Chrno Crusade, episodes 1-12
by V.E. on February 22nd, 2010
filed under anime/manga, recap/review
Favorite screen shot so far. Not the best one, but definitely my favorite.
I think Chrno Crusade (wiki) is going in my list of favorite animes. Seriously. Almost every episode—these are ep.7—goes from this:
…to this:
Gotta love it. (Reminds me a little of Slayers in that way, actually.) I’m only halfway through and it’s like a book I can’t put down. I just have to see what happens next. I’m a sucker for the evil/good dichotomy, as it were.
Set in the United States during the late 1920s, Chrno Crusade follows the story of Rosette Christopher, a nun in the Magdalene Order, and her demon partner, Chrno. Based in Brooklyn, New York—hells yeah—they travel around the country eliminating demonic threats to society while Rosette searches for her lost brother, Joshua.
Episode 9 had me all teared up. When she says she wanted to be a doctor to save/help her brother. Gah. I’m a sucker for stuff like that. And episode 10 had a badass version of Chrno, even if it was only for a split second.
Aaaaand, of course episode 12 is the obligatory Chrisu-masu episode—reindeer and Angels We Have Heard on High for everyone! (Also, giant-est fir tree EVER.)
All of the main characters have been introduced, including:
Rosette and Chrno (they’re rarely apart)
Azmaria Hendrick
Father Remington
Sister Kate
Hexen die Juwel, Satella (doing her thing reminds me of Sailor Venus somehow)
Aion (reminds me of Zechs and Father Nightroad put together, sorta; maybe it’s the hair)
Joshua, Rosette’s brother
One thing I want to know, though—and this is being nitpicky, I know—is that if the Order is stationed in Brooklyn, and a bunch of the demon stuff happens in Brooklyn (aside from the thing in Central Park, of course), why the hell do Chrno and Rosette always seem to be driving over bridges? I’ve lived in New York. New York in 1928 isn’t that much different than now. That is, there are no bridges that have Brooklyn on both sides. Bridges to Brooklyn, yes. Bridges from Brooklyn, yes. There are no bridges that are entirely in Brooklyn. Just sayin’.
Though I haven’t read the manga (no surprise there, right?), I learned that:
The anime follows the manga through the first half, but it diverges halfway through, creating different courses of events and endings. The characterization of some the characters, including Rosette and Aion, and their roles in the story were changed in the adaptation of the manga. Much of the story is driven by the individual pasts of the main characters and the complex relationships between them.
…which means that I’ll be venturing into unknown territory in the next 12 episodes. I’ve heard the ending is extremely sad, and I’m looking forward to it. Er, that sounds weird, I know, but it makes sense in my head.
More pictures here (ep.4), here (ep.5), here (ep.7), and here (ep.8).
Lolita
by V.E. on February 22nd, 2010
I’ve never read Lolita, but even I know the basic story:
the protagonist and unreliable narrator, middle-aged Humbert Humbert, becomes obsessed and sexually involved with a twelve-year-old girl named Dolores Haze.
Apparently, in 2007, John Bertram issued a challenge: design a cover for Nabokov’s Lolita. Here are the results, via Flickr. It’s a pretty interesting set, actually, and has everything from innocence to pedophilia—sometimes both in the same cover. The one to the right is my favorite (I have a thing for striking eyes), but I also like this one, this one, this one, this one, and this one. Seeing some of the covers… does not make me want to read the book. (I don’t really want to read it anyway, but I’m just saying. It’s supposed to be a classic and controversial and all that.) Some of them are just… creepy. I mean… ugh.
And what the hell is up with the quotation in this one? Did Vanity Fair really publish a review of Lolita (of all things) including the phrase “The only convincing love story of our century”? Really? Really?
(hat tip Jezebel)
