Last night, I had a dream. I was wondering around a suburban neighborhood, when suddenly, an SUV pulled in front of me. The driver said, "Come in and join us, Brother!" (I don't remember his exact words, but it's a close approximation.) So I got in. The only available seat was in the back left. I recognized the driver and all of the passengers. The driver, was Don Kanonji. In the front passenger seat was Karin Kurosaki. In the center back seat, right next to me, was Jinta. In the right seat, was Ururu.
I dreamed about Bleach last night. And I rode, with the Karakura Superheroes.
Don Kanonji said something about me being able to sense spirits, and also that I already knew all about their operation. (Probably because I own the first 12 volumes of the manga.) I wasn't going to be a permanent member, just a temp. Yay, I'm an office temp for an all-Japanese Ghostbusters squad. Except I'm not Japanese. I am, what the locals in my hometown call, a "White guy." This, combined with my bluish-green eyes, would definitely make me stand out in modern Nippon, Karakura included. Still, it was cool to know that the Karakura Superheroes weren't afraid of taking up gaijin, even if it was only temporarily. I say temprary, because after a little riding around, we spotted a Hollow. I actually spotted it first. Don Kanonji said, "Go forth, Brother! Spirits are with you!" The door next to me opened, and Jinta pushed me out. Nice little kid.
Now I was standing near a Hollow, which was coming right for me. I tried to see if I had any weapons on me, but I didn't. I even said aloud, "Shouldn't I like have one of those spirit swords on me?" Of course, I seemed to have forgotten that I'm not a Soul Reaper, and that there's no way I could call forth a Zanpaku-to. So, I just started throwing random punches and kicks at the Hollow. And guess what? I actually killed it, with little effort! It didn't lay a finger on me! It must've been a weak Hollow. Either that, or I just don't know my own strength.
By the way, when I was riding, only Don Kanonji spoke to me. Karin and Jinta talked, but they were just trash-talking everyone, like usual. Ururu, true to her character, never spoke a word. She never made eye contact with me the whole time. I knew it was her, though, since she wore black pigtails.
But guess what, Internet? I'm not done talking about ghosts in Japanese comics just yet. I went to the bookstore again, and I 'tried before I bought' again. You know how Tsubasa crosses over with XXXHolic? Well, I read the first volume of XXXHolic today. Yay, more spirits.
Some of the Holic characters have shown up in Tsubasa, but only in minor roles. I now know them better. I have detected a trend in CLAMP's writing. It seems they like to take genre tropes, and put new spins on said tropes. Take for instance, the character of Yuko. At first glance, she seems to be a cliched mysterious sorceress, and she certainly comes across as one; tall, black hair, large mammary glands. Why are arcane sorceresses usually ravenhaired? But of course, she's more than that. She also has this silly side of her that comes out, and she enjoys making Watanuki, the main protagonist, work like a slave. Add to that her fondness of sake, talking about philosophies involving determinism, her love of revealing outfits (yay, sexual fanservice. The heterosexual males must be pleased. Wait, I'm a heterosexual male, should I be enjoying that sort of thing, even thought they're just illustrations?) and her odd sense of humor, and you have a not-so-typical sorceress after all. Watanuki, meanwhile, reminds me a lot of Edward Elric. This kid has anger-management problems, for sure.
Oh, and I met this one character who really caught my eye. Watanuki is enamored with a girl. A cute girl. A girl named Himawari. And yes, she really is cute. In fact, I think I might place her on my list. I wanna see more of XXXHolic before I do that for sure, though.
However, Holic didn't quite hook me like Tsubasa. It feels like everything is not established yet. If I had to, I would rate in right now a 7 out of 10. I like the drawings, (it looks slightly cleaner than Tsubasa.) Yuko-san is kinda funny, and Himawari-chan is certainly adorable, but it's not good enough to own. Who knows? It might get better the farther along I get in the series, though. And the CLAMP references are amusing enough. (In volume 1, Yuko-san refers to Clow Reed as a "creep." Really? I didn't know he was a creep.) If you're bored enough, you might wanna read it at the library or bookstore, but don't rush into collecting it unless you wanna know everything that happens at Yuko's shop whenever the Tsubasa gang isn't communicating with her.
Okay, that's enough. I gotta purge myself of these spirits now.
