halfcactus: an icon of a manga shiba inu (Default)
2025-03-12 05:19 pm

Stress-reading

A little annoyed because I've been reading WIPs that haven't even finished serializing the first season (at least for the English versions).

Divorcing the Emperor by Legendary Cat (story) and Hara (art)
Ongoing, < 30 chapters on Tapas.

The English title is so difficult to distinguish from other generic transmigration rofans, but the content is completely different. For one thing, there's no transmigration (or regression, for that matter). For another, it's an ensemble-cast adventure/comedy set in a fantasy world where the romance is secondary to the characters' shenanigans, and the style and pacing are very anime-like.

PLOT: The main character, Krisha, is the daughter of a soldier who grew up in a battlefield before they settled in a province outside the capital. One day she is informed that she is married to the emperor in an accident of paperwork with neither of them having met each other. Thus begins Krisha's quest to go to the capital to file for divorce—and in her travels she sees the true state of her country.

Krisha is: 1) very strong, and 2) the founding member of ANRA (The Archuke of the North Research Association), which leads to some very funny developments. AND she has a magical meat-eating horse called Creampuff.

The plot is moved by comedy, hijinks, and likeable characters, and a sort of reverse harem format, except so far only Archduke#1 has fallen in love with Krisha and even then he's been manipulating her for his own political/revenge motivations. Everyone is so eccentric and interesting it's actually hard to tell who the ML is (I'm going to guess the emperor, if only because the Krisha's trajectory seems to be her learning how to be empress), and Krisha herself is a force of nature who is the perfect balance of smart and dumb. There's enough genre awareness in the story to subvert some tropes (eg. slave auction / desert kingdom character trope) while parodying others magnificently.

Enjoying this so much I'm not sure I'll have the willpower to let more chapters accumulate before continuing. ;___;



As the Heart Leads ny TILDA, CHT, Octopuschu
Ongoing, < 30 chapters on Tapas

Romance-fantasy where the MC was originally the granddaughter of a shaman in modern-day Korea, born with the ability to see spirits, preternaturally bad luck, and a poor affinity with water. She transmigrates into the body of a woman in a western fantasy world who drowns herself before her marriage to the king, an otherwise good-natured man who's driven to insomnia and fits of mania by the spirits that are attracted to him and his accumulation of negative karma. In spite of her commitment to avoid any entanglement with the supernatural at all costs, the MC takes to surreptitiously punching spirits, creating talismans and totems, and massaging the king's energy points to help him sleep.

So far not much is happening but I'm invested enough to subscribe to it, though I am as usual expecting the quality to drop after S1.


The One within the Villainess by Makiburo (story), Shiraume Nazuna(Art)
Ongoing fantranslation

Reverse revenge isekai with fantasy/adventure elements. Rather than being a transmigrator who takes over an otome game villainess's life, the MC is the original villainess who gets her body back after it's taken over by a well-meaning transmigrator. The transmigrator, Emi, is a modern-day Japanese girl who empathizes with the villains and wishes for the villainess's happiness, so she spends the MC's formative years improving the villainess's life and relationships while the MC is unable to do anything but watch until Emi detaches from the body.

The plot begins when the original protagonist—also possessed by a transmigrator—enters the story and completely undoes all the goodwill Emi has worked so hard to build. After the system turns on her, Emi breaks down and disappears from the body. Remi repossesses her body and vows to avenge Emi and pay her back for her kindness. Outwardly she uses Emi's gentle personality and moral compass to win people over and keep the memory of Emi alive, but inwardly she embraces her true villainess nature, only going through the motions of saving the world so the original protagonist is unable to progress in the game and is eventually cornered.

The story moves quite fast: there are only 26 full chapters out, but by chapter 7 Remi is already fighting a god for the sake of her lost love.
"now let us begin with the first god. shall I make you disappear for the sake of the world (Emi)?"

While it's technically not yuri, the vibes are very gay, and there's a lot of focus on how much Remi loves Emi. There is only ONE eligible ML (the demon king route), but that character and one-sided romance mostly exist to show that Remi will never be interested in anyone else because Emi is her entire world.
Remi: My love for Emi is so sacred that no artist or playwright could possibly do it justice.

She regards the ML's confession as a confession to Emi and approves of him for sharing the same impeccable taste in women.
The demon king apologizes for confessing so publicly, but Remi is pleased to hear another person love Emi so ardently.


Cons: The villains—the original protagonist (or at least the transmigrator who takes her place) especially, but also the two other guys in her harem—are stereotypically a cartoonish level of evil AND stupid, and the manga seems to believe that it should keep layering on revelations of how bad these people are for the revenge to be satisfying. This unfortunately leads to a weird puritanical slant in the ~final showdown~ where the original protagonist is revealed to be a sexual deviant (in society standards) and all of high society basically watches revenge porn.


-

PS. Blind Go (Hikaru no Go fan event) is back this year! The AO3 collection is open for submissions, and submissions are due on May 4. I believe this year's event is open for all mediums (not just fic.)

Links: AO3 collection (open) / Bluesky / Tumblr
halfcactus: an icon of a manga shiba inu (Default)
2025-02-15 01:25 pm

January media log

TV/Movies:

Ballerina
Link Click OVA (Bridon Arc)
I love that this is a prequel AND a sequel and I love alllll the Lu Guang feelings (especially in the first half of episode 1... and the OP...), but this series really has a gendered violence issue and I've never truly liked anything that came out after S1... They do have some truly emotionally charged bangers so I suspect that in spite of my grumbling I'll watch S3 as long as [tumblr.com profile] daisydiversions wants to watch it lol.

Plot-wise it feels like nothing really happened here, other than establishing some backstory with Cheng Xiaoshi's parents? I didn't care for any of the new characters.
Nuer Hong

Comics:

MANGA:
Though I Am an Inept Villainess: Tale of the Butterfly-Rat Swap in the Maiden Court (ongoing)Bodyswap court politics manga about a talented, good-natured, and universally beloved but chronically ill heroine who trades places with a reviled and spiteful villainess. It is surprisingly gen! There's one male character who seems like he could be the love interest, but the manga doesn't really give any indication that romance is in the horizon. Rather, it's focused on the women in the palace, framed in the PoVs of the protagonist and antagonist who learn more about each other's plights, and consequently, the systems and structures around them. I put it on hold at around 15 chapters in, but both the manga and the novel it's based on are still ongoing.
When I Became a Commoner, They Broke Off Our Engagement! (ongoing)Another "trading places" manga, this time playing with the concept of changelings: A commoner and a noble are swapped at birth by the hand of a mischievous fairy, their circumstances to be revealed when they come of age. This takes a more thoughtful approach about class differences and social change than expected. Although I'm not sold on any of the relationships involving men (be it siblingly or romantic), it's really interesting to see two women connect with each other without ever interacting directly, and motivated to improve the lives of ordinary people through their shared perspectives.


MANHWA: I started a lot (and also dropped a lot) so I'll just limit this post to the ones I either finished or read at least one season of, with a note that some of these comics are much better than the titles make them sound. Of this list, I'd put The Fantasie of a Stepmother / A Stepmother's Märchen and Your Eternal Lies on top in terms of overall writing.

Being Loved for the First Time (ongoing)Reincarnation + childcare manhwa where:
  • the MC is on her 100th life and on her first good reincarnation (she always has awful family circumstances and dies at 20 to save the world)
  • the MC's mom is ALIVE and not evil
  • the MC has a brother AND a sister
  • the dad has pink hair, and the mom and the MC have black hair and red eyes (usually it is the other way around, so this is a cute subversion)

  • Father, I Don't Want This MarriageMiscommunication: The Manhwa.

    True to its character-inclusive title, the FL's dad and the ML have an equal ratio of scenes, which is hilarious. This is part regression romcom (the ML, contractually dating the FL behind a different identity, is trying to convince the FL that the crown prince isn't that bad, actually!), part self-sacrificial tsundere father-daughter angst. Both parts are super tropey and the chapter endings are simply THE BEST and are in fact the reason why I keep reading.

    The Fantasie of a Stepmother (also known as A Stepmother's Märchen) (ongoing)I've only read S1 and I love it so much but where do I begin? The MC enters a non-sexual/non-romantic marriage as a prodigious teenager, groomed by her dying husband to become the acting matriarch until the eldest son comes of age. All of the kids act their age, initially resenting her but eventually forming different flavors of ride-or-die for her, and any woman who supports the MC does it through her own motivations and is liable to withdraw her support when their interests are no longer aligned.


    In this manhwa: angst, family of convenience to family of choice, gorgeous art, competent MC, loyalty kink, fealty, complex women, politics

    Flirting with the Villain's DadVERY CUTE (romcom / Bellecourt chapters) until it wasn't (plot). The main pairing was highly shippable and the FL kept accidentally calling the ML "dad" which I thought was fun! But to my disappointment, the comic completely neglected to develop the FL's other close relationships, and the plot was meh. And the politics made no! Sense! At! All! I would happily reread S1 though.

    For Better or For WorseRegency romance with isekai/regression elements and a tenuous stance about "fate". This was a nice little romance story focusing on the leads' romantic chemistry, but it falls off from the moment the ML realizes his feelings because characters start behaving in unrecognizably irrational ways. There's a weird Raeliana and the Duke-esque twist at the end that renders the plot completely nonsensical and undercuts all of its themes, which is a shame because it was otherwise very enjoyable! There's a cast of women with distinct, interesting personalities and protagonist energy, ie. cute tsundere remarried MiL, introvert BFF, and the "original" FL who in this version of the story is no longer in love with the ML now that she's in a healthier state of mind.

    Ginger and the Cursed PrinceNon-isekai fantasy-romance where the FL receives a book that foretells her future as the antagonist, and the ML is a mindreader who's endeared by the FL's stupidity. IDK, it works! But the secondhand embarrassment is kind of strong in the first few chapters... Still, it's a self-contained story with no transmigration OR regression, which is a plus for me. XD

    I Married the Male Lead's Dad (ongoing)
    Interesting case of bait-and-switch: Gets you with the trashy transmigration romance premise and animated prologue, but S1 ends with a genre shift that reveals that it's all just an artifice. I dropped it after S1 because I didn't feel invested enough in the characters, but the "real" story has the potential to push my buttons with messy reincarnation drama.

    I'm Unmarried with a Time-Limited Lover (ongoing)Contract dating with reincarnation elements and a talking sword. The FL is a self-made businesswoman who can foresee misfortunes through touch, while the ML is the world's unluckiest human being, knowing no joy, doomed to die early, and just trying to tick off his bucket list. Following this for now because I like how the ML's character design makes him feel like a more unique flavor of black-hair-red-eyed protagonist (his eyes, for instance, are a different shade of red).

    My In-Laws Are Obsessed with Me (ongoing)I'm not sure I love this, but the art is great and I really like it when webtoons get to take their time telling the story (...as long as I'm in the position to binge instead of waiting for weekly chapters). S1 was a nice slow burn where the regression storyline folds into the plot in interesting ways and is bound to the magical worldbuilding and mystery. You have to get to the end of the season to see what it does with the tropes, and I think it spins an interesting story out of them, I just can’t talk about the good parts without spoiling. ^^; The supernatural elements (regression, magical poison, the MC's multiple actual DEATHS) are considered factors for the FL's worsening cramps too, which was nice to see in fiction! Planning to continue this for sure.

    The Perks of Being a Villainess (ongoing)Isekai rofan that's quite focused on the leads' business partnership. The FL wins the ML over with her competence and capitalistic villainy (eg. tax evasion and predatory subscription schemes) and everyone else with her innovations and math genius (as math is an integral part of magic). SO far, it's a relaxing take on "business genius" protagonists, with identity porn comedy as the ML has dual identities as noble and overworked information broker.
    The Perks of Being an S-Class Heroine (ongoing)Plot: Korea is suffering a transmigration epidemic, and the MC is the first to avail of the transmigration insurance package...

    S1 was fun, up to a point. S2 was mostly skippable until the last few chapters where tutorial mode ends, the regular difficulty is restored, and the time loop plot starts moving forward. Will probably pick up S3 if I'm still into manhwa when it ends! IDK how long this canon is supposed to be.

    Your Eternal LiesPseudo-historical post-war romance about two people who exist at opposite ends of state propaganda--the decorated war hero, and the infamous witch from his hometown. The parallels are beautiful, each finding solace in the other’s image as renowned savior and notorious survivor in the time before they met. It does start out a bit rocky with the veterans' inflated sense of self-importance and confusing flashbacks in the earlier parts, but once it gets going it proceeds beautifully and reaches an ending that feels satisfying because prices have been paid. The FL is a lying liar who lies and is very consistent about putting herself first for an endgame known only to herself, and the ML is a bundle of unaddressed trauma and self-deceptions.

    In this manhwa: domestic abuse, social critique, PTSD, witches, propaganda, and found family
    halfcactus: an icon of a manga shiba inu (Default)
    2025-01-10 02:14 pm

    "Wednesday's Child" by Niv Sekar + snowflake challenge + manga

    Recently enjoyed Wednesday's Child by Niv Sekar, a little f/f urban fantasy comic about a woman who wakes up curiously numb after a night in the club. She finds out over the next few weeks that someone had cast a spell to make her emotions disappear.

    It was what she needed, but it wasn't kind.

    (This is mostly to remind myself to check out Niv Sekar's work if ever they're on Shortbox again since I quite like her writing and art style.)

    PIHU HAS ALWAYS RESENTED HER FEELINGS. HOW OUTSIZED THEY ARE, HOW INCONVENIENT - HOW SHE STILL DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO EXORCISE THEM.

    + 1 more image


    -

    [community profile] snowflake_challenge #5
    Talk about what has improved in your life thanks to fandom.

    My perspective; My world is so small and boring and stationary but I've been realizing lately how broad my PoV has become in spite of it. The perks of not being limited to physical proximity. XD Also travel! If it weren't for fandom friends, I never would have gone on the quest to try the black sesame chiffon cake in New Taipei City... There's no way I would have known it would have existed and that I was capable of enjoying a dessert that much...!

    -

    Misc.:

  • The Lovers release has been pushed to 2026. *sad dolphin noises*

  • Fanmix rec: The Magician (Arcane - Viktor) by [community profile] fairykiss: great tracklist, great cover and track art

  • Manga I recently enjoyed (all ongoing): Though I Am an Inept Villainess (universally cherished but chronically ill heroine x reviled but healthy villainess bodyswap; inner palace intrigue; gen), When I Became a Commoner, They Broke Off Our Engagement! (a fairy's mischief: a commoner and a noble are swapped at birth, to be returned to the "right" parents when they're older; the men appear to only exist so they can help the girls achieve their goals of social change...)... Megane, Tokidoki, Yankee-kun (high school romance between a reformed delinquent and a girl who used to be bullied by delinquents)

  • A cnovel I recently bookmarked and briefly skimmed but am not sure I'll actually read: 全宇宙最后一只猫 The Last Cat in the Universe: The MC is a former pampered house cat that is determined to cultivate to the ultimate nine-tail form; fantranslation appears to be incomplete.
  • halfcactus: an icon of a manga shiba inu (Default)
    2025-01-09 01:26 pm

    December media log

    With thanks to past!me for taking the time to jot notes on my journal. Otherwise I would have no way of differentiating my 4894664 otome isekai webtoons.
    journal photos )

    Books

    Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God (tr. Anita Barrows, Joanna Macy)
    Rita Dove, "Playlist for the Apocalypse"

    Movies

    Wicked (2024)
    Look Back (2024)

    Comics

    Komomo ConfiserieShort shoujo manga about a pampered heiress who is forced to find a job and learn to live on her own while her family is sorting out a financial crisis. The MC is a vibrant and confident protagonist who embraces the chance to grow as a person, handles conflicts (and bullying) gracefully, and breaks out into professional renditions of Lacrimosa when anyone in her life is in need of comfort. The ML is sweet but sort of just there to help her attain her independence. The best parts are in the middle which highlight my favorite shoujo friendship dynamic: the spunky FL and her loud, tsundere best friend.
    An Incompetent Woman Wants to be a Villainess (ongoing)Proxy bride story where the FL is very Pure and Cute and Doing Her Best to act like her wicked half-sister whose place she's taking. No one is fooled, but she tries so hard they just go along with it and praise her villainy. Super cute and fluffy.
    Like Wind on a Dry Branch (ongoing)
    Saving My Sweetheart (a.k.a. A Way to Protect the Lovable You)
    The Tyrant's Only Perfumer
    廚廚動人 U Kill, I Cook (a.k.a. Kitchen Goddess and Assassin)
    Villainess in LoveA good hurt/comfort fantasy canon where the FL, Yunifer, is mature and comfortable with her sexuality, and the ML's trauma is taken seriously. The first chapter timeskips the whole part where Yunifer's just transmigrated and is trying to avoid the main characters, instead landing us straight into a drunken and ill-advised one-night stand with the ML. The manhwa left a lot of loose ends which I hope are tied well in the original novel, but this was otherwise a solid romance fantasy with a less boilerplate setting and some worldbuilding of its own. The ship dynamic is cool and mature older FL x codependent yandere puppy ML, which does not feel as romantic on Yunifer's end since she's also trying to help him be more well-adjusted, but it's appropriately sweet. And there's a beautiful gigantic bird character who always steals the show whenever she's onscreen.
    The Villainess is Retiring (ongoing; not sure I'll continue when S3 comes out) Transmigration with strings attached, with the MC as a reluctant/inadvertent hero. The MC just wants to retire in the mountains but when she summons a demon to light up some unburnable wood, she gets cast into the role of magical problem-solving and leadership. S1 was pretty great (somewhat comparable to Lout of the Count's Family, from what little I've read of it), but in S2 the character writing takes a step back and the power imbalance between the MC and her devoted demon servant felt starkly worse. PS. The outfits for this webtoon are so nonsensical.
    Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's MansionIsekai with a price. This is an enjoyable self-contained romance-fantasy with fake dating and mystery elements, though some of the episodes in the latter half fall into the "plot in service of romantic moments" category, something I wouldn't have minded if they let the hurt/comfort potential marinate a little.

    The MC has a strong sense of personality, her own set of pecularities, and is unafraid of getting her hands dirty. The transmigration plot is a puzzle that's meant to be solved and resolved, with the MC having to come clean about who she is and where she came from, which is probably what made the romance more believable for me. Probably not that memorable in the long run, but it was an 8/10 binge with some interesting twists for me.


    TV
    Link Click cdramaMostly enjoyable for the songs and the opera troupe case and the scene in the end which shows the gang with their donghua looks! Bold of them to save that for after the Worst Story Arc I've Ever Seen in a Cdrama (a.k.a the MRA case). The last case was kind of okay but, like most of the cases, overly long. I ended up enjoying the siscon because at least it felt so bizarre it gave the story some flavor and it was amusing to see the actor leaning into it. XD The boys' dynamic was actually pretty good (I loved the conflict), but Qiao Ling was, sad to say, paper-thin and awful.
    halfcactus: an icon of a manga shiba inu (Default)
    2024-12-02 04:54 pm

    November media log

    Comics/Manga

    青春18x2:重返最初的悸動
    Hello, I'm a Witch and My Crush Wants Me to Make a Love Potion! (+ LNs)
    I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss
    Matcha Made in Heaven (DNF)
    Namidaame to Serenade (ongoing)
    Snow White with the Red Hair (DNF)
    Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty


    TV

    Arcane S2
    萌妻食神 Cinderella Chef donghua (DNF)
    7th Time Loop anime (+ LNs)

    -

    CURRENT/RECENTS:

    Link Click cdrama
    Spoilers and complaints for episodes 1-12 )


    Changes of Heart (Honnou Switch) by Kujira
    A sweet and fluffy childhood-friends-to-lovers slice-of-life manga with adult characters: When the FL, fresh off a painful breakup, complains about the lack of sex in her relationships, the ML suggests that she sleep with him, and she drunkenly acquiesces. Worried about ruining their friendship, she begs the ML to pretend it never happened the following day, but he asks her out on a proper date instead.

    Read more... )
    halfcactus: an icon of a manga shiba inu (Default)
    2024-11-28 03:02 pm

    Recent manga

    I've been on a massive shoujo/josei kick, and the dissatisfaction of reading purely for the distraction and instant gratification is finally setting in. I don't think I'm built for inhaling a stream of media back-to-back and at a breakneck pace. I can actually feel my brain rotting haha.

    Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty: modern-day, romance, paranormal + found family
    Manga by Morino Megumi (English translation: Kodansha)
    I would describe this as "DID, but paranormal". Not sure if I liked it (I sure am not a fan of the main romance and the way the physical abuse is mostly just there to ramp up drama), but it's short, has an interesting twist towards the end and some very touching found family beats. I was bawling my eyes out in the last chapters. I found it refreshing that the ML is the maid in this scenario--he's a poor student who does domestic labor in order to support his family, good at taking care of people, and great with kids.

    CW: mental illness-related trauma--the FL is imprisoned at home, has been forced to stay in facilities that did not help her, and it's implied that she sometimes endures physical assault so she "resets" to her main personality state.


    Namidaame to Serenade (ongoing): time travel, historical - Meiji era, romance, adventure, crime, mystery
    Manga by Kawachi Haruka
    I mainly picked this up because it was giving me 2000s vibes, but I wasn't expecting it to get so dark.

    This is a time travel romance adventure with MULTIPLE fake identity storylines that starts as a wild goose chase for a necklace—the item that the FL needs to travel back to the modern day—and then spins out into a whirlwind of interlocking conspiracies, with increasingly complex secondary characters. While the main characters and pairings aren't of particular interest, I did really enjoy the strength of their emotions, the intimate yearnings, and the overall writing.

    The standout characters are definitely the 2ML and the relationships among the literal circus that he works with. The drama! The messy and problematic dynamics! The twists! The way everyone teeters between betrayal and personal loyalty! Most recently they've been building up Chiyo and Tenshin's relationship and I'm very much seated for that.

    Manga is ongoing and only available as fantranslation. It looks like the finish line is in sight since they've gotten a lot of the major reveals out of the way, but the events in the past timeline still need a bit of a push...

    CW: drugs, prostitution, human + child trafficking

    Hello, I'm a Witch and My Crush Wants Me to Make a Love Potion!: fantasy, romance, fluff
    Light novels by Mutsuhana Eiko (translated by Charis Messier / Cross Infinite World), with manga adaptation (translated by Alethea Nibley / Yen Press)
    What it says on the tin: cute and fluffy fantasy romcom, and one where the ML is actually more fun and interesting than the MC because the ML at least has a consistent personality and is unafraid of punishing bad children. The MC is very inoffensively cute, but horribly undercooked as a character. We know that she "loves" the ML for the bare minimum of human decency, but she also has like... zero interactions, relationships, or emotions for anyone else. There's a traveling merchant who treats her as family (and is Viet-coded, which is really cool to see in a manga!), but the MC doesn't really have any feelings about that. Neither does MC have any feelings for her mother who died when she was super young or her grandmother who raised her and taught her all the recipes, though it is very sweet (and funny) whenever she compares the ML to her grandma. Otherwise, the ML cares more about these family figures more than the MC ever does.

    The series benefits a lot from being short enough to hide the writer's weaknesses; the manga covers only volume 1 of the light novel and is more enjoyable for it since volume 2 kinda sucks. We do get some moments of the MC yearning for a grandma figure in volume 2, as well as confirmation that the MC had been decaying with depression after her grandma died, but all of the characters come out flatter with a plot forced in.

    tl;dr - enjoyable as a manga (dialogue flows better too); the light novels don't add anything


    Matcha Made in Heaven (DNF): modern-day, josei, romance
    Manga by: Yamanaka Umebachi (English translation: Kodansha)
    Created by the mangaka of Ossan's Love, which I haven't consumed in any form.

    DNF. This is so bad and not even in a fun way!!! I should have followed my instincts and bailed the moment they introduced a calculatedly daughter-shaped character (designed to bring the leads together, of course).

    Everything you learn about the FL at the beginning--that she is a yoga(?) instructor and wants her career to be respected, that she hates society's patriarchal and misogynistic culture, that she had a traumatic previous relationship, and that she grew up in a tea farm, is all irrelevant. At some point homegirl (who I reiterate was a fitness instructor before she moved back to the countryside) gets muscle cramps from doing physical labor at the farm and the ML has to come save her because she doesn't know how to deal with it. And her traumatic relationship backstory mostly functions as an excuse for her to... pass out aesthetically in the ML's arms. There's no indication that it affects her life in any other way, once the basic romantic setup is established.

    As for the ML, he's a highly competent tea nerd, and to his credit he looks the part, but he has no business dating anyone, considering he is, what, 30-something years old? But never communicates anything or honors commitments to either his daughter figure or his business partner/girlfriend when those personal obligations become less convenient.



    I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss: transmigration, otome game, fantasy, romance
    Light novel by Nagase Sarasa / Manga by Murasaki Mai
    Your typical wish-fulfillment transmigration romcom where a minor villainess has to romance the villain to survive, but the villain is not that bad, actually! Once again a generic European setting with fantasy elements. The FL is a highly competent noblewoman who has been jilted by the prince, while the ML is kind of a Disney princess and his magic can do all the things but he's also a demon king and a yandere.

    The manga was short, only around 3 volumes? Again, the shortness is what makes it readable, since the art is pretty but the writing and plotting feel largely inconsistent... And one can see the creator's classist/colorist biases in the portrayal of Beelzebuth. AND there's this weird slavery storyline* that one is only able to glaze their eyes over because it then crashes into an attempted rape storyline.

    There's an anime adaptation on Netflix but it seems both terrible as an adaptation and in animation quality.

    "[Character] is good because he only chose to sell demons who consented to being sold as slaves!" - They could just have focused on the part where he was a literal child that got tricked by adults into signing things...

    CW: attempted rape (+ the perpetrators are gently let off just because it's standard in these kinds of stories for villains to go unpunished)


    Snow White with the Red Hair (DNF): fantasy, romance
    Manga by: Akizuki Sorata
    DNF; I missed out on the anime for this, which means I also missed the window where I could enjoy this. XD The FL is an aspiring herbalist who's set on getting by on her own merits, and the ML is a prince. Perfectly inoffensive manga, I just wasn't in the mood.


    Usotoki Rhetoric: historical, mystery
    Manga by: Miyako Ritsu
    A charming little shoujo manga where the FL has the ability to hear whenever anyone tells a lie, and the ML is a talented but humorously penniless detective who owes a lot of people money. I haven't gotten far enough to have any real thoughts about it, but the early chapters had a mystery-of-the-day format that was quite weak but focused enough on the FL's character growth to keep me engaged. It's only started to pick up in the doll arc, which is where I am now. The case writing isn't anything special, but the story is cute, occasionally OTT, and so far pretty gen in a way that might attract fannish feelings from me.

    CW: mild horror (dolls)

    I was checking to see if there was an anime adaptation and found out that there's an ongoing jdrama adaptation that just started airing in October!

    Colette Decides to Die: fantasy (Greek mythology), romance
    Manga by: Yukimira Alto (translated by Max Greenway / VIZ)
    Plot: Colette is the overworked apothecary of a tiny mountain village. Seeking respite from her work, she jumps down the well, discovers that it's a gateway to the underworld, and is asked to treat Hades the bishounen.

    In spite of the morbid title this is quite wholesome. Most importantly, in this version, Cerberus reverts to puppy form every time he's hungry, which is super cute. It appears it only just got an official translation this month and is listed as having 2 volumes so I guess we'll see what comes out first - volume 2 of the English translation, or Hades 2. XD My main takeaway is that VIZ's digital manga has a functional table of contents.
    halfcactus: an icon of a manga shiba inu (Default)
    2024-09-13 04:54 pm

    Recents

    I'll Be the Matriarch in This Life also known as I Shall Master This Family (webtoon)
    Webtoon based on the novel by Kim Roah, in which the FL goes back in time to rewrite her family's history, using her knowledge of future events to set herself up to become the next heir and exact vengeance on the Empress's family that ruined her. Along the way, she earns the respect and loyalty of various family members and employees/artisans/misc. NPCs, and wins the undying love of the Second Prince who has the same vengeance goals. The retcon begins when the FL is seven, and it takes around one hundred chapters for the timeskip to her eighteenth birthday, so for a lot of it she is this insufferably genius child that is doted on by her father (who is a talented fashion designer), her grandfather (the patriarch), her twin cousins, and her hypercompetent aunt.

    I binged 160 chapters only to find out that this is still ongoing (oops). It's a very light and easy read with "yay! feminism" energy and a romance that's secondary to the main plot, and a series of politics and business arcs that, although repetitive, are the right amount of substantial without being too complicated for my brain. There's definitely not a lot of depth in the characters; people are very black-and-white, so any person who is in the FL's side is good (and will never betray her), and anyone against her is evil. The tension and emotional honesty peak when her father finally falls ill, as predicted, and the FL is an anxious mess. In contrast, the aunt's divorce storyline lacks the punch it deserves, falling into dramatic tropes instead of taking the opportunity to flesh out these other characters that are otherwise so important to the FL.



    See You in My 19th Life also known as Please Take Care of Me in This Life As Well (webtoon)
    Reincarnation romance webtoon based on the novel by Lee Hye, which also had a kdrama adaptation last year. The FL has the ability to remember her previous lives, leaving her jaded and unable to form attachments until she meets the ML in her latest incarnation. Things happen, the ML is super traumatized, and then we get to a timeskip to the FL drawing on all her experience from her previous lives to pursue the ML with shameless single-mindedness.

    In typical me fashion, I would have preferred this to be a shorter canon. It started out really strong, with beautiful and heart-aching slice-of-life. Even after the timeskip the FL and ML have pretty good chemistry as adults. But the murder mystery/conspiracy and wild car chase plots dragged—the murder mystery especially.

    That said, I really liked how the [maximum trauma event] that the ML survives is more than just emotional damage. He develops PTSD with episodes that are impossible to predict, and a hearing disability that not only affects his daily life in visible ways but also gives him anxiety of further hearing loss.



    Our Times (2015 movie)
    I found this an excellent nostalgia piece, set in the 90s and drawing storylines from 2000s dramas. Felt a lot like a Hanadan/Meteor Garden remake but with 2015 sensibilities. The cameos were very on-the-nose and by the time you get to the end it stops being its own thing and becomes 2000s RPF. XD It got me raring to rewatch a bunch of movies, which I wonder will withstand the test of time?



    A Sign of Affection (manga)
    Haven't finished this yet, but this is a fluffy romance canon centered around the FL's life of navigating university and working towards her life goals as a deaf person who communicates with sign language. I don't really care for the ML (he has this really bonkers idea about purity, especially at the beginning where he correlates it with the FL's deafness), but as far as MLs go he's probably one of the less bland ones. There's not much momentum but tons of fluff, and also an anime adaptation that came out just this year.

    According to the mangakas, they did a lot of research and consult with someone from the deaf community to shape the FL's experiences and also draw the hand movements. I'm really interested in the FL's journey—she's presently still in the process of breaking out of her bubble and I'd love to see her meet people from different regions.


    Ghost Trick
    I'm around halfway through! It's a really good game to pick up when I'm anxious and need a little reset—I can just jump right in without trying to remember the plot (which is now thickening) or what I'm supposed to be doing. Except now I'm kinda stuck lol.


    priest, "橋頭樓上"
    24/32 chapters done. \o/ At this point I think I could just keep reading instead of stopping at 2 chapters / week... but alas, life. I've been remiss in taking vocab notes too, and as a result, my journal/planner is once again empty and making me sad.


    接骨木花, "陰間沒有珍奶嗎?" (Google Books link)
    I was reading what I thought was a sample on Google Books, but idk, maybe it's the whole thing after all? This is a YA novel(??) about two boys separated by death and bonded by bubble tea (which is very Taiwanese of it ahaha) and mutual pining, so I've been calling it the "boba boyfriends book" in my head. It's actually really easy to read!!! Google Books isn't letting me read with a pop-up dictionary, but I've been managing surprisingly fine with the context, the radicals, and the very plain writing style. For the first time I feel almost literate!!! A feeling that will be replaced by despair when I go back to reading Bridge Tower. XD

    This is also my first time reading any kind of TW lit, so it was a lot of fun for me, reading a "different" kind of writing. I learned that 機車 is scooter and that the traditional from of 庙 is 廟. Idk if I'll continue but it seems quite short?