#Japanese shows

[orangesinwinter]

more shots from Beach Boys (1997)

[japanese-korean-lit-lover]

East Asian literature/movies/shows I've been currently enjoying:

The housekeeper and the professor (or my preferred title: Professor's beloved equation) by Yöko Ogawa – Japanese slice of life (find my short review here)

My neighbor Totoro by Studio Ghibli

Revenge: Eleven dark tales by Yöko Ogawa – slice of life-ish horror, truly grew on me

First Love: Hatsukoi – slice of life Japanese romance (find my analysis here), best thing I’ve ever watched

Little Forest – Korean slice of life movie, lots of food shots

Something in the rain – Korean slice of life romance

If cats disappeared from the world by Genki Kawamura – Japanese slice of life meets Goethe's Faust (but executes the trope better)

The guest cat by Takashi Hiraide – the most slice of life book I've read, very meditative

When the weather is fine – korean slice of life romance (find my posts about it here and here)

The Memory Police by Yöko Ogawa – dystopian fiction (if you enjoyed Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury you'll love that too)

I will be your bloom – Japanese... I don't even know how to describe the genre, it was wild, weird and wonderful, but won’t be everyone’s cup of tea

Sweet bean paste by Durian Sukegawa – Japanese slice of life, excellent in every detail

Your eyes tell – Japanese drama/romance – it wrecked me thank you very much, can't recommend it enough

Please look after my mom by Kyung-sook Shin – Korean drama, very emotional

Norwegian wood by Haruki Murakami – Japanese romance, psychological drama, but I wouldn’t call it a favorite

Crash course in romance – Korean rom com, quite enjoyable and fun to watch, really adorable and funny

Nowhere to be found by Bae Suah – a parabolic slice of life short story

Walking Practice by Dolki Min – a horror existential story about being human, not for everyone (tbh not really for me, but I was the editor of the translated version in my country)

Summer strike – aesthetic, calming and full of kdrama (fits the canon 100%), if it wasn’t for the murder case it would be perfect

Turn to me, Mukai-kun – honestly it felt like 90% of the characters on that show were either aro, ace or both and I’m so here for it

The setting sun by Osamu Dazai – a classic when it comes to today’s Japanese literature, I see the value of the story, but didn’t love it as I thought I would

Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi – weird, creepy at times, both comforting and confusing, gave me the same kind of chills as Revenge by Yōko Ogawa

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata – an amazing short story about intolerance, surface level relationships and the incredible mechanism where men feel entitled to use women both when they conform to social expectations and when they decide to live against them

Doctor slump – heartwarming and emotional, I laughed, I cried, despite being a romance it had a great plot line about mental illnesses

Welcome to Samdal-ri – for everyone who feels overwhelmed by the world and needs a place to return to, very emotional, I cried like a baby more than once, would watch three more seasons of it

[redsamuraiii]

Only thing I look forward to this month. 🤩

House of Ninjas (15 Feb on Netflix)

Tokyo Vice 2 (8 Feb on Max)

Shogun (27 Feb on Hulu)

The Silent Service (9 Feb on Prime)

[rigelmejo]

Shows to watch in Japanese:

What Did YouEat Yesterday? (Netflix, haven't watched yet)

Our Dining Table (easier, it feels healing to watch)

She Likes to Cook and She Likes to Eat (easier, it feels healing to watch <3)

I Cannot Reach You (Netflix, watching, slice of life romance between friends)

Midnight Diner (neflix, interesting and chill, different story each week)

Love Like Poison (BL will be on Netflix US November 5, looks interesting)

MIU 404 (Netflix, crime drama!)

Informa (Netflix, yakuza drama)

Samurai Cat (on youtube free, the samurai is cute and so is the cat ToT)

Koisenu Futari (aromantic main characters, slice of life)

Alice in Borderland (Netflix, Kurosawa actor from Cherry Magic is in this, its also a mega popular show)

Cherry Magic (BL, office romance meets magic)

First Love (netflix, lead from Ruroni Kenshin, Utada Hikaru's music used in the episodes a lot <3, watching)

Ruroni Kenshin movies (netflix, yes I pick these on if there's action or hotties, or if it feels comforting)

The Boyfriend (netflix, reality show dating???)

Erased (netflix, heard the manga was good)

Yu Yu Hakusho (netflix, ???)

Japan Sinks (netflix, the drama about politics with the scientist guy)

Kamen Rider Build (youtube! Inukai Astuhiro! Silly! What more do you want? So many Kamen Rider shows exist, if you happen to get into it...)

Kei x Yaku (the truth is i'll watch most things Inukai Atsuhiro is in, he's in Our Dining Table if you want a comforting slice of life BL, he's in Absolute BL if you want to cry laughing)

Absolute BL (do you want self aware comedy about BL? Do you want to laugh so hard you're crying, and wincing from the cringey fluff cranked up romance on screen? And great opening tracks? Here you go)

Once Upon A Crime (netflix movie, excuse me I just found out Inukai Atsuhiro is in this, this is on my to watch list already due to screaming Once Upon a Time vibe)

Bonus, some anime: Ranma 1/2 (all on Tubi for free, also on Hulu, and a New remake is on Netflix, one of my favorite anime ever), inuyasha (on netflix), sailor Moon (free on Pluto TV)

[wordsaladsenpai]

Trees recommendations

Hello, long time no post. I want to start something here on my blog about any media recommendations. Whether it be games, books, movies, web novels, shows, etc etc.

I’ll start off with my first recommendation:

Title: Eternal Yesterday

Genre: Japanese BL

Category: Show

Episodes: 8

My thoughts: I usually don’t watch anything BL related because I don’t want to get caught up in the drama and negative connotation (which is honestly quite a fair assertion since many women (I am a woman) have exhibited tendencies towards fetishizing gay men when it comes to consumption of media regarding bl and mlm relationships). I do not actively engage or support the narrative of fetishizing gay men or mlm relationships. This is just a disclaimer. I myself am biromantic and when I usually search for shows or media to consume I try to actively avoid anything overly explicit since I am not trying to consume the media for the purpose or sake of finding my own fantasies or daydream pleasure about any acts of intimacy that might occur in said piece of media. Though I am biromantic myself I do get curious about some of the explicit intimate aspects or details that may occur in the media itself. Though I have to say I do find it quite distasteful if the only plot point is the explicit intimate actions of fan service that maybe liberally splattered throughout a series or work of media. For this main reason I don’t watch many American Tv shows despite being an American myself. I have gained a taste for some shows and media originating in China, Korea, and Japan, as well as Taiwan, and a bit of Thailand. I like how most of the shows I’ve seen from these areas contribute multiple story plot points while still being able to show the progression of the main love interests relationship through the entire show. While each countries media definitely has different styles of storytelling the Japanese BL eternal yesterday really caught my eye.

I don’t watch many Japanese shows or even Japanese BL for that matter so this was my first one ever to watch and honestly I was very surprised and impressed with it. What stuck out to me was the premise of the show, which showed a budding gay romance between two highschoolers. As someone who is interested in the concept of grief and death and emotional connections to others and those we love I thought it was beautiful at harnessing and processing those emotions and bringing it forth visually through the writing and acting and directing. It was perfect. Though I thought an 8 episode drama with a little over 20 minutes per episode would not be enough to really give the story it’s all. I was pleasantly surprised how it worked perfectly. It was a show that made me cry and make me think of my own relationship with my own bf. While it may have been a BL it harnessed different relationship dynamics that I thought was a lovely thing to do since it is about love in all its forms. I could go on forever about this show and honestly it will stick with me as a forever favorite.

Pls check it out.

I watched it on Viki. (I think you can also watch it on Netflix but pls double check the avaliable platforms of where this show might be to watch)

Rating - 10/10

P.S - the pacing can be kinda slow but I loved the awkward pauses and camera panning because it in my opinion realistically showed the progression of a relationship between two people where one doesn’t want to intrude on the other and the other person is very reserved and quiet who also takes a bit more time to open up.

Thank you for reading this long long review. I hope yall learned a new show to maybe watch and enjoy or learn a little bit about me through my thoughts and opinions on this piece of media.

[nterini]

I need to stop watching shows with arranged marriage, unintentional co-habitation, end-of-the-world, contractual marriage tropes or I’m going to really lose my mind to the point therapy where won’t help anymore.

Anyways…

Full-time Wife Escapist analysis coming soon..

[arcsin27]

My dad is watching my brother play p5r (did I already mention that…?)

Even after all this time I still find it funny that he’s watching and following along. I know it’s stereotyping but he’s basically this

Iirc the only games he knows well are golf sims on the sega Genesis and maybe a few Marios over the years? So him following along with your typical batshit fantasy jrpg is like cognitive dissonance to me

(And I know people of all ages, types, etc can like anime, the main point is that he doesn’t. He’s like me when I first started watching anime: struggling to remember names, learning honorifics, stuff like that. The fact that he’s a Dad dad is like the cherry on top)

[somethinggoodig]

I'm scared to watche the last 2 eps of alive in borderland because what if they kill my fav character (again)

[orangesinwinter]

shots from Beach Boys (1997)

[exilley]

I do sort of wish western anime fans would analyze anime and manga from a framework of japanese historical and cultural context. Specifically a lot of works from the 90s being influenced by the general aimlessness and ennui that a lot of people were experiencing due to the burst in the bubble economy and the national trauma caused by the sarin terrorist attack. I think in interacting with media that’s not local to our sociocultural/sociopolitical sphere it’s easy to forget that it’s influenced and shaped by the same kinds of factors that influence media within our own cultural dome and there ends up being this baseline misalignment of perception between the causative elements of a narrative and viewer interpretation of those elements. It’s a form of death of the author that i think, in some measure, hinders our ability to fully understand/come to terms with creator intent and the full scope of a work’s merits

[deadlypen1]

My experience watching the new Netflix sumo wrestling show

[nuzzle]

BABY, THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT ♡ [SPECIAL TEA PARTY 2024SS in Shanghai]

[arcsin27]

Idk why the idea that ghibli hires major actors like any other animation studio is so funny to me but it is

Like “haha christian bale is an anime dub va” is peak comedy to me (he played howl, didn’t picture that one sorry)

Edit: Only ghibli is allowed to hire Random Celebrity #27 to voice in their animated movies lol

Also forgor Tom holland. I guess arrietty was redubbed for England?

[arcsin27]

WHAT THE FUCK

theres so much happening here

[shihlun]

Kiyoshi Kurosawa

- Eyes of the Spider

1998

[samipekoe]

*unmagicals your pokaan*