inkstained

Anime Rec: Love Stage!!

In this hysterical boys’ love anime, college student Izumi is the youngest member of the Sena show-biz family—the only member who is not interested in being in entertainment: awkward, with paralyzing stage fright. As a child, due to a casting emergency, Izumi ended up in a wedding commercial with his family and a little boy named Ryouma (Izumi played a girl and Ryouma played a boy), and now they’re reuniting for a 10th-year anniversary.

Like most anime in the BL genre, there is a disappointing undercurrent of homophobia—but unlike most, this anime has that at the beginning and then Ryouma accepts that he’s in love with a guy and that his feelings transcend gender. Like many BL anime, there is an assault scene—but unlike most, the perpetrator realizes what he’s done is deeply wrong and takes every step he can to sincerely apologize and undo the hurt he’s caused.

Both the leads are very appealing, and the supporting characters are all wonderful, as well: Izumi’s doting parents and wonderfully supportive brother, long-suffering manager, school friends, and manga crush (magical princess Lala-Lulu). Parts are exceptionally funny, like Izumi’s hopelessness at drawing manga. And I love the exploration that sex and relationships need work and aren’t always perfect on the first try.

More recs here!

Anime Rec: Hunter x Hunter (2011)

In a world with magic, steampunk, and select modern technology, twelve-year-old Gon and his friends are determined to achieve various goals by becoming Hunters, for which they need to pass the fiendishly difficult and incredibly dangerous Hunter Exam.

This series is compulsively watchable and addicting, even at its length of 148 episodes, and it’s all in the characters: the idealistic but practical Gon, the wryly playful Killua, the scholarly and thoughtful Kurapika, and the impetuous Leorio. Side characters are given similar consideration and depth, like Hisoka the creepy “Joker” character and a ton of other “enemy” characters (like the Phantom Troupe, other Hunters, and even the Chimera Ants). Just finding out about characters’ specialized fighting abilities (through a power called “Nen”) is totally fascinating.

At first, you think this is a really happy series, full of fun and silly things where fights are easily won without any sacrifice on the protagonist’s part. And then little by little, some really seriously dark material starts to creep in, and you see how messed up this anime can get, with torture, murder, hypnotism, child abuse, insanity, imprisonment, genocide, and gladiatorial fights to the death. The art lulls you into a false sense of security that hides the dark themes to come.

However, the dark events are a double-edged sword for this anime, and my main complaint is that the anime does not treat the often devastating collateral damage to civilians or bystanders with as much gravitas and angst as it treats damage to the heroes and their loved ones. I never thought I’d be requesting characters to feel more overwhelming angst or guilt in my entertainment, but parts of this anime feel so strangely unreal without it. As I said before, the anime is chock-full of random acts of shocking violence, but they are only occasionally treated as such by any of the main characters.

Minor unnamed characters are constantly dying or being tortured in horrific ways. In one scene, an extra suddenly and without warning becomes a double-amputee for a minor infraction (he bumped against someone without apologizing), and not only is he never seen from again, none of the other characters present do anything more than basically shrug blithely and go back to their conversation. I found myself wondering, “Did that just happen?!”

I would compare this anime’s world-building to Fullmetal Alchemist, but I find it impossible to imagine FMA’s characters dealing with something like that in such a bland way—if Ed Elric saw an event like that, he’d be shocked to the core and angsting about it for months! So while Hunter x Hunter has the potential to really explore the depths of the human psyche, it too often squanders great opportunities in favor of simply moving the plot along.

That said, even with the darkness, the anime does have plenty of heart, with its main theme being the power of friendship and determination. Beware: the first few episodes are not great, so definitely give this one time to get going. Because it will. By the end of the last arc, I was stunned at the incredible journey I had just taken with these characters.

More anime reviews are here.

So I picked up this wartime memoir The Taliban Shuffle by Kim Barker after hearing rumors that it will soon be made into a movie starring Tina Fey with Martin Freeman as her love interest (!!)—two of my favourite comedy actors working together! And of course I’m greatly interested in anything that draws Martin Freeman’s attention in particular.

I quickly found what attracted them to the material: the book is quirky, insightful, and illuminating, capturing what it was like to be a female journalist in very tense regions of the world. Barker’s account is a great combination of what was happening in Afghanistan and Pakistan with sprinklings of her personal life.

( Read Full Review )

I can't wait to see how Tina Fey adapts the book to screen!

Just spent the last two days blazing through the ten episodes of Marco Polo, a new series by Netflix, which is gaining a reputation for amazing programs like Orange is the New Black and House of Cards.

This series is based on Italian explorer Marco Polo’s time in the court of Kublai Khan during the late Song dynasty and the beginning of the Yuan dynasty in the 1270s. The series and ensemble cast cover a great amount of topics very efficiently, among them Mongolian and Chinese politics and wars, concubines, foot binding, and of course trade routes. And there is no shortage of excitement with battles, intrigue, assassins, poisonings, spies, torture, and double-dealings. My favorite part about the series is how we’re given an idea of all the different cultures meshing on the Silk Road and in the Khan’s Imperial City.

Lorenzo Richelmy makes an appealing lead as Marco Polo, and truly there are amazing performances from all; almost every character has hidden depths and history, particularly the female characters. Other than Kublai’s attractive son Jingim (played by Remy Hii) and Empress Chabi (played by Joan Chen), two of my favorite characters were the blind monk “Hundred Eyes” (played by Tom Wu) and the Chinese concubine Mei Lin (played by Olivia Cheng), whose devotion to her daughter was incredibly touching. There is also a wonderfully moving love story between two kickass secondary characters (you’ll know it when you see it).

But the standout here is Benedict Wong, who absolutely disappears into his role as the powerful, gout-afflicted ruler Kublai Khan. This grandson of Genghis Khan is portrayed as a brutal but fair leader who actually has a flair for fun and humor as well as bloody war tactics.

In addition to the beautiful production values, I love the opening with the Mongolian throat singers (check it out at this link). I had the opportunity to study in China and see these singers in action, and their music is so haunting and impressive.

Highly recommended series! I’ve seen it compared to Game of Thrones, but to me, it’s closer to the excellent series Rome. At the very least, this series helps to give a rough explanation of a dynamic period in Chinese history.

Happy New Year, everyone!

After months of agonizing waiting and trying to ignore other people’s reviews, I fiiiiiinally got to see The Imitation Game!!! The theater were in was sold out and had a line out the door (we had to stand in the cold to get tickets!), and even though we arrived very early, we had to sit on the third row because the theater was so full. Whoa, so much interest in this film!

( Spoilery discussion and review )

My other Benedict Cumberbatch reviews can be found here. :)

Hmm, I liked this YA novel, but not as much as I thought I might like it.

( Review behind the cut! )

...to Sophie Hunter! AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! She is a theater director. :)

They look really cute together; I'm so pleased he found someone he loves enough to marry. :)

And they announced it by putting out a small ad in The Times newspaper in the "Forthcoming Marriages" section--how classy is that?

Now I really have to see Burlesque Fairytales, which apparently has both Sophie and Benedict acting together.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Yay, I’ve finally gotten to see Daniel Radcliffe’s newest movie, Horns, which I’ve been looking forward to! In it, he plays Iggy, a young man devastated by the murder of his girlfriend, Merrin (played by Juno Temple), not only because she died unexpectedly but because he is being accused of murdering her. Aaand then without warning, he starts growing demonic horns from his forehead, and people start unwittingly revealing their deepest darkest secrets to him, and it just gets weirder from there. Through all the chaos surrounding him, he begins to investigate what really happened to Merrin.

Damn, this movie is difficult to categorize! A twisty (and twisted!) gory supernatural romantic psychological murder mystery drama comedy horror thriller with religious imagery and so many surprises—there, that should do it! Whatever genre you want to place it in, I can say without reservation that it’s very good!

( My thoughts with some minor spoilers )

Speaking of Mr. Radcliffe, though, he recently did a very sweet Reddit Ask Me Anything. His enthusiasm about everything is lovely. I’m glad he seems to have grown up to be a good person after all the craziness he must have faced being such a famous child actor.

For those like me who were unable to travel to the UK to see Martin Freeman in his performance of Richard III and yet are dyinggg to see it, please consider signing this petition to record/broadcast the production. At the very least, it will allow the studio to see the international interest in the play! Plus, I want to be able to compare Martin and Benedict's performances of Richard III once Benedict's is recorded!

Movie Review: Locke with Tom Hardy, Andrew Scott, Olivia Coleman, and Ruth Wilson

Construction director Ivan Locke is having a very important day, but unfortunately everything is happening at once. All coinciding in one night are the birth of his illegitimate son (to a woman whom his wife does not know about), the culmination of a massive construction project with tons of little details he’s supposed to be overseeing, and a big football game he’s supposed to be watching with his sons. Despite trying to micro-manage each of them as he drives from Birmingham to London to be there for the baby’s birth, he finds his life spiraling out of control.

This is a very strange movie in which Tom Hardy is the only actor we actually see onscreen. He is brilliant at portraying a man trying so hard to hold everything together—his career, his personal life, and above all his own emotions and sense of duty—when it’s all falling apart. Although the story itself and Tom Hardy’s emotions are very effective, his creepily calm Welsh accent is so weird, making him sound stilted and unnatural, especially in comparison to the other actors, who feel much more realistic.

There’s also a part in which Locke talks in the rearview mirror to his dead father, a conceit which truly does not work. I think I get what they were going for—making him seem like a usually calm control freak who’s losing it—but instead, it just makes him seem like a theater actor monologuing in a one-man play instead of a real person.

Andrew Scott plays Donal, Locke’s coworker who finds himself unexpectedly in charge of pouring concrete for a $100 million project when Locke can’t be there. Naturally, he’s freaking out about it, drinking, slowly losing it as things get more and more desperate. Andrew brings a ton of energy to the role, and it was always a pleasure to hear his distinctive voice.

I suppose I went into the movie thinking it would be about a guy on the run from gangsters (you know, your typical stuck-in-a-car situation), but it was a bit refreshing to see that it was actually quite a deep character study, even if certain elements didn’t entirely gel for me.

More Andrew Scott reviews here.