Whew, it's been a little busy since I've been back in the U of K. Also, I couldn't access my hotmail account for a good few days, which was a rather frustrating business. Anyway, I'm back now (and procrastinating from writing my report), and I have lots of stuff to talk about.

Firstly, I've been watching the new series of the Mighty Boosh, which my Mum was so kind to record for me while I was away. It's good, but I'll wait to watch more than two episodes before I pass judgement. Mostly though, I think the moon is great <3

While waiting for my flight, I decided to buy a copy of Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. Seeing as I liked the Da Vinci code, I was hoping for some more of the same. Although, I have to say, I wasn't expecting it to be quite so similar! I am perhaps almost half-way through now, and the thing reads like an exact copy of the Da Vinci code, but just with a different love interest. Sadly though, it doesn't seem to be quite as interesting as the Da Vinci code, but some bits are interesting nonetheless.

As soon as I was in sight of a DVD player, I watched for myself my Tokyo Babylon OVA (I may have mentioned buying it, I forget). It was good, and I didn't have to worry after all, because it contained two stories, rather than just one. The second story, about the murders on the subway, was undoubtedly better than the first, and quite nerve-wracking in some places. I was worried that Hokuto was going to be annoying throughout the whole thing (that laugh!), but luckily she calmed down.
Seishiro was very good in this, in a 'kick-ass' sort of a way, which makes me warm to him a little more. Although this is all dispelled if I try to listen to the English dub; he sounds like an accountant!
The ending, especially of the second story, makes me sad in a pre-emptive kind of a way. I can't help it.

I also started watching some more anime. Now that I am not on a school network, I am quite happy to download all and sundry without fear of my internet connection being cut off. And so I am currently downloading the end of Gankutsuou (because I've been waiting for months to find out what happens).
I also decided to download: Tsubasa Chronicle! Yes, even though I heard it was awful, I wanted to try it out for myself. And, having watched 3 episodes so far, I can say that it is not so bad.
I was expecting the worst, so it doesn't strike me as horrendous. Admittedly some liberties have been taken with the storyline, and sometimes the characters are really ugly (Yuuko! My poor Yuuko!), and yes, there do seem to be a lot of scenes with exciting music, and nothing happening at all, but it's ok. Everyone knows that the book manga is always better than the film anime, so I don't mind it. Things I do like are, the music (yes I do!), the whole choral, tribal kind of sound is quite interesting, although it doesn't really suit Celes country that much, and I don't think too much of the comedy relief music. Touya and Yukito both looked good when they showed up, especially Touya. I don't mind the voices except Yuuko's Kurogane sounds like Kurogane should sound, as does Fay, which is a nice surprise, because I was really quite sure that he, if anyone, should be voiced by a woman. Fay's voice is soft, insincere and wishy-washy, so it suits him quite well, now if only he would open his eyes, I mean, I know he smiles a lot, but how on Earth does he see anything?! Mokona's voice is suitably annoying, and Mokona also makes a number of suitably annoying noises as well, but flying? Hmmmmm....
So yes, I shall continue to watch this, because it's not too bad, and I feel I should, as a fan of the manga.

Another thing that I have managed to get my grubby paws (lapa?) on since my return has been my X manga. I've been dying to pick this up again since I finished reading Tokyo Babylon, and so I read volume 8 in the space of, a very short space of time. I will now proceed to talk about it (click on read more for some mighty Volume 8, X spoilers, and spoilers for the whole of the Tokyo Babylon manga)

And of course, what I wanted to find out about, was what happened when Subaru finally met Seishiro for the first time after the end of Tokyo Babylon. I wasn't sure if Subaru would actually be able to fight Seishiro, just in case he had some residual feelings, but no, I was wrong. Still, Subaru seemed to give up when Seishiro pretended to leave, so maybe he wasn't really giving it his all. But to see how little he is like the Subaru of old! *sniff* Oh, if only he could be happier.
Haha, and he lit Seishiro's cigarette! That was a nice touch, although I don't really understand what that means.
The whole Subaru, Seishiro deal did, however, get overshadowed by the events at the end of volume 8. So this is when Fuuma goes evil! I was waiting for it. And boy does he go evil when he goes evil. Kotori's death wasn't so shocking, partly because I knew it was going to happen (and he kills her in the movie), and partly because Kotori was so out of it, that she didn't seem to have much left anyway.
The part with the incapacitation of Kamui beforehand though...Lordy! How violent that was. And it may just be me, but the whole thing struck me as one big allegorical rape scene. What with all the stabbing of the sharp objects, and the blood, and the licking.
CLAMP do seem to enjoy drawing lots of blood, which reminds me, I should really read RG Veda some time.
Anyway, I can't seem to put X down at the moment, I'm going to have to buy some more at this rate.