Sakina's Abyss

It's been too long since the last update.

When you start to earn your own keep by teaching piano, you quickly realise how insignificant the education system really is. We have all been conditioned to believe that the only way to get a decent job is through school and university, but who wants the stone-set life?

...school...uni...job...marriage...two kids...a dog...and a house with a white picket fence...

Being pressed in on all sides to make up my mind as to what I want to do at uni, this period of time has been very disconcerting for me. So many changes, so many life decisions. And thinking back to one of my first Livejournal entries, I am just as washed up as ever, still clueless, and still doing everything because I ought to do so.

And then there's the clash of lives, where my personal collides with my home with my school, and I'm left to pick up the proverbial pieces. What was a moonlit kiss on a drunken night is a college nightmare, and I'm still chasing after empty dreams, whilst avoiding scandal.

If only there were as many highs as there were lows.

I miss...anime. Manga. I miss it when you could crush on someone and it didn't have to mean anything.

You can only be pretentious for so long, and then they make an effort to get to know the real you, and then you just push them all away even more. The love-hate friendship complex can only go on for so long.

Ah, what do you do when all you can do gaze through a g l a s s darkly, and yet I still refuse to confront my own issues?

Just had to get all of this out, I promise it won't happen again.

And on that note,

Here's a picture I drew of a character that I am role playing as, comments?

Brimstone.jpg

What is one of your favorite poems?
Submitted by marvel is my pen name.

Last year, whilst corresponding with a friend using email I'd met via fanfiction.net, she sent me a poem that she said reminded her of me. I find this incredible; the way one is able to form opinions and impressions simply by looking at black and white letters. Personalities jump from the page, and morph into lifelike beings before our very eyes, whilst we rest assured in the sense that we know the person whom we are writing to. No doubt this is will always be a false sense of security. However the poem my friend picked is one that both intrigues me and has kept my brain ticking over the last year or so. The lyrics are simple, yet evocative. The imagery is familiar, yet I can't quite seem to fathom the poem out.

~ The Last Wolf ~

by Mary Tallmountain

The last wolf hurried toward me
throught the ruined city
and I heard his baying echoes
down the steep smashed warrens
of Montgomery Street and past
the ruby-crowed highrises
left standing
their lighted elevators useless

Passing the flicking red and green
of traffic signals
baying his way eastward
in the mystery of his wild loping
gait
closer the sounds in the deadly
night
through clutter and rubble of quiet
blocks

I hear his voice ascending the
hill
and at last his low whine as he
came
floor by empty floor to the room
where I sat
in my narrow bed looking west,
waiting
I heard him snuffle at the door and
I watched

He trotted across the floor
he laid his long gray muzzle
on the spare white spread
and his eyes burned yellow
his small dotted eyebrows quivered

Yes, I said.
I know what they have done.

Here is a banner I made of the poem for another friend:

TheLastWolf.jpg

~ Kaori Yuki, queen of gothic manga ~

If you’re sick of picking up appealing looking manga with intriguing fancy titles, an alluring gothic cover but little substantial plot- as I have done on so many occasions, then how about trying some of Kaori Yuki’s work? Out of all the manga I have read so far, nothing has kept me gripped more than her chilling stories and beautiful artwork, each one leaving more than a lasting impression in my mind. If you like dark gothic manga, with twisted- often disturbing- stories, then Kaori Yuki should be right up your street!

Her protagonists are normally tortured portraits living twisted lives; you won’t find one protagonist without a closet of skeletons to their name. Cain Hargreaves (Count Cain, Godchild) is the son of incest, Ian (Fairy Cube) who can see fairies ends up trapped in their world, whilst Setsuna (Angel Sanctuary) harbours love for his sister. Not all of her works are twisted in that sense, for example Blood Hound is a lighter and funnier, more “normal” story despite the subject matter being vampire related. I’m not surprised the fiery Rion finds them attractive- they are pretty hot too!

A friend of mine dislike’s Yuki’s art style, saying that it is “too messy” but it is her incredible eye for detail which I adore in her works. She captures facial expressions with the expertise and quirkiness of famous manga-ka Rumiko Takahashi (Urusei Yatsura, InuYasha, Ranma 1/2) and even though it can be hard to tell the gender of some characters- especially in Angel Sanctuary- I for one find her style darkly enchanting and every bit as gothic as a Lolita queen.

Plot-wise, her stories require a deep attention to detail, especially in something as epic as Angel Sanctuary. I find that a second reading often clarifies points and I spot little things I missed out on the first time round. Kaori Yuki’s trademark story style in Count Cain/Godchild is to take an innocent nursery rhyme and add a dark twist to it. Stuff like that makes me shiver- dolls, nursery rhymes- by turning anything cute into a nightmare she plays on basic childhood fears, yet keeps you gripped, rather like a good horror movie. I think that is part of the attraction of her works for me.

A list of her works include:

Angel Sanctuary
Blood Hound
Boys Next Door
Count Cain (part one of the Cain saga)
Cruel Fairytales
Fairy Cube
Godchild (part two of the Cain saga)
Kaine
Ludwig Kakumei
Meine Liebe (anime, character design only)
Neji
O no Soukoushi
Psycho Knocker

I’ve only read a few of them (purple ones, ones that I own are purple and blue)- a while back, you could download scanlations from the group Sakura Crisis, but they’ve disbanded now. Luckily they’ve left a “dumping ground” on the net so you can still get some of their projects:

Blood Hound – Incomplete
Boys Next Door – Haven’t read this yet! But I think it’s complete.
Count Cain – I haven’t read the licensed version so I can’t compare but this version was excellent! Well done!
Cruel Fairytales – Complete, not yet read.
Fairy Cube – Only chapter 1 is present
Gravel Kingdom – Complete, lovely artwork.
Kaine – Only two chapters long, but a very shocking ending.
Ludwig Kakumei – Incomplete

Website: http://sakuracrisis.ukepile.com/

A notable one-shot manga on the site is Hotaru No Mori which is short, but really cute. Not gothic, but sweet nonetheless, concerning forest spirits- reminds me of Spirited Away and Totoro. Just thought I’d mention that.

Hope this has opened eyes to a very talented artist! If anyone knows any other scanlation groups who’ve worked on Kaori Yuki’s unlicensed manga, please let me know.