#like. it seems like it's very hard to get a fantasy manga that isn't in the supernatural genre to stick

[alteredphoenix]

So should I assume Ice Head Gill isn't doing too hot in the current Jump rankings because I almost never really see the chapters get talked about much on r/manga anymore compared to when it debuted.

[mari-lair]

Kou never mistakes Hanako for a human, and I find that interesting.

He heard about Amane from Nene, who had front roll seats to his past and gained an intimate wake up call that "Hanako is not a 'magic being' from a fantasy book, he was a student, who is now dead"

His death is not a conflict for Kou though, is just who he is. He is well aware the ghost is dead, so what Nene shares isn't a revelation, is just small pieces of the puzzle that is Hanako: the understanding he used to study here.

Kou has no real link to Amane, he never met the guy. Even when explicitly talking about Amane, Kou has no mental image of this 13-year-old who killed his own brother, he can only picture Hanako, the ghost.

Kou doesn't interact with 'Amane' in Picture Perfect either, the very few interactions they have are super short, and always started by Hanako in his Amane disguise.

The one time Kou approaches him is because 'Amane' was carrying an unconscious Nene, so he gets curious, and shows that he doesn't trust him.

But when he learns it's Hanako, he is delighted. It doesn't matter that Mitsuba is acting weird, and that he still didn't get any answers, cause is Hanako! Hanako his buddy!

He never had a wish for Hanako to be alive, to be his classmate, so he doesn't feel any desperate attachment to the idea of 'Yugi Amane' like he did with the idea of 'Mitsuba Sousuke' only ever seeing him as a wrong version of Hanako from the start. Is not real, so of course he doesn't trust him.

His view of Hanako cannot be separated from him being a ghost.

Hanako is the one who properly introduced Kou to the world of supernaturals and served as an informant on the Far Shore when Teru kept him in the dark. He teaches Kou about rumors, boundaries, supernatural festivals, and introduces him to the complex feelings some of the dead may have about lingering on the Near Shore.

There are two main mentalities Kou has when it comes to Hanako, the first is 'I don't know enough about Hanako to tell if he is a threat, he is so weird, I want to learn about him' The second is 'he helps me and Nene. He looks after us, he is our friend.' and usually he focuses on the second.

But the "i need to gauge if he is a threat" mentality is just as important as his attachment to Hanako.

It's what makes him keep an eye on him and occasionally act like a judge, trying to figure out what is going on with him, which is a hard task.

Hanako does a lot of good and bad things to Kou.

He sealed his exorcist staff, which debilitates him through basically the whole manga, but he helps and saves him and Nene when called, he lies and is selfish, but he seems to only lie for silly things or what Hanako seems to believe is the greater good (the tears eye drops, Nene's lifespan). He seems guilty and burdened by his murder but he did murder someone. He is important to Nene, he is important to Kou, and so on.

Is too much to keep track of. Too hard to give a judgment.

So he focus on his feelings way more than logic, and he is very inclined to have a positive view of Hanako. He wants Hanako to be good. To be a friend.

He does notice his slimy behavior and he does change his perception of Hanako, slowly understanding him better and growing more wary of what he says, more careful when trying to read him.

But his doubts aren't nearly as heavy as his hopes for Hanako: He believes he wants the best for them.

If we go back to the scene where Nene is talking about Amane, there is something she says that sticks with Kou, something that immediately catches his attention "Maybe I shouldn't be his friend"

Unlike his death, this is a conflict Kou relates to.

He is making donuts for Hanako as they speak, absorbing everything he learns about the guy and using the information to help Hanako because he wants to cheer up Hanako.

Hanako being important to Nene is important to Kou. They are a group to him, and he isn't alone in his uncertainty.

Kou keep this mentality of just doing what he wants for a while, childish as it is, but slowly, he is forced to give Hanako more thought, to take him seriously.

His view on Hanako has been tipping to the negative recently. He always knew about Hanako being strange and full of secrets but he can't dismiss it anymore, since the ghost started lying about big things, like trapping Nene in a fake world and exchanging Aoi's lifespan for hers without Nene's consent. Is not like his usual avoidance and silly lies, he is getting harmful.

Hanako gave Kou plenty of glimpses into his more 'inhuman' mentality. He has shown Kou a lot of hints that pratically scream "Stop trusting me kid."

It piles up.

It becomes harder to know what is a lie. What isn't. What is okay and what shouldn't be forgiven.

Kou keeps trying to understand him and give him the benefit of the doubt , he truly doesn't want to believe Hanako is just an 'evil spirit' after everything they've been through. He is a supernatural but he is his teacher and friend too, that got to mean something.

But he doesn't have a clear answer. He can think as hard as he want, he still has no idea what is going on inside Hanako's head, he just wants to believe is something for Nene's sake. Because even if he isn't sure what Hanako thinks of him, he wants to believe he wants Nene to be happy, that his care for her is strong and genuine.

Besides the conflict between "he is an apparition, he is a friend" There is also the way Kou is dependent on Hanako.

Hanako is extremely helpful, he gives him all the answers related to supernaturals. Even when Kou didn't trust Hanako, the ghost already took the role of 'the guide' in the group, offering Kou something he always wanted: Information on supernaturals. A ticket to be part of a world Kou had always wanted to be part of, but his brother had sheltered him from.

Kou always goes to Hanako when he is in trouble. Regardless of how shady he acts, Hanako always helps.

So when he tells Kou he is incompetent, it gives him a wake up call.

Kou always had an inferiority complex, but this puts into perspective how he relies a lot on Hanako. He doesn't solve anything by himself, he either follows Hanako's lead, or faces a dead end.

Kou has a lot to think about after that. He doesn't want to keep relying on Hanako, he wants to take action himself, to be something that doesn't follow Hanako or Teru's lead.

He focuses mostly on Mitsuba, convinced the supernatural needs him, but also goes back to the promise he made with Teru.

This 'what do you want to do?' moment gives insight into a lot of relationships, but I'll only focus on what it says about Kou's view of Hanako here.

Kou is usually very sweet with Nene, but he is direct to the point of being cold here, he calls Hanako "The evil spirit of a murderer" as he had when he first met him all the way back in chap 3, It feels like an ultimatum. A judgment.

Hanako is dangerous, he needs to exorcise him. Part of him wants to exorcise Hanako. But he doesn't want to exorcise his teacher, his friend.

This brings me to his wish on the Red House.

Before talking about his wish I want to point out what his wish isn’t: Kou doesn’t want Hanako’s help, advise or support. He doesn’t want Hanako to give up on trying to help nene either, so he is still depends on Hanako's actions to save Nene to some extent, he doesn't believe he can do it himself, nor does he want the pressure of being believed.

He wants Hanako to be a problem that’s easy to deal with, an evil spirit that’s undeniably evil.

Things would be much easier if Kou could exorcise him: It would prove it to himself, teru, and Hanako that he can be an exorcist, it would eliminate any possible anxiety about what Hanako will do next, and it would give Hanako what he wants, Kou wouldn't disappoint him again.

When he pictures Hanako, he is happy and sweet looking, almost innocent. He may have decided he need to exorcise Hanako at some point, that is the right thing, but he doesn't really... want him gone.

He consistently has exorcism in mind when it comes to Hanako post-severance, but he also consistently pictures him happy and friendly. .

"I want to be a bigger help" implies he wants to work with Hanako, so the two help Nene instead of him being the sole person in charge of her lifespan, which is a big big difference from his self-destructive desperation to be the one to help Mitsuba.

"I need to get to the point where I can exorcise him." As it is, Kou does not believe he can exorcise him. He realizes he should, but also that he can't.

What he says when he fights Teru fits into that.

He doesn't agree with Hanako, and he denies the idea that he is doing this for Hanako, choosing to focus on his bond with Nene instead of his exorcism dilemma.

He and Nene have a simple camaraderie he can rely on, a mutual lack of understanding of what to do, but even this more 'safe' decision to be on her side instead of trying to keep discovering his own path got Kou the same reprimand Hanako had given him "You have big ideas but you can't back it up."

Both of the people he looks up to give him guidance told him he is useless. He can not fully relate to exorcists, or supernaturals, the path he is carving for himself, his beliefs, are unclear, easily shaken, and likely useless.

He still wants to be an exorcist, deep down, delighted when Teru gave him a chance. But he can't be an exorcist. Not when he thinks so much about the supernatural, unable to reject them but unable to truly understand or relate to them either.

It makes me sad that Aidairo pushed Kou and Hanako's situation aside, cause they still have a lot to explore, yet all we got recently is these crumbs:

Kou is keeping his eyes on Hanako, his attitude half "I am your friend, I care about you", half "I don't trust you anymore, don't scheme again, bastard" but they don't have meaningful talks with each other anymore.

Hanako will save Kou if he sees him in danger, I'm sure. And Kou will do the same. But their trust is... shaky... and they will never talk about it. Kou won't share that he wants but can't exorcise Hanako and Hanako won't share how much he values Kou. They won't seek each other for help either. Both will slowly yet consistently focus on someone else instead, like a weirdly passive attempt at detachment.

So I have no hope for more meaningful interaction between them. Not anytime soon at least... Is truly a shame.

[genericpuff]

"oh my god, the comic that opened its plot by saying that removing corporal punishments from schools was a bad idea and the teachers need to go back to beating up students turned out to be racist, who could have seen this coming!!"

Listen, okay, I don't want to dunk on the people who enjoy Get Schooled and genuinely didn't see the racism coming, but like... as someone who doesn't read Get Schooled and checked it out to see what the plot was even about following all the controversy these past couple days, y'all, the description is a hard fucking pass.

And I still checked out its first episode to give it more benefit of the doubt and... nah fam. Not saying we should have seen the racism coming a mile away but I'm baffled as to why people read this at all. I'm all for manga and webtoons with senseless or comical violence, but you still need to set the baseline for where that violence is taking place and what context it exists within. Naruto? Yeah, sure, students fighting the teachers, this is a fantasy universe based around the ninja arts, makes sense they're gonna fight each other and it seems like a mutual agreement. Assassination Classroom? The teacher literally isn't human and he's training his students on how to kill him otherwise he'll destroy their whole planet. Shit, even fucking Matilda handles it better because it's one kid being abused by the principal and that principal is so ridiculously abusive that the parents don't even believe the abuse is happening (to the point that this form of abuse and manipulation is often nicknamed "The Trunchbull Method" because it's designed to be so absurd that no one will believe the victim), so it winds up being on Matilda's shoulders to use her newfound gifts to teach her a lesson - but the story itself is meant to remind adults that kids are people and just because they're smaller and weaker than you doesn't give you a free pass to be abusive.

Point is, in all of those examples, you can create that suspension of disbelief in how the teachers and students behave towards one another because their entire plots require suspension of disbelief.

But Get Schooled is literally just... it's set in Korea, it's a normal high school story, there's nothing supernatural or unique going on with the students or the teachers, and there's no moral or lesson it's trying to express, it's literally just taking real life and saying, "hey, adults should be allowed to beat up kids". When has combatting violence with more violence ever been a solution in that kind of context? Why is this a comic that even exists, let alone on a platform that's regularly marketed to teenagers?

It's depressing. And just for the record, I was spurred on to make this post by the recent response from the team behind Get Schooled regarding the VERY racist plotline it recently released on the Korean version of the app.

Like... this is shit WT shouldn't have even been allowing to fly under the radar to begin with. The bar is on the floor. I also love how the creators of Get Schooled admitted to the fact that they were raised in a homogenous society but still thought they were up to the task of "bringing the issue [of multicultural racism] to light", when they, in fact, do the complete OPPOSITE within that episode by suggesting, "actually, if you're mixed race then you're the REAL bad guy, it's the pureblood Koreans who are the oppressed minority, there are so many immigrants these days!!" And "stopping hatred" sure is a big claim when the entire point of their comic is combatting hatred with hatred, or in Get Schooled's case, bullying with corporal punishment.

Yikes. Big fucking yikes.

[cursedvibes]

What do you think are Kenjaku's favourite manga? We know a bit about what Yuuji've read and probably likes. Though what do you think are Yuuji's favs?

I'm wondering whether they could talk about it or whether it'd be just Kenjaku trying to interest Yuuji in their favs and Yuuji being disinterested because their tastes don't match at all XD

I think their tastes overlap pretty often actually. Like for example, Yu-Gi-Oh! (the original manga). For most of the story it's basically just kids torturing each other Saw-style. It's very bloody and gruesome with some friendship lessons sprinkled over it. So basically like the Culling Games, just with stricter rules and more torture devices. Seems right up Kenjaku's alley, especially because while there's a lot of death, there is for most cases a broader lesson to it and I think they would just find the ways the kids solve the death games very interesting. Plus, you have ancient souls stored in objects possessing other people. Very relatable.

I can see Yuuji liking the manga for very similar reasons. He likes horror, so that part would appeal to him and he would like the broader message of overcoming loneliness, abuse and other trauma together with the friends you manage to make. It's a lot about finding closure and accepting death, quite similar to what he is dealing with. Also, being possessed by a spirit that kills people without your knowledge or influence? Yuuji and Yuugi could start a therapy group together (Yuugi's approach of befriending said spirit won't help Yuuji tho...). actually now I wonder if Yuugi was an inspiration for Yuuji even if their personalities are different

So I think Kenjaku and Yuuji would end up liking a lot of the same manga's but for slightly different reasons.

For Kenjaku, I think they would like manga with a diverse power system or elaborate powers in general, like Hunter x Hunter or Jojo's. Then probably also some of Ito Junji's stories just because they find the ways in which people can drive themselves insane fascinating. Same for Oshimi Shuuzo's stuff (they read Blood on the Tracks for inspiration on how to deal with their children).

Given their extensive knowledge on stand-up comedy, suggesting they watch basically anything that gets aired, I could also see Kenjaku just buying an issue of WSJ and reading everything from front to back only to give the nearest person around a full critique of the contents. Yuuji is similar to that I think. We know he watches basically everything on TV, no matter how dull he thinks it is and I think he could be the same with manga. He'll read everything in a magazine simply because he has nothing better to do, it passes time and keeps him from thinking about less great stuff happening in his personal life (coping mechanism just like his TV habits). The manga he reads in Ozawa's flashback looks like WSJ or maybe an equally packed manga magazine.

Because of that I'm also having a hard time pinning down favourites for him. He's such an omnivore. Did we ever get any specifics from Gege on what he reads? If we go by his movie taste it must be something that isn't just senseless violence and he seems easily moved by drama, like in Lord of the Rings. Don't know how he feels about sci-fi, but maybe some Gundam series (I'd say UC universe, but that's just because I don't know the others)? Evangelion seems a bit too existential, he seems more like a casual reader who doesn't want to be reminded too much of any lurking depression. I think he'd definitely like Yu Yu Hakusho and Fullmetal Alchemist. It has a good mix of action, drama, fantasy and darker elements.

[zenosanalytic]

Just finished The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon, and in general I liked it.

I think it's a Gr8 setting(more scifi/fantasy stories pulling on non-western inspirations, plz) and a Gr8 PERSPECTIVE on a Gr8 setting(bscl everyone in it is a refugee, and it takes place almost entirely within refugee communities), and a wonderful take on Mecha, a genre you don't usually see in novels, in the metaphysically Weird Evangelion vein(which you don't often see, or see done well, in Mecha, Period). I love how unabashedly queer it and its world is, that it's a M/M/M story that isn't disinterested in, oblivious of, or actively hostile to female characters, and that all of it's characters are so MESSY and Real in their own unique ways. I love it's Compassion. It engages deeply with "faith" in all its variegated meanings in a really interesting and sustained way(tho unfortunately not one that grabbed me as powerfully as The Locked Tomb's approach to these topics does). I thought it did a Really Good Job of expressing thought, confusion, and overwhelming, shifting experiences through text. It has ALLOT of wonderful, subtle worldbuilding in it which I really adore; like the bit ~halfway through the book were a cheeky fondly-mocking comment from one character to another implies that "hermit" can also mean "homosexual" in this setting.

I DID have a hard time getting into it though. It picks up in the second half, but getting through the first half was a bit of a slog for me and I fell asleep allot(tbf: I've also been SUPER BUSY and dealing with numerous Events, so I didn't have allot of time to read and it took me FOREVER to finish this one, so maybe that was a consequence of how disjointed my reading experience was). I'm also willing to accept that getting me to care about such a male-focused story these days is a bit of an uphill battle, tho I don't have that problem with Temeraire so maybe I just didn't vibe well with the protagonist, or I'm being too hard on myself.

Part of it, though, I felt is just how resistant to being understood this book is. Not, like, in a thematic sense, that's all pretty clear, but in a Plot-events sense. Allot of stuff happens very quickly with not much explanation until the very end of the book(by which time you may have ceased to care about an explanation for it), and it relies heavily on Implication; on people Understanding things and acting on them without that being explained to the reader. If that's something you enjoy I think you'll dig this, but if it's something that annoys you, or if you don't like reading books that seem to actively "resist" you, then this is probably not for you. I also feel like(I don't want to be explicit about this as it might be spoilery) particular Shocking Discoveries in the last quarter or so of the book make its world much smaller, kind of undoing the worldbuilding done in the first three-quarters of it? I also-also feel like there are just TOO MANY TWISTS at the end, like: it got exhausting for me how many Reversals of Fortune didn't stop keep happening, though I suppose that's pretty true to its very obvious Anime/Manga roots/inspirations.

Overall though I enjoyed the read! It's being presented as the first in a series so I hope it does well enough to see the future stories Candon wants to tell in this setting get a genuine release ^v^

[wondereads]

Weekly Reading Update (06/23/24)

Reviews and thoughts under the cut

Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler (8/10)

This was my first ever Octavia E. Butler book, and it didn't disappoint! The way this story used Anyanwu and Doro's relationship to comment on power dynamics and issues in the world at large blew my mind; I found the discussion of eugenics particularly interesting. They were both such intensely flawed yet compelling characters. This book skirts the line between fantasy and sci-fi (something I'm looking into for my thesis as a peripheral issue), and it definitely made me wonder about the world. I wasn't aware going in that this was a prequel situation, but even then I do think I was a bit dissatisfied with how things left off. That's just my personal taste though.

Haikyuu!! Vol. 41 and 42 by Haruichi Furudate (10/10)

It usually takes me around half an hour or so to get through a volume of manga, but these took me a couple of hours. Why? Because I had to keep putting it down because I was crying so hard I couldn't breathe. As someone who has read a plethora of books ever since I was young, it takes a lot to get me to cry, especially that hard. I was sobbing. Furudate has created such wonderful characters and then puts them through so many struggles that I can't even be mad about because it's highly realistic that someone pursuing a sport would run into this! Seeing Hinata break down followed instantly by the third years graduating and the Brazil arc had me miserable in the best way possible. I usually never rate manga or graphic novels five stars because they're usually super fast-paced and so much relies on writing style for me when I read novels, but this just broke me.

Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter (46%)

This is a very cute book so far. I could probably tell you exactly what's going to happen from this point onward, but it's a genre convention for romcoms to be predictable. Liz is a fun protagonist; she's quirky in a way that has a reason and isn't annoying. There's good chemistry between the leads with some great banter, and you really can't ask for more than that. However, I will say the constant song references are starting to irk me, especially with the lyrics included in the writing --I don't know, it just reminds me too strongly of my early fanfiction years.

Moon Rising by Tui T. Sutherland (45%)

If there's one thing about me, I love a mind-reading protagonist. Moonwatcher is probably my favorite perspective of the Wings of Fire series, even if I wish she'd speak up sometimes. Sutherland did a great job making her similar to Starflight, since they're the same tribe, without being a carbon copy, and while mind reading might seem a little too omniscient, her inexperience and general social ineptitude keep it from becoming overpowered. I'm thrilled to see the return of Peril, whose story is left open from the previous arc, and I'm excited to learn more about the other new characters (Winter, Qibli, and I believe Turtle) who have their own interesting introductions.

The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien (43%)

Despite my fantasy obsession, this is my first time reading The Lord of the Rings (though I have read The Hobbit). While it is definitely much slower-paced than the average modern fantasy, I'm enjoying myself so much. If you've been following my blog for a while, you'll know I'm a worldbuilding nut, so this is like my dream book. There are so many tangents to tell stories about the history of Middle Earth and all the goings-on of the world, and I keep noticing little details and wishing they'd talk about those too. Tolkien is also a rather funny writer; Bilbo's passive aggression in particular made me giggle. While this a bit of a dense story, it's definitely living up to its reputation so far.

Boys With Sharp Teeth by Jenni Howell (42%)

This is a project for my part-time job, so I'm not sure how much I can actually divulge, but let me just say this: this book is compared to The Raven Boys in its summary, and it's living up to that.

Her Wolves by G. Bailey (7%)

I won't lie, the writing of this book so far does not give me hope. However, it could still be a fun read even if the grammar and syntax aren't the best. Also, funny thing, this book is set in the future on Earth. I did not know this. I thought it was a high fantasy. So imagine my surprise to see a landmass labeled "America Court" on the map. My misunderstanding was cleared up soon, but it still made me laugh.

[sometimesthatsbetter]

Everything I've read in Jan. 2024

Yona of the dawn

Yona was the first story that i read this year and damm was it the right way to set the tone for the year. It's a story that has all of the elements that I adore in the fantasy genre, its got the action, political drama, the multi-facted characters. I won't be saying much about this manga because i have already have an older post talking about my favorite aspects, so if you want more in depth thoughts you can search for that

Kashoku no shiro

Now here is a fun setting, Taisho era Japan with supernatural elements. Quick run down of the story, people are being affected by a mysterious disease that makes flowers bloom all over their bodies, once the flowers wilt so does the person but there are cases where they recover and become even healthier. But plot twist, the ones who survive will become demons who feast on human flesh. So thats where our protagonist Shiraume comes in, she acts as 'bait' for these demons, essentially luring them out for her master to slaughter

If i had to tell you what drew me to this story, it would be the art style, like it is drop dead gorgeous. Also the design of our heroine is just my type too which is a bonus

Plot wise it does feel a little all over the place, it jumps persecptive quite often. Like it jumps form a detective story, to a josei love story, to Demon slayer which feels kinda jarring for me. But the backstory of our protagonist was done quite well, one thing i can praise is that our heroine isn't a simpering doormat. It's true that she has lived a hard life but she just keep living in the best way that she can manage. Shiraume is never the type to mope around or bemoan her fate, she takes charge and endure, she does everything in her power to live for her loved ones.

Its a good read all in all, but since theres only about 20 chapters that are out i can't really tell if this is gonna flop or not. I'll be keeping on eye on it to see if the author manages to get it together.

Bibliophile princess

The most mediocre otome isekai story i've ever fucking read. Its vanilla, like 'sex with the lights off no kinky shit' vanilla.

Story-wise, it's a very simple set up. Book enthusiast Elianna is in a contract fiancee relationship with the crown prince who i cannot be bothered to remember or google the name of. She is beloved by all of the staff memebers, all the secondary male characters love her and she has a great family but oh no! It seems that the prince has fallen for another woman, which means that her engagement with the prince will be ending soon. Yeah if your an otome isekai reader you can guess where this is going, villainess tries to ruin our heroines rep by spreading false rumors yada yada yada...

Similar to Kashoku no shiro, what drew me in was the art nouveau style. I mean the amount of details in the illustrations are amazing, coupled with the dreamy pastel color palette it creates this feeling that you really are in a fairy tale world

One of my main problems with the first volume is how weirdly structured the story is. Like it begins with the prince asking Elianna to enter a contract relationship with him and them jumps to a four year time skip for no apparent reasoning? Like we don't get to see alot of romantic development between them so now suddenly Elianna is in love? But moving on, i felt like Elianna has like little to no self awareness or agency. The first volumes conflict is about how this noble girl is rumored to be the princes lover and is planning to take Eliannas place. At this point you would expect to see our heroine stand up for herself and assert her place in the court right? Wrong. She was basically left in the dark about whats truly going on until the end of the volume. It was revealed that the noble girl was a villain all along who was trying to frame Elianna for shit she didn't do, also conveniently our MC has a mile long list of accomplishments that we as the reader didn't know about, and apparently she didn't either. So yeah, the male leads basically was protecting her for the whole story and she just wandered around feeling insecure about being replaced

Cold game

Do you like the story of king Henry the eighths six wives? Do you wanna see all six of them do a battle royal for the chance to become queen? Do you like crossdressing heroines? Well look no further than Cold game

Our MC is princess Aruna of the B kingdom, yes i know weird name but bare with me here, who is meant to be engaged to the king of the E kingdom. But here's the sus part, he already has a queen from the S country but he's demanding another wife from the B country? Quite the odd request but since B is weaker than E they had to comply with the demands. Aruna knows she's being sent as a sacrificial lamb but her lord father told her to hang on for a bit, one day he will get her out of that place. So to protect herself, Aruna swap places with her handmaiden and pretended to be crossdressing knight.

One of the best things about this story is the political intrigue. Like from the get go, we are shown that the court is a brutal place where an inconspicuous letter can be the cause of your down fall. People here will always watch your every move, everyone fears one another to an extent. Also the side characters are so fucking cool, like these people can star in their own spin off kinda cool.

[daisukekambehateaccount]

You seriously HAVE to watch The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady!!

(minor spoilers for tensei oujo to tensai reijou)

Yep, I know it's a mouthful, but IT'S SO MUCH BETTER THAN I WAS EXPECTING IT TO BE!!

So the big selling point of the light novel/manga is that it's Yuri/GL. The thing about GL is that there isn't a lot of it, so we'll eat whatever's on the table even if it's just a boiled chicken breast.

It's also isekai/reincarnation themed set in a fantasy world almost similar to medieval Europe. Isekai tends to be a hit or miss, the concept is refreshing and fun but a lot of titles seem to just be riding the trend and executing it insincerely.

Combine those two elements, and... yeah, my expectations weren't very high. It's really hard to find a good isekai to begin with, but with Yuri, it enters a completely new territory where there's tons of opportunity for lewd jokes and blatant fetishization. That, or the bland chicken I mentioned earlier. Nevertheless, like a desperate little raccoon, I was not in a position to complain. I sighed, expecting to drop it after 3-4 chapters.

Boy, was I wrong.

Despite the ridiculously long name, The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady had completely betrayed my expectations.

AND CAN I JUST TALK ABOUT OUR TWO LEADS FIRST?!

Anisphia, the main lead, immediately captured my attention as she didn't follow the the usual tropes that isekai leads usually do.

Anis is eccentric, smart, and capable, but also fucking insane. She has such a fascination and love for magic, so much that she compensates for her lack of mana with crafting magicology tools. Like, I get that the concept of this existed in her original world, but knowing how to put it into practice by manually crafting and putting it together is a WHOLE different thing, you gotta be hella smart to invent this stuff all on your own. She doesn't have the same bland formula that protagonists are infected by, she gives off such a different impression.

Her combat skills go fucking crazy too, which is again something she learned to compensate for her lack of mana.

Next up is Euphyllia, a young magic prodigy who also happens to be engaged to the crown prince, Anis' brother. In typical shoujo fantasy fashion where she unfortunately plays the role of the villainess, her first appearance is at a 'condemnation' event in which the crown prince and his entourage of high-ranking nobles accuse Euphy for bullying his mistress and annulling their engagement. And as if that wasn't bad enough, it was in PUBLIC for everyone to see.

Bla bla bla, one thing leads to another, Anis figures out a way to aid the situation before it gets any worse, and in doing so manages to make it so that Euphyllia doesn't need to be engaged to the crown prince anymore. This spins Euphy's life around COMPLETELY as the thing she's been working at her hardest since she was born, her very purpose, was gotten rid of in a snap of a finger.

The true magic of this series however, when these two are put together. Very unalike, they're like reactive compounds. To be honest, I would've even been happy if the series was literally just Anisphia's journey on making different types of magical tools everyday. But Euphyllia's existence completely changed the game and makes room for interesting development, and the way they interact with each other is truly special.

Just how would you find two people with that level of coordination and teamwork while flying in the sky on a BROOMSTICK?!

I'm super looking forward to the interactions they have from here on out, from Anisphia's ambitious yet somehow achievable goals to Euphyllia's journey on finding out her sense of self and figuring out what she wants to do for herself.

Adding onto my original point, since I knew it was an adaptation of an isekai light novel/manga, I was expecting the animation to be subpar at least. But seeing the beautiful animation, the amazing job they did with the voices, THE OPENINGG UGHH It's all just too amazing for this type of story.

In conclusion,

You should totally watch this series because I'm always right 😎👍

[veebs-hates-video-games]

Ok so what if I made a list of things I started at some point in the past like five years or so and haven't finished but am still pretending I'll get back to them eventually? Maybe that would be interesting to literally no one but me, which is good enough.

The Witcher 3 is one of my favorite games ever. I'm like 90 hours into it, have at least twice that left to go, and I haven't touched it in like three years. Like most of the rest of this first section the main problem is that it's on my computer, and being able to sit comfortably in a way that doesn't injure myself while also being able to see the screen isn't going well these days.

Tales of Berseria is also a lot of fun, but it has the computer problem. I need more Magilou because she's such a gremlin.

Final Fantasy 13-2 is definitely my favorite post-12 FF game and might even be the one I've had the most fun with since 6, 7, and 8. Alas, computer.

BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle is a very silly crossover that feels like it shouldn't exist. I keep saying I'll go back and finish the rest of the storylines, but computer and also I just haven't had a strong desire to yet. I did figure out that I can win fights using an old Guitar Hero guitar though, so that was fun.

Berserk and the Band of the Hawk is something I started after finally getting caught up on the manga after years and years, because I tend to like Warriors/Musou games when I'm in the right mood. It's decent but not amazing, which hasn't motivated me to get past the computer issue.

Xenoblade Chronicles X is technically also a computer thing because I was playing it in Cemu. It gets extra bonus points for being hard to see because the text and UI are so small, but also I managed to break my save file like 70 hours in and haven't gotten around to figuring out what's wrong with it yet. Everything seems fine except my character and the camera get loaded in different locations, and I could probably use the memory editor to reset my location and fix it, but it's not worth the trouble until I can see.

Boyfriend Dungeon is great and I already finished the base game right when it came out, and I've been meaning to go back and do the post-launch stuff they added later and still haven't.

Atelier Ryza finally got good like half a dozen hours in after one of the worst-paced intros I've ever seen, and I haven't worked up the fortitude to try playing more past there so far.

A Slug's Dream has some decent puzzles and I was enjoying it enough, but I totally forgot it even existed. Maybe some day.

Xenogears I also keep forgetting because it's in an emulator on my computer and not somewhere I remember to look to see what game I should play. It sort of bypasses the usual computer problem by being ancient and designed for 480i screens so everything is huge. I'll finish it one of these days.

Ok I think that's all the stuff on the computer. There are a couple others that I'm not including because I only made it like an hour into them before getting sidetracked, so I'll just start them over if I ever go back to them.

3DS next? 3DS next.

Fire Emblem Fates is what's currently in there I think. It's taken multiple years, but I've finished Birthright and most of Conquest. Some day I'll finish that one and then maybe do Revelation. Any year now...

Shadows of Valentia might come back around too. I've had enough of a break to at least partly get over how mediocre a lot of the maps are and how annoying certain enemy types are, and I do want to at least try to finish it for the sake of the story, just not while I'm in the middle of pretending to play Fates too.

Shadow Dragon deserves another chance too when I'm in a better frame of mind for it, I just don't know when that'll be.

Radiant Historia is amazing and I really need to get back to it and finish it, and I don't know why my brain keeps not letting me for the past couple years. One of these days it will though, and it'll be great.

Kid Icarus: Uprising is also pretty great, but it's physically painful for me to play. I keep saying I want to try to figure out some way to work around that, but it's been multiple years and I still haven't.

Shovel Knight is one I completely forgot I even have, but it was way better than I expected and I should give it another chance.

Project X Zone is another ridiculous crossover that feels like it shouldn't exist, and it's pretty fun sometimes too, but wow does it really drag sometimes with how long each level is and how many of them there are. I might be able to manage it in smaller chunks though.

Ok Switch gets to be in a separate post or I'm going to run out of tags.

[darishima]

With the Mashle post, I agree with some parts that the show (at least the writing) is just.... not good at all. If you've read the manga... it doesn't really get better(? Kinda? As in, there is no development between any characters lmao, but more concepts for the world itself kinda gets added).

For me, what drew me in was the comedy of the first chapter before it got very repetitive with its jokes and humor because the world itself seemed fascinating to me. The idea of magic marks, markless people (what is basically eugenics), and then this one person who by all counts should be the least powerful among an entire population is fascinating.

The writing is just not it in the slightest.

Characters are very one dimensional (shown with Lemon being the worst of the main 5, Mash is right next to her). The only ones I saw with the slightest hint of development would be Finn towards the end of the series.

Like I said, many things that are just thrown out there and then left in the wind that could've been more deeply explored, the actual role of a Divine Visionary because (lowkey what does head of Talent even mean??? Is their most influential really just some kids who were the best of the year??? Why aren't there more of them??? How are they given their roles???)

I'm rambling so hard, but I think I'm honestly interested in how you saw the series (or at least the anime) since I'm trying to do more on its world in a personal rewrite project 😅

thank you so much, i'm so glad someone agrees!!

i'm gonna try to break why i don't like it into sections so this doesn't get too rambley

the stuff it steals i'm using "steal" pretty lightly here, taking inspiration from another work is fine and i dont even know for sure if the creator was familiar with these other properties, but still. i don't know if you're super familiar with one punch man, mob psycho 100, and harry potter, but mashle is basically if you took all of those, squished them together, and then made it bad. he's basically just saitama (mc of opm) mixed with mob's personality (mc of mp100) and dropped into harry potter. (and i know "a magical school setting" isn't unique to harry potter but the house system and that one broom scene are WAY too specific to not be explicitly taken from hp. if it was supposed to be a parody/satire of harry potter or western fantasy in general it could have worked, but rather than making any kind of commentary on that it just... stole it. but i digress.) "insanely overpowered anime protagonist" is a typical cliche and i often find annoying (if your mc is too powerful, there's not much evolution/development to be done) but the thing that made saitama's strength work in opm is that he doesn't LIKE his strength. if you're at the top, there's nowhere else to go. he feels unfulfilled and is constantly searching for an opponent as strong as/stronger than him, so he can finally have a real fight that doesn't end after a single punch. mash.... doesn't have that. he's strong, but nothing interesting is DONE with his strength. he just Is Strong, period. no commentary on how it makes him feel, no impact on his personality, nothing. there is a commentary that could be made (and is kind of made) about the world as a whole but i'll get to that later. basically, he's just saitama but without understanding why saitama works.

the characters the characters feel like they're created to fill archetypes rather than actually be people. they're all completely one-dimensional, as you said. i can't speak for finn's development because i haven't read the manga, but at least in the anime he's the same. lemon is definitely the worst, i agree, and mash is right next to her. abyss razor COULD have been interesting i guess but he was just a throwaway villain. dot is the stereotypical guy-obsessed-with-women because of course he is. lance is the attractive bad boy with a really creepy thing for his sister (because it's not a shonen without something deeply uncomfortable and unnecessary). the only character i liked was cell war but only because he looked cool. i don't think i've ever seen a more boring cast of characters tbh, they're just... Nothing.

cynical cash grab honestly a lot of what made me angry rather than disappointed about the show was that a lot of it seemed to be, like... designed specifically to be popular, if that makes sense. the world copying harry potter, the main character copying mob and saitama, two beloved shonen protagonists, the characters filling all the shonen archetypes, all of it just felt like it was made in a lab to be the most stereotypical easy to watch shonen anime. i don't know if that's actually true- maybe the creator is really passionate about it and loves it. but it felt like a soulless cash grab.

the potential this is what REALLY pissed me off. i've seen plenty of bad animes, and they're always fundamentally flawed. they have bad plots or bad settings and everything based off of that will be bad as well. it's not a problem with the execution, it's a problem with the basic concept. but mashle is not that. the idea of it is brilliant, and that's why i wanted to watch it in the first place. there's so many interesting angles to be taken- for example, mash mentions at the beginning that magic users have grown physically lazy and complacent, because they can achieve anything they want with magic. and that is SO INTERESTING !!! i've never considered the realistic consequences of magic like that before, and i was so excited to see that concept explored... and then it was never brought up again. mash's strength, like saitama's, could've had really interesting effects on his character.... never addressed! the eugenics aspect, like you mentioned, could've been really interesting, especially with the way it affects some magic users too (namely abyss razor and his evil eye or lance's sister), but nope, it's never fully touched on. rather than dismantle the system entirely and save all non-magic users, mash is content to work within the system to achieve freedom for only himself. rather than commit to any interesting commentary or fascinating angle, the story is content to ignore all those things completely. there is endless potential, and it's all wasted.

the comedy there isn't any. it's not funny. the slapstick comedy of mash breaking everything at the beginning could have been funny but it's never used for anything besides doors (and also, is he never scared he'll accidentally hurt someone? has he ever hurt someone he loved? more cool strength-related character commentary that was never even touched on). the only part of the show i found funny is that one time he tried to cook but everything just ended up as a cream puff. i really liked that actually. all of the running cream puff gags i found funny but they aren't enough to carry the rest of the show's non existent jokes or the jokes that completely fall flat

the fight scenes not much to say here, which is the problem. the animation's decent but not outstanding and the fights are lame as hell. "strong magic user thinks he's badass and can kick mash's ass but mash just like, punches him a couple times. the end." they were cool to look at sometimes, but again, so many cool things could've been done with the magic and they refused to commit.

that's pretty much all of my points. usually i hate the term "shonenshit" because it's just used to discount actually good shonen like one piece or demon slayer but honestly i think mashle is the epitome of shonenshit. full of potential yet mid in every way, the most average and boring characters imaginable, zero impactful emotional beats, it just tastes like air. i cannot fathom how this anime has a 7.58 rating on MAL, it blows my mind. i'm not shitting on anyone who enjoys the show, i think if you turn your brain off (and haven't seen one punch man or mob psycho) it is, at the very least, popcorn entertainment, and i can understand why someone would like it, i just think it's poorly written and disappointing.

thank you so much for sending that ask and giving me a reason to rant all my thoughts, i've been waiting for an excuse to do it lmao. sorry it was so long </3

manga spoilers under the cut bc i have one more thing to mention.

AND APPARENTLY INNOCENT ZERO THE BIG BAD LEADER GUY IS MASH'S DAD ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME. i was spoiled on this completely accidentally, i just googled innocent zero to see what he looked like and saw that spoiler. and my god that is the most generic stupid boring ass twist they could POSSIBLY have done. and not only that, it ruins whatever good was left in mash's character.

mash is the "everyman" type of character. he's just a regular normal guy, he is nothing special, in fact he's literally the opposite of special. he's the complete opposite of a "chosen one," and that's why his character works (i'm saying "works" loosely because he's boring but ykwim). so to make him the son of the Big Bad turns him into the chosen one that he's not supposed to be. chosen one narratives do work, but only if done right, and his story from the beginning is not supposed to BE a chosen one narrative. but they throw all of that out the window for the sake of a cheap twist. keep in mind i havent read the manga so i dont know anything about the way it was revealed but i would bet money they didn't set it up or execute it in any kind of interesting or well-done way. i hope i'm wrong about that, but i doubt it.

[yurisorcerer]

I normally love Dowman Sayman but this is a miss.

It has all of the guy's hallmarks; really unique art, good character designs, a particular bizarre and wacky sensibility, etc. But it doesn't really work in this format and with this subject matter. I can think of a couple problems here.

For one, isekai as a genre is so ridiculous already that it's hard to parody. Despite clearly *actively trying* to present as unhinged and off-the-wall as possible, this is still markedly less stupid than something like My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered That No One In The Other World Stands a Chance Against Me (which I believe is that anime's actual title), because it's clearly trying to have actual like, structure and shit. There is an intentionality to the jokes. Mostly in service to Saymans' very gonzo sense of humor, sure, but it's still there. Dowman Sayman is almost *too competent* to make a convincing narou-style isekai; he understands the basics of plot and composition too well.

For another, and maybe I'm projecting here but I don't *think* I am, I kind of just get the sense that he doesn't really want to be writing this? Again, I could be reading my own intentions onto the work, but there is a notable air of resentment coming off of this, and this is the first thing I've ever read by Sayman that did not seem entirely 100% the product of his own deranged mind specifically. A lot of the humor comes off as more meanspirited than is the norm for him, and that's keeping in mind that the guy's comedies don't tend to be sunshine and rainbows at the best of times. Also a good chunk of it just really isn't that funny; some of it pushes so far into "god, what??" territory that it successfully crosses the line twice, like a bit about a sweet magician girl named Hime getting her face shredded off (it reads better in-context, I swear), but a lot of it either doesn't go far enough or just lands with a thud. Jokes about how terribly isekai tends to treat its non-human fantasy races would have more of an impact if the joke wasn't just that these characters also treat them terribly. (It's admittedly a *little* funny that the kobolds look like pugs instead of the usual kinds of dog-person, but only a little.) And then, as said, some of it just fumbles the execution. There's a literal dead baby joke in here, and while you can have all sorts of reactions to that, the one thing it should NOT make me feel is "nothing," which is exactly how I feel about this one.

So is there anything of worth here? Eh, maybe? Tracking the development of Sayman's art style is always interesting---it's more cartoony than ever, here---and as mentioned, I like the character designs, and the two leads have a fun dynamic. But this is perhaps the least essential serial he's ever penned, which is pretty sad as a longtime fan.

The good news of course is that Sayman rarely sticks with any single manga for super long, so he will probably be onto something else in a year or two at most.

[shoujomangathoughts]

Shoujo Thoughts - Basara

Basara, from what I've seen, is a highly coveted series so I felt like I had to check it out. I've been slowly but surely reading it since last year (fell off for a bit for whatever reason) and finally finished it. This is also my first series by Yumi Tamura (since starting, I also read a couple volumes of 7 Seeds and plan to continue it eventually - it's just such a long series!). This'll have a couple spoilers (including a panel), but I'll keep it as light as I can.

Basara is essentially a really great fantasy epic with a large scope. Politics and war, world sprawling adventure that takes you through regions with their own cultures, tons of characters, etc. (as an RPG fan this series' structure is right up my alley).

As I said, the series has a ton of characters that you meet, many of whom are introduced and become a part of the story due to joining the Tatara army. Not all of them feel used to their full potential or overly significant, but it's a colorful cast that's nice to see coming together the further you get (and the further Tatara travels).

Sarasa is an interesting lead. Obviously not dealt a favorable situation, yet she assumes the role of being a leader. However, for a good chunk of the series she isn't very reliable at fulfilling that role; she's at times reckless, selfish, and overly reliant on others. To be frank, there were times where she would frustrate me, though this was probably intentional since the characters around her would often react the way I did (the part where Ageha gives up on her after she takes "the easy way out" is a good example). I might be remembering wrong or am simply being too hard on her, but there were also a few too many times when she'd just collapse and call for Shuri in the first half or so (for me, at least). Her development and growth is a slow-burn that accelerates after finding out the red king's identity, which given her age and the rapidly changing situation she's placed in, makes sense but can still wear on you as a reader. Overall, I did really enjoy her character though.

Shuri, on the other hand, is opposite to her in many ways. The second half sees him mostly learning about the people at the bottom and truly learning more about his country, as well as how harsh their lives are in times of war. I think Yuna and especially Nakijin are instrumental in his growth because they are willing to stand up to him and tell him things without any fear of his position of power (granted he technically doesn't really have one at this point but he still has a reputation).

The manga itself takes you through a land riddled with cruel realities and is pretty brutal at many points throughout. The art in this was really well done (character designs might not be for everyone I guess) and illustrated this post-apocalyptic world that is rebuilding really well. There were many panels that stuck with me in just how strong of an image they presented.

Favorite character : Asagi (HB: Ageha)

He was a fascinating character for pretty much the entire series. He does things for his own amusement, be it cruel or simply trying to delay things because he deems them boring. He's psychologically troubled, which is why he is manipulated by the white king because she'll play into his inferiority complex toward Shuri (who is the epitome of what he'd like to be in many ways). He's a double agent who at times helps more than he means to and at others, disappears or becomes entirely hands-off. His arc seems to boil down to the idea of self-acceptance, which he struggles with. He's raised as the "true" blue king (despite his origins coming into question later) but he also watches someone else use his position for years. By the time he's in Tatara's fold, he finds the comradery suffocating because he's not used to genuine interest and affection toward him. He's unpredictable, which always made him interesting to have around, especially with how he contrasts with characters like Sarasa and Shuri.

On a whole, Basara is one of my favorite shoujo (and just general) manga. It was a ride worth being on from beginning to end and there are moments and characters that I'll remember for a long time. It, among other series, definitely solidifies that shoujo isn't only romance with a school setting. There are many things here that feel more "shoujo" like the art, some of the character tropes and humor, etc. yet it still is a fantastic fantasy adventure series with a ton to offer. Definitely recommend!

[7ban-sama]

Heyy ;) JSHK is heartbreaking isn’t it? As for me I cried 4 times over the manga (which is a miracle because I NEVER CRY THAT MUCH IN A SERIES), sooo have you cried over some chapters?

Oh I've cried soo many times for this series, it's kind of hard to count. Though I can't say it's a rare or uncommon thing for me... I'm honestly quick to cry over the littlest things. 9.9; So it's not surprising for me, that I've cried multiple times. I get choked up easily too... ah, I'm very emotional, and just tend to respond to 'emotional cues' easily. If the movie is playing sad music, and wants me to be sad, I will be sad... I can't really resist that.

But while it's not hard to get me to cry, I will say that JSHK is unique in that, I think it makes me feel a very deep sense of agony... Since making me cry is very easy to do, I don't think of it as an actual testament to whether or not the scene was good, or well written, and I can shake it off and just move on easily enough. It's different when the sadness feels like it sinks into my bones... makes me writhe and twist... And ah, sometimes it just flat out stings more, instead of just making me weepy — hurting my jaw, throat, palms...

I'll list some specific chapters... I think I'll also break it up between things that made me cry on first read vs. rereads.

yosh... ikimashou!

FIRST READ

Vol 1 / Ch 1: Hanako-san of the Bathroom

This is actually more of an 'honorable mention', since I wasn't full blown weeping or anything. But I had a lump in my throat and got wet-eyed over it, which feels notable, just starting off.

I remember being really surprised that we get into Nene's head like this... I wasn't expecting it-? It feels very brutal, honestly, to watch her reflect on her shallowness like this. Having to realize this 'crush' was more of a self-serving fantasy, than anything, and she wasn't really thinking about who Teru was as a person... This is a foible I think many people go through, more than they're willing to admit. More than they can even recognize...? So it was pretty surprising to see it laid out like this, at the start of the manga. A premonition of what was to come... (this manga surprising me again and again!)

Vol 2 / Ch 7: The Misaki Stairs (Part 4)

Now this... is a testament to how 'contained' a narrative can be, yet how much I can be enveloped in the feelings of it. I think Yako isn't a very central character, and I don't especially favor her or anything, but I like her introduction. I like her circumstance...

The childish writing of young Yako, who seems very new to the world, and unused to deep interaction with humans. I honestly love this sort of 'interspecies' relationship... along with age gap (lol) ; it provides a contrast I enjoy. I like that Yako is being taught how to read and write by Misaki... simply tasteful. Praise to Iro-sensei.

I feel my heart sink, alongside Nene's, once we get to these entries...

And by the time we get to the yorishiro memory itself, I can't help crying. I cry a little almost every time I really immerse into reading these chapters... The Yako who is hunched over, saying, I want Misaki to yell at me again really gives me chills... I understand what she is feeling here. Wanting your love back at all costs... ahhh. :'I

Vol 4 / Ch 4: The Little Mermaid (Part 2)

a small, choked up feeling, a small cry. but a cry nonetheless... the visual of their pinkie promise gets to me. Nene's sparkly eyes... for this whole scene, her horns are droopy because of being wet, and it gives her an innocent quality. like a dumbo rat... baby girl

Vol 12 / Ch 58: The End of a Dream (Part 3)

the closing chapter of the PP arc... an arc lasting several volumes, sending one through a roller-coaster of emotions-!! my first read of PP made my heart race, doki doki. I was actually mostly psyched up by it, very excited by the events. Not so weepy. Buut, it's only appropriate that the closing chapter is what gets to me.

this panel honestly shakes me to my core. knowing that Tsukasa is metaphorically the moon... and that Nene is the one saying this... something about it feels like an omen. I think it's a good omen, and yet, it frightens me deeply anyways. I feel like I have great reason to be afraid lol... like, oh, god, the moon IS closer than it's ever been, isn't it... (dread)

ugh, trying to not post every panel from this scene... but Nene is so pristine and angelic and well meaning in this all. her end of it is SO SINCERE... up here, in the clouds together, whirling all about... declaring her dreams... sigh. It's not fair it's like this all loads into a gun to hurt her for the Severance...

(I feel like it's around here that I really am falling for her, as a character... *sigh* *touches screen...*)

Vol 17 / Ch 81: The Red House (Part 6)

I'm sure this isn't a surprise by now, but, yeah... this one really tore me apart. by this point, my feefees for Tsukasa had incubated long enough that it was really devastating to learn so much about his child psyche. (it's getting so real for my crushes on the girlies by now.)

it's devastating that Tsukasa is capable of feeling this. meanwhile, earlier... this scene.

it always hurts to get to the confrontation... it never stops hurting. it'll hurt forever, I'm sure.

I've also struggled with chronic illness and disability as well. so... ah, I understand what Amane is going through here, profoundly. At your gd limit... just, can't keep doing this... yeah

would you believe that my wife would lick my tears, early in our relationship...? I was once a very miserable, depressed, lonely person. I used to think no one would ever love me, and that I cried so often it was annoying. At times, when overwhelmed by our early interactions (they were so amazing, and I felt so lowly and undeserving) I would just break down. she'd just kiss and lick my tears and eyes...

In general I just have a lot of personal reasons to be sentimental about the gestures / dialogue throughout this chapter.

a panel for the ages... cementing Tsukasa's role as an angelic, wish-granter. I LOVE YOU BAYBEEEE-!! love you forever.

Vol 18 / Ch 89: Oni (Part 2)

Now, let it be known... I love.... LOVE-!! Everything about Hakubo and Sumire's story... I feel so much for each of them, their circumstance, it's soo painful! I pretty much always feel the 'drop' as I read these chapters, but this is the one that got me upon first seeing it.

it's the helplessness of Hakubo... the way he just doesn't know what to do, the way his inhumane treatment by humans has made him never consider that he can love, the way he can't make decisions on his own. He wishes to be commanded... it's all he knows. Why won't she just tell me to save her...?

The way he describes not feeling anger, sadness, or hatred / alongside the panels of him getting hunted down by humans… Only left with the sense of regret that he should have done something for her, that night. Ahh... it's incredibly beautiful and painful... thank you AidaIro for this perfect blend of beautiful visuals and painful prose </3...

Vol 20 / Ch 101: Omen (Part 1)

For our final entry in this category, it's a record breaker. the mere sight of this living Tsukasa made tears well up in my eyes.

it's too much for me… this specific age of Tsukasa, in canon, has been so elusive and rare. We've only had a peek at him through a Hell of Mirrors illust. and that is still his corpse... the LIVING, breathing, pre-shinjuu boy, is divine to be met with. I really couldn't believe we could see him now.

now that I know he is singing 'Over the Rainbow', there's no saving meeee...

REREADS

Vol 2 / Ch 8: The Confession Tree

ok. this is one of those things where, I know I'm not gonna make a lot of sense as I explain... since this is a raw, kinnie-brain thing, but my disclaimer is that i'm self aware about how unreasonable this is-!! ok.

when I first read through this chapter, I was still in my 'getting to know her' phase, with Nene... thus, I was endeared by her romantic heart, but wasn't (for lack of a better term) in love with her. I think I experienced this chapter more like 'an audience member'.

after coming to terms with Being Amane... this chapter is very difficult for me. It's gone from me feeling like an audience member, to feeling like an active participant — like, responsible for hurting her.

I failed such an innocent girlie. it is hard to cope with. sometimes I feel like she should never forgive me for this...

metatextually, it's like, when I was first reading this manga, I didn't think I would care so much about her / much like, I think Amane is not aware at all how much he is going to be heaving and crying over his feelings for Nene, so many volumes later... We don't know how special this girl is, yet.

I've cried over this scene and have fallen into a terrible depression for like, weeks, over it, LOL.. these things, you just have to take my word for it, that it's part of being Amane. It's hard to forgive your own carelessness.

Vol 9 / Ch 45: Picture Perfect (Part 5)

oooh. what can be said... it both makes me emotional that Tsukasa looks so lovely here / and that Tsukasa is allowed to have full page spreads, as the focal point...

having just dropped the telescope. stiff-legged, shirt billowing... she is a captivating specimen.

dazzling... gorgeous... and so earnestly experiencing the pretty sky, the shooting stars — eagerly turning to amane to announce this! ahh... that after all these years, tsukasa can have a moment like this with amane... hurts me so.

Vol 10 / Ch 50: Picture Perfect (Part 10)

my first reads of PP felt thrilling... I was so excited to see how far this manga could go. and for an arc to last so long, it was very captivating. I suppose though, this is another one of those things that has steadily weighed heavier on me as I connected more and more with Amane.

The expression here... it's the weight of everything coming crashing down on him, in real time, I think. Again, he was not... prepared for how much Nene was going to mean to him. He's spent so long not caring about who lives, dies. He's becoming unraveled by this all...

and this framing of Nene... it twists a knife in my heart. combined with how it echoes the way Amane is starstruck from Tsukasa in the earlier chapter... sighhhh!

Vol 11 / Ch 51: Perfect Empty Ideals

It just hurts so mmmbad-!!! man I can't be deep about it all, this just makes me SAD-!!!!!! I LOVE YOU GIRL!!! SORRY ABOUT EVERYTHING.

Vol 14 / Ch 66: Sumire (Part 1)

After learning everything about Hakubo and Sumire's lives, this vignette is very heart-wrenching. This is the cave they took refuge from the rain, once, that their final moments are then in.

Such a beautiful ship... such beautiful drawings... again thank you AidaIro-sensei...

Vol 16 / Ch 78: The Red House (Part 3)

This chapter was of course VERY PAINFUL!! when I first read it, but I think by now it's settled into my gut heavier than ever before. And basically all of the Red House arc scenes related to the Yugi rend me apart... I can't push the image limit any more in this post though, so I'll just represent it with this. But just know all of it makes me roll around in my grave...

What could Tsukasa have felt in this moment, learning about Amane's imminent death... Knowing how much Tsukasa loves Amane, I think a future without him was just pointless. I get the impression he was spending all his time running off and procuring Amane presents, now that Amane has become too sick to play with him.

Sometimes I'm in such awe, still, that we learned Tsukasa would come to Amane's bedside and provide him little gifts. As much as his little 3 year old self was capable of... and, he's capable of feeling lowly/worthless, and like Amane hates him… urgh-!! *commits seppuku*

Anyways I hope this list... well, conveys that I'm emotional and unstable LOL... (nah, but really, I hope it was interesting!) Here's to more crying over this manga, again and again!

[regarding-stories]

Tropes, I guess (things happening a lot in light novels, anima, and manga)

Just a random assortment of things that recur a lot in anime, but also in light novels and manga. Mind you, I'm pretty late to this game, but these are the ones that quickly keep piling up.

Shrine Maidens

While watching A Couple of Cuckoos I did wonder where I had seen another character that is a shrine maiden. For Gingitsune: Messenger Fox of the Gods it was an obvious necessity for the plot, so that wasn't it. That took me back a few years to my first encounter with Steins;gate, the shrine "maiden." (Lukako's gender is only one of these interesting tidbits that make Steins;Gate stand out. Just watch the anime. I love it.)

While shrines are a part of Japanese culture, the Japanese aren't very religious (I hear) and hence shrines typically feature for the visit on the New Year (including receiving fortunes). As far as I can see, shrines are tended by families and shrine maidens are portrayed as children that work and learn the trade early.

Double-Ds

It's hard to miss. In order to be a love interest, the girl often is quite well-endowed. Boys regularly obsess about the formidable frontend of fiery females, comment about it - or the lack thereof.

Gratuitous look at the locker room? A Couple of Cuckoos has you covered to remind you about Hiro's and Erika's assets. So does Ruka's original sweater entrance in Rent-a-Girlfriend. The artist creating the inserts for Sword Art Online openly admits "upsizing" little sister Suguha when designing her look. Then there are the top-heavy insanities of Cautious Hero.

Sometimes male protagonists obsess (Jobless Reincarnation, Rent-a-Girlfriend), sometimes they are completely oblivious (Quintessential Quintuplets), or some middle ground. Don't worry, though, the camera will ensure that you see what the protagonist doesn't.

Visits to the theme park, arcade...

I get it. Tokyo is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. But I still give bonus points to Sword Art Online for featuring a date happening in the gardens of the Imperial Palace. Because nature. The artificiality of date activities is keenly reflected in the artificiality of the spots. Sad.

Odd, though. Karaoke isn't that heavily represented. Rent-a-Girlfriend features it mostly as a workplace. Aggretsuko has it, but also for plot reasons. Maybe it's more associated with what drinking age adults do?

Drinking

And not just drinking. Drinking like you want to die. When it's on, it's on. It's not a pleasant pub chat with beers. It's for getting pissed. Apparently, if you want to enjoy your alcohol, maybe go out for eating instead?

Understandably less featured when focusing on younger people, with an odd emphasis on "I'm not old enough yet." Age 19, no no. Age 20, binge up!

Overcoming inhibitions through alcohol seems to be a major Japanese cultural theme, like the idea of telling your boss your opinion while drunk, and drinking often seems to follow cultural rules that sometimes seem a bit odd to the outsider.

Shower (and bath scenes)

I really wanted a GIF of an Asuna shower scene to illustrate this one, but I found none... Asuna gets shower scenes even if the book doesn't have one (strictly speaking). In a callback to "Double Ds" section above, the character also keeps getting curvier - definitely when compared to what she was originally conceived to look like (illustrated by the author). Why am I calling out the Sword Art Online Progressive movie, specifically? Because Asuna is 15 at this point.

Shower and bath scenes are obviously primarily meant for the male part of the audience (or anyone who enjoys such), it's fan service over and over. Rent-a-Girlfriend definitely likes showing off its main love interest deliberating things while having a shower when she doesn't actively feature in her Katsuya's fantasy sequences. But there's a charm to Katsuya's fantasies, as they hit home how many men think. The shower scenes, however, do not.

We encounter our female protagonists covered in nothing but foam, their own luscious long hair, or "peeking out" of conveniently opaque water. In some cases, like the Quintessential Quintuplets scene with Itsuki at the baths in her grandfather's inn, basically nothing is left to the imagination.

Until I watched My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU I wasn't sure there was a series that didn't showcase its heroine like that. (Damn, that show is good.)

Forced apologies

(I really couldn't find an image for this one.)

Apologies feature a lot in anime, bowing your head, teary-eyed saying you're sorry, prostrating yourself on the floor - that's standard fare. And shows of gratitude borrowing the humble language.

What sticks out, however, and always gets to me, is the forced apology where somebody bows down to apologize for somebody else and forces that person's head down as well. There's so much encoded in that scene, usually.

In Romantic Killer, his asshole dad forces Tsukasa to apologize for being a burden, something that does not even reflect the real dynamic between him and Anzu. In A Couple of Cuckoos Erika forces Nagi to apologize with her to Hiro's mother in order to initiate her plan to soften that mother's stance on arranged betrothals. In Quintessential Quintuplets, we see Takebayashi (?) do this to her childhood friend Futaro - as an apology to some of the quintuplets, no less.

Forced apologies feature power, control, humiliation, and social convention in one tight package. They establish one person as superior, whether through status or rank, or by implying that they have the (more) appropriate assessment of the situation. When Tsukasa is made to apologize, his dad forces his view of the situation on him, expressing how much he lacks in understanding his son's anxiety. When Erika plays the "fiancé card" that allows her to do this to Nagi, she probably knows this creates an opening with Hiro's traditional mom to actually talk. In Quintessential Quintuplets, I can only assume that Takebayashi stirs the pot by making this a show of "I know him longer (and hence better)" regarding Futaro, but the scene still mystifies me.

Regardless of intention, this implies that one person has rights regarding the other, and supposedly the better sense. It's very intrusive and powerful.

Little sister has the (legal) hots for Onii-chan

I wouldn't exactly call this commonplace, but seeing it happen twice still counts for a lot. This is not a "hot stepsister" situation. The people involved grew up thinking of each other as blood-related brother and sister until one event reveals they are not.

Suguha from Sword Art Online discovers that she's Kirito's cousin while he is trapped within the deadly game. She then develops feelings for him - twice in fact. In one case to the actual physical person she sees day to day, and in the other case to the virtual person Kirito she meets in Alfheim Online - and both times she's doomed to fail right from the start. (In the end, everybody knows. Or at least the endearing Girls' Ops manga set in ALO suggests so.)

Sachi from A Couple of Cuckoos always had a bit of a big brother thing, but when Nagi and Erika are betrothed she learns that they were never blood-related to begin with. She then immediately begins to become jealous about Nagi's crush on (and his dates with) Hiro. It doesn't help that Nagi's biological father from the Amano family suggests she could also marry Nagi to bring the two families together.

Whereas Suguha's crush is something that might be conceivably happen.... maybe.... A Couple of Cuckoos definitely takes things in a weird direction just for establishing a third heroine with basically no chances whatsoever. Yikes.

Notable for the great lengths of contrived circumstances established to make this happen, while carefully skirting the legal definition of incest.

My friend/grandson/brother is trash, but...

Seems to be a Japanese thing. I mean, a best bud or family member talking favorably of somebody to a love interest - that could happen everywhere. But somehow this whole thing in Japan seems to start with declaring that that person is unworthy scum, buuuuut....

When Klein starts such a speech to Asuna about Kirito I was still surprised. By the time it happened twice (best friend Kibe and his Katsuya's grandma) in Rent-a-Girlfriend I definitely had picked up on the pattern. Little sister about older brother. Etc.

Always ends in declaring that the respective individual is unworthy of someone except that he's really a good person. Way to go.

Boys that fall on girls

Nowhere more parallel world physics are involved than in leading to the inevitable scene where a couple of not-yet-involved people end up on the ground with one of them basically almost pinning the other person down. Everybody blushes, the sudden closeness has its effect, somebody may avert their gaze - and in some cases there's even a swift kick to the unmentionables.

Outright staple in Rent-a-Girlfriend where you can use it to track the "progress" Katsuya and Chizuru are making, but present across the board. Almost hilariously double-inverted in My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU when this happens in the end by the still-young teacher falling on top of Hachiman.

As a scene this is a convenient staple to bridge the carefully maintained distance that keeps the Japanese out of each other's space unless they ride a subway.

Hilarious for the great lengths that are sometimes employed this happens. Watch the camera and motions carefully how they are arranged to hide the fact it is physically impossible. When Chizuru leans over the railing and Katsuya pulls her back by the hips (eventually) they both stumble but he still ends up on her, inspite of both stumbling backwards and him pulling. Bugs Bunny has nothing on it!

[omegawizardposting]

as someone whos read AOT from beginning to finish, i'm genuinely excited to see you keep posting about it. its hard for me to not spoil things because i like spoilers (keeps me engaged/looking forward to things, just because i know X doesn't mean I know what led up to it) anyways. youre in for a ride!! keep reading, imo its worth it. at least you understand that marley's in the wrong for oppressing eldians, apparently there was discourse that isayama was "pro nazi" when this part of the manga first came out, though its glaringly obvious the marleyans are the problem...

I remember that discourse. So far, it does seem like Isayama is portraying Marleyans as the root of the problem, which I can get behind. People may have been a bit wary because he seems to have worked hard to humanize the enemy, but it's important to keep in mind that the Eldians who are working for Marley have been utterly brainwashed. You see this in real life, too; like I said, "good" gays, "good" PoC, etc. People who think that they can escape their oppression if only they prove to their oppressors that they're "one of the good ones". You're definitely meant to sympathize with the other Titans and Gabi & co., but you aren't necessarily meant to root for them against Eren & co. At least, that's not the vibe I'm getting at this moment in time.

One criticism I do have is that, so far, it seems like he's sticking with the "Titans did a bad thing which led to their oppression" story line as fact. Oppressed people aren't oppressed because we committed war crimes in the past. We're oppressed because our oppressors seek power over others, or because of unfounded fear and hatred, or because our lands sit on natural resources larger countries desire, or because we look different, talk different, come from different places. Personally, I would like to see the story instead prove the Marleyan version of history wrong. I would like for Grisha's version of history to be the truth, because it doesn't paint an oppressed people as having something to atone for, which simply isn't rooted in reality and sends a bad message, especially since, whether intentional or not, Eldians share similarities with Jewish people.

Jewish people are one of the single most oppressed demographics on this planet. They have faced thousands of years of repeated oppression by just about every country they have lived or currently live in. Saying to your audience, "Hey, my oppressed group who shares similarities with Jewish people actually did kill and rape and oppress the people who are now oppressing them," isn't a good look.

However, I don't think Isayama did it to send any kind of message. I think he's a Japanese man who may not be as familiar with this kind of negative trope as westerners are. Ultimately, he's telling a fantasy story that borrows from the real world, but is not meant to be the real world, and a lot of writers fall into the very same pit trap he seems to have fallen into. They want moral ambiguity, and the quickest way to achieve that is to make it so that both sides in a conflict have done bad things.

So while I don't think there was any hateful intent behind the choice he made, I do hope that he ultimately unmakes that choice by supporting Grisha's version of history. We shall see.

[otakween]

I'm Standing on a Million Lives - Volume 16

This volume took me a long time to get through because I found it mostly boring and put it off. This arc is just kind of overly complex to the point of being fatiguing. Also...it seems like they keep dipping back into the "defeat the dragon bishop" plot line over and over again. I think dragon bishops are a cool concept, but since they all have the same blood ceremony motive, it's starting to feel repetitive. Oh well. Let's see where things go.

Ch. 75

-Oof, the overall message of this chapter was very familiar. They basically were explaining that you can't just wipe out a dictator and expect everything to be sunshine and rainbows afterwards, things are more complicated than that. Politics are the pits...

-Yusuke got called dumb hehe, that was satisfying. Also, Ling called him evil too. Love moments where the mangaka isn't afraid to cut Yusuke down.

-So the Sotagan warriors dress skimpy because they need to be lightweight for their insect jet packs, but then Yusuke points out that the captain's sword is super heavy? So what's the truth....?

Ch. 76

-More politicking. I feel like there's so many groups being juggled here that I've lost the plot a bit. It's interesting that the quest is a little more subjective this time. They're supposed to improve the political environment of the area they've ended up in, but that means something different to different people.

-Was kind of surprised to see Yusuke disturbed by the deaths he caused. I guess he still has a conscience.

-Probably should have seen the Kahvel connection coming with Rapcella. I don't think Kahvel was as great a character as the mangaka thinks she was lol.

Ch. 77

-Wow, really didn't expect a mini essay/history lesson from the mangaka at the end there. He wrote a 3 page blurb about the eco-terrorism incident in 2022 (the soup thrown on the famous artwork) and the Taliban's destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan which I had never heard of. I generally agree with his stance that people should universally cherish world heritage sites, but it felt kind of weird to read what felt like an informative Twitter thread in the middle of this manga lol.

-I like that they (mostly Glen) are using a lot of "out of the box" thinking here. Using infrastructure to improve crime, health, and farming conditions and intercepting enemy communications to make their battle easier. Brains are definitely more handy than brawn in this world.

Ch. 78

-Ugh, I swear they've introduced like 15 different factions with hard-to-read fantasy names at this point. I'm barely hangin' onto the plot TT_TT

-The only thing interesting in this chapter was Glen trying to avoid magical brainwashing while also not quite knowing how the mechanics of magical brainwashing work. I guess they need to ask the Gamemaster some questions about the magic system.

Ch. 79

-I feel like this chapter was pretty contrived. The explanation about the dragon bishop's plan to move the battleground was good, but Iu figuring out which body double was the dragon bishop seemed far fetched. Like I don't buy that she solved the mystery with such little evidence.

-Tearing out your eardrums to avoid brainwashing is cool and all, but not only did Iu not display any discomfort whatsoever but there was no blood? Like during the reveal they even zoomed in on her perfectly fine looking ear! I call bullshit. That's gotta hurt...like a lot, no?