Media roundup Jul-Aug
Sep. 1st, 2024 14:01![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
superborbYoung Royals S1-3: The prince of Sweden is sent to boarding school after his most recent scandal, falls in love with a boy, and causes more scandal. I told @phnelt that I probably wouldn't watch it without the peer pressure of a group watch, so obviously she made us group watch it sdjflskdj. Overall I enjoyed this! The core relationship is very cute, and I liked that all the main and secondary characters had believable flaws and relationships with each other, even if they felt very mature for their age bc of how open they were about their emotions. The teenage high school girl vibes also were spot on. S1 felt more like set up in retrospect, with S2 peaking in the relationship drama (and angsty love songs), and S3 more about social issues. I thought the discussion on royalty was enough to be interesting without being overwhelming, as the protagonist cares about the monarchy as an extension of care for his family, vs others who see the privilege and duty of it primarily; the out of time aspect of the monarchy also let the show have the hiding being gay aspect that would otherwise be so outdated. The show also had a lot of things to say about hazing and how the characters react to it. I think you need a bit of tolerance for high school drama to really enjoy the show, but it also struck a nice balance between being about relationships between the characters and larger social issues.
The Makanai: Cozy ensemble slice of life as two best friends go to Kyoto to become maiko; one is unsuited for it and instead becomes their live in cook. I enjoyed each character's story and their interactions! I especially loved Momoko, the star geiko, who is so passionate about her art and also... so weird in her interests outside it haha; also loved that she refused to acknowledge her contemporary fellow geiko as a rival, but immediately joked that the protagonist was her rival as she was best friends with the girl she saw as reflecting her own passion and adopted as a little sister. The only miss was when the dad of one of the best friends shows up and the vibes were off. Anyway, very cozy without much drama; would be the sort that's a good background show if you knew Japanese.
Apothecary Diaries (anime S1-2): In a setting loosely based on the Tang dynasty, the protag is an apothecary in the red light district who gets kidnapped and sold to the Imperial Palace to work as a servant; her expertise in poisons and medicines and general detective skills draws her into the higher circles of power of the court. @unrequitedangst and my little bro both recced this haha. It was interesting which aspects of the palace dramas were preserved through this lens (the subtle power plays) and which were not (lack of expected protocols and ranks)! It did have the too modern science and medicine issue that is hard to avoid, but sometimes it went unnecessarily far, like when they were disguising someone and it felt kinda like reading a meta post about it; at the same time, there were a few magic drugs/medicine moments. The power dynamic between the female and male lead being SO present and acknowledged was interesting, and it generally seems to want to discuss power, but can't quite fit it in between the action of the mysteries. I enjoyed this a lot though, and the pacing was very good as the show moved through smaller mysteries that built into a bigger one.
To the Wonder 我的阿勒泰 (2024): Aspiring writer returns from the big city to stay with her mom who has opened a small provision store in rural Xinjiang. This seems to be trying to aim for slice of life in a pastoral fantasy, but the drama level was often set too high for seemingly no reason, sometimes in a hammy or soap opera-y way, sometimes to extend a dangerous on screen situation (really did not enjoy this!!). Most of the side characters are played by Kazakhs, but unfortunately, it's very obvious that the male lead's actor is not played by someone who speaks Kazakh (why not just dub him??); the airbrushing level is pretty low which fits with it being a bit more of a prestige drama, but everyone still has perfect teeth. What it does really well is be very women centric in its point of view, with strong concerns about caring for family. IDK, I don't regret watching it, but I feel like it did not live up to its potential.
cw: on screen bloody animal death
Link Click 时光代理人 (anime S1+S2): From a photo, the protag can travel to the time + body of the photographer; with the help of his partner, who can visualize the events happening around the time of the photo, they take on various jobs from clients. S1 had a lot of decently well done episodic type mysteries -- especially loved the girlfriends opening a noodle shop together (dramatic but payoff was good!) and the sports anime episode (particularly satisfying on the resolution!). S2 was primarily "plot" and unfortunately, the plot was... not good. Way too much questionable police protocol, the back and forth replay of the same events without substantially new info was mostly tedious, overdramatic scenes, excessively long boring fight scenes, mom trauma, and (not to bury the lede) two solid episodes of on screen domestic abuse... The bad guys AND police guys don't have depth, just bad stereotypes, and had pretty inconsistent characterization so their backstory episodes felt wasted. Anyway, S1 might clear the bar of being worth watching, but I can't see anyone finding S2 worth the time.
IU HEREH (concert): I guess I said I wouldn't do the big kpop concerts anymore unless IU or Taeyeon toured... and then IU toured... This was fun overall and it was especially fun to go with friends! Unfortunately the sound mixing was terrible and her microphone had issues with volume and was not well leveled; the bass was actively unpleasant. As a result, the encore songs were much nicer bc the sound mixing constraints were fewer... The lighting choices were really sophisticated though -- effective light stick syncing, with nice mixed colors, and it added a lot sitting in the back to see the overall effect. The efforts to make the audience do the right fan chant and sing were surprisingly successful considering it was the US and it was all in Korean (it took a while for the not hard core fans to realize the cue was a different color in the lyrics haha). Anyway, I really hope they're able to fix the audio issues in future concerts!!
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011): Famous enough that it probably needs no introduction, but more predictable than I expected? Bf hypothesizes the shoehorning in of Peter Guillam (Benedict Cumberbatch)'s boyfriend is fan service... It didn't really add much IMO and does make the movie feel very early 2010s. I think probably movie format is not my preferred medium for Le Carré, though to be fair, movie-on-a-plane format is not giving it a lot of opportunity.
Dune: Part Two (2024): I had enjoyed the first part of the two part adaptation, but I feel like this one wasn't quite as good. Misc thoughts: The black and white of the Harkonnen planet was really effective! The changed role of Chani is a bit of a brick to the head in making the anti imperialist / Messiah message obvious; I guess people didn't Get It during the first part, but it's really... so unsubtle... I found some of the 'Feyd-Rautha is a sociopath' scenes excessive, esp since they often happened without any context to make them more plot or character relevant. This was fine, but a bit of a let down.
Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister by Jung Chang (DNF): A biography of the Soong sisters and the people around them. I got halfway through before it was snatched away by the library and ... I'm not sure if I'll pick it back up. There's several turns of phrase that really annoyed me (describing students of a women's college as girls; "In bygone days, elegant barge houses on the canal in the city centre had been famed venues for poets, mandarins and quick-witted geisha to compose verse and music while downing dainty cups of fragrant liquor." geisha to describe historical Chinese courtesans, published in 2019!). The author did do a good job of making the argument and showing both why building up a founding mythos around Sun Yat-sen was politically important and that he was kind of a terrible person. I just didn't find it compelling enough to put it back on my holds.
The Makanai: Cozy ensemble slice of life as two best friends go to Kyoto to become maiko; one is unsuited for it and instead becomes their live in cook. I enjoyed each character's story and their interactions! I especially loved Momoko, the star geiko, who is so passionate about her art and also... so weird in her interests outside it haha; also loved that she refused to acknowledge her contemporary fellow geiko as a rival, but immediately joked that the protagonist was her rival as she was best friends with the girl she saw as reflecting her own passion and adopted as a little sister. The only miss was when the dad of one of the best friends shows up and the vibes were off. Anyway, very cozy without much drama; would be the sort that's a good background show if you knew Japanese.
Apothecary Diaries (anime S1-2): In a setting loosely based on the Tang dynasty, the protag is an apothecary in the red light district who gets kidnapped and sold to the Imperial Palace to work as a servant; her expertise in poisons and medicines and general detective skills draws her into the higher circles of power of the court. @unrequitedangst and my little bro both recced this haha. It was interesting which aspects of the palace dramas were preserved through this lens (the subtle power plays) and which were not (lack of expected protocols and ranks)! It did have the too modern science and medicine issue that is hard to avoid, but sometimes it went unnecessarily far, like when they were disguising someone and it felt kinda like reading a meta post about it; at the same time, there were a few magic drugs/medicine moments. The power dynamic between the female and male lead being SO present and acknowledged was interesting, and it generally seems to want to discuss power, but can't quite fit it in between the action of the mysteries. I enjoyed this a lot though, and the pacing was very good as the show moved through smaller mysteries that built into a bigger one.
To the Wonder 我的阿勒泰 (2024): Aspiring writer returns from the big city to stay with her mom who has opened a small provision store in rural Xinjiang. This seems to be trying to aim for slice of life in a pastoral fantasy, but the drama level was often set too high for seemingly no reason, sometimes in a hammy or soap opera-y way, sometimes to extend a dangerous on screen situation (really did not enjoy this!!). Most of the side characters are played by Kazakhs, but unfortunately, it's very obvious that the male lead's actor is not played by someone who speaks Kazakh (why not just dub him??); the airbrushing level is pretty low which fits with it being a bit more of a prestige drama, but everyone still has perfect teeth. What it does really well is be very women centric in its point of view, with strong concerns about caring for family. IDK, I don't regret watching it, but I feel like it did not live up to its potential.
cw: on screen bloody animal death
Link Click 时光代理人 (anime S1+S2): From a photo, the protag can travel to the time + body of the photographer; with the help of his partner, who can visualize the events happening around the time of the photo, they take on various jobs from clients. S1 had a lot of decently well done episodic type mysteries -- especially loved the girlfriends opening a noodle shop together (dramatic but payoff was good!) and the sports anime episode (particularly satisfying on the resolution!). S2 was primarily "plot" and unfortunately, the plot was... not good. Way too much questionable police protocol, the back and forth replay of the same events without substantially new info was mostly tedious, overdramatic scenes, excessively long boring fight scenes, mom trauma, and (not to bury the lede) two solid episodes of on screen domestic abuse... The bad guys AND police guys don't have depth, just bad stereotypes, and had pretty inconsistent characterization so their backstory episodes felt wasted. Anyway, S1 might clear the bar of being worth watching, but I can't see anyone finding S2 worth the time.
IU HEREH (concert): I guess I said I wouldn't do the big kpop concerts anymore unless IU or Taeyeon toured... and then IU toured... This was fun overall and it was especially fun to go with friends! Unfortunately the sound mixing was terrible and her microphone had issues with volume and was not well leveled; the bass was actively unpleasant. As a result, the encore songs were much nicer bc the sound mixing constraints were fewer... The lighting choices were really sophisticated though -- effective light stick syncing, with nice mixed colors, and it added a lot sitting in the back to see the overall effect. The efforts to make the audience do the right fan chant and sing were surprisingly successful considering it was the US and it was all in Korean (it took a while for the not hard core fans to realize the cue was a different color in the lyrics haha). Anyway, I really hope they're able to fix the audio issues in future concerts!!
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011): Famous enough that it probably needs no introduction, but more predictable than I expected? Bf hypothesizes the shoehorning in of Peter Guillam (Benedict Cumberbatch)'s boyfriend is fan service... It didn't really add much IMO and does make the movie feel very early 2010s. I think probably movie format is not my preferred medium for Le Carré, though to be fair, movie-on-a-plane format is not giving it a lot of opportunity.
Dune: Part Two (2024): I had enjoyed the first part of the two part adaptation, but I feel like this one wasn't quite as good. Misc thoughts: The black and white of the Harkonnen planet was really effective! The changed role of Chani is a bit of a brick to the head in making the anti imperialist / Messiah message obvious; I guess people didn't Get It during the first part, but it's really... so unsubtle... I found some of the 'Feyd-Rautha is a sociopath' scenes excessive, esp since they often happened without any context to make them more plot or character relevant. This was fine, but a bit of a let down.
Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister by Jung Chang (DNF): A biography of the Soong sisters and the people around them. I got halfway through before it was snatched away by the library and ... I'm not sure if I'll pick it back up. There's several turns of phrase that really annoyed me (describing students of a women's college as girls; "In bygone days, elegant barge houses on the canal in the city centre had been famed venues for poets, mandarins and quick-witted geisha to compose verse and music while downing dainty cups of fragrant liquor." geisha to describe historical Chinese courtesans, published in 2019!). The author did do a good job of making the argument and showing both why building up a founding mythos around Sun Yat-sen was politically important and that he was kind of a terrible person. I just didn't find it compelling enough to put it back on my holds.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-02 05:33 (UTC)I really enjoyed Apothecary Diaries as being mostly a Chinese palace + brothel canon but without having the same restrictions or regional stereotype issues I've been getting in recent costume dramas. I remember struggling so much in the first episodes because I'm so not used to hearing honorifics (or lack of specific ones), etc, in Japanese... and I think I prefer the manga format in terms of episode pacing... but the animation and anime OPs were so pretty haha.
TTSS was my first experience with Le Carré and for some reason I think of it as a comfort film, funnily enough.
IDK, I don't regret watching it, but I feel like it did not live up to its potential.
Lol same! I don't think cdrama has really figured how to do modern-day slice-of-life or introspection... To the Wonder took every opportunity to escalate to high drama, but not escalating or drawing out further was already very restrained of them. The greatest draw for me is definitely that it's so short hehe.
no subject
Date: 2024-09-03 21:35 (UTC)The lack of expected honorifics was really confusing! But it was quite pretty, I agree.
I feel like we had some slice of life that was okay... Delicious Romance didn't jump the shark that much, or I don't remember that being our main complaint anyway