September 2023 Media Round-up
Oct. 5th, 2023 12:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhysianaRunning slightly late on rounding everything up, but it's still within the first week of October, so it's fine, right? It's amazing how much nothing I need to do to get back into equilibrium after an intense week of doing So Much taking a class at the folk school. (Which I should make an actual post about, probably, but whatever. On to the important cataloguing of books and shows!)
Books
-When the Angels Left the Old Country, Sacha Lamb - This one often gets compared to Good Omens due to the friendship between an angel and a demon, but aside from that and the amount of delightful humor, they aren't really that similar. An extremely good, extremely Jewish, Eastern Europe to America immigrant story, and I loved every bit of it. Wonderfully queer on several fronts, a love story in multiple ways, soft and adventurous and hopeful.
-Witch King, Martha Wells - I knew going in that Wells had said she got some inspiration for this having watched The Untamed, mostly in how much more can be done with flashbacks (and perhaps with body possession), but I think anyone reading this without that knowledge wouldn't have made the leap directly to it, because as always Wells has brought her own genius to the worldbuilding, and I found it all fascinating. I also liked the use of the flashbacks significantly more here than I did in the show, but of course Wells had more control over how to artfully weave her two timelines together. The way the demons and the plains people had evolved a symbiotic society was so intriguing, and I'm a little sad we didn't get to see more of that, even though there wasn't really room for it in the midst of what was, in reality, a fairly fast-paced road trip adventure. I'm still thinking about it all, breaking down the structure and putting it back together like a favorite jigsaw puzzle.
-Seoulmates, Susan Lee - This was a very silly YA novel about a Korean American girl who is dismayed to discover all her American friends have gotten into the k-ent scene that she's been staunchly ignoring all her life, and the summer she spends with her former best friend, suddenly back for a visit from Korea, where he's become an idol-trained actor on the rise. Her life is pretty normal YA fare, but throw in the absolute bizarreness of dealing with his life, and it had me finishing the book in under 24 hours. Rec'd to anyone in the position to appreciate some meta commentary on the k-drama industry.
-Spelunking Through Hell, Seanan McGuire
-Backpacking Through Bedlam, Seanan McGuire - Finally catching up on some of my McGuire backlog! The publisher switch to hardback runs first has really been messing with my normal immediate reading of all her stuff. But I finally got to read these! The Alice books! The ones we've all been waiting for!!! (But also a reminder to me that I haven't actually read the third Rose book, which I should do for full understanding of everything that had been going on with the crossroads and the Ghost Roads. Definitely need to do that before the Mary POV book comes out!) Gosh, I sure was mad at [redacted]! Good for Thomas for [redacted redacted]! I'm looking forward to future books giving us more glimpses of how Alice and Thomas are weathering their reunion and attempts at readjusting to living in the present again. I do appreciate how McGuire never glosses over the ways trauma will continue to affect her characters, even after they accomplish goals that have been sustaining them for decades. They win, and then they have to keep living, which is harder.
TV/Movies
-Forecasting Love & Weather (Korean, Netflix) - I started watching this one months ago and had to take a break because the main character's ex is so infuriating. I love the premise here (weather forecasting supernerds falling love through shared nerdery!), but omg, they both have so many people in their lives with absolutely no sense of boundaries or privacy and they collectively drove me nuts. That said, the unexpected side ship of the lead's overlooked sister and the most uptight forecaster was fairly adorable, and able to flourish pretty much entirely because the leads' drama was distracting everyone else. I giggle to myself whenever I think about Mr. Uptight's face when he started spouting animal facts and the sister only asks him to pause so she can get out a notebook to start taking notes instead of asking him to stop the way clearly everyone else he'd ever met had. He finishes his soliloquy about crocodiles: "Do you know anything about penguins?" "*swallow*...Penguins are my favorite animal, actually."
-Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead (Japanese, Netflix, movie) - Yes, I did watch this just for Akaso Eiji. Yes, he did do a fantastic job, and it was 100% worth it. He does such a convincing portrayal of overworked exhaustion, and his euphoria when he realizes the zombie apocalypse means he doesn't have to worry about being late to work, or even go to work ever again, is entirely believable. Idk, something about a movie about learning how to rediscover joy in your life in the midst of societal collapse just feels, uh... relevant.
-Ooku (Japanese, Netflix) - I watched this one because I read the first volume of the manga back when it first came out (and then forgot to follow up on it as further volumes came out), and while it isn't exactly comfortable and easy viewing, it is still a very interesting exploration of an alternate history premise. Rec'd for people interested in "what if gender power dynamics were reversed/most of the men died?" stories and/or people with an interest in Japanese court history; not rec'd for people with triggers surrounding sexual assault and removal of agency. (ETA an additional TW for animal death.)
-An Ancient Love Song (Chinese, Viki) - A fascinating (and short, for a c-drama) time travel love story, wherein a historian working on a very obscure time period ends up transported (astrally projected?) via jade ornament back in time to meet the subject of his recently published book, the much maligned Demon Queen. He gets one trip back for every broken piece of the ornament, and each time he travels, it's to an earlier point in her life, so their love story is playing out in opposite time directions for each of them. Really well done.
-Uncanny Counter, season 1 (Korean, Netflix) - So much fun! A high school student finds himself tapped to fill an opening in a group of people who hunt down evil spirits for the afterlife (because what is a k-drama supernatural fantasy without afterlife bureaucracy shenanigans), a position that comes with superpowers, the healing of a severe childhood injury, and the chance to help his parents' spirits finally pass on to the afterlife properly. An interesting blend of humor and wrenching emotion, but I felt like they managed to hit a balance. The lead actor did a great job, and I'm looking forward to watch s2, in his post-high school days.
-One Piece live action (English, Netflix) - I haven't engaged with the other versions of One Piece canon other than via osmosis due to their sheer length, but I still knew enough to thoroughly enjoy this version. How One Piece, of all things, was finally the property to break the live action adaptation curse I don't know, but I feel like they did it with flying colors. Another show where it feels like the casting department must have had access to black magic to find such perfect choices.
-Pending Train: 8:23 Tomorrow with You (Japanese, Netflix) - Another one I watched for Akaso Eiji, and again it was a good choice. A commuter train car of people ends up transported through a space-time rift to the nearish future, to discover everything a wasteland. Our main three characters (a firefighter, a gym teacher, and a hairdresser) offer a fascinating set of case studies in what happens to compulsive caregivers in the post-apocalypse, as they all try, in different ways, to help lead the rest of the passengers into cooperating and surviving until they can find a way back. I especially appreciated that the story didn't end when they got back to the correct timeline, but instead continued to show how well (or not) they were able to reintegrate. (Fits well with the Alice InCryptid books, actually, for this month's inadvertent theme.)
-Minato's Laundromat 2 (Japanese, GagaOOLala) - I'll be honest, I found this season a lot more annoying than the first one. I mostly stuck through the first half for the side ship development and tried to ignore how much I wanted to metaphorically slap Shin on the back of the head for constantly wanting to barrel ahead when Minato was clearly uncomfortable. That said, this meant the surprise amnesia plot near the end was one of the first times I've ever thought an amnesia plot was actually necessary and useful! Shin forgetting everything while Minato was the one full of feelings actually let them finally level out to a more even footing. My main complaint at the very end was just that the side ship wasn't really in the finale episode, having apparently gotten all their resolution in the previous episode.
-Encore Martha (Taiwanese, GagaOOLala, short film) - Older queer people exist!!! I love Martha and her complete inability to look sad upon learning the annoying husband who stole the love of her life away 30 years ago has died. I also loved the absolute transformation of spirit her girlfriend goes through when she finally decides she can shed her "devoted mother and grandmother" persona and try being herself again.
Books
-When the Angels Left the Old Country, Sacha Lamb - This one often gets compared to Good Omens due to the friendship between an angel and a demon, but aside from that and the amount of delightful humor, they aren't really that similar. An extremely good, extremely Jewish, Eastern Europe to America immigrant story, and I loved every bit of it. Wonderfully queer on several fronts, a love story in multiple ways, soft and adventurous and hopeful.
-Witch King, Martha Wells - I knew going in that Wells had said she got some inspiration for this having watched The Untamed, mostly in how much more can be done with flashbacks (and perhaps with body possession), but I think anyone reading this without that knowledge wouldn't have made the leap directly to it, because as always Wells has brought her own genius to the worldbuilding, and I found it all fascinating. I also liked the use of the flashbacks significantly more here than I did in the show, but of course Wells had more control over how to artfully weave her two timelines together. The way the demons and the plains people had evolved a symbiotic society was so intriguing, and I'm a little sad we didn't get to see more of that, even though there wasn't really room for it in the midst of what was, in reality, a fairly fast-paced road trip adventure. I'm still thinking about it all, breaking down the structure and putting it back together like a favorite jigsaw puzzle.
-Seoulmates, Susan Lee - This was a very silly YA novel about a Korean American girl who is dismayed to discover all her American friends have gotten into the k-ent scene that she's been staunchly ignoring all her life, and the summer she spends with her former best friend, suddenly back for a visit from Korea, where he's become an idol-trained actor on the rise. Her life is pretty normal YA fare, but throw in the absolute bizarreness of dealing with his life, and it had me finishing the book in under 24 hours. Rec'd to anyone in the position to appreciate some meta commentary on the k-drama industry.
-Spelunking Through Hell, Seanan McGuire
-Backpacking Through Bedlam, Seanan McGuire - Finally catching up on some of my McGuire backlog! The publisher switch to hardback runs first has really been messing with my normal immediate reading of all her stuff. But I finally got to read these! The Alice books! The ones we've all been waiting for!!! (But also a reminder to me that I haven't actually read the third Rose book, which I should do for full understanding of everything that had been going on with the crossroads and the Ghost Roads. Definitely need to do that before the Mary POV book comes out!) Gosh, I sure was mad at [redacted]! Good for Thomas for [redacted redacted]! I'm looking forward to future books giving us more glimpses of how Alice and Thomas are weathering their reunion and attempts at readjusting to living in the present again. I do appreciate how McGuire never glosses over the ways trauma will continue to affect her characters, even after they accomplish goals that have been sustaining them for decades. They win, and then they have to keep living, which is harder.
TV/Movies
-Forecasting Love & Weather (Korean, Netflix) - I started watching this one months ago and had to take a break because the main character's ex is so infuriating. I love the premise here (weather forecasting supernerds falling love through shared nerdery!), but omg, they both have so many people in their lives with absolutely no sense of boundaries or privacy and they collectively drove me nuts. That said, the unexpected side ship of the lead's overlooked sister and the most uptight forecaster was fairly adorable, and able to flourish pretty much entirely because the leads' drama was distracting everyone else. I giggle to myself whenever I think about Mr. Uptight's face when he started spouting animal facts and the sister only asks him to pause so she can get out a notebook to start taking notes instead of asking him to stop the way clearly everyone else he'd ever met had. He finishes his soliloquy about crocodiles: "Do you know anything about penguins?" "*swallow*...Penguins are my favorite animal, actually."
-Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead (Japanese, Netflix, movie) - Yes, I did watch this just for Akaso Eiji. Yes, he did do a fantastic job, and it was 100% worth it. He does such a convincing portrayal of overworked exhaustion, and his euphoria when he realizes the zombie apocalypse means he doesn't have to worry about being late to work, or even go to work ever again, is entirely believable. Idk, something about a movie about learning how to rediscover joy in your life in the midst of societal collapse just feels, uh... relevant.
-Ooku (Japanese, Netflix) - I watched this one because I read the first volume of the manga back when it first came out (and then forgot to follow up on it as further volumes came out), and while it isn't exactly comfortable and easy viewing, it is still a very interesting exploration of an alternate history premise. Rec'd for people interested in "what if gender power dynamics were reversed/most of the men died?" stories and/or people with an interest in Japanese court history; not rec'd for people with triggers surrounding sexual assault and removal of agency. (ETA an additional TW for animal death.)
-An Ancient Love Song (Chinese, Viki) - A fascinating (and short, for a c-drama) time travel love story, wherein a historian working on a very obscure time period ends up transported (astrally projected?) via jade ornament back in time to meet the subject of his recently published book, the much maligned Demon Queen. He gets one trip back for every broken piece of the ornament, and each time he travels, it's to an earlier point in her life, so their love story is playing out in opposite time directions for each of them. Really well done.
-Uncanny Counter, season 1 (Korean, Netflix) - So much fun! A high school student finds himself tapped to fill an opening in a group of people who hunt down evil spirits for the afterlife (because what is a k-drama supernatural fantasy without afterlife bureaucracy shenanigans), a position that comes with superpowers, the healing of a severe childhood injury, and the chance to help his parents' spirits finally pass on to the afterlife properly. An interesting blend of humor and wrenching emotion, but I felt like they managed to hit a balance. The lead actor did a great job, and I'm looking forward to watch s2, in his post-high school days.
-One Piece live action (English, Netflix) - I haven't engaged with the other versions of One Piece canon other than via osmosis due to their sheer length, but I still knew enough to thoroughly enjoy this version. How One Piece, of all things, was finally the property to break the live action adaptation curse I don't know, but I feel like they did it with flying colors. Another show where it feels like the casting department must have had access to black magic to find such perfect choices.
-Pending Train: 8:23 Tomorrow with You (Japanese, Netflix) - Another one I watched for Akaso Eiji, and again it was a good choice. A commuter train car of people ends up transported through a space-time rift to the nearish future, to discover everything a wasteland. Our main three characters (a firefighter, a gym teacher, and a hairdresser) offer a fascinating set of case studies in what happens to compulsive caregivers in the post-apocalypse, as they all try, in different ways, to help lead the rest of the passengers into cooperating and surviving until they can find a way back. I especially appreciated that the story didn't end when they got back to the correct timeline, but instead continued to show how well (or not) they were able to reintegrate. (Fits well with the Alice InCryptid books, actually, for this month's inadvertent theme.)
-Minato's Laundromat 2 (Japanese, GagaOOLala) - I'll be honest, I found this season a lot more annoying than the first one. I mostly stuck through the first half for the side ship development and tried to ignore how much I wanted to metaphorically slap Shin on the back of the head for constantly wanting to barrel ahead when Minato was clearly uncomfortable. That said, this meant the surprise amnesia plot near the end was one of the first times I've ever thought an amnesia plot was actually necessary and useful! Shin forgetting everything while Minato was the one full of feelings actually let them finally level out to a more even footing. My main complaint at the very end was just that the side ship wasn't really in the finale episode, having apparently gotten all their resolution in the previous episode.
-Encore Martha (Taiwanese, GagaOOLala, short film) - Older queer people exist!!! I love Martha and her complete inability to look sad upon learning the annoying husband who stole the love of her life away 30 years ago has died. I also loved the absolute transformation of spirit her girlfriend goes through when she finally decides she can shed her "devoted mother and grandmother" persona and try being herself again.
no subject
Date: 2023-10-05 08:16 pm (UTC)I haven't read Witch King, though it is on my very long list. I hadn't heard there was Untamed inspiration. Interesting!
I of course started watching The Inner Chambers because I'm always curious about this kind of gender take, but I could have done without the sexual assaults and I dropped it when they killed the cat. What. The. Fuck?!!!
Much love for The Uncanny Counter. <3
no subject
Date: 2023-10-05 08:27 pm (UTC)At least the other stuff on this list was more fun! And I *will* get back to Uncanny Counter 2 very soon!