[SHORT REVIEWS] #28

Let's roll with a new one, what I found, what I read, what I watched during this period and what I'd like to read/watch in the future. As per usual let's start from books.

NOVELS

CHN

重生后被五个大佬团宠 by 七夕是大头喵 *JJ

(mtl: Reborn and pampered by five powerful figures)

Status: Completed

#ch: 90+1

Year: 2020

Progress: DNF

Summary: Qiu Man loved Jiang Jun her whole life and only after death she realized that she was just a supporting role in his life, she wasted her love, almost being subservient to him, but the male lead is destined for the male lead. She was reborn and now didn't want to follow the same path. She is the daughter of her family, why she should act like that because of a man?

I dnf'd it basically because I kinda got bored of it. It's the same old story, though this one has a bit more melodrama involved. Instead of being clean and sharp Qiu Man still shows a bit of melancholy towards the wasted years and feelings, like she hasn't lost them comepletely. Her family also is in some strange melodramatic situation, but I'm not mad at some parts. For example, she lived with her grandparents since her mother's death, there is no big secret, but she forgot everything of that day, including that her mother protected her. But because she lived away a lot of rumors were floating around and they said she caused the accident and this is why her entire family doesn't love her. Her father worked a lot but it's the obvious pattern of a man forgetting to take care of his children and especially his daughter, since she believed those rumors as well. Her reputation was worst for some reason, FMC had no idea it's all caused by her new stepmother. I don't know it's the type of FMC who realized something is not right too late in her previous life and this stepmother (who was originally helped by her biol. mom) caused their family a lot of financial distress. When they dealt with her I thought that the way they didn't make it plain was actually interesting, since this woman could not be brought down just for the sake of it, she could have gone mad and do something extreme, so instead they parted ways in a more decent way instead of usual - let's bankrupt or arrest someone right now. Although it wasn't bad, but I didn't feel for it eventually and kinda felt it was slow and had no good story. The male lead of FMC is connected to her ex, the usual plot where a guy is in love with a girl, but she has no idea.

But feel free to read it.

系统迟到三年，阴湿反派是你老公 by 啃一块酱大骨 *Qidian

(mtl: The system is three years late and I'm already married to the villain)

Status: Ongoing

#ch: -

Year: 2026

Progress: 1-22

Summary: Light-hearted story of Yu Qingqing who transmigrated into the story, but the system disappeared for three years and she had no idea who is the main female characters who are main male leads, everything was confusing, so she associated with several figures that might be male leads, but their relationships were a bit extreme, so she switched to other guy next.

Eventually she got married thanks to arranged marriage and her husband became Pei Wenshen. Mr Pei is also a peculiar person, he doesn't show his sharp edge, he likes Qingqing so he doesn't want to scare her with his behavior, this is why he acts very gentlemanly and has a taste of a green tea. A pitiful little flowe Wenshen and Qingqing with her kind heart actually believed that how can her good husband be the villain of the story? The system is insane.

The system indeed returns only three years later and starts releasing tasks like "be in approximate closeness to the villain, at least 10 meters, mode: hell mode", while Qingqing waits for a car which will take her home to Wenshen.

What I liked is that it has that trashy feel that I like. Also a notable part that surprised me is how no one tells Qingqing that she cheated or called her named for previous relationships. Because one of her exes is named Pei Yu, related to Wenshen, although he says some dumb stuff, but when he finds she really married his uncle he didn't jump around calling her names that she belongs only to him yada-yada.

If I'm not wrong I've read one book from this author, something about good pregnancy, a pretty sweet novel that has having kids as main goal, but actually isn't bad and was pretty sweet. This is why when I first read few chapters of this one I thought - well, I can read smth like this. 

满级大佬拿了祸水剧本 by 琪琪家的鹿 *Qidian

(mtl: Max-level boss got a "femme fatale" script)

Status: Completed

#ch: 

Year: 2020 

Progress: 1-95

Summary: Well, this was garbage. Sorry.

Jiang Si binds the system to travel the world, she activated the story mode, thus she basically needs to say certain things or do certain things to get a pass.

For some reason even ML and FL of the stories start falling for her. This story also has a male lead, but FMC simply ruins the experience for us. It's cool that she is so motivated, but she doesn't allow anything to hinder her progress, love included. You may love her to death, but she won't ever appreciate it. SO for few arcs it was like this, the male lead loved her, but she only thought about her mission and I completely forgot why it mattered to her.

Oh wait, I remembered, she is a phoenix and in her own world she became a demon when her body and blood were used by people who knew it's like a tonic for cultivation, later she blackened. She had only one person to care for and probably he's the one who followed, but honestly.. It's so-so. FMC is groundlessly attracting everyone around her, plots are plain, nothing new or interesting, plus the FMC is unlikable.

和塑料竹马闪婚了 by 北途川*JJ

(mtl: I had a whirlwind marriage with my plastic childhood sweetheart)

Status: Completed

#ch: 62+18

Year: 2023

Progress: not much~

Summary: Liang Simin was always against Ji Yang, from the very first meeting till these days they always argue, fight or give each other snarky comments when they meet. But lately there were rumors that both Liang and Ji family might unite through a marriage, but most of the people do not consider that they union will be between Simin or Yang.

But when these two tried to make each other miserable they found that their situation became more complicated and it bcame even harder to explain why they do things as they do when their own families start to believe there is something going on between them.

"Alright! Who doesnt marry is a dog!"

I can say that the writing style and overall impression I get are refreshing. I get the feeling like - oh, this author with their own writing style that doesn't resemble copy-pasted stories all over the place.

The characters are lively, the relationship is fiery, so I will happily continue reading this one, I liked the beginning. 

豪门前妻（重生） by 橘子舟*JJ

(mtl: Ex-wife of a wealthy family)

Status: Ongoing

#ch: -

Year: 2026

Progress: 1-20

Summary: You will not believe who returned :'D I bet you have no idea who Tangerine Boat is. I reviewed her works several times on this blog dating few years ago. She had a series of novels that had a childbirth in BL works, she kinda likes it I believe. But she had not posted any new work for a very long time and started thinking they retired from writing, but who knew they will be back with another one.

And it's again trashy, ridiculous and melodramatic, so old-fashioned it should reek like an old closet, but here we are.

So the plot follows rebirth of Xu Yin, he lived his past life pretty miserably because he was entangled with his fiance, who claimed to have had amnesia and because during the amnesia period he fell in love with another man he also brought the man home. So Xu Yin had no truly solid place in this family. Not to mention that his own family is no less ridiculous, he was sent away because his family adopted some random kid from mother's friend who dies, but because master said that Xu Yin will suppress him they sent their own kid away. No matter how Xu Yin tried to fit in later on was inevitable. Before rebirth he came to terms of losing love in life and became indifferent to it all. But then he was reborn. He had no feelings for his so-called fiance, or his own biological parents or brothers. They can all go to hell.

The only thing that connects him to the Xiao family (family of his fiance) is his relationship to Xiao Sheng, the current acting head of the Xiao family and the protection of the Grandpa Xiao he needs so much while he is surrpounded by vile people.

US

(published)

(future releases)

 

I always add a little, since I haven't finished many books I put on my personal tbr; But when it comes to "wants" I really want to get to the new Rachel Gillig book, The Book Witch intrigued me as a concept, after all travelling to books is mainly what I read so much about anyway, I want a western take, will it bring something new.

All Hail Chaos is a book I've been waiting since last year when I first came across Long Live Evil, book not for everyone, but honestly I loved it how chaotic it was.

Harvest Season will continue on Tourist Season and it's a dark romance I enjoyed, again not for everyone.

Heir of Prophecy was a random find tbh, but it intrigued me as well. I actually have a huge list of bookmarks from Goodreads and the number already reached 200, it's the pending list of things that I edit from time to time, some things stay as I still want to read them, some go. I don't really like that it's so long.

MANHWA

For Your Murder

Ongoing manhwa about an elementary school teacher who tries to navigate her life when the parents of a school bully promise to ruin her life, she meets a lawyer who accepts to solve her case, but things go weird from then on. 

I liked the dark tone of it. Will see where it goes.

The Male Leads were stolen by the Extra

Korean take of how the extra replaces the female lead. Some don't like FMC here, I didn't really care, it's an okay read, though on-going too.

In spirit it's close to many other stories where someone has the power to influence important characters of the story for their own goal or vanity or any other reason you may think or find. But set in a romantasy world where FMC does not dwell why the main characters turned away from her when she woke up after three months of coma.

TV

HOW DARE YOU!? / 成何体统

SIMPLY THE BEST 10/10

I watched only 9 episodes, but I'm in!! I'm so invested in this story. the chemistry between the two main leads is off the charts. The visual part looks gorgeous, the scenery, the atmosphere, the looks. It's just top. And the story, oof, love it. Especially the humorous parts. But the serious parts are touching too.

One of few times I'm thankful for YT recommendations, because otherwise I'd have no idea this show existed.

ANIME

Tongari Boushi no Atelier / Witch Hat Atelier

The only anime I'm watching this season, IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL!! It's on a movie level of detail. And the story is truly amazing. I'm happy they invested so much hard work in it, it's truly worth it. It bceame my weekly safe haven and I enjoy it so-so much.

Actually I progressed a bit with Jujutsu Kaisen S3 and also suddenly watched almost an entire season of Fugou Keiji Balance: Unlimited, which is a pretty ridiculous story when it comes to beginning, but it soon takes a sharp dramatic turn. It's very easy to watch type of show.

[MOVIE] EXIT 8 (2025)

Exit 8 is based on an anomaly game of the same title that was hyped on the internet like last year. The idea of it is you're stuck in a corridor where if you take a turn you'll see the same corridor again with a sign "Exit 8" hanging above and your goal is pretty simple, when you see an anomaly you return and when you see no anomaly you walk forward to progress the game and finally reach the exit.

I never dove into the fandom of this game and have no idea how far it spread or how popular it is (although when you see a movie based on it, it means it reached some level of popularity). But I consider it the most successful among the games that are based on anomaly search. It can serve as a metaphor to something else and movie actually includes some of it in the plot (more in spoilers).

For those who played or watched playthroughs of this game will see several biggest homages to the game's anomalies (e.g. blood dripping from the ceiling or my personal favorite - eyes on the posters that follow you).

But the movie team decided to expand and added a story to it, which although was a bit predictable ended up quite okay and I think it tied in all the parts quite nicely together. So this movie might be a horror, but any of that was just an appendage to a story for me and wasn't scary at all. I think Exit 8 leans toward psychological side of things more.

If I were to rate according to some sites, I'd say:

• Story - 7/10 (a bit predictable, but still good when you finish it)
• Visuals - 10/10 (the replica of the game is insanely accurate, it's simple but top-notch; visuall effects are fine)
• Operator and director's work - 10/10 (the best part of it to me, since it looked insanely good, I have no idea who came up with that storyboard, the way it was shot looked really good)
• Actors - 7/10 (the main goes to the male lead, I think I know him. The middle-aged man played well, I don't wait for any profound play from a child, the rest is a bit plain and some over the top parts)

Personal advice: Don't watch any trailer. I usually skip trailers anyway, but most of the time they spoil things too much.

The Lost Man

The movie is separated into three parts, the first one that comes after the intro is titled The Lost Man.

Unnamed man is standing in a subway car and listened to a famous classical piece "Bolero" when he witnesses a man harassing a young woman with a young child by shouting at her and telling her to shut her baby. Everyone in the car pays no attention to it.. and so does the man. He declines incoming call once. He accepts when he is now on his way out and we see from the 1st POV how he walks up the stairs while answering his phone. His ex-girlfriend tell him she is pregnant. And she doesn't know what to do. The man is shocked, he is also.. lost. When we see that something around him is changing and he looks up to see the sign - Exit 8.

The man starts walking, seeing some strangely looking middle-aged man turning around the corner and walking in the opposite direction, the man doesn't talk and moves like a programmed person. The man turns around the corner, passes the lockers and a photo booth, there is a big sign with directions, but a number 0 at the top. The man pays no attention to it. Only to find himself in the same corridor, with the same sign Exit 8, same middle-aged man walking towards him. This is how a spacial loop is closed. He walks forward and finally notices the information / rules hanging on the wall: If you see anomaly - walk back, if you see no anomaly, move forward. With each correct turn the number on the big sign changes. But if you make the wrong choice - it turns to 0, losing all progress.

There is no need to think much about what this part can mean and the movie as a whole, after all it is called Lost Man. With the sudden news of unexpected child you see the reaction of this man is uncertainty and inability to make decision right there - does he want this child or not?

I see this corridor for him as a mind loop, when you ask yourself the same question over and over and try to see the exit.

Same here, he tries to find the exit and panics at times, especially when the progress is lost. The most touching part in here is how he confesses to his actions at the beginning of the movie - standing and acting like everybody else when young mother needed help.

But suddenly he meets a boy and thinks he is an anomaly too, but when he turns and notices the loss of the progress he realizes that the young boy is just like him - lost.

But while the two decided to walk together, we switch to..

The Walking Man

The middle-aged man who tugged the young boy along and was also lost in the corridor is of lesser significance story-wise to me. It's more like a character that shows that you can indeed lose, lose yourself eventually and become part of this place.

The one who walks towards him is a young woman, who suddenly talk to him and asks him if he's also lost, this place is strange, are we dead she asks, maybe this is hell. before the young woman glitches and it is evident she's still an anomaly.

While they walk forward we see the young boy stand near a door that obviously has a door handle in the middle (anomaly), but the man disregards it and walks forward, obviously losing all progress. Having a mental breakdown he walks forward and finaly sees the exit, he believes it's an exit, but the young boy refuses to follow and returns. He walks forward and lees the 'lost man'.

I loved how they made it feel like a timeloop and also spacial loop. Because we see the boy's perspective when the lost man first saw the boy. The boy follows and points at the middle-aged man, when the lost man says - he's no longer human. Interesting how they linked the beginning and ending in such a way that he we see him say this phrase twice, at the beginning when he first met the boy and after the boy met him and we as viewers witnessed what happened to the middle-aged man.

So..

The Boy

The boy is the last arc that now shows the lost man and the boy walking the corridors and slowly making progress. The man notices that sometimes the boy actually is more perceptive of anomalies than him, so he pays attention to him.

They also talk.

The boy says he is lost, he got lost on purpose, wanting for his mom to find him.

The man asks him - what about your dad? The boys said he doesn't have a dad.

At this point there is no need to be a genius to figure out that the boy is this man's future son. It's as if this place gave him the chance to make a choice.

The man decided to lead the boy to the exit. The boy gives the man a shell as a lucky charm.

They do make progress and when they're almost there they suddenly hear the siren and the flood keeps pouring in. They might be swept by the sheer amount of water at any moment when we're switched to a diferent picture, a beach and a family of three. The man saves the boy, lifting him up to grab the hanging sign, while he disappears.

The boy wakes up among the debris and mud, he stands up, walks in the right direction and is close to finding exit, though we don't see it happening.

We switch back to the man, who survived, he sees the turn, sees the exit and sairs that lead downwards, he picks up his phone and makes a call, walking down the same corridor he walked at the very beginning, his ex-girlfriend picks up the phone, he asks where she is and says he will be there right away.

He enters the subway car, we see the same scene from the very beginning, the young woman with a crying child and a man shouting at her. The man looks forward with his eyes glistening with tears and he turns towards the young woman.

Movie ends.

I left out some jumpscare and metaphorical parts. Jumpscare are present, but some of them contradict to what already happened, the character's reaction. Because at one point the man is pretty decicive when it comes to seeing anomalies and turning back, but at two or so moment it was as if he got stuck just so we could witness the "horror" part.

The idea of this movie is pretty simple, the beginning was a bit tedious I must say, but when it came to loops and at the walking man part it started to become visually interesting, especially the camerawork and how they created a loop in the movie.

I think the story itself is okay, it's predictable, but I liked how they tied together the idea of this man losing himself and looking for an answer and the boy being there for him to make the choice.

I also find that the movie can still be open for interpretation if you insist on it. Did the man ever leave the car, did that all happen in his head? Or on the contrary, did he ever find the exit? I believe in the happy ending of it all. 

Another interesting part that many don't know about, but I think is a pretty fine coincidence. I have no idea if this director ever watched a cartoon title "Bolero" by Ivan Maksimov, which uses the same classical music piece that was used in Exit 8. I'll include it here. The point of this small cartoon is a creature that walks in a loop following its' own tail, maybe not even knowing the tail belongs to it. I just think it's fun that it also has idea of being in a loop here too.

RATE: 7/10.

[ANIME] Gyokou no Nikuko-chan / 漁港の肉子ちゃん (2021)

"Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko", pun is about her name, since 'niku' means meat.

It's a lovely short movie about a strange family of two. "Strange" said not in a bad way, but they're two interesting individuals.

Nikuko is a quirky fat lady, you can tell she is simple, because she got swindled several times, since she believed in goodness of people's hearts, she always wears her heart on her sleeve, brims with optimism and works really hard.

Nikuko has an 11 yo daughter Kikuko who doesn't look anything like Nikuko, is smart and sharp for a girl her age, but although she feels more mature at times she also has her own weird traits as a kid.

Nikuko and Kikuko are now living in this small sea-town where Kikuko goes to school and has her own first problems. 

It's a very simple story of everyday life and is nothing fancy, but you can feel the characters relationship through the screen of how Kikuko although has her first embarassment moments because of her mother still loves her dearly. Nikuko always realizes her short-comings but feels like she won the lottery by having Kikuko in her life.

The climax of the story is how Kikuko misunderstands Nikuko's late phone calls and think she got another boyfriend (potential problem) and then she got appendicitis and was admitted to the hospital where she suddenly decided to confront Nikuko about her true origins.

SPOILERS~

It's not a secret that it becomes evident early on when many repeat the same phrase over and over that Kikuko doesn't resemble Nikuko at all. But Kikuko knows that Nikuko isn't really her mother at all.

Her own mother who we know as Miu was working (sw) at some point and met with Nikuko, they bonded and lived together like sisters, when Miu suddenly got pregnant. She gave birth to a daughter but one day left. Nikuko as a person who sees good in people still doesn't blame Miu for leaving her with a child and even thought of letting the two meet if Kikuko decided to do so. The movie doesn't spin this drama much (though many consider Miu just ditching Nikuko and burdening her with her own child, while the movie (Nikuko herself) mentions that Miu found her love with a wealthier man and is now pregnant and she secretly found/visited her daughter). Although if Miu really was just a young scared mother is up to debate, since Nikuko thinks good of everyone, thus she brought up many excuses for Miu. But it never hindered Kikuko from knowing the truth for some time and loving Nikuko for everything she did for her. To Kikuko she is the person she loves a lot.

I honestly cried a bit when they showed her being little and supporting her mother who worked hard to support her. They found a perfect family in each other. And that was beautiful.

Nikuko is described as this simple(ton) lady, but it doesn't make her less awesome.

RATE: 8/10.

[ANIMATION] MARS Express (2023)

This was fantastic.

Aline Ruby and her partner Carlos are hired to find a missing daughter, a student studying cybernetics. This investigation leads to a revelation of a bigger plan that will eventually change everything.

Awesome animation, very non-mainstream story (loved it), simple and meaningful story set in a well-thought-through world of Mars and any other place occupied by humans of future.

While watching even from the very first scene I was surprised, but was still apprehensive, since I know how such scenes are often used to make the viewer become interested, but later the same type of tension never comes again.

Doesn't happen here.

I can understand why some might find it dissatisfying, but I thought it was pretty logical and actually more striking rather this movie taking the basic Hollywood approach to cater to the public. Instead I find the story took some brutal turns to wake up the viewer from the fever dream that is "one against the many" can win. French are not fucking around.

Movie raises many questions, including but not limited to the future of robotics, Artificial Intelligence, ethics of duplicating people's consciousness after their death when the above-mentioned robot bodies have limited freedom. Is a person still a person in a body of a robot?

I liked that main characters were made more human, like just ordinary people and not into some super humans who are smart and can deal with anything and then laugh it off among ruins of some villain's mansion with all guys buried under. 

RATE: 9/10.

thoughts on SPOILERS

[Chinese BG novel] 每天都在努力让丈夫破产[穿书] by 三花夕拾 / Trying to bankrupt my husband every day

(it's strange how the cover is way too far from the content of the novel)

Summary: Lin Meng had nightmares for a week and the content of those nightmares was the same - her husband will fall in love with someone else and chase her out with nothing. But it felt weird, although the nightmare felt real she couldn't believe her husband Zhu Yushen would do such a thing. Before she heard that he got a new secretary. In a fit she decided to spend his money like water and what is the best way to do it? Of course is to support those wasting money with dreams in entertainment industry.

Well, I'll be honest from the start, this is a re-read for me, I noticed I read it probably few years prior but never actually made a post about it. And although it's a light and sometimes humorous story with more time spent on a career than romance, but I'd still say it's mid and has many parts that I think could have been made either better or changed.

Romance is the weakest part of this story.

First of all it is very in the background before last part of the novel, I must say I felt nothing for the two, despite all attempts I couldn't muster much affection. They say they lived together since school and now Lin Meng is a wealthy wife, but she actually helped her husband build his business and retired to recuperate at home when the company was on the right track. Which shows she knows when to give way to people. There are a lot of memories of theirs here and there, but they're so sparse, like three idle hairs on a bald head.

But this good impression to me is shattered when she believed in dreams.

I am honestly not a big fan when female characters are shown to have little to no faith in their husbands when seeing some dreams (it's one thing to be reborn, but dreams? really?), she truly believed he can cheat on her. And the fact that those dreams were fake an planted by the transmigrating girl, aka secretary, do not make the whole thing better. Note: this girl is not worth mentioning, since she appeared only few times and then went offline, since her mission failed.

The only redeemable part is when they finally sat and talked she accepted that part of the problem with their failed marriage lies with her too, since she did not try to fix things up and was basically waiting for him to notice that something is wrong. Girl, he's a man, what are you trying to make him notice? That's a pipe dream.

So I think this "conflict" and the result were squeezed out of author's ass. It's so bizarre.

I honestly thought that girl was bored out of her mind at home and instead of talking to her husband decided best tactic is to silently wait for him to notice something is amiss.. girl, are you serious?

Anyway, they did divorce in the story only later for Zhu Yushen to pursue her again.

Tbh the guy is the boss of the company, busy day and night, he can't simply stand up and leave, unlike many CEOs in novels that seem to have all the time in their lives.

So yeah, romance is like a sore thumb here.

As for career. This is another thing that baffled me at one point.

First of all her big idea to spend their own money (at that time the girl even justified the ilogical dream to herself, I mean she had a lot of assets in her name, she can't leave with nothing).

So okay she starts spending money on projects but the joke of it all is that she always makes money back one way or another.

People and public eventually praise her for her desire to make good movies, while she continues wishing to lose money. But of course she refuses to just make bad movies. At least not without a principle.

But here's a catch - it becomes a joke that is repeated too many times.

Even her desire to spend money continues when she's divorced. 

Girl, your assets are now yours, you are going to bankrupt yourself. Please let your logic and some common sense return.

At this point I really wanted to shake her, because the joke was taken too far for too long and by that time I felt it was necessary for her to change her mind. By this time a lot of people depended on her (not only employees, but actually a whole set of directors whom she fed her idealistic bullshit script, in case she's gone what are they to do?), a lot of good projects were produced (but she self-sabotaged when it came to promotions, in many cases she was on the verge of losses if the punch line wasn't about her PR manager Xiao Wang who is a bringer of good news appear every time and tell Lin Meng that something took turn for the better), she gave hope to so many people, they basically worship her, but she still is all about losing money for the most part of the novel.

I think the timing for her change of mind is the worst. 

One thing to note I do remember some parts of this novel because it actually became memorable:

- Her first project she fully sponsored but also brought in all her riches to make rich look rich;

- Later she invested in a movie of a director who made flops before 10-year silence;

- Like her investment in projects that has new ideas, good scripts and it was non-mainstream;

- Part of the story belongs to a director whose daughter was fired from one production because she had too many of he rown ideas and did not listen to director, she sent two directors in hopes of setting Dream Ent. for losses, not being aware this was Lin Meng's goal, but of course she got what she deserves later on;

- Part of the story involves another meddler in the face of the company that decided Dream Ent. is their rival and they released movies and projects that were profitable, but of average quality (just to make a quick buck) and were often compared as a result;

- She also invested in a big-budget movie that indeed reached her goal for losses (she was divorced by that time though) but it made a big splash later;

- Because of one those series her company was granted to make a tribute movie which was about infrastructure, which I found unique among many stories.

This was a rare case when I remembered the projects more than anything else.

Partially because of such a big influence of movies and debate it also brings up a question of viewers and good movies. Tbh at times it feels like author wants to express how viewers may condemn bad movies, but actually like slop a lot. They wants the artistry, but when it comes to it to them it feels too heavy. Actually contradictory as reality.

This is why I would put the novel somewhere in the mid, not too outrageous, but not completely a lost cause. I just don't agree with timing of things and how the romance was handled.

But for people who like light-hearted and fast-paced books with a lot of showbiz and career this must be a good choice. If they have nothing better to read though.

Once again, I don't want to say that FMC was so outrageous, she is actually one of few who accepted her mistakes, it's just the way she was portrayed dealing with her husband and their relationship made it weird to me, I'm totally for her to go out and become a boss of her own.

From the point of view of showbiz it was interesting, it doesn't follow the path of just sharing a name and not even explaining what the movie / show is about. So props for trying to make it interesting.

RATE: 3/5.

[Chinese BL novel] 穿书后与偏执大佬HE了 by 有诗无酒 / After transmigrating paranoid boss and I have a HE

I've read this in 2021 (it was published in 2020), but I never created a separate post for it. I wanted to re-read something from the past and this is the one I came across that I said was easy to read, fast-paced and not bad. When you want something fast.

The premise is pretty simple:

Shen Shu achieved success in his world, he struggled in the world of entertainment before gaining recognition. But because of the fateful accident he travels to a book he read recently to become a cannon fodder. In the story he has only few passages before he is destroyed by one of the main characters.

The book tells a story of unrequited love of the main character Fu Shenxiao who is almost obsessively in love with Qiao Rong, a CEO of his entertainment company and someone whom he knew for many years, but Qiao Rong does not reciprocate his feelings and considers him nothing more but a friend.

But the obsessive love does not prevent Best Actor to meddle in Qiao Rong's life, especially when it comes to getting rid of anyone who appears close to him. This is why Shen Shu who is the only one who successfully climbed the bed was retaliated against in such a gruesome way.

Now this cannon fodder "climber" is Shen Shu. Who is currently inside a hotel room waiting for the big boss arrival.

He threw his hands up and said - who needs this, I want to survive. Thus he got dressed and was about to leave wen the door opened and he saw Mr Qiao Rong in the flesh and said - I can!

After sleeping once Qiao Rong actually extended a hand and wanted to keep Shen Shu as his lover but Shen Shu though with a clearer mind that one time is enough, he does not have such a strong death wish.

Mainly the story revolves around these three. It's a very easy story, you can also read it a bit as shallow, since it does not dwell on things or explore them in details.

But I honestly like the character of Shen Shu, I like his lively type. He is pretty humorous, is not afraid of Qiao Rong and it attracted Qiao Rong the most, that no matter how Shen Shu acted on the surface, he really was nto afraid.

Later on they had more contact through other projects and Qiao Rong had more instances to imress the person he set his eyes on, because the initial goal to catch the prey he eventually started liking Shen Shu more and more.

Qiao Rong is the more edgier type of main lead that was popular, if he falls in love it will be a bit dangerous. But the two actually fit each other in this aspect since Shen Shu is the type who lacks security and only such a strong posessive person fits his ideal lover.

Overall a basic story of road to stardom, finding love, also not forgetting some face-slapping on the way. Including Best Actor who hated Shen Shu for getting close to Qiao Rong.

It's a bit of a pity that the story was so short. I wish there would be more of Qiao Rong's sister. Sh eis actually such a lovely character and it was so nice to see Qiao Rong basically doting on his younger sister in the book. Rare good sibling relationships.

RATE; 3,5/5.

[ANIME] Seihantai na Kimi to Boku / 正反対な君と僕 (2026) (Season 1)

THE BEST.

Can't stress enough how I loved it!!!

It's such a positive and lovely story. And I'm saying it as a person who overall dislikes romance+school, since it's a very cliche formula overall. But polar opposites manages to make it so lovely and cute and MOST IMPORTANTLY gets rid of all cliche that school anime have. No melodrama plots, only positive vibes.

Suzuki Miyu and Tani Yuusuke are really polar opposites, she is outgoing and very livey, he is stoic and reliable. She fell for him really hard.

It's one of few animes where main characters fall in live really fast, more like they start dating early on (first episode!?). So the anime is more about how they discover more and new things about each other, how they deal with some disagreemenets in a very positive and healthy way by communication (imagine my surprise, where in all the rest miscommunication is such a popular plot device) and overall we see their casual daily life which is full of color.

Miyu is my new girl, she is so lovely and positive, even if she seems a bit loud. She looks a bit alternative, with her love for pink hair and black clothes that say "I'm not like other girls, but I'm still cute". She is indeed cute and fun to follow.

She is surrounded by other oddballs, but actually it's a pretty good crowd.

Tani-kun may be the opposite of this crowd with his staight-laced look, but he blended in.

The best part is how welcoming everyone is, there are no bad vibes, everyone has their own perks, each character gets a bit of intro, so we know more about them and they're not there to highlight the main couple. They're all good school friends. I bet many would want a crowd of friends like that.

The storyline doesn't have the melodrama, it's only the casual daily school life with insert of school festivals and travels which are pretty common in every anime, but honestly it'd be weird without them as part of the school life.

I followed this anime every week and it never bothered me that it's on-going, each episode was like a weekly healing time, it made me feel so good.

It's just such a simle yet positive story.

I'LL BE WAITING FOR SEASON 2!!

RATE: 10/10.