Week 1 – Check In

Posted on November 8, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Hi everyone, I wanted to write a quick update for how the first week of November has been and give an update on how NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is going for me. With my new story, that I’m currently calling ‘Once’ but that’s just a working title, I’m currently at 15134 words, hoping to be at 16000 by the end of today. When I wrote 2000 words the first day, I didn’t think I would keep that up for the whole week, but I have and am hoping to keep it up for the rest of the month as well. I think the story will end up being around 55000 words in its first draft and then get tightened and shortened down a little bit with each edit.

The story is completely different to anything I’ve written before, as it’s much more grounded. It’s not fantasy, or horror, just a straight forward story detailing a single day in the life of one person. The story starts a little before 8am and ends close to midnight, and so far I’m currently at roughly noon. I’m looking forward to people’s reactions to reading the story once it’s done. It’s more personal than anything I’ve ever written before, borrowing aspects of my own life. I’ve had people try to figure out who I am in a story, and I can safely say that I’ve never put myself in a character intentionally before. It’s still mostly fictional, though.

On average I would say that the daily writing takes about two hours, but that can vary quite a bit. Sometimes I get in a rhythm and can write non-stop until I hit the limit, but then days like today I end up writing for three hours and am only a little over half way there. I’ll get back to it later and hopefully it’ll come more easily.

I’m currently reading The Book of the Most Precious Substance by Sara Gran, and have around 100 pages left. I’m hoping to finish it this week to post a review about it. I have very mixed feelings about the book. It’s supposed to be a horror, at least that’s how it was marketed to me, and yet it’s most definitely not a horror, at least so far. After that I have a ton of books to read and am hoping to get through a few of them in November.

Thanks for reading and until next time,

Ashley

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After Yang – Film Review

Posted on November 7, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Kogonada

Writer: Kogonada

Starring: Colin Farrell, Jodie Turner-Smith, Justin H. Min, Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja

Rating: ★★★★

After Yang is written, directed and edited by Kogonada, which is based on the short story Saying Goodbye to Yang by Alexander Weinstein. It’s a sci-fi story about death and what it means to be alive. It stars Colin Farrell as Jake and Jodie Turner-Smith as Kyra. They have an adoptive daughter (Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja) as well as robot family member, Yang (Justin H. Min). Without warning, Yang stops working and Jake sets out to try and find a way to fix him. At first sight Yang is completely human and his character really blurs the lines of the difference between robots and humans.

The entire cast is fantastic, especially Colin Farrell who just seems to be on top form in every film he’s in, constantly giving outstanding performances. Equally as great is Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja as Mika, who gives a really convincing and emotional performance as a young girl who’s lost her best friend and doesn’t quite understand how to process the emotions she’s feeling. There’s so many great scenes between Farrell and Tjandrawidjaja and their relationship is one of the best things about the film.

While it’s a sci-fi story this is still a reflection grief coming to terms wit the loss of Yang. Each member of the family processes it in their own way, and through their memories you learn more about his character and the impact on their lives. It’s genuinely moving, and each scene is elevated by a reflective score by Aska Matsumiya and Ryuichi Sakamoto. It works on that level, but the sci-fi element is really well done as well, with questions being raised about what it means to be life and whether artificial intelligence can be really alive. There’s also a really interesting idea where Jake accesses Yang’s memories and sees life from his perspective, highlighting how much he didn’t know about him and how he saw the world. It’s really thought provoking, not just the artificial lifeform questions, but just how differently each one of us sees the world.  

Frustratingly the film does leave some distracting questions about the futuristic world that it presents. At first it seems to be telling the story of an almost dystopian world, with the family struggling for money as business is down, and Yang has an issue with his core that no one is allowed to open by law. There’s a conspiracy belief that the government are watching them. While the film uses a more standard dystopian thriller set-up it becomes so much more than that, but you still want to know more about the world the story inhabits. It’s only a small distraction, from what otherwise is a masterfully reflection on life.  

After Yang is a powerful and emotional meditation on grief and life through the lens of science fiction and artificial intelligence. It asks big questions that will more than likely become very pressing in future years about what being alive means, but at its heart it’s about a family losing a member and trying to come to terms with that, and it hits really hard. Filled with brilliant performances, and a moving score, Yang is really worth watching.  

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Watcher – Film Review

Posted on November 6, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Chloe Okuno

Writer: Chloe Okuno

Starring: Maika Monroe, Karl Glusman, Burn Gorman

Rating: ★★★

Watcher is a paranoia thriller from Chloe Okuno, who previously directed the Storm Drain segment of V/H/S/94. It follows Julia (Maika Monroe) who moves to Romania since her husband, Francis (Karl Glusman) has been given a promotion. They move into an apartment and Julia notices that across the street there is someone who is watching her. Shortly afterwards Julia gets the feeling that she’s being watched everywhere, and at the same time there’s a serial killer killing women of a similar age in the area. After being followed from a cinema into a supermarket, Julia starts to suspect that the serial killer may be following her.

The story gets going straight away, with Julia noticing the man staring at her through the window as soon as she reaches their new apartment. There’s literally no time wasted at the start before the central mystery is revealed. The entire film keeps a brisk pace, and being around ninety minutes it’s refreshingly short and sweet. However, within this there is next to no character development. Julia used to be an actress, but that life wasn’t for her. That’s pretty much all we know about her. Francis works in advertising and seems to work all the time. They seem to have a good relationship, but it’s not really shown on screen after the opening scene. The under-baked characters means the tension just isn’t as high as it could be.

Despite this, the central mystery is still engaging. The idea of knowing that someone is watching you at all times, and no one believes you is scary and feels like it could be very realistic. Especially when combined with being in a different country where you don’t speak the language very well, so you’re completely isolated. It’s a scary idea and Julia is almost completely alone. Her husband is working pretty much constantly, and the one friend that she makes, her next-door neighbour, goes missing very quicky. It’s atmosphere is really creepy, and there’s a couple of jump scare moments as well.

There’s a really frustrating, admittedly really small moment early on is where Julia is sitting in a café, reading about the serial killer on her laptop, and watches a video that’s in English and Romanian and she’s not wearing headphones, so surely everyone is just being forced to listen to the almost victim tell what happened when she was attacked by the killer. The ending is a little underwhelming, it feels quite rushed and a little too unbelievable. It’s not a satisfying conclusion to the mystery. It does its job, but it’s not a great ending.

While it’s let down by paper-thin characters, and a predictable plot, Watcher still has a creepy atmosphere and an engaging mystery. The alienation being abroad and not speaking the language is also really well done. Overall, it’s nothing special, but still entertaining while it’s on.  

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Tokyo Revengers – Volume 1 and 2 – Manga Review

Posted on November 5, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

I hadn’t heard of Tokyo Revengers until the anime started to air last year. I liked the title, but knew nothing about it. When the manga came out in English, earlier this year, I ended up buying it as a present for my partner, purely because I’d heard of it. At that point I still didn’t know what the story was about, then she read it and said that I would really like it, potentially more than her. It ended up on a pile of books and then I started reading it, thinking I would read a couple chapters, because it’s quite a long book for a manga. As it contains the first two volumes it’s around 400 pages. I ended up reading it in one sitting and now I need more.

Takemichi Hanagaki finds out that his only girlfriend Hinata, from when his life peaked in junior high, has died during by a gang that he himself used to be involved with. Shortly afterwards Takemichi is pushed in front of a train and thinking his life is flashing before his eyes, ends up transported back in time to when he was in junior high. Finding he has the ability to travel through time, and change the past, he sets out to save Hinata’s life.

The main character is really well written. Someone in their mid-twenties who is struggling with regret and looking back on better times. He’s relatable, even though the story is larger than life, which makes this really engaging and entertaining to read. He’s being helped by Hinata’s brother, a police detective, Naoto. He’s not featured as much, but he’s a great character so far. Hinata, who we’ve only seen in the past, and not the events leading to her death, is also a really strong character. The characters make the story great.

The biggest rule of time travel in this manga is that Takemichi is only able to travel back exactly twelve years, taking the place of his younger self, and while he’s in the past, time still moves forward so he’s always missing out on time, depending on where he is. As you’d expect from a time-travel story there’s a lot of focus on the changing of events and how that would affect the present day. Most of the story is set in the past, at least at this point, so there’s not much changes shown, but it’s still evident and once the story gets more underway I imagine the present will feature more. I really like how they are questioning people in the present to find out more about what happened in the past and how to change things. It’s an interesting way to make the present day side of the story interesting. It’s also really great that people in the past notice that Takemichi is acting differently when he’s travelled back in time. He’s acting more mature, but when he’s in the present, as he can only go back in time by exactly twelve years, his younger self regains control and acts how he would have done. It’s really exciting to see how this will play out.

I have so many questions about how things work and I can’t wait to find out more. Around two thirds of the way through this book it’s revealed who pushed Takemichi in front of the train, but it just raises further questions, of who did it and is that in all timelines or just the one that’s currently in place. I also want to know the story of the original timeline that lead to the beginning of the manga. I feel that some of the answers will be coming in future volumes, and can’t wait to find out more.

I really loved the first Tokyo Revengers book and will definitely be seeking out the next few volumes as soon as possible. I know I’m late to it, but it’s honestly one of the best stories I’ve read in a while, and one of the few that’s had me hooked from almost the first page.

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Remina by Junji Ito – Manga Review

Posted on November 4, 2022 by ashleymanningwriter

Junji Ito’s Remina was originally serialised between 2004 and 2005, and was eventually published in English in 2020. It follows the story of Remina. On her sixteenth birthday, her father discovers a planet that has moved from another universe through a wormhole. He names the planet after his daughter and the world celebrates the new discovery. That is until the Earth realises that the planet is moving towards Earth at top speed, destroying stars and planets in its path. The child Remina, who has found massive fame as the namesake for the new planet, and her adoring public turn against her, thinking if they kill her they will save the Earth.

The story starts with Remina, the girl not the planet, be readied to be killed in a medieval style execution. It gives you no context, and it feels like the story is a fantasy story. Then the story jumps back to when Remina’s dad is being given the Nobel prize for his discovery and you realise that the story is set in our near future. It’s scary how quickly people turn into barbarians while trying to save their own lives. They quickly follow fanatics into wanting to kill Remina.

In the beginning, the story is pretty slow as everything is being set up, with some nice character development and interesting ideas about the planets appearance. Then once all hell breaks loose the pace picks up massively. The second half of the book is pretty much just action, so it goes by very quickly. The whole story is told over 250 pages and doesn’t feel rushed at all, despite how large in scale and how short it is. It does feel a little disjointed between the build up and pay off.

As you’d expect from a Junji Ito book, it’s filled with very strange and imaginative images that are incredibly horrifying. This is enough to fuel the next few years of nightmares, for sure. The planet Remina has a giant eye, and a tongue that wraps itself around the other planets that its devouring. The humans who hunt down the child Remina also seem very monster-like as well, completely depraved.

The art is brilliant, but I feel the story is a little weak. It’s all very nicely wrapped up at the end, and I really like how everything is connected in the final act, but it didn’t have me hooked. As it’s quite short I still read it in one sitting, but it’s not the best Ito manga out there.

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