New Blog

I'm not done with anime, but someone new has appeared in my life.
Actually, three somethings.
I aqquired three hermit crabs last Saturday that are now alive and well at this very moment. Their names are Sei, Kino, and Marluxia. You can read it here.

Thanks!

- Much luvz, Hideki.

Misery

For once, this blog is about something non-anime, not about my life, and not about a movie that spawned into a popular video game. However: a nerd is a nerd is a nerd, and I know there are Stephen King freaks out there.
In my continuing experimentation with horror movies and thrillers, tonight my dad and I watched Misery. The tale tells of author Paul Sheldon who crashes on a mountain road during a blizzard. Annie Wilkes, claiming to be his number-one fan, pulls him from the wreckage and brings him back to her home to nurse his broken limbs. Soon it becomes clear that Annie isn't quite right in the head. She lies to Paul about her contact with the outside world when she has no phone. When leaving the house, she locks his room, and when discovering that he's killed off the heroine, Misery Chaste, of his hit romance series, she throws a tantrum and forces Paul to write a continuation. Crippled and praying he can deceive his captor, Paul starts desperately searching for a way out.

When I watched The Shining, I liked the IDEA of the story, and the movie left me unimpressed. However: I believe that stalkers are some of the most terrifying people you could come across. Misery had a character that lived up to that expectation - rapid, uncalled for moodswings; obsessive-compulsive habits and paranoia. This movie made me jump, sit on the edge of my seat, and had everything I look for when taking a dose of horror.
For gore lovers, I'm sorry: there's a minimal amount of blood. One person is shot through the chest before Paul and Annie's final struggle where the both bleed quite a bit.
The acting was excellent: Paul was a clever man who had to act for his life to fool Annie. The sheriff that goes looking for him was charismatic with a hysterical wife.
I really enjoyed Misery. With this on top of my friend's rants on Stephen King, I think I'm finally sold on actually reading one of his books.

- Much luvz, Hideki.

Kitchen "Energy"

I swear to whatever God you may or may not believe in, I just saw something in my kitchen. My dad says he often sees “passing energy” in our house, but this is my first visible brush in several years.

“It might’ve just been that.” Reassured my brother when I told him.

“I swear to God, it wasn’t the coffee maker!” I cried, gesturing to the appliance’s glowing face.

“What, like a glowing orb?” He grinned, almost teasing.

“Yeah, like a glowing orb!” I repeated.

I have a strong belief in ghosts and spirits. Whether you agree with me or not, I DO respect your opinion.

However: I just saw something in my kitchen.

- Much luvz, Hideki.

Twin Spica

I don't often rush to review a series that I haven't read or seen a substantial amount to draw an opinion on, but tonight I found the manga series Twin Spica so awing and dream-like that I HAD to share it.

As the story goes, in the year 2010, Japan's first manned spacecraft failed to launch when the gas caught fire. The entire crew was killed and the rocket crashed into the nearby city, killing many people. Asumi Kamogawa was born in the same year, and grew up knowing her mother only in a comatose state, completely covered in bandages before she passed away when Asumi was five. Once the funeral had passed and her mother was created, the young girl meets and befriends "Mr. Lion", a man who wears a cartoon mascot head. Mr. Lion teaches Asumi about outer space and the stars, and the girl's passion to someday pilot a rocket grows. She promises her father and friend that they'll get on her space ship for free.

At fourteen, with some trials and bumps in the road, Asumi applies for the Tokyo Space School. With the love of Mr. Lion and her father, she's sent off into a strange new setting where she spends her first week locked in an isolated room with two strangers. There, Asumi defies the impossible after reliving the trauma in her childhood.

* * *

At this point, I haven't gone into much detail and not much has happened, but the cartoony style of Twin Spica portrays a shocking story with hidden meanings.

Never have I seen this accomplished with an art style so freakishly similar to Akiko and the Planet Smoo by Mark Crilley.

Supposedly a series with so much true fact blurs the lines of life, love, reality and legend in only this one volume I picked up at the library today.

When Asumi first meets Mr. Lion at age five, he's surprised that she can see him and claims he's a ghost. Further hints about his identity are revealed later. Who he is and his purpose is so far a mystery, but he is the element that's turning your science brain upside-down as you read.

The book is ridiculously easy to fall in love with, and I'm already longing for more.

Twin Spica is like nothing I've seen yet.

- Much luvz, Hideki