New Elyusion Who Dis

[elyusion]

Another one of these lol. But for January!

What I Did

Not Related To Media Consumption Enjoying the Arts 🍷

• On New Year's Eve I saw cows up close for the first time and fed them (their tongues are very rough!), and on New Year's itself I shot a gun for the first time. Multiple guns, actually -- a pistol, shotgun, and rifle. Into the sky. As one does. You'll never believe it -- I spent the night in Texas on my mom's boyfriend's ranch. I wanted to share food with all the cows, but three greedy fucks were all in the way of the others cows 💢 Just selfish.


• Not really something I did, but something that happened -- it snowed, which turned into ice, so for almost a week we couldn't really go anywhere. The power never went out though! I was surprised about that. I would probably be even more amazed if it weren't for the fact that it already had snowed in the (southern) state I was in before twice in the decade+ I lived there. Climate change is taking the joy of rare snow away from me smh


• I did get to work on my resolution to learn how to dance, but I haven't gotten around to recording myself yet. I really should eventually, for growth-measurement purposes... And I participated in snowflake_challenge! Besides the final challenge, I've done every challenge I wanted to this time around. I'll do the final one another day :)


• I made a community! vkotd Post in it if you can, or only sub to it if you're interested.


• I got shoulder-length medium twists, and I feel so fly that I started taking care of my skin and using makeup xD Makeup looks like it can get expensive, so I'm going to avoid following anyone on socials who shows off a lot of products and things like that so I don't tempt myself into evil, but I feel better about myself. Maybe a bad thing to say about something that covers up my natural skin, so I feel kiiiiiiiiiiiiiinda bad... reeeeeeeeeeeeally deep inside. It's mostly covered up by the happy though LOL
  

Enjoying the Arts 🍷🕯️🌹🫦

TV/ONA/OVA

• I finished Sailor Moon Classic, which I watched half of many years ago. I think it's fun, way better than the manga before since girls besides Usagi get attention. Never made me feel as Hype as Naruto did... but I guess because the fights against the villains are pretty lame. Like someone else said, they just run away until there's an opening to do their magicks. This is why Pretty Cure sweeps. Also, I feel like a complete asshole for this, but I like all the other girls more than Usagi. She's kind of........................... annoying 😭 I guess it's just due to the nature of anime and exaggerating personalities. Well, I'm sure it only gets better from here.


• I watched the first two Thunderbolt Fantasy seasons and movies with a friend. Well, the second movie I watched yesterday, but I'm grouping it with the things I watched it January. I think I have the same reaction as everyone else -- Curiosity about how a puppet TV show works, and then amazed that the plot and characters are pretty darn good too. I want to watch the show it's a spinoff of, but I guess it's probably inaccessible if you don't know Chinese u_u So I'll have to put a pin in that for about 3 years or so.


• But you know what ISN'T inaccessible even if you don't know Chinese? That's right baby, The Legend of Luo Xiaohei. I watched the first season. I tried to watch this years ago after watching the movie, but I was put off by not knowing how it relates to the movie. I thought maybe it was some stupid boring comedy AU or something, and the movie took the protag of the show and made something more serious. Not exactly! I've been describing the show in my head as "iyashikei if it was epic" -- it's slow-paced and calm, almost slice-of-lifey, but it's also an urban fantasy that has fast-paced action scenes when needed. It has a plot, but it takes its time for you to get to know the characters and world. I like it more than I thought it would, considering it doesn't have any of the movie characters I know and love besides Hei. I think you should watch it. You should watch the movies too. The comic? Also probably great. Please get into The Legend of Hei -- and remember who put you on. I'll watch the season season after I finish Sailor Moon R.


• Also watched the 3-episode OVA Gensei Shugoshin P-hyoro Ikka(/Modern-Day Guardians, the Piihyoro Clan?). I expected something more serious than what I got, and it was best enjoyed on 2x speed. Not the worst thing ever though. It's about sibling exorcists who have to handle ghost and possession cases. Sometimes they're hired, sometimes one sibling finds themself in a Situation. I had a feeling something deeper was happening or was going to happen too, but the OVA ends before it to entice you to buy the manga. The manga was probably fun to read while subscribed to Princess Magazine, but I definitely wouldn't pay money for the OVA. I'll have to keep in mind to read this one day, since the manga isn't on Anilist and thus I cannot put it in the Planning list.

Movies

• Swing Girls!! A comedy movie even a guy like me can enjoy. And despite it being about a guy teaching a bunch of bum girls how to swang, there's no romance either. Cute and feel-good with musical performances aplenty (and I'm big fan of music, personally), this is also something I feel the urge to force others to watch. And, did you know? None of the actresses knew how to play their instruments before having to work in the movie either. So in case you're like me and thinking "no way could they get so good so quickly in real life" ... yes. Yes they could.


• I expected something VERY different from 2001: A Space Odyssey from what I got 😭 Since it's so popular and people still mention it I figured it was an action-adventure movie or something like that... Instead it's just. Weird. With very pretty visuals! But quiet and odd. I'm not smart enough to say anything about it, positive or negative. But I guess it's good I know what exactly it is now!


• I really thought I'd love Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but I just thought it was fine. I dunno. I think animation has raised my bar for fight scenes inhumanly high. Maybe this is implied in the movie, but I find it hard to believe it's possible to be free at all as a woman married to a man in that time unless you make him swear he won't keep you in chains, which Jiaolong/Jen (? Why did they change her name to Jen? Jiaolong isn't hard to read or say.) never made whatshisface do, I think. I think the flashback to how their romance developed was fun though, probably the only part of the movie where I never paused to do something else. Funny time to choose to have sex, but I suppose these things do happen.


• As a (very old) Gen Z-er with a fried brain, at some point I had to swallow my pride and change the playback speed to 2x. But besides the old-school pacing, I Am Cuba was a great movie! Too great! I actually recommend NOT watching this right now what with the real things going on with Cuba, because it will make you miserable! :D Or, maybe you SHOULD watch it so that you too will want to fight to protect what those people sacrificed all they had for. #DeathToAmerica

Exactly One Book

• Not something I finished, but I spent a solid chunk of the month reading Yona of the Dawn along with a shoujo server on Discord. I've tried to read or watch this MULTIPLE times in the past, but I'd always lose interest. I decided this year would be the year I force myself to read it and see why it's so beloved... or at least figure out why it repeatedly put me off 🗿 It's literally adventure shoujo, I shouldn't want for much else. AND YET... I think the main problem is the art style isn't my taste, although objectively it is good and Kusanagi is good at drawing. Because of this, I don't think the heartthrob Hak is hot, and I actually dislike him because I think he's not hot enough to justify the things he does or says. I like assholes, but not when it comes to romance or sex, so when he says the typical "I can't help myself cuz I'm a guy yknow" stuff I want to beat him to a pulp. (If the character is hot I roll my eyes when they say those things.) I do like Suwon and want to see more Suwon. Mr. Dragon Hand too. And Yona herself! But Hak needs to pay with blood, sorry. So bascially, after being semi-forced to keep going, I do like YOTD now!! But I don't like the love interest. Common Chris L. Suwon should've installed himself as communist dictator (or Yona should in the end) 💯 Tae-jun is really funny and we should imprison him in a bottle forever


• I finished this a few days ago so I won't vent about it yet; I'll leave it for a separate entry or February summary, but the main thing I spent all month reading was Kamisama Kiss. Tomoe was letting Akuraoh hit jsyk (or the other way around sometimes)

Music & Games

• I beat Sakura Wars. The ending was corny as hell. The ending animation I got for successfully romancing Kanna was cutefunny, and I did like the SRPG sections. I said this before, but the presentation is great. I love the art style! So there's lots of things about this game to like, but I didn't end up hitting the like button on Backloggd because... I dunno 💀 Maybe I'm too haunted by them pressuring me to be a lolicon that one chapter. And this is typical in dating sims, but I wish the girls felt a little more human and a little less like comfortable tropes. I liked it enough to want to play another Sakura Wars though -- it was only the first game after all, maybe in the second or third one they'll nail it.


• Every month I had an idea/prompt/idk of what kind of new music to listen to all month, and January's was "Latin, Japanese, and Chinese music from genres I like". Compare with December's "Latin, Japanese, and Chinese music popular among speakers of those languages". I found SO much music in January I intended to make a separate entry dedicated to it, but in sort, we should find and eat the people on Spotify making all the Chinese playlists a bunch of slow ballads. For China week I felt like I was in ballad hell until I found a playlist with faster music towards the end 😭

What I Will Do in February

• TV: Thunderbolt Fantasy with friend, Sailor Moon R alone


• Film: The Dark Knight, Kamikaze Girls, Y Tú Mama También, A Touch of Zen. I try to choose 1. A movie important to a group I belong to (this month being U.S. Americans), 2. A movie with original Japanese audio, 3. A movie with original Spanish audio, and 4. A movie with original Mandarin audio.


• Lit: I finished Kamisama Kiss, sooo Yona of the Dawn, Vampire Knight, and Deborah ga Rival if I catch up with the reading groups reading the first two.


• Games: Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, and if I beat that before the month is up I'm going to finally plug in my SNES mini and complete Final Fantasy VI.


• Whatever: I want to finish the dress-up game by the character's birthday on the 20th (<- wont happen), I should update both my personal and fan sites, of course I'll continue dancing in secret where none of you can see, aaaaaaand this month's music theme is "unfamiliar songs by familiar artists" (songs I haven't heard yet by artists who have songs I really love).

Have a good February! Or else.