Obsessions: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

Contains some spoilers if ya care about that sort of thing!

I haven't posted in a million years because a) I haven't made time for it and b) I lost my camera battery. So here's the latest anime I've been binge watching: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure! 

Now this one may seem like an uncharacteristically masculine show for me to be obsessed with since I'm all girls in cute clothes holding knives, but JoJo is undeniably cool. Just watch the second arc's opening:

Like, if you don't like fabulous buff dudes in pseudo 80's clothing striking poses before they fight, I don't know what I can do for you. My boyfriend started watching it a couple months ago and I got interested after seeing the theme song, lol. It's based on a manga appearing in Shonen Jump that started in 1980 something, and follows the Joestars, or rather, one from every other generation (all nicknamed JoJo), on their epic adventures. Basic storyline: Evil guy named Dio becomes a vampire and JoJo has to kill him. Then his grandson has to beat up some supreme beings. Then his grandson has to kill Dio, back from the dead. They're releasing the third season weekly right now, actually, and the manga has like 8 arcs, so I'll be 40 by the time any of that shit comes out on crunchyroll. I hope I like the rest as much as the first three!

This show has awesome animation, and is known for it's wacky color schemes, which I really dig. I've been using screencaps as inspiration for my own work. Personal favorite so far is def Joseph Joestar from Battle Tendency, he's a mega babe. It's not everyday that girls get fanserviced to!

Warning though: I considered not gushing about it on my blog since it's a somewhat problematic fave of mine; there are no decent female characters. Don't let that chick in the video fool you, she's great at first but (spoiler alert) loses about two punches into her only major battle. In Stardust Crusaders I was super psyched when the main character's mom started developing magic powers, and I'm trying to ignore the fact that she's too weak to handle them and is spending the entire season comatose. It hurts to have something I love so much cut my entire gender out of it's storyline. I'll be patiently awaiting arc 5 and it's female main character.

Once you recognize that sort of glaring flaw in the story to this point, you can sit back and enjoy the good points of the show, which are many. It's definitely a fun watch, all the characters are charming, and in a word JoJo has style. 

Obsessions: Marina and the Diamonds

Really I could listen to Marina on repeat forever. She's been around since 2010, but I just found out about her last year. Her two albums, Family Jewels and Electra Heart are both equally amazing, and I highly recommend playing through them both (endlessly) if you're new to her.

She's got this fabulous, fun, sassy persona and sings pop songs about love, adolescence, and glamor, which is really all I want in a musician. But on top of that this girl's voice is bonkers. I was surprised to learn that she didn't get into music due to her (totally awesome) voice, but primarily for the lyrics. Not that that doesn't make sense, because they speak to me, they do. But I woulda given her a record deal in a hot minute for her voice alone! She also made her first album, Family Jewels, entirely by herself, music and all! Seriously impressive. I've got such a crush.

Obsessions: Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

(No major spoilers)

So, I did the dorkiest thing I've ever done the other night in class. I was trying to take a picture of my sketchbook in a dark room, where a critique was going on on the projector, and the flash went off. The thing in my sketchbook I was so eager to photograph was a fanart of Greed from Fullmetal Alchemist with hearts drawn around him. Never in my life did I think it would come to this.

I know the type of people that love FMA, and they can get hella lame. But it's really more of a sorry not sorry situation, because it really is that good.

So if you know even less than I did a month ago (I thought the suit of armor was a girl because it had a ponytail), it's the story of two boys in a pseudo Industrial Revolution Germany named Ed and Al. There's something called alchemy in this world and it's basically magic. Ed and Al lose their mother to some disease and try to bring her back to life using alchemy, and the price they pay is their bodies. Ed loses an arm and a leg, and Al loses his whole body, and spends the show as a talking suit of armor. They're trying to get their bodies back the whole show, but bigger shit goes down.

I think one of things that makes the show so good is it's widespread appeal. There's a wide variety of characters, and they're all important. It's not just about two kids, so it's not just directed towards young boys. The coolest part for me was how the show treats women. You kinda get used to the way females are treated in media (particulary action storyies, both Eastern and Western), as side-characters, a kind of breather you take from the main story to add a bit of romance or sexual tension or something for whoever the main dude is. But FMA actually treats it's women as humans. And it's kind of wonderful. I swear there were only two instances that could even be considered fan service across all 5 seasons, and all the female characters had depth, their own motivations, and agency. They literally could have swapped the genders of the characters and it wouldn't have made a difference, so color me impressed. I guess that's what you can expect from a manga written by a real live woman.

It especially surprised me because I know a lot of people who like it because it's "badass." Sure, maybe sometimes, but honestly, the main character is a twerp that spends the show growing up. Like, they're a couple of kids that don't know what they're doing most of the time, and I found it to be a lot more touching than fuckyeahbadass.

Other noteworthy things:

An amazing job of slowly aging the characters

Great balance of funny to serious moments

Compelling characters, each and every one

First season theme song was cool af

Al (as a human) had a great haircut

Greed/Ling is my waifu

Anyway, I definitely recommend watching through it if you haven't. The first four seasons are on Netflix, and you can find part 5 with a quick Google search.

Next on my list: Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Death Note, Attack on Titan, K-On. I'm considering watching through the original FMA, too, since it's got a different storyline. Any recommendations are welcome!

Obsessions: Alt J

I truly have not been so obsessed with an album since the seventh grade when I played Relient K's Mood Rings on loop. But that was in a fangirly, teeny bopperish way. My Alt J obsession is this deep rooted, they-speak-to-my-very-soul sort of thing.

They're English, and according to Google, qualify as Indie Rock. I first heard their hit, Breezeblocks, on our local alternative station this past summer, and was hooked. Their lyrics are often unintelligible, which I like, because you hear a little more each time. If you can ever decipher what they're saying, it's kinda pure poetry. Weird word choices and songs about mental disorders, sex, and dysfunction that I've been playing on my iPhone multiple times a day. Whenever I feel a bout of anxiety coming on, Dissolve Me calms me down. They currently only have one album out, An Awesome Wave, but I'm really hoping they stick around for awhile... I mean, they were on a Windows commercial, so they must have hit the big time.

(I hadn't seen the music video before today, and it's pretty dark. About a serial killer, if you're gonna skip it, but I always read the song as the story of a sick obsessive relationship.)