Just Rhythm Emotion

If you were a teenager or a young adult in the late 90s and early 2000s who was into anime, you can probably surmise what this post is going to be about.

Gundam Wing is one of a long running series about pilot operated futuristic robots called Gundams. It's been around since, what, the 60s?

Out of all the different series and takes on the same mythology, GW seems to be the most popular in America, I think.

I'm not sure why, in comparison to other series, that GW was more popular. Perhaps it was timing, having been released in America right in the midst of the big boom in which everyone was suddenly clamoring for anime and manga or perhaps it was the infamous yaoi fanbase that propagated underground, or the intricate and diverse backstories of the cast of characters. Although, to be fair, it seems to me the Gundam series' have all had a tradition of having complex characters, so I can't say GW was the only Gundam series to have that. More likely, I suspect, it was timing. Or the fanbase.

Anyways, I'm not going to go into detail about the plot: I found it confusing and boring, it was too political for 15 year old me. The characters I liked, but to be true, the plot and their connections to the plot went over my head and I probably missed alot of information, and such, I like characters I shouldn't and dislike characters I should like, perhaps. I digress. To be concise, I liked Gundam Wing for the boys and the fanbase, not the show or the political intrigue. Perhaps now that I'm older, I can appreciate the more nuanced subtleties of the show. Perhaps now that I'm older and rewatching the series, I'll like it better and understand it better. Maybe.

But for now, I'll go from my memories.

I got into it through friends and through the online fanbase. I was reading summaries and stories about Trowa before I saw him in action-so to speak- and I was already madly madly in love with him. He was the silent and strong, serious but acrobatic type. He was like Dick Grayson, my first fictional love, only without the sparkly panties and the nonstop wise-cracking. I just adored him, the circus acrobat who piloted the flamboyant red Gundam and who followed the other four pilots silently.

The show did have interesting parts, for me, it was the characters. I loved the parts with Trowa and Catherine at the circus, and Trowa and Heero, Trowa and Quatre, Treize, Zechs, Duo and Heero, the parts that was them in day to day life, or in non Gundam space battles and non political debates, was interesting to me, enough to keep me going.

Right from the start, I adored adored ADORED Trowa, the one with the floofy collar in the top of the picture. He was silent, and stoic, and business like but still kind and in my mind, he was just shy. Although, yeah, because of his upbringing, more likely he was just socially awkward, what with never being allowed to be a kid, and always having to be a soldier.

I liked the villains too, they were more complicated and even as a squawking fifteen year old, I could appreciate complexity in characters. Treize was the more favorite one I think. And now, apparently, I love him all the more for having had an illegitimate bastard child.

Most of all, GW was more of a community to me,than a show. My friends and I had stories we shared about the GW people, we had drawings and conversations about the series and online a whole world was open to me, where I could find stories about Trowa, as a spy, as a pirate, as a prince, as a doctor. GW was my introduction to internet fanbases, to actual fanfic sites and shrines and music videos and doujinshis. Up til GW, I only knew of the Bobby Drake site, UnFrozen, which seems to be down now, unfortunately, and I thought that was it. Sites to read and absorb information passively. GW showed me that there's people on the other end, people to email and to write to, and to fangirl over the same common like, people who formed a community.

Sailor Moon got me into the internet, and GW got me to stay.

If Only We had Wings, We Might Fly Higher

Title is from a song lyric I read somewhere and liked. And I think it suits the topic today: The Cal Leandros series by Rob Thurman

In summary, the Cal Leandros series is about a half monster half human young man named Cal and his band of merry men(and women) as they try to keep New York and the world safe from Cal's monstrous relatives, the Auphe.

Basically, I read the first and second books last summer, and started the third, which I just finished recently, while on my trip to Japan last august. At first reading, they read like pretty well written fanfiction. The author has a great idea, a good grasp of mythology and seems to be enthusiastic about her characters and that feeling came across, so I was able to find enjoyment in slogging through her overuse of purple prose and nonsensical overdramatic wording. One line that came to mind is from the first book: "It took me a moment to realize that was a venomous version of a snake's wistful sigh". I'm sorry, but does that make sense to anyone? She spends too much time trying to be clever and poetical, when I prefer she spent time focusing on the story, it is a GOOD story. I found myself having a hard time reading her stuff, because her writing style was so jarring, I found myself more distracted by the wording, and so when I started the third book, I wasn't in a push to finish it. But I did recently, and I just started re-reading the first book. Let me tell you, the series is going on my list as top favorites, under 'Guilty Pleasure'. Some people have 'Twilight' some people have romances, I guess as far as guilty pleasures go, the Cal Leandros series isn't so bad.

Purple prose overkill aside, this is why I like this series. If you love 'Supernatural' this might be something up your alley. The main character, Cal, is half human half Auphe, a horrible, ruthless bloodthirsty race of monsters from another dimension. Ever since he was a teenager and was snatched away to the Auphe home dimension, he and his older brother, Niko, have been on the run from the Auphe. The bond between brothers is a favorite to be written about, and I love sibling stories, so having the two brothers be so close and so dear to each other, to the point where they will die for each other, is something I love having to read about.(Although, often, Rob Thurman will repeat that they are close brothers who love each other, rather than 'showing' it or accepting that we, the readers, already know and accept that they are awesome brothers..) Niko is pretty cool himself, a smart, self educated man in literature and martial arts, he's cool and collected and has more faith in Cal's humanity than Cal himself. Niko is also dating Promise, an older vampire heiress, who often accompanies the men on monster hunts. She's portrayed as cold but maternal. To be honest, I'm not getting much of a feel for her yet, even though it's been three books already. I'm not sure if I like her or am ambivalent about her. I guess being ambivalent about women characters is a step further than hating them. We get so many women characters who are shown as either perfect or bitchy that I can't help but hate the character for either being an unrealistic representation of women or for just being a jerk. So Promise, as an ambivalent character is ok for me. George, the young psychic that Cal is in love with(or at least until the third book...?) is the same way too. On one hand, I like her for being sassy, and strong and defiant in Cal's self-pitying sacrificial behavior, on the other, she's shown as a perfect girl, on a pedestial-in fact, Cal refers to her as his Red and Gold girl at some point, if I recall?-that I can't help but feel we are being pressured to view George in only one flat 2-d way. Even though it is through Cal's eyes that we are reading the story and such, through his eyes that we see and know George so that may very well be the reason why we only see her as the serene ever-loving girl of his dreams. Cal is pretty cool, in my book. I like him, but my favorite is the puck.

Robin Goodfellows, the immortal over-sexed charming lonely former god. The brothers Leandros met Robin at a used car lot. They blackmailed him into helping them get information on the Auphe. He got attacked because of it. But he came back. Cal saw his loneliness from endless years being the only one of his kind, and was willing to let him hang around. Over time, the two of them become friends and I totally want a later book to have the two of them go on a road trip and have wacky hijinks and high adventures culminating in a deep bro love bond like JD and Turk from 'Scrubs'. I don't know why it is Robin is my favorite, and it seems, from some cursory scanning the internet for Cal Leandro fanlove, he's a favorite of other fans too. Maybe it's because he serves as the comic relief in the story, maybe it's because he's the immortal with underground connections and who always backs the brothers up. Maybe it's because of his banter with Promise, Niko and Cal. I think, maybe, it's because when he shows up, we know something is about to go down, whether its someone's pants or a fight.

In short, the Cal Leandros series is a fun read to have in the hours before bedtime, in a comfy chair by a warm fire, or in a bubble bath. Just don't expect pulitzer level writing.

You can find her books at amazon.