jlucpitard

Rea is the key to why Rakin loses his immortality, although he's still amazing and long lived as the king of Speria. Her death (not a spoiler as it's in the original series) was probably the trigger for him and Kainen's loss of immortality seems to hit him harder than Rakin's but that may also be due to him being older than Rakin. Rakin has her body preserved and hidden away deep in a series of enchantments. As to their origin- the mother- it's not clear and they may all have the same mother (or not) but I think Kainen and a few of the others indicate that she's dead, possibly killed by the mascans. None of the belial have boundary issues with each other and seem to visit for periods of time, so I wouldn't read too much into Rakin and Kainen living together. This is apparently a side effect of living thousands of years. They've all got history, as it were.

Sorry it's been since March, but I just checked back on this thread. Do you have a picture of you all dressed out? There's an active Japan-America Society near where I live and I wonder if they've thought of doing this. There are a lot of vendors that sell kimono and yukata, but I don't know of anyone who dresses folks out for $$. Otakon and Katsucon usually have a seminar in how to wear traditional clothes. Really cool couple did it last year at Otakon, anyway. Many layers, but they also showed us the falsies and shortcuts that folks use to get the traditional look. Didn't take notes, but I enjoyed the transition they went through onstage.

I've been dragging my kids to them off and on for a few years now. The first year I took them, my (then) five or six year old daughter's eyes bulged out at the sight of all the people in costumes (some quite grand) and I told her "You don't have to stop playing dress up when you grow up." A woman in costume turned to me and said that she wished someone had told her that when she was a kid. I think they get a lot out of planning their costumes and being around so many excited and interesting people. ArtFight's a big hit with them as well. It's crazy, free form and the jokes can get quite... adult, but it's the concept that art can be fun and social which seems to get through. We take in panels now and then, but they mainly like to people watch and shop the dealer's rooms and artist alley.

If you could jump in the wayback machine you'd see me waving from my first con. It was a Trekkie thing and I was dressed in some goofy medieval thing, only all messed up. Yeah. I think I still have some of the odd badges from that... I usually enjoy stories and comics that poke fun of cons, so I'll check this one out. Thanks for the tip! (I swear- that old, crossdressing school girl's at EVERY con! And, while my legs are also unshaved, it's not me!)

Depends. Doraemon's over 40, What's Michael is somewhere around 25... (Yeah, they aren't plot driven, but I also hope we don't have to wait decades to see more progression in either her career or their romance!)

Yep, she's figuring out her feelings, but it's probably going to be a while before they mutually figure things out. He's got his past to deal with and she's got a career to get going. Until things come to light, they can't really progress. In Tokyo Crazy Paradise, I felt like things got rushed once the girl realized she loved the gangster. Here I'm glad she's taking her time. I'm glad Mechgouki works so hard for the SkipBeat! fans and cranks out a version soon after the Japanese release. A few weeks later, a better quality one may come out, but I like the immediate gratification.

Well, your wish was sort of fulfilled, but it looks like Kyouko's not ready to accept anything between she and Ren, so... sort of a change is coming. I think this will be fun to read when it's collected in volumes rather than waiting for each chapter as we do. Certain things are dragging on (Seriously, what did she give him for his birthday? How many chapters has it been?) but if read together, I think it would be paced rather nicely. In fact, before the latest twist, i was beginning to worry that it was going to tie up too quickly since we still have the professional side of the story that I'd like to see before the romance is resolved.

Comicon is one I'd like to go to someday. It's a haul for me, but someday... I've been clean of WOW for a few years now, so going to Blizzcon would be tantamount to falling off the wagon for me. Still, I love the pictures from both cons and would love to see some of the costumes. Comicon generates actual news (like the release of the Avatar trailer a few years ago) and it would be a lot of fun to go to panels with the heavyweights in the comic industry. Their artist alley must be... whoa!

Katsucon is happening this weekend near Washington DC (East Coast, United States of America...) Are any folks attending? I don't cosplay, but the kids enjoy dressing up and I enjoy seeing the work that others put into their costumes, especially for the mass photo shoots. So, if you attend, which ones and where? Do you cosplay of enter AMV or other competitions? What do you enjoy about cons?

I can see that. I think she's taking pains to try and lighten the backstory slightly and I think there will be plenty of humor in the future. The main problem, as I see it, is that Kyouko still has a long way to go and there's no particular catalyst in sight to get her there. That makes it drag a bit. Still, I think her story as an actress will keep my interest for a while. [edited to hide potential spoilers-jlp]

Heh! So far we're at 165. I doubt it will get to One Piece proportions, but Tokyo Crazy Paradise, her previous long form manga, wrapped up around 112, so we're past there, but I doubt she'd go past 300. As long as the story keeps moving, I'm happy.

Looks like it. It may be worth letting the chapters pile up a bit and then reading them in one go. Not sure I have the patience for that, though. There's usually something developing or pushing the story ahead, even if it's not the romantic storyline moving.