Favorite Fictional Characters 5/29/2007 10:29:00 PM

Nothing sophisticated and of important came up in my mind recently, so please pardon me for another episode of useless rambling. The topic today--as you can see for yourselves--is my favorite fictional characters. How does one define “favorite”? For me, the matter is quite simple. “Favorite characters” are the ones I’m so obsessed with that I take the trouble to search for their profile info, character analysis, and fanfictions featuring them. Crazy fangirl.

Without further ado, lets on with the show. Here they are (in no particular order).

Luna Lovegood (of Harry Potter)
Just when you think that the wizarding world couldn’t be much weirder, Luna came along. Her belief in the supposedly non-existent being (and basically anything too spectacular to be true), her odd fashion sense, her peculiar comments--you name it. JKR said that having Luna was somewhat a comic relief--especially with the way each books getting even darker and darker--but I think Luna served more purpose than that. In Book 5, Harry was reluctant to sit in the same compartment with Luna due to her oddities. His opinion towards Luna changed in Book 6, where he didn’t simply perceive her as an odd girl as everyone else. It proved that Harry had learned to not judge someone by their appearance, thanks to his interaction with Luna. In that sense, we can say that Luna had helped Harry to develop as a character. That’s why I love her. I love her weirdness too, by the way.

Arisugawa Sorata (of X/1999)
Amongst all the “dark”, depressed, heart-wrecking nuances of X/1999, it’s such relief to have a character like Sorata around. Every time he appeared on the scene, I found it impossible not to grin upon his actions and remarks (like the time he suggested to go to an okonomiyaki restaurant because “you couldn’t fight with an empty stomach”, just when you thought that Kamui would kill Arashi with his deadly glare). Too bad he’s going to die in the end of the series in order to “protect the woman I love”. Gallant or corny, you decide!

Faramir (of Lord of the Rings)
One couldn’t help but like this character after what he’d done to our hero Frodo. Faramir could easily snatch The Ring from Frodo for his own selfish uses--earning a bit of his father respect in the process--but he didn’t. You got to respect him for that; it took a great deal of willpower not to fall for the temptation of The Ring. Courageous, intelligent, wise, thoughtful, loyal--Faramir was the archetype of the perfect gentleman you often encountered in such stories (with a little bit of sad tragedy in him, though).

Tsukishiro Yukito (of Card Captor Sakura)
Yukito was the very personification of cuteness. Well, he/she/it/whatever was not actually a person, but you know what I mean :D. Yukito was so cute you wanted to eat him/her/it/whatever. Too bad his/her/its/whatever alter-ego didn’t share the same charm.

Saitou Hajime (of Rurouni Kenshin)
Saitou Hajime was based on a real life character of the same name. The real Saitou was a controversial figure; once being the member of the Shinsengumi (a “police force” formed by the Tokugawa Shogunate to maintain peace and order in Kyoto), he later on joined the Tokyo Metropolitan Police during the Meiji era. Contradiction was also an important element of RK’s Saitou. He loved killing, but he would only kill the bad guys (Saitou’s motto is “Kill evil instantly”)--be it a lowlife scum or a corrupted politician. Saitou’s only master was Japan that it mattered not to him where he’s at as long as he could do something to protect the land (Watsuki’s way to explain Saitou’s controversial affiliation with the Shinsengumi AND the Meiji Police). Besides Saitou’s contradictory nature, I also love his cool gatotsu stance and his continual snickers towards Kenshin-gumi.

Helga G. Pataki (of Hey Arnold!)
One didm’t need an aptitude test (Hello, Mr. Simmons!) to find out that Helga was a genius. Unfortunately, Helga was keener on keeping up her class-bully image--her way to hide her insecurity--instead of showing her brilliance to the whole world. Helga’s parents (Bob the narcissistic father and Miriam the smoothie-addicted mother) had always been more infatuated with her perfect older sister Olga ever since Helga was young which consequently made them indifferent towards her. It’s no wonder that when she met the first person who showed some consideration (Arnold), she fell for him instantly. One doesn’t usually suppose a character of a children animation series could have much depth, but Helga showed otherwise.

Kurogane (of TSUBASA RESERVoir CHRONiCLE)Behind his constant frown and the lack of courtesy, Kurogane undoubtedly has good heart and a caring nature. Fai had it right when he said that Kurogane was the father figure of the party. Apart from that, I find Kurogane’s easily irked nature--which was why Fai, Mokona, Tomoyo, and even Yuuko--as one of the most interesting spectacles of TRC. I just love the weird nicknames used by Fai and Mokona to piss Kurogane off--Kurotan, Kuropon, Kurorin, Kurochii, Kuromyuu, Kurowanwan, etc. I sure am missing those nicknames, now that Fai (and Mokona, consequently) doesn’t address Kurogane in the same manner anymore.

Well, that’s it. Until next time then.

Sore Loser 5/11/2007 07:30:00 PM

Yes! After four years, Manchester United finally wins the Premier League. It feels surreal that I’m still having trouble believing it. Even now, I’m getting up in the morning with a goofy smile at my face, glad that United winning the title once again is not a dream.

However, I couldn’t help being irked at the moron (and the rent boys) comment that United were not the best team. United simply gained more points than everyone else, but his team remained the best in England. In unison with his boss, Lampard emphasized that they were just unlucky for having so many players injured at the untimely manner. Of course, Lampard added in the end of his speech that they respected United for winning the Premiership nonetheless.

Yeah right. I never know that claiming yourself as the best while saying that the winner’s just being lucky when you lose in a competition is considered a respectful attitude towards the winner.

I guess one’s true colors can only be seen when he fails. People are in such a good mood during their moments of victory that they don’t mind being friendly and generously praising just about everybody, opponents included, for their good work. Of course, they might not be that generous in showing their appreciation to others when they’re on the losing side.

Nevertheless, you can choose whether to lose in style or not. Instead of making excuses and being in self denial, it’s better to evaluate your performance and try to do better next time around. Mourinho has made himself a laughing stock by moaning and saying things like he did. Plus, it shows us yet again (remember when Chelsea lost against Barca last season?) what a sore loser he is. And his team members, I suppose.

Hopefully, the lads will be able to trash them out next Saturday at Wembley. Then, United can have the last laugh once more.

I’m out of here....

TSUBASA RESERVoir CHRONiCLE chapter 147-151 (CLAMP) 5/06/2007 08:38:00 PM

Spoiler Alert: The following contains major spoilers from TRC’s chapter 147 onwards. Read at your own risk!

Let’s see what happened so far on Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. Fai was cursed to kill those who’re stronger magically than himself (in exchange of his freedom). Fai stabbed Sakura a la Sakurazukamori. Sakura’s wish was to go alone to a dream where her feather was located (which was fulfilled--Sakura’s soul went to the dream while her body went to Celes). Fai offered his right eyesight to Yuuko as a price of his wish, which was contrary to his initial one, to return to Celes.

I must admit that I was extremely shocked when Sakura was stabbed. Knowing CLAMP (especially with chapter 120 still lingering in the back of my mind), I shouldn’t have surprised, but still. I was so dejected after reading chapter 148 (or was it 147? sorry, I read it online and didn't save it to my computer) that I refused to relate with anything Tsubasa-related for a whole week. Very unlike-me. I even changed my Tsubasa desktop wallpaper--featuring the gang with smile all over their faces (even Kurogane smiles!)--to “Hey Arnold!” because I couldn’t stand seeing them with such happy-joy-joy expression. Yes, call me crazy for obsessing over a manga to that extent.

Back to the topic.

In my review of chapter 146, I mentioned that something bad would probably happen to Fai (since his face was not present on the recollection of Sakura’s dream about the future), something bad that Sakura wished not to happen. Indeed. Fai was supposed to kill not only Sakura, but also Syaoran and Kurogane in a fit of madness. At least that’s what Sakura and Lantis foresaw. However, not resisting to Fai’s attack enabled Sakura to bid her final encouragement and goodbye to the rest of the gang (Fai in particular)--preventing Fai from going berserk in the process.

Painful as it was, recent chapters finally gave us some info on Fai’s past. Some things remains unclear though, like Fai’s motive for running away from Celes (Okay, it had something to do with Ashura-ou, but what was it exactly and why did he want to return there all of the sudden? Was it merely to regain Sakura’s body or was there another reason?), who and with whom he was being imprisoned long time ago (assuming it was LONG time ago), and why he was being imprisoned (it must’ve had something to do with Fai’s magical ability, but what’s the importance of locked him up because of it?).

As TRC coming closer to its end, we got to see recurring themes and incidents from CLAMP’s previous works such as wish and its consequences, (somewhat) double-identity crisis, brutal murder (stabbing) by the person you’re least expected, lost of eye/eyesight, premonition in a dream, and of course, hitsuzen (but that had already been mentioned way back in the beginning of the story). It’s fair to assume that we’ll be likely seeing more of familiar CLAMPish themes in the upcoming chapters.

Personally, I have no clue on how CLAMP will wrap up things between the gang (including Sakura; her soul, at least), Syaoran-clone, and Fei Wong Reed. After all, Fei Wong was the one who orchestrated everything in the first place: the death of Kurogane’s parents, Syaoran’s relationship with Sakura, the journey, and even Fai's curse seemed to be his doing as well. However, I suspect that--despite all the horrible things Fei Wong had done--it would probably be revealed later on that his true motive was not all incomprehensible. Selfish maybe, but understandable. You know, like Clow Reed’s true wish in Card Captor Sakura (even though Clow was by no means evil; mischievous maybe, but not evil). It would be very CLAMP-like to end a story like that.