Huzzah for Disgaea.

[nenena]

Well, it turns out that amazon.co.jp will indeed import that Disgaea 1997 calendar. I've already got mine on preorder. ^_^ (Honestly, I should have thought to check amazon.co.jp before complaining in my previous post. They are awesome in that they import nearly everything that's published in English. Including English translations of Japanese novels and manga, which I think is pretty awesome.)

Also, I went ahead and bought the six Disgaea novels. Haven't touched the Disgaea 2 novels yet as I expect it will take me a while to get through the first six. But I mostly went ahead and bought them because if my understanding of the reviews on amazon are correct, then Flonne/Laharl is officially canon in the novels. Which makes me a very happy little fangirl.

I finally finished Solaris and am still... digesting it. It was definitely one of the most thought-provoking books I've ever read, but it's taking me a while to process all of said thoughts that have been provoked. It probably doesn't help that I'm simultaneously 1/3 of the way through Haunted, and reading Palanhuik tends to overstimulate and then shut down my brain by turns. Plus I'm supposed to be forcing myself to read the Ah! My Goddess novel, but right now I don't care about Freya and there's only so much of Skuld acting spoiled that I can take.


So after episode 22 of Sorezore no Tsubasa there are going to be two more Ah! My Goddess episodes released directly to DVD, right? Hopefully these two last episodes will share the increased animation quality and sharp storytelling that characterized the first season's direct-to-DVD episodes.

OR maybe the final two episodes will continue in the vein of episode 22, and write everyone completely out of character.

IF Ghoda insists on making everyone as out of character as possible, here are my predictions for what the final two episodes will look like:

23. Ah, my girlfriend is a robot maid?!
In an effort to distract Keiichi from pursuing Belldandy, Skuld creates Sigel, a nekomimi-wearing ninja robot maid. But things don't go as planned, and instead of falling in love with Keiichi, Sigel falls head-over-heels for Banpei! Meanwhile, Tamiya and Ootaki's relationship takes a dramatic turn for the worse, after Tamiya catches Ootaki making eyes at Aoshima. This causes Tamiya to cry sparkly uke tears of heartbreak and dramatically storm out of Ootaki's life. Sigel flounces around in her nekomimi maid uniform, cooks a five-course meal for Banpei (which he can't eat), and insists on taking a bath with him. Banpei's attempt to enter the bathtub ends in disaster as both he and Sigel electrocute themselves.

24. Ah, the parents crash the party?
Keima and Takano show up at the temple for an unexpected visit. Belldandy entertains them by using magic at every possible opportunity, showing off Holy Bell, then having an emo fit and breaking down crying when Keiichi points out that the kitchen is running low on soy sauce. Keima flirts shamelessly with Urd while Takano graciously takes over the cooking for Belldandy, who is locked up in Skuld's room and incapacitated by her own tears. Meanwhile, Sayoko and Marller take advantage of Belldandy's moment of weakness by making a pact... to end world hunger. They join the Peace Corps (because Marller needed the pay) and ship off to South Africa. Tamiya rescues Aoshima from Sora's Dungeon of Love. Hild's face appears in a pancake. Freya appears in the ending credit sequence because the producers like to fuck with us. The end.

Okay, that was fun! Any other predictions for the final two episodes?

Comments

[atelierjoh.livejournal.com]

Ooh, ooh, I also predict that Shiho Sakakibara will become a Catholic nun, show up at the house, and fall for Keiichi for real this time. And Belldandy will give up on Keiichi because Keiichi finally grows a libido and falls for Urd.

And that Urd's half-brother, Turd, a gun-toting demon, will be Belldandy's new love interest.

And Skuld gets breasts. OH WAIT THAT ALREADY HAPPENED IN EPISODE 26.

... Flonne x Laharl is canon? Holy crap. I never considered them a pair in the first place. (Did I mention that I am now an avid fanboy of Adell x Rozalin?) Never considered that Disgaea was all about a love triangle. Then again, I tend to not think of people who are physically little kids to in romantic relationships. But Flonne /is/ win.

[ladykleo.livejournal.com]

Last two episodes are going to be hentai with Bell as a main character, that's why they decided not to show it on tv. :) It could increase the popularity and attract a lot of new fans.

But seriously, I can't even imagine what they're going to do with these additional episodes. Both stories, about Sigel and about K1's parents, are quite long in manga as I remember.

[nenena.livejournal.com]

RE: Flonne x Laharl

Well, the novels start ten years after the events of Disgaea, and the novel illustrations make Flonne and Laharl look older and more teenager-ish (that is, not as childish as they are in the game), so that might make it a little more palatable.

I don't know if it's canon in the game, but my general impression is not. But in both Disgaea artbooks there's a character relationship chart that says "love" on the arrow connecting Flonne and Laharl. And I don't know about the game, but in the anime, Lamington, Laharl's-mother-as-a-Prinny, and Vyers-slash-Laharl's-father-WTF came just short of saying "HAY YOU GUYZ SHOULD HOOK UP LEIK NOW." Lamington came the closest when he was talking about sending Flonne to wake up Laharl because he wanted to create "a good bond between Heaven and the Netherworld" (I don't remember the exact words), which reminds me so much of medieval king negotiating a marriage contract between his daughter and the prince of a rival kingdom that it's kind of creepy.

Plus the ending of the anime where Laharl says flat out that he feels love for Flonne and then sacrifices his life for her. I realize that there's more than one meaning of "love" but still... (Although the fact that Laharl ends up as a Prinny in the anime would seem to discount any possibility of Flonne/Laharl in the animeverse. Although I'm sure there are ways that a creative ficcer could work around it. AND if they ever make a Disgaea 2 anime wouldn't there have to be some sort of plot device to de-Prinny-ize Laharl? Or is he not that important to the story?)

But the anime focuses more on Flonne than on Etna, so maybe that's part of why the anime makes Flonne/Laharl seem more natural than Etna/Laharl. To me, that is.

Plus, having seen the animated cut scene from Disgaea 2, I don't think that anybody but Flonne could possibly be the Queen of the Netherworld. Except for Etna, but she strikes me more as the type to overthrow Laharl rather than hook up with him. Etna wants to live freely and I can't imagine her ever tying herself down to anyone.

Sorry for the long reply. ^^;; I just like to gush about pairings. (I'm sure that if I ever get around to playing D2 I will likewise be fangirling Adell x Rozalin as much as possible. Even without playing the game, I can sense from what I know of the story that this is a pairing that will strike a chord with me.)

[atelierjoh.livejournal.com]

Holy crap, so it /is/ canon that Vyers is King Kriv-whatever?! It was in the manga, but I didn't get all of the endings in the game.

Concerning the illustrations, I find that odd if its only ten years after the game. Especially since Flonne's already 1500+ to begin with and has the body of a 12 year old. (Laharl I think is something around 1200 and 1300. I just remember that Flonne was the oldest, Etna the middle, and Laharl the youngest) But man, Lamington and his pairing obsession.

Prinny Laharl is in one of the endings (the standard one) and Fallen Angel Flonne is one of the other ones, but I think the Fallen Angel Flonne is the canon ending by Nippon-Ichi since she appears later in Disgaea 2. Prinny Laharl would eventually reincarnate anyway, so it would still be possible, methinks.

And while Etna is entertaining, I'm not an avid fan of her. Like you said, she's more likely to overthrow Laharl than sex him up. After all, why else in Disgaea 2 would be strike it out on her own to try to become the Goddess of All Overlords?

No need to be sorry! I leave some pretty long or at least frequent replies in your journal, too XD I'm finally glad I have someone to gush about Disgaea /and/ Flonne /and/ Rozalin about!

[nenena.livejournal.com]

I finally got to see the first game endings via the videos posted on gamespot.comn (OMG funniest English voice casting ever). So yeah, now I can see how the anime is kind of weird, taking elements from two different endings...

I'm still not sure about the details of the novels, since I don't have them in my hands yet. The story descriptions on amazon.com are a little bit untrustworthy because they're done in the style of Etna's episode previews. ("What dastardly intrigue will the Beautiful Detective Etna uncover in the depths of the overlord's lair?!") In other words, they mostly talk about Etna. The reviews that readers have posted that I've read so far are all variations on "if you like the game you'll like this book!" so again, not very helpful.

Yeah, it's canon that Vyers is Laharl's father... But I dunno if Nippon Ichi ever bothered to make an explanation for how or why that could be. The anime never explained it. I wonder if it will come up in the novels. It's just a big head-scratcher to me.

digesting solaris

[steelehearts.livejournal.com]

Digesting is the right word. I remember, when I had to read the novel for my SF course, I took a whole week to plod through it. It *is* heavy for the stomach :) Still... I love Lem's work. I'm still looking for soft copies of Lem stories, but can't get any.

DurgaPuja wishes for you, sweetheart. Please visit my journal and read the message.

[atelierjoh.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's one fo the very rare cases (the only one, I think), where I like the English voices better than the Japanese. Sure, it sounds ridiculous, but it's FUNNY. And it's only augmented by the fact that Flonne is one of the only few cutesy characters I don't find irritating beyond all belief.

I would say that the King and Lamington were in the cahoots at some point in the past. Lamington knew quite well that the King was dead already by the time he sent Flonne to the Netherworld, obviously, and both he and the King have similar attitudes about carving a new future for the two worlds via the children. In the manga Lamington was surprised when Vyers revealed his true identity (not as dramatic in Vyers style, oddly enough), so maybe they didn't collaborate deeply (considering it'd be weird to see the rulers of Celestia and the Netherworld associating with each other), but I can definitely see them working behind the scenes. I just never expected it since Vyers is such a fruitcake.

... man, now I want to draw Flonne fanart.

Well, I hope you enjoy the novels! Be sure to tell me what you thnk!

[aster-dw.livejournal.com]

Note to self:
Never try to read something titled "AMG joke" in nenena's journal while drinking.

Seriously, though, that was brilliant and it gave me a much needed laugh (a very long one, at that). The scary thing is that I've lost faith in the storywriters so much that I can actually see ep24 being similar to what you've described...
Belldandy entertains them by using magic at every possible opportunity, showing off Holy Bell, then having an emo fit and breaking down crying when Keiichi points out that the kitchen is running low on soy sauce. ... Hild's face appears in a pancake.
LOL. Just LOL.

By the way, is Freya from the novel the silver-haired woman from the game (rumored to also be called Freya for some reason).

Any info about the novel in general will be much appreciated, by the way.

[nenena.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I just posted something to the Game thread on the GP forums last night... Because the silver-haired woman in the game is the Silver Clock Fairy, not Freya or Belldandy's mom. (Seriously, where did the Belldandy's mom thing come from? As much as I would love to meet Belldandy's mom, I've seen zero indication that she's in the game.)

As for the novel, I haven't gotten very far yet. Freya is introduced in a scene set in Heaven. She enters Y's control room for the first time, and is introduced to everything by Eir. Since Eir is also busy answering phones and saying "This is the place where we help people," I can only assume that she's working in the Goddess Helper Office. She also says that the room is a "special place where only a Goddess First Class Second Category can enter." Freya is portrayed as very young and eager - her first time in the control room she's like a total wide-eyed noob. She has a total Belldandy moment when she's watching the Goddesses work, and she clasps her hands over her chest and says, "I'm so moved!" She's also described as having white skin like porcelain and hair the color of sakura blossoms (I think... I'm really fuzzy on that particular sentence), so she couldn't be the silver-haired woman. Hmm, she has a temporary First Class license... During her trial period she's supposed to be entering all of her memories and knowledge in a special notebook, but she flakes out and forgets the notebook during her first day "studying under Eir." So then she goes back into her room and gets the notebook and vows not to forget it again.

That's about as far as I've gotten, which isn't very far...

[nenena.livejournal.com]

Also, forgot to mention - YUMMY PANCAKE. Yummy evil pancake.

Re: digesting solaris

[nenena.livejournal.com]

I read your journal last night, it was beautiful.

But that joke post pwned everything. That was awesome.

[aster-dw.livejournal.com]

Because the silver-haired woman in the game is the Silver Clock Fairy, not Freya or Belldandy's mom
Thank gods. I was starting to feel awfully thick because of my complete inability to see why on Earth everyone was convinced that she was Freya AND Bell's mom. (I suppose, one of the previews for the game did mention that SCF was someone fans of the original manga would be excited to see, but that's about it.)

She has a total Belldandy moment when she's watching the Goddesses work, and she clasps her hands over her chest and says, "I'm so moved!"
LOL.

She's also described as having white skin like porcelain and hair the color of sakura blossoms
Do her eyes change colour when her mood changes? Looks like Touma Yumi really needed an author proxy, and got sick of being Urd. Which kind of confirms the impression I got from glancing over the google-translated chapters from the novel on the TBS website. I hope it gets better, and less OC-centered as the plot develops.

And re:pancake.
It's kind of sad that my only contribution to the AMG-fandom is Hild's face on a pancake... But I just thought the idea was absolutely delightful.

[nenena.livejournal.com]

Actually, the stuff on the TBS website isn't part of the actual novel - it's like an extra side story. The actual novel isn't really OC-focused but Freya still makes an appearance. I can only assume that she is some sort of plot device.