Comparative analysis of insanity, really

I have yet to summon enough interest in the subject to write about finishing school, 16 years of my life over with next to nothing to show for it... but I have become me in these years. Yesterday marked 4 years with TP, four years of bliss. Have yet to write about that as well. In fact, I fail to remember how many posts I have started in my head these past days, and have forgotten by the time I get in front of the computer. Oh well.

What I actually wanted to write about is that I have floated from obsession to obsession until I got back to Gakuen Alice. Finished watching the anime in a couple of days, and am now reading the manga. Drat and bebother those 11 chapters for missing. I mean, a whole /volume/ is missing. Thankfully, at least, later volumes are complete. I don't get the whole "there is no volume 5 /anywhere/ on the net" thing though :| This post will be silly, and apparently pointless, because I'm tired and I'm only writing this to remember these things later, really.

So:
- up until the Festival, m!Natsume is a lot colder to Mikan than a!Natsume
- m!Natsume has a more varied range of facial expressions than a!Natsume - managing even to look like a kid at some point in the beginning. Which is profoundly refreshing
- the anime is true to the manga, but kinda botched up the dodgeball episode - the a!version was a lot more loaded with meaning than the m!version - which, for me, is canon
- m!Ruka has become Mikan's friend faster
- m!Ruka has /depth!/ *is surprised but delighted*
- m!Tsubasa is wiser and more helpful, and less of a show-off-dweeb
- there was nothing, and I mean /nothing/ in the anime about Mikan being aware that she was targeted, or that the Academy was targeting her (as opposed to her getting into trouble because of her own loud mouth, and not a conspiracy)
- m!Jinno is hateable
- m!Naru is... different, but I can't put my finger on it
- m!Natsume's speech about "people the Academy targets, like me and you [Mikan]" put hair on my chest... metaphorically. I have yet to find a word for that thing that happens to me physiologically when I get wrapped up in a dream world like this one. *shrug*

Bits that are missing:
- the festival play - I wanted to see m!Natsume's reaction to seeing Mikan almost kiss Ruka. /If/ that ever happened in the manga, of course
- the dance - again, I wanted to see the talk those two have, and the moment when Hotaru chooses Mikan for the last dance
- Bear's maker being out of the hospital - just out of curiosity, to see if anything was different. And maybe gain some insight into Tsubasa's character. And see if m!Mikan makes the parallel between that guy and Natsume. But so far Mikan is the most similar (manga vs. anime), so I should think she does.
- and now Tachibana-sensei is teasing us with 15-year-old versions of the characters. Gaaaaaaah! :))
- completely unrelated: I will forever worship this manga if it manages to tell me more about Mikan's mother (I know that it eventually will, but I'm afraid I'll lose interest before I actually get there. However, Gakuen Alice is on the same obsession par as Gravi, Loveless and Bleach for me, so fat chance there is of /that/ happening. *shudders*)



I'm done. Back to reading, now. I'll update this as I go along. Also, since I snuck a peek at the latest chapter and got to see what I strongly believe is a Middle-School Hotaru, I have to say I have fallen in love with her. She's hot, and I can't wait to actually get to that part. Of course, Middle-School!Natsume is so much smex, I can't comprehend it, but Hotaru's kinda getting to share the spot-light with him on this one.

(reads back that last paragraph. Realizes how very very pathetic she must sound. *shake head*)

Musical presents (thanks go to youtube, of course. Ignore the vids, they're fan-made and... well... yeah.)

Hyde - Prayer (this man's voice will be the death of me. I adore his 666 album so much I can't help myself *idiot grin*)

Hyde - Midnight Celebration (orgasmic. Good Engrish, too *is surprised*)

Versailles - Shouts&Bites

A (extensive) note about Versailles: I got attached to this band after realizing that it was the first (at that time) VK band that hadn't been around since last century, had split up and then reconfigured, and generally followed the truisms about JRock I wrote about in an earlier post.

Then my ears opened up and I actually /heard/ them. The vid I linked to is their PV, but it's oddly made and you won't get to see much of them. Don't bother with the images, though; listen. Listen to the power-metal riffs, so clean and unlike Jrock/pop/VK. Listen to the man's voice. Listen to the lyrics, if you speak Japanese *mumbles incoherently about the "Captain Planet" ending song.* Just give it a chance, and listen. I strongly suggest downloading samples of their work for a teaser/taste - they are my new addiction.

There. Done for the night. Shall be back soon, to review tomorrow's Metallica concert, and to drool some more. And maybe to even bother writing a decent, serious post. *cough*