stupid people don't post in comms please

After two posts to the same comm (xxx_holic) in a week basically dissing a major fandom pairing, to which most people seemed to have responded sincerely and politely, a shiny "response" in clamp_rants!

Seriously, we've all bitched about pairings in fandom, especially those that dominate the fandom...in "private" (personal LJ posts I do think of as sort of "private," though if they are not locked they are technically "public"). But posting on a comm? Oh, please. And the second post was either done by a total newbie to any fandom or was just plain disingenuous. If you can't get into a pairing from the get-go or after reading a bunch of fics (that don't suck), you'll probably never get into it...Unless you persevere and keep reading until you hit the fic/author that makes it click for you. And it still may never happen. I don't really think pairing preferences are logical anyhow, no matter how much fans (including me XD) love to use logic to justify their pairings (unless it really is canon, of course). *shrugs*

Looking through more posts in clamp_rants (most of which are really lame, btw), it seems there is much Fai-angst in Tsubasa? I wish I didn't know that, because I now don't want to read it! And I probably need to, since it's intruding into xxxHOLIC so much now. *sighs*

Dokusen kinshi!? written by Kazumi Mai and illustrated by Miyagi Tohko

In Dokusen kinshi!?, written by Kazumi Mai and illustrated by Miyagi Tohko, Mikura Shogo is not only Hino Rikiya's childhood friend, he is Rikiya's connection to the outside world. Rikiya is one of those tall, good-looking, smart, athletically gifted types (that populate manga in general). Normally he'd be really popular, but because of his utterly unsociable nature and expressionlessness, he instead scares people. Shogo doesn't think it's good for Rikiya to be so closed off to everyone; he wants everyone stop being afraid of Rikiya and see what a great person Rikiya is. At the same time, he likes being special to Rikiya. But despite Shogo's misgivings, they have a comfortable, solid friendship. Things start changing when a girl actually expresses interest in Rikiya...

My initial impression was that the story was a bit weak. Not horribly so, but certainly nothing special. What made me like it were primarily a) the art and b) the way Shogo can have a "conversation" with Rikiya without Rikiya saying a word. After rereading it, I did find a couple more points in its favor. It doesn't spend too much time bending over backwards to keep the characters in denial/clueless/angsting. The story is narrated in first person by Shogo, who is fairly engaging with a sweet personality, if not that original. And above all, I enjoyed reading how their relationship changes from solid, comfortable friendship to something else, and the confusion and uncertainty that comes from that. Did I mention the very pretty art? ^_~


( the summary )

( the pics )