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Grimm, Black Butler, and More
May. 1st, 2012 02:11 pmShawn and I have been trying to watch the TV show "Grimm." We've DVRed it, so we have most of the episodes to date, though we haven't quite caught up yet. I WANT to like this show. I love a lot of the side characters, particularly Monroe, or, as someone (i09?) calls him, the "Pilates Wolf." He's a Big Bad Wolf, a Blutbatt, who is mostly reformed his ways, and who is an awesome enough character he totally deserves a spin-off. Because our hero, the Grim: Dull.
Dull. Dull. Dull.
As I complained on FB last night, dude has no superpowers. He has the second sight, but that's really all he's got. No grim reaper scythe, no zanpakto, nothing. In fact, in the episode that we watched last night his big ability was to bleed on to one of the big bads. Seriously. *I* can bleed.
People tell me this last Friday's episode actually involved a weapon and maybe "punched things up a notch", which it would be nice to see, because... man. Dude is also the world's worst detective. Like Batman in reverse.
But I end up watching for the side characters and because the universe of Grimm is weirdly compelling. Like, what's up with the French speaking captain? So, I'll keep watching --probably while complaining the entire time. But, hey, there's a long tradition of shouting at the TV in my family.
I've also been watching "Black Butler." I finished FMA (the 2004 version), and was thinking about starting up on "FMA: Brotherhood," but I just felt kind of burned out on Al and Ed for the moment. Anyway, I like "Black Butler"... it's sort of a creepy Anime version of Downton Abbey, with a demon butler, so that works for me. I will say though, that "His Butler, Escaping"... holy sh*t, can anyone say torture porn? Yowza! (And yet SOMEHOW there is no fan fic on Archive of Our Own yet.) Still, I find myself wishing that the story would go less into what's being served at tea, and more into what kind of demon Sebastian is, and his back story more and, like, why is the prospect of devouring little lord Phantomhive's soul worth all the hassle that little brat puts him through. I have been teased that some back story is coming (by Sebastian himself in the "next episode" teaser, but I've learned not to trust those after the corset scene... also, EEEK,), but we'll see if I'm really satisfied.
I'm about half way through Season 1, Part 2, for those who are interested. I also picked up the Manga from the library because someone I talked to implied that it was "darker" and that turned out to be untrue. It's almost verbatum to what's on the show. (Including the cut out scenes of food porn, which actually I find charming in both the Anime and the Manga. I just want more Sebastian.)
I have to say, in general, I need more information about the Japanese version of the grim reaper. It confuses me. Three shows I've watched have shinigami (aka death gods/grim reapers) in them: Bleach, Black Butler, and SoulEaters. I've only see the first episode of SoulEaters, but they seem to all be going to Grim Reaper Academy (am I right?) At any rate, I was really confused in Black Butler that the reapers seem to act as an intermediary between souls and heaven/hell (which seems pretty standard), but that there are also angels as well as demons. Is this typical of some mythology I'm missing? The shinigami seem to generally be non-partisan in that a reaper will deal with hell-bound and heavan-bound souls, and demons are clearly eaters of souls, but I am still not sure what the angel is up to in Black Butler (though I'm enjoying that she seems to be a villian of sorts.)
In other Real Life (tm) news, there isn't much to tell. Mason and I are planning to hit B&N tonight after school because one of his authors has a book out today, Rick Riordan, who has another one of his Egypt mythos books out. Mason is particularly fond of this series, even more so than the Percy Jackson books. So tonight promises to be fun for him. I was hoping to get to KSW, though we'll have to see how all that plays out.
Dull. Dull. Dull.
As I complained on FB last night, dude has no superpowers. He has the second sight, but that's really all he's got. No grim reaper scythe, no zanpakto, nothing. In fact, in the episode that we watched last night his big ability was to bleed on to one of the big bads. Seriously. *I* can bleed.
People tell me this last Friday's episode actually involved a weapon and maybe "punched things up a notch", which it would be nice to see, because... man. Dude is also the world's worst detective. Like Batman in reverse.
But I end up watching for the side characters and because the universe of Grimm is weirdly compelling. Like, what's up with the French speaking captain? So, I'll keep watching --probably while complaining the entire time. But, hey, there's a long tradition of shouting at the TV in my family.
I've also been watching "Black Butler." I finished FMA (the 2004 version), and was thinking about starting up on "FMA: Brotherhood," but I just felt kind of burned out on Al and Ed for the moment. Anyway, I like "Black Butler"... it's sort of a creepy Anime version of Downton Abbey, with a demon butler, so that works for me. I will say though, that "His Butler, Escaping"... holy sh*t, can anyone say torture porn? Yowza! (And yet SOMEHOW there is no fan fic on Archive of Our Own yet.) Still, I find myself wishing that the story would go less into what's being served at tea, and more into what kind of demon Sebastian is, and his back story more and, like, why is the prospect of devouring little lord Phantomhive's soul worth all the hassle that little brat puts him through. I have been teased that some back story is coming (by Sebastian himself in the "next episode" teaser, but I've learned not to trust those after the corset scene... also, EEEK,), but we'll see if I'm really satisfied.
I'm about half way through Season 1, Part 2, for those who are interested. I also picked up the Manga from the library because someone I talked to implied that it was "darker" and that turned out to be untrue. It's almost verbatum to what's on the show. (Including the cut out scenes of food porn, which actually I find charming in both the Anime and the Manga. I just want more Sebastian.)
I have to say, in general, I need more information about the Japanese version of the grim reaper. It confuses me. Three shows I've watched have shinigami (aka death gods/grim reapers) in them: Bleach, Black Butler, and SoulEaters. I've only see the first episode of SoulEaters, but they seem to all be going to Grim Reaper Academy (am I right?) At any rate, I was really confused in Black Butler that the reapers seem to act as an intermediary between souls and heaven/hell (which seems pretty standard), but that there are also angels as well as demons. Is this typical of some mythology I'm missing? The shinigami seem to generally be non-partisan in that a reaper will deal with hell-bound and heavan-bound souls, and demons are clearly eaters of souls, but I am still not sure what the angel is up to in Black Butler (though I'm enjoying that she seems to be a villian of sorts.)
In other Real Life (tm) news, there isn't much to tell. Mason and I are planning to hit B&N tonight after school because one of his authors has a book out today, Rick Riordan, who has another one of his Egypt mythos books out. Mason is particularly fond of this series, even more so than the Percy Jackson books. So tonight promises to be fun for him. I was hoping to get to KSW, though we'll have to see how all that plays out.
