It's not easy to make new friends when you see spirits

Natsume and the book of friends is another slice of life show, but with a twist. Natsume is a young boy just on the edge of manhood who has come to live with distant relatives in a new town. He is wary of trusting people since he see's what most people cannot, and has often been called a liar and excluded because of it. He has one link to his heritage: an old book from his grandmother filled with the names of local spirits. His grandmother is the only other person he knows of who could see what he sees, and while he's never met her he feels a deep kinship with her.

The book, called the book of friends, is mostly made up of contracts his grandmother bullied spirits to make. The names give the holder power over the deamon or spirit that goes with it. While Natsume and his grandmother have much in common, their outlook about the spirits is completely opposite. Grandmother Reiko overpowers the spirits and then never asks for help while Natsume goes out of the way to return the names and give aid to human and spirit alike.

Now I've been calling them spirits but they aren't quite, being an entire pantheon of local mythology. I could use the term demon or monster or such, but I think the closest we come to them are the old versions of the fey. Some are evil and some good, some powerful and some inconsequential, but all are alien to humanity. Natsume and those like him are the only bridge between the two cultures, and that's important because to Natsume both the spirits and the people in the town are new friends. Learning to trust, and to balance his two lives, is what makes this show so good. That and his "pet cat" who's attitude goes something like this: "good night Westley, sweet dreams. I'll most likely kill you in the morning." Something most cat owners are undoubtedly familiar with.

Kimi to Boku, you and me

Another slice of life drama I've been watching is called You and Me, based on the manga Kimi to Boku (Which I'm also reading. I did not get my name from this Japanese word, I'm not nearly that clever. I also wish this had been around when I first started watching anime, back then in order to watch anime with a mixed group you almost always watched something with crazy martial arts, giant mecca, or a harem fantasy. The first two don't really interest me, but are okay. The last one is kinda ick (I should do a rant as to why I'm anti-harem shows someday....).

Anyway this show is about boys, and it's for boys. It was first serialized in a shonen magazine, which is usually all the above kinds of anime, but also can carry sports and violence and cars now that more stuff comes across to North America. Don't get me wrong, those are all great things and if you have a young male or my sister on your hands those things will keep them happy and occupied. I just think that there should also be more that those little boxes of things for guys to watch, and while this one doesn't strongly scream masculine pursuits, it was made for the boys so...

The plot centers around four high school boys; twins Yuki and Yuta who are both laid back types but with subtle differences, Shun who is the girly sweet heart of the group, and Kaname who is the glasses wearing head of class type. Part way through the first season they are joined by Chizuru, who is half German and a bit of a class clown. While all of the boys are kind of stereotypes or tropes I think it's the way the show plays with that that really makes it good. Each one goes through their days pretty averagely, but it's the friendship between them that makes their days special.


Edit: I should note that most of the emotional elements are shown in cut away scenes where the characters are represented by cats. I don't know why they do this, but it's kind of awesome.

Lions and Tigers and a whole lot of Bears, oh my!

So I've been playing about on Crunchyroll lately (go Google it, it's awesome) and I've been finding so many great anime shows to watch. The conventional anime companies, and who thought we could ever say that, seem to translate predominately boy flavored shows. Maybe because the hyper girly stuff that was the only other option didn't sell at all and the last bastion of such has now closed their doors forever. But the stuff I'm finding (legally! Woohoo) online is neither of those things. Instead I find myself watching calming slice of life dramas, shows that are more character than plat driven. They have the atmosphere of a Saturday summer afternoon when you have just nothing to do.

One big favorite lately is called Polar Bear Cafe, and it's literally about a cafe run by a polar bear. I expected it to be a children's show but it's not. It has quite a few gags (the polar bear loves bad puns, which are usually illustrated for the viewer) but it also has some very smart moments. On in particular is when a new human moves into town and he's shocked to see animals working, and so many at once! Up until that point the show just accepts that animals can talk and work like humans do, so you take that as an ordinary occurrence. It's an odd bit of world building, but it works to leave the viewer just a little bit unsteady and confused.

The show has a lot of heart, and is filled with a soft sweetness that is in no ways cloying. I also don't think I've ever laughed so hard at an anime before. Go check it out at Crunchyroll, since free is the best price.

I'll go back to Manga, but here's a book to tide you over

The Lady by Anne McCaffrey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is an odd book, it doesn't really match McCaffrey's other works and it's really a shame she didn't write more like it. I never had a horse girl phase, but some of my friends did and I always thought it was kind of stupid. We lived in a city, most of us would never see a horse let alone ride one. This is the first and only horse book I've ever read and it makes me see why girls go horse crazy.

The book is set in Ireland in the 70's, and it has a surprising number of focuses. Sure it's about horses, but it's also about a family, and about a young girl becoming a grown woman, and about politics and about love. One interesting factor is the coverage it gives to the rights of women, which is a pretty deep topic to cover in a novel. McCaffrey does it pretty well, she gives us enough detail to see that the issue is important but she doesn't overwhelm or get preachy. That's important in a novel, since most people will go to a non-fic book (or Wikipedia, lol) for hard facts.

I've read this book about five times and while there are a few details I don't like (extra marital affairs, anyone?) something about this book really draws me. I think it may be how the characters really feel like real people. They have flaws, and some of those flaws are pretty big, but I still think it would be neat to go visit them and learn about horses and riding. That's a pretty big thing to learn for a horse book hating girl.



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Flicking back and forth over Flickr

I found my flicker account again! So I might actually use it again, depending on how easy it is to get pictures off of my camera and phone. The new phone links photo's right to Facebook at the press of a button but it's more difficult for Flickr. Then again Flickr isn't a privacy seller like Facebook so it's definitely has an edge.

Cantarella

Cantarella is a rare manga that follows real historic people, in this case the Borgia family. The main character is Cesare Borgia, and the narrative follows him as he grows up and takes on his destiny. I enjoyed how it tried to follow a more neutral path than many other stories about this family. For people who have enjoyed the Assassins Creed games you might find this confusing, but then Cantarella takes a lot less artistic license than the games.

The art is gorgeous.
One thing that might be a bit off putting is the amount of violence in this series, although I don't think it's excessive considering the time period. There is also a bit of mystical stuff to hinder the true historian. Cesare's father sells his son's soul to become Pope, etc. Given that this is set in medieval/ Renaissance period I think that it still fits the the story.

I haven't read much of this series yet, but I plan to finish it soon. I really started to feel for the main characters and how they were trapped and shaped by the ambitions of the people around them. Of course it's easy to enjoy if you are new to the story, or if you already know it and can see the foreshadowing. At the very least it makes reading about history fun and rich, and oh so pretty to look at.

Hikaru no Go

Now back when I was a kid and manga was new to these shores manga for boys mostly consisted of harem manga, with full fan service, and giant robots with people in them beating each other up. Things have changed since then and there are a lot more options and genres available.

One genre I see a lot of now is sports manga like Prince of Tennis, Whistle, Rebound and many others. These generally consist of one Joe average who loves the game but isn't really very good at it and often is the worst player on the team. They usually end up succeeding through some special inner skill and a whole boat lad of determination and love of the game. I'm sure you recognize the plot from any number of western sports movies.

Hikaru no Go is a little different than most of this genre; firstly because Go is more like chess then football, and secondly because Go is usually played by old men and not boys. To get around this the main character, a punk kid named Hikari Shindo, is haunted by the ghost of a great Go player named Fujiwara-no-Sai. In order to get his life back Hikari starts to learn to play Go, mostly to keep Sai off his back. He unwittingly starts to love the game and eventually finds himself playing against the strongest player in his age group as Sai. This starts a rivalry between the boys and Hikari vows to reach the other young man so that they can play as equals.

For someone who could easily have Sai switch in whenever he starts to lose Hikari is surprisingly honest. He never cheats except by ignorance of the game and often has to keep Sai from playing when he shouldn't. Unlike other boy types there is almost no violence 9other than a few school yard scraps) and no sex or other things you might like your young men to avoid. It's manga like this that proves you can tell a good story, and keep boys engaged, with out resorting to an "R" rating.