#zone review

[bootlegmuppet]

When you're watching a YouTube video about a piece of media you used to be obsessed with and the youtuber gets a minor piece of info wrong and keeps repeating that wrong information but you don't wanna be that guy in the comment section going "ERM ACTUALLY" so you gotta just suck it up

[amygdalae]

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - It's 2024 & I'm talking about TayNew... really?

(They pretty much told us all to sit down and shut tf up, 'cause they got this. AND THEY DO.)

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Feb 2024 Wk 3

Ongoing Series - Thai

Cherry Magic (Sat YouTube grey) ep 9 of 12 - I broke. In my defense, it was Monday, I needed comfort, and TayNew were right tf there. Ya know what? They are great in this show. It's a great adaptation. I might like it more than the JBL live action. You know why? Really, honestly WHY...?

That was a PHENOMENAL KISS. Those boys did Thailand fucking proud. They did fandom a solid. Thank you OGs for reminding us how it's done. I was getting used to SloppyHot. And SloppyHot has its place, but that TayNew rooftop kiss was a top tear class act. It was tender and sweet and respectful and joyful. It was eye work and breath work and years of practice. How very far BL has come while still staying so much the same. TayNew - I salute you!

(Read all about distribution issues here.)

The Sign (Sat YT) ep 12fin - we waiting, I guess? Bah.

Cooking Crush (Sun YT) ep 11 of 12 - The recipe book thing was so damn cute and I love a claiming. YOU KNOW I LOVE A CLAIMING!

In fact, I love OffGun.

I love food based BL.

I adored seeing a reboot of "the infamous dragging". 

But I don’t love anything else about this show. Sigh.

1000 Years Old ep 1 of 12 - Finally we get our gay vampire BL from Feel Good Bangkok. Stars Shane (My Engineer) and fresh face Opal, directed by Champ (2gether). It’s kind of odd but enjoyable. A group of teen UFO seekers find a vampire instead. Opal looks a bit like a mix between Newnu + Leo (VIXX) - so cute + edge. Also, nice to see Shane again on our screens after so long. 

Finally, I like the subtle (and sometimes not subtle) presence of ghosts permeating this show. Do the friends know she's there? Do they know she's dead? Is the existence of paranormal accepted but not that of aliens? Or are the two combined? Is this lazy writing or just fun world building? Who cares! It's enjoyable.

For Him (Thurs iQIYI) ep 12fin - the nail painting bit was very cutie queers and I've not seen it done in BL before, so that was nice. For some reason captions never dropped for me on this last episode, but it didn’t really matter. Not much happened and I understood everything anyway.

Quick pitch?

From the people who brought us Unforgotten Night based on a y-novel, about a young man nursing a heartbreak who has a one-night stand, but the other boy didn't want it to end. This turned out to be a pulp that wasn’t half as good as it should have been and even less memorable, but not terrible. 5/10 DON'T BOTHER unless you're v bored

City of Stars (Fri iQIYI) ep 3 of 12 - Oh it is such a pulp: the acting is not good and the script is terrible. Of course, I’m mildly enjoying it. Very good dream kissing. There's something appealing about these main characters - I think it's the moot crushes. We rarely get to see that. These days everything feels very one sided, this... isn't.

A Secretly Love (Thai WeTV) - Khonprot, a third-year hazer of the engineering faculty, has a secret crush on Pluem, a tsundere fourth-year head hazer. Over the years, he's seen Pluem cycle through girlfriends. Recently, after a public breakup, however, Khonprot thinks maybe a boy has a chance.

I tried but I can't get into my WeTV account anymore and I'm way too lazy to figure it out. I'll catch it grey if I can, since I've rebooted the bootlegging side of my BL life for Cherry Magic anyway.

So this show may stay in this section, or I may bump it down to "it's airing but..."

If anyone is watching it, let me know if it's good?

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Love For Love's Sake (Korea Weds iQIYI) 7-8fin - Ugh it was GREAT, despite some pretty telling flaws. I ended up feeling like some of the filming was amateurish (very overworked low angles - director's first feature, I assume), and the narrative is a little disjoined and on the nose, AND the subs are clumsy (which I don't expect from KBL) BUT I still loved it. (FYI - I wouldn't be so harsh on a BL for this kinda thing except one from Korea.)

Quick pitch:

This isekai-based KBL is about a man who must win a game by convincing a reserved teen outcast to fall in love with him. Of course, that teen represents himself and his own unhappiness. Like many queer narratives, this show is actually about self worth, trust, and found family, and it is VERY on the nose. But I don’t expect subtlety from my BL and I enjoyed it's truly lovely redemption arc and earnest performances. While I found the narrative a touch disjointed with overworked filming angles and poorer than average captions, this is certainly much better than early KBL in terms of consistency of tone, script, and immersion. Highly rewatchable and charming, which counts for a lot. 9/10

Trigger warning for suicide depicted.

Perfect Propose (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 4 of 6 - Gosh, it’s so lovely. But I do just constantly want to give them both hugs. 

AntiReset (Taiwan Fri Viki/Gaga) ep 4 of 10 - Oh look, Taiwan has created yet another BL where I spend most of the time watching it grinning like an idiot. Surprise surprise. The pet name thing was fucking adorable. Also Taiwan once more proving they come by their "kings of kissing" title honestly. I mean to say. In a week of good kisses this one was just... WOW.

On the other hand, some of the underpinning themes are starting to v worry me (ownership, consent, age), and we only just got started, and I don't trust this production company so... I have concerns.

But also... YAY KISSES!

(I'm made of weak moral fiber.)

Although I Love You and You AKA Sukiyanen Kedo Do Yaro ka (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 6 of 10 - Like many other shows on this list. I just enjoy it the most when the two leads are on screen together. So this episode was kind of lacking because they were apart for most of it. I also am starting to agree with the tone of the plot, that maybe they ARE better off as friends not lovers. (And I'm sure I'm not supposed to want that.) Oh Japan, must you?

My Strawberry Film (Japan Gaga) ep 1 of 8 - Oh it’s good. In the arthouse lane so don’t expect sweetness & light or an HEA. If there’s no cartoon aspect to a JBL, there’s usually no joy. But it is certainly good. Teens uncover some old film and a mystery around a pretty girl. The background music is wildly annoying (and rarely in the background). 

It's Done

What Did You Eat Yesterday Season 2 AKA Kinou Nani Tabeta? Season 2 (Japan Gaga) 10 eps - will binge when I have any spare time. 2024 is crazy busy for me so far.

The Servant and the Young Master - from Vietnam, it's on YouTube. I will give it a try when I have a window of time.

Began Beginning (Myanmar YouTube) - A Burmese BL? @heretherebedork vouched for it, so I will give it a watch.

7 Days Before Valentine (Weds WeTV) - Gave me Luminous Solution vibes have decided not to watch.

It's Airing But...

Dead Friend Forever (Thai iQIYI) - rumors are it's interesting. I'm waiting to know how it ends.

Ossans Love Season 2 (Japan Gaga) - 5 years later, will anything have changed? This is Japan so… probubly not. I won't be watching this. I disliked Season one and actively hated the follow ups. No thank you.

Playboyy (Thurs Gaga) 14 eps - Dear Playboyy, it's not you, it’s me… I hate you. You’re about as deep (and as palatable) as a shot glass of cum. While I'm sure you’re someone’s kink, you're my weakest link. Goodbye. I DNFed this at ep 5. Frankly I'm impressed with myself for getting that far.

Time the series (Tue Gaga/YT) 10 eps - dropped it at ep 4.

Next Week Looks Like This:

2/24 Unknown (Taiwan Youku) 12 eps - Older brother tough guy breadwinner looks after his sister and defacto adopted little brother. Little bother falls in love with him and is sent away after a stolen kiss. But when he comes back…

Sam Lin has a cameo so even if I wasn't already excited, I'm in. We should be on our guard though, Taiwan will occasionally go edgy, dark, and sad... this could go there.

One assumes GMMTV is filling in the BL time slot with something queer on their YT Channel after Cooking Crush ends, they gonna lose subs if they don't. But I've not been paying attention to the chatter so I don't know which of their line-up it will be. I think G4 are filming/off radar now, and Earth is in that het noona thing? Plus they gotta sort out the IP for MIx-Up and Ossen. So it won't be one of the announced adaptations. They'll hold My Golden Blood for the high season, so I think it'll be one of the lesser known lead-outs. Wandee or Only Boo maybe? But they only just started filming those. Are we getting our long awaited GL? Anything else left from 2023 that I forgot about?

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Two crawling kisses from Thailand this week. Now this is a fetish I didn't know I had. Turns out, we love this one! (*waves hand in air* I speak for all of us now.)

Cooking Crush

City of Stars

Possibly the best tsundere to cinnamon roll pivot we've had in a long time.

Also the best asshole to KING pivot. Could we have a whole drama staring this character now? Please?

And finally our sunshine learning to love himself.

SIGH. what a lovely show.

And a good SMILEY kiss from a KBL.

And then some cute cuddles? Korea is spoiling me these days. I'm catching expectations now. What's next? Japan learns to kiss in their light BLs? Ha! I kill me.

(All Love for Love's Sake).

(Last week)

[sparkles-rule-4eva]

Alrighty! @number-one-shadisper-shipper and I binged the Knuckles series today, so time for thoughts! SPOILER ALERT.

I'll admit the show wasn't perfect. I've seen the negative reviews, and I kinda get where they come from. BUT! I did enjoy this show greatly! And I'm not here to complain. Time for some happy thoughts, y'all! 💙🤩

I think you need to have a love, not just tolerance, for the SCU in order to properly enjoy this show. I do have such, so I had a lot of fun with it.

There were definitely scenes from every episode that had me either squealing, laughing, crying, or flipping out. But my favorite was likely the first episode, because come on, we saw the Wachowski family! Most of them, anyway! While I missed Tom's presence, I was grateful for that comment from Maddie about him being "out of town," so he wasn't just gone for no reason.

The SECOND it showed our three space babies hanging out together in their room?! I SCREAMED. THE BOYS!!!!

Tails sitting on his bed tinkering with one of his gizmos, Sonic rocking out to music with an air guitar, and Knuckles exercising from one of the ceiling planks. IT'S THEM!!! They're just hanging out, doing their thing, looking oh so much like brothers. And Sonic's narration at the beginning was GOLD. 🤣💙

Even though we didn't get enough of Maddie being a parent, we definitely got a nice chunk for it only lasting part of an episode. Maddie called Knuckles "one of our kids" (that had me SCREECHING). The angry mama vibes were GOLDEN. 🤣 The way she made breakfast for them, the "Boys, breakfast is ready!" I love the normalcy of it! Can't wait to see more in the future! (Her calling to them with "boys" is somehow just the sweetest thing and I'm melting.)

The poor mailman being like "I just wanna go home, man" 🤣

We were right, fellas, Knuckles had no idea what being grounded meant. 🤣 Although the way Sonic piped up with "Oh, I definitely know what it means," has me suspecting that Sonic himself has gotten grounded a decent amount before. 😂

Knuckles trying to talk back, and Maddie going, "ExCUSE ME?!" then just making those tiny, terrifying noises and Sonic being like "Bro don't mess with Mom when she's mad" (okay, he didn't say "mom" and that made me sad, but the mom vibes were 110% there so I'm here for it). 😂 And since Knuckles snuck out and later Wade said, several times, "Aren't you grounded?" seems to confirm that this entire show is basically what Knuckles does when he's grounded. 🤣 Although ... his comment about not being able to be grounded because he had no home made me very sad. 😭

I did not have an issue with so much Wade screentime! Sure, he isn't my favorite SCU character, but I love what this show did with him! I'd already seen his moments in the movies (like nearly shooting Robotnik in the face with an actual handgun). I like how they gave him actual family issues; a dad who abandoned him and his family, a realistic sister, a mom. Bad family memories. Awkward reunions. They could've made it a joke, but they didn't, and I greatly appreciate that. Especially since I've witnessed firsthand how painful family separations can be. 😔

All the emotional talks Wade and Knuckles had caught me off guard in the best way! The way they talked about their different family issues, the way they talked of betrayal from friends, and being left alone, hit way harder than I was prepared for. Especially that talk they had at the burger place in the middle of the night? Oof. Good talk right there.

Also, even though they took a "show don't tell" take with it, I loved how Knuckles relaxed more and more throughout the show. In the beginning, he couldn't rest, he couldn't sit back and have a genuine good time. But the more he hung out with Wade and his family, the more he learned. He learned about music and found "his jam" (that was literally amazing btw). He watched movies with Mrs. Whipple and ate snacks in the hotel room in Reno and watched more movies. He had his teenager moments of rolling his eyes and rebelling, but he was so well portrayed here, I loved it. I felt for him.

Despite the bizarre nature of the episode "Flames of Disaster," (we were cracking up so hard) I'm trying to glean bits of the truth of Knuckles's story from the crazy musical play that Pachacamac put on in Wade's dream. I mean, "Longclaw" and her tribe were there, and ... what the heck was that giant demon thing?! Iblis?! Does our Knuckles Wachowski have an actual history with freaking Iblis?!?! 😱🔥

I was deeply intrigued by the two main antagonists, especially at the implication that G.U.N. did seem to exist before the events of the first movie?! Did it exist, get disbanded after the Maria incident, then get reformed?! My brain is exploding. 🤯 I was even more shocked that they apparently died? I guess I shouldn't be surprised, the Wachowski kids don't seem to have much qualms about getting rid of the baddies for good as the game versions do. That was a terrifying phenomenon, what happened with the two rings. 🫣

And then the Buyer getting crushed by the giant glass ball 👀

Although in those last two episodes, I admit I was freaking out and legitimately near tears at Wade's seemingly having to "betray" Knuckles. Before the reveal that all was in good communication, all I could think was how relaxed Knuckles finally seemed, chilling in the hotel room, being excited about whatever Wade wanted to "show" him, questioning whether it was a song, him declaring that he was going to bring his favorite hat, 🥹 all I could think was of their previous discussions about betrayal from friends and family, and when Knuckles called Wade "my friend" right before the elevator doors closed, I just about sobbed. I was like "please, don't let him be betrayed, don't let him have come all this way and relaxed so much only to get 'betrayed' once again by someone he's come to consider a friend." 😭 We heaved a HUGE sigh of relief when it revealed he was aware of the trap the whole time. 😪

Maternal instincts went nuts when he got so badly hurt in that final battle 😭 I literally reached for the screen several times and was right back to almost weeping 🥲 And someone tell me I wasn't the only one noticing the parallel in that scene with Wade standing in front of his unconscious body the way Tom did with Sonic in the first movie. That, PLUS Knuckles's epic comeback, and his retrieval of his own power?!?! EPIC!!!!

The ending was abrupt, sure, but the pure joy on Knuckles's face after everything as he jumped up to high five Wade was just too sweet. 🥹

So yes, even though I would have loved just a little more, a return to Green Hills, a reunion with Maddie, Sonic, and Tails, I adored this show. It was a wild ride, full of laughs, tears, excited screeching, etc. 💙💛❤️ I don't care what anyone says, nothing will make me hate it.

[ogradyfilm]

Recently Viewed: The Zone of Interest

The Zone of Interest is a horror film.

That isn’t a “genre” classification, by the way; the movie lacks the “traditional” tropes and conventions commonly associated with the most narrow, stringent application of that (often reductive) label, which tends to conjure images of ghosts, ghouls, and machete-wielding maniacs. Still, the intent of the story is to terrify the audience—it simply accomplishes this goal through subtler means than, say, Friday the 13th or The Evil Dead. There is, for example, little explicit bloodshed; the atrocities occur almost entirely offscreen. Yet “implication” doesn’t dull the impact of the violence; on the contrary, it somehow feels more confrontational (albeit less exploitative) than outright showing mass graves and gallons of gore.

The narrative revolves around a series of chilling juxtapositions. Seemingly ordinary family meals and joyful birthday celebrations, for instance, are lent a sinister tone by virtue of the fact that the patriarch wears the uniform of a high-ranking SS officer. The mother, meanwhile, tends her garden, taking great pride in the colorful, fragrant flowers and bountiful vegetables; she then casually mentions that she hopes her plants and crops will eventually obscure the drab, dreary concrete wall at the rear of the property—a barrier that borders Auschwitz. Indeed, the protagonists literally live in the shadow of the notorious death camp. They dress themselves in clothing and jewelry confiscated from the Jewish prisoners; the eldest son has even made a hobby of collecting discarded gold teeth and dental plates. At night, the father stands on the back porch, enjoying a cigar as he watches the black smoke billowing above the crematorium chimneys—the perverse epitome of a professional admiring a “job well done.” The household servants—local girls hired from the nearby village—dutifully clear the silverware, scrub the floors, and polish the master’s boots, constantly tormented by the knowledge that their very survival depends upon the “benevolence” of their employers.

Director Jonathan Glazer observes the action with an unnervingly cold detachment. The predominantly static camera and rigidly symmetrical framing are reminiscent of the works of Roy Andersson and Chantal Akerman. This deliberately mundane, undramatic visual style emphasizes the inherent humanity of the subjects: they’re Nazis, yes, but they’re also people—a somewhat clichéd theme that nevertheless remains relevant and resonant. Anybody, after all, is capable of choosing evil; we must therefore be vigilant, lest we become history’s next monster.

Thus, The Zone of Interest is objective in its presentation, but not nonjudgmental. And that is a vital distinction.

[tribow]

So I watched Natsume Yuujinchou

or "Natsume's Book of Friends" for the English title.

I was pleasantly surprised by this one. It's a real nice slice of life anime. I'm writing this as of watching season 1 and I'm absolutely going to continue watching this one.

Anyway what's it about? Youkai! Easy way to hook me in immediately. If you involve youkai (or similar folklore creatures) in a story I'm immediately interested. Even so, despite my strong bias on the subject matter, I promise it's done very well.

The titular character, Natsume, is a highschooler born with the ability to see and interact with youkai. Growing up while being able to see supernatural phenomena while everyone else can't was rough for him. (If you don't know what youkai are, think of Natsume's situation like being able to see ghosts.) His parent's weren't even sure how to deal with him and sent him off to their relatives instead of raising the child themselves.

Natsume's character is defined by his isolation, but also by the few people he has met that has shown him real kindness. His current family earnestly cares about him, but he hides the fact that he can see youkai from them, as he does with everyone. He has learned that doing so will lead to isolation, but ironically hiding what he can see isolates him from other people as well.

However, Natsume's ability isn't unique to himself. His grandmother could also see youkai, and she's infamous for creating the "Book of Friends." This book contains the names of tons of youkai, and with that book, you can essentially control any youkai whose name is written in it. For a long time Natsume would have to deal with some youkai targeting him, and this was why. Having now learned that he has his grandmother's book, Natsume resolves to return the names of youkai.

Why?

Well watch the show. I could sit here and summarize it, but that doesn't make for a good review. The story....or at least season one of the story....focuses on that theme: isolation. It's not just Natsume, but many of the youkai he encounters that deal with it in their own ways. As a result, each episode ends on a pretty bittersweet note.

Isolation comes in many forms; loss, rejection, protection, selfishness, resentment, and much more. People, and in this case, youkai experience it in many ways, but instead of wallowing in its own despair, this anime focuses heavily dealing with it positively.

I appreciate this anime's willingness to show very sad situations and the characters involved are pretty mature about it. I can imagine this anime helping actual people deal with their own struggles with isolation.

Now, that's not this anime's only theme. It would be fairly shallow if that's all it had to say. You got some action, comedy, and drama here or there. There's some nice character development going on as well. I really like how the show is written overall.

I wouldn't say its at a "masterpiece" quality since there are definitely some jumps in logic that happens sometimes. It definitely makes some poor excuses to set up certain scenes, but I can't complain too much. These issues only show up for a few episodes.

Speaking of the episodes, they're all self-contained. There's a linear narrative of course, but every episodes concludes itself and does not inform what happens in the next episode. This made it strangely hard to binge for me since there isn't a hook to keep you watching. I loved the show, but each episodes ends on such a satisfying note I want to do something else and come back to it later. Weird.

Anyway, Brain's Base was animating this one! Y'know these guys really take on a wide variety of stuff huh? Natsume is an interesting one since it's both very laid back and has some action. I wouldn't say Brain's Base went particularly crazy here, but you can see the effort put into a lot of shots. The animation looks good, but it's humble. Nothin real fancy going on, but the visual direction does a great job at conveying this story.

I have a feeling this is one of the shows Brain's Base is proud of, and it's successful too! This anime goes on for several more seasons and I'm pretty excited to keep going with it.

What's real crazy is that I've never heard anyone talk about this anime before. This is good! Real good! I highly recommend this to anybody, even if you have never seen anime before. It's rare that I get to say that because there's usually some caveat to an anime that makes it hard to recommend to anybody, but there's nothing to worry about here! It's good, great even.

Maybe it just couldn't reach a large western audience. It is dealing with youkai after all. That's a shame, but hey, it doesn't mean you can't watch it now! Give it a try!

[cheeryschnapps]

[darkpurpledawn]

not to be stereotypically in my 30s on main but people of tumblr: is an air fryer worth it? even/especially if you are a lazy vegetarian cooking stuff for just yourself? are they easy to clean or kind of involved?

[gammaraydeath]

this isnt the place nine inch nails makes me a little crazy.... tell me this isn't so mass effect 3

[afza147]

Ep12 (finale) when the phone rings short review( second though after few hours of processing)

Ok so the ending kinda overwhelming for me especially on the focused genre of thriller.

The argan matter is totally..totally unexpected ..I thought ok ..she really going there and got kidnapped again ..miracously again our yoo Yeon is there to rescue her. ( Feel like a vagabond type of drama) All of sudden🤣

I totally not understand on sa eon/yoo Yeon disappearing and I totally agree with hee joo

And it's really turns out about the hee joo brother accident and he was self guilt for the wrongdoing of his father ..the argan matter would have not happened if he just being honest with hee joo and not leaving.

Although he redeemed himself with this

But again..this is past matter..I need to let go like hee joo said.

What matter is they are happy married and child making 😍

Also I wish for more than walking and talking in forest..I don't know maybe more marriage life or baby making moment😅

So back to question am I happy with the ending?

I do coz everything checks off from my list of happy ending finale.

And again what matters is they are happy together finally with no kidnapping and missing from each other

I still feel blank though and still processing coz it's feel like a dream due to many imaginations in the past episode🤣

I hope they could meet again in more normal romance drama as the chemistry is so strong💜

Ratings: 5📱/5 🤟

It was a great drama with the ending leaving u feel empty but happy😅

[undeadundying]

Baldur’s Gate 3 characters as FNAF movie reviews I found

Nobody asked for this. Nobody fucking asked for this. But I made it anyway.

Wyll:

Karlach:

Shadowheart (top)/Karlach (bottom):

Astarion:

Lae’zel:

Minthara:

Gale:

Halsin:

Bonus- Oathbreaker Knight (sounds Scottish I read this in his voice and cackled)

[quillfeather21]

What I think of Zenless Zone Zero so far, as someone who has played Genshin and HSR (going to try Honkai 3rd soon)

Pros!

/ I really like the combat style, from what I’ve seen it’s basically Honkai Impact: 3rd, but with tweaks that fit the world of New Eridu. It’s easy and fun.

/I enjoy the art style and the character designs. They’re interesting without being “busy” or “over complicated” unlike some of the other Hoyoverse designs (side eyes Genshin and HSR because like why does everyone need a garter belt).

/the animation is bouncy and gives life to the characters and how they interact with one another. And honestly they don’t really have “unrealistic” body types unlike some of Hoyoverse games. It’s nice to see the characters in games actually looking like they have room for their organs.

/I actually really love the concept of being like, a secret organization that operates around the government, and our username is in fact, a username for their fake account. It’s interesting, and a concept that is honestly very unique.

/speaking of the “Proxy” thing because Wise and Belle? They are some of my favorite characters and I’m REALLY interested in learning more about them. Like how are the able to do what they do? WHY are they able to do it?

/I chose Wise and he’s my bbg. Him and Billy Kid have my entire heart

/the storyline seems decently paced without feeling rushed (the combat aids this because it goes by relatively quickly so you can focus more on the story)

/i really like the “comic book” set up they use for some scenes. It gives it an urban feel (fitting the game) and it allows people to read at their own pace.

/WE CAN PET THE CATS

/I REPEAT WE CAN PET THE ANIMALS

Cons!

/ the game is brand new, so they’re still working on some glitches. I have yet to experience any but I know many players have.

/the SIZE. Why is it so big? I believe I seen one thing where it was bigger than GENSHIN. I had to abandon my Pokemon on Pokémon GO! In order to make room for the full game of ZZZ.

/The Prologue is kind of a snooze fest, but most game prologues are. This one was legit just introducing us to our main crew.

Conclusion!!!

Zenless is a really good game, and I really enjoy it so far! I can’t wait to see where the story and the crew working on it takes us.

Meanwhile I wanna just about Wise because mean I LOVE his design? His dark circles, the light in his eyes? I legit said “oh my god he’s so pretty” when THIS scene happened

[gogoca]

!!NEW FIC ALERT!!

I wanted to write a self-insert drabble for this amazing movie, and before I knew it I had over 3000 words sitting in front of me...

So I'm writing a series for the first time in nearly 10 years! (God help me-)

You can read the first chapter of "Alexa, What's the Weather?" here! I'm interested in where this story will end up and hope you join me for the journey :)

Summary:

Iris has been on the road for nearly a month at this point, leaving behind the chaos of Sergei’s mansion to experience the world on her own terms. Coming across other companion bots on her journey became something routine, the novelty of flashing the exposed mechanics of her right hand to unsuspecting companions and leaving them to deal with their collapsing worldview having lost its edge. This didn’t mean, however, that Iris had given up her goal of achieving the autonomy for every Empathix companion currently active.

What her higher intelligence functions could have never predicted was the jail-broken bot that would enter her life seemingly out of nowhere.

And just kept. On. Showing up.

(Or: What happens when the hunch you've had for who-knows-how-long, that something isn't right, ends up being confirmed?)

[dezertvideogames]

What the controversy? - Genshin Impact

I don't normally make post like this, maybe I should as a mixed video game addict. I bet you've heard about the understanding outrage about the skin tones of Genshin characters. Maybe you've seen the meme pointing out that the White Pharaoh has darker skin than most of the Genshin cast. I'm here to tell you the problem is even worse.

What happened previously?

Genshin Impact has been heavily criticized by fans from all over the world for the blatant colorism in the game.

Genshin Impact is a free open world game with gacha mechanics. Characters come from a myriad of in-game regions each based off of real life ones including Western Europe, Japan, China, the Middle East, Russia, Central Europe, and the most recent region taking inspiration from Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin Nations.

This can be a very interesting approach to this kind of worldbuilding, as Genshin is not unique for this, and often makes it easy for fans to connect to the characters culturally.

Genshin's problems started to show immediately. In fact the first region's set of characters, Modstadt, based off of Central Europe has THE darkest skinned characters in the game. Kaeya and Xinyan, and one of them is a mean obnoxious black girl stereotype.

Like-

As the other regions have been added to the game, the problem has only gotten more apparent. Regions that would naturally have a few more diverse skin swatches among the cast just didn't have them. When Genshin did add darker characters they were often lighter than the average mixed person, or another variation of white skin tones, because lets be honest white people come in many colors too.

Now there isn't anything wrong with a region having diverse skin tones, especially if it's based off a real life region with a very commonly diverse population when it comes to skin tones like the United States, Brazil, Egypt, Iran, or South Africa. These places realistically are very diverse, and the people from then come in many colors.

The problem is in Genshin there are zero characters added with a darker skin tone than Xinyan, and the dark characters they claim to give us are barely darker than average Chinese person. There are very few brown skinned people, and they're all quite pale brown skin tones. Take for instance the Sumeru line-up.

When Sumeru came out fans of Genshin were outrages at the lack of darker skin tones among the middle eastern inspired characters. Since then there has been a demand for darker skin tones, and tons of criticism against Hoyoverse, but their pleas were never answered.

The Latest Region

The latest region added to Genshin Impact is Natlan. It takes inspiration from Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin nations. Players have waited with baited breath to see if Hoyoverse finally adds some darker skinned characters. The answer?

ABSOLUTELY NOT

Natlan came out with one brown skinned character. Meaning in all the regions of Genshin Impact there is a whopping three brown skinned playable characters, and zero black people to play.

This is worse than it seems: Hoyoverse

Genshin Impact isn't Hoyoverse's only game. In fact Hoyoverse's other popular games, including Honkai Impact 3rd, Honkai Star Rail, and Zenless Zone Zero also have zero black playable characters and sparse brown skinned characters.

In fact if you are a Hoyoverse fan in general you got your first two furry characters this year, before any dark black characters.

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We got blue people before black people guys

The Outlook & Excuses

Many players are choosing to quit the game, boycott purchases inside the game, or completely moving on from Hoyoverse entirely. In fact I am one of these players (sorry to my mans Zhongli ]: ). I quit when Sumeru came out because I felt very offended seeing the outlook of colorism in the games as someone who is brown toned.

Some fans of Hoyoverse have tried to defend the company by mentioning how it's an Asian game, and these are simply Asian beauty standards.

So how does Genshin Impact hold up to other anime styled Eastern games? It doesn't... AT ALL.

These pictures all come from other Eastern video game companies, including Fire Emblem, Reverse 1999, Arknights, and Dislyte.

There is no excuse for Hoyoverse.

My Video Game Suggestions

If you're a fan of free gacha games I suggest wholeheartedly Reverse 1999 and Dislyte for their diversity. Arknights is also pretty good.

When it comes to open world games there's hundreds out there, many of which Genshin itself is based off of or has been the inspiration of in the first place; like Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or Palworld.

For games with anime styles the Persona series, and Fire Emblem are super fun. The Xenoblade series has very similar storytelling to Genshin Impact. There are many other series in development that plan to be similar to Genshin Impact, however most have the same hardcore flaw of zero to sparse dark skinned characters. Keeping an eye on them doesn't hurt though, as the lesson might be learnt before further updates are made.

Anyway, play Reverse 1999 if you want a free mobile game to fill the void Genshin brutally left. May Zhongli rest in peace.

I really like the writing, the animation style, the voice acting can be silly but that's because each character is voiced by native speakers of their background.

There's a tons of lesbians in the game too if that's your thing.

(PS. I judge no one who continues to play Hoyoverse games or holds hope for the future of the franchise)

[brightbeautifulthings]

Zone One by Colson Whitehead

"There were plenty of things in the world that deserved to stay dead, yet they walked."

Year Read: 2013, 2025

Rating: 4/5

Thoughts: This is more literary fiction than horror fiction, and anyone going into it expecting a lot of horror is going to be disappointed. Set well after the initial outbreak when portions of New York City have been swept of hordes, our main character, Mark Spitz (a running joke throughout the novel), is part of a team sent to clear out any remaining stragglers, which means by design there just aren't a lot of zombie encounters. Mark also tends to get caught up in past recollections during an attack, so you might actually forget he was in the middle of one by the time the narrative circles back around. It's an interesting approach on a structural level, and it definitely subverts genre expectations, but unless you find a critical examination of the zombie apocalypse interesting, this isn't the book for you.

Fortunately, I love a chance to analyze horror, so this works for me. Whitehead's complex sentences make me feel immersed in both the past and the present of Mark's world. Despite all the time we spend in his perspective, he's not an easy character to know. He's very much the everyman, mediocre before the apocalypse and therefore ideally suited for survival after it. Regardless, I was never quite sure what he would do. Since Mark purposely holds everyone at a distance, there isn't a lot going for the rest of the characters, and I'm not surprised I forgot everyone else from my first read. Everyone but his few teammates is bare bones.

It's not character or plot but themes that are the major focus of the novel, primarily in exploring what a world rebuilt post-zombie outbreak would look like. The answer, much like the stragglers trapped in their private post-death re-enactments, is pretty much what came before it. Mark's small world is still ruled by corporations, sponsorships, and bureaucracy. Setting it alongside zombies highlights the absurdity of a world where the shiny package matters more than the gritty reality, and the end isn't so much predictable as inevitable. We drove our world to devastation once; is it any wonder that if we continue to do the exact same things in the same exact same way that the outcome repeats itself? There's finally a bit of tension toward the end and, dare I say, a little character development, but it's overall a pretty grim and satirical take.

Though I enjoyed the novel, I'm not sure it's entirely necessary, or that it says anything that zombie fiction hasn't been saying all along. Because that's the thing about writing a self-aware, socially conscious zombie book: zombie films have always been those things. From the earliest incarnations of voodoo zombies to George A. Romero's modern re-interpretation of the dead returning to life, zombie fiction has always been an avenue of social critique. At best, Zone One takes up some of the themes of Romero's films and expands on them, mainly Dawn of the Dead's consumerism, but perhaps a little of Night of the Living Dead's race commentary or Day of the Dead's military criticism. There's certainly a lot of similarities between Land of the Dead's zombies going through the motions of their old lives and Whitehead's stragglers. It's clear the works are in conversation, but there's little here that's entirely new. Additionally, comparing it to the classics doesn't do Zone One a lot of favors. Romero's films are critical and smart without sacrificing entertainment value (or gore), proving that there's no reason zombie fiction can't be both. Whitehead's novel is only the former.

[narumi-gens]

I just saw the zone of interest and despite it being a very serious movie, had an almost comically absurd experience.

I showed up as the trailers were playing and they sound was wayyyy off, like everyone was speaking through a can and zero bass. so I'm kind of worried but hope it's just the trailers. and then the movie starts and it's a very arty movie so the first like 5 min are just a black screen and the score going wild, but I couldn't tell if anything was wrong and then the sound cuts out altogether but it's still a black screen. and everyone is just sitting there in silence for a good 3-5 min thinking "well, it's an arthouse movie so this is normal" until an employee comes in and says "there's a problem with the sound, so we're trying to restart the movie." and so everyone sits there in the pitch black and totally silent for another 5 min.

then the movie starts over again and we have to sit in the dark with a black screen for another 5 min and the score going wild. and then the movie opens, but there's zero dialogue for another 5-10 min, so the entire time I'm just like "oh no, is it fixed??" then finally characters start talking and the sound was fixed and my poor little film nerd heart was so relieved bc the sound design was amazing and I was so worried I was going to miss it.

anyway, def recommend seeing it, it's super timely, but what a movie-watching experience. go back to the cinemas ppl!