Bleach (2018 Movie)

Warner Bros.

My rating: 3.5 of 5

Kurosaki Ichigo: a normal high-school student with bleached-looking hair, a grumpy expression . . . and the ability to see spirits. The wheels of fate begin to turn as this ability leads to his encounter with a shinigami, Kuchiki Rukia, and spin completely out of control as their encounter with a dark spirit known as a Hollow leads to Rukia’s injury and Ichigo’s subsequent taking on of her shinigami powers. In effect, he becomes a substitute shinigami, fighting Hollows until he’s strong enough to give Rukia’s power back to her without dying in the process. He may even get a shot at the Hollow that killed his mother years ago. Assuming Rukia’s superiors don’t kill them both first.

I was surprised and pleased to see a decent live-action remake of Bleach released this year. This movie takes the first major story arc, all the stuff with Grand Fisher, Ichigo’s becoming a substitute shinigami, basically everything up to Rukia’s return to Soul Society, and compresses it into about an hour and a half of fast-paced action. It’s quite well done and manages to summarize a lot of information into a very brief chunk of time without losing the story in the process. Still, I would recommend this mostly for fans who are already familiar with the story, or at least the basic concepts, because it’s kind of a huge info dump even still. They did a good job keeping the balance, though, with drama, humor, and of course some action-packed fights interspersed. And the fights are properly epic. The CG throughout is very impressive, especially for the Hollows themselves. The casting was well done, especially for Ichigo himself and for Yuzu and Inoue, although I don’t personally love the casting for Renji. Honestly, my biggest complaint is just that, because there are sooooo many characters in Bleach, there just wasn’t time for lots of character development for everyone. Like, at all, in some instances. But still, they did a good job of picking a few key characters and developing them well. I liked that they actually took a proper story arc from the original manga instead of just making a random plot or hugely distorting a main plot, and I honestly do think they did well trimming and unifying it to work as a movie. So yes, I would recommend the live-action Bleach, particularly to fans of the original anime/manga.

Written by Shinsuke Sato & Daisuke Habara/Directed by Shinsuke Sato/Based on Bleach by Tite Kubo/Starring Sota Fukushi, Hana Sugisaki, Ryo Yoshizawa, Erina Mano, Yu Koyanagi, Taichi Saotome, Miyavi, Seiichi Tanabe, Masami Nagasawa, & Yōsuke Eguchi/Music by Yutaka Yamada

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The Demon Prince of Momochi House (Manga)

Mangaka: Aya Shouto

Status: Ongoing (currently 12 volumes)

My rating: 4.5 of 5

When she turns sixteen, orphan Himari Momochi mysteriously receives a will stating she’s inherited her family’s ancestral home, Momochi House. Not that she thinks to question it much; it’s a true windfall, and she cheerily packs her bags and sets off into the mountains to move in. Only, once she arrives, she finds this mysterious boy Aoi is already living there, claiming to be the house’s guardian, along with a variety of yokai. Because apparently the house is on the border between the human world and the otherworld, a gateway of sorts. Not one to be so easily discouraged, Himari determinedly declares she’s the house’s landlady and tries to get the squatters to leave . . . only to be confronted with the fact that Aoi literally cannot leave the premises since he’s been chosen as the house’s guardian. Well, Himari’s not about to leave either, even if it does mean she has to share her home and deal with whatever weirdness comes through from the otherworld. And believe me, the weirdness is just beginning.

Personally, I find The Demon Prince of Momochi House well worth reading for the gorgeousness of its art alone, especially the color spreads at the beginning of each volume. Absolutely stunning. As for the story itself, well, I’m almost tempted to think of it as xxxHOLiC lite. You’ve got all these encounters with traditional Japanese yokai and suchlike, as well as other traditional folklore, all set in this mysterious house on the border between worlds. Yeah, sound familiar? But instead of this dark josei sort of flavor, you’ve got something much more traditionally shoujo. Bishounen galore–and it’s only Himari’s fixation with Aoi that keeps this from becoming some kind of reverse-harem situation–for one. A tendency for shoujo tropes, gentle romance, and a generally lighter tone in spite of going to some dark places at times. Oh, and Himari is a pretty classic shoujo heroine–innocent, romantic, stubborn, slightly blonde, and a total do-gooder. But she’s pretty likeable for all that. And Aoi’s mysterious dark past (and sometimes present) kind of counterbalances her air-headed sweetness. Shouto-sensei actually does quite a good job at making the characters more nuanced than you’d expect, especially through their facial expressions. I really love Aoi’s variety of expression in particular; well, I love his character in general, so there’s that too. Currently there’s a lot of uncertainty still as far as where the story will go, but it’s shoujo enough that I’m hoping for a sweet, satisfying end. I’m certainly curious where the story will go from here.

Meteor Prince (Manga)

Mangaka: Meca Tanaka

Status: Complete (2 volumes)

My rating: 2.5 of 5

Hako has the worst of luck–pencils breaking, things falling on her, rain beginning just as she goes outside, you name it. So why should it be any surprise when an experiment by her friends in the Occult Research Club leads to a naked alien prince falling on her, claiming she is his soulmate, and demanding she mate with him? Fortunately for Hako, she has awesome friends who manage to convince said prince, Io of the planet Yupita, that he has to win Hako’s love first. Meanwhile, they also convince Hako to try to make him fall in love with her and then make him leave. Of course, with her luck, what are the chances they’ll actually both fall in love for real?

Meteor Prince is not a bad read, but it’s certainly not Tanaka’s best by any means. It’s cute and goofy and hopelessly romantic in a sweet, innocent way (ignore all the nudity and talk of mating; it’s actually pretty clean). But it’s also kind of predictable and tropey. Like, down to the amnesia getting in the way of their love kind of tropey. Io is very reminiscent of Tamaki Suoh is oh so many ways, only with a dark past that never really gets developed much, with less social awareness (le gasp! Is this possible?), and with cool alien shape-shifting abilities. And aside from her bad luck, Hako is a pretty predictable shoujo heroine–innocent, girly, a bit too sweet, but relatively lacking in outstanding characteristics. On the other hand, Hako has a pretty awesome baby brother whose background and character I would have loved to see developed more; we didn’t even get to meet him until partway through the second volume! Probably the biggest pro for this series is actually Hako’s friends in the Occult Research Club–both because they have interesting personalities and because they’re just good friends, which is important. As for the art, it’s cute, pretty typical in style for the author. So yeah, for a cute, short shoujo manga, Meteor Prince will do quite nicely, but it’s not particularly memorable or outstanding.

You’re Sure of a Big Surprise (aka The Adventures of Gwaine and Smelly Geoff) (Merlin Fanfic)

Author: Kroki_Refur

AO3 ID: 11052399

Status: Complete (oneshot)

My rating:  4 of 5

Rated T for mild violence, innuendo, language, alcohol, and general Gwaine-ness

When an obviously unnatural beast comes at their small party in the woods, Gwaine uses his astounding observational skills to determine that it’s going after Merlin in a very specific, prejudicial manner. His equally-impressive naming skills go into calling the creature “Geoff” to Arthur’s chagrin. Actually, Gwaine’s just a font of useful skills today, which is good, because Merlin’s in trouble.

So yeah, Gwaine and Smelly Geoff is one of those stories that’s kind of challenging to summarize, and I guess there’s technically not a ton of plot–magical beast attacks, Gwaine &co. deal with the consequences, Merlin is saved, oh, and Gwaine’s not as unobservant as most folks would like to think. Where this story really shines is not so much in its plot development, however, as in its character observations. The entire thing is told from Gwaine’s point of view, and it’s done so charmingly. His personality is just brimming over throughout the whole thing, tongue-in-cheek humor, ambient innuendo, brusque caring, mostly-hidden smarts, and all. And even though the actual plot is kind of serious, because of Gwaine’s humor, the whole story is actually pretty funny to read. Also, major kudos to the author for writing the whole thing in present tense without it sticking out painfully; I was, like, halfway through before I even noticed! This was definitely a fun story and a great character study–recommended.

Note: You can find You’re Sure of a Big Surprise at https://archiveofourown.org/works/11052399.

The Case of the Unwelcome Owl (Sherlock/Harry Potter Crossover Fanfic)

Author: FayJay

AO3 ID: 120495

Status: Complete (oneshot)

My rating: 4.5 of 5

John Watson finds himself awakened in the middle of the night by the looming form of his flatmate Sherlock Holmes at his bedroom doorway . . . demanding John hand over his gun to him. Because apparently, there’s an owl in the flat, and Sherlock wants to shoot it. And oh, look, there’s a fancy envelope the looks an awful lot like a wedding invitation that definitely shows signs of being held in said owl’s beak (John’s been learning to pay more attention to the small details). Only, since when do owls deliver correspondence? And who on earth would be brave enough to invite Sherlock to their wedding?

Oh my, The Case of the Unwelcome Owl was a delightful find for me. Basically, Sherlock receives a wedding invitation from his cousin Luna Lovegood, and John finds out about the whole wizarding world and (yay!) gets to meet Luna. Bordering on crackish (okay, it may have tipped rather far past the border at some points), it manages to be a charming character study. Really, as John says once he figures out what’s going on (sort of), it explains so much! And while it is remarkably quirky, this story also manages to be true to the characters in the essence of who they are, even while bringing in some very unorthodox backstory. I actually quite loved the way the author brings out the characters’ personalities through all sorts of little details, as well as the way the plot unfolds gradually with Sherlock holding on to his secrets as much as he can. On a side note, crossing other fandoms over with Harry Potter is basically the most done thing in the world . . . but this managed to be something unique and special. I love Luna, and she really doesn’t get enough attention–she’s got so much potential as a fanfic character, too, as is clearly shown in this fic. Also, kudos to the author for bringing so much humor into this story; The Case of the Unwelcome Owl had me laughing at every turn. Definitely recommended.

Note: You can find The Case of the Unwelcome Owl at https://archiveofourown.org/works/120495.

The Freshman (Visual Novel)

Pixelberry Studios

Status: Complete (4 books)

My rating: 4 of 5

It’s the start of your freshman year at Hartfeld University, and the future is bright. You’ve got a suite full of fun, interesting people who seem to want to be friends . . . maybe even more than friends. Hey, maybe this will be the year you find love! Either way, there are great relationships to build. But not everything is perfect–you’ve got sorority drama, financial crises, a cranky mentor/boss who wants to use your personal drama for his own ends. In fact, things get pretty complicated pretty quickly.

The Freshman is a choose-your-own-adventure sort of visual novel available through Pixelberry’s Choices app. I have to say, I really enjoyed this game. It brings out both the drama and the excitement of college, the thrill of defining yourself, building friendships, and making choices that will determine your future. I feel like they did a good job of making the main character–the girl you play–both developed as a character and open to interpretation based on the choices you make. That’s a hard line to determine, but I think the way they did it works. I definitely enjoyed the other characters as well; you’ve got some strong personalities, but it makes for an enjoyable mix. Although yes, also waaaaay more drama then I ever had at college, thank you very much. The creators manage to keep it fun though, mixing in humor and sweet moments in the midst of the drama and angst. In addition to all the school activity and drama going on with your group of friends, this is also a romance story (some might say it’s primarily a romance story, although I think it’s possible to stay single throughout if you so choose) with three dating choices. Again, I felt like this was fairly well-balanced against the rest of the game. The art and music were well done, and the text/interface are easy to interact with. Honestly, my only complaints are the main complaints I have with the Choices app itself–primarily that certain choices cost diamonds, and it’s impossible to get enough diamonds to afford all the choices you want to make without spending actual money. But I found I was able to enjoy the game in spite of not having the diamonds to choose everything I wanted to, so it doesn’t negatively affect the story too much. I would recommend The Freshman to anyone who enjoys a slice-of-life sort of story and to those who like western (as opposed to Japanese) visual novels.

White Collar (2009-2014 TV Series)

USA Network

Status: Complete (6 seasons/81 episodes)

My rating: 4.5 of 5

Notorious con artist and forger Neal Caffrey has been caught again after escaping from a high-security prison with only months to go on his sentence. Caught, no less, by FBI agent Peter Burke, the only one who has ever been able to get in Neal’s head and track him down. Now, Neal has talked Peter into making a deal, letting him out of prison on an ankle tracker for having him help Peter on his cases. An insider’s view, if you will. And although trust between them comes at a premium for a while, these two unlikely partners quickly develop a close working relationship and one of the highest close rates in the bureau.

White Collar is one of those shows that I would have (did, actually) write off as another of those boring police procedural shows–probably still wouldn’t have watched it if it weren’t for some awesome fanfic writers who love other shows that I enjoy also writing fic for this one. And I am so glad that I decided to give it a try. (And not just because Matt Bomer’s gorgeous, although yes, he is that.) Seriously, the show manages to be smart and funny and angsty and full of the best sort of bromance. It wrestles with issues like trust and true friendship. The characters grow and develop over the course of the show. And they’re pretty awesome right from the start, whether you’re talking about Neal’s suave, smart, sharp-dressed culture or Peter’s baseball-loving, down-home feel that will surprise you with moments of absolute brilliance or Mozzie’s conspiracy theories and undying friendship or Elizabeth’s warmth and insight. I can honestly say that I fell in love with these characters within the first episode, and that love only grew with time. The bromance between Neal and Peter warms my heart, the way they pick at each other incessantly, yet have each others backs when it counts, the adorable little-boy smiles they get when they’re together. It’s fabulous and heartwarming. The individual episode plots are more your standard procedural stuff, but they manage to be smart and interesting, allowing the characters’ individual traits to shine and grow, while also mixing in bigger long-term plot elements in the midst of each individual episode’s plot. I would highly recommend White Collar, and not just to those who like police shows, but to those who enjoy intrigue, great characters, bromance, angst, high-class suits, and guys who look great in them.

Created by Jeff Eastin/Produced by Jeff Eastin, Jeff King, Mark Goffman, Nick Thiel, Margo Myers Massey, Matt Bomer, & Tim DeKay/Starring Matt Bomer, Tim DeKay, Willie Garson, Marsha Thomason, Tiffani Thiessen, Natalie Morales, Hilarie Burton, Sharif Atkins