that shall be queen hereafter

Not much to say about this one...erm...well, the endless string of fights coninues, but Gaara's involved this time which automatically ratchets up the awesomeness level. I can't help but think, though, that if a Kage can no longer use his techniques without throwing his back out (...), he should be voted out of office. Call me crazy. Finally..."Jokey Boy"? What???

I've forgotten which Kuroshitsuji chapter we're on now. I read it awhile ago, so all I really remember is that awesome scene with Sebastian and Ciel reaching dramatically for one another...right before Sebby gets skewered with the Undertaker's (EPIC) Death Scythe. Oh dear. How's he going to get out of this one, I wonder? Will we get to see more of his past in the Cinematc Record?! *bites nails with glee*

So, watched two vastly different but pretty cool movies in the last couple days. One being Edward Scissorhands, which I've wanted to watch for years. Tim Burton is awesome (Corpse Bride = among my favorite animated movies evah) and Johnny Depp is awesome, thus anything they collaborate on is doubly awesome. And Edward is SO FLIPPING CUTE in this movie. With those snippety hands and that sweet little smile and the way he just randomly starts snipping that dog's fur...gah. I fell in love. Suburbia is vaguely disturbing, and the whole thing has a bizarre fairytale-ish feel to it. I enjoyed it.

And then there is Newsies. Okay. Bit o' backstory here. In the early 90's, apparently someone thought it would be a good idea to make a live-action Disney musical out of...wait for it...an 1899 newsboy strike. That's right. So between the subject matter and the decidedly...not-Disney feel of the movie (one main character smokes and cusses and the other almost gets decked by a guy wearing brass knuckles), it bombed. And as with most movies the general public disliked, I kinda loved it. The music and choreography are fantastic. I loved listening to all the over-the-top New Yawk accents. And the two leads (one of whom went on to become Batman) are just too slashable for their own good. It was a fun movie. xD

...I'm gonna have to make a habit out of these movie rec posts. There are too many good ones that never get any love. Like the Black Cauldron. Ooh, I definitely need to pimp that...xD

For Kuroshitsuji, let me just save everyone some time:

EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS CHAPTER WAS AWESOME.

Especially the last few pages. Ever since this arc started I've been hoping for the Undertaker to do something epic (he's a shinigami in the anime, apparently), and did he ever deliver! We've seen under the hat...*swoons*

So, yeah, really looking forward to the next chapter. :)

On the Naruto front...well, I read the chapter on Wednesday (yay early releases~) and got about 2/3 of the way through before my computer got slammed with a virus, so I am a tad wary of going back to finish it at present. I remember awesomeness, though, in the form of Gaara calling the old man out and learning his mother loved him all along. Of course. ♥

Someone else mentioned this, though, and I'm in total agreement--it smells like Kishi is intending to play the ol' Good All Along relative card with regards to the Fourth Kazekage. It was effective the first few times (hello, Itachi), but if you use it on every single jerkass relative character it's going to get extremely old. Anyway, the Fourth is beyond total redemption to me anyway. I don't care about his reasoning; he still sent assassins after his little son and specifically instructed Yashamaru to psychologically torment him. So hopefully we won't get some bull forced down our throats about how it was "all fo the greater good", "I still loved you", yadda yadda.

So...any thoughts? Theories? Questions that--shock shock--still haven't been answered? xD

Ughhhh, zombies. Sooooo many zombies.

Is it just me, or is Ciel looking really young lately?

That ridiculous pose. It never gets old. xDD

Elizabeth's family is awesome. Seriously. Her mother's like a friggin' ninja and her dad and brother are adorable. ♥

Ronnnaaaaaald, I love you.

...An iceberg. An iceberg? What is this, the Titanic? Okay. Things're gonna get interesting in a potentially heartbreaking way. :\

AND.

AND.

GRELL.

GRELL IS BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK~!!!

FINALLY! After what, eighty gazillion chapters, HE'S FINALLY BACK, BABY. *cheers*

Daaang, talk about creepy. That girl was some high-octane nightmare fuel. 0_0

Ronald. I love you. And your shoes. Even when you're attacking a zombie girl's head with a lawnmower. ♥

"So you're the famed Sebas-chan", indeed. ROTFL. XD Oh man, I hope Sebastian doesn't kill him off...

LOL, Snake had to go and feed all of his snakes.

Aaand another freaky zombie guy. Aaaaand probably a million more. In coffins hanging from the ceiling, closed with...corsets?

Wow. And now I ask all of you: CAN THIS SERIES GET ANY MORE AWESOME?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYiqy_EnOQg&list=SL

Enjoy. Jury's still out, IMHO. Will edit this once I figure out whether the voices are good or horrific.

Kyoya....Sebastian is Kyoya....*dies*

EDIT 11/24/10: Ahkay, so I've watched two episodes so far (1 and 4); as I never saw season one of the anime to begin with, everything is coming as a bit of a surprise! But on to the voices...

Sebastian: He sounds so very different from anything I'd imagined. That being said, once I got used to it I kinda liked it. Nothing can beat the Japanese VA (and his "Akuma de shitsuji desu kara" line in particular ♥), though.

Ciel: Not bad at all. The fact that his VA is a woman is way more obvious in English than in Japanese (or maybe that's just me?), but still. Sounds pretty dang good.

Undertaker: Okay, so he sounds a little bit like a pirate. Who cares? This is one case in which the English voice sounded more like I imagined than the Japanese one did.

Madam Red: Fabulous~

Finny: A little too masculine for my taste.

Mey Rin (or however the crap you spell her name...): ...IDK...

Bard: I really like it. Only quibble--he's supposed to be American, is he not?

Viscount Druitt: Perfect mix of suave and creepy. Thought it was a woman talking at first, though. xD

I wanna hear Grell's voice soo bad. In all of his reaper-y glory, that is. And William T. Spears'. And Soma and Agni's. Grah.

Overall, I think they did a pretty good job with the dub! It'll take some getting used to, and even then I can't see preferring it to the original version, but still. Nicely done, Funimation.

What'd you guys think?

Part One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENlhDFjOYFc
Part Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUzmLgYF9jk
Part Three: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV1rIRxC0QA

I'd watch them fast; you know how copyright claims are. xD;;

So this was beyond epic (White Rabbit Sebastian? Cielice? Cheshire Grell? YES, PLZ). Problem? IT'S ONLY PART ONE. Part two will be coming out near the end of February, so I hear. T__T

But still. Enjoy!!

(I shouldn't need to warn for spoilers anymore, right?)

Hn...Is it just me, or is Sebastian not as hot as he used to be? Just the way he's being drawn? xD Yeah, I know, it's blasphemous as well as irrelevent...

So Snake's gonna be hanging around now? That could get interesting. Ciel seems to be acting nicer than usual lately. I do wonder how long this act will go on, though. I completely forgot Snake survived, to be honest. /fail It was nice to see Soma and Agni again, at any rate.

Heh. Nice maneuvering with the burial scene. Thought the epitaph on Sebastian's gravestone was an Irish thing, though? Meh, I could easily be wrong.

Last panel made me squeal. A little. Just saying. xD

Interested to see what the next arc will bring. Can't believe we have to wait another month. ;-;

'Cause, yanno, I just caught up with everything. Spoilers ahead. Lots of rambling, which (in all likelihood) nobody will read.

Kuroshitsuji II--Okay, wow. I mean, wow. I am sincerely glad that I am not one of the fandom who watches the anime instead of the manga. Because if I had nothing to fall back on after that ending, I think I'd be rather crushed. I mean, I knew what was going to happen (this is what happens when I wait too long to watch the new episode..), but still. Alois's death left me feeling less miserable than I thought it would. Don't get me wrong, I love the kid (sociopathic tendencies and all), but at least he was happy in the end. Couldn't care less about Hannah. Claude...here I thought I hated Claude, but I was actually a little bit sad when he bit it. Alois's scream at that point just plain hurt. Seeing Alois in general hurt, but it was nice that he was around for a little longer.
AND CIEL. OMG. Demon!Ciel is a twist I never saw coming. The ending of the episode...by the time Kalafina started playing and Sebastian was handing out Ciel's death notices, I felt like my insides were being clawed out. I felt bad for everybody! Stab us in the heart and then TWIST the knife with 'Kagayaku Sora no Shijima Ni wa', for crying out loud. And man, does it suck to be Sebastian. xDD Their whole dynamic has changed less than I thought it would, given everything. And the idea of Sebastian being Ciel's butler for all eternity...grim and romantic and creepy, all at once. Perfect choice of last line. Ultimately, I don't think things could have ended any better-which makes me verrry curious to see what Yana Toboso will do with the manga.

Speaking of which, new Kuro chapter. Yay. Loved the intro page (demonic!Sebby and littledevil!Ciel FTW), and the way the after-chapter color page worked with Alois's from the last chapter. On the subject of the chap itself, I liked seeing how everything fell together. A little bit of demon Sebastian never hurts anything. And srsly, has Ciel been flirting with the Wordsmith since he entered the manor or what? xD I'm interested to see what the next story arc will bring...

New Naruto chapter. Canon KonanxYahiko? LE GASP! Actual canon-y evidence of a het pairing! Something we haven't seen since Asuma and Kurenai, yes? (Unless you count Konan and Nagato, which..I guess I don't.)
Madara's new mask. Excuse me while I LOL forever. That is so bad. I'm kinda glad he got the battle fan back, though. And what was with "They were mine to begin with"? Please tell me Madara isn't actually the Sage or something; my respect for this series will plummet drastically if that is the case. -.-; So where is Sasuke during all this, anyway? Just lying in bed somewhere, wearing a blindfold and cackling maniacally to himself?

And Hetalia. Yes, I finally gave in. Haven't watched the anime yet, but there is apparently a manga now (volume one is out, anyway). I loved it. Italy is so *cute*. Holy Rome and Chibi Italy are so *cute*. America and England at the end of the Revolutionary War is pretty sad, actually...and *cute*. OMR. I am so following this series now. xD

*end rambling that nobody will actually read*