Latest Obsessions, Odd Ideas
Aug. 13th, 2002 03:26 pm^^ I am now officially addicted to Arisu 19th. That is, Alice 19th. It's a brand new manga (and probably will be an anime in a few years) by Watase Yuu, creator of popular series like Fushigi Yuugi (The Mysterious Play), Ayashi no Ceres (Ceres: Celestial Legend) and Imadoki!
It features a girl named Alice who has trouble saying what she really feels-- until one day, her selfish sister is mean to her, and Alice wishes she would disappear. To Alice's surprise, SHE DOES! As it turns out, this weird rabbit Alice took in was really a rabbit-girl named Nyozeka, and Alice is a Lotis-Master! Lotis means "spiritual words," and give one the power to combat darkness. Likewise, there are words used by darkness that cause one to become succumbed by the evil inside their hearts.
Alice's crush -and her sister's Mayura's boyfriend- Kyou, is a member of the Archery Club, and finds himself caught between how his heart can be closed to those he is close to ... and yet open to people like Alice, a girl younger than him that doesn't express herself. He too, is a Lotis-Master in training, only he doesn't realize it until he, Alice, Nyozeka and another classmate are caught in "The Realm of the Heart." He summons the power of a word "Protect" to save Alice from certain doom at the hands of a demon who kidnaps Mayura!
@_@ This probably sounds very complicated to someone who has never had experience with anime or manga, but it's VERY COOL...
Now, the idea of a girl being able to control words with her heart is interesting to me... and I had an idea (after thinking I was hearing my mother's voice while listening to music... even when it was 2am and she was sound asleep, despite how light a sleeper she is) for a manga of my own, one that I plan to do (or get around to) for Japanese extra credit.
It's called "I'm listening" and features a girl who loves music-- in fact, her name means something along the lines of "Prophetess of the Wind through the Pine Trees" (the 'wind through the pine trees' part is actually a Japanese word for music!). One day, she and her friend pass over a grate on their way to school-- and the girl hears an odd noise, causing her to remove her headphones and stop. The crowd tries to move around her-- and her friend is surprised, since this girl (her name is Shouin) usually never stops listening to her music until they get to school. As they pause, they see a Missing Person poster-- of a girl at their school! Shouin wants to return to the site where she heard the odd sound... she has a funny feeling it has something to do with her missing classmate! She doesn't have the chance during or after school, since it's so crowded, so she goes back, late at night... and finds a small cassette tape! She reaches and takes it, but is caught on school property by an investigator-- he's securing the campus since the girl went missing. He's only a few years older than Shouin-- but suspicious of her from the start. When she finally gets away from him, she goes home and listens to the tape-- and it sounds blank. Disappointed, Shouin goes to sleep... but in the middle of the night, her tape player clicks on, and Shouin awakens to mysterious whispers from the tape... that she shouldn't be able to hear!
So my idea gives a girl the power to "hear the unheard." Watase-sensei's latest gives a girl the power to "control words" and "displace evil in one's heart." The symbols used in Alice 19th (called 19th because the first symbol Alice summons is the 19th "Lotis" (which is like a rune) and is called "Rangu" - or "Courage.") are like runes... and that seemed new and interesting to me too.
So I've also had the idea that someone can have a handicap, and become sort of "anti-world" but gain faith when a mysterious power lends them the ability to get OVER their handicap- say, give a mute person speech, or a blind person sight. Quote-unquote normal girls often get powers-- or gifts, wishes (with constraints), or general Things-From-Another-World/Dimension. ^.^ It's very cool. I seem to like these fantasy-based manga the most.
I've also pointed out that many of these magical or fantasy mangas are cliched in many ways-- they aren't local to any particular part of Japan (and those that are don't focus on it throughout the course of the story) and don't emphasize trends too much... I kinda want to see a DDR (Dance Dance Revolution)-themed manga!
Likewise, maybe a Geisha manga... or perhaps one based on the life of a Japanese woman/teen in world war 2? Or how about a military-girl one? Like the life of a girl who grew up on a military base?
I had other ideas, including fanfics for Arisu 19th, but since I've only read one, I'll hold off on those for now... tee hee hee su.
Other random ideas:
-Something to do with the Internet
-Something to do with medicine, herbs, healing
-Something WICCA! ^^
-Something artsy
-Something edible (food-related... like an iron chef manga!)
-Something gamey (not card game like Yu-Gi-Oh) I mean... like Rubik's cube, or puzzles, or something
-Something weird and odd (like my idea of traveling to other worlds via lockers, closets, toilets, etc.)
-Something creepy and romantic (a'la Buffy, except with Yin/Yang... two people on opposite sides of the scale hate each other, but are destined to be together)
-Something fashiony (life of a teenage fashion designer?)
-Magic glasses? I'm weird like that.
-Magic makeup? even weirder.
-Something to do with scent, taste, or touch
-Something about ghosts / time travel (REAL time travel, not dimension/alternate universe hopping)
-???? I'm too full of ideas.
Present Tense Note: I actually turned the "I'm Listening" manga idea into a short story for my Spring '07 Narrative Writing class. On Thursday, 5/3, I'll get feedback and peer reviews from other people in my workshop group, so we'll see how well that old idea translated into my modern style of writing and ideas. Shouin got renamed "Elizabeth McSwith," and her friend (not sure what I'd named her in the original) became Stephanie Stephanapolous (or something else Greek and hard to spell).
It features a girl named Alice who has trouble saying what she really feels-- until one day, her selfish sister is mean to her, and Alice wishes she would disappear. To Alice's surprise, SHE DOES! As it turns out, this weird rabbit Alice took in was really a rabbit-girl named Nyozeka, and Alice is a Lotis-Master! Lotis means "spiritual words," and give one the power to combat darkness. Likewise, there are words used by darkness that cause one to become succumbed by the evil inside their hearts.
Alice's crush -and her sister's Mayura's boyfriend- Kyou, is a member of the Archery Club, and finds himself caught between how his heart can be closed to those he is close to ... and yet open to people like Alice, a girl younger than him that doesn't express herself. He too, is a Lotis-Master in training, only he doesn't realize it until he, Alice, Nyozeka and another classmate are caught in "The Realm of the Heart." He summons the power of a word "Protect" to save Alice from certain doom at the hands of a demon who kidnaps Mayura!
@_@ This probably sounds very complicated to someone who has never had experience with anime or manga, but it's VERY COOL...
Now, the idea of a girl being able to control words with her heart is interesting to me... and I had an idea (after thinking I was hearing my mother's voice while listening to music... even when it was 2am and she was sound asleep, despite how light a sleeper she is) for a manga of my own, one that I plan to do (or get around to) for Japanese extra credit.
It's called "I'm listening" and features a girl who loves music-- in fact, her name means something along the lines of "Prophetess of the Wind through the Pine Trees" (the 'wind through the pine trees' part is actually a Japanese word for music!). One day, she and her friend pass over a grate on their way to school-- and the girl hears an odd noise, causing her to remove her headphones and stop. The crowd tries to move around her-- and her friend is surprised, since this girl (her name is Shouin) usually never stops listening to her music until they get to school. As they pause, they see a Missing Person poster-- of a girl at their school! Shouin wants to return to the site where she heard the odd sound... she has a funny feeling it has something to do with her missing classmate! She doesn't have the chance during or after school, since it's so crowded, so she goes back, late at night... and finds a small cassette tape! She reaches and takes it, but is caught on school property by an investigator-- he's securing the campus since the girl went missing. He's only a few years older than Shouin-- but suspicious of her from the start. When she finally gets away from him, she goes home and listens to the tape-- and it sounds blank. Disappointed, Shouin goes to sleep... but in the middle of the night, her tape player clicks on, and Shouin awakens to mysterious whispers from the tape... that she shouldn't be able to hear!
So my idea gives a girl the power to "hear the unheard." Watase-sensei's latest gives a girl the power to "control words" and "displace evil in one's heart." The symbols used in Alice 19th (called 19th because the first symbol Alice summons is the 19th "Lotis" (which is like a rune) and is called "Rangu" - or "Courage.") are like runes... and that seemed new and interesting to me too.
So I've also had the idea that someone can have a handicap, and become sort of "anti-world" but gain faith when a mysterious power lends them the ability to get OVER their handicap- say, give a mute person speech, or a blind person sight. Quote-unquote normal girls often get powers-- or gifts, wishes (with constraints), or general Things-From-Another-World/Dimension. ^.^ It's very cool. I seem to like these fantasy-based manga the most.
I've also pointed out that many of these magical or fantasy mangas are cliched in many ways-- they aren't local to any particular part of Japan (and those that are don't focus on it throughout the course of the story) and don't emphasize trends too much... I kinda want to see a DDR (Dance Dance Revolution)-themed manga!
Likewise, maybe a Geisha manga... or perhaps one based on the life of a Japanese woman/teen in world war 2? Or how about a military-girl one? Like the life of a girl who grew up on a military base?
I had other ideas, including fanfics for Arisu 19th, but since I've only read one, I'll hold off on those for now... tee hee hee su.
Other random ideas:
-Something to do with the Internet
-Something to do with medicine, herbs, healing
-Something WICCA! ^^
-Something artsy
-Something edible (food-related... like an iron chef manga!)
-Something gamey (not card game like Yu-Gi-Oh) I mean... like Rubik's cube, or puzzles, or something
-Something weird and odd (like my idea of traveling to other worlds via lockers, closets, toilets, etc.)
-Something creepy and romantic (a'la Buffy, except with Yin/Yang... two people on opposite sides of the scale hate each other, but are destined to be together)
-Something fashiony (life of a teenage fashion designer?)
-Magic glasses? I'm weird like that.
-Magic makeup? even weirder.
-Something to do with scent, taste, or touch
-Something about ghosts / time travel (REAL time travel, not dimension/alternate universe hopping)
-???? I'm too full of ideas.
Present Tense Note: I actually turned the "I'm Listening" manga idea into a short story for my Spring '07 Narrative Writing class. On Thursday, 5/3, I'll get feedback and peer reviews from other people in my workshop group, so we'll see how well that old idea translated into my modern style of writing and ideas. Shouin got renamed "Elizabeth McSwith," and her friend (not sure what I'd named her in the original) became Stephanie Stephanapolous (or something else Greek and hard to spell).