Shortbox Comics 2023 haul: part 3

Shortbox entries I read in November: In the Jaws of St. Camillus is my definite standout for this round. So much fannish potential in that one! The artist has started selling physical copies and mentioned that they're turning it into a webcomic series. :)

Felipe Ortiz, "Minnow Soup!"

A tiny forest creature delves into the woods to find ingredients so they can prepare their grandmother’s special minnow soup for a loved one. A cozy comic best served warm on rainy days.

Short and cozy, as described in the synopsis. The character-to-environment ratio makes this extra cute and alluring!

C.R. Chua, "Kanna Has Never Seen a Cat"

Once upon a time, a strange creature sneaks into Kanna's room and it won't leave. She's good with dogs, surely this creature is similar? In Heian Japan, the lady-in-waiting Kanna goes about her day when a cat unexpectedly shakes her quiet routine...

Cute and sweet, but I don't really have anything to say about it.

Jean Wei, "Light Through Memory"

Two young star-gazers spot something new in the night sky. What might it mean? Historical fiction, featuring ancient, pre-telescope astronomy. B&W.

A short, moving, and poetic read. Best viewed on a computer because you need to see both pages of each spread side-by-side.

Mathilde Laillet, "Les Oiseaux de l'Orage / The Birds of the Storm"

A quiet and atmospheric comic about storms and tenderness. The emotions are understated but powerful, the story feeling simultaneously small and spacious. The experience is almost puzzle-like and never fully unravels, always leaving room for things that are unsaid.

Other notes: f/f relationship + the PDF has both French and English versions of the comic

Claud Li, "Auntie"

Warm, funny, and moving, 'Auntie' gives us a glimpse into the life of Catalina 'Auntie' Cheng, an elderly, award-winning poker player (who also runs a cat rescue) making a return to the table after a mysterious absence.

A surprisingly wholesome (and moving) poker-centered comic! The first part is a competition which was a lot of fun. Everyone had distinct personalities and some of the character interactions (John and Victor 👀) were intriguing. The second half takes you back to Auntie’s home which takes you to her home and personal life.

Content notes: grief and a sad family storyline—but overall the comic finds the character at a place of peace

Stevie Barot, "In the Jaws of St. Camillus"

Father Valencia is a friendly priest from the capital tasked with revitalizing the distant island province of St. Camillus. His kindness immediately uplifts the community. And yet despite all his apparent benevolence, Mr. Rivera, the island's funeral director, sense something is off...


This is a twisty story about a funeral director and a priest in a remote Filipino town. Dark and warm with beautiful tension, with a strong sense of place and very interesting character dynamics (and a distinctly pre-slash dynamic that I feel is very relevant to fandom interests!). The ending feels like a backstory for characters who go on to do more things in St. Camillus.

I was initially hesitant about this because of the Catholic themes—and then I found out it wasn't white Catholicism and so I got onboard lol. I didn't actually realize that the characters were Filipino until a bit later into the comic.

Other notes:
1) the artist produced physical copies of this!!!

2) heard through the grapevine that the artist is planning to make a webcomic series out of this

my 120+ page psychological horror comic "In the Jaws of St. Camillus" is out now! (not likely to restock)

🎄 will sell at paskomiket too :]
🔗shop below pic.twitter.com/7RyJmIN0V2

— stevie (@sneckoil) November 22, 2023

November media log

TV

Mysterious Lotus Casebook

Ripe Town

Girls 5Eva S1 (3/8)

Our Flag Means Death S1 (3/10)

Romance on the Farm (7/26) (might DNF)

女兒紅 (3/??)

Movies/Musicals

Bottoms (2023)

Chungking Express (1994) (restored—technically a rewatch but the theater experience was nice hehe)

Fallen Angels (1995) (restored)

Hamilton

Comics

Stevie Barot, "In the Jaws of St. Camillus"

C.R. Chua, "Kanna Has Never Seen a Cat"

Mathilde Laillet, "Les Oiseaux de l'Orage / The Birds of the Storm"

Claud Li, "Auntie"

Felipe Ortiz, "Minnow Soup!"

Jean Wei, "Light Through Memory"

Fanworks:

Mysterious Lotus Casebook letter translation

ZXC Mini-Album BTS Vlog (my subbing days are pretty much done, but I did this on request since apparently none of the other fansubbing accounts have subbed this vlog... yet???)

捨不得星星 trailer (locked because there were parts that I was very, very unsure I understood)

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Bottoms (2023)
High school movie + fight club movie but for the lesbian teens. Both the high school and fight club aspects were too stressful for me tbh, but it wasn't as secondhand-embarrassing as it could have been, and the execution met its intention. The movie occupies a very surreal space, with no true sense of place and time so you kind of just have to roll with everything it throws at you.



Ripe Town
Streaming on: WeTV

Serial murder drama spanning two timelines in the Ming Dynasty where the murder mystery is mostly a stylistic choice, with episodes feeling like nested dolls. It's more centered on plot and story than individual character arcs, though Judge Song's arc did feel strong and complete.

Each episode feels like a movie, beautifully shot and artfully cut, with a "show, don't tell" approach. I was very invested in the kiddos! My interest peaked at ep 8, where we had a clear view of the factions, the characters, and their motivations, and then eps 9 and 10 got too difficult for me (multiple instances of child harm). Ep 12 was 1 hour and 40 minutes long but I think they could have made it longer, or split it to have two full episodes to get the complete emotional effect of the ~twists~.

more thoughts

One of my problems with it was that I tend to stop being interested once I know who did what, so I got a bit bored when they let the scenes play out. XD It was also a bit hard to tell characters apart because this show had a limited palette, with multiple characters in uniform. And frankly I thought ep2 was weak and draggy haha.

The parts about justice/injustice were good but since it's a show where people have individual motives and are likely to doublecross each other, it gets stressful. Everyone, especially if it’s an older male character in power, in this show is presented to have skewed ethics, and all their actions give them a sense of, idk how to put it… a sort of moral responsibility to find their own retribution or redemption in the narrative? I have mixed feelings about how they handled this. And I’m not sure it resolves all the character arcs, especially Sangen’s, the primary POV character who they set up to have many emotional relationships. I almost wish they'd written out the mother and the captain's kids because of it.

Overall, it could have been either leaner or longer, but it's a 7.5/10 for me.

Content warnings for: police brutality and hazing (not shown as good things), child harm… at some point child murder (not the main kids)



Romance on the Farm
Streaming on: iQiyi

Transmigration + romance + family drama, with strong emphasis on FAMILY DRAMA. The FL gets transplanted into a farming game where her initial goal is to avoid a canon event (burning to death) and the initial vibes are very standard (and bland) webnovel romance.

Surprisingly, it gets better at eps5+ when the leads (+ supporting friends) get into stupid cons and the family dynamics feel a bit more balanced with what they criticize. It's definitely family drama-centric with varying levels of relatableness on the trials of sharing a home with your siblings, cousins and in-laws, harmful favoritism, toxic solidarity, and having to fight for the right to move out.