I suppose this is how this blog is started then. For the last year I was working on a piece about my favorite things of the winter season of 2023, but before I knew it the year was already over, and I had a few drafts of other writings, but nothing finished. Beginnings are always the most difficult thing to write, so I think doing something very well-rounded, rather than zooming in on something very particular, and to give the reader some idea of what kind of topics will be covered in future writings. So here are my favorite things of 2023.

For brevity’s sake, I kept the list to 10 things, but even so this is much longer than I ever intended to, and I apologize in advance for it. If you do not have the time or energy to read the entire thing in a single go, I’d recommend taking breaks between reading or picking and choosing which topics most interest yourself. My goal was to give short recommendations on each piece of art discussed. Due to this I do not go into much detail on any specific thing, and I avoid spoilers as much as possible. The list is in no particular order, except by the medium the art is presented in, starting with things you watch, then things you play and finally things you read. And these are things that didn’t necessarily come out in 2023, but things I got around to this year.

 If any of the topics discussed interest you, you’re free to let me know you’d like to hear more on that. And any kind of other feedback is much appreciated as well. And without further ado, let’s see what things I most enjoyed in 2023.

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

As a longtime fan of del Toro and (unfortunately) H.P. Lovecraft, I have been waiting so long for del Toro’s passion project of adapting At the Mountains of Madness and I am still sad that the project has not left the ground. Pinocchio proves there is hope, and that dreams do come true.

For years now I have said that del Toro is my favorite currently working filmmaker, and every time he releases a new feature, I am happy to confirm that it is still the case. Though I still would not categorize any of his films in any listing of my personal favorites. Pan’s Labyrinth is an amazing film, I would dare call it a perfect horror fairytale which tackles incredibly important topics. Pacific Rim speaks to my kaiju and tokusatsu loving inner child in a way no other Hollywood movie has. The Shape of Water is one of the most touching and beautiful romance stories ever told and last year’s Nightmare Alley was an absolute joy. But with del Toro it’s less about the individual movies, and more about his attitude, world views and the overall way he works in movies. Well, that and his love of Baltan Seijin.

Pinocchio as a story is something I believe everyone is familiar with. What del Toro’s version of the story brings is a shockingly rebellious story of Pinocchio going wooden head to wooden head against fascists. As has been the case with Pan’s Labyrinth, del Toro brings an old, even stale, fairytale to life and makes us consider the sociopolitical climate at the background of such a story. I did not know anything of the story going in, aside from having seen the Disney classic as a child, so a story set in fascist Italy with a heavy anti-war and anti-military message is something I may not have been expecting, but really should have, considering the director I love so much. And just like del Toro’s other tales with a political leaning, he does it not too heavy handedly that it becomes cumbersome. In fact, it is quite difficult to be upset over a story being too political, when you get to hear Pinocchio make fun of Mussolini in a jolly song.

As a visual feast, I believe Pinocchio speaks for itself. I don’t think I need to talk of the importance of preserving old styles of animation, and it is a joy to see something so fully realized and using its style to tell a story as old as time. With such amazing stop-motion work as Pinocchio and Mad God, I believe there is much hope for the animation industry, and I hope to see more works like it.

The Banshees of Inisherin

Here’s a somewhat difficult one to speak of. I like to champion the little pieces of art that could. Nothing makes me happier than introducing an obscure gem to someone who would have otherwise never heard of it. Partly because what else can I say of highly regarded and often talked of pieces of art that hasn’t been said. Unless I believe I have a unique perspective on it, I would refrain from commenting on it. And that’s where we get to an Oscar nominated movie I adored, The Banshees of Inisherin.

As said earlier, when recommending things, I would prefer to keep my thoughts on things you may have not heard of. When the movie was out, my mother called me and asked me if I had seen it. That’s how I know a movie is mainstream. Not to mention the Oscars and all. But I’d still like to give a heartfelt recommendation to Banshees. A story two best friends who, without mutual consent, must move on with their lives without each other. The movie chronicles what falling out with someone means and made me think of my own past relationships.

A big part of the story is that the fallout between two friends when one party, Colm, decides that spending time with Pádraic is a waste of his time. Rather than being friends with him, Colm would rather work on his music. As he says that the art you create, is the one thing people will remember you from once you’re gone. This resonated with me, as I felt in that moment that I’ve been coasting through my life recently. I have a passion for creating art, but that has gone nowhere for possibly years now. This is the moment that inspired me to create the blog you’re reading this from now. I’d like to work on my writing specifically, as some people have told they enjoy hearing my media analysis and reviews, and through that I could possibly expand my horizons to do more creative writing.

But aside from my personal anecdote, Banshees is a delightfully funny and quite sad drama-comedy. I would call it the best writing in a motion picture I’ve seen this year. It’s a joy seeing different cultures I haven’t seen much from. The movie tackles other topics as well, such as Ireland’s history of independence, but I do not think I am qualified to analyze the movie for that context. Instead, I’d implore you to watch it on your own, and look for more reputable literature written about the meanings of the war in the film. Though I do have to say, I usually have no problem watching English language films without subtitles, but I absolutely needed them for this one.

Aftersun

Continuing with Oscar nominated movies, I’d like to take a moment to talk about Aftersun. I’d go on the entire explanation of why I shouldn’t be talking about this one, but I think unless you’re really keeping up with movies you may have not heard of this one, and I think more people should look into it.

Aftersun tells the story of a Scottish father and daughter, who take a vacation to Turkey sometime after the father had separated with the daughter’s mother. The story is split between the father and daughter, as each of them have experiences that help them grow over the course of the vacation. The young daughter begins to grow older and independent, hanging out with older kids at the hotel, as she begins having a harder time seeing eye-to-eye with her father. This is partially because the father suffers from heavy depression due to the divorce, or possibly coming to terms with what led to it. I will leave my own interpretation of the movie open, as I would describe the movie as a mystery thriller, without a conventional solution. I highly encourage you to watch the movie yourself and make your own conclusions on it. But be prepared, as the movie has left many people I know confused, but that’s exactly the kind of movie I enjoy.

Though the cinematography and subtle character writing are the real stars of the movie, I’d like to highlight my own experience. This is one of the most nostalgic movies I have ever watched in my life. The movie depicts the life of lower middle class European families in a way that hit extremely close to home for me. I presume not every reader of mine will have had this experience, especially if you’re not from Northern-Europe yourself, so I’ll explain a bit. In Europe, it’s extremely cheap and easy to travel between other European countries, particularly ones in the EU. I could right now take a 2-hour flight for about 200€ to almost any country I wish to in my continent. This is reflected in how easy “going south” was and still is to many even poor families. I spent at least a few weeks of every year of my childhood in a Southern-European country traveling with my family, because it was extremely cheap to travel to those places. This movie captures this formative childhood memory of mine and many others like me in a perfect way. The way traveling around that country, going on little experiences like scuba diving, hanging out at the pool with that bracelet that lets you get all the soft drinks you wanted, the buffet dinner where you make fun of other European tourists with your family, the karaoke and dancing your parents did that made you extremely embarrassed are all in this film. If you yourself hadn’t watched this movie, I’d recommend it for seeing this cultural phenomenon that may not have been part of your childhood. It is the only movie along with 2021’s Norwegian horror film The Innocents that has captured experiences of my childhood in such a way, and I’m happy that filmmakers that may have been children the same age as me are now creating films that tell our stories.

Godzilla Minus One

Let’s get this out of the way first. I have owned every Godzilla movie up to the year 2004 on DVD. I have an encyclopedic knowledge of everything Godzilla up to that point. I was the weird kid who would correct you when you made a joke about Godzilla based on culturally agreed upon facts of the franchise, without knowing what you were talking about. Where I’m from and the circles I have continued to be in I feel like I have been a minority on this kind of fanaticism of the king of monsters. So, my motive of trying not to talk about popular mainstream movies not even being true for the latest Godzilla movie is shocking for me.

As said before, I stopped watching Godzilla movies after Final Wars. That was the peak of filmmaking in my eyes, so I decided even the movies after that one were not worth my time. I’m still not sold on the idea of the new American movies, after the one in 1998 burned me, bad. But perhaps a retrospective including those would be something to write of. That said I do need to eventually watch Shin Godzilla. But I am talking more not of Minus One, than the movie itself, so I should change.

That is all to put into perspective how little interest I had in going to see the movie, and that being contrasted with it being possibly my favorite movie of the year. Minus One, as all the best Godzilla movies do, tells the story of the humanity found around the titular monster. The series has always been about the horrors of war and giving form to an indescribable evil destruction no one deserves to face, but I was still shocked at the frank and adult conversation Minus One had about the subject. Rather than Godzilla in the film being the bombs that were dropped itself, Godzilla is the aftermath of it, and how people deal with the continuation of terror after the committed atrocities. This is shown in the movie through the main character, Shikishima, a former kamikaze pilot who fled his mission, and came back from the war to his home torn apart. Shikishima must literally face the regrets and guilt of abandoning his duty with how he is treated, but also by seeing the consequences of him not doing his job, Godzilla, kill even more people around him. The film then becomes Shikishima growing and finding meaning in life after terror, which is at odds with his internal struggle of feeling like he still has a duty to fulfill by dying in battle. Every character in the movie has different views on war and duty, which had me on the edge of my seat wondering which take the story will ultimately land on. I highly recommend watching the movie yourself and finding out how a movie about a big lizard that shoot beams is one of the most beautiful films about what it means to live.

Mawaru Penguindrum

Speaking of unspeakable horrors done for no good reasons. It’s time to finally move on from movies and talk about anime. Which I unfortunately watch a lot of. Here’s Mawaru Penguindrum.

There’s a lot of fans of Kunihiko Ikuhara out there. I would like to call myself one, but I am still just an average Ikuhara enjoyer. The first anime of his I watched was 2019’s Sarazanmai as it aired. Just the year before last I finally got around to Revolutionary Girl Utena and am now making my way chronologically through his oeuvre. Of those, I’ve often regarded Sarazanmai as one of my favorites, and I thoroughly enjoyed Utena. Penguindrum is one I was somewhat dreading to watch. I don’t know how this happened, but it had a bad rep in the circles I used to go around and was lauded as one of Ikuhara’s lesser works. Now that I have finished it, I have no idea where any of that came from, as Penguindrum is my favorite anime I watched all year.

I would like to leave my thoughts on Penguindrum somewhat concise, as I am planning a longer written effort on it sometime later. Let me know if you’d be interested in a dive into the themes and meaning of the series! But for now, Penguindrum is a hell of an experience to try and neatly fit into a synopsis. The story is, at first glance, a story of two brothers who must search for the illusive Penguindrum, to bring back their late sister. This story is further complicated by stalkers, survivor’s guilt, conspiracy, terrorism, and many other things. I would recommend if in any way possible, watch this series without much prior knowledge, as it is a delight to try and figure out. If I were to simply describe it, I’d call Mawaru Penguindrum one of the most beautiful love stories that involves no conventional romance out there.

Birdie Wing – Golf Girls’ Story

Now enough of deeply meaningful and philosophical tales, let’s get stupid with Birdie Wing – Golf Girls’ Story.

While Penguindrum was the best anime I watched all year, I must give the most enjoyable series trophy to this deeply idiotic sports anime about golf. I am by no means an expert of sports anime, mostly due to the inherent issues I have with the series. Sports series walk a fine line between being an extremely realistic and dramatic portrayal of the sport to show the creators’ interest in the subject and the human drama it creates. The other side of this spectrum is ones that get silly with magical sports powers and such, and Birdie Wing hits this side with a driver, getting a hole in one. There is simply no way to put into words how ridiculous it is with things such as the main character, Eve, who metaphorically shoots a gun with her golfing, or a villain of the week who uses pheromones to disrupt the other player. And the most important thing is, this series plays all this 100% seriously. Birdie Wing at no point gives in and acknowledges how out there playing golf against the mafia to solve gentrification, and it’s beautiful.

I don’t think I can give a better sales pitch for Birdie Wing, as its insanity is something you must watch for yourself to understand. But if you do, you’ll come to understand why this anime had me screaming “Venus Line!” every Friday.

SHY

From my favorite anime, to most enjoyable, we jump to the most surprising. A Shonen series is something I would normally not try out, but after seeing the other tags associated with SHY I figured it wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot. And I am so glad I did.

SHY tells the story of the titular hero, Shy, who alongside having to save the world as Japan’s superhero must also face another great terror, her own social anxiety. I would describe myself as an enthusiast of superheroes, specifically the Japanese kind. I’ve given chances to several series like it, but I think where SHY shines brighter than the rest is its portrayal of what a hero really is. A hero is not someone who beats monsters every week during the Sunday morning kids’ block, a hero is someone who saves people, because it’s the right thing to do.

SHY excels in this portrayal of a hero’s struggle to save people with its core cast. For example, the first episode is already a strong showcase of Shy saving someone, but despite her best efforts, the victims do get hurt. This guilt eats away at Shy, and even when she overcomes her own doubts, the situation is escalated when the girl who was hurt due to Shy’s incompetence transfers to her class. In this way SHY hones in on the feelings of the victims, and what kind of relationship develops between two people meeting in such extreme circumstances, which heroes’ stories hardly ever tells us of. This kind of storytelling continues as SHY explores why the other heroes became who they are today, and when the villainous organization is revealed to all be children who themselves were victims of unfortunate circumstance, and the way to beat them is to open yourself up to them. I was extremely relieved when I found out this series was greenlit for a second season, and I hope to see you there alongside me watching that as it airs.

Little Goody Two Shoes

When it comes to the media I consume, I would say it’s at least half, or maybe ¾ things I watch. Movies, TV-shows, the like. After that comes reading. I enjoy books, and even when it comes to games, most of what I play are visual novels, which I would classify closer to books than games. Last year I finished 3 games, compared to the possibly 100 movies I’m fairly certain I watched. The standout of all of these was Little Goody Two Shoes.

The previous amble was added to give myself a break, as I am more in my comfort zone critiquing audiovisual art, rather than interactive arts. I don’t think I have quite the lexicon to truly be a video game critic. And that’s why I can feel fine talking about Little Goody Two Shoes, as I would describe the game as an audiovisual feast. As I’d jokingly like to say, there wasn’t a lot of gameplay to get in the way of that story. Little Goody Two Shoes has such a striking visual style, that all it took was a single picture of the talking sprites to make me go out and buy the game. And when I booted it up, I was not prepared for alongside that to see beautiful classic anime style animation, breathtakingly detailed pixel art and even some multimedia assets, such as real-life dolls created for certain cutscenes.

But of course, that isn’t all there is to the game. Little Goody Two Shoes tells the story of Elise, a girl who was found by an old woman in the woods near a German village. Now after her grandmother passed, Elise gets involved in the little town’s conspiracies against a witch who they claim lives in the forest and is messing with their upcoming Walpurgisnacht celebration. This is further complicated by a mysterious girl who Elise finds in her backyard, who claims they were destined to meet, and a pair of red shoes she finds the next day. You as Elise are then tasked to investigate the witch claims, while of course choosing which of the three main girls in the game you’d like to date. I was shocked, when less than a few minutes into the game it told me outright that I could romance the girls. I felt that a game that looks like this was already too good to be true, but being able to play as a girl and date other girls really makes it the perfect game to me. At a short length and low price, I cannot recommend Little Goody Two Shoes enough for fans great visuals, a little bit of horrors and of course, girls kissing girls.

Qualia the Purple

Do you have those things everyone around you tells you that you must get into because it’s so up your alley? When that happens to me, I do my best to try and not figure out why exactly it is apparently so for me. This left me wondering for a long time why exactly Qualia the Purple is always recommended to me. And going into it without any prior knowledge is the perfect thing.

And there’s the problem with writing about it, I’d recommend everyone go into this light novel with as little knowledge as possible. Qualia the Purple is a wonderful journey of discovery that I would hate to ruin for anyone. If you have any interest in yuri, deeply philosophical questions, meta-science fiction and anything relating to those, do yourself a favor and read it before anyone can spoil it for you. That being said I will try to give a small synopsis if you aren’t sold yet.

Qualia the Purple is told from the perspective of Gaku, your average high school girl, who has a peculiar friend. That friend being Yukari, a girl who claims she cannot see humans. In place of humans, she sees robots. At first a quirky little romance between the two girls and their unlikely friendship, building model kits and discussing what kind of robots everyone around Gaku looks like, the story quickly takes a dark turn. Following this serial killers, international governments, conspiracies, multiverses, and deep philosophical questions enter the fray. Almost every turn page of the novel had my jaw on the floor, and by the end I was crying like no tomorrow. Beneath all the wildness of the novel lies a profound story of love, and what it means to perceive the world and the humanity contained within. As a light novel, Qualia is a short and easy recommend I would recommend to anyone looking to get into light novels, yuri or both with an incredible self-contained story.

Goodbye Eri

And after this long and arduous journey, it is time to talk about the best thing I experienced this entire year. Something I did near the beginning of the year, and deeply shook me to my core. A story that helped me more than any other. Something that made me think about life, and what I want with mine. About art, and how I can create my own in the world we live in. Something that made me laugh and cry. Something I want to share with everyone. This is, Goodbye Eri.

What can be said of Tatsuki Fujimoto that has not already been said? Fujimoto is a visionary, and one of the oddest people out there. From roleplaying his fictional little sister on Twitter, resulting in him being banned, to… everything… he has written. Fujimoto rose to fame with his currently ongoing series, and my favorite manga, Chainsaw Man. Taking inspiration from worldwide cinema to tell one of the most unique and original stories in manga, it’s no surprise his story is a smash hit. I could go on and on about Chainsaw Man, and perhaps I will another day. But I implore everyone out there to seek out other creations from the writer. This year I also finished Fire Punch, Look Back, and half of Tatsuki Fujimoto Before Chainsaw Man. All of them incredibly valuable and amazing stories nobody else but him could tell, but Goodbye Eri is his magnum opus.

Goodbye Eri tells the story of Yuta, a young boy struggling with the declining health of his mother, who soon passes away. His mother’s last wish was that her final moments be filmed by Yuta, and this gives the boy an avenue to explore his grief and trauma through making a film of it and showing it to his school. His unique style of filmmaking is however not appreciated by his peers, except for one. Eri is a girl who tells Yuta that she loved his movie, making Yuta reconsider his attempt to commit suicide. The pair then begin to marathon movies together to help them make one of Eri, with more of Yuta’s out there concepts being added, notably Eri being a vampire in the film. This is complicated by Eri falling ill, like Yuta’s mother. The story then becomes exploring what it means to film things and tell stories through filmmaking. Goodbye Eri asks us if what we portray through art is real, or our idealized versions of those things, and ultimately whether it matters or not. The beauty of our short lives, and how those can be captured through the art we create resonated strongly with me reading it and is another direct lead up to me wanting to write out my thoughts in this fashion.

This is not to even get started on how beautiful the manga is, which I don’t want to spend too much time on, as this article is already much too big. Chainsaw Man and Fire Punch are incredible pieces of art, particularly in how Fujimoto can capture subtle emotions drawn in characters, alongside a better timing than most media where timing is an actual thing. But I think Goodbye Eri is the pinnacle of his art up to now. The manga has an almost multimedia style to it, as Fujimoto perfectly captures how a handheld camera looks, not only in the filter used for it, but also the way the camera moves in the hands of an amateur filmmaker.

If there is one thing I’d like you, my dear reader, to come away from this article, it’s that you should read Goodbye Eri. It is only a one-shot manga, though a bit lengthy. However, the time used is well worth your time.

Thank you so much for reading through all of this. Even if you only skimmed over the whole post or picked the things you were most interested in reading, I truly appreciate it. Afterwards I feel that I have written too much, without saying enough things. But I’d like to leave this as is, and not go back and “fix” it. I’d like to use this as a learning experience and try and make further writings from myself shorter in length, and longer in substance. And all criticism of my writing is greatly appreciated as I try to self-teach myself how to be someone you could call a critic. If any of the earlier parts interested you enough that you’d maybe like to hear more on them, you can let me know of that too as I try to find other things to write about. I have some ideas for what I’d like to tackle next, but feedback is always good. I would like to once again thank you for your time, and I hope you have a wonderful start to your 2024.