#I might reread vol. 4

[malsperanza]

TGCF Heaven Official's Blessing - first reread - more things I'm noticing, and how the clues hidden in plain sight work (spoilers)

It's so much fun to discover all the easter eggs. Vols. 1 and 2 are chock full of things you can't possibly remember to connect to events that happen 4 or 5 vols. later. For example, in vol. 2 (Seven Seas edition) at the end of the scene where Hua Cheng beats up Qi Rong in his cave, we learn that Qi Rong is Xie Lian's cousin. This is presented as a big reveal, and it leads us to rethink the whole scene, as we realize that Xie Lian knew all along that the perpetrator of the Gilded Banquet massacre was his own family member. This kind of reveal does two things: 1) It gives us a blueprint for how MXTX is going to unpack her story, to alert us to expect important information to be withheld and then dropped for greatest effect. 2) It distracts us from noticing what *else* might be hidden in plain sight while we're busy unpacking the supposed big reveal. Because there's probably at least one other reveal in there. So, in the cave scene, after we learn about Qi Rong, we get some backstory about him - but it's full of omissions, which we don't realize. We are told that Qi Rong was a big headache for Xie Lian even back in Xianle days. Xie Lian had to fix his messes constantly. For example: "There was even an incident where Xie Lian saved a child, not even 10 years of age, from Qi Rong's clutches. The poor boy had been beaten to a bloody pulp, miserable to the bone." (p. 260) It's only quite a lot later that we get a flashback where we see this event and learn that the child is Hua Cheng, but I did not remember that we are told about it this early. And here it's mentioned as if it's just one more small bit of bad behavior, with no consequences. In reality, it's a pivotal event in the formation of Hua Cheng. Most of that we can put together during the first read. But it's only on this reread that I now see that Qi Rong's vicious attack on a defenseless child is the central crime of his character - the most terrible, indefensible thing, done on a whim. But wait, there's more! Because a bit earlier in the cave scene, when we first see Guzi and his father, here's how he's described: "The one child in the group was probably not even ten years of age." (p. 218) In case we didn't get the parallel to HC, MXTX tells us as clearly as possible. Except we miss it because we don't realize it's important. Guzi is the same age that Hua Cheng was when Xie Lian rescued him from Qi Rong. [Edit: technically, HC is a little older, around 10, but looks much younger because his growth was stunted by maltreatment. The parallel remains intact, though.] So what's even more important is this: later, when Qi Rong adopts Guzi and very gradually becomes a real father to him, he is redeeming his original attack on the child Hua Cheng. And at the very end, If Qi Rong has a hope of regaining corporeal form, it's because he protected Guzi at his own expense, saving the child's life. Or else, even better: when he selflessly protected Guzi, perhaps for the first time in all his centuries as a ghost he stopped being resentful. Perhaps he has dissipated, and is at peace.

[kudouusagi]

Do you know what Soichi meant in volume 3, chapter 4 (page 12) when he said to Morinaga "And what if I had met a woman" after "Else it wouldn’t have led to this misunderstanding"? I reread it several times, but I still don’t understand what he meant by this phrase. Did he mean what if he had met a woman before Morinaga or what?

If it looks wrong it's probably a bad translation. The translation of vol 3 is horrible and I'm trying my best to scanlate a new version but I'm swamped with school right now so I'm not getting there very fast.

I have a folder of text translations you can check. There might be some mistakes I just did the translation really quickly. I only finalize the translation when I typeset it.

I typeset it just for you.

[thatgirlonstage]

It's been so long since I thought about 07-Ghost and then you resurrect in the year of our lord 2024. I might have to reread it, it's been *so long*

LISTEN

I PLAYED

MYSELF

IN THE STUPIDEST

WAY

POSSIBLE

I’m doing a fandom fic alphabet bingo thing, right, except that now 9-1-1 is in the mix bc I was frothing at the mouth to turn Evan Buckley into a mermaid and I’m gonna be annoyed if I get all the letters and then there’s just an annoying 9 hanging out at the start so now it has to be alphanumerical and I straight up don’t think I have seen or read something for every NUMBER, especially going strictly on “it has to start with the numeral and Ao3 has to sort it that way.” (Eg: Re:Zero doesn’t count for 0, it counts for “R”)

So I am literally just like. Clicking around at random into ao3 categories to see what other fics already exist for certain numbers in case they might be shows I can watch to solve this problem I’ve created for myself. And I google 07-Ghost and get told “this is a sci-fi/fantasy show about a boy with amnesia” and I’m like cool, that sounds reasonably like my shit, I’ll check it out, but honestly if zero is a number I have to leave off that’s okay, I can live with that. I need to emphasize I had never in my life heard of this show. I knew nothing about it going in except what I’ve just said.

I watch the first episode and I’m like cool this seems reasonably like my shit, also, that homoeroticism with Mikage tho 👀 as long as they keep doing that it’s definitely at least worth sticking around for lmao

(At this interlude I DID see the cover of the first volume and get told what magazine it was published in so I was clued in that Certain Things Were Happening On Purpose, but still, yknow, whether or not the flavors are gonna click was still up in the air.)

I watched several more episodes.

And it ate

my damn

brain.

I don’t know if I can pinpoint the moment that first Got me but I can tell you that the moment it went from “oh no I’m obsessed” to “o h n o” was the fucking,,,,, underwater prison scene, because he SMILED and I perished and I’ll never be okay again. (I’m legally obliged to note that I fucking wept at Mikage’s death but it did have to be Frau who carried me over the line of “I am enjoying this anime” to “I need the rest of this story Fucking Immediately”)

SO THAT BY THE TIME I REACHED THE END OF THE ANIME I ALREADY KNEW I WAS GONNA HAVE TO GO BUY THE MANGA BECAUSE I NEED. TO READ THE REST OF IT.

BUT THE DAMN THING IS OUT OF PRINT

Some of the volumes are still reasonably easy to find but SOME OF THEM ARE NOT and I’ve just spent WEEKS intermittently trawling secondhand book sites waiting for someone to post vol 4 at a reasonable price because for weeks the only copies that have been available are posted for five hundred american dollars

(Thank you random eBay user who posted it for an actual normal human price to pay for a book the other night I owe you my fucking life)

(“Just read the scanlations” I’ve heard they’re not great? No idea if that’s just detritus rumors from old fandom wars or what but still, I do wanna have the physical volumes anyway)

So anyway. Hi. Hello. I’m fucking delighted to discover you know this show. Can I come scream at you about Teito and his boyfriends? They’re in love and it’s ruining my life.

Points at Evan Buckley. Somehow this is all your fault.

[veliseraptor]

December Reading Recap

Burning Girls and Other Stories by Veronica Schanoes. As is typical with me and short story collections, I really liked some of the stories in this one and found myself less impressed with several of the others. I did really appreciate the explicit Jewishness of the collection as a whole, and I feel like I'm going to be watching this author to see what she does in the future. I think my favorite story was the titular one ("Burning Girls"); some of the others got a little abstract for me. I did also like what she did with "Emma Goldman Takes Tea with the Baba Yaga" - in general I think Schanoes's strength is in the interweaving of folklore and history, and that's what I enjoyed most in her stories.

Heaven Official's Blessing: vol. 8 by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. It's over!! by which I mean my, what, fourth reread of this book? This time in a new translation, so I guess that kind of makes it different (?). This was my first time reading a lot of the extras, specifically the amnesia one, which was both very good and rather upsetting. My only critique about it was that it could've been even more upsetting. No surprises here, of course (again, fourth reread) but it was a good reminder how much I love this one.

Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Adrian Tchaikovsky's imaginative worldbuilding and sheer creativity continues to blow me away. This is probably my least favorite of the three Children of Time books, corvids notwithstanding, but that's sort of like saying that The Hobbit is my least favorite Tolkien book. It's a ranking, but it's not actually a negative. And again, corvids, and what Tchaikovsky does with a society of corvids is as compelling as what he did with a society of octopuses, or spiders.

I think you have to have a certain amount of faith in Tchaikovsky for this one because, at least for me, I spent a lot of it not knowing what was going on and just trusting that it would make sense in the end, but by the time you get to this point in the series I feel like he's earned that faith.

The Husky and His White Cat Shizun: vol. 4 by Rou Bao Bu Chi Rou. I wonder if this is going to be the horniest single volume of this translation, because truly the arc it covers is one of the horniest arcs of the whole novel (at least, in my recollection). It's not my favorite section but it's a lot of fun, and Chu Wanning's desperation to be defiled alongside Mo Ran's desperation to be a good disciple is very entertaining. And meanwhile they're both incredibly horny for each other. I just happen to be here for the angst more than anything else, and there's less of the angst in this arc than there will be to come.

I genuinely wonder how they decide where to divide these volumes, by the by. It seems kind of random.

Die: vol. 4 by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans. I liked the front half of this series better than the back half, and I felt like the conclusion was weaker than I would've expected from a usually incredibly strong storyteller. It continued to be breathtakingly beautiful throughout (thanks, Stephanie Hans!) but I felt like thematically and in terms of narrative it lagged a little toward the end compared to how it began.

The Odyssey trans. by Emily Wilson. I haven't read the Odyssey in many, many years (since my freshman year of college) and it was really fun to go back and reread it with fresh eyes and in fresh language. I don't have a whole lot of intelligent commentary to make, but I loved reading Wilson's introduction and translator's notes - definitely brought out new angles to me and made me alert to different things than I might have been otherwise. I was particularly a fan of the choice to translate in relatively plain language but in iambic pentameter. Also deeply impressed by the choice to translate in iambic pentameter, because boy does that seem like it'd be a challenge. Excited to read Wilson's translation of the Iliad when it comes out in paperback.

The Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean by Susan Casey. I wanted this book to be a little more about the depths of the ocean and a little less about deep ocean exploration/the author's personal journey toward deep ocean exploration, but it was still an enjoyable read. I liked her other book (about rogue waves/surfing) more, despite the fact that this is a subject I find generally fascinating, but again, still pretty readable. Which I recognize is damning with faint praise but, like, if you're interested in the subject I wouldn't say you shouldn't check it out.

The chapter about deep sea mining was profoundly depressing, though. In an important-feeling kind of way.

Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America by Pekka Hamalainen. This book was such a good study on the way that teleological approaches to history can obscure/miss a lot of things, in terms of how it takes the common narrative of Native "loss" over the course of colonization and shows how in fact the story was a lot more complicated and uneven than that - that a lot of colonial "victories" were in fact rearguard actions, and for much of the 17th-19th centuries, despite colonial maps, North America remained a continent controlled by Native Americans. Really well done on the whole and I learned a hell of a lot. I'd generally recommend it for anyone looking for a solid broad-spectrum Indigenous history of North America.

At the same time sometimes the author was hammering so hard on his point that it started to annoy me. Annoying me isn't a crime, exactly, but sometimes when I feel like an author is straying into polemic I start to get suspicious of their scholarship - which I'm not, in this case, I actually trust that Hamaleinen did the work and the research, but it is something that comes up for me sometimes when I'm reading books that have a clear ideological motivation, even one I agree with.

The Carrow Haunt by Darcy Coates. After a couple big wins, my last couple Darcy Coates have been a little more disappointing. Still good, still satisfyingly spooky, but less stand-out "would recommend broadly" horror novels. Or maybe I've just gotten pickier, that's also possible. On the other hand, I still read this one in a day, so I can't be that critical.

Mistakenly Saving the Villain by Feng Yu Nie. This one was a bit of a disappointment to me, alas. I enjoyed it, still, but I think I wanted it to be more fucked up than it was. The twist at the end did genuinely surprise me, though, so it gets points for that.

--

I'm currently reading Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracies Became a Health Threat by Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, and Julian Walker, alongside Faraway Wanderers by priest.

As far as what comes next when I finish one/both of those, I have a long list of want-to-reads I'm kind of jumbling around in deciding on. Among the likely candidates are Lords of Uncreation by Adrian Tchaikovsky, Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh, and Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer. On the nonfiction side I'm looking at In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado, An Intellectual History of Cannibalism by Cătălin Avramescu, and Spin Dictators by Sergei Guriev and Daniel Treisman.

[11queensupreme11]

i was literally just about to ask you if you received vol 4 yet. well i wanted to ask hours ago but changed my mind cuz you don't really give an update on what you read. but yeah i reread it too and got sad again. damn claude is so annoying, happy you clarified posy won't have that subplot or i might riot lollll

I mean, TECHNICALLY posy will have that subplot it’s just that Percy’s the one with amnesia and she doesn’t feel murderous rage towards Poseidon lol 😂

The yanderes are the ones who suffer cuz of her amnesia meanwhile she’s just going “anthonius? 😃”

[ofliterarynature]

APRIL 2024 WRAP UP

[loved liked ok nope dnf (reread) bookclub*]

Death in the Spires • Heartstopper Vol 4 • Heartstopper Vol 3 • To Marry an English Lord • The True Queen • (Heartstopper Vol 2) • Fun Home* • (Arabella of Mars) • I’m Glad My Mom Died • (Sorcerer to the Crown) • And Then There Were None • Vassa in the Night • Queen of the Night • The Other Significant Others • Most Ardently • The Reformatory • The Book of Love

Read: 14 (10 audio, 4 print, 3 DNF)

The Other Significant Others (5 stars)- I've been anticipating this one ever since I first heard about it and it didn't disappoint! Not only does it tell the stories of people in close, non-traditional relationships, it also talks about marriage, raising kids, and aging, and it was all incredible. I've recommended this in the tags of so many posts and I need y'all to read it.

Queen of the Night (3 stars) - I've heard this glowingly recommended. I liked the author's story in the Sword, Stone, Table anthology. The events in the book are incredible! I should have been fascinated! But I was so bored! Part of it was that the mystery/thriller element in the description - someone has written an opera based on the main character's scandalous secret past, who could it be? - was extremely oversold, most of the book is recounting said past events, and we don't really dive into the present mystery until the very end. I've read similarly slow books so I don't know why I didn't like this, but I wish I'd dnf'd it. I'd recommend you try The God of Endings by Jacqueline Holland instead.

Vassa in the Night (4 stars) - this one surprised me! It's YA, I've heard pretty mixed reviews, and it's been sitting on my shelf for a while - starting it, the VERy in-your-face YAness almost threw me off but I'm very glad I stuck through it. I live for magic and fairy tales being dumped into modern times, and the really smart thing about this book is that it keeps a very tight focus (no space for the larger worldbuilding to fall apart lol). We've got a morally-grey magical doll companion who's a kleptomaniac and will eat you out of house and home, Baba-Yaga and her 24-hour convenience store on chicken feet, her disembodied hand assistants, weird guy on a motorcycle, and oh yeah, if they catch you stealing they'll put your head on display (and they're not above framing you to do it). Yes this is perfectly normal, why do you ask? I'm not saying it's perfect, but I had such a good time!

And Then There Were None (4 stars) - my first real attempt at Christie! I did enjoy listening to this, enough that I think I'll try some other Christie, but it wasn't entirely to my taste. I prefer having a detective figure in the story to follow, and the "reveal" after was disappointing.

Sorcerer to the Crown (3.5 stars) - this was a reread, and I definitely liked it a lot less for some reason this time? Maybe it was changing formats, but I love a historical fantasy romp and this should have been right up my alley! The True Queen (4 stars) was much more enjoyable, so maybe it was the characters, maybe it was the rereading itself. I think this might be my sign to call it quits with Zen Cho.

I'm Glad My Mom Died (4 stars) - this isn't really one I think I'd have ever picked for myself even though it got popular, except that my book-club friend recommended it. I'm finding that I'm not really one for memoirs, but despite the heartbreaking contents this was very easy to read - largely chronological with short chapters, and the author is clearly aware that things were bad even when her younger self did not. I accidentally started this when I was also reading Fun Home, so that was a lot of bad-parent-memoir at the same time, oops.

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (4 stars) - I've been eying this one for a while and am glad to have gotten it on the list for book club! Deeply fascinating, if not always an easy read - the subject on one hand, but the density of the pages, the differences between the comic panels and the narration outside them, and the jumping through time that memoirs do sometimes made events hard to follow. I admit my favorite parts were seeing the different queer books Bechdel slipped into her illustrations (one that I'm reading right now even!).

Arabella of Mars (4.5 stars) - Y'all, we are sleeping on this book, I had so much fun! Here's to girls dressing as boys, sailing ships, steampunk space travel, and vibes straight from early sci-fi adventure novels. I can't believe I forgot about this and am just glad I picked up a copy at the library sale to make myself reread it. I do apologize for thinking this was YA (which it isn't), but further thoughts on that and the rest of the series will have to wait for next month.

Heartstopper Vol 2-4 (5/5/4 stars) - finally! I read part of the comic online ages ago, and read Vol 1 for book club the other month, but I finally got started on the rest of the series. I had definitely read through Vol 2 previously, but everything else was new to me. I had a good time, but Vol 4 was a bit of a(n expected!) downer, and the time jump in the middle ruined the flow a bit for me. I do have Vol 5 in my hands currently, and if I didn't have so many other things to do I'd be tempted to do a big Alice Oseman re/read.

To Marry an English Lord (4 stars) - I encountered this at not one, but TWO unrelated book sales before I caved and bought it. I enjoyed it! It's mostly a sort of overview/reference covering the period around the Gilded Age - the New York upper crust, the European Aristocracy, and the various societal events that lead to a pattern of marital exchange. Did I skim the bits where it just listed name after name after name? Yes, but! Highly recommend to anyone reading romances or general fiction set in the period, I really wish I'd read this before trying The Age of Innocence! (its also very funny how occasionally it makes references that make it very obvious it was written in the 80's lol). Pairs incredibly well with another book I bought at the same sale, The Divorce Colony by April White.

Death in the Spires (3.5 stars) - I love KJ Charles, but I've often felt that her plots and romances can sometimes be at odds - so I was very excited when she said she'd written a mystery! But I'm lukewarm about it at best. The campus novel portions were fascinating, and I'd have loved more of them. But Jem as our narrator just wasn't engaging for most of the book. I wouldn't say it's his fault necessarily, but he's not really a good detective, there are either no clues or they're just going in circles, and the promised attempts on his life just aren't happening. Once we hit the 2/3 mark, where we're on campus, have more characters together, and they're talking - that's when things got good! Maybe this will be be better on a reread, but for now my hopes are for some good fanfic. Would recommend more to the dark academia people rather than mystery fans.

DNF

Most Ardently (20%) - the vibes were very much, "here's my blorbos, I'm putting them in a Pride and Prejudice AU." Which is great, if that's what you want! It was not what I wanted alas. Biggest cons, the de-ageing of the characters and the generally modern YA/queerness. Pros, they did keep all of the other Bennet sisters! I was so tempted to keep reading just to see how Oliver and Darcy got together, but I knew I wasn't going to enjoy myself. Would have loved to see this presented as an original work rather than an adaptation, or as something hewing closer to the original tone and period of the novel.

The Reformatory (43%) - this was good, really! It's just that I'm only so-so on horror on my best days, and both story lines were sad and dark and depressing. I could have probably handled one or the other, but I wasn't really having a good time (that's not the right phrasing exactly, but you know what I mean). I had other things I wanted to read and it was a long book.

The Book of Love (6%) - I've heard multiple people sing the praises of Kelly Link, so while I wasn't really drawn by the description, I thought I'd give it a shot! I did, and it still didn't draw me in. Maybe I'll give it a try again someday, but I think I'll try her short fiction first.

[systematicallycapricious]

Here at last, my observations for English P4AU manga volume 4! Same formatting as my prior ones, no holds barred for spoilers, and fair warning that I'm writing this off of notes from 5 months ago; so if I miss some details, I apologize. Hectic life shenanigans have limited my ability to reread the volume. xP

-----------------------------------

General Vibes

On the whole, I found this volume to be the best reading experience out of the 4 Udon-translated volumes. Aside from the persisting issue of conflating Sho and Minazuki via calling both “Minazuki”, as well as a few confusing absences of clarifying quotation marks, the narrative is cohesive and comprehensible.

I also think that it stands really well on its own, so, as I said before, I'd highly recommend Eng-Sho and Minazuki fans pick up Vol 4, even if you've been iffy on the Udon translations up until this point. In all honestly, I think Udon did a better translation of Vol 4 than the fan-translation that's out there on the internet, at least in terms of justice done to the characterizations of Minazuki and Sho. Their dialog, with a couple small exceptions, fit their expected lexicons much better.

(No shade to the fan-translation, of course! I'm still super-grateful that people took time out of their lives to give us some form of accessible translation long before Atlus got on printing an official translation, and the fan-translation is still pretty good with it's own wins.)

Also, Narukami's dialog was translated pretty well too, from what I recall, so fans of his might also find his inclusions in the story enjoyable. As for Adachi and Kagutsuchi... I'm not very well-versed in their characterizations, so I wouldn't be able to say. Adachi's lexicon did seem a bit out of character to me, though; like the underlying vibe is kinda the same as his typical lexicon, but the execution feels more 'censored', I guess? It's just the impression that I got, though.

-----------------------------------

Specific Things

• ...They were so close to getting it right throughout the entire translation, but they stumbled at the finish line. Literally – this was within the final few chapters, and may have even been the final mention of Plumes of Dusk in the story, lol. And it's definitely the same kanji and kana that “Plume of Dusk” is always spelled with, so how or why they suddenly fabricated “darkness” in place of “dusk” is beyond me.

Also, for Eng reading context, what gets translated as “the other me” is “もう１つの人格を” with a gikun of “ミナヅキ” in the Jap text. So whether or not that should have vocally been “the other me” or “Minazuki” is up to you to decide. ~(•_•)~ (And for anyone who wants the full Jap transcription of that text bubble: ”黄昏の羽根”ってヤツから生まれたもう１つの人格を消す手術から眠ったままだったらしい)

• I wish that translators would interpret Minazuki's use of “黙れ(damare)” as “Silence.” rather than “Shut up.” It fits his pre-established (by Ultimax-the-game) lexicon far more, in my opinion.

(Jap version of the page [here], because I forgot to take a picture of it, apparently. :P)

• Kanazuki, my beloved nickname. (Though, because pursuing lore details, I'm not sure if Udon's “the two sides of Minazuki” is an accurate translation in this case? It seems to be more like “the two Minazukis”, like how fan-Eng interpreted it, but I don't know enough Jap to tell. For those who want the transcript: ところで２人の皆月のことみんななんて呼んでる？皆月？ミナヅキ？文面ならまだしも打ち合わせの時彼らは大変混乱を招いてくれやがりましてね......)

• It's nice to have the uncropped version of the original Yu cover art... But I'm a bit sad that we don't get the original Sho/Minazuki back-cover as a poster as well.

• Interesting detail: despite reprinting and reformatting the title logos, they seem to have kept the signature color for each volume the same (Vol.1/yellow, Vol.2/red, Vol.3/pink, Vol.4/blue).

• I've already stated some of my thoughts on Ch.28 and Ch.30 here, but for a few things that I didn't cover...

1) Minazuki specifically thinking “The humans are shouting.” gives us an interesting window into his mindset at the time.

2) The doctors were shouting at him because he was climbing up into an open window more-so than just shouting at him in general, lol.

3) The Ikutsuki death report reads more as if Minazuki was narrating it rather than it just being Sho staring at information on a screen, which I think is a neat interpretation.

4) Sho might've been attempting to finish the 'Minazuki extraction procedure' that Ikutsuki began, rather than just blindly attacking Minazuki? I'm not entirely sure, but it's an interesting angle to consider nonetheless.

5) Ikutsuki spinning Minazuki as an “evil spirit” as another generally useful tidbit to employ in Sho characterizations.

6) “Murder pit”. I'm keeping this for my Minazuki characterizations going forwards, lmao.

• Generally adoring the larger page size, 'cause I can see more details in the art that also help me understand the context better in a lot of scenes. For example! After Tsukiyomi takes the full-power hit from Izanagi, I can see the clear signs of exhaustion and Minazuki pushing his limits in the continuation of the fight. His movements are more desperate, he gets pronounced bags under his eyes, he has a kind of wide-eyed look to him, etc. Which I think is a really nice detail, because it shows that Minazuki isn't invulnerable: his desperation to protect Sho is just that strong.

The dialog at the beginning of that scene also helps to demonstrate that: rather than continuing to think in fluent and complex words, his internal monologue is reduced to simple, fragmented instincts (“Can't falter... Must protect... Must...!"). Which, again, a very interesting window into how Minazuki thinks. Even when put under the physical strain of grievous injuries, his first instincts (in this situation, at least) are to hold his ground in order to protect Sho.

(...Though, the Jap text of the aforementioned dialog is a bit different than Udon's translation, lol. It's more like “If I... don't protect... I—" (俺が......守らなければ...俺が――...))

• I don't have much to say about the fight against Kagutsuchi due to not having the best focus when I read through that part of the manga. Hopefully one day I'll reread it with better success. ^^;

• Suicidal Sho? I'm not entirely sure, though, as the “思ってた” in the Japanese version of the text (死んじまうかと思ってた時...) seems like it could mean either “I believe (that this will happen)” or “I plan (on making this happen)”? I don't know what linguistic contexts lend to what definitions, unfortunately, and the visual context could support it either way. (Not to mention, I have no clue if the sentiment is being expressed in a literal or frivolous capacity, given Sho can be hyperbolic at times. >_>)

...Also, I'm not counting Sho knifing his own face as an intentionally suicidal action, because (to the best of my ability to understand) that was intended to be homicidal. It's just that it would have also had a suicidal effect on him.

• Shadow puppet-Yosuke, Shadow puppet-Narukami, and Yosuke are great, lmao.

• Translations of General Teddie's script.

• Lastly, and maybe bestly: They got!! It right!! They kept Sho's name in Minazuki's “What are you going to do to Sho, Kagutsuchi?” line!! (Context: a previous observations/musings post of mine [here].)

-----------------------------------

(If you wanna see the fan-Eng in higher quality than the screengrabs I used, you can find it on Mangadex [here].)

[mxtxfanatic]

Hi 👋. Saw your recent take on how fandom interpret MQ. And I would to here your thoughts about him being the tsundere people try to make him out to be.

MQ trying to make it up to XL when really FX was the only one still sincere. I've only read up to vol. 4 and reread vol. 1 and 2 to get a better look at details. But there are some concerning lines that even XL noticed. Like MQ seems excited at the prospect of XL becoming this mass murder during the Guoshi FangXin reveal. Even the first introductions in the book was him mocking XL's helpful nature.

"Mu Qing’s eyes were glimmering, however, and his restrained shock contained a faint underlying excitement." TGCF Vol. 2 chapter 18

"Since his third ascension, there could only be one phrase to describe the way Mu Qing treated him: passive-aggressive. It always felt like he was waiting for Xie Lian to get booted for the third time so he could make snide remarks. Yet now that Xie Lian might actually get booted that third time, he suddenly became pleasant—he even came specially to deliver medication. This complete reversal in attitude made Xie Lian feel quite disconcerted." TGCF Vol.2 chapter 19

Even XL was freaked out by MQ acting nice to him.

"Mu Qing suddenly asked, “Was everything Lang Qianqiu said true? Did you really kill those Yong’an royals?”

Xie Lian looked up and met his gaze. Even if Mu Qing had been forcibly hiding it, Xie Lian still detected a trace of uncontrollable excitement in his eyes. He seemed highly interested in the details of Xie Lian’s massacre at the Gilded Banquet—he followed with another question.

“How did you kill them?” TGCF Vol. 2 chapter 19

And after XL half lied about his involvement.

"Feng Xin paled. Mu Qing loathed that expression of his the most and said in annoyance, “All right, put that face away. After everything, for who are you looking so pained?”" TGCF vol. 2 chapter 19

I'm not reading this wrong to think MQ is just a very entitled b****** that got high on his position of power and is looking down on XL for coming from a place which is lower than what most people would go through? Is it appropriate for me to interpret him being downright hostile and reveling in XL's disgrace? Because the stans take for MQ questionable character is bothering me a lot. He is not some prickly cat with a soft heart. He is sharp thorns all the way inside and a heart colder than most.

Unless something changes in further volumes I haven't read which is unlikely. Considering MXTX penchant for consistent character writing.

Thoughts?

Something does change about Mu Qing’s character near the end of the novel, but it’s just character growth. You aren’t misreading any of his actions in the earlier parts of the story. What kills me is that yes, Mu Qing is a terrible person who is petty and jealous and insecure and thinks that the only problem with hierarchy is that he isn’t at the top, but he changes and people ignore that! In the best interest of not introducing spoilers, I will say that Mu Qing does explicitly, using clear language, acknowledge his mistakes and how wrong he was about how he viewed Xie Lian and his treatment of the other man. He acknowledges this on his own under no threat and with no prompting. And people ignore this because it does not fit into their perception of Mu Qing as either right or at least well-meaning. He is neither of those things. He knows it. Xie Lian knows it. But he can be those things if he puts effort into it, and for all people call me a hater about his character (which, yeah lol), I for one think he tries by the end.

So no, Mu Qing isn’t a tsundere because he’s not being mean or rude or petty to those he loves to hide a mushy middle. He’s doing it because he thinks he is right to and that eventually people will see that he is right. The story does not agree he is right and duly punishes him for his fuckery, and he changes into a better person who is actually nicer to his friends because he wants to be their friends and not their superiors. That’s his character.

[isure-hopeso]

12.31.2023

48 books this year. My hunger never ends. I am insatiable. Here's my reviews:

Five Classics by Agatha Christie 8/10 Started the year off strong with a handful of Christie's shorter classic mysteries

The Fortune Teller by Gwendolyn Womack 4.5/10 Super super cool story idea with very poor flow and had a cheating trope

Mountain Mama by Axsom & Pelham 6.5/10 A depressingly realistic look at life on the frontier for a single mom

A Well-Behaved Woman by Therese Anne Fowler 8/10 Alva Vanderbilt was so incredible

Followers by Megan Angelo 6.5/10 One of those books where you really don't care the first 2/3 and then you can't get over it for the last 1/3

The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien 10/10 my annual reading of one of the Big Four, as always

"Kitchen Princess" Omnibus 2 by Ando & Kobayashi 9/10 I'm pretty sure I learned my love languages from the Kitchen Princess series as a kid

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas 5.5/10 A little tropey and the riddle was stupid easy, but I love me a Beauty & The Beast retelling

Homeland: The Legend of Drizzt #1 by R.A. Salvatore 5.5/10 It really didn't need to be that long, but Salvy loves his extra DnD context

The Black Poets by Dudley Randal 10/10 When I tell you how often I think about the poetry from this book. When I tell you.

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen 6.5/10 Witty and wild for it's time, like all Austen novels, but she's boring and falls in love with her cousin

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas 7.5/10 Turning the Beauty and the Beast retelling on its HEAD and using tidbits from the previous novel to change everything - but also very very smutty

Tithe by Holly Black 7/10 Rereading an old book I love in high school and finding that I still like it quite a lot

The Big Four by Agatha Christie 8/10 One of her biggie Poirot heists, super thrilling

"Kitchen Princess" Vol. 6 by Ando and Kobayashi 9/10 I have dreams, actual dreams, about these stories for weeks after reading them. Good dreams.

The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chianani 7/10 Decided to read this after watching the movie -- it might not be incredible storytelling but it's a fun story-world, so I decided to read it all

A World Without Princes by Soman Chianani 4/10 S for G&E 2 -It had some good bits, but was overall way too clumpy

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien 10/10 This was actually my first time reading it, and I LOVE getting all the universe context!!

To Weave a Web of Magic by Delacroix, Kurlana, McKillip, and Shinn 8/10 This series of short stories had some real bangers and some ehh

On The Incarnation by St. Athanasius 7/10 the deconstruction never stops, love that for us

Unfinished Tales by J.R.R. Tolkien 8.5/10 It was so cool reading some of his last unfinished works, it was really not cool reading a bunch of stories with no ending

The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn 5.5/10 Where the first Bridgerton book was much better than it's season, the second book was exactly as whatever as the second season.

"The Tempest" by William Shakespeare 7.5/10 really very odd, but the overall vibe was so good and exactly what I needed after Quinn

The Last Ever After by Soman Chianani 6.5/10 S for G&E #3 Thus begins my attempt to finish the whole series because I bought them and they were sitting there

"Sophist", "Statesmen", "Parmenides" and "Philebus" by Plato 10/10 What's the difference between is and is not? Is 'is not' a state of being? lol I dunno

Quest for Glory by Soman Chianani 7/10 S for G&E #4 Okay finally these stories are getting interesting again

A Crystal of Time by Soman Chianani 6.5/10 Really pulling out some wackadoodle things for this one, but I wasn't against it too much

One True King by Soman Chianani 6/10 An alright wrap-up, but my boi Hort deserved a more thorough ending

In the Flo by Alisa Vitti 6.5/10 I learned more about my period in this book than in any health class, but it also got a little woowoo with moon phases

The Green Witch by Murphy & Hiscock 7/10 I had a late-night book buying stint where I bought like 7 witchy books and this was the first to arrive

Acting on Impulse by Mia Sosa 2/10 I have nothing particular against this author, but this was the book that convinced me that I could get a book published

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas 7.5/10 Hoo boy does a lot of stuff go down in this spicy, spicy book.

A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas 6/10 Just a fun little story about wildly traumatized characters

Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody 9.5/10 One of the coolest things I've read, I learned so much about reading and writing

Walden and Others Writings by Henry David Thoreau 10/10 So much beautiful writing, this is going to be a regular reread for me

A History of Magic, Witchcraft, and the Occult by DK 8.5/10 Naturally one of my favorite books of the year was a literal textbook

A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas 8/10 Apparently I didn't hate this book as much as I was supposed to, but also please mind your manners in shared eating spaces

American Brujeria by J. Allen Cross 6.5/10 It turns out Hispanic witches are super super Catholics, which I bet would make some non-Hispanic Catholics real angy

Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman 7/10 Practical Magic #1 it was such a lovely writing style, like an actual witch telling a prophecy

House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas 8.5/10 A really cool story, standing ovation for Lehabah every day, but also weird that the big bad killer guy wears hats and watches basketball

Nevewhere by Neil Gaiman 9/10 Hadn't thought much of it while I was reading it, but this story had stuck with me like a bad cold baby

Bones of Faerie by Janni Lee Simmer 5.5/10 This one had been sitting in my TBR for too long, and it wasn't too bad

Well of Darkness by Weis & Hickman 8.5/10 Getting to read a fantasy story in the perspective of the bad guys? Heck yeah. So cool.

After the Funeral by Agatha Christie 6.5/10 This one had alllllllll the rich family drams

Ironside by Holly Black 8/10 my first time reading this finale of Black's trilogy, and I just feel like the main character could have been more logical or taken more action

A Writer's Notebook by Ralph Fletcher 2/10 I pretty much learned nothing, got nothing out of this

Search the Sky by Pohl & Kornbluth 8/10 Only took off points for misogyny, but it was from the 50s, otherwise a really cool story

The House Witch by Murphy & Hiscock 5/10 A follow-up from the first witchy book to arrive, this one didn't teach me as much about witches as I hoped it would

Approximately a 7/10 average for the whole year! I went out on a limb for a lot of books this year, and that was rewarding just about as often as it was disappointing, but I can at least say that I haven't DNF'd a book yet. I largely write these for myself, and I don't expect anyone to take the time to read it -- if you did, then you are a saint and a hero. May your pillows be cool, your blankets warm, and your eyesight always clear enough for reading.

[longhands-the-second]

Trimax vol. 5

This is a solid 30% “what will they do with this in Stampede?”

1- “this time of year”… what are seasons like there? Are they distinct at all???

OH. YIKES. JULY. I was wondering why we were starting here.

God, I hate to think of how many people Vash has lost over the years.

For him to openly weep is heartbreaking, knowing how often he just shuts down instead.

Im fucking stoked to see what they do with midvalley in stampede, if anything.

Meryl is leaving this whole thing fundamentally changed i think. Just a hunch.

2- This is maybe a little unclear? I see the vision though.

I fucking love manga milly you go girl

GOD DAMN IT VASH he keeps getting hit and it makes me sad

Ballerina wolfwood

Am. Am i gonna start simping for wolfwood now? Is this how it happens?

3- oh. Oh boy. That sure is a title page

I’m still so mad they stole ww’s nose in stampede. It’s so pretty.

Wolfwood being protective of people. That is all. :)

OH OH OH ITS HAPPENING EVERYBODY STAY CALM STAY FUCKING CALM

This is the first time that we’ve seen this w/o Knives’ direct involvement- is this something that just happens when he’s at his wit’s end? Has it happened before? (Is it just compounding recent events???)

Bevridge Bitch is here and his vibes are as rancid as ever

How recent was July? He has most of the same scars.

Man they really just took the sleeve off of his coat. Worst thing that happens here, surely (<- coping)

Nvm the sleeve magically reappeared.

Girl seriously though what the *Fuck*

Could he just not do it before? Is this knives doing it *for* him???

“Seeds”?

Oh no. Oh this is even worse than last time. Ick.

Somehow this is more explicitly uh. Y’know.

EW EW EW EW

Dude phrase that literally any other fucking wayyyyyy I’m screaming crying throwing myself out of the window

Vash didn’t answer. I think this is the only iteration that wouldn’t. Then again that might be entirely circumstantial.

DAMN.

4- I took a week long break after the last chapter. I WAS ahead but uh. Stuff and things. So i may have some rereading to do.

SO WAIT HOLD ON DOES TOUCHING THE FEATHERS LET YOU SEE HIS MEMORIES AND SHIT?

I wonder if wolfwood’s gotten his sight back? Is that gonna be recurring or was it just a brief thing?

God this is so fucked up. Poor Meryl is probably losing it

Midvalley continues to fascinate me. What he’s saying makes sense but like. Damn.

Oh fucking god damn it get this guy out of here i don’t want him

What the hell am i even looking at right now

LEGATO YOU BASTARD

5- i hate to say it but i was kind of rooting for midvalley? I wanted to see more of him at least. Fuckin brutal way to go.

Oh is this why zazie is like. Extra androgynous in stampede? Fully support this actually.

I don’t think any character gets under my skin the way legato does. Knives is a close second, but there’s just something about the type of cruelty he exhibits. It’s not quick or to the point. He lets that shit simmer on purpose. It’s not about power anymore, it’s about maximum suffering. For himself, too. It’s gross.

MERYL!!!!

Legato sticks his leggy out real far. Fr though those are spindly as all hell

I’m not sure how much of the angel arm use is Vash making a conscious decision? Guess we’ll find out later. (EDIT: or not damn. He’s so quiet about it.)

Ah. Elendira. Will i love you or hate you?

6- i swear i can feel the panic coming off of the page here

I wonder how much more shit happened with knives that we just haven’t seen yet. How much of it does Vash remember?

Is this happening in his head right now? Is that why his arm is extra fucked up?

I find myself wondering at this moment if the original japanese was more or less derogatory about elendira and tbh i’m just gonna stop thinking about it now.

I can already tell im gonna be obsessed with her dynamic with knives though. They both seem so over it in a way that i can only describe as “the only two queer people working at the McDonald’s.” This is in no way related to any personal experiences i may have had, pinky promise. (Me and that manager were like. Work besties.)

She’s so fucked up i love her already.

UGH UGH UGH BE NICE TO HIM DAMN IT.

EXPLAIN YOURSELF TO THEM MAN. (He’s not obligated to but holy shit do you know how much that had to fuck Meryl up?)

Yeah, i see where the japanese Rem headcanon comes from. The vibes are there.

End notes (semi related to the actual content):

- I am DYING to know how they’ll deal with the Earth ships. Can’t just start that plot thread and just destroy them. I mean, it could happen, but like. Why?

- Forever yelling about biblically accurate Vash. I’ll draw him at some point given the time and energy. I REALLY want to know how/if they’ll handle it in stampede- we sort of got it, sort of didn’t? I’d love to see that pushed further.

- I WILL FINALLY POST ANOTHER GOD DAMN COLORING THIS WEEK. It took me a full month so it’s from an earlier volume but i’m very excited to share! It *should* be done by Friday (questionable way to celebrate given the content) ((maybe I’ll post vash in the babygirl pose as a treat)).

- I got my silly little wwvd bracelet and wore it with my Vash cosplay this last weekend. It genuinely makes me smile every time i see it lol. Real mood booster through con crunch, too. (Also, shoutout to the vash cosplayers at akaicon who definitely won’t see this lol. I almost asked them if they were in on the bookclub based on conversations we had but I chickened out.)

[mikarchive2]

books i read in march 2023 📚

( trying the read more thing for the first time ever cause this is so long hope it works 💖 )

1. the hurting kind by ada limón - ★★★★★ - goddamn it, i really cant decide between four and five stars here . but at the end of the day, even though i cant say i loved every single poem, the collection as a whole is so full of life and defiant grace i just cant resist rounding up . ada limón has to be one of the best nature poets ive read so far ( cant wait to reread some of these poems outside when spring begins to feel like spring ), and also one of the few who can truly make this blunt and direct writing style work . if i were to talk about every poem i enjoyed, id be here all day but shout out to foaling season specifically that one hit me almost physically

2 + 3. the sandman: the kindly ones ( vol. 9 ) + the sandman: the wake ( vol. 10 ) by neil gaiman - all the stars in space . to me - if i loved it less, i might be able to talk about it more . shrimp emotions dont even begin to describe everything these last two volumes make me feel . i say this all the time though + there is not much else i can say without spoiling things, so . i dont know . just read it . the one thing i want everyone to take from this blog is that they should read it

4. panics by barbara molinard - ★★★★ - i think i found this thanks to lees ( stephaniesays1968 ) storygraph ... one of the instances in which the story behind how something was written is almost more interesting than the writing itself . barbara molinard was known for destroying her work and this is the only book she ever published - and being aware of that does make the stories even more haunting . or haunted perhaps . very madwoman in the attic, very surrealistic, recommending this to those who enjoy kafka and shirley jackson

favourites: the plane from santa rosa, the fathers apartment, untitled ( isolated fragments, liberty ), taxi, the sponge, im alone and its night, the vault

5. serious concerns by wendy cope - ★ - i expected this collection to have roughly the same energy as the famous orange poem, but instead it was just very ... english wine mom after her fourth divorce . though undeniably witty, occasionally funny and even somewhat subversive, the ever-present vibe of cynical pragmatism made it completely unenjoyable for me . however, wendy copes wikipedia page claims that her later collections are different so perhaps i just started in the wrong place ? i wouldnt want to discourage anyone from giving this collection or author a try, but personally i simply dont share her sense of humor

6. contemplation by franz kafka - ★★★ - i spontaneously picked up the czech translation during a slow day at work and ... well, it sure helped pass the time ! i have no idea how i feel about kafkas fiction to be honest - on the one hand he is so much more than the sadboy people tend to reduce him to and there is certain joie de vivre in his writing, on the other hand i find his style ... dry . ( saying that feels like a crime ) this was a pretty hit-or-miss collection for me, but i feel more motivated to read more of his work now, so . a win is a win

favourites: the sudden walk, excursion into the mountains, passers-by, on the tram, clothes, rejection, reflections for gentlemen-jockeys, the street window

7. howls moving castle by diana wynne jones - ★★★★ - this was so whimsical and chaotic and just bursting with creativity . way more down-to-earth than i expected, but it was almost healing to see these really flawed characters loved and happy . im so excited to watch the movie now, unlike everyone else i didnt feel much for book howl ( i just kept thinking he needs a fancam set to womanizer ) but perhaps i will fall for his movie version ? we will see . im very intrigued by diana wynne jones' style, it made the story seem as if it was writing itself ... cant wait to read more ! and recommend her work to every child i run into

up next: i said this last month, but i need to read my silly little college textbooks for real this time, so i should take a little break from this weird marathon reading i seem to be doing . anyway i hope to slowly get thru weavers, scribes, and kings by amanda h. podany ( finally ! nonfiction ! ) and um . well . there is still the prequel to the sandman . and a few spin-offs that seem interesting . and i downloaded stardust the other day because i love actively making my parasocial relationships worse . i should disclose that im horrible at planning though, so chances are i will just read ten completely random books again instead of any of these . love and light

[measuringbliss]

Reading through His Dark Materials (Book 2) 1/2 (Chapters 1 to 9)

Let's keep reading vol 2 of His Dark Materials (the books and saga have completely different names in France lmao)

I read the 1st book in a day, during my first year at university, during classes. It was, like, 3-4 years ago. I read a bit of the first chapter of Book 2 back in September but didn't continue. I'm doing this right now.

So Will meets "Lyra", whose Daemon is named "Pantalaimon"... like Book 1 Lyra. But she can't be Lyra, right? OG Lyra? I remember she followed her father back at the end of Book 1, but... Hmm... I didn't remember Lyra being so wild and like, not knowing how to cook. Huh. *grumbles* But she doesn't have the same surname...

...Is she Lyra's evil twin?

(don't answer questions by the way, it's mostly for myself)

...AND SHE HAS THE ALITHIOMETER.

And she thinks about Iorek (aka the cute big bear). I guess she's Lyra. Huh. Hmm.

(I have to say the town description made me think of Lurelin Village in BOTW, I had the music in my head reading those parts)

CH2

Serafina Pekkala is a lesbian. I feel like she is. She's part of the Lobby. *sees mention of big snuggly ferocious polar bears* god i need a bear... Fra Pavel was mentioned in the first book, right? I remember that name. Mrs Coulter says that Lyra was "conceived in sin and born in shame", what does that mean exactly...

Is the thing with the tree branch something that happened before? Doesn't ring a bell. Huh. (Edit: Yep. It's mentioned at the council later in the chapter. Nice.)

Anyway, Mrs Coulter obviously sucks but I always forget how cruel she is. It was a violent scene. Philip Pullman didn't seem to pull many punches, writing these books.

Lord Asriel's butler "knows him better than any woman ever could"... They fucked. Lord Asriel is an god-killing bicon. We stan! We stan so much! He's done nothing wrong ever.

(Serafina Pekkala is definitely not straight)

So Lord Asriel really fucks, huh? Mrs Coulter, Ruta Skadi, Thorold... Okay, so Lyra's other surname was given to her by Iorik. I guess I can definitely conclude both Lyras are the same characters. Yay!

Ruta mentions circumcision and wow, Pullman really has *beef* with some people... Love it for him.

CH3

It's actually fascinating seeing Will and Lyra interact. Of course she'd look at him weird for suggesting she'd wear jeans...

CH4 (this is the moment I switched from The Matrix score to The Fast and the Furious, it's just a fun tidbit, don't question it)

Quick question/theory: Is John Parry (Will's dad) Lord Asriel? Maybe he found a window to change world and couldn't get back, but that would have certainly motivated him to find a way back, and it would have inspired him to seek other words, and thus question the Church, etc. It would create an interesting parralel between Asriel and Will. I hope Lyra gets to see a picture of the dude and exclaim "Wait a minute...". WAIT, ACTUALLY, THAT WOULD EXPLAIN WHY PEOPLE WERE MEDDLING WITH WILL'S LIFE. Omg. I should reread the first chapter... *does exactly that* Hmm. Intriguing.

I wonder if those "ha those things are exactly the same in both worlds" (the initials engraved in the stones, what Lyra sees at the museum) are supposed to be hints, or just coincidences, as in, "some things find a way to happen regardless of obstacles" or if I'm supposed to imagine that both worlds resonate so much that they corrupt each other in some way.

(side note: the first F&F score is surprisingly good?)

I was hoping the old guy spying on Lyra would be an ally, but he's described as having penetrating eyes, a pointy tongue, and the word "rot/putrefaction" is mentioned. (I'm reading in French so when I cite the text, it might not be accurate, but if you've read the book you'll know what I mean.)

I'm starting to wonder what's the goal of the alithiometer. Obviously, it has some sort of conscience; is it truly trying to help Lyra? It seems, you know, magical. Godly. Are we going to meet its creator? I mean, if it's G-man, probably at some point, right? Anyway, Lyra, please read the old guy's card. I'm curious to know his name and stuff. Anyway, if the alitiomether is guiding Lyra to help her find John Parry, aka Will's dad, aka possibly Lord Asriel, does that mean the alithiometer is on his side? Well, maybe not. Huh.

I find it interesting that Lyra adopted the name given to her by Iorik. Anyway, Pullman throwing shade at the underfunding of researchers, we love to see it.

I wonder if the Dr. Malone will stay Lyra's ally for long, I got a bad feeling...

The archeologist is raising my "WILL'S DAD IS LORD ASRIEL" flag even higher. Or maybe "the physician". In both cases, I'm convinced John is linked to Lord Asriel. Okay, maybe this is more likely. I'll keep both theories. Was the reporter the old guy that Lyra met at the museum? ...Or one of Will's agressors. That works too.

At this point, I'm begging Will and Lyra to use the documents they have in their possession; Will his father's writing case, and Lyra the old man's card. Anyway, I'm pretty sure the attorney is about to die.

CH5 (we're now listening to Norn9's videogame score)

Lyra and Will's methods of being discreet both have merits.

(I'm annoyed that Norn9's main theme only appears on the main menu; it lasts almost 6 minutes, is pretty great, but you only hear 10 5 seconds of it if you play normally. But I much prefer the next track.)

The cat can't lick its own ear now, can it? ...Can it? Anyway, Will's finally reading the letters!!!!!

After reading them (and finishing the chapter)... Hmm. This man does not sound like Lord Asriel. Huh. I hope Will and John get to be reunited.

CH6

Oh. That's where I'm realizing I kind of don't care about Lee Scoresby but... sure.

A witch wanted to be the dude's wife? She must have been pretty horny.

I was pretty uninterested at first, but the Magisterium planting men in research stations? Now, that's juicy! AND HE ATTACKS LEE?! OH MY GOD OK.

Maybe Grummann's a zombie. I saw that word-drop earlier!! I noticed it!!!!!

Anyway. This infodump is so interesting. Side note: While in English, Book 2 is called The Subtle Knife, in French it's called La Tour des Anges--the tower of angels. So we got a namedrop. Huh. Maybe what the philosophers used to open worlds was said subtle knife?

So Lord Asriel creating a passage between worlds fucked over Citagazze and its world. Huh.

I feel like Ruta is gonna die. Please don't die, I like you.

CH7 (Now listening to La La Land Records's release of the Spider-Man 1 score)

Nooooo give me Ruta back, I need to see her encounter with Lord Asriel...!

Omg. Shifty people are investigating Lyra and Dr Malone? Oof. WHITE EYEBROWS? OMG. LYRA RUN. (This feels like a horror novel.) OH MY GOD THEY NAMEDROPPED WILL AAAAAAAAH LYRA GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE. AAAAAEFJZEDIOHJZEOEDPDZKOZEPDZEKOPZDEJZIZEOZEI

oH dear this is terriyfing OH GOD NO LYRA DON'T STEP INTO THE CAR NOOOOOOOO

OKAY THEORY TIME: THE OLD GUY IS GOD. IT'S FUCKING GOD PLAYING WITH LYRA. UGH.

OG MY GOD HE STOLE IT?! HE STOLE IT?! OH MY GOD. OH MY GOOOOOOD. OMG. OH. I CAN'T. I WASN'T READY FOR SUCH INTENSITY. WHAT THE FUCK.

Narratively speaking, removing the alitiomether from Lyra's hands is great because it was starting to become a bit of a cheat code (though I wasn't complaining about it).

Is the book going to end with Will finding his dad? Would be a nice parallel.

So the card... wasn't especially enlightening to me. Oh well. According to Google Reviews, Limefield House has very comfortable beds! Oh but wait, it's situated in Livingston. The one in Headington is strictly fictional. Google Maps does indicate roughly an hour to go from the center of Oxford to Headington so I guess Pullman knew the area pretty well.

GOD. I was planning to stop this reading session but this got so interesting.

CH8

You know what this reminds me of? Ulysse Moore. *nobody reacts because nobody has read those books* Well I have! The first 9 books, I believe. Began with volume 6, then read them all in order. It got really aimless with 7, if you ever decide to read them, stop after 6, it offers a nice conclusion. ANYWAY. DOORS TO OTHER WORLDS. KEYS. SECRETS. PEOPLE WITH FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE. SECRET CLUBS. I'm just now getting why I was thinking of this series this whole time.

Pantalaimon turns into a bear and I swoon <3 Bears <3 <3 <3

I didn't expect such violence, but I remember Iorik's fight in the first book being pretty harsh too. Anyway, Dancing with the Bears just turned into friggin' Saw.

This book is gonna end with Will creating a passage to the land of God or whatever with the knife after having found his father. I'm not sure yet on whether Will's dad will die or not.

Oh, Pullman is shipping Lyra and Will. Okay. Sure.

I feel like the Specters are an allegory for the climate change.

CH9, can't stop, won't stop

OMG MRS COULTER. OMG LORD BOREAL. OMG. CITAGAZZE WAS THE CROSSROADS?!

It's so funny seeing this asshole dump the whole plot to ~Marisa~. "Spectres? We don't have time for this. But I'm still gonna tell you!"

anyway I HATE THIS FUCKING MONKEY OH MY GOOOOOD and OMG IT'S THE CAT!!!! OH NO IT'S GONNA DIE ISN'T IT?! ;-;

Okay I've almost reached 2/3 of the book in one sitting, it's almost 2am, I should eat and sleep for a bit

I hope y'all enjoyed this ridiculous post

[davestriderascend]

the homestuck reread pt. 1 (so far)

alright lets get into it. i just finished act 5, so this seems like as good of a place as any to recap. this is already getting really long, so this post will cover acts 1-4, and ill talk about act 5 in the next post

Act 1-3

acts 1 thru 3 are extremely short, and largely center john, his eventually named friends, and johns ascent into the medium. the story is propelled by reader commands, full of pop culture references, and largely about the fun video game mechanics and jokes hussies setting up with sburb. all art has been hussies so far, and the first three albums (vol 1, 2, and 3, each one corresponding with the obvious act) have consisted entirely of mostly short songs all written for and used in flash pages. there might be one or two original ones that im forgetting, but im pretty sure the albums were just collections of songs used in the comic at this time. during this time, hussie also had his first formspring going, and occasionally made updates on their blogspot blog. she ALSO created a blog for dave, which i did, unfortunately, read.

The Characters

like i said, 1-3 are mostly just about john. rose is introduced and named at the very end of act 1, while dave is introduced and named in act 2. john is the only character who enters the medium, while panels about rose and dave mostly focus on rose acting as johns server player while struggling to maintain her wifi connection through the storm and meteor shower, and dave trying to set up his server client connection to rose. jade is teased, but not introduced at this time. very few trolls make an appearance this early in, if... any? i dont remember.

john is a chipper, goofy kid who loves his family and his friends and has bad taste in media, and i love him every bit as much as i did the first time reading homestuck. as with all of the guardians in early homestuck, honestly, johns relationship with his dad is particularly compelling, watching him roll his eyes and go through the typical rebellious teenager antics, while also witnessing that they very obviously care about each other a lot! the way he cuts through dave and roses shit and teases them is a lot of fun, and hussie does a really great job of setting up early in that these kids have been really good friends for a long time.

rose is honestly my favorite this go around. shes snarky and her humor is biting and at times childish, and her dramatics, while often just silly theatrics, often hint at really compelling emotional turmoil and backstory. shes a complex character right out the gate, with tangled feelings about her mom, her interests, and her cat, who projects an image toward her friends in order to protect her feelings. still, its obvious that if rose is ever sincere about anything, its her unending love for her friends, and its this kind of juxtaposition between this edgy, sarcastic, and grimdark personality she puts off and these warmer, goofy moments that make her so much fucking fun.

dave has a lot less focus in early homestuck, and seems to largely serve as the voice of reason and guide to john. hes the savvy coolkid, who already has shit like sylladexes figured out, and is usually the one who points out obvious solutions to john and moves the plot forward. he is also. the voice through which hussie projects a lot of the worst moments of bigotry in hs, and there are a loooooot of slurs. so. thats there. my first readthrough, i imprinted on dave instantly like a baby bird and he quickly became my favorite, but this go around hes honestly been a lot less compelling for me.

the exiles are introduced in act 2, and mostly function as silly, simple comic relief, and some vague foreshadowing as to whats to come. theyre simple characters, but i fucking love them. so much.

The Plot

early hs is probably the most coherent, plotwise. hussie has a plan in place, and shes pretty sure she knows where shes going with it. despite the randomness of the reader commands, the next step is always obvious on the horizon- getting all the players in to play sburb. its really simple, and its kind of nice to just sit back and enjoy feeling like everythings going to be wrapped up nicely (even tho it wont be). i also just like, really enjoy a lot of the humor in early hs and the video game jokes and stuff, so it was a lot of fun to read! its very reminiscent of problem sleuth at this stage. i also really enjoy the exiles, and i think the early acts are where they really get most of their attention

The Albums

i think its cool that each album has a kids symbol in 1-4, and its cool to listen to the early music that really set the stage for a lot of later, huge songs. a lot of these songs are referenced and remixed like, constantly, and its really cool listening to a song and going hey! that sounds like its got some heir of grief in there! while ive listened to a lot of the hs soundtrack, i mostly listened to later albums, so i was surprised to learn just how early toby fox started working on hs. and how much. jesus

The Formspring and Blogs

ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. listen. dont read these. save yourself the agony. the blogspot is really more just the act 1 and immediate post problem sleuth era, so i got bored of it pretty quickly and gave up on reading it. it wasnt super relevant to my reread experience.

the formspring, the FIRST ONE, is much worse than the second one hussie made, and is just. full. of nonsense troll asks, stupid posts that dont mean anything, and hussie justifying artistic choices that dont need to be justified again and again to people who are just being mean for no reason. there are some really funny posts in there, and there are also some posts that provide cool background info that you wouldnt otherwise know, and there are a lot of inside jokes in hs that started on the formspring, so it can be cool to see those develop. however. there is also a lot of bigotry, a lot of hussie saying really stupid shit, and a lot of just inane questions that wasted so much of my time. it takes forever to read, and sometimes i regret it.

daves blog is. ugh. its like sbahj but he says the n word and i think thats all that really needs to be said about it. it was a really unpleasant read. on that note, i am not reading sbahj. i didnt read it the first time, im not going to read it now, and i do not care how much it references hs and vice versa. sbahj fucking sucks, and houses some of hussies worst bigotry moments, and i just. really do not want to get into that.

The Intermission

the (first) intermission is one of the shorter intermissions in homestuck and revolves entirely around the midnight crew and the felt. this is the one where the mc breaks into the felt mansion and starts breaking clocks, killing people, and fucking shit up. not much happens, other than introducing the felt and mc. during this time, the midnight crew: drawing dead is released as the first album w new songs not previously featured on panel.

The Characters

ive always been a huge fan of intermission characters. its a really goofy little sidestory in hs and feels very problem sleuth at times, but i love it a lot! still, there isnt a ton to say here, in part bc the intermission is so short, and in part bc its really about the midnight crew and not the felt. itchy, doze, trace, cans, die, stitch, fin, eggs, and clover are minor side characters who mostly just exist to die. also snowman is teased, briefly. i think clover and doze probably get the most detail work, and then. maybe trace and fin? tragic stuff.

The Album

i liked this one! its been a hot second since i listened now so youll have to forgive me if my review isnt super detailed, but it was fun to see how the artists worked together to kind of create a musical profile for the city and the crew! very experimental, very cool.

Act 4

jade is FINALLY introduced! this act focuses more on balancing all four kids, with rose entering the medium at the beginning, dave entering towards the end, and hussie finally catching us up on this last mystery friend of johns. the exiles (midnight crew included) get a lot of attention in this act, showing not only their actions in exile, but also who they were before exile, and the trolling really gets going in this act. this is also the act where john ectobiologies all over the place, and where derse and prospit start to become relevant. the trolls still havent been revealed fr, and jade still hasnt entered the medium! during this time, hussie was answering questions on the first formspring still, and vol 4 and vol 5 were released.

The Characters

this act focuses a lot on jade, especially early in. ive always had a hard time relating to jade as a character, and shes never really been one of my favorites, but shes absolutely instrumental to the plot of hs and this act really shows just how much shes contributed to setting up the game. shes also more often than not the vehicle for how we get to see the trolls in early hs, because for soem reason they seem to pester her more than anyone else??

in the medium, john gives us the best view of how sburb is supposed to be played. he goes on sidequests, talks to the salamanders, builds cool stuff, fights imps, and just sort of does what hes supposed to! similar to acts 1-3, act 4 is still setting up sburb.

i think the only trolls who really receive any kind of prominence this early in are tavros, karkat, kanaya, and terezi, but dont quote me on that.

other than john and jade tho, i think most of the stuff i have to say abt the characters in this act wld be better saved for talking abt in act 5 act 2

The Albums

im not going to talk abt vol 4 or the formspring here bc i think i already covered both in 1-3, but vol 5 was also released towards the end of act 4! vol 5 is some stuff in the comic, and a lot of stuff that isnt in the comic, and has a pretty cool album cover! this one has some songs that wind up being referenced in songs that are really well known or well loved (for example, sunslammer, which toby remixes for the undertale soundtrack (and i think also gets remixed into a song that gets remixed into moonsetter?), or crystalanthemums, which will eventually be referenced for crystalmethequins (one of my favorite hs songs)). it also has hardchorale, which was so fucking trippy to listent o that i actually posted the link to it in my liveblog. 10/10. hilarious. my favorite song on this album is planet healer, which is also one of my favorite hs songs!

thats acts 1-4 covered, so expect act 5...... soon.

EDIT: heres my recap of act 5 subacts 1 & 2

[veliseraptor]

Top 5 Danmei canon couples only (to make it harder? 👀)

canon couples? canon couples? anon who do you think I am, someone who gets really attached to canon pairings

(also are we qualifying as "canon" here "specifically they actually get together on page" or like... "heavily subtextually implied"." I'm going to assume you meant the first one, but boy is it tempting.)

(I'm not wholly serious but I am wondering if I can get to five with this, considering a number of the ones I've read only really have one explicitly canon pairing...and I haven't read all that many, and I don't like listing things by, like, default. I want to actually have strong feelings.)

1. Hua Cheng/Xie Lian. Hands down my favorite of the three MXTX novels and definitely of all time. They're just. I love them. I love them both as characters and their dynamic is so good. Astonishingly not fucked up for a pairing I have such good feelings about but somehow it works.

2. Mo Ran/Chu Wanning. On the other hand! Very fucked up, at least sort of. Less so later. But also still. But woof what a pairing. I have vol. 2 of the published translation sitting on my shelf and might just read that this weekend now that I'm thinking about them again. I will say that I am unfortunately particularly fond of Taxian-jun/Chu Wanning specifically (surprising no one) but all versions are good.

3. Qiyan Agula/Nangong Jingnu. I really need to reread JWQS and it's because of these two cause like. what a mess! what a mess!!! it's enemies to lovers and betrayal and all that delicious crunchy shit and they're both women. how often do I get that, almost never. once I finally get around to learning book binding I feel like this might be the one I want to do first. 🤔

4. Sheng Lingyuan/Xuan Ji. It feels a little weird to put a pairing from a book I haven't finished yet on here (two, actually) but it's...really good so I'm going with it. I'm only ~70 chapters in and they've got me. The already emerging parallel themes of dehumanization and weaponization alone. Chef's kiss. perching here just waiting for the rest.

5 Xiao Chiye/Shen Zechuan. The other pairing from a book I haven't technically finished yet, but look, look, you've seen me posting their banter and I feel like for this alone:

they deserve to be on here.

[lanbichenbunny]

Reread of MDZS..

Some of you might already know that I’ve been rereading MDZS. I got up to volume 4 but I’m only roughly half way through and tears of the kingdom is out soon so I’ve decided to read Vol 5 first.

I’d like to finish the actual story and read the incense burner extras. I’ve heard a lot about the extras in particular. I’d like to be able to have my own opinion on it.

If I have time before tears of the kingdom comes out, I’ll get back to it and finish it.

[booksandwords]

Fangirl, Vol. 1: The Manga  Adapted by Sam Maggs. Illustrated by Gabi Nam. Based on the novel by Rainbow Rowell.

Series: Fangirl Manga, Vol. 1 Read time: 1 Day Rating: 4/5 Stars

The Quote: I always get lost in the library, no matter how many times I go. In fact, I think I get lost there more, the more that I go. Like it's getting to know me, and revealing new passages. — Levi (look my librarian ass loves this line)

Full disclosure I still haven't read Fangirl so I'm coming into this a bit differently from most. Basically, I always intended to read it but never got around to it. I now intend on reading it before volume two is released in June (? I think), before writing this review I put it on hold at my local library. But from what I can see at this point it is well suited to a visual adaptation. This appears to be a clever adaptation. Sam Maggs has ensured that it flows properly. Particularly when combined with Gabi Nam's illustrations which are all clearly distinct. Wren and Cather have the perfect facial structure similarities that were needed. It feels like it depends on how Cath is feeling as to how they look. Both Cath's fandom self and Simon and Baz are shown regularly. Nam's take on Simon and Baz is fantastic and slightly varied. What I can clearly see from this is why people wanted Simon Snow's story so badly Rainbow sells their story well.

Cath and Wren are the ideal for the demonstration of growing apart and finding identity as twins. I quite like Reagan. I really like that Cath is Reagan's mealtime bitching buddy, I like that it is clearly leading to a friendship. Also, the best friendships to me can be shown through what you see in the random people around you. Personality traits. Nick and Levi have this interesting counterbalance thing going on. And well Dad is trying his best, he is a great representation of a parent. That's all I'm going to write in the review for now. I'll probably reread it at a later date and might be able to comment better.