Reviews October 2020
Oct. 25th, 2020 07:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrAll stuff I liked!
Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You A Wizard?!, Star Trek Lower Decks, Case Files of Jeweller Richard, Adachi and Shimamura, Game Night, Booksmart, The Male Lead Is A Quilt
Live Action TV:
Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You A Wizard?!: Very silly but cute live action Japanese BL m/m romantic comedy. A sweet but shy 30 year old suddenly gains the ability to read thoughts, and discovers that his Super Cool And Popular coworker has a secret crush on him. The acting is very unsubtle but it's pretty funny, and while it's very Stoically Pining Seme/Awkwardly Blushing Uke they're cute together. Only 3 episodes in and I haven't read the manga so can't say if it'll Get Weird.
Animated US TV:
Star Trek Lower Decks: Animated comedy about a group of ensigns on a Federation Starship, set around the end of Next Gen. Basically Star Trek meets Futurama. I really liked it, it reminds me of Galaxy Quest with it's very funny but loving parody of Star Trek and scifi in general, and the characters are all likeable and fun. Mildly subverts gender roles in a well-meaning-cis-dude way but is sadly very heterosexual even though the main female character is femslashy with every woman she meets.
Anime:
Case Files of Jeweller Richard: So you know the kind of episodic TV where two people work together and end up solving a bunch of murders every week and are always super shippy but it takes like ten seasons for them to become canon? This is like that but about an Exotically English jeweller and his Earnestly Japanese assistant (both men) solving various people's problems with jewellery. While the central pairing remains ambiguous the show is super slashy and overtly against homophobia, and it's kinda nice to enjoy procedural TV tropes without all the death and violence. The plots are silly but it's good natured and the characters are fairly believable. On Crunchyroll.
Adachi and Shimamura: Fluffy f/f romance between two highschool girls who meet when they're both skipping class. I'm really enjoying this so far, it has the odd moment of blatant fanservice or Weird Anime Stuff but is mostly a sweet story of two girls with emotional issues finding connection. Only 3 episodes in and I haven't read the manga so can't say for sure where it's going, but even by episode 2 it's unambiguously shippy. On Animelab in Australia which means it's probably on Funimation elsewhere.
Movies:
Game Night: Comedy about a group friends who get caught up in deadly crime drama but spend much of the movie thinking it's all an elaborate game. This was a lot of fun, jammed with enough humour, action, and cute moments to keep me engaged the whole way through. I was worried it would either be too mean spirited or too smug about how much better Nice Middle Class People are than criminals but it pokes fun at them while still being mostly good natured.
Booksmart: Highchool comedy about two smugly nerdy girls the night before graduation deciding to actually GO TO A HIGHSCHOOL PARTY while they have the chance. Naturally, shenanigans ensue. This was pretty funny and cute, with a strong emphasis on the friendship between the girls, one of whom is a lesbian. They're both failboats at romance, and not into each other that way, so it's not a f/f romance, but I thought that aspect was handled pretty well. It's all very hyperreal and silly, the emotions felt real but the events did not. My one issue is that their unpopularity is framed as entirely their choice, and while it was kinda nice seeing proudly unconventional and nerdy female characters I would have preferred more acknowledgement that conventional people aren't always 100% up for accepting weirdos. Still, I did like how compassionate and affectionate it was to everyone instead of acting like highschool is all heroes and villains. Also there's a background teacher/student ship, it was so Comedy Logic with adult actors it didn't bother me but ymmv.
Books:
The Male Lead Is A Quilt: Fluffy, mildly femdom Chinese m/f romance about a woman who ends up trapped inside a MMO game she helped design with a dude trapped as her in-game pet, in the shape of a little fluffy white quilt. The plot is very thin and mostly consists of her impressing everyone by being AWESOME AT FIGHTING and him being sweet and supportive, with a very gentle romance arc. Not very deep, and the wish fulfilment is laid on super thick, but I enjoyed it.
Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You A Wizard?!, Star Trek Lower Decks, Case Files of Jeweller Richard, Adachi and Shimamura, Game Night, Booksmart, The Male Lead Is A Quilt
Live Action TV:
Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You A Wizard?!: Very silly but cute live action Japanese BL m/m romantic comedy. A sweet but shy 30 year old suddenly gains the ability to read thoughts, and discovers that his Super Cool And Popular coworker has a secret crush on him. The acting is very unsubtle but it's pretty funny, and while it's very Stoically Pining Seme/Awkwardly Blushing Uke they're cute together. Only 3 episodes in and I haven't read the manga so can't say if it'll Get Weird.
Animated US TV:
Star Trek Lower Decks: Animated comedy about a group of ensigns on a Federation Starship, set around the end of Next Gen. Basically Star Trek meets Futurama. I really liked it, it reminds me of Galaxy Quest with it's very funny but loving parody of Star Trek and scifi in general, and the characters are all likeable and fun. Mildly subverts gender roles in a well-meaning-cis-dude way but is sadly very heterosexual even though the main female character is femslashy with every woman she meets.
Anime:
Case Files of Jeweller Richard: So you know the kind of episodic TV where two people work together and end up solving a bunch of murders every week and are always super shippy but it takes like ten seasons for them to become canon? This is like that but about an Exotically English jeweller and his Earnestly Japanese assistant (both men) solving various people's problems with jewellery. While the central pairing remains ambiguous the show is super slashy and overtly against homophobia, and it's kinda nice to enjoy procedural TV tropes without all the death and violence. The plots are silly but it's good natured and the characters are fairly believable. On Crunchyroll.
Adachi and Shimamura: Fluffy f/f romance between two highschool girls who meet when they're both skipping class. I'm really enjoying this so far, it has the odd moment of blatant fanservice or Weird Anime Stuff but is mostly a sweet story of two girls with emotional issues finding connection. Only 3 episodes in and I haven't read the manga so can't say for sure where it's going, but even by episode 2 it's unambiguously shippy. On Animelab in Australia which means it's probably on Funimation elsewhere.
Movies:
Game Night: Comedy about a group friends who get caught up in deadly crime drama but spend much of the movie thinking it's all an elaborate game. This was a lot of fun, jammed with enough humour, action, and cute moments to keep me engaged the whole way through. I was worried it would either be too mean spirited or too smug about how much better Nice Middle Class People are than criminals but it pokes fun at them while still being mostly good natured.
Booksmart: Highchool comedy about two smugly nerdy girls the night before graduation deciding to actually GO TO A HIGHSCHOOL PARTY while they have the chance. Naturally, shenanigans ensue. This was pretty funny and cute, with a strong emphasis on the friendship between the girls, one of whom is a lesbian. They're both failboats at romance, and not into each other that way, so it's not a f/f romance, but I thought that aspect was handled pretty well. It's all very hyperreal and silly, the emotions felt real but the events did not. My one issue is that their unpopularity is framed as entirely their choice, and while it was kinda nice seeing proudly unconventional and nerdy female characters I would have preferred more acknowledgement that conventional people aren't always 100% up for accepting weirdos. Still, I did like how compassionate and affectionate it was to everyone instead of acting like highschool is all heroes and villains. Also there's a background teacher/student ship, it was so Comedy Logic with adult actors it didn't bother me but ymmv.
Books:
The Male Lead Is A Quilt: Fluffy, mildly femdom Chinese m/f romance about a woman who ends up trapped inside a MMO game she helped design with a dude trapped as her in-game pet, in the shape of a little fluffy white quilt. The plot is very thin and mostly consists of her impressing everyone by being AWESOME AT FIGHTING and him being sweet and supportive, with a very gentle romance arc. Not very deep, and the wish fulfilment is laid on super thick, but I enjoyed it.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-25 03:27 pm (UTC)Fluffy f/f romance between two highschool girls who meet when they're both skipping class. I'm really enjoying this so far, it has the odd moment of blatant fanservice or Weird Anime Stuff but is mostly a sweet story of two girls with emotional issues finding connection.
Oh!!! This sounds super cute and I really want the drama version now.
Fluffy, mildly femdom Chinese m/f romance
O_O
...I'm a little weirded out by the quilt thing, but I might try this.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-26 11:02 am (UTC)Yeah, sometimes with weird translated titles it's probably more of an issue with the translation, but The Male Lead really is A Quilt.
If it helps, he doesn't stay a quilt forever!
no subject
Date: 2020-10-26 03:02 pm (UTC)It certainly is a new take on "there was only one
bedquilt!"no subject
Date: 2020-10-25 09:35 pm (UTC)Booksmart is so fun and funny! No villains, really! If you liked this I hope you will check out other humorous material Sarah Haskins has written/made.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-26 10:59 am (UTC)Looking her up, the only other thing she's been involved with that I've seen any of is the pilot of Good Girls, which was interesting but too tense for me. Anything in particular you'd rec?
no subject
Date: 2020-10-25 11:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-10-26 10:56 am (UTC)Yes! It reminded me how much I used to enjoy low stakes kid's mysteries as a child.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-26 09:46 pm (UTC)Case Files of Jeweller Richard sounds entirely my jam, thank you very much.
no subject
Date: 2020-10-27 01:38 am (UTC)I hope you enjoy it! And yes, Seigi is a sweetie.