now in this rain

[tsubame]

I am alive, in case anyone was wondering.

For some reason this fall the weather has been bad . . . on weekends. During the week, when I'm at work, it's sunny and lovely and, while not warm, certainly it is not raw and miserable. During the week, it has been an utterly ideal autumn.

On weekends, however, it's been grey, rainy, and cold. According to Accuweather they're expecting this trend to continue next weekend, as well. Perfect weather for sitting around one's apartment reading and browsing on the internet; not so good for seeing the justifiably-famous momiji of Kyoto at their spectactular autumn best.

I grabbed my umbrella, stuck A Clash of Kings in my bag, and went to Tofukuji anyway.

I'm glad that I did, because this week it looks like the leaves are at their peak. They're late this year, but then it's been a fairly warm autumn. And Tofukuji is one of the most famous places to view the leaves, with a high stage overlooking a valley full of brilliant momiji. The hordes of Japanese tourists were somewhat less than they would have been due to the threatening weather and the lateness of the hour at which I dragged myself reluctantly out the door, and so I was able to enjoy myself. The rain managed to mostly hold off until I was leaving, too.

After that I spent some time in Kyoto, shopping for Christmas presents. I was not able to resist picking up a copy of Beans Ace, though. The reason for picking up this particular magazine, of course, is also one of the reasons that I've disappeared from livejournal for a month and a half.

Actually, I'm really glad that I picked up the issue. A bunch of the different manga inside have color pages to start them off; Saiunkoku does not, but it makes up for it . . . with a picture of Ryuuki choking on one of Shuurei's manju buns! And Seiran at his shoulder has this total panic-look on his face, and Shuurei is brandishing tea at him, and it's so funny I die. Otherwise the chapter is going over the events that happened in episode six of the anime. There are some noticeable differences, of course: for one thing, the fighting tournament thing didn't happen in the manga, so this chapter has Ryuuki finding out about Seiran's identity. So there's lots of good Ryuuki, and lots of good Seiran, and I am very happy indeed.

There's also a point where Ryuuki is holding a knife to a very surprised Shuuei's throat. Shuuei's all, "woah, how did that get there?!" and I'm all "Ryuuki, where the heck did you get the knife from?!" And Ryuuki is making a very dangerous-looking face, it's quite good. Other good things we get: first look at young Seien's face, Ryuuki crying over Seiran's letter, Shuuei in armor (and he looks so good in it, too!), Seiran sans armor (and he looks good when he's not in it, too!) threatening Sa Taifu and getting pissed off, more cute Ryuuki and cute Ryuuki-and-Seien pictures, Seiran ROCKING with a sword, Seiran stabbing himself in the leg (uuuuuum, why did you do that, Seiran? I didn't get it when I watched the ep, I don't get it now), Ryuuki ROCKING with a sword, Shuurei proving herself a distinctly capable heroine even when she's the damsel in distress, and a cute Ryuuki-Shuurei hug scene before Shuurei passes out!

580 yen VERY well spent. Oh, joyousness!

I've actually been meaning to mention this earlier, but I went and looked up the voice actors for Saiunkoku, and some of the previous roles of said seiyuu amused me to no end. Shuurei's VA, for instance? Oh, she's got main parts in Inu Yasha, Noir, and FMA to brag of, but the one that was most amusing to me was Filia from Slayers Try. As for Ryuuki's . . . Touya, from CCS? Van, from Escaflowne? Kyo from Fruits Basket? Andrea from Gankutsuou? SHUICHI from GRAVITATION?! WTF? Ye gods! Rounding out the Slayers cast, Seiran's VA is the same as Zelgadis'. Shuuei's got a couple of Bleach parts, but the one that amuses me most is Naraku from Inu Yasha. And Ensei's VA? Renji from Bleach! Damn, majochan's got a good ear. Or maybe just good taste. ;-) Reishin's VA is also KON from Bleach! That makes me laugh way, waaaaay too much. Talk about your different characters, that's quite a range.



I grabbed some taiyaki before I went further into the city-proper . . . taiyaki with custard cream! The more I eat them, the more I like them. They're not as sweet as the red bean ones, and though I do like the red bean ones it is a well known fact that I'm not a big fan of sweet things. This seems to be a good weekend for deserts, though. The chocolate mushrooms that I bought yesterday turned out excellent. Apparently they're some sort of winter special. I love the fact that they have crushed macademias mixed in with their chocolate caps, it's delicious. And just the other night, for the first time in a long time, I sat down with a carton of ice cream and had as much as I wanted-- the equivalent of a full bowl! I haven't done that in . . . ages and ages.

These small mundanities are the foundation of my life.

Comments

[majochan.livejournal.com]

Thea-san!!!!!!!!

...Do you have a scanner?

I want that chapter, BADLY. SEIRAN. <3<3<3

*wants* *envies*

Majo

[butterflydrming.livejournal.com]

Chocolate mushrooms? Meiji makes ones that I can get here at a specialty grocery store (around this time of year). They are about an inch big, with caps of milk or dark chocolate and a cookie stem. Are these like yours?

truffles!

[grey-damaskena.livejournal.com]

Exactly those, aye. I love the regular chocolate ones, and the tiramisu-flavored ones are also quite good . . . but this is a special holiday version, so they're bigger, they have milk-and-white chocolate caps with crushed macademias, and the cookie stem is also chocolate. They're niiiiice. :-)

Re: truffles!

[butterflydrming.livejournal.com]

Yummy...!

Do you miss American or European chocolate?

Re: truffles!

[grey-damaskena.livejournal.com]

Not really . . . I can get periodic infusions via a trip out to Osaka's Costco, and there are a bunch of international supermarkets in Kyoto. So it's not easy and it's a bit more expensive, but I can get it. And Japanese chocolate's pretty good, so. I miss Kinder Bueno, but my sister sends me a couple of bars periodically, so it's all good.

[subsiding-leaf.livejournal.com]

He stabbed his leg to wake himself up, since the drug was putting him to sleep.^^ It actually happens quite often, but off the top of my head, I can't think of any examples right now (of course).

Shuuei=Naraku cracked me up too.^^ Again, it's a really great cast. I think the only one I didn't know was that Reishin was Kon (probably b/c I watched only like 3 episodes of Bleach^^;). That FLOORED me. *snicker*

Question, why was Ryuuki holding a knife to Shuuei's neck?^^ The inquiring public wants to know! And I totally want to see Ryuuki choking on manju.XD XD <--is that weird?

Ryuuki Shuurei hug!!!! Ryuuki Shuurei HUG!!!!

Ok, I'm done. Also, thank you for your comments.^^ I am curious: do Charon & Sentinel seem more approachable now, at least?^^ I know you like Thanatos, but I hope you like the others too.^^ They've finally stopped working...

yarr

[grey-damaskena.livejournal.com]

No scanner, but done and done to the best of my ability. Maybe I'll bring my scanner back to Japan with me this trip . . .

and the rain keeps falling

[grey-damaskena.livejournal.com]

Ouch. Well, if that was his intention, it obviously didn't work for long, since one of the assassin-dudes put out his lights with a punch. Well, it worked long enough for him to give Sa something to think about, at least.

I don't know why, exactly. Majo and I have guessed that he was demonstrating to Shuuei that yes, he could go in alone and handle himself quite well, thank you very much. Since that seems to be the extent of what he was saying . . .

I like the Ryuuki-choking-on-manju scene because it's quite funny. The look on Shuurei's face . . . and Seiran is totally panicking, it's awesome! ::much amused::

Huzzah for the hug! How is it possible for those two to be so cute?!

Sentinel is still a little distant, and probably will remain so until we find out more about what drives him. I think it's a part of his character, in any case . . . he seems like the kind of person who's well liked and likeable, but yet you never feel like you've really touched him when all's said and done. Charon is certainly not approachable, he's too prickly, but he's a lot more human. There's something to his constant irritation now, which is nice.

Re: and the rain keeps falling

[subsiding-leaf.livejournal.com]

You've hit the NAIL ON THE HEAD about Sentinel.^^ Wow, that's pretty awesome. That is exactly the type of person he is. It's a big part of the reason he drives Charon crazy--Charon being a suspicious & fairly perceptive person, he finds it irritating that he (horrors of horrors) likes Sentinel when he doesn't really know anything about the guy.

Ok, "approachable" is not really the right word for what I was asking... I guess "more human" is closer, except that they're blatantly not human. Perhaps what I'm trying to ask is whether or not they have personalities.^^; What do you mean by "there's something more to his constant irritation now"? I'm not sure I'm understanding that remark correctly.^^

Thanks for your comments.^^

Re: and the rain keeps falling

[grey-damaskena.livejournal.com]

"something to his constant irritation now" meaning that we've gotten to see why he's so irritated, at least in one case, so it doesn't seem so out-of-the-blue. It's one thing to be cranky, another to be cranky for no reason, after all.

[melanierain.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Saiunkoku Monogatari is an embarrassment of VA riches. I have big, big love for Seki Tomokazu, and I also love Midorikawa Hikaru and Itou Kentarou. I'm also vastly amused by the fact that (spoiler alert)Sa Sakujun is voiced by /Koyasu Takehito/ of all people, aka Seishirou from Tokyo Babylon. This cast is competing all-out for my love for the 12 Kokuki cast, which has Suzumura Kenichi /and/ Ueda Yuuji /and/ Hisakawa Aya. Love!