Who, Me?

I'm twenty years old, English, and starting a Japanese degree this September. Outside watching anime and reading manga, I've been known to be something of a film geek with a great love of all things coffee, ginger, cinammon and butterscotch.

Anime

I haven't really seen as much anime as I ought to have, and certainly not as much as I would like, but favourites have included Naruto (Hong Kong subs, but so damn worth it), Fullmetal Alchemist (all hail fansubbers!) and Fruits Basket (actually paid full price for this one... but in Paris, where they know how to sell their anime). Characterisation is a key point for me in any anime I watch; I'm a complete sucker for the angsty pasts to complement an interesting present, particularly if said character has a good seiyuu (Park Romi is a genius. This is not subject to discussion). Artwork can sometimes be a deciding factor, as can music, but usually it's the characters and/or the seiyuu with the power to draw me in or block me out.

...Which of course explains why most of my writing and fanwork is for Bakuten Shoot: Beyblade, a show few over the age of twelve have actually seen, and even fewer care to admit to watching. What can I say? I'm not that keen on the anime (although it seems to have grown on me over the years, quite without my permission), I can't stand the Canadian VAs and the DVDs are seriously overpriced - but I can't help it. The characters hand me plot bunnies.

Besides, I love the fandom. Not the OC frenzied side of things; I'm talking about the authors I've known for a good long time now, who continue writing fics that I enjoy to read, and who pull me back into fandom every time I drift away. Highest in the list are of course diamond dew, my beta, friend and sometime seme (when I can make my eyes orb-like enough), and Ishshi, whom I actually visited this time last year - and we're still friends, which is always a good sign! ^_^ Both are wonderful authors, though we can't expect to see too much of Ish for a while, since she'll be living in Japan for the next year at least, as an exchange student.

OTP: Takao/Max. Love these guys. Always have, always will.
OT3: Kai/Rei/Mao. Any combination works for me, or all three together!
Het: Max's parents. Seriously, I adore their relationship - they seem to be exact opposites, but they settled down together and had a kid? Fanfiction waiting to happen.
Yuri: Mao/Emily. If their meeting had occurred between two guys, there'd be fic aplenty of them by now.
Illegal: Balkov/Yuri, all credit to Ishshi, who pretty much founded this pairing when the fandom was still shiny and new. crack!pairing it may be, but there's as much canon support as there is for any of the non-crack!pairings around!

Manga

In no particular order... Parfait Tic!, Naruto, W-Juliet, Bleach, Card Captor Sakura, Shaman King, Marmalade Boy, Great Teacher Onizuka, Yubisaki Milk Tea, Death Note, Akkan Baby, Prince of Tennis, +Anima, Pretty Face, Gravitation, Zombie Powder, Ranma 1/2, Paradise Kiss, Fullmetal Alchemist, Kakumei no Hi, Hikaru no Go, Aishiteruze Baby, Eyeshield21...

...and of course, Love Mode. ^_^ This is the only one I expect to ever write fanfiction for, so it deserves special recognition. TakaIzu OTP, if anyone's interested, and with a keen interest in Naoya and Izumi learning more about each other platonically.

Films

I've just finished a Film Studies A level, so I'm a little bit hesitant to name names, but what I think I have narrowed down to be my favourite films (once again, in no particular order):

Some Like It Hot
Metropolis (with the Giorgio Moroder soundtrack)
Beauty and the Beast (yes, Disney)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
All About My Mother
Mimi wo Sumaseba (Whisper of the Heart)
Billy Elliot
Stand By Me

And my undisputed favourite film of all time:

Laputa: Castle in the Sky. Words cannot describe the beauty, power and innocence of this film. I've loved this film for as long as I can remember, and I've seen it too many times to count - yet I still laugh, cry and empathise in the same places, every time.

Books

Er... I don't really read much, unless we're talking non-fiction. Books on languages, homosexuality, and medical conditions aside, my favourite book is probably Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I'm currently working through The Count of Monte Cristo, as of reading Stephen Fry's The Stars' Tennis Balls, which unsettled me severely. I wish I were more literature-friendly, but... I'm just not. Maybe I will be once I get to uni. Right now, the only books I re-read fairly regularly are Tamora Pierce's, because I adore Owen of Jesslaw with a passion, and have been known to write fiction for him that is betaed by the absolutely wonderful Quatre-sama, who drew me into the fandom just over a year ago.

Current Events

Dew and I are working on some betas amongst ourselves that should lead to a significant rewrite of Senses, so that it's at a level I'm happy with before I finish it off with the one remaining chapter. I have various drabbles and one-shots to put up, involving various pairings and characters, and I'm hoping to buy season one of Beyblade in Japanese that will hopefully enable me to write these guys more accurately, since I become more and more irked by the clearly dodgy translation as time goes on.

The other thing Dew and I are working on is a visit (it's about time we met in RL) as well as making tentative plans to go and visit A#2 in Japan next year, which should be exceptional! ^_^ I, in the meantime, will turn twenty-one, move out, start university and buy a new computer over the next month or so, so I have plenty to fill my time with until Dew's visit mid-September.

But right now I need to work on some sleep, because this is the kind of pointless all-nighter I haven't pulled since I was working full time at Blockbuster. =_=

Livejournal: http:///users/akai_laputa/
Yahoo Group: http:///group/KaixReiML/

If you've read any of my fics, thank you! Constructive criticism is, along with any other type of review, very much appreciated, either on site or by email. Thanks again!

Akai
17/08/04