Giovanna wrote:

Tamago wrote:

Host Club? You wouldn't happen to be talking about Ouran High School Host Club by any chance, would ya? 

I watched the entire anime series thanks to the subtitled posts on Youtube and I just loved the characters, from the straight-man crossdressing girl Haruhi to the ‘Low Blood Pressure Shadow King’ Kyoya Ohtori! (I wonder if he and Akio are distant cousins, they both share a number of similar personality traits *hehe*)

DAMN YOU ALL. I was saving Ouran for a thread. It's a fantastic series, it really pokes a lot of fun at shoujo stereotypes, and I know, KNOW there are a few direct Utena references in there. Like when one of the twins (was Kaoru, right?) finds Haruhi in the church during a thunderstorm. Oh my did that smell familiar.

You forget the continual use of Utena rose colours, woman! Those things have a disturbing amount of parallel-ness. Even if Kyouya isn't quite as evilsexy as Akio.

Let's make an Ouran thread anyway!

Well, I think I'll scare everyone here -

I absolutely love the work and the personalities (their side bar notes just crack me up) of:

Natsuki Takaya's "Fruits Basket" (she loves to game and is/ was? a big FF 7 fan) and Mayu Shinjo's "Sensual Phrase" (ye gods - the pretty boys, the bad J-Pop costumes and the angst! It just doesn't get much "better?")

Amano goes without saying - Kikuchi-san's novels are a painful (yet fun & addictive) read, but Amano's D images are plain out dreamy.  And his work is just beautiful in all he does.

And, okay, she's not the best artist, but I love her stories and her boys - Kazuya Minekura's "Saiyuki".

Oh - and a big ol' thank you for the prettiness to Yoko Matsuhita for her "Yami no Matsuei" (American-"Descendants of Darnkess") boys (who to pick, who to pick).  If only she'd go back to it . . .  I reference any and everybody to the image of a naked, chained Touda in YnM Number 10.  rrawwrrr.

You were warned you'd be scared. 

As to anime - "Fruits Basket" and YnM (again), most of CLAMP - "Tsubasa's" animation - I'm not as crazy about - but the TV series is good.

Giovanna wrote:

Princess Tutu sounds like Utena 101. Too bad I went right to the grad classes.

That's exactly how I see it. XD Tutu is a lot like Utena in many ways, but has no/little sex (unless you count when Rue is constantly molesting/kissing Mytho) and is geared more toward younger audiences. It got me into Utena, too. XD;

BakaElf wrote:

SleepDebtFairy wrote:

Have you read Ludwig? Apparently it's still going on, but what I've read so far I've loved. (Less confusing than AS to me) It takes a lot of fairytales and screws them up. I love it.

I haven't, no, but it sounds interesting! >> Where might I find it?

Have you read Bloodhound or Cruel Fairytales? The latter I actually don't remember a thing about, and I heard a rumour that the former was made into a J(?)drama.

Alas, I'm not sure where you can find it. D: My friend uploaded it for me in her LJ photo album thingy and I'm not sure if she wants me to share or not. XD If you're interested I can ask, though. :3

Nope, I haven't. D: Angel Sanctuary and Ludwig are the only ones by her I've checked out, but I've heard of a lot of different titles by her. So, so pretty and dark.

BakaElf wrote:

Giovanna wrote:

...I googled. I saw 'London' and many many drawings of men (well okay pretty boys) in Victorian suits. INTERESTED. Please tell me more.

It's actually been a while since I read it, and my manga is in a box somewhere so... As I recall we've got Count Cain, a young noble who collects exotic poisons and solves all manner of mysteries in London. He lives with Riff (his loyal manservant) and Merryweather (his half sister.) And there's a Dr. Disraeli out to get him, oh noes.

That reminds me a lot of Ludwig, actually. Except Ludwig is a prince who collects dead girls to have sex with, but he has a manservant too. And then he goes looking around for his ideal princess (with big boobs) and then runs into different princesses from fairy tales. (Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, etc.) but they're all refreshingly different from the typical fairy tales they come from and they're very twisted.

SleepDebtFairy wrote:

BakaElf wrote:

SleepDebtFairy wrote:

Have you read Ludwig? Apparently it's still going on, but what I've read so far I've loved. (Less confusing than AS to me) It takes a lot of fairytales and screws them up. I love it.

I haven't, no, but it sounds interesting! >> Where might I find it?

Have you read Bloodhound or Cruel Fairytales? The latter I actually don't remember a thing about, and I heard a rumour that the former was made into a J(?)drama.

Alas, I'm not sure where you can find it. D: My friend uploaded it for me in her LJ photo album thingy and I'm not sure if she wants me to share or not. XD If you're interested I can ask, though. :3

Ooh, that would be divine, if it's not too much trouble. Meanwhile, I'll see if I can find my disks with what I have of hers and find a place to share it. >>

SleepDebtFairy wrote:

BakaElf wrote:

Giovanna wrote:

...I googled. I saw 'London' and many many drawings of men (well okay pretty boys) in Victorian suits. INTERESTED. Please tell me more.

It's actually been a while since I read it, and my manga is in a box somewhere so... As I recall we've got Count Cain, a young noble who collects exotic poisons and solves all manner of mysteries in London. He lives with Riff (his loyal manservant) and Merryweather (his half sister.) And there's a Dr. Disraeli out to get him, oh noes.

That reminds me a lot of Ludwig, actually. Except Ludwig is a prince who collects dead girls to have sex with, but he has a manservant too. And then he goes looking around for his ideal princess (with big boobs) and then runs into different princesses from fairy tales. (Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, etc.) but they're all refreshingly different from the typical fairy tales they come from and they're very twisted.

That's exciting to me. I really like all that sort of altered-fairy tales and stuff. Not precisely on topic, but Sandman anyone? (Or to be more in the vein of IFD, Alan Moore's Lost Girls?)

Yay! My friend gave permission to share the links to Ludwig if anyone is interested.

http://pics.livejournal.com/darkkairach … y/00016qf4 
http://pics.livejournal.com/darkkairach … y/00017y82  Snow White.

http://pics.livejournal.com/darkkairach … y/00018d40  Little Red Riding Hood.

http://pics.livejournal.com/darkkairach … y/00019ka4
http://pics.livejournal.com/darkkairach … y/0001az22
http://pics.livejournal.com/darkkairach … y/0001bbg3 Sleeping Beauty.

http://pics.livejournal.com/darkkairach … y/0001caef  Blue Beard.

"Sleeping Beauty" is by far my favourite. I'm amused by how Snow White was interpretated, too. And I love Little Red Riding Hood, she reminds me of a friend of mine..

Apparently it's still going on, so I can't wait to see more.

Romanticide wrote:

SleepBebtFairy... I officially love you now, I never could finf scanlations of the bluebeard story until you came.

No problem! I'm glad my friend gave me permission to share them, because it's such a lovely series. I wonder when the next part comes in..

Giovanna wrote:

I used to want to be Snow White when I was kid.

Doubly true now.    

(I loved her mother's wardrobe though, god I'm a sucker for gothy dresses!)

Gonna have to read more of this. I'm all for sick twisted sex. (lol prince necro lol)

Personally, I don't see why the queen should have been complaining. She was hot.

Like I said, I love how Snow White was portrayed in Ludwig.

SleepDebtFairy wrote:

Romanticide wrote:

SleepBebtFairy... I officially love you now, I never could finf scanlations of the bluebeard story until you came. <3

No problem! :dance: I'm glad my friend gave me permission to share them, because it's such a lovely series. I wonder when the next part comes in..

Thank you to both then ^_^ I think Ludwig is in Hiatus because no page that talks about Kaori Yuki mentioned another chapter after not even the french fans who have more works of her and are really dedicated.

Romanticide wrote:

Only seen previews I am too poor to spend 80 dollars on porn XD

What's this? Porn? Alan Moore?

My god I'm out of the loop, I've been missing Victorian suit parties, Alan Moore doing porn, and Snow White with pedo action.

Yes porn, this have been a project between his and his now fiance Melinda Gebbie. They did porno just because, but being Alan Moore the writer he is every setting has to be documented properly and better writen :P
The hardcovers came out some months ago... and got sold out. In fact the second printing was already sold out in the pre-sale...

OH GOD.

That looks seriously like the most awesome thing EVER. Giovanna needs some Lost Girls PRONTO.

She also needs 75bux.

Romanticide wrote:

with luck a very nice person will uploaded... with luck

I'm trying.

(I'm not a bad person, I just like to preview before I drop 75bux on something.)

Romanticide wrote:

Giovanna wrote:

Romanticide wrote:

with luck a very nice person will uploaded... with luck

I'm trying.

(I'm not a bad person, I just like to preview before I drop 75bux on something.)

you are not alone, most of us also... this material world is just so expensive

I deliver you from fear, temptation, and not having a sample of Lost Girls to read. Courtesy of the scans_daily livejournal community.

http://community.livejournal.com/scans_ … 18089.html

As for manga artists... Osamu Tezuka is vastly underappreciated in non-Japanese fandom, I believe. Yeah, he did stuff like Astro Boy, which is interesting and sometimes fun in a establishing-manga sort of way, but the real gems that have been released in the U.S. are Adolf and Phoenix. The former is a WWII epic (that doesn't deal directly with the war, of course) about three guys named Adolf, a Japanese reporter, and the secret of Hitler's birth. The latter is Tezuka's magnum opus (cut short by his death) of a series of loosely-connected stories set backwards and forwards in time. They're both gold. Buddha is also quite good, though not one of my personal favorites.

Mine used to be Kubo Tite, creator of Bleach and Zombie Powder. His art was great, unique, stylish and colorful, like so - http://www.toriyamaworld.com/bleach/gallery/Bleach-02-01-02.jpg, but as time passed his style turned dull, normal and like every other manga - full of bishounen. His plot and character building skills remain awesome, though.

Right now my favorite mangaka, both art-wise and story-wise, is the worshippable Eiichiro Oda. I adore everything about the guy - his insane plotting skills, his awesome, unique characters [he created Nami. That already promotes him to the rank of near-God], each with a wonderful backstory of their own, the incredible, original world he created, and of course, his art, which is unlike anything I've ever seen. Examples: http://www.eastblue.net/picture/manga/g … CW3-10.jpg, http://www.eastblue.net/picture/manga/g … CW3-09.jpg and http://www.eastblue.net/picture/manga/g … CW2-01.jpg.
Plus, he has near-canon lesbians. I'm a fangirl, sue me.


I also love Saito Chiho's art despite her inexistant knowledge of human anatomy and proportions, but unfortunately, she sucks at writing decent characters and plots.

SleepDebtFairy wrote:

Yay! My friend gave permission to share the links to Ludwig if anyone is interested.

http://pics.livejournal.com/darkkairach … y/00016qf4 
http://pics.livejournal.com/darkkairach … y/00017y82  Snow White.

http://pics.livejournal.com/darkkairach … y/00018d40  Little Red Riding Hood.

http://pics.livejournal.com/darkkairach … y/00019ka4
http://pics.livejournal.com/darkkairach … y/0001az22
http://pics.livejournal.com/darkkairach … y/0001bbg3 Sleeping Beauty.

http://pics.livejournal.com/darkkairach … y/0001caef  Blue Beard.

If anyone's interested but doesn't feel like sifting through all this, I grabbed the first three off Sakura Crisis' http dump and Bluebeard the hard way. Here's 28mb of NECROPHILIAC PRINCE. (I'll leave this up for a while but not forever. Grab it if you want it!)

PS. This, like Angel Sanctuary, made me feel like a dirty bishonen-loving fangirl. Rawr. Such pretty pictures.