The Summer is an indie Korean film which follows the relationship of a young lesbian couple, from their school days to the beginning of their adulthood .
To begin with, the animation is really beautiful: I love the attention to detail and the lighting. Whilst I have some qualms about the film in general, I think it's really exciting for the Korean animation industry especially to see firstly this level of original animation and secondly to see queer characters represented in Korean animation.
The first 10 minutes of the film are like super slow if you feels like the sort of typical lesbians having sexual
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and romantic tension and both being too shy to make a move and then being angsty over it. When they finally do get together there is really cute and there are some very wholesome scenes.
Only one of the characters in the couple gets to narrate the film and I also feel like the film would have been richer if both characters in the couple could have narrated. The advertising of the film gives the impression that is going to be really wholesome but by the end of the film, it turns out it's a film where the character the main character spends a summer justifying why she wants to cheat on her partner - thus the name, 'The Summer'.
For me, the main character is pretty awful to her partner in the second half. In the first half it mainly focuses on them aty school and it's kind of cute but in the second half the main character goes to unniversity and her partner eventually tries to move to the city with her. Her partner who is the sort of sporty kind of butch lesbian who is initially quite cool really struggles when she transitions into adulthood because she doesn't come from a rich family and she has a sports injury, which means that she can no longer get a sports scholarship to university. She can't really afford to move to the city unless she gets a jo, which she does and she is a very put together person even though she's doesn't always talk about her decisions. She works really hard all day to study to become a mechanic and afford better living conditions for her and her partner which is the main character.
However the main character changes and that's natural when you move to the city and begin university you meet lots of new people, particularly within the lgbt community which is much larger in urban areas. The two began to drift apart, especially due to their class differences and then being in different stages of life. The butch partner doesn't always understand the importance of showing up on time and making sure she spends quality time of her partner, because her love language is acts of service and providing for her partner and playing a more stereotypically masculine role. She often fails to communicate her intentions or what she's going through which leads the main character to feel very frustrated to feel like she doesn't understand her partner and to feel like she isn't being cared.
But the main character is also quite self-centered sure, for example there's a scene where her butch partner finally comes to the lesbian bar that she loves and in that moment the main character gets embarassed at her partner turning up in their team mechanics clothing and being very obviously working class and she talks about the shame she felt. The main character never really overcomes out or fully apologizes for. It not long later she falls for a character who sports several visual symbols of wealth, for example expensive watch, and eventually breaks up with her partner to be with this woman.
Whilst my friends talked about it as like his sort of story about someone who's like naive and immature which makes a lot of sense I also felt frustrated that the narrative of the butch partner never really gets the same chance to show her side of the story, because Ifor her there's an expectation or a pressure as the more masculine presenting person to also fulfill that more so typically masculine role of providing. So even if she doesn't verbalize it, she's always thinking about how to provide for her girlfriend. It's frustrating that the main character doesn't understand this and she's really immature.
At the end it returns to seeing from when they were younger and one of the conversations they had- this could have been better if instead of showing the scene from the main characters perspective, they could have shown the scene from her partner's perspective, like in Aku No Hana.
Overall this wasn't necessarily a bad film, my dislike/disagreement is more personal than artistic. I think the studio and animators who worked on this definitely have a lot of potential and I hope they make more stuff in the future and that there's more queer Korean animation. It's definitely important that films like this can made so they can pave the path for more films about queer lives in the future.
Nov 23, 2023
Geu Yeoreum
(Anime)
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The Summer is an indie Korean film which follows the relationship of a young lesbian couple, from their school days to the beginning of their adulthood .
To begin with, the animation is really beautiful: I love the attention to detail and the lighting. Whilst I have some qualms about the film in general, I think it's really exciting for the Korean animation industry especially to see firstly this level of original animation and secondly to see queer characters represented in Korean animation. The first 10 minutes of the film are like super slow if you feels like the sort of typical lesbians having sexual ... 
Nov 23, 2023
Akudama Drive
(Anime)
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Akudama drive is one of those shows which begins as something absolutely insane bonkers and over the top ridiculous in every way, but somehow manages to become poignant and moving by the end. In the first episode we are introduced to a set of characters who come from different criminal backgrounds who have to come together to complete important missions set by a mysterious cat. The first episode is definitely not the strongest in terms of animation I feel like it's kind of all over the place, as it feels like they're trying to experiment with a lot of different styles and they haven't quite
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Apr 21, 2023
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
(Anime)
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Not Recommended Funny 
So much potential. So much disappointment. Studio Trigger and Imaishi rank amongst my favourite studios/directors, and I had been waiting for a very long time to see what their next work would be after Promare, so this was a big disappointment.
The plot just feels like every generic cyberpunk trope mashed together, but without the purpose they originally had - for example, social inequality is briefly mentioned as a source of conflict and unease in the first episode, but isn't explored much further, despite a fear of capitalism and coporations being central to the birth of cyberpunk genre. They also kept the not-so-great aspects of cyberpunk, ... 
Apr 12, 2023
Kujira no Kora wa Sajou ni Utau
(Manga)
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A beautiful exploration of life, loss and idealism with anti-colonial and abolitionist themes.
It's not for impatient people who expect answers and endings to happen immediately, but it rewards those with the patience to travel with the story as it digs deeper into the lore and builds a sprawling fantasy world. Although there are many reviews complaining how long and slow the work is, that was the opposite of how I felt. Every chapter offers a new revelation, an escapade or battle, and always ends with a cliffhanger. You are here for the journey. This is a truly amazing work, and it's rare to see a depiction ... 
Dec 30, 2022
this manga cements fujimoto's status as a genius
if chainsaw man was fujimoto's fast and furious depiction of a violent, cruel and manipulative world, then look back was his subtle mediation on art, relationships and what gives us purpose and damn as an artist i feel this in my soul (adding more bc mal is really gatekeeping now) the manga explores the theme of: what it means to be an artist (what it takes, what drives you on, what you sacrifice), friendship and coming out of your shell, regret and loss well-written plot and characters, the art style captured changes in the characters' circumstances and mood very well. a more ... 
Oct 21, 2022
Mo Dao Zu Shi: Wanjie Pian
(Anime)
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Plot: 10/10
Animation: 10/10 Pacing: 2/10 MDZS is a complex story with many layers and characters. It is tragic, funny and shocking. The animation is superb and underrated - I wish the anime was more widely available in the West. However, the plot is extremely rushed in this season and it barely makes sense if you haven't read the book beforehand. There is very little time to process or make sense of such a intricate plot. Even in the last episode, they're rushing to cram in 5 different scenes with many different emotions. If the pacing was better, this could have been a 9/10 or 10/10. 
Apr 17, 2016
Boku wa Mari no Naka
(Manga)
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What if you swapped bodies? What if you found yourself in the body of the person you most admired, the “angel-like” school idol who you pass every night (and possibly stalk)? Well that’s what life has install for Komori Isao, a hikikomori who lives for no one else but himself, playing games and masturbating endlessly on repeat. Until he becomes Mari of course. Oh by the way, I forgot to mention that "Mari" is nowhere to be found, and Mari-Isao has a stalker, a shy, unpopular girl who is totally devoted to Mari.
If anyone has heard of Oshimi Shuuzou, it’s undoubtedly for his notorious manga-turned-anime ... 
Aug 11, 2014
Oyasumi Punpun
(Manga)
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Oyasumi Punpun (Goodnight Punpun) is a manga about a boy’s transformation into an adult. As a boy, he falls in love with Aiko. But things happen. Then nothing happens. Then he decides to find Aiko again. The story spans roughly a decade.
The plotline of Oyasumi Punpun is magnificent, it explores the lives of ordinary people: dysfunctional families, pubescent children finding out about sex, unemployed twenty-somethings. Ordinary yet unique. These characters are new, purely original- yet we can all relate to them. As children, haven’t we all ‘ooh’ed over sex? Fantasized about suicide? Sunk into nihilism? Okay, maybe not the last one. The series explores everyday ... |
