Life

 So this is not a review. It's sort of a mock review. I wrote a poem. This is meant to be funny, so I hope it is.

If there were a creator,
I really must confess, 

I'd want to ask them why they
created this whole mess.

The plotline's convoluted.
I mean seriously, what the hell?

It's hard enough to follow one
but billions more as well?

And what is with these characters?
cause most of them are tropes.

Then a good one comes along,
but gets killed off, so don't get up your hopes.

There is way too much violence
and its gratuitous, I'd say

There seems no rhyme or reason
at the end of the day.

It tugged at my emotions
although I can't say why.

It really had me going
made me laugh, then made me cry.

I have to say the setting
is what I like the best.

The world building is excellent
it really warms my chest.

I thought I'd give it one star
it's not my favorite piece.

But if they just reworked it,
could be a masterpiece.

Some all-time favorite Anime Recommendations

This isn't a review per-se, it's just a short list of some of my personal favorite anime and a short description of what the show is about and why I liked it.

March Comes in Like a Lion

This show is what I like to call a masterpiece. It is a slice of life about an eighteen-year-old boy who plays the game Shogi for a living. In case you haven't heard of shogi before, it's a Japanese game that is similar to chess but a lot more complicated. Basically, it's chess on steroids. First I want to talk about the animation. There is a lot of attention to detail which I appreciate, (ripples on the water, hair moving in the wind) and so many of the animation choices move the story along quite nicely. Next up, the characters. The main character Rei suffers from depression. He plays shogi because he's good at it. He initially took it up to please his adoptive father (who was obsessed with shogi), but ended up alienating his adopted siblings in the process. A lot of Rei's depression revolves around losing his family at a young age and then being made to feel unwelcome in his new home because his new siblings were jealous of their father's interest in him. The story is about Rei's journey towards love and self-acceptance through a small family he happens to meet one day after some of the older shogi players took him out drinking and left him on the curb really messed up. The oldest, Akira, took him home and sobered him up and ever since then they've been treating him as one of their own. He sometimes feels like he's imposing and stays away, but the three sisters: Akira, Hinata, and Momo readily welcome him, as does the man of their household, their grandfather. The girls' parents and grandmother have all passed on. The story revolves around Rei's overcoming depression through a supportive community and helping others work through their problems. It's very beautifully acted and written and I really loved it. I also loved the bit of insight I got into shogi and the culture that it reflects. I'd love to learn how to play one day, but I'll have to get better at reading kanji since the pieces are all just wooden slabs with different kanji symbols on them. Finally, I'd like to mention the awesome opening and ending songs and accompanying animation, which I fell in love with immediately.

Dusk Maiden of Amnesia

This show, which has a supernatural theme, is about the relationship between the ghost of a girl who died in the 60's (Yuuko) and the only boy at her school who can see her (Teiichi). What I liked about this. The art style was perfect for the horror-esque setting and dark themes the show explored. The humor was good. The first scene shows a girl (Momoe) interacting with Teiichi in their after school club (which explores paranormal activity). Momoe notices that a lot of supernatural stuff seems to be happening. Did that cup just move? How did her pen get across the room? Then once Teiichi comes in, he seems to be responding to her thoughts. But the scene then reverses to show things from Teiichi's perspective and it's just Yuuko trolling Momoe. It's pretty hilarious. The show also explores regret and trying to be perfect. Yuuko cannot move on because she cannot accept the horrific way in which she died (I won't spoil it for you, but it's pretty messed up) or reconcile herself with the feelings she had while dying (hate, fear, etc.). She's not embarrassed about exposing her ghostly body, but when the living students find her actual corpse she gets upset. I identified a lot with Yuuko's desire to seem perfect and separate herself from her negative emotions for fear that she would not be accepted.

Shinseki Yori (From the new World)

And speaking of messed up, here's a show that will bend your mind. This is a dystopian future type show. It follows a group of kids from about seven years old until adulthood. The kids live in a world some time in the future, where every human has developed psychic powers and there is a race of sentient rodents who serve them. They are warned about the dangers beyond the village, monsters like ogres and other creatures that exist beyond the safety of the place. But something odd is happening in the village. Children are disappearing and no one seems to remember they were there at all. This group of kids starts to investigate when they realize that they are missing memories, but to investigate thoroughly, they may need to face the monsters they've always been warned about. The story that unfolds is kind of twisted and really interesting. It's one of the best dystopian stories I have ever seen portrayed in any media. I enjoyed the culmination of this story, and definitely did not see the twist reveal at the end coming. And it also gets props for including bisexuality (although it was used to show that the genes had been altered, so not that many props).

The Disastrous Life of Saiki-K

Imagine an OP protagonist who has all kinds of mind-bendingly amazing powers, each more ridiculous than the last, whose only goal in life is to be as normal as possible and keep everyone else from finding out he's different. This is the basis for a hilarious comedy about the psychic Saiki and his friends (most of whom just kind of gravitated towards him whether he wanted them there or not, and none of whom are even remotely normal). Some of the hilarious antics that the show includes are: his parents fighting but secretly wanting to make up. Saiki solves this by linking their minds so they can hear each others thoughts. Saiki being deathly afraid of cockroaches (despite possessing the power to turn any living thing into a statue for 24 hours just by looking at it [this is why he wears sunglasses all the time]). At one point he even teleports to the other side of the world to avoid a cockroach. Him changing his gender (which he can do at will) just so he can get a free desert (he has this thing for coffee flavored jelly). Just really funny material, well written characters, and a pretty entertaining show.

Stein's Gate

Well I am a sucker for anything time-travel related. This show starts off by introducing a cast of unique and slightly oddball characters. The main character Rintarou and his best friend Daru along with his childhood friend Mayuri are inventors. They inadvertently create a time machine that can send messages into the past. Rintarou discovers that these messages actually change the timeline, but he's the only one that remembers all the timelines when things change. Enter Kurisu, a scientist in town for a talk about the theory of time-travel who happens to be in town. Rintarou first discovers the time-machine after having seen Kurisu's bloody body and sending a text to Daru who happened to have his phone hooked up to their machine. When he gets back, he discovers that the timeline has changed and that Kurisu is fine. She ends up helping them with their time experiments and the gang changes some pretty drastic stuff. Little by little more people end up joining the group, until a girl who claims to be from the future shows up needing help fixing her time machine which she claims they helped to build. It gets pretty dark, pretty fast, and the show explores a lot of things. I wasn't crazy about how they portrayed the trans girl (or possibly just gay man) character Ruka (the reason this is unclear is that Ruka wants to change their gender so they send a message to their mom during her pregnancy about what to eat and Ruka ends up being born female somehow, why it is not clear if they are really trans or just gay is that the reason Ruka wants to be a girl is to date Rintarou who they are in love with, but who is straight), but apart from that, I loved everything about the show. Also, Daru may be a bit of a perv, but he's my favorite character.

Wandering Son

This slice of life story follows a young trans girl as she fights to be accepted for who she is in a world that does not want to accept her. Her best friend is a non-binary child who thinks they might be a trans boy, but later (not in the anime itself, but in the manga from what I've heard) goes back to presenting female. The story shows how difficult it is for a young trans child to survive without an adequate support system. Really, she only has a few peers to rely on and one older trans woman who is her mentor. Her older sister, parents and the school are decidedly transphobic. The gender binary dress code doesn't help matters either. I like this story because it presents a realistic (although painful) story of life outside the gender norms and how important it is to have family who understands what you're going through. I didn't use any names because the two main characters are some form of trans but the series never allows them to chose what they'd like to be called, perhaps because first names are rarely used by people who aren't close in Japan so there is less focus on the gender binary as it relates to names and naming.

Hyouka

This slice of life is about a young boy Hotarou who has little to no ambition in life. He doesn't mind that his life is dull, he prefers it that way, or so he claims. When he meets the precocious Chitanda, his peaceful life is upended. Hotarou is smart and he's good at solving mysteries, and Chitanda is curious. Slowly, he begins to question his peaceful, dull, life, and want a colorful interesting one. What I loved about this show: The characters were all superb and interesting, especially Hotarou and Chitanda, but the side characters as well. The mysteries were intriguing and kind of pulled you in. The name of the show is the same as the name of the anthology their literary club puts out. One of the mysteries is about Chitanda's uncle who may have said something about the publication, but she can't remember what and since he disappeared when she was little she can't ask him either. She asks Hotarou to figure it out and the conclusion he comes to is both satisfying and heartbreaking. I loved watching Chitanda slowly pull Hotarou out of his shell. Their relationship was so sweet it soothed the romance in my heart. I loved the animation, especially every time Chitanda said "I'm curious" the way they portrayed Hotarou's emotional reaction. I loved the second opening theme song, but especially the accompanying animation because I felt like it did a really good job of portraying Hotarou's past self and the person he was becoming.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

While I liked both the original anime (Fullmetal Alchemist) and the newer one (Brotherhood) they are vastly different stories. This is mostly because the original was popular and caught up with the ongoing manga too soon. Instead of waiting for the source material, the show created its own story and the plot of the two diverges at that point. Brotherhood was made after the manga finished its run and thus follows the original intended story. Without further ado: What I liked: The plot was terrific. The overarching plot of this story was about a being trying to become a god and humans, being imperfect as they are, stepping up to stop him/it (presents as male but doesn't seem to have a gender as it is more of an amorphous blob to begin with). It is also about sacrifice and loss. The characters: Alphonse and Edward Elric are two brothers who started learning alchemy from a young age because it made their mother smile. Their father had run off and left them to fend for themselves. When their mother takes ill and dies, the boys try to use alchemy to bring her back with disastrous results. Ed loses his leg and Alphonse loses his body. Ed manages to bind Alphonse's soul to a suit of armor by sacrificing his arm. The Rockbells are automail (basically functioning prosthetics) mechanics who live down the road. When they find Ed, they use their technology to create an arm and a leg for the young boy. The two boys then set off to find a way to restore their bodies to what they were. Winry Rockbell is about the same age as Ed, she has a pretty big role in both stories, but I felt like this one really explored her character in more depth. Roy Mustang (my favorite character) is a fire alchemist, the only one of his kind. Roy is fiercely loyal and somewhat self-loathing. He has a very tight bond with his lieutenant Riza Hawkeye. Hawkeye is in love with Mustang, but also feels responsible for him because the fire alchemy he uses was her family's secret which she shared with him. Mustang is also friends with the very precocious Maes Hughes, although he does get tired of how much Hughes gushes about his family. Hughes has a pretty tragic character arc, since he dies after uncovering a huge secret, but the most important thing about his character is not what he was like alive, but how his death effected everyone around him. And you can't talk about the Full Metal Alchemist brotherhood characters without mentioning the Homonculi. These creatures are manufactured humans who seemingly cannot die, but they can cause havoc, and so they do. They are working for a man they call Father, but they go about this work in various different ways and they all have different powers. Lust has the power to turn her fingernails into swordlike weapons, Gluttony has the power to swallow anything and everything into some alternate dimension in his stomach. Envy has the most dangerous power of all, the power to shapeshift. Wrath is mostly just really strong because, unlike the others, he was once human. Greed has the power to harden his body. Greed is actually the most interesting character of the group, but we can come back to that. Pride has the power to move through and manipulate shadows. And finally, Sloth is just a huge lazy bulldozer. He's about three times the size of an average human, and harder to kill than the others, just because of how big he is.

The first human antagonist is Scar, but it turns out that he's also a victim. His country was mercilessly invaded and his people were killed. His brother, who studied alchemy, somehow used it to give his own arm to his brother as he was dying. Scar now has alchemical powers, but can only use them to deconstruct stuff, so he's been using them to hunt down military alchemists and kill them as revenge for what happened to his people. The first people he killed with the arm was an accident, it was the two doctors who were trying to treat him. When you find out who those doctors were, it gets kind of interesting but I won't spoil it. I love Scar's arc in this and how he ultimately ends up choosing to liberate his people rather than create more chaos and destruction.

And I could continue to talk about this series for another good long while (especially since there are so many more characters I haven't even mentioned that are just as interesting and bring their own zest to the plot), but I'll probably wrap this up there. Before I go, I just wanted to give this show a few specialized awards:

Most shipable couple: Roy Mustang / Riza Hawkeye

Most evil: Shou Tucker

Most interesting: Greed

Most heartrending scene: Maes Hughes' funeral

Most complicated character: Scar

Sweetest character: Alphonse Elric

Okay, that was fun. I'm done now. I promise. See you next time.

Heartwarmer

 So I recently finished watching the 8 episode Netflix series Heartstopper and let me tell you, it is a must watch. So the first thing I have to say about this show is that it is completely wholesome. It is about a boy named Charlie Springer as he navigates developing a crush on an older boy at his school. Charlie is gay and out about it, but he was outed by someone else and endured bullying and alienation as a result, which is pretty obvious at the onset of the story. At the beginning of the story, Charlie is meeting up with this other boy whose name escapes me because he's really not all that important to the story. What is important is that the way he treats his relationship with Charlie is wrong. The guy only talks to Charlie over an app when he wants to meet up in secret for a make out session, never talks to him in public and even pretends he doesn't know Charlie if any of his friends are around. When Charlie witnesses this guy making out with a girl at the front gate, he decides he's had enough and calls the relationship off. Enter Nick Nelson, a Jock whose a year older than Charlie. Nick happens to be assigned the seat next to Charlie and the two end up becoming friends, all while Charlie harbors a huge unrequited crush on Nick. But Nick is straight (or so everyone believes) and Charlie is chastised by his friend group repeatedly to get over his crush because it's definitely not going to develop into anything more.

It's pretty obvious from the onset of their friendship that Nick likes Charlie, and not just in a platonic way. Eventually, even Nick starts to notice and then he begins to question his sexuality. I won't tell you how it ends because that would spoil everything and I really think you should watch it because it's sooo good. I will tell you that everything about the show is just beautifully done and perfect. The side characters need mentioning because there are more LGBT characters than just Charlie Spring (and possibly Nick Nelson, you'll have to watch it to see the answer to that one). There is Elle Argent, who until last year also attending the all boys' school even though she is a trans girl. She has finally been transferred to an all girls school and her character arc is mostly about finding friends at her new school and navigating developing a crush on one of her best friends Tao Xu. Tao Xu is actually the only straight/cis person in the friend group, which is a refreshing change from the usual token LGBT character. Then there is Isaac Henderson, whose sexuality is never confirmed but it is implied heavily that he is asexual/aromantic. Elle eventually makes friends with two girls at her school Tara Jones and Darcy Olsson who it turns out are dating each other. Early in the show Charlie's friends learn that according to school gossip Nick has a crush on Tara, it is later revealed that the two shared a kiss when they were 13 at a party, but Nick never shows interest in Tara during the present time. 

Nick's friend group is less diverse, consisting of mostly jocks from the rugby team the ringleader of which (Harry) is a homophobic and transphobic bully. Thankfully, Nick eventually stops hanging out with those jerky people after he realizes what they're really like. Nick's altercation with Harry after Harry calls Charlie a homophobic slur is the most satisfying punch ever. You really hate Harry for everything he's done through the course of the show, but I was reading the wiki fan page and apparently his character experiences at least some growth in the original source material. It is unclear if the Netflix series is going to continue past the point it has gotten to, though.

I really enjoyed all the Charlie and Nick interactions and watching their little friendship blossom and watching them crush on each other without the other one picking up on it. It was very heartwarming.

Another character I found interesting was Charlie's sister Tory. This is because it seems like Tory presents as autistic. I've also seen some other people online second this opinion. Either way, she is a very unique and interesting character in her own right.

In conclusion, please watch this very beautiful coming of age LGBT love story. Thanks for tuning in, see you next time.

Not a Review, but need to rant

I have been thinking a lot about gender issues and gender stereotypes and gender equality since finishing Blue Flag (well, I didn't actually finish it since the final chapter is not available on the platform I used to read it). But thinking about these issues, I have begun to consider what TERFs say about feminism and what feminism looks like to them. How can it even be called feminism if they don't actually believe that women and men are equal? Because look at it this way, if you truly believe the two sexes to be equal, then you would have no problem with transgender rights. Feminism is about empowering women so that they hold a status that is equal to men. If you claim that those AFAB (assigned female at birth) are somehow not physically equal to those who are AMAB (assigned male at birth), such as by saying that so called women's sports allowing trans women to compete somehow have given those individuals a competitive edge (ignoring the reality that everyone is built differently and some AFAB people are stockier and stronger than some AMAB people), this claim is decidedly anti-feminist. As a matter of fact, separating sports and even prisons by gender is stupid and harmful to everyone. And the argument that, if you integrate prisons there will just be more rape is stupid and unfounded. There is already a lot of rape in prison and they are not integrated. The only thing that should actually be a concern is pregnancy, and even that is not necessarily a given. Most people, given the opportunity to use birth control to prevent unwanted pregnancy, would not elect to have a baby in prison. Perhaps there could be a separate prison for known sex-offenders, which might stave off rape of those who have not had a sexually violent thought. It would even stop sexual assault in regular prisons because assaulting someone would automatically get that individual transferred to the rapist prison where there was a danger that they, themselves, would be assaulted. As it stands now, AMAB trans women are more likely to experience sexual assault if they are put into prison with AMAB cis men. So many of their arguments fall apart under scrutiny, but none of their arguments assume equality of gender. Yes, historically, men have had power and that power has allowed them to assault women. But feminism is about changing that aspect of history, giving women equal power. Arguing about "women's sports" is not equality, it is the opposite of that. Rant over, thank you for tuning in.

Something Blue

 I just started a manga called Blue Flag, and I havent finished, I'm only on chapter 44 out of 53, but even still this one has to be one of the best informative manga I have read, and its main focus is on LGBT feelings and gender equality. Like the characters have serious philosophical conversations about these matters. The main character (ichinose) is probably straight, possibly bi, that remains to be seen, but his best friend (toma) is gay and it is evident from early on that Toma is smitten with him. Now Toma is the sort of guy (good looking, good at sports, kind, well built) that girls just seem to naturally fall for and well this tendency has put somewhat of a wedge between them thanks to the fact that ichinose is none of those things. But ichinose is totally oblivious to his friend's feelings because he has misunderstood Toma to be in love with a girl (his sister in law to be precise) and because ichinose is too busy crushing on the latest girl (kuse) to fall under his friend's spell. What I like about this manga. It uses its platform to preach love and acceptance in the form of debates the characters have. I like dialog heavy and philosophical shows a lot already and seeing one tackle this subject is... well it's already something close to my heart so it makes me happy. I also like the character design, unique characters that don't feel stereotypical, since that is so important with proper representation. It also shows both sides of the argument,  which can help sometimes when minds are closed by things like trauma or ignorance,  but not so much when they are closed by deep seated and learned prejudices. 

If there were anything I could find fault with it might be that despite tackling issues like gender inequality,  gender stereotypes,  and gender norms, it doesn't really talk about transgender individuals in a coherent or meaningful way. Well, not yet but I'm almost through the whole thing 53 chapters seems to be all that's available. 

A quick rant about problematic elements

 So I have been reading some lit rpg and in case you dont know, that's books about gaming worlds. While I am (mostly) enjoying them, I do find some things problematic. A lot of the books have heterosexual male leads, which in and of itself is not a problem,  but the objectification of women and some of the depictions of romance (as well as the absence of any lgbt characters that arent male lesbian fantasies) do tend to be. And I understand that I'm not the target audience, but why do I have to feel guilty about enjoying something that I otherwise find fascinating simply because I'm not the target audience? And does catering to the homophobic tendencies of toxic masculinity that exist within the target audience do any good? Sure I could read any number of lgbt friendly books from other genres and then I wouldnt have to worry about it, but I want to read things that interest me without finding this kind of passive aggressive jab at homosexuality and female equality within books that otherwise seem to be putting forward very liberal mindsets. A lot of these books have critiques of capitalism and racism and xenophobia that you'd expect to find in books written by someone with an open mind. 

Okay, so I was reading a bunch of different authors and finding basically the same formula. And I came across a book series with a bisexual man as the main character and I was thrilled, at first. I was thrilled until the books deliberately alienated him from the male love interest, who was far more interesting, to shove a relationship with the female love interest for almost two books of the series, just to have the final resolution to the mlm sexual tension fairly well glossed over (while the mlf relationship was practically shoved down your throat). And I was no longer excited by having a bisexual male lead, because if both mlm and flm relationships arent treated equally, is it good representation?