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anime-book-club · 11 months

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“From Far Away” vol. 1 by Kyoko Hikawa

TLDR: 9/10

My first impression thoughts on a manga I had never heard of and was recommended to me as the “original” villainess shoujo manga:

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Firstly, I tried looking into picking up this series physically. I prefer physical media almost always.

However, physicals of “From Far Away” are ungodly expensive. I’ve been seeing complete sets going from $1000 - $2000. Ouch, but it can be indicative of a quality title.

On Amazon the books are about $6-$7 a piece for Kindle. So. No contest there on which version was bought.

“From Far Away” is about a girl that slips into a unfamiliar magical world that is in chaos over a prophesied person, The Awakening, that is supposed to appear. (“Spoiler” alert: it’s her)

Izark who is a traveling warrior had travelled to find The Awakening and ends up escorting her away from mercenaries that wish to take her for notorious purposes.

Overall I can see this as a series I can seriously fall in love with. The art, story, and characters seem wonderful.

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Detailed spoilers ahead:

By the way this is her right here! This is Noriko (The main character):

I don’t have strong feelings about her yet. As for the first book she has to be chaperoned by other characters. Which is not her fault, and you can tell she makes an effort in her own way. But I feel it will take a bit of time to see if she grows into a character that helps Izark over just being someone who is dead weight.

Her design, and by extension everyone else’s, looks as if it were a mix of Sailor Moon and Inuyasha. Which is very pretty in my opinion. In the art you can see the artist has taken care to make sure not everyone had same face syndrome too (artists like Arina Tanemura tend to have this problem despite how much I love her work). Characters are designed to be identifiably different.

The beginning feels very rushed for both the good and the bad. Good because we get right into the meat of the story we’re here for. Do we truly care about Noriko’s friends that we’ll likely never really see again? Not really. It would be better to call them set dressing over actually being fully fledged characters. Which is fine. Some characters are meant to just be set dressing.

But at the same time this also distances us from her connection from those people. The short time dedicated on friends and school over the family itself was also a bit of a strange decision. As to most people our familial connections make or break us. One might even infer her life with the MOST normal. Not quirky in any regard other than her strange dreams.

Speaking of which: It goes from her talking about having strange dreams to 💥 BOOM! Explosion and she was gone faster than a toupee in a hurricane! Thanos snapped away so to speak. She leaves in a literal explosion and there’s not even a body is left behind for police to pick up as her friends try to explain what happened. The manga implies this is purposeful.

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Eventually we meet this man who rescues Noriko when she is initially exploded into the new world:

This is Izark (the deuteragonist), a travelling warrior who came to find The Awakening (For reasons unknown the the reader at this time). Izark is very classically 90s shoujo handsome. (And totally my type at tough, calm, cool, distant, but still empathetic to the plight of others.)

He’s also logical and tends to use that logic in a flat dead pan cheeky way. It’s a nice juxtaposition.

Despite Noriko being painted as a literal catastrophe he is kind to her and very considerate of her position and feelings. (And this is reciprocated by Noriko. It feels genuine on both sides.)

The way the long dark hair is drawn is ✨ perfection ✨. Chef’s kiss 💋 .

The first thing the manga truly tackles socially between Noriko and Izark is the language barrier. They don’t have it hand-waved away with magic or happenstance. These two characters truly cannot effectively communicate and it’s being set up that this will be a real barrier for Noriko.

I think a lot of material either don’t know how or straight up don’t want to tackle the difficulty of having two characters (romantic ones at that) unable to communicate. Which I’m going to argue is fair, but it can be a missed opportunity for interesting character/story development. I wish more manga attempted to cover this. As it makes our character Noriko feel so much more alien and alone in this new world she finds herself in.

There’s also something incredibly humbling about having to learn a new language and culture as well. Izark repeating he can’t understand her and her continuing to gab away anyway is also very funny. The language barrier was also used narratively to cover up that she IS The Awakening. As she cannot blab her life story to those who can’t understand her. Genius cover. I love it.

Noriko and Izark seem to immediately have some pretty good chemistry. Though Izark is obviously not only aware but wary of Noriko’s status in his world. He comes off incredulous that The Awakening is as little and meek as she is.

He remarks that he will have to kill her. Which leads me to suspect he planned on taking her off to kill her somewhere? But that can’t be entirely it, because he proves he’s a powerful warrior and the logic doesn’t add up. He would’ve just killed her right then if that had been the goal? There were many opportunities for her to get killed off.

Unless he felt bad about it, I guess. But that seems like a misread on who he is too. (Though undoubtedly he seems to like her.) There simply is not information at this time.

Izark suddenly collapses at the end of book one leaving a nice enticing cliff hanger.

And then there’s this guy, Keimos:

He gives off big Sephiroth vibes. And maybe it’s the black and white coloring, the long hair, the thin eyes, the haughty sounding attitude, and how other characters talk about him, but yeah. It’s hard to think of him as anything else.

He seems like he’s going to be a main first antagonist, but not the final antagonist. We’ll see.

Both side and main characters are fun to interact with. Villainous characters are fun too, no one holds back in the fighting. For a shoujo this has excellent action sequences and they’re done by a talented artist.

I appreciate that the monsters aren’t generic. The artist tried to make something interesting. I liked the toothy worm things that immediately attack Noriko on arrival.

I can’t wait to pick this series apart more. I have high hopes for this one. I like near everything about it so far. It’s interesting and I want to unravel the mystery as to why Noriko is this great Awakening to wreck the world.

Next: “From Far Away” vol. 2.

(Next review not available yet)

#From Far Away #manga #Book One #Anime Book Club #ABC #isekai #villainess manga #90s #90s manga #90s anime #graphic novel #shoujo manga #shojo manga #shoujo #shojo #anime-book-club #vol one #vol 1 #book 1

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youruinedmylifebynotbeingreal · 2 years

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Inspired by (x)

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illyanarasputinfan · 1 month

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X-Men ‘97 (2024) Marvel Studios

This scene from the X-Men ‘97 episode Bright Eyes reminded me of Kate Pryde’s exchange with one of the Orchis soldiers she killed following the 2023 Hellfire Gala.

X-Men #25 (2023) MARVEL

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mossiestpiglet · 2 months

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If you have only watched the Ouran High School Host Club anime I really cannot recommend reading the manga enough. There is (at least) twice as much plot as the anime has and it delivers so much more character and relationship development for every club member. You deserve to see more of them!

#id say ESPECIALLY if you really like honey and mori since they are so secondary in the anime #the manga goes hard with showing how much the others look to them for guidance and just how ridiculously perceptive honey especially is #and for kyotama fans its so fucking gay you cannot imagine. its. god #kyoyas attendants have synced up thoughts about how gay it is #just please read the manga yall deserve to know how much is out there #ohshc #ouran high school host club #moss does books #ecdysing

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liznfin · 10 months

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I can’t believe Artemis gets mauled by a gorilla in Time Paradox and it’s the least of his problems.

#artemis #artemis fowl art #artemis fowl #af #af series #time paradox #artemis fowl time paradox #mulch #mulch diggums #holly short #liznfin book club #book art #animated gif

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nellydreadful · 2 years

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Dracula REALLY benefits from the real time experience that Dracula Daily gives it. Because, like, I GET it. Jonathan has been trapped in that castle for coming on two months now. Feeling everything at once or nothing? Crying on the floor? Staring mesmerized at dust motes? Observing yet another unimaginable tragedy and feeling dull and blank? Bitch that's month two of lockdown to a tee, I have BEEN there, except for how everyone in Jonathan's quarantine bubble is a serial killer.

#I think at that point in the lockdowns I started a book club with my stuffed animals #dracula daily

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awholelotofsad · 5 months

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"You could have said all of that in...three words or something."

otherwise known as i didn't know how to depict a gag of valjean mentally skipping javert's dialogue other than presenting it in exactly that way in a faux-game format

#jean valjean #javert #les mis #les miserables #animation #the look of the video as a whole is inspired by famicom detective club on the snes #i can't find that post anymore but i do remember reading one that compared valjean to a speedrunner or smth like that?#that post lives in my head rent free and is the main reason i made this video #also javert's dialogue in this is directly lifted from the book. his whole 'dismiss me' rant doesn't fit in a single discord message

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sy5t3merr0r · 1 month

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Avid consumer of classical and tragic literature vs horny weeaboo

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official-english-major · 3 months

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Rip shakespeare you would have loved ouran high school host club

#shakespeare #shakespeare memes #meme #bookworm #book #anime #ouran high school host club #ouran host club #ouran hshc #ohshc #haruhi #haruhi fujioka #tamaki suoh #tamaki

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princessrainevillanueva · 4 months

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Dog Man Movie Official Release Date

We finally have the release date of the upcoming DreamWorks Dog Man Movie - JANUARY 31, 2025!

Source: https://deadline.com/2024/01/dog-man-movie-release-date-universal-dreamworks-1235807860/

Follow Me on Social Media: Instagram | X

#dog man #dogman #cat kid comic club #cat kid #captain underpants #dav pilkey #scholastic #dog man books #dog man movie #dreamworks #dreamworks animation #movies #animated movies

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jenesaisquacke · 21 days

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I don't think he can read tbh

https://www.linktr.ee/jenesaisquack

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anime-book-club · 11 months

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A Foreward:

Welcome! If you’ve run into this blog you’ve walked right into Anime Book Club! (Or ABC for short.)

Anime Book Club will cover a variety of “books” over a variety of topics. I’ll be discussing Manga, light novels, manhwa, doujinshi (Sonic exclusively on those), online comics, and visual novels. As the name implies there is a theme to this blog. (If you want to see me cover non “anime” material head to my main blog @visionoasis, I talk about other non-reading stuff too.)

I’ll be going over “books” and doing comparisons, reviews, critiques, head canons, and just general dissection of the material. You’ll be seeing reactions to series live per individual book, so if I seem like I don’t know about something coming up… I don’t. Lol. These are meant to be a discussion as I digest and read the material as initial reactions.

Visual novel reviews will be posted as a reaction to an individual route or as a whole. It will depend on the visual novel.

My blog is not intended for children. Most of the stuff I’ll cover is pretty SFW. As I prefer SFW material. But every once in a blue moon I do want to cover horror, yaoi, and my doujinshi. Anime is gonna do what it likes to do and sometimes I’ll have to talk about 🔞 material (without showing it and not in graphic detail.) as there is no good way around it sometimes.

You’ll get warnings and warning tags so don’t worry. And spoilers ahoy. I’m dissecting these books. Book numbers (if there is more than one) and titles will always be available for you in the hashtags for easy searching. So if you only want to hear spoilers for Book One, Route One, WHATEVER. They’ll be there.

Anyway! I hope to see people! You’re welcome to discuss with me, disagree, or enjoy the head canons.

And finally: I always want good recommendations. My box is always open.

Welcome to the club!

#anime book club #abc #anime-book-club #anime #manga #manhwa #light novel #doujinshi #light novels #isekai #shoujo #shojo #horror #yaoi #visual novel #otome #visual novels #VNs #VN #bishoujo #bishojo

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kitkat-the-muffin · 1 year

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Jonathan Harker talking to Count Dracula about the love of his life Mina Murray

#please someone animate this it’d be so funny #dracula daily #dracula #jonmina #jonathan harker #mina murray #mina harker #tumblr book club

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trashmuseum · 1 month

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"Gaza is the example, and continues to be the example, time and again, for what happens when we fail to hold our leaders accountable for their actions and complicity. It is the story of steadfastness and resilience, of decades-long dispossession and an insistence on surviving and existing with dignity despite calculated efforts to rid Palestinians of their humanity and existence. And if we aren’t moved to act in solidarity, or at the very least, speak out, then we have lost everything."

Excerpt from "Gaza Unsilenced" by Alareer, Refaat.

Pictures by @tareq_matar

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see-arcane · 7 months

Note

considering it was the late 1800s, do you think Seward and VH are oblivious to Jonathan's watchfulness because Stoker couldn't justify writing Jonathan implying that "vampirism and blasphemy are fine if it's for Mina, actually" beyond his initial declaration? We don't seem to get much more of it directly from Jonathan's entries either after that, just by implication.

I wouldn't be surprised if that was a factor.

Considering all the very potent metaphors at work in the premise of 'God has denied love and protection to my beloved over X Violation and/or X State of Being which is beyond their control, and I have decided our love is more holy than any decision of the Almighty, and I would rather be a monster with her than shun/destroy her As Is the Righteous Thing to Do,' Stoker was already dancing on the edge of acceptability with Jonathan making his secret vow even once.

But thankfully, that single vow--and the adamant refusal to even pretend to make a new 'Yes honey, I will absolutely vampire martyr-murder you like a good Christian boy! God says it's chill just like it was for Lucy and everyone else Dracula has snacked on for untold centuries! God's will be done!'--likely flew over a lot of heads back in the day (as it does now) and simply landed in a lot of hearts with the more obvious factor of...

"Oh. He is literally willing to brave Hell and eternal damnation as the conscripted undead, possibly even cutting down his stake-wielding friends, just to protect and be with his beloved? ...That's kind of hot."

Especially during a period when romance was basically just a bonus to tack on to the Job of Being Married. Jonathan Harker is proven multiple times to be the un-Victorian Victorian man, running from the Brides (mistress stand-ins), happily letting his wife take the lead and holding her up as his equal until he's peer pressured out of it (which leads to dangerous consequences! Social mores fucked everything up! And He Only Follows New Directions with Mina's Approval Going Forward!), and now here's this romantic motherfucker ready to skin Dracula and French kiss the Devil so long as it sees his beloved safe and un-slaughtered, even if she isn't ~perfect and saintly and non-monstrous~.

Girls gays and goths of 1897 were definitely fanning themselves at the next tea party book club once they reached October 3rd.

Even without the ell gee bee tee undertones to glean from Stoker's own romantic leanings, the idea of 'selfish' personal love, of a mere human being, getting held up as more important than God, someone worth Hell, was extremely spicy to depict during that period. If Stoker had had Jonathan repeating himself over and over regarding his secret plans, it would have started to sound a bit like writing a smitten Poe protagonist. Which would also be sexy! But it'd risk taking some of the heroic shine off of him towards the end.

Better to let it hang over the narrative's neck in silence like an axe waiting to fall.

Or a kukri.

#in all ways but physical I am sitting with my Dracula book club mutuals around the tea service in 1897 making Poignant Eye Contact #as we all talk about Jonathan Harker's spiciness the way Jack Seward talks about his iciness #'I love the plot' we say; daydreaming about a Beloved so devoted they'd do an anime transformation and slaughter our enemies for us #jonathan harker #dracula #re: dracula #dracula daily

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megamindfandombookclub · 8 months

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Megamind is currently trending on Netflix and we've reached 20k likes on Youtube! Let's see if we can get it to 40k!!

youtube

If you can't watch it in your area, good "Megamind Streaming" and you may be able to find it where you can.

Or? VPN if you can!

Try to watch it in a way that the creators get paid. Although the WGA Strike is over, many writers are trying to recover financially. The original writers for the movie have been writing for the series! Help them out! Every little bit counts!

Dreamworks monitors the number of times it's watched and if we continue to stream it as much as we can, there is a higher likelihood that they will continue to create more Megamind Content.

As much as we love Shrek and Kung Fu Panda, the Megamind Fandom has been without ANY new content for ALMOST 13 years! WE NEED THIS!!

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