#the queen's gambit review

[reyreadersblog]

TIME FOR AUGUST READING WRAP UP (PART 1.)

Well summer ended like a week ago, so here is all the books i've read and my reviews of them.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Never lie was the first book i read at the start of August and it was very easy quick and twisty read. Finshed it in a day, the dual POV was really fun and it added more tension to it.

However the plot twist was very unexpected, and that's not the reason i disliked it, the reason is that it didn't really make sense. I mean her whole monologue was lie...

Overall i did like the book, i'd say if you want something fast paced read it, but it was kind of a dissapointment tbh.

Raiting:⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

I LOVED THIS BOOK! It was so good! (Gave me major tig vibes)

I love any book that involves a kind of treasure hunt, and this book had added stakes with an inheritance hidden somewhere in the town. It was entertaining and very dramatic, although I wouldn't necessarily say that it was suspenseful, because it felt very over the top at lot of the time, so I wasn't exactly concerned with the characters' safety, if that makes sense. However, it is fast-paced and twisty, and I was excited to find out what was going to happen in the end. It had found family trope which i ADORE! It was so cute and fun to read about the team and what they went through in order to get the treasure. I also loved how many LGBTQ+ character were in the book.

The grieving part was done very realisticly, as someone who is going through grief rn, i fully realate to Lily.

This book was an example of how someone can take an inspiration from another author's work without fully coping them...*cough* Lauren Roberts *cough*

Raiting: ⭐

I love you Lynn Painter BUT WHAT WAS THIS😭😭😭

The main character was unlikable and obnoxious. She was not like other girls, she was just ✨quirky✨ and ✨different✨

The mmc was SUPERRR boring, liks his character revolved around being hot and rich, literally nothing more.

What did i like about this book? NOTHING.

Raiting:⭐.5

I can't tell you one thing that i liked about this book, tbh i read it because someone said it was about a heist and a game...and i'm all for that (the hunger games habit i can't get rid off😔) but oh well...it was not good.

More telling, less showing. The fmc always talked nonsense, i couldn't understand half of what she was saying.

I get that romance wasn't the main focus but it was...so dry, so boring...it felt like she saw someone with the same skin colour as her and ✨immediatly fell in love✨ and i'm not saying any hate or something, i'm a poc but it was done so poorly and unrealisticly.

Uhmm the plotholes???

The characters were just too insufferable for my liking.

I didn't feel connected to any of them.

The authour kepr describing every single detail like it depended on her dear life.

I wanted to dnf so bad but for some reason i kept believing it would get better...it did not.

THE ENDING WAS SO DRY?

Raiting: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The book was very disturbing but so so good!

Long story short it's about Ellery and Ezra are the Corocan twins, siblings that live every day hoping that their addict single mom Sadie Corocan comes home every night.

Usually she does.

But one night, Sadie crashes into a jewelry store while drunk and high. She's sent to rehab while the twins are sent to live with their maternal grandmother in the sleepy town of Echo Ridge

What love about Karen MCmanus' books is her writing. It's really interesting to read a mystery/thriller book with dual POV because occasionaly author drops clues and hints in each of their chapters.

very honestly speaking, this book was a thousand times better than One of Us is Lying. i was even one of the ones who really liked One of Us is Lying, and Two Can Keep a Secret was LEAGUES better.

one of the main things that really set Two Can Keep a Secret apart was the characters.

I loved the characters. I loved how cracked and broken they were. How they didn’t come from perfect families. How they made many, many mistakes. How they grieved for those they lost, but they also let it fuel their desire to find the killer. How they overcome their pasts.

This book has 2 plot twists, and the first one...did surprise me, i expected something better tho. THE SECOND ONE??? THE ENDING? Had me GAGGED and literally almost threw up.

Let me tell you.

The last line.

THE LAST FUCKING LINE.

*spoilers*

✨i thought she was your mother✨.

This woman dropped the most disturbing line in the book history and thought it was fine.

Overall, totally recommend🙏🏻👭

Raiting:⭐⭐⭐.5

I did like this one more than some of the others, but let's talk about its big turn-off: Brynn and Tripp. I love when a mystery book has romance subolot, tbh i can't read a book that has 0 romance in it, but it's kind of annoying when you can feel the author is forcing two characters towards each other.

Brynn and Tripp have no chemistry at all. One of them was in love with the other, then Brynn leaves town for five years and when she comes back they try to resolve this mystery in their life. One of them declares itself to the other, and the other thinks its look has improved with time. They kiss and then they live happily ever after.

What's the point, exactly? Why should they be together when they’re clearly better as friends? What’s supposed to happen now, they’ll have three fantastic months and then break up before college?

It was entertining but the "plot twist" was not it. Like what was the point? If you gave the book "that" kind of ending, what is the point?

Raiting:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

IDC THIS BOOK TRILLOGY WAS ABSOLUTE 6 STAR READ. (Go read it! Now!)

"Ash Princess is a trope-filled book with a very common story line. Theodosia, or Theo, was six years old when she witnessed her mother's (the queen) brutal murder and had her country conquered from her. In her country there are magical caves that run underneath the temples. For fire, air, earth and water. These are very sacred and only those who have proved themselves to the gods completely can go and get the magical gems. Now, Theo's people are forced to work as slaves in these mines and dig up the magical stones.

For ten years she has been living under the Kaiser and his brutal rule, living quietly and trying to please him to survive. All of that ends when she's forced to kill someone and her childhood friend comes and offers her an escape and make things right for their people. She's filled with hate and determination to take back her kingdom and avenge her mother and people."

The fmc in this book, Theodosia has become one of my favourite fmc! An example of fmc that doesn't need to be a bloodthirsty monster from the beggining to be considered as strong, mindful and brave.

CHECK THE TRIGGER WARNINGS!

Even tho it's YA there are some serious and heavy topics in this book so be aware of that!

THERE IS A FOUND FAMILY TROPE!

There is such cute and heart warming found family trope..*cough* with traumatised kids *cough*

I loved literally every character! (Well except for a few...)

LGBTQ+ REPRESENTATON OMGG!!!

The ROMANCE!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

One of the main reasons i loved this book,

Oh no, my guys, this has a LOVE TRIANGLE!!! [cue the groans of every person on the planet] LISTEN, I know y'all hate love triangles and I DO TOO!! but this one is somehow bearable, even though it annoyed me a lot. It's like one of "those" love triangles where it's obvious who MMC is. Theo has feelings for the Prinz and her childhood friend, some dude, whose name I forgot, because I DON'T FUCKING SHIP THEM. He's a really good guy, but Prinz Soren and Theo all the way, bitch. Like, they're both good boys, but idk something about the Prinz, man. HE IS BLONDE TOO!! It's a slow burn + forbidden romance.

Overall, I LOVED THE BOOKS, IT'S ONE OF MY FAV READS OF THE YEAR, and if you like high fantasy with great world building + found family + strong character + lgbtq characters + feminism elements GO READ IT ASAP.

Well this is part one! Also not proof read so please don't mind the mistakes🙏🏻

[yeahiwasintheshit]

Finally watching the queens gambit since I’m gonna cancel my netflik soon, and as much as Anya taylor joy is great and there some really good production goin on, I just don’t care about it. I’m only 3 + episodes in and I’m on my phone so I’m not feelin the movie. Seems like they could have told this story in fewer episodes. Kinda draggin. Not sure if I’m gonna power through the rest of it or not. Is it worth it?

[encrucijada]

what if i made it a thing(tm) to share book openings, etc. on my substack to create the illusion of i promise i remember this thing exists

[fideidefenswhore]

firebrand (2024) mood-board (spoilers)

[thatgeekwiththeclipons]

Happy 27th Birthday to Golden Globe Winning, SAG Award Winning, BAFTA Nominated, Emmy Nominated actress Anya Taylor-Joy! ^__^

[booksnotbombs]

The Queen’s Gambit & Glass Onion

So my siblings and me gifted our parents a netflix abo as a christmas present... so we wached a chess series together: The Queen’s Gambit during our christmas holiday. It was interesting and really thrilling until the last episode!

For the last day of the year we picked the newest movie to watch between dinner and midnight :) I already saw Knives Out and I loved that movie and since anybody else was indifferent for the movie I could convince everybody to watch the ‘sequel’.

I loved Benoit Blanc in this! (even more than in Knives Out) The movie itself was thrilling but also kind of a comedy and joked with Elon Musk.

I might post more netflix stuff on here that I enjoy... Heartstopper is on the list!

[thefreelancehistorywriter]

"Firebrand" Movie Review

The film Firebrand was a complete disaster. It’s hard to argue with about an hour and ten minutes of the movie but then it completely went off the tracks. On the positive: The acting was superb. Vikander played the role of Katherine Parr just right, being strong and assertive but scared to death of Henry. Although Jude Law went over the top at the end, for the most part his performance was the…

[rickollie]

Remembering Life Before the Internet

Remembering Life Before the Internet

Yes, I remember life before the internet, do you?Remembering Life Before the Internet

[jacke-12]

You're the One (1965) - The Vogues

Genre: pop rock, vocal group

Peak position on US Billboard Hot 100: 4

The Vogues were, from what I gather, a vocal group that has been a little lost to time, with this song being revitalised in the show The Queen's Gambit - how I came across it. In typical 50s and 60s fashion, this is a cover released in the same year as Petula Clark's original, which is perhaps the more interesting piece of music (on a first listen), but I have a great fondness for this song, and I do think it adds a lot to the original.

The original is grand and elaborate, but this version is comparatively small and simple. Despite having the same lyrics, the former lacks the boyish earnestness that The Vogues inject into it. They sound as though they are trying their utmost to impress whoever the target of the song is. A random link to make, but this cover reminds me of the sweet scene in The Office (US) where Andy asks out Angela with an a capella rendition of "Take A Chance On Me": in a positive sense, both Andy and the narrator here have a child-like hope and energy to them that I find really infectious. The original loses this effect because it is so polished, preventing it from feeling as personal (not in a bad way; it just changes the emotions the song evokes). The Vogues' version is rough around the edges - the production is a bit muddy - but truly from the heart.

It wouldn't be the same without the uber-sweet vocal harmonies - the clear centerpiece of the track. They are great throughout, but the chorus is the obvious highlight, where the four layers of vocals sound so pretty, especially those soaring "yeah yeah yeah"s in the backing vocals. And that jangly guitar riff that opens the song is friendly and inviting, much like the song as a whole.

There's nothing much more to say about it; there isn't much to this track, but that is what makes it special. It's a cute, loveable little track that manages to tug at your heartstrings despite its cheesiness. If you don't think it's cute, it helps to picture the four of them all singing these lyrics in a room together. That should win anyone over to this song.

[jbuffyangel]

The Canary: Arrow 2x05 Review (League of Assassins)

Yeesh there is a lot of Lance drama in the beginning of Season 2. We finally get the backstory on Sara, but it’s the spectacular Oliver and Laurel scene that has me cackling.

Let's dig in...

Sara Lance

They reshot the whole pilot scene between Oliver and Sara only this time, we see what happens to Sara after the boat sinks and she’s swept out to sea. How this woman did not get hypothermia from only wearing a bra and underwear in the North China Sea is beyond me.

This scene just incenses me.  It irks the absolute crap out of me when Sara says, “Laurel is gonna kill me.” Sara says it like she’s borrowing Laurel’s sweater without asking. YOU ARE SLEEPING WITH HER BOYFRIEND.  This destroys a relationship. She’s not going to kill you, but she will absolutely cut contact with you, Sara.

I know he’s pre-island Ollie and he’s just the absolute worst, but the smarmy “Your sister will never know” as he climbs on top of Sara is just so disgusting. I cannot fathom why people would ever want Laurel to be with Oliver after what he did. Forgive him, fine. Date him? Absolutely not.

Okay, the rage is dying down. Hopefully this is the last time we have to watch this scene.

Sara is staying at the Queen mansion, which doesn’t see very covert, but with Moira in jail and Thea sleeping at Roy’s all the time it actually is a good place for Sara to crash. Better than a clock tower at least.

Oliver is still trying to convince Sara to let her family know that she’s alive, but she’s not convinced all family members *cough*Laurel*cough* will be happy to see her. Sara asks Oliver if he ever got back together with Laurel after he returned home.

Oliver: We tried. It’s too much.

Sara: Some things are better left in the past.

After The Gambit sinks, Sara is floating on a door similar to Rose in Titanic when she’s picked up by the freighter.

Source: saralances

We’re all going to pretend the canary landing right next to Sara is not the most obvious foreshadowing in the world. For anyone questioning if Arrow is making Sara their OG Canary – there’s your answer. You know - if the suit, wicked fight skills and sonic weapon didn’t answer it for you already.

The color of the Canary is important though. It’s yellow. Not black. Arrow is drawing a clear distinction between the two. This is an origin story. It’s not Green Arrow and Black Canary. It’s The Arrow and The Canary.

Sara is thrown in a cage on the freighter, similar to Oliver’s current predicament, but Dr. Ivo protects her from the crew members.  He tells Sara he is going to save the human race and invites her to help, so I can only conclude we’re going with Stockholm syndrome in the flashbacks. A twenty something college kid would have very little to offer a mad scientist.

However, Sara’s reticence to return to her family is not related to whatever happened on the island, but rather who she became and what she did to survive AFTER the island. We’re just about to get some details when a man dressed exactly like Malcolm Merlyn comes crashing through a window.  Oliver and Sara fight him, but before we can get any answers the man disappears. This is getting annoying. WILL SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN SOMETHING?

Oliver introduces Sara to his team and we get the iconic first meeting between Sara and Felicity.

Source: oliversmoak

Sara does not want Team Arrow to find the assailant however. She knows exactly who he is. 

Sara: He’s called Al Ow-al, “The First.” And he’s a member of the League of Assassins.

Oliver has a very strong reaction to this revelation so we can deduce Sara didn’t join the Girl Scouts. The League is, you guessed it, a bunch of assassins who kill and vanish like ghost - previously thought to be an urban legend by Diggle. The League rescued Sara after the island, remade her into an assassin and she swore them her allegiance.

Sara left after she killed a local diplomat in Guyana and his children found his body the next morning. She didn’t want to be a murderer anymore, but now The League is coming after her.

Source: laurelscanary

Felicity’s humor and compassion put Sara at ease after her horrifying confession and this is why I love this character.  There’s no judgment from Felicity. She sees Sara for what she is – a person in pain, even if Sara doesn’t see herself that way. Not unlike how Felicity looks at Oliver. And just like Oliver, Sara Lance is SMOAKED.

Source: smoakamell

After Felicity finds Al Ow-al, Sara and Oliver argue about whose fight it is. Sara isn't used to playing with others, but you'd think she'd understand basic strength in numbers. This is the guy who trained Malcolm Merlyn. He stops an arrow with his bare hand while his back was turned!

Al Ow-al: The child of Ra’s Al Ghul awaits your return.

I know who Ra’s Al Ghul is from my Batman days, but in Arrow's world he has a kid. A kid who sent Al Ow-al  to collect Sara alive or dead. This is getting complicated. Is there like an employment flow chart we can follow for the League of Assassins?

Oliver: The League of Assassins. Why wouldn’t she tell me what happened to her all those years?

Diggle: Probably the same reason you didn’t tell us what happened to you on the island.

Wow. This is stunning lack of self awareness. Oliver, in case you haven’t noticed, Sara is the girl version of you.

The League has threatened Sara’s family, so Oliver keeps watch over Laurel. Felicity calls Detective Lance to convince him to leave town - while promising Sara to not reveal she's alive.

Source: @noone-seesyou-likeido

Unfortunately, Lance does not listen to Felicity, so Sara decides her secret is not more important than her father’s life. Finally, she is seeing some sense. Diggle, ever the loyal solider, offers to go with as back up, but Sara continues to have this thing about fighting on her own. I guess being an assassin is a solitary job. This does give us one of the best bad ass Sara Lance speeches ever, however.

Sara: Dig, you may be a three tour Special Forces veteran, but I was trained by the people that make the Special Forces look like a kindergarten class. So step aside or get put down.

The reunion between Lance and Sara is all we hoped it could be. It’s not every day your kid comes back from the dead, but Paul Blackthorne does a phenomenal job of moving from shock and disbelief to overwhelming joy.

Source: laurelscanary

Quentin wants answers, but he’s careful not to spook Sara who is still reticent to give details. They go through the nuclear bomb that was set off in their family (the divorce, the alcoholism).  Sara apologizes for the damage she caused, but Quentin insists he was to blame, which is more proof he is a really good dad.

He can clearly see his daughter has changed. She speaks Chinese now and is ready to fight to the death with a butter knife. He pieces together Sara is the woman in black; she knows Felicity, The Arrow and is wrapped up in this League that’s after both of them. How this man has not put together Oliver Queen is The Arrow I will never understand.

Quentin: If these assassins, if they hadn't shown up, would you have ever let us know that you were alive?

Sara: No.

Well, at least she’s honest. Sara promises Lance that she never forgot who she was or him despite staying away for so many years.

Source: OILVERSQUEEN

She takes her father to the clock tower which she’s outfitted with booby traps for when the League comes for them both. Sara and Lance hold their own against the assassins, but when The Arrow arrives they achieve the upper hand. Sara has no problem breaking Al Ow-al’s neck, but allows one assassin to live to warn Ra’s Al Ghul.

Sara: Tell Ra’s Al Ghul that my family is off limits. His quarrel is with me.

She is ashamed to show Quentin who she has become – a killer.

Source:  sohpiabush 

But Quentin feels only pride. How little children understand the depth of a parent’s love. We have already forgiven anything you’ve done or may do the moment you are born.

Quentin: I think you’re a survivor. I think you’re one of the bravest people I’ve ever known. You’re my daughter.

Sara leaves town to lead the League away from her family and Quentin agrees to keep her secret. He will not tell either Laurel or Dinah that Sara is alive because it would get them killed… or something.  The logic is not logical, but I don’t really care. They’ll hold the “Laurel finds out Sara is alive” card for May sweeps.

Source: @laurelscanary

This is not the last we will see of Sara Lance. The Canary’s story is just getting started.

Oliver and Diggle

Despite Oliver's spectacularly hypocritical statement about Sara and honesty, there is serious emotional growth this episode. Oliver making this statement about forgiveness a year ago would have been unthinkable. He did not return home with any hope of being forgiven or even welcomed back. I'm going to give the Lance family a shoutout because they had the most to be angry about with Oliver. He asked both Laurel and Quentin for forgiveness and they each have extended olive branches at various time. Hell, Laurel was ready to get back together with him. So, the fact he's able to offer the same hope to Sara is really a full circle moment.

Source:  anissagraces

Oliver beginning to believe he is worthy of forgiveness is a direct result of the many hours of therapy with Diggle and Felicity. He is finally starting to really hear them. That's why this moment with Diggle at the end of the episode is truly note worthy.

Source: NUGETAE

Diggle should have this date embroidered on a pillow because it's not often Oliver will admit he was right. But Oliver is not done yet.

Source: COPHINES

He breaks out some Russian vodka and confesses to Diggle he was not always on the island the five years he was gone. Oliver is ready to unburden some of the secrets he works so hard to keep buried.

Source: laurelscanary

Oliver is able to see his own demons reflected in Sara and it finally connects the dots for him. He doesn't have to remain isolated in the world like Sara. Oliver can see Diggle (and Felicity) reaching out to him and he FINALLY reaches back. This is monumental character growth.

Sara: You three are quite the team.

Diggle: We have our moments.

Why Diggle and not Felicity? I think it's easier for Oliver to tell his war stories to another solider. He also doesn't have any fuzzy bunny feelings towards John, which makes things simpler between them. But every time Oliver opens the door to the past, and shares his pain, he is one step closer to the future he truly deserves.

Laurel Lance

Laurel is sitting second chair in Moira Queen’s prosecution, which is actually an INSANE CONFLICT OF INTEREST. Marc Guggenheim, you are a lawyer sir. What is this nonsense?  

Never fear! Laurel has used all her pull to get Moira a plea deal - life with the possibility of parole. Understandably the Queen family isn’t thrilled. It’s either life or the death penalty.  Laurel even discussing Moira’s case with Oliver is improper ex parte contact. She should be excluded from the case and sanctioned, but this is Arrow and that’s never going to happen.

In the middle of all of this, Oliver continues to ask if Laurel is okay. She is trying to kill your mother, Oliver. I feel how this is impacting Laurel shouldn’t really be your top concern. He is so exhausting around her. Take the hint, my dude. She doesn’t want your help and I’m tired of you two having the same fight episode after episode.

But this episode is not just another round of the same old some old. No, my friends this is a very special episode because it contains one of the best Laurel and Oliver scenes to ever grace our television. Oliver needs to protect Laurel from the League of Assassins, so he takes her out to dinner. Then he walks Laurel back to her apartment (because assassins) but she thinks he’s come up for a very different reason.

And OLIVER REJECTS HER.  The way I cackled.

I’m going straight to hell, but I don’t care. This moment is glorious. First of all, Laurel did not have a drink at dinner, so she can’t blame the booze and pills. She just flat out reads the situation wrong. Oliver apologizes for sending a mix signal, but he’s a bit confused. Didn’t they decide they shouldn’t be together out of respect for Tommy? Yes, Oliver. Yes you did. WHAT ABOUT TOMMY, LAUREL?!! This woman did not deserve that man.

Source: ILOVEKCASSIDY

Me:

Oliver promises Laurel he will never leave her and has certainly made every effort to help her, but it is the capacity in which he will stay in her life that is really in question. This moment is HUGE in terms of where Oliver is at emotionally. He is drawing a firm line in the sand. There was a time when Oliver would’ve welcomed Laurel trying to climb him like a tree no matter the circumstance, but not anymore. He clearly states that he cares about Laurel but only as a friend. His concern has no romantic undertone to it.

The balance of power in their relationship has always been tipped toward Laurel. This is the first time it feels like a more even playing field. Instead of Laurel rejecting Oliver – he is rejecting her and for a very good reason. Oliver is not stoned on pills and he remembers they don’t work. They tried to go back and it failed. Oliver has not interest in trying again. For the first time, Oliver is looking forward.  

And Laurel, cemented in the past and alone her in apartment, takes some pills.

Stray Thoughts

This secret Moira is keeping is a real humdinger if she’s ok with life with the possibility of parole.

Oliver and Thea promise Moira that she will not lose them no matter the secret. Sure Jan.

"Gee I didn't get you a bag of dirt." Bless this cupcake.

Where did Sara get her suit?

Malcolm Merlyn is also a member of The League of Assassins.

"Oliver’s lucky to have you both as friends. He hasn’t always had the best of luck in that area." Sara’s not so casual remarks about Slade and Shado are friggin ominous. It’s time to get real nervous about the flashbacks.

“You think because you are the beloved that you will be granted your freedom?” We all know who Sara’s beloved is and I’m very much looking forward to her arrival.

"Pain and I came to a little understanding a few years back." Sara takes a licking but keeps on kicking. This is such a bad ass line. The episode is chalk full of them. I love the OG Canary.

Listen to the Watchover podcast reaction to 2x05!!

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Disclaimer: Any gifs on the blog are not mine. If you would like a gif removed from my reviews, please message me!

[canmom]

Animation Night 169: Sex. 2.

So. Storytime.

Two years ago, we had a joke. "We should totally show some hentai on Animation Night 69." we said. Having said that, we were honour-bound to totally commit to the bit. Teaming up with @mogsk, I wrote a massive post on sexuality in animation and the history of 'hentai', from the hentai seiyoku discussed in 20th-century sexology journals to the modern subcultural kaleidoscope.

It is, genuinely, one of my favourite posts I ever wrote in this project. It's definitely not perfect - the sections on BL and the lolicon boom are especially weak, but still! There's no way I'm beating that.

Mogs, meanwhile assembled a perfectly pitched playlist of animation dealing with the theme of sexuality, from classic oldschool BL like Kaze to Ki no Uta to charming little comedies like Oruchuban Ebichu, and a scattering of actual h-anime like Weather Report Girl. For my part, I led with the genuinely classic film Kanashimi no Belladonna (Belladonna of Sadness).

So somehow - somehow! - we managed to make the idea of getting together with your online friends to watch a bunch of anime about sex just... plain fun and uplifting, to the point that @footsteps-on-the-dance-floor will tell me years later how much she enjoyed it. Not to mention, we got a pretty good cross-section of the different dimensions of sexuality in animation as well!

I didn't even get banned on Twitch.

This week, the counter has drawn the sex number. So can we do it again? Well, my friends, we're gonna try~ Tonight, @mogsk and canmom present: the long-awaited sequel to sex. Sex, 2.

This time we're narrowing our focus a bit. One of the distinctive elements of eromanga, by the analysis of Kimi Rito in The History of Hentai Manga, is how particular images get encoded as signs that can be reused by other mangaka, and these signs can become the seed for particular subgenres. So, our selection tonight is in part designed to give a brief cross-section of some of these visual tropes.

So let me introduce you to our program. CWs: sex, obviously; also a couple of these films (Cleopatra, Parade Parade) cw for rape. Here's the programme, read on for brief descriptions of each item and a lil cultural context~!

Cleopatra (1970) - oldschool Tezuka weirdness

Boku no Sexual Harassment (1994-5) - 90s salaryman BL

Interspecies Reviewers (2020) - monstergirl sex comedy, and an instance of the trend of recent cable TV h-anime

Agent Aika (1997-9) - panty shots to the most ludicrous degree

Comical Psychosomatic Medicine (2015) - ONA comedy framed as fetish education

Parade Parade (1996) - futanari + yuri

Golden Boy (1995-6) - 90s sakuga and a classic comedy

Queen's Blade (2009) - kyonyuu

Colorful (1999) - panty-centric comedy skits

after that: if you still have energy, I might take requests~

[n.b. a lot of these are TV series - we will only really be getting a 1-2 episode sample of each one, for runtime's sake.]

Cleopatra (クレオパトラ), 1970

Last time we led with certified classic, genuinely moving and good as hell film Belladonna of Sadness. This was part of a last gambit by the struggling Mushi Productions, the studio of Osamu Tezuka, credited with inventing TV anime back in the day with Astro Boy. Long before there would be such a thing as an h-anime subculture, Tezuka experimented with creating erotic animated films based on history and mythology.

Belladonna is the best remembered of the three, and with good reason. Tezuka was largely not involved by this point. The others, though... are some plain fucking weird movies, I'll tell you that much. So tonight we'll be watching Cleopatra (1970). I may have shown you the trailer before - this is the Caesar trampoline movie. That is only the beginning.

I recently finished reading Osamu Tezuka's manga Ayako, written in 1972-1973 - not long after this movie, actually, during Tezuka's gekiga phase. I'm sure it's common knowledge by now, but Tezuka was one horny old guy! Ayako has all manner of skulduggery: incest, murder, gangster stuff, more murder, etc., but the core story is about a girl who is imprisoned in an underground cell for 20-some years by the machinations of her family. As she grows up, she ends up in an incestuous relationship with her protective brother - and once she finally escapes, she is highly agoraphobic but also throws herself at nearly every man she meets.

It's very much a story of the sins of the past echoing down into the future, shot though with post-war history and gangster movies, but its central fixation is the figure of Ayako herself: the soft cloistered object of obsession and attraction. Whether they want to protect Ayako, seek absolution from her, fuck her, or exploit her.

But it's also in places a really wacky manga, with a lot of very comical contrivances or hyper-cartoonish panels with extreme squash and stretch. It's a completely different way of displaying action.

I think this gives me a sense of the sort of wavelength Tezuka was on when he draws a scene where Cleopatra is tied down by stakes and a bunch of guys line up to rape her while she shouts at them defiantly. It's all very theatrical, a huge contrast to the much more internally oriented Belladonna. Just a plain strange movie, but it's one I've been fascinated to watch for ages.

Whatever we make of Cleopatra, we'll jump into the program that Mogs drew up! Once again she's come through magnificently.

My Sexual Harassment (僕のセクシャルハラスメント), 1995-6

Our next act is some old school yaoi! One day I'll get to do that big effortpost on the history of BL, but not this day. In any case, Boku no Sexual Harassment is an OVA from the mid 90s about a young man called Junya Mochizuki trying to fuck his way up the company ranks for the sake of himself and his partner Kazunori Honma. In particular, he has an affair with his boss, Mr. Honma, running across the whole OVA.

This is perhaps best known for an infamous scene involving corn. It's here as a window into this period of BL - not quite as high-mindedly aesthetic as its 80s predecessors, and with its erotic focus being on like... 90s salarymen, which is quite a specific thing!

Interspecies Reviewers (異種族レビュアーズ), 2020

Next, a series which has the dubious distinction of proving too steamy for Crunchyroll. Interspecies Reviewers enters the general milieu of modern videogame-inflected fantasy anime, a comedy dancing along the line of whether it's too overtly porn to air on TV. The story tells of a group of fantasy characters who are the clients of monstergirl sex workers, hoping to encounter as many different species as possible. This is a frame device for a series of episodes focused around what it would be like to have sex with various kinds of monstergirl.

This is an example of a recent trend in TV anime, namely very overtly sexual cable TV anime such as High School DxD, which have in a way come to fill the gap left by OVAs. This is a niche that also includes the likes of Goblin Slayer and Redo of Healer. In contrast to those series' "big grimdark plot with a side of rape" approach, Reviewers is light-hearted fantasy sex comedy mixed with (if you live in China) a certain amount of actual porn, which fansubbers have kindly spliced back in to the censored release for us.

Agent Aika (AIKa), 1997-9

The panty shot is one of the more popular visual tropes in eromanga, to the point that Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga dedicates a whole two page spread to the history of the trope. (Surprisingly, I can't find any more substantial account in Kimi Rito's History of Hentai Manga).

You'll see it often enough in anime, overtly or subtly, and certainly in the early works of Katsuhiko Nishijima, who debuted in 1986 with Project A-ko, a classic Kanada-inflected OVA that still bears signs of its hentai roots. But there is nothing that takes the panty shot to the same extreme as Agent Aika (1997). The degree to which the camera in this action anime contrives to show panties at a machinegun rate... it crosses over into a level where it feels less like outright fetish material and more like experimental art.

This is a series that is only coherent through the erotic focus. And yet, it's not generally categorised as porn. Nobody actually fucks. Lines are very arbitrary...

Comical Psychosomatic Medicine (アニメで分かる心療内科), 2015

This ONA adapts a gag manga series themed around the idea of an education series on fetishes, paraphilias, and so on - not so different in concept from Peepoodoo and the Super Fuck Friends, from the sound of it! The ONA is produced by Shin-Ei Animation, a venerable studio known for beloved characters like Doraemon; it's a bunch of five minute bite-sized chunks which I plan to sprinkle in between the other stuff we watch as a palate cleanser.

Parade Parade (パレードパレード), 1996

Having warmed you up sufficiently, this is the point in the evening where we pull out the futa porn.

Parade Parade is an OVA by the studio Pink Pineapple, one of the giants of the 90s erotic OVA scene - I wrote about them a bit last time. It's a relatively "tasteful" example of the futanari (二形) trope, literally 'two forms', referring to basically a character with a mostly cis woman-typical body except for a penis (generally in addition to a vulva), which she will typically use in penetrative sex. This is typically represented as either the result of magic, an intersex condition, or just a fantasy world where it's not unusual.

Depending on your subcultural corner, this might be further distinguished from other niche variants of dickgirl (e.g. a futa must have both sets of genitals).

In anime and manga, the futa trope apparently traces back to the introduction of American trans porn magazines to Japan, inspiring mangaka such as Kitamimaki Kei to start drawing futanari characters. Futanari manga first spread through dōjinshi in the 80s, and became popular in eromanga in the 90s, before circling back to the West. So actually yeah I guess this one is on us trans girls! I always assumed it was like, an independent invention. The more you know...

Here we have succesful idol Kaori, who's secretly intersex - and only her girlfriend Yuko knows. She's very careful to let nobody know, for the sake of her career, but a rival lesbian idol is about to find out...

Golden Boy (1995-6)

Now here is a true classic.

Golden Boy is a comedy series about a wanderer named Kintaro, who dropped out of uni to travel around Japan getting into sexual escapades. Each episode, he runs into someone and hopefully falls for them while coming across as an idiot pervert, but gradually reveals that he's actually a decent and resourceful guy - and yet, having found love, there will always be a reason he must move on. A setup to hang all sorts of plots, carried by some honestly unreasonably impressive animation from the realist school, most notably Mitsuo Iso. It's just... very very well done.

The above clip did the rounds on here a while ago (I think maybe the dubbed version), and we will indeed be watching episode 4 to put that in context.

Queen's Blade (2009)

So this is a studio ARMS OVA - the guys who did stuff like Mezzo Forte with Yasuomi Umetsu - a fantasy story about a warrior tournament. But for our purposes it's standing in for the 巨乳 kyonyuu subgenre - meaning 'huge boobs'. So if you wanna do the meme in Japanese, that's the word you need.

This has a rather specific history in eromanga, recounted by Kimi Rito in The History of Hentai Manga. Per Rito, the popularity of the term dates back specifically to 1989, where it was used to promote porn star Kimiko Matsuzaka, as well as Western gravure porn magazines. Gradually displacing other terms like 'D-cup', the onomatopoeic ボイン boin and portmanteau デカパイdekapai, kyonyuu soon became cemented as the term for a type of character design. It grew in popularity in the space opened up by the bishōjo genre established by the lolicon boom.

So under the pen of mangaka like Kei Keitamimaki (him again!), designs with massively exaggerated boobs became very popular, defining a subgenre of their own. Artists would sometimes express anxiety over whether they would be 'allowed' to draw such extreme designs, but it became widespread in seinen magazines. Gradually, these genre boundaries dissolved and boob size started to become a symbol of characterisation.

Queen's Blade is a fairly longrunning series but as far as I understand, it's broadly a silly ecchi anime about women with very large boobs fighting to become queen. It's not the most comical example of this trope necessarily (nothing can really beat High School of the Dead's supersonic bullet dodging tits) but it's pretty up there.

Colorful, 1999

Colorful is a comedy series of brief (~7 minute) skits about boys trying to see panties and suffering many consequences. As a late 90s anime it's got some interesting stylstic Y2K stuff - look at that rotoscope clip! - as well as strong animation from people like Norio Matsumoto of Naruto fame.

So!

Mogs's encylopedic knowledge of weird obscure horny anime once again coming to the rescue: I'm fascinated to see where this night will take us. And whether I'll still have a Twitch account tomorrow.

I realise this is a much later start than we'd like with such a big programme, but I hope you will come join me for some weirdly educational sexy animation! Dip in and out or stay for the whole programme, the choice is yours - see you at twitch.tv/canmom, going live now, programme starts in about 30 minutes at 22:30 UK time!

Animation Night 169 is gonna be a little postponed - we'll be going at 7pm UK time on Tuesday (29 August) at twitch.tv/canmom! Hope to see you there! I will try to write a little more interesting info as we lead up to that~

[encrucijada]

writing like 4 book reviews on my substack rn let's see which one i finish first

[logarithmicpanda]

I've been looking at the past few years of reviews I've done and I thought I'd compile a list 👀

Crossed out are the ones I wouldn't actually reread lmao, bolded are the ones I kinda want to reread in 2024, in italics the ones I've reread recently

Best books of 2015:

If I Stay

The Well of Ascension

All the Bright Places

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Hero of Ages

The Wrath and the Dawn

Queen of Shadows

Alloy of Law

A Monster Calls

Emperor's Soul

Best books of 2016:

Drrr!!x2

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

Uprooted

Ancillary Justice

Ancillary Sword

The Princess Saves Herself in That One

A Court of Mist and Fury

The Night Circus

Ancillary Mercy

This is Where It Ends

The Wilful Princess and the Piebald Prince

Equal Rites

Best books of 2017:

Truthwitch

Binti

Binti: Home

The Bone Witch

The Hate You Give

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet

Strange the Dreamer

A Close and Common Orbit

Elantris

The Way of Kings

Wintersong

Soulless

Provenance

Best books of 2018:

The Cruel Prince

Binti: The Night Maskerade

The Fate of the Tearling

The Heart Forger

Starfish

The Poppy War

The Stars are Legion

Spinning Silver

The Queen of Blood

A Very Large Expanse of Sea

My Sister, The Serial Killer

The Fifth Season

Best books of 2019:

Maskerade

House of Many Ways

Alice Isn't Dead

Geekerella

In an Absent Dream

Ninefox Gambit

The Princess and the Fangirl

Summer Bird Blue

Night Flights

The Calculating Stars

Revenant Gun

The Fated Sky

Best books of 2020:

Starless Sea

Velocity Weapon

Upside Down

The Wolf of Oren Yaro

The Midnight Lie

Network Effect

A Song Below Water

Loveless

Piranesi

A Deadly Education

The Winter of the Witch

Witchmark

Legendborn

Watch Over Me

Burning Roses

The Ikessar Falcon

Night Watch

[effypcfcwrites]

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

WITNESS ME!!!

... as I write another mini-review of another piece of media that I enjoyed. This time, about a film.

Furiosa is the fifth installment in director George Miller's Mad Max franchise, serving as both a prequel and spin-off to 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road, which I am a huge fan of 'til this day, even more so now since watching it. The movie tells the story of Fury Road's Imperator Furiosa, originally portrayed by Charlize Theron, portrayed here by Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen's Gambit, The Menu) and Alyla Browne, as a younger version of her. Taylor-Joy stars alongside Chris Hemsworth (Thor, Extraction, The Cabin in The Woods) and Tom Burke (The Musketeers, Strike, Mank).

In the film, set in post-apocalyptic Australia, the warlord Dementus (Hemsworth) kidnaps Furiosa as a child (Browne), executes her mother, and sells her to Immortan Joe as a slave. Within a decade, Furiosa manages to escape slavery, adopts a new identity as a mechanic under Joe's army of irradiated War Boys, eventually becomes a soldier (Taylor-Joy) serving under Praetorian Jack (Burke), then avenges her mother by defeating and capturing Dementus, and is promoted to Imperator afterward, leading up to the events of Fury Road, where she, with the aid of Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy), helps Joe's "wives" - his remaining sex slaves, referred to in-universe as Breeders - escape to Furiosa's home, the "Green Place of Many Mothers," incurring the wrath of Immortan Joe and his war boys in a lengthy battle across the wasteland.

I saw this film one June weekend ago on a date with my girlfriend, and I must say: personally, there was never a dull moment the whole time, commercial reviews of the film during its opening weekend be damned. Every moment had me at the edge of my seat, in anticipation of what's gonna happen next. Anya Taylor-Joy is well on her way to becoming Hollywood's next big action star. Furiosa's entire character arc, her struggles to survive and rise above, and her desire for revenge were portrayed well. Chris Hemsworth's unhinged delivery as Dementus had truly left its mark on me, as until the time of this writing, my lasting impression of him was his Shakespearean portrayal of Marvel's Norse God of Thunder. It was as if George Miller gave Hemsworth full permission to just let loose as an everyday Aussie, albeit with more villainous bloodlust and melodrama than the average bloke. I swear, the dude goes through so many eras in the movie, that he might as well just compete with Taylor Swift. It had left me both amused and genuinely impressed by his acting chops.

The setting, backdrop, and score are also worthy of my praise. The whole thing just served as a welcome expansion of Fury Road's wonderfully bleak dystopian landscape. No words can ever do justice to Junkie XL's musical accompaniment; it just complements the film's tense high-octane action and more somber dramatic moments really well.

Simply put, I would say that this movie is just one big modern-day Greek epic, and it shall ride forever shiny and chrome, along the hallowed halls of Valhalla.

[bookishbethanyerin]

• ARC Review: Check & Mate •

If you watched The Queen’s Gambit and thought, “wow, I like so many things about this but really wish we could have a story where a woman’s genius isn’t tied to her being clinically insane and incapable of receiving a happily ever after” then, Ali Hazelwood has written the book for you!

Check & Mate follows Mallory, an 18yo who gave up chess at 14 despite her talent for it, and is now supporting her mother – who has rheumatoid arthritis – and two younger sisters. But when her best friend begs her to play in a chess tournament for charity, Mallory ends up casually beating Nolan, the number one chess player in the world. Who is 20. And very hot, naturally. And then she goes viral, and the chess world and all its money comes knocking.

As Mallory re-enters the world of chess, the story navigates a plethora of coming-of-age growing pains (friendships, family, keeping secrets, unresolved emotional trauma, trying to be an adult when you don’t feel like one) while also tackling the privilege, misogyny and sexism of professional chess. It’s a lot of ground to cover, but Ali Hazelwood does it well, expertly balancing the sports and Big, Dramatic Feelings aspects.

And of course, there’s also the slow-burn romance between Mallory and Nolan as they move from opponents to something more. Though this is technically YA, it is very sex positive – Mallory is bi and very experienced, and the topic is not taboo in her family. So if you’re looking for Ali’s specific brand of spice, you’ll still get it here – even with a fade-to-black scene, little is left to the imagination.

It’s a very fun read, full of delightfully brainy characters, lightning-quick banter (fair warning, there are *lots* of pop culture references, which I don’t mind but I know a lot of people do!), a satisfying love story, and, of course, a ton of chess.

And don’t worry if you can’t tell the different between a rook and a knight – you’ll still love this.

4.5🌟

1.75🌶️

♟️An enormous thank you to Penguin Books for Young Readers for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of Check & Mate!💕

[starrynightsxo]

THE FINAL GAMBIT REVIEW

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.75 on storygraph, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ on goodreads (see below for reasoning - NO SPOILERS UNTIL AFTER KEEP READING LINE)

I really really enjoyed this one! The whole series has been amazing and I've loved going through all the twists and turns with Avery. The Hawthorne Brothers with always have a special place in my heart, that's for sure. Would definitely recommend!

I was sad about Toby having to become a "Blake" but I suppose this was a way to show he was serving a penance or something??

My favourite quote from the books is probably from Jameson Winchester Hawthorne:

"Secrets upon secrets. Riddles upon riddles"

I feel like it's a very good summary of the books and when other parts of the plot were unravelling I was just sat there thinking about how this quote really does fit with the series.

I also love Avery Kylie Grambs as a character. She is so intelligent and is a queen. Her and Jameson are everything. Tobias Hawthorne's very risky gamble indeed.

The only reason I rated it a little below 5 ⭐️ on storygraph was because I felt like at some points I got a little lost as it was a little repetitive, so I loet engagement. However. on goodreads it does not allow for decimal ratings and it was DEFINITELY not 4 ⭐️ so I ended up going for 5 :D

some of my fellow tig moots (lmk what u girlies make of my review lol) @thejudeduarte @viivdle @agirlwiththoughtsandnegativity