I did like Death Note, and from there on I continued by reading the popular Jump stuff so I knew what to think. I liked it but somehow that wasn’t enough and as I met new fans I also met new tastes, discovered new genres, discovered OneManga, perfected my English, and from there on it developed to anime and now a blog.

Thinking back, I don’t regret anything (I got my exam by the way, with very good results). Through manga I have discovered a world I didn’t know existed, I got to meet new people, and I got to learn new things.

Dying in Another

(This post is brought to you by my frustration the guy in the last episode didn't commit ritual seppuku)

Maybe I should have had titled this post as such : "How death grows old pretty fast in Another" but the pun was really bad and I didn't really want you to have a bad impression of me from the start. (Though now you do but that's beside the point.)

The real point is, people die in anime, that much is obvious and each and every one of them has its own way of dealing with death. Take Death Note or any kind of post-apocalyptic anime or manga, death is just there, it doesn't get any special treatment, it's just there as a tool to make the plot advance. Now take a Gundam, or Code Geass, people die and their death is treated as an example a tool of emulation to created heroism, in short, propaganda. Unless they're villains. Obviously. Because villains only get what they deserve.
Only rarely do we see anime (or manga) dealing with everything that surrounds death, be it ante-mortem (like in Ikigami or Bokurano) or post-mortem (like in Ghost Hound, or even Tiger&Bunny). I like this kind of anime because it makes its characters more human.

Now, what's the matter with Another you ask? First, let's go over my reaction to the four deaths we've seen so far and I'll explain what really bothers me.

Remember, episode 3, the first person dies.

My reaction : FUCKING AWESOME. So much blood and so ridiculous yet so dramatic I'm totally in love.

Now, the next one.

My reaction : Damn they're imaginative, I am definitely going to pay more attention to elevators now but damn was it awesome and all the details and *insert random fangirlish noises here*

Here comes the less impressive.

My reaction : Well, a heart stroke, it was needed to keep up the realism.

And the last.

My reaction : The first one was to complain he didn't commit proper seppuku.
And then I started to think and it started to bother me.
Putting the curse aside and the fear of dying that happens to pretty much everyone when someone close to them dies, why do they care so little?
They don't seem sad, they barely seem to keep thinking about it once the initial shock has passed. Damn it, the people who died were all people they knew. Classmates, parents, friends.

For convenience I'll say that it's the survival instinct kicking in, and I guess that in the end the thing that really bothers me is that I really, really liked Another as an horror anime.
And now I'm disappointed.

I'm disappointed because dying in Another isn't dealt with as something that really matters. All that matters is survival of the greatest number. The ones who died are just unlucky cursed people. Why bother with those you can't save anymore?
In the end, it doesn't scare me at all anymore because I'm not made to care about the dead people, because I'm not attached to the alive characters.

Dying doesn't matter I just want to solve the mystery.

Mawaru Penguindrum 06 : Dead but Alive.

I realized half way through my huge recap bi-weekly post that this was becoming too much, so Mawaru Penguindrum will have its separate post for once.
Beware for major spoilers and character over-analysis. About Ringo, I cannot really do that for the others, yet at least, but I'll be glad if you could at least read what I wrote about her and tell me your opinions?

We finally got a little more informations on the diary and how it works. On the other hand it also shed much more light on Ringo's character and yeah, I love her. And we still don't know the goal of that girl, nor anything really relevant to the Penguindrum. As usual, I'll throw theories out there.

*The diary was Momoka's, Ringo's sister who died a mysterious death, so, Ringo's fate is Momoka's fantasies from when she was in elementary school. She was an extremely precocious child but that's perfectly realistic and thus I accept this explanation. (Ok, that's because I had one too -___-)
That doesn't really give more informations on whether or not it is really the Penguindrum. Nor if it is the only Penguindrum.

*Ringo's family was destroyed over that death, which, once again, is perfectly realistic. And I understand her behaviour much better now. It's logical, her family is suffering because of her sister's death, her family puts her sister's death before her and she becomes almost invisible, or worse, a reminder of the one who's not alive anymore. So, since apparently she feels that her existence is so forgettable, she decides to become another person. Jealousy between siblings is common, fighting for your parents' attention is common, but, how do you compete with someone who's dead? You can't. Either way you'd loose.
So Ringo strives to become her dead sister, to make everyone happy, so that her family will love her and they'll be able to be happy together again.
Except, except that half way through, the focus changed. She wanted to become like her sister so much that she followed exactly everything as she wanted it to be in the future and she was a girl in love, a girl in love forgets everything else and that's how her parents ceased to really exist in her mind, becoming mere concepts.
Hence the plushies.
Want to know something? She needs help. Definitely.

*Is Kanba real? I mean, a previous episode already hinted that Himari was able to create illusions, so I wouldn't be surprised.
Or worse, does someone/thing want to make him disappear and make everyone believe he was an illusion?
Since that girl is getting rid of the memories of him in everyone (help, Maverick is everywhere!)
Maybe the price to pay for the mysterious penguin money he has been given is his existence itself. Bits by bits, with every cent he uses, he disappears a little more from the world?
He wasn't even there during the Seizon Senryaku.

*Last but not least Boshi-sama said something very interesting at the end, she said "another survival strategy"
Does she mean she wants to search for another way to stay alive aside from the Penguindrum?
Or did she mean there were others being like her doing the same?
(Also, hearing her talking about hentai like that and the emphasis on her crotch was priceless ^^)

To leave you with a funny note (See what I did there?) and a pic, which made me laugh despite everything said about Ringo ...