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cutiecrates · 2 months

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Game Review: Nyakori's Rabbit Doll (no/minor spoilers, minor blood)

I wanted to start my "cute game review" series with a disclaimer. I play a wide range of video games, and games that appeal to me usually have a cute aesthetic/appearance, and what I view as cute might not not be viewed the same way as others. I want to talk about cute games, but I'd like to also like about some other games too now and then.

For example, I decided to make my first review on an rpgmaker horror I saw while browsing Steam. There's a handful of people I watch who play these types of games on Youtube and they never played or even mentioned this one, so I gave it a shot because it looked too cute to pass up!

"One evening, Nyarutoru wakes up to find Nyakori and her rabbit doll have gone missing. While searching for her sister, Toru is led to a mysterious home. She runs into Kori, but someone has stolen her rabbit doll, forcing the two girls to go deeper into the large building to reclaim it. Along the way, Toru realizes that Kori isn't acting like herself…"

Nyakori's Rabbit Doll plays like a typical Rpgmaker/point and click game (you can even play it like one, this game offers mouse and touch control). The goal is to get from point A to point Z by interacting with the environment to look for new items, clues or puzzles while keeping Toru out of harm's way.

The majority of the game takes place inside this building, with one section late-game taking place outside of it. However, the locations all vary and this game features all sorts of "flavor text" that make it a lot of fun to click on everything and see what it says. Some of it is obvious (like a basket might just say "basket"), but others might lead to a remark from the character. There is also text for inventory items, some of which provide hints or alludes to something else:

Dialogue/Text

You might have noticed on the Steam page or the corner of my images, the game's title is written in Chinese. Well, that's because this game was originally Chinese, which is probably evident with the grammar and spelling being all over the place.

I noticed at the beginning of the game it's fine, and there are a lot of places where the text is good. But then it seems like as the game continues, it starts to become more apparent.

Expect to see the word "wired" a few times. It's supposed to be weird, which they do spell right a few times, which further confused me...

There is this also glaring example, which pops up a lot:

You'll see it every time you get a new item. I want to assume this was just an oversight, but they translated the item names so I don't know what to make of it.

Even the Steam page is full of grammar issues, but I will say that it's not enough to hinder the game. It's still clear enough to figure out what to do or what was going on.

Difficulty

It's not really difficult at all.

It offers several save points and an autosave feature (optional), the 3 "mini-games" have an easy option if you fail it once and beats it for you (and this doesn't penalize you at all). There are also tips and hints in the form of text throughout the game, either provided by talking to Kori, observation, looking at items in the inventory or using the "cursed cat food". Supposedly, using it too many times does something? I don't know what because I kept using it in a separate file and nothing happened. But I didn't feel like replaying the game through a fourth time in a short time span, so I stopped after a half hour.

This game is extremely forgiving if you let it be. Any death I triggered was basically because of my own curiosity, it was very rarely due to messing up. There are a couple of cheap deaths but they weren't abundant, so I didn't really feel annoyed by them.

There was only one, real thing that I got stuck with during the game:

At an early point you come across this mirror that depicts a number. A few rooms later, a box asks for it. To some people the numbers might obviously be 8010. But for me... it went like this:

"I clearly see the 0... is the first number an 8? It looks like an 8 but it kinda looks like it could be a weird 5...or an S? That makes no sense. That third number looks like a 4... is that last number a 0 or 9?"

I kept getting it wrong. I tried entering all sorts of combinations and even flipping the number order. I couldn't get it, the numbers were too hard for me to make out. I don't know if that was intentional or not, but I had to look it up.

I'm not even sure if the puzzle was necessary to get the true ending. It just led to some extra scene and dialogue.

Horror

This game feels like a light-horror.

It provides a creepy atmosphere which brought to mind The Witches House while I played it, but the music itself isn't scary, even when it stops and switches to general ambience. It overall made me feel lonely, not scared or on edge.

The blood and gore is there (at times liberally), but it never came off as being "too much/forced/shoe-horned in for the sake of a cheap scare". The game doesn't even load with a warning screen like some of the others do, nor were there anyway noisy, in-your-face jump scares.

There were things that startled me because they were unexpected, but I never felt scared playing this.

What I disliked

There was very few things I disliked about this game, but I believe that these are smaller issues based on my own thought process that won't interfere with everyone's experience.

One being the mini-games I mentioned. All 3 are themed around controlling Toru a certain way until you beat it. But each one plays differently. They were short and sweet and didn't overstay their welcome, which I like.

My problem with them is that the game doesn't necessarily tell you what to do. You're thrown into a mini-game and you got seconds to figure it out before you get killed and have to restart. There is a little bit of vague text around each game, but I couldn't tell what they wanted from me without some trial-and-error.

What negates the issue with this, as I mentioned is that the game offers to help you. I had to have the game beat the 2nd one for me because I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. I understood what to do after watching the game do it for me, but it too me 3 and 1/2 play-throughs of this game to finally beat it.

The only other thing I felt worth mentioning was the Kori interaction sections. You have to keep watching and talking to her until you can move on. You can't do certain things until she's in a specific spot/room, and the only way you would know this is if you just happen to see her do something, or opened the "cursed cat food".

This isn't really a big deal, I like talking to NPC in games so I tend to talk to everyone multiple times out of habit now. But it did get me stuck when I first played the game because I didn't realize it was a necessity- and I know there are people who don't care much for chatting up NPCs or playing the waiting game. These areas didn't last long though, which kept it from being a chore.

Oh, there was also the "developers room" after you beat the game. I love learning about unique trivia related to the game or what the makers of it went through. But here it felt kind of pointless. There wasn't anything to really look at, and you only learn one or two things.

What I liked

The art style! It's so cute and there are a lot of pretty scenes. This game has a lot of unique elements to it, it doesn't feel like the older rpgmaker games that featured generic text boxes and images, character rpg stats, etc (not that I'm saying those are bad). From head-to-toe, they fully embraced making this game as cute as could be!

Another thing I liked about the game is that the rooms are all unique and look really nice. They feel like they should be there. They aren't empty or pointless, nearly every room serves a purpose.

One of my favorite things is taking the time to backtrack to past areas. Some of them have trivial changes (or added death scenes), or feature additional content you may not have seen the first time. For example, here's one room during my first visit:

This is the same room after I returned a while later, notice the paintbrush on the floor and tilted picture (the one canvas gets knocked over too, but I came back too early for that when I was getting the picture). There is also a death you can trigger, but if you possess a specific item, you can avoid it.

There are also some extra cutscenes/dialogue you can find by observing certain things repeatedly. Playing as Kori also changes certain events, as does having her in the room with you when you observe certain things as Toru. There are a few items both girls can obtain too, and they have different dialogue for it. You can even skip one puzzle entirely by activating a hidden room you can find if you backtrack to a specific spot.

I love these additional elements x3 they show that the game has more depth to it than what's on the surface. Its beneficial to seek these things out because they offer more insight to the plot and characters.

Ending

In terms of endings, there are 4. The true ending, the normal ending, and 2 bad endings. According to Steam, the 2nd bad ending is the least obtained one, while the True Ending was the second least. But honestly, I got the true ending on my first playthrough. I'm not good at these games (I got the Platinum ending in Pocket Mirror), so I'm convinced it was just dumb luck that I happened to do the right things.

I replayed the game twice more to knowingly make the wrong decisions to get the 2nd bad and Normal endings. The 1st bad ending is the one everyone probably sees at least once, because it occurs earlier in the game and it's more like an extended death scene. You aren't locked out of getting the other endings or finishing the game if you trigger it. On top of that, I think you're required to go into the room it occurs (under certain conditions) to reach the True Ending.

I want to avoid saying anything too spoilery, so I didn't want to exactly go over everything to get said endings. But I liked each one, they gave good exposition to the overall plot and felt like they made sense.

Other Stuff

The length of the game on average is probably a couple of hours. Even when I replayed it knowing what to do, where to take shortcuts, it still took me around the same length of time.

There are 7 achievements in total for the game. 4 are in the base game, while the other 3 (one of which is a hidden achievement) is in the DLC story.

You probably noticed it in the very first image, but there is separate, purchasable DLC for this game! It's an after-story that offers more insight to the story, 2 more endings and some alternative gameplay.

I don't have it yet, because while I did buy this game a year or so ago, I only just recently replayed and beat the entire thing. I do plan on buying it though, and I'll probably make a separate post on it.

Conclusion

I really, really like this game. The art makes it a pleasing experience to the eye while the characters and mystery of the plot encourage you to keep guiding Toru to the end to find out what's going on. It's a fun and forgiving game, perfect for people who want a more relaxed, horror rpgmaker experience. I think it'd be a good choice for someone whose new to these types of games and wants to build their way up to the scarier/harder/more intense ones.

The more I played this game, the more it reminded me a lot of The Witches House. Numerous things made me think about it, like the room match puzzle, and how Toru's menu image changed after I triggered a specific death (I thought THAT was the cat food curse, until I realized why I couldn't progress at that specific part). This game is newer, so it might have taken inspiration from that one. I know a lot of rpgmaker games draw comparisons and influence in other ones.

I'm really glad I gave this game a chance, especially because I didn't know what to expect going in. I love a lot about it and even the things that I didn't like never made me want to quit playing. It's also very cheap, as is the DLC. You can even buy them in a bundle.

It is lacking in polish, but I'm willing to overlook it when the game itself plays very well and I enjoyed the experience.

Um.... thanks for listening to me ramble for a while. I hope if anything this review encourages you to check it out, here's a link to the Steam page if you're interested.

I'd love to do more of these, and I do have an idea for my next 2 reviews, but if you have any sort of recommendations for a cute game, or even rpgmaker games, feel free to let me know.

Until next time~

#cutie reviews #review #nyakori's rabbit doll #rpg maker horror

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good-pokemon-center-reviews · 6 months

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#pokemon #stuffed animals #toycore #plush #bulbasaur #pokemon center reviews #sitting cuties restock for $17 😐

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zebracorn-chan · 6 months

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If you're upset the FNaF Movie got low ratings by critics I would like to remind you what they think about "Cuties".

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liquidsludge · 26 days

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Just watched this gem of a movies

What did yall think?

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jaebeomsbitch · 8 months

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And if I said I loved him???

#kurt kunkle #joe kerry #kurtsworld96 #kurtsworld #Joe keery video #I love him #he looks so pretty #vapers #vape review #I want to hug him so fucking bad #cutie pie #cutie patootie #steve harrington

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absolutebl · 1 year

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This Week in BL - I’m Bored & Conflicted

Dec 2022 Wk 2

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying the most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

My School President (Fri YT) 3 of 10 - Honestly Tinn acts and talks like the voice inside of Sarawat’s head (from 2gether), I’ve never seen a bigger simp. The private tutoring was a good idea (Tiew is another one up for best wingman of the year). The way Tinn keeps getting accidentally defeated in his attempts at flirting is fun, and I love how they keep teasing us with tropes and then flipping or subverting them. GMMTV is being clever with audience expectations around the history of Thai BL and I love that. Also finally Gun is starting to feel something back... we enter phase two of a HSBL - moot pining but they both idiots. YES!

Never Let Me Go (Tues YT) 1 of 12 - GMMTV’s answer to KinnPorsche this is (mafia lite?) spoiled prince + attack dog (whipping boy + bodyguard) suspense BL that’s actually a lot more like Golden Blood. It’s a pleasure to see PondPhuwin in something that’s not FUTS. Jojo (3 Will Be Free) is directing and daddy got himself a bouncing baby drone! We got a very dramatic opening with Paa shot on 18th bday. Puwin’s English is v good. Who knew? And Pond is v good at portraying insta-crush on poor little rich boy and I am not mad about any of it. IT’S GREAT.

Between Us (Sun iQIYI) 6 of 12 - I still like WinTeam but I’m beginning to get annoyed by how many couples there are (5!) and how many of them were (DeanPharm) or are (BeePrince) in an entirely different show tonally. I understand they needed to pad-out this story, but they shouldn’t have, they should have just given us a shorter show. WATCH ALONG HERE.

609 Bedtime Story (Fri WeTV) 4 of 11 - We are finally getting Dew’s side of the story! And… its kinda dull.

Remember Me (Sun Gaga) 10 of 12 - So Name is talking now? And they put Ja in a wig too? Did UWMA teach us nothing? Now I’m just annoyed with this show. Some more marriage equality schilling, because Thai BL has an axe to grind these days. Good luck boys!

I Will Knock You (Fri Gaga) 5 of 12 - Honestly, the costumes in this show are insane and I also kind of like them in an odd way. There’s a Grease thing going on, and thus I keep expecting them to break into song (and being grateful that they don’t). The wardrobe is like the plot and the acting: loud and obvious and not very good but weirdly entertaining. Do I like it? Not really. Am I still watching it? Apparently.

Ai Long Nhai (Mon iQIYI) 12fin - Yes, Ai did use particles to claim Nhai again. Jealous boy. Honestly, this was kind of an epically boring final ep.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

My Tooth Your Love (Taiwan Fri Viki) 11 of 12 - They are so stinking cute together. They also now have all the matching jewelry (not taken by MarkKit). This was a quintessentially them episode 11 of doom, in that they were parted because of communication issues and a maturing relationship occupied by immature characters. Still the leads were apart for most of the episode and that made it a lot less interesting as an episode.

Oh! My Assistant (Korea Thurs Viki) 5-6 of 8 - Kisses and separation! As drama llama episodes go, the reasoning is typically flawed and manufactured, but after watching Why R U? anything goes in an ep 11 (or its equivalent). So I’m still enjoying this show a lot. I don’t need my panicking gay boys and confused bisexuals to behave logically, certainly not in a KBL.

Candy Color Paradox AKA Ameiro Paradox (Japan Fri Gaga) 1 of 8 - A stakeout throws reporter Onoe together with photographer Kaburagi. Kaburagi's haphazard work style and player personality go against Onoe’s ethics. Yet, in joint pursuit of a scandal, these opposites attract move from enemies to lovers. Adapted from manga Ameiro Paradox by Natsume Isaku. Oh no! Our reporter is an unbelievably adorable pouty baby. Also big-ish cast and high production values in a BL, even for Japan. Even though it’s only been a little while since the last JBL, it’s such a pleasure to have one on my watchlist again! And the love interest is a big time flirty player. Very cliché (I still hold that the actor playing him looks like First of JaFirst). This is a lot more serious and a lot less slapstick than I was expecting, and I’m enjoying it because of that. But because it is serious, and this is Japan, we now cannot expect it to end happily. If you or someone who can wait, or likes to binge, and is very invested in an HEA you might want to consider holding off on this one.

The Director Who Buys Me Dinner (Korea Thurs iQIYI) 1-2 of 10 - A new employee whose director claims to have lived 300 years and insists that they have to date (eat, hug & kiss) if baby doesn't want to die. Office, fated mates, and that’s kinda my jam. I’m always annoyed when I really like a show that’s on iQIYI or WeTV. Sigh. But I really like this show, it has a lot of Japanese elements to it not the least of which is the office setting, but also the personality of the uke character. Hilarious to watch Korea deal with a plot that requires physical contact. It’s weird, but I like it, it’s also extremely short. Like shorter than most KBLs even. Each app is so padded there ultimately less than 10 minutes long (which is why is is 10 esp rather than the usually KBL 8, it’s gonna end up the same length in the end).

Choco Milk Shake (Korea Strongberry Tues YT) 11fin - airs Dec 20th

Happy Ending Romance (Korea Thurs Gaga & Viki) 7-8fin - I actually LOVED the ending, very hinting at poly, and mature. But this show ended up not really being a BL, no tropes and not really a romance either.

It’s Airing But I’m Not Watching It

War of Y (Thai Gaga) 20 eps - it’s just all too much for me.

2 Moons 3 (Thai) 10 eps - Possibly a future binge watch. Rumor is it’s banal.

Love Bill (Vietnam Sat YT) - Bah Vinh is back but I’m too distracted. Also there’s a lot of fund raising stuff going on. I’ll wait and binge.

The Star Always Follow You (Vietnam YT) - same Team RL peeps we have seen before (Sunshine, Stupid)

Till the World Ends (Thai YT) 10 eps - ?

Why You... Y Me? (Thai Weds YT) 10 eps - It's not primarily a BL, but another meta show about BL shipping, with side BLs. @heretherebedork is watching it, ask them about it.

Ended This Week

Happy Ending Romance

In this series, all the gay boys romantically behave like lesbians and professionally like straight dudes. It’s... odd. As a BL it kinda isn’t (sorry to say), there’s no tropes dropped and no real romance beats. This is about ego and dishonesty and pride and there is an elegance to the plot. Which is essentially the idea that possession is not love, and therefore, both men who love the Writer have to prove their love by letting him go. Honestly, I’m not sure how to rate this show. This is a blog about BL and this wasn’t it. 8/10 RECOMMENDED (but not if BL is what you’re after). Full review.

Ai Long Nhai

Look this show was just a typical Thai BL university pulp about a confident gay and a clueless manic pixie dream boy. It had potential, chemistry, and earnestness going for it, but no plot and not enough side dishes. In the end, it was boring and you know I always rate boring lower than hot messes (because at least the hot mess TRIED). Still, Ai Long Nhai is better than your average Thai BL pulp, nothing happens but at least the nothing mostly shirtless, the gay dads are the BEST, which is about all I can say for it. 6/10 WORTH WATCHING BUT FLAWED

In Case You Missed It

With the help of @isisanna-blog, here’s a cobbled together a Domundi line up (peeps behind Cutie Pie) for 2023 Thai BL. Lots of established pairs and it looks good if they can actually make them all, includes beautiful historicals, paranormal, other high concepts, and a royalty bodyguard romance (knight/prince) with ZeeNew!

Next Week Looks Like This:

Still coming:

Dec 21 - The New Employee AKA The New Recruit AKA Shinib Sawo from Korea, (prob Gaga or Viki) - From WATCHA (Semantic Error) virginal Seung Hyun scores the office internship of his dreams but on his first day at work he gets into it with his cool reserved boss. As you do. Stars Moon Ji Yong (Once Again). Based on Moscareto's web novel of the same name, directed by openly gay & queer activist Kim Jho Gwang Soo (Just Friends?).

Dec 28 - H5: Love in the Future from Taiwan (prob Gaga or Viki) - A cheerful and energetic student from 2000 travels to the future (2022), works as a deliveryman, and meets his first customer, an heir with a domineering personality. Directed by Nancy Chen (HIStory 4, Papa & Daddy).

I’m working on my end of year wrap ups, trends lists, and BL stats reported. Let me know in a comment if there is any specifically you want to know of have deep feels about.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Beautiful pining work you’re doing there, Palm. Yearn, baby, yearn. (Never Let Me Go)

Fated mates, always a favorite of mine. (The Director who Buys Me Dinner)

GMMTV got itself a drone. Not sure how I feel about this.

Games is my spirit animal (609 Bedtime Story)

(last week)

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retrosofa · 1 month

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My copy of Cutie Honey 2023 finally came in last night. As I expected, it's just Gekiman! Cutie Honey Hen without all of the autobiographical content. Some portions have been rearranged and there's also a bit of new artwork. They even included the original color pages for the first chapter! And to my absolute surprise, Go Nagai actually revised the ending!

Spoilers below:

The Gekiman! manga originally ended right before Honey and Jill have their decisive battle. In this new edition, we see Honey defeat Jill. Panther Zora appears and introduces herself to Honey, saying Jill will surely be revived and face her once again. Honey wonders if this means her battle is far from over. Then there's a huge eruption that sets the entire mountainside on fire. Honey escapes on an air glider and tearfully says goodbye to Natsuko, her classmates and St. Chapel Academy.

Wow. That's really fucking sad.

It's worth mentioning in the original release, its up in the air if the other students survived or not. This new ending heavily implies everyone was killed in the fire. Yeesh. I really wish Honey could have a happy ending.

#cutie honey #cutey honey #go nagai #manga #review

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legobabyofficial · 8 months

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watching quinton reviews lecture about the NSU in front of a massive whiteboard is prestige drama. to me.

#tabby talks #quinton reviews #hes such a CUTIE!!!!

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cutiecrates · 2 months

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Bear Lip Balms

I have some game reviews planned, but while I work on those I wanted to make a post on these cuties :3

My mom gets addicted to those online websites that get really popular for a while until the next one comes out, they sell Asian goods for cheap prices but you never know what the quality will be like until you get them. For her it was Wish, and then she moved on to Temu. I like to browse for cute, practical items but this was an impulse buy.

The target product user for these are children, but that wasn't going to stop me.

Each bear is its own flavor: Honey Peach, Apple, Orange, Blueberry, Lemon and Grape.

Initially, my plan was to just buy 1. Then it turned into buying 1 of each color variant... and then I ended up buying the whole set.

I really like how their chains match the color of the bear. They can be removed, or flipped around if you wanted.

The lip balm itself has a paw shape and etching on it. It's very cute and feels buttery smooth.

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In case someone was curious, here is my ranking from worst-best:

6. Orange - I really like citrus-scents, so this one was disappointing. When I opened it, I barely smelled anything- it reminded me of a very light, creamy/milky-orange. I used it for a day just to make sure my nose wasn't being wonky, or maybe it had residue keeping the scent in. But no.

5. Apple - like green apple candy. It's also pretty light, but it's at least there.

4. Blueberry - The lightness of this one is comparable to the apple one. It's another creamy/milky scent that reminded me of berry-flavored yogurt. It's not like the normal blueberry taste/scent of lip product I'm more familiar with.

3. Lemon - stronger than the last three, but still fairly light. It reminds me a lot of a lemon lip gloss I used to really like.

2. Grape - I really like grape things, so this one ended up being my favorite of the set. The only reason why I'm marking it 2nd was because the taste of it is lighter than the scent.

Honey Peach - I had a hard time choosing between this one and grape as my most favorite. The scent on this one is strong, as is its taste; it reminds me of peach tea. I don't like honey, but I really can't notice it, unless that's the tea part I'm picking up.

The quality of the product itself is nice. It feels good and moisturizes my lips. I would recommend it to someone whose looking for a cute, easy to apply lip balm they can carry around. If the scent matters then you know how I ranked them. But if you just want a cute product that does what it is supposed to do, or you collect them, then pick your favorite one.

#cutie reviews #lip balm

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good-pokemon-center-reviews · 1 year

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#pokemon #stuffed animals #toycore #plush #spheal #pokemon center reviews #gen 5 sitting cuties dropped but only on the japanese site 💔💔

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gerogerigaogaigar · 6 months

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I remember seeing someone wonder why no one does literary analysis of popular music. I don't have very many mutuals, but if it was one of y'all then this post is for you.

Title And Registration by Death Cab For Cutie communicates the mental and emotional state of its narrator with such efficiency and precision that I cannot let it go unnoticed any longer. The song, read literally, is about a person being stopped by the police and looking for their title and registration papers in the glove compartment and finding a picture of their ex.

The song is absolutely brilliant for communicating structurally how much the narrator doesn't want to think about their ex. The song starts with an entire verse that is the narrator mentally avoiding the topic. They talk about how you never find gloves in the glove compartment and that it should be called something else. The sentiment is corny and cliched and delivered here with the utmost sincerity. The way that the narrator is avoiding his feelings is shown by the song avoiding the point for the entire first verse. After this verse the narrator admits that he found "souvenirs of better times". The song goes on to get more explicit with each verse until the narrator admits that they stay awake all night thinking about this relationship.

Death Cab are pretty good at starting songs small and building them up into subtle narratives, but this is probably my favorite example. Every line down to the title itself adds to the narrative. Title And Registration gives more context as to why he's looking for a legal document in the rain. After all the song never outright says he's been pulled over but it's heavily implied. In the end the song manages to paint a picture of a person breaking down in the rain in front of a cop because he accidentally saw a picture of his ex. It's such a potent picture that is only gleaned by coming at the song sideways. And yet the song leads you sideways into this interpretation as if it were obvious.

#death cab for cutie #title and registration #transatlanticism #i might do a full on review of transatlanticism #Spotify

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ladyloveandjustice · 1 year

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My Top Seven Anime I Watched in 2022

Here are the best of the best, alongside a few bonus good, good anime. Please note that I’m only including premieres I actually watched in 2022, and there are a few ones I haven’t gotten to yet. I only started watching Bocchi the Rock! this month (and I’m enjoying it) and I’ve heard good things about Raven of the Inner Palace, so I’m planning on checking that out.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury

Suletta Mercury arrives at her new school with a mech named Aerial and a checklist of friendship milestones she wants to achieve after being homeschooled for years- only to immediately get involved in giant robot duels and engaged to a prickly heiress. Unbeknownst to Suletta, she’s a tool in her mother’s revenge scheme against the terrible corporation that destroyed their family, and things will only get more complicated. Sometimes a fun romp, sometimes an action-filled thriller, and saving its best twist for the very end, this might just be the anime of the year for me. The romance between the two girls at the heart of the series always has you rooting for it, it introduces you to some great kids (and a ton of cool ladies) and as a bonus, it’s wonderfully inclusive. The only think holding me back is the fact it’s not over yet! I’m praying the second season keeps up the good work.

Read my full review here.

Spy x Family

The smash hit about a spy dad, assassin mom, and telepath child who all form a ‘fake’ family- but will they develop real familial feelings? Cute, funny, nicely animated and full of wacky fights and missions, it needs no introduction. It’s just a good time! The second season isn’t quite as strong as the first, but it’s fun to watch throughout and there’s more good material coming!

Read my full reviews here and here.

Akiba Maid War

A fun genre mashup that depicts early 2000’s maid cafes engaged in violent battles over territory (similar to yakuza movies). Features a lot of outrageous comedy and the world’s most loveable terrifying murder maid in Ranko. One of my favorites of the year.

Read my full review here.

Kaguya-sama: Love is War Season 3

The romantic comedy offers some slick animation and bombastic humor as always, while featuring some truly satisfying relationship development.

Read my full review here.

Mob Psycho 100 Season 3

The final season of one of the best anime of the last decade, it offers a perfect resolution to the offbeat relationship of young psychic Mob and his con-man mentor Reigen, while making a strong final statement on the series’ themes of power, identity, self-acceptance and deception.

Read my full review here.

The Executioner and Her Way of Life

In Menou’s world, kids dropping in from Japan and gaining incredible superpowers is a common occurrence. This rarely ends well, so it’s Menou’s job to murder these teens before they can become threats. But her latest target, Akari, has powers that make her unkillable- and she has feelings for Menou! What’s an assassin to do? A darker take on the isekai formula, the show is uneven in parts, but it’s a fun ride and most importantly, full of flawed, murderous women getting in cool fights and having romantic attention for each other. I gotta love it. The world has a ton of potential, so I hope this yuri action romp will get a follow up someday.

Read my full review here.

Birdie Wing: Golf Girls’ Story

A tough teenager is embroiled in an illegal golf ring run by the mafia- you heard me- and while navigating ridiculous obstacles and dirty tactics, she becomes smitten with a rival Japanese golfer named Aoi and wants nothing more than to see her again…

I debated on whether to include this because the second season is really going to dictate how I feel about it, but it made a hell of an impression, so I had to. After all, in the first episode alone, Eve hits a golf ball through a moving train while up against someone in a clown mask. A gloriously stupid and ludicrous take on golf that only anime could do, Birdie Wing makes the most of its low budget to give a unforgettable experience. Just please don’t do a “Eve and Aoi are secretly sisters” twist in Season 2.

Read my full review here.

Bonus anime I really enjoyed:

Aharen-san wa Hakaranai (Aharen is Impossible to Understand) is a very adorable, funny anime about two ridiculous kids finding each other and has a nice trans-positive treatment of one character,

Shikimori’s not Just a Cutie (review here) is a cute anime about a soft-hearted boy and a very cool girl who date,

Ya Boy Kongming! is an anime about famous military strategist from the Three Kingdoms era suddenly finding himself in modern Japan. He comes across a talented but unknown singer and decided to put his gift for strategy to use in managing her singing career and helping her to the top. This is just plain fun, and has a really sweet (and shippable) female friendship at it’s core by the end.

And finally, Sasaki and Miyano (review here) is a slow paced but sweet romance between two boys.

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animehouse-moe · 1 year

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Shikimori's Not Just A Cutie Volume 12: Plenty of Fun To Be Had

I'm just late to everything, aren't I? Oh well, I still really really loved this volume of Shikimori's Not Just A Cutie. One of the upsides to the slower release schedule of physical volumes is that it feels so much more fresh than digital, and I can certainly say that's the case with this volume. It flies by in the blink of an eye and leaves you with a warm and comfortable smile on your face from the main relationship down to the little side comments by the various characters.

I'm 12 volumes in, and I still can't get over Maki's absolutely stunning character designs. Knowing that this series is coming to a close I can't help but excitedly think about what they'll draw up next. They're so damn good you don't even think about the environment they're in or anything like that. There's just something about how they approach the shading and transparency of some of the layers in the design that just gives it such a light and bubbly feeling. You can help but feel warm when taking in Maki's art style, and the approach to stuff like the rosy cheeks or the sparkling eyes is just so helplessly cute. It's impossible to dislike.

And once more, Maki just gets fashion, they get what the fans want. And it's delivered upon in spades. I didn't even know I needed Izumi in an apron, but he's his mother's child that's for damn sure, it looks amazing on him with that black turtleneck. Maki's just a style master and apparently knows exactly what outfits to use to bring out the most in each character, while remaining situational and true to the characters. Like this outfit with Shikimori, as she's wearing her brother's jacket because she thought it was cool.

Maybe it's because I'm paying a bit more attention in these later volumes, or maybe it's just because Maki's making it happen, but I really love how many closeups and important scenes have been focusing on Izumi in the last few volumes. Shikimori has a habit of, well, being known for Shikimori, but once you're in the manga there's really a lot more to it.

And this volume drives it home. It opens the gates and drives characters forward even more, as Shikimori becomes more comfortable in "sharing" Izumi, and Izumi finds his own ways to be strong and helpful and independent. It's a really great piece that breathes an air of maturity and trust into their seasoned relationship now. There's nothing that could get between them, period. And it's really lovely, you feel that confidence that Shikimori and Izumi have in each other, and they find ways to complement and support each other wonderfully. They really are like a married couple.

So sure, they're not all over each other loving it up, Shikimori isn't fawning over Izumi every other second and agonizing over a way to begin to date him, like most other RomComs work with. Instead, it's drawing itself towards the natural conclusion of an intimate relationship. They don't need those public displays of affection or anything like that to prove how deep their love for each other is. Instead, we're continually shown it through the contextualization of their interactions with others. How much Shikimori loves how caring and kind and passionate Izumi is, and how Izumi loves how strong and cool and confident Shikimori is. And within that, it's really unrivaled. It almost makes you think of a more adult approach to romance which is really nice to see. It doesn't require those steamy or heated moments to expose the love between the two, and Maki certainly deserves credit for their continued effort on that front.

#shikimori's not just a cutie #shikimorisnotjustacutie #kawaii dake ja nai shikimori san #可愛いだけじゃない式守さん #shikimori #shikimori san #izumi yuu #manga review #manga recommendation #anime and manga #manga #romcom manga

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