Hmm... the idea of an AlienNine forum got off rather well. After much talking with Sai, the forum finally got kicked into action. *pops champagne* Obviously, the need to get to know each and everyone one in this forum is extremely important. =D So if everyone is kind enough to join in, please introduce yourself in the forum, and perhaps say what you like and think about AlienNine and how you get to know about AlienNine the first place (or say anything llooooonnnnggg, but still relevant to AlienNine and such.)
Ok, my name is
Zhou Jinshen. My blood type is AB, and my hobby is... wait, I not shoving an alien Gladius on my head. I'm from Singapore. Not sure where Singapore is? We're the smallest country in South-East Asia, just right below Malaysia. =D The AlienNine anime first caught my attention when I saw the advertisement for the anime on TV. I really don't know what really got me to watch the anime, but I can kinda remember thinking of the characters as cute. Unfortuantely, by the time I saw the advertisement, the third episode was already being shown, and I actually missed it. But I was like 'never mind, there's still next week', and by then, I was totally engrossed in the 4th episode. Because I didn't catch the previous 3 episodes, I had no idea what was going on, so I though (and assumed) that aliens are invading earth and the borgs are the bad-guys-become-good-ones type of aliens. The last thing I remember seeing of the 4th episode are Yuri and Kumi stading outside the school, with Kumi talking on the phone with her mom before the two of them burst into tears. I was like 'Huh? Wimpy girls...' (hey! I was still a newbie on AlienNine then.). Luckily, I switched off the TV the moment the credits started rolling and the music started playing, so I did not see Kumi dead, which was a good thing, as I would literally kill myself if I did. But by the end of the anime, I was dying to watch the next episode. So imagine my disappointment when I found another anime being shown the week after, while I was expecting the AlienNine anime.
I didn't really intended to buy the AlienNine manga. In fact, I bought the AlienNine mangas by accident, in a way. While roaming at a bookstore that specialises in mangas, I bumped into the AlienNine mangas, while I was actually looking for the Chobits manga (which I found later, but seriously got turned off by the price tag). The prices for Book 1,2 and 3 really freaked me out! So instead, I just did with the AlienNine: Emulators book. Big mistake. After reading it, I only got more confused. Why did Kumi's hand sprouted drills, and why did Kasumi's hair become of an antenna shape, with resemblance to the antennas poking out of the Yellow Knife's back? Why did Kumi tried fusing with Yuri in the Yellow Knife's tummy (and until now, I really still don't get why)? And why the heck is Monani's hair flying about in the air around her (I don't know borgs are capable of fusing with their host at that time)? So in the end, I returned to the bookstore and bought the first three books at a whooping price of US$54.74. But at least, after reading the books, they answered some of the questions I had after reading the emulators book.
The next problem was, after reading the first 3 books, they gave me even more questions. But at least that explains why the FAQ section on the AlienNine fansite is rather crowded. Most of them came from me.
I'll have to say AlienNine is a really cute manga. The storyline is really appealing, and sometimes, thoughts-provoking. While in the beginning, if you look at the cover of the first book, you might quite expect the comic to be more of a comedy of some sort. After flipping through the book, you'll soon realise you cannot judge a book by its cover. AlienNine is one manga with bright and dark sides of children mixed together. Also, the characters look extremely cute, so cute that I was laughing my head off when I first saw the anime on TV. The characters's ears are unproportional to their head, their noses are barely visible at any angle, and their heads seem to be created by someone who has a vague idea of the shape of a human face. In fact, the characters' blob-like faces seems to be the work of a child fiddling with PlayDoh. While flipping through the first book, I found it to be quite light-hearted. Nothing unusual, except that the protagonist, Yuri Otani, looks as though she had graduated from Oxford University with a diploma in crying and whimping. Then begins the dark side of the world. Boys against girls. The scene where the 3 boys attacked Yuri deeply aggravated me, especially since she was practically unable to defend herself (stupid Megumi... *snarl*). Seeing Yuri cry made me felt worse, and by then, I kinda felt for her, and became rather protective of her. Reading the 2nd book didn't improve things, seeing Kasumi joining the ranks of the Yellow Knife and seeing Kumi dead in the library. Now you should realise why there's the 'suitable for 13+' rating for readers. AlienNine is one heck of a disturbing story, emotionally and psychologically. What made me really hate book 2 was seeing how the aliens attack the girls, one by one, disrupting their lives forever, and perhaps putting the 3 girl's relationship and their love and trust in one another to the test. Till now, I still could not get over the scene where Kumi died. Now she isn't a human anymore... *sob* Book 3 is much better, though the books mainly focuses on the alien Sunflower's attack on Yuri. Fianlly, Yuri is put to the ultimate test, where she chooses over the alien and her friends. The Sunflower clan did a nice job in the beginning, until Yuri's borg came to the rescue (how sweet!). And finally, we get to see the possible relationship between Yuri and Kumi, and it isn't just the kind of friend-friend relationship. *gasp* The story for AlienNine starts with a nice introduction, then when it's done, WHAM! It's problem after problem, situation after situation, danger after danger. Hitoshi Tomizawa pratically directed all the 'exciting' stuff en masse.
I cannot really say the same for the anime though. Although it was really impressive of Taro Maki to take up the project of creating the anime version of AlienNine, WHY IN HEAVEN'S NAME MUST HE END THE ANIME AT THE WORST PART OF THE MANGA? Till now, it's still debate-able whether the anime was only meant to be a teaser, to invite us to continue the series by reading the manga, or seriously, Taro Maki (as claimed by some) really met up with financial problems that obstructed him in the continuation of the anime. But the more I watch the AlienNine DVD, the more I begin to see... that the ending of the anime was actually intentional. I cannot explain here. Sai Soudou will kill me for making an extremely long post.
PM me and I'll explain.
Now... who's next to introduce himself/herself?