"Fakir" is now the magic word

[sara_tanaquil]

First off, a very happy birthday to collarnojutsu!! I suck at presents and cards and things, but at least I can do the birthday wishes thing.

A word of explanation. CNJ always complains that we never listen to her recommendations the first time. A while ago, wednesday_10_00 discovered Glee by way of a YouTube video from the the justly famous Single Ladies episode. This was after months of CNJ squeeing about Glee on her journal. So, by way of a mea culpa, wednesday_10_00 said that in future, if she proved resistant to a recommendation, the magic word was "Psst, D*****! SINGLE LADIES!"

CNJ has been trying to get me to watch Princess Tutu for over a year. (I meant to, really! But, the backlog!) I was a little uncertain about magical girl show + ballet, but the strong recommendation definitely carried weight. We watched a few episodes at the beach this year, and I was definitely intrigued (enough to order the DVD post haste), but then One Piece happened. (Still on episode 152 and volume 25, BTW.) She finally gave me incentive to finish the series in the form of an AMV and an ultimatum. ^_~

Now, it had taken approximately ten minutes of watching the anime (+ knowing that w_10_00 and cnj both love him) to know that I was going to love Fakir. But it is only now that I grasp that every detail of his character was insidiously crafted by the makers of the anime to inspire in me the perfect storm of redeemed seme moe, with the clear intention of ruining me for any other anime hero in the future.

So, people. In future, if I fail to heed your wise recommendations with appropriate speed, the phrase is "Psst, Sara. FAKIR!" I promise to drop everything and take your recommendation up on the spot. (Though I cannot promise to love anyone as much as Fakir. Even if he does have funny hair.)

We had seen episodes 1-5 at the beach, which was just enough to be thoroughly intrigued and confused. (In part because I couldn't see how such a seemingly simple magical girl story was going to turn into the epic story everyone says it is, AND IT IS.) I marathoned the rest this weekend. When I realized that I was watching nearly all of -- was it episode 7? 8? -- with my jaw quite literally hanging open, I started taking notes so I would be able to remember a little of my thought processes later. Which are really funny to read now, I wish I'd started taking notes sooner. (Among other things, I correctly predicted that *spoiler* and Mytho were going to end up together, though perhaps that doesn't take that much in the way of insight.)

The funniest part was when I got to episode 13, and things all of a sudden start speeding up and resolving all over the place. And, no joke, I was literally sitting there going "... but it's not over, right? The box said there were 26 episodes, right?" And I'm checking the box to see if there are more DVDs in it. (Rest assured, there are in fact 26 episodes.)

Then it got kind of dull and formulaic again for a few episodes (which is to say, it was charming and funny, but nothing major was happening and it felt an awful lot like the monster-of-the-week episodes on Sailor Moon after *spoiler* joined Queen Beryl and turned evil). Before, of course, taking the real epic turn, which is... kind of hard to describe even when you HAVE seen it, never mind being spoilery as hell. (But hey, pile on in the comments!)

I don't even know which moe point to squee over first without collapsing into a puddle of goo. episode 12 BLUSHY FAKIR OMG OMG

So I will just conclude: the closing vignette-scene of the anime may very possibly be my new favorite thing ever. <3 <3

mangaroo WHY ARE YOU NOT WATCHING THIS THERE ARE DUCKS

AND UZURA (zura)

Comments

[mvrdrk.livejournal.com]

I will go check it out.

[mvrdrk.livejournal.com]

From the AMV: this is a story about a little duck that transforms into a ballerina who is a boy running around in oversized mens shirts. LOL!

[sara-tanaquil.livejournal.com]

Haha, not so far wrong. (I am not a dance fan, but the totally silly overblown ballet dance sequences are part of the fun.)

I do hope you check out at least a few episodes, and that you enjoy it. Don't be concerned if you spend at least the first seven episodes going "WTF????" -- that is the expected and normal reaction.

[mangaroo.livejournal.com]

Dear Abbey,

What can I do to communicate to my beloved friends my fear and loathing of ballet plus a central male character who looks (and acts!) like he has escaped from Kaze to Ki no Uta?

signed,
Duckless in Seattle

* * *

If they could wrap Duck and Fakir (and, you know, the whole storytelling/writing device) around a different plot, I would be ALL OVER IT. Hate Rue. Hate the boy. If I can't care about the things Ahiru cares about, there's just no point, is there? And it makes me sad, 'cause...FAKIR.

[mvrdrk.livejournal.com]

I keep wanting to pronounce Fakir as fake-er.

[sara-tanaquil.livejournal.com]

Haha, if it helps, the Japanese sounds like "Fakia". But it is kind of a funny name. (And honest to god, sometimes his hair is twice the size of his head, idk.)

[wednesday-10-00.livejournal.com]

OMG YOUR ICON ♥ ♥ ♥

[sara-tanaquil.livejournal.com]

Sob! woe.

Ah well, at least I tried. ^_~ I didn't realize you'd seen something of it and disliked -- I thought you were just wary of the general ballet concept (which I get, believe me).

FWIW, I'm not that wild about Mytho and Rue either. I don't hate them or anything, but I just put up with their on-screen time so I could get back to concentrating on Ahiru and Fakir.

Such a shame, though, because I bet you'd love Uzura. (She only shows up in the second half, so I doubt you've seen her?) She's like... Botan, if Botan was an animated puppet with green hair.

One last thing, then I'll shut up

[sara-tanaquil.livejournal.com]

Since it seems like you won't be watching the whole series, here's an AMV to give you a taste of Uzura. I don't entirely love the Chinese pop song it's set to (the way she talks is so effing cute, I wish there'd been a few clips of that), but the images give you a good idea... and maybe, now that I think of it, the music suits her rather well.

Her very existence is a spoiler, I suppose, but apart from that, the AMV's not too spoilery if you decide you want to watch the series after all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4HeFrRraeE

[gnine.livejournal.com]

Hee, Princess Tutu for the WIN! (Hadn't realized you'd missed that one or I'd have been right along with everyone else in pimping it! Tis FANTASTIC!

And yes, FAKIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO MUCH LOVE! Neechan and I went into the show knowing almost nothing about it and before it's even clear he's not a bad guy we were sorta starting to OTP them but didn't think it would actually go there and then it does and it's wonderful and adorable and fantastic and DRAMATIC WRITING and pen stabbing and just...yeeeah, oh Fakir, I do so adore you! I adore the hell outta the whole show!

So happy you enjoyed it! ^___^

I only complain because I have a really, really good track record for personalized recommendations!

[collarnojutsu.livejournal.com]

I am highly amused by this entire entry. Also, your tag. XD It sounds like I was hounding you for a year though, LOL! I remember trying to rec past your skepticism back at my house that time but I don't think I brought it up again until the beach? Hearing you liked it so much makes me really glad I thought to bring it along, though!! ♥ Best afterthought I ever had. XD I haven't gotten back to my own re-watch so I might actually steer clear from the comments for a bit. Not that I don't remember the show, but you know, it's fun to re-discover or see things in a new light after.

I'm going to hang on to your FAKIR coupon code, but I probably have a lifetime pass on recommendations suggestions now, yeah? :P

(Just for the record, I don't think I actually did much (any?) squeeing about Glee on my journal... did I??...though I had tried considerably to suggest the show to W_10_00 via emails at the time. I personally have had a love/hate relationship with the show since I started it, but I knew there were bits that she would love.)

Re: I only complain because I have a really, really good track record for personalized recommendatio

[sara-tanaquil.livejournal.com]

Haha, no, it's true, you weren't hounding me. It was more like, I never even considered Princess Tutu until you pimped it so strongly last year, and I meant to check it out, but I forgot... and then wednesday_10_00 named it as her favorite anime ever, and I was like, wow, that's TWO strong recommendations, I really should be watching this. So you see I should have listened to you in the first place. ^_^

Anyway, I'm really glad you brought it to the beach!

I do remember some Glee from your journal (because I was curious about it myself), but perhaps most of the pimping was in email, I don't remember.

Kore kara mo yoroshiku onegaishimasu. (Translation: I look forward to your future recommendations!)

[mvrdrk.livejournal.com]

Okay. I'm to episode 9 and wishing there was a way to fast forward thru all the formula to get to the meat of the story. I'm not thrilled about having to wade thru all the 5 year old princess stuff, but I think I can see where it's going and it's easily twisted to all the classic dj tropes.

[sara-tanaquil.livejournal.com]

Yay, I'm glad you're watching!

It definitely is least formulaic and most epic as it approaches each of the high points (episode 13 and episode 26). If the formula bores you, you might want to skip some episodes between, say, 15 and 18. (The first couple of eps after 13 are essential for setting up the new conflict/drama, and then somewhere around 18 or 19 we start getting really important information introduced... and the really epic stuff is at the end.

[wednesday-10-00.livejournal.com]

Yay, I'm so glad you loved it! (But what, no Neko-sensei love?)

the closing vignette-scene of the anime may very possibly be my new favorite thing ever.

I knowwwww! I love the ending so much! ♥ I can send you a couple of post-ending fics, if you're interested?

[sara-tanaquil.livejournal.com]

I did love Neko-sensei! (Especially the way he would randomly do cat things when he was embarrassed. I MUST WASH MY FACE NOW) His marriage fetish was seriously kind of weird, but *squee over spoilery ending montage*. Also, he was a great sensei.

Post-ending fics would be fun! The ending is pretty much perfect and I can fill in all sorts of possible happy-ever-after scenarios, but it would be great to see what fans have done with it.

*dense*

[sara-tanaquil.livejournal.com]

I JUST realized that that icon is a Princess Tutu icon! I've always liked it and wondered what it was from, but I never remembered to check your icon list for an identification. (I thought it was a picture of a girl holding a stuffed bunny, lol.)

OMG so adorable. Is that from a fanart?

Re: *dense*

[wednesday-10-00.livejournal.com]

lol, and here I was worrying about it being spoilery when you had only seen a few episodes. XD It's from a doujinshi, actually, probably the only Tutu dj I've found that I actually liked--mostly because of that panel.

re: fic - I'm sure there are a million post-ending fics out there, but honestly I've never really gone looking, so these are just the ones I've happened to encounter on my flist:

canis_m - Still Life with Duck, Epilogue (love the last line of this one), Untitled

xparrot - The Night Winter Ends