This Is Beautiful: Protecting Spaces

 The title's a little strange, but basically I recently had to remove someone from a queer group that I lead for being disruptive, rude, and offensive to other members. This has been in the works for a while, the main issue ended up that I had to convince the other two leaders that this was necessary (despite the fact that I attended and led many more of the meetings than they had). But it finally happened! I did have to go to the overarching organization to get this to happen, but we made it.

Members have been super great about this and saying that they want to come back to the space, I'm pretty excited to see more of them again! I feel horrible that I wasn't able to do something sooner, but I'm so glad that I was able to protect this space finally.

TWEWY The Animation: Episodes 11 and 12

 Episode 11

So the last episode left off on Day 6 of Week 3, Neku and Beat heading into the Shibuya River. They run into Miniamoto, who reveals that Konishi’s in Beat’s shadow. Konishi lets him through the barrier up ahead to fight the Composer. She then takes on Beat and Neku.

The fight was pretty similar to the game! You’re up above the city battling Konishi and her red duplicates. Then Beat basically rips Rhyme out of Konishi, and they all team up together to take her out. I thought it was a super inventive way of portraying how they get the Rhyme pin in the game, and it was overall a pretty cool battle.

From there, Beat and Neku end up in an all white room. They find the defeated Miniamoto and the white room shatters to show the Room of Reckoning and Kitaniji. Shiki’s also there, Neku has a cute and awkward explanation of how she was made his entry fee. It’s adorable.

Then it’s boss fight #2 with Kitaniji turning into the red serpent and Shiki being mind controlled. It ends when Mr. Mew replicates himself and then Neku chains them all together to squash Kitaniji. Beat and Shiki are knocked out as a result of the battle, and Neku intends to go on alone. But Kitaniji reappears, reveals that he also has a countdown clock on his hand, and turns into the gold serpent.

Episode ends there, what a cliffhanger.

So it looks like we are still on Day 6, which confuses the hell out of me. The Game Master can’t attack until Day 7, so none of this should be able to happen. Not to mention that I have no idea if they’ll even be able to tie up this loose end with only one episode left. But let’s just move on from that.

Other difference is that the anime took out a battle. After defeating Konishi, Neku and Beat end up in the Dead God’s Pad, the bar area that Reapers have been shown talking in. There they fight human form Kitaniji and Possessed Shiki. After defeating them, Beat and Shiki are KO’d and Neku goes on alone. He gets to the Room of Reckoning and faces Kitaniji again. By then Beat and Shiki have caught up, and they all fight red serpent form of Kitaniji again. After that is when the gold serpent comes out, absorbs all of Neku’s past partners, and finally he fights Neku.

I have no idea how gold serpent is going to work here. I’ve suspected that the ending would be the hardest part for the anime writers to tackle and I guess we’re seeing some of that now. One thing for sure is that I’m so excited for next week, it’ll be strange watching the wrap-up but so cool!

Episode 12

The final episode was so good! I was actually super happy with it. It starts with the final fight with Kitaniji. Neku, Beat, and Shiki all team up to take him down. This all happens before the title sequence haha. 

After that, they end up in a corridor covered in CAT's graffiti. Neku yells for Mr. H to come out, but Joshua appears instead and reveals that he is the Composer (gasp). Joshua starts to explain things, he's the Composer and he's been playing a game with Kitaniji for the future of Shibuya. Also he killed Neku to get him into the game. He then asks Neku to play a game with him for Shibuya.

Neku is holding the gun and crying. He then drops it instead of shooting Joshua, saying that he trusts him. Joshua shoots him (again) in response.

It changes to Neku at the Scramble Crossing, revealing that he's alive. He finds Beat, Rhyme, and original Shiki. It's super cute, they introduce themselves to each other again, and Neku removes his headphones. These scenes of them heading to Udagawa to look at some new graffiti and running into erased friends (Nao, Sota, the entirety of 777's band, etc) and interspersed with Mr. H and Joshua talking. It's different from the game because it doesn't have Neku's monologue anymore, and the focus is more on them than on Neku. It does make sense though because this is how they're incorporating the Secret Reports. 

Mr. H talks about how he makes graffiti that imprints on people which is more democratic than using pins like Kitaniji. And about how Joshua didn't destroy the town because Neku trusted him. It's a more clear cut ending than the game for sure, and it hits all of the important points. I do wish that the focus was more on Neku as the protagonist.

And that's the end! I still can't believe it's over. I'll be playing the demo of NEO: The World Ends With You all weekend if anyone needs me.

This Is Beautiful: Working Joy-Con

 Alright so I've had a Nintendo Switch since 2017, and I love the dang thing. But I've had a couple of technical issues with it. About a year ago my Switch decided to up and die, and I had to completely restart all of my save files on every single game. Lost my whole 3 star Animal Crossing Island, and my Breath of the Wild progress. I got back a new one, and then pretty soon after that the left joy-con had some drift. My character on (the restarted) Animal Crossing would often sprint north when I wasn't touching the joystick.

I finally decided to send it in to get fixed. The new joy stick just got back recently, and I'm so happy that it's working again! I'm playing a lot more just to revel in the glory of having a working controller. It's so great when technology decided to work as it should.

“The Last Olympian” by Rick Riordan

Finally finished the original Percy Jackson series! Very exciting. I honestly forgot how well this final installment wrapped up the series so well. All of the plot lines get wrapped up, and in a really satisfying way.

It starts off with Nico convincing Percy to do the Achilles thing and bathe in the River Styx so that he becomes invincible. Of course he does it, but then he finds out that the Titans are planning an attack on Mount Olympus in NYC, while another Titan distracts them by fighting across the continent. This leaves NYC undefended and perfect for Kronos to capture. Of course, Kronos didn’t think that our favorite demigod heroes would be such great fighters and stop him. The fight comes down to the throne room in Olympus, where Annabeth manages to get through to Luke, who’s hosting Kronos, and Luke essentially suicides to stop Kronos. And a lot of other things happen as well.

There’s so many separate story lines going on here. Nico and his father get acceptance when they come to the rescue of Olympus. Rachel becomes the new Oracle of Delphi, now that the curse has lifted. Grover rallies the satyrs and becomes their leader. Thalia returns as the head of the Hunters of Artemis. Percy apologizes to Hermes and realizes how much strength it took him to not stop Luke. It’s a very strong finale.

One sour note that I’d like to point out is that the first character to die is Beckendorf, a son of Hephaestus. He and Percy go on a mission to explode the huge cruise ship that Luke has made his base. The thing is, Beckendorf dies within that first chapter. Almost immediately after we learn that he’s started dating another recurring character in the series. Oh and he’s black. I have a couple issues with this, first of all, stop killing of the characters of color, second, don’t just stick someone in a relationship to make their death hurt more! It felt like a very cheap way to show that this would be a book where characters die from the beginning. Given all that though, none of the main characters die. It’s just an awful lot of the side characters.

My favorite part of this whole thing though was when Percy talks to Hermes at the end. Percy apologizes for thinking that Hermes was a bad father, and says that he didn’t realize what Hermes went through. Percy also says that he thinks the gods of Olympus can change, and can prevent this from happening again by claiming their children and respecting all of the minor gods. The ending really isn’t static or a “they all lived happily ever after one”, Riordan keeps the door open for further adventures and further growth. Which is really cool. Plus he writes a sequel series to this one so it makes sense.

There’s a lot more I could write about, but I think I’ll leave it there. Very excited to dive into the next series from Riordan!

This Is Beautiful: Inclusive Bosses

 I recently had a bit of an unfortunate incident with a co-worker where she was being really weird about my pronouns and basically interrogating me about the trans community. I had only just updated my email signature to include them (she/they for the record) and apparently this was big news.

Anyways it bothered me for about a week, but I finally told my boss about it and how I don't really want to be the one to deal with it. He was super nice about it and talked to her for me, it was really sweet. I have no idea how much he knows about the queer community, but he clearly knows how to be supportive and that's enough for me.

I wish there were more like him, it was so refreshing to have an affirming and supportive boss who wants to create an inclusive environment. :D

TWEWY The Animation Episodes 9 and 10

Episode 9 

So like I said this episode covers Days 2 and 3 of Week 3. There are some changes from the game, but it’s all mostly there. Day 2 starts of with the pair at Miyashita Park Underpass and Beat telling Neku how he and Rhyme died. In the game this occurs later when Kariya is giving them puzzles, but it does make sense for the anime to cut that since a puzzle wouldn’t translate over well.

From there they realize that the red skull pins are silencing the town, and free Eri from some Noise. I actually really like that they keep bringing Eri back, it keeps things in perspective with how Shiki is still basically a hostage of the game. The day ends as Uzuki and Kariya tell them that they have to do a mission from them to get Rhyme back.

Day 3 then is mostly Beat and Neku trying to take down Uzuki and Kariya. This was one of the coolest battles in the game, and I think they did an excellent job with it here! We get a Beat fusion as well! It’s then revealed that they weren’t given the real Rhyme, the Game Master played them all. Kariya hands them a keypin instead, and the episode ends with Uzuki and Kariya being taken over by the red skull pin while the Game Master melts into the shadows.

I am a little sad that they changed the mission that Uzuki and Kariya give them. Beat is still hilarious in the anime, but one of the funniest parts of the game is when Beat sneezes so loudly that Neku can’t hear the mission from Uzuki. And of course the mission from Kariya is cut in favor of Beat just telling Neku his backstory. The change makes sense, but still drops a fun scene.

Episode 10

Episode 10 was mostly Week 3 Day 5, plus the beginning of Day 6. Day 5 consisted of Beat and Neku figuring out that they have yet to check out Udagawa, and getting attacked by possessed Uzuki and Kariya. They defeat those two by removing the pins and realize that Mr. H messed with the Taboo Noise sigil on the ground. From there they head to Cat Street where they find the cafe trashed. They realize that Mr. H left a keypin there that'll get them into the Shibuya River. The day ends when they're attached by Taboo Miniamoto.

Day 6 is then just the two of them heading to the Shibuya River. Konishi materializes from the shadows briefly before disappearing.

I'm pretty confused by these changes from the game. In the game, going to Udagawa and going to Cat Street are two different days, so you don't head to the Shibuya River until Day 7. Which makes sense, that's where the big boss is, so that's where you go on the last day. What is the anime going to do with this extra day on their hands? It'd be pretty lame to just send Beat and Neku back to the Scramble Crossing after they get to the River. 

The other thing that they had to remove was in Cat Street Beat steals Neku's phone and takes random pictures of the past, one of them just happens to have Mr. H in it. It's a funny moment, and Beat is still hilarious in the anime, but I missed it.

Anyways, it'll be interesting to see what happens with the anime from here. I have no idea what to expect.

This Is Beautiful: Pride

 June has started and that means that it's Pride month! I'm so excited that this year there's in person celebrations going on. It feels like it's a real Pride celebration. It's my first Pride in years where I'm not in a marching band for it. It's just so nice to have a celebration for who you are and a space to be yourself and be proud and not have to justify yourself to others. I forget every year how nice it is, and it really is radical just to exist when you're queer. Happy Pride!

“The Fifth Season” by N.K. Jemison

I’ll be honest, I’ve been in a bit of a fantasy slump lately. I absolutely loved fantasy for most of my life, I grew up on fantasy novels and absolutely loved diving into fantastic worlds that didn’t have the need to justify themselves the same way sci fi books do. But I haven’t been into it lately. I think I’ve been frustrated with the tropes of a lot of fantasy books. Most of them are horribly misogynistic, not exactly racially inclusive, and they fall back on the same plot twists. Not to mention that most of them are very sexually explicit and violent. And I’m not really into detailed descriptions of sex, thanks.

However, this book has restored a lot of my hope in fantasy books. It’s written by a very cool, Black, female author. So you know this is going to be good. You can tell that she puts in a lot of racially diverse characters, as well as queer characters!

The Fifth Season starts off with the story of Essun, written in the second person. This is very interesting in and of itself, the only other book that I’ve read in second person was If on a winter’s night a traveler. It tells you from the beginning that the book is going to be interesting! Essun just found out that her husband killed her son for being an orogene, someone who can harness the power of the Earth to do incredible things like moving mountains and quelling earthshakes. She realizes that her husband has left with her daughter, and she goes on a quest to find her.

There are two other voices that give narration. One of them is Damaya, a young girl who has recently found out that she’s an orogene and is being sent to the capitol for training. Orogenes are seen as weapons, not people, so they are inhumanely trained and bred at the capitol. Damaya’s perspective is key as that is how the reader finds out a lot about the world, through Damaya’s eyes. For example, we find out that Guardians are individuals who are trained in subduing orogenes. Damaya’s Guardian, Schaffa, breaks her wrist the first day they know each other to demonstrate his power and his willingness to stop her by any means if he needs to.

The other voice is Syenite. Syenite is a young orogene at the capitol, trying to rise through its ranks and gain respect. She’s sent to an older, very powerful orogene, Alabastor, to go on a mission together to a city on the coast. Their harbor is closing so they have been sent to clear it. Part of this mission is that they are supposed to be having sex in order to have a baby that’ll hopefully be a powerful orogene as well. That way the capitol continually has a supply of new weapons.

What is really fascinating about this narrative, as I alluded to earlier, is that the audience isn’t told much directly. You learn the vocabulary and the norms of the culture as you go, piecing it together from context clues. Damaya’s story is the only one where we are told much explicitly in the form of exposition. It’s world building and story telling at its finest really, you never feel like a reader, more of an observer. Especially with the second person narration!

The other thing I adore about this book is how it turns tropes on their heads. The powerful, magical individuals, the orogenes, are seen as less than human and used as weapons. Most other fantasy series that I have seen do the opposite where the magical individuals are worshipped and revered. So much of the story is about how these people are controlled and harnessed for the use of the civilization. People try and kill Essun when they realize that she’s an orogene, not that it does much since she’s incredibly powerful, but it shows how hard she has worked to keep that hidden. Syenite works hard to make sure that she and Alabastor are respected in the city that they have come to save. Even Damaya is shunned by her family when they realize what she is. It’s fascinating seeing how this works and how integrated into the civilization this hatred is.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t comment on the representation. Alabastor is shown to be queer and enjoy sex with men rather than women. Immon is another queer character, seems to be more bisexual, and openly flirts with men and women. Tonkee is a homeless ex-scholar that Essun befriends on her way to find her daughter, and she is revealed to be a trans woman who was rejected by her family. Many characters are described as having darker skin, or with kinky or curly hair. There are different races described in the society, I haven’t really plotted out which are Black or white, but clearly there’s a mix! It’s so good to see.

I initially started this book because of a queer book club. I’m so glad that I did that, this has been an excellent read and wonderfully enough, Jemison has many books, including the rest of the trilogy that this book is from. I’ll for sure finish this series, and hopefully get to her others. It just was so nice to revisit fantasy from an angle that I found more palatable than the usual junk.

This Is Beautiful: Zoombinis

 Alright so I found out this past week that the hit 90s game "Zoombinis: Logical Journey" is available on the app store and I was so excited! I remember attempting to play this game as a child, even though it's cute and made for kids it isn't easy. There's plenty of logic puzzles that get progressively harder as you get further into the game. Plus it's just so dang cuuuute!

Very happy that I found this, if anyone needs me I'll be reliving one of the more stressful aspects of my childhood thanks.