[ANIME] AKIRA (1988)

AKIRA is larger than anything. A true classic of anime in every sense. I re-watch it from time to time just to re-visit it and marvel at everything, at wonderful and gripping story, amazing animation and overall superior work of art.

When it comes to AKIRA it's the story you can explore and discuss, it revolves around many themes that feel modern even if it was released so many years ago. It also offers great visuals that you can marvel at decades later. This what makes anime a great one and a legend. If I had descendant I'd say - watch this :)

I'm on Katsuhiro Ootomo roll right now, we start with Steamboy, now Akira and later Roujon Z, finishing with several selected shorter animations. I think it's a pity Katsuhiro did not release more, but I also understand that after Akira it was pretty hard to impress the public and meet exectations (although I think it's unfair towards any creator), even though I find his other works great too, especially those which are more humorous. He has so much to say when it comes to incorporations of technologies and innovations, the social impact, which can be found in many of his stories.

[ANIME] Koori no Jouheki / 氷の城壁 (2026) (Season 1)

The Ramparts of Ice

Koyuki Hikawa has trouble interacting with others, instead preferring to keep her distance and spend her time alone. However, when she meets Minato Amamiya, he suddenly starts trying to close the distance between them.

I may have liked the beginning, but in later parts it became more about emotional struggles in terms of love and I don't really care about it. And this is me not saying that the anime is bad, it's just a bit cliche what they did by the end of episode 14.

Let me start from good parts and what I liked:

• I didn't mind the darker approach, not for everyone school was all sunshine and flowers, for many it was a dark time of bullying and fights. In a microcosm it was a society, but also a limited one where people didn't bother thinking tey might hurt others or on the contrary were doing it on purpose. The high stress level does not excuse anyone from being a horrible human being and scarring someone for life. This made Koyun quite a layered character with her initial guarded self to opening up with someone and realizing that some of the things she did to another boy Minato (MMC) is something that was done to her. So it was a nice portrayal.
• I really liked the part where we get perspective from different point of views on the same situation. My biggest example is the bench talk between Miki and Koyun after which Koyun started dating boy named Igarashi. Miki at the time thought it was partially her fault that she pushed Koyun towards Igarashi, but through their talk we realize Koyun herself does not remember things as such and she started dating not for this reason.
• The main female character does ambiguous things instead of being one-dimensional.
• The story explains really well the circumstances of several characters and how they came to be as they are now, what they went through, at which stage they are now.
• Not to make matters too depressing anime includes many cute moments (mainly the chibi version or when a character suddenly does something more unexpected).

What made me a bit sad is the turn toward romance and the approach.

So we have four friends that formed their own circle: Girls Koyun, Miki and boys Minato, Yota. Then we have the following situation →

Koyun realizes Minato might like her, but she doesn't know how to approach this situation. At first Koyun misunderstood that Miki might like Minato and it will become a struggle for Yota and his feelings she is aware of.

Minato likes Koyun, but misunderstands for a long time that she might like Yota, since she makes the happiest and most comfortable face around Yota (the only logical misunderstanding that has some valid proof, instead of just being a speculation)

Yota has like Miki since middle school and was not ready to confess, but it just happened like that. He is the only one who has no misunderstandings about others.

Miki who was once ennamord in the fantasy that her best friend might be in love with the guy she appreciates as a friend too is now facing a confession and although she likes Yota, but does not see him as love interest (yet). So they left with this amniguous open ending for development for both parties.

The most cliche part is actually including a first year girl who has eyes for Minato and she does a lot of undermining like a hardworking villainous supporting role. She plants a seed of doubt when she sees Minato liking Koyun, but also wants Koyun to give way. Manipulative and selfish, does what she wants.

So from some emotional drama and how teenagers cope with life we switch to love~

Anyway, it was okay.

RATE: 8/10.

[MOVIE] How to murder your wife (1965)

A black comedy about a successful cartoonist, who has been living a perfect life of a single man, but got married while drunk and everything begins to change.

Actually a pretty harmless movie if you think about it. A cartoonist Stanley Ford who built his successful career is now facing a sudden marriage that happened during bachelor party when he was completely drunk, but the eyes of a woman who suddenly appeared out of a fake cake caught his attention and passion was burning. With realization that he is now married to a woman who can't even speak English the entire world felt like it came crashing down. But despite the idea of sending his wife away or separate did not happen when he was caught in a whirlwind of action and in just a short period of time he found himself bound to this woman. Many might think the movie places women in a vurnelable position and there is a segment like that, especially at the very end, but on the other hand it fully describes the power women hold over their husbands too. In their daily life or when it comes to emotions too. After all even the main character despite his irritability over the changes that happened at 37 cannot shake off the loneliness when his wife leaves him. But I do think the movie also shows how remarkable the female character is. To me she is passionate (although some might say it's an Italian cliche) and also she tries to surround Stanley with love. She learns the language, although not in a conventional way. Cooks for him, thus he gains weight that he cared about all these years. It might seem that her world revolves around him, I won't deny that. But she's not entirely bound to the kitchen, if you know what I mean. They have a social life, they party. Pretty much everyday life of a couple.

SPOILERS

The plot is pretty simple if you explain it, because Stanley always does the things himself, so on top of that he can re-create his cartoons, when he think of murdering his wife he also draws it as a cartoon. He plans and visits people, but everything is reflected on pages. And even proceeds to truly put drugs in his wife's glass during a party. But when it comes to disposure of the body, he does it with a mannequin. Of course everything is reflected on the comic pages. So when his wife wakes up and realizes what happened she leaves him. But with Mrs Ford gone now Stanley faces real charges of her murder.

I don't know about others but I found the scene at the end particularly funny, when Stanley defended himself and all the men celebrated but then they showed the unimpressed women and I laughed because I thought - oh boy, you touched this hornets nest, be prepared to get your heads chewed off when you get home. laugh while it lasts.

Also they invited Virna Lisi to play Mrs Ford and what a gorgeous woman she is. 

Fun watch, what can I say, a fun watch.

RATE: 7,5/10.

[SHORT REVIEWS] #32 (TALKATIVE / RANTING)

WE START FROM 

ANIMATION

DNF (Dungeon & Fighter)

BIIIITCCHHHH LOOK AT THIS, JUST LOOK AT THIS

YOU MUST BE KIDDING ME. THIS LOOKS AMAZING. Surely can as well be a complete flop, but visually i wanna see it. This is a Chinese animation based on a game.

Koori no Jouheki / 氷の城壁 (2026)

Stylistically it looks exactly like Seihantai na kimi to boku. I can only bet on same author but I can't look up the info because mangaupdates has been down for forever now. I don't have any other reliable site for manga database type.

I saw the first episode and it tell a story of high school girl who was bullied before, especially because she is so petite compared to others. Although it looks like Seihantai the vibes are so different. Hurts to see a young girl being harassed by men around her and even if she says 'no' no one listens or jokes that she takes it too seriously.

Also, Seihantai has started airing and it's just as cute as ever~

UPDATE: I finished this anime. It was darker and gloomier in its' overall tone, even if it tried to use many cute moments to balance. But in general eventually it went in a direction  I didn't want to see, although it's pretty common and cliche. While we started from exploring the lives of the FMC and how she lived, it also gave a nice overview of others, even their own interpretation on certain events which was a nice move. But when it came to relationships it's where things got downhill for me. Because I don't give a damn about teenage relationship angst in school romance genre. Why I watch Seihantai is because they do not do it. Here I absolutely disliked the "misunderstanding" which exists solely to stumble people on their way to happiness and be exploited by newly appeared character a 1st year who had her eyes on Minato (MMC) and who basically undermines their relationship, while also maliciously approached Koyun (FMC). Then half-way through we know that Yota is in love with Miki, friends of main characters. But the problem is Miki likes Yota but so far not as a romantic interest. Kinda okay development, although again want to ephasize that it's angsty. On the other hand 1st year appears as a villanous female supporting character who makes the main couple stumble but progress at the same time. Because of her FMC is now hyperaware of Minato, while Minato is in a dilemma about Koyun looking as if she's in love with Yota. Btw his misunderstanding is the most valid out of all.

And the season ends with that. We moved away from emotional inner world of main characters and moved towards love~ But honestly I can't care less. I don't really plan to watch the second season in case theyr elease a new one.

Release that start in July.

THE GHOST IN THE SHELL (2026)

It's the closest in design of characters to original manga by Shirow Masamune. It's fantastic what this franchise became. Like any other it did not escape reboots etc. I tried to watch the Alternative Architecture one and I must say... it felt like they tried to tell a different story completely, while I was watching and getting bored I had a deep feeling that all the Sector 9 people did not meet like this at all.

I wish they would leave it alone one day, but I can't escape the appeal of trying the new releases, even if I know the chances of liking it will be small.

Just watch the original movie and also the first two seasons of anime and it'll be everything you need. With good story and good music. And major Kusanagi who looks like a woman and not a midget.

UPDATE: IT LOOKS AWESOME. It has absolutely different feel, even if the story and characters follow some of the storylines previously used, but the animation / character design make it look different, it's looks like classic 80's anime with animation being very high quality and the tone of the story also is goofier because of it, but it doesn't seem weird. The overall look is more colorful and fun so the goofiness doesn't seem weird.

UPDATE 2: They really went all out. Characers and the mood overall feel very different. We'll see how it goes.

Shoujo Kakumei Utena: Adolescence Mokushiroku / 少女革命ウテナ アドゥレセンス黙示録

Something in me asked me to rewatch the Utena movie. I don't remember what triggered the idea.

This is the anime when anime is so anime.

When 'anime' becomes a verb.

This movie is totaly bizarre in what visuals it uses to convey the story. Some things are hard to accept, because it's the type of - are you trying to convey something through symbolism or are ou goofing around? It was always crazy to me how different the movie and series are. Because despite some silly parts of anime, it is mostly a normal anime and lacks the same crazy visuals (as far as I remember).

I will make a separate post about it because I want to include some juicy screenshots. After all despite the crazy story and what you see the quality of it is still amazing.

Also the passionate sapphic on-screen kiss.

Tenshi no Tamago / 天使のたまご

I think this is another example of anime that animes hard. Not going to create a separate post, though again visuals are amazing. But in a different way.

Who would have thought that this is directed by Mamoru Oshii. Yes, the one and only director of Ghost in the Shell.

Actually Angel's Egg may be a bit hypnotic, with the use of many silent long shots and almost silent movie when dialogue comes later in the movie.

Although if you want to joke about it when you start watching the first thought I had - girl, you dehydrated.

But again, this is what you want to show people when you mean when sometimes anime goes into philosophy and symbolism.

I also re-watched

Steamboy / スチームボーイ

Katsuhiro Ootomo is amazing to me. I can see how much work was put into this as it looks amazing, at least visually it makes me drool.

Story-wise it's a simple story of inventions, the different path the invention takes depending on scientist's goal. Scientific ambitions and their application in the world.

Many might not find the main charactr Ray appealing, though to me he is just a kid who is almost led by the nose by adults. Which is mortifying to think about. He believes what his grandfather says before he meets the father who obviously suffered from injuries, but he still complies with what his father says not really understanding the scope of invention or the direction of application before realizing that both sides want to achieve dominance and not for any good reason.

There is also Scarlett, a spoilt rich lady who absolutely has no preservation skills, too snob about her own position and also, I bet everyone hated her when she hit her own dog. She is honestly not likable, but also in a way the result of such upbringing and a kid who has no real grasp on things.

Otherwise I will try few from the summer season, but will see which one sticks and which not.

BOOKS

CHN

I still wait for three BL novels to be completed, that I mentioned previously in short reviews, those are my most anticipated.

These are trash finds, with.. mostly trashy stories. Most of them are garbage though. And mind you, I repeat this time and time again. Some trashy stories are entertaining, they may be poorly written and the plots are cliche, but there is something about them, some silliness and absolute madness that is entertaining, but others are simply bad. So these are mostly simply bad.

BUT WE WILL STRART FROM A GOOD FIND :D Which came as a big surprise. Considering this came from Qidian. I'm prejudiced, I know.

[BG] 女战神的黑包群 by 二谦 *Qidian

(mtl: Goddess of War's black envelope group)

Have you heard of red envelopes? Never heard of it outside of China where they give it as a form of good luck, especially on holidays like New Year. And red always bore auspicious meaning for them. I remember playing Time Princess where they also had a red envelope event and you grab envelopes which basically copies what they also used to do. So why back envelope. This is totally not auspicious to me, because of the content of those worlds. It's kinda risky too. But the idea of what is described is you are included in this group and from time to time black envelopes are distributed (by other users too), when you grab it you see a prompt with world title, like Innocent heiress, for example, then you're transported to this world and have minimum information and have to navigate on your own, meeting people with prompt on top of their heads meaning they are key figures in this script, from main characters to side characters. When FMC guesses correctly the prompt changes from something to 'reborn', for example. Like for example in the first arc she saw a girl with 'chaotic data' which later changed to 'reborn'. If you achieve success in doing your task the rewards will follow, some of them are pretty neet, although mainly FMC relies on her super mental strength, physical strength, her intellect and AI smart brain. As far as I could understand, when reaching certain level of task success she can distribute black envelopes herself, while doing so she prompted what she wanted to guess, I suppose. Because her brother is in a coma and she is doing this mostly for him, she heard of some miracle medicine and wanted to try it, but they don't have it, so she thought she might get it through this black envelop group.

This transmigration novel came as a surprise. It's not bad actually. Also / although it is fucking long (3k chapters), which I don't mind because I found the stories interesting so far. Also because of FMC's character it creates a lot of humorous moments.

Dong Shu, FMC is an Interstellar goddes of war, she is 3S type that suddenly had a balck envelope group added to her smart brain, she can travel to worlds and even get rewards, her main idea is that she might get something useful out of it to help her brother who is still in a coma.

Outwardly she is pretty intense, powerful and aloof. Quite cold-hearted too, since she's been through it all. But she also can have a moment of soft-heartedness (I assume some of it will be the result of different environment of worlds, periods she travels to). Her character portrayal is pretty direct, since she is a hardened individual she may not posses so many emotions towards others. But it doesn't mean she is like an ice queen, she has a touch of dark humor to her, likes to tease people sometimes.

When she travels she has her mental power with her as well as smart brain. First helps her a lot, while second may not be as helpful but still follows along.

The idea is also about her not having a clue about these worlds and trying to figure out what was the original wish of those people whose bodies she uses.

She may sound pretty overpowered, but the stories are still interesting. For example, I liked the approach in a story about the general. She landed as an orphan and knew that the main wish was to not let a general protecting the border perish in a court intrigue. Her idea is simple. She travels to border and startes meeting some key figures. One of them is supposedly a protagonist of this story a traversing girl who used the knowledge of future to conquer land. But because her tactics were too plundering it basically enriched only her, but left people devastated. I liked the approach of showing that not all traversers are acting for the good and that their actions may result in tragedy.

Although the story isn't without a flaw it's still interesting to follow. I'm already 170 chapters in and I think do far it is good enough.

What I liked that it retains individuality. I'm also surprised because I found it on Qidian, which is notorious to me for bad writing.

The only thing that sticks out to me is of course lack of editing, when the same thought or notion is reiterated several times, which may get you tired a bit.

Note: Although the author claims it's NoCP story and only first arc had a couple that lived their entire life. Later indeed FMC does not live in these worlds for long, which is explained. But it doesn't mean that others don't fall for her. She lives a glorious short life and she leaves mostly at a crucial time when she is the most needed. But otherwise the bodies she occupies would be dead anyway.

Note 2: I plan to have a separate post whenever I finish this or stop reading for some reason.

[BG] 恣爷的心尖宠又飒又野 by 林木十一 *Qidian

(mtl: Prince's beloved is both charming and wild)

I basically stopped around chapter 471. Chapters are short, but I still think the story drags quite a bit.

The story itself is about reborn FMC Lu Qingqiao, she fell a victim to her own relatives in her previous life, even if she treated them with utmost care it seems it wasn't enough to feed the greed. 

Lu Qingqiao is a famous throughout her city female CEO that inherited the mantle from her brother who is now in a coma, her parents unfortunately perished in a car accident. She became successful and took care of the second family, especially her cousin, but it's this cousin who schemed against her the most. FMC felt she was stupid to believe her and taking care of her in entertainment industry.

The first half is mainly about FMC who takes control of the situation even before she was schemed against. Using her knowledge she fights both sides. Her family actually takes a lot of time and it doesn't look like a good story because the narrative always changes as if FMC's cousin gained another wave of support, even if she was exposed doing some really nasty shit, but it always felt like their network is too short-lived. So the situation with FMC dealing with these scoundrels escalated and dragged for quite a bit.

Overall portrayal of FMC was quite good, she is a cool type of older sister, accomplished and unrestrained.

On the other hand is MMC Qin Zi, he is a heir to the infamous Qin family which has a lot of going on. He was living almost incognito when he was taken by FMC, because she remembered him from previous life and wanted to repay him, she believed he was a poor student and others also felt like that for the longest time. Even the several encounters when they almost came face to face, which got tired quite soon, made you think they're going to find things soon, but no, it took a while.

Another point is the basic over the top habit when authors write some out of ordinary stuff that should sound.. I don't know cool? Like, for example, when FMC connects to a famous genius doctor she allows him to take her brother away in hope of recovering from a coma. I have no idea why she said she was sent some gruesome photos of her brother, like what that doctor did to him, but tbh it wasn't that long before this bro not only woke up but also stood up. Rehab is a long and tedious process, everyone knows that. There's a lot of stuff like that, which is basically a big delusion.

[BG] 快穿之绿茶靠边站 by 洛轻辰 *Qidian

(mtl: The green tea should step aside)

TRASH. I just dropped this one pretty quickly.

FMC transimgrates into some secondary characters and her goal is basically exposing the green tea female protags that are described as nothing special, but they're acting both pitiful and try to be strong and basically they're "not like everybody else". Like for example the first arc describes some palace maid figure that attracted FMC's brother, the Emperor, but later she jumped into a river and disappeared, since FMC knew where to search for her she arrived. The woman is not a imple one, she used what she learned in the palace to earn money, basically selling recipes of palace Imperisal Kitchen to a restaurant. later she is all "oh, I'm such a pitiful little creature" while she sedued men left and right, even sleeping with them. So she is tossed around like that.

The way FMC exposed it I don't remember but I do remember I thought it made no sense and was rudimentary.

A complete waste fo time. Good thing I didn't spend much time reading.

[BG] 快穿好孕：绝嗣反派掐腰吻娇娇 by 叶若轩 *Qidian

(mtl: Pregnancy system - the villain who had no heirs now spoils his darling)

I am so free-wheeling with that mtl and title all-together, because this is the essence of the story in a sense.

Basically, I wanted some sweet novel and I don't discriminate against such novels, although most of the time where there is a task it always feels like fake love, because it's all a task and does not involve feelings that can be called truly pure.

Same here. Also such a mediocre story and plots. It feels like FMC is taking out a conflict out of her ass every few minutes so the reader will feel it's not an empty story, but it is.

I find plots like from the first arc truly ridiculous, worthy of a vertical drama. In first arc she plays a supporting role, her fiance is called again by a green tea girl when he leaves the wedding with no regard for his fiancee. Later on even thinks she should wait for him, forgive him and accept how things are. That it's already such a big consession that he makes her his legal wife, while his mistress can only be his mistress.

FMC instead hooks up with the villain of course, but honestly the way villains in these stories feel for FMC is so cheap, like that type of instant love and "she's not like other girls" rhetoric repeated so many times.

Also this has too few arcs and the last one dragged for so long for no apparent reason. I just feel sorry for my time, but I had such a cheap mood and something of this level was quite fitting, now I can rant about it. It just proves my initial impression of Qidian that I got years prior, out of many stories most of them will be like a cheap script for a vertical drama.

Second to last from the trash pile, this is not the worst of it all, just wait, the last one is a true gem of 'I'd break author's hands'.

[BG] 好孕快穿：娇软狐狸在位面被团宠 by 福禄果 *Qidian

(mtl: QT: The soft and delicate pampered fox)

Another waste of time. 

FMC is a fox from a transmigration bureau. You know what I hate about this one? Everything.

FMC does nothing and is said to have completed many worlds, it's just because of her nature that she couldn't have accepted the failure, now she is transferred to childbearing system. I can't help it, what Qidian recommends is what I see, usually it's always like that, based on what you read.

So FMC can't do shit. She even cooks thanks to the system by spending points (did not get how the system works, since she is asked to spend affection points?), she has no other talent except she thinks highly of herself and can seduce any man because she's a vixen. The girl is pretty proud about herself.

The arcs / worlds / plots are a shame to ever exist. I'm sure if the text had the self-delete option it'd opt for that. It's hard to watch how nonsense it is. Her male protagonists fall for her instantly almost. At least she attarcts her targets a lot. Then comes some nonsense script that is absolutely chopped as if they're basic notes left by author. Even if a cat was randomly smashing on a keyboard I'm sure it'd do a better job. 

I haven't seen such a self-absorbed FMC in a while. She really thinks she is a present to wish for. She can't do shit herself. Spends most of her points on pointless stuff, mainly beauty, otherwise how can you conquer a man without a face?

Another worst part is that after each task she returns and we hear about some dude that is like a head manager of her division. But at the end when she meets him he actually confesses to her and says some bizarre stull like he sent her to this branch so she can live several lives where she is pampered and loved. I honestly was skipping like crazy by that point not even paying attention if he was with her in those worlds or otherwise it's going to be fucked up anyway.

Fuck this author they can go to hell for their sins in writing.

[BG] 老婆是隐形大佬 by 苏家紫七 *Qidian

(mtl: My wife is a hidden boss)

I haven't met a pile of text, I can't call it a story, that would make me this mad, it's been a while.

This is so bad.

Why am I even mad though?

The thing is about the FMC. Author claims that FMC will et beter at communicating and she is having issues at first, but honestly FMC makes you think like she is soulless robot and a progrm that should be super smart, but she only does the commands others ask her to do.

And the most infuriating to me is how everyone praises her for being a sensible girl and a good child and may feel sorry for her, then pat her on her head. She is aloof but is kind inside and they find it endearing and cute. BUT TO ME THEY TREAT HER LIKE A DOG. Here, let me pat you on the head, because you're sensible. While FMC is non-existent at the beginning of the story. No worries, I saw the ending, which did not impress me and it was horrible, but also because FMC felt like a different person, opened and romantic.

I can understand the fact author wants her to change, but at the begining she feels like a girl who is so naive in her head, has no personal thoughts of her own, acts according to commands, is happy with bare minimum, does know nothing about life, should be super intelligent and dense at the same time.

Honestly, what the fuck is wrong with this author.

The story also makes you cringe and feel like all the moisture will be squeezed out of your face because how scrunched up you want to be.

This world should have more martial arts, above normal human level. And of course FMC is super-duper above anyone else. Of course she is too naive about the outside world to know these things and has no idea how strong she is.

It's not the end, she is also profecient in calligraphy, because of course in the small village she resides several prominent figures live a quiet life, one of whom is a character who is close to a shrew but is actually a famous painter. She taught FMC everything. But FMC never used this skill for gain because of course she is a sensible girl and listens to her master who says - we do not gain from things that did not come out of our sect, so instead of earning a good buck and never know hardships of course she never uses the chance.

But wait, it's not the end, she also was taught by some master a way of woodworking that is so rare and it's also worth a lot, but she usually just gives things she did herself away, while others marvel that these things may be left as inheritance for future generations.

So you never know if the girl is aware or not, but she lives by the rules.

So much so that when she first arrived her master told her - it's good to get even 60 points on your test and you can guess what this genius girl did - she went on and left part of the test blank just because she was told to.

This put her in a predicament that everyone thought she was a country bumpkin and stupid.

Author wanted to show growth without ever showing the inner world of FMC herself, we only hear any other character babbling, by the end we should conclde how cool the FMC is and she's a secret boss with many talents.

Bt FMC problem stemms from the story of her family, her parents died and she was sent to a village many kilometers away, also there is a rumor about her being a jinx that was never dispelled. So when she returns most of her family treats her as unwelcome... I mean.. duh. Her grandpa is the one responsible for the situation and it may be connected to the awesomeness of FMC, being a Guardian, the top position of a martial artist. But otherwise she grew up away with no strings attached and she was basically swindled of her inheritance left by her parents she probably doesn't really remember or cares about, just because others said sign the papers and she signed and relegated her rights. I don't know it just felt like such a heartless move, author at first never mentioned anything from her family and parents. Even taking her back because of a college exam fel like such a big hassle, making the girl go through so much. The idea that is told but not expressed is that she should be blaming herself as if she believes that she is indeed a jinx who caused her parents to die, this is why she stays away from others most of the time.

And I can't blame such a character, I can only blame the author for creating her like that. 

UPDATE:

I thought we're over with three books, but imagine my surprise when I saw this! Exected date of publication Feb '27. I am so hyped. I'm so happy for Patrice for securing another book deal.

MOVIES

When it comes to movies I was re-watching after several disappointments. And also there is so much going on around new releases but it's all controversy instead of praise and admiration from viewers, which is not a good sign. So I have no big expectations for movies that are released during this period or will be released later this year.

CUBE (1997)

Cube is not a movie I'd re-watch, I just stumbled upon it and thought okay I'll rewatch it. But honestly it's a good one. For such a minimal set and cast this movie has such a great concept and also execution.

Most of all I love that ball-crushing ending, which is on another level of ironic.

And most importantly this movie is unique, so any attempt at replicating it would be just a copy. I never saw the continuation to the series, which is unfortunate attempt at milking this movie, I also never paid attention to a release in 2021, I had no idea it existed before I searched for the poster.

Final Destination 2

Don't you think this movie is goofy? I find it goofy. I know it's quite gruesome and gory at times, but also it is goofy af. The way things stop working or something happens stopped being subtle. Although the first movie lacked in being subtle, but this time everything is too obvious. All the short-circuited outlets or locked doors, spilt liquids. Nothing is safe in this universe. It's interesting how in one scene they are in a flat that has ceiling installation ffs.

Also this movie doesn't shut up for a single second, it doesn't take a break, no-no-no, there is something going on almost all the time.

I find the scene in the elevator the funniest, I'm so sorry for saying this, but the way they tried to untie.. hair? It feels like it wasn't that tangled, but everyone was in a max panic mode making it feel like such unsolvable situation. The whole movie was done withthe same amount of panic.

Back to the Future 1, 2

Do you love these movies? I do. Good, old-school and fun. There is something about movies of those times that were experimenting on new concepts, were bold in their ideas, did not cower from being a bit silly-looking. But most importantly, they were good-natured. Right now things are often too serious. And I'm not saying it's bad, some movies would not fit for being a silly-type film. It's just the majority of movies right now are like that. Even if you see a man in a tracksuit and red hotpants everything should be serious (I'm talking about stuff like Superman, yeah, I can't help it, I'm not against humans with abilities, it's just the costuming that gets to me every time). Even the live adaptations throughout the years that no one needed still have to drag down the wonders of animation to realism no one asked for. And if anything flops it's always blamed on public nowadays too...

A lot of cinema feels stale unfortunately, from casting to acting to scripts and dialogues. Whenever something appears that stands out feels like a breath of fresh air. This is why I can't help but re-watch old stuff and be unapologetic about it. 

I know I'm lamenting too much. I just feel sorry. 

For 1985 these movies look amazing actually. Although the locations and sets look pretty simple, but the way they overlap in all three movies, especially with ever-changing timelines and several main participants, I think it is fantastic. I'm sorry but the way movie 2 re-creates the scene from 50's timeline but from a different angle is such a move. To me it looked amazing. 

I especially always appreciated how it played on how the fate of people will change depending on their decisions and intervention.

[MOVIE] Dark City (1998)

I watched the Director's cut.

Do you have a feeling like you know the movie but then you look up the director and get surprised that you watched other stuff by them, but it may be totally different? This is a director of The Crow, which obviously shows I think.

I find this story fascinating. With John Murdock as protagonist waking up and not having a clue who he is and why there is a woman's dead body, he only has few items on him that can show him the way to uncover the truth about himselfand about this city.

It's fascinating because just a year after this in 1999 The Matrix will come to screens and sweep the world with a theme of false world, humanity living in illusion and there is only one person who can turn the tides. Dark City on the other hand did not reach the heights. But it doesn't make it less interesting.

The world of Dark City is pretty stylish. It's always dark, for a reason, it follows the 50's style with neo-noir sprinkle, the special effects may not be that great, but they're interesting and innovative for sure, especially when the city changed its' face (if I saw this movie back then I'd be so impressed).

John stumbles around realizing he finds himself in a loop, the city that never sees the sunlight, why everyone falls asleep at midnight and who are these stylish bald menacing guys in black coats.

I like that this movie plays hard on the theme of memories. What if your memories are false? Will you change if you are implanted with false memories? What about your loved ones?

So yeah, it's great that I finally watched it. I liked that it's different. The only thing that are outdated are special effects, but what can you expect from a movie that was released in '98. Otherwise it looked really like something right from 50's, art of pulp fiction oh and that artists who drew the painting about the diner at night.. forgot the name.

RATE: 8/10.

[MOVIE] undertone (2025)

Not the scariest movie ever heard for sure.

Evy Babic, a skeptical paranormal pod-caster caring for her comatose mother, receives disturbing recordings tied to a folkloric threat, and every new file pulls her closer to fears she can no longer explain away.

I was attracted to the idea of this movie, which builds itself around the sound, but unfortunately I was one of those who are conflicted. Partially it's not bad, but partially it's a bit much.

Being skeptical about files and their authenticity I can understand the Evy's side of the story, there are also people who honestly believe in paranormal like Justin.

The last part of the movie leaves an open ending in case if those things really happened or not. But while she was recording the best part to me was her islating the sound from around her and then when she looked around and looked into the darkness, I have this too. There is nothing there but sometimes you just watch.

I honestly would not be against if this movie was truly built on silence and occasional sounds. Nothing is as creepy as dark and silent house, especially when you're alone. Occasional sounds may come suddenly like a jumpscare, but it can be something random.

I have few examples like I scared myself and it made me laugh too.

Just recently a swallow flew into my kitchen and the flap of the wings was a sound that should not be heard in apartment.

Another time I made a pile of fritters, so when you do them you can obviously drop a drop of batter now and then, so I suppose one such drop, which obviously browned a lot got stuck to one of the fritters, but when I moved them under the law of physics that small piece started rolling down, but to me it looked like a cockroach that suddenly appeared on the pile of fritters.

Oh once a small spider crawled onto my screen and it was at night, so it scared the shit out of me.

Or when you pile up washed dishes, but not on the holder, and then they move suddenly, it's not because of some entity, it's just physics.

A lot of things can be explained, yet it sounds alien and unusual at first.

But this movie takes the path of paranormal. That two podcasters listen to audio files sent from someone. It's hard for me to get involved. The tension to me came more from some random shit that came from the darkness.

When I listened to the audio files part I was like - didn't you put the recorder or what you used for recording down, why does it feel like it follows you around while you move? I wish it gave more dimension. Also it felt very staged I think, they sounded like the most staged couple ever.

Especially audio files that can be faked just felt like some prank.

And the ending fell apart for me, because it started to connect all the supernatural dots and gave us the haunted house galore. While it could have been more. I'm not sure I liked it that much because it was just everything put together at once.

Me saying it as someone who realizes how difficult it'd be to basically play a one-man movie, although the mother is a character we see, but she sleeps almost all the time, while Evy is the one present in our view at all times.

It's just a pity it could have been better.

RATE: 6/10.

[Chinese BG novel] 快穿好孕：娇娇靠生子被大佬独宠 by 南北稚 / Quick transmigration: Blessed pregnancy - charming girl gains protagonist's favor through childbirth (*I know the title is horrible)

*Qidian

Lin Yan is a director of an orphanage, all her life she lived with disability and knew she would never be able to have children, this is why all her love was poured into kids she was responsible for. But one day she met an accident and was bound to Xiao Ba, system that asked her to travel worlds and help destined people to have an offspring. For Lin Yan it would also be a chance to experience what it is like to be a mother of her own children.

#qt, sweet romance, everyday life, childbirth

The title of this story sounds horrible to me, as if the FMC is some kind of breeding machine instead of a living being. Surely it is her task and she doesn't involve herself too much emotionally (plus after each world her memories are partially erased), partially she gets what she always wanted - it is to become a mother, partially she does it for the final reward - getting money she can spend on her orphanage and bring all the unfortunate kids and let them have a better future. If she didn't want to do it, she wouldn't do it, so here we are.

It is easy to describe the positive sides of this story, since there's not much to mention in general.

I'll be honest and say I kinda liked the first arc, because it felt different from others.

Let's move aside the fact that I've read several "pregnancy system" stories and I think almost all of them started from arc with Emperor and maid.

Here I think the overall situation is more nuanced than general trend and the situation and development are more down to earth and are not so dramatic.

Lin Yan indeed became a maid, she got her chance to sleep with Emperor because he got drugged, no one viewed this situation as romantic. Emperor wanted to repay her but she refused. Later he sent her to Empress' palace where she lived and actually connected to Empress a lot. Empress and Emperor were married for a long time and she stayed as Empress because she was quite assertive, yet she wasn't some vindictive woman who would destroy a maid just because she got Emperor's attention.

No one was portrayed as a saint or a sinner, all characters were more or less dimensional, since they have their own situation. Emperor had to balance the power of noble families, if he had no offspring of his own he would have to put the dinasty in danger of another infighting. Empress drifted apart emotionally from the Emperor, since she lost her child to another concubine who was protected by the Emperor (at that time he was still a prince and had no options aside making the matter a smaller one). So the overall situation is more layered.

But it's the only story that got such treatment tbh.

FMC did not care about the Emperor much, becase she got pregnant she indeed got treated better, but because of her origins she couldn't be official mother of her shild, it should have been registered under the Empress. The situation had a solution, but it was also a sad situation overall.

But from the second to the last arcs changed the tune to having more romantic atmosphere, MLs, even if they were from ancient planes, having only Lin Yan as a wife. At least 1st arc was less unrealistic, don't know how to express it better.

This I did not like:

• For a woman who wanted to have children FMC acted sometimes as if she did not care about kids at all. Not to mention kids are not important for the story, she gets pregnant, she gives birth (painlessly of course) and kids are giver names and the end of the arc is a chapter where we get a short description what happened after happily ever after. Often time FMC relied her children to others, since many of the arcs happen in ancient times she had wet nurses helping her. In few modern times her babies relied on the formula. She often time cared for her own figure after giving birth and even if was mentioned that she changed, but didn't change much since she got beauty pills from the system. As if her changed body was something she couldn't live with. Every part I mention was always mentioned to have some sort of "reason" behind it, but to me it wasn't like this.
• Her kids felt like that one arc where they decided to have pets. She and the ML of that world got a cat and a dog, but she just wanted pets, but the one who cleaned after pets was the man. As if she just wants to enjoy the good parts, not the bad ones.
• The importance of children and why she gave birth slowly dissipated and was not mentioned much. While in first arc there was emphasis that the child will bring prosperity to the world. And the same rhetoric was used in other ancient planes (though not mentioned). But for example in one arc where she traveled to 80's there is no reason for ML of that world having kids, it was described that he just moved out after his parents passed away and he was lonely. 
• From one point the plots are really mild and get repetitive a bit. Also unlike the first arc that had some good exploration of the situation, some others were just randomly melodramatic.
• I also dislike this forced melon theme. If those MLs were not handsome and dashing and held positions do you think she would do the same? Although it is described how she had feelings for them of course without completely losing herself. But the feelings sometimes had a bit of falsehood in them. After all they were her targets, not just a handsome men she found for herself. So she had to plot against them to get her task completed. So what is real and what is not.

Now the spoilers, but basically short desciptions of what happened in those worlds:

ARC 1. As mentioned Emperor and a maid. FMC was a maid in Emperor's palace, she got her chance when someone drugged him. He lived for years without anyone giving birth until FMC. She was sent to the Empress who eventually treated her well, but because Empress had such a heart hurdle fo years she eventually passed away when the twins were born. More or less Emperor and FMC had a good relationship afterwards. But the story was done better in terms of emotions than the plot.

ARC 2. Another ancient plane. He is a childless Crown Prince who was poisoned one day. Now he escaped to a small village where FMC lived. Her family treated their second family as workers, while others had a better life. FMC acts violently to make this family fear the consequences of angering her and making her own parents to breath from all the hard work. She saved the prince who later came back with news, she was actually a daughter of some high ranking official, so she took her parents away and moved. The situation of swapped babies. But the fake heiress was pretty normal and a good girl. Soon FMC was married according to Impreial edict and soon became pregnant with a child, giving birth to a son and thus solidifying the position of crown Prince among others. They had a happy life and Crown Prince made monogamy more popular, since he lived and liked his Princess more than anyone else.

ARC 3. Widower and divorced bride. Story in the 80's. FMC is a woman from the village whow as married off by her parents for a big dowry. Her husband was actually gay, but she bore most of infamy for not having children. We also have a reborn cousin who in previous life killed OG of this body out of jealousy. This is she now did everything in her power to marry this man FMC divorced. Not knowing that his fame and fortune belonged to his wife in previous life. 

Honestly, I know that many gay men had to marry women and basically swindled women into such marriages, but otherwise they would be prosecuted if caught. It is not excuse for wasting someone's life playing as a shield.

FMC married a "widower" but actually this man had two brides, one eloped and died on a way, another had a relationship but did not end it well and was murdered by her ex-lover on a wedding day, others were too supresticious to marry this man. FMC's target was this man and they lived a pretty happy life. Slowly their business became better, they moved away. She also gave birth to twin daughters, which was quite symbolic in this time when girls were unfavored. The story often time picked up a theme to discuss where women were rather unfortunate in ancient times and even modern, which is true, no one denies it.

Instead of having a better life reborn cousine made a mess out of her life. She chased this man, while previously she chased another guy. A lot of rumors were flying around her. She also tried to do something on her own but soon reverted to old habits of relying on someone. Eventually realized Lin Yan was also a reborn person who finally gave her a hint that this chaste husband is gay. She divorced and married her ex-husband from previous life expecting they'd have a better future, but he aways had violent tendencies and they stayed.

Tbh in many ways kinda plain story. And also what type of world fate depended on this man and his children?

ARC 4. Emperor x Empress Dowager. As an illegitimate daughter born to a concubine she was chosen for a "lucky" marriage to old Emperor thanks to Astrologer's predictions, but on her wedding day Emperor was gone, new Emperor let her stay as Empress Dowager, she acted as a crybaby in this one. Was quite annoying tbh. Especially when she threw phrases like - catering to male chauvinism.

So she was protected. Others wanted to join the harem but were unsuccessful. While the two played this a bit forbodden game for a while before Lin Yan used the same trick, someone drugged her and she used it to have a go with Emperor, after which they got together and he also created a persona for her, so she could enter the harem as Empress.

Her family did not favor her, thus she was a crybaby, her own mother was forced into this harem so she never protected her from harm. Eventually the family fell, she did not care, she now belonged to other family and also became the Empress.

ARC 5. Yandere boss. he wasn't so yandere. Another fake / true heiress plot. She was switched at birth. Later when she returned the fake heiress always cried pitifully and sow discord, making the real heiress unloved. Even a marriage to a crippled boss was moved onto her. She didn't mind since he was her target. She helped him get better, since suddenly author decided to mention that she acquired years of knowledge in Chinese medicine and was on a higher level.

While her family was a mess, since fake heiress only did one thing sow discord. Everyoe had so many negative emotions but were also too stupid to realize they were used. Before FMC showed them proof of all the misdeeds of the fake heiress.

But even that did not stop them completely from trusting and liking her. At one time she was kicked out, but because she faked jumping she was brought back again. Her real identity was now known to others and she wanted a better future, so she used her own brother. Good point is that not everyone is made into some kind of pervert who secretly harbored love for their sister, that'd be disgusting. On the contrary the family was very conflicted about this. Only later the child was found to be not her brother's and the fake heiress finally disappeared.

(only to return in one final phrase on the news how a family of four was poisoned, only two younger ones survived and the poisoner jumped to their death).

FMC never helped this family since they ruined her, when family was on decline she used her fiance \ husband to make the family fall into her hands. While she herself had a good time, got married and lived a happy life.

Also this is the arc where she got pets, but the one tidiying up after pets was her CEO husband.

Tbh many times it was mentioned how unfortunate the women were, but this story did not make its' goal to make her change the story, she always said - oh, she's only one person, what can she change. She also did not make any other moves. In ancient planes she was idle, in modern time she wasn't idle only once. She said she is not cut out for these things, but she has years of experience too.

ARC 6. About a eunuch (who was not really a eunuch) and another maid. I was already skipping this one since it was not interesting and took too long. He was a notorious eunuch who wielded a lot of power in the palace. Emperor used him for many errands. She was a maid who happened to have her medial talent. He is the only one who did not live much due to years of poisoning etc. The main part was for her to slowly gte closer and eventually she took the chance when she saved him.

But I couldn't care less. I got tired of this story by now. 

I skipped Arc 7 entirely, since it had women in power and men giving birth. I'm not a fan because women are swapped with men but they also do not act any better in such stories.

After she finished she returned with her reward, said goodbye to her system and lived a fullfilling life making many people who came from her orphanage successful, since she let tem have better chances. At the end of her life Xiao Ba system appeared again and asked if she wanted to be bound again and now having a task to save pitiful and wronged children to which she agreed.

The End.

While having such a promising start the story turned ino all types of directions afterwards. The stories falling flat, nothing intersting coming up and I don't mean adding drama, it was just not so interesting and also took too long.

It was unknown which was more important, even if arcs were long not much was uncovered, no depth was given.

And the character herself started feeling too two-faced when it came to initial reaction and description of her wanting her own kids so badly.

RATE: 2,5/5.