Heartfelt Apologies

 I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for going MIA from this site. I've had a lot going on in my life recently and this has taken the back burner for a while. I fully intend to review more movies, TV shows, and books in the near future. I just need to get some semblance of normalcy in my life again to do it. I noticed that my blog has gotten some attention despite the fact that I haven't written anything on it in a while, so that's good. Maybe Adsense will see fit to restore my account and let me earn money off this thing (paltry as it might be). If not, these reviews might help to showcase my writing style to potential clients who wish to hire me, so I'd still like to continue. 

Adsense aside, if you know any sponsors who might wish to fund this endeavor, feel free to have them reach out to me. I can see all the comments on this blog even though I moderate them before posting (those of you who were following me from way back know why) so that is the best way to reach me about a possible sponsorship. I might start an accompanying tiktok account (still not sure what I would post there, because I'm a bit camera shy) or another type of social media account to help promote this. I would love for this blog to be a stepping-stone to reaching my ultimate goal of having a writing career, but so far, it's just a way for me to exercise my skills.

Also wanted to say I fully intend to review the most recent addition to the Interview with a Vampire series aka The Vampire Lestat because I have some thoughts after finishing it, but I need time to go over everything in my head, and I might need to rewatch it as well.

Stay tuned for more and thank you for reading. 

Review of the Thai BL Top Form

Let me start by acknowledging that the manga (at to a lesser extent) the anime based on that manga which was the source material for this BL was extremely problematic. Despite this, I found myself growing attached to the relationship between the two male leads and this show was essentially my introduction to the great world of BL. When I began watching the show I did not even know it was going to be BL, as the Japanese refer to everyone by their last name and I don’t believe there were any pronouns in the anime description on Crunchyroll. Fast-forward about six years and I’ve become practically a BL fanatic. I discovered that I really enjoy queer media in general and have consumed a lot of other gay and lesbian stories as well, but BL unlocked something inside me that I didn’t really understand at the time.

What I really loved about the Thai BL Top Form is that this adaptation removed the most problematic elements of the story (the only reason I considered this one to be a guilty pleasure) and kept everything sweet and wholesome about it. It even told the story in the order I wish it had been told originally, by starting with their first meeting instead of showing that as a flashback later. One thing I’ve always hated about Yaoi manga and (sometimes anime) is the non-con elements that often permeate the media. This is in no way a condemnation of those who enjoy stories that include this (as it can be a safe way for people with such fantasies to explore them without getting hurt) but I’ve never been a fan. Color me shocked when I found myself thoroughly enjoying the anime Daikaichi in which the top essentially blackmails the bottom into sleeping with him the first time (it’s worse in the manga since he rapes him). Over the course of the show, the two become the cutest couple, but that part always bothered me. Another issue that I had with the show was with the character of Ayagi (who tries to rape Takato after he gets drunk but changes his mind only because Takato drunkenly calls for Chunta which is his nickname for Junta) and how Junta handled the situation after Takato tells him he doesn’t remember what the two of them did because he was drunk.

When I say Top Form fixed all this, it is the understatement of the year. First, let’s examine why telling it in chronological order instead of beginning with their first night together works much better for a healthy story. In the anime and manga, the first time we meet Takato he has just been surpassed by Junta as the sexiest man alive and also begun a new working relationship with his old rival. Starting it here gets us to the sex faster, but the story-telling suffers because without seeing the depth of connection they shared after working on that first project together and the way it impacted Junta in particular, it’s impossible to see their relationship as being anything more than a fanboy living out his fantasy by finally sleeping with his idol. Once I saw the episode with their backstory I wondered why the story had not started there and thought it would have been much better if it had. I was right. Top Form starts with the original drama (the nature of the drama is changed for the Thai adaptation, but the heart of it remains the same) where Jin (Junta) and Akin (Takato) meet for the first time. It is also told beginning with Jin’s perspective which I appreciated since Akin is a bit of a Tsundere type which makes it harder to gauge his feelings right away.

Second, Top Form eliminated all the non-con from the main couple leaving only the attempted rape after Akin gets drunk and Johnny (Ayagi) leaves a hickey on his neck but stops short of rape after Akin drunkenly calls for “Jun” which is his nickname for Jin. This helped me to more fully support the pairing (since the main issue I had with the original was the non-con and dub-con element) and made the story all the better for it. I still felt the rage over the scene with Johnny. In the original anime adaptation, I actually shouted at my screen during the ensuing scene with Junta where he blames Takato for the molestation because he got drunk and can’t remember what happened. In Top Form, they keep the essence of devastation that Jin feels without the blame by having Akin try to hide what happened and refuse to tell Jin that he can’t remember because he was too drunk. This makes it seem to Jin as if Akin has cheated on him so his ensuing anger can be seen as justified rather than inappropriate.

In Top Form, the only one to blame for the incident is Johnny (who I will never forgive for the sexual assault, he can get bent). Another change to the story is the addition of the stalker which makes it a bit more modern since there are fewer paparazzi types than there are fans with phones taking pictures inappropriately. In the original story, it was a fame seeking paparazzi who took the photos in the first place, but in this story, he just capitalized on what the stalker had already done.

If I have one complaint about the series it might be that I did not feel like the roles were evenly cast. I got a lot out of Akin’s character with Boom’s (Thai actors all have nicknames that they use in place of their actual first name for promotion purposes) portrayal whereas I felt Smart did not give a similarly captivating performance as Jin. I still like it, I just feel like it could have been better.

In the original Takato’s nickname for Junta is “horny angel” because he appears sweet and loving on the surface but he’s always dragging Takato off to the bedroom. The angel wing effect that accompanied Takato’s exclamations of “horny angel” were kept for this adaptation even though Akin’s nickname for Jin is “wooden boy” (a reference to his less than stellar acting when they first met not his constant horniness). I liked the inclusion of the effect since this version of the character does not always act on his desires but mostly lets Akin lead the sexual relationship.

All in all, I would give this adaption a 9/10 since I liked more of the changes than I disliked and Akin was portrayed brilliantly even if Jin’s character was a bit flat in comparison. It might just be that Smart is younger and less experienced than Boom (which is also true of their characters).

Update on Google Ads

 So apparently, my blog content is "low-quality" for the purposes of Google Ads and they refuse to let me remonetize it. No idea what that means, but I guess it means you get an ad-free experience (although I will not be able to make any money off my blog unless I am able to find advertisers who want me to display their content links {doubtful}). I will still try to keep this thing updated as best I can, but my current financial situation is less than ideal, and I really want to focus as much of my effort on fixing it as is humanly possible. Again, if you can think of any movie, show, or book related entities that might like the content of my blog and want to advertise here, feel free to shoot me a comment about them (or them a message about me). I'm really no good at finding and making connections in the writing world. 

Until such time as I can make this a profitable venture, it must remain a hobby, and I can only relegate so much time and effort to its upkeep. Thank you for your support and understanding.

Jujitsu Kaisen: Season 1 overview

 I've begun watching Jujitsu Kaisen with my eldest. Like most shonen anime, it has some disturbing tropes and overt sexualization of certain female characters. The protagonist is the typical shonen teenage male protagonist who is somewhat OP (in this case because he has unwittingly formed a bond with a powerful curse) and forms friendships easily with those around him (although they don't all like him, and a lot of the adults are actively out to get him). He has the mentor figure who is also OP, the gang of friends who each have their own quirks, and the monsters he has to face (including the one that lives inside of him).

I think this show has some unique qualities you don't find in other shonen anime, and the world feels very different even though the monsters (called curses in this one) can feel somewhat similar to other shows like Demon Slayer. The first element that seems different to other shows is that no character feels safe. At the offset of the show, we are told that the life expectancy of Jujitsu sorcerers is very short, and our protagonist is told right away that he needs to deal with the fact that he's not going to be able to save everyone and sometimes he might even need to be the one doing the killing. This is different to most other shonen anime where the protagonist is generally a white knight even when he is paired up with morally grey mentors or friends. This time, being that good is not necessarily the virtue that sets other shonen protagonists apart but could be the thing that gets him or a team member killed.

Another thing that sets this one apart is that there is no clear line between villains and heroes. Some Jujitsu warriors can become villains, curses are born out of human emotions and therefore are, in some ways, simply the dark side of humanity. One of the main antagonist curses in the first season seems to be born out of fear for the environment and the damage humanity has done to it. Another thing that sets these monsters apart from monsters in other shonen anime is that curses can be formed from nothing, or they can be humans who are unwittingly cursed. Although most low-level curses seem to be mindless zombies just feeding off the negativity around them (it is stated that low-level curses tend to hang out together) the higher level the curse, the more intellect and understanding it has. The most formidable are able to speak and communicate and even manipulate, as one of the main antagonists from this season does.

The part about no one feeling safe comes from the third or fourth episode in which the actual protagonist of the show dies for the majority of an episode, and everyone is forced to mourn him. Because of his bond with the powerful curse, he was able to come back, but this event shakes the faith that most shonen anime give the viewer that certain characters are untouchable. This idea that no character is safe gives the show a certain edge and makes the cliffhangers more intense since you are unsure if the character who is on the brink will pull through or be destroyed.

Some of the female characters are well written, but there is still that underlying sexism that seems to permeate a lot of anime (especially shonen). Even the best female characters are never shown to be the strongest and often are in need of saving by their male teammates. This is one of the most distasteful elements of shonen anime to me. Especially in an environment where physical strength has very little to do with power and skill development is extremely important to survival. There is no need to make the female characters always be the ones who end up needing to get saved. There should be equal times where they are the ones who do the rescuing and there should be no qualms about this either. 

The sexualization of underage characters (both male and female) is another disturbing element of the show. I understand that the target demographic is teenage males, and they are expected to be hormonal and horny, but I feel like this feeds into negative and sexist stereotypes that keep young men from growing up with a well-balanced view of the world. Just once I'd like to see a shonen show that treats all its characters with respect and decency, refuses to sexualize anyone, and does not rely on tired and sexist tropes. In the same vein, I'd like to see a shojo anime that does not have a love interest and where the girl protagonist is the strong independent type who (although she does not hate men) does not need a man to validate her existence.

Perhaps my criticisms of the genre are simply my age showing itself and I should stick to anime geared towards older people. I don't know. Anyway, for all elements combined I give season 1 an 8 out of 10.

Time and Tide

I haven't found a lot of time or energy to watch shows and review them here lately. Part of that has to do with just everything lately draining my energy. I'm currently working full-time but not making enough to get by, so I'm contemplating getting a second job. I applied to a transcription service, but I have no idea how soon or even if they'll get back to me. I'm not adept at SEO, not even sure what it might entail, so a lot of the writing opportunities that will pay are closed off to me without furthering my education on the matter (something that will no doubt cost money I don't have to spend). I got a notification from Google Adsense that they were suspending my account, which probably means they're keeping the (what was it $15 or so) in ad revenue I'd already made from this thing. They don't let you cash out until you reach $100, which I probably never would have hit anyway.

I thought about doing an affiliate link program at one time, but the biggest issue with that is finding an affiliate that both relates to the content of my blog and has values that I agree with. Not going to advertise anything that I feel contradicts my person code of ethics. I would love it if I could find an affiliate that supports the Trevor Project or any other pro LGBT+ cause, especially since that is something near and dear to my own heart. If you (my readers) have any suggestions, feel free to leave a comment.

Since I've turned this into a review blog, I'd like to start on reviewing episodes of Frasier. The first reason for this is that the show never fails to make me laugh and I've been really needing some positivity in my life recently, but the second reason is that I've been meaning to do a rewatch. Watched a couple episodes with a friend of mine recently and got her into it too (love when that happens). I may also branch off into reviewing video games as well (although those will be limited because I currently can only play ones I can download on my mobile phone or computer). 

For this post I'd like to mention that I've recently started watching Jujitsu Kaisen (at the behest of my eldest, who has become thoroughly emersed in the show) and I have to say I am enjoying it (despite some of the problematic elements which I'll get into if I decide to write a full review). This is the first anime I have started watching in a good while. I also turned 21 on to Mob Psycho 100 in return so we've been taking turns on my days off watching first an episode or two of one, then an episode or two of the other.

If I can figure out finances, I'd like to take 18 (soon to be 19) somewhere for his birthday, but it is very quickly approaching and I'm not sure I'll have had a chance to find another income source by then. I am still writing, although I have stopped trying to get published. I think it may be something that will just never happen for me.

If there is a show, game, or movie you'd like me to review (any comment of The Bible will be unceremoniously deleted) go ahead and leave it in the comment section. Barring suggestions, I'll continue to review the shows I have been reviewing and the ones I intend to start reviewing as my mood dictates. I will try to update about once a week in the future.

The End Twist: It's a doozy

 Okay, once again, this is a review of season two of the new series Interview with a Vampire, if you don't want to be spoiled, please read some of my other posts.

Okay, no magic Claudia didn't die whatever. I guess that was too much to hope for. However, the twist that does come after Armand and Louis have finished telling their version of the story is no less shocking. Although I have said before that I was doubtful as to Armand's honesty about the situation, I didn't know to what extent he was being a lying little snake.

Because Lestat's on-stage apology wasn't the only thing he did for Louis that night. Okay, so let's rewind.

After the whole thing, when Louis is about to starve, Armand feeds him some blood and helps him escape after all the other vamps are asleep. Once Louis is free, he spends his time plotting a way to wreck revenge on the whole coven. However, he warns Armand to be gone as a courtesy and a thank you for saving him.

After mercilessly burning most in their coffins, exploding the two who rode their bikes off into the night, Louis faces off against the main conspirator the very hateable Santiago who brags about them using Claudia's ashes as eyeliner for their plays and antagonizes him completely by every word in this telepathic conversation. But Louis is prepared and when Santiago emerges from the sewers, Louis is waiting to decapitate him with a machete, probably the most satisfying death in the whole show.

Then Louis goes to Armand who spins his little web of lies about how he was helpless to keep it from happening and apologizes for lying to Louis. Louis asks if Lestat is still in town, they find him in what looks to be a torture dungeon where his maker kept him like in his story early on about how he was made. Lestat looks broken and defeated. Louis asks him if he feels anything at all about Claudia's death and of course Lestat talks about the great laws which Louis correctly reminds Lestat he's never followed before. Louis then says he's here to kill Lestat which Lestat responds with I have the blood of Magnus and he mentions someone else, then Louis says, well we share the same blood. There's no epic fight scene. Louis jabs Lestat in the most painful way possible by kissing Armand and telling Lestat that his death will be the knowledge that Louis chose Armand. Lestat responds, we'll see how long that lasts but he's obviously devastated. Then it cuts to Daniel taking down the story and Louis says that's all there is to it.

Now, I suppose you're wondering where Armand's treachery comes into this. The way it is revealed is so brilliant. A question here about something that doesn't make sense. A comment there. Then Daniel Malloy pulls the entire rug out from under Louis by producing proof positive that Armand was in on the play from the start. He has a copy of the script with footnotes written by Armand directing the play. It turns out Lestat not Armand was the one who saved Louis during the play.

It flashes back to rehearsal, where Armand is overseeing the play and Lestat is arguing about how they can't keep Claudia in check and they're underestimating her. Daniel gets a computer message from the people who sent him the stuff about the fire and the script saying: GET OUT OF THERE NOW. Louis and Armand fight, breaking a bunch of shit, but when Daniel goes to see Armand is obviously defeated. Louis tells him not to harm Daniel and swears that if he does, he will kill the older vamp. He then tells him he's leaving and when he gets back the other vampire better be gone.

So what does this revelation mean, well besides the obvious that Lestat always loved Louis, truly loved him, as his on stage apology would have seemed to suggest. It also shows that nothing Armand says can be trusted. I figured this when Armand left out the crucial detail about Lestat asking him to tell Louis that he loved him.

Louis goes back to New Orleans where he finds Lestat who has gone a bit crazy (he's playing a wooden piano and eating only rats). Lestat tells Louis how much he regrets what happened with Claudia and says, at the end before she died, she looked to him like a daughter looks to her father. I knew I noticed something in his eyes when the scene of her death played, but I wasn't sure how much to trust it since it was Armand's narrative. Lestat cries and Louis hugs him as a hurricane rages outside. This is a beautiful end to their relationship arc which was always filled with storm and passion. 

Next, we see Daniel Malloy has become a bestselling author for his book, but most people aren't taking it seriously as a memoir. He's on a talk show with a host who calls it a "work of fiction". Daniel insists on the veracity of his book and takes down the talk show host and his condescending remarks by saying "you haven't read it" and the host continues to act like Daniel is somehow delusional. Then, Daniel talks telepathically with Louis who is in Dubai revealing that before he left that day Armand turned him. The final act of treachery, not able to kill him without facing repercussions, he made him a vampire instead. Vampires all over the world are gunning for Louis because of the book and all the damning evidence that's written in it, but Louis sits down and issues a warning of sorts to those who would challenge him. End scene. It was such an epic way to end it. Louis has come full circle from the fledgling vampire who didn't want to be a vamp, to become someone powerful enough to confidently throw the gauntlet at anyone who dares come at him. I loved the fact that Lestat really had no choice in what happened to Claudia and that it scarred him as much as it did because he seems not to care about her for much of the story.

Well, that's all folks, unless they do a season 3. Not sure what they'd use for the story line if they did.

The Trial: Lestat Returns

One more time, for the people in the back, there are major spoilers for the AMC show Interview with a Vampire in this blog post. If you haven't watched and don't wish to be spoiled, please turn back now before it's too late.

Okay, I just finished watching this episode and I need to collect my thoughts but wow. It was a doozy. I knew that this would be the episode where Claudia would die, and I figured it would have something to do with sunlight and the thing they stole from the observatory and why they were having the matinee performance so none of that surprised me. Armand saving Louis by controlling the entire theatre of humans surprised me a little and Louis not witnessing Claudia's death surprised me too. It actually makes me doubt the veracity of the tale that Louis wasn't there to see it especially considering the fire that destroyed the theatre. 

I expected to be a bit more emotional at Claudia's death scene. Maybe I'm still in shock, or maybe it's because the only one with tears in their eyes as Claudia and Madelaine died in each other's arms was Lestat, but that wasn't the emotional scene that I expected. It felt more like the death in Braveheart where the martyr dies cursing his murderers. I was actually much more emotional at the scene where they almost killed Lestat.

So we know that Lestat is manipulative, and we know that not only because of Louis and Armand's narrative, but because it makes sense. Yes, he loved Louis, but he also hurt him. He chased after Claudia and forced her to come back. He might have done that FOR Louis, but he still did it. Lestat's version of events is probably skewed, partially because the story is scripted by the coven. When Lestat goes off script, they don't control him like they control the three on "trial" which makes me think they either can't control him, or he helped engineer the whole thing. If they got to Lestat through the lawyer, then the last letter is even a manipulation tactic because Lestat probably wrote that after the attempted murder. Even though his version of events is skewed, it gives us another piece to the puzzle, a piece provided by neither Armand nor Louis.

Louis says that Lestat's version of events of how Claudia came to be turned is probably more accurate than his. In Lestat's version he tries to tell Louis that turning her is a bad idea and that making someone 14 forever never works out because their mind matures but their body doesn't. He then claims that Louis begged and pleaded until Lestat caved promising he'll do anything. If Lestat's story is somewhat accurate it shows only Louis' desperation to redeem himself after having wrought chaos on his people. We've also seen that Louis' memory is patchy and often unreliable and that Armand deliberately hides or obscures things to "protect" Louis. Does Armand love Louis? Probably. That doesn't change the fact that he played a part in the downfall of Louis, Claudia, and Madelaine. The fact that Armand could have defied the coven and allowed them a chance to escape by warning them occurs to me. Yes, what he did was cowardly. It may also have had a tinge of thinking logical thinking in there as well, calculating the odds of them escaping the coven entirely even if they did run away. But if any of what Lestat said was true, you have to wonder how much and if you wonder how much, you have to wonder if he was talking about the human lover that Armand almost killed and then they turned and if Armand killed him out of jealousy before Lestat ran away. According to the story, Lestat was heartbroken at the loss of his lover and buried himself for years before finally coming up and going across the ocean. There is no probability that this is true, he would have starved. However, if he did spend a period of time in mourning for a lost lover, that would explain the gap between Armand's Lestat and Louis' Lestat. However, if Armand's story of Lestat is inaccurate, if Lestat didn't just use him for his power and then run away, but Armand actually had something to do with the end of their relationship, then that could also color his relationship with Louis and pretty much everything he says. I'm very suspicious about the fact that the only person who can attest to what happened to Claudia and Madelaine is Armand.

Now I'm not saying for SURE they're actually still alive, but... I mean, they could be.

The part that actually did get me emotional in this episode, was surprisingly a part of Lestat's testimony. When Lestat goes off script and states that what he did to Louis was wrong and he'll never stop being sorry for it. That was genuine. It didn't move Louis, probably because Louis understood that no matter how sorry he was for having hurt Louis back then, Lestat was still here, helping the coven convict them and doing nothing to prevent what was happening to them. Not sure what Lestat might have been able to do if even Armand was powerless, though. He was able to defy them about the script and did not seem bothered by the fact that the coven planned to kill all three of them. I do wonder how the finale is going to play out when Louis realizes that Claudia is gone and how he and Armand are going to escape the coven. I think the fire might have something to do with that, but obviously Lestat survives because Armand reached out to him when they were in San Francisco after Louis tried to run into the sun.

Really excited for the finale next week and if Claudia makes a reappearance, I'm going to be so...I told you so about it.