Fandom Milestone: 1 year of YnM
Feb. 8th, 2010 11:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matrixrefugeeIt just dawned on me that as of this past weekend, it's been a year since I first watched Yami no Matsuei, though it took me two (three?) weekends to finish it (and I really didn't start considering myself a fan until I started reading/buying the manga in the autumn of last year). I can thank my friend Mark for this, because he gave me access to his NetFlix account, even helping me set up my comp for direct downloads. He's always giving me these lovely lists of "must see" movies (usually of a Christian bend or at least more or less family-friendly), but what was the third or fourth thing I had to go and watch but a semi-shounen-ai anime series featuring a bevy of cute shinigami and a Depraved Bisexual who might be an energy vampire?? I did warn him that if he saw any anime titles pop up on his Recently Viewed list, it was probably something I'd been watching. I just wonder if he actually tried watching any of my leavings. He hasn't politely confronted me about it (as he tends to do when I've watched something he finds wonky), so I doubt that he has. Still... the subversive side of me can't help wondering... :: Adjusts half-rimmed glasses, smirks mysteriously::
I'm not sure what possessed me to watch it, unless it was a vague memory of an "A.I." fan-buddy of mine, one "Sapphire Rose" or "ice_hot" (depending on what journal she was using), waxing rhapsodic about the series (If I remember correctly, she fangirled Hisoka, and she kind of had a similarly snarky disposition). I tend to watch anime series that have been either directly recommended to me, or have themes similar to ones I've seen, or which are talked-about in depth by people I know (either familiarly or in passing) and therefore make me wonder what the fuss is about. I'm still stymied as to why I chose that opportunity at that time, unless I was feeling a bit mischievous. Whatever my reasons, it was a case of "Came for the supernatural themes, stayed for the character dynamics -- and cute guys".
Sure, there's things about the series that make it lopsided: the plotting in the manga is uneven at times (the anime tightens the plot arcs considerably; too bad there's only thirteen episodes: I would have liked to have seen the Bookworld plot arc brought to life, particularly since it fleshes out Tatsumi's personality and his relationship with Tsuzuki). There could be a little more world-building and it could be a smidge more consistent (I tend to borrow a few odds and ends from Bleach to patch things over; don't ask me why I do this, besides the fact that both series feature snarky teenaged shinigami with Kurosaki for a last name). The translation in the dub seems a bit awkward in places (I have yet to watch it subbed), and then there's the issue of Muraki's VA in the dub (I still think Manga Entertainment originally contracted either Crispin Freeman or the guy who voices Aizen in the dub of Bleach and he went AWOL after reading the script, as a result of finding out what a freaky bastard Muraki is), but I must say, despite sounding like he needs a dose of Sudafed, Edward McLeod certainly nailed Muraki's weird personality, giving his performance the right balance of creepiness, cold-blooded nastiness, insanity and deviance, bringing sexy back to Evil is Sexy. One of these days, I may watch it subbed, now that I have the hard-to-find-at-a-reasonable-price boxed set of the DVDs. I'm glad I found it since while I was delighted to find that the dub sites I've been frequenting now carry it, I had to endure the fact that they're hosting the Bowlderized version that the SciFi Channel is/was running (why they had to put it in the 8 pm block is beyond me: if they'd run it at 9 or 10, this would be less of a problem for the Media Watchdogs and thus they wouldn't have made the minor but annoying cuts). Would I want it improved? I don't know: somehow, the wonkiness of it all makes it endearing, like an awkward puppy who's bouncing around so much that he falls over himself (hey, that kind of describes Tsuzuki...). I used to count this series as my main anime guilty pleasure, but now over time the guilt has diminished.
I'm not sure what possessed me to watch it, unless it was a vague memory of an "A.I." fan-buddy of mine, one "Sapphire Rose" or "ice_hot" (depending on what journal she was using), waxing rhapsodic about the series (If I remember correctly, she fangirled Hisoka, and she kind of had a similarly snarky disposition). I tend to watch anime series that have been either directly recommended to me, or have themes similar to ones I've seen, or which are talked-about in depth by people I know (either familiarly or in passing) and therefore make me wonder what the fuss is about. I'm still stymied as to why I chose that opportunity at that time, unless I was feeling a bit mischievous. Whatever my reasons, it was a case of "Came for the supernatural themes, stayed for the character dynamics -- and cute guys".
Sure, there's things about the series that make it lopsided: the plotting in the manga is uneven at times (the anime tightens the plot arcs considerably; too bad there's only thirteen episodes: I would have liked to have seen the Bookworld plot arc brought to life, particularly since it fleshes out Tatsumi's personality and his relationship with Tsuzuki). There could be a little more world-building and it could be a smidge more consistent (I tend to borrow a few odds and ends from Bleach to patch things over; don't ask me why I do this, besides the fact that both series feature snarky teenaged shinigami with Kurosaki for a last name). The translation in the dub seems a bit awkward in places (I have yet to watch it subbed), and then there's the issue of Muraki's VA in the dub (I still think Manga Entertainment originally contracted either Crispin Freeman or the guy who voices Aizen in the dub of Bleach and he went AWOL after reading the script, as a result of finding out what a freaky bastard Muraki is), but I must say, despite sounding like he needs a dose of Sudafed, Edward McLeod certainly nailed Muraki's weird personality, giving his performance the right balance of creepiness, cold-blooded nastiness, insanity and deviance, bringing sexy back to Evil is Sexy. One of these days, I may watch it subbed, now that I have the hard-to-find-at-a-reasonable-price boxed set of the DVDs. I'm glad I found it since while I was delighted to find that the dub sites I've been frequenting now carry it, I had to endure the fact that they're hosting the Bowlderized version that the SciFi Channel is/was running (why they had to put it in the 8 pm block is beyond me: if they'd run it at 9 or 10, this would be less of a problem for the Media Watchdogs and thus they wouldn't have made the minor but annoying cuts). Would I want it improved? I don't know: somehow, the wonkiness of it all makes it endearing, like an awkward puppy who's bouncing around so much that he falls over himself (hey, that kind of describes Tsuzuki...). I used to count this series as my main anime guilty pleasure, but now over time the guilt has diminished.
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Date: 2010-02-09 04:47 am (UTC)Dubs are always awkward, but this one isn't overly so. The sub is fantastic; I love who they got to play for everyone.
No need to feel guilty over loving this little gem of a show. I made it a hobby to pick apart all the flaws of YnM, from the pacing to the characterization to the plot to the art--hence the sporks--and I still love it to bits and wouldn't trade my experience with it for anything. :)