Hagaren

Hagaren, or Hagane no Renkinjutsushi was something I'd been waiting to be able to watch.

I finally got an English subtitled dvd copy and it's turned out to be worth the wait.

Essentially the story's about two brothers - one missing an arm and a leg, and the other a disembodied soul bound to a giant tin can.

All Edward and his brother Alphonse want is to find a way to become normal human beings again and set out on a singleminded quest to do just that. Of course, they eventually find out that reaching their objective is more complicated than they anticipated. Their pursuit of the Philosopher's Stone, a fabled object that allows an alchemist to do things beyond the normal laws of their art, forces them into gray areas of conflict to the point of straining the bonds of their relationship and forcing into question the primary reasons for their desire to acquire it.

I found it interesting how the Law of Conservation of Mass or "The Law of equal exchange" as it is mentioned in the series, seems to become an analogy for a guiding principle for human interaction on a physical as well as a social level.

So far I've seen a couple of episodes and I can't wait for the rest - the plot definitely thickens/sickens and I'm crossing my fingerse that I won't be let down by an easy ending.

Flight vol1

I had been browsing the net looking for interesting alternative comics around a month ago and I came across this one published by Image Comics, and it was interesting to know that some of the artists published here were previously known for their web comics - Enrico Cassarosa of Haiku5-7-5 is one of them.

I saw some of the art previewed on the site and I was really hooked but of course, I didn't know when it would show up here in the Philippines.

It seemed like a real strange twist of fate then that I was browsing through Bibliarch's comic rack last weekend and found the cover of Flight Vol 1 peeking out between Batman and Preacher. Needless to say I snatched up their only copy, and went home with a much lighter wallet.

Evil, evil impulse buying. But I have no regrets. It's a well made publication, lovely choice of cover and themes. Everything that their site promised. I particularly liked Kazu Kibushi's Copper. You can find some samples of Copper here.

I can't wait for volume 2.

P.S. I have more to say but unfortunately I'll have to write a lengthier review of my experience with Flight Vol1 later as I'm stuck doing mucho project management work for a huge website and have very little time to update my blog. (bats)