Random reviews for the week
It's a movie so no link :(
Hodaka has fled his island hometown to visit the big city of Tokyo during a streak of unusual weather. His arrival in Tokyo has not been flowers and rainbows and struggling to get by, he begins to work for Keisuke at his small publishing company. Meanwhile, a young orphan girl by the name of Hina is struggling to provide for herself and her younger brother. In a chance encounter, Hodaka encounters Hina a second time, the first time being when she helped him out while he was homeless, and attempts to save her from some shady men. As they become closer, Hodaka realizes that Hina has the ability to bring out the sun amidst the now constant rain in Tokyo. They decide for her to start work clearing up the weather for others but power always costs something.
Firstly, it has to be said that the movie is an incredibly beautiful movie and that part of that enjoyment score is being able to look at some incredibly pretty backgrounds and environments. However, I am not a particularly skilled art critique and so this review will be far more negative that what the enjoyment score seems to indicate. I thought that the first third of the movie was an effective setup to the various characters. It drew an interesting parallel between Keisuke and Hodaka and effectively contrasted the lives of Hina and Hodaka; Hina being the far more mature character who was helping Hodaka when he was down. I thought the middle third of the movie was effective development between Hodaka and Hina's relationship; the relationship is well developed, and I can see why they would be in love with each other. However, the final third is where things begin to fall apart a bit for me.
The third act begins to significantly raise the stakes as the police begin to chase Hodaka due to the fact that he fired a handgun when he was trying to save Hina. As Hodaka, Hina and her brother flee the police they realize that she is begining to fade from the human world. In the climax, Hodaka manages to reach the spirit world to save Hina. While I thought that the climax effectively wrapped up many parts of the movie, with the culmination of Keisuke being willing to help Hodaka from the police being a particularly heartwarming moment, I feel as if the conclusion feels almost incomplete. Within the story, Hina being moved to the spirit world is a sacrifice to appease the gods and to stop the unusual rain that has been plaguing Tokyo and her rescue from that fate means that the rain will continue indefinitely. I think this ending works on a thematic and metaphorical level; Hina as a character is a very self sacrificial character and part of her arc with Hodaka is that she is learning to live for herself and being more willing to make selfish decisions. I think within this context, the ending makes a lot of sense and is an effective conclusion to her arc. However, I feel as if even the movie recognizes the choice she has made has, at a minimum, significantly worsened the lives of the 30 million people who live in the greater Tokyo area and will lead to a potential humanitarian crisis. The movie sort of hints at the fact that something similar occured 800 years ago to make Tokyo a liveable area free from the water, but ultimately it isn't developed enough to make a substantive aspect of the story. All in all, the ending felt thematically appropriate but the scope of her decision begins to drown out an otherwise compelling thematic message.
Lastly, I want to talk about the drama and scope of the story. Weathering with you becomes rather melodramatic within the last third of the movie that I felt was a significant tonal clash with what the rest of the story was like. Hina's fate as a sacrifice that could potentially affect the lives of 30 million people is so consequential that it becomes overwhelming. Hodaka having to flee the police as a result of the distribution of a bunch of guns and him coming into contact with one also needless raises the stakes; his motive to flee the police as a runaway who doesn't want to be caught changes into him fleeing the police because they think he is a potential terrorist. I think that this tonal whiplash makes the story less cohesive but I feel like it was avoidable.
Consider a story where the effects of the unusual weather is lessened; it's still bad and causing damage but it isn't going to turn 30 million homeless. Give Hina some agency, where her prayers are slowly but surely converting the weather into normal but for each prayer she becomes tired and sickly. She realises that this is killing her and is faced with a choice, either continuing to help everyone else at the cost of her own life. Where, Hodaka is chased not because of some terrorism suspicions but simply because he ran away from home and the police are trying to bring him back. I feel as if these changes grounds the story and better maintains the tone and scale of the story from the first two thirds to the latter third.
In general, Weathering with You is an visually beautiful movie with a compelling, albeit a tonally clashing, story. Consider giving it a watch.
Suzuki Ryuto lived a introverted quiet life in high school and has decided to change that in his college years. Everyday he puts on a fake smile, and tries his best to fit into a group of cheery outgoing students even as they decide to mock and belittle him for being a virgin. One evening, an attractive girl named Kokoa asks him to pretend to be her boyfriend in an attempt to scare off a stalker. Little does he know, that he is in for perhaps the most exciting weeks of his life
Killer in Love is perhaps the most well constructed story that I have read where I completely disagree with every other review I have read. It is a story with a thesis, that thesis being something along the lines of "Self love is the most important kind of love". It is a tightly focused story with all of its characters and scenes being dedicated to explore and develop this idea. I want to write a longer piece breaking down how exactly it does this, so I'll mostly spend my time in this review talking about what I liked about its construction. I thought that the cousin character was an effective foil to Kokoa(though the incest implications are bizarre, I don't think it really does anything to affect the story other than just being incredibly fucking strange). While I do think all the various antagonist end up in some camp of creepy stalker, I think it works to further the message; every antagonist is ultimately just some random incel, who like the main character, are unable to connect with other humans beyond a superficial understanding of conventions.
While a main criticism of the text has been that the characters don't really bond or their relationship doesn't get deeper, I would argue that this is, in large part, the whole point of the text. It helps to reinforce the idea that both these characters are so focused on trying to get love from external sources, they are unable to understand their partner from any perspective that isn't either transactional or undying perfect love. I also don't believe that the escalation is particularly egregious from a pacing perspective, the story hits the ground running and sets up the approximate stakes and scope. It doesn't really have a massive jump in scale where the stakes massively balloon, each progression of Ryuto's character being understand but fast.
While the story isn't perfect, there is some minor plot point about organized crime that gets completely dropped, I feel it is an effective exploration of self hatred and the way it can erode and destroy a person.
Onna Tomodachi to Kekkon Shitemita
Genre: Romance/Slice of Life
Two women make the classic romance trope pact, "If we're both single in 5 years lets get married". 5 years later, both are single and so they decide to get married. Follow their new married life.
In contrast to the other two texts that I've reviewed in this post, this text is far more chill. Instead of dealing with city destroying weather or a barrage of crazy exes, Kurumi and Sera have to deal with the mundanities of life. Be it deciding how to properly assign chores or how best to set up boundaries for their fake relationship. I think this text is a cute and wholesome story about two people learning about how to function in their relationship and navigating the various compromises needed to have a healthy relationship. I don't have too much to say other than it was a cute slice of life story that depicted a down to earth relationship and two people navigating through life. Highly recommended!
Link Buy the official release!
Introverted Miwa has just moved to Tokyo and wants to try finding love, but that may be a bit difficult as a gay person. During an orientation event she meets another gay person in Saeko who suggests that they may as well start dating since it's unlikely that either of them will have any other options. Follow the lives of Saeko and Miwa as they navigate their life through university and the challenges that come with being a university student.
I should note that there are in fact sex scenes in this manga, continue at your own peril. I was recommended How do we Relationship on the premise that it covered a lot of topics that aren't usually covered in romance manga's and I was not disappointed. It shows characters getting together and breaking up. It covers the way relationships between people can change, and the ways in which people are both compatible and incompatible. The way the various relationships are depicted create a degree of verisimilitude with both the strengths and flaws of the characters effectively depicted. The text effectively endears you to the various characters and the struggles that they are going through. Ultimately, I think this text is an extremely compelling exploration of relationships and what it means to be in a relationship. Give it a read!
