Eventually I’ll get to a 2024 wrap-up, but for now… been watching a lot of things again!

anime

Dandadan
studio: Science Sara
sci-fi, supernatural, action, romantic comedy, adult
Okay final thoughts since S1 (part 1, fuck those guys LMAO) is all out there now. First off, this is personally my top anime of 2024. There are some majorly tough contenders here too but I was so ready for a female protagonist that felt REAL in a shonen series. I absolutely love the dynamic between Momo and Okarun, and really all of the characters bring something intriguing to the table. It’s so rare to see an amalgamation of off-the-wall bonkers shenanigans, eye-popping art, high-intensity action, minimally filtered adult jokes, and incredibly thoughtful & heartfelt moments. It’s so hard to explain what this series is to anyone not in the know. I’m trying my hardest not to jump into the manga face first because I’m impatient and don’t really want to wait until July for more lmao, because they left it off at a cliffhanger that was CLEARLY NOT MEANT TO END THE SEASON (some dick executive made that call). Can’t wait for more of this ride.

Arcane: League of Legends (season 2)
studio: Riot Games / Netflix
steampunk, sci-fi/fantasy, action, drama
I’m throwing this in the anime category if only because it’s a spiritual cousin of the category. I was a little late jumping on this season because I saw all the cries of “IT’S JUST… PAIN” everywhere and was like, lmao that’s gonna tank my mood when i finally binge it… I somehow managed to avoid spoilers long enough to bite the bullet, and it sure did tank my mood HAHA but wow this show is truly an artistic masterpiece. I still refuse to get into LoL but Riot sure did something amazing with the lore, and I can’t get over how gorgeous the art and style and music are for this. The animation is so smooth and artsy and the entire aesthetic is intensely amazing, and that SOUNDTRACK??? This is what it can look like when a passion project meets a budget that allows for it I guess?? The creatives on this show deserve all the praise they can get, even if the ending is a giant ball of bittersweet agony, woof.

Link Click: Bridon Arc
studio: LAN Studio / bilibili
drama, action, fantasy
Yes, this is actually donghua and not anime if you wanna get technical, but if I include Arcane here I can include this too lmao. If you haven’t been following Link Click, well you’re kinda missing out. The plot twists on this show are wild and brain-breaking, and it just keeps ratcheting up the insanity with each subsequent release. This was a bit of a surprise drop before they actually give us the real S3. I’m half mad this is going to only be 6 episodes and the true S3 isn’t coming for a while, but GOOD LORD that first extra-long episode packed a punch out the fucking GATE, and the following episodes each have felt SO SHORT at standard length. How are they going to wrap up those last 2 episodes to drop us off where the arc started, where they surprised bombed us with hints of at the end of S2??? I’m both dreading and looking forward to it, not gonna lie.

Solo Leveling: Arise (season 2)
studio: A-1 Pictures
action/adventure, fantasy
Okay for my S1 wrap-up, I did say I very much enjoyed it but wasn’t sure if it lived up to the hype it was getting. Kinda want to take that back a little—only a few eps in, and this is already showing signs of some crazy plot twists in its future, and I’m super pumped for the deeper plot and lore that they’ve hinted at. The character development is truly the big standout for me... it doesn’t shy away from the idea that gaining power can have massive consequences! While it’s not at the very top of my list, it is up there, and I will grudgingly admit that I’m happily along for the ride now haha. Looking forward to where the rest of this season takes us!

My Happy Marriage
studio: Kinema Citrus
romance, drama, supernatural
LMAO I thought I’d already put this on a list here but uh, realized I hadn’t! This one kind of surprised me. On the surface, it looked like a very generic sappy slow burn love story, and part of it is that, but uh. I was not ready for what this actually is: dark and upsetting, but also hopeful and sweet. I also wasn’t expecting the supernatural aspect of this too haha. Plus, it’s gorgeous! Hard to say much without giving too much away, but this is really an interesting take on the romance genre. Does have a bit of a slow start, but worth sticking it out. Season 2 is now underway, and it has a slower start too, but definitely feels like they’re laying foundation work so I’m down. If they do anything like they did with the slow burn in S1, this will have some great payoff!


ALSO WATCHING THESE, but little too early to say much yet (or I said my thoughts last time):

Apothecary Diaries (season 2)
studio: Toho Animation Studio / OLM
drama, mystery, romance
Little too early to give judgment on S2 (kinda wish I could’ve held off to binge until end of the season but I AM WEAK), but so far it’s more of the same party and I’m in for it (and can’t wait for the deeper overarching plot to rear its head again)!

Sakamoto Days
studio: TMS Entertainment
action, comedy
I actually started reading the manga on this one so I have a little bit of a head’s start on what’s to come, but so far this has been a blast. Very impressed with how they’re handling the animation, and this one is going to be loads of fun. Kinda reminds me of Way of the Househusband with its brand of humor, but with a bigger plot & better animation budget.

Blue Box (season 1 part 2)
studio: Telecom Animation Film + TMS Entertainment
sports, romance
Still cute and still enjoying this one as it comes out! Wholesome and a great palate-cleanser from all the more intense stuff I’ve watched of late.


movies

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
director: Tim Burton
gothic, dark fantasy, comedy, horror
It’s been a Really Long Time since I saw the first movie, but honestly this felt like a true sequel to it haha. While the movie itself didn’t bring anything new to the table as far as creativity goes, it did give a better insight into the afterlife lore it hinted at in the first. It was fun to see the original cast come back with some fresh new faces, and even though it unsettled me the same way the first one did, I had a good time. All I could say afterwards is “Tim Burton gonna Tim Burton until he’s gone, and even then he’ll Tim Burton from his own version of Beetlejuice afterlife.”

Venom: The Last Dance
director: Kelly Marcel
comic book, superhero, action, dark comedy, fantasy
While this had its moments of silly wacky dark weird fun, I still think the first Venom movie was the best one. At least, what I could hear of it. Movies like this make me wonder if my hearing is worse than I think it is. The biggest downside to seeing this in theaters is not being able to turn on subtitles, and so much of the dialogue just got LOST in the ambient noise of the movie for me, which took away a lot. I’ll have to come back to watch this with subtitles at some point. I mean, it was still fun, but they still haven’t quite figured out how to recapture the magic of that first Tom Hardy venture.

Red One
director: Jake Kasdan
supernatural, holiday, action, comedy
Okay, look. LOOK. This movie got slammed by everyone and I think everyone was way too hard on it. IDK what everyone else was expecting from this, but I went in for a silly, campy holiday movie that expands on Christmas lore à la Santa Clause and Elf with more action that didn’t take itself too seriously, and I got pretty much exactly what I expected out of it. So personally? I had a great time! I think some people ask for too much out of movies like this, no wonder y’all hated it.

Wicked: Part I
director: John M. Chu
supernatural, fantasy, drama, musical
And here I go continuing with my unpopular Hot Takes hahahaha. I was actually kinda disappointed with this movie. Let’s caveat this with the fact that I have actually seen the live production of the musical, more than once, and it’s one of my all-time faves. So onto my rant here… First off, they slap you with a “part one” in the opening title, and I was like, WELL FUCK YOU for not warning us in all the advertising you did!!! And secondly, well. It’s a very long production on stage, but with the way it’s run on stage, it doesn’t feel like it (at least, it didn’t to me any of the times I saw it, even with intermissions). But the pacing on the movie made it feel like SUCH a SLOG. I don’t know how they managed to take something so beautifully run on stage and instead of compact it like most musicals-to-movies do, it feels bloated and dragged out. I feel like a lot of the massive critical acclaim this got was half because of the fondness for its source material, and half because people are afraid of saying anything against it for fear of retaliation from the cast & crew for being racist or homophobic or whatever (look we all saw that reaction to the edited poster, which I thought was kind of out of hand). All that being said, I don’t think the movie was awful or terrible. I’ll still go see Wicked: For Good (part II) when it comes out later this year. I actually did like the cast, much to my own surprise, and it’s a beautifully shot movie. I just was disappointed that the magic of the live production was a little lost for me in the grand spectacle of it all.

Gladiator II
director: Ridley Scott
historical, action, gore, drama
Yeah we all knew this was never going to live up to the original Gladiator, right? And it didn’t, but I also wasn’t exactly expecting it to. And y’know what? I didn’t hate the movie because I had that perspective going into it. If you’re wanting a movie on par with its predecessor, this isn’t it, but if you’re just interested in watching an epic gory action gladiator spectacle with Denzel Washington stealing the show as the movie’s antagonist? This might be a fun popcorn option for ya. (And Denzel definitely was the highlight for me.) See a theme here yet lmao. Honestly, I’m finding that my personal enjoyment of movies has a lot to do with tempering my expectations going into them.

Moana 2
directors: David Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, Dana Ledoux Miller
adventure, historical, supernatural, musical
Okay, look. The first Moana is better, but this was still fun (and visually gorgeous, even if the music DEFINITELY suffered horribly without Lin-Manuel Miranda). And I will never say no to getting more Pacific Island culture and mythology on the big screen. Even if it is very much riding the coattails of its predecessor.

Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
director: Kenji Kamiyama
fantasy, action/adventure, drama
Okay so this is technically an anime film, but it’s also actually part of the broader Peter Jackson LotR canon, so uh. Haha. I was really sad to see this do so poorly in theaters because I did enjoy it, but I can see why some were less keen on it. I really liked the main heroine, and the opportunity to dive into more Rohan history and culture was a bonus in my book. But it is a very long movie, the writing had moments where it was a little… contrived, I guess? was the script originally in Japanese and some of it got lost in localization?, and the animation style and techniques felt a little out of date (it isn’t quite as polished or gorgeous as some of the other offerings out there these days). Despite all of that, I did enjoy the movie and where it fit into broader Middle Earth lore. I’m all for seeing a little more Girl Power here & there, and getting a glimpse into the legacy preceding Eowyn.

Officer Black Belt
director: Jason Kim
comedy, action, martial arts
Once in a while, I need a brainless Asian martial arts comedy movie to feast on. Thank you Netflix for bringing this treat to my screen. Mostly pretty silly, but had some very heartfelt moments about addressing criminal recidivism, treating people coming out of prison like actual humans (at least, until they prove they’re not), and discussing the flaws in South Korea’s sex crimes policies. And then there’s punching people and typical K-drama goofiness.


tv shows

Drops of God
provider (US): Apple TV+
drama
I finally sat down and finished this, and LET ME TELL YOU, watching a series about wine palates while trying to set personal boundaries on drinking alone was ROUGH haha. I just wanted to taste what they were tasting because I’m a bit of a wine nerd myself (definitely not to the extent depicted in this series!!!). Also the fact that this is in not just English, but also French and Japanese (both of which I have a little knowledge of) was breaking my brain. I’m very tempted to pick up the manga this is based on, though as a stand-alone, it’s a fantastic show.

Squid Game (season 2)
provider (US): Netflix
dystopian thriller, action, horror
I threw myself at season 2 as soon as I had a moment to avoid hitting spoilers lmao. I’m just PISSED they chopped this season in half, and they left it on a HORRENDOUS CLIFFHANGER (this is me, warning you, if you haven’t watched it yet and plan to). Followed up on more of the same from season 1, except they give you more background into some of the other factions involved, and it’s FASCINATING. But also like a train wreck where it’s hard to watch but also hard to stop watching once you’ve peeked. This show is such a wild, crazy ride with the most interesting social commentary, legit understand why it’s a massive phenomenon (but also I really hope the showrunners actually got a better deal outta Netflix this go-around).

Queer Eye
provider (US): Netflix
reality
I realized this had a few more seasons out (including a brand new one) that I hadn’t watched yet, so I started throwing on an episode every so often again to catch back up. It makes me tear up or cry almost every time. I am well aware that many of the “reality” series are somewhat scripted and not everything is as neatly wrapped up as the producers want us to think they are by the end of the episode, but this show has some very thought-provoking conversations that I personally find profound and insightful. And it feels wholesome.