The Scoreboard: Cherry Magic!

As everybody else on this planet, I have an opinion. As many people do too, I like to write about it. Share it generously. And I am excellent at keeping score (mentally), so I will try tallying up my fondness of things according to balance.

Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!

When I started watching this one, I simply wanted a nice, sweet and short series to bingewatch. Lately, I have been getting back into watching anime again. But it feels like I need to watch a show with adult characters as the main focus, to not get too swept up in some of the immaturity that younger characters display.

Although the heyday of my ‘rotten girl’ period has passed, I do love me some boys love content. I do not know exactly which scratch it itches, but somehow an unfolding romance between two male characters has something special. I think because it is more unexpected for the characters, and that is a fun element to play with.

Another fun element that this anime plays with, is the idea that you get a magic power if you are 30 and still a virgin. You will be able to read the thoughts of anybody touching you. Our main character, Kiyoshi Adachi is of course quite taken aback by this. The anime delves right into his first moments with his new power, how it makes some things more difficult or unpleasant for him, but most importantly it quickly gets to the gist of things: he finds out his colleague Yuichi Kurosawa secretly likes him. And that is a big deal, because this guy is the star of the office. He is perfect in all regards, smart and beautiful, the one everybody wants to be with.

I really liked the pace of this series. It quickly provides exposition for the main characters and the situation they find themselves in. And also afterwards it continues in this breezy manner. We see Adachi grappling with the disconnect between Kurosawa’s behavior and his inner thoughts he can grasp. Even with this much inner dialogue being revealed, reactions remain believable and the matureness of characters in this dramatic setup is refreshing.

The B plot, though entertaining, does not hit as hard. It feels like the premise between the two characters is not as sweet, and both behave a bit more like the standard anime archetypes: mature shy guy and a tsundere in this case. At the same time, the plot does tie in nicely with the main one while adding some valuable context and depth.

I also enjoyed the side characters, especially the other ‘rotten girl’ colleague. I am a bit sad that the misunderstanding was not revealed, Adachi assuming she liked him whereas instead she likes imagining him together with Kurosawa, but it is a fun addition. The other colleague almost verges on the border of being annoying, but him bringing out Kurosawa’s pettiness when vying for Adachi’s attention is fun to watch.

All in all, this is a fun little series to watch in a weekend. It has a nice pace, a clear story to tell, and characters who know what they want fairly quickly. It looks decent, although characters do seem a bit off most of the time and animation can look a bit stilted. It is a shame since some key moments are animated very beautifully, which highlights the difference with its usual look. I also had to get used a bit to the style in the beginning, it seemed like the characters were perpetually tired with the lines under their eyes. Something not unimaginable from salarymen in their early thirties.

I rate it a very good time if you like romance, especially if you are already or on the path to become a rotten girl.

The Scoreboard: Dune trilogy

Dune

I had a good time with Dune. This was the second time, and I think the balance was almost entirely on positive most of the time. The events flowed quite seamlessly and everything came together quite effortlessly.

I remember the first time everything seemed too dense. The background of the different peoples, the conspiracies and political infighting, the workings of its universe. It also felt strangely frustrating at times since it jumped around a lot, thus making it a challenge to grasp something new when other things had been barely processed.

Having seen the first movie definitely helped, but I think I also got more patient in reading these types of novels. Rather than trying to understand it all fully, I was able to go more with the flow of the story and let the story unfold itself.

This way, it really turned into a pageturner for me. The characters are all very fleshed out, even though there’s so many of them, and you can really sense how much thought went into the world building. The opening of each chapter provides some background into how much else there is available.

I rate it highly captivating.

Dune Messiah

The first time I read Dune, I did not get around to any of its sequels. After seeing the second film, I felt propelled to read the next book which would be the last film (as of now) to be adapted by Denis Villeneuve.

It surprised me that the book was so thin. I liked to learn more about what happened to the characters after the first book and see how they had changed the world. It also made its point pretty clearly that messianic figures are to be doubted and it is easy for good intentions to lead to unintentional nefative and all-encompassing results.

However, it also felt more single-minded in its pursuit of proving this point. Whereas in the firstbook, its storytelling was leading and any opinions skillfully merged with it, this time it felt more like the story was serving the point it wanted to make.

Funnily enough, Paul’s despair and boredom felt quite relatable, especially when the story would focus on the negative aspects of governing.

As a whole, the story breezed by quite easily and clearly laid the groundwork for its continuation. But it also felt more mechanical and I noticed myself more eager to cross off certain events (yes, I sometimes spoil plot points for myself), than looking forward to seeing them unfold.

I rate it an okay sequel, more setup than actual story.

Children of Dune

After finishing the second book, I was still eager for more. Especially having read the approximate events that would unfold.

The third book feels more like a proper story. I did not find the characters as interesting as the one featured in the first, but the story is clear, has some high stakes, and surprises along the way.

I like the sociological aspect thatcame through stronger in this book. The fact that the Fremen are changing, weakening some would say, and that change can only go so far. The balance of a natural environment needs to be raken into account, otherwise everything is doomed.

Again, I didn’t find it as good as the first one, but I had a lot of fun going through it. The intros are getting a bit overblown though, and I found myself quite uninterested in the extra info it gave. Mainly because it went quite deep into religion, culture and history without everything necessarily being mentioned in the story. So it almost felt more like a world building flex than interesting information.

I rate it a recommended, more entertaining than its predecessor but not quite the peak.

Why digital cleanup is no fun

I like order, structure, organization. Giving things a place brings me joy. Sparks joy I guess in organizer-guru-speak. And sure, whenever I moved there were always moments of anguish and hopelessness whenever I needed to pack stuff and take it all out. The moment you have lost all of your energy and the physical stuff is all around you on the ground. Been there, done that.

However, for the organized person I am, my own digital archive is not that well-structured at all. At work, I thrive when deciding on a file naming system or cleaning up folders and putting them together. When I look at my own collection of videos, photos and (important?) documents I want to cry.

It is of course a grand paradox that because we now have seemingly infinite space to store stuff, this makes us more careless about how much stuff we create. And of course visuals take up a large part of this ‘overcreation’. Everyone probably has at least one thing that they constantly record, and mine is mostly sports.

I think many sports are some combination of techniques and visuals. And it is great that we have so much visuals to learn from and improve with, but it can also be impeding. I record myself dutifully every session, but I do not tend to look back at it too much. I know I will be focusing on a bent leg or flexed foot. Did that flow got interrupted because of the buffering or is it my movement? It simply does not spark joy for the most part.

Moreover, there is not only the stuff I film myself, I have external platforms that I check or neglect to check. There is a constant feeling of having too much and not making use of its potential. It is the opposite end of the subscription scheme. There is too much stuff we do not own, and too much of the stuff that we do own. Balance is lost.

Instead of limiting ourselves to saving the things we find very important, we are being ruled by the amount of digital space available. Enticed to pay for increased space, which just means a brief respite to look away ant not at all of the stuff that we record. I am only limited by my unwillingness to pay for things, which results in brief outbursts of downloading, deleting and quickly putting things together in one folder so everything else seems to be in order. Eventually I will look at it. Probably not.

Praise for pragmatic fictional characters

Sometimes, I think about how it would be if someone like me would be the main character in a high school anime. Some of the standard highlights, would certainly play out a bit differently I imagine.

Beach episode: I do not really care for the beach. My swimming is quite below average, I wear glasses and cannot really see stuff without them, am bad at ball games which seem to be involved in most beach games. However, I would absolutely kill at the watermelon game. Although I always find it a bit of a waste, since much juice will probably be lost, it is a combination of many things I like. Burst of targeted violence and food. A beach episode would probably just involve getting a few watermelons and a few heads smashed.

Summer festival: although I am capable of wearing long clothes during summer, searing sun beams have made me appreciate extra protection instead of the limited cooling bareness provides, I am not good with clothes that limit my mobility. Although I have excellent mental self-control, my physical self-control is less strict. Especially my legs that preferably have some space between each other, but also to allow me to easily move around on my bike or walk the stairs. The games are also not really my thing. They are either rigged, involve skills I do not have sufficiently or involve too many others around me, especially kids. I do like the food part and the fireworks though, I could easily just fill an episode eating at all the stalls.

Cultural festival: teamwork at a large scale is not really my thing. I would probably do my job, be present, participate and stay in the background.

Sports competition: these really combine two opposites for me, at least when I see them in an anime. On the one hand it is about teamwork, on the other hand it is about winning. I am very much about winning, going all out, amazing everybody. But only if I am good at the thing. The sports I have seen featured in anime often involve a team and hand-eye coordination. Bad combination for me. But the drama created by me not doing my best and being passive-agressive about it, could be entertaining. Possibly.

Valentine’s Day: I do not like baking. I find it a lot of hassle for only part of a meal. I would probably be too nervous to give chocolate anyway if I had a crush, so it would end up being a store-bought bar to a friend or something.

Christmas: as a Dutchie, I am more attached to Saint Nicholas than Santa Claus. However, I do like the idea of a sleigh with reindeer in the air. On the other hand, having KFC or fastfood for Christmas does not attract me too much. Also, the emphasis on romance would probably kill me.

New Year’s Eve and Day: temple visit sounds fun! Praying, fortune telling is always more fun if you only do it on special occasions. Also, I would be dying to have a new year’s dream featured and possible interpretations offered. And of course food and money! A perfect combination.

School trip: I expect to not be late or miss the bus for any of this. I would probably have stuff in my mind that I want to do, see or visit at the destination, but I could be too shy to speak up. That could lead to some nice drama and heightened emotions.

When do you like to do your reading?

Recently, I started to read the Dune books after I watched the second film and found myself sort of falling in love with reading again. This feeling that you do not want to put a book down and cannot wait to read what is going to happen next. As it happened, this renewed reading streak happened right at the start of my holiday, which made any transit or waiting time a bit easier.

It started at the airport, where much waiting was happening. There is no better way to train your concentration then trying to read while there are tons of families keeping their kids happy, airport staff zooming in between with carts and coffee, anouncements on which flights are delayed and all types of chatter about the flight destination and the supposed weather there.

Then, taking a budget flight there was no in-flight entertainment, I read on with my forehead comfortable against the seat in front of me. It even makes you forget the whole agony about placing you arm somewhere if you have the middle seat. It also makes you less susceptible to noticing the flight attendants walking by with all their wares to sell, which is especially necessary when it is edible stuff they have.

Arriving at the destination I was lucky enough to take the train and could read to my heart’s content. Afterwards, there would be more car rides with limited reading time since I get carsick quite easily and we would be in the mountains as well. Also, the space in the train was quite cramped so it mostly, but not entirely prevented my limbs from flailing around too much.

The rest of the time, any waiting time was gladly filled with reading a few pages to the next chapter. After the holiday, I read on the train and also before sleeping, trying to make it part of my more common routine. Sometimes, I feel drained reading so much news or information at work, and delving into a book can really uplift, even if you basically do the same thing. Bonus point, if you do it on your phone, you can also feel slightly better about the reason being glued to your device.

A Taste of News: The ideal number

As many in my direct circle know, I read quite some news. I try to mention at least once per day that I read something in the news, casually, in a conversation. And since commentary and reviewing is something else I like to do, I thought of starting a series where I write my thoughts about an article I read. A lot of them will be related to China, since that is one of the topics I follow most closely.

Three Is Best: How China’s Family Planning Propaganda Has Changed
New York Times

It seems that I am currently entering the phase where children are top of mind. I have been talking a lot about people on my opinion of children, motherhood, family and whatnot. And the Chinese Communist Party is of course also still busy with this topic, trying to get a different result with the same tools as always. This is where you can put that famous quote about this being madness.

As an indirect result of the one-child policy, it has been very interesting to see how little fanfare the reforms have attracted. Even in my head it was still murky when the one-child policy was lifted, but having a feeling that it was in the 2010s. The exact year is 2014, which confirms to me that it happened so much more recent than it feels like.

I think the one-child policy was one crazy, bizarre experiment. Trying to reverse it seems like it is bound to fail. Although nothing is more fun than seeing the Chinese official lines doing a full 180 degrees. Adding a few extra kids to the family statue is top comedy. Seeing old slogans that say it is selfish to have more than one child almost seem they were a few decades to early to anticipate this shift. Seeing new slogans that say a family is incomplete with only one child, emphasizes how empty these words are when there is nothing to back it up. The same counts with state or family support. Right at the time in the Western world that we are almost fully certain the state will be more reliable than family, the Chinese government is calling to bet on the other horse.

At the same time, the absurdity of this propaganda effectively hides a lot of pain. Pain from families that did not have the right amount of children at the right time. The realization that it is not about the people, it is just about the numbers. In a country where millions of people work in factories, construction sites or on the field without any retirement plan and able to see their families twice a year if lucky, this is the situation in which more children are encouraged. In a situation where women are already being heavily underpaid, facing discrimination and sexism in the workplace and have hardly any choice but to become tiger moms so that their children can participate in the rat race that is life, this is the situation in which more children are encouraged.

At the moment, everyone can rest assured in the knowledge that the government will not go as far yet as they used to. And who knows, maybe it will lead to breakthroughs in research on male fertility which has mysteriously declined in recent decades. Maybe it will bring families together if younger people use old propaganda slogans to retort their older family members. Or it could be that the Chinese Communist Party suddenly sees the light and starts to make some systematic changes that will create an environment more conducive to having bigger families.

There is already enough weight put on the decision to get children. Without having to consider a government that may fine, applaud or demonize you, especially if they want a different answer from you ever so often. And what is maddening is that the traces will be removed. Your memory shall not exist, until it is convenient for the Communist Party. It is very selfish and egocentric behavior, just like you would expect from an only child.

When you try to make cleaning easier

Sitting in my kitchen, I can hear the robot vacuuming and mopping upstairs. Although vacuuming is not a chore I particularly dislike, it is convenient to think that it can be done when you are not at home.

As one of the older millennials, I feel like I still hold on to some pride to do things without too much technology involved. Smart technology only makes me suspicious. I do not need a smart fridge, a smart coffee machine or a smart rice cooker. The Google Home in my house has been off and disconnected from electricity since its entrance. I think the only thing about smart technology that I read about, is the fact that they tend to record way more information then necessary. We already live without curtains, no further transparency is needed.

But a vacuum robot seems weirdly benign. As a word, robot conjures more old-school images of machines that buzz and blink when you turn them on. Humans are in full control, the machine is not meant to think along but merely follow orders or a program. And sure, any simple machine these days involves an app which opens it up again to much more information than it probably needs. But that big bad company seems far away and the robot certainly cannot make use of any information that is on my phone. And seeing the cleaning lines on the map appear almost fully equally spaced is very satifying.

At the same time, I mainly like the convenience of the robot because I usually do not turn it on myself. Having someone else takes care of the whole process, makes it all even more seamless and automatic. Alas, I am on my own again for a couple of weeks and thought I should not need to resort to old school vacuuming.

So I took the robot from its docking station, wetted the mop as expected, checked its water and sent it of on its cleaning journey. I fiddled with the necessary map I needed to put it on, then I thought I had put everything away but somehow the robot really wanted to have a hangout session with our drying rack. All in all, it took some time before everything was right as it should be and the cleaning lines started appearing on the map.

The old adagio is still true. Everything is automated but nothing happens automatically. Well, at least not when I am by myself.

A Taste of News: Save the donkeys

Africa’s Donkeys Are Coveted by China. Can the Continent Protect Them?
New York Times

I am a big fan of donkeys. When I was little, we would go on ‘donkey holidays’ which meant spending two weeks hiking through France with some donkeys to carry our luggage. At that time I was still small enough to also be allowed to ride the donkeys from time to time.

Unsurprisingly I was a horse girl during middle and high school, but donkeys have a different atmosphere. Their big ears, small hoofs and stumbling gait endears them in a way that is distinctly different from horses. It also helps that they are pack animal and you will most often see them with an inordinate amount of stuff on their backs while seemingly carrying it without any complaining.

Thus, it really surprised me to read that donkeys are an ingredient used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Generally, I have heard more about the exotic things they need to heal anything wrong with the body. From deer antlers to pangolin scales, let alone the range of plants that could be needed.

Similar to many other TCM ingredients that are touted as absolutely vital to heal certain ailments, it is interesting to think how much these consist of ‘standard’ natural materials such as keratin and collagen. I have bitten my nails for decades, I am not sure if that made me much healthier than I would have been otherwise.

What really suprised me, was the fact that donkeys cannot reproduce or breed easily. This sent me on a quick Google search, which after the decently informative but slightly too activist Donkey Sanctuary website, led me to the American Association of Equine Practicers website which states in its opening paragraph “Donkey medicine can be fun and rewarding and a break from routine equine practice.”

My two main random fun facts on donkey reproduction that I learned were the following. A female donkey is called a Jenny, a male is called a Jack or jackass. It would be quite funny to do this in Dutch as well. That we do not only talk about Jut and Jul as the standard Dutch people, but that they also refer to a bull and cow? What fun!

Donkeys are pregnant for a long, long, long time. Between 372-374 days. In my ears, having heard plenty of pregnancy tales in the past years, that sounds terrible. More than a year in this state, is awful. No wonder donkeys do not breed that easily. No fun, but it is a fun fact.

What is it with people liking plants?

Okay, I accept that walking in the forest, on a grassy mountain or at a sandy beach feels great. The sun on your face, wind through your hairs and fresh air in your lungs. But what I have never really understood, is why people insist on trying to bring it inside the house.

When I was small, my parents tried to ensure I would be a devoted garden girl. It failed miserably. I dutifully pulled out weeds and tore grasses from in between tiles and watered some greenery. But after getting one plant and having it die on me within 2 months, I was away for 2 weeks and nobody watered it for me, I quickly decided this was way too high maintenance for me.

Since then, I have never had any plants in my house. I remember clearly that a few years ago my mom gave me a plant, which slightly offended me even as if she did not know I would never want such a thing, before I realized it was fake to my huge relief. I lived a blissful life without any plants in the house, up ’till a few years ago.

My current partner likes plants. He even rescued a plant from my former roommate whose plants were sort of perpetually dying. He gets happy when his flowers bloom, new roots grow and trims his plants lovingly. And he tries to sneak in more plants if I let down my guard. Luckily, I am always on high alert.

When he was on holiday for a month last year, I needed to actively remind myself that the plants needed water. It was quite the stress. Also, we now sometimes have annoying flies in the house, although that is good to train my motor skills I guess.

Moving to our new place last year, we even got some plants from friends. Where I would normally have to donate these to my parents or bring them to a plant shelter, they could actually get spot somewhere in our new home. All in all, I am not complaining and I know it is a luxury that I can be surrounded by plants without having to do something for it. But watering the plants spontaneously? I am not a plant mom.

Film rewriting: Maboroshi

Mari Okada can pull some heartstrings. The last film I watched of hers (Maquia: When the Promised Flower blooms) is a feast for the eyes and had me bawling them out half of the time. I think its sadness is up there with Grave of the Fireflies and that episode of Violet Evergarden. Regardless, she tends to have an interesting and quite unique way of viewing things and putting it together so I was quite excited to watch this one of hers.

The synopsis of the film on imdb is:

“Following an explosion at a factory that mysteriously freezes a town in time, two students encounter a mysterious feral child, spurring an impulse of love fueled by the frustration of their daily lives that begins to upend their world.”

I also read another review that was quite positive about it, and although I like the concept and ideas, parts of the execution fell flat for me. I think the despair and dread of being frozen in a particular moment and how different people react to it is depicted well. I also think she shows interesting choices some characters make to change the present based on how they think there will or will not be an ‘actual’ future to look forward to. And upping the stakes by creating a way for characters to disappear is always a surefire way to create some intense moments. But there are some other things I think could have been left out or executed differently.

I feel the orignal mystery about the factory causing the town to freeze in time could be explored further. As it stands now, this is just a fact and everyone accepts it, although clearly some characters have more whacky ideas about why it happened than others. Besides discovering the ‘feral child’ at the factory, the characters do not spend a lot of time uncovering anything about the explosion, where the smoke comes from, why it happened to them. Even if this was just a fully random thing happening to them, that would be interesting to explore and see if it throws some characters further into despair. As it is, the visuals are very striking but I am left wanting more information.
The romance seems to not get enough room to be fully fleshed out. It is a very interesting concept to know that somewhere else you are leading your own future life but you will never get to experience it in your own reality. However, I felt the connection between the two main characters was disturbed in an unfulfilling manner because they get shoehorned in a weird love triangle. One that also has a bit too much of an incestual tone for my taste.
We do not see a lot of the side characters except for short bursts that show pivotal moments but because they are not shown in many other situations, it is not as meaningful as it could have been. If we would see more glimpses of these characters’ past, hopes and dreams then it would hit a lot harder to see some of the arbitrary decisions being made or sympathize more with their feelings

All in all, the film did hit quite some spots but it was not as gut-wrenching as I expected it to be. The concepts and perspectives that were shown are still quite powerful, but the execution left a bit to be desired.