Juniper Berries, vol. III

On Saturday I finished reading Valérian and Laureline XX: "L'Ordre des Pierres", written by Pierre Christin and illustrated by Jean-Claude Mézières (in Finnish translation: "Kivien järjestys", ISBN 978-951-887-381-8; also available in English under the title "The Order of the Stones").

I had read most of the book earlier, and it shocked me somewhat to realize the Finnish edition had been published in 2007. Once again that all too familiar feeling of "was it not like last year or the year before that?". The whole felt more coherent and thought-out than last time, yet it made me wonder: why all this slow pacing, overexplaining and self-irony? Could it be that Christin has chosen a (not entirely but mainly) tongue-in-cheek approach as the only possible way to follow, having realized that he will not be able to create an epic comparable with the unforgettable storyline of "The Ghosts of Inverloch" and "The Rage of Hypsis" one more time? Here and there Mézières understrikes the slowness of the narrative with monumental illustrations in a style previously unseen in the series, suggesting that something exceptional is just around the corner. The metaphysically fuzzy descriptions of the mighty Wolochs suggest similar things, leaving us to anticipate either a great finale or a total anticlimax in "L'OuvreTemps". Which is apparently available in Finnish already, so I just need the time...

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Yesterday (or was it on Sunday?) I briefly returned to "Gunslinger Girl", introducing V to the franchise. I have never read the comic by Yū Aida or watched the animated series, but illustrations, AMVs and miscellanea hit me hard through AnimeB back when some of the then-prominent members were big fans of the anime version. Now I realized that GG presents an exceptional level of aesthetics of violence, seldom seen even in Japanese entertainment. Perhaps I should overlook the tiring stereotypes involved and invest some time into GG -- similarly to what I have done with "Strike Witches", albeit for different reasons and with a different attitude.

My dream would be to see the Hänsel and Gretel arc of "Black Lagoon" animated by the same people who created the first season of GG.

Possibly the best GG AMV out there. Very short, but completely on point.