This post brought to you by me finally finishing Moribito II: Guardian of the Darkness

You know what is a terribly wrong thing? That they stopped translating Nahoko Uehashi's Moribito series. How on earth did these books not sell? They're excellent. I'm officially blaming the marketing.1 =( This is why I kept putting off finishing Guardian of the Darkness. Now I have no more awesome lady bodyguard adventures to brighten up my life.

Anyways you should totally read these books! There's only two out right now, Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit and Moribito II: Guardian of the Darkness. They feature Balsa, a thirty year old bodyguard who keeps suddenly getting roped into mystical conflicts. The worldbuilding is excellent, the author is very aware of how to write culture conflicts between native and conquering cultures, there's lots of legends to get into and characters are generally both intelligent and likeable. I have no idea what the originals read like but the translation didn't feel at all clunky to me. Also once you've read them you should join me in figuring out who I have to email to get more of this series translated. There's ten volumes out in Japan and judging by the wiki summaries they only get better.

1. I have no idea what the marketing for these books was like. But clearly it must've been terrible because they certainly should've caught on by virtue of quality.

The Big Post Of Books and TVD

( Shortish feelings on TVD 2.06: Plan B. I find it harder to be wordy on things I like, don’t know why. )

And now for some reviews. I spend approximately three hours on commute every day for school and I usually use them to get some reading done. If I run out of stuff to read sometimes I write reviews in my notebook! I thought I’d just go ahead and type a few up for sharing purposes. =)

( Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles. A study in how to make starcrossed gangster romance unappealing even to a particularly receptive audience )

And now for some tl;dr on Naruto.

( Naruto Volume 47. I should probably mention I usually only do bus reviews if I had a problem with the story. When I like stuff I’d rather just spend my time rereading bits. )

I also wrote up about half a review of Batman: Under the Red Hood the other day but I don’t particularly feel like typing it up and finishing it right now. Suffice to say I thought it was a decent movie, the art and voice acting were adequate, I liked the smooth acrobatic way they choose to animate their fight scenes and it felt pretty accessible to someone who doesn’t know much of DC canon. Worth picking up from the library if you like Jason Todd.

Merlin 3.07

So I was going to do my usual Merlin review? But who am I even kidding, I don't think I would actually manage anything that wasn't GWEEEEEEEN. ELYAAAAAN. SIBLINGS FOREVEEEEER. ARTHUR/GWEN OTPPPPPPPP.

So instead I will just link to this! heather is actually the best Merlin person ever, go say hi if you haven't met yet.