Indie films were never really my cup of tea, but Call Me By Your Name —directed by Luca Guadagnino — might serve as the catalyst that changes all of that. I’d desperately like to refrain from labelling this film, and inadvertently limiting it, by categorising it as ‘a great queer film’ because it’s truly more than that. Call Me By Your Name is a beautiful story of a wonderfully passionate and seductive summer friendship turned romance.
It has been way too long. You have no idea how many reviews I have planned to write however, none of them have been successfully published. I had initially planned to write an incredibly detailed post as to how my anime hiatus came to an end but I realized that if I worried too much about those details, I’d never actually get down to writing my actual reviews. Hence, we’ll be leaving that area for another day and right now, we’ll jump straight into this review because this anime is literally an ‘all for one’ and once you’ve witnessed its heroism, you’ll be ‘plus ultra’-ing all day long.
That was incredibly lame but I’ve just completely blazed through the first season and all I can think about are its incredibly lame yet ridiculously amazing catch phrases.
Hello.
It’s been quite a few months since I’ve reviewed anything on this site. I’m not going to make any promises but I am thinking of writing a review for the new Logan film as well as an animated film which was recently retitled as Leap, that I quite enjoyed. Obviously it was crucial and expected that I review Logan, fair warning, it completely ripped out my heart and had me wailing in the cinemas. Hey! Twenty bucks completely warrants the freedom to cry in a public place. The only thing shocking about it all was how everyone remained thoroughly composed about the whole thing and walked out of there so nonchalantly. Did nobody else just have their childhood stripped away from them?
I’m sorry, I’m getting rather carried away and we’re not even writing the Logan Film Review right now.
Itazura na kiss. It’s been a story that has been told so many times before. We’ve seen an almost impossible amount of versions of it from almost all of the known Asian countries. It is a rather ridiculously overplayed storyline, however it’s almost become some sort of a classic in the whole romantic comedy community. The story is absolutely timeless.
Hello.
I’m currently in Malaysia and still completely behind on my blog post uploads however, the official Spider-man trailer for the 2017 film was finally released yesterday and I felt like since I was already running late for the other posts, I should just take the time out to write this one up whilst it’s still relatively new. I had previously intended to upload a post about Tom Holland on my other blog: Linn Tells A Story, however due to my week being incredibly hectic, I didn’t have the luxury of just sitting down and writing it all out. I will however, definitely upload that post sometime next week. It’s going to be great so please check that out here, when I do post it.
Yesterday, was an extremely long day for me.
The night before, it was announced that the new Homecoming trailer would be released on Jimmy Kimmel Live at 11:35PM (LA time?) and obviously my being in Malaysia means that it would be towards the late morning before I would be able to watch it due to the time difference and everything. For those of you who are not yet aware, I’m currently in Malaysia and I’ll remain in Malaysia for around 2 months where I’ll be working as an intern for a company. Therefore, during this time yesterday, I was stationed at my office desk during work and I was completely unable to watch the new trailer because it would be rather unprofessional to begin watching Spider-Man trailers whilst stationed at the office desk.
It’s here. It’s finally here. The Chihayafuru live action movie that most of us have been waiting for, for at least 6 months, is finally here.
Hello!
I literally have no time but I just had to pull myself away for a little bit to write my own personal review on the latest anime movie 君の名は。It was sensational. Just right off the bat, it was absolutely incredible. Within the first 15 minutes, I was hooked and it immediately climbed to the top on my list of favourite anime movies. I know that I’m not usually this thrilled over anime movies but this was incredibly beautiful.
Greetings.
I’m back with another movie review. I know that this is a lil’ different compared to the usual anime reviews and such, however I haven’t had much time to start up any new anime series. I stumbled over this movie, Little Manhattan, that was released in 2005 that starred an adorable, chubby, little Josh Hutcherson.
Now, let me just give you the rundown on my past with young Joshie.
I’ve been a fan of the films : ‘Zathura’, ‘Journey – To the Centre of the Earth’ and ‘Bridge to Terabithia’. Also, unbeknownst to me… he was also that chubby, obnoxious kid in the film- RV. Yes, I do mean the one starring Jojo and Robin Williams [The one and only].
However, I was completely unaware of this movie- Little Manhattan’s existence, until I recently saw Josh’s IMDB. After watching the cheesy trailer and stumbling over the movie online, I just couldn’t resist watching it…even though I was in the midst of studying for my exams… [It was okay though!! I swear. I limited myself, I actually found my performance in studying and focusing better! So what I did was sort out my time and spent 50 minutes of pure concentration on my studies and later rewarding myself with 15 hilarious minutes of ‘Little Manhattan’.]
My thoughts on this incredibly old school movie? I loved it! I absolutely loved it!
I mean, yeah. What it cheesy? ABSOLUTELY.
Was it corny? UNCERTIFIABLY. (I don’t care if that’s a word or not. Because it’s the only way to express my thoughts.)
But it was its undoubtedly cheesy and corny existence that made it so hilariously adorable!
I don’t know…but it was just something about seeing a cute, little Josh freak out and overthink every single detail and going through the stages of paranoia that every single person of the female gender has been a victim off… that was oddly satisfying and oh-so- gratifying.
So to kick this thing off, let’s start with a quick summary of this lovable movie.
‘Little Manhattan’ is set in Manhattan (obviously) and highlights the cruel two-faced nature of love through Gabe’s (Young Josh) tale of First Love. Gabe is a typical 90s kid that lives in the fabulous ‘Big Apple’; New York. At the young cheery age of ten and three quarters, Gabe is quick to become the victim of love as he sets his eyes (and heart) on Rosemary Telesco, the rich, pretty, tap-dancing, karate-loving girl that he used to play with… before kids started reaching that whole gender-segregating phase.
As he starts falling hard, we are given the golden opportunity of savoring every little bit of it as he gets his butt kicked, overthinks everything, goes on dates with her, kisses her, proclaims his false hatred towards her, cries as the sinking feeling of regret hits him hard, declaring his undying love for her (repeatedly might I add) and of course… slow dancing with her.
I don’t know about you, but I found myself cracking up every five minutes, either from the sheer cuteness or how Young Joshie was an adorable, creepy, little stalker. You have got to admit that at least. My favourite seen was how he still, under all that love-sickness, was just a childish little kid. Just watching him yell ‘I hate you’ and then bursting into tears completely makes my day. Does that make me kinda mean..?
But how does that not just crack you up?
It’s inevitable!!
So far, I have come to the conclusion that this film is an absolute MUST-WATCH. Even though, it is no where near the list of my favourite movies, it just definitely something you must pick up.
It’s a light-hearted romantic comedy that everyone can enjoy, so I highly recommend it!
If you’ve already watched it, then tell me what your thoughts are on it!
Did you burst into tears? Or burst into laughter?
Let me know!
Hello guys.
This post was supposed to be out last week, when the first episode came out…but I got a tad bit too lazy and that is the reason as to why this is only being published now.
If you haven’t already noticed yet… Korra Book 4 is now out and therefore Season 4 is now being aired in the US.
Of course, as all of you are aware, I am a huge fan of the Legend of Korra series and for me this is heaven! This is bliss!
Although my first impression of this new series may not have been a very good one.
Okay, so this book is called Balance… and honestly the name, to me personally, does not make any sense. Because this book is anything BUT balance. In fact, I think they messed up the whole name order thing. Book three should have been named ‘Balance’ and Book 4 should have gotten the name ‘Change’.
So far, Book 4 has been nothing BUT change. Everything is changing! From half the characters’ hairstyles to the role reversals. It’s not the same anymore and I’m not just talking about Mako’s and Bolin’s hairstyle.
Let’s just take this back a little okay? So this series is now set three years after the end of Book 3. And to me, that’s already a pretty big jump. Three years! THREE!!!
How could they skip that far ahead into the future? That’s a really big jump!
Of course, this was my reaction after the first episode and before episode two was even released.
So far, in episode one, we can all gather that Asami’s business is booming, Mako’s career as a detective isn’t doing so good since he’s basically babysitting a spoilt prince, Bolin’s a do-good follower under Guvirea’s (Don’t care if I spelled her name wrong, probably did though..) evil command, by the way Guvirea (Again, evil people don’t need their named spelt right! >-<) is evil (She’s threatening all the good people in the Earth Kingdom to give her all their power in exchange for their safety) to be completely honest, I already called it at the end of Book 3, Tenzin’s three kids are growing up so fast…they’re almost losing their cute touch and Korra’s just a hot mess right now. Even though I really really love her new hair.
From all that information up there, you can also tell that it’s a lot to take in.
And honestly, it just left me bewildered.
Thought after episode 2 of this series was released, things kinda calmed down for me and now it’s kind of easier to accept all the changes. What I love about episode 2 was that it was all completely centered on just Korra. And I really needed that. After all, the first episode was about everyone EXCEPT Korra and Korra’s like the best bit. Besides from Bolin and all.
In Episode 2, they talk about how life was like for Korra in the last three years and how she’s been undergoing rehabilitation and all that good stuff since she’s been stuck in a wheel chair ever since that battle with Zahir.
Korra is also still quite traumatised after she almost lost her life as a result of that battle and it’s resulting in her having very realistic hallucinations.
However, the best bit of that episode was the ending where she bumps into Toph.
This was just the cherry on top of a sundae for me. If you’re not already aware of it, I am a huge fan of Toph, she’s my favourite character of the whole Last Airbender series. And I can’t wait for episode 3 to come out now since Toph is now in the picture. Especially since I thought she had already died! Though I did still have some hope left within me in Book 3 after there was some talk that Toph just went into hiding.
Also I really can’t wait for Toph to work her magic because obviously Katara just can’t get the job done. Come on! I mean it’s been three years! And all Katara has done is just convinced Korra that those hallucinations are all in her head. Of course, Toph is going to save the day because Toph is the absolute best female character there ever was in this whole AVATAR series!
You know what would be even better than this? Having Toph and Zuko meet again, cause believe it or not I swear Zuko is the father of one of her daughters. Why do you think it’s been so hush-hush?
Anyway, I can’t wait for the next episode to come out and I hope that season 4 will be as great as ever!!
Share your thoughts on this series too and let’s see how this goes!
Hello.
I know. I know.
I haven’t been reviewing many animes recently…and there’s a perfectly good reason behind it.
School and life has just been getting in the way between all this and I haven’t even been able to catch up on any anime goodness, much less review anything.
The good news is Spring Break is coming up soon in a couple of days time and I am free to catch up on everything, which of course includes watching anime because honestly, I am so deprived of it.
Seriously, no joke. While I was doing without anime, I wasn’t able to focus on all the drama in the series and I started focusing more on my life, which made me just over-analyze everything that was going on in my life. It’s made me realise that focusing on the drama in my life is very taxing and now I know why I occupy myself with the make-believe drama that you find in animes. Much less stressful but just as entertaining.
I’m getting off task here, today this post will be focusing on the anime adaption of the manga: Ao Haru Ride [アオハライド]
This anime is still fairly recent, considering that it only finished airing yesterday (22/09/2014).
I’ve been able to complete over these past 12 weeks. Since they only released one episode every week, it’s been pretty easy to be able to fit it in while studying and such. Also, it was really amazing to finally see the characters ‘come to life’. The voice, the colour…it was beautiful. As a fan of the manga from the very beginning, waiting for the chapters to come out one by one, it was breath-taking and heart-stopping.
There will also be a drama adaption coming out soon too, so look out for that if you’re a fan.
Synopsis
Ao Haru Ride is basically an anime centered around young love.
The main girl, Yoshioka Futaba, a middle-schooler is depicted as the typical young shoujo school girl. Misunderstood by the girls and extremely adored by the boys. She’s cute, pretty and oozing ‘femininity’ from every possible angle! Of course, she attracts all the boys with all her physical looks and feminine personality. As an outcome of this, the girls in the school don’t particularly like her very much, in short, they pretend to be her friend while they trash her behind her back. (Like what most teenage girls without a life do.) However, Yoshioka Futaba does not attract the boys on purpose! She actually does not like boys, in general, at all, maybe even to the point of being slightly scared and repulsed by them…except for one guy. Tanaka Kou (Later known as ‘Mabuchi’)
Kou is different from the other guys, he’s gentle, small and maybe even slightly feminine. (It may be because of the fact that he’s slightly feminine that Futaba doesn’t really mind him.) Kou, much like the other guys, starts developing a little crush (I’m not sure if I could refer to it as ‘little’, let’s just say that he liked her so much to the point that he would write her name all over his notebook and even go back just to circle it over and over again.) on Futaba, just that his ‘like’ for her was much more pure-hearted and innocent.
After a while, after a couple more encounters and some light sniffing action (You’ll understand later..), they both decided that they had a mutual ‘like’ going on between them and Kou asked Futaba out. Thought after some stuff, Kou found out that Futaba ‘hated’ guys so he bailed out on their date and stood her up. Also due to some family issues he left and went to a different middle school.
Fast forward a couple of years later and they’re in high school now.
Both of them have changed slightly, Futaba is now no longer feminine and she acts like a complete slob (I’m not sure if I feel very comfortable referring to her as a slob, since I’m always like that and I certainly do not do it on purpose…or maybe I am a slob..) just so that her ‘friends’ don’t leave her and hate her because she doesn’t attract guys anymore. Kou’s moved back too and they meet once again, now that they’re going to the same high school. However, he’s changed too, he’s no longer ‘nice’ or ‘gentle’ and that slight hint of ‘femininity’ is completely gone, he’s actually quite silent and mean now. So life carries on after that … do they still have feelings for each other, do they even remember each other?
You’ll have to find out for yourselves.
Anyway, watching this manga come to life in an anime has been a dream come true for me, I had always thought that it would make a great anime but much like many great mangas, they never get produced as an anime and it really is such a shame. It was quite surprising learning that it would be turned into an anime. However, though it was not a surprise that they ended the series at 13 episodes, though it is quite a shame, I would’ve loved to see it at least reach 25 or 26 episodes.
As for whether there will be a second season, it doesn’t look like it’ll be very promising, which makes sense since they’re probably much more focused on producing the drama version of this series than continuing the anime version right now.
I highly recommend this series if you’re looking for a manga from the shoujo genre but you’re tired of all the cliche storylines. I’m not going to falsely imply that this series is the best and that it’s completely out-of-this-world so much so that it would knock your socks off. I am going to say, however, that it doesn’t really follow to the normal ones in the sense that it jumps from the past to the present and it shows how much people can change over time. It also shows the true meaning of friendship and how incredible it is when people can work so hard for another person just out of pure love.
I thoroughly enjoyed the anime version and I just hope that the manga releases more chapters soon.
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Now, before I even begin to say anything, I am not a YAOI fan and I swore that I would never ever watch Junjou Romantica. Now before people start sending me anonymous hate mail, I’m not particularly against YAOI, I just can’t develop any liking towards it. Plus as I have mentioned before, I have learnt to cope with the YAOI side of things in this anime by picking the most feminine guy out of the two and just imagining that he is of the female gender. Now THAT makes my heart pound uncontrollably.
Anyway, we’re getting off topic here people!
Synopsis:
Sekaiichi Hatsukoi is an anime adaption of the manga: ‘Sekaiichi Hatsukoi’. It is based around the main protaganist, a 25 year old man (Onodera Ritsu) that quits his dad’s editing company to join another company because his colleagues were always teasing him, saying that he was only at his current position because his dad was the head of the company.
At his new company he is placed in the shoujo manga editing section instead of the literature section which was where he originally wanted to hold a position at. Surprise surprise! Turns out the boss of the shoujo manga section, Takano Masamune, was Ritsu’s ‘boyfriend’ back in high school. Once that huge secret is revealed Masamune claims that he will make Ritsu confess his love towards him once again.
One thing I forgot to add, there’s an awkward ‘thing’ that’s going on between them right now because for the last ten years that they’ve been away from each other, both of them thought that the other one played with their feelings and left them broken-hearted. Also, since Ritsu decided to move houses, he finds out that he’ll be next door neighbours with Masamune! I’m not even sure whether I think this is absolutely classic or just plain cliche..
Now on to my personal thoughts about this anime. Honestly, I thought that this anime would be the less explicit version of Junjou Romantica but from what I’ve seen so far, I’m just going to say that the level of explicitness is pretty much on par. Just that I find the characters to be way hotter in Sekaiichi Hatsukoi. But I guess it’s not completely fair since I only know the two main characters of Junjou Romantica, only because they’re on the covers.
Also, another confession that I have to make, this is my first time seriously watching a YAOI series and I definitely think that this is really inappropriate for teens under the age of 15. I would say that this is really a MA15+ material. I’m not going to lie there are many overly sexual scenes but they don’t really go pass the heated make-out sessions. I could be wrong after all, I’m only up to episode 7.
By the way, Onodera and Takano are not the only YAOI couple in this series, there are 3 couples all together, if I’m not wrong. I’m not going to lie, I have mixed feelings about the character that Nakamura Yuuichi is playing. (Hatori Yoshiyuki)
Sure, his voice still makes me melt and I want to just hug him but those damn words that are coming out of his mouth, all those lovey dovey things that I want to hear… ARE BEING DIRECTED AT ANOTHER GUY!
Again, I am not a homophobe, but just imagine this, your boyfriend is ditching you and saying erotic things to another guy.
How would that make you feel?
That’s how I feel!
Now let me just insert a little rant about one of my favourite Seiyuus. Nakamura Yuuichi and I go way back, ever since my giant crush on him when he played Ikuto, my heart has been a slave to him. I can recognise his voice from any role, yes, even when he’s playing a man cross-dressing as a woman. Shout out! Tsukimiya Ringo!
Anyway, back onto the real topic here, aside from all the ‘new’ things that still continues to overwhelm me. I find the storyline moving way too fast. I’m the kind of person that usually watches Shounen and Shoujo series so I’m not very familiar with the structure of the Shounen Ai type animes. I’m only used to the innocent love in all those Shoujo series where I build up all those cute hug scenes or those sudden eye-contact scenes until the very last episode where I’m rewarded with that little simple kiss that just ends with a peck. But that’s all okay with me because I think it’s absolutely magical.
However, with Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, it is completely different. I’m just whacked in the face with a full-on make-out session in the very first episode, it just shocked me and I didn’t know how to react so I laughed. Hit ‘pause’. Before proceeding to scream into my pillow.
I’m still not used to it though, I’m already up to the 7th episode and my reaction is still the exact same. Call me immature but holy crap man, how can you get used to seeing a kiss scene in every single episode?!
Now aside from all the romance going on, I also really love the atmosphere that this anime creates. I am a big fan of watching the process of editing things, especially books and of course, mangas. (I’m also well-aware of the annoying process, seriously, you have no idea.) But the result is well worth it! So just being able to watch that, really just makes my day, I could watch people working like that for hours on end. It’s crazy.
So far, I have many positive things to say about this anime, it’s funny, the seiyuus just melt your hearts, I love the drawings, there’s hot guys, the storyline is good and I love it’s atmosphere. The only negative thing I have to say about it is that it is a little bit too explicit for me. But that’s just me.
However, my favourite thing about this anime is how hilarious it is. Seriously, how can you not love it when this happens?
Is this not just the best?
The anime on the other hand is not as bad, and if you’d enjoy a laugh and some romance then I suggest you look into it. It can get quite awkward though so, just be prepared.
I also really enjoyed that scene in the ending song, where both of the main characters are sitting down in their junior high days, reading books. As a book lover, that really hits the spot and I don’t know somehow, it inspires me.
That’s it for me, if you want to try something new then why not try watching this?
Honest Linn 