juushika

Title: Dark Mirror (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Author: Diane Duane
Published: Pocket Books, 1993
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 340
Total Page Count: 248,595
Text Number: 794
Read Because: mentioned here, used paperback purchased from the Book Bin
Review: At the edge of the galaxy, the Enterprise is pulled into the mirror universe by its predatory counterpart. This is my first time reading a spin-off novel for any franchise, which can't help but color my experience; seeing a franchise adapted to text is as interesting as the story itself. A novel allows for significantly more interiority and infodumping. Of the latter there's plenty, not delivered with exceptional grace but building a more thorough view of the mirror universe, particularly its history; it feels somewhat reductionist, but given context perhaps it has to be, and it does satisfy the itch for more information. The interiority is welcome, and is most robust in Picard but especially Troi, whose double is the best developed and most compelling; this is where the concept graduates from the broad fear of one's own worst tendencies and develops into a conflicted admiration/jealousy/fear of the selves one might have been—especially interesting in a character so association with emotions as is Troi. I wish this pushed further, but it's a strong attempt.

Novel length also allows for subplots, and they're well-intended (especially the non-humanoid alien) but rarely compliment the larger narrative. The best minor addition is the downtime, the anxious waiting, the technical difficulties which would kill the pacing of an episode but here make the setting feel enjoyably realistic. It helps that I didn't have high expectations and that the sheer novelty is a selling point, because the quality here is just so-so—but the experience is engaging and gratifying; I'm surprised by how much I liked this.


Title: Geisha, A Life
Author: Mineko Iwasaki
Translator: Rande Brown
Published: Atria Books, 2002
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 320
Total Page Count: 248,915
Text Number: 795
Read Because: see Tumblr post linked below, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: The autobiography of Mineko Iwasaki, the most famous geisha in Japan until her sudden retirement at the height of her career. This is written partially in response to Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha (although it never says so directly); as such, it's made accessible to a foreign audience and does much to explain the controversy surrounding Memoirs, particularly the liberties that book takes with Iwasaki's life story, as well as the way it elides geisha and prostitution. This is also a memoir in its own right. Iwasaki relies heavily on anecdotes; her memory is precise, her language evocative, her personality changeable and occasionally smug. She simultaneously loves and criticizes the hierarchical social structure, restrictiveness, skill, artistry, and effort that contribute to a geisha's craft, particularly as interacts with gender and as it has failed to change with the times; her experience and opinions are fervent and complex. This throughline isn't as solid as it could be—in particular, it wants for a stronger conclusion, perhaps an argument about what she believes the future of geisha should look like. But it's a compelling effort, and especially valuable in a world where Memoirs of a Geisha is such a problematic and popular text.

(I wrote a relatively popular, v. shitty review of Memoirs of a Geisha back in the day that will! never! die!, but had still never read this important response to it (despite having provided it as recommended reading), so I finally corrected the issue. I wrote about that trash fire, and some more immediate and emotional reactions to Geisha, A Life, here on my Tumblr, crossposted below.)

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Title: Henry VI Part 3
Author: William Shakespeare
Published: 1595
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 100
Total Page Count: 249,015
Text Number: 796
Read Because: co-read with my mother
Review: The link this makes between personal, selfish, revenge-driven motives and the futility and pain of a civil war creates a solid, well-rounded thematic center which is echoed in the best scenes, including Rutland's murder, the King with the father/son murders, and Richard's fantastic speeches. I wonder if I would have enjoyed this so much if I weren't familiar with & looking forward to Richard III, because he was absolutely my favorite thing about this play, but he's a great character regardless. The momentum, language, and thematic consistency in this play reminds me of the better, later Shakespeare plays with which I'm more familiar; a solidly enjoyable experience.

What are you currently reading?
I'm at the tail end of the Fate/Zero light novels. The fan translations are exceedingly unpolished; elsewise this has been a phenomenal read. I loved the anime when I watched it, but revisiting it in a media I find easier to retain while in constant contact with a friend who's also a big fan has been intensely rewarding, because this story deserves minute observation and rumination. Fate/Zero's hallmark is a complex web of characterization, motivation, and interaction, and each of these is more explicit in the light novels (there isn't time or potential for similar exposition in the anime). As a result, every scene is fascinating and can stand up to the scrutiny it invites. This is what I talk about when I talk about id-level media: I eat this stuff up, even though I've been taking the novels at the same slow pace I approach any series. The anime may still be the place to start with Fate/Zero, because it's great and a little more accessible, but the light novels are perfect.

What did you recently finish reading?
The Secret Country, Pamela Dean (review here). I'm deeply unsure if I plan to continue the series. I want to read The Hidden land to complete this story, and The Dubious Hills interests me for its premise, but I only ever found a stray used copy of The Secret Country to begin with; both of my libraries have little Dean, and even if I didn't prefer to borrow first, I certainly didn't love The Secret Country so much that I feel compelled to search for the sequels. We're probably headed to Powell's next week, so I may find them then; we'll see.

What do you think you'll read next?
No idea! I try to keep a couple of books at hand without making specific plans, because when I read at whim with no sense of obligation I tend to enjoy it more. Right now some classic horror, a reread, and some Mary Renault are all in my maybe-someday-soon pile, but I may chose none of them.

Fate/Zero
ufotable, Gen Urobuchi, Type-Moon, 2011-12
25 episodes
Seven mages summon seven Heroic Spirits to compete in the 4th Holy Grail war—the prize for which will grant any one wish, no matter how impossible. Emiya Kiritsugu, skilled more in assassinating mages than fighting mage wars, will do anything to win the Grail and fulfill his unlikely wish.

I came to Fate/Zero because fanart told me I would love Ryuunosuke. A serial killer who discovers a purpose for his hobby?—of course I would, and did: his arc is fantastic, and ends perfectly. But in the end, I stayed for the entire cast.

Every single last one of them.

Fate/Zero begins slowly, because it has a large cast and complex premise to introduce. Initially its art is merely average, competent but unremarkable, without much in the way of style. Both pacing and art improve with time—the former when the various battles begin because, despite the fact that they're initially abbreviated into mere teases of forward progress, they're beautifully choreographed action and rich with character interaction, bringing life to the intrigue-rich plot; the latter is a gradual change, but is in evidence as soon as Berserker (a computer animated character within a cell-drawn anime, therefore preternaturally slick and smooth) is introduced. Eventually, the entire cast is distinct, the plot has vast forward momentum, and the art style improves such that the climactic final battle is thoroughly satisfying.

There's a few ways you can work with characters. You can define them, make them distinct and unique. You can develop them, show them progressing through an arc that impacts and changes who they are. You can have them interact with other characters, perhaps in ways that the relationship between characters almost becomes a character itself. Fate/Zero does every single one of these things with almost every single one of its characters—and the one or two dead-end characters at least have the grace to die in ways that develop the rest of the cast. I can't overstate how impressive this is, or how fantastic it is if you're me and you feed on character motivation and character relationships. The four confusingly similar brown/black haired dudes each become real people by the end. The whiny schoolboy in a ridiculous relationship with a burly dude actually drove me to tears. There are multiple strong female characters, one of whom offers up perhaps the creepiest scene I've ever watched*. My favorite character interaction was actually a four-way mess of motivations and desires and rivalries and fascinations**, and was pretty well flawless.

Which is not to say Fate/Zero is that, by any stretch: a slow beginning, initially shallow/cliché characterization, art which never excels, roadbumps in story delivery (worst of which is a long flashback), a bit of characterization by way of women in refrigerators which is handled with comparable grace but remains problematic, all plague it. These weaknesses are generally counterbalanced by the show's various strengths, or at least serve enough of a purpose to excuse them, but they linger.

But I have never cared so much about such a vast cast. It's Durarara!! levels of large-cast mayhem, but (so help me) even more of them are even better realized, and the level of complexity is towering. It's not the sort of attachment that makes you beg for happy endings, which is good: there are few happy endings, here. It's the sort of attachment that makes you want to see everything, good and bad, development and climax, fallout, reactions and changes—because so many lives hang in the balance, and much more than mortality is in jeopardy.

* The end of Irisviel, Jesus me, it's like End of Evangelion just got creepier.

** Gilgamesh/Kirei/Kiritsuju(/Kariya) LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY FEELINGS. No really, if you have read or watched this please let us talk about how this interaction is pretty much the definition of perfect, please.

I more or less intentionally saved Big Windup for a time just like now. A few years ago, I read enough of it to know that it was absurdly up my alley—but in one of those embarrassingly indulgent ways which, for me, is better watched than read, because watching is more passive and therefore lines up well with embarrassing indulgences. But I knew that one day (when Hulu or a similar service finally had the sub, and I was in a truly rotten state of mind and needed some sort of pure pleasure to drag me though) I would watch it, and love it; and I do.

Sports anime are one of my weaknesses, with a loose definition of "sports" that includes tennis and martial arts and cars that go zoom. Their pacing is addicting, with as many horrible cliffhanger episodes as there are hugely satisfying victories—and since they usually have massive casts and a ridiculous number of episodes, they're the gift which keeps on giving (no really you just cannot make them stop). They mix just enough fascinating detail with plenty of absurdity, and things like using a gutter to hug a corner or a pitcher with a nine-quadrant strike zone become, so help me, cool. And there's conflict and company: conflict between teams, conflict between players, conflict because the true battle is the one against yourself; bonding between teammates, the love/hate camaraderie of well-matched opponents, and the love a player has for his sport. At my heart I care most about relationships and motivations, and sports anime are rich in both: they are about who we fight and why. It's popcorn watchability mixed with surprisingly complex blow by blows; it leads to characters like Vegeta (king prince of relationships and motivations) and scenes like Takumi crying when his engine blows because he has come to love that car and this sport just that much.

Big Windup is the distillation of sports anime. The manga is still running and the show—at less that 30 episodes (aaaaah no I'm more than halfway through)—is literally condensed: prodigy protagonist front and center, tears everywhere and it's all about the love of the game, your biggest rival is yourself and your biggest ally is the teammate that will carry you to glory. In fact, it's embarassing—embarassing in the same way that the BBC Sherlock is embarrassing: it's so self-aware and shameless as to be insulting. Did you ever notice how very clever Sherlockain mysteries are? would you notice it if we painted all the details in CG overlays and/or had John constantly compliment Sherlock's brilliance? Did you catch that Sherlock and John have this intense friendship going on? would you catch it if we made a comment about how gay it is to strip off one another's clothing in a closed swimming pool at night? Well yes, thank you you idiotic little show, I had actually noticed but—don't stop. The desperate cleverness, the stupid 'ship teasing, it works because it's what you're there for; you feel insulted, but perversely fulfilled.

Well, asks Big Windup, did you notice that this particular match was intense or that Mihashi is so moe you teeth hurt or that everything about Mihashi's relationship with Abe could be construed as romantic? would you notice if we—YES THANK YOU, thank you Big Windup for your incredible subtlety, but so help me if I did not cheer when they won their first game, and if Mihashi is not the cutest thing, and if his relationships (with his sport, with his catcher, with his team) doesn't push every single button on my id except the one that's labeled "subtext" because there is no sub here, guys: it's just text.

And bless, unlike the unnaturally developed "middle schoolers" of Prince of Tennis, these kids actually look and are high school freshmen, complete with ill-timed references to masturbation.

Anyway, Devon had to leave early to prep for a big meeting on Monday, and I'm still pretty much tied together with string, so if you need me I'll be over here narrating baseball matches to my cat. And man, they are awesome matches—even when yes, and I saw it coming, saw it from a mile away, they end the episode with the start of Mihashi's first goddamn pitch.

The gore doesn't bother me—it's more funny than it is anything else—but eating dinner during the bug-chewing scene of Tokyo Gore Police was, perhaps, not the single smartest thing I've ever done.

Gundam 00
Sunrise, Seiji Mizushima, Yosuke Kuroda, 2007-2009
50 episodes
In 2307 A.D., mankind has harnessed solar energy via orbiting solar power collectors and has coalesced into three governing superpowers, but continues to wage zero-sum wars for power and energy. Celestial Being is an private military organization dedicated to ending war by using Gundams to attack aggressors. Gundam 00 is almost exactly what you'd expect it to be, and as such it's quite satisfying. A group of unique young men with a variety of angsty backgrounds (and altogether wonderful character design) gather, using giant mecha (of interesting, but hardly iconic, design) to fight a rebel war for peace. Political machinations, battles, and upgrades abound, balanced by intelligent character development and interactions. A spiritual successor to Gundam Wing, even taking on the same underlying question—is it possible to win peace through war?—Gundam 00 sometimes feels redundant, but for the most part it's a successful, if familiar, iteration of the Gundam series: philosophical, political, character-driven, with mech battles aplenty.

Gundam 00's first season is awash with intriguing gray morality, and the plot (especially in the second half of the season) is smart and unrelenting. The second season has a rocky start and never quite reaches the standard set by the first—in part because increasingly blatant black and white morality strips away much of the intriguing ambiguity, in part because it falls victim to a number of clichés like excessive powerups (where every thing is better than the previous thing, just because they say so) and death fakeouts (where core characters seem to die, but return again to resume the same cycle of battles) which deaden the show's believability and impact. Still, the second season is rich with wonderful character growth and has substantial emotional and psychological impact despite its faults, and the series as a whole comes to a satisfying conclusion. That's what this anime is: it's not quite remarkable, but it throughly meets expectations and it's constantly engaging and enjoyable—which is to say, it is satisfying. Fans of Gundam, in particular Gundam Wing, would do well to give it a try.

Beware spoilers in the comments!

Summer Wars
Madhouse 2009
Directed by Mamoru Hosoda
Math-wiz Kenji is roped into visiting his upperclassman's family home, but when he's there a disaster occurs: an artificial intelligence hacks OZ, an online world which stretches so vast that by controlling it, the A.I. is able to bring the real world to a grinding halt. With the help of his new friends, his classmates, and his math abilities, Kenji must wrestle control of OZ out of the A.I.'s hands.

Summer Wars begins with a clichés aplenty: a smart but socially-inept protagonist caught in an awkward situation with an attractive female classmate. But the film's very first scene is an introduction to the colorful, cartoony, vast world of OZ, and this sets the tone: Summer Wars is not your usual seinen coming of age. Instead it finds character development through a slew of brilliant aspects: a vast and vivid cast, fine emotive animation, a setting which comfortably straddles the minutiae of daily life and the magical, digital world of OZ, and best of all a plot that balances character development against well-paced action. The film is sometimes a little too funny, but that prevents the plot from becoming too dire; similarly OZ is sometimes too cartoony, which while visually striking doesn't make for the most realistic worldwide digital universe. But for the most part, Summer Wars is faultless.

In fact if I had to make one complaint, it's that the film is a little too perfect. Plot points tie together too nicely, everyone does just the right thing at just the right time, the end is too happy—there's a slight excess of good and awesome in the film. Nevermind the digital world that's the setting of half the plot, it's this abundance of perfection that makes the story tend towards unbelievable. I begrudged this not at all while watching, but as the final scene of celebration drew to a close I felt a bit cheated, like it had all been too easy and too neat.

That issue isn't enough to distract from a wonderful film, though. And Summer Wars is: smart, fun, detailed, colorful, imaginative, clever, and altogether wonderful, this is a movie to rouse cheering and a pleasant choked-up feeling. The only version I've been able to find online was fairly low-res and has soft English subtitles over hard Korean subtitles, but if you can put up with those inconveniences I highly recommend you seek out Summer Wars. And if you can't, keep it on your radar: when a clearer sub is available, you will want to see this film.

I've been reading a ton of manga and barely reviewing a fraction of it, a combination which still leads to a few reviews piling up unshared. Same old warnings apply: these manga contain explicit sex and may contain BDSM, rape, or student/adult relationships. So to begin:

( 6 various BL manga reviews. )

( 3 Minase Masara BL manga reviews. )

( And finally, 1 straight/hentai manga review. )

So I've been reading manga again, and as we know I'm not like to let anything pass by unreviewed. But I've been reading pretty much strictly boys love manga. I'm reviewing them anyway, in part for my own records—and yeah, I'm pretty sure that reviewing porn makes me a little weird—but keep in mind that all of these manga contain explicit homosexual content, and be warned that they may contain student/teacher relationships, dubious consent/rape, shota, or guro. So if these are of no use or interest to you, pass them by! Because I've read so many, I'll split them in half: recommended and not recommended. Due to the nature of these manga, I'll put it all under LJ cuts.

( Recommended: 7 manga. )

( Not Recommended: 7 manga. )

Ergo Proxy
Manglobe, Shuko Murase, 2006
In the distant future, in the vast wasteland of the world, stands the domed city Romdo, a utopia where humans and androids, called AutoReivs, peacefully coexist under the ever-watchful eye of the ruling government—until some AutoReivs are infected with the Cognito virus and become self-aware. A series of murders results and while investigating them, Inspector Re-l (pronounced Real) Mayer, working alongside her AutoReiv partner Iggy, encounters a mysterious, unbelievably powerful humanoid lifeform called a Proxy. Meanwhile, immigrant Vincent Law, charged with hunting and disposing of infected AutoReivs, flees Romdo for the wastelands beyond, and Cognito-infected child companion AutoReiv Pino follows in his wake. Re-l's investigation leads her in pursuit of Vincent and to a journey where she must discover the truth behind the domed cities, the Proxies, the role of self-awareness, and her own existence.

I have been meaning to write a review of Ergo Proxy since I watched it some months ago. Now, at circle_of_ashes's prompting, I've been reminded to do so. Ergo Proxy is a post-apocalyptic/pre-apocalyptic/post-cyberpunk/steampunk/scifi anime with a slowly-revealing plot and a heavy emphasis on character motivations—almost as hard to categorize as it is to summarize. In many ways it resembles Ghost in the Shell, investigating similar concepts of self-awareness: what makes a human being? at what point does an AI become human? does self-awareness create free-will, or are our actions still predetermined? Ergo Proxy's pre- and post-apocalyptic setting presents issues of self-awareness on both a personal and a global scale. Re-l's journeys within and without Romdo bring her face to face with a number of individuals struggling with issues of self-awareness and freewill: Vincent Law, who is running from his past; Pino, a doll who is becoming a real girl; finally Re-l herself, as she discovers that her family and her past may both have engineered to put her where she stands now. Meanwhile, what Re-l learns about the role of the domed cities and the worlds outside of them puts these personal struggles on a world-wide scale: the whole planet is struggling to balance self-awareness and freewill with safety and fate.

These issues are of course couched in a show entire. The plot unfolds in arcs: at first confusing, then revealing itself, then becoming confusing again as a new layer is drawn. This confuse-and-reveal pattern allows for a number of surreal events (at one point, the entire cast is duplicated; at another, they become lost in a living theme park) that allow for even more introspection into character mindset and motivation, all the while resolving to a more logical science-fiction-based plot. The overarching plot and various themes are balanced against half-hour episodes that are reasonably self-contained, as well as moments of humor, romance, inter-character interaction—all number of little things which make each episode interesting and satisfying, and keep the story and characters grounded despite the reach and gravity of the show's themes. All of this appears in the show's distinctive style, a combination of 2-D and 3-D animation, high-contrast with selective saturation, and somewhat stylized, particularly in the almost-human AutoReivs and Proxies. Character design is distinctive and intentional: Re-l's hair style and eyeshadow, both of which become plot devices, Pino's adorable bunny suit, and most of all Vincent Law, whose narrow eyes widen through the course of the story. The settings and background details are similarly intentional, giving a gritty steampunk/post-cyberpunk detail to the post-apocalyptic world and a deceptive sparsity and shine to the would-be-utopias.

In fewer words, Ergo Proxy is a brilliant show that is both watchable and meaningful, mixing plot and introspection, science and philosophy, localized characters and generalized themes. It has a distinctive, beautiful style, skillful pacing and script, and achieves a great deal in its mere 23 episodes. I would compare it to similar introspective sci-fi anime like Ghost in the Shell and Neon Genesis Evangelion, although it has its own style and flair as well and its own particular answers to the same questions of self-awareness, identity, and freewill. Likewise, I would recommend it just as strongly as I would GitS and Eva—to scifi anime fans, but to others as well. It's unique and may take time to adjust to, but in the end the show's specific style is one of its best features. I'm glad to have seen it and plan to rewatch it—I expect that there is even more depth the second time around.