The recent events in Japan have had a particularly heavy impact on me. I love so much of what comes out of Japan – the rock music, the anime and of course, boys love (yaoi). Where would I be if I’d never discovered Mobile Suit Gundam Seed all those years ago? Would I have returned to my artistic roots? Would I have ever discovered my talent for writing stories? Probably not.
I owe so much of what I enjoy today as my creative outlet to the mangakas and musicians of Japan, I can’t imagine a world without them and their work. Their creative endeavors inspire me every single day. The intriguing and fantastical stories that come out of anime and manga are unique and stand a class above what Hollywood spoon feeds us, in my humble opinion. I listen to JRock when I draw almost exclusively. The passion in Japanese rock is something I think is hard to find in mainstream music.
So I ask this question: where would you be if there were no Miyavi, no Death Note, no Hyde or Gackt, no Fullmetal Alchemist… no Gundams? Where would we be without this wonderful country and its immense creative talent and genius?
Okay, so I have updated my site, finally, after enduring much mental anguish because of a crashed hard drive:( That’s a whole blog in itself… and I’m still waiting to get my data back so I can finish my next book >.<
But, I did post on Twitter and Facebook about another blog that listed the “10 Best Anime Songs” and most of these songs were not to my taste, so I thought I would do my own. Granted, this is really hard because I like so many, but I’m giving it a shot. So here goes. Remember, I am no music critic. I like what I like and that’s about it. So please forgive some of my lamer comments, LOL. Let me know what you think!
Honorable Mention: Gundam 00 – Daybreak’s Bell by L’arc en Ciel
This song captures Gundum 00 so well, it’s just stunning. But I already have a place for a L’arc en Ciel song… alas…
10. D Gray Man – Innocent Sorrow by Abingdon Boys School
I just found this song (because I’m stupid and I just found D Gray Man, LOL) and it’s fast becoming a favorite.
9. Gankutsuou – We Were Lovers by Jean-Jaques Bernel
Okay, so not a JRock song specifically, but a very beautiful song for a really well-done anime. The artwork is fantastic and let’s face it, it’s yaoi:)
8. Full Metal Alchemist – Ready Steady Go by L’Arc en Ciel
This was the song that started it all for me. I literally fell in love with JRock after hearing this song for the first time and I’ve never looked back. I even stayed up one night until 4am turning this song into a ring tone for my old Motorola Razr cell phone. Yes, I’m that dedicated;) Thank you, L’arc en Ciel!
7. Bleach – Life is Like a Boat by Rie Fu
If you’ve never heard the full version of this beautiful song, you’re missing out.
6. Casshern Sins – Aoi Hana by Color Bottle
What can I say? Awesome artwork and a very angst-ridden plot, but a happy sounding song. I have to say I listen to this song pretty much every day right now…
5. Death Note – The World by Nightmare
Ah, a cool song for an anime that has some of the best artwork ever (my opinion). I love the way the music gives you a feel for the story and how the opening follows it.
4. Blood + – Season’s Call by Hyde
Um… Hyde is a vampire, isn’t he? This was also a ring tone of mine, he he he. I love Hyde’s voice…
3. Blood Trinity – Dress by Buck Tick
This song says vampire all over it. Haunting. Perfect. And love that bass line!
2. Bleach – D-Technolife by Uverworld
Just a plain cool song. The way they pull off the changes in tempo in the full version is awesome. They used this song back before Bleach turned into Inuyasha and had a million episodes that were all the same – just a new character to fight:( Sorry, but I got a bit tired of Bleach…
1. Ergo Proxy – Kiri by Monoral
I will never tire of this song and I must say this is in my top three all time favorite animes. The song fits the anime so well, it’s uncanny. The plot is just like the song – philosophical, dark and brooding and put together so well, every time I play it for my non-JRock friends, they all stop and listen in awe of it’s greatness:)
Okay let’s weigh in on this one. It seems in fanfiction and slash, making a male character get pregnant is a common occurance (if not, then why is there a category for it and whole communities devoted to it, hmmm?). It’s so prevalent, I’ve even seen an episode of Grey’s Anatomy where a guy came into the hospital because he was “pregnant”. I have to admit, it was hilarious. But did you know that there is actually a procedure for making a man pregnant with In Vitro Fertilization and a man named Lee Mingwei did become pregnant? There’s even a website for it: www.malepregnancy.com. Unfortunately for Lee, the chances of him surviving birth with all his abdominal organs intact are pretty low (if he doesn’t hemorrhage to death).
Enough with the gory details of reality and on to why in the world we want to make our male characters pregnant. Is it because we have some revenge vendetta against men and want to make them experience the pains of pregnancy? I have been pregnant and have kids, so I know all about the poking, prodding, testing and pains that go along with pregnancy. Okay, and the wonderful little moments like the first ultra sound where you get to see your baby inside you and the first time you actually feel them move. It’s pretty cool, all in all. But men…pregnant? The concept lends itself to a host of hilarious situations. So do we enjoy this facet of the M/M genre because of its comedic value? Or how about this, maybe we have a need for our male heroes to have all that hetero couples have – marriage and children. So we let one of them somehow get pregnant and off they go into the world of raising kids and living a “normal” life.
Now I’ve read a few of these mpreg fanfictions and I must say, overall I’m not impressed. And now I’ll admit that I find the concept ridiculous and somewhat retarded, but that’s just me. So in my quest to find out what this is all about, I did do some more reading and I actually found a story that I must say, was believable, had a good plot, was handled very well and had some hilarious moments in it. It was an FMA story on www.fanfiction.net and Roy Mustang, as a result of an alchemy experiment gone awry, ended up pregnant. I wish I could find it again so I could share, but alas, I can’t >.< What was so great about this story, is the situation of a man being pregnant and also being an officer in the military was handled realistically. And when Roy had to tell Edward his predicament, comedy ensues;)
So I couldn’t find much with Roy getting pregnant, but OMG, Naraku and Sesshoumoru with Sesshy getting pregnant? Priceless:) And it looks like they already have one baby.
So maybe the bottom line here is, it’s all of the above. We like to see men “tortured” in the way women have over the eons of time, we like to read about funny situations and let’s face it, men dealing with pregnancy is funny and some of these stories, when handled properly, are really good fiction. It’s a difficult thing to write properly, which is why I think there are so many stinkers out there story-wise and why it sometimes gets a bad rap. What do you think?
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