to read makes our speaking English good

[lunabee34]

I just finished the first volume of Fruits Basket.



So, far I'm enjoying it. I'm glad I watched the first couple of episodes of the anime before it disappeared from Netflix because I think that helped me as I was learning to navigate the panels.

I don't think comics, manga, graphic novels are ever going to be my preferred medium. I find it hard to look at the pictures and read the words at the same time. Which makes me sound sooooo stupid LOL but it's true. Even on this read, I had to force myself to look at the pictures instead of just reading the words and going on.

I am not a visually oriented reader, though, which boggles my husband's mind. Reading for him is like watching a movie in his mind. Reading for me is like listening to someone read aloud. I know what things look like, but I am not picturing them as I read for the most part.

So far in this first volume, we have learned that Tohru's mother has died, she's gone to live with her grandfather, and she's left her grandfather's house to secretly live in the woods in a tent (she tells him she's going to stay with friends) because his house is being remodeled? I think. Either that, or he's going to live with one of his children and *their* house is being remodeled to accommodate him.

Tohru happens to camp out on the property of the Sohma family where Yuki (the heartthrob she goes to school with) and Shigure are living. IDK the relationship between Yuki and Shigure. Are they brothers?

She learns that they are actually iterations of the Chinese zodiac who turn into their respective animals when hugged by someone of the opposite sex who is not also of the zodiac.

Kyo turns up and is the cat, the animal who was tricked out of belonging to the zodiac.

Tohru is clearly set up for a romantic choice--Yuki vs Kyo. Yuki is nice to her, a bit of a rebel as he goes to school against the wishes of his family, and conflicted about his ability to transform. Kyo is angry and mean to Tohru but not on purpose a lot of the time. He wants to belong and he's fixated on Yuki (I'm gonna bet Yuki/Kyo is the juggernaut slash ship), and he likes Tohru despite his blundering behavior.

A female Sohma shows up who is totally smitten with Kyo. At this point, Tohru isn't interested in Kyo romantically but I sense a rivalry starting.

We also meet Tohru's friends at school, two female friends in particular, but their introduction was weird and confusing to me. I was glad I had seen the manga so that I could put that part together.

Not having read any manga before, I wasn't expecting all the authorial asides about her daily life and interests. I LOLed when she talked about finally getting the internet in her home but not being sure what to do with it. :)


I also read Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer this week. Whoa. All female cast. Science fiction. Science. Mystery. Creepy. Dystopia. Such a damn good read. Highly, highly recommended.

Comments

[umadoshi]

Yuki and Shigure (and Kyo) are all cousins (presumably first cousins, since the actual familial relationship between various Sohmas is rarely mentioned at all).

An entertaining-to-me thing: scruloose and I have been friends with wildpear's husband since he was 17-18, I was 18-19, and scruloose was about 21. And Kyo is eerily like he was at that age. When I first saw the Furuba anime back in 2003 or so, I was gobsmacked by the (then much-more-recent) similarity. I love Kyo dearly for his own sake (he was my favorite character when I'd only seen the anime), but that sentimental value doesn't hurt.

Author's notes--! They're not the bane of my professional life, by any means, but I wind up being confused by/needing to research more stuff in them than everything else put together. Manga creators talk about pop stars, video games, eating and work habits, everything you can think of. This makes it lots of not-fun when it's a series that's maybe a bit older and they're doing something like saying they based a character's name on [someone who was a celebrity when the series was being serialized, but damned if either the translator or I can figure out who].

Takaya-sensei really likes talking about video games. I adapted her first series (Phantom Dream), and IIRC I sent back a lot of notes to editorial that basically said "I have no idea what she's talking about. Please make sure this makes sense."

And I just put Annihilation on the ever-growing library holds list. ^_^

[lunabee34]

Okay, cool. Cousins makes much more sense. There was also a character list at the beginning of the second volume that was helpful for me to keep track, too. ;)

Because of Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple, I thought Shigure was a female name, but the Shigure in FB is male. Is it a gender neutral name (because I find Shigure from KtMD having a masculine name really thinky and interesting)? (If you know?)

Oh man, I hadn't thought of the difficulties those author notes would present in translation especially the farther back in time you go. That would be really hard to figure out.

Annihilation is part of a triology; the second part comes out this month. I can't wait!

[umadoshi]

The character list is very helpful! Except for several volumes (which you won't get to for a while) their "bio" for my beloved girl was infuriatingly awful. When I started freelancing for Tokyopop and found out one of my editors was copyediting the series, I shamelessly begged him to fix it, and I'm pretty sure he did.

Takaya-sensei seems to have a thing for androgynous names, and for giving somewhat gendered names to characters of the opposite gender, so that happens a fair bit in this series. Frex, "Tohru" is usually a masculine name. (Does knowing future characters' names count as spoilery for you? *g*)

[lunabee34]

No, that doesn't count as spoilery for me. Tell away!

I'm glad to know that about her naming conventions.

(Emma devoured the first volume super quick and is sitting on her hands while I go through the second. LOL)

[umadoshi]

The names I was thinking of are Ayame, which IIRC means "iris" and in Furuba belongs to a man, but I think is usually a feminine name, and Rin, which is my beloved girl's nickname, but which I've often seen used for male characters elsewhere. ^_^ And Yuki is sometimes/often a girls' name.

(Although then you get into the question of how the names are written in Japanese, and it's entirely possible that the masculine and feminine forms are written differently. That part, I don't know.)

[lunabee34]

that's really cool. thanks for sharing with me. :)

i just finished the second volume, so I'll have to put up a post about that soon.

[tamoline]

Is it wrong that I've had an idea for an Annihilation fic bouncing around my head? As I currently envisage it, it's a retelling from the perspective of the surveyor, with added flashbacks - as the conditioning fades - to sessions with psychologist as she inquisits the surveyor about the details of a prior relationship with the anthropologist. (And, having started the second book, there are at least some details from there I could weave in.)

I'm not sure I'll ever actually manage to write it - especially since I have no idea how long it would end up being - but the idea keeps resurfacing in my mind.

[lunabee34]

Honey, if that's wrong, who wants to be right?

I am going to request this for Yuletide for sure. Just in case that helps motivate you. LOL

[tamoline]

Thanks! I'm about to have a not insignificant surgery (assuming they don't cancel again) and be out of work for ten weeks or so (or until my manager puts me to work from home) so it's always possible I'll be able to make a start on it then.

[lunabee34]

Eeeeeeep, surgery. I wish you a very speedy recovery.

[tamoline]

Thanks! It's my long awaited male-to-female surgery (aka the choperation) so it's not a *bad* surgery. But I'm going in tomorrow for the main event Monday, so there's some scary to go along with the anticipation.

[lunabee34]

Yay for long awaited surgery.

*hugs*

Surgery is always nerve-wracking even if it's going to make things so much better when it's over.

Good luck to you. I'll be sending good vibes your way (and to Louisa too! It's scary when your loved one gets surgery; that one I *do* know from experience).

[tamoline]

Thanks for the well wishes, but, as it turns out, urgh. It got to 5pm and the doctor came down and told me that they only had anaesthetist cover until 5 and, oh look, they'd run out of time.

Doubtless I'll get a reschedule at some point, but this is the second time they've cancelled on me, so I'm a little bit jaded at the moment.

On the bright side, I can confirm that reading Annihilation's sequel - Authority - whilst slipping into and out of sleep as you wait in a hot ward and no solids or liquids since 6am only enhances the surreal air of the book, especially when my proto-dreams took the plot in unexpected directions.

[lunabee34]

That's awful. :( This is the second time this has happened to you? That is utterly awful. :(

I hope the surgery will happen soon.

[tamoline]

Hi!

Just so you know, I've so far been inspired to write c. 3.5K words of the Annihilation fic, and found a good place to break for a chapter. Given you're probably one of two people who might like to read it (the other being Louisa), it's up at AO3 here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/1700423 or at my DW account.

Hope it's not too bad!

Seana

[lunabee34]

OMG OMG OMG

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(also, your name is so lovely; I love that spelling)

[tamoline]

(blush) Thank you! Seana is a fairly simple feminisation of my birth name. I chose it because I still felt like the same person, only more so, rather than wanting to make a break from my previous identity. (Which I can totally understand - it just wasn't me.)

[lunabee34]

Both of those approaches make a lot of sense to me. :)

I didn't actually have a chance to read last night; my husband and I were arguing (in that way you do when he's sick and you're hoping the baby does not wake up at 4:30 again and you've washed the same load of laundry twice because you forgot about it), and I just gave up on awakeness. LOL Today to the reading!

[tamoline]

Hugs for the evening past. I hope you enjoy the reading. :)

The great thing about having zero expectations for this story is that I can quite cheerfully look at it and go ‘7 hit and 1 kudos? That’s *way* more than *I* was expecting.’ (I just hope that no one is reading this just because they’re a habitual reader of my fic, because this is fairly different structurally to most of my work. And the least happy fic I’ve written for quite a while.)

[lunabee34]

Well I was thoroughly impressed and enjoyed it very much. :)

I bought the second book this weekend. I'm not ready to start it though. My head is too much in getting my summer classes together and I need to be in the right mood to dive in.

[tamoline]

As a by-the-by, I had my rescheduled operation yesterday, and I'm now recovering in hospital. Third time's the charm, and all that. (And it really gave me some motivation to finish A Surveyor's Tale last week)

[lunabee34]

I am so pleased for you! Speedy recovery and all the best well wishes!