"I just want to live beautifully"

Truly, a most eventful month has come to pass: my arm healed up well, thank God; went through a few sulky episodes in recent weeks which have thankfully stayed in the past as of writing this; I discovered something like 40 new music artists in the past week which brings a smile to my face; I was officially made secretary for the Islamic Society at uni, technical difficulties delayed the bestowment of the official title by 2 weeks, which I’m really really proud of (we held a bake sale raising money for Syrian refugees yesterday. Only thing to make brownies taste better is a good cause.); I played about one hour of Yakuza 3 last month but haven’t touched it since cause going from a late Ps4 game to an early PS3 game is just SO JARRING, and finally committed to buying a signed promotional poster of my current favourite album! I also bought a few anime series on a store-wide Christmas sale, and I bought the collector’s edition for Space Dandy Season 2 again (yes, AGAIN) because it was £5 and I wanted to display the included art cards in my room, while still keeping my original set safe.

I mean, it was £5. It was definitely worth it, I’m absolutely convinced.

The only series I’ve watched since my last post is Kids on the Slope, and: wow. I had a general idea of what to expect: Jazz, 20th-century rural Japan setting, and friendship. It had all that and much much more: it balanced the music and personal tribulations of the cast so perfectly. I went in thinking it’d be a thoroughly happy story from start to finish, but it really surprised me with just how deep the relationships between the characters grew. Out of all series I’ve seen, I think it was the first story to speak to me on such a level in regards to interpersonal dynamics. I knew it’d feature the fires of music forging camaraderie, but I was so surprised by how they’d also tempered those friendships to such a strong degree. Lots of characters I thought to just be supporting the main cast from the sidelines ended up having really compelling story arcs in their own right. A character I disliked for the entire middle segment of the story ended up becoming one of my favourites: a single heart-rending scene redeeming them immediately from the negative way they had been perceived up until then. 98% of the time when I cry it’s because of sadness. Being moved emotionally manifests in the form of goosebumps and closed eyes for me, but this was an occasion when I shed tears from beholding such a beautiful moment. That wasn’t the only time the story evoked such a special response from me, either: the ending made me feel the exact same way. I feel like I unfairly underestimated this story: looking back, it seems unfathomable to think I didn’t anticipate this work of art to pack such a punch. I also really love that the story included a religious presence in the story through two of the core cast members. It’s of course incredibly unrealistic for productions from the Far East to feature any Islamic semblances, but contextually Christianity has always been the most relevant monotheistic religion in Japan so it was both surprising and joyous to see it be so integral to the themes of the story. There are things about the protagonist that I was really surprised to relate to as well, but mentioning it here would undermine just how special it is to witness the moment itself. That reminds me: do NOT watch the trailer for the live-action adoption on Youtube, as it pretty much gives away the entire ending in the first 5 seconds. I do hope t watch the film sometime though, as it seems to be a pretty faithful adaption.

Oh, and on the topic of live-action adaptations……..

If you’re reading this, you already know my thoughts on it. Part of me wishes I had documented my thoughts in a blog post as soon as I’d seen it, purely because the experience was so surprisingly disappointing that it would’ve been really funny to contrast with my earlier optimistic posts. Yes, the show did indeed try to do something different but pulled it off in the laziest and least creative way imaginable. It tried so much to be different that it really shouldn’t have been called Cowboy Bebop anymore. When I said I hoped they’d “do something different and not make a 1 to 1 remake”, I thought the creative team behind the show was competent enough to innovate while also keeping the story fundamentally true to the spirit of Bebop. Relentless swearing and seriously awkward jokes did not make for a compelling adaption at ALL. I’d include some screenshots of the show here for comedic value but it’d be more depressing than funny: I don’t really care that much about it anymore, but the feeling of disappointment was palpable, after three entire years of the directors building up excitement for this adaption by bragging about how good and faithful it will be. I was genuinely overjoyed when I heard it’d been cancelled not even THREE WEEKS after premiering. That insanely quick cancellation was funnier than any of the half-hearted jokes in the show. The fact that I was feeling terrible the entirety of that day up until the announcement is a testament to how great a waste the live-action adaption ended up becoming. Here’s to forgetting it ever existed.

Currently i’s the penultimate day of the term before the holidays. I have a lot planned, including an actual in-person celebration of my birthday too! It’ll be a few days after the 21st but that doesn’t detract from the sheer specialness and significance of the moment. I also bought a new bluetooth typing keyboard which is much more fun and easy to type on compared to the previous clunky one I had. I don’t know why I refuse to use the keyboard on my laptop: I guess I just prefer traditional wider ones that give my fingers more room to move about, instead of being confined to a smaller space. 

See you in a bit!