Onani Master Kurosawa - Ise Katsura/Yoko

Onani Master Kurosawa - Ise Katsura/Yoko

...

 There. I needed a little deep breath before doing this. To take the bad taste that Blue Ant left in my mouth.

OK... As we discussed in the Nozoki Ana review, Japan is very particular in its views on sex. On the other hand, public displays of affection is not well viewed.

Another big point in Japanese culture is shame. Shame is a HUGE deal in Japanese culture. How bad it is? Well... have you heard of the term hikikomori? Basically it's people that were considered inept to the real world or that simply closed themselves into their rooms. Mostly by shame. I recommend the documentary Hikikomori, for a better understanding of it.

What does it have to do with Onani Master Kurosawa? Well it start with shame & blackmail. Oh, and public masturbation. Let's get it straight: the problem is not that he is masturbating. It's where he's doing it. He's doing it on the girls bathroom. That in itself is enough for a guaranteed expel. And in Japan, your school info is always available. Where you study, grades, clubs & activities are all recorded & handed from school to school. Sometimes, universities & companies also get a hold on those files. So... imagine the harm it can do to anyone if you are caught masturbating in the girls bathroom. Well, guess what happens in the first pages of the manga? Yup, he got caught by what he calls a aloof student, the same as him. 

More accurate, it starts with him shooting a load at the wall of the female bathroom. Them he cleans it up, explain his ritual for doing this and then getting caught. He already had an excuse, which the girl seems to accept. It's a weird bathroom after all, distant from the clubs & overall out of the way. He's not that wrong of choosing it as his place. One detail that I would like to point it out is that he looks like a fucking maniac sometimes. The art is not all that good, I had read much worse crap, so... I don't mind. 

This guy... Oh my. I love him. He's an outcast, don't participate in any club, judges people around him, usually mocking them in his mind, arrogant as hell. And he has some pretty weird fantasies when masturbating, usually with his female classmates. I like when those kind of weirdos are well presented in any art form. I was one of them, but was very popular. Anyway, I always walked with weirdos and I can guarantee you: no better people to hang out with. 

Since it's the last day before spring break, he went for his last load, out of his usual time. Then some girls enter. They tried to call him, but he ignores. He was about to judge them as trash, when they start to smoke. He see the similarities between them & stops. As he's leaving, they tell him to not try to report them. He smiles & go. He thinks of stopping doing it, but laugh it off. It's the thrill of getting caught what excite him. He goes, but this manga is a past narration from his own memories, so this first chapter ends with him stating that things will take a turn from now on... 

Back in class, he's analyzing his future "victims". Then, the squirrel girl, the aloof student is the one sitting in front of him... They are using one of the classes to present themselves. Kurosawa did a pretty mediocre presentation of himself, because he has a pretty nihilistic view of the world. The other person of interest, the Cauliflower guy that always tries to get close to him is the only one really paying attention. After him, it's Squirrel girl time. And she made a bizarre presentation. Why? Because she's being bullied by those smoking bitches. Kurosawa, that had decided on her for his first "course" is one of the few people aware of the situation. 

Since she sits right in front of him, he could see how bad the bullying is. As a matter of fact, bullying in Japan is a huge deal. Really huge, almost part of the culture. It's common to be bullied in schools, universities, work... even home, as you can see as some families treat their own hikikomoris. It's harsh. Being part Japanese gives me a great insight on this. My mom used to bully me, at least what is know as bullying in the West. She would made me climb on high unprotected areas for me to lose my fear of highs. Also for eating. For almost everything. She beat me constantly, for my... Fierce nature, let's say. Didn't changed me. But with others, it could have destroyed some people. I also know a lot of Asian friends. Usually it's way more harsh than other families. 

And that's why Kurosawa don't mind it all that much. After all, he has his eyes on his next prey: the beauty of the class. She's always high & mighty, so it's no surprise his fantasies involves humiliation & submission. After he did it, he meets the Squirrel,trying to get her gym clothes back from a tree. She's hurt & he tries to help, but she promptly refuses him.

Next day, things go as usual, (including guys ogling Naito's boobs), but as PE ends, they find a broken window & the clothes from a fat guy was stolen & found in the bag of Squirrel. She is the one to give it back, but the bullying bitches stops her. They start to accuse her of stealing it because she likes the fat guy. At this point, human nature prevails.Humiliation of others is always something that people are into. You may say it's not your case... but think deeply & you'll have done it at some point. The class starts to get into the play & chants of confess starts. Squirrel gives in to the pressure & confess, which made the whole class laugh. She then collapses crying, but the bitches made it funny. At this point, our cruel & apathetic Kurosawa felt his blood boiling. It bothers him. He decides to do something about it... and went to a real dark rape/abuse masturbation session. It may looks silly. But this is only the beginning. He went into class late & the bitches are going insane. Someone stole their uniforms. Yeah, it was him, but he has an alibi. And then... the uniforms are found & returned.But there's a addition to them: he unloaded into both of them. The shame is huge on them. They left, nobody mentioned it & so far, looks like a perfect crime. Soon they return to class & subdue the bullying, not stopping it.

Then, the usual & traditional excursion happens. It's a tradition on Japan to do a field trip to some historical place in the summer. It soon generate a commotion in class: create groups of 5. Since most cliques have more than 5, things get hectic. Kurosawa & Squirrel don't give a shit. Cauliflower then choose to left his own clique & band with Kurosawa & Squirrel, to the horror of Kurosawa... he went to his daily, but is approached by Squirrel, which called him by name, making him panic. As he starts to calm down, she asks a favour: make Naito suffers the same fate as the bitches. WTF? Before anything else, he demands how she found out. She explains & it became clear that he was busted. But she didn't report him... She intended to blackmail him into doing her bindings. Obviously, he accepts. But he wants to know why Naito? She explains: Naito is the mastermind behind the most complex plans, like the uniform stealing, or so she suspects. Kurosawa struggles with the idea. It's a rainy day, so the school is packed. As he's getting annoyed in the library, Takagawa, one of the hotties from his classes approaches him. She notices him & start some small talk. Since he's always reading, they talk about it a little. When the rain stops, she leaves & he made his decision: he will do the deed.

Obviously she reports the incident. To no avail. She doesn't even looked bothered by the ordeal. No one is caught & it seems like that's it. Squirrel & him talk a little. Kurosawa give her some advice & she asks if he will help her if needed. He assures he will. It's raining again & he meets Takagawa again. They talk & bond, discussing books. Then, it's getting late & she leaves. He don't feel compelled to do his daily & remembering the next day is the excursion, he wishes that it would rain. Yes, this bonding will haunt him in the future. Yes, this contact changed a few things inside him. It's a common trope. But very well made. During the trip, it's all gloomy. Cauliflower is bothering everyone with his usual excited character. Then... Takagawa approaches the group & Kurosawa is more open. And he starts to bond better with her. Then, Squirrel attacks again. She has two victims: the fatso that she was forced to confess, which take it seriously, to her disgust. She wants that he make him get away from her. He agrees. Then the second victim, is one that was part of the smoking bitches. She stopped the bullying because she's dating a guy. Squirrel saw then & can't stand to see her smiling. So... he agrees. But different from before, they had no plan. Either way, he will do something about it. His plan is to put a bottle full of jizzed tissues with a love letter. Since their latest talk, he starts to disagree with Squirrel ideologies, but has to keep on with it. His plan is not good, but leaves the chance of not dirtying his hands, which is his intention.

During the day, Squirrel holds hands with him, which is a big deal in Japan, so fatso gets sad. Then, Takagawa appears & he refuses to continue with the play. He don't want to have a misunderstanding. The day went by, Takagawa went away & Squirrel is pushing him to do the deed. At the last, he couldn't do it. Somehow, the happiness of the couple stopped him. On the way back, both had a open & frank conversation, where Kurosawa tells her that this stupid things won't change anything, nor would it heal her wounds. Even if she continues to blackmail him, at some point, things will have to stop. She agrees, but for now, it will continue.

Back to school, things are different. The group & Takagawa are much closer. And she's a nice girl, she doesn't care that they are outcasts. She cares for them. This touches him. Deep. Their meetings in the library became more frequent. At the same time Cauliflower gets more insistent on his invite to karaoke & at some point Kurosawa accepts. During the karaoke, he flees for a drink & meet Takagawa. They run away to see a movie. Then dinner. And lots of talk. As they depart, Kurosawa felt a strange feeling. His dick is so hard it hurts. He understands its because of her & violate their memories together by jacking off to then, but as soon as he finishes, he vomits.He spends a long time thinking about it, then concludes that yes, she is love with her.

They meet again at the library & during their conversation, she admits that she used to be an outcast, but when changed schools, decided to try to renew herself. And it worked. But her memories of being an outcast remains, making her very different from the other pretty girls. He makes a good analyze of the situation, and she laugh it off. His feelings overflow as she explains that she had never had this kind of talks with a boy. He goes to masturbate to calm himself. He states the obvious: he can't soil her beauty with his lust. And then... Squirrel attacks! She wants him to soil Takagawa.

Yup, it was pretty obvious that it would happen. I foreshadowed it, didn't I? So. It happened. Even full of tropes, this is clearly very well written. The introspective point of view from Kurosawa, how he thinks, feels, acts is very well designed. As it is with all characters. This manga is great because of that. Not the crappy art. The emotions are very well portrayed by the art.

Anyway, Kurosawa is not going easy on her. She won't admit why she wants it done. He keeps teasing her, pushing her. Then she says that she want Takagawa to be soiled in a way that she won't trust any men from this point on. That hits him hard. This is no ordinary request. It's way different from the usual. He refuses, but is threatened by her that he will regret it. It seems Squirrel has some interest on him, but he didn't even think about it. He went home, thinking that it was his victory. Suddenly he felt the urge to talk to Takagawa. She goes & find her... They talk & she looks really happy. Maybe it's him, maybe something else. She departs & Squirrel is there. She warns him again that he will regret. And next day... he does. She's going out with Cauliflower.  And they are serious.

Squirrel & Kurosawa meet in the bathroom again. They share the same feeling. She was after Cauliflower. Takagawa also changed, starting to be more carefree & enthusiastic. Kurosawa can't stand it. She's being defiled. He has to do something. He perceive why she has fallen for him. It's his carefree & enthusiastic way. She always wanted to be that way. He burst on Cauliflower during PE & from there on, he started to ignore him. And her. Distancing himself from everyone. She still goes after him, but he don't enjoy it anymore. Something is off. He caught they kissing & at that point, she's destroyed inside him. He goes to jack off to her,almost vomiting & then Squirrel came, greeted by him. They agree with the destruction.

During the sports festival, their plan is acted. When he goes to her desk, he fantasizes, way out of character for him. He confess to her & she accepts him. He knows it's a fantasy. He perceive that she looks unlike her, like a husk of a being. But he keeps going into it. Into one of the most dramatic scenes of this story, as soon as he is cumming, she started to melt into nothingness. She disappears from his inside world. As people come back, she notices something is weird. As she was trying to hide it, Kurosawa ask for some notes & then she touches her books, all jizzed. She screams & everyone finds out. Cauliflower tries to hold her, but as he touches her, she vomits. At this point Kurosawa notices that he doesn't feel anything. The school goes into uproar. She keeps feeling nauseated when men approaches her. She take a few days off, but came back the same. Scarred for life. But Kurosawa? He is also on the same page.He's being incapable of feeling anything. So when Squirrel came and ask for one more attack,he accepts. He doesn't give a fuck anymore. So does Squirrel. As he himself put: their brakes are broken. And more & more attacks keep happening.

The weird thing? Even if Cauliflower is more popular than ever, he keeps going after Kurosawa. But he keeps getting pushed away, further & further. During one of the attacks, he go thru the art stuff of Takagawa. And find a painting of them all together: Squirrel, Fatso, Cauliflower, her & Kurosawa. It hits hard. It's her most treasured experience from middle school. Even after everything, she holds that time dearly. And it really destroys Kurosawa. He don't go on with the plan. When Squirrel confronts him, he says their pact is terminated. And in the next day... he confess everything in front of the class.

And from that point on, he's invisible. No one acknowledges him anymore. The smoking bitches came after him, with some tugs & beat the shit out of him. As he comes back the next day, his desk is vandalized. One stand out: Onani Master Kurosawa. He liked it. Even Cauliflower looks away from him. The teachers called him for a meeting. The teacher tries to comfort him, and inform that the family of one of his victims wants an apology from him & family. Kurosawa agrees. His bravery in facing his own acts touched his teacher. It seems Kurosawa is on a different mindset now. Even with it all going, he keeps his daily. Squirrel goes to confront him, and he admits that the bullying is getting to him. That he previous "I don't care what people think about me" were just words. He cares. He suffers. But he will endure. He will prevail. He will keep going till someone acknowledges him again. He's doing it for both of them. And his daily, ends today.

A few days latter, yes. Cauliflower went after him & he accepts. Gladly. And thanks him. He would not relinquish this friendship again. But the bullying doesn't stop. No one even reacts to his pain. And it keeps getting worse. But Cauli is there to help. Always. But for Squirrel, there's no one. She talks to him, that she's not like him. She's not strong. And she wants to get back to being strangers. But he won't accept it. On that she bursts. She screams that she's dirty, that she won't change. She is incapable of changing. After everything, he keeps saying that they are not strangers. And if she needs help, call out for him. He went to the library... and yes, she goes there. She starts to explain how she saw the facts. She understand something was strange. That he wouldn't do it. That she forgives him. But she found herself incapable of even talking to him. When he was being beat up, she tried to help. One of the bitches asks if she wants to hit him, but she doesn't. The bitch explain that she's not doing anything that he wouldn't want. His confession would generate all this. But they both doesn't understand why.

She keeps struggling, thinking of how she didn't changed from that shy girl she were. Until the day she saw Cauli helping him. They are still together and Cauli explains a few things for her. In particular that he see that Kurosawa is trying to change. And then she understands. And that is why she's there. Kurosawa apologizes for hurting her. And she accepts. As he's suffering & crying, she revokes her pardon. And says that she would only forgive him if he keeps the promise they made. He will go to a high end university & became a writer. He goes to a cram school, where he meets with one girl from his class, Sugawa. She's one of the girls that bullied Squirrel. He found that she's shy with men, even if she puts a tough act. And even if she's very aggressive with him, she still asks him for help in studying. They get close. He starts to get interested. All seems well till an incident occurs.

Squirrel was in an Arts & Crafts class, being bullied. Then she snaps, grab one of the wood carvers & stomped it into her own hands. She smiles & as she was going to do something, Kurosawa stops her. And she disappears. She won't appear even in the graduation, where Kurosawa meet one guy from class and he asks him to go to the meeting of the class.

Time skip. He's hunting Squirrel. He finds her home & goes there. Remember hikiomori? She's one now. She tried to commit suicide on a fairly firm basis, always saved by her mom. He tries to talk to er to no avail. Sugawa & him are apparently together, but not confirmed. He likes her. Wouldn't even fap to her. He keeps going to Squirrel home, till the day of the class reunion. As he arrives there, he can't go in. He got into a bike & went to try to get Squirrel to come. Everyone is shocked. Arriving, they talk & in the end. He convinces her & off they go. They talk a bit more, then he opens up: isn't it better to try than to keep hiding your own feelings? It sunk into her. They go to the class reunion.
A few days latter, on a train with Sugawa, she catch a glimpse of her on the station. She's out.She's living once again.
This is the official ending. But fans demanded a bit more. And they receive Kurosawa & Sugawa finally being together. It's cute, but nothing much.

Well, I personally have a problem with the fan base of this manga. Most people didn't like the ending. To me, they don't understand Japanese culture. This is a heavy psychological drama, with some pretty dark & mature themes, BUT let's not forget: they are early teens. It's a comming of age drama. Yes, it's harsh, but at the same time, you are almost constantly reminded that it's a class of children. And I truly believe this is not a bad thing. Specially the ending. He overcame. Overcame what he did, the consequences, the fear, hatred, disgust. In the end, he even changed himself, like he intended to.
Go read it. Take your own conclusions.

Real talk: first I want to thank you for reading this. As the number of hits grew, the more I want to present a good point of reference with my reviews. I search for interesting books to review, from authors that I love or things that caught my attention. But sometimes, I need a little space for breathing. My routine changed  a lot from when I started this blog. I'm working in a produce plant, which made me go back to do yoga, which made with less time. When I started, I was usually one week ahead, sometimes two from the actual reviews. Now, I'm getting behind the schedule. 

So, I'll take a week off.

I'll find more interesting stuff for me to review, get a little ahead of the schedule & provide you with interesting stuff. I'll go to analyze a few comics, (maybe, maybe, I'll review one HUGE series that I love called Cerebus the Aardvark, but maybe I won't, since it run from 1977 to 2004. It's something for a future, since it's 16 books! I would be talking about it for around 4 months! Are you up to it?), review a few different manga & some good books.
I'm also thinking about posting an schedule here, for you to see what to look forward & maybe read together. Who knows? I'll await your comments on the subject. 

Seriously, I'm waiting...

Someone.

Anyone...

We will come back with a review of an good old classic: Strange in a strange land!

See ya

Zero History - William Gibson (Blue Ant Trilogy #3)

Zero History - William Gibson (Blue Ant Trilogy #3)

Intro: thanks to the crap that is the connectivity of the Blogger app & the site, I lost most of this review. Anyway... here it goes, late. Sorry.

I'll admit: usually Mr. Gibson's trilogies have highs and lows. I loved Neuromancer, but found Idoru a pretty harmless and boring book. But usually, on the third one, I'm in love. Mona Lisa Overdrive is one of my favourite books. I really liked the ending on All Tomorrow's Parties. That leaves us with Zero history. I made myself very clear on the last entry on the Blue Ant trilogy: Spook Country was awful. Even if it was wrote by one of my favourite authors, in a genre that I love, I hated it. It has its good points, but the bad ones... it was not a pleasant reading. So, how the last book of the trilogy went?

Well... It starts with Inchmale & Hollis... Oh my, where do I start with that? Do you have a friend that can't handle money? That always made bad decisions regarding money? Yeah. At the same time that Inchmale bought a club/hotel, Hollis is broke. AGAIN. Seriously? You made a deal with advertising that made possible for your friend to buy a freaking Hotel & you are broke? What in the hell you invested on? Marbles? Anyway... The first thing we are informed, besides she's broke, is that Inchmale is insisting that she should contact Bigend. Obviously, she don't wanna. Bu-hu. You're broke, girl. You shouldn't refuse the only guy that keeps on hiring you...

Just a few pages & I'm already bothered by her. She's decadent, full of a luxury that she really doesn't fit into. I'm sorry, but I really dislike Hollis. She's boring, predictable & most of times, dumb. She don't discover anything, she bump into things with a good timing. That's all. Hubertus call & even if she's mentally complaining, she accepts to meet him. Yeah, it's that or die in a alley way... 

Then, he appears! MILGRIM! Yey! I like this guy. As always he's sly, analytical, observant & weird. Apparently, he did some weird treatment for his addictions, what seems as a Keith Richard style: he mentions some blood transfusions. Anyway, he do some shady business with a pair of pants (wtf?) and is directed by Sleigh (yes, from other books, that guy) to the airport where he's going to meet Bigend. That catch my attention! But it sure goes down the drain with one more chapter from Hollis. Gosh, it's as tiring as the Sansa's chapters in S Song of Fire & Ice. Yes, I hate her. A shame that she would probably not die a gruesome death in the books... Oh, and I ignore the series. So, don't go whine on the comments. 

(Irrelevant, since no one comment here, for some weird reason...) 

Anyway, I felt like somehow, my complaints about the last book were heard. Or someone also complained about it. This time we are given 2 things: what Hollis should look for, a different way of doing product branding by some shady figure & why use her: she is like Jon Snow, she knows nothing. Yeah, that's it. Since she doesn't know anything on the stuff Bigend is involved, she has a fresh view on stuff. I can buy it, you know? I only hope that she doesn't walk as if on board of a Deus Ex Machina, other than that, I can be lenient & tolerate her presence... Thank gods we go back to Milgrim. 

In there we see that Milgrim isn't a junkie anymore. Somehow Bigend convinced him to detox & treat himself. Milgrim, apparently, lost something like a decade in his addiction & has a lot of blanks in his memory. Somehow, he says he learned Russian in Columbia, supposedly the University of Columbia. But his Russian is too good for it. Anyhow, we also see that the Blue Ant team is taking heavy cautions with him with consistent drug testing, careful observation & leading him to where he must go. His objectives & what exactly he's doing, at what intentions are still a mystery for now. 

Back to Hollis, obviously she finds the right person, at the right time & the guy explain what exactly is this brand of clothing: never in stores, sometimes in thrift stores, maybe on eBay. Other than that, he explains the concept of the brand to her. I sincerely found it a little stupid. Sorry, never been a brands guy. The maximum I get into this is my Levi's jeans, which I buy for comfort & durability. Other than that it's mostly black tank tops, black t-shirts and maybe some color t-shirts. Cheap, comfy & versatile... But to each their own. I don't understand, but recon that it's a thing for some... But the level of attention & analysis used on a FUCKING PAIR OF JEANS? Sorry Gibson, but are you OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND? I'm sorry, but I can't, for the love of all gods, take this seriously. Even if I was baked on ganja, I would still think it stupid. Anyway... Milgrim is introduced to Hollis in a tedious scene. And for fuck sakes! EVERYBODY IS A FAN OF HOLLIS' BAND? Why? Tell me HOW a band, always presented as an underground small band of little success made Hollis basically the equal of Madonna on the indie scene of the world??? Ugh... It hurts me SO BAD every time one fan appears. Get your shit together Gibson!! You created the cyberpunk mythos! You created intelligent AI that assimilated Loas as their representations! You are so creative and now you present me mysterious JEANS?!? For fuck sakes, I expect it to get better. Please, be a better book. PLEASE! 

Oh, and I like how Milgrim don't give a fuck that Bigend is waiting for him. It fits nicely with his character. But his hot pants for Hollis? Not all that much... I believe is like his thing with his teeth: it's new, (usually addicts loose all their libido. It kinda fits with how Milgrim is looking & evaluating all women he sees) it's fresh & he feels like he must use it. 

And Heidi came by. Seriously, when I compare those two books to all other books from Gibson, it seems so weird. This one, at least have Milgrim as a key figure. And I'm still hoping for it to be a better book... 

Oh! Oh! And I got an insight: I know now why I hate Hollis & her gang. They are spoiled brats! I used to date a piece of trash like that. All about how they don't care for money, but wasting money like there's no tomorrow. Cayce had a lot of problems, but she was a working woman. She paid her stuff with her hard work. Those little shits had a band and been living out of it, maybe doing some different stuff here & there, but overall? Spoiled brats. Yeah. Do I feel better? No. It bothers me even more now. 

The relationship between Milgrim & Bigend also is interesting. We know that aside from being the ultimate Deus Ex Machina of this series, Bigend has an amazing eye for talent. And he invested massively to "recover" Milgrim. Why? Curiosity. Yeah. Simple, elegant & beautiful explanation. Bigend has the money to pay for all his curiosities. Milgrim being one. And their relationship reflects that. Hollis on the other hand... As a brat, she's incapable of being grateful. And whine all the time. 

In particular I like how Milgrim & Bigend acts together. Milgrim don't give a crap about how important Bigend is, but understand him & help him in a very peculiar & intimate way. Bigend, out of curiosity, fixed him & realize how important he could be.

Anyway, this is the exact point where I lost stuff. I was going to describe the book in more detail, but I'll resume it since this book doesn't deserve a better treatment.
Investigating for the jeans, they find some leads. The guys that Milgrim scanned the jeans come after them & attack, in a really amateurish/Hollywood way. Obviously it goes wrong. But they ambush & get a coder from Bigend: Chombo. Yes, the ass hole from the previous book. They want Milgrim in exchange. Bigend is about to agree, but then Hollis' boyfriend comes as a, once again, Deus Ex Machina & make a propose/blackmail to him: release Hollis, give her lots of money & help her friends. There: two deceptions, Bigend agreeing to exchange Milgrim & accepting this proposal. Oh, and the point of maximum bitchness: "release" Hollis... seriously? She's there because she needs, because she's incapable of doing finance. Because she does not have any useful ability to generate mone! If anything, she can be accepted as a charity work from Bigend! Anyway, the plan is planned, Milgrim get some action with a courier from Blue Ant, we got some real bad action scenes & it ends with everybody living happy ever after!

Oh, and as the book says, Bigend became a Bond's villain. Milgrim got the girl & got to keep his job. Hollis go live in Germany with her boyfriend. The end.

I was going to re-do all the review & everything else, but... it's garbage, worthless. It's been a long time since I had to read a book that get to me on a physical level. It got me tired, irritated & mostly bored. It's a bad story. Real bad.
The great mystery? That brand? It's made by Cayce. Yes, that Cayce. It was a little obvious in a background way. It's interesting to see what & how she's doing, but the trilogy felt like a Disney's sequel: shitty, bad written, bad directed & pointless.

Don't read it. It's not worthy. Or read it & then blame yourself for it.

Tomorrow:  more of Japanese weirdness, tales of revenge, public masturbation and shame! Onani Master Kurosawa! Yes, it's gonna be weird.

See ya

Nozoki Ana (ノ・ゾ・キ・ア・ナ) - Honna Wakou

Nozoki Ana (ノ・ゾ・キ・ア・ナ) - Honna Wakou

So... you're here. It seems the cliffhanger from last review, the hint of sex, privacy violation, peeping & japanese kinkiness has caught your eye, eh? Well, let's dive in it then!

First off, a common guideline for your better understanding: Japan does NOT value chastity. Different from the Western culture, heavily dominated by Christianity, or by the Confucian doctrine which also values chastity, largely prevalent in China & Korea, Japan is way cooler with premarital sex. As a matter of fact, Japan view sex as a common thing in life, as eating or other bodily functions. Sex is normal & nothing to be ashamed of. Even going to the insanity of the 60's where "evening entertainment", aka prostitution, were tax-deductible. Yeah... Which goes on the other tangent: prostitution in Japan is a very old & legal business. Even today, brothels are in existence and not seem as a immoral place. It's view the same as a massage parlour. Japan is OK with sex, talking about sex and sexuality. Even if you are gay, it's ok. The only have problems with "okama", effeminate men in drag. And even that is changing over time.

So yes, it IS common to read a hentai magazine on the train (you know hentai. I'm pretty sure of it. No need for explanations). What is not common in public demonstrations of affect. Yeah. It's pretty weird. You can go insane in the bedroom, do all kind of kinky shit, from S&M to scatology, but what the hell are you doing kissing in public? Are you insane? Yeah... It is a weird place. But hey, at least you can bang at will, without no one giving you an evil eye...

Now, Nozoki Ana is what is usually called Smut. Let's explain it: there is porn, which is mostly... well... porn. You go to xvideos or pornhub, pick an interesting movie, clip or compilation, do your business, close it and, in some cases, feel ashamed. Or look at what you were masturbating at and question your choices in life. Common, we ALL have been there. If not, I recommend it. And that's what porn is: you do you business, close it and never think about it again. Smut on the other hand, is very different. It usually has those parts you are looking for. But it also has a story, characters, intelligent dialogues and/or plot, developments. In fact, it's porn that you pay attention. And maybe, even think about it after. It is a very interesting genre with amazing stories... and REALLY crappy ones.

Exhibit 1: this kind of crap

Nozoki Ana is a good example of a good story in this genre.
We start with Kido, a good guy, as he is commemorating his entrance in the Arts University with a friend, drinking in his apartment. He discovers a hole and they both peep on it, but no one is there. Latter, Kido wakes up and see lights coming from the hole. He takes a look and sees his neighbour masturbating in plain view of the peeping hole. He goes over to inform her of it, ashamed of what he did (privacy is a great taboo in Japan. What is done indoors should never be commented outdoors. Yes, unfortunately, lots of domestic violence goes under the radar because of this. Even nowadays, Japan is not a good place to be a woman). She acts very shy & don't want to talk to him. He tries to barge in and fall over her. She takes a picture of what looks like a rape attempt. And then we are introduced to Emiru kinkiness: she planned it all. She tells him: "let's 'show each other'". What does she means? That they both must peep on each other. She even has a schedule. She really want to see him in action and is very open for him to peep. He burst home, angry & vexed by the experience. As time pass by, he is taken by curiosity & peep... to find Emiru, once again, masturbating in plain sight. And when I say plain sight... well...

Exhibit #2: REAL plain sight.

OK, this is not the scene in particular, but you get the gist. Kido gets angry, because all he wanted was peace. Now, every time he's at home he's on edge. And yes, as all men in this situation, his first & biggest problem is: when will he masturbate?

Time out.

Let's address the elephant in the room: most men would love this situation and would enjoy the hell out of it. Some, would try to get some action with her. Others, as Kido, would react as he does. By the end of the manga, we will discover that Kido being one of the good guys is exactly why Emiru did what she did. The usual men, is also portrayed in the manga, with a very weird situation. The real catch in this manga is exactly that: no super powers, no bullshit. This manga is very, very realistic. No big eyes/Moe, nothing out of the ordinary, except the characters, that are a different brand of people, a little different from the norm. This is what make this amazing.

Back.

Kido went to college the day after, to find that Emiru also study there. They even have some acquaintances in common. Kido get really nervous, but Emiru act normally. Their secret is safe. A little more relaxed, both ended going to a mixer party, where Kido caught the attention of Yuri. Yuri & Kido ended together and Yuri wanted to have a little "fun", if you know what I mean. She cooks for him, while he tries to talk to Emiru to end this madness. Obviously she don't answer & Kido has to go back. Yuri takes advantage of the situation, wanting to go all the way, while Kido tries to defuse the situation... till he gave in & started to enjoy the situation.

Emiru also enjoyed the situation

Suddenly, Yuri cellphone started to ring, she answered & it's her dad. She says that he's very strict and came to get her home. Not unusual, if you ask me. Kido goes to Emiru, which smiles & admits that she peeped, masturbated & enjoyed the hell out of it. He can't stand to look at her and goes away.
His relationship keeps going, till he catch the attention of a scumbag: womanizer/rapist/gang member. Incredible enough, this kind of trash is still in vogue over there. He tries to get into Emiru pants, with some lies about Kido, which make Emiru laugh. He tries to rape her, with Kido struggling to not get involved, but almost doing it. But our girl Emiru is savvy on her stuff and make the creep go away. Kido then goes there, but Emiru is alright and even give him a pussy shot...

Next day, it's as if nothing happened. Once again they go to a mixer, where Kido & Emiru were kinda forced to exchange numbers, since both are living alone, different from the others. After the mixer, Yuri grabs him & give him head in an alleyway. They ended in a lovers hotel and while Yuri is taking a shower (yes, it's weird. Even if you're going to fuck, they usually don't bath together. Bath sex is not a thing in Japan), he's thinking why he's not as happy as he should be. He keeps going back to Emiru, worries about her, think of her safety & why she is the way she is. She called & first of all, thanks him for checking her out & telling her to call him if the scumbag goes back. She also says that if it was him, she would bang his brains out. And that she cum 3 times while entertaining that idea. Kido gets angry & asks Yuri officially as his girlfriend. She accepts & they bang.

For a while we get what is usually called "slice of life",a very common type of manga, where we follow the life of normal people & their normal problems. The only difference is the lots of sex these stories go on about. Some are touching, some are not. It's great, since there's a lot of character development, also a lot of the way Kido keeps going back to thinking about Emiru, while having a surprisingly good relationship with Yuri. Things go like this for a while, till Emiru caught the feeling that something is not right. She discovers that in fact, Yuri is cheating on Kido. Not exactly, more like Kido is the other, but wasn't informed. Yuri's boyfriend doesn't give a shit to what she does, only that she spends the weekends with him. But the lack of affection made her seek comfort in Kido, which is a good & honest guy. (Not like the guys that says they are nice guys... those are usually ass holes). We got a very touching & sad scene. Yuri commented that she always wanted a music box. Emiru acted strange & Kido decides to check if she's ok, but ended stalking her. In the middle of it, he finds the music box & buy it. Back to trailing her, he goes into a club. She finds him & sends him away, but suddenly she grabs him and tries to hide something. He goes to look... and find Yuri fucking hard with the other guy. He keeps staring at it, peeping, furious, but when he decides to barge in... he has a boner. Since he's so used to peeping by now, it happened. He crashes the present, probably on his own dick (ouch!) and leaves. The couple hears him & stop. The guy go check & find the box. Then it hits Yuri who it was... Kido is destroyed, but Emiru comforts him. Then.. Yuri came by. Kido grabs her and they bang. Then after, she shows the music box & confess everything... and they broke up. She says lots but to no avail. After she leaves, it really hits him, specially that he couldn't confess his own doings as well. Emiru comforts him & thy sleep together. No sex. Just then, Kido smiling till he falls asleep on the naked body of hers. If the manga ended there, it would be an amazing story. But it goes on. And get even better.

He wakes up, they talk a little and he left.On the following days, peeping her is his comfort. He's not alone. He starts to really like her & go for it. All end wells, right? NO.
Even almost having sex, she says that the peeping rule will continue, that she's filming it, just to see him lusting after her body. Our little devil smiles in crooked way, while Kido gets furious. She IS a broken one. And as another broken one, I kinda understand her. It's hard to let go of yours habits. Of your ways. And with that, their first year in college ended.

The second year begins, and obviously, the mixers starts again. In one of these mixers, Kido knows Madoka, a shy girls without much experience with men, since she spend most of her time in a female-only school. Kido & her starts to fell for each other & ended together. Madoka is also a virgin & one of the most touching characters. Her purity, insecurities about her body & lots more are all addressed in the story, and it's a very charming way of showing something that we all been thru: first loves, first intercourse, insecurities. At the same time, different from Yuri, we see that our girl is suffering on this relationship. Kido is a lot colder to her, understandably, and his relationship with Madoka grows a lot. One beautiful scene is when Madoka went to his apartment & Emiru is peeping & Kido make an speech, that trows Emiru out of her ways, even stop peeping for a while. In that moment we see that she's suffering, believing that the only true connection she has is with Kido & thru the peeping. It's more sad than disturbing, at least to me. Things went like this for a while, with some minor occurrences, that kinda bring them together & Madoka kinda discovers that they had a past, which made her jealous. Then Emiru "older sister" appears.

In a very strange confrontation, Emiru is sick & her sister starts to torture her. This time Kido intervene. Emiru collapses & her sister goes away. Kido take care of her & during his care, starts to recognize some things about Emiru. He undresses her to take the sweat away, waking her in the process. Emiru admit that this woman is not her sister, she's seeking vengeance since Emiru killed her lover. She don't talk anything more on the subject. Meeting Madoka, Kido doesn't lie like with Yuri. He tells her, making her more jealous. They are interrupted by a friend of Madoka, that likes her & tries to scare Kido. It's kinda cute the way this guy tries to do that. While going back home, Kido thinks about Yuri, Madoka & her friend, and Emiru. The sister came back, he invited her in & she drugs him, undresses & go for it, just to hurt Emiru. But Kido knew of her coming & Emiru is there! She confronts the woman & tells that she won't let her hurt Kido. They argue & she leaves, leaving Kido drugged & Emiru, who still are sick. Either way, Emiru breaks down about how that woman soiled & dirtied Kido. And she decides to clean it up, by licking biting & rubbing herself on him. Still drugged, Kido opens up with her, complaining of the unreality of the situation, how he had fears of being discovered and the discomfort of the whole situation. Emiru apologizes, but before collapsing, Kido admits that it wasn't all that bad, in fact, it was not bad at all. Emiru starts to talk about how she feels about the situation, getting excited & masturbating over the collapsed Kido, till she climaxes. Then she went to his dick, to make it clean again. Kido climaxes on her mouth, she swallows it, and then she says this is the last time.

The following day, he wakes up & discovers that nothing was a dream & hurries to see where Emiru is. She's right there. They talk a little & Emiru says that she was empty for a long time, but their connection made her full again, to the point of overflowing. Graduation is around the corner & Kido go back inside. We cut to Madoka, she & Kido are on a break & she's masturbating thinking of him. Sad, but I've been there. Going back to classes, they meet & she runs away. Kido tries to pursue, but her friend interrupts & they argue. He says that he is making Madoka sad & should just dump her, since he's not suited to her. This hits Kido hard & he went home. The peeping rule is kinda over and reminiscing on it, he discovers that the peeping hole is closed. He tries to get inside, but the landlady won't have none of this. An old friend shows up & they get inside. Kido is thinking a lot of all the things that happened between then in this room. Opening the peep hole again, they find a letter. A letter from Emiru to Kido.

The letter is very strong both on him & us. Finally our girl is being totally honest with us. She confess that before they meet, she was dead inside. Then he moved in, she discovered the hole & started peeping. She is comforted by his presence & while he is masturbating there, she masturbates while watching him. As she climaxes, she finds out that this made her feel alive for the first time in a long time & she decided to make a move to what is the beginning of this story. She tells that till the moment that he discovered about Yuri, she was fine being only an observer. But that changed everything. She wanted to hold & protect him. When he approached her, she panicked. She has nothing to offer being broken as she was & pushed him back. She wanted to watch his happiness from afar, believing that she couldn't make him happy by herself. And she concludes that his happiness & kindness made her better, even a little kinder. She reminisces of the "last session" of peeping & says what she always said to him: I love you. This is a farewell. She is going away. Which made Kido realizes that he, also, had always loved Emiru. That he always put her as a strong & tough woman, when in fact, she was a very fragile one.
Sorry... this part always made me a little mellow & sad.

Kido goes back home, thinking of what to do. If he really wants to continue with Madoka. He's interrupted by a ghost from the past: Yuri. She asks him to drink together & he goes. They talk a lot & Kido show us why he's truly one the good guys: he interrupts Yuri, tell her that she doesn't have nothing to apologize. They just met at the wrong time & that past is past. This meeting also triggers Kido's decision: he wants Emiru. As Yuri leaves, Madoka calls him. Yes, this last part of the manga is practically a Deus Ex Machina. He goes to her apartment, she's naked & wanting. But he talks. He tell her everything, including that he loves Emiru. It's a very sad break up, but... Madoka accepts it & didn't even get angry at him. As he leaves, he finds her friend. He tells him they broke up & the guy says that he will go after her. He has only one thing to ask: if he can punch Kido once. Kido accepts, get punched & the guy fells disgusted. "Don't look so relieved after getting punched". Kido goes home & meets his friend. She found out a friend from Emiru that may help him find her! Kido goes after this girl immediately.

We find this girl has a guest. Two guests: her client & Emiru. Yes, she's a prostitute. And a long time friend of Emiru. Kido calls & Emiru told her to make him go away. We see Emiru arriving home. Her dad comforts her, her mom looks like she hates her & the woman/sister is there also. Emiru goes to a part of the house & undresses. She came to peep at her own past. And we discover that the lover that died & who she's showing herself to is a shrine for her dead brother!!
Kido arrives & Emiru's friend tries her best to make him go away. But Kido is changed. He would do anything to see Emiru again. This... broke the girl resolution. They start to talk & we discover what exactly broke Emiru.

We're show our Emiru as a teen, living happily in her home. All is good. All is love. Her brother is alive & that woman is there. She's Emiru's sister in law. One day, Emiru find them making sex & peep a little. Her first peeping. She is fascinated by sex & starts to explore her body. We all been there. Her brother is... strange. And then... one day he makes a hole on the wall between then & starts to peep on her. Yeah...it's disgusting. One day, Emiru discovers the hole. She confronts her brother about his wicked feelings & she barges from the house. He keeps close & calls her, pushes her away from a truck & is run over. In his funeral, her mom made it clear: she preferred that Emiru was the one to die. Emiru talks to her sister in law & shows the hole, which was probably the worse thing she could do. This is what made that woman so angry & vengeful on her. That's the point of when & how Emiru starts. Kido goes there, with all this in mind & meets the sister. They talk about Emiru & how they both tried to hate her, but in fact, loves her. The woman is touched & points to where Emiru is. Kido runs for it & yes. There she is. They both confess a lot & in the end, Kido turns her around & tell her that he truly loves her. At this time, something broke in Emiru. Her mask, her armour, breaks & she trows herself into his arms & they finally kiss. They go to a lovers hotel & yes, finally make love. It's very touching, specially the conversations they had. And they fuck & foreplay a lot.

Next day, they wake up & go to pay respects to her brother, meeting her sister. All is forgiven & they went on good terms. Emiru asks that they be together in front of her brother grave, to say goodbye to him once and for all. They went for a walk, where Emiru disappears for a while. Sensing something amiss, he tries to find her, only to get a call from her. And yes. As a broken one, I get what she does. She was broken, empty & going thru life as if nothing matters. Till Kido shows up & kinda healed her. Now... she has to get thing together & she don't want to be a bother to him. Then... Kido gives her one year. He will wait for her, for a year. And then she departs.

In the last chapter, we find Kido living alone. In a post-work mixer, we find that Yuri is ok. Going home, he passes thru Madoka and her friend, now boyfriend. Finally, Kido goes back to his old apartment. He sees a light thru the hole, goes for the door & yes. She's there. They talk, kiss & it's the end.

Damn this manga. I'm really moved by it. It's such a great love story. It even made me shed a few tears. It's a great work & yes, you should read it. Oh boy. Such a good ending...

Next week: I really wanted to skip it: Zero History from William Gibson. Let's finish the Blue Ant trilogy, and if it goes as it was last time, never talk about it again... seriously not looking for it.

See ya

Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny

Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny

If you are a fan of  George R. R. Martin and listen to his interviews, you probably know his opinions of the best in sci-fi: Forbidden Planet as one of the best sci-fi movies and this book that I'm currently reviewing.

Oh, just one little piece of information: I have very strong feelings about A Song of Ice and Fire. I also delve into the theories and discussions online. I would probably not, unless by demand of you readers, review it. Why? Because it's very time consuming to read it, there are literally dozens of blogs, YouTube channels and forums dedicated to analyze every aspect of it. Thus, I don't feel the need to do it. Just a few of my thoughts: Daenerys is an AWFUL queen/leader, Jon Snow is even worse (he did so many bad decisions on the books that I cheered when he was stabbed), Tyrion is simply an amazing thinker and I really really despise Sansa. Oh, and Sam is cool.

Back on GRR Martin, I am a fan of his other books, with a warm spot for Fevre Dream, a high consideration for The Armageddon Rag and I'm a great fan of the Wild Cards serie. There are a lot of his tales that I like, mostly the non-Tuf, and that gives a very interesting perspective over A Song of Ice and Fire. If you know what I'm talking about, I'm on board the sci-fi explanation gang. If you want more information, go to Mr. Preston Jacobs for the best in this area. He's even going thru the old tales from Mr. Martin to explain his opinions. And boy, he knows his shit.

So, as you can see, I put Mr. Martin is very high regard as a writer & editor. Now as a reader... Let's find out.

Let's start with something: I'm aware that maybe I'm loosing a lot of references from not knowing all that well the Hindu religion & deities. My knowledge of it is restricted to the portraits in Salman Rushdie fiction, which I really like, a few classes that I attended in a Hare Krishna centre that I used to go for free food (yeah, my growing up was a mess, specially in my teens years) and some basic studies. I know the big ones, like Ganesha, Krishna, Vishnu, Kali... but the whole of the pantheon? No, sorry. I have taken a brief view of the Bhagavad Gita, but never delve deeply in it. So, yes, I may lose a few references. But it also has ties with the birth of Buddhism from the Hindu tradition, which I'm more knowledgeable about. I also know: if you don't have knowledge of any of this things... it is still a damn good book. A difficult one, but nonetheless very good. Damn you Martin. Damn you.

I'm a great fan of sci-fi, as the cloud tags on the side shows, but I'm also a great fan of fantasy. I'm a old timer tabletop RPG player, long time JRPG fan, but not all that big on Tolkien. Don't get me wrong, I love the Lord of the Rings. I just think you can butcher it from A LOT and it would be better. Like what Jackson did. I'm aware that he cut some important & interesting things, but c'mon, the Two Towers is horrible. One third of the book is simply: run, run, run... where are they Legolas? Far. Sleep. Rinse & repeat. He goes way over the top with his knowledge of the land and so many pointless parts... but even tho, I'm a great fan of fantasy. And this one mixed both? In an intelligent way? Oh... I think I'm in love.

One of the first thing I liked about this book, is the way the protagonist is presented. The great Mahasamatman, or simply Sam. He never confirmed if he's a God or not. This opening leaves a smirk on my face. I liked it. 

Then we go for a ride. A lot of strange terms, like: "High-frequency prayers", "pray machines", Lotus acting like radar's dishes... And Yama, a death god, Tak the archivist god turned into a monkey and Ratri, goddess of the night,  turned old & human. Nice cast so far. And she drops a bomb: we are presented to Sam as a Buddha, was the greatest charlatan she ever knew. Hey... An unreliable narrator? Hmm... I like that. Then we are dumped a hard pill to swallow: he's a man, that came to this planet and settled it, but different from his peers, he did not want to became a God. And fought many times, always losing, to he was projected into a state of being of Nirvana, circling the planet as a though form. Wow. And that, my friends, was written in the 60's. It's no doubt that he won so many awards. 

The casts is fantastic. Yama and his intellect, Ratri and her knowledge of the human ways and Tak as a grounded immortal. They decide to hide from the Powers That Be in a brothel from Ratri. Even I had to smirk of the idea of hiding Buddha in a brothel... The sense of humour is very keen in here. We are also presented to the Rakasha, beings of energy & consciousness, the original inhabitants of this world, that were bound since they offer problems to the new settlers. They were released by Sam, and both shares the vice of gambling. Sam is gambling his own life, in order to remind himself of the ways of men. And in the meantime, gather a few powers from this old demon. 

Then there's Aram, which is obviously an spy looking for Sam. Oh, sorry, as a matter of fact, it's Lord Mara, Lord of illusions... And he's dead. It's mostly to show that Yama, as an death god still keep part of his powers, as did Tak, Sam and Ratri. We then are showed that this Fallen gods still have some power: since the reveal of powers in the confrontation of Yama & Mara presents a danger of showing that Sam has returned, they overwrite their memories, to a extent that would pass even the tests of the Karma machine. 

I have to make a point here: I may look like I understand it, but I do not at the moment of reading. Most stuff is dumped into you & you must think about what you read, what you know of religion. The karma machine is a process thru which the dead souls pass in the process of rebirth. That way, I assume, the gods that didn't fall have the powers to do this. Since it's also stated  that Mara died the "true death", I also assume that something must be done before the passing for it to occur. So, this plan to overwrites their memories would probably be successful to pass thru this test, which probably consists of analyzing & judging the life of the people. 

Yeah, Fiction that makes you think. Oh boy, how can someone not like this. 

One of the greatest beauties in this book is the analysis of human condition & the bullshit of religion. Sam makes beautiful sermons, but as he states: he knows he lies. He tries to manipulate his followers into exchange their beliefs in good vs evil, to beauty vs ugliness. Why? Since reincarnation became a reality, all is good. Yes, this life may be harsh, but behave well and in the next one you will be rewarded. So... How do you make them think on rebellion? Maybe, the belief in beauty, instead of justice can shake things up to start something new. The better part? Sam himself has no idea if this will work. Even if they are superior to everyone else in the "earth" they are, with powers and all those shenanigans, they are still fallible, human and prone to errors, sins & vices. Which is why I love old religions instead of Christianity: I don't believe that a "perfect" God would create this shitty world. A imperfect, fallible God? Hmm... Looks more believable. More than one God? Yeah. More likely. A bunch of imperfect bastards trying to create something, arguing, fighting & acting like they are omnipotent? Yeah, I can believe it as a stronger possibility... 

The circle of memories from his past lives is very intriguing, presenting us a new view on the life of Sam as Siddhartha. It's very humorous if you know the original tale. It also beings the questions. Why would he emulate the life of Siddhartha? How they decided on the Hindu pantheon & why? How come there are those that remember their past lives and those that don't? What are those machines everywhere? And the way he wrote. Oh boy. I hope to get to that point someday.

In the life of Siddhartha, we learn of the beginning. The change that the body merchants, probably a simple cast before, taking the "job" of the Wheel of Karma & affiliating with the First men, now gods. There's a mention of two sides: the Accelerationists & Deicrats. It were the Deicrats that associate with the body merchants, and what was a usual body transfer became an inquisition against the Accelerationists. They stabilize their power thru this caste system, posing as gods. It's also very interesting that Yama played such a strong role in the establishment of this Deicracy, with most of his studies & inventions being in the core of this new order. Then we go for the rebellion of Buddha. 

He stole a body machine from the temple and started his cult, based on the teachings of the original Siddhartha, with a few twists. He did not said he's a God, nor denied, thus being greater then both. That's when we have a time skip and a man came down to kill him, as ordered by Kali, which is venerated in the cities aligned with Sam. Very interesting, since Buddhism has a high point on death, it's process and importance, as in the original Buddhism beginning. One important point, is the usage of other religions as base of the power of Sam. One of the best pictures of this is that he refuses to move, so all things must go to Sam, as it is said about another prophet... Sam win over this man & the man converts. Different from Sam, who teaches him the Eight-fold way, this man Rild, truly converts and attain illumination, a real Buddha, not a bullshitter like Sam. Soon, the gods came. Yama in particular. Rild & Yama fight, with Yama winning, but impressed with Rild. In particular the fight is very interesting, mixing philosophy & martial  arts, very old martial arts movies like. We're given a few more details in how this world works, with a conversation between Yama & Sam. Both are trying to convert one another to their creed. Well, we already know that Yama will bend, but it's entertaining at least: Yama motivation on being against Sam is purely because of the goddess Kali, from which Sam advise to test, since she's incapable of loving. 

We cut to see Sam literally going to hell, to meet the Rakasha, the original inhabitants of this planet. He discuss with the leader of them, Taraka about waging war against the gods. He agrees, but in the meantime, Taraka finds a way of possessing Sam's body. This possession is a great insight into Sam & Taraka. They both share more than initially believe, Sam on the pleasures of the flesh & Taraka in terms of comprehension of the human nature. Their alliance is still up, even if Taraka possessed Sam. Unfortunately, the gods came &  came in numbers. All the Rakasha attacks them, but to no avail. In the end, Sam is captured &  taken to Heavens to be judged. 

We jump into a interesting view of this heaven. We listen to some gossip, discover a few things on the origin of the gods and then, we discover that Kali & Sam were lovers. Kali is still in love with Sam, since he was a fierce fighter & usually generate conflict. You can see that she's in love with war & battle, and will gather around those that can cause it. Even her marriage to occur with Yama is simply that: a trick for more power & combat. She says she still loves Sam, and in a great conversation, he states why he doesn't love her anymore. They made sex, simply to provoke the gods. We cut for Tak, which assumes that he's the son of Sam, but in reality, what is to be a son of someone in a world that people constantly change bodies, and any trait you get from your parents is lost as you change bodies? This concept of what exactly are the human relations, when  we are immortal & with changing bodies is another of the greatest beauties of this book. As is the mockery of religion. 

Sam tries to flee, but it's Mara that captures him. Yes, the Mara killed by Yama in the beginning of the book. I just about that, at this point, I kinda see how Yama will turn coat, but I was still intrigued. Sam and his accomplice are to be executed by phantom tigers, and a bird/God came to see him. It's the first time we see Sam being called Lord of Light. In the end, Sam die. (To remember, his ally, Tanaka made his soul immortal, like his people.)  We are show that several gods fallen, died & the rise again of the Accelerationists. All this was caused by the death of Sam. 

The new chapter begins with death. Lots of it. Brahma dies, poisoned. Shiva, by blunt trauma. New gods arise to cover & Kali became the new Brahma, which set Yama into motions. Ratri, also appears, revealing she was the first to see Brahma's body. More death happens, as a resurgence of technology in the world bellow. We discover Sam as a minor God, the culprit of the killings. And he intend to kill more. If the masterminds die, the rest would not stand, he assumes. He is knocked out and together they flee. They will make a stand, and a great battle will occur. Various fallen gods come to help, as inhabitants of this planet. Yama also came, turning  coat on the basis of Kali's betrayal. A weak reason, but on par with his personality. 

The battle rages and in the end Sam is captured, at great cost for the gods. Yama & others run into hide, Ratri is given her punishment and Sam is sent to the sky, without a body. All seems good, but the losses & changes looks,  once  again, great & costly. 

In the last chapter of the book, we discover much. Why is Hindu so strong in this planet? Because the ship was called Star of India. Yes, most of the people in that ship were of Indian descent. We discover this from Nirridi, the dark one, a Christian that felt repulsed by this Hindu crappie that God's emulate. The old captain of the ship, also a Christian, joins him. As does Taraka. All to go against the gods once more. Sam's plan were right, the destruction he caused make it in a way that the heavens can't stand on its own. The end is soon coming, and even if I can already see the ending, I must say: it has been a very pleasant journey. 

The writing is magnificent, the humour is on top, the portrait of characters is very well done. All in all, this really deserves to be called a classic. 

And it gives me a great respect for Martin, since, oh boy, this is great sci-fi. I must admit, I didn't expect such a great quality on this book. On the other hand, I question how Martin, a feminist (more extreme than I ever was, before the coming of the SJW & feminazism, which made me get away from this ideas) and a fucking peace lover hippie, loves this book so much. There's so much "patriarchal feelings" and so much war mongering in this book, that I felt that deep in his heart, Martin still have some pending questions about what he believes. 

The final battle occurs, with a bang and soon it's all over. Sam departs, Yama has a daughter but also departs. In the end, nothing has changed, at the same time that everything has changed. Humanity will follow its pace again and lives will be lived. It's a very poetic ending, for a magnificent book. 

Even if you know the whole of the story, by reading this review, I urge you: read the book.
It's one of those books that you rarely hear about, but always heard good things. And it's worthy of this praise. 

Tomorrow: remember about the differences of Western culture and Eastern culture that I talked about before? What do you think of peeping? Or of masturbation? What about a combination of those two? How can this become a touching love story? Let's discuss Nozoki Ana!

See ya

Change of Schedulle

Hey folks... just informing: since I'm no longer unemployed and my time frame changed coz of that, from now on it will be Saturdays for book reviews & Sundays for comics/manga reviews.

Since I work on Sunday, maybe there will be some delays on the reviews. I hope not, since usually we're free just a little after noon, but you never know when a sudden Sunday shift became a nightmare.

Maybe when I'm back in classes in the college there will be less reviews, but only time will say on this matter.

Anyway, that's all folks!

See ya

Glaucos - Akio Tanaka

Glaucos - Akio Tanaka

It's the bane of our society: how many show you love that has been destroyed?

Be it by dragging it for too long, like in Dexter, X Files, Will & Grace, Weeds. Strong start but as it went on & on & on... it lost all interest, story lines get dragged for too long, or they simply don't know what else to do.

Or could be by cancellations. SO. MANY. SHOWS!!! Dead like me, Do Over, Firefly, Arrested Development (the last season, made by Netflix was good...but not as good as it was) and John Doe... HOW DO YOU CANCEL A SHOW THAT ENDED WITH A CLIFFHANGER??? Lots of series are cancelled and leaves us sad and/or angry.

There are shows based on existing materials, that destroy themselves by going against the original material (Game of Thrones anyone? The shitty 6th season? Worse season ever? Anyone? No? Then fuck you), be it by stretching WAY over the point of interest (Smallvile and the case of the Superman that's not Superman for 10 fucking seasons) that even tho are destroying/damaging the original material are still... palatable. DC in particular like this trend, like we are seeing with Arrow and  Flash. Oh boy... how I want to watch Arrow without my love for Ollie. Probably I would enjoy it like other seems to.

Or simply by changing the tone of the show... Oh, that's not that common here in the West. Well... int he manga world, that's something that happens. A LOT. One good example of that is Katekyo Hitman Reborn or Reborn! It started as a gag manga (genre exclusively for gags and comic relief) and then, by some editor idea, it became a Shonen (genre of manga aimed at young audiences, focused on combat. The most notorious one is Dragon Ball). It generates a lot of problems, since the author wasn't all that keen of going in that direction. And oh boy, it started to show very quickly. I'll review it sometime in the future.

It's also very common in the manga world the cancellation of a manga. At least they treat their fans with honesty & respect: they usually just cut it short and finish it. Very rarely they just cancel it without an ending. Japanese people have a lot of problems, but at least respect is a very ingrained tradition. If a manga is cancelled, they inform the author so that he/she can wrap it all up. Sometimes, they achieve it. Other times, they just finish the main story line and leaves the rest unsolved or ignored. And sometimes... it's done in a really shitty way.
Like Glaucos.

Okay. I admit: I started to read it because the art is fantastic. Also, the premise of the manga is curious: a manga about free/skin diving. Yeah, diving in great profundity without the use of accessories. Strange right? Specially since it doesn't follow the traditional pattern of Sports Manga, but went into seinen territory. It started in a beautiful water colour depicting the born of Cisse in the ocean, as his mother dies. What happened? Who cares. That's no the point of the manga. Cisse born in the sea & was carried to safety by dolphins. He's delivered to a fisherman, that was terrified, and as soon as he looked at Cisse, he thinks he is the kid from a legend...
OK, let's clarify: not the weirdest opening for a manga that I have read. Maybe to you, but as the great Sage said: One you go to Violence Jack territory, nothing can shock you for real. If you don't have the guts to watch/read Violence Jack, which I strongly recommend some thinking about before you do, let's say that in the manga world, this is not a shocking opening. Yeah, seriously.

Violence Jack definitely is not for the faint of heart

Time skip. We met Claude, a legend on the skin diving community, the man that kept the record for deepest dive for the longest time. He's broken inside, drinking a lot and reminiscing of his past glory. Yeah, it follows the pattern: he met Cisse, saw his amazing diving capabilities and goes after him. Cisse's father is against it: the legend says that Cisse would die if the world knows of his abilities. But Cisse press on and goes with Claude. He starts to learn the real techniques of skin diving and discovered that his spleen is not an useless thing like inmost of us, it evolved/mutated by his birth in the sea and he can store blood on it, which in cases of high stress, can release blood full of oxygen, like a reserve battery. Of course it opens huge possibilities. There's also a doctor to study it: Haruka, a woman. Yeah, your first guess is right. She will fall for Cisse. But in a hurried & horrible development. Oh! And I almost forget: when Cisse is in a deep state of oxygen deprivation, he has some strange hallucinations/visions. The deeper he goes into oxygen deprivation, the more he unveils of this mystery.

It goes the long way, in a very delicate setting with only this three characters for a bit, while Cisse is learning to skin dive& about how to use his ability. On the way, we see that Haruka, a traditional cold-heart scientist, you know the type, is starting to mellow with Cisse's naivety & Claude's drunkard philosophy. Cisse also start to learn a little bit of zen from Claude. The pace of this manga is slow, focusing on the characters, his iterations & conflicts.

It keeps going, slow & steady, going thru the traditional competition, Cisse's failure that lead to a better understanding of his abilities and all that traditional sports representation.  All is good till the meeting with an old disciple of Claude: Petite. Yes, he overthrown Claude's record & is now the biggest one in the world, with various contracts with sports brands. Cisse, with his obsession of going deeper & deeper to understand his visions, became enthralled by Petite. Obsessed. Then he goes on more training, more iterations between the cast and finally the meeting with Petite, which defied Cisse to a diving competition.
Pause.
Till now, it looks like a traditional sports manga, but there are differences. First is the small cast and the focus on their relationship.It's way unusual in the genre. Second, is the way and the maturity of the discussions. Third, it has a very science-based theme, of studying why Cisse's body is different & the health problems that occurs from the practice of skin diving. It takes pains to show that it really studied this effects and what transpires from it. It really is different from the norm.

Ok. So he met Petite and they compete. Petite wins, but has problems after, suffering a embolism. And that's the point when the shit hits the fan. First: the sports company discovered Cisse & decided that he's perfect to be exploited by then. Second: the editors informed that Glaucos wasn't doing good on the popularity pools and was to be cancelled.

And it's all downhill from this point on. We have a tie skip. Haruka finished & presented her thesis, with good results. Claude simply went insane. And Cisse is bat shit insane from deep diving after his visions. He met Haruka & out of nowhere remembers a bit of her & they have sex. Don't get me wrong: it was predictable that it would happens. But Haruko was a good character, very well represented. There were signs that she fell for Cisse, but the way the manga went after the information of cancellation simply destroyed all the character development from before. Claude stopped drinking, but why? Because he lost Cisse?
All in all, what I get from this ending is that it was all planned, probably in a longer run (Glaucos only get 4 tomes. I guess it would be around 6 or 7 by the way it was going. And you can feel it), the way Haruka & Cisse feel in love would be better. What we get is the shitty "I love you 'coz I do!" like in Jurassic World. It contributes nothing to the plot. Or does it?

We go for the deep dive that Cisse has been preparing himself for: going to where no man has gone before without equipment. And obviously Cisse is draw by his visions and disappears, as the man from the legends. Nobody knows where he went, no body washed ashore. Cisse is gone.
We cut back to the island Cisse is from. Haruka is talking to Cisse's father, since she is pregnant from Cisse. The manga ended with she reading the legend and the new part a boy discovered: the legendary man left progeny and that progeny went to the world bringing new light...

Yeah. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth. A manga with a slow pace but good dynamic was simply destroyed by the lack of interest from the readers. It is something that A LOT of manga suffers. I could list here a bunch of interesting manga that went downhill by the pressure of editors, fans and etc. It is something that, together with other aspects, is heavily damaging the world of manga. Which is bad on one side, but good on other: nowadays people that used to read manga, is reading manhua (from Korea) or chinese manga, or even going to wuxia and light novels. I can't condemn. The internet let authors go free from editorial & fandom influences and create webcomics or light novels pure to his ideas & intents. It's great!
Glaucos is a great manga. Unfortunately, was destroyed by the lack of interest. Not a shame, but kinda sad.
Give it a read. It's really short. Just be warned that the ending was very badly done.

Next week: as a fan of George R. R. Martin. I felt compelled to analyze what he thinks as one of the best sci-fi novels of all time: The Lord of Light. I really hope to be on time with this one.

See ya

Spook Country - William Gibson (Blue Ant Trilogy #2)

Spook Country - William Gibson (Blue Ant Trilogy #2)

Hey... Sorry for being late. It was supposed to be published Friday, but it's being published now, on Saturday. Sorry about that. Now back to the Blue Ant Trilogy...

As I wrote before, usually the second book on Gibson's trilogies are not all that good. And this one, well... Let's talk a little before, right?

There's a problem when a creative guy like Gibson writes on a contemporary setting: he gets dated. Fast. Don't get me wrong: in Neuromancer, he was amazing. It's not dated, it's still relevant and still a possible future, even today. Spook country... Not so much. Right at the beginning, Hollis is presented to the 'genial' idea of virtual reality combined with GPS to show spots where celebrities died. Oh, you mean QR code? No. GPS with information on the spot. What? Where is the server that would store this information? Good question. Where is the modem that would provide that information? Oh, hidden somewhere near? Does it offer free WiFi? No? How do you mask the signal then? Oh. You don't? Then it's simply and utter bullshit. Sorry, I worked as an IT man. Those things doesn't work that way. Not even at the time you wrote this. And it evolved in a totally different way. I don't know if he understands that at the point where he wrote this book. But ok. It's the problem of writing something groundbreaking in this near-level sci-fi future. It's one of the causes that this genre in particular never get too big.

OK, as an IT man & geek, I must nitpick the technological aspect of this idea. Let's start with the GPS locked images: the way he says it, it's insane. If he constructs ALL images on his computers, using textures and overlays as he said in the book... Sorry, it would be a huge file. It would be something on the level of several gigabytes. How on earth is he downloading this images with a crappy hidden modem? It would need some hardcore server to store it online, a huge broadband to upload it, probably with a dedicated server link. It costs LOTS of money to maintain that. And no, there's no way around it, there's no cheap way to up this on the net. It costs money. As I said LOTS of money. And all this textures, all this 3D environment overlapped on the actual space? What technology he uses? Is it something akin to google glass or oculus rift? The way he describes it looks like an oculus rift, but the way it works is more like a google glass... there's no consistency on this. It is translucent and overlay images OR it creates a new environment. There's no way to be both, at least in the way it was described. It is very confusing. And way over the capabilities of the time. Or of our current time...

And what about the 'uncanny valley effect'? You know... computer generated human beings, too similar to us, get an automatic rejection, since we don't recognize, in an unconscious way, the micro-expressions that we, as a race, use to communicate. Specially if it's someone we are familiarized with.
Do you really want me to believe that some random guy can overcome what has been studied and tried by thousand of scientist and artist for at least a decade and became common place? That it's a bunch of underground people doing this around the world? Because seriously, if those guys reached that point, they wouldn't be doing this kind of garbage. (I have a major in art's history, focused on analysis, so I'm qualified to say it: what they are doing is crap.) They would be swimming in money working for ANY video-game company. But no. Oh, but he has a Japanese performance booked. Sorry, this kinda of stuff usually don't go first to Asia. If they were Japanese, ok. But usually technology from other places are a little slow to go there. And this kind of conceptual art is more frequent on the western world. Or cinema. I'm sorry, this idea can sound amazing to someone else. It sounded really stupid to me. To me, that was what sealed the fate of this book to me. No, I didn't like it.

This is what people thought was amazing at the time...

Now, let's talk about the problems with the characters. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED the bitchiness from Cayce. She's so palpable, real and even similar to some people I know. But even being annoying sometimes, I liked her. A lot. Why couldn't he take her in the rest of the trilogy? I understand that the way it was presented, Cayce wouldn't have the slightly interest on this. Nor would she feel compelled by Bigend. It's out of her sphere of interest, of her job, out of her life. Oh well. We have Hollis. And by the way, this case is ALSO out of Hollis' interest, job and life. The only difference is that Hollis was broke in the beginning of this book. As a matter of fact, all characters in this book started broken and without a penny...

Hollis was part of an underground band and is still remembered as kinda of a celebrity. A minor, underground band, that as a matter of fact is world-wide know. Yeah, this kind of idiosyncrasies is very classic for Gibson. It seems as if there is not an 'above ground' society. Or that they are mindless consumer drones that are feed by what the media trow at them... OK, that hit closest to home than I imagined... Anyway, remember the bitchiness from Cayce that I was just talking about? Yeah... Hollis tries, and fails, to be on the same level. She sounded at the same time very intelligent and very dumb some times. Oh, and in a totally unrealistic way...

The story of Tito starts in a boring way. Yeah, he's an expat from Cuba, works with a cousin that works with falsification and spying, but in a modern time, falsifications are way harder to do, yada yada yada... As an expat myself, I get him. Sometimes it's hard to be an expat. But not all that much. Specially if you came from Cuba. I've been there. Believe me: you would kill your family to get out of there. What bothered me the most is his complains of the cold. I'm in the cold & wide North in Toronto and I don't feel cold all the time as Tito. Sorry, the 'terrible winter of NY'... Sorry mate, we go over -25 Celsius over here on a sunny winter day and it doesn't bother me all that. And I came from Brazil, which is very close to the Cuban climate. Oh, and as someone that has ties & knowledge of umbanda, all the deities from Cuba leaves an strange aftertaste in my mouth... but that's more of my nitpicking. I understand that it probably sits well or are even interesting to someone that doesn't know any better. Over all Tito is a mediocre character, with an unrealistic set of skills, and a bizarre relation with the orishas that is also presented in a stupid way...

Milgrin... Is interesting. As a junkie & hostage, his parts were the most interesting. It felt bland in the beginning, but it grew on me. The way he is conducted by the drug, his interest on the insanity of heretic middle-age, his strange relationship with his captor... I liked his ending. But I really would like more focus on him, since he's the best character on the book.

What really annoyed me is that the book was without direction till a quarter of it was read. A mysterious container. No more information. Not only that, I felt the rhythm of the book sluggish at best and tiresome in some parts. It was not a fluid reading like other books from Gibson. It felt like a car that someone else was driving and missing the passage of the gears. The three viewpoints have different paces and the passage between then was not well done. When I finally read one third of the book I was sighing: "still only one third?  Gosh..." 

I usually like the way Gibson presents mysteries. But here, it was excessive. Everything is a mystery. 

There are a lot of names dropped everywhere. I don't care about the dead bassist of Hollis band. He was never touched and then he's dead and I should feel the pain of loss? Oh and he died of overdose? No. Some duo is following Milgrin? Who are they? Why should I know their names if they never showed before? Oh, they are working for his drug dealer? So? There are a lot of things that simply popped into existence and I'm supposed to care or be intrigued? If I simply say "hey Karen, hope you enjoy this essay" it will be weird. Especially if I never explain who she is and why would she enjoy, or not, this text. It doesn't work this way. And the worse part is that I thought Gibson knew how to make a good mystery! Hell, he did a great job on his other books, especially the first one of this trilogy! What the hell happened?? At this point you can tell: no, I did not like this book...

In the first book, Gibson did a well conceived story, focused on only one character, but the side stories converged in a interesting way, with discoveries, searches and a sense of time. Here, it feels like the characters are walking on a constant deus ex machina, with all the pieces falling in place like magic, everything happens like in a play: cue, meet the sister of the technician by using your contacts; cue, Milgrim finds the specific ship with the container; cue, Tito is going after the container... Everything happens in a unnatural way, like a real bad action movie. It starts to get in your nerves really fast. 

The mystery of this book, this container that, barely, links all three narratives is stupid. You don't know what it is, what it can do, why so many are after it... It almost isn't there, like it's a magic trick used to link this stories together. And the payoff? Money??? Laundered money from the Iraq war? Really? Sorry Gibson, if you want to talk about Iraq, war, intrigue and corruption, watch & learn from the best: Hideo Kojima. No one, I said no one, can make this topic as interesting and intriguing as Mr/ Kojima. You sir, are out of your element and way out of your league. I like stories about wars. I like stories about military, or semi-militaristic, combat. I have read great stories on this setting. Sigma Force by James Rollins. The Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook. Any Metal Gear by Hideo Kojima. Hell, I really like this genre, now that I think about it! And damn... this book was so tiresome, so unappealing... I can't like it. Nor recommend it. Sorry Mr. Gibson, but you blew this time. And the thought that I must review one more book on this trilogy, again with Hollis, is not palatable. I really hope you finish it with your golden touch, like you did on Mona Lisa Overdrive.

But after this one, I'm not really all that motivated to read it.

Tomorrow: I was going to talk about a more interesting story, going deep on some hard differences on Eastern vs Westerns, in particular on concerns about sex, privacy and relationships, but I just finished this manga and I need to talk about it. So, you must delve into Glaucos and the current problems of the manga world...

See ya