Hi! 始めまして、ビーストルーシュカです。
I am a Literary Translation student, with a heavy background in classical music making (orchestral conducting), currently living in my hometown of Paris, France. I am also pursuing a Licence Degree in Japanese Studies on the side. In the past I have lived in Helsinki, Finland, and Berlin, Germany as well for studying purposes.
If you are interested in knowing more about my relationship to anime, just click the spoiler button.
Like many people who grew up in the eighties, my first contact with anime came early, and it wasn't necessarily all that successful - the airing politics applied by French TV then were haphazardous, to say the least... or so was the audience targeting, rather. Still, I would then watch a few shows on a regular basis - Ulysses 31, The Mysterious Cities of Gold, AstroBoy, The Rose of Versailles, Cat's Eye were among my favourites as a grade schooler. For some weird reason, I seem to have been, at some point, traumatized by the viewing of a couple of episodes of Candy Candy, and subsequently gave up on watching Japanese anime for the rest of my childhood. O_o
Fast forward fifteen years, more or less. Then a young adult, studying classical music in Helsinki, I befriended a very enthusiastic anime fan, who insisted I should watch Miyazaki's Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, of which I happened to have the DVD lying around at my parent's home. So on Christmas Eve 2003, the three of us settled down in the living room and watched Chihiro. Completely blown away by what remains to this day my absolute favourite from Miyazaki's amazing body of work, I started revising my erroneous judgement regarding anime. And started digging deeper, first watching other Miyazaki films, then gradually researching not only other films, but also series.
Since discovering the pleasure of watching a story unfold in a 13/26+ episodes format (the first show I watched in its entirety being Cowboy Bebop, of which I caught reruns on French TV, making it also the only series I've ever watched dubbed), there has been no turning back for me, and I have compulsively made my way through a number of series.
My tastes are rather eclectic, and I tend to check out shows either on primary impulses (for instance I knew nothing of Toshokan Sensou, but when I saw the title, I just *knew* I had to check it out!), or based on what I hear/read about them on the various online communities I lurk around (AniDB, ANN, the Yuricon mailing list…). There are still many, many classics I haven't watched yet, but I'm working on that.
As for my list of favourite series - I have had a hard time compiling it and keeping it at five entries, and it will probably keep changing every now and then. While it reflects my personal tastes (i.e. the series I feel a special connexion to), you might find that the entries are not always necessarily my best-rated animes. I tend to separate "objective" rating and favouriting. Because I can love a show and acknowledge its shortcomings. :)
I don't know if i should be shocked or amazed, because before i started to have my hair straighten i looked just like the first version of Haruhi we see. We look the same!
Things like the lightbulb joke are absolutely genius (not in the manga btw). It's little added features like this that as be loving Bones so much.
I love Haruhi though, so so so much. There's not one thing i have against her, i love everything about her.
Oh, and i'm sure you loved the musical score. Personally one of my fav's.
Guh, it's been kinda crazy lately. I'm going to start watching Texhnolyze soon and am organizing a discussion thread for it on ANN. Can't wait to begin!
I'm glad you liked Ghost Hound so much! ^_^ I seriously need to watch it again, too. It's getting harder to find a specific place for the series on my Top 10 list. Same with Mononoke. I also hope to hear your thoughts when you complete that series along with those last three episodes of Ayakashi. I'll be especially curious to see which arc was your favorite.
Ooh, I'd sure like to see other versions of the Chevalier story, no matter how idiotic they are. (This is another series I'm having trouble placing in my favorites list, though unfortunately not my Top 10. Maybe I should re-watch it over my first break from school.)
Speaking of Japan Expo, there's a certain AMV creator named Nostromo who often submits his work there and wins awards. He's my favorite AMV creator, so I just thought I'd mention his name in case you've happened to have seen his stuff there before. But daaang, that's a LOT of people! And, gawd, I'm sooo jealous of the guests you guys have there. Nor fair! *shakes fist at Japan Expo*
Good thing there's going to be a second release of that Kusanagi figure. I'll have to be on the lookout for it myself (unless you have a link... ;-P)! Oh, but yes, the first season of S.A.C. is amazing and all, but 2nd GIG blows it out of the water. Especially toward the end. I haven't seen S.S.S. just yet, but I can't wait to get my hands on the limited edition copy of the movie.
Oh my gosh, our anime compatibility rating is probably the highest of any of my other friends on this site! Wow, that's incredible. We'll just have to keep watching those amazing shows. ;)
Btw, what did you think of those three (WHR, Otogi Zoshi, and Baccano!)? I always get mixed reviews from everyone, except Baccano! -- everyone loves that series. But WHR is one of my favorites, and I highly enjoyed Otogi Zoshi. Though the latter series doesn't get much attention, so I'm always curious as to what people think of it. The first arc was my favorite yet the second one was more "fun."
Yes! It's Teresa, I love her so much *__*
Well, Akira and Balsa really are amazing, i wish so much times that I could see tham again and again (AKA more episodes of Seirei and Aria). It seems that we have a lot in comment ^^
Mais ça a l'air absolument génial Victorian Romance Emma et ce sera notre arme absolue dans notre plan pour inoculer le virus anime à Doris (HAHAHAHA...euh rire démoniaque). Trop de choses à voir, trop de choses à faire, ma chère amie nous sommes à des stades critiques de notre addiction. Mais comme le dirait Amy Winehouse "they tried to make me go to rehab and I said no, no, no". Complètement addicted mais plutôt fière de l'être.
J'essaierai de voir GitS dès que possible pour que la prochaine fois que l'on se voit on puisse en parler (depuis le temps que je veux les voir).
DBZ...plaisir coupable complètement avoué, Boubou est devenu encore plus fort...aïe aïe aïe Sango Han est en mauvaise posture (Snif moi j'aime bien Sango Han!).
Pour une version UK de law and order je me dis que si Dick Wolf est toujours aux commandes pourquoi pas. Jusque là il ne m'a pas déçu. Pour BSG plus je regarde la dernière scène du demi season finale plus je me demande ce que les scénaristes vont bien pouvoir nous sortir par la suite (je reste toujours choquée... besoin d'en parler mais à qui? dans pas longtemps je sens que je vais te spoiler à mort sur le sujet).
I guess the best way to fully enjoy Blood+ would be to marathon it all. As i said, each episode is just as enjoyable, always going out and giving you 110% each time, so i found that watching them all in one go made it all the more exciting. Not to mention some of the killer cliffhangers.
As for Soul Eater, it's lots of fun. It's basically BONES having loads of fun and at the same time you have a great cast and wonderful story that just keeps on progressing to bigger and better things.
J'oubliais, j'ai avancé dans Dragon Ball Z (don't laugh)... Sango Han est devenu très puissant, Trunk et Sagan Ten maitrise la fusion et Chichi a été transformée en oeuf puis écrasée par le méchant Boubou (snif)
AAAAAA je n'avais pas vu que tu m'avais laissé un autre message. Honte sur moi. Je n'ai pas avancé dans Nodame... Honte sur moi encore. En fait je suis en mode pause craquance. Mais tu as le détail de mes malheurs sur facebook!! Sinon l'un des acteurs qui joue dans BSG va jouer dans la version uk de law and order toujours par Dick Wolf... je suis curieuse de voir le résultat.
S'okay! Feel free to start Ghost Hound whenever, though I think it's easier to get into and understand more than Lain. As for Mononoke, it's best to watch the last three episodes of Ayakashi ~ Classic Japanese Horror (eps. 8-11) before starting the main series. Those last three episodes are some of my favorites dealing with the Medicine Seller, and it will make later scenes funnier/easier to understand. (Don't watch the first 1-7 because they're have nothing to do with Mononoke and are not as good as 8-11, which are like an "intro" to the Mononoke series.)
Haha, I meant to ask you what you thought about the historical stuff in Chevalier! Tow Ubukata, imo, is a pretty good and detailed writer who seems to like darker, philosophical stuff. And he was gonna work on Mardock Scramble (with designs by Murata) before it was canceled... ;_;
Is Japan Expo the largest anime con over there? The name makes me think of Anime Expo over here which is "usually" considered the biggest anime con, occasionally alternating with Otakon. I'm closer to Otakon and am planning a trip there with some others in 2009. Aah, my money is gonna be draaained!
You'll probably see that Kusanagi figure again! Sounds lovely! I still need to see SSS. <3
As for the Al figure, her little stand was clear and I think it was dropped on the group somewhere in my room. If I clean up there's still a chance it might be hanging around... hopefully! :D
Gurren Lagann is just an amazing experience from start until end. I won't say anymore until you've seen some of it, though i can already tell you'll love every single minute of it.
Blood+ has surprised me quite a lot --- i didn't think i'd be enjoying it as much as i am. It's just that each episode doesn't let you down, each one is packed with enough information and action, along with build up for events to come. It's wonderful --- hopefully gonna finish it today.
Saber, Utena and Sei all belong on my favorite character list for good reasons! They're all powerful characters, i just love them. I guess the same goes for the shows that are listed in my favorite anime list --- also for the reason that i'd love to share the experiences i've had with each show, to anyone who's interested.
& yes you truly do need to rewatch Utena again. I still say to this day that it's unlike anything i've ever seen. A rare and sweet treat, that i'll forever love, for just about every reason.
Yeah you should catch up with Code Geass. I just love how wacky and silly it can be most of the time, and has me laughing.
I'm not a musician myself, though i'm a rather huge fan of musical scores, as you could probably tell from my last.fm page.
& yes i absolutely adore Utena in the movie. I love her with short hair. :3
