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today's post is limited to a selected few who are as into anime and manga as i am. so if you're not a rabid fan of either, i suggest u scroll down and read other posts. or better, close this page entirely. for those who are rabid fans (comrades!) as well, there will be major spoilers. so if you don't like spoilers (major or minor), i would suggest u scroll down or close this page as well.
having warned all of you, i will commence my elaborate rave.
~One Piece Water7 Arc: also known as the latest, the longest and most heartbreaking OP arc to date. unwilling to divulge too much, mainly because of the tedious work i hafta do to summarize the manga chapters, i shall only talk about the anime instead. the OP anime voice casters had recently signed on a series of new seiyuu/character voice (CV)/voice actors for the new arc. most notably Seki Tomokazu and Okiayu Ryoutarou. these two seiyuu are one of the more popular seiyuu, having been in countless memorable and mainstream animes. they are also two of my personal favorites, with seki in the lead, and okiayu a close second.
seki, the voice of van from escaflowne, brandon from gungrave, chichiri and kouji from fushigi yuugi, etc. has been casted as rob lucci, the top-hat wearing, ventriloquist shipwright working in Dock 1. reverting back to his chichiri (FY) roots, he also did the voice of lucci's pigeon, hattori. those who are familiar with the abovementioned role will know that the casters did a very gd job. the falsetto of his nvr failed to entertain and is very well suited for both silly chichiri and hattori the pigeon. as of today, i have yet heard the normal voice of lucci (who will only use his normal voice the very first time when he introduces himself and his gang as CP9) but unlike some other lesser anime freaks who is afraid he might screw up as lucci and wishes for someone else to take that role, i'm not worried. seki is a very versatile voice actor who is very experienced with dual roles and even with him behind two seperate characters, he is still able to lead the audiences onto believing they are done by two different CVs.
okiayu with his list of credits as shigure from fruits basket, dark-san from D.N.Angel, scar-san from fma, and more recently, kuchiki byakuya from bleach, is the owner of a unique, smooth and deep voice that is well suited for both serious and fun characters. but his more recent projects only manages to showcase the serious and no-nonsense side. i don't know if it's by choice or the voice casters look to him for those serious parts, but when i heard he is going to be taking up the role as kaku the mountain winds (also a shipwright in Dock 1), i literally let loose a sigh of relief. it has been years since i'd last heard him as a fun character. i know he can be the fun-loving character, and i missed that fun-loving character voice of his. of corz, kaku the CP9 member (later on in the arc) will have him slip back into the serious no-nonsense voice again, but it's always good to hear him in his fun mode, however short a period that might be.
~Bleach manga chapters 186 onwards: chapter 182 marks the end of the soul-society arc and starts off with the gang of 4 and 1 cat coming back onto the ordinary plain, i.e. our world. chapters up to 185 talks abt how they settle back into normality but what really got me hooked and wanting for more was 186 onwards. by the way, there's only 187 as of today. heehee... in 186 (aptly titled "tell your children the truth"
since ishida's brief mention of his father was that his parents looked down upon the art of quincy so he had left with his grandfather to study the art against his father's wishes, but surprise surprise, his father is also a quincy. a very talented one at that too. even more talented than ishida himself. of corz, his father knows that too and takes every opportunity to rub it in in the sarcastic-bastard-of-a-father sort of way. not very good for a child's psyche, but i'm no parent myself, so to each his own i guess. despite all their differences, ishida looks juz like his father. the only major difference is in the hair (possibly eye) color. his father has a light shade of hair (and eye color possibly. one can never tell in a black-and-white manga scan) and a more stylish hairdo. thumbs-up.
we all know ichigo's father. the loud, flowery-shirt wearing, round-house kicking head of the kurosaki family who greeted his only/eldest son with a powerful drop kick in episode 1 of bleach the anime. he was introduced much later in chap 186, when kon literally ran into some trouble with a hollow. another big surprise, ichigo's father is also a shinigami. to make up for lost time, 187 is mainly concentrated on him, showing his defeat of the hallow at the end of the chapter. apparently, he ain't as spirit-insensitive as he seemed. he knew of kon and his name. he knew that kon had taken over his son's body ever since the grave-sweeping incident but kept mum about it until now. and to drive his point home, he told kon (who did a lil flashback) that he didn't call kon-in-ichigo's-body ichigo. not once throughout the entire soul-society adventure/summer break. two thumbs-up.
i could be my daddy-loving complex, but when i finish chap 186, i was jumping for joy and all the while screaming "i friggin' knew it!!!" in my head. i have finally found my all-time favorite characters in bleach. even more than urahara-tencho. the starting of 186 got me drooling over ishida's dad but once they cut over to ichigo's father, the real excitement began. i'd always guessed (perhaps it's only wanted/hoped/prayed/wished for) ichigo's dad to be definitely more than just be some violent, round-house kicking, wife-portrait worshipping geezer, but i don't know what it was. now i know! yay!! most importantly, two daddys to ogle over!! how happy can they make me?! lol...
now patiently waiting for next wk's chap 188 to arrive. **^_^**
/end anime and manga rave.
P.S. just in case you didn't know, daddy-loving complex=my love for men older than me. way older. way way way older than me. so much older that they could've been my dad. hence the name. heehee...
P.P.S. this post is prolly 2 weeks too late but because it's been pre-emptied onto my ever-attentive interactive blog, zaido-kun, it took me awhile to decide if i should actually write it all out. of corz, chapter 187 of bleach helped greatly.
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