March Wrap-Up
what I read and watched last month
This is my Monthly Wrap-Up series, where I share quick reviews for the things I read and watched during the previous month. If you are a new reader (welcome!), here’s the February post:
Oof, March was a long month, for multiple reasons. This was supposed to come out on Sunday, my apologies for the delay. Anyway, despite how overwhelming March was, I got to read and watch a lot of good things, so without further ado, let’s talk about them.
What I Read.
The Beginning Place by Ursula K. Le Guin
The story follows two young adults, Hugh and Irene. Hugh is stuck with an abusive and controlling mother that holds him back from becoming his own person, and he struggles with his self-image due to being fat. One day he stumbles into a fantastical place where it’s always twilight and time passes slowly, and that magical land becomes his refuge from the pains and anxieties of daily life.
Meanwhile, Irene has been able to go into the twilight land since she was a child, and that world became her home through the hardships of her teenage years. She’s not always able to escape into the other world, so she treasures her time there and is extremely upset when she finds out that there’s someone else going into her safe place.
This novel is very intimate and raw. It’s a coming-of-age narrative about two people who have more in common than they may think, they are both trapped in-between stages of life, unable to move forward. This is made clear by the fact that it’s always twilight in the other world, and that’s why, in order for them to grow, they have to leave that place. It’s a brilliant choice for a portal fantasy, a genre that is all about escapism. In this type of novel, the fantasy world is usually more enticing and beautiful than home, and going back is usually a bittersweet experience. Here, Le Guin does the opposite. Hugh and Irene’s departure from the fantasy world is a rejection of escapism, they realize that they have idealized this land and that it was never as perfect as they thought, and so they leave in order to have fulfilling lives on the other side. It reminds me somewhat of Sonny Boy, where the characters have to leave the alternate universe in order to grow up. This message resonates a lot with me, and I think it’s important for people who feel stuck in life. You can’t run away from your problems, you can’t let others carry you and make decisions for you, you have to take your life in your own hands.
Something that I really liked about this book is the portrayal of emotional abuse and toxic family relationships. Hugh’s mother treats him as a punching bag, she takes out her frustration on him and feeds his self-hatred. Both Hugh and Irene feel like they have to take care of their mothers, and this is what holds them back from becoming independent adults. I think both main characters are very well written and I like the parallels between them, but Hugh’s story really stuck with me. His lack of confidence, his awkwardness, his internalized fatphobia—it’s all quite heartbreaking. I loved his character development, and the ending was perfect. Some people may feel that the romance is a little rushed, but I thought it made sense as a conclusion to Hugh and Irene’s arcs. A big part of what they needed to work on was their fear of intimacy, and I think them getting together ties perfectly into that. 5/5 I’ll probably read this again at some point, there’s so much to unpack.
The Wilful Princess and the Piebald Prince by Robin Hobb
This novella is a prequel set in the Six Duchies, several generations before Fitz was born, and it’s written from the perspective of Felicity, a maid who grew up alongside Princess Caution Farseer and who lived in Buckkeep during the reign of the infamous Piebald Prince.
I wrote a full review here. To sum it up, I really enjoyed this, and it’s a great addition to the series. Hobb continues to explore queerness and prejudice, with a mastery that few fantasy authors achieve when trying to handle such nuanced topics. There isn’t a lot of new information, but knowing just a little bit more about the Piebald Prince and how similar he is to Fitz makes the entire series even more tragic. 4/5
Witch Hat Atelier (vol. 13 - ch. 83) by Kamome Shirahama
After defeating Engendil, Coco and Quifrey go searching for Coustas. With Beldaruit’s help, Coco is able to reach her friend, but now she needs to think of a way to save Coustas that will abide by the law.
I like waiting for chapters to pile up before catching up with this series, because it lets me appreciate Shirahama’s writing better. The Festival Arc isn’t over yet, but these last few chapters have been wild, and I can’t wait for the grand finale. Witch Hat Atelier isn’t an action series, but it’s still really exciting when the witches get to go all out and use their magic in creative ways. Seeing Quifrey and Olruggio work together was very satisfying, and the art was top-notch as always; it was one of the most awe-inspiring sequences in the series. Something that I love about WHA is how the characters have to come up with unique solutions to their problems, and Coco’s answer to the Coustas conundrum and the leeches was incredibly well-thought-out, I like how it ties the two major conflicts of this arc. Cousta’s story is very tragic and heartbreaking, and I’m a little disappointed with how Shirahama continues to handle the brim hats, but we’ll see how that develops further on. The most recent lore reveals are very interesting, it brought the underlying darkness of the setting to the forefront, and it recontextualized a lot of previous events. I’m super curious to see what this means for Quifrey’s character. I’m not giving this one a rating just yet since the arc isn’t over, but so far the Festival arc is one of my favorites in the series.
Spacewalking With You (vol. 1-2) by Inuhiko Doronoda
Kobayashi is a young “delinquent” that struggles with things that seem easy to everyone else. He doesn’t know what to do, and he’s getting worried that he may not be normal. Then he meets Uno, a new transfer student that stands out from the rest due to his struggle with social interactions and his need for routine. Uno helps Kobayashi realize that being different doesn’t mean being alone or helpless, and the two quickly become friends and decide to join the Astronomy Club together.
This is a really sweet and wholesome series. I like seeing a story that is explicitly about being neurodivergent, without sugarcoating it or keeping it ambiguous. Uno’s autism and Kobayashi’s ADHD are directly addressed, and we see how that gets in the way of their daily life. I have several neurodivergent people in my life, and I can really see them in these characters, they are very well written, and their issues are treated with kindness and understanding. The same care is extended to the side characters, each of whom struggle to be “normal” in some way or another, be it feeling like a failure for dropping out of your career or just being an awkward teenager that overthinks all his social interactions. Everyone is very relatable, and the way that they support one another is pretty heartwarming. The series emphasizes the need for communication and how important it is for people to be patient and try to understand each other. The only thing that holds back the series a little is that the art isn’t very polished, but the story more than compensates for that.
An official English translation of this series has been announced recently, but for now I was only able to find a fan translation1 of the first two volumes. If that isn’t a problem for you, I highly recommend checking out this series. 4/5
What I Watched.
Ascendance of a Bookworm (season 2)
Myne keeps getting closer to her goal of making books, but now she faces an entirely new challenge. As a priestess apprentice of lower birth, she has few allies at the church, and her enemies plot against her at every turn. Myne now has to adapt to the intrigue of noble society and become familiar with the more magical side of this fantasy world, all the while she continues to work on her books.
This is now one of my favorite fantasy anime. I loved learning more about the lore and the political state of this world; the amount of detail that goes into the worldbuilding is amazing. This season dives really deep into the sociopolitical context of the story, like the relationship between the nobles and the church, as well as the growing merchant class. We also get to expand a bit more on the magic system, but it’s still rather vague. The tone is still lighthearted and full of whimsy, but Myne’s new environment provides a lot of opportunity for more mature storylines, which the show isn’t afraid to explore. We have moved on from the safety of the household, and Myne now has to deal with true enemies, while before her only worries were how to get books and how to overcome her illness, and this raises the stakes significantly.
The tension between the lower and higher classes and the cultural dissonance between Myne and the people of this world are on the forefront, and I really like it when an isekai explores how being from another world and another time period would complicate things for the main character. Myne’s discomfort with how children are treated is particularly interesting, the notion of childhood is fairly recent in our world, and it’s easy to forget that when writing a fantasy story. This season in general is focused on child-adult relationships, both in a positive and negative way, which ties into Myne’s own complicated position as an adult woman experiencing life as a child. I thought that making her responsible for the orphanage was brilliant, and seeing her get used to her newfound authority was very satisfying. All the new characters are interesting and full of potential, though as the regular cast grows, we start to see some characters get sidelined. This is understandable, but I wish we could have developed some of Myne’s retainers a bit more after their introduction arc. Perhaps this is the result of the show holding back a little—from what I’ve seen, some of these characters have really dark stories in the novels, and while the show does include some of that, getting fully into it would be a jarring tone shift. The show does get serious, but it doesn’t go as far as it could. 4.5/5 The final episode is an emotional gut punch, and this season has a few dark moments, but this is still first and foremost a wholesome fantasy show.
Honey Lemon Soda
Ishimori wants to change herself. In middle school, she was bullied due to her rigid personality, and she was given the nickname “Stone.” After a chance meeting with a bold and confident boy, she decides to go to a more carefree high school than she originally intended, hoping that her new environment will help her become more flexible. She also hopes to meet that boy again.
I want to preface this by saying that I love the current Shojo Renaissance. I think if we want to see more shojo getting adapted, we need to support and actually watch these shows. We need to let studios know there is a market for anime targeted towards young girls.
With all that said, this was mid and corny. The way I see it, this is a watered-down version of Kimi ni Todoke, if Kimitodo was a collection of romance clichés with no substance. Ishimori is an angel that can do nothing wrong and is too pure for this world, but everyone is out to get her for no good reason. I can see the argument that maybe she’s supposed to be autistic, but I don’t think the writing is good even if you assume that’s what they are going for, the drama is too forced and her behavior is too nonsensical for me. Comparing her with Sawako from Kimitodo feels insulting to Sawako, and it doesn’t help that HLS does a terrible job at developing the relationship between the main girl and their classmates. In both series, a big part of the story is seeing the protagonist become more sociable and integrate into their class despite their awkwardness, but in HLS, Ishimori barely interacts with her classmates and we are still supposed to believe that everyone in her class wants to protect her and that they love her. Even her relationship with her main group of friends is underwhelming, mostly because none of them have any charisma. Her friendship with Serina is a little compelling, but it’s very rushed (again, Kimitodo does it better with Kurumi and Sawako…). Then there’s the romantic interest, who in this case is an annoying and pretentious boy who treats women as pets that he has to take care of. Miura is such a lame love interest, they have no chemistry whatsoever and he keeps spouting these lines that are meant to be super deep but are just cringe. He does not speak like a teenager, and he needs to be humbled. Also, the way that he acts towards Ishimori is all over the place, and seeing her idolize this boy makes me so sad for her. Girl, stand up! He’s so rude all the time, God forbid a boy shows some vulnerability. Not to bring Kimitodo AGAIN, but Kazehaya is a much better example of a cool popular guy, because he’s actually friendly and nice to others. I genuinely have no idea how anyone could root for Ishimori and Miura to get together.
2/5 Don’t waste your time and go watch Kimi ni Todoke instead.
Re: Zero—Starting Life in Another World (season 3)
Emilia and her camp are invited to the city of Priestella by Anastasia, one of the other candidates to the throne. Unbeknownst to them, Anastasia has also summoned two of the other candidates: the amnesiac Crush and the unpredictable Felt. The four of them (plus the final candidate, Priscilla, who invited herself) arrive in the city with their own plans and goals, but all of that goes out of the window when the city gets taken over by the Witch Cult. Now everyone has to band together to defeat the combined forces of several Sin Archbishops, each crazier than the next. Subaru and his allies face against their most powerful foes to date.
One of the things that I have always loved about Re:Zero is the worldbuilding, I like how the setting is so mysterious and how we rarely get full explanations, it makes the world feel more real and complex. This is partially because of adaptation constraints, there’s a fair amount of lore that gets expanded upon in the source material and that never makes it into the anime2, but I think that just adds to the experience, it means you have to make an effort to keep up with the little information that they do give you. As an anime-only, I like being challenged by the story, but I get why some people find this frustrating, especially this season with all the new characters getting introduced and all the different factions moving around, but I loved the chaos.
Emilia has gotten so much character development. I love how the show “fixes” the damsel in distress trope by having Emilia be an active player in her own rescue and also being the one that frees the wives from Greed’s control. The Greed plot line was my second favorite this season, he was a perfect antagonist for her. She didn’t beat him alone, but she was instrumental to their victory, and it was so satisfying when she was finally able to punch him in the face. I like how the show handles romance, Emilia’s feelings for Subaru are given time to develop and we are now seeing her become more emotionally intelligent and able to express her own views on romance and what she thinks a relationship should be like. We also see this theme through the Van Astrea plotline, which I will get into in a bit. Emilia and Subaru have a great dynamic, they bounce off each other really well and they are true equals, I like that Subaru openly respects and admires her, and their friendship feels genuine.
Subaru’s performance was stellar, this arc had the least amount of resets so far, good for him for only dying 3 times. He’s more capable now and he has learned to rely on others, and he’s also growing into his role as a leader. His speech before the battle was so good, Yusuke Kobayashi deserved a Best Voice Actor nomination, but I digress3. He had so many good moments this season, and he had really nice interactions with everyone, especially Reinhard and Garfield.
Everyone had their moment! I cried so hard with Garfield’s storyline, it was so devastating to see him break down in tears and struggle with PTSD, he’s such a kind boy and this season really reminds you that he’s just a child trying his best. The conclusion to his arc was beautiful, and I’m glad they gave that fight such amazing animation because he deserved it. Then there’s the other princesses—Priscila and Anastasia really came through, especially Priscila. I want to know more about her so bad, she was such a badass and her fight was epic. Al was so cool, I like how we still don’t know anything about him and how the show keeps you on your toes regarding his true agenda. It adds to the overall mysterious vibe of the season. Liliana was cool too, she’s great comedic relief but the more serious moments with her were very emotional. Even Beatrice got a few cool moments, despite being absent for most of the season. Her dynamic with Subaru is really cute and wholesome.
Finally, we have to talk about the Van Astreas, my favorite part of the season. That family can give the Todorokis from My Hero Academia a run for their money. Reinhard is consistently one of the most interesting characters in the show, I love how he’s dehumanized by the people around him and treated as trash while being expected to be the perfect hero, there’s a wall between him and everyone else that only Subaru can breach. Learning more about the previous Sword Saint added to the tragedy of Reinhard’s life, and the Theresia flashback felt like barely a glimpse into the true horror of being given this power. I’m not the first to say this but Theresia could get her own spin-off and I wouldn’t complain, there’s so much to unpack with her. The toxic relationship between Wilhelm, Heinkel and Reinhard was so compelling, they all feel responsible for Theresia’s death in some level and there’s so much resentment between them. One of my favorite details was how Heinkel interpreted Theresia’s parting moment—while we the audience can see that she was glad to see her family and that she deeply loved them, Heinkel saw their final interaction as Theresia judging them and being dissapointed in them. It’s so tragic that this man can’t see how much his mother loved him, and this in turn makes him resent his own son even more for taking her away from him twice. Insanely good writing, I could talk about the Van Astreas for hours.
Overall, this season was great. I wish we had gotten a couple more episodes to flesh out some things and the ending was a little rushed (we didn’t even get the full battle with Gluttony), but I still enjoyed it from beginning to end. That cliffhanger was crazy, I can’t wait for next season. 4.5/5
Mickey 17 dir. by Bong Joon-Ho
Mickey is an “Expendable,” someone who regularly dies doing dangerous work and gets cloned over and over again. He agreed to be an Expendable in order to join a space mission far away from Earth, without knowing what he was getting into. Now he’s used to dying and being brought back, but things take a turn when clone number 17 miraculously survives a mission that should have killed him.
This is a weird movie, first and foremost. I don’t think it’s particularly enlightening from a political perspective, it’s a pretty standard anti-capitalist message, so don’t go into this movie expecting something as complex and nuanced as Parasyte. The commentary is very on the nose, and they can say whatever they want about Ruffalo’s character not being based on Trump, but it’s still an obvious Trump parody. Anyway, this one is for the people that want to see Robert Pattinson be a bit of a freak on screen for two hours, and if you are into that, this is a blast. It’s a dark comedy, and it certainly delivers on the humor. Robert Pattinson does a great job at giving Mickey 17 and Mickey 18 distinct personalities, to the point that it feels like watching a proper comedy duo; these two characters work off each other really well. It’s weird, nasty, and sexually charged, Pattinson completely understood the assignment. Naomi Ackie is also hilarious, and her character Nasha is surprisingly well-rounded, I expected her to be a run-of-the-mill love interest but she ended up stealing the movie for me. She has insane chemistry with Mickey and their love is really powerful. I’d say that at its core this movie is about devotion. Nasha’s love for Mickey is what reminds him that he’s human even when everyone else sees him as disposable meat. It’s a fun time, 4/5.
Festen dir. by Thomas Vinterberg
In the Danish countryside, a family gathers to celebrate the 60th birthday of the patriarch. However, the recent death of his twin sister pushes Christian, the eldest son, to reveal some shocking and disturbing secrets that will cast a large shadow over the festivities.
This movie centers around pedophilia and sexual abuse, and while I think it handles these themes thoughtfully, it’s still pretty disturbing. Do not go into this blind. With that out of the way, what a wonderful movie. This was my first time watching a Dogma 95 movie, and it was certainly weird, but I think the style really suits the tone of the story and ties everything together; the handheld camera and the natural lightning make it feel uncomfortably realistic, like you are inside the house watching this family fall apart around you. I would compare the atmosphere to a Shirley Jackson novel—that same strange, not-quite supernatural feeling—there are ghosts in this house, and you never know for sure just how real the ghosts are, but the way they haunt the narrative is tangible in every scene. The dead sister is the one that moves the story forward, her actions and her words are what bring down the father’s carefully constructed house of cards. There’s a feeling of claustrophobia, even in the outdoor scenes. Christian’s trauma paints every interaction, you are always on edge, wondering what bomb he is going to drop next. The incestuous undertones between Christian and Linda are also in line with Gothic sensibilities, and I think it would be fair to consider this movie an example of modern Gothic.
I really love how the family here works as a microcosm of society. Helge’s abuse of his children is a reflection of the way in which a patriarchal society views children and women as possessions that can be used by the man of the house however he pleases; there’s no deeper reasoning for what he did other than the fact that the children were there and he could do it. “The banality of evil,” as Le Guin says. He’s a pathetic man, rotten to the core; there’s nothing special about him. We also see how the family excludes and belittles those that don’t pertain to the in-group: the employees and Gbatokai. Christian’s refusal to stay silent makes him an outsider, and because of that, he stands in solidarity with the other marginalized members of this microsociety. I think this allyship between Christian, the house staff and Gbatokai is very powerful. The way that women are positioned within the narrative is also interesting. The mother is an accomplice in Helge’s abuse through her inaction, and she tries to gaslight Christian for appearance’s sake. She’s as evil as her husband, but her evil is more subtle, easier to ignore. Helena belongs to a younger generation and is portrayed as somewhat liberated, yet her initial reaction is to go along with the façade of normalcy. She was on a similar path to her mother, but in the end her love for her brother makes her take a stand. Then there are the two maids and Michael’s wife—these women come from a lower class background, and they are constantly pushed aside and mistreated by the men of the family.
There’s a lot more to talk about, it’s the kind of movie that sparks a lot of discussion and that can be analyzed through multiple lenses. It’s not an easy watch, but it’s worth your time. 5/5 One of the best movies I’ve seen in a while.
Thank you to everyone for all the kind words and the support this last month. I’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed lately, and because of that I will be going on a brief hiatus this month. That doesn’t mean I won’t be working on content, I’m just going to take things easy for a bit. I may post something before April ends, but I’m not making any promises.
If you have read or watched any of the things on this list, let me know what you thought about them in the comments!
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This fan translation has a lot of out-of-place slang and references, and it does use the R-slur several times. It didn’t bother me that much, but to each their own.
If you also watched s3 and you are still confused about what was going on, I recommend checking out the Witch Cult Translations website. They have a page where they explain all the content that was cut from the anime, which is very helpful. As of today (April 8), they have updated the page all the way to s3e8.
In case you missed my angry notes last week, I hate Crunchyroll’s Anime Awards nominations, they make no sense. I hate that they took away the Best Fantasy category, Re:Zero should have gotten nominated fo that and for Best VA.
Space walking sounds really up my alley esp with the characters being on the spectrum!
I'm excited to check out Mickey 17. I'm bummed I have not been able to see it yet.