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mistressofmuses) wrote2023-05-30 05:15 pm
mistressofmuses) wrote2023-05-30 05:15 pm
Entry tags:
Consuming Media
A good couple of days with Taylor. :)
We finished reading A Desolation Called Peace. The duology was very good! I really liked just how many ways it explored some of the central themes, particularly around self vs. collective. A lot of that was very sci-fi exploration of different concepts of a hivemind or collective consciousness, or more direct transfers of knowledge, and how different people look at certain types being utterly normal and others as being inhuman... but tying it into themes of conquest and colonization, forced assimilation, the coexistence of your own culture and one that you've been forced to adopt... it was very good and I liked it.
We also got through one more major ending ("Explosion route") in AI: The Somnium Files/Nirvana Initiative. Ryuchi is just fine and very well-adjusted and is just super normal and mentally stable. :)) So are the rest of the characters.
Haha, it's cute that Amame (the merMAID from the maid cafe in the first game) got a promotion to main cast. Her somnium definitely wasn't horrifying or anything.
A+ to the game for the bonkers tonal whiplash (that manages to work, honestly).
Also, I really like Gen, which may largely be that he's voiced by SungWon Cho (mostly known for his various comedy videos as ProZD.)
Amame's somnium involves the unexplained blood splatters, and the creepy "find the difference" game where some of her friends are dead, and Komeji speaking from inside the body bag and all... but the deadpan expressions and inflectionless voices of the other people in the somnium "game show" while a laugh-track plays in the background were 1000% more offputting and horrifying, and I respect that.
And the tonal whiplash of going from that somnium to Iris's, playing not!PokemonGO against the silly Sejima boss, and the sillier Tearer "one-winged angel" second stage boss fight, then straight from THERE into a mostly-bad end where the previous protag ends up missing-presumed-dead by the current protag (who also admits that he was maybe kinda in love with him), one of our new friend characters ends up paralyzed, one loses an eye, and the culprit escapes without the murders being solved; leading to a worsening of the current protag's apparent psychotic break.
It's great!
Also, really EVERYONE is adopted? Fuck.
We also watched one more episode of Shadow and Bone. While I'm enjoying it, I definitely don't disagree with a lot of criticism I'd seen, in that I wish the series had been given more breathing room. There is so very much happening so very quickly, without any time to really sit and let things have the right impacts or consideration. This is partially the fault of the show adapting (and trying to intertwine) two full stories (that of the original Grisha trilogy and that of the Six of Crows duology, so FIVE books at least). I think it's also very much the fault of "we want to cram in as much of the story in this season as possible, because we might not get renewed for any more, and don't want to leave anything out" which is far sadder imo.
(Full disclosure, I read and loved the Six of Crows duology, but did not read the original trilogy, and that could be part of the following:)
There's also the slight problem that even with the fate-of-the-world plot going on with Alina... I *still* feel more invested in what's going on with the Crows. That's part of what I *liked* about the duology - while it brushes up against some very big world-level events (wars between nations and ideologies; the plot that hasn't appeared in the series about the drug that impacts grisha; Alina and co. do show up in the second book, later on the timeline after their own plotline has resolved...) the core of the story is a very personal one of revenge, and I really vibed with that. I don't *dislike* stories that focus on good vs. evil, or main characters that are at their core heroic. It's not that I don't LIKE Alina or care about her plot. But the grey morality "doing good in spite of my nature, not because of it" nature of Kaz and the other Crows was far more compelling imo. I also just plain love long-con revenge.
Also, ep 3 semi-adapted one of my favorite parts of the second Crows book, but without the same reveal/emotional payout. And it's fine, because it wouldn't have had the needed impact right now, and I don't know that they don't still utilize it later, and the scene was still quite good, so I'm not *mad* per se. Just sort of an observation.
We finished reading A Desolation Called Peace. The duology was very good! I really liked just how many ways it explored some of the central themes, particularly around self vs. collective. A lot of that was very sci-fi exploration of different concepts of a hivemind or collective consciousness, or more direct transfers of knowledge, and how different people look at certain types being utterly normal and others as being inhuman... but tying it into themes of conquest and colonization, forced assimilation, the coexistence of your own culture and one that you've been forced to adopt... it was very good and I liked it.
We also got through one more major ending ("Explosion route") in AI: The Somnium Files/Nirvana Initiative. Ryuchi is just fine and very well-adjusted and is just super normal and mentally stable. :)) So are the rest of the characters.
Haha, it's cute that Amame (the merMAID from the maid cafe in the first game) got a promotion to main cast. Her somnium definitely wasn't horrifying or anything.
A+ to the game for the bonkers tonal whiplash (that manages to work, honestly).
Also, I really like Gen, which may largely be that he's voiced by SungWon Cho (mostly known for his various comedy videos as ProZD.)
Amame's somnium involves the unexplained blood splatters, and the creepy "find the difference" game where some of her friends are dead, and Komeji speaking from inside the body bag and all... but the deadpan expressions and inflectionless voices of the other people in the somnium "game show" while a laugh-track plays in the background were 1000% more offputting and horrifying, and I respect that.
And the tonal whiplash of going from that somnium to Iris's, playing not!PokemonGO against the silly Sejima boss, and the sillier Tearer "one-winged angel" second stage boss fight, then straight from THERE into a mostly-bad end where the previous protag ends up missing-presumed-dead by the current protag (who also admits that he was maybe kinda in love with him), one of our new friend characters ends up paralyzed, one loses an eye, and the culprit escapes without the murders being solved; leading to a worsening of the current protag's apparent psychotic break.
It's great!
Also, really EVERYONE is adopted? Fuck.
We also watched one more episode of Shadow and Bone. While I'm enjoying it, I definitely don't disagree with a lot of criticism I'd seen, in that I wish the series had been given more breathing room. There is so very much happening so very quickly, without any time to really sit and let things have the right impacts or consideration. This is partially the fault of the show adapting (and trying to intertwine) two full stories (that of the original Grisha trilogy and that of the Six of Crows duology, so FIVE books at least). I think it's also very much the fault of "we want to cram in as much of the story in this season as possible, because we might not get renewed for any more, and don't want to leave anything out" which is far sadder imo.
(Full disclosure, I read and loved the Six of Crows duology, but did not read the original trilogy, and that could be part of the following:)
There's also the slight problem that even with the fate-of-the-world plot going on with Alina... I *still* feel more invested in what's going on with the Crows. That's part of what I *liked* about the duology - while it brushes up against some very big world-level events (wars between nations and ideologies; the plot that hasn't appeared in the series about the drug that impacts grisha; Alina and co. do show up in the second book, later on the timeline after their own plotline has resolved...) the core of the story is a very personal one of revenge, and I really vibed with that. I don't *dislike* stories that focus on good vs. evil, or main characters that are at their core heroic. It's not that I don't LIKE Alina or care about her plot. But the grey morality "doing good in spite of my nature, not because of it" nature of Kaz and the other Crows was far more compelling imo. I also just plain love long-con revenge.
Also, ep 3 semi-adapted one of my favorite parts of the second Crows book, but without the same reveal/emotional payout. And it's fine, because it wouldn't have had the needed impact right now, and I don't know that they don't still utilize it later, and the scene was still quite good, so I'm not *mad* per se. Just sort of an observation.