0028 | in which I share my thoughts on the Silmarillion thus far and begin to watch Free!

[straightforwardly]

► I don't know if anyone on my flist follows the webcomic Nimona (though, if you don't, you should!), but not only did the latest update make my heart ache rather fiercely, I also had to fight the urge to start sobbing. There's no real point to me mentioning this, other than my wanting to share it with someone.

► So, I've been reading The Silmarillion for class, and while I haven't finished it yet, I've made decent headaway into it.

Galadriel really surprised me! She seems so different from her portrayal in Lord of the Rings, and it's rather interesting to see what her younger self was like. In particular, I find her relationship with Melian quite fascinating, especially since Melian seems to play the same kind of role that Galadriel herself plays later in her lifetime. I feel like I'm still chewing over my thoughts about all of this, and I don't have much that's coherent yet, but it's definitely something that I'm finding interesting.

I'm also really (albeit somewhat cautiously) liking Maedhros so far. Considering he's a son of Fëanor and swore that rather foreboding oath, I feel like the chances of him doing something awful has increased dramatically, but still. Also, I was all over that friendship between him and Fingon, and am rather distressed that I am not going to be getting any more of it.

As for the Valar, I don't have too many thoughts about them, but I really liked Varda and Ulmo and Nienna. I did feel some brief stirrings of interest over Ulmo and Manwë's friendship, but was a bit disappointed by how it just kind of... fizzled out.

Hm, I thought I had more to say than that, but nothing's coming to mind at the moment.

► In other news, I've started watching Free!. I'm not entirely sure why I decided to do that, since judging by everything I've seen, the fandom's batshit insane, but I did. I think it was mainly the fact that I had a headache and wanted to watch something that was a bit more on the mindless fluff side of things. (Well, that, and because I already watched all the episodes of Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun that Crunchyroll has up for free users.)

I'm about four episodes in, and... I don't really have too many thoughts about it yet? I like it well enough, and I'm intrigued by the characters. That being said, there are a few small things that caught my attention.

I expected Rei to be rather serious, but he's unexpectedly hilarious, especially when it comes to his difficulties in learning how to swim. I loved how Rei chastised Haru for using those standard inspirational phrases on him. "Can you stop using abstract expressions?" Hee.

Gou and the captain for the other team (I never caught his name) are rather adorable! I think I kind of ship it. Other than that, though, I'm... not really shipping anything yet? I feel vague interest in a few pairings, but nothing's really solidified yet.