thoughts, updates
Aug. 20th, 2023 12:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
issenlloCurrently watching:
(1) My Happy Marriage, anime version: I had thought the title was ironic but now it seems serious? (I'm at episode 7.) I'm not sure why exactly I'm following it: it's certainly pretty, and the details are well done, pacing is slow but okay. It is very old-fashioned? No spoilers please. The supernatural elements are quite simple so far. If you're me you looked at the militarized set-up of her husband's job, note the somewhat pre-war (WW2, that is) setting and feel a bit jittery at where the series thinks it's going (or what it's avoiding).
(2) 长风渡 aka Destined, a c-drama with Bai Jingting and Song Yi. I started this for Bai Jingting but am continuing this for Song Yi because she is so pretty. And I like all the formality and manners in it, y'know? You don't get that unless it's a historical drama anymore. And the same-colour embroidery on all those clothes!
(3) 莲花楼 aka Mysterious Lotus Casebook, another c-drama that is... pretty? Ok, the set-up of crime-investigating is a nice difference, and I'd always liked the actor who plays Fang Duobing (he was Zhang Wuji! continuing my love of any actor who ever acted as Zhang Wuji). Chang Yi is rather good at some moments, though I still think they should have got a different actor for his younger days. But there's so much mumbling - like they have marbles in their mouths when they speak, it's annoying. (Also, as I suspected, the m/m fics came fast lol.) I have such a soft spot for the caravan and the dog.
(4) Hanyu Yuzuru ICE STORY GIFT which is on Disney Plus and I got Disney Plus just to watch this, so take this entirely as a rec of fannish sort.
In RL, I had to postpone a planned trip to Japan *cries* due to work stuff, and perhaps that was for the best given the intense heatwave in Japan recently, so maybe going during autumn might be better. Well. We'll see how work stuff stacks up.
But thinking about that and making a fannish trip to Sendai (Yuzu's hometown) and also funnily enough, the military set-up of My Happy Marriage:
Last year I was in Japan. Among other places I was in Fukushima, because I managed to re-contact an old classmate who was exceedingly kind enough to invite me to her home. I'm given to understand Japanese people don't usually put people up at their homes, but she did, and I'm very touched. It was just one night, cos I was terrified of intruding more than I ought (and my trip was quite short really), and she kindly showed me around her town, including all the new buildings that were *new* because the original ones got washed away in the 2011 tsunami. Many mixed feelings.
The next morning, over breakfast, I got to know her family better, not least of all, her mother-in-law who was, I think, my own grandmother's age (or close to; my grandma's cagey about her age). MIL was also exceedingly warm (I'm not used to strangers being so nice!) and spoke a bit about her life as a young woman, helpfully translated by my friend since I only know broken Japanese and broken anime Japanese at that. It was fascinating; mid-century Tohoku seemed to be full of travelling merchants/farmers/craftspeople plying their trade. Quite a different vibe from my own country which was going through independence-struggles at that time. MIL was also interested in what my grandma was doing, so I elaborated a bit on grandma's youthful struggles as a laundress, and later as sundries-shop owner.
Then MIL started to talk about her even-younger (teenage) days, and I had this moment of panic, because I didn't want to go into, "Actually my grandma spent her teenage years fleeing the Japanese Imperial Army haha" but luckily all our language capabilities failed us at that point.
So.
Even close to 80 years away, some histories matter. When I see a pre-war military set-up in anime, even in a fantastical universe like in My Happy Marriage, part of me feels twitchy. Well, something to think on.
Other than that it was a good visit. I hope MIL remains in good health.
(1) My Happy Marriage, anime version: I had thought the title was ironic but now it seems serious? (I'm at episode 7.) I'm not sure why exactly I'm following it: it's certainly pretty, and the details are well done, pacing is slow but okay. It is very old-fashioned? No spoilers please. The supernatural elements are quite simple so far. If you're me you looked at the militarized set-up of her husband's job, note the somewhat pre-war (WW2, that is) setting and feel a bit jittery at where the series thinks it's going (or what it's avoiding).
(2) 长风渡 aka Destined, a c-drama with Bai Jingting and Song Yi. I started this for Bai Jingting but am continuing this for Song Yi because she is so pretty. And I like all the formality and manners in it, y'know? You don't get that unless it's a historical drama anymore. And the same-colour embroidery on all those clothes!
(3) 莲花楼 aka Mysterious Lotus Casebook, another c-drama that is... pretty? Ok, the set-up of crime-investigating is a nice difference, and I'd always liked the actor who plays Fang Duobing (he was Zhang Wuji! continuing my love of any actor who ever acted as Zhang Wuji). Chang Yi is rather good at some moments, though I still think they should have got a different actor for his younger days. But there's so much mumbling - like they have marbles in their mouths when they speak, it's annoying. (Also, as I suspected, the m/m fics came fast lol.) I have such a soft spot for the caravan and the dog.
(4) Hanyu Yuzuru ICE STORY GIFT which is on Disney Plus and I got Disney Plus just to watch this, so take this entirely as a rec of fannish sort.
In RL, I had to postpone a planned trip to Japan *cries* due to work stuff, and perhaps that was for the best given the intense heatwave in Japan recently, so maybe going during autumn might be better. Well. We'll see how work stuff stacks up.
But thinking about that and making a fannish trip to Sendai (Yuzu's hometown) and also funnily enough, the military set-up of My Happy Marriage:
Last year I was in Japan. Among other places I was in Fukushima, because I managed to re-contact an old classmate who was exceedingly kind enough to invite me to her home. I'm given to understand Japanese people don't usually put people up at their homes, but she did, and I'm very touched. It was just one night, cos I was terrified of intruding more than I ought (and my trip was quite short really), and she kindly showed me around her town, including all the new buildings that were *new* because the original ones got washed away in the 2011 tsunami. Many mixed feelings.
The next morning, over breakfast, I got to know her family better, not least of all, her mother-in-law who was, I think, my own grandmother's age (or close to; my grandma's cagey about her age). MIL was also exceedingly warm (I'm not used to strangers being so nice!) and spoke a bit about her life as a young woman, helpfully translated by my friend since I only know broken Japanese and broken anime Japanese at that. It was fascinating; mid-century Tohoku seemed to be full of travelling merchants/farmers/craftspeople plying their trade. Quite a different vibe from my own country which was going through independence-struggles at that time. MIL was also interested in what my grandma was doing, so I elaborated a bit on grandma's youthful struggles as a laundress, and later as sundries-shop owner.
Then MIL started to talk about her even-younger (teenage) days, and I had this moment of panic, because I didn't want to go into, "Actually my grandma spent her teenage years fleeing the Japanese Imperial Army haha" but luckily all our language capabilities failed us at that point.
So.
Even close to 80 years away, some histories matter. When I see a pre-war military set-up in anime, even in a fantastical universe like in My Happy Marriage, part of me feels twitchy. Well, something to think on.
Other than that it was a good visit. I hope MIL remains in good health.