control is not convinced
hey hey
I love trains. I love slow travel in general, honestly, and if I had all the time and money in the world I would travel exclusively by rail and boat. They combine two of my favourite things: traveling, and being at home. Who wants to get on and off planes over and over when you can just get comfortable in a compartment, take out a book, and watch the world go by at your leisure? Not me. My ideal travel conditions are:
1. get cozy
2. stay cozy
3. see some mountains maybe??
4. reach my destination
I’ve been thinking about this a lot this week, because I read this post about scenic train routes, and now I know the best, least efficient ways to travel all over the US and see everyone I love who lives west of the Mississippi. Plus Canada, for kicks.
Dog Thing
chillin’
Mixed Media
I’ve had a couple weeks to think since finishing reading Akatsuki no Yona (or Yona of the Dawn) by Mizuho Kusanagi and the conclusion that I’ve come to is that it’s incredible and I love it. I love it so much that finishing it depressed me for several days. But don’t let that stop you from reading it! Join me in the post-Yona depression!
It goes like this: Yona is the daughter of the king, whose life is mostly comprised of feeling bad about her hair (unnaturally red) and being in love with her cousin, who she fully expects to marry. To her shock, her father forbids the marriage, and it seems like maybe that’ll be the worst thing in this comic, except that then her cousin kills her father and Yona finds herself on the run with her bodyguard, helpless and powerless, her world irrevocably changed.
There’s a lot about Yona that makes you think it’s going to be a pretty typical shojo story: she was raised gently and has no skills, she’s accompanied by a man who is clearly in love with her, she’s on a quest to find the descendants of mythical dragon warriors. But it’s quickly apparent that that’s not what Yona is about. Yona is a slow and deliberate coming of age story about a remarkable girl. She is at all times the most interesting person in her own story. Hak, her bodyguard, clearly wants to keep her safe, but never at the cost of clipping her wings.
The rest of the cast is seriously great, and there’s a surprising amount of queer-coding, which feels extremely deliberate. No requisite perv characters here, just a beautiful, supportive found family.
My favourite things about the comic is the surprising complexity of the political situation, and the space that Kusanagi gives the characters to feel, and grow. I’ve joked about the incredible slow burn of Yona & Hak’s relationship, but they’re also teenagers, and they are stupid about each other in a realistically teenage way. It’s also at times very funny, and balances its humor and seriousness really well.
I highly, highly recommend this manga. The anime is great, too, but ends before a lot of the really meaty stuff happens in the comic. There’s a lot of it (149 chapters, collected in 23 volumes, and released up to 7 in english), but it’s completely worth the time. Even if you will, I’m sorry, be very sad after catching all the way up.
Watching Yona got me thinking about Fushigi Yuugi, a much older shojo story that Yona resembles a bit, on the surface. I rewatched about half of it while keeping my convalescing dog company, and it has not aged very well, but is fun if frustratingly slow-moving. I also watched the Yona OVA, which sadly has yet to receive an official translation, so I had to search for it. also THE GOOD PLACE IS BACK! THE GOOD PLACE IS STILL AMAZING! CHIDI REMAINS AN UNCANNY REFLECTION OF ME!
I read Golden Kamuy vol 2, and it continues to be a comic I love in spite of myself. Lots of violence and occasionally animals getting skinned? Not usually what I look for in a comic. Somehow, I love this one anyway.
I watched Mulan for the first time in years, probably, and discovered that I still know most of it by heart (I was in the generation that got shown Mulan by just about every teacher at some point. One time, we watched it with a substitute in Driver’s Ed), and then watched Mulan II, which is top-tier, as Disney sequels go (most of the cast returns, with the additions of Lucy Liu and Sandra Oh!). I went to see Napping Princess (also called Ancien and the Magic Tablet), which was a great near-future fantasy story about…self-driving cars? I loved it.
Anxiety Pyjamas
Fics I Shouted About
the price you pay for dreams by captain // My Hero Academia, Midoriya/Todoroki. Midoriya vanishes one day, right off the school campus. Everyone deals with the loss a little differently.
not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all by theroyalsavage // My Hero Academia, Bakugou/Kirishima, 10 Thing I Hate About You AU. This is so well executed and fun. I love that this removes the monetary part of the source material, because Kirishima is just…a sweet, solid dude.
this or none at all by sunsmasher // Captive Prince, Damen/Laurent, future fic. Nikandros accuses Laurent of engineering a perfect marriage for him against his will, and inadvertently triggers a whole other conversation.
The Heart Inside by theroyalsavage // My Hero Academia, Midoriya/Todoroki, Kiki’s Delivery Service AU. Todoroki travels to a new town to establish himself as a witch and his father’s successor and instead finds himself working in a bakery and falling in love. This is so sweet.
Two Hour Vacation by ArgetCross // My Hero Academia, Midoriya/Todoroki, future fic. Todoroki seeks our Midoriya on the night of Endeavor’s funeral.
Hell is Empty and All the Devils Are Here by theroyalsavage // Akatsuki no Yona, Hak/Yona, demon AU. I love modern aus for Hak & Yona, and this has the added twist of Hak being a demon? I’d read a novel of it, honestly.
also: I wrote a very small Haikyuu!! Ukai/Takeda fic for a pal
Lastly
I love this article about Michael Schur’s tv worlds. Since The Good Place and Brooklyn Nine-Nine are the only non-animated tv shows that I seem able to keep up with these days, his formula is clearly working for me.
anyways goodbye
hit me up in a reply or find me here: tumblr I twitter I instagram