Media January 2020
Jan. 2nd, 2020 12:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbr*stares at that date for a while*
The Only Gold, Briarly, Ni No Kuni 2, Umbagram, 7 Billion Humans
No content note for this first section.
Books:
The Only Gold: a free m/m romance about an uptight 19th century American bank teller's rivalrymance with his new manager. I thought it was intending to make some mild social commentary about the evils of banks, and wallow in OH NO HE IS A MAN WE CAN'T pining, but then it didn't do either of things. As far as I can tell it's perfectly fine for what it is, and I enjoyed it most of the way through, but it's hard for me to judge past my resentment at it not being what I thought it was going to be.
Briarly: a cute World War 2 England m/m retelling of Beauty and the Beast. A little emotionally restrained and twee for me but still fun.
Games:
Ni No Kuni 2: a Japanese fantasy RPG. So far it's very conventional but fun for what it is, with cute art and endearing characters and fun gameplay. I had failed to osmose that while the setting and plot are conventional fantasy, the initial viewpoint character is from (something approaching) our world...and is specifically The President of the United States. He shoots things a lot, lol. I haven't played the first game but it feels fine as a standalone story so far, and I hear this is much better.
Umbagram: A tiny indie puzzle game about placing cubes to create 2D shadows. Very simple and sparse, it doesn't even have a save button, but I had fun.
7 Billion Humans: a darkly humourous parallel programming puzzle game about getting little office workers to solve programming puzzles, sometimes by throwing themselves into bottomless pits. A lot of fun if you like this sort of thing, which I do. The satire of office life feels like it might be going somewhere then doesn't, but this is not a game you play for the plot.
Cheese in the Trap, Kitchen Princess, Given
Content note: mentions of fictional eating disorder, sexual assault, and suicide.
Manga and Webtoons:
Cheese in the Trap: a Korean webtoon about a group of college students, specifically a clever but over-pressured economics major figuring out who she is and what she wants from life. It starts with her entering into a relationship with a charming guy everyone loves who she suspects of being a scheming sociopath, and I was worried it would be too Tense. But it balances drama and angst with humour and heartwarming relationships and personal growth, and has compassion for it's cast of messed up people who sometimes do very messed up things. I'm getting a bit bored of it now I'm caught up, I'm not sure if it's meandering or just doesn't suit being read weekly. But I really enjoyed it for quite a while.
Kitchen Princess: Very conventional shoujo about a perky young orphan who melts the heart of two angsty princely brothers at a fancy boarding school with the power of COOKING. I got a few volumes in and got bored but I had fun until then and it was perfectly fine for what it is. The mean-girl rival has an eating disorder which was handled in a sympathetic but tropey way.
Anime:
Given: a m/m romance anime (and manga) about two guys in a band, one of whom is working through trauma involving suicide. Well made, understated, funny, and sweet. The anime follows the manga pretty closely, but later in the manga there's a sexual assault (not involving the main couple) that I have mixed feelings about, and the anime works very well as it is.
The Only Gold, Briarly, Ni No Kuni 2, Umbagram, 7 Billion Humans
No content note for this first section.
Books:
The Only Gold: a free m/m romance about an uptight 19th century American bank teller's rivalrymance with his new manager. I thought it was intending to make some mild social commentary about the evils of banks, and wallow in OH NO HE IS A MAN WE CAN'T pining, but then it didn't do either of things. As far as I can tell it's perfectly fine for what it is, and I enjoyed it most of the way through, but it's hard for me to judge past my resentment at it not being what I thought it was going to be.
Briarly: a cute World War 2 England m/m retelling of Beauty and the Beast. A little emotionally restrained and twee for me but still fun.
Games:
Ni No Kuni 2: a Japanese fantasy RPG. So far it's very conventional but fun for what it is, with cute art and endearing characters and fun gameplay. I had failed to osmose that while the setting and plot are conventional fantasy, the initial viewpoint character is from (something approaching) our world...and is specifically The President of the United States. He shoots things a lot, lol. I haven't played the first game but it feels fine as a standalone story so far, and I hear this is much better.
Umbagram: A tiny indie puzzle game about placing cubes to create 2D shadows. Very simple and sparse, it doesn't even have a save button, but I had fun.
7 Billion Humans: a darkly humourous parallel programming puzzle game about getting little office workers to solve programming puzzles, sometimes by throwing themselves into bottomless pits. A lot of fun if you like this sort of thing, which I do. The satire of office life feels like it might be going somewhere then doesn't, but this is not a game you play for the plot.
Cheese in the Trap, Kitchen Princess, Given
Content note: mentions of fictional eating disorder, sexual assault, and suicide.
Manga and Webtoons:
Cheese in the Trap: a Korean webtoon about a group of college students, specifically a clever but over-pressured economics major figuring out who she is and what she wants from life. It starts with her entering into a relationship with a charming guy everyone loves who she suspects of being a scheming sociopath, and I was worried it would be too Tense. But it balances drama and angst with humour and heartwarming relationships and personal growth, and has compassion for it's cast of messed up people who sometimes do very messed up things. I'm getting a bit bored of it now I'm caught up, I'm not sure if it's meandering or just doesn't suit being read weekly. But I really enjoyed it for quite a while.
Kitchen Princess: Very conventional shoujo about a perky young orphan who melts the heart of two angsty princely brothers at a fancy boarding school with the power of COOKING. I got a few volumes in and got bored but I had fun until then and it was perfectly fine for what it is. The mean-girl rival has an eating disorder which was handled in a sympathetic but tropey way.
Anime:
Given: a m/m romance anime (and manga) about two guys in a band, one of whom is working through trauma involving suicide. Well made, understated, funny, and sweet. The anime follows the manga pretty closely, but later in the manga there's a sexual assault (not involving the main couple) that I have mixed feelings about, and the anime works very well as it is.
Tags:
- anime,
- book,
- het,
- manga,
- puzzle game,
- rec,
- review,
- roleplaying,
- romance,
- slash
