let's dance like we used to

Well, the first episode of the second Fullmetal Alchemist series aired today! And... It's pretty entertaining so far, yeah. It felt kind of like they were speeding intros up and sticking in a lot of jokes too quickly, though, but I'm hoping that's just because this is the first episode. I'm wondering if I only liked it because I already know all the characters and about the universe, though? I have no idea if there's still anyone out there who hasn't seen the anime or read the manga, but if there is, I don't know if they would have understood as much of it. There's especially that part with spoiler killing spoiler-- I was very "YESSSS," but I don't think it would have had as much impact for people who had no idea who the first spoiler was. Still, I'm personally looking forward to more episodes.

There are some other things I'm not that thrilled with-- First, I love MikiShin, but I miss Ohkawa so much. He's just Mustang to me; I still listen to his image songs. Also, I've never really liked the Lior storyline, so I'm not that excited to sit through it again. Third, HAVOC WHERE?? And last, watching the Hughes stuff again is going to destroy me emotionally. Again. Sob. Oh yeah, and also I was under the impression that this anime was going to follow the manga closely, but now I'm hearing that it might not? But I want Ling animated...

In other news, I started watching Kings! Since I know absolutely nothing about the biblical David, I don't really care about how this show is reinventing that myth, unless it leads to Jack/David (or David/Jack, whatev), which I would highly approve of. Aaand now I guess it's obvious why I started watching. Anyway, it's actually a pretty interesting show. Ian McShane is really good in it, of course. David is as boring as anything except when he does hilariously idiotic things, but his actor is really good-looking so I guess it evens out. I like Jack the best (which I figured I would going in), and I'm finding Sebastian Stan pretty attractive, which is weird since I thought he was totally creepy in Gossip Girl. Anyway, I've seen two episodes at the moment and planning to check out more.

So I read the first six chapters of Sakura Gari on Friday. Way back when it was first announced that Yuu Watase was going to write BL, everyone seemed really surprised. I wasn't, since I had actually read the author's notes in Fushigi Yuugi where she had mentioned a couple of times how awesome Nakago/Tamahome would be. But what I didn't count on when I read this manga was that I had misinterpreted BL-- It wasn't shonen ai, but yaoi. And not only that, but it was incredibly creepy and disturbing. Basically, it's about this guy who comes to this town to study, and he ends up the servant of this rich guy, and then it turns out the rich guy secretly has a sister who's been locked in a warehouse for tons of years, and the rich guy's also a playboy doing another servant and his doctor and oh yeah his sister too, and eventually he sets his sights on the main character. And wow, was that a run-on. I think my thoughts while reading can sum up everything for me.

( Live-Time Reactions to Sakura Gari!! )

I hate to say this, especially after all of that, but that manga...wasn't half-bad. The art is absolutely beautiful, and the atmosphere and pacing is perfect. It's probably the best thing Watase's ever done, to be honest. And I want to say "If only it weren't so creepy," but, you know, if it weren't? Then it wouldn't be as interesting.

Well, I'm off to watch the first episode of Pandora Hearts. I heard it's awful. Yaaaay. [Disclaimer: I am a fan of the manga.]