Hi

Just going to post some of my comic and drawings I like, because what else am I supposed to do with them? May also contain pictures of my cats. Aroace and cis white woman from Sweden. And aparently I'm also doing reading liveblogs.

[esevik]

I made a comic

Hi! I made a comic if anyone's interested.

End of the Immortal | English | GlobalComix

Read End of the Immortal Online. Every hundred years a manifestation of calamity appears to destroy the world and every time it's...

It's a fantasy where a manifestation of calamity comes every hundred years to destroy the world but is always stopped by a legendary hero. This time however the calamity arrived early and the hero didn't. Now begins a race against time to get a hold of the hero before the world is destroyed.

The story has decent diversity and some trigger warnings regarding mild gore and character death, though it's drawn in black and white with a simplistic style so I don't know how triggering that would be. Also there's a panel of a cat being hurt, but it survives.

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I know this probably won't happen but:

Kyouka: Tell us about the Sphere. Rudo: *starts a three hour rant about how wasteful the culture is and what amazing treasures he found while dump-diving*

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Zanka's brother criticizing him as if Zanka wasn't the first one who injured "god" Mymo. His siblings claim to care about him but so far they are the ones who stifle his potential the most.

On that note it'll be interesting to see how he'll handle Hyo "joining" the cleaners. Hopefully he learns that she doesn't look down on him and overcome at least that part of his insecurity.

Also, since August is the one inviting Hyo I think she might help Eishia too. Not that I think Hyo will do it consciously, but Hyo is someone who doesn't care about other people/what they think and Eishia is someone who cares too much about it.

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A detail I like is that since Asa is scared of the dark, or more precisely be alone in the dark she only uses Yang's subspace/barrier when trapping people.

I also wonder if that may be why she sleeps in the same bed as Gabby. Because she's scared to wake up and not have anyone there.

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Chapter 2 and 3

Six years pass and the twins are brought to the monastery. The two twins are: Mokoya: a shy and careful child with odd colored eyes. Akeha: a determined, adventurous and somewhat reckless child with dark eyes. The two are close and while they can't read each others' minds they are able to read one another to the point they can tell what the other is thinking.

There's another time skip to the twins being nine years old. They have learned some magic and it seems Mokoya may have prophetic dreams. They dreamt an extinct creature attack Akeha and it happened. They also had a dream about a festival being attacked by a naga and many people being hurt. So they're going to tell an adult in the hopes that will stop the tragedy. However it's unclear what will happen after people learn Mokoya has this ability. Since Akeha mentions the fear of them being brought back to their mother's place I fear she might demand Mokoya back, and only Mokoya, if she hears about it.

I'm also not sure if it's actually prophetic dreams. As someone who has read the "prophetic dreams" chapter of Mushishi and seen Escaflowne I can't help but worry that the dreams aren't so much "prophecies" as they are "manifestations" where the dream itself makes it happen. How else could an extinct being just appear?

An interesting bit about the culture is that all children are regarded as genderless. Then in their teen (I think about 14 years old?) they get to choose their gender. I wonder if they have more options than just man-woman or if staying genderless is considered "childish". Since there being nonbinary characters in the book is one of the selling points I assume at least one of the twins will stay using they/them pronouns.

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I finished A Wind Named Amnesia and the second half was different but not much better. (My thoughts on the first half of the movie: link.)

The rest of the movie played out like this: Wataru and Sofia are driving in the desert (towards Los Angeles) when they're suddenly attacked by the same police mech they avoided at the start of the movie. Apparently it's set to chase one specific person through multiple cities and ignoring every other human even though it attacked pretty much every person it came across at the start. But they need to have a climax, so obsessed robot it is. (And I think it's meant to be obsessed since it even learns how to say his name, sadly there's no focus on the robot more than "it's after him".)

After the attack Wataru and Sofia wake up in a city with two people who have their memories. Through spoken exposition it is revealed that they're in a high tech city where a super computer takes care of everything. When the anti-memory wave came and the people turned violent the computer panicked and killed everyone except two, an old man and his young daughter. However since the computer was made for a city full of people it downloaded every citizens memories in the two survivors (don't ask me how). After some talk Sofia gets the computer to remove the excess memories and give back the father and daughter their own memories. This goes well and Wataru manages to convince the daughter to come travel with them (the movie only shows him talking to the girl) but the old man is staying. Everything seems to be going well but when they're about to leave the daughter is overcome with memories of her dad and runs back to him. Sofia states that the girl was unable to leave the comfort of the city, even though it's obvious that the only reason she stayed was because of her dad. (Seriously, she shouted "dad! Dad! like ten times when running back.) But the story treats Sofia as right.

Wataru and Sofia travel some more and then Sofia reveals that she is indeed an alien and the cause of the anti-memory wave. The aliens (no name given) were afraid of humanity's potential for violence. She asks him if he hates her but he can't answer. Then there's a montage of them traveling some more and suddenly they're about to kiss, even though he still hasn't the question (and he never will, it's as if the question was forgotten right after it was asked).

Thankfully the robot from before attacks and prevents me from having to witnessing their chemistry less kiss. Sadly right after Wataru manages to destroy the robot he and Sofia have sex. And I mean right after. One scene Wataru is falling from a construction site with the robot, the next he's with Sofia who takes off her clothes and they start to get it on. The animation on Sofia's breasts is very detailed, meanwhile Wataru is fully clothed. If the characters are going to undress out of nowhere can't they at least let the men be as nude as the women? At first I though the sex scene was Wataru having a death hallucination but no, they talk/have a voice over about how Sofia is going back to her people to tell them about what she's seen and then they (the aliens) will decide if they give humanity's memories back. Meanwhile Wataru is going to wander around, see if he can find people who'll join him and try to build up a new society built only on the good parts of humanity. Then there's a shot of Wataru going alone on the road.

The END!

Finally!

My overall thoughts on the movie are that it had a promising premise but sadly the philosophical questions about human nature it tried to discuss were extremely surface level. The amnesia in the title is barely a plot point and never explored on a character level (no, I do not count Wataru talking about the short time he was without memory since it's mostly him just going "I saw that, but I didn't know it was that at the time" before quickly getting his brain pumped with knowledge). Then there's the sexism, racism, and ableism that drags the movie down even more. I don't recommend this movie.

Also, just something I thought was odd. Except for one scene where Wataru and Johnny is looking at a bird there are no animals in the movie. I understand the movie wanted to focus on humans but it's still strange to not see any animal since humanity likes it pets. Would the anti-memory wave have any effect on animals?

[esevik]

I'm half-way through watching the old anime movie A Wind Named Amnesia (eng dub) and have some thoughts.

I think the premise is great. All of humanity suddenly lost all their memories. It's intriguing and there's a lot you can do with that. Sadly it chooses to tell a (so far) rather lackluster story and hasn't thought through the setting as well as it probably should.

Before I go and rant about everything that bugs me about it I'll say some positives. The animation is good. I like when they showed the corpse in the police mech, that the robots and such weren't affected by the anti-memory wave and are still operating by their last commands. Though it felt a bit on the nose that they had to explain that the corpse in the mech had starved to death in it because he had forgotten how to get out. I don't know if that was just a dub thing or was in the original too. Anyway, I think it might have been better to just let the viewer come to that conclusion themselves. I also like the implications behind the anti-memory wave (it's not called that in the movie but I like it and use it). So far it seems a powerful being got tired of humanity's many atrocities and decided to wipe the slate clean. However, said being was not all knowing and didn't foresee the chaos that would entail if everyone just lost their memories. It's nice to see them addressing how this being also was flawed.

Now, onto the rant. First of all, what's happened in the movie so far. A man named Wataru travels in the remains of US after everyone has lost their memories. There he meets a woman named Sofia who strangely seems to still have her memories (strong hints that she's the one who caused the amnesia in the first place). The two travel together, talk a bit about humanity and its nature. Then Wataru meets another woman/girl who is about to be sacrificed to a "god" (an excavator). He tries to save her but in the end he fails as she willingly goes to the machine thinking it's the only thing that can save everyone else.

What bothers me about Wataru is that he did lose his memories but met a young disabled boy, Johnny, who had access to a machine that literally put information in Wataru's brain so he can talk, knows what everything is, can drive a car, shoot a gun and such things without problems. It feels a bit convoluted, especially since it feels like the only reason he is made to be "aware" is so he can have these philosophical discussions with Sofia. Except Sofia can read people's minds (or something) by touching them (she does so with the "feral" people). I feel like the discussions would be better if they were between Johnny and Sofia since both of them remember how it used to be, and (I assume) both had suffered at the hands of humans. Wataru should still be there as Johnny's friend and an example of the goodness in humanity. But sadly Johnny had to die in Wataru's backstory because I guess having a teenager in a wheelchair would make it hard to move around? Even though they mostly travel by car.

Another thing that bothers me is why does every single person have clothes on? If every person was reduced to the mind of a baby only operating on getting food then why are they all still wearing clothes? (Most people have to learn to get used to wearing clothes as babies/children, it's not something we're born with.) The story takes place at least half a year after the anti-memory wave and some of the characters are as neatly dressed as they were before. I would be able to excuse this entire clothes thing as a "they didn't want to animate everyone nude" IF they didn't have one particular scene. Wataru and Sofia bring the sacrifice girl to the sea and the girl, seeing the sea for the first time, just drops all her clothes on the spot and starts running around in the water. I think the scene is there to show how innocent and pure she is, but it feels like it's there just to put some nudity in the movie. Like they showed it all, full body. She didn't even need to remove the clothes! She already wore a dress. She could've already run in the water without getting wet!

Then she dies because for some reason the excavator had guns on it (I guess they really wanted to show it takes place in the US) and randomly/accidentally shot her when everyone was in a panic. When Wataru tried to save the girl, there was also a middle aged man trying to help her too. This man is, by photo, revealed to be her dad and a former sheriff. The indication being that despite him forgetting who she was he still felt a need to protect her which was sweet. However showing it together with his "sheriff star" feels like the movie is saying because he was a "man of the law" he was more virtuous than others which was why he protected his child when no other parent seemingly did. To top it off, after they "kill" the excavator Wataru teaches the man how to use a rifle, put the star back on his chest, and returns him to the group of scared humans who just tried to sacrifice his daughter. The man holds up the rifle and all the people start to worship him as messiah on the spot. With the message being that now they'll follow a righteous person instead of a false god they're going to do well/be good. But it feels more like they're just following the person who is able to use a weapon.

Then there's the racism/anti-blackness. So far there's only been one Black character. An old guy who somehow figured out how to operate the excavator/false god. So he was an evil, scary Black man demanding a white, pure, innocent woman as a sacrifice and he caused her death. Then Wataru, the hero, shoots and kills the man. Also, for a movie about discussions of morality it's strange Wataru shows no remorse or anything about killing another human, even if it was self-defense.

Also when Wataru first met Johnny, the pale boy was attacked by a large, almost nude, man with dark skin. So I'm halfway through this movie and there's already been two scenes with a dark, "monstrous, man attacking a frail, innocent white person and in both scenes are resolved by the attacker being shot in the head. Then the attacker is not mentioned again. Twice is a bit much for a coincidence so I'll just say: That's racist!

I guess I'll do an update when I finish the movie and see if there's anything that can be salvaged from it. But how it looks currently I doubt it.

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[ID: a photo of a black cat with yellow eyes. The shot is from slightly below the cat as it sits tall, staring out into the distance. EID]

One negative with having a black cat is that it is hard to get good pictures of them. Here's a good one my mum managed to take, she always gets the best pictures.

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Chapter 1

The book starts out by following the Head Abbot of a monastery. He is meeting with someone referred to as "Protector" who seems to be the ruler or empress of the lands. She is described as dangerous and cunning.

Anyway, this Head Abbot had been promised by the Protector that one of her children would join the monastery. He assumes this will be the youngest child, Sonami, who is incredibly talented and the only child not yet part of any other group/faction. Sonami also wants to go with the Abbot but as it turns out the Protector didn't like that. Instead she went and got pregnant again to give that baby away instead of Sonami. She literally had a baby just to give it away.

It also turns out that she didn't just birth one baby, but two. And as "generous" as she is she gives both to the Abbot. The Head Abbot can't refuse this, however the monastery isn't equipped to take care of a baby, much less two. So Sonami agrees to raise the two babies until they're six years old and then Head Abbot will come and get them. I assume these twins will be the main characters.

I noticed that the chapters are really short in this book too, so I'll probably do updates every second-third chapter depending on how much information there is.

[esevik]

Am I the only one who got Reigen from Mob Psycho 100 vibes from Flowery?

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Random thought that occurred.

Some people have commented on how Shanks and Shamrock dress. Shanks currently has an open shirt showing his chest while Shamrock has buttoned up/is not showing any chest at all. However in the flashback when we see the two at Mariejoris it's the reversed: Shanks is fully dressed and Shamrock has the chest out.

There has been some joking about how the two switch styles and so on, but I think there might actually be some symbolism regarding their choice in style.

First of all, Shanks, in the flashback he was under cover, pretending to be someone he's not. His chest covered-his heart hidden. Now when he's a pirate and lives however he wants showing his real personality and is honest his chest is open - his heart/self is free.

Shamrock used to have his chest open - showed his true self/heart. However now it's hidden, his heart/thoughts are no longer on display.

But those are just my thoughts.

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[ID: a photo of a bouquet of four blossoming peonies. The two in front are pink and the two in the back are white. EID]

Got some peonies from the neighbor. I thought they were pretty!

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The next book I'll be reading is The Tensorate Series by Neon Yang. It's a compilation of the four books/novellas that make up one fantasy series. It'll be nice to read some fantasy again.

Also, I didn't plan this but the author is apparently queer and nonbinary which is nice since it's pride month. Don't think I'll be able to finish the book before the months end though.

[esevik]

Book Review: Hemsöborna by August Strindberg

[ID: a photo of a book cover. It is a light pink with a big, horizontal, pink-purple line in the middle. In the absolute middle of the cover is a small black and white photo of an elderly white man with a mustache and unruly hair. He is August Strindberg - the author of this book. Above the photo is the book's title "Hemsöborna" written in large letters. EID]

My liveblog of the book.

Short review: I don't understand how this is a "classic".

Long review: This is a book from 1887 and is regarded as a Swedish classic. The plot is about a man named Carlsson who comes from the southern part of Sweden who then moves to work at a farm in Stockholm's archipelago (middle of Sweden) and the struggles he faces. The plot itself is fine but there's also nothing interesting about it. B

The characters are very bare-bone and seem to exist only for the plot. As soon as a character's role is done they disappear from the story without being mentioned and even Carlsson the arguably most complex character in the story feels rather flat. B-

The world building is actually pretty nice. The Swedish archipelago during its different seasons is described well. A-

The language is fine. The book hasn't updated the language used into modern Swedish so some of the details can be hard to understand, but on the whole there was no problems. The pacing was also fine. B+

Total rating: B

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[ID: a photo of a black cat with yellow eyes who is sitting on a book on a bed. She is looking right at the viewer. The only thing visible of the book cover are some flowers. EID]

She just likes sitting on books.

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Chapter 7

That's the end of the book and I honestly don't know what to think. I can describe what happened in the book no problem, but the message of the story seems to contradict itself. Then again I suppose this could be 1887's version of TV's soap opera and I'm overthinking it. But if I am overthinking it then why is it regarded as a "classic" and has been studied a lot in literature?

Anyway, there's winter, Carlsson gets horny and follows one of the nieces out of the house. Lady Flod senses his infidelity and follows him without putting on the proper clothes. She follows their traces, knows the two slept together. Lady returns home and gets understandably sick. As she knows she's on her death bed she gets Gusten to find her will (the one Carlsson made her sign) and burn it. She doesn't want to give his unfaithful ass anything. The Lady dies on Christmas causing a bit of a problem. They need to bury/get her to the church within two weeks but the entire archipelago is frozen over and the church is on a different island. They put her body in a coffin and traverse the frozen waters. Then when they're on the last stretch of the ice they lose the coffin. And Gusten abandons Carlsson on the ice blaming him for Lady's death. Gusten then reaches the pastor's home and tells him everything. The pastor (who now is a decent person) bless the two dead in the water. And then the book end with Gusten now being the new head of the farm.

Now the contradictory messages. When Lady Flod knows she's dying and talking to her son (Gusten) she is very clear that Gusten shouldn't associate with people of different status. That those lowly people only try to take advantage of the "good" people and so on. Very narrow minded. Then at the very end Gusten has a talk with the pastor who pretty much says the complete opposite. He points out how Gusten chooses to blame Carlsson for everything even when the guy is innocent. Like even though Carlsson was far from a saint he was not responsible for Lady Flod's death, she was the one who chose to walk into deep snow without putting on the proper clothes, and he did actually make the farm better. It feels like the story wants me to agree with the pastor except until this point the pastor has not been shown in a good light. Actually, the one other time Gusten listened to the pastor's advice it ended up with the pastor drunk and ruining the newly married couple's wedding bed.

One more thing that irks me in this chapter and the entire book is how Strindberg chose to frame Carlsson sleeping with girls presumed to be much younger than him. At the start of this chapter Carlsson sleeps with one of Lady Flod's nieces and the girl is never mentioned again afterwards. There's a huge power imbalance between the two but we're to assume it was consensual? The only thing we know about the niece before this is that she was very uncomfortable with the pastor harassing her when he was drunk, and I'm supposed she just went along with another old man wanting to sleep with her? This makes me think the only reason the scene with the pastor harassing her was not to criticize the pastor but to show how attractive she was to get even a "man of God" to want her. The only positive thing I can say is that at least Lady Flod didn't blame her niece for it.

I'm so glad the book is over.