marlowe1 | Entries tagged with japan

56.Spy X Family vol 3 by Tatsuya Endo - This one has the story of the brother showing up to invade the fake family set up by Twilight and Yor and make things very uncomfortable. Of course, the brother is trying to find Twilight because he's also a major spy. It's about the same as it is in the anime. However, the last story in this thing is about Yor getting shot in the butt and spending date night standing up because she doesn't want to sit down. But then one of the terrorists who survived her tries to kill her with puffer fish or is it blow fish poison. And that takes care of the pain. So she has a nice night. Of course, this story didn't make it into the anime. Which is probably a good thing.

Also Anya saves a kid from drowning because she's a telepath and so fucking cute.

57.Your Name: Another Side/Earthbound by Makoto Shinkai & Jyunya Nakamura - This is all about the girl's friends in the small town dealing with her acting very manly every other day. So the main parts I remember are when she's being possessed by the boy (Taki) she becomes VERY popular because he doesn't bother putting on a bra and then he keeps sitting with his legs spread open. There's even a point where he (in her body) is sawing a log and finally just goes "Can someone get me some sweatpants?" so he doesn't have to worry about being lady like.

But the major point is how her friends deal with her and worry about her when she's not braiding her hair and acting very aggressively, but it's also about their lives and how they feel trapped in the small town. So she confuses them even more as she wants to get out but when Taki takes over her body he's loving it there. Because what city dweller doesn't dig spending a few days in a small town every so often. I'm going back to Minneapolis and that is small enough, but sometimes I even cross the bridge into Fort Lee. And then get lost in New Jersey.

29. Invader Zim vol 1 by Jhonen Vazquez & Eric Trueheart - Upon reflection, Invader Zim was never really about the plot so much as excuses to get Zim to scream while Gir acts cute. Doom Doom Doom Doom Doom Doom Doom. This book has five separate stories of Zim and Dib fighting it out. A couple of them were in the Netflix movie including Dib getting greasy and fat as he watches Zim's house frustrated that Zim seems to be doing other things. There's also Zim killing the tall ones. There's also a part where Zim hurtles the earth into the sun. With a "next issue" where Dib is telling Zim that he shouldn't have done that. And Zim doesn't remember it.

But really it needs screams and whacky facial expressions.

30. Backflash by Richard Stark - This was a recommendation from Man Carrying Things which is my new favorite youtube channel (besides Miriam Anzovin and her Daf Yomi vids) who is usually doing funny little skits about other youtube videos (the best one being the "all video essays begin like this" where he sits down, looks around, pours whiskey into a glass, drinks half of it and then leans in the microphone to say "capitalism" and that's it) but also sometimes goes back to his roots as a booktuber and recommended these books as some of the most hardcore heist books. Distinguished from other heist books because Parker never becomes a nice guy or grows a conscience. it's always about Parker getting one over on the people who are trying to stop him.
In this one, the heist is on a gambling boat but the weird part is the political operator who is hiring him to rob the boat. He seems weird and Parker doesn't know what to do about him. Also there's a cop who got a whiff of what is happening and wants to rob them after they rob the casino.
What's interesting is how the boat heist is actually carried off well but everything starts going wrong - or weird when Parker gets to the cabin and there are a bunch of dead bikers. And then things get crazy. The last part of the book is Parker trying to outwit everyone involved in trying to screw him and trying to figure out who he has to kill.
Really a tight narrative. Fun stuff.
Also I listened to this as an audiobook from the library which is neither here nor there but I usually don't count these books in my list of books that I've read in a year. I think it might be because I read them so sporadically that by the time I finish a book I've returned it to the library and checked it out again about 10 times. This was a short one so I even finished it mostly all at once.

31. Weathering With You by Makoto Shinkai & Wataru Kubota - This is the second act, the act where the tragedy of the story comes to the forefront. Hina is not "the sacrifice" yet but she's starting to fade and as she's on the run with Hodaka she shows him that she's not all there anymore. I saw this movie so I know where it's going (also I saw Your Name which has set the pattern. If I see Suzune on Tuesday, I'm sure I will see the same three act structure) but it's a sweet story and these are likeable characters. Oh man, I've said that about a lot of books but I think that I appreciate sweet books with likeable characters. I tend to write nasty stories about nasty people so it's nice to see these people who care about each other.

YOur Name vol 3 by Makoto Shinkai (writing) and Rammaru Kotone (artist) - For the millionth time I repeat my anecdote about thinking that Thesis/Antithesis/Synthesis was a literary term and the way that triologies work. Because Your Name follows it perfectly. Volume 1 - funny and weird story about body switching (and it takes place every other day for these characters for a month - so I guess we just ignore the fact that this guy is waking up in a body that's bleeding and cramping for a few of those days - I guess it would disrupt the narrative to have him screaming for 5 pages. But he's feeling her up as a running joke so yeah the author brought it up) and then volume 2 - elegaic and sad because he discovers that she's been dead when part of a comet hit her village.

So this one feels like "Ok, so you know how you're sad about this whole young death thing? Just kidding. Here's a happy ending" and you know just like in the movie, it gets to me. I might be joking about this thing. I have seen the movie 2-3 times and just read the manga collection (I even checked out the Your Name but from the other characters' perspective mangas from the library - quite sure that they were cash grabs) and it's still feels sweet when they are both trying to save the town with different plans. Like when he's in her body he's trying to plant explosives and demand that the mayor evacuates and when she's back she talks to her father for the first time (ahhh. Family reconciliation. Goddamn gets me every time). And then they forget each other until they are both in Tokyo and run into each other.

And that's it. That's the story. They tell each other their names and then promptly forget their names. And then save the town population. And then forget everything (which is a problem due to the fact that the grandmother remembers switching bodies as a teenager). And then they run into each other and we hope that they work it out. Sigh.

63.The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon - I'm really not sure why all of a sudden I'm reading Japanese books. In translation of course. I did decide to make the pre-determined shelf all Asian women (it was already all women) when I put The Tale of the Genji on the thing. I'm also finally reading Tale of the Genji so it's Hsien Era Japan. Or maybe I just love this book so much and I want it to keep going. I mean I am reading Tale of the Genji and a book about The Pillow Book.

This is the second time I've read this book and it's still a beautiful world where everyone can trade lovers and share poetry. Sure, if I was living in 10th century Japan I seriously doubt I would be in the royal entourage and I might have hated them just the same as I hate rich people in this era, but there's something so wonderful in this lifestyle, the same kind of feeling others get from Jeeves & Wooster or even Jane Austen. The lifestyle is so elegant and so foreign that reading these books feels like inhabiting these better more fun worlds for just a little time. Sei Shonagon is still just as snobbish and nasty as when I first read her, but I find more to love this time. She's also charming and working within this milieu. Her humor and sarcasm are matched with a passion for this world. In a century it's all going to collapse but that doesn't mean she ever has to worry. It's a sweet book that I hope to read many more times.

64.Sensor by Junji Ito - The last Junji Ito book I read was Lovesickness which could be the most Junji Ito of Junji Ito books. Like if someone asked what Junji Ito is like this would be the book to give them. It has the disgusting imagery, the desperation, the humor and the cruelty. Everyone is obsessed and obsessive and the picture of the decaying ghost girl screaming "LOVE MEEEEE!!!!" is both horrifying and hilarious. It's the kind of book that Junji Ito could whip out and still get results.

By contrast, this book is not that kind of book. It reminds me of the movie Silence, which might just because the whole Christian Martyrs in Japan plot but there's also a serious meditation on good and evil as the heroes try to run away from the insurmountable. A woman wanders into a village that's covered in golden hair that makes everyone see things. A volcano erupts and she's the only survivor. Her hair turns gold and then the protagonist turns to a reporter that treats her like a mystery and a savior. At least twice she faces death for the sins of others. This is not the usual Junji Ito fare and it's all the more glorious for its novelty.

65.Komi Can't Communicate vol 4 by Tomohito Oda - Komi and Tadano gave each other key chains!!! It's so damn cute. The rest of this is Komi competing in sports and being embarrassed. There's a little more of the "Komi as others see her/Komi as she is" with the outsiders seeing her as an impossible beauty while she's a bundle of nerves, but the growth of her and Tadano's relationship is still one of those romances that is impossible not to love. Also love the scene where they learn each other's first names but it's way too intimate for them to really use them. Formal vs. Informal address is more of a cultural thing but I do wish that there was more formality over here. I hate being called Tim by complete strangers.