The Legend of Sun Knight

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

I just finished reading the Legend of Sun Knight novel... Or, should I say, I finished reading what can be read! Argh! This is aggravating! The suspense is killing me! I need the last installment of this series!

I must say, the author 御我 is really something. Her light novel series got me hooked for hours on end that turned me, someone who abhors learning the Chinese language since secondary school, to a Chinese reader! This unexpected development scared even my parents who expressed concern and worry that perhaps studying has loosened a few screws in my brain. I assured them though that my sudden interest in Chinese novels has less to do with breaking down under pressure and more to do with the interesting stories themselves. This is coupled with the fact that I AM Chinese in the first place, so reading Chinese novels IS a perfectly normal behavior and not something to be alarmed about.

Speaking of being alarmed, I was unpleasantly surprised by Grisia Sun's latest character change in the novel. Grisia Sun turned into a complete....to put it very bluntly, bastard! An evil, sadistic, and manipulative bastard. This is not to say that he was not such a character before he willingly underwent the ceremony to become a demon king. In fact, Grisia the Sun Knight has always been highly manipulative and at times vindictive when matters concerning his dearly cherished twelve holy knights arise! But during those times, Grisia's basic motive underlying all his manipulative schemes and methods was to protect his fellow holy knights!

However, Grisia the Demon King is now merely concocting plans for personal gratification, without a single strand of remorse, guilt, or care for the lives of others. To Grisia, people's lives, including that of his subordinates and former twelve Holy Knights companions, are mere playthings to satiate his desire for...enjoyment. One line from the chapter nicely sums up his current temperament:

「親愛的沉默之鷹。」我故意說起等陽以前說過的話：「如你所願，我是個不會毀滅半個世界的魔王，比起毀滅世界這麼無聊的舉動，我更喜歡玩遊戲，希望你會喜歡我的遊戲。」

"My dear Silent Eagle," I deliberately mention Deng Yang's previous words, "As you wish, I am a Demon King who will not destroy half the world, compared to the boring action of destroying the world, I like playing games more, I hope you will enjoy my games."

GRISIA SUN, YOU ARE SUCH A COLD-HEARTED BASTARD. But this is probably why I love Grisia so much! However, I must admit, I still prefer Grisia's previous personality whereby he spews nonsensical stuff about the "Under the God of Light's grace...blah blah blah...the God of Light will forgive all those who bask under his light...etc etc...." and his strong sense of camaraderie! A Grisia Sun who cares not for his comrades and only himself is NOT Grisia Sun! I really hope the twelve holy knights will rescue Grisia from this cesspool of madness.

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posted at 10:32 PM

Angelus Mortis

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Whew! I'm artistically exhausted! This is my latest photomanipulation titled 'Angelus Mortis' which is Latin for 'Angel of Death'. The artwork itself is inspired by the songs 'Serenata Immortale' and 'Diem Ex Dei by Globus.



This was one of my most challenging pieces. The wings was particularly difficult to blend in to create an overall cohesive look. I'm not wholly satisfied with the final product. I still lack the skills, practice, time, and that extra dose of artistic inspiration and talent. But I thoroughly enjoyed creating, constructing, producing the artwork! For some strange reason, or perhaps it's because I enjoy being fully absorbed in a task, I love the process of creating a photomanipulation. The thrill! The exhilaration! The pure joy of being a creator, a maker, a first-hand witness to the birth of an artistic product!

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posted at 6:39 PM

Holiday Rants

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Exams are finally over and holidays just started! So I'm going spend a great deal of time ranting about my past few days of blissfulness!



One Piece is the best anime/manga in the world! The plot is filled with action and humor. For someone like me who enjoys getting a good laugh out of shows, One Piece suits perfectly. I'm honestly shocked that I did not discover this long running anime years ago! So right now, I'm taking my time to catch up with the latest episodes.

I absolutely adore Luffy! His silliness, strong sense of camaraderie, innocence, and conviction make him quite easily my favorite anime character. Other Shounen anime/manga heroes like Allen Walker from D. Gray Man, Uzumaki Naruto from Naruto, and Natsu Dragneel from Fairy Tail tend to suffer from this pervasive sense of self-pity/hatred/guilt. However, Monkey D. Luffy does not. When Luffy meets a strong adversary or faces defeat, he wills himself to stand up, strengthens himself, and launches into another battle.

Apart from falling in love with One Piece, I'm also watching Durarara!!. I'm in love with the ending theme song! (The song is playing right now.) Is that strange?



MOST IMPORTANTLY, I finally bought The Legend of Sun Knight volumes from Kinokuniya. I was really surprised that the bookstore held LSK volumes! The story is written in traditional Chinese so for someone like me who learned only simplified Chinese in school, it's taking quite a while to digest the contents. Oh! The hell I put myself through to consume a good story!



You can read the english version from two sources: LSK blogspot or Prince Revolution.

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posted at 3:24 AM