Yes, I did just post one. Yes, I really should be sleeping, otherwise Ill miss shakespare lecture tuesday for the......6th week running. Oh well....

Im reviewing one of my favourite series and for all of you that judge thusly, its manga. Run away now.

Namely, the manga series Rebirth. Actually, its Manwha, being korean, but still good.

Plenty of those amusing manga moments with facefaults and out-of-proportion mouth extensions.

Basically, the story starts of with a bunch of morons (professors of paranormality...yeah, they die, we can skip them) the daughter of one of them, and the exorcist hired to help them. It starts in a place in Europe which is nothing like eastern high carpathian dracula land. Really.

Monsters attack. Humans die horribly. One monster slain by exorcist (who is laughably weak) blah blah blah, vampire emerges from monsters remains. here is Deshwitat! Call him Desh.

after a few wellplaced manlove moments, Deshwitat saves the two girls. To do this, he has to suck the blood of the father of the aforementioned daughter, turning him into a soon-to-bezombie vampire. To avoid this, he burns him and turns him into The Dust Of Death. Yes, its corny, and so very TP, but it sounds better in Korean, I hope.

So, to explain - Deshwitat and his love, Lilith (bible abuse abounds btw) were killed by his once friend, Kalutika, who has recently become a god.

He now wishes to destroy the world. Hey, why not. Theres a big arc in volumes 5-12 which goes back in time to explain all the subtleties.....Enjoy the bits where it seems one of the male characters is wearing drag queen makeup. Also a great joke using the word "Dandy".

This is a fun, violently dark story with a lot of action, sexy costumes and interesting, if a tad predictable, plot twists. Ill now list its bad points.

Occasionally, bits just dont make sense. Secondly, at times its oversimplified or repetitive (Think alex's goldfish comment earlier)
Thirdly...character wise, its a mess. Some of them are great as cliches. some are great as against type. And some...generic. Probably the worst is the one I swore was a chick for 2 books....that was bad.

On the positives - theres a few great descriptions of love in it. And no, not all violent...ok, yeah, mostly. Some are possessive, some are protective, some are just plain strange (the old lady is a bit creepy!). It is, technically, a love story (so far, may change) and a mix of religions show up. Theres some really interesting costumes in it (which the author mocks in the extras) and I actually like the female characters.

So no one thinks Im misogynistic, I will explain this.

A: I doubt any of you can match me in my anime and manga nerdiness. If one of you has endeavoured to do so, then I aplogi- well, youll agree with me.
B: Manga females, unless its shoujo or such, are often crap. Fillers. Useful, amusing, but as people? No. Not always, but often.

So, I usually hate them. Or at least, the creators for them. Here, I liked them. Millenear is a vampire writers dream! Or nightmare, depending. In fact, now that i write this, its eerily creepizoiding how similar they are to us...

Overall, its readable, enjoyable, and emotionally amusing. Nothing heavy, but fun. If anyone in Chch wants to, ask me for all the english volumes released.

Well, how long has it been since I admitted I liked a romance novel? Such as say....Jane Eyre?

Its been a very very very long time. If such a time ever occured.

That has not changed. I hate this book! I despise it for a: existing and taking up valuable paper and b: becoming some sort of template to work with or against!

I swear, if anyone ever reads my works and says, "You know, this reminds me of Jane Eyre" or worse, "This writer clearly has taken Bronte into his work" (I have purposely ommited the e's thingyamabob) then I will honestly buy a gun.

Ok, a second gun. One that wont be traced to me. On to the book!

Dont ever read this for fun. If you must read it of your own volition, make it for a good cause,. like learning not to do. The language is archaic, and poor at that - Swift or Coleridge or such are better with it. The actual story is part whining part romance and part wannabe-matyr. Bad mix.

And lets not even go into the poorly chosen characters. So what if she's trying to avoid the stereotypes? All shes done is create mismatched features and a lack of cohesion. Her title character's strongest identifier is this strange idea of servitude and escape. Half the time, its a selfcreated cycle!

(Yes, I have read the damn thing)

This may be recorded as one of the key works in English literature. In fact, it is, by many of the same people who refuse to admit Poe is as well. So, what are its possible good points?

Feminist literature at its early stages. But its not.

A discussion of society at the time. Who really cares.

A womans heartrending tale of growing up in a world that hates her. Hell, you can watch that in reality. Hell, some of you lived that! (I was excluded on the grounds that no one considered my pain and suffering anything other then amusing.)

If I need to explain the plot of this then youre too interested. Dont, dont, dont read it. If you already have, forget it. Wide Sargasso Sea is considerably better.

And hey, wouldnt we all rather watch Valk make hot chocolate? Much the same..... ; P