Ufufufu, well, funny story is that I've actually been reading a lot of shorter series that are like 6 or so chapters long. But I wasn't feeling very inspired to review them, and maybe I'll regret it later when I accidentally reread them because I didn't document reading them the first time. However, life gets in the way of things that you really want to do like binge-watching anime. I've got finals looming in the coming week and fear hasn't been stricken in my heart yet, but I know that it's coming. With all the studying I've been doing in this sedentary lifestyle my back has been hurting quite a bit. Only the Lord knows how broken my body will be at age 75 *cries*.
{Spoilers, but it's slice of life so}
Ah, I can't really say how much of this manga I really understood. I think with these shorter series they can go various ways with how they narrate and this one was definitely a thinker. It was about this girl whose mom passed away and was left with a man that wasn't her biological father, but still really loves her and about their happy life together. But it also tied in the girl's childhood friend that she somehow still stayed in contact with and his rather strange turn of events? And it also tied in the father's relationship with his family? It was definitely very nuanced in that it was very much so "how much can you read in between the lines?" or at least that's what I got from it. And because of this I spent quite a bit of time contemplating and trying to puzzle out exactly what I was supposed to get from this. Honestly speaking, I'm still not sure what I'm supposed to get from this.
Is this a bildungsroman? Or would classifying it as such be taking the easy way out? I think it's an introspective coming of age narrative to be sure, and perhaps it's so crazily put together in order to prove the point of the tumultuous life she's led? You can see from the number of question marks in this post that I'm still trying to piece it together. But really I might not come back to this to think more because ~finals are looming~.
Even though I was nothing short of confused about this series I think it was a pretty cool read :')
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Manga Match 55 Hoshi to Kuzu: Don't Worry, Be Happy!
Recently I haven't had a lot of time to read as much manga much less watch any anime. I've been focusing more on my schoolwork as I've been trying to balance school with a bit of a social life. Not gonna lie and say that I don't love sleeping as well or that I couldn't be doing more, but with my current workload it's just about bearable. Every day has been a pretty uneventful day. Some days are a bit more *sparkly* with that youthful glow, but with my increasingly more regular back problems it seems like those are more like moments rather than full days. But those are good too! Probably because I've been spending more time in social situations like meals and such I've been feeling a lot more drained. Perhaps because I only slept 5 hours?
{Spoilers}
I think reading this manga really solidified my understanding of my stance towards shoujo manga now. As I was looking for the next series to pick up or just to start, I realized that I gravitate towards certain kinds of male and female protagonists and when the characters of a shoujo manga don't align with my preferences it makes it immediately less enjoyable for me. Before when I would pick a shoujo up I'd be much less critical unless it really sucked with the plot and useless female leads. But now I just feel like they're starting to lose their edge altogether for me.
For instance, this manga starred this headstrong girl named Anzu who aimed for president of her high school, ended up as vice president, and proceeded to fall in love with the guy who is your stereotypical "I'm full of myself, but also I had a tragic backstory and I love you" kind of guy. If you read a lot of shoujo you know what I mean. Don't get me wrong. He's pretty cute and his tsundere sort of nature is pretty cute if you're into that sort of thing, but this is what I mean by you can't really take my reviews on shoujo as seriously anymore. They just don't really do it for me. It's a totally cutesy slice of life story about each of them finding out about the other's feelings, some side characters finding their happily ever after that isn't fleshed out because it's only 16 chapters so it feels rushed and not at all gratifying, and of course a love triangle. And I guess if you're like 15 years old and you're still looking for that prince charming or that fairy tale idealized life, then yeah shoujo is definitely where it's at for you.
Honestly, I think there are better shoujo out there that follow the basic same premise, but just because it's longer and there's more time to flesh out the characters and the plot more it's a more successful attempt at this type of story. It's definitely very cutesy and very fairy tale-esque, but I think it's just a me problem that I'm not super into these whole fantasy rich boy prince charming thing that's so common in shoujo.
Ooof I feel like this whole review was very much so negative, but TL;DR I think I'll slowly distance myself from shoujo because it just isn't as gratifying to read anymore :(
{Spoilers}
I think reading this manga really solidified my understanding of my stance towards shoujo manga now. As I was looking for the next series to pick up or just to start, I realized that I gravitate towards certain kinds of male and female protagonists and when the characters of a shoujo manga don't align with my preferences it makes it immediately less enjoyable for me. Before when I would pick a shoujo up I'd be much less critical unless it really sucked with the plot and useless female leads. But now I just feel like they're starting to lose their edge altogether for me.
For instance, this manga starred this headstrong girl named Anzu who aimed for president of her high school, ended up as vice president, and proceeded to fall in love with the guy who is your stereotypical "I'm full of myself, but also I had a tragic backstory and I love you" kind of guy. If you read a lot of shoujo you know what I mean. Don't get me wrong. He's pretty cute and his tsundere sort of nature is pretty cute if you're into that sort of thing, but this is what I mean by you can't really take my reviews on shoujo as seriously anymore. They just don't really do it for me. It's a totally cutesy slice of life story about each of them finding out about the other's feelings, some side characters finding their happily ever after that isn't fleshed out because it's only 16 chapters so it feels rushed and not at all gratifying, and of course a love triangle. And I guess if you're like 15 years old and you're still looking for that prince charming or that fairy tale idealized life, then yeah shoujo is definitely where it's at for you.
Honestly, I think there are better shoujo out there that follow the basic same premise, but just because it's longer and there's more time to flesh out the characters and the plot more it's a more successful attempt at this type of story. It's definitely very cutesy and very fairy tale-esque, but I think it's just a me problem that I'm not super into these whole fantasy rich boy prince charming thing that's so common in shoujo.
Ooof I feel like this whole review was very much so negative, but TL;DR I think I'll slowly distance myself from shoujo because it just isn't as gratifying to read anymore :(
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Manga Match 54 House of the Sun
I think in this year alone I've cried in front of people I don't really know that well more times than I have in the other years of my life combined. I'm not really sure if this was a conscious thing on my part or if it was just a subconscious thing that I've kept bottled up inside, but I guess I'm just an emotional person? I would say a lot of the time I experience a lot of joy, worry, anxiety and things along those lines, but it really struck me about how much sadness I keep inside? Or maybe I'm just a crybaby that can't deal with my emotions. It's really hard to tell in these sorts of situations. It makes me wonder if I have the crying capacity of a shoujo manga protagonist. I mean, they do cry a lot.
{Spoilers}
You know, I should really be doing homework and other things that are productive and stuff...but I just feel so emotionally drained from trying not to cry and then crying and all of that fun stuff that I actually just ended up binging the last 10 chapters of this manga. Am I really proud of that fact? Not really. Did it happen regardless? Uh, yeah.
So this manga focuses around a girl named Mao that had a rough home life growing up in the sense that her parents never openly showed her love and when they eventually split, she was left kind of neglected or at least held at a distance from her dad and completely out of contact with her mom. And so the only solace she ever felt was in the neighboring Nakamura family household. It was a super happy family of a dad, mom, two sons, and a daughter. They had all of the things that a happy and healthy home has, and Mao found refuge there. However, when an accident occurred and the Nakamura kids were left without parents, the merry band split up and they all grew up. Now Hiro, the eldest Nakamura son is grown up and a working businessman, Mao and Daiki, the second Nakamura son, are in high school, and Hina, the Nakamura daughter, was distant. This story follows Hiro as he tries to actualize his dream of bringing his brother and sister back into their childhood home which he has protected all of these years. Due to certain situations due to Mao's dad remarrying, Mao ends up living with Hiro in a strange sort of co-habitation. From this blossoms this really cute romance from being childhood friends to lovers that I just can't really get over. There's a bit of drama thrown in there over Mao's online cell novel and some standard love triangle stuff with Mao, Daiki, and Hiro, which is pretty calmly and maturely resolved.
In general, this manga isn't full of super passionate twists and turns. It's a gentle sort of love story of a girl finding her place in a family and it's got this nurturing vibe about it. It's very calming to read and it gave me a sense of solace as Mao navigates and witnesses the growth of human relationships.
Overall I'd say that it's worth the read. It's the perfect length for what goes into it and it's not overly traumatic with what has happened. All of the characters are rational in their decisions so there's no reason to get upset over some of the things they do because all of it is pretty reasonable. I don't know, there was just something really charming about the whole thing. Maybe it was the concept of all of them finding a home inside of that house and all living together. Maybe it was all of the domestic vibes I got from it. Or how normal it all was? It was just sweet.
{Spoilers}
You know, I should really be doing homework and other things that are productive and stuff...but I just feel so emotionally drained from trying not to cry and then crying and all of that fun stuff that I actually just ended up binging the last 10 chapters of this manga. Am I really proud of that fact? Not really. Did it happen regardless? Uh, yeah.
So this manga focuses around a girl named Mao that had a rough home life growing up in the sense that her parents never openly showed her love and when they eventually split, she was left kind of neglected or at least held at a distance from her dad and completely out of contact with her mom. And so the only solace she ever felt was in the neighboring Nakamura family household. It was a super happy family of a dad, mom, two sons, and a daughter. They had all of the things that a happy and healthy home has, and Mao found refuge there. However, when an accident occurred and the Nakamura kids were left without parents, the merry band split up and they all grew up. Now Hiro, the eldest Nakamura son is grown up and a working businessman, Mao and Daiki, the second Nakamura son, are in high school, and Hina, the Nakamura daughter, was distant. This story follows Hiro as he tries to actualize his dream of bringing his brother and sister back into their childhood home which he has protected all of these years. Due to certain situations due to Mao's dad remarrying, Mao ends up living with Hiro in a strange sort of co-habitation. From this blossoms this really cute romance from being childhood friends to lovers that I just can't really get over. There's a bit of drama thrown in there over Mao's online cell novel and some standard love triangle stuff with Mao, Daiki, and Hiro, which is pretty calmly and maturely resolved.
In general, this manga isn't full of super passionate twists and turns. It's a gentle sort of love story of a girl finding her place in a family and it's got this nurturing vibe about it. It's very calming to read and it gave me a sense of solace as Mao navigates and witnesses the growth of human relationships.
Overall I'd say that it's worth the read. It's the perfect length for what goes into it and it's not overly traumatic with what has happened. All of the characters are rational in their decisions so there's no reason to get upset over some of the things they do because all of it is pretty reasonable. I don't know, there was just something really charming about the whole thing. Maybe it was the concept of all of them finding a home inside of that house and all living together. Maybe it was all of the domestic vibes I got from it. Or how normal it all was? It was just sweet.
Also Oda and Chi-chan's little side romance was super cute as well (huhu and that extra chapter where Radical san also found love, it was overall good vibes and a happily ever after for everyone)
Hngh Mao when she got her first curfew this was so cute
No matter how old I get, something about this childhood immaturity and teasing your crush that happened in elementary school is so endearing still?
I love these strategy meetings with Wakaba
And they all lived happily ever after~
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Anime ATM 93 Darling in the FRANXX
*screams into the abyss* Ok friends, buckle up. This was a 24 episode anime with an actual plot (disregarding the possibility of it having been a good or bad one). That means there's a lot to unpack here...but I'm also lazy.
{Spoilers}
So this was on my to-watch list for a pretty long time. Honestly ever since it first aired. And at first it was getting a lot of attention what with Zero Two being best girl and things like that. But I honestly wasn't really convinced of the hype haha. What really got me intrigued was how people said that it was such a great anime with so much potential, but then fizzled out. Me, conscientiously knowing that I am easily influenced, tried not to take that to heart too much and to really develop my own opinion of the show.
For the first half I was so intrigued. I couldn't do homework. I couldn't move. I had to sit and watch. And so I spent the first half of the season glued to my desk as my workload piled up to the ceiling, enthralled. There were so many questions I had. What were these machines? Why did they call that monkey mask guy "Papa"? Where were their parents? What was this world? What's a klauxosaur? And so many more that I would pester V with as I watched. As with any anime with any sort of plot, these kinds of things are the stuff that are answered as the story unfolds. I was on the edge of my seat, waiting for the answers to all of these mysteries. And as I was given these tidbits I just became more and more enchanted by this really strange story. There's no other way to really describe this mecha, post-apocalyptic show that I haven't seen anything quite like.
The main premise is that there's a group of people known collectively as APE that rule the world without question. This world is Earth, but everyone lives inside these traveling mega cities called Plantations. Because these civilizations are powered by magma energy from the center of the Earth, klauxosaurs have risen from the depths of Earth in retaliation. And so there's this guy named Dr. Werner that invents these mecha called FRANXX that need to be operated by a male-female pair, modeled after the sexual reproductive organs of a flower. I don't really get the whole plant reference either, but just roll with it. And don't question the way that they pilot these mecha either please, it's definitely not meant for children this show. And then because so many of the older people have chosen immortality, they're unable to pilot the FRANXX because they've lost their reproductive functions. So they somehow grow tons of test tube children and inject them with a whole bunch of stuff and put them under tests so that they can pilot the FRANXX and protect the Plantations against the klauxosaurs. And what emerges from this is this really weird dichotomy that we definitely don't see in today's society. In the same way that we find child labor appalling, the thought of children fighting wars for us similarly raises this gut-wrenching feeling that probably comes from our instinctual desire to protect our children and our species. But here we see children fighting to protect the adults. It's this strange flip in roles that starts the ball rolling for a lot of interesting thoughts such as the role of adults as caretakers, and also looking at the main squad of children, Squad 13, how children can still form sympathy, emotions, compassion, and the plethora of other traits that make a person "human" without this mimicry of parents and adult role models that we all have.
And so, in short, the story follows a lot of what Squad 13 goes through and uses them as a frame of reference for how the war is going and all of the inner workings of this almost alien society. I'm getting pretty overwhelmed just thinking about all of the complexities and all of the interactions and all of the everything that goes on inside of the Plantation and what happened in the past to lead up to this, that to get a proper sense of it all I think we'd either have to sit down together for like 5+ hours to unpack absolutely everything we witnessed, or I'd have to make like a senior thesis on this show. I'm kinda down for the first option, but the latter I'll leave to some anime reviewing Youtube channel. I'm sure there's tons of videos out there.
I think one thing, setting aside the complexities of APE, that really struck me was the complex interactions between the characters. Take the relationship between Zero Two and Hiro. Looking back at their interactions as children, you can't help but root for their love. However, I think this is where some of the audience anger comes in because as time goes on, you start to see how unhealthy of a relationship they have. Not that I'm any sort of love expert or anything, but just looking at the ending and how they're together forever, like that's all and good. There's your fairy tale happily ever after, but with a twist. Because they're so reliant on each other that you can't see where one ends and the other begins, you know what I mean? In order to have a successful relationship you kind of need more of a dynamic of support rather than congealing through some alien technology and your minds into some kind of spiritual being together on a plane. I'm just saying, maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but looking at like Goro and Ichigo's relationship...it was a lot more healthy. Kinda. Not really. Uh, in short all of their relationships were kind of wack. Like if you look at Ikuno and her unrequited love for Ichigo. Or if you look at Ichigo's idolatry of Hiro since childhood and how that turned into love. Or if you look at how Kokoro chose Mitsuru (RIP his iconic hairstyle though) over her old partner. V and I had a short discussion towards the midpoint of the show on how wack all of these relationships are...and I don't even know how to form an opinion on all of this. I'm not really sure what sort of purpose all of these relationships served besides being a major point of drama and really upsetting me personally. Like all of those ships...yikes.
Another thing I found kind of interesting, (can you tell I'm kind of tired with dissecting human romantic relationships?) was the kind of commentary they gave about the environment. Maybe this is me reading too much into it as an environmental major, but something I really took away from this is humanity's destruction of Earth. The Earth was unable to sustain itself, turning into a desert with no way to harbor any life, because of humanity's incessant hunger for energy. And that led to them having to take extreme measures to protect humanity. This also points to humanity's folly, of retreating from problems rather than facing them head on. And how humanity was searching for the solution to immortality, rather than focusing on living fruitful, yet transient lives. I think we've all kind of contemplated whether living forever sounds like any fun, and I think from seeing Zorome's small arc where he encounters one of the adult's that've lived for who knows how long and how sad she was, how she didn't care about taste anymore, how her husband got joy through an experience machine. I think all of these things point to maybe how some of the beauty of humanity comes from the transient nature of our beings? That's just some more food for thought. I didn't mean for this to become super philosophical, and yet here we are.
In short, this was definitely an anime that gave me many thoughts on the story and also what the story was trying to tell me. Because it was so long, it was a lot of information to absorb and to process. At many points I actually unconsciously held my breath and clenched my hands because the show had me in the palm of its hand. There were just so many dimensions that were explored like humanity, the environment, interpersonal relationships, what it means to love someone, what kinds of things shaped these people into who they were. Anyone that watches this would have a different take on how things went down and whether this was a good show. I think it was good in the sense that it gave us a complete story, albeit a bit OP at some points. And there was so many good just moments created as well throughout. It was rushed at the end, and I think they really missed out on something special. Haha don't ask me how I think it should've ended because I'm not that creative, but I think the whole reincarnation thing and defeating the enemy (at least sorta) was a bit of a "here's your happy ending" and made you satisfied, but somehow...lacking something? Maybe I'm just asking for the impossible here...but I think this show started off with a lot of potential and so much mystery. I think it's worth the watch. Haha and not just because I'm sick of watching plotless anime to relieve my stress, but I genuinely think that it's a good thinking piece. I'm going to stop babbling now because I actually just word vomited all of my feels out just now...partly at least...and now I'm tired.
{Spoilers}
So this was on my to-watch list for a pretty long time. Honestly ever since it first aired. And at first it was getting a lot of attention what with Zero Two being best girl and things like that. But I honestly wasn't really convinced of the hype haha. What really got me intrigued was how people said that it was such a great anime with so much potential, but then fizzled out. Me, conscientiously knowing that I am easily influenced, tried not to take that to heart too much and to really develop my own opinion of the show.
For the first half I was so intrigued. I couldn't do homework. I couldn't move. I had to sit and watch. And so I spent the first half of the season glued to my desk as my workload piled up to the ceiling, enthralled. There were so many questions I had. What were these machines? Why did they call that monkey mask guy "Papa"? Where were their parents? What was this world? What's a klauxosaur? And so many more that I would pester V with as I watched. As with any anime with any sort of plot, these kinds of things are the stuff that are answered as the story unfolds. I was on the edge of my seat, waiting for the answers to all of these mysteries. And as I was given these tidbits I just became more and more enchanted by this really strange story. There's no other way to really describe this mecha, post-apocalyptic show that I haven't seen anything quite like.
The main premise is that there's a group of people known collectively as APE that rule the world without question. This world is Earth, but everyone lives inside these traveling mega cities called Plantations. Because these civilizations are powered by magma energy from the center of the Earth, klauxosaurs have risen from the depths of Earth in retaliation. And so there's this guy named Dr. Werner that invents these mecha called FRANXX that need to be operated by a male-female pair, modeled after the sexual reproductive organs of a flower. I don't really get the whole plant reference either, but just roll with it. And don't question the way that they pilot these mecha either please, it's definitely not meant for children this show. And then because so many of the older people have chosen immortality, they're unable to pilot the FRANXX because they've lost their reproductive functions. So they somehow grow tons of test tube children and inject them with a whole bunch of stuff and put them under tests so that they can pilot the FRANXX and protect the Plantations against the klauxosaurs. And what emerges from this is this really weird dichotomy that we definitely don't see in today's society. In the same way that we find child labor appalling, the thought of children fighting wars for us similarly raises this gut-wrenching feeling that probably comes from our instinctual desire to protect our children and our species. But here we see children fighting to protect the adults. It's this strange flip in roles that starts the ball rolling for a lot of interesting thoughts such as the role of adults as caretakers, and also looking at the main squad of children, Squad 13, how children can still form sympathy, emotions, compassion, and the plethora of other traits that make a person "human" without this mimicry of parents and adult role models that we all have.
And so, in short, the story follows a lot of what Squad 13 goes through and uses them as a frame of reference for how the war is going and all of the inner workings of this almost alien society. I'm getting pretty overwhelmed just thinking about all of the complexities and all of the interactions and all of the everything that goes on inside of the Plantation and what happened in the past to lead up to this, that to get a proper sense of it all I think we'd either have to sit down together for like 5+ hours to unpack absolutely everything we witnessed, or I'd have to make like a senior thesis on this show. I'm kinda down for the first option, but the latter I'll leave to some anime reviewing Youtube channel. I'm sure there's tons of videos out there.
I think one thing, setting aside the complexities of APE, that really struck me was the complex interactions between the characters. Take the relationship between Zero Two and Hiro. Looking back at their interactions as children, you can't help but root for their love. However, I think this is where some of the audience anger comes in because as time goes on, you start to see how unhealthy of a relationship they have. Not that I'm any sort of love expert or anything, but just looking at the ending and how they're together forever, like that's all and good. There's your fairy tale happily ever after, but with a twist. Because they're so reliant on each other that you can't see where one ends and the other begins, you know what I mean? In order to have a successful relationship you kind of need more of a dynamic of support rather than congealing through some alien technology and your minds into some kind of spiritual being together on a plane. I'm just saying, maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but looking at like Goro and Ichigo's relationship...it was a lot more healthy. Kinda. Not really. Uh, in short all of their relationships were kind of wack. Like if you look at Ikuno and her unrequited love for Ichigo. Or if you look at Ichigo's idolatry of Hiro since childhood and how that turned into love. Or if you look at how Kokoro chose Mitsuru (RIP his iconic hairstyle though) over her old partner. V and I had a short discussion towards the midpoint of the show on how wack all of these relationships are...and I don't even know how to form an opinion on all of this. I'm not really sure what sort of purpose all of these relationships served besides being a major point of drama and really upsetting me personally. Like all of those ships...yikes.
Another thing I found kind of interesting, (can you tell I'm kind of tired with dissecting human romantic relationships?) was the kind of commentary they gave about the environment. Maybe this is me reading too much into it as an environmental major, but something I really took away from this is humanity's destruction of Earth. The Earth was unable to sustain itself, turning into a desert with no way to harbor any life, because of humanity's incessant hunger for energy. And that led to them having to take extreme measures to protect humanity. This also points to humanity's folly, of retreating from problems rather than facing them head on. And how humanity was searching for the solution to immortality, rather than focusing on living fruitful, yet transient lives. I think we've all kind of contemplated whether living forever sounds like any fun, and I think from seeing Zorome's small arc where he encounters one of the adult's that've lived for who knows how long and how sad she was, how she didn't care about taste anymore, how her husband got joy through an experience machine. I think all of these things point to maybe how some of the beauty of humanity comes from the transient nature of our beings? That's just some more food for thought. I didn't mean for this to become super philosophical, and yet here we are.
In short, this was definitely an anime that gave me many thoughts on the story and also what the story was trying to tell me. Because it was so long, it was a lot of information to absorb and to process. At many points I actually unconsciously held my breath and clenched my hands because the show had me in the palm of its hand. There were just so many dimensions that were explored like humanity, the environment, interpersonal relationships, what it means to love someone, what kinds of things shaped these people into who they were. Anyone that watches this would have a different take on how things went down and whether this was a good show. I think it was good in the sense that it gave us a complete story, albeit a bit OP at some points. And there was so many good just moments created as well throughout. It was rushed at the end, and I think they really missed out on something special. Haha don't ask me how I think it should've ended because I'm not that creative, but I think the whole reincarnation thing and defeating the enemy (at least sorta) was a bit of a "here's your happy ending" and made you satisfied, but somehow...lacking something? Maybe I'm just asking for the impossible here...but I think this show started off with a lot of potential and so much mystery. I think it's worth the watch. Haha and not just because I'm sick of watching plotless anime to relieve my stress, but I genuinely think that it's a good thinking piece. I'm going to stop babbling now because I actually just word vomited all of my feels out just now...partly at least...and now I'm tired.
Exhibit 1 of how Ichigo is precious but frustrating (also her aesthetic and everyone's aesthetic in the first OP? forget about it I watched that thing through so many times because ugh the mood of it was so good??? actually the OP and ED every time were really solid and I really liked them)
Lowkeyyyy Goro was my favorite character plz dont @ me (his VA just really got me idk why and his character in general (i just really love the childhood friend and am always rooting for the underdog what can i say?))
Thought they were going to die so I started tearing up...
After this point I stopped taking screenshots because...I was just too enraptured by the story sorry (also because I watched the ending episodes in between my classes and just really wanted to enjoy)
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