Reviews: July 2021
Jul. 8th, 2021 04:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrBooks: PUBG Romance of the Century, The Cruel Prince
Western TV: Killjoys, Star Wars Rebels, Derry Girls
Anime: A Destructive God Sits Next To Me, Saiki K, SK8, Hypnosis Mic, Tonikawa, Higehiro, The Quintessential Quintuplets
I seem to be in a mood for not finishing things lately, so don't take that as an inherent anti-rec.
Books:
PUBG Romance of the Century by 酱子贝: a m/m rom-com about a streamer who unknowingly ends up playing, and flirting, with the CEO of the company he works for. I didn't like this as much as the author's "How to Fail at Online Dating", it wasn't bad, and I believed the two guys loved each other and would be happy, but it never really clicked for me. The main character is believable and likeable but not super interesting, and the CEO is only mildly assholeish by CEO love interest standards, but so childish I had trouble believing he could do a basic office job let alone run a company. At least his immaturity undercut the age and power gap, haha. Also it goes into SO MUCH DETAIL about the online game PUBG. The translator is a fan, so explained it all in depth with extra notes, which did make it less confusing but couldn't make me carrrre. On the plus side, I did enjoy the side romance in the extras, which was short and tropey with cross dressing.
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black: A human girl is adopted into fairyland by the man who killed her parents, and grows up determined to prove herself better than all the magic assholes she's spent her life trying not to get murdered by. I really liked how bitter, violent, and determined the main character was, while still having soft/caring aspects, and was curious to see where things were going to go with the various fairy plots and her woobie asshole fairy prince love interest...and then halfway though just Had To Stop. I skipped to the end and it looked like a pretty good ending for the first book in a trilogy, with exactly the sort of messy relationships I like, the existing plot threads mostly tied up but new ones beginning etc. But I still can't read it! It was maybe a bit emotionally cold for me? idk, brains.
Western TV:
Killjoys: Great space opera TV, with emotions and explosions and hot violent bisexuals. I've been watching this a few episodes at a time with friends for YEARS, and finally finished it! It's full of plotholes and cheese, but the character arcs were taken seriously and the plot holds together just enough to make the big Dramatic Space Moments satisfying. Good hearted and funny and queer (the main ship is het but the secondary m/m and f/f ships are fantastic), with a great woobie POC heroine who gets to be messed up and angry and kickass and find happiness on her own terms.
Star Wars Rebels: An animated kids show set just before the original Star Wars trilogy, about a rag-tag found family who all resent the Empire for different reasons, and end up joining the rebellion. Season 1 focussed a lot on the relationship between a lone jedi and the plucky orphan boy he takes on as an apprentice, which I found a bit boring, so Cam skipped us ahead to season 2, which has more ongoing plot and focus on the rest of the cast, including the two female characters. And I've been enjoying it! It's very conventional in a lot of ways, and while the women get to be kickass it's in a 'written by a well meaning man' kinda way. But like any good Star Wars property, it's entertaining and well made, with lots of Cool Space Stuff and Standing Defiant Together Against Oppression etc. The 3D animation is simple but effective, the fight scenes are thrilling, the good guys lose just often enough to create a sense of pathos and tension without things ever getting too depressing and so on. We're just finishing up season 4 and then we'll be done!
Derry Girls: An entertaining comedy about a group of Quite Terrible catholic teenagers in 1990s Northern Island. I stalled right before the end of season 2, and there's some kinda dark/mean humour, but the cheerful lack of consequences helped soften the sting and it's very funny. I experience a lot of pained nostalgia as someone who was a dumbass teen in the 90s myself.
Anime I have watched one episode of:
A Destructive God Sits Next To Me: Very silly comedy about a tsundere guy who is constantly grumpy at his affectionate but overdramatically silly 'chuunibyo' friend who constantly makes up ridiculous fake stories. This was pretty charming and funny, and the only one of these anime I definitely intend to watch more of.
Saiki K: Silly, surreal comedy about a teen boy with psychic powers who takes himself deadly seriously despite the silliness of the world around him. Pretty funny but didn't grab me.
SK8: Silly anime about slashy boys who are SUPER into skateboarding. Seemed fine for what it is, but not really my sort of thing. I hear the dub is a bit gayer than the sub, I may try that.
Hypnosis Mic: I already posted my reactions but in short it is ABSOLUTELY BONKERS. It's set in a future Japan exactly like regular Japan except all violence has been replaced by rap battles. Every aspect of the worldbuilding/plot etc very obviously exists purely as an excuse for pretty young men to do VERY BAD RAP while being VERY SLASHY. It is very much Not Good but was certainly an experience.
Tonikawa: Over the moon for you: Silly rom-com. A boy falls in love at first sight with a mysterious girl, who proposes then vanishes, and then shows up years later on his 18th birthday so they can get married, and he's all "This is weird but OK SURE". Blatant male wish fulfilment, very silly, and I'm not into instalove followed by getting to know each other.
Higehiro: Depressed office worker takes in homeless teen girl. I saw someone say this isn't as skeezy as it looks so I watched the final episode because I have a soft spot for Forbidden Relationships with lots of guilty pining, but also wanted to make sure it wouldn't get too skeezy for me. And I mean...when the sexually precocious Sad Teen Girl hits on the adult male main character, he does say no! And they seem to have developed a genuinely sweet and mutually supportive bond which does involve him guiltily pining. But it was still pretty skeezy and the ending was kind of unsatisfying. Also I suspect I wouldn't have liked how her possibly abusive mother was handled if I'd seen more context.
The Quintessential Quintuplets: Harem anime where quintuplets fall for the main character. I dismissed this as generic harem skeeze but saw someone say it was much better than it seemed...BUT IT WAS NOT. I made it like 5 minutes in.
You may ask why I keep trying these dudely romance anime when they so easily annoy me and the answer is that (a) I have run out of promising looking romance anime aimed at women and (b) Very occasionally I like one! I should probably raise my standards for who I accept recs from, though, turns out randos on the internet are not reliable sources, who knew.
Western TV: Killjoys, Star Wars Rebels, Derry Girls
Anime: A Destructive God Sits Next To Me, Saiki K, SK8, Hypnosis Mic, Tonikawa, Higehiro, The Quintessential Quintuplets
I seem to be in a mood for not finishing things lately, so don't take that as an inherent anti-rec.
Books:
PUBG Romance of the Century by 酱子贝: a m/m rom-com about a streamer who unknowingly ends up playing, and flirting, with the CEO of the company he works for. I didn't like this as much as the author's "How to Fail at Online Dating", it wasn't bad, and I believed the two guys loved each other and would be happy, but it never really clicked for me. The main character is believable and likeable but not super interesting, and the CEO is only mildly assholeish by CEO love interest standards, but so childish I had trouble believing he could do a basic office job let alone run a company. At least his immaturity undercut the age and power gap, haha. Also it goes into SO MUCH DETAIL about the online game PUBG. The translator is a fan, so explained it all in depth with extra notes, which did make it less confusing but couldn't make me carrrre. On the plus side, I did enjoy the side romance in the extras, which was short and tropey with cross dressing.
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black: A human girl is adopted into fairyland by the man who killed her parents, and grows up determined to prove herself better than all the magic assholes she's spent her life trying not to get murdered by. I really liked how bitter, violent, and determined the main character was, while still having soft/caring aspects, and was curious to see where things were going to go with the various fairy plots and her woobie asshole fairy prince love interest...and then halfway though just Had To Stop. I skipped to the end and it looked like a pretty good ending for the first book in a trilogy, with exactly the sort of messy relationships I like, the existing plot threads mostly tied up but new ones beginning etc. But I still can't read it! It was maybe a bit emotionally cold for me? idk, brains.
Western TV:
Killjoys: Great space opera TV, with emotions and explosions and hot violent bisexuals. I've been watching this a few episodes at a time with friends for YEARS, and finally finished it! It's full of plotholes and cheese, but the character arcs were taken seriously and the plot holds together just enough to make the big Dramatic Space Moments satisfying. Good hearted and funny and queer (the main ship is het but the secondary m/m and f/f ships are fantastic), with a great woobie POC heroine who gets to be messed up and angry and kickass and find happiness on her own terms.
Star Wars Rebels: An animated kids show set just before the original Star Wars trilogy, about a rag-tag found family who all resent the Empire for different reasons, and end up joining the rebellion. Season 1 focussed a lot on the relationship between a lone jedi and the plucky orphan boy he takes on as an apprentice, which I found a bit boring, so Cam skipped us ahead to season 2, which has more ongoing plot and focus on the rest of the cast, including the two female characters. And I've been enjoying it! It's very conventional in a lot of ways, and while the women get to be kickass it's in a 'written by a well meaning man' kinda way. But like any good Star Wars property, it's entertaining and well made, with lots of Cool Space Stuff and Standing Defiant Together Against Oppression etc. The 3D animation is simple but effective, the fight scenes are thrilling, the good guys lose just often enough to create a sense of pathos and tension without things ever getting too depressing and so on. We're just finishing up season 4 and then we'll be done!
Derry Girls: An entertaining comedy about a group of Quite Terrible catholic teenagers in 1990s Northern Island. I stalled right before the end of season 2, and there's some kinda dark/mean humour, but the cheerful lack of consequences helped soften the sting and it's very funny. I experience a lot of pained nostalgia as someone who was a dumbass teen in the 90s myself.
Anime I have watched one episode of:
A Destructive God Sits Next To Me: Very silly comedy about a tsundere guy who is constantly grumpy at his affectionate but overdramatically silly 'chuunibyo' friend who constantly makes up ridiculous fake stories. This was pretty charming and funny, and the only one of these anime I definitely intend to watch more of.
Saiki K: Silly, surreal comedy about a teen boy with psychic powers who takes himself deadly seriously despite the silliness of the world around him. Pretty funny but didn't grab me.
SK8: Silly anime about slashy boys who are SUPER into skateboarding. Seemed fine for what it is, but not really my sort of thing. I hear the dub is a bit gayer than the sub, I may try that.
Hypnosis Mic: I already posted my reactions but in short it is ABSOLUTELY BONKERS. It's set in a future Japan exactly like regular Japan except all violence has been replaced by rap battles. Every aspect of the worldbuilding/plot etc very obviously exists purely as an excuse for pretty young men to do VERY BAD RAP while being VERY SLASHY. It is very much Not Good but was certainly an experience.
Tonikawa: Over the moon for you: Silly rom-com. A boy falls in love at first sight with a mysterious girl, who proposes then vanishes, and then shows up years later on his 18th birthday so they can get married, and he's all "This is weird but OK SURE". Blatant male wish fulfilment, very silly, and I'm not into instalove followed by getting to know each other.
Higehiro: Depressed office worker takes in homeless teen girl. I saw someone say this isn't as skeezy as it looks so I watched the final episode because I have a soft spot for Forbidden Relationships with lots of guilty pining, but also wanted to make sure it wouldn't get too skeezy for me. And I mean...when the sexually precocious Sad Teen Girl hits on the adult male main character, he does say no! And they seem to have developed a genuinely sweet and mutually supportive bond which does involve him guiltily pining. But it was still pretty skeezy and the ending was kind of unsatisfying. Also I suspect I wouldn't have liked how her possibly abusive mother was handled if I'd seen more context.
The Quintessential Quintuplets: Harem anime where quintuplets fall for the main character. I dismissed this as generic harem skeeze but saw someone say it was much better than it seemed...BUT IT WAS NOT. I made it like 5 minutes in.
You may ask why I keep trying these dudely romance anime when they so easily annoy me and the answer is that (a) I have run out of promising looking romance anime aimed at women and (b) Very occasionally I like one! I should probably raise my standards for who I accept recs from, though, turns out randos on the internet are not reliable sources, who knew.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-08 11:02 am (UTC)I have also bounced off both The Cruel Prince and its sequel. And another Holly Black (something about vampires?). I'm starting to think that they just aren't my thing.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-08 01:26 pm (UTC)Yeah I vaguely recall encountering a few other people talking about bouncing off her, maybe she just has that effect on some people. Makes it very hard to review, "I liked it except for the fact it was unreadable for some reason".
no subject
Date: 2021-07-08 11:27 am (UTC)Just so my heart can be prepared ^^;;
no subject
Date: 2021-07-08 01:23 pm (UTC)If by the main leads you mean Dutch, D'avin, and Johnny, then yes, they're fine. Most of the other characters are fine too, it's overall a quite happy end to the show, but some of the secondary characters do die, and I'd be happy to tell you which if you like.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-08 01:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-07-08 03:10 pm (UTC)HMM OK SO most of them are fine the whole way through but to fully answer that spoils a twist. I will say I liked those characters too and was happy with how all their arcs played out.
rot13 for spoilers: Phgr fpvrapr obl qvrf naq vf qrnq sbe NTRF naq fpvrapr areq ynql vf IREL FNQ ohg jbexf guebhtu ure tevrs naq gura ur pbzrf onpx fhqqrayl naq xvaqn vzcynhfvoyl naq vf svar.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-08 05:07 pm (UTC)I will try and start watching it again at some point :3
no subject
Date: 2021-07-12 11:43 am (UTC)I hope you enjoy it when you do!
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Date: 2021-07-08 04:39 pm (UTC)And yet some people really love her! It's like I'm missing the Holly Black gene x.x
no subject
Date: 2021-07-12 11:46 am (UTC)It's good to know it's not just me, makes it easier to let the book go and read something else in my (...very large) to-read pile.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-08 11:16 pm (UTC)Ohh, I got this feeling before with Holly Black's works, back -- pretty much every single one I've tried except The Cruel Prince and sequels.
I like The Cruel Prince because it just leans into tropes I like a lot, and also I was anchored to expect YA so I liked Jude's coldness and her tendency to solve problems with betrayal and murder. But The Curseworkers books definitely left me cold, and the Tithe/Valiant/Ironside...I read them a long time ago, but they didn't leave much of an emotional impression even though I can still remember scenes.
Killjoys sounds great and I'm glad I'm not the only one who takes a while to finish shows. *pokes at Guardian and The Untamed*
:p
A Destructive God Sits Next To Me sounds fun, and SK8 is on my list (it seems to be getting rather fandom popular?).
(a) I have run out of promising looking romance anime aimed at women
I'm really impressed at this!
no subject
Date: 2021-07-12 11:42 am (UTC)There's probably a bunch of passable/good shoujo hidden in the Animelab and Crunchyroll archives, but it can be hard to find without a rec. There's a bunch more not in those archives I would watch if I could be bothered finding a less legal copy but I am lazy.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-09 11:16 pm (UTC)I'm gore-averse and yet I love the Killjoys (which I always misremember as "the misfits" which demonstrates my gore-suppression tricks at work.)
In addition to copious canon queer, I love Jonny and Dutch's commitment to platonic work buddies. Ruling class doctor working hard to compensate for the sins of their people -- Pawter Simms in particular -- is a trope I love due to my personal history. Also the sentient ship keeps trying to get Jonny's attention. As well as the autistic-coded characters who aren't mocked for it and are respected for their pertinent skills.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-12 11:30 am (UTC)Yes, there are so many great things! I wanted to keep the review relatively short but I could have gone on squeeing a while longer :)
no subject
Date: 2021-07-15 03:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-07-17 06:59 am (UTC)Yeah, I'm not into that either. Have you tried the third book, "I Can Do It"?