FICTION: Death Sworn by Leah Cypess

Image from Goodreads

 
At a glance: YA, fantasy, romance


From Goodreads

When Ileni lost her magic, she lost everything: her place in society, her purpose in life, and the man she had expected to spend her life with. So when the Elders sent her to be magic tutor to a secret sect of assassins, she went willingly, even though the last two tutors had died under mysterious circumstances.

But beneath the assassins’ caves, Ileni will discover a new place and a new purpose… and a new and dangerous love. She will struggle to keep her lost magic a secret while teaching it to her deadly students, and to find out what happened to the two tutors who preceded her. But what she discovers will change not only her future, but the future of her people, the assassins… and possibly the entire world.

Luna comments

I've read Leah Cypess's Mistwood & Nightspell, & I liked the plot for both of those. So I was quite keen on this one.

I liked the idea that Ileni used to be a powerful sorceress, but then is in the process of losing her power.

However, in terms of characters, I don't feel there's anything particularly interesting about the characters. I get the feeling that the typical YA characters are:

• (for females) a slightly hot-headed, impulsive, has immature/overly emotional moments despite their very dire situation, clever, skilful, carrying a bit of a burden or mental obsession, has a bit of anger or angst because of that burden or obsession, but has the tendency to not apply their cleverness or skills until something they really care about forces them to do it; & 
• (for males) silent, broody, outwardly unapproachable, skilful, clever, carries another sort of burden that makes them so taciturn & broody & unapproachable, is always cool-headed & calm but then pulls off an out-of-character risk or act of stupidity when something they care about (i.e. the love interest/protagonist) is threatened.

Ileni & Sorin (love interest) fit that mould pretty well.

However, having said that, I don't think it's fair to 'penalise' them for having typical YA characteristics. They're characters in their own right. But anyway, there's a low-down of who they are.

I did, however, like the master of the assassins. I like how he doesn't make much of an appearance, but his presence is always felt because everyone's so scared of him. The only thing is that sometimes I think he acts a bit too overconfident for someone of his experience & reputation, but this is one of those things where I think it could have gone either way.

The plot...I enjoyed seeing how it played out & how everything eventually fit together. So upon reading the ending, I could go, "Oh yes, I enjoyed that book", in a sort of detached way (actually, I can't think of anything I particularly liked, except the premise). But during the process of reading, I didn't feel that. In a way, that could be testimony to how well Cypess has managed to work the undercurrents seamlessly into the narration. But what kept me reading wasn't so much that I was enjoying every moment as that I wanted to find out what on Earth was happening.


Closing

So, upon finishing, I was satisfied. I got a bit impatient in the middle, though. I'm still keen on the sequel & seeing how the rest of the story plays out.

However, I feel that this book has the sort of feeling that successful YA books give off, so perhaps its intended demographic (i.e. young adults) would enjoy it a lot more.

FICTION: Cress by Marissa Meyer

From the author's website

At a glance: young adult, romance, sci-fi, futuristic


From the author's website

In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and prevent her army from invading Earth.

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker – unfortunately, she’s being forced to work for Queen Levana, and she’s just received orders to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is splintered. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a higher price than she’d ever expected. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing prevent her marriage to Emperor Kai, especially the cyborg mechanic. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only hope the world has.

Luna comments

This is the third book of the Lunar Chronicles. I've already talked about the second book here.

Each book in this series is more or less based on a fairy tale. In Cress, a girl is locked up in a satellite for years, & used for her technological skills (which in many sci-fi or futuristic stories translates to hacking). Obviously she is a very futuristic Rapunzel.

Once again, the thing that draws me to this series is mainly the plot & the world. How this series is structured is that, with each book, the author properly introduces a new heroine (& a corresponding male protagonist). So by the time of book three, that's three of them, each with their own stories & their roles in the plot. It means a lot of travelling around the world, separating, finding each other again, carrying out activities in big groups with various roles allocated to them, so on. It makes the plot rather complicated & all over the place (in a good way) & quite interesting.

Although I think that the characters are starting to get more interesting - in this book, a new heroine is properly introduced (she's made cameo appearances before). Her name is Cress, & having lived in a spaceship by herself for most of her life, with only occasional visits from her overseer, she's a bit innocent & naive. Her knowledge of the outside world, especially Earth, mostly comes in the form of fiction, & hence her view of the world is very romanticised. So she & her occasionally inappropriate reactions were fun to read about :)

There are some other interesting characters too. Her corresponding male protagonist, Thorne, is a slippery character with a smooth tongue & comic relief value. So I like him too. He actually appeared in Scarlet, but there's more of him to see in this book. There's also Princess Winter, who makes her first appearance in the series. She's a bit loony, which is rather symbolically suitable since she's the princess of Luna (the moon). And then Winter's corresponding male protagonist, who acts as if it'd kill him to be nice.

As you can see, entertainment value (in the currency of potential for humour) is a major factor influencing whether I like a character or not.

The excitement is also building up now, as Lunar Queen becomes increasingly dissatisfied with the state of affairs on Earth (because she still isn't in power yet), & I'm really anticipating an all-over-the-place, lots-of-things-happening fourth book.

On another note, I don't particularly like the typeface used for the text of this series. It's pretty, & suits the futuristic setting well, but it feels less comfortable & flowing compared to the more typical-looking ones.


Closing

I would recommend this series for the plot. =] 

TV SERIES: 甄嬛传 (Legend of Zhen Huan a.k.a. Empresses in the Palace)

Now for something substantially different: a Chinese TV series! (I believe that this series has been fansubbed in English.) I watched this a while ago, but apparently HBO is releasing a massively edited 6-episode version of this, which makes me want to talk about it anyway.

This series is called Empresses in the Palace for the HBO version, which is why I've got it in the heading. For the rest of this post, though, I shall be referring to it as Legend of Zhen Huan, which is the closest translation to the Chinese title.

Image from the Chinese Wikipedia page

At a glance: historical (scheming concubines inside the imperial palace); 76 episodes (~45 min each)


A note on Chinese imperial palace series

Ancient Chinese emperors had many many concubines (possibly so many that they forget about a lot of them), & so the concubines fought for the emperor's attention (which comes with things like power, status, or maybe just safety). Concubines have ranks, so there's inevitably something to do with going up or down in the hierarchy. Many TV series have been made on this genre, basically all of which basically run along the lines of: Oh the imperial palace looks like such a nice place from the outside & wow everyone is evil within its walls O_O *insert plotting & scheming*


Summary

The story is about a noble girl who gets chosen to become one of the Emperor's many concubines. She starts off as an innocent girl who learns to become cunning and manipulative as she fights her way up the ranks (and her survival).



Luna comments

There's almost nothing bad I can say about this series, so let's start with what I didn't like most about this: the time period they chose.

The novel off which this series is based is set in a fictional time, with a fictional emperor. Everything is fictional. I suppose that the producers wanted to make it feel more real, & so they chose a real dynasty & a real emperor. I wish they didn't. But what's worse is that the emperor they chose & the emperor in the novel are very different (from the very little I know of the historical figure). So it was like seeing a national hero being butchered on-screen. It's also grating because it changes character relationships a bit (e.g. her eldest son is not her biological son in this drama, but in history they were biological mother & son). & various other bits where they tried to blend an originally fictional time period with a real one, & hence merged characters & created new ones & so on.

Aside from that, I think everything else is fine. I don't know enough to pick out all the inconsistencies, but whatever historical inaccuracies are in here are a lot less blatant than a lot of the other ones I've seen. It doesn't make it 'great', but it makes it 'better'.

This show seems to be rather polarising - people either love it or hate it (I know that my friends who watched it didn't like it). Or maybe that's just the reactions I'm seeing (people being more inclined to comment when they feel strongly one way or the other). Or maybe it's the whole genre.

I'm amongst the people who do like this genre, because I like watching people plot against each other (in fiction only!). & I guess the other thing I like about this genre is that, in the sexist society that was ancient China, the concubines work around the limitations of their gender and gain power in their own way. They never complain; they just use any resources they have at their disposal. They never ask for anyone to give them anything; they get it themselves. They often don't do it in a harmless way, but there's something in that determination that's interesting to watch.

I really enjoyed this series, even though it's a very daunting 76 episodes long.

In terms of storyline, this plot isn't exactly new. The innocent girl, Zhen Huan, becomes evil and rises to the top of the harem (although I do think the endpoint is something different). They invariably get there with their cunning and their opponents are always other concubines, & one of those other concubines are almost always of higher rank or the emperor's favourite or both.

& like most of the series I've watched from this genre, it's clear that most of the plotting, scheming, evil, manipulative concubines are justified in their actions, and there's the implication that they really wouldn't have been like that if the circumstances had been different. In fact, part of the fun is finding out what it is that made them that way. Because, for a lot of the characters, you could imagine that they started off as similarly innocent new concubines, & over time grew hardened. The real difference is that they lost, & the protagonist didn't (in this series, at least). In fact, I think that this story does pretty well in terms of the motivation - there's not much of a backstory that pushes the concubines forward, so much as that they're dragged into it & can't escape.

Having said all that, this is definitely & by far my favourite palace drama. There's all the plotting & scheming, which I like, but I enjoyed the story of this a lot more than the others. I felt that in terms of building a story around all the characters' motivations & actions, this one is much stronger & more interesting than others that I've seen.

Characterisation

I do think that there are some key differences between this particular series and the many others in its genre: it has real friendships. Perhaps this is unrealistic, but it's nice to see.

The protagonist and her best friend entered the palace together, and they always stuck by each other. The protagonist also found other concubines with whom she formed a stable alliance until the very end. I don't think I've watched another in which friendships didn't break down & former friends turned against each other. Which made this particular aspect very refreshing - especially the part with the best friend. It may be their relationship which makes me like this drama so much.

As previously mentioned, I think that a lot of the characters were dragged into this, rather than really willing participants in the game of how-to-remove-your-opponents. As is natural in this story, a lot of them are removed throughout the series, & many times it's seen that they didn't really ask for their life.

It's actually pretty hard to describe the personalities of the characters, because you don't really see them outside of either getting framed or in the process of framing others. But somehow, despite their similar actions & motivations, they somehow manage to stay distinct characters.

By the way, the acting in Legend of Zhen Huan is also excellent. Even though there are lots of supporting characters (quite notably the numerous other concubines who are power-hungry but don't have the capacity to compete with Zhen Huan), no matter how little screentime they get, they make their presence felt. They don't just feel like a passing character - they feel like a threat, or a nuisance, now.

Now, onto the characters.

The titular character, Zhen Huan, is portrayed amazingly by Sun Li. Zhen Huan initially starts off as a cheerful, intelligent girl who enters the palace & has the good life lavished on her. After her best friend, Shen Meizhuang, gains the Emperor's attention & is subsequently targeted by jealous concubines, Zhen Huan retaliates on her friend's behalf. But this brings the others' attention on her, & in order to stay safe, she has to play the game in earnest. Eventually she gets used to this life, & from the defensive turns to the offensive, eventually rising up to become the alpha female in the palace.

I really like the character of Zhen Huan. She's smart, optimistic (at first), accomplished (in the sense of the traditional accomplished woman), cheerful, kindhearted, well-spoken, & generally likable. Of course, some of these characteristics are eroded through her experiences in the palace, & in the end she's held together only by her determination, love for those closest to her, & a desire to survive.

As for the acting, Sun Li absolutely nails the performance. She flawlessly makes the transition from the innocent girl to the foulest of them all. Her eyes change as the series progresses - she develops a hardness in her gaze as her character grows up. Even when she's doing something simple, like smiling politely, the look in her eyes is very different between episode 1 & episode 76.

Image from Douban Movies
You can sort of - not very well - see the different look in this picture as compared to the one above.

On the other hand, while the female characters are strong & prominent & interesting, the males are...rather boring. They serve more as obstacles & 'furniture' that the concubines have the navigate, rather than really active players in the game. Never mind, though, because the story is still good. Just watch the females =]

Costumes and set

Everything is so magnificent & grand. There's a feeling of 'no expenses spared', & opulence oozes from the first episode. It only gets better as the series progresses & Zhen Huan rises in ranks.

The costumes, especially, have this majestic air to them - it really makes you feel that very 'heavy' atmosphere of the royal palace. It's hard to put into words...I'd say glamorous, except it's not, because that seems to imply 'sparkly' & 'attention-catching', which these costumes aren't. They're just...grand. They also convey a lot of information about status & rank of the concubines, & also about the character themselves.

The costumes are by far my favourite out of any recent (or even older) historical series that I've seen.

So it's a real shame that they somehow made the actresses look worse, especially the headgear. I don't know how they managed to do it. But I've been on forums where netizens have made fun of how the costumes & makeup 'ugly-fied' all of the actresses, & posted as proof pictures of the actresses in costume & in 'normal' photos. Some of them were unrecognisable, especially some of the less prominent characters.

Nevertheless, when you ignore the effect of the hair & makeup on the actresses, the effect of the costumes is stunning. Just seeing the setting makes you feel the weight of the series.

A US version?!

So the news is that HBO's planning to air a 6-episode English-subbed version of Legend of Zhen Huan. Needless to say...skepticism is everywhere. So many netizens have already worried & made jokes about how exactly they planned to translate the series, what with all the characteristics peculiar to Chinese language, history & culture. For example: all the concubine ranks, the palace protocols & polite expressions, & some of the expressions they use.

There's also the bit about...76 episodes, 45 minutes each - how on Earth are you going to pack that into 6 episodes?!

In summary - there are so many differences between the context & the US culture that no one (online) can imagine how they can bridge the gap successfully. & it's not even like the case where UK history has been so often translated & depicted & romanticised that a lot of non-British people can accept their historical fiction. Chinese history simply doesn't have that prior exposure, & I think that Legend of Zhen Huan is probably going to be a bit too much for beginners.

So there's the concern that, instead of bringing a fragment of Chinese culture into US appreciation, it's just going to prematurely kill any interest that any unsuspecting US viewer would have had. That's a relatively good scenario - if it gets worse, it could give the US viewers some totally wrong ideas.

So I really hope that doesn't happen, & that the people at HBO who made this decision really really really know what they're doing. & apparently the Chinese side won't be involved, due to different viewing habits...hmm, not sure how I feel about that.

The US will also be re-editing bits, putting in new soundtracks, etc., maybe even re-shooting bits.

If you're interested, here are some articles: here, here, here.

(If the English opening themesong is anything to go by though, I'm a bit worried.)


Closing

If you: know something about Chinese history & culture; speak Mandarin or can read the characters; & don't mind a very long, humourless series about scheming concubines, then I HIGHLY RECOMMEND giving this a shot. Unfortunately, if you got to the end of this blog post, the chances that you fulfill that criteria (mainly the last one) are rather slim.

Still. Majestic costumes & set, excellent acting, deep characterisation...I really hope you'll give it a shot & enjoy it =]

FICTION: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

From the author's website

At a glance: young adult, romance, sci-fi, futuristic


From the author's website

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother and the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she has no choice but to trust him, though he clearly has a few dark secrets of his own.

As Scarlet and Wolf work to unravel one mystery, they find another when they cross paths with Cinder. Together, they must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen who will do anything to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner.

Luna comments 

Scarlet is a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. This is the second book of the Lunar Chronicles, which I'm quite enjoying so far.

The one thing that really draws me into this series is the plot & the world (which is also because it's intertwined with the plot). This world is set sometime in the distant future, with incredible technologies which we can't even dream of.

The most interesting thing is that there are two 'types' of humans - the normal Earthens, who live on Earth, and the Lunars who have colonised the moon. The Lunars are rather scary because they have a genetic ability to control bioelectricity, which effectively allows them to manipulate other people, physically & mentally. Furthermore, the Lunar Queen has set her sights on ruling Earth, which doesn't bode too well for mere Earthlings.

The plot of the Cinder, the prequel, was the retelling of Cinderella where the protagonist has become a renowned mechanic and a cyborg. The story in that was a lot more straightforward, but even then it was making various references to the Lunars and the plans of their Queen - greater plans which are further elaborated in Scarlet (which happens on the other side of the world). I expect the plot will get even messier, because there are two more protagonists to introduce.

As I said, the thing that draws me into this series is the plot. Things happen all over the world, various characters get into trouble, a lot of things happen. I really enjoy seeing how Meyer has woven the different threads of the story together.


Closing

The trouble with liking a book for its plot is that it's rather hard to talk about. Give this series a shot sometime :)

MOVIE: Big Hero 6

Image from Wikipedia

At a glance: Disney, futuristic, children's, humour, action


Summary

Hiro Hamada is a child prodigy with seemingly no direction in life until his brother, Tadashi, introduces him to the inventions being created in the laboratories of Tadashi's college. Amongst other things, he meets Tadashi's project - a personal healthcare robot by the name of Baymax.

Determined to get into said college, Hiro conceives of microbots - tiny robots which easily assemble and disassembled based on his thoughts - and presents the project to the Professor Callaghan. Professor Callaghan is impressed, and invites him to join the school.

On the same night, an explosion destroys the building, taking along with it the Professor, Tadashi and all but one of Hiro's microbots. However, the behaviour of Hiro's last microbot indicates that there are still other microbots in existence. As Hiro goes to investigate, with Baymax in tow, he starts to suspect that the explosion is not an accident, and sets out to find the one responsible for his brother's death.


Luna comments

It's a Disney animated movie. I'm a big fan of Disney animated movies, as are a lot of people I know. I really really enjoyed this!

I did really think the setting is awesome - both the idea & the execution. San Fransokyo. This is most probably because I'm Asian myself (even if I'm not Japanese), & so I really appreciate the effort they put into the film to make it an integrated eastern-western society. The cherry blossoms are a nice touch (though if you want to be cynical, you can also say that that's probably the cheapest & fastest way to make allusions to another culture), some of the architecture does give off the feeling of East Asian influence, & the number of East Asian-looking characters is pretty high. & it's not all East Asian- & western-looking character either - there are hints of different races in there. (Of course, this is easy for me to say, because I can consider myself as part of the 'included'.) In fact, most of the 6 heroes look like they're from different ethnic backgrounds.

The city of San Fransokyo - Image from Disney website

Okay, obviously not everything works out smoothly. The first few shots show so many Japanese signs I can't read them fast enough, & yet everyone speaks English, complete with mannerisms & slang of every other children's or young adult movie made in America. In fact, a lot of writing is still in English (e.g. Baymax's display screens). The names are all spoken with American pronunciations (so the protagonist's name is pronounced by almost everyone as HEE-roh & not hi-ro). The characters also act pretty much exactly the same way as you'd expect if they were Anglo-American. I don't have a problem with that. It's just an observation.

Yes, this is ultimately for an English-speaking audience, & for them, too many Japanese insertions would probably make the movie too jarring. Besides, this is still evidently set in America or some similar country.

That was a longwinded way of saying that I can see the work done to try to infiltrate the movie with East Asian touches.

& then the other thing is that this movie is not only more diverse than most in terms of the racial distribution, but also in terms of the body builds of the characters. One of my first thoughts, when I saw Aunt Cass, is that the females in this film are much chubbier than the females in a lot of other animated films (& I don't mean that in a negative way). Their proportions are closer to 'thin person' than 'toothpick'. Their heads are still massive though. Also, the males in this film seem to be the least bulked up. So that was nice.

Otherwise - it's a Disney film. So the animation is beautiful by default, & it's funny. =]

I really liked the characters as well. They're probably a bit stock-standard by now, but they're still likable.

Correction: Hiro is in a large part quite a typical protagonist, but I think he's a little less innocent & a little darker. The movie starts off with him winning a load of money from gambling, which even he acknowledges is "illegal" but "lucrative!" I think that made him a little more interesting. I also liked the closeness between him and his brother, & seeing how Tadashi's words shape Hiro's character.

Baymax is just cute =] & huggable. & often inappropriate for the context. It's hard talking about the character of a robot as robotic as him, but you can call him caring & loyal because that's how he was programmed. I also liked the relationship between him & Hiro, even though I found it a bit too similar to that of Hiccup & Toothless from How To Train Your Dragon 2. (It doesn't help that the characters have certain similarities too, although Hiccup is more heroic & has the very righteous air to him).

I also really like the character of the brother, even though he doesn't have much screentime.

The other characters are also pretty cool, but typical. There's a timid guy, a seemingly ditzy girl, a don't-mess-with-me-I'm-tough girl, & a guy made of pure weirdness. The much cooler thing is that they're 'nerds' & not really action heroes, but make up (kind of) for their weaknesses by using their inventions. Although in this film, cleverness is really just a stepping stone towards owning awesome gadgets, I still feel as if academic intelligence is portrayed in a definitely positive light, which is nice to see.

To me, what let the film down the most is the plotline. It was quite straightforward. Which isn't to say that it's not good - it's a suitable plot for this type of movie. I guess the mistake I made (once again) is that I expected a plot on the level of intricacy of Wreck-It-Ralph, which was not a good bar to set. But that's more in hindsight - I enjoyed the movie heaps when I was watching it.

There were some moments, though, as in almost any (American? sorry...) movie, which were a bit...doubtful. For example, the classic: we've no time to waste, so let's just show off this super-awesome thing we can do - by running super-fast in the opposite direction - before going off to do whatever it is we have to do! & the other: I have a plan! *does not try to immediately put the plan into action*

But because we're all so used to it, it's just something we have to get over in any film, enjoy the effects & the suspense, & then erase from our memories in order to ensure that we are left with the most coherent & logical sequence of events that the film can give us.

My favourite parts

• The opening scenes - Hiro's bot fight followed by the chase that ensues
• Introduction to Baymax
• The fight on the deserted island

Closing

I liked it! I'm also an oversized, overaged child, but it was really good! It was cute, pretty, entertaining, funny, & had a cool team. Highly recommended =]

ANIME: サイコパス (Psycho-Pass)

Unit One - Image from Wikipedia
From left to right: Kogami, Tsunemori, Ginoza, Kagari, Kunizuka, Karanomori, Masaoka

At a glance: futuristic, dystopian, mystery, cyberpunk, crime, sci-fi, some NSFW scenes, recommend 18+


Summary

In this highly developed world, people's mental health and tendency for crime are measured by the Sybil System. Of the most interest to this story is the measurement of the Crime Coefficient, which when too high indicates a person has a high probability of committing a crime. Such people are rehabilitated, or failing that, locked up or killed.

Akane Tsunemori is a newly-appointed inspector to Unit One of the Public Safety Bureau's Criminal Investigation Division. Soon, a certain pattern of deaths emerges, all pointing at a man who's criminal tendency cannot be measured by the Sybil System and so goes unpunished for his crimes. It is then for Unit One to go after him and capture him.


Luna comments 

I will be referring to all characters by surname.

I'm been putting this off for so long (about two weeks now) because there's so much I could say about this anime. I was at a complete loss over where to start, because there was so much I liked about it. Usually, I'm squeamish about the sort of violence & gore that's in this, but the concept, plot, setting & characters ultimately meant that I stuck to it.

In the meantime, I also watched Psycho-Pass 2, but I'll keep this review strictly for Psycho-Pass.

The setting of the world is rather easy to explain - it's technologically advanced, holograms are everywhere, & a centralised system makes measurements ('Psycho Pass') of all citizens, which include things like their Crime Coefficient, their Hue, & then data analysis on the history of their measurements. I really liked how bits & pieces of the world are revealed throughout the series, & I like how the technology is woven into every aspect of their lives, from holographic room designs & clothing changes, to the various hi-tech stuff they do inside the Public Safety Bureau. There's always something to serve as a reminder that it's a different world.

I thought every single character was done really well, or as well as they could have been given their screentime. I chose the picture above in particular because it features the members of Unit One, all of whom are awesome. I can talk about their awesomeness forever, so I'll restrain myself & talk only about the three most important ones.

Tsunemori is an awesome character. She has a lot of positive aspects - so many that, had the story been poorly written, she could easily have been a Mary Sue. But she doesn't give off that feeling. She starts off as a newly appointed inspector, innocent & naive & presumably blissfully ignorant of the violence & brutality that she eventually encounters throughout the series. She's the bordering-on-typical incredibly good character, in that she doesn't want to kill anyone no matter what the circumstances are. In the first episode, she acts in a way that simultaneously shows her potential while also casting doubt on her ability to pull off her role in public safety. But over the series, she becomes a seasoned & capable inspector. In hindsight, I think that her character development is done very very well.

You may now think that Tsunemori looks like a stereotypical character. I'd say that she plays a stereotypical role, but not necessarily a stereotypical character. & perhaps she is a stereotypical, but the way she's been characterised makes her quite different, or at least a distinct character in her own right.

Continuing on with being stereotypical - there's Kogami! The broody, silent, intelligent, observant one with a certain dark spot in their past & an obsession stemming from that. Someone who almost seems to have lost their purpose in life (except for that obsession) until, one day, some special person (Tsunemori) re-ignites a spark in them. Despite being so much like a character out of a YA novel, he's much more interesting than that - or maybe, as a general rule, his kind of character is interesting by default, no exceptions. I ramble. So much of the plotline revolves around some detail of him that, ultimately, I felt that he was the real centrepiece character of the anime, despite his relatively pitiable screen-time.

Another reason was that I felt he represented the dilemma of the world of Psycho-Pass. He's obviously one of those 'good characters with a dark side'. What do you do with a someone who's quite capable of squishing you like an ant? Are you sure you're comfortable with leaving your life or death at the hands of someone like that? Are you sure you're comfortable knowing that you'll live as long as they're happy to let you?

The villain, Makishima, is probably the most interesting, at least out of these character descriptions. He loves old literature, frequently quoting from them. He's also extremely twisted, & seems to commit crimes (read: murder) out of a cold, detached curiosity of human behaviour - it's like a game to him - how would you react if I did this? He's also charismatic & super-intelligent. All these things work together to make him very...creepy, for lack of a better word. Makishima is an interesting villain because he is so scary & so capable.

On the flip side, I found his character a bit weird. Maybe he's just so twisted that I can't work him out - I find him very intelligent & logical, & yet some of his decisions are hard to square with his sort of character. Even in the end, considering everything, I wasn't sure if I understood what it was that he wanted. So he's an interesting one to puzzle over.

Although the individual characters are awesome, what I liked most about Unit One is the feeling of family. It's hard to explain, but despite their roles & the fact that we only really see them at work, their interactions give off the feeling that their relationships are not merely professional - they actually do care for one another in a personal way. Which I liked =]

The plot is very good. Not only is the story engaging, but it also highlights the far-reaching effects of having a society stabilised by the Sybil System, even though it only ever deals with the police's point of view. The pacing is quite fast, & most if not all episodes end not necessarily on a cliffhanger, but somewhere that makes you (me) want to watch the next episode immediately. (Isn't it good that all the episodes are out?) Some of the criminals are pretty twisted, even more so than the twisted criminals you may see in contemporary police dramas & series. As the story goes on, you can see that that, too, is a side effect of the effectiveness of the Sybil System.

Initially, the story starts off as 'just' police detectives tracking down suspects using technology & intelligence, but when Kogami is pitted against Makishima, the battle of the brains becomes more intense & suspenseful. Things get ugly, people get hurt.

I really like how things all came together in the end - the plot, setting & characters - & contributed to the bigger picture of what is the Psycho-Pass society.

My favourite parts

•  I LIKED EVERYTHING...though I wouldn't have minded if it was less gruesome in places. (Also I can't do this without risking spoilers)
  

  

Closing

Watch it! It's really good!

It raises some interesting questions about what sort of choices we want to make about our lives - the sort of society we want to live in, the trade-offs we make to live a stable life sufficiently free of uncertainty, a person's nature against their free will, the value & necessity of negativity, & what exactly is the point of 'crime', 'law' and 'law enforcement'.

So, ultimately, a very thought-provoking watch. Highly highly highly recommended! For those old enough, anyway.

FICTION: The Devil's Intern by Donna Hosie

Image from Goodreads

At a glance: paranormal, young adult, humour 


From Goodreads

Seventeen-year-old Mitchell discovers a time-travel device that will allow him to escape his internship in Hell's accounting office and return to Earth, but his plans to alter the circumstances of his own death take an unexpected turn when his three closest friends in Hell insist on accompanying him back to the land of the living.

Luna comments

Four years after his death, Mitchell Johnson works in Hell's accounting department as an intern. The excessive number of deaths causes chaos as The Devil tries to reduce costs. (That's not important to the plotline, but I found it funny.) Life in Hell isn't all that interesting, & he finds himself missing being alive. But, in overhearing his superiors' plans for cost reduction, Mitchell discovers that his boss has a Viciseometer, a time-travelling device that he can potentially use to prevent his death.

Tagging along with him are his friends: Alfarin, Elinor & Medusa, all looking for a chance to change their deaths as well.

I picked this book up from my library after reading the description, which made the book sound a lot better than it does from the brief summaries above. It's now in this funny place where it's not as good as I hoped (or, more accurately, it's not the story I thought it'd be), but I'm not disappointed, either. I quite enjoyed the climax & the ending.

The plot started off almost typical. Nothing unforeseen really happened - it started off with visiting the characters' deaths in turn & viewing them. To be honest, after they left Hell & went back into the world of the living, I spent about half the time wondering when it'll get to the good part. I only kept reading because it wasn't that I couldn't stand reading it any more.

But then things start to come together. There are allusions to time paradoxes, & the way the 'past' & 'future' are intertwined when time travel happens. I found the the last quarter of the book very interesting, because that's when I started to get the sense of wanting to know the answers. It's a real shame that the hint of there being a much bigger picture wasn't introduced earlier (or it could have been that I was too obtuse to pick up on it).

The characters felt rather average - I won't say that the characterisation was poor, but nothing about them really stood out. (This may or may not be an aftereffect of recent anime-watching, in which the story is much longer & more visual & hence characterisation may be 'easier'.)

Oh, I also found it pretty funny. That's always good =]

Closing

I really liked the premise of this story, & I do think that the story itself is interesting - it just spent a while actually getting to the interesting bit (for me, anyway).

But, having said that, apparently this is the first in a series. Now that I know how everything's set up, I'm rather keen to see where Hosie will go next.