Reviews ♥
Media I finished that I feel like writing about. There will be spoilers!!Click the links below to navigate sections.
- GAMES
GAME: Nier Replicant ★★★★★
I 100% completed Nier:Replicant ealrier this year, and wow! I enjoyed it so much.
It's a pretty hard tale to summarise, but its a fun to play action rpg set in a fantasy world where civilisation has long since been destroyed. You play as young Nier, who is looking after his young sister who is suffering from an illness called the black scrawl. 'Shades' lurk around outside, attacking humans and animals alike.
You meet three friends along the way;
You can see them all in the picture above. Yes Emil is a skeleton. It's not his fault, and the story behind it is immesurably sad, actually. I'm making a shrine on this site for him soon, as he is my precious son. All four of these characters are amazing, but I particularly love the bond between Kaine and Emil. It is actually a really heartwarming/heartbreaking queer story of found family and unlikely friendship.
Now that might be a hard sell if all you've heard about Nier is 2B from Nier:Automata (the sequel) and her numerous sexy outfits. But Nier is a lowkey queer francise! Even 2B has a moment with one of her fellow androids. In this game, Emil is gay and Kaine is intersex - important parts of their characterisation and backstories. This representation is something incredibly precious in the world of jrpgs, which is so lacking in the diversity of its stories. Here's an article I enjoyed reading about the more understated lgbt+ representation in these games.
Please Yoko Taro, make some more games like this! I don't neccesarily need more in this world, as I feel like its so resolved and finished. But god would I love to play it for the first time again!
- BOOKS
BOOK: "Now Go: On Grief and Studio Ghibli", ★★★★☆
Karl Thomas Smith
A small but delightful book all about how various Ghibli works deal with the theme of grief. I loved this: there's not much to say other than read it if you're interested in these things, it's great! i read it around the same time as watching The Boy and the Heron, and felt like it needs an update now to include that movie, because it's just jam packed with grief themes.
great cover, too!
BOOK: "Kitchen", Banana Yoshimoto ★★★★★
Kitchen is a poinent, touching dive into grief, connection, melancholy, and the confusion of love. It has a really beautiful atmosphere, is easy to read and at times uplifting despite the subject.
I was once reccomended this by a friend because they knew I was learning Japanese, and they thought it was just a really beautiful story.
I actually come back to it every so often, because it is such an easy, fast paced read that, inversely, feels meandering and lush.
- FILM & TV
MOVIE: "Godzilla (1954)", Ishiro Honda ★★★☆☆
Seen: November 2024
Went to see this for the first time the other day - it's the films 70th anniversary this year!
What an experience! I've seen a couple of the newer American Godzilla movies, but they don't compare to the original, when the king of the monsters was still mysterious, not having reached full fame just yet. The special effects are so impressive for 1954, with large scenes of minatures being destroyed, and Godzilla himself looking stunning, as he was just a guy in a suit at this point!
It's cheesy (acting styles very of their time), but sincere in the best ways. It really drives home it's anti-nuclear message, while remaining entertaining - as only watching a kaiju destroy tokyo can be!