Author: aegoncoffee

Human female. Multi-racial, mostly vegan foodie. Science-lover. Photographer, both alt-process wet darkroom AND digital. Fluent in legalese. Use a French press with enthusiasm. Bibliophile. Cephalopodaphile. Taught swimming, trained as an architect, teach users on legal software and legal/compliance topics.
Posted on

Books (Manga): A Friendship So Impure by Cherangbi, Chomi

Cover of A Friendship So Impure on Tappytoon

A Friendship So Impure
by Cherangbi, Chomi
published by Tappytoon (50 chapters – complete)
2023

So many manga are intended for all-ages audiences; even if they are in the romance genre, they are often centered on youth romance in which the starring couple has limited physical contact. Happily, this is not one of those comics! This is a steamy, sexy comic in which an attractive couple get together, take off their clothes, and loudly enjoy nights of passion.

Siyeong is a cute young woman with a gift for languages, who winds up working with her boyfriend’s friend, Jihoo, at his startup. Siyeong is soft and pretty; Jihoo is handsome, fit, tall, rich, and shy. When Siyeong’s fiancé turns out to be a jerk, Jihoo is literally standing right there, being all warm, supportive, handsome, and attentive… and he wants to be so much more.

The drawing style is soft, using a limited palette of colors and minimal lines; I found the illustration style internally consistent and appealing. The characters have charming faces! Below-the-waist anatomy is illustrated with precision, yet also flooded with white ink; exactly what they are doing to each other is very clearly drawn. (The sound effects entertained me.) This comic is only available in “Mature” mode as a result.

This is a fantasy, so the attractiveness, stylish wardrobe, physical attributes, and ‘unnatural aptitude despite limited experience’ from Jihoo in particular exceed non-fantasy abilities. There are scenes outside of the bedroom to ground their relationship in a context, and Jihoo has to perform some gendered duties (protector, provider, etc.) consistent with Korean romance-themed comics I have read so far.

This comic charmed me, and I was rooting for this couple to be together.

Posted on

Book: Amrita by Banana Yoshimoto

Cover for English edition of Amrita by Banana Yoshimoto
Cover for English edition of Amrita by Banana Yoshimoto

Amrita
by Banana Yoshimoto
published in English by Grove Press
1997 (Japanese original published in 1990)

Sakumi, a bereaved older sister who is drifting through life, falls on snowy steps, hits her head, and loses much of her memory. Her friends earnestly remark that she seems like an entirely different person.

But what does that MEAN?

Excerpt from Amrita (without spoilers).
Yoshimoto’s writing style when expressing Sakumi’s struggles with her memory loss can be very emotional, and include analogies that are quirky (likely naturally quirky, retaining their quirkiness in translation).

Sakumi tries to live without her full memory, though this is stressful. Meanwhile, she continues to mourn her dead younger sister, support her struggling young half-brother, and find her way to BE. In time, she finds ways to appreciate the world’s beauty while interacting with an odd collection of friends, relatives, and acquaintances who are each trying their best to enjoy life on their own terms.

While Sakumi takes time to appreciate the way lacy curtains look in the sun or to deeply feel the suffocating presence of ghosts who died in battle on a tropical island, her reconciliation with her situation and ability to enjoy life by being fully present in the moment give the book an ultimately soothing vibe.

Posted on

Books (Manga): The Water Dragon’s Bride by Rei Toma

cover of volume 1 of the Water Dragon's Bride by Rei Toma, Viz edition.

The Water Dragon’s Bride
by Rei Toma
published in English by Viz / Shojo Beat (complete – 44 chapters)
2017 – 2019

Unable to resist the gorgeous drawings of Toma’s most recent manga, The King’s Beast, I eagerly sought out her earlier work, The Water Dragon’s Bride. Here we can see Toma’s gorgeous men, with beautifully shapely eyes and long, flowing hair, represented with special elegance by the Water Dragon God.

Asahi is a little, contemporary, beloved girl, who is grabbed by the water in her parents’ garden pond (!!) and spirited away to another era. A boy of similar age named Subaru finds her in the forest near the lake (her pond’s ancient form) and takes her home to his village, where Asahi realizes something is… different. No, everything is different. No wires? No phones? No train station?

Subaru’s enthusiastic mother wants to take her to a special ritual, which, Asahi realizes too late, involves tying her to a rock and returning her to the lake.

Unlike the other girl-child sacrifices, Asahi is lucky: the Water Dragon God is… just bored enough to keep her alive (with tips from friends).

But she is still just a lost little girl, and her survival from this event would be suspicious to the superstitious villagers. Can she survive? Can she make it home to her own time and loving parents? Can Subaru hide her from his family? Importantly, can she hold the inhuman and generally indifferent Water Dragon God’s attention long enough to get his help?

This is a story of survival, friendship, politics, rivalries, ancient forest spirits, greed, war, community, superstition, spiritual darkness, hope, water-doors between worlds, years away from home (!), personal development, and Love with a capital L. I have a soft spot for stories about little girls falling into other worlds, which was my favorite genre as I was learning to write (though I included a frivolous number of talking animals in my stories, but still). Our favorite characters evolve, though the villages of humans… continue to disappoint in a way I find realistic. I got misty-eyed at the very end, which I didn’t expect.

Toma’s especially beautiful Water Dragon God and his special effects are lovingly drawn. I love this story (with serious stakes) and charming art, including the little round illustrations near the beginning of each chapter. I recommend it!

Rei Toma's Chapter 21 cover for The Water Dragon's Bride, featuring the Water Dragon God himself
Rei Toma’s Chapter 21 cover for The Water Dragon’s Bride, featuring the Water Dragon God himself.
Posted on

Books (Manga): MAO by Rumiko Takahashi

Cover of MAO Volume 1 by Rumiko Takahashi
Cover of MAO Volume 1 by Rumiko Takahashi

MAO
by Rumiko Takahashi
published in English by Viz (ongoing)
2021 – present

Rumiko Takahashi is a famous and prolific manga author, who I have been a fan of since our various California anime fans brought the animated comedy Ranma 1/2 to club meetings (back in the 80s/90s). I especially love her Mermaid Saga, which is dark and ambiguous. I’ve written previously about the anime based on Takahashi’s Inuyasha series, and have mentioned RIN-NE in passing; she structured these manga ingeniously to be easily serialized as anime.

Nanoka is a contemporary girl in Japan, being raised by her kindly grandfather and strange housekeeper after surviving a gruesome freak accident which killed her parents during her childhood. One day, near the scene of the accident, she takes a turn, travels back in time, and is almost immediately attacked… by monsters.

In this past, she meets the exorcist, monster-killer, and part time doctor to nice spirits, Mao. Distinctive-looking Mao, who bears a facial scar and fears he may be immortal, has been through some traumas he doesn’t recall clearly. A day of tragedy hundreds of years ago led to his friends trying to kill him, the destruction of a temple/school, and the death of the girl he loved – and he worries that he may have killed her himself.

Nanoka isn’t sure why she is in this past with Mao, but when trouble strikes and she picks up Mao’s cursed sword, she isn’t struck dead. What gives her this power to resist the curse, and what is her connection to Mao?

I’m 200 chapters in (!!!), and while Takahashi’s serialized-for-television structure persists, there is a sense of tangible progress on solving the mysteries that worry Mao. Yes, there are side quests, and a very large number of characters, but most connect to the mysteries Mao is attempting to solve. As a Takahashi fan, I’d say that MAO has more focused story-telling than Inuyasha (which had more side quests than goal resolution), and is more serious than RIN-NE (which is a school comedy about death and regrets – no, really). The tragedies that strike, and the cruelties that the characters experienced are serious, and they are marked by them – in many cases literally scarred, but also emotionally harmed. Answers to the mysteries that haunt them bring some relief.

This is an interesting story, and Takahashi keeps it progressing with more intensity than some of her other popular works. I am enjoying it.

Posted on

Writing: My Largest Fountain Pen and a Shimmering Ink

Noodler's Neponset fountain pen in blue and white pearl, with a Goulet stub nib. Writing sample in shimmering red and blue Diamine Polar Glow ink. Text about exploring my neighborhood after a long absence.
Noodler’s Neponset fountain pen in blue and white pearl (which may have been named Ghostly Lapis?), with a Goulet stub nib. Writing sample in shimmering red and blue Diamine Polar Glow ink. Text about exploring my neighborhood after a long absence.

I’ve written about how much I love stub nibs, and the nib on this enormous Noodler’s Neponset pen is no exception. This is the first nib replacement that has required multiple adjustments. When it is aligned correctly it works well and wetly, as you can see, but sometimes I somehow lose contact between the feed and the nib – it just isn’t seated properly in the pen – and it just won’t write! I never had this problem with this pen before, so it is clearly my doing, and all about how I insert the nib and feed after cleaning it.

(There was a similar acrylic Neponset with peach and pearl coloring, and I resisted it for too long – it sold out. If I knew how comfortable the pen is to hold, I might not have resisted! I understand the limited editions that pens are released in better now…)

The gorgeous blue ink with a red sheen is Diamine’s Polar Glow. I love it beyond reason, and it flows well, but is demanding. The red sheeing particles never seem to settle in the bottle, but definitely settle in the pen, which is entirely fair for such a lovely special effect. (But it interrupts the flow of my thoughts when I am eager to write!)

Content-wise, the sample writing notes that I’m settling back into my neighborhood. I am happy to be back, even though it is not as new or fashionable as the area I moved to during construction. My normal neighborhood was built in the 1920s, whereas my apartment was from 2008-ish, so everything feels and looks 90 years newer – because it is! There are no power lines visible in that newer neighborhood, the sidewalks are smooth and even, the trees are well maintained, the paint on all of the buildings is in great shape… It makes me want my own neighborhood to be better maintained, and there is nothing wrong with that.

I hope the images of the ink tempt you to consider special effects in your writing, and wider nibs to show the inks off!

Posted on

Books (Manga): Dawn of the Arcana by Rei Toma

Dawn of the Arcana
by Rei Toma
published in English by Viz / Shojo Beat (complete – 53 chapters)
2011-2014

I’m reading the still-being-released manga, The King’s Beast, which is so gorgeously drawn… and then realized that the author has older works that are complete for me to enjoy! This is one of them, and appears to be set in the same world as TKB.

Nakaba has had a rough life: she was orphaned young, kept isolated in a tower, has been avoided or abused by relatives, has an unacceptable haircolor, and ultimately is married off to a prince in an enemy kingdom for political reasons. Ignorant stereotypes about her kingdom are used to insult her. Aside from her loyal Ajin servant (a completely devoted man from an oppressed ethnic group identified by their animal-like ears), she has no one in the world who cares what happens to her.

And then, to top it all off, she starts to see the future.

Perhaps… she has more options than just running away after all. Perhaps she can turn her situation around… and change the world. If she doesn’t kill herself trying to look at the future!

The art style is much less elaborate than TKB, but familiar in a pleasant way. The heroine is optimistic and good-hearted, which gets her far. There are many characters, multiple countries, plots, family dramas, bitter rivalries, lost loves, and appropriately unexpected plot twists. I enjoyed it all.

Posted on

Books (Manga): Demon Love Spell by Mayu Shinjo

Demon Love Spell
by Mayu Shinjo
published in English by Viz / Shojo Beat (complete – 6 volumes)
2012-2014

Miko is a shrine maiden who is terrible at detecting spirits, but she is game to cure a guy who appears to be possessed as he cheats on every girl at school. Her prayer works – but she winds up with a handsome man-demon the size of a doll.

Kagura, the incubus demon whose power comes from women’s desire, is vulnerable to attacks by other demons in this state. Those rival demons swarm him – and are tempted by Miko’s beautiful spiritual energy to attack her as well. Miko can’t even see them, unless she is touching Kagura – and oh, how he wants her touch and affection, so he can have the power to fight them off!

This comedy involves over-protective, spiritually powerful parents; a sexy, sexy demon; dreams of steamy passion; scary and/or sexy demons; lots of posing; and frustration for both characters as their conflicting needs (Miko needs to remain a ‘maiden’ and Kagura needs her not to) lead to silly situations as they fend off danger together.

I laughed out loud.

Demon Love Spell is light-hearted and slapstick, and completely unlike worrying about my job. Part of its charm is that it is complete (no waiting!) and concludes tidily at the end of volume 6 – ‘will they or won’t they’ suspense is best kept brief!

I was entertained.

Posted on

Internet: An On and Off Relationship

image of a latte heart, seen from above the cup
Mmmmm. Almond milk latte love.

My celebration of the arrival of Internet was premature: two days after it was successfully installed, I came home to find a flattish black cable on the ground in front of my home, with white fibers coming out of it, not attached to the pole or any of its cable friends.

This situation made for an awkward customer support call, as I accidentally called the router people instead of the fiber people. (These should be the same people, but somehow are not.) The customer service rep disregarded my “cable on the ground outside my house” scene-setting in favor of telling me that we were going to plug and unplug the router.

Me (in cheerful tone): “Yes, but since the cable is disconnected outside, how will that help, exactly?”
Customer Service: [confusion / panic over departure from script]

I had to console them by reassuring them that they would have helped me very ably if that had been technically feasible. (This cheered them tangibly.)

The fiber people GOT IT right away, and we didn’t play the power-cycling dance at all!

Life is better with the Internet, operationally. (I can order FOOD! I can check the weather! I can pay my bills! I can respond to work emai- oh, wait, less of that part.)

One of my neighbors passed me on the sidewalk and sought confirmation that I’ve REALLY moved back. I understand her skepticism: construction isn’t completely finished, and the Water Department has been using heavy equipment outside, implying that I haven’t had water, and instead am styling my fabulous hair with shea butter hair products and MAGIC.

But soon. SOON. The final inspections will be complete! The sidewalk will be paved! The house numbers will be located AND on the wall in the correct sequence! All the [things] will work! I will put things “away,” and “away” will not just mean ‘in a slightly different pile!’ Please continue to wish me luck.

Privacy Policy Proudly powered by WordPress