End of the Devil’s Reign

Day Thirteen.

I know, I skipped three days but there really was nothing to say. My life was uneventful but the past three days were more than uneventful…they’re empty. I slept all day and worked all night. I did watch some “D.Gray-Man” and “Devil Beside You” episodes during my short breaks and before going to bed in the morning. That’s it.

These past few days had a lot of endings though. The first part of the task I was given finally ended, I finished watching the last available episodes of “D. Gray-Man”, and I finally finished watching all episodes of “Devil Beside You”. It’s weird that everything I’ve been watching these past few days were about devils (demons). First Devil May Cry, then D.Gray-man and now Devil Beside You. But the reign of the devils have finally ended.

D.Gray-man’s last available episode was a bit of a cliff-hanger. Allen finally revived his innocence and his friends were finally going head to head with the Noah clan. It was pretty intense. I admit, I was bored with the random cases they had before but as the story progressed, I became more attached to this anime. It’s great that they not only kill demons, save lives or gather innocence during their missions but they also recruit new exorcists. It’s fun watching the clumsy and silly characters like Miranda Lotto and Arystar Krory finally in action as exorcists. Even supporting characters like Lenalee, Kanda and Lavi were beginning to have more depth and significance to the story. It seems there’s more to them than meets the eye. But the more I watched it, the more I saw its similarity with Bleach. I mentioned some Bleach to D.Gray-man analogies before but I still have some more to add: Shinigami Captains = Black Order Generals, Bankai = Innocence Second level, Shinkai = Innocence activate, Yoruichi = Lulubell, Ichigo’s hollow training with the Vizards = Allen’s innocence revival training with the Guardian deity, Fou. The last one was really like the one in Bleach. I remember Ichigo’s training so well. He had to fight the Vizards continuously for days for him to learn how to maintain his Hollow-form longer. In Allen’s case he had to fight Fou continously for days for him to revive his innocence. At first, Ichigo could only maintain his hollow form for a few seconds and the same thing goes for Allen’s innocence. His innocence could only maintain its weapon form for a few seconds before it turns back to dust. The similarities were uncanny. Lenalee’s relationship with her brother Komui also reminded me about Rukia’s relationship with Byakuya. But the thing that intrigued me the most about this anime was Kanda’s past. I have watched more than 70 episodes but so far, all I know about Kanda is that he’s a snobbish, silent and anti-social swordsman. So I’m really curious about the story behind the Lotus flower inside the hourglass in his room. It reminded me of the rose inside the glass case in Beauty and the Beast. I was also intrigued by the fact that Akuma poison did not affect him. He has an equip-type akuma weapon so akuma poison should have effect on him. I’m really really curious about him. Not to mention, his name, style, preference for food were obviously Japanese but in the last few episodes, we learned that Japan had been under the Earl’s power for 300 years. So that alone was quite a mystery. Well I guess I have to wait for a while for all my questions to be answered.

Now as for the other devil: Devil Beside You, it is now, without a doubt, one of my most favorite Asian dramas ever. For the first time, I have nothing bad to say about a Taiwanese drama. I used to complain a lot when watching Taiwanese dramas because of the cheesy scripts, the slow pace and the repetitive scenes. But Devil Beside You was fast paced, unique and had really interesting characters. I felt like I was watching a Japanese drama. It was a amazing! Plus the love story was so full of obstacles that there’s never a dull moment. In most romance dramas there’s one great obstacle that the two lead characters must overcome. For example: one of the lead characters is dying, or the two lead characters are from opposing families, or their love is forbidden due to age difference, society’s laws etc. Along with that one obstacle, there are also love triangles. There is always one guy who likes the female lead and/or one girl who likes the male lead. But in Devil Beside You, there’s not just one obstacle, there were several and they all happened one after another. It’s like watching Prisonbreak. After Michael Scoffield solves one problem, another one comes up and the same thing goes for Devil Beside You. Aside from the fact that they are future siblings, there’s also the problem with the grandmother setting Jang Meng with another girl, then Qi Yue’s first love also came back to win her heart, there’s also Jang Meng’s emo friend who’ll do anything to make him love her, there’s also Jang Meng’s pyschotic younger brother who wanted to steal Qi Yue from him and a whole lot more. Even in the last episode, just when I thought nothing else could possibly go wrong, Jang Meng suddenly had to leave for Italy and all the hardships they’ve gone through would have been for nothing. It was frustrating to watch but that’s what made this series really exciting. Plus, Mike He sticked to his Devil image until the end. There were no candy-coated mushy scenes, instead his scenes with Rainie Yang were quite sensual and naughty. He was the devil after all, so torturing and teasing her was his specialty. Even the kissing scenes in this drama were not quite like the ones on other romantic comedies. In dramas like this there are usually very few kissing scenes and most of them are just simple smacks on the lips or cutesy and innocent kisses but in Devil Beside You, the kissing scenes were passionate, sensual and were somewhat surprising. Rainie Yang looked young, fresh and innocent but her scenes with Mike He were unexpectedly steamy. They even had a bed scene. Although they did not show anything, the kissing scene was quite intense. Honestly, I never expected that. I thought this would be a feel good drama about pure and innocent love like Hana Yori Dango. But the steamy scenes were what set this apart from other dramas and I love the fact that it’s full of surprises.

Oh well, now that it’s over, I have nothing else to obsess about. I spent the entire night last night searching for a new drama and anime to watch. It was hard but I settled for the following: For drama, I chose the Korean drama: Marrying a millionaire. I’m not exactly that excited about it but it’s worth a shot. As for anime, I chose Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpuchou. It has a similar style with Bleach and Naruto so I guess I should give it a try. Right now I’m loading Sukiyaki Western: Django. I’ve been looking for it for quite a while now and I hope it doesn’t disappoint me.

End of Day Thirteen.