Revolutionary Girl Utena

Quite literally cannot fathom a better start to this year.

Utena blew me away in every single possible aspect. Its themes are so beautiful and so visceral that it kills me with its magnificence. I’ve been looking for something that covers Utena’s subject matter in the exact way it did for a long time, and it just absorbed into my brain. I’ve never felt so seen by a show before.

Each and every character was deeply compelling, growing and changing in tandem with one another in a visceral gripping way. My feelings on the main antagonist of the series shifted from blood-boiling rage to an all-consuming dread whenever they were on screen. That’s never ever happened before, and it was an experience of a lifetime.

I will never forget this show. It’s magnificent.

Revolutionary Girl Utena: Adolescence of Utena

Adolescence of Utena is really all I could’ve asked for from a retelling/direct sequel (it’s both-ish). The visual composition on display is jaw dropping. Each and every shot is endlessly inventive. The way the film plays with motion is a real treat. The colour usage is fantastic, the bold reds and dark blacks give a viscerally tangible feeling to the otherwise nonsensical world. It takes what RGU did, and spins and builds off it in a wholly unique way.

The re-designs are fantastic, too, for the most part. Utena having an outfit that actually LOOKS like a boy's uniform, while still being incredibly unique and visually appealing helps give off a much more magical feeling to her prince form (esp going from short to long hair in the transformation), and makes her actually read as masculine. Wow!

My only issue was with their whitewashing of Anthy and Aiko. Spoils a bit of the taste of an otherwise fantastic film.

Oh, and this is the single most romantic thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

Ted

I was so ready for this to just be terrible. And you know what? It wasn’t!

In most of these R-rated comedies, you’re given a main cast of 2-4 characters who act unbelievably stupid, egotistical, and nonsensical. This format is popular because it allows the writers to easily create comical scenes where just about anything bad can happen to the characters because the audience does not care about their well being. Surprisingly, Ted wasn’t like this! While it does follow the 2-4 dummies trope, the characters are all written to be capable and emotionally intelligent, despite being stuck in their ways. The film strikes a really fine balance between having you empathize and genuinely care about its protagonists, while also laughing it up at their misfortune.

With the exception of a few very tasteless jokes, I was pleasantly surprised! It’s a worthwhile and funny movie.

Ted 2

Seth Macfarlane is an auteur (derogatory). Ted 2 randomly goes on 10 minute tangents that have no bear-ing (hah) on the plot. Which works when you’re writing Family Guy - an episodic, 22 minute show, but not when you’re writing a feature length film.

Ted 2 is also just… not funny. Many jokes are in extremely poor taste, they’re delivered worse, and they mostly rely on shock humor. The things I just complimented Ted on are totally absent.

Not worth it. Watched these back-to-back with friends, and it completely wiped the smile off our faces.

It's Such a Beautiful Day

Such a spectacular film.

It just builds, and builds and builds, until it explodes beautifully right at the end. I couldn’t stop crying. The framing device is phenomenal, I adore how the little bubbles of vision feel like disconnected, fragmented memories. I really can’t say anything more than that.

Madame Web

Awful. Terrible. Genuine Garbage. I was laughing so hard I was in tears 30 seconds in. I’m genuinely not exaggerating.

10/10.

Moonlight

Watched this for my school’s film study unit in English.

Phenomenal. I loved it. Would’ve been great if my class wasn’t giggling at every minor suggestive scene, but, eh, 12th graders! What can you do?

The cinematography was unrivaled. The writing was moving in a way I’ve seldom experienced. The acting was probably my favorite part of the film. Mahershala Ali’s performance was unrivaled, blending soft, emotional intimacy with blinding confidence effortlessly. All three of Chiron's actors (Alex R. Hibbert, Trevante Rhodes, and Ashton Sanders) were fantastic in their own right, but what I wasn’t expecting was for them to feel as similar as they did. With the way the movie is split into three parts with three different actors, I was very much expecting the performances to be somewhat despondent, but no! They all totally felt like the same person!

Loved it.

Heaven Knows

Pink Panthress is a goddess. Her lyricism, sound design, and melodies never fail to put me into a trance, and this certainly is no exception. It’s a magnificent blend of ethereal and down-to-earth.

Favourite track: Mosquito

Splatoon 3: Side Order

I was really, really excited for this DLC. A splatoon gamemode in my favourite genre, with my favourite character as the protagonist, with my favourite idols, and my favourite in-universe musician!? You shouldn’t have!

Unfortunately, I wasn’t super blown away. I feel like they kinda shot themselves in the foot by going for a bleached coral aesthetic in a genre that requires variety and diversity. It’s not impossible to pull off, but I wouldn't say they really did, ngl.

The gameplay is really fun, and thankfully it can be challenging, but it feels so segmented. Like, I don't really feel like my actions are having consequences on my broader run because it’s all split into bit-sized levels. A big part of splatoon for me is being able to look back at my mess of ink and think “yup, that's all me!!” and I was hoping they’d be able to adapt that feeling, but they really didn’t. I can’t really touch on this part toooo much because I haven’t collected everything, but I wasn’t super blown away by the story. Acht feels like a very nothing character, and they retconned their most interesting trait (getting willfully sanitised) which disappointed me. Maybe once I unlock everything, I’ll change my mind.

It’s still an absolute blast, though, and it’s 100% going in my Turf -> Ranked -> Salmon Run lineup. Just wished it was more. Gotta give them points for canonising Perlina though!!

Persona 3: Reload

KOTONEEEEEEEEE WHERE ARE YOU 😭💧😭😭💧💧😭💧😭😭💧💧😭💧😭

No, but actually, this is Atlus’ best game by a long shot. I’m already a fan of the original original, but seeing this with every kink ironed out, and delivered as magnificently as it is just fucking kills me. I cried so much at the end, even though I knew EXACTLY what was coming. Persona games have a way of drawing you in so viscerally with its calendar system. You build your own schedules and social lives and routines and you feel so connected to everything and everyone that when it ends, even just normally, it hurts. But with a story like that? With the stunning new voice performances, and breathtaking visuals? I was up until 6AM on a school night crying because of it. And seeing the menu afterwards just killed me again.

Easily one of my favourite games of all time. Easily.

A Sign Of Affection

Normally, silent, stoic, mysterious men in shojo totally turn me off a series, but, surprisingly, not here! I guess because it’s actually a flaw Itsuomi has to overcome to be able to care for Yuki. I really got invested in the romance. It’s really, really sweet, to the point where I was physically bouncing and squeaking in some scenes. It’s practically impossible not to love the pair. Yuki is such a compelling protagonist, and seeing disability being presented in this way is a breath of fresh air.

Also, I really, really want to kiss Shin,,,

Frankenstine

When I read this for my English novel study, I was already not expecting it to be anything like the pop culture conceptions of Frankenstine I’ve grown accustomed to, but this still caught me off guard.

It’s really, really compelling! The prose is fantastic, and both Victor and the Wretch are so much more interesting than I was expecting. Wonderfully, pleasantly surprised! She uses “wretch” way too much though.

Hades

For some reason, it took me three tries to get into this game, but it finally sunk its teeth into me, and I love it. The story was the most compelling part of the game to me, the gameplay was fun, but it didn’t really grab me in the way Zagerus’ quest did. It’s also, like, really funny. The bit about ‘slaying’ Cerberus caught me really off guard and I loved it.

The designs for the Olypians are hands-down the best artistic interpretations of them I’ve ever seen. Artemis especially kicks so much ass.

The gameplay never really raptured me that much, though? Like, it just felt kinda barebones, and I never really felt my runs were that varied. I feel like Supergiant just didn’t really believe in the genre they were making, to be honest. The philosophy of trying to always make death “fun” reveals to me a great fear in making player loss frustrating. Which just kinda feels wrong to me! My first thought shouldn’t be “ooh! Now I get to give this hot demon girl some nectar and hope she won’t hate me anymore!” It should be “I just lost this phenomenal run. I didn’t get to meet my long lost mother. Now I have to look my smug-ass father in the eye, and try all over again.” It’s a minor, MINOR critique, but I just think it's desperation to smooth out the rough patches in an inherently rough genre rub me the wrong way. I still loved this game though, don’t get me wrong. Hypnos, I love you.

Bloom into You

Whenever I watch romance anime, I kind of just appreciate it from a distance. The feelings they display, while incredibly narratively compelling to me, never resonate on a personal level. Bloom Into You, however, really pulled me into its story. I’m a person who really struggles with falling and staying in love, and a romance with that premise just absolutely tore down my emotional defences to shreds. Words cannot express how deeply I love this anime.

Khumba

I have a really fun tradition with my friend group of watching 2010’s animated movies. This one was really mediocre. The character designs all look identical. In shots with multiple zebras, I could not tell who was a major character, or who even was the MAIN character, because they all look so generic. The conflict resolution is done in a very perplexing way. It doesn’t really feel like Khumba learned anything from his journey. My favourite part was easily the humans never being shown, and just having the vehicles act like hunting animals. It’s legitimately hilarious, and a whitty subversion in an otherwise forgettable film. Still, it’s serviceable, and watching it with my friends was, as always, an absolute blast. I love them to bits <3