Manic Emo Dream GhoulDec 29, 2023

2023 Film of the Year: Next Sohee. Solidly miles ahead of any other films this year. Probably the only media of the year where I don't have to agonise about multiple contenders.

Next Sohee excels at the sense of suffocation. There are no magical solutions. It's hazy, it's unfocused, and it's never meant to be. It's about death by million paper cuts, yet also when it's a public safety crisis. There won't be magical solutions, and there will be many many Sohees before any changes takes place, if ever.

(____ Of The Year is based on the year I first had access to it, NOT based on the year of release).

#Film #Films #Movie #Movies #NextSohee #2023Summary #FilmOfTheYear #MovieOfTheYear

Show threadManic Emo Dream GhoulDec 30, 2023

2023 Novel of the Year: Yellowface, by Rebecca Kuang. Many contenders this year, as I'd say my top five would've been books of the year in another year, had 2023 not delivered such unbelievable quality. I'm grateful for all the wonderful books.

I have gone in-depth about how much I loved Yellowface ( https://toot.cat/@BigShellEvent/111564317452736478 ). Lots of other people talked about Juniper and how exploitative and racist her, as well as the general publishing can be; yet what stood out to me is the awfulness of Athena Liu. The "model minority" who chose to be a diversity prop for self gain, in the price of destroying every other Asian person who may be her rival. Yellowface is not just snappy and funny, it's also disturbingly on point.

(____ Of The Year is based on the year I first had access to it, NOT based on the year of release).

#Book #Books #Novel #Novels #Yellowface #2023Summary #BookOfTheYear #NovelOfTheYear

:blobcataww: (@[email protected])

So for some reasons, I thought Yellowface was partially written with a mirror of major art events, like maybe Juniper was partially inspired by Jeff Dieschburg, and Athena was partially by Kristen Roupenian. Turned out both events only broke after the book was written and before it was published, so that's pretty prophylactic but also, fully expected behaviour in art. I found Jeff Dieschburg comparison maybe isn't that accurate, because he's so stupid at his theft, and so much more stupid at how he handled it, that his only career choice left over is being a politician like his awful mum. Meanwhile what's interesting about Kristen Roupenian parallel, is while I can't think of a worse fate than becoming Athena one day, this connection made me realise it could be worse, I suppose we could become Kristen Roupenian. If Athena was a slightly over the top version of people's worst assumption about writers (ha ha we can never be friends because you will just write about what I told you without permission then profit from it), Kristen Roupenian was another level of prolonged stalking, and another level of exploitation for personal gain that may or may not resulted a death. And she's still rewarded for it. The entire thing about Kristen Roupenian was how her entire work was crafted with the strong understanding on what are the clickbaits and what will make something viral, and while the work isn't even good (like my god a 21 year old's worst like experience was a consensual bad sex, does anyone even know anyone this sheltered), it perfectly fed the particular type of publishers who are quite possibly truly lived such ridiculously easy lives. She took enough of Alexis's life to significantly interrupt Alexis's life, but completely stripping away any of Alexis's agency and just made her into a meme caricature. Almost any other work from Hashtag MeToo would've been better than this woman-exploiting-another-woman-for-self-gain thing, but anything else would be too complex and less marketable than what New Yorker Cultural/Meme leaders could profit from. So in Yellowface it's pretty much implied that it's already really awful how Athena's entire career strategy was to claim others' suffering, alter them enough to be made into something more memeble and viral, then profit from it. Given Yellowface has quite a strong flavour to that, it's dehumanising to claim one East Asian person can claim for an entire group of people, and it's something I always had huge issues with the white-gazy, western-profitted type of "Asian narratives". It also requires someone as awful as Athena to choose to let herself to be that for personal gain. Oh man Yellowface is so good Rebecca Kuang my hero. #Yellowface #RebeccaKuang #RFKuang #CatPerson #KristenRoupenian

Toot.Cat
Show threadManic Emo Dream GhoulDec 30, 2023

2023 Novella of the Year: Firewalkers by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I'm still in awe that it's written by someone born and raised in UK, as the understanding that developed nations norm =/= rest of the world norm is strong, and all the cast were humanised in ways rarely seen in things written by wealthy nations writers. Adrian Tchaikovsky _gets_ it.

(____ Of The Year is based on the year I first had access to it, NOT based on the year of release).

#Book #Books #Novella #Novella #Firewalkers #2023Summary #BookOfTheYear #NovellaOfTheYear

Show threadManic Emo Dream GhoulDec 30, 2023

2023 Non Fiction of the Year: On Food And Cooking: The Science And Lore Of The Kitchen is a book by Harold McGee, because sometimes very good textbooks deserve a spot for being informative and fun to read.

(____ Of The Year is based on the year I first had access to it, NOT based on the year of release).

#Book #Books #Nonfiction #Nonfictions #2023Summary #BookOfTheYear #NonfictionOfTheYear

Show threadManic Emo Dream GhoulDec 30, 2023

2023 Manga of the Year: Land of the Lustrous. When a rock person who spent too much time on rock Tumblr but decided to be helpful to their community, dumpster fire ensues. But really, the art is gorgeous, and the scope and the imagination was really out of this world. I can't believe this series is still going, as by the end of volume 12 I'd imagine the world has ended and how. How. Yet it's just so brilliant and so haunting.

(____ Of The Year is based on the year I first had access to it, NOT based on the year of release).

#Book #Books #Manga #2023Summary #BookOfTheYear #MangaOfTheYear

Show threadManic Emo Dream GhoulDec 30, 2023

2023 TV show of the Year: My Own Swordsman. Can't believe it took me this long to get to it. It absolutely deserves its status as a classic: Wuxia + Patlabor.

(____ Of The Year is based on the year I first had access to it, NOT based on the year of release).

#TV #TVShow #2023Summary #TVOfTheYear #ShowOfTheYear

Show threadManic Emo Dream GhoulDec 30, 2023

2023 Song of the Year: Vampire by Olivia Rodrigo. I initially thought it was Amy Shark took a level up, turned out Olivia Rodrigo has the range of Amy Shark, but then some more. From the performance to production, it is incredible. This is also the first time in my life where I picked a song that was so overplayed by the radios.

(____ Of The Year is based on the year I first had access to it, NOT based on the year of release).

#Music #Song #Songs #2023Summary #SongOfTheYear

Show threadManic Emo Dream Ghoul

2023 Game of the Year (exclude VN): Narcosis. I adored the stage design, as it it gave me Layers of Fear kind of otherworldly feelings, and the plot is spot on. I've never experienced such realistic horror like this, the adult fear of what if you, an otherwise perfectly harmless person, is too arrogant to consider basic safety protocols apply to you because you are the protagonist of the world, and caused great harm because of that?

(____ Of The Year is based on the year I first had access to it, NOT based on the year of release).

#VideoGames #VideoGames #Game #Games #2023Summary #VideoGameOfTheYear #GameOfTheYear #Narcosis #GOTY

Dec 30, 2023 at 2:45pmWeb
Show threadManic Emo Dream GhoulDec 30, 2023

2023 Visual Novel of the Year: Seventh Lair. With the disclaimer that I am a House in Fata Morgana fan, Seventh Lair somehow managed to be a mixture of JRPG affectionate parody, isekai, and Fata Morgana reused sprites, yet a fresh and sincere story about indie game dev and the parasocial nature with the players. As expected per Novect title, everything about it just perfectly makes sense in the context of an utterly messed up cast.

A more in-depth, spoiler heavy post about it: https://toot.cat/@BigShellEvent/111692639528369337

(____ Of The Year is based on the year I first had access to it, NOT based on the year of release).

#VideoGames #VideoGames #Game #Games #2023Summary #VideoGameOfTheYear #GameOfTheYear #SeventhLair #VN #VNs #VisualNovel #VisualNovels #GOTY

:blobcataww: (@[email protected])

Content warning: Seventh Lair spoiler, House in Fata Morgana spoiler, REALLY long post

Toot.Cat
Show threadManic Emo Dream GhoulDec 30, 2023

That's everything I can think of for now. In summary, 2023 is phenomenal for books and fictions, but for me a bit lackluster in mystery fictions, anime, and video games. Video games and visual novels especially, many contenders for Almost Really Good without feeling like they have reached a life time classic status (and two Should Be Classic but Not For Me: Omori and MoonRPG). Which is fine! Some years I'd have a row of really really good games and no good books, and not every year I would encounter something life changing.

Grateful for all the good work!

Show threadManic Emo Dream GhoulDec 31, 2023

Happy new year! Things I'm looking forward to this year:

Animation
- Kouryaku Wanted
- Delicious in Dungeon
- Saiki K
- Finish the newer Luo Xiao Hei

Games
- Tales of Berseria, would've been my 2023 GOTY if weren't for life events that stopped me from playing it.
- Gris
- World of Horror
- Quantum Suicide
- Finish Gravity Rush 2
- Finish The Good Life (unfortunately so much of this game is mandatory emulating the worst part of real life)

Films
- Raging Race
- M3gan
- Anatomy of a Fall

Series
- Brush Up Life
- Twin Peaks
- Squid Game 2

Show threadManic Emo Dream GhoulJan 1, 2024
I feel for the past four years or so, MMO had destroyed my pleasure in gaming. So much of it became a second job. I'm not quitting quitting, but stepping back a lot by September really made me like games again.
Show threadManic Emo Dream GhoulJan 2, 2024

Games/VN that didn't land GOTY/WOW ALL TIME CLASSIC but deserve a mention:

Cris Tales: mostly made for people who are nostalgic for Golden Sun era JRPGs, made by Colombian studio whose Colombian roots are gently planted then gloriously flowered through. The art is solidly one of my favourite of all time. I still strongly recommend everyone to buy this, I think the studio deserves all the success. Unfortunately the quality of life stuff, like the 10 seconds loading time every random battle, and poorly thought out boss fights made me not fully love it. Think of the game play as what happens if Yoko Taro wasn't supervised by someone else.

Octopath Travelers: entirely made for people who are nostalgic for FFIV era JRPG, made by SE. Pretty much streamlined all the quality of life stuff, unbelievably beautiful, with surprisingly complex combat. Poor fit for me because I found that era of JRPG meh.

MoonRPG: trollishly made for people who are sick of the nostalgia for early Dragon Quests, made by ex Enix staff. Made in 1997, somehow managed to be more clever than just about every 00s/10s "ironic" JRPG subversions. I absolutely cannot play any games where you race against seconds of clock, so I had to tap out. Hella good game.

Death Mark: a fairly it's-what-you-expect Japanese urban horror. Amazing atmosphere, surprisingly willing yo address stuff like violence against women and transphobia, and in a sort of Asian way of, if we can't convince people to stop being shit because it's bad thing to do, what if we just scare them into not behaving like shit so they are not haunted by angry ghosts of their victims? I'm put off by the weird sexualised women victims pictures though. One way to defeat your own purpose.

Paranormasight: a fairly it's-what-you-expect urban horror. The way it treated image/videos was incredible, a high school aged expert was respected appropriately, though I really hated one key character to the point of unable to fully love this game. (Yes yet another awful abusive man who is treated as the victim because boo hoo he felt bad for being an awful abusive man). Special shout out that this is an urban horror about ghosts killing randoms in Sumida region, made with support by Sumida council to boost tourism. Yes yes I totally went to Sumida for this. Was not killed.

Corpse Factory: I'm usually a little put off by "Japanese VN" made in Melbourne by whitefellas, here it's ok with me because I do get the sense that the creators genuinely do care about Japanese VNs instead of How To Draw Manga kind of incompetent misappropriation. It's intentionally depressing through and through, think of something almost touching Aku no Hara without truly elevate into that level of WELL DONE AND I'M NOPING OUT. Still worth a try imo.

Monark: it's basically Persona but dialed up the validly depressed teenagers to 100, so maybe a more accurate term is SMT wearing Persona skin? As a story, I preferred this over any of the SMTs. As a game, holy jpeg grinding.

Omori: I lasted around an hour before this game depressed me so much that I want to die, and I was still at the wholesome part. This is the appeal, but eh. Here's your ten star I will never touch it again.

Rain Code: I would've enjoyed it so much more if I'm not already a Danganronpa fan. V3 blew my mind. Rain Code is too much reusing the same plot twist that's been used in Danganronpa already. The town design is hella gorgeous.

A Requiem for Innocence/Assento Dele: look, they are good. Imeon is now one of my favourites of this series (admittedly it's also because most characters are pretty much too fucked up to exist), Ceren is a close second (admittedly its also because she out-fucked up everyone else against my expectation); I'm glad I got to know Morgana more, it's kinda just a bit extra reading material if my expectations were House in Fata Morgana.

The Good Life: I try to advance it every year, then I remembered that in order for me to continue the fairly enjoyable eccentric story, I'm forced to emulate daily struggle of spending hours to earn 20 pounds so I don't die of starvation.

Tales of Berseria: would be GOTY material by a lot, if I didn't had to stop half way due to life circumstances.

#VideoGames #VideoGames #Game #Games #2023Summary #VideoGameOfTheYear #GameOfTheYear #VN #VNs #VisualNovel #VisualNovels #GOTY

#CrisTales #OctopathTravelers #MoonRPG #DeathMark #Paranomasight #CorpseFactory #Monark #Omori #RainCode #TheHouseinFataMorgana #ARequiemForInnocence #AssentoDele #TheGoodLife #TalesOfBerseria