Trying to do a new feature where I talk about what I’m into and a little bit about why!
Webtoons
Right now the webtoons I’m keeping up with are uh… pretty spicy. One is Love is an Illusion – the Queen, a contemporary omegaverse webtoon starring a female alpha, male omega, and male alpha in a love triangle. That’s by Fargo. The other is Wild Eyes by Flowermeat and Sora (original work by Ra-hye). That one is a dark historical erotica about a wild prince and the maiden sent to service him by his scheming stepmother.
I’m not necessarily recommending either of those – because I rarely rec books with female alphas because the concept tends to be done poorly on multiple levels and it’s better to be safe than sorry and… Wild Eyes is… very much dark erotica. Warnings are a must for both stories. If you want to read either comic and you need to know warnings, ping me please!)
I’m reading them because I haven’t read webtoons in a while and I’ve watched the dramas based off of the ones I liked so I needed to branch out a bit. (Oh, and Painter of the Night is on and off hiatus so i’m expanding my horizons.) I’m having fun and reading challenging things.
Novels
I’ve been reading the novelization for Under the Oak Tree by Suji Kim all of March and this book is a lot. Like the webtoons I’ve recommended above, Under the Oak Tree requires warnings. The main character Maxi was emotionally and physically abused by her father (and neglected by her sister as well) and when she ends up married to Riftan, the big dude in the Twitter post, she doesn’t know that she can say no. The novelization takes what’s already in the webtoon and launches it into more explicit places and consent is truly dubious at best there.
I’m reading this book because I was doing the webtoon, but I wanted to try something new? I wasn’t making as much progress there and I kept forgetting to read it, so when I realized that the novelization was out… I lept for it. I’m having fun and I’m satisfied by the way the relationship arcs are developing. Under the Oak Tree is very much in the style of old-school bodice ripper romances, and so there’s clearly going to be a happy ending for Maxi and Riftan… I just don’t actually know when we’ll get there.
Anyway, if you like big alpha heroes with hearts of gold and tiny women taking charge (eventually, sorta), this is a really good series for that. There are two parts of the novelization out so far and they are definitely a wild read!
(If you need more specific warnings, ping me!)
Manga & Anime
Spy x Family is everything to me. I love found family narratives and this has that in spades. It’s also just… super fucking funny? Like it’s cute as hell, but it’s also an incredibly funny series because none of these characters are communicating with each other. As a result, they have the funniest hijinks across the series.
If you love spy stuff and you have a desire for a cute found-family narrative with over the top violence (not within the family), you have got to check this out.
Music
In case you issued it, I did BTS Tings earlier in the month! We watched Permission to Dance On Stage – Seoul for 2 of the 3 days. We didn’t do the middle day because that one was just in theaters so I’m a bit bummed about missing that experience, but I’m assuming that they’ll actually put that day on DVD when they release it so eventually I’ll get to see the entire performance beyond clips of ARMY reacting in reels/tiktoks.
If you want to hear me talk about BTS with one of my ARMY buddies, check out the latest episode of my podcast!
TV Shows
A Business Proposal owns my soul right now. Kim Se-jeong (formerly Gugudan) plays Shim Ha-ri, a plucky and fun worker at go foods who ends up accidentally dating her boss Kang Tae-moo (played by Ahn Hyo-seop) when she agrees to go on a blind date in place of her best friend. It’s really just a delightful series, heavy on the tropes and (so far) light on the angst. I’m very
Movies
Turning Red was my March movie! I’ve watched it like five times so far. Oh my god.
Everything I’ve had to say about it, I’ve put in my review on Patreon! But easily, it’s one of the best films I’ve seen and it’s so fun and relatable. I’ve got thoughts on how fandom is reacting to this film, but we’ll unspool those later! I promise.
I also watched the latest Spider-Man film and it was good! It’s definitely something that was even better because I have all of this useless knowledge of the multiverse banging around in my head, but yeah this was a movie that absolutely worked for me. Very nostalgia, much screaming. A little bit of crying, even.
Articles
RM’s “Voice,” Off His Debut Mixtape, 7 Years On
Jiye Kim is such an incredible writer and she brings her talents to this essay about “Voice” a track from BTS leader RM’s debut mix tape… Iconic. I’m screaming. This is such a good read and I’m so pleased with this piece as someone who loves to analyze media!!
How a Korean Celebrity Scandal Predicted Online Led Harassment Campaigns
This is a brief article about a podcast that covers something I think a lot about: harassment on the internet. In this case, it covers the merciless harassment Korean netizens directed towards Epik High frontman Tablo and the almost successful attempts to destroy his life. Interesting, upsetting, and absolutely relevant – years after the fact, Tablo is still actually dealing with the after-effects of this harassment and it speaks to what many of us go through online.
I think it’s a must-listen.
Misc
Normally, I’m not one for gacha games, but NuCarnival (do not click the link if you’re not over 18 and interested in playing a very 18+ BL gacha game) has had a hold on me all of March. I am obsessed. I can’t currently accept any more friends now but once I level up some more, I’ll shout about it and share my friend code!! (There’s a subreddit with guides for how to handle the gacha elements and get your best team. I did not use that beforehand and now I’m stuck doing a ton of math!)
I also kinda sorta started using TikTok again. I’m not really using it and if you see me trying to have critical opinions on fandom on that platform, spray me with water ASAP. However, I want to use it to do fun head-empty, cute things. Like coloring in my horrifying Junji Ito coloring book. Or talking about BL. Or doing unboxings!
I’m trying to have more fun and to be less miserable. I’ll let y’all know if this works out!
March was… a month. I’m behind on basically everything and I’m just so… tired. The niecelings have been here more times than they haven’t been here – right now Meems is sleeping on the couch next to me as I type – and it’s impossible to work with any of them here. I’m running tech support and coordinating returns and medical stuff for my parents – things have been bad there but hopefully we’ll be all in the same place in April.
But I’m going to send Meems home Monday and then I’ll be doing The Most to catch up with everything outside of media consumption. Because I’ve really only had the energy to do that for much of the time since my dad landed in the hospital and that’s not… actually leading to new content?
Not sure why I expected it would, though!
Stitch's Media Mix 