#lonely castle in the mirror spoilers

[nekoprankster218]

it's the way Masamune unknowingly inspired his idol to create the video game he loved

it's the way Rion got his wish granted in a way he hadn't expected

it's the way that after everyone saved her in the castle, Aki went on to help sow the seeds of saving them in the future

it's the way that even tho the rule of the castle was that they'd lose their memories, at least some of them still met and became important to each other's lives anyway

#lonely castle in the mirror #lonely castle in the mirror spoilers #lcitm #lcitm spoilers #anime movie spoilers #anime movie #i do kinda wish they showed more of the others' post-castle lives at the end #like I feel confident that Fuka and Ureshino are gonna meet and fall in love again; #just 'cause those are the vibes I got from the ending and themes; #but I'd still like to see it happen y'know?

[yukisraven]

AKIKO IS KITAJIMA AGGGGGHHHH dies

AAHHHH YEAH N THE FACT THAT SHE LET KOKOROS MOM KNOW THAT IT MOST LIKELY WASNT KOKOROS FAULT SHE COULDN'T GO TO SCHOOL THUS KINDA SORTA HELPING KOKORO MOVE ON W HER LIFE KINDA PARALLELING (TO ME ) KOKORO LITERALLY PULLING HER BACK FROM DEATH .....

STH STH AKI HELPING KOKORO AFTER KOKORO TOLD HER THERE WAS A WAY THEY COULD ALL HELP EACH OTHER IN THE FUTURE. I don't know my precise point but I know I have one. Cries.

#tw caps #deartested<3 #lonely castle in the mirror #lcitm spoilers #lcitm spoiler #lonely castle in the mirror spoilers #lonely castle in the mirror spoiler

[skatoonyfan1234]

The Lonely Ex-King

WARNING: SPOILERS for the film Wish. The former king of Rosas, trapped in his own staff, experiences anger, sadness, and then, loneliness, and defeat. [I do not & never ever will own Wish]

Deep in the Castle in the Kingdom of Rosas, there was a dungeon - a place where the worst ever lawbreakers to the kingdom were locked up.

On one of the walls in one of the cells in the dungeon, there, hung up on the wall, was a diamond mirror.

This diamond mirror housed King Magnifico, the ex-king of Rosas, having been defeated by Asha and her friends, and having lost his kingdom and reign to his own wife, Queen Amaya, and now, he was trapped in the finial of his diamond staff he'd created, and hung up on the wall in the castle dungeon.

He sighed, as he looked out longingly at the outside of the dungeon. "I used to be the King of Rosas," he lamented. "I used to be the one they asked for wishes. I used to be so adored." "And now look at me." he growled bitterly. "I've lost everything. Trapped in this mirror-like prison in the dungeon! All because of that… that… ASHA!!!!"

He remembered Asha; The girl who wanted to be his apprentice. The girl who stood up to him. The girl who wanted nothing more but to have her grandfather's wish granted.

The girl who, along with the help of her goat, Valentino, her friends, and his own wife, Amaya, beat him, folied his plan to steal Star, and trapped him in his own staff.

At the mention of her, King Magnifico felt a new emotion - Anger. It flared up inside him. His eyes glowed green, and rage bubbled in his blood.

"SHE DID THIS TO ME!" he yelled.

"SHE AND HER STUPID! IDIOT! FRIENDS!" He started breathing heavily, his mussed-up hair now even more mussed up than usual. "SHE, AND THAT WOMAN I USED TO CALL MY WIFE, AMAYA!" he snarled, his eye twitching. "THEY TOOK EVERYTHING I HAD AWAY FROM ME!!!!!!" He let out a fierce roar of anger. "I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE ON YOU!!!!!" he roared. "I will smash this prison and escape, if that's what it takes!" he yelled.

He punched the glass of his mirrored prison. To his surprise, it didn't crack. He tried again. Nothing. He pounded it over and over. Still nothing.

His heart pounding like mad, King Magnifico went into a full-blown tantrum, punching and kicking the glass of his mirrored prison rapidly, hoping it would at least crack.

"I Gave people their wishes!" he snapped as he pounded on the glass. "I helped them out, I fulfilled all their requests! All I want is a little respect!" His voice soon rose to a yell. "AND THIS IS THE THANKS I GET?!!?!?!!?!" He let out an ear-breaking scream of anger, and pounded hard on the glass with both fists.

Slowly, but surely, his anger began to calm down. Rubbing his now throbbing hands, he stared at the glass in the mirror.

Sadly, not a single crack had formed in the glass. Reality struck him like a freight train. He was trapped in his own mirrored prison for eternity. He couldn't have felt more distraught in all his life. He slunk down to the floor.

And then…… He started to cry. Tears poured down his face and soaked into his robes. Loud uncontrollable sobs of anguish escaped from his throat, and echoed in the mirrored prison. King Magnifico pulled himself into a ball, clenched his eyes shut, and buried his face in his legs, trying to stifle his sobs.

"Some king I am." he mourned. "Trapped here for all eternity. It'll be a miracle if anyone, even Amaya, even talks to me. Nobody cares about me now." "Heck, i bet even a prisoner that comes to this dungeon won't even talk to me." he sulked, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm nothing but a fool."

He shivered, for despite being trapped in a mirror-like prison, he could feel the cold of the dungeon. He pulled his cape over his body, and let himself mourn.

"I'm the lonliest man in the world now." he sobbed. "It's hopeless." His quiet muffled sobs echoed through the dark cold dungeon.

To say he deserved his fate was an understatement.

#wish #king magnifico #spoilers #dungeon #depression #sadness #lonely man #anger #grief #miserable #give him a hug #give him all the awwwww #trapped #he needs a hug #fanfiction

[onehundredandeleventropicalfish]

Hi! I was wondering if you know of any comic panels that show Dream's rooms/castle/living quarters in the dreaming idk, like for reference

Btw love your blog!!

hello! (and thank you)

in terms of dream's castle, yeah we'll be here all day on that one, the palace is huge and constantly changing, neil gaiman even did talk about how difficult it was adapting that for television because it's drawn differently every single time and they had to somehow find one vision for it

and the same might go for dream's room, it's hard to tell, because dream tends to conduct most of his business from his throne room. as far as we see in the comics he only goes up to his actual room when he's feeling really bad and doesn't want to think about being dream of the endless right now, something that to my recollection only happens twice

(and it is feeling bad specifically, like, if he's just busy with something and doesn't want to be disturbed he removes the doors to his throne room so there's no way in from the outside, we've seen him do that too)

but from what we do get! these are some of the panels from season of mists

the thing with the spiky frame is a mirror, unclear whether it's floating or if the art style here is just ignoring the walls. the griffon on the pedestal seems to be the same one that guards his gate, he's got a place here as well so he can act as a go between and let dream know what's going on outside if dream's being sulky and ignoring everything

and this is what we get from brief lives

the armchair in the second image is the same one on the far right in the first, i've just cut out the middle where he goes up the stairs bc major spoilers on that one, so those windows go all around that side of the room

so what we can tell from these:

-has plenty of sit down furniture but we've yet to see a bed, this would make sense given how he doesn't need to sleep (unless something's gone really wrong, but unfortunately the last time he needed sleep to recover the dreaming was a little bit in ruins and his room stopped existing, so)

-spacious as fuck. seriously dream what are you doing with all this space, you do not need it. are you just trying to make yourself feel lonely? if you're gonna give yourself the biggest bedroom known to man at least put more things in it

-at least one mirror, though i have concerns about the lifespan of this mirror, given that a) dream rarely looks at it when not in a bad mood, and b) we have on one occasion seen him smash it bc of said bad mood (and then instantly repair it with magic so no one could call him out for it)

-fancy architecture, no surprises there

-has at least one raised portion, though may be on multiple levels altogether

-many windows. what do they look out at? who knows!

-griffon may or may not be here

-i would not be surprised if dream had like 15 more various couches and armchairs for his choice of quality mope furniture

#dream of the endless #mine #ask

[manonamora-if-reviews]

Elsinore: After Hamlet by Jinx/Lapin Lunaire

============= Links

Play the game See other reviews of the game See other games by Jinx or follow @lapinlunaire-games

============= Synopsis

The year is 2021—or maybe 1602? Hamlet the Younger has just tragically died and Fortinbras the Younger, King of Norway and newly-conquered Denmark, has a lot of cleaning up to do. Elsinore: After Hamlet is an interactive fiction exploration of William Shakespeare's Hamlet as a plague text and a reckoning of Asian American identity during these trying times.

============= Other Info

Elsinore: After Hamlet is a Twine (Harlowe) game. It was the first game from this author.

Status: Completed Genre: Isekai, Adaptation, Slice of Life

CW: blood, death, violence, illness, bad puns, explicit language, panic attack, mention of racism, animated text (not toggable).

============= Playthrough

First Played: ??? Last Played: 08-Aug-2023 Playtime: around 2h (most endings) Rating: 4 /5 Thoughts: Is Life adapting Art? or Art adapting Life?

============= Review

Staged during the pandemic, this story will take you on a strange adventure, where reality and hallucinations become one. As you try to finish an essay on Hamlet, your crippling thoughts keep going back to your worries about "these trying times"... until you are transported into a cold and mourning castle. Will you be consumed by your hallucinations? or claw back to reality to finish your assignment?

Spoilers ahead. It is recommended to play the game first. The review is based on my understanding/reading of the story.

I should probably preface this review by saying I've never read Hamlet (or Shakespeare's work) outside of lone lines or loose adaptations (I think the Lion King/Dune applies?). And while I know there are murders, betrayals, unrequited feelings, madness and monologues galore, the game does not punish you for not knowing the intricacies of the text. Because the story is set after Hamlet's death... and it is not really about Hamlet either.

E:aH uses Hamlet as a framing device to explore the themes of grief, the fear of and hopelessness about death, and identity (esp. Asian American), when living through a global pandemic. During this period, many of us have experienced grief and hardship, from not being able to meet people, to losing family members, seeing one's health worsen, or being subject to violence from others... And within its 15k+ words, this game creates a snapshot filled with anxiety and uncertainty. Yet, amidst the depressing setting, the prose is parsed with humour, little gems bringing levity to the story.

The story happens in two folds: you working on your assignment, trying to suppress worries about your loved ones and the state of the world, and your hallucinations(?) set in Elsinore, imagining events following the end of the play. Both somewhat mirroring or criticising the other. You struggle to find something meaningful to say about the the text, while Horatio scolds you for downplaying their agency as people. A "plague" starts in Elsinore, which you notice from a servant coughing. you share comforting words to Horatio and compassion for his situation, recalling times of struggles during the "war" against COVID and the violence some were forced to endure because of their ethnicity.

The game feels like a critique of the text, through the added character of Petra challenging the crown while passive Ophelia goes mad, or a critique of some reading of the text, like with the comments about the relationships between Horatio and Hamlet. The critiques are sometimes a bit more blunt, with the player character roasting Hamlet for derailing his father's quest (meeting his demise) or his poor treatment towards other characters (esp. Ophelia).

While the UI strayed very little from the basic Harlowe base, it does utilise the enchantment macros in an interesting manner, often enhancing the player character's feelings, a few even added to the hallucination assumptions (especially when ignoring the first sign). Some of the strangely formatted text will hide the way to advance through the story. I wasn't particularly fan some typed text (a bit too slow) or timed ones (wait a bit too long), and one hidden link was biiit too obtuse to find - but it didn't detract my overall enjoyment of the story.

But as every story, this too must end. So let's finish with the endings. The game has 7 possible endings. Some easier to get than others; some longer than others; some good, some bad, some neither. I reached the shorter ones more easily than the longer ones. Depending on your choices, the story will confirm these hallucinations were just a dream or will let you believe you are still trapped in Elsinore; you may reach a bittersweet end where your heart lightened, or one sharing the same fate as Ophelia. Out of those, I think I preferred the ones where the isekai theme was the more obvious, regardless of how forceful the return to reality is, as it mirrored best the start of the game and felt more like a closing the circle moment.

#Elsinore: After Hamlet #lapin lunaire games #interactive fiction #complete #2021 #twine game #review #slice of life #isekai #adaptation

[kousagi7hikari]

Been thinking about Oh My Goddess again recently and just… how much WEIRD stuff is in it.

So I made a list.

Bugs (of the computer variety) that look like rabbits with spider legs and are invisible

A ghost of a motorcycle that looks like a maid

A robot that looks like rolly-polly-ollie

A robot that looks like a human girl that was given sentience and hates the roly-poly robot (even though he loves her)

Spirits that look like Tolkien dwarves that make combustion engines work

An assortment of machine spirits

Temporal space whales

An Extra earth spirit who lives in a rat

A demon king gets put into a floppy disk

An assortment of goddesses named after Norse mythology who are all weirdos in one way or another

The Gate of Heaven is a little girl

A demon who is basically a lone Team Rocket

And is allergic to good luck charms

One of the characters gets drunk on cola and grants the wishes of everyone in town, including turning one of the side characters into a giant

A demon gets turned into a cat and curses himself to be female to retain his intelligence

All the motorcycles. Everyone in this town is obsessed with motorcycles

Goddesses have angels (fine) and they get them by swallowing a tiny “Angel egg” (about the size of a Cadbury mini egg)

Some of the ways the goddesses travel include: mirrors, (fine) hot water, (okay) TVs, (??) and camera lenses (???)

People constantly want the two main characters to bone and will go to great lengths to attempt to get them to do so.

A character his his libido Turned Off I can’t elaborate without spoilers

Main boys parents won’t tell anyone how they met unless they beat the father in a race

After an arc where one of the characters is split into good and evil halves (run of the mill) there is a skin of the evil half left behind.

The roly-poly robot then puts on the skin and goes around town doing good deeds

A “scientist” kidnaps the two robots to take apart and study because they can walk.

The robots do not obey the three laws of robotics, btw

A demon gives a character a castle and an “obedience barrier” so they can be better than the main goddess

The goddesses lose most of their power and our guy needs to make Moon rocks to give them a temporary patch

One of the goddesses can slap words (mostly insults) onto people’s faces as an attack

There’s a pair of angels named Cool Mint and Spear Mint

#oh my goddess #ah my goddess #this series just drifts through my head randomly every five months #and now I actually own a volume #literally the final volume though #…for now

[evelhak]

📕Book rec: Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura🐺

In this blend of magical realism, mystery and fairytale elements, seven students who are avoiding school, find themselves pulled to a strange castle through a mirror. If they play a game and find a key hidden in the castle, they are promised one wish. In the attempt to escape their lives, the kids are not only drawn to the game, but figuring out why they were brought to the castle, while also looking for someone who understands, in each other.

Recommended especially to lovers of: fairytales, character-driven fiction, reality bending, psychological depth, social commentary

Spoiler free personal thoughts:

Everything about this story, its characters and style match what I want to read and what I want to write myself, too. Reading this book was like being home for me, the layers, the metaphors, the fairytale references, the connected lives, the interaction between characters as individuals as a part of a whole. The web of meanings. The hope and healing in the discussion of hard subjects. It made me reflect a lot on my own past, and my reading taste and writing taste too, because I seem to have read it at a point where I've felt for a while that some other people want me to write differently to how I want to write, and reading a book like this, a really successful book a lot of people love, a book that I thought was a really, really important book, makes me more confident that there's nothing wrong with striving to write books that are in a similar realm as this absolutely gorgeous mix of reality and fantasy. It was a really inspiring read.

The mystery was completely obvious to me from the start, and plot-wise the book actually didn't surprise me once, every revelation at the end, I had called from the first clue. Did I care? Absolutely not! Because everything about this story was so filled with meaning and purpose. That's really a mark of a great story, isn't it? It doesn't matter if you know what's to come, because you're eagerly waiting to see how exactly those events will unfold, and you care about the characters so much, that you want to see them discover what you already know, and you want to see how they will do it. A lot of the scenes at the end of the book appeared in my head like scenes from the most beautiful movie I could imagine, and they definitely made me cry, they were just so fulfilling.

I think this book is like therapy for anyone who was lonely at school or experienced it as a traumatic environment. It has a variety of different experiences and people who react in their own organic ways. From a psychological viewpoint I think this book was masterfully written, especially because it's so relevant to understand different ways in which people react to hardships and abuse, how many forms they can take, how hidden it can be and how individual the circumstances inside the bigger phenomenon.

Maybe if there was anything that was less than perfect for me personally, it was the scene where most of the mystery was explained, reflecting back on the clues. I felt it was unnecessarily long and detailed, because I had picked up on all those clues, and it felt redundant to read the explanation because that part wasn't done in any particularly innovative way, it was just an explanation. But I understand it has its place, since this book is aimed at younger readers, and it will also be useful for the readers who may not have picked up on the clues for any reason, or readers who read this book over the course of a longer time, and may not remember everything from the beginning.

Also, the blending of reality and fantasy was particularly well executed, because you really couldn't tell where one ended and one began, but everything in this book is still relevant for reality even if the fantasy wouldn't be true, and that's what made me cry at the end the most, I think. Because in a lot of stories similar to this, when the fantasy fades, the lessons from it become too intangible, and the reader is left to guess whether they had that much meaning at all, because the characters have essentially just returned to where they started from. Not in this book. This book actually goes the extra mile and doesn't leave the reader to do the writer's job at the end. It didn't aim to appear elusive and mysterious at the end for the sake of appearing mysterious, it really ended with a feeling of "this is what I wish for you, this is what I wanted to show you" instead of "go figure out if I even told you a story". I really, really, really loved that.

#book rec #lonely castle in the mirror #mizuki tsujimura #japanese literature #bookblr

[theadventurerslog]

King’s Quest: Quest for the Crown | Part 1

The Adventurer’s Log

King’s Quest I: Quest for the Crown Part 1

Release Date: 1984 (original version)

Introduction

Ahh, King’s Quest, the well-known series from Sierra, but while it’s a series I’ve known of for a long time, it’s a series I had never played nor even seen played until these past couple months.

I came across the Youtube channel, Such Minutiae, and started watching their Lets Plays of the series. Come King’s Quest V and VI I decided I was interested in at least giving those two a play. On GOG they come bundled with KQIV and I figured, why not? I could give IV a shot too. Then this idea to start blogging my efforts struck and I thought, you know what? Why not start right from the beginning and grab the first three games after all, too? Throw in them being on sale and here we are.

Now, as noted, I watched a Let’s Play, so this won’t be a blind play. However, this particular game is a different version from what I watched. They played the Sierra Creative Interpreter (SCI) version which was a sort of remake/remaster. I’m playing the older AGI game and aside from graphical differences there are other differences as well. I probably won’t be able to spot a lot of them, but there is one different puzzle solution I’m aware of and I’ll make note of it when I come to it along with anything else that sticks out to me.

Having already watched the games be played I expect this will go a lot smoother than it otherwise would, but that I will still have some hangups. There is some real bullshit in these games, so it’s nice to go in prepared, accept that and enjoy the ride. And die a lot. I intend to keep a death counter. That will be noted at the end of the posts.

Let’s get to it, shall we?

The first thing I noticed when I loaded it for a simple quick test, was that unlike the SCI version there is no intro scene. It dumps you right into the game and you gotta go into the castle yourself and talk to the King yourself to know what you’re doing.

So the first step is to go see the king and so the quest begins.

And so the quest ends

Come on now, I couldn’t not throw him in the moat. Also, the death music! It’s different in the SCI version. I know this music because it was also used in KQ II. It starts sombre with Chopin’s Death March and then… oh and then it transitions to I don’t actually know what it’s called, but it sure clowns on you. Please just go to this link https://youtu.be/AWvZNAv4_B8?t=527 I have it timestamped to the right place already and know my suffering. The most taunting thing ever. I love hate it.

Okay back to it for real. Go see the king and be told what your quest actually is:

If you want further backstory and more details, you better read that manual.

From the manual in summary:

The kingdom of Daventry was ruled over by King Edward and his nameless, but lovely! Queen. They held three magic treasures that served to help Daventry maintain its peace and prosperity:

A Magic Mirror that reads the future so they were able to use it to stave off disasters and avoid things like planting crops right before frosts.

A Magic Shield that is supposed to make the bearer invincible and his army always victorious.

A Magic Chest that always remained full of gold.

Then disasters start striking. They want an heir but haven’t been able to have a child. A sorcerer comes and offers a solution but wants the mirror in return. They consult the mirror and see what they think will be their future prince (spoiler alert: It’ll be Sir Graham). They agree. No child is ever born. The Sorcerer ran off with mirror and placed it under guard by a beast.

Later the Queen falls ill. A dwarf offers a remedy that looks like it’ll work but wants the shield in return. The King agrees. The dwarf runs off with the shield. The Queen dies.

The King grows lonely as more years pass, but eventually Edward comes across a beautiful lady, the Princess Dahlia (she gets a name) in need of help. He saves her. They plan to wed and now it’s the night before the wedding except whoops. She was actually a witch and planned to steal the chest all along which she successfully does and off she goes too.

More years pass with the King and Daventry falling into despair and disrepair. King Edward realizes he may die soon and summons his knight, Sir Graham, realizing it was him he saw in the mirror. If Graham can gather back Daventry’s three treasures he’ll prove himself worthy of the crown and become the King foreseen in the mirror. Time to go Questing.

--

Once you see the king it’s time to set out and start exploring. I set out, I pushed a rock and died because I pushed it from the wrong side and got crushed. And I forgot to save, so I basically had to start again, although ScummVM autosaved me in the hallway in the castle, so I got to skip entering the castle.

Then I set out again and remembered to save this time. Save regularly and keep multiple saves. Now something cool that King’s Quest does is having some puzzles with multiple solutions. There is a points system and to get the highest points you need to do the optimal solutions. If you don’t care about points you’ve potentially got other options.

After finding a dagger and a pouch of diamonds I quickly encountered a flying condor. This condor is mandatory but unfortunately it’s random as to when and where it will show up. I managed to jump and catch the ride while I could, except I ended up in a dead end because I didn’t have what was needed to get past a big mean ol’ rat. I did try offering it the diamonds, which worked, except I think it actually lost me points and I would have ended up stuck again anyway. I reloaded a previous save.

Thanks for the dead-end, condor, but fly on majestically.

My other activities included more exploration and finding more items, getting mauled by an ogre at least once or twice and managing to run away another time, some sorcerer encounters one of which left me frozen in place and essentially dead, got flown off by a witch and eaten, stolen from by a dwarf a couple times and got some temporary protection from a fairy.

I found a four-leaf clover and a walnut. I climbed a huge tree and found a golden egg. Surprisingly for how easy it is to die in other ways, falling off the tree doesn’t kill you. The egg doesn’t break either. Shockingly nice of them.

Moving on, I helped a starving woodcutter husband and his wife and got a fiddle in return. I got lucky in doing those two activities, and along with finding one other item, I earned everything I needed to deal with the rat and the rest of that area and shortly after getting those needed goods the condor showed up again. So, this time I was able to handle everything there and got my first treasure: the Magic Shield.

I was able to find the witch’s house, a gingerbread house naturally, and deal with her accordingly. Actually, I had to do it twice, because fumble fingers for me killed me again oops. This place was another big difference from the SCI version. In the SCI version there are gingerbread figures outside the house and of course the house just looks better. If she catches you Graham gets turned into gingerbread and she puts you outside with a punny Graham cracker death message. In this version you just get put in a cell and know you’re about to get eaten and that’s that. I did miss that in this version.

Not exactly gingerbread-y on the inside. In the SCI version that oven is a cauldron.

I still have a bridge troll to deal with, but I have the means to do so and that’ll open up more areas to explore. I also found a well I haven’t checked out yet as well. I’ll probably try for the well first then go for the troll.

I’m coming for you, troll.

I’ve been mapping as I go and I’m very glad I’m doing so. I’m sure I’d be getting lost if I hadn’t. There are many screens and quite a few are pretty nondescript.

With the huge caveat that I’ve watched this played before, I’m having a pretty good time. Sure, it’s primitive. It’s easy to die, ridiculously so at times. It can be easy to screw yourself over into an unwinnable state in these games, but if you go in with that knowledge and stay on top of your saves, it’s entertaining.

With deaths by: moat alligators, falling into unswimmable water, ogre, sorcerer, witch, rock crushing I am currently sitting a death counter of 15. I’m a little worried I may have forgotten to update it a couple times so it may be a death or two higher than 15. Three of those were deliberate.

I probably only have one, maaaybe two sessions left.

Death Counter: 15

Time Played: 1hr 35min

Current Points Score: 86/158

#king's quest #king's quest: quest for the crown #KQI #KQI_Log #adventure games #sierra

[realribs]

Thoughts on Books from a Non-Reader

How Do You Live by Genzaburo Yoshino

As you read from above, I call myself a "non-reader", but really what I'm trying to communicate is that I don't think I've read books for fun since the fourth grade. I've had spells here where I've tried to read extensively but after one book I just never got back into it. These set of notes I'm going to make will hopefully keep me motivated to read more! These notes aren't for critical analysis of a book (although hopefully it's a skill I develop), but instead are just my thoughts on what I've read. Spoilers ahead...

Now on the book: WOWZA! I think this has to be my favorite book I've ever read (which is not saying much lol since I don't have a lot to compare it to). This book was written to be an ethics book that ended a series of books referred to as Nihon Shosan Bunko Bunko. The story follows Copper, a 15 year old boy who has recently lost his father, and how he develops as a young adult morally. He is supported by his uncle, who writes journal entries giving advice to Copper on how to lead a great life. The story alternates between the lived experiences and reflections that Copper has and journal entries that his uncle writes for him. As someone who thinks a lot about the kind of person I want to be, I really appreciated the lessons on "Copernican" ways of thinking, relations of production, poverty, and regret. Even if some of the lessons shared in the book are things that I feel to be true for myself, it makes me really happy to know that Copper has someone as kind as his uncle helping him develop as a person (I know these aren't real people but it still made me really happy).

"I think I have to try to be a truly good person. As you said, I am an expert consumer, and I don’t produce anything. Unlike Uragawa, I couldn’t produce anything even if I wanted to. Still, I can become a good person. I can become a good person and create one good person for the world."

I really loved Copper as a character. He is extremely conscientious and really thinks about the impact of his actions on other people and the world at large. How he grieves for his father wasn't explored all that much in the story, but I imagine that his father would be extremely proud of the life Copper is choosing to live. Before he passed, Copper's father wanted him to become "a fine example of a human being". To know that Copper is working so earnestly towards fulfilling his father's final wish fills me with an indescribable joy.

Overall, this book is a 10/10 for me and I think it was the perfect start for me to get back into reading! I'm currently in the middle of Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata and Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura. If anyone has any book recommendations for me, I would love to become a mutual and hear them from you! I would especially love the recommendations of any South Asian authors (as someone who is South Asian myself). Please share whatever thoughts you have!

#asian literature #book reactions #book reccs #mutuals #how do you live #book review #booknerd

[vriendenboekjes]

im about halfway through lonely castle in the mirror and it's such a perfect book.... i love the cover design as well. I like the colours and the wolf queen. i like the mask and how having no really distinguishable facial features gives you more freedom to just think of the character as a character instead of having to put a face to them. i think it's similar to what i once saw in a post about animal crossing, where they find a balance between realism and symbolic shapes with regards to character/object design.

Anyways right now the kids have decided to work together and i think the book will lean more into the search from now. I also found it a bit curious how they've never run into each other in the world outside the castle. Also there was a gaming device that one of the characters was playing with/testing out and some characters mentioned shops that others don't know about so i think some of them might be from a different time period? maybe just a few years? but they're connected by the castle. Is one of them actually ms. Kitajima? is that why she's so understanding? or maybe she's just really nice. anyways if you know please don't tell me. I usually don't care about spoilers but this is written in such a lovely way i want to discover it for myself

^ this is the cover btw dont tell me this isnt one of the most inviting covers ever

#reading notes #🌬️

[bluebangsthepirate]

only in the basic structure, but I felt that the midnight library and lonely castle in the mirror had some similarities. depressed main character transports to a mysterious dreamlike building where they find the will to live. the end (spoilers) leaves the character trying to escape the very place as it is destroyed as they return to their old lives (but with a renewed passion for life)

#bookish #booklr #lonely castle in the mirror #the midnight library #mizuki tsujimura #matt haig

[youronlyoneofcl]

Lonely Castle in the Mirror (2022)

★★★★★★★★★★

SPOILER ALERT

SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT

SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT

SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT

A lot of life lessons to be learned from this, most especially when it comes to relationships, encouragement, and healing.

Music/BGM: Love it!

Animation: Perfect for the plot and message.

Pace: Same thing, perfect for the plot and message.

Voice actors (original): Matches well for the characters and their backgrounds.

In the end, the story is sad. The only one whose memories of the “Lonely Castle in the Mirror” were erased was the wish maker, our main character. It kind of points to “No good deed goes unpunished”. Our main character made the perfect wish which saved everyone, healed everyone, and led them to their new path in life.

But like any wish, it has to be paid, be it a good or bad wish. There is equivalence. Or, “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”. She made the perfect wish, a wish that resonated throughout time and changed the path of six other people. Something like that will cause an equal and opposite reaction; or a major payment. This was in the form of memories for the wish maker. Everyone remembers but her.

As for how the 6 other kids were able to remember, it was because of the Wolf Queen. She made her own wish for the sake of her little brother. Actually, there were 7 kids who remembered, the 6 + the Wolf Queen. Thus, only the wish maker has forgotten.

This brings me to how I love the way they paid attention to current “proverbs” and time-travel. They combined it all together and woven a great story with a lot of lessons in it.

Highly recommended. Full 10 stars!

Discuss on Trakt

#LonelyCastleInTheMirror #trakt

[yukisraven]

Hey girl 😀 um did u know that <3 staying behind in a castle to be eaten by a wolf girl is not going to actually solve ur internal and external issues <\3

#heartbreaking truly #soft shittalks #lonely castle in the mirror #lcitm spoiler #lcitm spoilers #lonely castle in the mirror spoiler #lonely castle in the mirror spoilers

[someawesomeamvs]

Warning(s): Potential spoilers Title: happily (n)ever after Editor(s): SadSack Dedicated to: Gomibako Team Song or Audio: Innocent Arrogance Artist: Bish Anime: Darling in the Franxx, Madoka Magica, Magia Record, Tengoku Daimakyou, Fate/Stay Night Heaven’s Feel I Pressage Flower, Princess Connect Re:Dive, My Happy Marriage, Shinsekai Yori,  Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club Season 2. WIXOSS, Guilty Crown, Terror in Resonance, Clannad, Bakemonogatari, Erased, Genius Party Beyond, Lonely Castle in the Mirror, Vampire in the Garden, 22/7, Uma Musume Pretty Derby, Vivy Flourite Eyes Song, Hibike Euphonium, Link Click,  Category: Drama

#amv #youtube #editing #anime mix #video #music #song #bish #sadsack #happily (n)ever after #gomibako team #innocent arrogance #drama #too many anime to list #submission

[millipedish]

Oh Lore?

Just read all the descriptions of the minion cards in Wishing Night, and it really does recontextualize the whole story. I'm still trying to make it all slot it in my brain. Spoilers abound ahead.

The most shocking revelation is that the Queen's husband is Midas. I somehow like...that never seemed like a possibility. I thought that Midas was some immortal being all sad and alone, rotting in his castle as the magic twisted him. But it turns out he was just, a guy, who's been a donkey all these years. Even after he left the count's castle where he was banished to.

For a world that's so fearful of anything magical, I do wonder how they accepted their donkey headed king to come back. It seems like Midas never really did become a less scary king. He went around sucking people's souls out for food. Maybe there was some other threat that they needed his protection from, or maybe he'd become so powerful that they couldn't say no to him.

Curious that the Queen went into exile with Midas. Or did he and the Queen meet when Midas was still a donkey? That's kind of cute, it's like a twisted Beauty and the Beast. This is a rather pleasant image of that time, though I do think that the Butler is romanticizing here. I do wonder if the Queen knew that Black Swan was kidnapped. Then again, her memory was wiped from her time in the mirror, so not even she knew she was kidnapped.

In the ranger, warrior, alchemist and witch universes, Black Swan kills Midas before can leave his banishment. Does she kill the Queen too, or does she leave to swear her revenge? This is unknown, because the sequel takes place in the Mechanic universe, where Red and Jerry never came to jog Black Swan's memory. Or had Midas now met the Queen by the time Red and Jerry rolled in? This would conveniently explain why you can’t encounter the Queen in Diaries mode, and I’m sure it’s not just because the devs hadn’t conceived of the Queen back then. 

Or the divergence point could be Midas. The Flag Bearer’s description seems to describe the beginning of the curse, started by…something? That Midas shot? Whatever he did, he had an immediate effect on the whole place. He was also transformed into a donkey right away, as opposed to other timelines where it’s described that his metamorphosis was slow, starting with his ears that he was able to hide under his hair. But then again the barber is still here, so I don’t know?

So the question is, what happened to Black Swan in the Mechanic universe? She is oddly absent in the present. 

We also know that, in the Mechanic universe, the couple adopts another child, specifically because the Queen is unable to bear children. Maybe this is a side effect of really being a bird. I feel that he was adopted after Black Swan left, when they were feeling lonely and they missed having children around. I wonder if this kid was kidnapped, too? Seems like Midas wouldn't have to go through the trouble- this universe is chock full of orphans.

Oh yeah, the Scripture Priest's description totally supports my theory that the queen used her first wish to become human. I think the most interesting thing regarding the king is that he turned human and his sickness both started when the Forest Spirit disappeared. It seems somehow both his curse and his mortality are tied to the curse on the forest. I do like this, story wise. This idea that magic is an ecosystem in itself and when you suddenly remove one part, other organisms are going to react in unexpected ways.

Kind of like how the death of the Forest Spirit didn’t fix everything, also. I mean for one Jerry is dead. But the people who have been monsters are distrusted by the townsfolk and some never even turned back. The Priest is dead but the church is still up to its bullshit. It paints a more crapsack world than I was seeing before, where people in charge constantly twist the truth to hurt people. 

When it came to Little Red Riding Hood’s minions, I was lowkey disappointed. It turns out she didn’t make a majority of these robots and they actually, I guess, fell from a floating country? And I find myself really not caring about King Jack or whatever, though there is one curious thing. And old wizard is the son of a survivor of the Kingdom of the Sky, but also it says that the enemy the Sky Ranger came directly from there. So then did this country fall recently, or generations ago?

Then again, Sky Ranger is very clearly modeled after Peter Pan, so maybe he’s unaging as well.

The Witch’s minions paint much of the same picture of a world where people are ostracized for having anything to do with or being suspected of magic, but with this added portrait of a found family of various creatures within the Witch’s cottage. 

The Witch feels like the most queer coded character, what with her being tossed out by her father and taking in all these magical runaways. Sadly she is quite afraid of Little Red Riding Hood so it’s unlikely the two of them would be friends. 

There is one other bit of exposition to be found in one of the Witch’s minion cards which kind of slots a lot of things into place as far as how magic works in this world.

So there is no such thing as white and black magic, magic just exists. I’m into that. But the second statement is especially interesting to me. The Witch longs to make friends with other humans, and is willing to go as far as to force magic on them to make them like her. I think she’s trying to create another witch. When the Pig Widow approached the witch looking for her husband, she said, “I have a better idea.” How ironic if the witch meant to give her magic powers so she could find her husband, but ended up transforming her instead. 

This could also apply to Midas. It could be he was one of those humans whose body wasn’t able to handle magic, and when he tried to force it, his body’s only recourse was to turn into a donkey.

#notfm #notfm spoilers #night of the full moon #notfm lore #wishing night #the multiverse #I’m dying to know what a meeting between Red and the Queen would look like #She does look almost identical to the girl she called daughter after all #In a self serving way I’m into the Tin Man’s sequel #where he just kind of chills out and decides to stop being a douche #Gonna straight up ignore the Mech Magician’s sequel lol #I really like the Robbie I’ve developed #canon or no #I’ll update the tags on my fics tho #anyway thanks for coming to my TEDtalk

[smalltownfae]

For all the in your face, impossible to misinterpret, stuff that is in "Lonely Castle in the Mirror" because we are in the mind of Kokoro there are still some surprising subtle moments. I am 100% sure Masamune picked up on the fact Subaru was lying and I am also pretty sure Masamune is into boys too. I also like how Rion finds out both a girl and a guy called him hot and doesn't bat an eye.

Spoilers:

Unrelated, but I love how the beginning scene is used near the end and then again at the end. I was waiting for it to happen and was so happy I said "YES!" out loud. I love when the first scene mirrors the last one in a book.

#lonely castle in the mirror #there is also some subtle moments while presenting plot relevant stuff but that would be spoilers I guess #I am a big fan of parallels and perfect wraps what can I say?