nenena: (Tsubasa - Please stop)
Saying that this epilogue is "better" than last week's ending is like saying that Star Wars Episode II is "better" than Episode I. Trufax, yes, but an utterly meaningless comparison as well. Shit is still shit, even though it may seem preferable when compared to runny storytelling diarrhea. At the end of the day, it's still shit.

Right, so let's recap.

Baby, you look hawt in that silly, silly hat. )

So like, I just heard that CLAMP got nominated for a Lulu award. I think they definitely deserve a spot in Lulu's Hall of Fame, if not for Cardcaptor Sakura alone, then at least for their phenomenal commercial success. However, I reeeaaaaally wish that the timing were different, as it's hard for me to root for CLAMP getting such an award at a time when they're basically at a creative nadir. It's kind of like Martin Scorsese getting his Best Director win for The Aviator. That movie didn't deserve the recognition, but Scorsese certainly did. The same could be said for CLAMP and the Lulus right now. Tsubasa is a pile of shit, xxxHolic is far from their best work, and Kobato is just silly fanpandering layered on top of silly fanpandering. At least Kobato is fun to read, though. Not like Tsubasa, which in its final hundred chapters wasn't fun to read at all. It was downright painful to read, actually. The final hundred chapters of Tsubasa are practically a literary colonoscopy.

Oh well. Here's hoping that CLAMP's next work will be better.

Edited to add: Once again, the master list of plot holes and critiques is here. Like, only one minor plot hole was actually resolved in this epilogue. Wow. That's pretty bad. I mean, wow.

Edited again: This is the most reasonable and intelligent defense of the series that I've seen yet. And of course, I waded in and disagreed. (*slaps self on wrist*)

Edit the third: Best. Summary. Ever. Seriously.
nenena: (Tsubasa - Please stop)
All right.

Okay.

I have never, ever read an ending to anything - ever - that more clearly screamed of the writers just throwing up their hands and giving up. It's clear that CLAMP doesn't give a flying fuck about this series any more, and they just wanted to end it already, so end it they did. It's really their own damn fault for writing themselves into a corner the moment that they started the whole Oedipal time travel plot twist, though. There was never going to be any way to resolve that without completely fucking over the storyline, so they just... well, didn't. They didn't really resolve anything. They just stopped.

And HOW. )

Edited to add: Epilogue recap is GO. Have any of the plot holes listed above been addressed in the epilogue? The answer is: No, not really. But that's no surprise.
nenena: (Tsubasa - Please stop)
The final chapter of Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle drops tomorrow. Heck, for all I know, it might have been leaked on the internets already. Thus tonight, I attempt to recap the next-to-last chapter of this travesty of a manga.

One down, one more to go. Let's get this over with.

Please stand up, please stand up, please stand up. )
nenena: (Default)
Two more chapters down. Let's go.

Kurogane FTW. )

Next up: Chapter 231! Wait for it, guys. You're going to need to have some pretty strong liquor on hand to get through this next one. Or at least, I know that I will.
nenena: (Default)
Okay, four more chapters to recap before I'm completely caught up, and then only two more chapters to go before the end.

Let's put this manga out of its misery.

You know why this manga sucks? No waffles. Every manga is better with waffles. Also, it's a bunch of stupid crap that makes no sense. )

I can't subject myself to any more of this today. I'm done. Two more chapters to go, and then I'll be caught up.

PS - Does anybody know when the penultimate chapter comes out? I know that the final chapter will be released on 9/30, but will the chapter before that be out on 9/16 or 9/23?
nenena: (Tsubasa - Please stop)
I'm holding off on my final Scanspam Week post, just so that I can put myself through a very special kind of hell first.

Seven chapters of Tsubasa, recapped all in one sitting. No, actually, I couldn't do it. I broke down after three chapters. So here are the first three chapters that I was able to finish. I have four more to go, and then - apparently - the series is finally going to fucking finish before the end of this month. No, really.

So now I'm scrambling to play catch-up, I guess. Anyway, here are chapters 224, 225, and 226. Let's go.

'Whether as my son or as my father, you are still the most precious person in the world to me.' Because I AM MY OWN GRANDPA. )
nenena: (Default)
If you don't yet own a copy of CLAMP's Clover, now is a great time to get one. In case anyone needed a reminder of what CLAMP is really capable of, when they're not, you know, writing Tsubasa.

Next, a scathing takedown of Michelle Bachmann and the Minnesota press that helped her get elected, in comic book form. I don't care what side of the political spectrum you fall on, Michelle Bachman is crazy in a terrifying way. And she doesn't care what side of the political spectrum you fall on, either: Bachmann was accusing a Republican-controlled Congress AND President Bush of being "Anti-American Marxists" even before Obama and the Democrats took over.
nenena: (Ah! My Goddess - Beautiful Belldandy)
Oh hey look, I never got around to posting last month's Mini-Goddess panel. Oops. So anyway, here are two months' worth of Mini-Goddess, still being published on the spine of monthly issues of Afternoon. In case you missed any of the previous panels, you can find them all linked here.

Behind the cut! )

We also got a few nice Mara scans this month. I'm working on getting those online right now.

Coming up next: Another huge multifandom scanspam post! There will be Eureka Seven, Fate/Unlimited Codes, Fullmetal Alchemist, Kyou Kara Maou (Daikekyuu 3 - I has it), Shakugan no Shana, Soul Eater, and THIS, which I feel completely justified in believing was drawn exclusively just for me.

Oh, and a brief word about today's Tsubasa chapter:

It's official. He's his own grandpa. Not even joking, here: He is literally, actually, his own grandpa.

This in addition to being Oedipus. Which means that in upcoming chapters he is going to have to kill his own father in order to complete the hookup with his own mother. Except that now we know that his father is also... his son.

Yep. The father is also the son is also the father is also the son is also the--

OH SHI--

FFS.

May. 20th, 2009 05:31 pm
nenena: (Devi - Is it stupid in here)
So.

Sherlock Holmes.

Wow.

I just...

Wow.

Also a headbanger: The final page of today's Tsubasa installment.

Pop culture has been hurling shit at me all day today.
nenena: (Tsubasa - Attack of the Clones)
Count how many of these "twists" Tsubasa has used since the Infinity arc.

Personally, I counted twenty out of forty-two. Wow. )

And remember, kids: The Dresden Codak list? Is supposed to be a joke. But that's pretty much what Tsubasa has been reduced to by this point, anyway. It's a joke.

I mean, this is such a beautiful illustration of how big a clusterfuck the ending of Tsubasa has turned into. From now on I can just say, "SEE THIS?! Yeah, that? Tsubasa has actually done half of those things in its final quarter. It has actually. done. twenty. of. those. things. No joke. I can't even make this shit up."
nenena: (Disney - Lazy Lady)
I could be recapping today's installment of Tsubasa right now, but that would involve repeatedly slamming my head against my desk, and frankly right now I can't afford any more concussions this week.

I should be writing a review for Sequential Smarts, but my copy of Castle Waiting appears to have been devoured by the fiendish Nagano Prefecture Interlibrary Loan Gnomes. Maybe I'll do Mushishi instead? I have no idea how to place that in an edumacational context, though.

I have a huge folder of Scanspam-to-Upload sitting on my desktop, but mnet's servers are being weird tonight, so whatever.

Oh my God, I haven't updated my Flickr account since December. (*hangs head in shame*) Oh, this is going to be a fun catch-up!

Here's some more info about the NIS release of Sakura Wars V. Minor LOL moment: They used my scan of the soundtrack cover art from the Kosuke Fujishima STV artbook that I uploaded to animepaper.net in that article. I can recognize it because it's been my "featured" scan on animepaper for a while now. Yay, my scans get around!

Due to budget restraints and not wanting to touch Infernus with a ten-foot pole, I haven't been keeping up with any Marvel comics lately. But I can't wait to read the new New Mutants series. Yes, I know that it's shameless pandering to fans like me who are nostalgic for the 80's. But I don't care, it's still my favorite group of X-Men characters, and I've heard good things about the first issue. Also, check THIS out. Ooooooh, preeeeeetty. I don't care that her facial expression is totally out of character for Ilyana. The colors are soooooooooo preeeeeeetty.

Also, I've been watching Wolverine and the X-Men on Marvel.com, which miraculously does not block foreign IPs. I kind of like it so far. I can't decide if I like it because it's good, or if I like it because I'm just plain awesome'd by seeing te 4th-gen X-Men characters animated for the first time. Meh, I don't care. I can't even hear my own internal criticisms over the sound of how AWESOME Santo is.
nenena: (Default)
Does anybody have a good panel of some character, any character*, pointing at Syaoran and shouting something?

I ask because suddenly I need to make a "MOTHERFUCKER!!!" macro like burning.

*Bonus points for the following characters, if such a panel exists and you can find it: Watanuki, Ryu-oh, Mokona, FWR, Touya, Kurogane. In that order.

In return, here, have some awesome:


YGOTAS is so brilliant that it hurts. Except for how the writers apparently think it's really funny to call Tea a "whore" and "slut." And the homophobia. I could do without all of that. It's a shame that crap is in the series, though, because the rest of it is just so. damn. funny.
nenena: (Tsubasa - Please stop)
To-do list:
1. *Selectively* scan the Temari Matsumoto KKM artbook for PDK. 50% done.
2. Scan the everloving shizbit out of the Soul Eater illustration Mook. 30% done. (I just love the word Mook. Thank you, Japan. Thank you.)
3. Tear The Manga Guide to Statistics a new one on Sequential Smarts. Almost done.
4. Recap Tsubasa chapter 219.

Siiiiiiiiiigh.

Might as well get that last one over with.

Back to square one. No, seriously. )
nenena: (Tsubasa - Please stop)
Isn't it a little late in the game to be treading water like this?

There's a lot of foul language behind this cut. )
nenena: (Tsubasa - Please stop)
Y'know... Just when I thought that it couldn't get any worse, just when I thought that there couldn't possibly be any more monkey wrenches left for CLAMP to throw into this complete clusterfuck of an ending...

I'm proven wrong, yet again.

This time there are low-quality scans, to properly convey the scale of this WTFery. )
nenena: (Default)
I have actual good things that I should be journaling about. The epic new chapter of Ah! My Goddess, tonight's impending Soul Eater finale, how this actually gets more and more funny with each installment (except for the sexism and homophobia, which I really wish they would stop with), the finale of Kyou Kara Maou (and oh crap I am sooo behind on scanning that shizbit)....

But instead, here, let me get some crap out of the way first.

Crap. )