#beast below is in my top 5 episodes honestly

[secretagentsagainstwhatever]

Minor Doctor who spoilers i guess but not really

did Space babies give anyone else The beast below vibes??

[glassandmetalwings]

Wings Talks Manga: A Year in Review, Part 1 (Completed stories)

Last year, I told myself I was going to actually really more manga and watch more anime, because despite it being my main style I hadn’t actually read much in awhile. And I actually managed to get a lot done for one year. So below is a list of stories I read/watched and a few quick thoughts on them. Despite having my list open, I’m still probably not going to get to all of them, but I can try.

Be warned for spoilers.

T.egami Bachi (manga)

I love. Anyone following this tag of mine knows this has been a long journey and that I loved every minute of it. The world is beautiful, the characters are great, the emotions run high...it’s incredibly cathartic and engaging. I will never stop lauding it.

Jiu Jiu (manga)

A short series I picked up from the library that I never really covered, but that I enjoyed. Sometimes it felt a little slow to work through, but it was cute and I got really attached to the characters over five volumes. Like the mangaka, I wish there had been more opportunity to delve deeper into some of the story elements, because especially near the end it got confusing. Also I’m assuming it ended in a poly relationship? The protag grows up and has babies but you can’t really tell which love interest is the father, if either are. They’re all together in the final picture and I support it but it also bugs me bc I am confused.

Dreamin’ Sun (manga)

Mixed feelings on this one. I honestly expected a modern fantasy involving a baku going into this based on the back cover. I was wrong. I was really cute, if not overwhelmingly emotionally frustrating/full of secondhand embarassment at some points. The characters are super well-developed and continue to evolve and grow through the series. I will forever complain about the protag falling in love and centering her life around an adult man, but there were also some very touching elements that I can’t help but remember fondly.

The Wize Wize Beasts of the the Wizarding Wizdoms (manga)

The first of a lot of BL I read this year, which is honestly very new to me. My introduction to Nagabe. I’ve mentioned there’s one story I’m not too fond of, but it could be my interpretation of it. Overall very much loved it and especially love the art style.

K.amisama Kiss (manga)

I series I kind of picked up on a whim and absolutely fell in love with. Cute, funny, touching, well-thought out. There were some elements I didn’t understand (like the end), but my enjoyment overall made up for it. The one thing I wish for was a little more development for some of the minor characters. Also I love Mizuki and his development throughout the series. He makes me emotional.

Our Dining Table (manga)

Another cute, simple love story about two guys making food. I don’t have a whole lot to say about this other than it’s cute and you should read it. Although I obviously have no issues with teenage protags, it was refreshing to have a love story about two working adults that didn’t have to involve sex. Also can totally understand one guy’s aversion to eating with others, even if my own isn’t as severe.

Love on the Other Side (manga)

More Nagabe. Really, really cute. I love the story with the bird (of course). The softness of the stories and Nagabe’s art style really have stolen my heart.

B.lack Butler: Book of Circus (anime)

We all know why I watched this. Sadly the ending is as gruesome as the manga, and the one or two scenes they added didn’t play well on the DVD. But still a delight (up until the end).

The Devil is a Part-Timer (anime)

Interesting. Funny. A good world base, but I feel they could have developed it a little more, and the last episode kind of soured it a little for me because there was no really wrap-up. But I liked the characters and had a lot of fun watching it while crocheting. Wish there was a season two.

The Bride was a Boy (manga)

A brief autobiographical manga about a trans woman, filled with lots of tidbits about transgender individuals and things like HRT. Short, sweet, cute, and full of love and joy. Again, not much to say other than I recommend it.

Fractale (anime)

A lot to process. I think I would need to watch it again to fully wrap my head around it, if not more than once. An interesting world, great character, engaging story, and beautiful animation. Plus just...kinda relevant in a way that’s hard to describe. Think ease of technology verses governmental control via tech. I really loved the episode about the mysterious photographer. Plus I just fell in love with the ending song.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (anime)

Yes, I’d never watched this before. Gonna say, not my favorite Miazaki, but as usual an excellent story with a lot of background and development. And of course I loved the creature design. Glad to finally have it watched, after all these years, but I also can’t help but wonder what the original English release was like, knowing they cut/edited a lot. Because a lot of that violence and death was...kinda necessary to understanding character motives.

H.aibane Renmei (anime)

Again, another series that’s been at the top of my list for forever. I didn’t even have an excuse not to watch is as I own the DVDs. Excellent, and touching, if not cutting a little too close to home at times (like self-harm/BFRB). Really my introduction to ABe, and I have to say I never saw the ending coming. But would definitely watch again and again. Kinda wish I could do a cosplay for this series (I’d probably be Nemu, or one of the masked characters), but I feel like you need a group for it.

G.osick (anime)

I didn’t complete this one, I’m sorry. I think the art is great, and the arcs in concept are amazing...but it falls through in the delivery. The characters don’t really feel like they have driving motives behind their actions, and sometimes the evidence and stuff are things you can’t discern from watching (’I can tell you aren’t the daughter of a coal baron because you walk short distances before turning sharply and walking the other way, like you’re pacing in a small psych ward cell’-yes, that’s a real example). Lots of potential, but not great. Sorry.

Wolf Children (anime)

Very cute. Beautiful anime. I don’t think I can say much about this that hasn’t already been said. My favorite part is the ending where she’s saying goodbye just because of how both painfully and empoweringly emotional it is.

5 Centimeters Per Second (anime)

Not bad, but probably not my favorite. It didn’t help that the version I was watching didn’t translate all of the writing, so I feel like I missed a lot of elements. While the story is definitely a sentiment I can get behind, it was also a little bit unsatisfying for me, especially at the end. But idk, maybe I just don’t like the idea of moving on when there’s the opportunity to not.

Colorful (anime)

It was...a film. About a suicide. Looking back I don’t particularly feel strongly either way about it. I think the ending was good, and giving the protag some sort of motivation, but it took forever to really get to a point where I cared about him (or he seemed to really care about the body he was inhabiting and the person he was trying to be). Some of the stuff was just...uncomfortable. It’s probably worth watching, but overall I wasn’t wowed by it.

Ibistu (manga)

My first shrink-wrapped manga. It ties together very well in the end, and the horror and violence elements did elicit some very visceral reactions in me (particularly the threat of the iron and, later, the staples). The short stories were also good, particularly the doll factory one, but I wasn’t the most fond of the one about the mangaka. Just know there’s a reason it’s shrink-wrapped and it’s not a ‘positive’ one.

A Silent Voice (anime)

Probably one of my favorite films. While I didn’t always understand the motivations behind some of the characters or their actions, it wasn’t in a way that made me uncomfortable like some of the things in Colorful did. It felt more natural for them to be irrational. Again, there is suicide, so be warned if you don’t want to deal with that. But the story is sweet and the characters are amazing. But I also have a weakness for things involving sign language and communication.

Children Who Chase Lost Voices (anime)

Very cool. Beautiful landscapes. Gave me very strong Princess Mononoke vibes at some points, but it also stood as its own story with interesting characters there are elements I wish we could have delved deeper into, though. Also...what war did the teacher fight in? It didn’t look very modern. Also also I will forever wince at the pronunciation of ‘Quetzalcoatl’. Death is a strong theme in it, so be prepared if you watch it.

The Boy and the Beast (anime)

Excellent character design. Excellent story. Excellent animation. My one complaint would be that the climax felt kind of thrown together, even though it tied back to the beginning in a good way. But overall a beautiful world with some great humor and intense elements.

The Garden of Words (anime)

Spoiler: again a story about a kid falling in love with an adult. From a platonic standpoint, the story still feels a little weird, particularly in terms of the woman’s motivations, but looking back her not getting too involved in him missing school...kinda feels like what I would do to, especially in her situation. It’s sweet, though. Maybe it’s just me and my preferences, but some elements feel a bit incomplete, and I wish had been explored/wrapped up.

Summer Wars (anime)

Probably a favorite on the films list. Again, beautiful animation. I’m not going to get over this style. But I especially liked the design of OZ and the excess of blank space in it. Characters were many but great (although I didn’t get the one baseball player was part of the family until almost the end, but that says more about me and paying attention). Even Mom got really engaged in it when I had her watch it with me (I also had her watch Wolf Children, which I thought she would like more, but apparently not). There is a character death, but if you don’t mind that it’s definitely a watch.

Beauty and the Beast Girl (manga)

A cute little story about a blind girl and a dragon girl falling in love-what more could you want? Their histories actually tie together in a really neat way. Honestly my one complaint would be that the ending feels a little too ideal and easily wrapped-up. But sometimes we need things to be that perfect, you know?

P.andora Heart (manga)

The other big story I tackled this year. There were points that were a bit slow/disengaging to me, but overall once I got hooked I really loved it. I think I need a second read to really fully understand it (if that’s possible), but equal parts cute, intense, and bittersweet. Elliot’s whole development was probably my favorite bit.

The God and the Flightless Messenger (manga)

My last story of 2020, and a very cute one at that. Another short story, with beautiful art. I don’t...really know what to say about it. It’s cute, and the love story feels both very natural and almost...secondary? Idk how to describe that. The relationship between the two of them is obviously key, but it’s the type of story where ‘I love you’ isn’t needed. It’s already there.

So yeah, there’s the list. It’s a long list. I probably still missed some. I might try to make a second list with ‘in progress’  series but I’ll be playing that by ear. I’d love to hear some of you all’s thoughts on these stories (if you’ve read/watched them), or which you now want to read/watch!

[raymondshields]

1, 4, 5, 6, 11, 15, 21, 22, 23 for the writers ask?

1. Tell us about your current project(s)  – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

Currently, I’m working on a fic titled A Monstrous Manifesto, which is a fic entirely inspired by Cat Valente’s poem of the same name. Every line is a chapter, every noun is a part of that chapter, and every single beast named corresponds to a Spectre, allowing me to dig directly into their heads and demonstrate their full psychology. 

Progress stopped unfortunately back in July on part four - a fiend, which I picked Deadly Beetle Stand for, because I just couldn’t get into his head. Kiril played soundboard for it and I’ve been humming and hawing over him trying to figure it out, but let’s be real it’s gonna come to me in a dream.

Because see here, most folks who’ve read my works, if told to point to my best, it’ll either be a) my breakthrough with Armour Adventures (which tbh if I redid I’d do better on), b) In Kismet Marcescence (which I need to sit down and plot out properly before I continue), or c) rather unexpectedly to me, Green Grows The Asphodel. Guess everyone likes that soft MiAlba where Alba gets his bastardization arc, but also I let him speedrun it in Broken Shine The Stars and people seem to like that one too, so.

The thing is with AMM is that this would be my greatest work. Like AA, it’s gen, but here’s the one advantage I’ve realized I actually have over pretty much everyone else in this fandom: I am myself a monster, fictionkind and all. I’m a Devil and a feral little beast, which means when you offer me Spectres - warriors of the dark and death who are all based around animal motifs - I take one look and go “oh! You’re like me!” and proceed to write them as actual monsters while having some unspoken and long-winded conversation about what it means to be human, what it means to be shunned, and what it means to belong among the broken.

It means that I write Spectres wildly different than anyone who isn’t Kiril (who is on the same wavelength as me and we argue back and forth about the inner details of everyone’s monstrosity), which means when I do it, nobody’s seen this shit before and apparently people seem to think it’s cool. So AMM is the very epitome of that style, of that psychological and philosophical discussion. I don’t really have a background of research in either of those things, so any similarities to works or theories already out there is entirely coincidence. Cat Valente’s poem was the first stepping stone I ever took to accepting myself for who - and what - I am. I owe as much of my identity and confidence to her as I do Zamorakian philosophy, which built my personality and is a major part of how I survived the middle school era of my life. The least I can do in return is offer the best of me out into the world.

4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

“Somewhere deep below conscious thought, below his training and the life and this Lemurian body, buried under lifetimes of war, buried under the idea that a Spectre was a fighter, his blood remembered how to love the memory of the fallen.” - Beneath Blood Ties

BBT is one of my most unappreciated fics, which makes sense as it’s set almost two thousand years prior to Classic, starring a fourteen-year-old Lemurian Minos and the Saint who raised him, Aries Kirien, whose name is probably still spelled Kiriel at least once in the fic because no beta we die like Gold Saints.

The original inspiration comes from Seanan McGuire’s Once Broken Faith, and the line in question is Toby reading the Luidaeg’s blood memories after the latter told a young Karen that she couldn’t speak Faerie even in her dreams - she speaks it in her blood memories, and Toby notes that her blood remembers.

It stuck with me, though I’ve read OBF approximately a million times. It, along with A Killing Frost and An Artificial Night, are my three top Toby books. And it responded to me as someone who’s fictionkind: I couldn’t speak the language I spoke as a Devil in my dreams, or in the waking world, but I know some part of me remembers it. Would know how. The Chaorruption filters all of that into English because it thinks it’s helping, but if I were a magical creature right now, in this world, I’m pretty sure my blood would remember.

So I wrote about Minos, and the sorrow he carried. The premise of BBT is that a Pope realized some Spectres come back, went around before they became Spectres, and kidnapped the lot of them to train as Saints, leaving them all traumatized as fuck, unsure of who they were or who they followed, and messed up for lifetimes. I also wanted to show more that Spectres were more than what the Holy Wars made of them, and about digging through that exotrauma to remember that they could be kind.

Spectres, originally, would make sense as really just Hades’ servants and the ones who keep the Meikai running. Pretty sure that means they know every single death rite that’s existed in the past three millennia. Pretty sure they know how to be respectful of the dead. Pretty damn sure that below all that soldiering and war, they’re all really exhausted librarians who want to do their job and also dig graves.

But I like this sentence here best, because that’s pretty much the climax of the plot here: that there is, in fact, something underneath all his exotrauma, all the current trauma he’s been dealing with. That below all of that bitterness and war, he’s a better person than what Athena made of him.

Idk, I just think it’s neat and no I’m not projecting being ‘kin on him again. /j

5. What character that you’re writing do you most identify with?

Albafica, to nobody’s surprise. I mean, come on. A guy with a fuckton of traditionally-feminine beauty whose looks keep getting brought up, is very introverted, has seen some shit, just wants to kill people who hurt what he cares about while also not hurting the people he does care about, really wants you to keep your damn distance, is super touchstarved, and holding onto his humanity with his fingertips? Come on the only things he’s got that I don’t is an actual male reproductive system and naturally blue hair.

Once you realize that especially in TLC Athena’s actions are pretty damn horrific, especially to her Saints, Albafica has the perfect setup to become a Spectre. Seriously, if he’d been offered Luco’s deal but while holding a dying Lugonis, do you really think he wouldn’t have taken it? I explore that more in Broken Shine The Stars, but like. Albafica is the perfect fallen angel of a character. He has genuinely good intentions. He’s hurting so damn bad and only fucking once in his entire onscreen performance is that acknowledged (shoutout to Luco for that one), and if you take his sorrow and let him turn it into anger, he’s a glorious monster indeed. Albafica’s descend into monstrosity and Spectrehood is exactly what would happen if I got angry and also hadn’t been fucking nerfed physically.

I love him way too much.

6. What character do you have the most fun writing?

Surprisingly, Aiacos. Alba’s hard as fuck to write. Aiacos, though. You’ve heard me go off about Aiacos at length, but like. He’s the very embodiment of the worst person you can become while still loving, still surviving. Aiacos is the type of person we’re all capable of becoming, and we all should be terrified of becoming, because every single choice he’s ever made is completely understandable and that much more horrific for it.

It’s somewhat unsurprisingly easy to get into his head. He’s fun to write because he scares me. Because if I let him do all the dumb, selfish, sadistic-looking, survival-focused things, then I don’t have to worry about doing it myself. I let him look out for only himself when the pieces are down, so I can do better.

Also I haven’t seen anyone else write him that way (Kiril being the obvious exception here), so it’s double the fun because new territory.

11. What do you envy in other writers?

Hey. Hey you fuckers who can plot shit. Give me the number of the demon you sold your soul to. Let me PLOT SHIT.

15. Which is harder: titles or summaries (or tags)?

Summaries! Titles are easy, I steal them from songs and Toby books. They’re just fancy wordplay and I have literally a list on my fic spreadsheet of titles I want to use. Summaries, though, are very important. People don’t pick fics based on title and tags, they pick based on summary. They’re your hook into the work, so you’ve got to give the audience your premise short and sweet and actually sounding appealing.

Sometimes I can write them no problemo. Other times, they’re a fucking nightmare. I try to imply the tone of the ending in my summary, because I have absolutely been blindsided by the ending in a way I really didn’t like because I thought the summary was hiding the ending. (Example - there was this one fic that made it sound like my OTP was going enemies to lovers, and it wasn’t, it wasn’t, it needed the fucking dead dove do not eat tag, stopped just short of serious nonsexual noncon (which wasn’t tagged at all), and ended very unhappily and it messed me up for days, I did not like it.)

So for my summaries I set the scene, set the tone, and imply the tone of the ending so you have a vague idea of where it’s going. Easier said than done.

21. What other medium do you think your story would work well as? (film, webcomic, animated series?)

Anime, probably! Manga wouldn’t lend itself too well to my style, but I’d enjoy short anime episodes, I think. I honestly don’t know. Someone tell me what my stuff would work good as. I dunno.

22. Do you reread your old works? How do you feel about them?

For fic, all the time! I write what I want to read, and since six out of seven of the Dohko/Kagaho works on AO3 were my fault, I’d better get used to reading my own writing for pleasure. Fortunately, I like most of my writing recently, so that’s pretty all right!

Don’t ask about what I had up on ff.net. Don’t. It’s old and bad and I didn’t know how to write.

23. What’s the story idea you’ve had in your head for the longest?

Hmmm... I want to rephrase this better as ‘what fic exists only as a concept and has done so for the longest out of all the concepts of fics currently in my head’, and hmmmm. Honestly, it’s either Shion and Aiacos’ romance fic where they also get a daughter (which has a title actually, The Lost Sea Fantasia, but still hasn’t been written); or it’s Wyvern Rose and the Trials of Lightning, which is about 15th century Rhada’s two daughters, the elder of which is surprise-given his surplice and his job when he dies right before Hades does, and the younger of which is kidnapped by a spiteful goddess who doesn’t like the elder of the two.

ToL is a fic that I have somewhat plotted out, but really needs a lot of work. I’m not really sure how to go about writing it, because whenever I sit down to sketch it out, it never comes to me. It does, however, lend itself well as a bedtime / campfire story that Albafica tells Regulus while they’re out on a mission together, as part of Alba sneakily teaching Regu how to be a Spectre without anyone knowing. It’ll stay a concept for a long while until Rose crashes into my headspace and actually fucking tells me more about herself other than “oh yeah btw I’m fucking Julia” like thanks, already knew that from Julia herself, tell me more about you you awful little Judge of a dragon princess.

[ask game here!]

[acertaincritic]

Various Donghua Reviews

I watched or tried to watch a whole bunch of donghua in the past few weeks, and since I see little discourse on this type of animation, I decided to compile them into a list with my short opinions attached. If you are toying with the idea of watching this or that Chinese animation, check out below for both recommendations and a couple of no-no series ^.^”

First things first, some notes. “Wuxia” is a popular genre in Chinese media, based off martial arts, and most often it strays into fantasy territory (from what I’ve seen, at least). It comes with a set of already established tropes and world building details. Think about Western fantasy - when you see elves in it, you don’t have to be told what they are. There are variations, but generally elves = pointed ears + beautiful + magical, and everybody knows that. Wuxia has similar things that do not get explained in every story, so it might feel overwhelming at first, though many translators do try to explain them in the notes. Just for the sake of those who want to know before starting watching, here’s what might make your life easier:

Cultivators - people a little like mages, except they have flying swords and generally are well-versed in martial arts. Usually their purpose is to battle evil supernatural beings. In some stories they are ageless (as in, they don’t grow old) and very hard to kill, in others it’s toned down. Above a certain level, they often train by remote meditation.

Golden Core/Core Formation - sth like the source of their power?... Not exactly, but they have to form it through training if they want to use advanced techniques. It’s situated somewhere between chest and belly, I suck at anatomy, don’t kill me.

Paper talismans  - rectangular pieces of paper that are amazingly easy to toss at your enemies. Used for casting spells, easy to understand just by watching. Also if they seem to be glued to sth, then they usually serve as a seal of some kind.

Various demons/spirits/other magical beings - gosh, there’s a ton. TBH I don’t even know if some aren’t completely made-up by the authors for the sake of their stories. Generally be ready that a new demon/beast/something can jump out from every corner, and the characters are going to know what it is, while you don’t. Resentful energy seems to often be tied to them, as in, it’s what often fuels them.

All right, without further ado, here’s what I’ve tried already. The list is more or less in the order of recommendation, aka from those I liked best to those that I didn’t like at all.

Title: Mo Dao Zu Shi / The Grandmanster of Demonic Cultivation

Throughline: The supposed villain of the cultivators’ world gets reincarnated into an adult’s body 13 years after his death. Things escalate from there.

My take: 

+ my entry point into donghua.

+ I was hesitant to watch because of the BL tag, but there really is no need to get scared by it. There’s plot proper, well-developed characters, both main and side, and overall this clearly is a fantasy series with a romance rather than a romance with fantasy setting.

+ beautiful art and great animation with only sparse moments when CGI looks kinda clanky.

+ wonderful music, too.

+ honestly though, I’ve been on a low when I came across it and was brought back to life. It’s been a long, long time since I fangirled over a series so much.

+ if you follow my blog you must’ve already seen about it.

+ Just give it a try, OK?

- some things in the beginning are not clearly explained and many names get tossed in at once; especially if you don’t know any Chinese, they might all sound the same. The characters also all have long black hair and bishe faces. I recommend first checking them online and memorizing at least the main casts, it really makes watching it much easier - focus on the bangs and clothes, and try to remember their names. Or you can always rewatch the beginning after you get better at recognizing who is who.

- the cut to flashbacks is confusing, as it happens at the very end of episode 2. Then episodes 3 to 14.5 take place in the past - another thing that’s not super clear and worth keeping in mind.

Title: Di Wang Gong Lue / The Emperor’s Strategy

Throughline: The Emperor and his loyal noble ally take on many problems that befall the country.

My take:

+ This is the closest series to “Mo Dao Zu Shi” I found so far, though there aren’t that many specific similarities. Only the overall ‘feel’ is similar.

+ Also tagged BL, but TBH, if I didn’t know about it before watching, I still wouldn’t know it.

+ The relationship between the two main characters is like, funny and cute at the same time.

+ Politics and fantasy intertwined.

+ Also a lot of interesting side characters, though maybe they could’ve been given more screen time.

+ great character designs and music.

- animation. It looks like anime from around the year 2000, even though the series came out in 2018.

- some flashback stuff seems really cheesy. There’s not a lot of it, thankfully.

- the first three or four episodes aren’t very engaging. I got invested around episode 5, though as you see, the beginning isn’t so terrible that you can’t wade through it.

Title: Mi Yu Xing Zhe / Uncharted Walker

Throughline: A group of people are put on a tropical island, forced to play an escape game under extreme circumstances.

My take:

+ an interesting set of characters with various backgrounds, most of them likable or at least understandable.

+ despite the setup, it’s not as bloody as many similar series. Characters can die, but they don’t die that often, which really builds tension and keeps you on the edge of the seat, because when there’s a close-to-death moment, you never know if it’s one when the character will really die or when they get rescued last-minute.

+ there is a very strong “game” feeling to this, where characters generally have to figure out how to use their resources to overcome various obstacles.

+ some psychological stuff here and there.

+ very good animation and designs.

-/+ there are borderline supernatural elements, though generally playing pretend at scientific. I personally don’t mind it, but some people might be put off or disappointed.

- it turns much more creepy in the last 3 or so episodes, to the point that it becomes more of a horror than a survival and mystery story. Even worse, the horror stuff comes in a setup that’s pretty realistic, so I have flashback ‘till this day (I don’t like horrors, and being realistic makes it much worse). TBH if I knew, I’d probably resign from watching, because as much as I enjoyed everything up until that part, the creeps aren’t worth it... However, perhaps you like horrors better than I do.

- a HUGE cliffhanger at the end. But like, HUUUUUGE HUGE.

Title: Shuangsheng Lingtan /  Twin Spirit Detectives

Throughline: Twin brothers take on cases of supposed supernatural phenomena, bent on proving that they are not real - only that one of them appears to be a ghost himself...

My take:

+ interesting setup.

+ detective stuff - I have a soft spot for mysteries.

+ likable main characters and a few well-developed side characters, too.

+ animation is overall quite good.

+ has a solid arc, though with an open ending and kinda a cliffhanger about a side character at the end.

-/+ bordering on the supernatural territory again.

- horror elements, but thankfully, this time they aren’t that realistic.

- some things in the first few episodes feel rushed or not properly developed (apparently the issue is with the donghua adaptation, and the original manhua had a slower beginning).

Title: Quan Zhi Gao Shou /  The King’s Avatar

Throughline: The top player of “Glory” is forced to give up his account and retire for a year. What will he do now?

My take:

+ a decent setup, though it gets old quickly.

+ a large cast of interesting character with various strengths and weaknesses and strongly-defined personalities.

+ great art style and characters’ design.

+ great animation during fights.

- the main character. Just. I’ve rarely encountered such a Gary Stue, I really wish I could see him lose for real. Like, I’m OK with him beating noobs, that’s realistic, but he doesn’t stop even after other pros come into play.

- the plot seems generally directionless so far, and gets tiring easily.

- originally I was supposed to binge-watch it with friends as a series none of us knew beforehand, but we gave up after 6 episodes and I switched it to MDZS instead. I finished it alone later, and mostly for the sake of the side characters and animation.

- it is generally watchable, but like, far from best.

This point marks the end of series I watched whole. The following are series I dropped after 5-6 episodes (which I consider a fair amount).

Title: Ling Qi / Spritpact

Throughline: A guy dies and is given an ultimatum - to pass away or become a spirit companion of a demon-battling, Korean priest.

My take:

+ setup and world building. This seems just like the kind of fantasy that fits my taste.

+ ...character design is not terrible, I guess?

+ apparently the animation gets better in season 2.

+ the demon-battling priest seems like a character archetype I might like.

+/- TBH this series wasn’t tragic, I may still go back to it one day, if I really feel like it. The idea has potential and the plot probably gets better later, I just wasn’t able to prevail until then.

- animation in the first season is kinda meh. Could be worse, but it still doesn’t please. Don’t let the marvelous poster above deceive you!

- the main character. He’s so whiny, I was unable to stand him. He’s the main reason I dropped this, and I honestly have no idea if he gets any better later.

Title: Quanzhi Fashi / Full-Time Magister

Throughline: Three months after a guy gets transported into a magic-filled alternative reality, he struggles to get into magic school to become the best mage and get a lot of money for his family.

My take:

+ setup/world building again hit a soft spot in my fantasy-loving heart.

+ ...I’ve seen some fragments from season 2, apparently animation is good there.

- I hated the MC of QZGS, but he at least had half a reason to be so unrealistically OP. This guy here... he’s a new low... Basically “How to Write a Gary Stu?” example. Like. C’mon. You can have an OP cool protagonist without making them a GS.

- despite the potentially interesting premise, this is as simplistic as it could be. The MC is ridiculed, but he turns out to be super powerful with talent for not just one, but two most rare elemental magics. He gets bullied - then he shows off how much better he is than the bully during magic exams, stunning everybody. One of the Big Bad Rich Guys tries to recruit him - he flat-out refuses in a infuriatingly arrogant manner. Etc. etc.

- Characters are as deep as a puddle during drought.

- Look, there’s a set of tropes that are generally laughed at in this type of premise, like the MC having an OP secret power, getting put down by everybody to an unrealistic degree etc. Here they are played painfully straight, and there’s nothing more to the story. Absolutely nothing, not a single interesting character or plot thread. I kept watching for so long hoping that something would turn up, but it didn’t.

- animation in season 1 is pretty bad.

That would be all for my donghua experience so far. I had many ups, though I guess some salt pits were unavoidable +_+

[zerochanges]

Ushio & Tora Blu-ray and DVD Limited Edition Box Set Unboxing

Today marks the day I finally got my hands on my Ushio & Tora Limited Edition set, and oh was the wait so long, but so worth it. 

For those that weren’t following the release this set was originally scheduled to come out in late August alongside the standard edition blu-ray (which will now be referred to as ‘BD’ for the rest of this article) and DVD sets, however Sentai Filmworks delayed this Limited Edition box set until late September, and then moved it to early October. Much to my dismay this box set seemed to take forever to come. 

Despite these minor setbacks I am truly over-the-moon about this set, no amount of delays can sour this for me. I didn’t plan to really write another unboxing post so I apologize if this may be a little off-the-cuff, but this particular box set just blew me away and I can’t help but to share. So without farther ado, let’s take a look!  

The first thing to notice is with how huge the outer case is, and how elaborate the opening mechanism of said case is--this is something that has become increasingly normal for Sentai box sets which instead of a semi-standard size set that can easily fit on your shelf like a lot of Funimation’s and Viz’s BD sets, Sentai aims to create complete showpieces. Make no mistake, if you have limited room this box set is not for you. This set is meant to be proudly displayed, and boldly draws eyes towards it. 

As alluded to above, the box set does not open traditionally but is instead kept together through fabric straps on the side, undoing said straps folds out the set. Unfolding the left side you can see some more artwork, and unfolding the right (completely opening it) you can now see all the yokai crawling around the ground--a very cool effect that is reminiscent of the cellar that Tora was trapped in for 500 years. 

Now the contents of the box set are all visible, at the very top is yet another box that holds most of the goodies (the fun stuff), underneath that is the art/guide book, and finally the show itself: separated into 3 standard DVD sized cases--2 cases for all the DVDs and 1 for all the BDs. This is another thing that has become the norm for Sentai with these box sets; for better or worse they include their BDs in standard sized DVD cases. I like to be an optimist and think this is most likely done to maximize the nice artwork on said case and conform 1 size since DVDs and BDs are both included, but this may be a bit annoying to anyone who prefers the smaller blue BD cases over DVD cases. 

Moving along let’s examine the box with the goodies in it. Despite just being locked away in the larger outer box, this box itself is pretty darn nice looking with different art on both sides and even the title in foil on the spine. Perhaps you can put this on your shelf if you don’t want the giant showpiece that is the entire box set taking up shelf space. Opening up the box reveals all the physical extras included in this set. There’s the art cards, poster, and Beast Spear replica. Let’s start off with the art cards. 

Included in the set are 4 art cards that yes, are reversible, giving you 8 works of art to admire, although still only 4 to display (unless you live in some alternate dimension that can view fronts and backs at the same time!). Only the first card is glossy, and it’s a noticeable difference, being much brighter and all together prettier than the other 3, however these 3 aren't total losses either. Said cards are nice and firm, not flimsy, and feel like they were made of pretty thick paper-stock. Overall you have your self a small yet beautiful set of cards. 

Next is the poster which regrettably is probably the weakest part of this set. Unlike the art cards the paper for the poster does feel flimsy, and I only looked at it once and I can already see creases and fold marks just from being shoved into the box it came in. The whole thing feels very cheap and kinda disappointing, but I could have let that slide if the poster was actually big! Instead it’s pretty small, not much bigger than two standard BD cases turned on their side (see here). I’ll probably still find use out of it but this is really one of the few missteps in an absolutely incredible box set. 

And finally, the last piece in this box we have the Beast Spear replica. This tiny little guy is actually made with real metal (or at least it feels like it is) and believe it or not is kinda heavy. There’s honestly a good amount of weight to it that just feels right. This is no pen or pencil, it’s a real weapon--that just so happens to be about the size of a pen or pencil. 

While the spear itself is great, the cloth tide around it really doesn't look like the cloth in the show, instead it obviously looks like the ribbon it is. Seems like something my mother would use in her crafting instead of a mighty seal that prevents the spear from going berserk. The box itself is kinda a dud too. Don’t be fooled by the nice interior the spear is stored in, the rest of the box is pretty much just flimsy cardboard. All that said, I still love the spear replica itself, and it’s a fun display piece, especially with figures. 

No longer satisfied with hunting Moblins all day, Link’s traded in his Master Sword for the Beast Spear and is ready to fight some yokai! (I really need the Ushio & Tora figures don’t I?) 

So now that we have everything in that goodies box out of the way let’s examine what was next in this box set: the art/guide book. This book is hefty, also having a good weight to it. Hard cover and solid like a rock, boasting over 150 pages of information and art. This is by far the nicest book I have gotten in an anime box set, and puts most of the stuff in Funimation sets to shame. The book comes in at pretty much the same size of a standard manga volume (see here) and is formated for western reading (left-to-right). 

Honestly this book is the biggest winner for me in the entire box set. I didn’t have any expectations for it but, boy, oh boy! There’s just so much information in this little book and it’s all displayed beautifully. 

There’s descriptions of every episode which include screenshots and bios for each character in said episode (and even more interesting is that they didn’t just copy+paste these, each bio on the characters explains what they are doing in the episode and is wholly unique), information and art on the yokai featured in the episode, and best of all the descriptions even list the script writer, storyboard artist, episode director, and animation director for the episode; info that I wish more companies would make as easily available in these kinds of books. 

Besides the episode descriptions we have your standard section dedicated to the art of the characters showing off the multiple appearances they had over the course of the show, and a section dedicated to all the background art featured in the series. This is a tome of information on the entire process of making the show from start to finish and really makes you appreciate how much work goes into anime. I ended up taking a lot more photos of this book than I should have, so if you want to take a peak: check out some more pics here. 

I do not recommend diving into the book right away however if you haven’t seen the show yet because it is full of spoilers. 

Last but not least is the actual show itself. As I stated in the beginning it is separated into 3 unique DVD sized cases that do not resemble the standard edition set for this show. The cases each feature different artwork on both the exterior and interior, and house around 13 discs in total: 8 DVDs and 5 BDs. The episode breakdown results in about 4-5 episodes a DVD and about 9 episodes a BD, pretty much a standard amount for most anime nowadays. 

Below I will post the interior art for all 3 cases.

So that is the Ushio & Tora Limited Edition BD & DVD box set from Sentai Filmworks! A huge set full of a lot of great content. If you love the show like I do and want to have a great display piece then I definitely cannot recommend it enough. I also look forward to my rewatch of it with the brand new dub Sentai has made. 

I hope this unboxing has helped anyone on the fence about getting this, as I know I absolutely love looking at it on my shelf now! 

[sweatyfbiprofiler]

Ten Facts About Me Tag

I was tagged by @gallihafry (thank youu) so here are 10 facts about me for those who care :)

Post ten facts about yourself and then pass it along to ten people

(this is gonna take time.. but let’s do it)

1. I love acting. I participated in a few plays at school since I was like 7 or 8 but that was raw talent and I’ve been working on it (inspired by the many amazing actors I have discovered and admired *-*)

2. I am learning programming. I am still a beginner and I only made a little console game! (want a version?)

3. I love, just LOVE my computer. Well, computers in general. I love exploring how they work and what they can do. When I grow up, I really want a computing career.

4. I have dandruff and it drives me crazy sometimes.

5. I rarely wear any perfume. It’s mainly due to my laziness but, honestly, I just don’t know how to wear perfume..

6. I’ve started learning to use Photoshop last summer and it has become my top favourite hobby (I use Photoshop CS6). Giffing has actually become more tempting than drawing and I didn’t see that coming at all. I was jumping up and down when one of my posts reached 400 notes for the first time.

7. I am a shy girl. I don’t usually interact with people other than my family and close friends and when I do, I spend way too much time thinking about how it went, what I did and what they must be thinking of me. I just can’t help it sometimes.

8. I am not a native English speaker (many of you must know that by now) but I love this language so much and I am doing my best to improve :) (I am also trying to “adopt” a British accent, wish me luck. Because, most of the time, I end up with a hybrid accent that is a mixture of every single accent I have ever heard since I started learning English by listening.)

9. Doctor Who aired a long time ago on TV and I didn’t like it at all. The next year, the same season aired again, I watched a part of “The Beast Below” and I didn’t even know it was Doctor Who, but I loved it. I waited for the next episode the next day and that’s how my obsession began. And that’s how I started getting emotionally attached to many fictional characters that it physically hurts. No regrets.

10. (already?) Tumblr is my favourite website. If you see me in front of my computer, I am either on Photoshop, watching something or on tumblr. If only I had discovered this hellsite earlier..

So.. @sarcastic-smart-person, @hotter-than-satans-asshole, @etsukow, @whyimmathere, @mahalblackteapot, @vb2096, @marthajoness, @infiniteregress17, @tardis-in-camelot and @ofmanandmice, will you? :)

[ileolai]

I’m a bit nervous about posting this, because it’s a big nerdy splurge about Doctor Who, and why it is so very important to me, and there is quite personal stuff in it that I have never posted publicly, but. It’s a little over a day out from the finale, and I can’t not talk about something that totally consumed me for seven years.

When I say personal stuff, I mean stuff like suicidal ideation and mental illness, so there’s a content warning.

I wish Steven Moffat, and everyone else who has poured their lovely hearts into making this show, could know what it has done for me.

I've found it somewhat difficult to pinpoint what my favourite episode of Moffat era Who should be. It puzzled me for quite a while. Not because there are no tremendously stellar episodes that stand above all the rest -- there are quite a few of those to pick over. In terms of actual writing skill, narrative cohesion, magnificent direction and all that pretentious stuff, it would have to be Heaven Sent. I could watch that episode over and over again until the heat death of the Universe. 

But I think my actual favourite episode, the one nearest and dearest to my little anarchist care bear heart, has to be The Beast Below. The one with the whale that was technically more up in space than it was below. I realize fandom consensus does not consider it the pinnacle of Moffat’s storytelling, but I don’t care. The ideas in that episode, and it is so full of lovely ideas, are what made me sit up and start paying attention to the potential this show had. 

Specifically, what got me was what it said about child abuse and neglect as an essential cog in the machine of fascism, or something. Which I had never, in my whole entire life, seen so earnestly articulated on TV before-- in a children’s television show-- with a goddamn whale. I can pinpoint that as the exact moment this show snatched me and hurled me, screaming, into fandom.

[Later, A Christmas Carol would draw big red underlines and exclamation points all around these ideas... that's my other favourite episode. But The Beast Below did it first and hooked me.] 

There’s more to it besides that, though. This is the deeply personal emotional context stuff.

So, here is something you may or may not know about the nerd creature that is me. I was quite homeless at the time The Beast Below aired. And I had nothing -- literally nothing, you see. I was in a totally unfamiliar city in a fairly unfamiliar country, post-psychotic break, post-marriage-engagement breakdown, and I was more alone than I'd ever been -- and I'd been your standard lonely friendless geek my whole life, being Autistic, and what have you. I had just escaped an incredibly abusive, toxic group of people upon realization they were not so much a group of friends, but a cult. Yes, an actual cult! I was in one of those. I was also very, very ill with an immune disorder. And the only member of my family who ever accepted me, the only one actually still talking to me after I gave my narcissistic rage monster mother the finger, had just died of cancer.  This had all occurred across the space of, oh... one year? Almost entirely within 2009, leading into 2010. I was a wreck. And if you piled all this nonsense on a fictional character all at once, I'd probably say you were being gratuitous and change the channel. I was too miserable to even know how miserable I was-- just sort of wandering around in a dissociated haze, surviving entirely by the instincts of my autonomic nervous system. A good friend of mine described it to me later as ''you were sort of frozen'', and she was right. So. I downloaded the space whale episode over a wi-fi connection, illegally, on an ancient computer, in a library [haha how appropriate is that?] because I quite liked all the other Doctor Whos I had seen before, and this new writer fella had done Press Gang, a fond highlight of my otherwise wretched childhood. 

I watched Amy Pond and the Doctor cavorting around dystopian space Britain, having casual conversations about the nature of fascism, in a show marketed to 10 year olds. My sad little eyes pressed right up to the computer screen, irradiating my retinas, and I whispered: ''I've waited 20 years for My Show, and someone finally wrote it. It even has a mad ginger immigrant in it, and she's me. The Universe made this just for me.''

It also had a whale, and the whale was in space. 

And that is how I was propelled into my seven year character arc, my precious nerds. Because this show, from series 5 onwards, has done more for me than anything else on the planet. And I don't care how ridiculous it sounds to attribute my self-actualization to a goofy TV show about loveable alien miscreants saving space whales, because it's true. It took a while, but I learned what I actually value and what actually properly matters to me through this show. Or rather, I re-learned it, because I'd become so lost chasing approval and moulding myself to other people's perceptions to withstand their abuse, I didn't know what I was anymore. 

This show, and this goddamn fandom, helped me pull all the chopped up little bits of me back together more than any therapy or self-help nonsense I had tried. I went back to university and got serious about doing actual work, in part, because ''we're all just stories in the end... make it a good one.'' kept looping in my brain. It made me determined that my life could never be summed up with a single sentence like: ''He was sad and boring, and he wasted away in his apartment -- achieving nothing, leaving no trace''. 

[I still don’t get out much, to be honest. But I’m trying. At the very least, my epic marathon through 500 wildly divergent university degrees says something, yes? Maybe I can set the official record for ‘’the world’s most reluctant to graduate student’’.] 

Anyway. This show, this fandom... gave me so much. It gave me my voice as a creator of things, as a writer, and an analyzer, and it gave me people like me, real and fictional, people I didn’t even know existed anywhere. 

And you know…. this is heavy stuff again-- but it honestly gave me the motivation to get through to another weekend sometimes, when I was apathetic enough and in enough physical pain to contemplate not doing that. It really did. I didn't want to miss an episode of Doctor bloody Who, arthritis and schizophrenia and poverty be damned, and that kept me here. There were points, where one of the few things that restrained me from taking a decisive dose of Oxycontin, was River Song's storyline. I'm serious. And as shameful as that probably is, it's still better than being dead, and not getting to watch Doctor Who anymore. 

Cuz Doctor Who had a whale in it, right? A great big pink whale filled with benevolent intentions, and it was in space, and everybody hugged at the end, on top of the whale, after overthrowing the government! Moffat Who came out of the gate telling ten year olds ‘’OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT’’! I needed that with all my aching nerd heart. The Universe made it for me.

And then they put queer characters in it, and mentally ill characters, and abuse survivors, like me, and it valued them, and it valued children. And then there was River Song, and hugs, and self acceptance, and found families, and sparkles all around, and Bill Potts. And a big Jungian tapestry of meta and mythology. Just for me. There was nothing else on TV like it.

So now here we are, the eve of the final episode of series 10, which I have slobbered and fawned over almost as much as series 5, the one that grabbed me. And... I’m kind of terrified, to be honest. Because all the connections I made here, are so tied up in this show, and talking about this show, and picking apart this specific era of the show... I’m afraid I won't have anything to talk about anymore? and I'll drift apart from my friends, and…. never have something quite like this lovely little hive of internet debauchery and meta and space whales ever again. 

That actually scares me so much. Some of you have been here nearly a whole seven years, longer than almost anyone else in my life, apart from my husband, and I am grateful the vast and mysterious machinations of the Universe dumped us all together in the seething hell-pit of fandom. Those of you who have not yet run screaming into the night from my 957 daily posts about Doctor Who... you don't know how much you have helped me, and brighten my day, just by existing.

Yes, even Proton, who is old, and frequently incorrect, and a cyborg. And Elisi, who speaks utter nonsense that confuses my head. Really. I know my primary method of interacting with people is emphatically, and tactlessly, listing every single way they are wrong about things, but I do occassionally have actual emotions like ‘’appreciation’’. 

Do not worry, though. This audaciously out-of-character display of sincerity will now be deleted from your memory. 

Gone? Good. 

So it's been seven wonderful transformative years for me, and the Doctor Who they made just for lil gay anarchist crazy pants care-bear me is ending forever soon. I mean... there will always be Doctor Who, and it will always be Doctor Who, of course. It will be there at the heat death of the Universe, while I’m still salivating over the utter perfection of Heaven Sent. And a sentient gas cloud in a jar will be running it, or something-- because the show has gained its own level of quasi-sentience, furiously transcended all sensible laws of television, and refuses to die.

But the Moffat era came into my life right when I needed it, and it changed me, and I can’t imagine any other era can be that personal to me. It won’t be my Doctor Who anymore. 

Steven Moffat doesn’t know I exist, and yet, has tormented my televisual experiences since I could barely even comprehend television. I have him to thank for two glorious book-ends to my childhood and adolescence: Press Gang, and Doctor Who. Thank you so much, Moffat, you scheming Scottish bastard. Thank you for everything. 

I don’t think I would be the sort of person I am now without this damn show, it’s fandom, and its unapologetic, space whale flavoured idealism. I honestly just wouldn’t be.

[asterinjapan]

Owari

The end...

After my last batch of photos, it is time to say goodbye to Japan once more.

Below follows the last part of my journey home and my closing words!

The remainder of the flight I hadn’t covered in my last report went well - very mild turbulence around landing time, but overall, I didn’t freak out as much as I feared I would. I got to watch La La Land and some random episodes of series, as well as rewatched the new Beauty and the Beast, before it was time to land. 

Curiously, it was very quiet: apparently most of the people in my plane had a transfer to catch, because I was one of the only ones to walk to the luggage pick-up point. There was no-one in front of me at the passport check, so I had a quick conversation there - ‘where did you come from?’ ‘Tokyo, Japan’ ‘Oh, business or holidays?’ ‘Holidays’ -browses passport and sees my other stamps- ‘Seems like you can’t get enough of the country, huh’ ‘Haha, no indeed!’

I had to wait a little, but my good old trusty trolley came sliding down the luggage slope all intact as always, even if slightly top-heavy, haha. Then came the next obstacle: I hadn’t slept all that much in the plane, so I had to find my train with quite the jetlag. 3 minutes in, I was already Done with the Dutch railway company, geesh. A lot of trains were cancelled, but luckily mine was still operating - only I’d just missed one, so that was a half hour wait. Tokyo really spoiled me with public transport, haha.

I had to wait 20 more minutes to catch my bus home, which meant I was all but sleeping while standing (an art you quickly perfect in Japanese trains, let me tell you) and that I actually dozed off in the bus, since there’s about half an hour I can’t account for, oops.

Luckily, my parents were there to pick me up and bring me home, where the dogs greeted me with enthusiasm and a lot of jumping and kisses, haha. I somehow made it upstairs with my luggage, took a shower, had dinner, and nodded off somewhere after 9 PM, so I went to bed to wake up 11 hours later feeling not even remotely well-rested, oops.

I spent yesterday and this morning cleaning up my souvenirs, and I guess to make a slow start on sorting out all my photos. Since I woke up at 5 AM this morning, the jetlag isn’t anywhere near over, but I have to get back to work tomorrow, so time to get in my usual rhythm I guess.

And that brings me to the ending of this trip! I will keep this blog updated for a little bit as I’ll probably do a compilation post of my favourite photos, since I seem to do that every year, haha. I can now just look at them on a big screen instead of on my phone, so that should help. I will also update the navigation and the tags on all posts, because I had some issues on my phone and didn’t really tag everything properly, oops.

And after that... well, this blog will go on hiatus until the next trip. And honestly? At this point, I am highly suspecting to come up with ‘japan 2018′ as my next tag. I just can’t get enough of this country. Sure, it isn’t perfect - no country is, Japan definitely has its flaws. Nevertheless, I keep being drawn back. I know I will soon start to get the itching feeling that I want to walk the streets of Tokyo again, explore new sights and revisit old ones - geek out over the merchandise of my favourite series, be in awe over temples and statues and castles, enjoy the food, the people... It’s kind of hard to properly explain. Japan is more than just a holiday destination for me, although I can’t say with absolute conviction I’d like to live there. Still, being able to return brings me great joy, so I hope I will be able to keep using this blog for many times more to come.

Thank you so much for following me so far, and I hope you’ve enjoyed the photos and maybe even these long reports, haha. See you soon! 

[thethirstpod]

another year has ended, and with that brings the task of collating lists of the best things 2018 had to offer. we share our film, tv, music, book & podcast top tens, some listener favourites and MORE on episode twenty six of our podcast which you can find (soundcloud) (itunes) (acast) (stitcher) (tunein).

if you haven’t yet downloaded it, be sure to do so soon and in the meantime, see below for our 2018 favourites:

Film

steph’s top 10: 

10.The Shape of Water (February)

Eggs, fish sex, Michael Shannon

9. Black Panther (February)

8. Phantom Thread (February)

7. Suspiria (November)

6. Eighth Grade (not released in the UK yet)

5. A Star is Born (October)

4. Widows (November)

3. You Were Never Really Here (March)

2. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (January)

1. Lady bird (February)

Notable others: Annihilation, A Quiet Place, Black Klansman, Hereditary, 120bpm, Leave No Trace, The Little Stranger, Mandy,  Wildlife, Beast, Buster

apryl’s top 10 (13...):

first reformed

you were never really here

wildlife

roma

lady bird

phantom thread

a star is born

widows

to all the boys i’ve loved before

120 bpm

black panther

infinity war

annihilation

honorables: love simon, the post, the shape of water, suspiria, avengers: infinity war, set it up, blackkklansman, juliet naked, set it up, the miseducation of cameron post, game night, blockers, hereditary, the ballad of buster scruggs, i tonya, beautiful boy, isle of dogs, mandy

non-2018:  2017’s i caught up with- good time, logan lucky, spiderman: homecoming, ingrid goes west, brigsby bear, landline, gifted, the meyerowitz stories.

TV

steph’s favourites:

The Haunting of Hill House

Castle Rock

Sharp Objects

Queer Eye

Riverdale

Notable others: The Alienist, Killing Eve, The Terror, Sabrina, Atlanta

apryl’s top 10

ugly delicious (netflix)

the marvellous mrs maisel, seasons 1 & 2

atlanta, season 2

queer eye, season 1&2,

killing eve

honorables: GLOW season 2, the good place, it’s suppertime, sharp objects, rewatching bourdain, brooklyn 99.

Music

steph’s favourites:

Best pop records

Cardi B, ‘Invasion of Privacy’

Ariana Grande, ‘Sweetener’

Janelle Monae, ‘Dirty Computer’

Troye Sivan, ‘Bloom’

Bonus: Anything by Charlie xcx

Notable others: Lykkie Li, Years & Years, Jorja Smith, Robyn

Other best records

The Soft Moon, ‘Criminal’

HIDE, ‘Castration Anxiety’

Nine Inch Nails, ‘Bad Witch’

Lead into Gold, ‘The Sun Behind the Sun’

Soundtracks

Lady Bird (Alanis Morrisette!)

You Were Never Really Here

A Star is Born

Black Panther

apryl’s top 10 (12...)

marauder by interpol

forever neverland by mo

honey by robyn

hope downs by rolling blackouts coastal fever

tell me how you really feel by courtney barnett

bottle it in by kurt vile

black panther OST by kendrick lamar et al

sweetener by ariana grande

FM! by vince staples

chris by christine and the queens

dirty computer by janelle monae

a star is born OST

Books

steph’s favourites

Sarah Perry, ‘Melmoth’

Sarah Moss, ‘Ghost Wall’

Sally Rooney, ‘Normal People’

Anna Mackmin, ‘Devoured’

Michelle McNamara , ‘I’ll be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer’’

Stephen King, generally

Max Porter, ‘Lanny’

apryl’s top 10:

normal people / conversations with friends by sally rooney

an american marriage by tayari jones

my year of rest and relaxation by ottessa moshfegh

the water cure by sophie mackintosh

little fires everywhere by celese ng

sing unburied sing by jesmyn ward

the great believers by rebecca makkai

heartburn by nora ephron

m train by patti smith

if beale street could talk by james baldwin

honorables: crudo & the lonely city, both by olivia laing, asymmetry by lisa halliday, white tears by hari kunzru, the immortalists by chloe benjamin, the answers by catherine lacey, fever dream by samantha schweblin, tin man by sarah winman, kitchen confidential by anthony bourdain, big bones by laura dockrill

Podcasts

steph’s picks:

Keep it! And Thirst Aid Kid (pop culture); The NCW podcast and The Loser’s Club (books); The Evolution of Horror, Halloweenies, The Big Picture and A24 podcast (movies); Invisiiblia, Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness

True crime: True Crime Garage, The Teacher’s Pet, Dr Death, Bear Brook, Someone Knows Something

Shout out to the Lady Pod Squad, especially The Cutaways, Amandas Pic Show a Go Go, the Frankenpod, Honestly? A Podcast. And Culture Fear!

apryl’s picks:

midnight chats (from loud & quiet)

the a24 podcast

the big picture/the watch/jam session/the rewatchables ℅ the ringer podcast network

the dave chang show

good one (vulture)

Babes of 2018

steph’s faves:

The staple favourites: Timothee Chalamet, for always, and Harry Styles

The muscle: Michael B Jordan and Justin Theroux, Antoni

The weirdos: Bill Skarsgard

The older men: Woody Harrelson and Michael Shannon

The plot twist: Bradley Cooper exclusively in A Star is Born

apryl’s faves:

jake gyllenhaal (always), ethan goddamn hawke, john mulaney, nick robinson, alex wolff, daniel kessler, michael zegen, chris evans and his beard, timothee chalamet and armie hammer and their general escapades, bradley cooper and his beard, tom holland, antoni porowski’s thirst traps,

[tigerlover16-uk]

Anime I Need to Watch (March 2017 update)

I was debating whether I should do these list updates at the start or end of each month, and whether it was worth updating it right now since I only made that list a week ago. But, I did want to add some things I forgot, and I’m too impatient to wait until tomorrow or the end of April. So, screw it, I’ll do this now and update these lists at the end of each month.

There’s not a lot of stuff that needs updating, but so far I did manage to watch a few things. I’ll describe what anime I’ve watched this month and how I felt about them briefly down below.

First off, I finished Trigun. And honestly, I really enjoyed it... but I’m not sure if I’d put it in my top 10 anime just yet.

I dunno, I enjoyed the series and it was really good, but something about it just kinda felt like it was really good, but not great. But I think this is a me thing, I’ll admit I’m not really a big fan of westerns and there wasn’t much wrong with Trigun, it’s a really good show with a lot of heart, good action, okay comedy and some good writing. There’s some stuff that made me pretty emotional too, and I really like Vash and Wolfwood’s characters (Meryl and Milly were just kinda okay to me). I really don’t know, maybe I just need to re-watch it again when I’m in just the right mood. I enjoyed Trigun a lot, don’t get me wrong and I’d gladly re-watch it again sometime. I’m just a little confused that I feel I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as I should have, but I can’t really describe why I feel that. Maybe it’s just hype backlash or something.

I also got a chance to watch the Fist of the North Star movie from 1986, since Linkara recently got around to reviewing a chapter of the manga through patreon request I thought I might as well watch something from this franchise. Aaaand...

It was alright.

Yeah, the movie was firmly in the realm of okay for me. It’s pretty clearly dated and with the way a lot of it’s written you can definitely tell it was a very condensed version of the manga story, a lot of stuff could have been fleshed out and explained better, and the fights were really nothing to write home about. And that ending felt so forced and out of nowhere.

But that said, the movie does have it’s charms as an 80′s action flick. I liked the heroic characters well enough, and while I don’t usually like ultra violent and gory stuff, this film did make it’s gory action kinda fun in how over the top it got. And while the production values haven’t aged well, there is something charming about the film’s animation, there were plenty of cool moments and some good music.

So, yeah, nothing special and the film has some problems and could be kinda dull, and a tad stupid and confusing at parts, but I enjoyed it. I also decided to watch the first episode of the Toei anime adaption of Fist of The North Star and I enjoyed that a bit more, so I’ll probably watch the whole anime at some point soon after I get through the next two shows I’m watching. However long that takes.

Most notably, I decided to start watching Yu Yu Hakusho, which my buddy @dbzebra considers his second favourite anime after Dragon Ball. Seeing how we share a lot of the same interests and I trust his judgement, I decided to give it a watch. I just finished the whole first season, and so far, I’m LOVING it!

Honestly the show got me hooked by the end of the first episode, and it’s only gotten better since. I’ll probably go more into detail on my thoughts on this one in next months progress report, since it’ll probably take me most of April to finish the show considering it’s over a hundred episodes, but honestly if it keeps being as good as it’s been so far, it’ll easily make my top 5 favourite anime by the time I’m done, maybe top 3. I really love the characters, the story and just the general feel of the show. So yeah, thanks DBZebra, I probably wouldn’t have watched this if I didn’t know you liked it so much.

So, yeah. That’s my anime bingeing progress for the end of March. So far my plan for April is to finish Yu Yu Hakusho and also get back to Shokugeki No Soma (Food Wars!), an anime I was watching on the suggestion of my friend Hayley566 and I was really enjoying, but I got distracted after watching episode 9 and I haven’t got back to it. I hope I’ll finish it by the end of the month. After those shows I’ll probably go with something shorter, like Yuri on Ice or One Punch Man.

I also just got the Ghibli movie Only Yesterday in the post today, so I’m going to watch that right now. I’ve also ordered the dvd’s for Akira, Pokémon Destiny Deoxys and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, so I’ll have watched those movies soon, and hopefully more before the end of the month.

And again, I welcome any recommendations I get from people. Not that anyone’s really interested in hearing me ramble on about my stupid viewing habits, but oh well.

One Punch Man (Seen four episodes a while back, looks good)

Mobile Suit Gundam

Outlaw Star

Cowboy Bebop

Digimon Frontier

Digimon Data Squad

Digimon Fusion

Yu-Gi-Oh 5D’s

Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal

Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-V

Sailor Moon (Watched the entire first season and was about halfway through season 2. Should really get back to watching the full series)

Sailor Moon Crystal

Yu Yu Hakusho

Ranma 1 ½

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure (2012-onwards series)

Hunter x Hunter (2011)

Fullmetal Alchemist

One Piece

Astro Boy (Any series. I just want to be able to say I’ve watched something from this franchise).

Kill La Kill

Gurren Lagann

Fairy Tail (What? Why’re you looking at me like that? I like cheesy stuff like this, alright!)

Little Witch Academia

Tenchi Muyo!

Death Note

Yuri On Ice

Fist of the North Star

Soul Eater

Code Geass

The Devil is a Part Timer

Food Wars: Shokugeki No Soma (I watched about 9 episode, need to catch up)

Your Lie in April

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Mob Psycho 100

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Phoenix Wright anime

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid

Movies:

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

Your Name

Garden of Words

Paprika

Tokyo Godfathers

The Boy and the Beast

5 Centimeters per second

Millenium Actress

Only Yesterday

Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro

The Digimon Adventure Tri Movies

Yu-Gi-Oh: Bonds Beyond Time

Yu-Gi-Oh: The Dark Side of Dimensions

Half of the Pokémon movies

Akira

Ghost In The Shell

Memories

Perfect Blue

Naruto: Ninja clash in the Land of Snow

Naruto: Legend of the Stone of Gelel

Naruto: Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom

Naruto Shippuden The Movie

Naruto Shuppuden: Bonds

Naruto Shippuden: The Will of Fire

Naruto Shippuden: The Lost Tower

Naruto Shippuden: Blood Prison

Naruto: Road to Ninja

The Last Naruto Movie

Boruto Movie